Homilies on Psalms 36–38 — Homily 1 — Psalm 36 (LXX; MT 37), Homily I — "Noli aemulari": do not envy the wicked, who wither like grass
Latin source: Origen's Greek homilies on Psalms 36, 37, and 38, surviving only in Rufinus of Aquileia's Latin translation (c. 401), from the reading text of J.-P. Migne (ed.), Patrologia Graeca 12 (Paris, 1862), cols. 1319–1410 (In Psalmos). This English translation is released into the public domain.On the thirty-sixth psalm, which reads: "Be not jealous among the malignant".
1. "In many portions and in many ways God spoke to the fathers in the prophets". Sometimes indeed he teaches us ineffable mysteries in the things he speaks; but sometimes he instructs us concerning the Savior and his coming; and at other times he corrects and amends our conduct. On this account we shall attempt to assign, throughout the several passages of divine Scripture, distinctions of this kind, and to discern where there are prophecies and something is said about things to come, where certain mystical things are indicated, and where the passage is moral. Beginning therefore the exposition of the thirty-sixth psalm, we find that this whole psalm is moral, and given as it were as a certain care and medicine for the human soul, since it reproves our sins and teaches us to live according to the law. But let us now see what sort of beginning the first verse gives us. "Be not", he says, "jealous among the malignant, neither be envious of those who work iniquity: for like grass they shall quickly wither, and like the green herbs they shall quickly fall away". There are indeed two things which he teaches us in these words that we ought not to do. First, that we should not be jealous among the malignant; second, that we should not envy those who work iniquity — because the consequence for the one who is jealous among the malignant is that he withers like grass, and this he will suffer not slowly but quickly; while the consequence for the one who envies those who work iniquity is that he falls away quickly like the green herbs. And according to the simple understanding of the letter, "not to be jealous among the malignant" seems to indicate this: that among evil and utterly wicked men one should not become a zealot of malice, that is, a leader and author of it, offering as it were to the rest a pattern of disgrace. But "to envy those who work iniquity" is this: if one imitates them, and learns to act unjustly. And this is what is said in both cases: that you neither offer to others an example of malice, nor yourself follow the examples of other evil men. But that we may more fully recognize what this saying contains within it as well, I think it fitting to bring in from the divine Scriptures, wherever we find this saying written, and to compare spiritual things with spiritual, so that what is indicated through these may appear more evidently. It is written in Deuteronomy: "They provoked me to zeal in what is not God, they roused me to anger in their idols, and I will bring them to zeal in what is not a nation". Here, where in Latin it is said, "they brought me to zeal, and I will bring them to zeal", in the Greek it is the very same word that was spoken at the beginning of the psalm, that is, "they were jealous of me, and I will be jealous of them". Although that Greek word itself, that is, παρεζήλωσαν, would seem to be more significantly expressed in Latin if we should say "they provoked me", yet it is the very same word. But in the Apostle also it is written: "Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?" And where we have "we provoke the Lord to jealousy", in certain copies it is written "we provoke the Lord". From all these testimonies it is indicated that to be jealous of someone is to provoke and to rouse him: so that, for example's sake, if we use such an illustration: there are certain shameless and worthless women who, if perchance they have caught men in the enticements of a stolen love, in the course of time, not content with hidden disgraces, wish also to make it known to the chaste wives that they are loved by their husbands, in order that by this they may stir up jealousy, and provoke, and disturb other households. If you have understood the force of the example — how a mistress rouses jealousy in a wife — this too you ought to observe: what it is to be jealous among certain people, that is, when incitements to some malice are offered them. Finally, since that saying of Deuteronomy, in which he says, "They brought me to zeal in what is not God", that is, παρεζήλωσαν, means this, it becomes more clearly manifest from this what is written elsewhere, that our God is called a jealous God. Now a husband is wont to be called jealous concerning his wife, when he cares for her chastity more anxiously and cautiously, and does not allow the chastity of his spouse to be defiled. Whence it follows that he who sins provokes and rouses to jealousy God, who is called jealous. But all these things are to be heard of God abusively, just as also those things which are said of the wrath of God, or of sleep, or of sorrow, through which is understood what each one of us deserves from God for his own deeds. Finally, thus he said in Deuteronomy, that "they brought me to zeal in what is not God, and exasperated me in their idols", that is, by worshiping idols they roused me to zeal. But what follows? "And I will bring them to zeal in what is not a nation, in a foolish nation I will provoke them". Whence even now the Jews are not stirred against the gentiles, against those who worship idols and blaspheme God, and they do not hate them, nor are they indignant against them; but against Christians they are borne with an insatiable hatred — Christians who indeed, having left idols behind, are converted to God. When therefore you see the Jews holding a Christian in hatred and lying in wait for him, understand that that prophecy is fulfilled which says: "And I will rouse them by what is not a nation". For we are "not a nation," we who believe a few from this city, and others from another, and nowhere does a whole nation appear to have been taken up from the beginning of belief. For it is not as the nation of the Jews was, or the nation of the Egyptians, that in like manner also the race of the Christians is one nation, or a whole one, but they are gathered scatteredly out of the several nations. He says therefore, that "I will bring them to zeal by what is not a nation, in a foolish nation I will provoke them". And therefore they are provoked against us, and hold us in hatred as a foolish nation, saying that they themselves are wise, since indeed to them first the oracles of God were entrusted, and, meditating on the law of God from boyhood even to old age, they did not attain to the law of God; but for this reason God chose the foolish things of this world, that he might confound the wise, and thus is fulfilled what is written: "In a foolish nation I will provoke them". But let us see also what the Apostle indicates when he says: "Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?" In that passage he said these things where he disputes about sacrifices and about the things offered to idols. "Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy", he says, that is, do we rouse him to zeal by eating the things offered to idols, just as the Jews stirred his zeal in their idols? Do we too wish to act in a like manner? Therefore he says: "Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?" This is what he means. If indeed we rouse to jealousy someone who is inferior to us in strength, we can easily despise him; but if we rouse a strong one to jealousy, are we not contriving these things unto our own ruin? If therefore we feed on things offered to idols, and rouse the Lord's zeal against us, we provoke a stronger wrath against us, that is, unto our own destruction. Whenever therefore you see a worthless man, watch, and beware lest you rouse his jealousy against you, lest you do anything incautiously whereby wickedness may be roused. For example's sake, that what is said may become plainer through an illustration: the blessed David roused the malignant Saul to jealousy, when he went out before the army and slew Goliath, and there came forth choirs of girls and women saying: "Saul has struck down in his thousands, and David in his ten thousands". And this indeed, if David had done it by his own effort, he would have been jealous in the malignity of Saul. But now it was not by his own effort that it came about that the choirs of girls went out and sang a hymn of this kind, that David had struck down in ten thousands, and Saul in thousands. This therefore is what the psalm teaches us: that since the race of men is prone to jealousy, and is very easily inclined to this vice, you should observe not to do that which would provoke evil men to jealousy of you, and rouse them to lie in wait for you, or stir them up to hatred of you. And this is the whole of what is signified in all these things: that you neither yourself provoke the jealousy of the evil against you, nor envy the wickedness of another. How then does a man envy the wickedness of another? Without doubt when he does the same things. But what I say is this: If someone has been made rich from poor through iniquity, and there is a needy neighbor of his, and he sees him who rose up from the earth and ascended to the height of riches, and begins to envy so that he too may likewise grow rich from iniquity, this is to envy those who work iniquity. But also if anyone should wish to envy him who, whether by stealthy debaucheries or by unlawful ventures, seizes upon marriages, houses, riches beyond his own place and measure, he has envied those who work iniquity. And further, those who through diverse disgraces, or through unworthy and unlawful ambitions, have reached the undeserved heights of goods, and by iniquitous factions or bloody hands have seized honors not due to them — if anyone, seeing these, is inflamed to a like madness, he has envied those who work iniquity.
2. Therefore on this account we are enlightened by the commandment of the Lord, so that, when the flame of unlawful jealousy has beaten upon our heart and mind, we, taught by the words, may say: If I should wish to be jealous among the malignant, or should envy those who work iniquity, see what follows: "Like grass", he says, "they shall quickly wither, and like the green herbs they shall quickly fall away". Do you wish also to be fortified by the authority of another prophet's admonitions concerning such men? Hear what Isaiah too pronounces concerning all carnal glory: "All flesh", he says, "is grass, and all its glory as the flower of grass". Do you wish also to see through particular cases how the glory of the flesh is the flower of grass? See who ruled thirty years ago, how his rule flowered: but straightway like the flower of grass it withered; then afterward another after him, then another and another, who thereafter were leaders and princes: and all their glory and honor not only withered like a flower, but even, like dry dust scattered by the wind, left not even a trace of itself. Others too, lifted up by riches and swollen with honors, striving either to be held praiseworthy through feigned goodness, or execrable through untamed cruelty. If anyone thinks their vain pursuits are to be envied, let him now go to the remains of their corpses, if indeed even these can be found; for to some not even this has been granted: and then he will find how "all flesh is grass, and all its glory as the flower of grass. The grass has withered and its flower has fallen away". But whoever does not love the little flowers of the flesh, nor lives carnally, but loves the word of God, and advances in it, hear what he may hope for: "The word", he says, "of the Lord abides forever". But this very thing also which he says, that "like grass they shall quickly wither", namely the malignant — I do not think it is idle why he compared them to grass, when surely there could be other material to which those who have acted maliciously might be compared. Grass is the food of dumb and irrational animals. Perhaps therefore, because all the foolish, and the untaught, and those who live against the reason and wisdom of God, follow those who are chief in malice, and are said to feed on their life and deeds, whom they also obey — for that reason he compared them to grass. For no prudent man takes an example from them. For, just as the prudent man who hears the words of the Lord and does them, this is the one who eats that bread which came down from heaven, and Jesus is food to him, because he is fed from his words and lives in his commandments: so likewise these who are eminent in malice are made as grass to those who submit to them, or who bear an envy of them unto wickedness. And similar things are also to be understood concerning the green herbs, to which are compared those who work iniquity, because they pass away swiftly. Yet we find in the divine Scriptures sometimes also praiseworthy herbs, which by the precept of the Apostle the weak are bidden to eat. But others are those, and contrary to these, of which it is said that the river of Egypt is water descending downward, and watering as a garden of herbs: whereby evidently the Egyptian is not called a tree, nor even named a vine, but herbs which quickly fail. And do you wish to see how quickly the Egyptian falls away? See what is said of them in Exodus. "But the Egyptians hastened," he says, "they unbound their axles, and quickly fled under the water." Like the green herbs, therefore, they shall quickly fall away. Finally, that iniquitous Ahab also, since he was preparing to plant such herbs in the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite — on account of which Naboth chose rather to die than to permit that, the Israelite vineyard being cut down, herbs should be planted. He did this therefore as a righteous man, that he might not permit the vineyard of righteousness to be cut down, whose fruit gladdens the heart of man when it is mixed in the mixing-bowl of wisdom, and herbs of iniquity to be planted, quickly growing green, but more quickly withering. I think therefore that in our hearts too, who believe in the Savior, there is some vineyard planted, just as he said: "A vineyard was made for the beloved on a horn, in a fertile place". But it was also said to those to whom the word of God came first, that "I planted you a wholly fruitful vine". There is therefore for us a certain vineyard from which we press out the fruit of knowledge, which gladdens the heart of man, through the gift of wisdom in the winepresses of the Scriptures, when we behold more perfectly and more broadly the divine mysteries of the law. But as we advance in our studies, and stretch from the Israelite eye toward the spiritual eye, there comes Ahab the iniquitous and impious, Ahab the enemy of our vineyard, and against these best pursuits of wisdom he rouses envy, stirs up tumult, contrives deceits and factions through Jezebel, that is, through carnal wisdom, and wishes this vineyard of spiritual understanding to be cut down, and herbs to be planted — that is, that what we read we should understand carnally: for all the grace of the flesh is like herbs, so that there may be fulfilled in us that which the Apostle censures, saying to the Galatians: "Are you so senseless that, having begun with the spirit, you are now made perfect in the flesh?" But that in the holy soul there are vineyards, and fields blessed by the Lord, hear also Isaac saying to his son Jacob: "Behold, the smell of my son is as the smell of a full field, which the Lord has blessed". It is better therefore for us to cultivate a vineyard in our soul, and to dig the winepress of the Scriptures, and to gather the clusters, and to press the wine from the vine of Sorek, and let us say to the Lord, that "How glorious is your inebriating cup!"
3. After he said that those who work iniquity fall away quickly like the green herbs, and forbade being jealous among the malignant, and imitating those who work iniquity: then he says what we ought to do. "Hope", he says, "in the Lord, and do goodness". Having despised, that is, all those things which were censured above — honors, riches, and all carnal glory, and all the goods of the age — hope, he says, in the Lord. But hoping in the Lord, do not be idle; but doing goodness, hope in him. But what this goodness is, let us see. It is one of those springs which the Apostle enumerates as being fruits of the Holy Spirit. "Now the fruit of the spirit is charity, joy, peace, patience, goodness and righteousness". Do goodness therefore, as if he were speaking to a field, saying, Bear this fruit or that: so now to you, the hearer of the divine Scriptures, the divine word speaks as to a field. "Do goodness, and inhabit the earth, and you shall be fed in its riches". Do not be like withering grass, do not become like the green herbs, which will quickly fail, but hope in the Lord, and do goodness, and inhabit the earth. What earth does he bid us inhabit if we have done goodness? Surely, if he were speaking of this earth which we inhabit — both those who do goodness and those who do not do it inhabit this earth. The commandment therefore seems to be superfluous if this earth is understood. But let us see whether perhaps he means that earth of which it is written, that other seed fell upon the good earth, which bore fruit — in which the earth now seems to signify the heart of the hearer. This therefore we are bidden to inhabit, that is, not to wander farther off, not to run to and fro beyond and short of it, but to dwell, and to abide within the bounds of our soul, and to consider it more diligently and become its farmer, just as Noah was, and to plant in it a vineyard, and to till the earth which is within us, to renew the fallow ground of our soul, and not to sow upon thorns: namely, when we purge our soul from vices, and cultivate our uncultivated and rough manners toward the meekness of the imitation of Christ, and so at last are fed from the riches of the virtues. For it is not to be thought that we are commanded to seek earthly riches, which we are bidden to despise and spurn. He says therefore: "Inhabit the earth". This is therefore: attend always to your soul, there abide always, and cultivate your earth, so that, when you have begun to abound in the fruits of righteousness, then you may be fed in its riches. But what is it to be fed in its riches? Because "whatever a man has sown, this also he shall reap". And: "He who sows in the flesh, from the flesh shall reap corruption. But he who sows in the spirit, from the spirit shall reap eternal life". But if you inhabit your earth, and have sown it in the spirit and not in the flesh, you shall be fed in its riches, like those sheep which are said to be fed in a green place, of which the divine word says: "In a green place, there he settled me". Whence it is established that each one of us himself prepares within himself a green place, in which he is fed by the Lord, when he cultivates the fields of his soul, and, sowing in the spirit, always brings it to the gladness of spiritual cultivation.
4. "Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the petitions of your heart". It is the custom of divine Scripture to introduce two men by ὁμωνυμίᾳ, that is, to name the one from the other by likeness of the other — that is, to apply the things which are of the outer man also to the inner. But what I say is this: The outer, corporeal man feeds on corruptible foods, and those suited to him. But there is also a certain food of the inner man, of which it is said that man lives in every word of God. There is a drink of the outer man, there is another of the inner. For we drink from the spiritual rock that follows, and we drink water which, as Jesus says, "whoever drinks, shall not thirst forever". There is also a garment of the outer man, there is also a garment of the inner man. And if indeed he is a sinner, he clothes himself with cursing like a garment. But if he is righteous, he hears: "Put on the Lord Jesus Christ". And: "Put on the bowels of mercy, kindness, humility, meekness, patience". And what need is there to relate through particulars how the inner man is named by the homonymous appellations of the outer man? The outer man and the inner man have arms. He who wars according to the inner man is clothed with the arms of God, that he may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. But after many examples, let us come to what has been proposed. Let us see what is signified by that which was said: "Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the petitions of your heart". It must first be known that this which I have said in Latin, "take delight in the Lord", in the Greek is said, "take your delights in the Lord". For this is what the Greek word indicates: which is κατατρύφησον. As therefore according to the outer man it is possible not only to use foods, but also to enjoy delights, and especially those who are rich enjoy delights; so likewise the inner man can not only use foods, but also enjoy delights. Which I think comes about in this way. If anyone hears only those words which invite him to the fear of God, this man takes only food from a word of this kind. But he who gives diligence to understanding the law, to searching through the prophets, to the resolutions of the parables of the Gospel, to the explanation of the apostolic words, and who in all things gives diligence to understanding and knowledge, this man enjoys delights. For he uses the food of the commandments not only for that which suffices him for life, but takes delight in all the acknowledgment of knowledge. This is what I think is indicated in that too, in that God is said from the beginning to have planted a paradise of delights, without doubt one in which we might enjoy spiritual delights. But also elsewhere: "A torrent", he says, "of delights you will give them to drink", namely the saints. But here too I know that in the Latin copies it is wont to be held "the torrent of your pleasure", but in the Greek is held τρυφῆς, which is "of delights". But also to all the saints a contempt of corporeal delights is enjoined, and a hope of spiritual delights is promised in return. Do you wish also to receive authority of the divine Scripture concerning this? There was a certain rich man, and Lazarus a poor man; the rich man was in corporeal delights, Lazarus was wasted with hunger. Each departed from the age, and Lazarus indeed was taken up by the angels into the bosom of Abraham, that there he might rest in delights; but that one who had been in corporeal delights went off into the gehenna of fire, as it is in the Gospel, and hears from Abraham, that "you have obtained good things in your life", that is, you have abused delights, "and Lazarus evil things: but now here he rests, while you are tormented". No one can have delights both in the flesh and in the spirit. But if anyone takes delight in the flesh, like that rich man, he will lack the bosom of Abraham and its delights. But he who in the present age feeds on the bread of affliction, like that poor man, when he has departed hence, will be in delights. "Take delight" therefore "in the Lord, and he will give you the petition of your heart". But if you wish still more fully to see how one takes delight in the Lord, perceive that the Lord is truth, and is wisdom, and is righteousness, and is sanctification. If therefore you abound in the riches of truth, if you abound in the understanding of wisdom, if you are copious in the acts of righteousness, then you take delight fully and entirely in the Lord. And when you have fulfilled these things, then you will also obtain that which follows. For "the Lord will give you the petitions of your heart". Yet necessarily he added "the petitions of your heart", when he could surely have said your petitions. But thus it can be more easily understood. For if a certain proper person of each of the members be imagined — for example's sake, if the eye had a voice, would it not say: I ask for light, that I may see those things which delight me to see? For I shun to see any horror, and everything that disturbs and saddens the sight. Similarly, if the hearing received a voice, would it not say: I ask for a sound composed with measured art, a delightful sound, but I shun to hear anything harsh and terrible? So if a voice were given to taste, and to touch, all our senses without doubt would ask for those things which suited their own sense. From these therefore let us pass over to the heart, in which is the mind, and the principal understanding, and let us see what the heart desires and what it asks, just as concerning the eye or the ears and the other senses we have shown in the foregoing. According to its own nature the heart without doubt demands understanding. As the eye demands sight, so the heart requires understanding. As the ear desires a sweet sound, so the heart takes delight in wise perceptions. As taste in a sweet savor, so the heart rejoices in prudent thoughts. As smell in the sweetness of fragrance, so the heart is glad in rational pursuits. As touch in soft and gentle things, so the heart takes delight in useful and excellent counsels. If therefore you take delight in the Lord, and enjoy the abundances and delights of wisdom, and of truth, and of righteousness, the Lord will give you the petitions of your heart, suited to the delights spoken of above.
5. After these things he says: "Reveal your way to the Lord, and hope in him, and he himself will act". — "Everyone who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light lest his works be reproved. But he who does the truth comes to the light". Since therefore he who does evil hates the light, and, as far as in him lies, hiding the evils which he does, and fearing lest he be reproved, veils and covers his way, and covers his acts as with a certain veil. For example's sake, if any of you — though I would not wish there to be any such person in this assembly — yet if anyone among you, whether a catechumen, or even some one of the many faithful, is conscious to himself that he has fornicated, and conceals the offense, does not this one seem to you to hide, and to cover the way on which he walks? But he who acts chastely, and is confident of the purity of his life, does not wish to cover over his way, but wishes it to be manifest — manifest, I say, not to men, lest perhaps he receive his reward from men, but he makes it manifest to God. On this account therefore it is said, "Reveal your way to the Lord". But also if you are conscious to yourself of any evils, do not conceal them, but through exomologesis, that is, confession, reveal them to the Lord, and hope in him, and he himself will act. That is, when you have confessed, and revealed to him your offenses, hope in him that you may be able to merit pardon from him, and he himself will act. What will he do? Without doubt he will make you whole. He will say to you: "Behold, now you have been made whole, sin no more, lest something worse befall you". These things he will do, if you reveal your offenses to him. But if your way is pure, and your conscience clean, and you reveal these to him, hope in him.
6. What he will do, learn from what follows: "He will bring forth your righteousness like the light, and your judgment like noonday". Your righteousness, which you have done in secret, and have revealed only to God, this God will bring forth like the light, and will show you righteous, illumined by the sun of righteousness, to heaven and earth, and to all who are in heaven he will show the light of your righteousness, and, if it may be so said, he will boast of you as of a son, as of one who has received the spirit of adoption. He will bring forth therefore your righteousness like the light, because he who is righteous according to the commandment of the Lord does his righteousness thus, as he himself commanded, saying: "But you, when you do your righteousness, let your left hand not know what your right hand does". This righteousness therefore, which is done in such a way that it does not appear to men, nor so as to capture human glory, but is done in secret, so that the Father who sees in secret may repay openly in his own time — it is brought forth by God like light. "And your judgment like noonday". For all the judgments of the righteous man, whatever he has judged, will be not only like light, but like the noonday light, which surely is the clearest and most splendid. For the fullness of light is designated at the noonday time. If therefore you are righteous and good, God will bring forth your righteousness like the light, and your judgment like noonday. Or certainly, in judgment when your case is examined, God will make the righteousness of your case manifest like light, and the judgment which he also decides he will make manifest like noonday. Knowing these things will be so, let us beseech the mercy of God, that he may grant us to become such, that we may be held worthy, those whose light of righteousness God himself may bring forth into the midst, and our judgment like noonday clear and bright, having the true light in itself, our Lord himself, to whom be glory and dominion unto the ages of ages. Amen.