Homilies on Psalms 36–38 — Homily 5 — Psalm 36, Homily V — from "Os iusti meditabitur sapientiam"
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 same psalm, from the passage "The mouth of the righteous shall meditate wisdom".
1. The Law, indeed, wishing us to open our mouth to the word of God, commanded, saying: "You shall speak", it says, "these things sitting in your house, and going by the way, and lying down, and rising up". But Solomon too in the Proverbs marks out something similar in a brief admonition, saying: "Open your mouth to the word of God". In like manner now also the Prophet teaches us, when he says: "The mouth of the righteous shall meditate wisdom". For truly nothing else ought to proceed from the mouth of the righteous except wisdom. Wherefore you also, whoever of you are the less instructed among the brethren, hearing the word of the Prophet, give diligence and take care, along with the works of righteousness, to bring forth also from your mouth the word of wisdom. And that this precept may not seem difficult to you, I will suggest to you a brief word of wisdom. The Apostle says that Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. If therefore you always speak of Christ, if you always meditate upon his words, if you hold his precepts in your mouth, worthily will your mouth meditate wisdom. For this is not the only meditation of wisdom, if one is able to teach, or to dispute more broadly in the Church, or to refute those who contradict. This too is indeed a work of wisdom, but one man does more, another less. In one man, this very fact that he believes the wisdom of God is reckoned as wisdom; in another, this too, that he acquiesces to the wise and loves the sayings of the wise, is called wisdom; and in some, even merely to inquire about wisdom is reckoned as wisdom. Only observe this one thing, brethren, that none of you be found not only not to speak nor meditate wisdom, but even to hate and to oppose those who bear a zeal for wisdom. For the unlearned are wont to have, together with their other faults, also this worst one, that they think those who have given their labor to the word and to teaching to be empty and superfluous, and they embrace their own ignorance more than the studies and labor of those others; and, changing the names, they call the exercises of those men wordiness, but their own indocility or ignorance they call simplicity. Yet the best of all is he who proves wisdom by works, and who knows himself to be wise by the uprightness of his life. Blessed therefore is he who opens his mouth to the word of God, and, advancing in age according to Christ, shall advance also in wisdom. Certainly, if we cannot advance further in wisdom, let it at least not weary us to observe this: to open our mouth more frequently in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs and in prayer or in the honor of God. For this too is no small meditation of wisdom, so that through it the mouth of the righteous may be found always to meditate wisdom. Yet it does not seem to me idle that he did not say, the mouth of the righteous meditates wisdom, which could at any rate look to the present time, but he said, "shall meditate wisdom"; which without doubt looks to the future time, in which too all the other interpreters, except one, agree. Lest therefore perhaps this tense designate something mystical, by which, namely, there is indicated some such future hope of the promise to come, and of grace, and of the inheritance, that the mouth of the righteous be filled not with food and drink, nor with delights and pleasures, not with feeding upon banquets, but with meditating wisdom. For beyond, there will not be anyone unlearned in the kingdom of God, none will remain indocile, none will be a stranger to the knowledge of things; we shall all be made, if only we shall be worthy, disciples of wisdom. If anyone placed here is imbued and instructed in those things which, placed in the flesh, he is able to attain, there, now illumined by more perfect disciplines, even those things which here were sought by study and labor will come to serve as an abridgment for the instruction to come. But he who here has not yet laid down the first rudiments, but still speaks as a little child and understands as a little child, there too shall be instructed as a little child, so that, having at length become a man through the advances of wisdom, he may lay aside the things that are of a little child. Or does not the Law also designate something of this kind, if it be understood spiritually, when it says: "You shall speak of them sitting at home, and going by the way, and lying down, and rising up"? Which we can understand thus: sitting at home and lying down, when in the Church, which is the house of God, we speak the word of God, being, namely, placed in this body; going by the way, in that way which says: "I am the way", we speak the word of God; and rising up, when we shall have risen from the sleep of death in the resurrection, then we speak those things which are perfect, rising up from the sleep of death, as Solomon too says of him who has made wisdom his friend and familiar, that "if you sit down, you shall be without fear, and if you sleep, you shall gladly take your sleep, and you shall not fear the terror that comes upon you, nor the assaults of the impious rushing upon you". Let these things suffice concerning that which is written: "The mouth of the righteous shall meditate wisdom", to which is added: "And his tongue shall speak judgment".
2. In a twofold manner is the tongue of the righteous understood to speak judgment: either for the reason that he speaks all the things he speaks with right judgment, and with deliberation and with counsel, and nothing through wrath, nothing to please men, nothing out of sadness, nothing out of fear — which things severally are wont, at any rate, not to preserve for men an intact judgment; or certainly because the righteous always speaks of the judgment to come, so as always to admonish either himself or those who hear him concerning the fear of the judgment to come, and concerning the punishments that have been prepared for sinners, concerning the future examination, but also concerning the promises of the saints which have been prepared for them by God — and so that he may both save himself and those who hear him. And in this manner will it be fulfilled that the tongue of the righteous shall speak judgment. But if it is fitting here too to observe the inflection of the future tense — since he did not say, speaks, but "shall speak" — we can also understand in this something of this kind: that now, however much it is that we can either speak or feel concerning the judgment of God, it is necessary for us to know that which the Apostle defines, saying: "How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!" But if we shall be able to arrive at that perfection of which he says: "But then face to face", that is, when the things themselves shall become more evident to us, when we shall have begun to recognize the reason of each single thing which in this world either has been done or is being done — with what judgment they have been done, or what judgment God uses in each single case, by what dispensations of his providence; if anyone shall have been worthy to consider and to perceive how the judgments of God are a great deep; when we shall be able more fully to receive the grace of that Spirit which searches all things, even the deep things of God — then truly and completely, according to the distinction of the prophetic word, will the tongue of the righteous speak the judgments of God.
3. "The law of his God is in his heart". Not only in his mouth will the righteous meditate wisdom, and with his tongue speak judgment, but in his heart also he bears the law of God; for the law, set like a certain root in the depth of the heart, germinates words of righteousness, words of holiness, which the righteous man brings forth from his heart — and not only word, but also acts and deeds. The Jews almost unceasingly meditate the law of God with their mouth and their lips, but they do not have it fixed in the depth of the heart, and therefore it is said to them: "This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me". We therefore, if according to what we read we meditate wisdom with our mouth, and with our tongue speak judgment, and the law of God be in our hearts, shall obtain that which follows: "And his steps shall not be supplanted". I think we remember those things which a while ago we discussed concerning the steps, and it is needful for us to call to memory what was said, that we may see how certain persons, as they walk, are supplanted and their steps are poured out. But if you keep these things in memory and retain them more diligently, you ought to know that if you meditate the wisdom of God in your mouth, and your tongue speaks judgment, and the law of God be in your hearts, your steps shall never be supplanted.
4. After these things he says: "The sinner considers", he says, "the righteous". The sinner considers and gazes upon the righteous, and it is grievous to him to behold, and therefore he considers him in order to deliver him to death: which those men without doubt did against the Savior who slew the prophets, and crucified God, and have persecuted us even now; and the people of God which is Christ's, that is, the disciples of righteousness, they consider and desire to deliver to death, and they seek to put them to death. But what does the righteous people of God and disciple of righteousness say? It uses the word of the Master, and says: "You would have no power over me, unless it were given you from above". This can also be fitted, in the time of the persecution of the Gentiles, to the holy martyrs and confessors. For the impious persecutors consider each single one of the righteous and seek to put him to death. But lest such an exposition make you unconcerned in a time of peace, remember that the righteous has a daily persecutor, the devil, and it is he who considers the righteous. For he lies in wait always, and like a roaring lion goes about seeking whom he may devour. But if you are full of faith and trust in the Lord, see what is promised: "But the Lord will not leave him in his hands", namely those of the sinner, "nor condemn him when he shall be judged with him". He understands this which he says, "when he shall be judged with him", in two ways: that is, either when the righteous is judged by God, or when God himself is judged together with the righteous. For frequently divine Scripture teaches that these things come to pass, saying that "the Lord himself will come into judgment". When therefore the righteous shall be judged together with the Lord, he shall not be condemned, and therefore he says: "Wait for the Lord"; that is, if you are afflicted, if you are in straits, if you are in persecutions, "wait for the Lord, and keep his way", and turn aside neither to the right hand nor to the left. For if you wait for the Lord without turning aside, you shall obtain that which follows: "And he will exalt you", he says, "that you may inherit the earth". Frequently have we spoken concerning the holy earth, and concerning the earth which is named as the inheritance of the heavenly promises, whose nature — even its situation — is designated a little more evidently in this verse. For this earth in which we now live is said to be below, according to that which is written: "But God is in heaven above, and you upon the earth below". But that earth which is promised to the righteous as an inheritance is promised to be not below, but above. Therefore to him who waits for the Lord and keeps his way, the word of the promise says: "He will exalt you, that you may inherit the earth". For unless one be exalted and ascend on high and be made heavenly, he cannot attain the inheritance of that earth. Whence I judge that, just as of this heaven — that is, of the firmament — the lower ground alone, this dry land in which we dwell, is called its earth: so also of that higher heaven which is principally called heaven, the lower ground in which those heavenly inhabitants dwell, and, so to speak, the very back of this firmament, deservedly, as I said, is called the earth of that heaven — but a good earth, a holy earth, a great earth, an earth of the living, an earth flowing with milk and honey; and therefore now the divine word says: "He will exalt you, that you may inherit the earth".
5. "When the sinners shall have perished, you shall see". Perhaps this will be first, that the righteous may see the sinners and the impious condemned. For to sinners first are decreed penalties and punishments: and when the righteous shall have seen these, and shall have recognized what difference there is between a good life and an evil one, and shall have understood from what great evils they have escaped by living well — so that those who are in punishments, seeing them in glory, say: "We fools thought their life madness" — after therefore they shall have seen how the sinners perish, then they themselves shall be exalted and borne up to heaven that they may inherit the earth. Now the word admonishes and applies a solace to this matter which frequently enough beats upon the heart of almost all men. For, because frequently we who are weak, seeing certain wicked and impious men passing their life in this world with all felicity and flourishing in prosperous successes, abounding in riches, honors, rejoicing in fruitful and entire offspring, floating in delights — we are scandalized and say in our hearts: Where is the justice of God? If things were governed by divine providence, would God permit this wicked and impious man to ascend to so great a felicity? Therefore now on this account the divine word says, in the person of the righteous: "I saw the impious" not only exalted, but "super-exalted and lifted up", not above trees of any kind whatever, but "above the cedars of Lebanon": so that the tree is exceedingly lofty, and the place upon the mountain higher than all; and yet, seeing all these things, "I passed by", he says, "and behold, he was not". What do you suppose that is which the righteous passes by, that this elevation may cease? If you remember, in the passages above, when we said that Moses passed over to see the great vision, you can also now know what it is that the righteous is said to pass by. When we see the impious exalted and growing into excessive pride, let us too pass over, in mind and understanding, from these things which are seen and are temporal, and let us transfer our sense to those things which are not seen and are eternal. Let us consider that these things which are seen exalted are temporal and of a few days. Let us gaze upon the day of judgment, and thus with our sense we shall discern that this man who is super-exalted and lifted up like a cedar of Lebanon, in the day of judgment shall be altogether not. For he who is not a partaker of Him who always is — that is, of Him who said: "I am who I am" — this man is said not even to be. And so sinners are not reckoned to be. Whence the Apostle too, concerning the calling of the Gentiles, said: "God has chosen the things that are not, that he may destroy the things that are". And in the book of Esther it is said: "Do not deliver, O Lord, your sceptre to those who are not". So long therefore as anyone admires the proud in their elevation, so long as anyone flatters sinners and the proud, it is certain that he does not pass over nor has he seen the things that are not, but that he remains in this present state, and on that account admires in them the present glory. But if he passes over in that manner which we said above — that is, in mind and sense transcends from things present and temporal to things future and everlasting — then truly he says of him whom he had seen lifted up like the cedars of Lebanon, that "I passed by, and behold, he was not"; since even heaven itself and earth shall pass away. With God all things which are to come are already held as done. Thus he said: "They gave gall for my food", which without doubt was still to come, and yet was said to be already done. "In my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink", and he did not say: they will give to drink. Thus therefore with God the things which are to come are already said to be done. But if you too are an imitator of God, and you imitate Christ, you do not wait until this exalted man be humbled and extinguished, but with yourself and in your mind and soul you already discern those things to have passed away, if you yourself in sense and mind pass over from things present to things future. Take also an example for these things which we say. If you are sailing, placed in the ship you see lands and promontories and mountains passing by: not that they are continually moved, but because you, while the favorable wind blows, pass by, and they seem to withdraw and be borne away; so also in this, therefore, if — with the Holy Spirit breathing and blowing upon your mind — you sail with a favorable and prosperous course, you pass through in your sense all these things which are seen, because they are temporal, and you gaze upon those things which are eternal; without doubt you say that all these things which are seen already are not, because they are not even to come. "I saw" therefore "the impious super-exalted and lifted up above the cedars of Lebanon, and I passed by, and behold, he was not". Something further still moves me in this place. For I see also another impious one who is exalted above the cedars of Lebanon and lifted up. For when heretics feign for themselves some other God above God the Creator, and are exalted and lifted up in a word of falsehood, denying that God the Creator of all things is a good God, they are lifted up by their impious preachings above the cedars of Lebanon — that is, standing out among the adversary powers, by whose inspiration they have contrived such fabrications against God the Creator of all things, for the reason that, understanding the law only according to the letter, and being ignorant that it is spiritual, they were deceived in their thoughts. These men, therefore, if I see and pass by, they will no longer be. What do I pass by? If I pass by the letter, if I pass beyond the surface of the history, and arrive at the spiritual sense — since the law is spiritual — if I explain spiritually all those things in which they err and are deceived, their impious and iniquitous doctrines will no longer be. And thus it will be fulfilled that the impious man, exalted and lifted up, as I pass by will no longer be. But also, when his place is sought, it is not found. The place of the impious doctrine is the letter of the law, which letter kills. When therefore we pass over from the letter that kills to the spirit that gives life, not even the place of the impious doctrine, when the letter is repudiated, can be found. But how do we seek it? When we dispute against them and inquire together with one another, then we seek the place of that doctrine in the letter of the law of the history, and it is shown that, according to the history, it cannot stand: the letter being removed and cast off, nowhere at all, when we seek and discuss, is the place of the impious doctrine found.
6. "Keep innocence, and behold equity". The word of God commands us to keep innocence. To such a degree has the corruption of morals advanced among men, that among very many innocence is judged as folly: but Scripture judges this to be the work of the highest virtue, because it judges that to be innocence which harms no one, injures no one. When therefore he says: "Keep innocence", this is what he commands us to observe, that we injure no one, harm no one. And this we obtain if always, with an intent and vigilant mind, we behold equity. Equity therefore in this place I take thus, as truth, as righteousness, as life, which is Christ. For by beholding these things, we shall at the same time also behold God. "Keep" therefore "innocence, and behold equity, for there are remnants for the peaceable man". I ask what these remnants are which are reserved for the peaceable man? We are wont to speak of remnants when the spirit is separated from the body, as though, the greater part of the man being reckoned in the spirit, the part of the body that remains over is named the remnants. If therefore we believe the words of the Apostle, saying that the body "is sown in corruption", namely at the time of death, "and shall rise in incorruption", when the time of the resurrection shall have come, when this corruptible also shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then there shall be remnants for the peaceable man. But there the remnants of the peaceable man shall be in peace and in rest. For the Lord too says of the peaceable, that they also "shall be called sons of God". "Father, I will that where I am, these too may be with me". There are therefore, with Christ, the remnants of the peaceable man.
7. "But the iniquitous shall be exterminated together", that is, all alike shall be exterminated, because there shall be one end for them, Gehenna. "The remnants of the impious shall perish", then when he who has the power shall give over both body and soul, destroyed, into Gehenna. "But the salvation of the righteous is from the Lord". But better does it say in the Greek: "But the salvation of the righteous is with the Lord". He did not say, in heaven is the salvation of the righteous, for this too passes away; not with any creature, because nothing is immovable or unchangeable: but with the Lord is the salvation of the righteous, who always remains, is always the same, is always immovable, nor anywhere can the salvation of man be more securely than with the Lord. Let that be for me the place, that for me the house, that for me the dwelling, that the rest, that the habitation. In fine, there is announced to us by holy Scripture not only the kingdom of heaven, but the kingdom of God. As I remember myself to have often said already, the kingdom of heaven is of those who are still in their advances; but the kingdom of God, of those who have already come to the perfect end. Whence now also the salvation of the righteous is said to be with God, when, at any rate, by the perfection of life he shall have deserved to arrive even unto the Lord himself. "And he is a protector in the time of tribulation". What is the time of tribulation, except this in which we are, when we walk through the strait and narrow way that leads to life? If indeed we walk through the narrow way that leads to life, and not through that broad and spacious one which is widened by riches and dissolved by luxury, which grows soft in the pleasures of the flesh, which loves present glory. Of these the protector is not God, but Mammon: but of those who are in tribulation and straits, God is the protector, because many are the tribulations of the righteous. For they are troubled, considering the time of judgment and examining themselves, lest perchance something be found in them that may be called to fault. Those therefore who on this account are troubled and anxious, God will be their protector in the time of tribulation, in the time of judgment, when the impious shall be delivered to punishments: then the Lord will both help them in the time of tribulation, and deliver them, and take them away from sinners — not only from sinful men, but also from the contrary powers, or certainly at that time when the soul is separated from the body, and there meet it the sinful demons, the adverse powers, the spirits of this air, who wish to detain it and recall it to themselves if they shall have recognized in it anything of their own works and deeds. For to each soul as it goes forth from this world there comes the prince of this world, and the aerial powers, and they inquire whether they may find in it anything of their own; if they shall have found avarice, it belongs to their part; if wrath, if luxury, if envy, and each single one of the things like these, if they shall have found it, it belongs to their part, and they claim it for themselves, and drag it to themselves, and turn it aside to the portion of sinners. But if anyone has imitated Him who said: "Behold, the prince of this world will come, and in me he has nothing", if anyone has so guarded himself, these sinners indeed come, and, seeking in him the things that are theirs, and not finding them, they will nevertheless attempt violently to wrench him aside to their part, but the Lord will deliver him from sinners. And perhaps on this account we are bidden, with a certain mystery, to ask also in prayer, saying: "But deliver us from evil". But the cause by which the Lord delivers his righteous ones from sinners — whether in the time of departure, or in the time of judgment, when that day shall have come which, according to the Prophet, is a day of necessity and of straitness, a day of darkness and of destruction, the day of judgment — then therefore he subjoins the cause by which they deserve to be delivered, and says, that "they hoped in him". Hoping therefore in himself, he will deliver them both from tribulation and from necessity. But how one ought to hope, I wish to show you from the holy Scriptures. Just as "no one can serve two masters", so no one can hope in two masters. No one can hope in the uncertainty of riches, and in the Lord. No one can hope in princes, and in God. No one can hope in the strength of a horse, and in Him. No one can hope in the world, and in God. For unless you hope in God alone, and God see that your hope has been turned unto the world eternal, and that you bear no other hope at all except in Him who gives life to the dead, and calls the things that are not as though they were, you will not be able to be delivered from sinners. For He alone is the one who saves those who hope in Him, through Christ our Lord, to whom is glory and power unto the ages of ages. Amen.