Homilies on the Psalms — Homily 3 — Psalm 36 (LXX; MT 37), Homily I: vv. 1–6
Greek source: Origen's homilies on the Psalms, preserved in a single manuscript (Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Cod. graec. 314, 12th century), from the reading text of L. Perrone et al. (eds.), Die neuen Psalmenhomilien. Eine kritische Edition des Codex Monacensis Graecus 314, Origenes Werke XIII (GCS NF 19; Berlin, 2015), pp. 113–126. Psalms are numbered as in the Septuagint. Rufinus's Latin translation of this homily is Homilies on Psalms 36–38, Homily 1. This English translation is released into the public domain.On the 36th Psalm, Homily 1
1. "In many parts and in many ways God", speaking "in the prophets", at times teaches us certain ineffable and mystical things in what is said, at other times proclaims beforehand the things concerning the Savior and his coming, and sometimes also heals our morals. As we come to each passage, we try to set forth the difference among the things said: when they are prophets and speak about things to come, when the things made known are mysteries, and where the passage is moral. And here, then, as we begin the thirty-sixth Psalm, we find that the Psalm is moral throughout. It heals our soul, reproves our sins and turns us to living according to the law.
Let us look at the first verse: "Do not provoke jealousy among evildoers, nor be jealous of those who commit lawlessness, for like grass they will quickly be dried up, and like green herbs they will quickly fall away". By these words he teaches us to do two things: first, "not" to provoke jealousy (παραζηλοῦν) "among evildoers", and second, "nor" to be jealous (ζηλοῦν) among those who commit "lawlessness". Then he says that upon the one who provokes jealousy "among evildoers" there follows his being dried up like grass, and his suffering this not slowly but "quickly". Upon the one who is jealous of "those who commit transgression" there follows his falling away like "green herbs".
We must therefore consider what the difference is between 'provoking to jealousy' (παραζηλοῦν) and 'being jealous' (ζηλοῦν). The word is not really Greek at all, nor is it worn smooth in the usage of the Greeks, either of the learned or of those who speak more plainly. Rather it seems to have been forced by the translators, who wished to render the letter of the Hebrew and to set forth, as far as is possible for human nature, the difference between 'jealousy' (ζῆλος) and 'provocation to jealousy' (παραζήλωσις). So then, in order that the unusual meaning of "Do not provoke jealousy among the evildoers" may be understood, we shall need to gather the word from many places. For in this way, "comparing spiritual things with spiritual", we shall be able to see what is indicated by "Do not provoke jealousy among evildoers". Now it is written in the song of Deuteronomy: "They provoked me to jealousy with what is not God, they provoked me to anger with their idols; and I will provoke them to jealousy with what is no nation, with a senseless nation I will provoke them to anger". And also in the Apostle: "Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?" Gathering together, then, these texts from these three, from Deuteronomy, from the Apostle and from the present Psalm, we shall find the meaning of "Do not provoke jealousy".
He, then, who stirs someone up to be jealous provokes him to jealousy. As in ordinary life (if we must take examples from what happens among men), this must be said. There are certain foul and unholy women, licentious in their choice, who, not content with the licentiousness practiced in secret, wish it to be known even to the wives of their lovers that their husbands are with them, and wish to be known for this, in order to kindle jealousy in those women against themselves and to throw other people's households into turmoil. If you have understood the example of the woman who arouses jealousy in the wife, understand that to arouse jealousy in someone and to inflame someone to jealousy, this is 'to provoke to jealousy'. That this is what is meant, he takes up again a second time from the wording of Deuteronomy: "They provoked me to jealousy with what is not God". For our God is "a jealous God", jealous in a way analogous to a husband who is jealous over his own wife because he cares for her and is concerned for her, analogous to a husband who is unwilling to put up with a licentious wife. For this reason it must be said that the one who sins has, as it were, aroused jealousy in God. But all these things must be heard in a rather improper sense, as also the things said about wrath and those about sleep, and also those about God's grief, only so that it may be understood what each of us makes God to be for himself. "They", then, "provoked me to jealousy": they stirred up jealousy in me; by worshipping what are not gods "they provoked me to jealousy". Do you see what is added? "With their idols", as if to say, they stirred me to anger by practicing idolatry. "And I will provoke them to jealousy with what is no nation". For they alone were my people Israel, and being alone they were jealous of no other people as being loved by me. So I make them jealous and will arouse jealousy in them by choosing a nation more senseless than they, giving them laws and making a covenant with them.
See whether this is not the meaning of "They provoked me to jealousy with what is not God, they provoked me to anger with their idols; and I will provoke them to jealousy with what is no nation, with a senseless nation I will provoke them to anger". And if you see a Jew who is not stirred against the Gentiles, but sees idolatry and does not hate idolatry nor keep away from them, yet is hostile to the Christian who has abandoned the idols, even though in this he is of one mind with him; when, then, you see in what way the Jew hates, in what way he plots against a Christian, understand that the prophecy has been fulfilled which says: "And I will provoke them to jealousy with what is no nation". For we are no nation. A few of us from this city have believed, and others from another; nowhere a nation. For just as the Jewish nation was a nation and the Egyptian nation was a nation, not so was the Christian nation a nation, nor is it a nation; rather they are gathered here and there from the nations. "I", then, "will provoke them to jealousy with what is no nation, with a senseless nation I will provoke them to anger". From no nation we have become a nation. The beginning of our calling came to us from no nation, but the gathering has made us become a nation. And yet those were provoked to anger whose nation has been thrust away all at once because of the coming of Christ. For the prophecy from Deuteronomy has been fulfilled. But also if the Apostle says: "Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?" (he says this in the discourse about sacrifice and about things sacrificed to idols: do we wish to provoke the Lord to jealousy by eating things sacrificed to idols, and to arouse jealousy in him as the Jews aroused jealousy in him over idolatry?): do we too wish to act in the same way? "Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?" But if we arouse jealousy in someone while we are stronger than the one who is jealous and is stirred by us to be jealous, we have little concern about what happens. If, however, we move someone stronger than ourselves to jealousy, we stir up trouble for ourselves. For instance, take the example of the woman which I used a little while ago. Let the one who provokes jealousy be the mistress of the house and rich, and the one stirred to jealousy some household servant, a poor woman. That woman, not being stronger than the one who provokes her to jealousy, even if she has been moved to jealousy, does not even look at the one who provokes her. But if someone provokes to jealousy one who is stronger, as the slave-girl her own mistress, she arouses wrath, she stirs up trouble for herself; for the mistress of the house, once provoked to jealousy, is able to avenge herself.
The Apostle, then, wishing to turn us away from eating things sacrificed to idols, says: "Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?" If we provoke him to jealousy, can we withstand his jealousy? If ever you see a man who is an evildoer, see that you do nothing to arouse his jealousy against you. For being wicked, he will not spare you if you have carelessly done such things as will make him jealous of you. For instance (if you wish again to understand what is said by an example), perhaps that blessed Abel acted unseasonably. He offered a sacrifice to God, but he provoked Cain to jealousy; he provoked him, an evildoer, to jealousy. "And", since he provoked him, an evildoer, to jealousy, "Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him". Let us look also at the story of David and Goliath, and the story of Saul. When David went out to the battle line and killed Goliath, the maidens came out and said: "David struck among his myriads, and Saul among his thousands". If David had brought this about, he himself would have been the one provoking jealousy "among evildoers", in Saul. But in fact it was not with his consent that the maidens raised the hymn and spoke thus: "David struck among his myriads, and Saul among his thousands".
For what he teaches us is something like this. The human race is ready for jealousy and is quickly roused to this passion. See that you do not do such things that the evildoer conceives jealousy against you, since he then plots against you, to kill you, to hate you, whatever evil he may allow himself against you. So what is said, "Do not provoke jealousy among evildoers, nor be jealous of those who commit lawlessness", amounts to this: neither stir up another, the evildoer, so that he rises up against you out of jealousy of you, nor be jealous yourself of those who commit lawlessness. How, then, does a man become jealous of the one who commits lawlessness? For if he commits lawlessness in accordance with it, a man is jealous of the one who commits lawlessness, either on account of certain things that come to the one who commits lawlessness or through something that happens – sometimes a person is moved to be jealous of the one who commits lawlessness. What I mean is something like this. Suppose someone grows rich through lawlessness and has changed from poverty to acquiring much. Then his neighbor, a poor man, seeing him raised from the ground as far as wealth goes, will be jealous, so that he too may become rich. He is jealous of him not insofar as he commits lawlessness, but insofar as he is rich. But upon one who is jealous of the wealth that comes from lawlessness there follows being jealous of the one who commits lawlessness, and he commits lawlessness. And we men need even so many commandments. For often, when we see someone advanced to wealth, or come to worldly glory, or someone who has made a noble marriage, we think it something remarkable. We do not see that he is rich from evil deeds, or glorified from sins, or began the marriage that is thought fine from licentiousness. And we are jealous, so that we too may marry in the same way as he did, so that we too may be entrusted with rank just like him who received rank from wickedness.
2. When, then, we do such things, we are jealous of "those who commit lawlessness". Remember that the evildoers of whom you were jealous "will quickly be dried up". If you too are jealous of them, you will quickly be dried up. And hold fast to this too: if you are jealous of "those who commit lawlessness", you will quickly fall away like green herbs. How, then, will the evildoers, whom one must not provoke to jealousy, "quickly be dried up like grass"? Listen to Isaiah teaching you to despise worldly glory and all the pleasures of the flesh. For he says: "All flesh" is as "grass, and all its glory as the flower of grass". See the glory of the flesh. Men reigned before us thirty years ago; they were glorified, their glory was like a flower, but it was quenched, it withered. Certain others grew rich, came to high positions, walked about puffed up at the promotion they had from those who promoted them. Those things passed away, because "like grass they will quickly be dried up". "All", you see, "flesh is grass, and all its glory as the flower of grass. The grass withered and the flower fell off". But you who have not been in the flower of the flesh, nor loved the flesh, but have loved the word of God and make progress in it, hear what awaits you: "but the word of God abides for ever".
He did well to compare the evildoers with grass, though he could have mentioned countless other things. And this is a good proof of it. Grass is food for cattle; in the same way the evildoers are food for men who make use of their glory, their wealth, their good fortune, for they eat them, as it were, like grass. And just as the righteous eat Paul, who is bread (for not only the Savior but Paul too – for it is written: we all are one bread; and, as it were, imitating the Savior who is bread, Paul becomes nourishing to those who hear him –), so the glorious of the world are grass to the many, and these flatter them. "Like grass", then, "they will quickly be dried up", and "like green herbs they will quickly fall away". The green herbs flower for a little while, then at once they fall. And such were those who commit lawlessness.
Since, again, "like green herbs" has been said, we wish to explain these herbs, which are different from the herbs of which the word says: "but the one who is weak eats herbs". Now the river of the Egyptians is water that comes from below and waters "like a garden of herbs". For the Egyptians are not a tree, not a vine, but the Egyptians are "green herbs, quickly" falling away. And Scripture in Exodus, in the plagues against the Egyptians, shows that the Egyptians quickly fell away like "green herbs". "Like green herbs", then, "they will quickly fall away". And since Ahab was going to plant such herbs in the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, for this reason Naboth chose to die rather than allow his vineyard to be cut down by Ahab, who said: "It will be for me a garden of herbs". And he did this as a righteous man, so as not to allow the vine to be cut down by the transgressor.
There is also in our hearts, the hearts of us who believe in God, a vine, and a vineyard that is "on a horn, in a fertile place", and it is said to those who have heard divine words: "I planted you a fruitful vine, wholly true". So Ahab comes, seeking to cut down this vineyard and to plant Egyptian herbs there. But let us imitate Naboth the Jezreelite, and rather die than allow the true vines to be cut down from the fields of our soul; for the fields of the soul of the righteous have a blessed vine. Therefore it is said to Jacob by Isaac: "Behold, the smell of my son is as the smell of a full field which the Lord has blessed. And God will give you of the dew of heaven and of the fatness of the earth abundance of grain and wine". It is good, then, to have vines, and to dig a wine vat and make a winepress within, and to gather grapes from the vines and press the grape and drink wine from the vineyards of Sorek, so that we may say: "Your inebriating cup, how excellent it is".
3. Here, then, it is said that those who commit lawlessness "like green herbs will quickly fall away". And after this, when he has said what one must not do (for do not engage in provoking jealousy "among evildoers, nor be jealous of those who commit lawlessness"), then he says what one must do: "Hope in the Lord and do kindness". Do not stir things up so as to cause jealousy in evildoers. Do not do such things that, being jealous of those who commit lawlessness, you are dried up. Rather, hope in the Lord and despise glory, wealth and worldly goods. "Hope in the Lord"; and if you hope in the Lord, do not have another hope, but hope from doing kindness.
"Hope in the Lord and do kindness". And what is kindness? It is one of the fruits of the Spirit, as the Apostle taught, saying: "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness". "Do", then, "kindness", as if he were saying to a field: produce this fruit and produce that one. So to you, the hearer of the divine teachings, the word speaks as to a field: "Do kindness, and dwell in the land, and you will be pastured on its wealth". Do not become like grass that dries up, do not become like the herb that will fall away, but "hope in the Lord and do kindness and dwell in the land". What land? The seed "fell upon the good land". "Dwell in the land": become a tiller of the land, as Noah planted a vineyard; till the land that is in you, "and you will be pastured on its wealth". This is not so that you should dwell in such land as this; for God does not wish one to grow rich from the fruit of this land. Rather, he said that my soul, if it is fine and good, is good land. For what falls into "fine land" bears fruit. He says, then: "Dwell in the land": always spend your time on your field and live around your own land, so that you may be pastured "in its wealth", because "whatever a man sows, that he will also reap; for the one who sows to the flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life". If, then, you dwell in the land, "you will be pastured in its wealth". The sheep that are pastured are pastured in the green grass, of which it is said: "In a place of green grass, there he made me dwell". In the same way you too, if you pay attention to it, "will be pastured in the wealth" of your land, so that each of us may be pastured from what he has prepared and cultivated.
4. "Delight in the Lord, and may he give you the requests of your heart". It is the custom of Scripture to introduce two men and to make the things of each homonymous with those of the other man. I mean that the things of the worse are also found in the case of the better, and the better has almost all the things that the worse has. For the worse, this bodily one, eats; but there is also a food of the inner man, about which it is said: "Not on bread alone shall man live, but on every word that proceeds through the mouth of God shall man live". There is also a drink of the inner man, for we drink "from the spiritual rock that follows", and we drink the spiritual and holy water. There is a garment of the outer man, and there is also a garment of the inner man. For if he is a sinner, "he put on a curse like a cloak"; but if he is righteous, he hears: "Put on the Lord Jesus Christ" and "Put on bowels of compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, long-suffering". And why must I say in what way the things of the inner man are homonymous with those of the outer? The soldier according to the outer man has full armor, and the soldier according to the inner man will put on the full armor of God so as to be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
After many examples, then, let us come to the matter before us, in order to see what is indicated by "Delight in the Lord and he will give you the requests of your heart". As regards the outer man, it is possible only to be nourished (τραφῆναι) and not also to delight (τρυφῆσαι); it is also possible to delight, and the rich do delight. So also as regards the inner man, it is possible only to be nourished, and it is possible also to delight. For the one who only hears words of exhortation is nourished. But the one who gives himself to the interpretation of the law, the explanation of the prophets, the solving of the gospel parables, the clarification of the apostolic words, the one who gives himself to these, delights in the Lord and eats not out of necessity nor merely for nourishment. He teaches us, then, to delight in the Lord. For indeed God, wishing from the beginning that we should delight spiritually, planted the paradise of delight and granted "the torrent of delight", about which he says: "You will give them drink". And delight is laid up for those who have lived well: if you have despised bodily delight, you will receive spiritual delight. If you wish, be persuaded about this from Scripture. There were a certain rich man and a poor man at the same time. The rich man delighted bodily; the poor man did not delight bodily but passed his life in misery. The poor man who did not delight departed to the bosom of Abraham, to delight, and he was at rest. The one who delighted departed and went away into the gehenna of fire, as it is written in the gospel. For the one who delights according to the flesh has received his good things in full. No one can delight both in flesh and in spirit. If he delighted in the flesh, like the rich man, he will be deprived of the delight with Abraham. But if he did not delight, but kept the feast eating "the bread of affliction", like the poor man, he delights there after his departure from here. "Delight", then, "in the Lord, and he will give you the requests of your heart". And you will understand "Delight in the Lord" still more clearly if you look at the Lord and understand that the Lord is righteousness, the Lord is truth, the Lord is wisdom, the Lord is sanctification. If, then, you delight in the contemplations of wisdom, if you delight in the deeds of righteousness, you have fulfilled the commandment that says: "Delight in the Lord". And having fulfilled this commandment, you will receive what follows too, and "God will give you the requests of your heart". Of necessity he added this, not saying simply "your requests" but "the requests of your heart". You will understand what is said if you personify each of the members and see how it asks according to nature. The eye, at any rate, if it had a voice, would say to you: "I ask for light, I ask to see colors suited to me and pleasing to me; I flee from seeing colors that confuse me and do not allow me to see". If hearing had a voice, it would say: "I ask for a melodious sound, a sweet sound; the harsh sound, which does not please me, I do not ask for, but I flee it". So too, if taste had a voice, it would say: "I ask for sweet things, I flee bitter things, I flee things that do not please me but pain me". So also touch, if it had a voice, would say: "I ask to touch smooth things, to touch soft things, to touch gentle things; I no longer ask to touch fire, nor rough things and things that prick". How long, then, am I to give examples? If you understand that for each of the senses there is a request suited to it and an avoidance suited to its constitution, look at the heart, where your mind is, where the ruling faculty is, so that you may see what happens to you in the heart and what the heart asks for. As the eye asks for light, as smell for fragrance, as hearing for melody, so the heart, the mind, asks for thoughts, asks for things of the understanding, asks for things of insight. If, then, you delight "in the Lord, God will give you the requests of your heart".
5. Next after this he says: "Reveal your way to the Lord, and hope in him, and he will bring it about". "Everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works be exposed; but the one who does the truth comes to the light". Since, then, the one who does evil hates the light and, as far as depends on him, hides what he does, the one who does evil, so as not to be exposed, covers up his way and, as it were, lays a covering over it. For instance, if any of you has seen someone in this assembly to be such, if any one of you, one somewhere among the catechumens and one somewhere among those of little faith, is conscious of having committed fornication and wishes the fornication not to be known, does he cover up his way or reveal it? It is plain that he covers up the way which he has traveled. But the one who has lived chastely and is confident in having lived well does not wish to cover his way, but wishes to make it manifest; but "to make" it "manifest", "not to men", so as not to have received his "reward" in full from men, but to make it manifest to God. Therefore it is said: "Reveal your way to the Lord", not simply "Reveal your way". So even if you are conscious of evil things in yourself, do not hide them by not confessing. Rather, having confessed, "reveal your way to the Lord, and hope in him, and he will bring about" what follows, and he will heal you of the wounds which you have inflicted on yourself by your sin.
6. If you reveal your way to the Lord and hope in him, consider what he will do for you: "He will bring forth your righteousness as light, and your judgment as noonday". Your righteousness, done by you in secret but revealed to God, God "will bring forth as light". He will present you righteous, illuminated by the light of righteousness, and he will display the light of your righteousness to the heavenly beings. If one may put it so, he will boast of you and say: "The righteousness of my son, who received my 'Spirit' of 'adoption', is light. This light was hidden, since the one who did righteousness was not vainglorious, and, not being vainglorious, he hid his righteousness, revealing his way to me. But I bring forth and make manifest the work of righteousness of my son, and I also make his 'judgment as noonday'". For everything that the righteous man has judged becomes not simply as light, but as the light of noon. The light of noon is abundant, and while the sun gives light from dawn until evening, its fullest light is the light of noon. If, then, you become fine and good, God "will bring forth your righteousness as light, and your judgment as noonday". Or: he will bring forth the judgment about you that is according to righteousness, and the judgment which he holds about you he will bring forth as noonday. Having understood these things, let us beseech God to help us to become such that by God himself there may be brought forth, as "light, the righteousness" that is ours, and that the "judgment" from him concerning us may become "as noonday", a bright and full light, in Christ Jesus, to whom belong the glory and the might to the ages of ages. Amen.