Homilies on the Psalms — Homily 4 — Psalm 36 (LXX; MT 37), Homily II: vv. 7–14
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. 127–138. Psalms are numbered as in the Septuagint. Rufinus's Latin translation of this homily is Homilies on Psalms 36–38, Homily 2. This English translation is released into the public domain.Homily 2 of the Thirty-Sixth Psalm
1. Since the Word commands and says, "Be subject to the Lord", it is necessary to unfold and to set forth by reason who is the one who is subject to the Lord, and who is the one who is not subject to him. Just as, then, "not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter into the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven", so not everyone who says that he is subject to the Lord, and says it so far as the voice goes, actually does this: being truly subject to the Lord is recognized by works.
You will understand what is said if you attend to the conceptions concerning the Lord. The Lord Jesus Christ is righteousness; no one who acts unjustly is subject to Christ, who is righteousness. The Lord Christ is truth; no one who lies or holds false doctrines is subject to Christ, who is truth. The Lord Christ is sanctification; no one who is himself profane and defiled is subject to Christ, who is sanctification. The Lord Christ is peace; no one who is warlike and a maker of war is subject to Christ, who is peace, since he is unable to say the words, "With those who hated peace I was peaceable". For this reason also in another psalm, having understood this, the prophet says to his own soul, "But be subject to God, my soul, for with him is my patience".
But the language of subjection does not mean this here while meaning something unlike it in other passages. When, then, you read in the Apostle, "When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself also will be subjected to him who subjected all things to him", hear him: "But when all things are subjected to him" in a way worthy of subjection to Christ. At some time, then, all things must be subjected to Christ, so that, with all things subjected, he may bring all things to the Father as a gift and may then be subjected. For indeed, if something of this sort is not understood in the passage, then what is understood by those who do not grasp what is written is impious. "For when", he says, "all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will be subjected to him who subjected all things to him". And one of those who have not understood this passage will say: if the Son will be subjected to the Father only when all things are subjected to him, is the Son, then, not subject to the Father? And do we pray to be subject without any delay to the Word of God, while he has never been subject? But see his great love for humankind and his kindness: he does not even reckon himself to have been subjected so long as there is anything not subjected to the Father. He counts himself among those who are subjected, and dares to say, "I have been subjected to God," only when he presents all things subjected to the Word.
No one, then, who sins is subject to the Lord. For indeed we too, at the time of sin, are insubordinate to the Lord and subject to Satan, and so we sin. The divine Word promises that a spirit "of power and of love and of self-control" comes to be in the righteous. But there is something opposed to power, and opposed to love, and opposed to self-control; whoever has the opposites is not subject to the Lord. The opposite of power is powerlessness and weakness, the opposite of love is hatred, the opposite of self-control is licentiousness. No one, then, who has any of the opposites of the goods just named is subject to the Lord. Rather, at the time of impurity a person is subject to the spirit of fornication, having given up being subject to the spirit of self-control; nor, at the time of hatred, when speaking words of wrath or of desire and anger, is anyone subject to the spirit of meekness. For this reason, seeing that our whole life is a contest over subjection, whether in Christ or to the things opposed to Christ, let us try to contend by prayers and by words and in every way, so that we may never be subject to the devil and to wickedness, but that every action and every word and every thought of yours may bear the marks of subjection to the Son of God.
But let it be granted that I have been subjected to the Lord: what do I do about my former deeds? In former times I was not subject to the Lord, when I was sinning. Now that I have been subjected, I entreat and supplicate God concerning the sins committed before. One must not entreat about sins before having been subjected to the Lord and having withdrawn from sin, for to ask forgiveness of sins while still in sin is utterly unreasonable. I remember having often said that a prayer for the remission of sins is fitting when the one who prays, having long since withdrawn from sin, is able to say, "Do not remember our acts of lawlessness of old". First, then, "be subject to the Lord", and, having been subjected and no longer sinning, "supplicate him" concerning what is past.
2. "Do not provoke jealousy over the one who prospers in his way, over a man who commits transgression". He depicts what happens to human beings. For often, if we see an unjust man prospering and enjoying what is reckoned good fortune in life, we are in danger of being scandalized by the transgression and of saying: "What profit is there in being righteous? The righteous are afflicted; this man, though unjust, is fortunate; this man, though unjust, is rich, is glorified, has great power. Is it then better to be unjust than to be righteous?" Souls that are rotten in their faith say these things about men who prosper in their way while committing transgression.
When, then, these things happen and are said about those who transgress and prosper in their lawless deeds, provocations to jealousy arise, at times of that man himself, at other times perhaps even of the divine; for there arises also a jealousy of the divine, according to what is said in the Apostle and according to what is said in the great song of Deuteronomy, that "they provoked me to jealousy with what is not God". It can happen, then, that the Lord is provoked to jealousy by us. Let us not stir up God by blaspheming; rather, we must reckon that this age belongs to those who have no other hope. Let them be fortunate in it, and let them have the things reckoned good. But this age is not ours; we are sailing to another age of life, and our hope lies next after this age. And it is not possible to have the good things both in this age and in that one. For if someone has them in this one, he will hear there, while he is being punished: "You have received 'your good things in your life'." If someone does not have good things here, he will hear in that age that he received his evil things. Therefore he is comforted here, like Lazarus. "Do not provoke jealousy", then, "over the one who prospers in his way, over a man who commits transgression".
3. Then the Word teaches about the passion that disturbs not some people while sparing others, but, I venture to say, all human beings except the perfect man, if a perfect man is found anywhere, and it says: "Cease from wrath and forsake anger". For some of the passions do not befall many; indeed even ordinary people have cast them off. For instance, many works of licentiousness are cured even by worthless men, and those who are making progress have cast them off; and so too with many of the works of avarice, so that one can find someone who is not perfect but is free from love of money. The same can be said of other vices. But this foul passion, wrath, inflames even those who seem to be prudent. Therefore Solomon says in Proverbs: "Wrath destroys even the prudent". Do not marvel, he says, if wrath inflames the foolish man, the wicked man, the unbelieving man; for often wrath stirs even the man who is already prudent. And this too is a sin of those who bring to the building "wood, hay, stubble". Of necessity one will "cease from wrath" at that fire of which it is written, "The fire itself will test". It is altogether clear that it will wait until the wood of wrath, the hay of anger and the stubble of the words that come from such passions have been burned up. "Cease", then, "from wrath and forsake anger": that is, do not give it full play and do not be moved by it, but forsake it. But we, despising what is said, forsake meekness and do not forsake anger. Let us begin even from Deuteronomy, so that, being angry little by little, only a little, we may come even to this; being moved by anger to be angry only for a little, we may arrive even at not being disturbed by it at all. "Do not provoke jealousy", then, "so as to act wickedly": do not move anyone to jealousy in such a way that you sin and act wickedly by moving another to jealousy.
4. "For those who act wickedly will be utterly destroyed, but those who wait patiently for the Lord, they will inherit the earth". It is evident in whom wickedness is found. Wickedness is an evil of its own, distinct from the other sins; hence the Word admirably called the sinner one thing and the wicked man another: "Break the arm of the sinner and wicked man". And it did not call the devil simply "sinner" but "wicked one"; for the Savior, when teaching us to pray, says that in the prayer we must also say, "Deliver us from the wicked one". Some have defined wickedness, not ignobly, as voluntary evildoing. For it is one thing to do evil through ignorance, another to do it as though overcome, and another to will this very thing, to do evil; and this is wickedness, on account of which that one too is called wicked. Reproaching us, then, the Savior says: "If then you, being wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children". And, according to God in Genesis, the heart of human beings is intent "on wicked things all the days". But "those who act wickedly will be utterly destroyed, but those who wait patiently for the Lord, they will inherit earth": there is another earth, which some call the counter-earth. That is the earth which, according to the Scriptures, is good, flowing with milk and honey, which the Savior promises to the meek when he says, "Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth". This one here is not earth but "dry land", just as again, compared with a certain heaven, this one is not heaven but "firmament". For God knows the difference between firmament and heaven or heavens, and the difference between dry land and earth. We hasten, then, toward the promise of a true heaven, not of what is heaven in name but in truth a firmament; nor of what is earth in name but in truth dry land.
Who will inherit earth? "Those who wait patiently for the Lord". We wait patiently for the Lord, who is perhaps also patience. For it is written: "And now what is my patience? Is it not the Lord?" And just as the Savior is wisdom, and is also Word, is peace, is righteousness, so he is also patience. By participation in him we become righteous, by participation in him we are at peace, by participation in him we become wise; so also by participation in him we wait patiently. Let us, then, have participation in the whole of Christ who saves, from whom we can draw and receive patience and righteousness and wisdom and all the things that, according to the Scriptures, the Christ of God is said to be. Here, then, he says: "But those who wait patiently for the Lord, they will inherit earth".
5. Then he goes on to add a mystery that is beyond my hearing, beyond my tongue, beyond my mind. And he says something either about all sinners or about one sinner. Therefore the sinner is also spoken of in the singular: "And yet a little while and the sinner will not be". For short is the time from the present to the consummation, and to the fire that after the consummation punishes sinners, which will bring it about that there is no longer a sinner. How is there no longer to be a sinner? Let whoever is able examine it.
Nevertheless, "yet a little while and the sinner will not be, and you will seek his place and will not find it". Not only will the sinner not exist, but not even the place of the sinner will exist. And what is the place of the sinner? The things that pass away. Heaven and earth will pass away together with sin, which passes away, and the place of the sinner will pass away and will no longer be: "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away". Let us hasten, then, to do the things that will not pass away, so that we ourselves may not pass away with the things that pass away. For if we commit sin, which passes away, we shall pass away; but if we practise righteousness, which does not pass away, we shall not pass away but shall remain with righteousness, which remains. We do, then, either the things that pass away or the things that do not pass away, and we ourselves are the cause for ourselves of passing away or of not passing away. What does God do if we have the things that pass away? Will he not say to us: "Is my hand not strong to save, or have I made my ear heavy so as not to hear? But your sins stand between me and you". "You will seek", then, "his place and will not find it".
There are certain created things that came to be because of sin, and there are certain works of the Creator that came to be because of sin, for the sake of those who are pure from sins. Do not marvel: on the earth too there are sinners. This firmament came to be in order to separate sins from righteous deeds. This is how I understand the words, "Let there be a firmament in the midst of the water, and let it divide between water and water, the water that is above the heavens" and that praises God without sin, and the water below the firmament of heaven, the water against which our wrestling is. And the waters see God, but the abysses, the multitude of the water, do not see God. For it is written: "The waters saw you, O God, the waters saw you and were afraid, the abysses were troubled". For the abysses, over which there was darkness, do not have peace, according to what is said: "and darkness was over the abyss". The demons depart into the abyss as into their own place, because they are troubled and produce trouble. For they begged that he not command them to depart into the abyss.
6. "But the meek will inherit earth". Against those from Valentinus and certain heresies, who think that the Savior says things not said in the old writings, we learned from one of the presbyters to bring this too against their teaching, to refute it. Consider the words spoken in the Gospel, "Blessed are the meek": see in what way this had been said earlier, through David, by the same Spirit who was also in Christ. For the Holy Spirit existed of old too, and later in our Savior. "The meek", he says, "will inherit earth". But the prophecy adds to what is written in the Gospel: for not only "will the meek inherit earth", but "they will also delight themselves in the abundance of peace". Let the bodily and earthly and fleshly men, then, delight themselves in the things that make them drunk, and delight themselves in foods that are being brought to nothing, with a belly that is being brought to nothing and that they are not yet willing to bring to nothing. But let the saints, instead of these delights that they have despised, delight themselves "in the abundance of peace". For peace is a delight, and not a little peace but an abundance of peace, which the Word promises will be in the days of Christ. For indeed there will be an abundance of peace in the days of Christ, "until the moon is taken away". "And they will delight themselves", then, "in the abundance of peace", those who have heeded the words, "Cease from wrath and forsake anger"; for "the meek will inherit the earth and will delight themselves in the abundance of peace". And one must know that meekness and wrath are diametrically opposed to each other. Where there is wrath, there is no meekness at all; where there is meekness, there is no wrath at all. Where, then, there is meekness, there is the delight of "the abundance of peace". For "they will delight themselves", namely "the meek", inheriting peace; and "the meek will delight themselves", inheriting the earth, "in the abundance of peace".
7. Then: "The sinner will watch the righteous man closely and will gnash his teeth at him". Just as darkness and light are by nature opposites, so is the sinner opposed to the righteous man. And if you ever see the righteous man hated, do not hesitate to say of the one who hates him that he is a sinner; if you see the one who thinks rightly persecuted, do not hesitate to say of the persecutor that perhaps he is not only a sinner but also wicked.
"He will watch closely" indeed, "the sinner, the righteous man"; and, watching him closely, "he will gnash his teeth at him". The words "will gnash his teeth" are not necessarily to be understood of the body, even if this can sometimes happen when a sinner is against a righteous man. Think of wicked designs and deceit, of silence in the voice but a shout in the heart that plots wicked things against the righteous man: see how the gnashing of "his teeth at him" is fulfilled. But if the sinner does these things against the righteous man, "the Lord will laugh him to scorn, when he foresees that his day will come"; for he sees the day of the sinner that is coming, and that the sinner will no longer be.
8. "The sinners drew a sword, they bent their bow, to cast down the poor and needy". For not all sinners have a bodily sword; rather, perhaps, just as there is a "panoply of God" and a "breastplate of righteousness", and there is talk of a "sword of the Spirit" and a "shield of faith", so there is a panoply of the devil, which the sinful man has put on. Having looked at the panoply of God, set against the name of each weapon in God's panoply its opposite, so that you may see the panoply of the devil. Then you will perceive that both soldiers, the soldier of God and the soldier of the devil, have put on the breastplate. The breastplate of righteousness belongs to the panoply of God; there is also a breastplate of injustice. And there is a "helmet of salvation"; the sinner too has put on a helmet of destruction. There is a "readiness of the gospel"; there is also a readiness of the opposite kind. Their feet run to injustice, and their shoes are clearly very ready for sin. There is a shield of faith; there is also a shield of unbelief. So too there is a "sword of the Spirit", and there is also a sword of the evil spirit: this is the sword that "the sinners drew". Let us cast off the weapons of sin and take up the weapons of righteousness, those on the right hand and on the left, as the Apostle somewhere named "weapons of injustice".
"A sword", then, "the sinners drew": because they have sin ready at hand and are prepared to commit it. When they do not hide the sword of the evil spirit in the scabbard of sin, then "the sinners drew a sword". So also "they bent their bow". The righteous too have a bow, they have arrows, and their arrow is Christ Jesus: "I have set you as a chosen arrow". Yet the sinners too have arrows: their word is an arrow, it has the venom of sin, it wounds the one who is not armed. If the sinner's arrow prevails against me, it is clear that I did not use the shield of faith.
"They bent", then, "their bow to cast down the poor and needy". The sinners know that they cannot cast down a rich man. Therefore they do not even attack him in the first place; their whole plot is against the poor man, just as the lion lying in wait "lies in wait to seize a poor man". Therefore, since "a man's own wealth is the ransom of his soul, but the poor man does not withstand threat", let us become rich "in" word, in wisdom, "in good works", having cast off the wealth of sin. Then we shall be unwounded and safe from the plots of the arrows of the wicked one, since all of them are quenched in the shield of faith, through Christ Jesus our Savior, to whom be the glory and the might to the ages. Amen.