Ambrose of Milan — Commentary on Scripture

He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart.

In everything, therefore, good faith is seemly, justice is pleasing, due measure in equity is delightful. But what shall I say about contracts, and especially about the sale of land, or agreements or covenants? Are there not rules just for the purpose of shutting out all false deceit and to make him whose deceit is found out liable to double punishment? Everywhere, then, does regard for what is virtuous take the lead; it shuts out deceit, it expels fraud. Wherefore the prophet David has rightly stated his judgment in general, saying, “He has done no evil to his neighbor.” Fraud, then, ought to be wanting not only in contracts, in which the defects of those things that are for sale are ordered to be recorded (which contracts, unless the vendor has mentioned the defects, are rendered void by an action for fraud, although he has conveyed them fully to the purchaser), but it ought also to be absent in all else. Candor must be shown, the truth must be made known.

Psalms 15:5

He that putteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh reward against the innocent. He that doeth these things shall never be moved.

What is more cruel than to lend money to one who has none and then to exact double the amount? If one cannot pay the simple amount, how will he pay double?… Nations have often failed because of usury, and this has been the cause of public calamity.

Psalms 16:2

O my soul, thou hast said unto the LORD, Thou art my Lord: my goodness extendeth not to thee;

Who has ever given him anything, since “from him, and through him and in him” are all things? The fount of life is that highest Good that bestows the substance of life on all, because it has life abiding in itself. It receives from no one as though it were needy; it lavishes goods on all and borrows from others nothing for itself, for it has no need of us. It says, too, in the person of humankind: “You do not need my goods.” What is more lovely than to approach him and cling to him? What pleasure can be greater? What else can he desire who sees and tastes freely of this fount of living water? what realms? what powers? what riches? when he sees how pitiable are the conditions of kings, how changeable the status of their power, how short the span of this life, in how great bondage even sovereigns must live, since they live at the will of others and not their own.

Psalms 17:7

Shew thy marvellous lovingkindness, O thou that savest by thy right hand them which put their trust in thee from those that rise up against them.

It becomes Christians to pray for peace and quiet but not to abandon steadfast faith and truth even at the peril of death. For the Lord is our Leader, “who will save them that put their hope in him.”

Psalms 19:1

To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.

As heaven is lighted with the splendor of the stars, so do people shine with the light of their good works, and their deeds shine before their Father in heaven. The one is the firmament of heaven on high; the other is a similar firmament of which it is said, “On this rock I will build my church.” The one is a firmament of the elements, the other of virtues, and this last is more excellent.

Psalms 19:6

His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.

Christ fills his world with copious lights, since “his going out is from the end of heaven, and his circuit even to the end of it, and there is no one who can hide himself from his heat.” Benignly he gives light to all, wishing not to repel the foolish but to correct them and desiring not to exclude the hard of heart from the church but to soften them. Hence … Christ in the Gospel invites them, saying, “Come to me, all you who labor, and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke on you, and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart.”

Psalms 21:12

Therefore shalt thou make them turn their back, when thou shalt make ready thine arrows upon thy strings against the face of them.

“Turned away” [is] an expression properly applied to the sinner, for “Cain went out from the face of the Lord,” and the psalmist says, “You will make them turn their back.” One who is righteous does not turn away from the Lord but runs to meet him and says, “My eyes are ever toward the Lord.” And when the Lord said, “Whom shall I send?” Isaiah offered himself of his own accord and said, “Behold, here I am.”

Psalms 22:1

To the chief Musician upon Aijeleth Shahar, A Psalm of David. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?

Seeing, then, that he took on himself a soul he also took the affections of a soul, for God could not have been distressed or have died in respect of his being God.… As being man, therefore, he speaks, bearing with him my terrors, for when we are in the midst of dangers we think ourself abandoned by God. As man, therefore, he is distressed, as man he weeps, as man he is crucified.

Psalms 22:6

But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people.

He became all these things so that he might dull the sting of our death, that he might take away our state of slavery, that he might wipe away our curses, sins and reproaches.

Psalms 22:10

I was cast upon thee from the womb: thou art my God from my mother's belly.

He and the Father are One, and the Father is his Father by possession of the same nature.… Speaking as the Son, he called God his father, and afterward, speaking as man, named him as God. Everywhere, indeed, we have witness in the Scriptures to show that Christ, in naming God as his God, does so as man. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And again: “From my mother’s womb you are my God.” In the former place he suffers as a man; in the latter it is a man who is brought forth from his mother’s womb. And so when he says, “From my mother’s womb you are my God,” he means that he who was always his father is his God from the moment when he was brought forth from his mother’s womb.

Psalms 22:18

They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.

To God the things that are to come are present, and for him who foreknows all things, they are as though they were past and over; as it is written, “Who has made the things that are to be.”

Psalms 22:22

I will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee.

He is the Lord by nature but a brother by grace.

Psalms 23:1

A Psalm of David. The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

How often have you heard Psalm 23 and not understood it! See how it is applicable to the heavenly sacraments: “The Lord feeds me, and I shall want nothing; he has set me in a place of pasture; he has brought me on the water of refreshment; he has converted my soul. He has led me on the paths of justice for his own name’s sake. For though I should walk in the midst of the shadow of death, I will fear no evils, for you are with me.… Your rod is power, the staff suffering, that is, the eternal divinity of Christ, but also corporeal suffering; the one created, the other redeemed. You have prepared a table before me against them that afflict me. You have anointed my head with oil; and my chalice that inebriates me, how goodly it is!”

Psalms 23:5

Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

“You have prepared a banquet in my sight.” This banquet consists of the living Bread, the Word of God. At this banquet there is the oil of sanctification, poured richly over the head of the just. This oil strengthens the inner senses. It does away with the oil of the sinner that fattens the head. In this banquet, too, you have the cup that inebriates: “how excellent” it is, or “how powerful,” for the Greek has kratiston, meaning most mighty, strong or powerful. Surely it is a powerful cup that washes away every stain of sin.

Psalms 23:6

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

When do you not have something that you owe to God? Or when are you without a gift of God, since your daily enjoyment of living is from God? “For what have you, that you have not received?” Therefore, because you always receive, always call on God; and since what you have is from God, always acknowledge that you are his debtor. I prefer that you pay your debts rather through love than as one forced to do so.

Psalms 25:4

Shew me thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths.

Now the ways of the Lord are, we may say, certain courses taken in a good life, guided by Christ, who says, “I am the way, and the truth and the life.” The way, then, is the surpassing power of God, for Christ is our way, and a good way, too, is he, a way that has opened the kingdom of heaven to believers. Moreover, the ways of the Lord are straight, as it is written: “Make your ways known to me, O Lord.” Chastity is a way, faith is a way, abstinence is a way. There is, indeed, a way of virtue, and there is a way of wickedness; for it is written, “And see if there is any way of wickedness in me.”

Psalms 27:2

When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell.

David says that he does not fear, because the enemy were eating up his flesh but not his soul.

Psalms 30:2

O LORD my God, I cried unto thee, and thou hast healed me.

For as much as someone directs their intention towards the Lord, they elevate the Lord even more, and they themselves are elevated. Hence, he says: I will exalt you, O Lord, for you have lifted me up. For the holy person exalts the Lord, while the sinner humbles Him.

Psalms 30:9

What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit? Shall the dust praise thee? shall it declare thy truth?

It first predestined, then called; and those whom it called, it also justified; and those whom it justified, it also glorified. Will it be able to abandon those whom it has supported with such great benefits up to rewards? Among so many benefits of God, should we fear any accusations or traps from an accuser? But who would dare to accuse those chosen by divine judgment? Surely God the Father, who granted them, can revoke his gifts; and those whom he has adopted, can he cast them aside from the grace of paternal affection? But there is fear that the judge may be more severe. Consider who the judge is. Indeed, the Father has given all judgment to Christ. Therefore, can that very one condemn you, whom he redeemed from death, for whom he offered himself, and whose life he knows to be the reward of his own death? Will he not say: What is the benefit in my blood if I harm the one whom I myself saved? Then you consider the judge, but do not consider the advocate. Can he not pronounce a harsher sentence, who does not cease to intercede so that the grace of paternal reconciliation may be best…

It first predestined, then called; and those whom it called, it also justified; and those whom it justified, it also glorified. Will it be able to abandon those whom it has supported with such great benefits up to rewards? Among so many benefits of God, should we fear any accusations or traps from an accuser? But who would dare to accuse those chosen by divine judgment? Surely God the Father, who granted them, can revoke his gifts; and those whom he has adopted, can he cast them aside from the grace of paternal affection? But there is fear that the judge may be more severe. Consider who the judge is. Indeed, the Father has given all judgment to Christ. Therefore, can that very one condemn you, whom he redeemed from death, for whom he offered himself, and whose life he knows to be the reward of his own death? Will he not say: What is the benefit in my blood if I harm the one whom I myself saved? Then you consider the judge, but do not consider the advocate. Can he not pronounce a harsher sentence, who does not cease to intercede so that the grace of paternal reconciliation may be bestowed upon us?

Psalms 32:1

A Psalm of David, Maschil. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.

For some sins Thou dost wash away in the blood of Thy Son, others Thou dost remit unto us, that by good works and confession we may cover our errors. The expression therefore "that pardoneth iniquities", appertains to remission; because He takes them away altogether, so that the things which He remembers not are as though they did not exist.