Ambrose of Milan — Commentary on Scripture

LORD, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am.

It is not that he was enquiring about his own death—death is not the end of one who will rise again—but rather his enquiry concerned that end of which the apostle speaks: “Afterwards there will be the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God and the Father”. … Evil will fade to nothingness, and eternal good will take its place.… That, surely, is the true end. It is not the end of one person alone, but the end of all. Why then does David say “my end”? But consider a moment who it is that is speaking. He speaks as humankind or as one representing men and sharing the same substance as they; he is one who stands for all, is in the likeness of all and is truly versed in that perfection that belongs to the consummate man.

Psalms 39:5

Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah.

God, who knows precisely the allotted days of each one of us, regards nothing as immeasurable. His knowledge embraces the measure of all things. To him nothing is beyond his understanding, nothing is unweighed, nothing is unmeasured, nothing is unnumbered. He says, “The very hairs of your head have been numbered.” … We know that God is said to have measured the heavens with the palm of his hand22—the palm, from thumb to little finger, being the span by which a thing is measured and its length ascertained. Those who accept this reading understand that our days are measured or numbered, and in that sense they are short. However, the all-knowing God has measured, as we said above, and fully comprehends the very heavens.… The prophet’s days are not short but great, for God has measured them with the same palm as that with which he measured the heavens.

Psalms 39:7

And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in thee.

Our hope and our patience is Christ; he is our redemption; he is our expectation.… Look on us, Lord, when you come in judgment; let your mercy look on us.… In the power of your mercy lies the substance of our soul and life. We must not fear physical death; rather, we should fear him who can save or destroy our soul. Our soul’s substance is that virtue that God has poured into hearts made in the image of himself.

Psalms 39:8

Deliver me from all my transgressions: make me not the reproach of the foolish.

It is not merely one lapse that he is confessing, for he prays to be forgiven all his iniquities. He knows that without God’s forgiveness no one can be saved. For we were born in sin. We have inherited a stain. Our human condition has a congenital tendency to sin.

Psalms 39:10

Remove thy stroke away from me: I am consumed by the blow of thine hand.

The strong hand strikes as though harshly, but it is swift to heal. If it is powerful to wound, it is also powerful when it comes to applying a remedy. As the Lord says, “I will strike, and I will heal.” … This hand of the Lord took from Job all that he had and gave it all back again. In fact, he greatly added to Job’s store of good things, even doubling what he had before. Do not be troubled because David says he has fainted. A person can faint and rise up stronger than before. “The Lord lifts up all that fall and sets up all that are cast down.” Whoever is corrected will rise up with virtue.

Psalms 39:13

O spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go hence, and be no more.

Forgive me, so that I need no longer be a pilgrim and a wayfarer. Forgive me so that I may be called home from exile. If you forgive me, before I go from this place, I shall no longer be an exile and a pilgrim. Once you will have forgiven me, I will no longer be in foreign parts. I shall be a fellow citizen of your saints; I shall be with my ancestors, who were pilgrims before me and are now truly citizens. I shall be a member of God’s household. I shall not dread punishment but shall merit grace through our Lord Jesus; with whom, Lord God, be praise to you, and honor and glory forever; now and always and for ages of ages. Amen.

Psalms 40:2

He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.

Christ has heard the prayer of his own servants and has brought us out from the pit of misery and from the mire of dregs. We were drowning there; our whole flesh was clinging to the mire, trapped in the whirlpool of our sins. Our soul was powerless to save itself; fallen and ruined as it was by the multiplicity and dreadfulness of our offenses. Thanks be to the Lord Jesus, God’s only Son, who came down from heaven to forgive us our sins. He came to save us from the pit and slime of this world, from the mud and mire of this earth, from this body doomed to death. In his own flesh he has restored our soul and steadied our tottering footsteps. Strengthened by God’s Word and absolved through the cross of our Lord’s body, we walk no longer in the shame and disfigurement of vice but in the forgiveness of sin. Rooted and built in Christ, David declares that the Lord has set his feet on a rock. As the apostle says, “They drank of the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ.” May that rock, which follows those who thirst, confirm the weak and unsteady; may that water never b…

Christ has heard the prayer of his own servants and has brought us out from the pit of misery and from the mire of dregs. We were drowning there; our whole flesh was clinging to the mire, trapped in the whirlpool of our sins. Our soul was powerless to save itself; fallen and ruined as it was by the multiplicity and dreadfulness of our offenses. Thanks be to the Lord Jesus, God’s only Son, who came down from heaven to forgive us our sins. He came to save us from the pit and slime of this world, from the mud and mire of this earth, from this body doomed to death. In his own flesh he has restored our soul and steadied our tottering footsteps. Strengthened by God’s Word and absolved through the cross of our Lord’s body, we walk no longer in the shame and disfigurement of vice but in the forgiveness of sin. Rooted and built in Christ, David declares that the Lord has set his feet on a rock. As the apostle says, “They drank of the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ.” May that rock, which follows those who thirst, confirm the weak and unsteady; may that water never be lacking to those who long for it; and may that firm foundation never be wanting to those in danger of falling.

Psalms 40:8

I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.

Because there is one will, there is one substance, there is inseparable majesty and the power of the Trinity. But there is another voice, that of the flesh; and yet, it too consents to God’s will.… Christ accepted death and crucifixion so as to crucify the flesh. For my sake he took on himself the combat, so that he might conquer me. Though Christ’s flesh was strong and not liable to sin, he nevertheless took on my sins. He took on my weaknesses and infirmities, though he himself was without infirmity.… He who is all pure took on our flesh to make it all pure. He, the immortal one, took on our flesh to make us immortal.

Psalms 40:10

I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation: I have not concealed thy lovingkindness and thy truth from the great congregation.

A person can speak of his own justice without arrogance, … if he has faith in God and believes that on account of his faith he will be reckoned as just. … It was for this reason that Christ came, to establish faith and to grant us forgiveness of sin.

Psalms 41:1 · 2 passages

To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. Blessed is he that considereth the poor: the LORD will deliver him in time of trouble.

The day of judgment is bitter, and we dread it. There is no one to whom it does not appear evil, because it is fraught with terror. It is the day on which the Lord will judge not only what we did in public but even our most secret actions. On that day each of us will have to show clearly what we have done and what we have thought. Therefore many will be condemned, and few will win the crown.

Faith comes first, and mercy comes second.… Happy, therefore, is the one who understands the poverty of Christ, his utter destitution. Christ, though he was very rich, became poor for us. In his kingdom, he was rich; in his flesh, he was poor, for he took on himself the flesh of the poor. We had indeed become very poor, because, by fraud practiced on us by the serpent, we lost the rich robes of virtue and were put out of paradise. We were thrown out of our native land and banished into exile. We were even stripped of clothing. Our lovely vesture of virtue that once covered our body was snatched from us by sin.… Have understanding as regards the poverty of Christ, so that you may be rich; understand his weakness and suffering, so that you may become strong and whole; understand his cross, so that you will never blush for it; understand his wound, so that your wounds may be cured; understand his death, so that you may gain eternal life; understand his tomb, so that you may discover the resurrection.

Psalms 41:6

And if he come to see me, he speaketh vanity: his heart gathereth iniquity to itself; when he goeth abroad, he telleth it.

Judas went out, and he spoke. He went out from the faith, he went out from the council and number of the apostles. He went out from Christ’s banquet to the villainy of Satan; he went out from the grace that sanctifies to the noose that strangles. He went to speak vain things to infidels. He went outside, leaving behind the mysteries of life that lay within. He went out, for he had never known the mysteries that are contained in Scripture.

Psalms 41:9

Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me.

We need not imagine that Jesus did not know that Judas was going to betray him.… Of course Jesus knew it. But in order to emphasize how damnable was the deed, Jesus speaks of the hopes he had held regarding Judas’ loyalty.… We come down more heavily on one in whom we say we had high hopes or great trust, if afterwards that person robs us of our hope and high opinion.… This is why Jesus says that he had hoped, it was as though he had a right to hope. For surely one would expect an apostle to lay aside his old ways and follow new and better ways.

Psalms 41:13

Blessed be the LORD God of Israel from everlasting, and to everlasting. Amen, and Amen.

“So be it, so be it” is also an indication that you have reached the end of a book. The psalter appears to be divided into five books, and the first book ends with this psalm, namely, the forty-first. The forty-first psalm concludes very fittingly with the passion, just as the forty-day period of Lent concludes with the Lord’s passion. This allows the second book to begin with the mysteries of regeneration.

Psalms 42:5

Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.

Troubled by the hazardous turnings of this world, David says, “Why are you sad, O soul, why do you trouble me? Hope in God, for I will give praise to him, the salvation of my countenance and my God.” Therefore, when we are distressed and apprehensive, let hope strengthen us with the expectation of things that are to come. Look to each phrase individually. “Hope, for I will give praise,” he says; not “I give praise,” but “I will give praise.” This means: I will give praise better at that time when I shall behold the glory of God with face unveiled and be transformed into the same image. As he was consoling himself, suddenly turning to himself, he says, “My soul is troubled within myself”; that is, I, who ought to strengthen others, am myself disturbed, and because I do not have strength of myself, let us receive it from the Creator.

Psalms 42:7

Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts: all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me.

Listen to this: “Deep calls on deep at the voice of your floodgates.” Scripture of the Old Testament calls on Scripture of the New Testament for the consummation of holiness and the fullness of grace; it calls with the voice of grace and the outflowing of spiritual abundance.

Psalms 44:3 · 2 passages

For they got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them: but thy right hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance, because thou hadst a favour unto them.

When God is pleased with us, it is because he has given us the grace to be pleasing to him. Scripture teaches us that this is a gift specially bestowed on people in pure and utter kindness and not to be arrogantly usurped.

Our ancestors, as heirs and next of kin of the patriarchs, were planted in the promised land. They did not gain this by any merits of their own. It was not Moses who led them in, for fear they should attribute it to the Law and not to grace. For the Law examines our merits; but grace looks to faith. How excellently the apostle has followed the faith of his ancestors when he says, “he that plants is nothing, he that waters is nothing. It is God who gives the increase.” It was not Joshua, son of Nun, even though he led the people in and planted them—but God who gave the increase. To him first be the glory.

Psalms 44:8

In God we boast all the day long, and praise thy name for ever. Selah.

The rich glory in their wealth; the luxurious in their dinner parties; the impure glory in night and darkness; the powerful glory in this life that has nights. But the just does not glory in this life but in the Lord God whom he strives to please in all that he does.

Psalms 44:10

Thou makest us to turn back from the enemy: and they which hate us spoil for themselves.

One who is carried off by people is not necessarily conquered. Take, for example, Paul. He rejoices in his sufferings. He glories in being let out through a window and lowered in a basket. Look at holy Jeremiah, holy Ezekiel, holy Daniel. These were led into captivity and plundered by the Assyrians. But their own personal faith was never taken captive. They never sinned against the Lord’s covenant.