Theodore of Mopsuestia — Commentary on Scripture

Psalms 33:5

Grace and righteousness are characteristic of what is done by God. In other words, he said that loving is characteristic of him, speaking perhaps excessively and meaning that not only does what has been done in the past have these two characteristics, but also he is very fond of doing such things as happen to have these two characteristics.

COMMENTARY ON PSALMS 33:5A

Psalms 33:6

You see, when it says “mouth” in these cases, it intends to indicate an operation affecting visible creation, as when it also says “hand” and “feet” and the like. Elsewhere, too, Scripture says, “The mouth of the Lord said this,” in the sense that God revealed what had been determined in our regard; nowhere does the divine Scripture by such corporeal expression describe the Lord’s nature or the creation of invisible nature, such as angels and the like, as in our case it is in the habit of saying, “Your hands made me.” So by “breath of his mouth” he means “by his decision.”

COMMENTARY ON PSALMS 33:6B

Psalms 33:11

Even if a vast number were scheming, while God wanted the opposite, the vast number would be of no significance to the schemes. Even if rulers planned something, the object of their concern would come to nothing, and they would get no benefit from the government or the vast number of the subjects. Then the more important consideration.… Not only can [God] render the schemes of others ineffectual, but also he can bring great reliability to his own. Now, “thoughts of his heart” is a bodily expression by which he refers to God’s determined limit and authoritative decree, as if to say, Such a decision of the Lord is irrevocable.

COMMENTARY ON PSALMS 33:10B, C-11

Psalms 33:12

You the people chosen by him are fortunate for the reason that the Lord’s kindness to you is unchanging.

COMMENTARY ON PSALMS 33:12

Psalms 33:15

Nothing done by human beings can escape [God’s] attention, since he is the creator of the thoughts’ inner chamber, namely, the heart. In fact, this was the meaning, completely consistent with what went before: Blessed are you who are devoted to him who conducts an examination of everything that is done; instead of anything escaping his notice, he has a precise knowledge of everything.

COMMENTARY ON PSALMS 33:15

Psalms 33:15

Some commentators thought that here blessed David means that he individually formed people’s souls apart from their body, as though “hearts” meant “souls.” Whether this is so or not (it is a topic requiring fuller treatment), here it does not have that sense. Rather, “their hearts” means “them,” referring to the whole from the part. So “he forms them individually” means that none of humankind was in existence, as if to say, when they did not exist, he produced them.

COMMENTARY ON PSALMS 33:15

Psalms 33:20

[God] is always helping and providing us with salvation. The term “protector,” you see, is a metaphor from those thrusting their own shields among the enemy and by protection from these often sheltering others and freeing them from every disaster.

COMMENTARY ON PSALMS 33:20A

Psalms 34:15

God takes care of the righteous (by “eyes” referring not simply to sight but also to what is done by God in beneficence and providence).… He also accepts their requests.… But he has an eye also for the wicked, though not in the same way as for the good. To what effect? “To destroy remembrance of them from the land”: … God gives evidence of great care for the righteous, accepting their supplication while completely disregarding those guilty of wrong actions and inflicting destruction on them.

COMMENTARY ON PSALMS 34:16A-17B

Psalms 34:18

He did not apply the terms “lowly” and “contrite of heart” simply to those reduced to this condition from the disasters but to those in this condition by intent and resolve. Even if tested by disasters, on the basis of their lowliness of intent they thought that they received their just deserts, asked God with due reverence for help and received it by gift. So it is clear from this that even by saying above “let the gentle hear and be glad” he refers neither to those humbled of necessity by disasters nor to those in this condition by nature, whom the general run of good people like to think gentle, but to those in this condition in heart and purpose, who emerge by their zeal in bearing nobly the wrongs done them since they look to God for help. This, in fact, is gentleness, not being insensitive or keeping complete silence while ignoring sensation even in situations that are often unavoidable, when it is possible to effect a greater good.

COMMENTARY ON PSALMS 34:19B

Psalms 34:19

It often happens that the righteous are put to the test in extreme troubles and severe tribulations.… Even if they are tested by many troubles and many tribulations, God allowing this to their advantage, he nevertheless definitely frees them from the troubles, not allowing them to be overcome by the disasters in the end.… He rescues them after allowing the tribulations for a while to their advantage, keeps those in the midst of tribulations free from harm and preserves their strength completely.

COMMENTARY ON PSALMS 34:20-21

Psalms 34:21

Not only do sinners meet such a fate, but also those hostile to the righteous will fall foul of troubles. Now, he says this to bring out the extent of the providence that God shows for the righteous. “Will come to grief” means that they will stumble, will trip up, will fail in their hostile intent against the righteous by being punished by God; “come to grief” meaning “missing the mark,” which means failing to achieve a purpose and intent at odds with that prescribed—hence our calling a wrong action a sin as being at odds with the proper intention.

COMMENTARY ON PSALMS 34:22B

Psalms 35:10

I shall say no one is like you, he means, and shall confess you to be more powerful than everyone, even those considered strong and powerful; you are capable of rescuing the poor and insignificant and delivering them from their scheming against the odds.… You see, both the insignificance by comparison with him of the one who suffers and is rescued and also the might of the schemers brought out his greatness: the more effective the release from the schemers was shown to be, the more powerful did the one who effected it appear.

COMMENTARY ON PSALMS 35:10B, c

Psalms 35:20

They make a pretense by uttering words under the guise of peace, but in reality their words are completely full of anger and evil. All the words, in fact, were not of peace, though they seemed to give that impression; rather, they were spoken with complete viciousness under pretense, for they continued hatching plots and schemes against me, planning such things and turning them over in their soul.

COMMENTARY ON PSALMS 35:20

Psalms 36:1

The lawbreaker thinks his sinning is [hidden] within—that is, he believes that he is escaping notice in sinning.… Now, it is typical of the person employing deceit to think that schemers escape notice, because they are always under that impression when they use flattering language; after all, unless they expected to escape notice, they would not have persisted in their deceitful pretense.

COMMENTARY ON PSALMS 36:2A

Psalms 36:2

If he had “the fear of God before his eyes,” he would not have employed deceit in the belief that he was escaping our notice (realizing that it was not possible to escape God, everything being known to him, who knows and understands everything clearly). If he really had dread of the Lord, he would have shown much zeal in guarding against sin.

COMMENTARY ON PSALMS 36:3A

Psalms 36:6

His decisions and decrees, which he applies in judging and examining human beings, are immeasurable, like the deep. Thus, it is impossible to find out why he allows righteous people often to suffer at the hands of the unrighteous, as I find happening in my own case. While the fact that his care and providence for us is wonderful is clear from his never allowing our sufferings to be unbearable, I am unable to discover precisely why he does not leave us in perfect peace but permits us for a time to be pursued unjustly by them. Hence, “your judgments” strike me as more inaccessible than any “deep.”

COMMENTARY ON PSALMS 36:7B

Psalms 36:9

You flood us with life, abundantly supplying us with it from the great number and variety of what is given us by you for sustenance and life.… Without light we can see nothing that exists, for when we are deprived of light and plunged into darkness, we have no recognition of what is at hand; whereas when light is available, we see and discern by recognition. So for discerning other things we need light, whereas light itself requires nothing else any longer for our being able to see; instead, with the aid of light itself we succeed in seeing everything through light and discern everything, including even light itself.… His meaning was to present the utter generosity and abundance of God’s gift—thus his mention of these two things in particular: the light (he made clear that from it he provided us both with existence itself and with sustenance) and enjoyment of the light, through which he conveyed the pleasure of life.

COMMENTARY ON PSALMS 36:10A, B

Psalms 36:10

They were formed by you so as to be able, if they wished, both to know you and to hope in you, and to enjoy the good things stemming from this.

COMMENTARY ON PSALMS 36:11A

Psalms 37:9

Do not consider blessed those people for being in a position even to do whatever they wish, nor with your eyes on their suffering no harsh fate decide to attempt at any time in your own case to do some wrong. “Because the evildoers will be wiped out”: those guilty of wickedness will some day pay the full penalty and perish.

COMMENTARY ON PSALMS 37:8B-9A

Psalms 37:15

Even if the sinner tries to plot against the righteous person and is bent on carrying it through in every way, do not then grind your teeth at his going unpunished. God will spit on his plot, knowing that he will suffer sometime and that it is he who will sustain harm from his plot against the righteous.

COMMENTARY ON PSALMS 37:15