Theodoret of Cyrus — Commentary on Scripture

Psalms 1:3

The streams from the divine Spirit resemble watering by rivers: just as they cause trees planted near them to flourish, so the spiritual streams are the cause of bearing divine fruit. For this very reason Christ the Lord called his own teaching water.… Appropriately, then, blessed David compared the person devoted to the divine sayings with trees growing on riverbanks, ever green, bearing fruit in season.

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 1:7-8

Psalms 2:1-2

[The words of the psalm] come from someone deploring and censuring folly.… Despite their conspiring together and hatching a tawdry plot for the murder of the Lord, their schemes all came to nothing, as they were unable to consign to oblivion the one crucified by them: on the third day he rose again and took possession of the world.

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 2:1

Psalms 2:1-2

Having concluded the first psalm with a reference to the ungodly, he opened the second in turn with this same reference so as to teach us that the aforementioned end of the ungodly lies in wait for both kings and rulers, Jews and Gentiles, who rage against the Savior.

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 2:1

Psalms 2:6

[This] verse … is expressed in human fashion: as God he possesses his kingship by nature, as human he receives it by election.

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 2:7

Psalms 2:7

To be sure, God the Word had the name “only-begotten Son” before the ages as connatural with his condition, yet while still possessing the title of the Son as God, he also receives it as human being. Hence in the present psalm he added the words [of this verse]. Now no one who believes the teaching of the divine Spirit would apply this verse to the divinity of Christ the Lord. In fact, let us listen in this regard to the God of all speaking through David, “From the womb before the morning star I begot you.” So as man he both receives this verse and hears what follows.

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 2:7

Psalms 2:8

Now it is possible to discover an appropriate fulfillment for this prophecy, too: the number of the Jews who came to faith was not only the 12 apostles but was as well the 70 disciples, the 120 whom blessed Peter addressed in assembly, the 500 to whom he appeared on one occasion after the resurrection according to the statement of the divinely inspired Paul, the 3, and the 5, that the chief of the apostles made his catch through addressing them and the many myriads of whom the mighty James exclaimed, “You see, brother, what countless numbers of Jewish believers there are.” These, to be sure, and in addition to them those of the Jews throughout the whole world who have come to faith he declares a holy people, and through them he takes possession of all the nations, thus fulfilling the prophecy in the words “Rejoice, nations, with his people.” In addition to this, however, he fulfills also his own prophecy, which he made in regard to the Jews in the words, “Now, I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. Those, too, I must gather; they will hear my voice, and there will be one…

Now it is possible to discover an appropriate fulfillment for this prophecy, too: the number of the Jews who came to faith was not only the 12 apostles but was as well the 70 disciples, the 120 whom blessed Peter addressed in assembly, the 500 to whom he appeared on one occasion after the resurrection according to the statement of the divinely inspired Paul, the 3, and the 5, that the chief of the apostles made his catch through addressing them and the many myriads of whom the mighty James exclaimed, “You see, brother, what countless numbers of Jewish believers there are.” These, to be sure, and in addition to them those of the Jews throughout the whole world who have come to faith he declares a holy people, and through them he takes possession of all the nations, thus fulfilling the prophecy in the words “Rejoice, nations, with his people.” In addition to this, however, he fulfills also his own prophecy, which he made in regard to the Jews in the words, “Now, I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. Those, too, I must gather; they will hear my voice, and there will be one flock, one shepherd.” This, too, he says in the present psalm. But it occurs to me to lament the faithlessness of the [unbelieving] Jews, who though hearing the prophecy that made specific mention of the ends of the earth, and realizing that none of their kings had had such sway, but only Christ the Lord, David’s offspring in the flesh, blind the eyes of their mind according to the prophecy that says, “They grope about, as blind people do for the wall, and not as they will do who have the benefit of eyesight.”

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 2:9-10

Psalms 3:3

Many, in fact, are the enemies of every kind who assail me from all sides, but more numerous are those who trouble me by their mockery and their claims that I am bereft of your providence. Yet I know that you would not persist in ignoring me, despite my many failings. On the contrary, you will raise up the one who now humbles himself for the sin he committed and make him appear stronger than his foes.… I have confidence neither in kingship nor in sovereignty; instead, I trust in you to be my glory, and I expect to be quickly raised up by your right hand.

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 3:2

Psalms 3:7

The phrase “breaking the teeth of sinners,” that is to say, depriving them of all strength, is by comparison with wild beasts, which when bereft of their teeth are quite undaunting and open to attack.

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 3:4

Psalms 4:1

Righteous people never have enough of prayer; instead, being in need and taking advantage of goodwill, they reap the fruit of prayer and continue offering supplication, realizing as they do the benefit coming from it.

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 4:2

Psalms 4:3

You see, he will not simply free me from the troubles that befall me but will also render me conspicuous and distinguished in victory; this, you see is the meaning of “made an object of wonder.”

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 4:3

Psalms 5:1

On all sides the church of God is buffeted by many huge waves, as likewise is each soul that embraces the devout life, but each survives and breasts the billows by constantly invoking the divine aid. This in fact is what the inspired Word also teaches, instructing us how it behooves us both to entreat and implore the God and King of all.

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 5:2

Psalms 5:9

When graves are filled in they keep the stench within, but when opened they release the awful smell. These people are like that, … spewing out words redolent of utter impiety and evil smells. Now, … these words … suggest blasphemy against God and lewd and licentious speech.

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 5:7

Psalms 6:1

He does not beg to be uncensured but rather not to be censured in anger, nor does he plead to avoid discipline but not to suffer it with wrath. Discipline me like a father, he asks, not like a judge; like a physician, not like a torturer. Do not fit the punishment to the crime; instead, temper justice with lovingkindness.

COMMENTARY ON PSALMS 6:2

Psalms 6:2

Under the influence of weakness, sin overcomes. After all, if the reasoning faculty within us were not weak, the passions would not rebel; to put it another way, provided the charioteer is firm and steers and controls the horses skillfully, there is no occasion for bucking.… He calls reasoning bones, since bones are naturally rather dense and support the body; speaking figuratively he gave the name “bones” to reasoning, by which the living being is steered. Disturbance in that faculty, he is saying, ruffled and shook me. Hence I beg to be allowed to enjoy your lovingkindness so as to receive healing through it.

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 6:3

Psalms 6:4

Now, it was appropriate for him to add “for your mercy’s sake”: I am not trusting in myself, he is saying, nor do I attribute your help to my own righteousness; instead, I beg to be granted it on account of your mercy.

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 6:4

Psalms 6:5

It is not in death but in life that one recalls God. Likewise, confession and reform do not come to the departed in hades. God confined life and action to this life; there, however, he conducts an evaluation of performance. And in any case this is proper to the eighth day, giving no longer opportunity for preparation by good or bad deeds to those who have arrived at it; instead, whatever works you have sown for yourself you will have occasion to reap. For this reason he obliges you to practice repentance here, there being no practice of this kind of effort in hades.

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 6:5

Psalms 6:10

Let those who do not see their own iniquities and yet ridicule my failings mock me no longer. I won divine favor, in fact, and am confident that through my entreaties he will overlook my faults and make me a beneficiary of his pardon.

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 6:8

Psalms 7:8

In these words the divine David has not left a testimony to his own righteousness: we hear him protesting the opposite, “because I acknowledge my lawlessness, and my sin is always before me”; and, “I said, ‘I shall declare my lawlessness against myself to the Lord,’ ” but he calls it justice in the matter before us. I committed no wrong, in fact, he is saying, against Absalom, or Ahithophel or those arrayed in battle with them against me. So I beg to be judged in the light of this righteousness and innocence and not in the light of the faults previously committed by me. I ask for judgment on these current grounds and not for a payment of penalty at this time for other sins.

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 7:5

Psalms 7:11

“God is a righteous judge, … who does not give free rein to his wrath every day.” Instead, he also shows lovingkindness, by which he bears people’s faults for a longer time. For whenever he sees people not reaping profit from it, he gives them further opportunity with the addition of threats, putting the punishments off; but if they scorn the opportunity and persist in sinning, he immediately brings on their ruin in keeping with justice.

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 7:6

Psalms 7:12-13

These are not words of punishment, note, but of threat: he said wield, not inflict; bent his bow, not fired the arrow. And to teach us against whom he will fire the arrows, he immediately attached the words “he made his arrows into flaming shafts,” that is, those taking combustible material of sin, building with wood, hay and stubble, as the divine apostle says, will be struck with these fiery arrows.

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 7:7