Theodoret of Cyrus — Commentary on Scripture

Psalms 29:4

From this he prophesies the power imparted to the apostles.… The narrative of the Acts also teaches us things in harmony with this: we learn from there how at his ascension Christ the Lord addressed his holy disciples in the words, “Stay in this city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” Ten days later on the feast of Pentecost, “there came a sound from heaven like that of a violent wind blowing.” … Now, he gives the name “voice” to the grace of the Spirit filling the apostles with power and might and rendering puny people magnificent.

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 29:5

Psalms 29:5

He signals through these words the overthrow of the idols: since the idols’ precincts in ancient times were on high places, providing no fruit to their worshipers, he likened them to “the cedars of Lebanon,” which though lofty do not naturally bear edible fruit.

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 29:5

Psalms 29:6

The people who believe, freed from that error [idolatry] and called beloved for that reason, will be invincible and unconquerable in being rid of polytheism and worshiping one Godhead.

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 29:6

Psalms 29:9

Now, he called “woods” the idols’ precincts as being utterly fruitless; these are the kinds of woods or coppices that the best woodcutters are accustomed to chop down, leaving the earth bare of them, and they plant fruitbearing trees and sow seeds of edible crops. The cultivators of the world did this, too: pulling up idols’ precincts by the roots, they planted the divine churches in their place.

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 29:8

Psalms 29:10

He will build a world that is inundated with the torrent of iniquity, will restore it and will make it a new creation. Hence blessed Paul also cries aloud, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.”

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 29:9

Psalms 30:2

Human nature did not beseech God and look for reprieve from destruction; rather, it constantly fell to wailing and weeping, with death in view and no expectation of resurrection. Accordingly, the psalmist made mention of the tears and laments that occur with the sick and dying to show the ineffable lovingkindness of God … [by which,] without being invoked and seeing only the wailing, he took pity on what was happening and gave a reprieve from death.

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 30:2

Psalms 30:5

Now, things turned out like this both in the case of Hezekiah and in the case of the salvation of everyone. After the Assyrians applied those awful threats and moved the city to weeping, they sustained the blow at night, and in the morning they filled with good cheer those whom they had forced to weep. The divine Isaiah brought Hezekiah the sentence of death in the evening, and towards morning brought him in turn the good news of life. And it happened likewise in the case of the salvation of everyone: the sacred apostles and the believers along with them lamented the passion of the Lord, but toward morning the women came and brought the joy of the resurrection.

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 30:3

Psalms 30:12

We have a basis of high repute in the evidence given by the God of all of his great affection for us: “God so loved the world,” Scripture says, “that he has given his only-begotten Son so that all who believe in him may not perish but have eternal life.” “O Lord my God, I shall confess to you forever”: not only in the present life but also after the resurrection I shall offer hymns to you, constantly recounting your extraordinary and ineffable gifts.

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 30:6

Psalms 31:3

Now, through all the verses occurring here, at any rate, we learn the measure of his prudence: his appeal for divine assistance is made on the basis not of his own virtue but of God’s name and of God’s righteousness and because he hoped in him.

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 31:3

Psalms 31:4

By this he indicated the plot of Ahithophel, which he put into operation against him, as we have spoken about previously. … After frequently encountering many disasters I was freed from them by your aid—thus I entrust my soul to your providence. He calls providence here once again “hands.”

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 31:4

Psalms 31:12

Everyone has given me up for lost, he is saying, like a vessel mislaid or a corpse occupying a tomb. He brought out the degree of forgetfulness by reference to the worthless vessel: just as when lost it vanishes from the memory of the losers for reason of its worthlessness, he is saying, so too am I in their estimation like someone nonexistent and have become deserving of no esteem.

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 31:7

Psalms 31:19

Now, the verse has this sense: You hide the rewards and prizes for those who fear you, O Lord, many and great and marvelous though these are, and instead you allow them to struggle with sweat and tears. Yet there comes the time when you reveal the rewards, giving cheer to the athletes.… Then he described in detail the providence in their favor.… Your appearance suffices, he is saying (he calls it “presence”), for them to be freed from all human disturbance and commotion, and to conceal them as though admitted to the precincts of some tabernacle and render them invisible.

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 31:10

Psalms 31:21

He surrounded and enclosed me in his habitual lovingkindness, he is saying, as the inhabitants encircle a city with a strong rampart.

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 31:11

Psalms 31:22

This psalm is likely to have been spoken by blessed David at the time of being pursued by Absalom.… I thought that on falling into sin, he is saying, I was far from your care; but you took account of my humble words and did not despise me in my need. Now, he rightly called his sin “departure”: after treading the way of righteousness he left it and turned aside; but he stumbled and fell foul of bloodthirsty brigands. This very thing reveals David’s virtue: he was not in the habit of sinning, but departing a little from his chosen course he suffered that awful slide.

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 31:1, 11

Psalms 31:23

You who pass through the present life with divine hope, strengthen your souls with bravery and heed the directions of the pilot, traveling wherever he leads.

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 31:12

Psalms 32:1

I class as enviable and blessed those who by the Lord’s lovingkindness receive forgiveness of sins apart from their works. To them, in fact, he exercises such generosity as not only to forgive them but also cover over their sins so that no trace of them remains.

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 32:1

Psalms 32:5

When David said, “I have sinned against the Lord,” Nathan replied, “The Lord has put away your sin, you will not die.” He did, however, threaten to fill his house with calamities of all kinds; here too likewise, “You put away the impiety of my sin”: immediately after perpetrating such things, he is saying, I should have been consigned to death according to the law, but you applied your lovingkindness and did not so consign me, keeping my treatment to moderate censure.

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 32:3

Psalms 32:10

All people, even if adorned with the works of virtue, stand in need of divine grace; hence the divine apostle also shouts aloud, “By grace you are saved through faith; this is not of your doing—it is God’s gift.”

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 32:6

Psalms 32:11

So let no one rejoice in his or her own achievements but rather exult in God and find satisfaction in that. This is in keeping with the apostolic statements, “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 32:7

Psalms 33:6

Effort and time on the part of workers was not required: a word was sufficient for creating on his part. He said, Let a firmament be made, and so it was. Let lights be made in the firmament of heaven, and it was. Such is the surface meaning of the text. True theology, however, gives a glimpse of God the Word with the all-holy Spirit making the heavens and the heavenly powers. The inspired composition of the Old Testament anticipates the Gospel teaching: as the divinely inspired John, the son of thunder, taught the whole world, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God; all things were made through him, and without him was made not one thing that was made.”

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 33:4