Theodoret of Cyrus — Commentary on Scripture

The psalm is without a title in the Hebrew for the reason of having a similar meaning to the preceding one.

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 43:1

From this it is clear that both psalms have the same meaning. Those using them encourage themselves to have stronger hope, overcome the feeling of discouragement and await the salvation from God that will doubtless be given them.

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 43:5

Psalms 44:2

You, O Lord, he is saying, drove out from here the Canaanites along with the other nations, settling our ancestors in their place: it was not by trusting in strength or depending on armor that they emerged stronger that such people, but led by your grace they felled some and took others into slavery, since you accorded them a special relationship with you—the meaning of “you took delight in them.”

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 44:2

Psalms 44:4

You are the same even now, Lord, he is saying, ruling in similar fashion, overpowering in a similar fashion, exercising the same force, your nature undergoing no change. For you simply a word suffices for salvation: give the nod, and the people will enjoy it.

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 44:3

Psalms 44:26

Now, all this the grace of the Spirit foretold, teaching those who would experience those troubles to bear nobly what befell them and request relief from them from the God of all. Those remarkable people did exactly that: with their words they appeased God, led by him they routed the enemy, and they recovered their former freedom for their fellow citizens.

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 44:10

Psalms 45:3

After describing his charm and wisdom, he gives us a glimpse of both his power and his accouterments, which he used to wipe out his adversaries, teaching us the baffling character of it all.

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 45:4

Psalms 45:6

The prophetic word afterwards teaches the nature of God the Word incarnate himself … that he is God and eternal king, not having had a beginning and not due to have an end. This is what “forever” suggests.

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 45:5

Psalms 45:7

He was also anointed in the all-holy Spirit, not as God but as a human being: as God he was of one being with the Spirit, whereas as a human being he receives the gifts of the Spirit like a kind of anointing. Thus he “loved righteousness and hated lawlessness”: this is a matter of intentional choice, not of natural power, whereas as God he has “a rod of equity as the rod of his kingship.”

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 45:6

Psalms 45:13

Within, he is saying, she has the comeliness of virtue and is resplendent with the manifold gifts of the Holy Spirit.

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 45:10

Psalms 46:1

After the previous psalm prophesied about the church’s being composed from godless nations and becoming a queen, and showed her sons to be made princes of the whole earth, here it gives a glimpse of the disturbances that occurred in the beginning of the preaching, with uprisings developing and opposing the believers. Then it foreshadows in word how the ranks of the persecuted would be protected by hope in God and scorn the waves crashing around them: with the God of all as strong rampart, he is saying, we shall not notice the tribulations of all kinds.

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 46:2

Psalms 46:4

He gave the name “river” here to the preaching of the gospel and “city” to the way of life of God-fearing people, watered by the streams of the river to the point of fruitfulness.

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 46:5

Psalms 47:4

The God of all, who subjected kings to us and gave us control of all the nations, and in addition to that entrusts the beauty and excellence of Jacob to us—not all the Jewish people, who are named for Jacob, in fact, but “the beauty of Jacob,” the excellence and the elite of Jacob, those adorned with faith, who accepted the message without delay, who submitted to the sweet yoke of the Savior. These, you see, he both “chose” and “loved,” and to them he entrusted the apostolic governance.

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 47:2

Psalms 47:9

The promises to the patriarch Abraham, he is saying, took effect. Now the Lord of all promised to bless all the nations in his progeny. Accordingly, both these nations and their rulers abandoned their ancestral gods and are assembled with the God of Abraham, and they call this God theirs.

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 47:5

Psalms 48:1

Often the divine Scripture gives the name “city” not to the building but to the way of life. Accordingly, here too he says the Lord of all was shown to be great through the things done by him in connection with his city, which the elevation of its teachings rendered illustrious as though located on a lofty and mighty hill.

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 48:1

Psalms 48:3

On the one hand, there is one church throughout all land and sea; thus we say in prayer, For the holy, single, universal and apostolic church, from one end of the world to the other. On the other hand, it is also divided into cities, towns and villages, which the inspired Word called “buildings.” As each city is composed of different houses and yet is called one city, so there are countless churches that defy numbering, both on islands and on continents, but all constitute one by being united in the common harmony of the true teachings. In these the God of all became apparent.

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 48:3

Psalms 48:12

He calls the godly form of government “Zion,” that is, the church throughout the world, and “its towers” those devoted to virtue and imitating on earth the way of life of the angels, encircling and protecting it like towers. “Buildings” likewise, as we have said before, the churches divided among the cities, towns and villages: he speaks of them as one and many. So the inspired word, the grace of the all-holy Spirit, urges those to whom the saving message was entrusted to go around and move about, both to strengthen the towers with teaching and confirm its other force, and in addition to this to apportion care of the churches, as we have already remarked on the forty-fifth psalm. He urges it here, too: “take its buildings one by one,” so that one may care for this church and another for that, and be in charge of each by way of cultivating and exercising due care.

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 48:6

Psalms 48:13

Each generation has to pass on to the next what we have received from the former so that the saving message may pass to all generations, and all people know that he is our God and Lord, good shepherd, everlasting. Since he said, “take its buildings one by one,” and entrusted to them the task of shepherding, of necessity he taught that there is one good shepherd, who laid down his life for the sheep, shepherding forever, and shepherding not only the sheep but also those called pastors of the sheep.

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 48:7

Psalms 49:2

All people, listen to my words, city dwellers and country people, more refined and more rustic, all in common and also individuals.… Let nature in general hear my words, and each one reap the benefit for themselves.… Let those abounding in wealth and those caught up in poverty accept the exhortation alike, the word of instruction respecting no difference between wealth and poverty.

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 49:3

Psalms 49:4

The words put forward by me are full of wisdom, he is saying, but I learned them by submitting my hearing to the words hidden in the depths. And what I learned through hearing I put forward through the organ of the tongue. Now, he means to say, I utter nothing of my own; rather, I am an instrument of divine grace.

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 49:4

Psalms 49:5

I fear and dread the day of retribution, on which the righteous Judge will repay everyone according to their works. Now, aware of this, keep such fear before your eyes in your own case.… But if you were to inquire why I am afraid, listen closely: it is an evil day, about which countless declamations are made in the inspired Scriptures. The cause of my fear is the life of lawlessness, through which I strayed from the straight and narrow.

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 49:5