{"collection":"chr","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/chr/ecf/108/1080101.htm","path":"chr/ecf/108/1080101.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/chr/ecf/108/1080101.htm","text":"Psalm XC. 4232\n1. This Psalm is entitled, \u201cThe prayer of Moses the man of God,\u201d through whom, His man, God gave the law to His people, through whom He freed them from the house of slavery, and led them forty years through the wilderness. Moses was therefore the Minister of the Old, and the Prophet of the New Testament. For \u201call these things,\u201d saith the Apostle, \u201chappened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, unto whom the ends of the world come.\u201d 4233 In accordance therefore with this dispensation which was vouchsafed to Moses, this Psalm is to be examined, as it has received its title from his prayer.\n2. \u201cLord,\u201d he saith, \u201cThou hast been our refuge from one generation to another\u201d (Psa. 90.1): either in every generation, or in two generations, the old and new: because, as I said, he was the Minister of the Testament that related to the old generation, and the Prophet of the Testament which appertained to the new. Jesus Himself, the Surety of that covenant, and the Bridegroom in the marriage which He entered into in that generation, saith, \u201cHad ye believed Moses, ye would have believed Me: for he wrote of Me.\u201d 4234 Now it is not to be believed that this Psalm was entirely the composition of that Moses, as it is not distinguished by any of those of his expressions 4235 which are used in his songs: but the name of the great servant of God is used for the sake of some intimation, which should direct the attention of the reader or listener. \u201cLord,\u201d he saith, \u201cThou hast been our refuge from one generation to the other.\u201d\n3. He adds, how He became our refuge, since He began to be that, viz. a refuge, to us which He had not been before, not that He had not existed before He became our refuge: \u201cBefore the mountains were brought forth, or ever the earth and the world were made: and from age even unto age Thou art\u201d (Psa. 90.2). Thou therefore who art for ever, and before we were, and before the world was, hast become our refuge ever since we turned to Thee. But the expression, \u201cbefore the mountains,\u201d etc., seems to me to contain a particular meaning; for mountains are the higher parts of the earth, and if God was before even the earth were formed (or, as some books have it, from the same Greek word, \u201cframed\u201d 4236 ), since it was by Him that it was formed, what is the need of saying that He was before the mountains, or any certain parts of it, since God was not only before the earth, but before heaven and earth, and even the whole bodily and spiritual creation? But it may certainly be that the whole rational creation is marked by this distinction; that while the loftiness of Angels is signified by the mountains, the lowliness of man is meant by the earth. And for this reason, although all the works of creation are not improperly said to be either made or formed; nevertheless, if there is any propriety in these words, the Angels are \u201cmade;\u201d for as they are enumerated among His heavenly works, the enumeration itself is thus concluded: \u201cHe spake the word, and they were made; He commanded, and they were created;\u201d 4237 but the earth was \u201cformed,\u201d that man might thence be created in the body. For the Scripture uses this word, where we read, God made, or \u201cGod formed man out of the dust of the ground.\u201d 4238 Before then the noblest parts of the creation (for what is higher than the rational part of the Heavenly creation) were made: before the earth was made, that Thou mightest have worshippers upon the earth; and even this is little, as all these had a beginning either in or with time; but \u201cfrom age to age Thou art.\u201d It would have been better, from everlasting to everlasting: for God, who is before the ages, exists not from a certain age, nor to a certain age, which has an end, since He is without end. But it often happens in the Scripture, that the equivocal Greek word causes the Latin translator to put age for eternity and eternity for age. But he very rightly does not say, Thou wast from ages, and unto ages Thou shalt be: but puts the verb in the present, intimating that the substance of God is altogether immutable. It is not, He p. 442 was, and Shall be, but only Is. Whence the expression, I Am that I Am; and, I Am \u201chath sent me unto you;\u201d 4239 and, \u201cThou shalt change them, and they shall be changed: but Thou art the same, and Thy years shall not fail.\u201d 4240 Behold then the eternity that is our refuge, that we may fly thither from the mutability of time, there to remain for evermore.\n4. But as our life here is exposed to numerous and great temptations, and it is to be feared lest we may be turned aside by them from that refuge, let us see what in consequence of this the prayer of the man of God seeks for. \u201cTurn not Thou man to lowness\u201d (Psa. 90.3): that is, let not man, turned aside from Thy eternal and sublime things, lust for things of time, savour of earthly things. This prayer is what God has Himself enjoined us, in the Prayer, \u201cLead us not into temptation,\u201d 4241 He adds, \u201cAgain Thou sayest, Come again, ye children of men.\u201d As if he said, I ask of Thee what Thou hast commanded me to ask: giving glory to His grace, that \u201che that glorieth, in the Lord he may glory:\u201d 4242 without whose help we cannot by an exertion of our own will overcome the temptations of this life. \u201cTurn not Thou man to lowness: again thou sayest, Turn again, ye children of men.\u201d But grant what Thou has enjoined, by hearing the prayer 4243 of him who can at least pray, and aiding the faith of the willing soul.\n5. \u201cFor a thousand years in Thy sight are but as yesterday, which is past by\u201d (Psa. 90.4): hence we ought to turn to Thy refuge, where Thou art without any change, from the fleeting scenes around us; since however long a time may be wished for for this life, \u201ca thousand years in Thy sight are but as yesterday:\u201d not as to-morrow, which is to come: for all limited periods of time are reckoned as having already passed. Hence the Apostle\u2019s choice is rather to aim at what is before, 4244 that is, to desire things eternal, and to forget things behind, by which temporal matters should be understood. But that no one may imagine a thousand years are reckoned by God as one day, as if with God days were so long, when this is only said in contempt of the extent of time: he adds, \u201cand as a watch in the night:\u201d which only lasts three hours. Nevertheless men have ventured to assert their knowledge of times, to the pretenders to which our Lord said, \u201cIt is not for you to know the times or seasons, which the Father hath put in His own power:\u201d 4245 and they allege that this period may be defined six thousand years, as of six days. Nor have they heeded the words, \u201care but as one day which is past by:\u201d for, when this was uttered, not a thousand years only had passed, and the expression, \u201cas a watch in the night,\u201d ought to have warned them that they might not be deceived by the uncertainty of the seasons: for even if the six first days in which God finished His works seemed to give some plausibility to their opinion, six watches, which amount to eighteen hours, will not consist with that opinion.\n6. Next, the man of God, or rather the Prophetic spirit, seems to be reciting some law written in the secret wisdom of God, in which He has fixed a limit to the sinful life of mortals, and determined the troubles of mortality, in the following words: \u201cTheir years are as things which are nothing worth: in the morning let it fade away like the grass\u201d (Psa. 90.5). The happiness therefore of the heirs of the old covenant, which they asked of the Lord their God as a great boon, attained to receive this Law in His mysterious Providence. Moses seems to be reciting it: \u201cTheir years shall be things which are esteemed as nothing.\u201d Such are those things which are not before they are come: and when come, shall soon not be: for they do not come to be here, but to be gone. \u201cIn the morning,\u201d that is, before they come, \u201cas a heat 4246 let it pass by;\u201d but \u201cin the evening,\u201d it means after they come, \u201clet it fall, and be dried up, and withered\u201d (Psa. 90.6). It is \u201cto fall\u201d in death, be \u201cdried up\u201d in the corpse, \u201cwithered\u201d in the dust. What is this but flesh, wherein is the accursed lust of fleshly things? \u201cFor all flesh is grass, and all the goodliness of man as the flower of the field; the grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of the Lord abideth for ever.\u201d 4247\n7. Making no secret that this fate is a penalty inflicted for sin, he adds at once, \u201cFor we consume away in Thy displeasure, and are troubled at Thy wrathful indignation\u201d (Psa. 90.7): we consume away in our weakness, and are troubled from the fear of death; for we are become weak, and yet fearful to end that weakness. \u201cAnother,\u201d saith He, \u201cshall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not:\u201d 4248 although not to be punished, but to be crowned, by martyrdom; and the soul of our Lord, transforming us into Himself, was sorrowful even unto death: for \u201cthe Lord\u2019s going out\u201d is no other than in \u201cdeath.\u201d\n8. \u201cThou hast set our misdeeds before Thee\u201d (Psa. 90.8): that is, Thou hast not dissembled Thine anger: \u201cand our age in the light of Thy countenance.\u201d \u201cThe light of Thy countenance\u201d answers to \u201cbefore Thee,\u201d and to \u201cour misdeeds,\u201d as above.\n9. \u201cFor all our days are failed, and in Thine anger we have failed\u201d (Psa. 90.9). These words p. 443 sufficiently prove that our subjection to death is a punishment. He speaks of our days failing, either because men fail in them from loving things that pass away, or because they are reduced to so small a number; which he asserts in the following lines: \u201cour years are spent in thought like a spider.\u201d 4249 \u201cThe days of our age are threescore years and ten; and though men be so strong that they come to fourscore years, yet is more of them but labour and sorrow\u201d (Psa. 90.10). These words appear to express the shortness and misery of this life: since those who have reached their seventieth year are styled old men. Up to eighty, however, they appear to have some strength; but if they live beyond this, their existence is laborious through multiplied sorrows. Yet many even below the age of seventy experience an old age the most infirm and wretched: and old men have often been found to be wonderfully vigorous even beyond eighty years. It is therefore better to search for some spiritual meaning in these numbers. For the anger of God is not greater on the sins of Adam (through whom alone \u201csin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men\u201d), 4250 because they live a much shorter time than the men of old; since even the length of their days is ridiculed in the comparison of a thousand years to yesterday that is past, and to three hours: especially since at the very time when they provoked the anger of God to send the deluge in which they perished, their life was at its longest span.\n10. Moreover, seventy and eighty years equal a hundred and fifty; a number which the Psalms clearly insinuate to be a sacred one. One hundred and fifty have the same relative signification as fifteen, the latter number being composed of seven and eight together: the first of which points to the Old Testament through the observation of the Sabbath; the latter to the New, referring to the resurrection of our Lord. Hence the fifteen steps in the Temple. Hence in the Psalms, fifteen \u201csongs of degrees.\u201d Hence the waters of the deluge overtopped the highest mountains by fifteen cubits: 4251 and many other instances of the same nature. \u201cOur years are passed in thought like a spider.\u201d We were labouring in things corruptible, corruptible works were we weaving together: which, as the Prophet Isaiah saith, by no means covered us. 4252 \u201cThe days of our years are in themselves,\u201d etc. A distinction is here made between themselves and their strength: 4253 \u201cin themselves,\u201d that is, in the years or days themselves, may mean in temporal things, which are promised in the Old Testament, signified by the number seventy; \u201cbut if\u201d not in themselves, but \u201cin their strength,\u201d refers not to temporal things, but to things eternal, \u201cfourscore years,\u201d as the New Testament contains the hope of a new life and resurrection for evermore: and what is added, that if they pass this latter period, 4254 \u201ctheir strength is labour and sorrow,\u201d intimates that such shall be the fate of him who goes beyond this faith, and seeks for more. It may also be understood thus: because although we are established in the New Testament, which the number eighty signifies, yet still our life is one of labour and sorrow, while \u201cwe groan within ourselves, awaiting the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body; for we are saved by hope; and if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.\u201d 4255 This relates to the mercy of God, of which he proceeds to say, \u201cSince thy mercy cometh over us, 4256 and we shall be chastened:\u201d for \u201cthe Lord chasteneth whom He loveth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth,\u201d 4257 and to some mighty ones He giveth a thorn in the flesh, to buffet them, that they may not be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, so that strength be made perfect in weakness. 4258 Some copies read, we shall be \u201ctaught,\u201d instead of \u201cchastened,\u201d which is equally expressive of the Divine Mercy; for no man can be taught without labour and sorrow; since strength is made perfect in weakness.\n11. \u201cFor who knoweth the power of Thy wrath: and for the fear of Thee to number Thine anger?\u201d (Psa. 90.11). It belongs to very few men, he saith, to know the power of Thy wrath; for when Thou dost spare, Thy anger is so far heavier against most men; that we may know that labour and sorrow belong not to wrath, but rather to Thy mercy, when Thou chastenest and teachest those whom Thou lovest, to save them from the torments of eternal punishment: as it is said in another Psalm, 4259 \u201cThe sinner hath provoked the Lord: He will not require it of him according to the greatness of His wrath.\u201d With this also is understood, \u201cWho knoweth?\u201d Such is the difficulty of finding any one who knoweth how to number Thine anger by Thy fear, that he adds this, meaning that it is to the purpose that Thou appearest to spare some, with whom Thou art more angry, that the sinner may be prospered in his path, and receive a heavier doom at the last. For when the power of human wrath hath killed the body, it hath nothing more to do: but God hath p. 444 power both to punish here, and after the death of the body to send into Hell, and by the few who are thus taught, the vain and seductive prosperity of the wicked is judged to be greater wrath of God. 4260 \u2026\n12. \u201cMake Thy right hand so well known\u201d (Psa. 90.12). This is the reading of most of the Greek copies: not of some in Latin, which is thus, \u201cMake Thy right hand well known to me.\u201d What is, \u201cThy right hand,\u201d but Thy Christ, of whom it is said, And to whom is the Arm of the Lord revealed? 4261 Make Him so well known, that Thy faithful may learn in Him to ask and to hope for those things rather of Thee as rewards of their faith, which do not appear in the Old Testament, but are revealed in the New: that they may not imagine that the happiness derived from earthly and temporal blessings is to be highly esteemed, desired, or loved, and thus their feet slip, 4262 when they see it in men who honour Thee not: that their steps may not give way, while they know not how to number Thine anger. Finally, in accordance with this prayer of the Man that is His, 4263 He has made His Christ so well known as to show by His sufferings that not these rewards which seem so highly prized in the Old Testament, where they are shadows of things to come, but things eternal, are to be desired. The right hand of God may also be understood in this sense, as that by which He will separate His saints from the wicked: because that hand becomes well known, when it scourgeth every son whom He receiveth, and suffers him not, in greater anger, to prosper in his sins, but in His mercy scourgeth him with the left, 4264 that He may place him purified on His right hand. 4265 The reading of most copies, \u201cmake Thy right hand well known to me,\u201d may be referred either to Christ, or to eternal happiness: for God has not a right hand in bodily shape, as He has not that anger which is aroused into violent passion.\n13. But what he addeth, 4266 \u201cand those fettered in heart in wisdom;\u201d other copies read, \u201cinstructed,\u201d not \u201clettered:\u201d the Greek verb, expressing both senses, only differing by a single syllable. 4267 But since these also, as it is said, put their \u201cfeet in the fetters\u201d of wisdom, are taught wisdom (he means the feet of the heart, not of the body), and bound by its golden chains 4268 depart not from the path of God, and become not runaways from him; whichever reading we adopt, the truth in the meaning is safe. Them thus lettered, or instructed in heart in wisdom, God makes so well known in the New Testament, that they despised all things for the Faith which the impiety of Jews and Gentiles abhorred; and allowed themselves to be deprived of those things which in the Old Testament are thought high promises by those who judge after the flesh.\n14. And as when they became so well known, as to despise these things, and by setting their affections on things eternal, gave a testimony through their sufferings (whence they are called witnesses or martyrs in the Greek), they endured for a long while many bitter temporal afflictions. This man of God giveth heed to this, and the prophetic spirit under the name of Moses continues thus, \u201cReturn, O Lord, how long? and be softened concerning Thy servants\u201d (Psa. 90.13). These are the words of those, who, enduring many evils in that persecuting age, become known because their hearts are bound in the chain of wisdom so firmly, that not even such hardships can induce them to fly from their Lord to the good things of this world. \u201cHow long wilt Thou hide Thy face from me, O Lord?\u201d 4269 occurs in another Psalm, in unison with this sentence, \u201cReturn, O Lord, how long?\u201d And that they who, in a most carnal spirit, ascribe to God the form of a human body, may know that the \u201cturning away\u201d and \u201cturning again\u201d of His countenance is not like those motions of our own frame, let them recollect these words from above in the same Psalm, \u201cThou hast set our misdeeds before Thee, and our secret sins in the light of Thy countenance.\u201d How then does he say in this passage, \u201cReturn,\u201d that God may be favourable, as if He had turned away His face in anger; when as in the former he speaks of God\u2019s anger in such a manner, as to insinuate that He had not turned away His countenance from the misdeeds and the course of life of those He was angry with, but rather had set them before Him, and in the light of His countenance? The word, \u201cHow long,\u201d belongs to righteousness beseeching, not indignant impatience. \u201cBe softened,\u201d some have rendered by a verb, \u201csoften.\u201d But \u201cbe softened\u201d avoids an ambiguity; since to soften is a common verb: for he may be said to soften who pours out prayers, and he to whom they are poured out: for we say, I soften thee, and I soften toward thee. 4270\n15. Next, in anticipation of future blessings, of which he speaks as already vouchsafed, he says, \u201cWe are satisfied with Thy mercy in the morning\u201d (Psa. 90.14). Prophecy has thus been kindled for us, in the midst of these toils and sorrows of the night, like a lamp in the darkness, until day dawn, and the Day-star arise in our hearts. 4271 For blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God: then shall the righteous be filled with that blessing for which they hunger p. 445 and thirst now, 4272 while, walking in faith, they are absent from the Lord. 4273 Hence are the words, \u201cIn Thy presence is fulness of joy:\u201d 4274 and, \u201cEarly in the morning they shall stand by, and shall look up:\u201d 4275 and as other translators have said it, \u201cWe shall be satisfied with Thy mercy in the morning;\u201d then they shall be satisfied. As he says elsewhere, \u201cI shall be satisfied, when Thy glory shall be revealed.\u201d 4276 So it is said, \u201cLord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us:\u201d and our Lord Himself answereth, \u201cI will manifest Myself to Zion;\u201d 4277 and until this promise is fulfilled, no blessing satisfies us, or ought to do so, lest our longings should be arrested in their course, when they ought to be increased until they gain their objects. \u201cAnd we rejoiced and were glad all the days of our life.\u201d Those days are days without end: they all exist together: it is thus they satisfy us: for they give not way to days succeeding: since there is nothing there which exists not yet because it has not reached us, or ceases to exist because it has passed; all are together: because there is one day only, which remains and passes not away: this is eternity itself. These are the days respecting which it is written, \u201cWhat man is he that lusteth to live, and would fain see good days?\u201d 4278 These days in another passage are styled years: where unto God it is said, \u201cBut Thou art the same, and Thy years shall not fail:\u201d 4279 for these are not years that are accounted for nothing, or days that perish like a shadow: but they are days which have a real existence, the number of which he who thus spoke, \u201cLord, let me know mine end\u201d (that is, after reaching what term I shall remain unchanged, and have no further blessing to crave), \u201cand the number of my days, what it is\u201d (what is, not what is not): prayed to know. He distinguishes them from the days of this life, of which he speaks as follows, \u201cBehold, Thou hast made my days as it were a span long,\u201d 4280 which are not, because they stand not, remain not, but change in quick succession: nor is there a single hour in them in which our being is not such, but that one part of it has already passed, another is about to come, and none remains as it is. But those years and days, in which we too shall never fail, but evermore be refreshed, will never fail. Let our souls long earnestly for those days, let them thirst ardently for them, that there we may be filled, be satisfied, and say what we now say in anticipation, \u201cWe have been satisfied,\u201d etc. \u201cWe have been comforted again now, after the time that Thou hast brought us low, and for the years wherein we have seen evil\u201d (Psa. 90.15).\n16. But now in days that are as yet evil, let us speak as follows. \u201cLook upon Thy servants, and upon Thy works\u201d (Psa. 90.16). For Thy servants themselves are Thy works, not only inasmuch as they are men, but as Thy servants, that is, obedient to Thy commands. For we are His workmanship, created not merely in Adam, but in Christ Jesus, unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them: 4281 \u201cfor it is God which worketh in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure.\u201d 4282 \u201cAnd direct their sons:\u201d that they may be right in heart, for to such God is bountiful; for \u201cGod is bountiful to Israel, to those that are right in heart.\u201d\u2026\n17. \u201cAnd let the brightness of the Lord our God be upon us\u201d (Psa. 90.17); whence the words, \u201cO Lord, the light of Thy countenance is marked upon us.\u201d 4283 And, \u201cMake Thou straight the works of our hands upon us:\u201d that we may do them not for hope of earthly reward: for then they are not straight, but crooked. In many copies the Psalm goes thus far, but in some there is found an additional verse at the end, as follows, \u201cAnd make straight the work of our hands.\u201d To these words the learned have prefixed a star, called an asterisk, to show that they are found in the Hebrew, or in some other Greek translations, but not in the Septuagint. The meaning of this verse, if we are to expound it, appears to me this, that all our good works are one work of love: for love is the fulfilling of the Law. 4284 For as in the former verse he had said, \u201cAnd the works of our hands make Thou straight upon us,\u201d here he says \u201cwork,\u201d not works, as if anxious to show, in the last verse, that all our works are one, that is, are directed with a view to one work. For then are works righteous, when they are directed to this one end: \u201cfor the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned.\u201d 4285 There is therefore one work, in which are all, \u201cfaith which worketh by love:\u201d 4286 whence our Lord\u2019s words in the Gospel, \u201cThis is the work of God, that ye believe in Him whom He hath sent.\u201d 4287 Since, therefore, in this Psalm, both old and new life, life both mortal and everlasting, years that are counted for nought, and years that have the fulness of loving-kindness and of true joy, that is, the penalty of the first and the reign of the Second Man, are marked so very clearly; I imagine, that the name of Moses, the man of God, became the title of the Psalm, that pious and right-minded readers of the Scriptures might gain an intimation that the Mosaic laws, in which God appears to promise only, or nearly only, earthly rewards for good works, without doubt contains under a veil some such hopes as this Psalm displays. But when any one has passed over to Christ, the p. 446 veil will be taken away: 4288 and his eyes will be unveiled, that he may consider the wonderful things in the law of God, by the gift of Him, to whom we pray, \u201cOpen Thou mine eyes, and I shall see the wondrous things of Thy law. 4289\nLiteris. [But see Delitzsch (ed. Clark), vol. iii. p. 48.\u2014C.]\n441:4236 441:4237 441:4238 442:4239 442:4240 442:4241 442:4242 442:4243 442:4244 442:4245 442:4246 442:4247 442:4248 443:4249 443:4250 443:4251 443:4252 443:4253\nAliud est in ipsis, aliud in potentatibus.\n443:4254\nSt. Augustin seems to refer the word amplius to a period beyond the eighty years. In the English version it clearly applies to the attainment of that age.\n443:4255 443:4256\nQuoniam supervenit super nos mansuetudo, et corripiemur: the equivalent in the Prayer Book is, \u201cso soon passeth it away, and we are gone.\u201d\n443:4257 443:4258\n2 Cor. 12:7, 9.\n443:4259\nPs. x. 3, Lat.\n444:4260\nMatt. 10:28, Ps. 73:2, 3, 17.\n444:4261 444:4262 444:4263 444:4264 444:4265 444:4266\nEt compeditos corde in sapienti\u00e2.\n444:4267 444:4268 444:4269 444:4270\nDeprecor te, et deprecor a te.\n444:4271 445:4272 445:4273 445:4274 445:4275 445:4276 445:4277 445:4278 445:4279 445:4280 445:4281 445:4282 445:4283 445:4284 445:4285 445:4286 445:4287 446:4288 446:4289","title":"Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Vol. VIII: Expositions on...","type":"page"}