CHAPTER 2

From Psalm liv. (471)

Also of Judas, and of them that with Him conspired against Christ.

[Passages quoted, Ps. liv. 2-5, 10-14.]

"2. HEAR my prayer, O God, ^{- and -} do not despise my supplication. | 3. Attend to me and hearken to me: | I was grieved in my meditation, and troubled | 4. by the voice of the enemy, and by the affliction of the sinner. [ For they brought iniquity against me, and (b) in wrath reviled me. | 5. My heart was troubled within me, and the fear of death fell upon me. | Fear and trembling came upon me, and darkness covered me."

And that which follows, to which he adds:

"10. Destroy, O Lord, and divide their tongues, | for I have seen iniquity and strife in the city. | 11. Day and night it shall go round it upon its walls, | and iniquity and sorrow 12. and unrighteousness are in the midst of it, | and usury and craft have not left its streets, (c) 13. For if an enemy had reproached me, I would have borne it: | And if he that hated me had magnified himself against me, I would have hid myself from him: | 14. but it was even thou, O man like-minded, my ^{- 200 -} guide, and my friend, | who in companionship with me sweetened my food: | we walked in the house of God in unity." (d) 

The words:

"If an enemy had reproached me, I could have borne it, and if he that hated me had magnified himself against me, I would have hid myself from him: but it was even thou, O man like-minded, my guide and my friend, who in companionship with me sweetened my food," 

resemble—"For the man of my peace, in whom I trusted, he that ate of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me," said of Judas in the previous prophecy. As then there he was shewn to be a man of peace, when he was the Saviour's disciple and numbered among the apostles, so here he is called like-minded, His guide and His friend. And as there it was said of him, "He that cateth with me hath lifted up his heel against me," so also here it is said to the same person, "Who in companionship with me sweetened my food." Yea, for he was privileged to be one of them that partook of the secret companionship and spiritual food that (472) our Saviour gave His disciples. For to the crowds and multitudes without He spoke in parables, but only to His disciples, of whom Judas was reckoned one, did He unfold all things. So it is said, "He that ate my bread hath lifted up his heel against me," and, "who in companionship sweetened my bread." This Aquila interprets more clearly, "We together (b) supped sweetly on mysteries," and Symmachus, "We joined together in sweet companionship." And instead of, "Thou, O man like-minded, my guide and friend," Symmachus renders, "Thou, O man of like disposition, my guide and my friend." Now if he was privileged to stand so high among the friends of our Saviour, His words about him are natural, "If an enemy had reviled me, I would have borne it," and that which follows.

Then after this prophecy about Judas, He proceeds to foretell His own preservation and escape from death, in the words:

"I cried unto God, and the Lord saved me. At evening and morning and at noon I will tell and proclaim, and he shall hear my voice, and shall ransom my soul in peace."

(c) Thus in prayer He speaks of the time before His death ^{- 201 -} during which Judas hatched his treachery against Him. And it was then that our Lord and Saviour, as one who mourned for the destruction and ruin of His friend, and still more for the casting away of the whole Jewish race, as if in sympathy with friends gone mad who were very dear to Him, calls all His union with (hem and instruction of them wasted, in that it has profited them nothing, saying:

"I was grieved with my wasted efforts, and I was moved by the voice of the enemy, and by the affliction of the sinner. For they fell," He says, "into iniquity, and reviled me in anger."

This may either be referred to the Jewish rulers, who (d) attempted to catch Him with enmity and conspiracy, or it may have been spoken of the invisible powers that fought against Him from without, and inspired the plot that was carried through by men. And this I think agrees with His words in the Gospels at the time of the Passion, when He says to His disciples: "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me.'' And again, "Now is my soul troubled." The words of the Psalm are similar to those, where it said: "My heart is moved within me, and the fear of death is fallen upon (473) me; Fear and trembling have come upon me, and darkness hath covered me," in which He reveals the attacks of the opposing powers upon Him. As then in the prophets a certain "spirit of adultery "is named, e.g. "They were deceived by a spirit of adultery" and "the spirit of error in the wilderness," so also the spirit of death would cause fear, just as the spirit of strength would be the source of power and divine bravery. So we should call it "the (b) spirit of fear and trembling," and, indeed, "the spirit of fear and confusion "as well, which usually comes on nearly all that die as martyrs for their religion, and much more would be laid on Him that underwent death for all. But whether it was the spirit of fear and of death, or of fear and trembling, or any other like power that fell upon Him, at any rate it did not break Him down, for He, like a noble athlete, threw (c) far from Him the fear of death by His assurance of life, for He is the Life. And so He drove far off the spirit of fear and trembling which attacked Him by the power of the spirit of bravery, might, and strength. For according to Isaiah, "There rested on Him (together with the other ^{- 202 -} spirits), the spirit of counsel and strength." So, too, He puts to flight the spirit of darkness by the power of His own light. For, "The light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not." You will find similar passages (d) in Psalm xxi., where again, in His person, it is said, "Many oxen have come about me: fat bulls hemmed me in. They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ramping and roaring lion." And also, "Many dogs have encircled me, the council of the wicked-doers has surrounded me." And once more:

"Save my soul from the sword, and my only-begotten from the power of the dog. Save me from the lion's mouth, and my humility from the horns of the unicorns."

Here He clearly calls the evil powers bulls and calves, lions, dogs and unicorns, who hemmed Him in and surrounded (474) Him at the time of His Passion, but were not able to do aught against Him. And this follows, only if these parts of the Psalm refer to our Lord and Saviour: but if they do not refer to Him, but to some one else, you must yourself reduce the passage to harmony. And immediately after the prediction of the conspiracy against Him, He continues also about the mother-city of the Jews, Jerusalem, ,and says, "I saw iniquity and strife in the city," and that which (b) follows, the meaning of which there is no time now to expound.