CHAPTER 8 

From Psalm xxi.

Of What was done at Our Saviour's Passion. At the End concerning His being succoured in the Morning.

(490) [Passage quoted, Ps. xxi. 2-32.]

THE words, "My God, give ear to me, why hast thou forsaken me?" spoken at the opening of the Psalm, are recorded by Matthew to have been said by our Saviour at the time of the Passion:

"And at the sixth hour, there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour, and at the ninth hour Jesus called with a loud voice, Eloim, Eloim, lama sabachthani, that is to say, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"

 And the Hebrew words are taken from this prophecy. So, then, the beginning of the Psalm includes the words "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani" in the same syllables, which (491) Aquila has thus translated: "My strong one, my strong one, why hast thou left me?" And everyone will agree that this is equivalent to our Saviour's words at the time of His Passion. You may therefore be quite convinced that the Psalm refers to Him and no one else, for its contents harmonize with none other but Him. The other predictions are exactly fulfilled in Him; and especially the words, "They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots." It also foretells literally the (b) driving in of the nails, when His hands and feet were nailed to the Cross, saying "They pierced my hands and my feet, they numbered all my bones." And the other predictions apply to Him alone, as my argument will shew. But if any one would apply them to some other person, whether king, prophet, or other godly man among the Jews, let him prove if he can how what is written is in harmony with him. For who of those who were ever born of women has attained such heights of virtue and power, as to embrace the knowledge (c) of God with unchanging reason, with unruffled soul, and with sober mind, and to fasten all his trust on God, so ^{- 217 -} as to say, "Thou art He that took me out of my mother's womb, my hope from my mother's breasts. I was cast on thee from my mother, from my mother's womb Thou art my God." And who that has ever been so cared for by God, has also become "a reproach of men "and "the outcast of the people''? By what bulls and calves can we (d) suppose such a man to have been surrounded? And in what suffering was he "poured out like water"? How were "all his bones loosened"? How was "he brought into the dust of death," and being brought into the dust of death how does he say those words still and live and speak? Who are "the dogs "that surround him, that are other than the beforenamed "bulls and calves"? What gathering of evil men pierced his feet as well as his hands, stripped him of his raiment, divided some of it among themselves, and cast lots for the remainder? What was the ssvord, the dog, and the lion? Who are they that surrounded him that are called Unicorns? And how after (492) a struggle with such numbers, after being brought into the dust of death, can he promise to proclaim His Father's name, not to all, but only to his brethren?

Who are the brethren, and what church is it of which this sufferer says, "In the midst of the Church I will hymn thee," adding, not the one Jewish nation but, "All the earth shall understand, and turn to the Lord, and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before him"? It is for you yourself to test every expression in the Psalm, and see if it is possible to apply them to any chance (b) character. You will find them only applicable to our Saviour, Who is most true and most to be trusted, and Who applied the words of the Psalm to Himself, as the Evangelists bear witness: Matthew in the quotations I have given, and Mark in his own record, where he says:

"And at the sixth hour there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour (c) Jesus cried with a loud voice saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani, which is to say, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And certain of them that heard said, He calleth for Elias.''

Let us now proceed to investigate, in what way the ^{- 218 -} expressions of the Psalm must be referred to Him. And first we will deal with the inscription which says, "To the end," or according to Aquila, "To the Conqueror," or according to Symmachus, "Ode of Victory concerning the Succour." I have an idea, based on the words of the Evangelists, "There was darkness from the sixth hour unto the ninth hour," that our Saviour's Passion was concluded about the ninth hour, when with a loud voice He spake the words quoted a little before, and that we should consider that His Passion was past at eventide on the approach of night. Then His Resurrection from the dead, which was the Succour of the Father Who succoured Him, and drew Him to Himself, from the land of death, and received Him, must have taken place at dawn, as we learn from the Evangelists. For Luke says, "On the first day of the week at the break of dawn they came [that is the women], to the sepulchre, bearing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them. And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre. And going in they did not find the Body, because our Saviour was already risen from the dead." Mark also tells the same story, saying:

"And very early in the morning, on the first day of the week they went to the sepulchre, at the rising of the sun, and said to one another, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the Sepulchre? for it was very great."

They went, and found it rolled away. And He was already risen. There is the same witness in John: "On the first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene to the sepulchre, while it was still dark, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre." And Matthew too, although he had said, "late on the Sabbath," adds, "As it began to dawn on the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary to see the sepulchre, and behold there was a great earthquake. For the Angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone from the door of the sepulchre." I have necessarily given ^{- 219 -} these quotations to shew the meaning of the "succour at dawn "predicted in the Psalm. For since it tells of our Saviour's Passion, and since the dispensation concerning Him was in no way hindered by the Passion, and the end of the Passion was His Resurrection from the dead and "the succour at dawn," the oracle crowns its description with the final miracle, as if the whole account and the sufferings before the end were incidental to the Resurrection from the dead, and the succour at dawn. For our Lord and Saviour said, (d) "My God, my God, give ear to me, why hast thou forsaken me? "And then added, "I am a worm and no man, a reproach of men, and the outcast of the people"; and in addition to this, "Many oxen have encircled me, fat bulls have hemmed me in"; and gave a clear prediction of His Death in the verse, "Thou hast brought me into the dust of death, for many dogs have surrounded me, the council of the wicked has hemmed me in, they pierced my hands and my feet;" and He gave still further details of His Passion in the words, "They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots." And having given those and similar predictions He did not cease there, but added: "Ye that fear the Lord praise (494) him, for he hath not despised, nor been angered at the prayer of the poor, nor turned his face from him, but when I cried unto him he heard me." How could He claim to have been heard, unless He had had a complete answer to the prayers which He had just uttered, when He said, "Thou hast brought me into the dust of death. Save my soul from the sword, and my only-begotten from the power of the dog"? Nay, having prayed thus, and asked that He might be rescued and saved from these enemies, He adds, '' He hath not despised, nor been angry at the prayer of the poor, nor turned away his face from him: but when I cried unto him, he heard me." He evidently means His Return to life after death, which came to pass through the Succour at dawn, which the Psalm goes on to shew, saying, "But thou, O Lord, do not remove thy help, come to my succour." And it is. this succour that is referred to by the Inscription of the Psalm.

So much about the Inscription of the Psalm. Let us now (c) sound the deeper studies of the Hebrews on the words, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani," which were said by. our ^{- 220 -} Saviour in the hour of His Passion in the actual Hebrew words, and which are enshrined in the Psalm. Now Eloeim is a name for God. And you will find it throughout nearly all the Scriptures: and even now in the Septuagint He is called properly by the Hebrew name. Though of course the Hebrews had other expressions for the divine Name—such as Saddai, Jao, El, and the like.

This Psalm then uses "Eli, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani," as our Lord Himself does, and not Eloeim. And so Aquila, aware of the distinct meaning of God's Hebrew name of Eloeim, did not, like the other translators, think good to render them "My God, my God"—but "My strong one, my strong one," or more accurately, "My strength, my strength." So that taking this sense the Lamb of God our Saviour, when he said, "Eli, Eli," to His Father, meant, "My strong one, my strong one, why hast thou forsaken me?" And may.be He was crucified, because His Strong One had left Him, as the apostle says, "For he was crucified in weakness, but he liveth by the power of God," implying that He would not have been crucified, unless His Strong One had left Him. And surely it befits the Lamb of God, Who was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearers is dumb, to attribute His own powers to God, and to reckon He had nothing of His own except His Father: wherefore He calls His Father His Strength, just as in Psalm xviii. He gives Him the names of Strength and Refuge, saying:

"I will love thee, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my foundation, and my refuge, and saviour. My God, my helper, and I will trust in him; my protector, the horn also of my refuge, and my succour. 

His Strong One forsook Him then, because He wished Him to go unto death, even "the death of the cross," and to be set forth as the ransom and sacrifice for the whole world, and to be the purification of the life of them that believe in Him. And He, since he understood at once His Father's Divine counsel, and because He discerned better than any other why He was forsaken by the Father, humbled Himself even more, and embraced death for us with all willingness, and "became a curse for us," holy and ^{- 221 -} all-blessed though He was, and "He that knew no sin, became sin, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." Yea more—to wash away our sins He was crucified, suffering what we who were sinful should have suffered, as our sacrifice and ransom, so that we may well say with the prophet, He bears our sins, and is pained for us, and he was wounded for our sins, and bruised for our iniquities, so that by His stripes we might be healed, for the Lord hath given Him for our sins. So, as delivered up by the Father, as bruised, as bearing our sins, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter. With this the apostle agrees when he says, "Who spared not his own Son, but delivered him for us all." And it is to impel us to ask why the Father forsook Him, that He says, "Why hast thou forsaken me? "The answer is, to ransom the whole human race, buying them with His precious Blood from their former slavery to their invisible tyrants, the unclean daemons, and the rulers and spirits of evil.

And the Father forsook Him for another reason, namely, that the love of Christ Himself for men might be set forth. For no one had power over His life, but He gave it willingly for men, as He teaches us Himself in the words, "No one taketh my life from me: I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again."

After this He says, "Far from my salvation are the words of my sins." Instead of which Aquila translates, "Far from my salvation are the words of my complaint"; and Symmachus, "The words of my lamentations are removed from my salvation." And in yet a fifth translation it is rendered, "Far from my salvation are the words of my requests." It I is to be especially remarked that in neither of these translations does the expression "of my sins "appear, as it sometimes happens that similar alterations are made in a text by the error of a copyist. And we must accept the version given by the majority of the translators, unless we can understand Him to mean that the sins are ours, but that He has made them His own.

He next says, "My God, I will cry by day, and thou (d) wilt not hear, and by night, and it shall not be folly for ^{- 222 -} me." Instead of which Symmachus has, "My God, I will call by day, and thou wilt not hear, and by night, and there is no silence." He is surely shewing His surprise here that the Father does not hear Him, He regards it as something strange and unusual. But that Father reserved His hearing till the fit time that He should be heard. That time was the hour of dawn, of the Resurrection from the dead, when to Him it could be more justly said than to any, "In a time accepted I heard thee, and in a day of salvation I succoured thee. Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." This, of course, could be said in another sense by our Saviour, as one always accustomed to be heard by the Father, as if He said, to put it more clearly: "Is it possible, O Father, that I, Thine only and beloved Son, should not be heard, when I cry and call to my Father? "For this is the very point He dwells on in John's Gospel at the raising of Lazarus, when He says, "Take away the stone from the sepulchre," and "raised his eyes to heaven and said, Father, 1 thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest me always." If, then, He heareth Him always, it is not in doubt but in absolute assurance that He will be heard, as if it were impossible for Him not to be heard, that He speaks in the form of a question the words: "My God, shall I cry in the day, and thou not hear?" And we must put a note of interrogation after "hear," and understand that the answer to the question is a negative.

And He shews that this is right a little further on in the Psalm, when He says:

"He hath not despised, nor been angry at the prayer of the poor, nor turned his face from him, but when he cried unto him he heard him."

For how could He say negatively, "My God, I will cry by day, and thou wilt not hear," except in the sense I (c) have suggested? And I think He implies this sense when He says, "My God, shall I cry by day, and wilt thou not hear? and by night, and it is not folly for me." "For I do not cry 'Thou wilt not hear,' He says, 'in folly': for I know that I say this inspired by the conviction that it is Thy nature to help and to hear not only me, but all Thy ^{- 223 -} saints. For Thou ever 'dwellest in Thy saints' continually, and art 'the praise' of every godly man that is called 'Israel.' For Thy sake to every one that worships Thee no (d) common praise accrues; in Thee our fathers hoped, and by their trust were saved from the evils that attacked them, 'Unto Thee they cried, and were saved.' Since, then, all Thy saints have had this blessing of Thee, to cry unto Thee and be heard and not be ashamed, how much more readily and specially wilt Thou hear Thy beloved Son that cries? And, if I ask as one who wonders, 'Shall I cry and Thou wilt not hear?' yet shall not My words be regarded as folly. For I know that I utter My prayer, not as one that glories or as one that boasts, but as one of lowly mind. For being gentle and lowly in heart, My words are humble and spoken in humility like My own gentleness, even as I call Myself a worm. For what could be more lowly than a worm? Hence I call Myself 'no man,' since I have descended from (498) My own majesty to such lowliness, that I seem to be no more than a worm, so that I may undergo even death and the destruction of My body. For how else can worms be generated but from the destruction of bodies, and I going to such destruction recognize Myself rightly as a worm and no man. So, too, have I become a reproach of men and the outcast of the people, and I should have become neither unless I had reached the state of a worm at the time of My Passion. For it was then that they who saw Me hanging (b) on the Cross mocked Me, and spake with their lips, and shook their heads saying, 'He trusted in God, let Him deliver him, let Him save him if He desires him.'"

This was the clear prophecy of the Psalmist of what was (c) to come to pass a long time after him, and it was fulfilled when, according to Matthew—

"Two thieves being crucified witli him, one on the right of the Saviour and one on the left, the passers-by reviled him, wagging their heads and saying, Woe, Thou that destroyest the temple and buildest it in three days, save thyself; if thou art the Son of God, come down from the cross. Likewise the chief priests mocking him with the elders and scribes said, he saved others, himself he cannot save. If he be the King of ^{- 224 -} Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him. If he trusted in God, let him deliver him now if he will have him, for he said, I am the Son of God." 

And according to Luke:

"The people stood beholding, and the rulers with them mocked him saying, He saved others, let him save himself if he is the Christ, the Son of God, the chosen." 

And according to Mark:

"And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads, and saying, Ah, thou that destroyest the temple and buildest it in three days, save thyself and come down from the cross. Likewise the chief priests, mocking between themselves with the scribes, said, He saved others, himself he cannot save. Let Christ the King of Israel descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe in him."

Where is the discrepancy between this and the prophecies in the Psalm,

"I am a worm and no man, a reproach of men and the outcast of the people. All they that saw me reviled me, they spoke with their lips, they shook their heads, saying, he trusted in the Lord, let him deliver him, let him save him if he desires him"?

Wonder not if this was said of and fulfilled by the Passion of our Saviour, for even now He is a reproach among all men who have not yet received faith in Him ! For what is more shameful or worse than any reproach than to be crucified? Yea, He is an outcast of the people of the Jews, for even to-day that whole race loves to mock Him, to set Him at naught, and to spit on Him: wherefore the apostle rightly says:

"We preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling-block, and to the Gentiles foolishness."

And that which follows in the Psalm you will find even now said of Him by the multitude. Such, then, was His prayer concerning the affliction that overtook Him. And since He knew that His original union with our flesh, and His birth of a woman that was a Virgin was no worse ^{- 225 -} experience than the suffering of death, while He speaks of His death He also mentions His birth, saying to the Father:

"Thou art he that took me out of my mother's womb: Thou wast my hope even from my mother's breasts. On thee was I cast from my mother: from my mother's womb thou art my God." 

Thus He naturally remembers this to comfort Him in His present affliction.

"For just as Thou wert My Succour," He says, "when I took the body of man, when Thou, my God and Father, like a midwife didst draw the body that had been prepared for Me by the Holy Spirit from My travailing mother, putting (d) forth Thy power, to prevent any attempt or plan of hostile powers, envious of My entry into humanity. And since at the very Conception Thou didst overshadow that which was in the womb, so that the rulers of this world might not be aware of the Conception of the Holy Virgin by the Holy Spirit; which mighty mystery thy Archangel Gabriel did reveal to Mary, saying: 'The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee.' Just as the power of the Highest overshadowed Me when I was conceived, and took Me out of My mother's womb when I was born, so it is now My sure consolation, that Thou wilt much more save Me from death. And in this hope I put My trust in Thee, My God, My Lord, My Father: I put My trust not as now first beginning My hope in Thee, for I trusted Thee even when I drew My infant food from My mother's breasts, and was thought to be like human babes powerless and without reason. Such I was not, though I had a human body: it was not like in power or (b) substance to other bodies, I was free and unfettered, as Thy Lamb, O God, though at that age nourished with milk, I mean from My mother's breasts. And no one will think this impossible, if he remembers that even before I was cast on Thee from My mother, and from the womb of My mother Thou art My God. For while still carried in the treasury of her that brought Me forth I saw Thee, My God, (c) as one who continued separate and untroubled though in ^{- 226 -} such close contact with things of flesh, yea, as one who had no body yet and was free of all bonds. And so was I cast on Thee from My mother, on Thee, My God, from My mother's breasts, so that My power was felt while I was still borne in the womb of the Holy Virgin by My forerunner John, while he was yet in the womb of Elizabeth, so that, stirred by My divinity, he leapt for joy, and was filled with (d) the Holy Spirit.

"Bearing such memories in My mind, and ever setting My God and Father before My eyes, it is not strange that in this present hour of supreme suffering I should do the same, when in My obedience to Thee, My Father, of My own will and consent I became a worm and no man, a reproach of men and the outcast of the people. And now when all who gaze on My body nailed to the Cross think they see a sight of ill omen and mock Me, pouring such a flood of reviling and satire upon Me, shewing that they not only think evil of Me and harbour it in their minds, but speak it without fear and say it openly: for 'They spoke with their lips, and shook their heads, saying, He (501) trusted in the Lord, let Him deliver him.'

"So now when such troubles hem Me in, I call upon Thee, My Father, who drew Me out of My mother's womb, on Whom I was cast from My mother, in Whom I trusted from her breasts, made known to Me and acknowledged as My God even from My mother's womb, and I beseech Thee not to depart from Me, for aflliction is near. For there comes, He says, yea, is all but come and at the door, afflicting Me and pressing upon Me the last cloud of all, the cloud of My surpassing trouble. I do not mean this (b) trouble which now enfolds Me, nor the Cross, nor the jeers of men, nor the mockery, nor anything at all that I underwent before the Cross, scourging, insults, nor all My vile treatment from the sons of men; but I look to the dissolution of the body in death itself, and the descent into Hades next thereto, and the onset of the hostile powers opposed to God. And I therefore say, 'Trouble is near, and there is no helper.'" 

It is surely the very climax of affliction to have no helper.  ^{- 227 -} 

For Christ went thither for the salvation of the souls in (c) Hades that had so long awaited His arrival, He went down to shatter the gates of brass, and to break the iron bonds, and to let them go free that before were prisoners in Hades. Which was indeed done, when many bodies of the saints that slept arose and entered with Him into the true Holy City of God. But the opposing powers, added to mere human evil, attacked Him, grieving and afflicting Him sorely, though in His excess of goodness He lamented even over them. (d)

But observe how all this is said, as in the person of Him that was carried in a mother's womb, and born of a mother, Whom we called the Lamb of God. For the words about the Passion apply to Him, just as did those about the Incarnate Birth. For that which is born must die, and that which dies can only travel the road to death which starts from birth.

This, then, our Lord and Saviour unfolds, not as being in nature without flesh and body, nor in so far as He is regarded as the Word of God and Divine, but in so far as He was able to say in His prayer to His Father:

"Thou didst draw me out of my mother's womb, (502) thou wast my hope from my mother's breasts. I was cast on thee from my mother, thou art my God from my mother's womb."

He then in His Passion prays such a prayer to His Father, and says:

"Many hostile forces will surround Me, unclean daemons, and spirits of wickedness, and above all the prince of this world himself the vilest of them all, who because of their wickedness may well be called after evil beasts, be it savage (b) bulls, or calves, or lions, or dogs. And as I essay to withstand them all, but to do them no good, because from the intense evil of their nature they are incapable of receiving good from Me, with none of them for My helper or fellow-worker in My contest on behalf of the souls in Hades, am I not right in saying, 'Trouble is near, and there is no helper'?"

Of course it was not to be expected that any of the evil ^{- 228 -} and hostile powers would have worked with Him, or aided (c) Him in His mission of good. But surely the bitterest element in the cup of pain that was His, was that none of the good and favouring angels, and none of the divine powers, dared to venture to the halls of Death and help Him in succouring the souls there. For in Him alone was there courage, since to Him only were the gates of death opened, Him only the janitors of Hades saw and feared, and He that has the power of death, descending from His royal throne, as recognizing Him only for His Lord, spoke gently (d) to Him with prayer and supplication, as Job relates. Yet He, seeing the impious realm of the tyrant so strong that no heavenly being dared to accompany Him to that bourne, or to help Him in saving the souls there, cries naturally, "Trouble is near, and there is ho helper," since the only Being from heaven who could have helped Him had forsaken Him, so that the glory and independence of His own choice and of His own victory might be proclaimed to all. And since the only Being that could help Him was not then His helper, it is natural that His first words should be, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" that is, "My God, My God, why (503) hast thou forsaken me?" For when He was conceived, and when He was brought forth by the Holy Virgin His Father's power was with Him, when the Holy Spirit came upon the maiden, and the Power of the Highest overshadowed her, and the Father Himself, as the oracle shews, drew forth Him that was begotten from her womb. But when in the hour of His Passion He entered on His struggle with Death, the Helper was no longer with Him. Yea, I (b) believe His own witness of this. For the words, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" which He spoke on the Cross, and which were prophetically foretold in the Psalm, what else do they mean but that like a great athlete He was matched ^{- 229 -} against all these adversaries, while Almighty God ordered the contest and gave the decision? Thus He summons His Father as the overseer of what is being done, and as the adviser, like a clever Anointer, to come to Him, especially as He has no other helper, but only Him that governs (c) the content. And so He says in prayer, "Be not thou far from me, for trouble is near, and there is no helper."

And when with divine eyes He saw His body being suspended on the tree, the unembodied and invisible powers without in the air hovering around Him like voracious birds and wild beasts, and knew that almost at once His body would be a corpse, and fell the powers and rulers of the air surging around Him on every side, the spirit which now worketh in the children of disobedience, and the (d) daemons flying over the earth wherever men inhabit, and perhaps also the wild and dreadful beasts of Tartarus, of which Isaiah said, addressing Lucifer that had fallen from heaven: "Hades beneath was disturbed to meet thee, all the giants rose before thee." When, then, He saw all those without surrounding His crucified body, and preparing to attack Him, He describes their array when He says: "Many oxen have surrounded me, fat bulls hem me in. They have (504) opened their mouths against Me, as a lion voracious and roaring." For most likely they thought that the soul which dwelt in the body of Jesus was human and like other human souls; and opened their mouths as if to devour it like the other human souls. So He says, "They opened their mouths on me, like a lion voracious and roaring." And next He adds, "I am poured out like water." This may be said to have been fulfilled outwardly and historically, when One of the soldiers, according to the Evangelist John, (b) "pierced the side "of the Lamb of God "with a spear, and forthwith came there out blood and water." But He rather seems to refer to the dying of His entire spiritual being when He says:

"I am poured out like water, and all my bones are loosened, my heart in the midst of my body is like melting wax. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue has cleaved to my throat."

For this is surely a description of a dead body. So, too, ^{- 230 -} He adds, "And thou hast brought me to the dust of death."

And then, starting again from what was now past, to comfort Himself for what was yet to happen, He describes what He went through when they plotted against Him. "Many dogs surrounded me, the council of the wicked hemmed me in," meaning probably both the soldiers and the Jews who rose against Him.

"27. Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers. 28. And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe. 29. And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews! 30. And they spit upon him, and took the reed and smote him on the head. 31. And after that they had mocked him, they took the robe off from him, and put his own raiment on him, and led him away to crucify him." 

This is almost an exact fulfilment of "Many dogs surrounded me, the council of the wicked hemmed me in"; moreover, "They pierced my hands and my feet, they numbered all my bones," and also, "They came staring and looking upon me," and "They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots," were all fulfilled, when they fastened His hands and feet to the Cross with nails, and when they took His garments and divided them among them. For John's record is:

"23. Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, and made four parts, to every soldier (b) a part: and also his coat. Now the coat was without seam woven from the top throughout. 24. They said therefore among themselves, Let us not rend it, but cast lots whose it shall be; that the Scripture might be fulfilled, which saith: They parted my garments among them, and for my vesture did they cast lots. These things therefore the soldiers did." ^{- 231 -} 

And Matthew witnesses to what was done as follows:

"And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots. And sitting down they watched him."

The dogs that surrounded Him and the council of the wicked were the rulers of the Jews, the Scribes and High Priests, and the Pharisees, who spurred on the whole multitude to demand His blood against themselves and against their own children. Isaiah clearly calls them dogs, when he says: "Ye are all foolish dogs, unable to bark." For when it was their duty, even if they could not acquire the character of shepherds, to protect like good sheepdogs their Master's spiritual flock and the sheep of the house of Israel, and to warn by barking, and to fawn upon their Master and recognize Him, and to guard the flock entrusted to them with all vigilance, and to bark if necessary at enemies outside the fold, they preferred like senseless dogs, yes, like mad dogs, to drive the sheep wild by barking, so that the words aptly describe them, which say: "Many dogs have surrounded me, the council of the wicked have hemmed me in." And all who even now conduct themselves like them in reviling and barking at the Christ of God in the same way may be reckoned their kin; yea, they who like those impious soldiers crucify the Son of God, and put Him to shame, have a character very like theirs. Yea, all who to-day insult the Body of Christ, that is the Church, and attempt to destroy the hands and feet and very bones, are of their number, if it be true that:

"We are one body in Christ, and all members one of another, and the head must not say to the feet, I have no need of you, nor the eyes to the hands."

Thus in times of persecution, it may be aptly said of those who work against the members of Christ on the side of their enemies: "They pierced my hands and my feet, they numbered all my bones." Then, too, they divide His garments among them, and cast lots upon His vesture, when each individual tears and destroys the glory of His ^{- 232 -} Word, I mean the words of the Holy Scriptures, now this way, now that, and when they take up opinions about (c) Him from misleading schools of thought such as godless heretics invent.

To crown all this He addresses the following prayer to His God and Lord and Father: "But thou, O Lord, take not far off thy help." Left for a little while alone for the shewing forth of the contest, and stripped to contend with Death without a helper, well aware that His only succour from His Father will be by the Resurrection from the dead, He naturally now prays to escape from the (d) array of His adversaries. So He says: "Thou, O Lord, remove not far thy help, afford me succour. For my succour will come from thy help," and it is perhaps in reference to His succour that the whole Psalm is entitled "Concerning the succour at dawn."

"Have regard then to My succour, extending to Me as soon as dawn conies the succour of the Resurrection from the dead, which I know that I shall receive, if thou remove it not from Me. Save My soul from the sword, My Only-begotten from the power of the dog. Thou wilt save Me from the mouth of the lion, and (507) my lowliness from the horns of the unicorns."

By which I understand Him to mean the powers of the under-world, which it is not in my power to distinguish and divide into classes, shewing which was the sword that threatened our Saviour's life, or which one like a dog of death stretched forth its death-fraught paw, to capture it. For He says: "Save my soul from the sword, my Only-begotten from the power of the dog." And another evil (b) power reckoned as one of the wild beasts there, called a lion, opening wide its vast and yawning mouth of death, essays to devour His soul with the others of them that go down to Hades, just as long before mighty Death devoured them, being none other than the lion that opened his mouth before our Saviour, from which He prayed to His Father to deliver Him, saying: "Save me from the lion's mouth."

And there were other evil and impious powers working (c) against the Unicorn of God, and attempting to seduce Him ^{- 233 -} from His purpose, from whom too the Unicorn of God, our Lord having His Father as His only horn, prays that His lowliness may be saved, saying: "And my lowliness from the horns of the unicorn." What lowliness, but that wherewith, being in the form of God, He humbled Himself and emptied Himself, being obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross. Yea, so low descending, and coming even to this, I mean even to the sword in Hades, and to the hand of Him that is called its dog. (Whence, perhaps, the Greeks hearing of some such dog of death, painted it with three heads): and coming to the throat of the said lion, and subjecting His lowliness to the attacks of the impious Unicorns, and thus having completed the whole dispensation of His self-emptying and humiliation, and prayed that now at last He may receive help and the succour of His Father, He adds: "Thou, O Lord, remove not thy help far off, attend to my succour." And though He says this, His Father is not too far off to hear Him, He is not removed far off, He is not separated by the smallest space, but is actually saying to Him: "While thou speakest, I will say, I am here."

And He, well aware of this, and receiving succour from His Father, as He had prayed, begins from that point to chant the Hymn of Triumph, making the Psalm, "Concerning the succour at dawn," in which He says: "I will recite thy name with my brethren, in the midst of the Church I will hymn thee." First, of course, to the disciples and apostles, whom He calls His brethren, He promises to announce the good news of joy and gladness in Him, And in accordance with this, Matthew teaches, saying; 

"And, behold, Jesus met them, that is to say, those with Mary Magdalene, saying, All Hail. And they came to him and clasped his feet, and worshipped him. Then Jesus saith to them, Fear not, go tell my brethren, that they must go before me into Galilee. And there shall they see me."

And John, too, after the Resurrection from the dead, introduces Jesus saying to Mary:

"Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my Father. Go to my brethren and say to them, I ascend ^{- 234 -} to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God."

Thus He says that He will tell the Name of His Father first to the apostles, whom He calls His brethren. And after them, with swift progress, He promises that He will teach the Hymn of His Father to the Church founded in His (d) Name throughout all the world. It is just as if some supreme teacher of philosophy should give a course of instruction in the midst of his pupils for them to hear and and understand, that He in the midst of the Church says: "I will hymn thy praise," that the Church, learning and hearing His words, might in fit manner sing back the praises, no longer of the daemons, but of the One Almighty God, by Him that preached Him. He promises so to do, and from that very point earnestly bids the Church, and His brethren to hymn the Father's praise. Wherefore He says: "Ye that fear the Lord praise him, glorify him all ye seed of Jacob." And: "Let all the seed of Jacob fear him, for he hath not despised, nor been angered at the (509) prayer of the poor, nor turned away his face from him, but when he cried unto him he heard him." And thus he clearly shewed His release from the evils that were named before. For if God heard Him when He cried to Him, when He prayed for His life to be delivered from the sword, and His Only-begotten from the dog, and His lowliness from the mouth of the lion, and the horns of the unicorn, it follows that we must understand Him to be released from them, when He says: "For God was not (b) angered by his prayer, and turned not his face from him, but when he called unto him, he heard him." And so it came to pass that being rescued from His woes, and escaping from death, He sojourned with His disciples and brethren, and sang His Father's praise "in the midst of the Church." And notice how He calls Himself "poor," in harmony with the prophecies already quoted, in which He was called poor and a beggar.

And when He has thus shewn His Resurrection, He (c) again returns to His Father, and says: "From thee is my praise in the great Church," remembering the great Church of all nations established throughout all the ^{- 235 -} world, in which the Saviour's praise is for ever sung, by the will and co-operation of His Father. So He says: "From thee is my praise in the great Church." For of a truth it is great, this Church, gathered of every race of mankind, and above all comparison in gravity and nobility of life, and majesty of belief, while the Jewish nation, and (d) the synagogue of the Circumcision, is so attenuated in the poverty of its teaching, and life, and thought, and conceptions of God.

Then He adds: "I will pay my vows in the sight of all that fear him," meaning by "all that fear him," the aforesaid great Church, to which He said: "Ye that fear the Lord, praise him." And what vows does He mean that He will pay, but those which He promised? And what did He promise, but those, of which He said: "I will tell thy Name to my brethren. In the midst of the Church I will praise thee? "And He proceeds: "The poor shall (510) eat and be satisfied, and they that seek the Lord shall praise him—their heart shall live for ever. All the ends of the earth shall remember and shall turn to the Lord, and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before him. For the Kingdom is the Lord's, and he rules over the nations."

In these words He very aptly proclaims the glorious works after His Resurrection, which are fulfilled in the calling of men from all nations, and by the election of men from the ends of the earth, the results of which being visible to all eyes afford evidence of the truth of the words of (b) the Psalm. And we, too, are the poor, whom like beggars in the things of God, the word of salvation nourishes with spiritual bread, the life-giving food of the soul, and affords eternal life. So the Psalm says: "The poor shall eat and be satisfied, and they that seek the Lord shall praise him, their heart shall live for ever." And the peroration of the (c) whole prophecy crowning all—"The generation that cometh shall be announced to the Lord, and they shall announce his righteousness to a people that shall be born, whom the Lord has made"—specifically foretells the Church of the Gentiles, and the generation established on the earth, through our Saviour Jesus Christ. For what could this people be which, it is here said, will be born for God after these things, which did not exist of old, and did not appear ^{- 236 -} among men, but will be hereafter? What was the generation, which was not then, but which it is said will come, but the Church established by our Saviour in all the world, and the new people from the Gentiles, of which the Holy Spirit wonderfully spake by Isaiah, saying, "Who hath heard such things, and who hath seen them thus? The earth was in travail for one day, and a nation was born at once."

In this exposition I have but touched the fringe of the subject, but I must now pass on in haste to other topics, since time presses. But whoever cares for the Saviour's bidding, "Search the Scriptures, in which ye think to have eternal life, and those are they that witness of me," let him plunge his mind in each word of the Psalm, and hunt for the exact sense of the truth expressed.¹

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