This is the first psalm laid out by the Hebrew alphabet. . . . In the course of the whole book, there are two types of these psalms. The first is the type which is shown to contain the entire alphabet, as Psalms 111, 112 and 119. . . . The other type is the one that omits letters . . . such as the present psalm and Psalms 34, 37 and 145. . . . The alphabetic acrostics are not known as something unusual in the divine Scriptures, for Jeremiah also lamented the captivity of Jerusalem with a lament which repeated the alphabet four times. By doing this, he taught that the sacraments, which are the letters, also indicate for us the mysteries of heavenly matters. . . . In the entire psalm, the church prays in marvelous supplication, using the figure known as ethopoeia, that it might not appear in God’s view to be despicable to its enemies. In the first part, the church asks that it may understand the Lord’s instructions and ways. This section contains five letters of the alphabet which we noted. In the second part, the church requests the benefits that he has granted to the holy fathers from beginning of the world; in the third part, the church says that those who keep the Lord’s commands are worthy of eternal rewards; it attests that it remains constantly in the same desire; this is where the psalm contains the remaining nine letters.

From all earthly profit, from all the things of this world that seem good, raising my spirit, let me come to you, Lord; I have been lifted up, now not trusting in money, or house, or business, or military might or in my abilities, but I search while trusting in you, so that I will not be ashamed when I depart from this body. . . . I have lifted my spirit to you so that my spirit may dwell on good things.

O my God, I have been brought to this point of bodily weakness because I trusted in myself. . . . But now I trust in you, so let me be shamed no longer.

Enemies laugh when they see that the trust of just people has not been fulfilled. . . . Laughter is most often a quality of someone of good will, but laughing at someone is always the mark of an enemy.

I have a sufficient basis for hope, he is saying, in those who already believe in you and enjoy your aid. You are in the habit of showing care for them, while confounding those given to lawlessness.

Waiting for God means waiting courageously during the suffering of evils so that when he comes in his judgment he may grant what the spirit of the devoted person was seeking.

As he refers by way to people’s actions and exploits (as in that verse, I have run in the way of your commands, as if to say, I determined to do and observe your commands), so he calls God’s way whatever God deigns to do by creating or arranging. So teach me your paths means make me rejoice in your acting and planning.

Now the ways of the Lord are, we may say, certain courses taken in a good life, guided by Christ, who says, I am the way, and the truth and the life. The way, then, is the surpassing power of God, for Christ is our way, and a good way, too, is he, a way that has opened the kingdom of heaven to believers. Moreover, the ways of the Lord are straight, as it is written: Make your ways known to me, O Lord. Chastity is a way, faith is a way, abstinence is a way. There is, indeed, a way of virtue, and there is a way of wickedness; for it is written, And see if there is any way of wickedness in me.

They are not the wide paths that lead many to perdition; train me in your narrow ways that are known to few.

There are two things which make good Christians: first, that we believe that God is our Savior and, second, that we must wait for his reward throughout our entire life.

Let me shun errors, and teach me, for of myself I know nothing but falsehood. . . . Turned out of paradise by you and wandering to a far-off country, I cannot return by my own strength unless you come to meet me in my wandering, for my return has been waiting on your mercy throughout the whole stretch of earthly time.

Since as you lead, Lord, your ways to life are found, which you have walked, make them known to me, so that through those very ways I may walk, and teach me your paths so that I may proceed on them. And as I do this very thing you direct me in your truth and lead me, because you are my God of salvation.

You have never been without them [your mercies]. You did indeed subject sinful humans to frustration, but you subjected them in hope; you did not abandon them but supported them with the many great comforts of your creation.

In these words, a very glorious and orthodox statement seems to shine upon us, that no one attains to God’s grace by his own merits. For in speaking of God’s mercies which are from the beginning of the world, the church continuously praises the Lord as the dispenser of mercies who does not receive human good works as an earlier step, but first grants his own gifts. Certainly all heresies have been devised by a detestable notion. On this basis, we are given insight into how destructive the Pelagian evil is, because it is recognized how persistently it is refuted.

When people remember, they stir up within themselves the thoughts of things they had known before. But God, when he is mindful of the rational nature, is in that very nature. It is said that he is mindful of him into whom he comes.

In those expressions what he was asking for was this: According to your great mercy, remember me; remember not my sin but me in loving fashion.

Please do remember me, not in the anger of which I am worthy, but in your mercy, which is worthy of you, and this because of your goodness, O Lord, not because of what is due to me, Lord, but because of your own goodness.

By youthful sin he refers to the people’s sins in Egypt, where they committed idolatry, remember. So now, he is saying, remember not those sins but your lovingkindness, by which even then you were kind to them in their ignorance and had mercy on them of your own accord even without being asked; and so now, too, exercise such care and lovingkindness for your own sake.

The Lord is sweet, because while he surpasses all in his kindnesses, he still waits for the sinner’s conversion. . . . He is upright since, after frequent rebukes and very long periods of waiting, he opposes the wicked and humbles the proud and profane in order that they may at length become wise and regret that they have gone astray. That he established a law was surely in keeping with his sweetness and uprightness, for those whom he did not want to go astray, he preferred to correct through the proclamation of a law. But so that someone might not believe that this came as a punishment derived from God’s harshness, he laid out the purpose of the law that was brought forth, its goodness and sweetness. On the way, that is, in the present life, a law is established through which we are admonished to live righteously.

How is it, if God is naturally loving and merciful, that he allowed some people to be subjected to punishments? David added and upright to bring out that justice accompanies goodness. He goes on, in fact, Hence he will legislate for sinners in the way: for this reason, that justice also is an attribute of his, he will legislate for sinners in the way, that is, he will correct sinners so as to bring them to uprightness. In regard to sinners, he is saying, God gives evidence of justice, whereas in regard to others it is goodness. . . . Nevertheless, whether people are punished or enjoy happy outcomes, they find everything happening to their own benefit, provided the mind is set on God and does not waver.

If someone has mastered irascibility, he has mastered the demons, but if someone is a slave to this passion, he is a complete . . . stranger to the ways of our Savior, since the Lord is said to teach the gentle his ways.^[1]

Mercy is customary with God; righteousness is his constant concern. Often, in fact, he obscures sin with a show of his goodness, and he does not submit individuals’ behavior to harsh scrutiny; rather, when he sees some people persisting in their errors without amendment, he applies the rigor of justice and chastises them for the purpose of correcting them, and by the bitterness of the blows he brings the errant ones back to a life of discipline.

[God] will teach his ways not to those who want to run on ahead, as if they could rule themselves better than he can, but to those who do not strut about with their heads in the air or dig in their heels, when his easy yoke and light burden are set on them.

By using the term meek he excludes the proud and exalted. . . . The mild are just the opposite of the proud, who kick against the easy yoke and light burden with a freedom that does harm to them; God will teach those who do without grumbling what they know has been commanded. The distinction between mild and meek appears to be this: the meek are those who are not disturbed by the flame of fury, but they continue constantly with a gentleness of mind. But others are called mild (mansueti), as if they had been conditioned by the hand (manu sueti), that is, they endure injuries without returning evil for evil.

These are the ways of the Lord. Now, he habitually links truth and mercy, as if to say, this is God’s work, this his way, this his action, to accord secure and true salvation to those he has chosen.

Those constantly reared on the sacred Words have a precise knowledge from them that all the dispensations of God our Savior are tempered with mercy and truth: to some, who repent of sins committed, he extends mercy and pardon; others unconquered he proclaims and crowns as champions of virtue, giving his verdict with truth, while admittedly on those caught up in lawlessness and not taking advantage of repentance he inflicts punishments in terms of the standard of truth.

Although the mercy of God mitigated the truth of his judgment, nevertheless, because David was bold enough to make such statements, he was abandoned to his weakness for awhile, and, as you say, to the freedom of his will.

He now comes to the third section in which the psalmist discusses in detail who it is who fears the Lord or with what gift the Lord expresses his thanks.

The person who fears the Lord, his seed—which is good works—will cause him to inherit the spiritual land, which he will acquire by humility and labor with the forgiveness of sins.

When the just have been stripped of their bodies, the perfect blessedness that is promised to the saints at the resurrection is not immediately granted; but it says that the soul is able to dwell in good things, since even if those rewards have still been withheld, which an eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have they entered into the human heart, they still feast on the most certain delight of the hope of their future reward.

Fear of people imparts a lack of confidence, but fear of God provides support for hope.

One who says and does everything so that he may know God always has the eyes of his soul toward the Lord. If one does not receive the spirit of the adoption of the children, he is not made a brother of Christ, nor is the power of the holy made effectual in him; let him say that he is an only child and poor in riches having been deprived of knowledge.

One who does not look at what is before his feet is likely to run into traps or to fall into the mouths of pits. But what is said here is amazing and true, that we walk cautiously and guide our feet, if we lift our eyes constantly to the Lord, since such looking makes us strangers to all stumbling.

I ask you to forgive me not only the sins of my youth and ignorance committed before I believed but also those that I commit even now when I am living by faith, whether through weakness or the dark clouds that obscure this life.

Not only outside, but within, at the very heart of the church, enemies are not lacking. With wicked hatred they hate me, hating me even though I love them.

In saying Look on my enemies, the church prays for them to return, because God converts without hesitation those on whom he looks, as in the Gospel the Lord looked at Peter in such a way that he wept. . . . One could believe that a few people might be disregarded, but the loss of many could not be endured without much grief.

Hope does not shame. She is the daughter of uprightness, and uprightness is the offspring of patience, and patience is birthed really in trials that the virtues receive from the enemy and by which the understanding of God is cut off.

Guard my soul from sliding into imitation of them, and deliver me from this confused situation where they are mixed in with me. . . . If they chance to rise up against me, let me not be shamed, because I have put my trust not in myself but in you.

The church says that the innocent and upright have clung to the church, because it waited for the Lord; it would not have been able to love such people, if the church itself were not appearing to take such strength for granted.

Placing my hope in you, I took pains to be such a person that innocent people might associate with me and take pleasure in my company.

Redeem your people, O God, whom you have prepared for the vision of yourself. Redeem them from all the troubles they endure, not only from without but also from within.

Prayer offered to God befits a king: it is appropriate for one appointed to rule to exercise complete care of his subjects. This is surely the reason that blessed David offered prayer not only for himself but also for a people entrusted to him, especially as the salvation of the one who reigns wisely and well constitutes the welfare of the whole people. The verse implies something else as well, however. Israel was divided, in the time of Saul, of Mephibosheth and of Absalom. Consequently, if I were to enjoy your aid, he is saying, and prove stronger than my adversaries, Israel itself would obtain peace by putting an end to civil strife and would revel in your good things.