This psalm foretells the salvation of all the nations and predicts victory over enemies. It also gave a glimpse of the apostolic choir urging all the nations to hymn singing. Now, clapping is typical of victory, and shouting is the sound of victors. So the meaning of this psalm concurs with the previous one: that one foretold the victory indicated after turmoil and disturbances, and this one likewise recommends those who gained the victory to offer the hymn to the provider of the victory. He is revealed to you all, he says, as king most high and fearsome. While in ancient times this was known to Jews alone, in the present time it has been made clear also to the whole human race.

Just as there is wailing by all the nations in the coming of the devil as we have heard the voice calling from heaven, woe to land and sea, for the devil has been cast on you,^[1] so in the coming of our Jesus, there is joy: all nations, clap your hands.

With hands that were previously defiled, accursed, daily stained with blood in the impure sacrifices in which you took the lives of your children, performed shameful rites and went beyond the limits of nature itself, with these hands now clap. Shout to God in a voice of happiness. With that tongue by which you tasted accursed things, by which you uttered blasphemous words, with that tongue shout a victory ode. . . . You have mounted above heavens and the heavens of heavens and have taken your place at the royal throne itself. Accordingly, Shout to God, that is, offer thanksgiving to him, the victory to him, the trophy to him. The conflict is not human or the battle physical, nor is the contest over any earthly concern but over the heavens and those in the heavens. He personally conducted this war and gave us a share in the victory.

When you hear that your Lord was impaled, that he was hanged on the cross, that he was buried, that he descended to the lower parts of the earth, do not be discouraged or troubled: he is most high, and by nature most high. What is most high by nature would never change its exaltation, nor would it become lowly; rather, even in his lowliness his exaltation remains and is revealed. For even in his dying he then most of all demonstrated his power over death. The light shines in the darkness, Scripture says, and the darkness did not overcome it.^[1] That was the way his elevation appeared in his lowliness. . . . At that time the sun diverted its rays, rocks were split, the veil torn, the earth disturbed, Judas expired, Pilate and his wife scared, the judge himself on the defensive. So when you hear that he was bound and scourged, do not be disturbed; rather, see him giving evidence of his might even in bondage. He said, Whom do you seek?^[2] and hurled them on their back. Do you see how he is fearsome, working such marvels by voice and nod alone?

This is really a great king, one who rids the world of error, and in a short space of time installs truth and abolishes the devil’s tyranny, who was a great king even before there were subjects, having the might of his rule not in slaves, nor in pomp and circumstance but in nature itself. . . . This is a great king, the one whose dignity is not from without, who depends on no one for his kingship, who does all he wishes. . . . He chose his subjects in such a way as to persuade them to surrender their spirit rather than disregard what was commanded. Whereas the king enjoys the esteem of his subjects themselves, he by contrast provides the subjects with esteem; thus one is only a name, the other is reality. A great king is the one who made the whole world heaven, caused savages to have sound values and persuaded them to imitate angels.

He became manifest in the events themselves, by which he routed those harassing the godly and proved superior to their scheme, fearsome to the enemy and, in short, king like no other on earth, since he is also Lord of all.

When did he subject people under our feet? When he chose his inheritance for us from the person of Mary, whom the Holy Spirit chose. Then, he ascended with a shout and voice of trumpet. . . . Glory to God on high, angels tell the shepherds. Behold, the Lord rules over every nation. The Lord sits on his holy seat.

What a marvel! He convinced those who crucified him to bow down in worship; those who mocked and blasphemed, those addicted to idol worship he taught to let their souls yield to his will. This transformation, you see, was not of the apostles’ doing but done by him who led the way before them and moved their spirit. I mean, how could a fisherman or a builder have so changed the world had not the words of this person cleared all these obstacles? Sorcerers and tyrants and demagogues and philosophers and all their opponents they scared away like grains of dust and dissipated like smoke. In this way they spread the light of truth, employing not weapons or abundance of wealth but simple speech—or, rather, the speech was not simple but more potent than any action. So how? They called on the name of the crucified, and death skulked away, demons were put to flight, diseases were cured, bodily disfigurement righted, wickedness dispelled, dangers dissipated and the elements transformed. . . . He it was who removed the obstacles as he went before them; he himself smoothed out problems and made difficult things easy. And yet everything was beset by conflicts, everything with snares and hazards, no foothold or places to stand firm, all havens obstructed, every house shut, the ears of all stopped. Nevertheless, as soon as they entered and spoke, all strongholds of the enemy fell, with the result that they even surrendered their souls and then withstood countless dangers for the sake of what they had been told.

Someone may be bewildered and uncertain, and say, So how is it that the Jews do not believe today? . . . Listen to what follows; he added, the beauty of Jacob, which he loved. Here in fact he seems to me to be referring to the believers, as Paul indicated in saying, It is not, however, as though the word of God had failed: not all of Israel belong to Israel; . . . it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise who are counted as descendants.^[1] Now, the believers are rightly spoken of as the people’s beauty; what could be more appealing, after all, than those who have come to faith?

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.

But what does it profit me, if the seed of Abraham, which is Christ,^[1] should possess the cities of his enemies for an inheritance^[2] and should not possess my city? If in my city, that is, in my soul, which is the city of the great king,^[3] neither his laws nor his ordinances should be observed? What does it profit me that he has subjected the whole world and possesses the cities of his enemies if he should not also conquer his enemies in me, if he should not destroy the law that is in my members fighting against the law of my mind and that leads me captive in the law of sin?^[4] So, therefore, let each one of us do what is necessary that Christ may also conquer the enemies in his soul and in his body, and, subjecting and triumphing over them, may possess the city even of his soul.

He ascended with a shout of jubilation, since he sought heaven as the disciples rejoiced in the glory of his being lifted up. He ascended with the sound of the trumpet, since he went up to the throne of his heavenly kingdom as the angels heralded his return to judge the living and the dead.

Those who were estranged from God jeered at Christ in his manhood, but you sing psalms to him as our God, for he is not only man; he is God. He is man from the seed of David, but as God he is David’s Lord. He took flesh from the Jews, to whom belong the patriarchs, and from whom Christ was born according to the flesh, as the apostle reminds us.^[1] So Christ is truly sprung from the Jews, but only according to the flesh; for who is this Christ, who took fleshly nature from the Jews? He is sovereign over all, God, blessed forever.^[2] He was God before being made flesh: God in the flesh, God with flesh. Not only was he God before he took flesh: he was God before the earth, from which flesh was made, and not only God before the earth where flesh was made, but God before the sky, which was made earlier, and God before the first day was created, and God before all the angels came to be. Christ is God, because in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God; he was God. Everything was made through him; no part of created being was made without him.^[3] He through whom all things were made exists before all things. Sing psalms to him as our God, then, sing him psalms.

Pray as is fitting and without trouble, practice psalmody with understanding and harmony, and you will be like a young eagle soaring in the heights.

You were called from Gentile races to be Christians, and those Gentile pagans used to worship gods made by human hands and sing psalms to them, but not with understanding. If they had been singing with understanding, they would not have worshiped stones. When a human person endowed with reason sang to a stone devoid of reason, was that singing with understanding? It is different for us, brothers and sisters: we do not see with our eyes what we are worshiping, yet we have been put right in the matter of worship. Not seeing God with our eyes, we have a far higher notion of him.

Let us, too, lift up our voices by singing or praying in church, so that our adversary, the devil, may depart in confusion at the holy sound. If not in deed, then surely in thought or word the devil usually creeps up to those who are silent or speak of idle, useless matters. When they are singing or praying he can in no way take advantage by his cunning of those whom he sees engaged mentally or vocally in God’s praises.

We must sing with our intelligences; not only with the spirit (in the sense of sound of our voice) but also with our mind. We must think about what we are singing, lest we lose by distracting talk and extraneous thoughts the fruit of our effort. The sound and melody of our singing must be suitably religious. It must not be melodramatic but a revelation of the true Christianity within. It must have nothing theatrical about it but should move us to sorrow for our sins. Of course, you must all sing in harmony, without discordant notes. One of you should not linger unreasonably on the notes while his neighbor is going too fast; nor should one of you sing too low while another is raising his voice. Each one should be asked to contribute his part in humility to the volume of the choir as a whole. No one should sing unbecomingly louder or slower than the rest, as though for vain ostentation or out of human respect. The whole service must be carried out in the presence of God, not with a view to pleasing people.

Since he had said king, he went on to say, not only ours but of all the earth: the one responsible for some people conquering and others being conquered, as he wishes, no matter from what quarter they mount their charge, how could he not be confessed as king of all? The phrase sing with understanding means with a sense of what has been done and keeping in mind the achievements.

The throne of God is Christ. The throne of Christ is the reasonable nature.

What is this holy throne? The heavens perhaps? . . . Yes, but do you want to be his throne too? Do not think such a thing beyond you; if you prepare a place for him in your heart, he comes and is pleased to set his throne there.

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.

Here he shows the extent of the gospel’s influence, reaching not only simple people but even the very wearers of the crown and those seated on a royal throne.