David, in the Person of Christ, Prayeth Against His Persecutors; More Especially the Traitor Judas: Foretelling and Approving His Just Punishment for His Obstinacy in Sin, and Final Impenitence
Explanation of the Psalm
1 Words extremely like the expressions of Christ when he said, John 17, “And now glorify thou me, O Father.” Christ, then, as man, asks God, his Father, not to be silent in his praise; that is, as regards his innocence, charity, and other virtues, which was literally accomplished through the Apostles, who, filled with the Holy Ghost, announced the praises of Christ in all languages through the entire world. It was also accomplished through the martyrs, who came after them; through the confessors and doctors, who, with their blood, or by their example, by their preaching, their writings, or their miracles, announced the praises of Christ to all ages and all nations. He then assigns a reason for asking such glory from God, because there are not wanting those who, by their false accusations, will seek to detract from his glory; “the mouth of the wicked and of the deceitful man,” of Caiphas and Judas, and, in fact, of all the Jews, “is opened against me.” He couples the wicked with the deceitful man, because Christ’s persecutors, full as they were of envy and malice, still affected a regard for Christ when they said, “Master, we know that thou art a true speaker, and teachest the way of God in truth.” Thus they were sinners in hating him. They should have loved; and they were deceitful, because, under the guise of friendship, they sought to entrap him in his discourse. Or some of them were avowed sinners, namely, those who openly blasphemed him, saying, “he was a seducer, and that it was in Beelzebub he cast out devils;” while others who were occult sinners and deceitful, put to him questions as if for information, but with a view to lay snares for his character and for his life.
2 He now explains the expression “the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful man is opened against me;” the mouth of the latter was opened when they praised me as a good master, and, at the same time, were only seeking to take advantage of anything that may slip from me; and the mouth of the former, or of the wicked, was opened, because “they have compassed me about with words of hatred,” giving expression to their inward hatred of me when they said, “This man is not from God. Behold, a man that is a glutton and a wine drinker. Away with him, away with him, crucify him.” But, whether covertly or openly, “they fought against me without cause;” for they had no reason whatever in returning evil for good.
3 He explains a phrase in the last verse, “without cause.” For when they should have returned love for love they only turned to detract me; while I, instead of returning evil for evil, turned to pray for them; which he did openly when he exclaimed on the cross, “Father, forgive them,” and which he most likely did also in private as often as he heard their detractions.
4 He repeats that more emphatically, as if he said, for my blessings I got naught but maledictions, hatred for love, numerous wounds for all my cures, death itself for life conferred on them.
5 The prophet now passes on to Judas, who, he foresaw, would be the “the leader of them that apprehended Jesus;” and, in the shape of an imprecation, foretells everything that was to happen to him. “Set thou the sinner over him.” Judas would not have Christ our Lord, the most just and the most meek of men, as a master, and you will, therefore, put the spirit of avarice over him, to which he will be a wretched slave to the day of his death. Judas preferred being a slave to mammon, and, therefore, could not be a servant of Christ; for “nobody can serve two masters.” Now, the spirit of avarice is one of the greatest injustices; for it gives the honor that is due to God to an idol, as the Apostle calls it, “the service of idols.”—”And may the devil stand at his right hand.” The devil will be his guide in all his acts, will constantly stand alongside him, or will rather drag him with the chain of avarice, as he would a dog, and excite him to bite his own master.
6 The prophet now predicts that most unhappy end of Judas; to which prophecy Christ himself seems to refer when he said, “Those whom thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them have perished except the son of perdition, that the Scripture may be fullfiled.”—”When he is judged,” on his departure from this world, “may he go out;” meaning, he will go out “condemned;” and should he chance to pray to God, his prayer will not only be of no avail, but it will “be turned into sin.” St. Jerome says that Judas’s prayer was turned into sin, by reason of his want of hope when he prayed; and thus it was that in despair he hanged himself. St. Augustine says it was because he did not pray through Christ, as a mediator. Others say it was because Judas, in common with other persecutors, prayed for the extirpation of Christianity. To which may be added, that Judas’s prayer was turned to sin because, instead of asking assistance from God, he asked it of the devil, who suggested to him the hanging of himself. We must remark, though, that the prayer of a sinner is not always sinful, but, on the contrary, goes a great way to obtain forgiveness, as did the prayer of the publican; but it becomes sinful when the person praying offers it to those to whom he should not offer it, such as to idols or to the devil; or when he prays for what he should not ask God for, such as for the downfall of his enemies; or when, instead of praying through the one mediator Christ, he presumes on his own merits; or, finally, when he does not pray with faith, hope, and the other necessary accompaniments of prayer. All this applies to the Jews, as well as to Judas, of whom he was the type. The Jews, who depart this life without believing in Christ, will receive eternal punishment: and the prayers they daily use in their synagogues are “turned to sin to them;” because they do not pray through the Son; for they know neither him nor the Father, and because they pray for things God does not wish to grant them, such as the destruction of all Christians, and the speedy coming of Antichrist, whom they will acknowledge, as has been foretold in the Scripture.
7 This is the passage quoted by St. Peter, to show the necessity of electing an Apostle in place of Judas, and whereas the Apostles and disciples concurred with Peter in his interpretation of the passage, we are, of necessity, obliged to do the same. “Men brethren, the Scripture must be fulfilled which the Holy Ghost foretold by the mouth of David, concerning Judas, who was the leader of them that apprehended Jesus.” The prophecy was fulfilled to the letter in Judas; “his days were few,” as regards his life, or his Apostleship; “and another got his bishopric;” Matthias, who was “another” in every sense of the word, being neither a relation, friend, or acquaintance; and like him in nowise either in life or morals. The word “bishopric,” in Hebrew, implies inspection, supervision; which a bishop must do frequently, as he has to render an account of his sheep, a thing that cannot be accomplished by those who reside far from their flocks. This, too, was realized in regard of the Jews; for, after the sin of Judas, short, indeed, were the days of their episcopacy, that is, of their priesthood; and another took it, for the priesthood of Aaron was at once transferred to that of Melchisedech, many of whose priests are this day to be found all over the world, with not one of Aaron.
8 For fear anyone may suppose that Judas was condemned to a certain punishment during his life, which was not shortened though he was deprived of his position as an Apostle, the prophet declares that his days were numbered, for his wife was at once to become a widow, and his children orphans; as actually happened, for he hung himself the same day: and in a very short time after, when Jerusalem was sacked, nearly all the men perished, leaving innumerable widows and orphans to deplore them.
9 Judas’s sin was to be visited on his children; they were to be outcasts from their own country, and beggars in another.
10 We are told here how it will come to pass that the children of Judas and the Jews will be in future a lot of paupers and beggars, because their creditors, when they find them unable to pay, will hunt them up and plunder them of everything they can lay hands on; And should anything escape them, the unfortunate people will be robbed of it “by the strangers,” by the soldiers of Titus, who even ripped them up in search of the gold and jewels they were suspected of having swallowed.
11 This was literally fulfilled in Judas and the Jews; for when Judas, stung with remorse, came to the Jews and threw up the money, instead of offering him any help or consolation, they only said, “What is that to us? Look thou to it.” Being thus rejected by the priests, and despairing of pardon from Christ, he went and hanged himself. The Jews, too, when they were besieged by the Romans, had not one that would dare to help them.
12 The prophet now predicts that on the death of Judas’s children his name would become quite extinct, for these children were to be the last generation of the family. This is literally true as regards the children of Judas, and is equally true as regards his spiritual children, for he never had any. We know that all the other Apostles had their children in the faith, begotten by them through the preaching of the Gospel; who, in their turn, begot other children in Christ; and thus, their posterity will continue forever; while the spiritual posterity of Judas was and is nil. And though the Jews were not thoroughly extinguished, still their kingdom or constitution expired in one generation; because, after the destruction of Jerusalem, they were scattered among all nations; and then was fulfilled what Osee predicted for them, “For the children of Israel shall sit many days without king, and without prince, and without sacrifice, and without altar, and without ephod, and without theraphim.”
13 An additional calamity that will fall on Judas and the Jews is, that they will be punished for the sins of their parents, including not only their natural parents, but all the Jews who sinned in the desert and in the land of promise; and the “sin of his mother” means, not only his natural mother, but the entire synagogue, or the city of Jerusalem, of which Jeremias says, in Lamentations 1, “Jerusalem hath grievously sinned.” The Lord himself confirms this prediction of David, when he said, “That upon you may come all the just blood that hath been shed upon the earth, from the blood of Abel the just, even unto the blood of Zacharias the son of Barachias, whom you killed between the temple and the altar. Amen I say to you, all those things shall come upon this generation.” The cursed Jews even imprecated such vengeance on themselves when they said, “His blood be upon us, and upon our children.” This in nowise contradicts the expression in Ezechiel, “The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father” for Ezechiel speaks of the children who do not imitate the wickedness of the father, while the Psalm alludes to those who do. For God, incensed by the sins of the parents, waits to see would the children come to penance; but if, instead of doing so, they only imitate the parents, and thus fill up the measure of their iniquity, he then exterminates them all, for their past as well as for their present sins; and this is only what God himself promised, when he gave them the law, “I am the Lord thy God, mighty, jealous, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me.”
14–15 He repeats what he said of the sins of the parents, drawing a beautiful contrast between the recollection that would be kept up of their sins, instead of their glory, as much as to say, Let their sins and those of their parents be always remembered, and let not a vestige of the recollection of their glory and happiness remain. He then assigns the cause of the whole, “Because he remembered not to show mercy;” for, as St. James writes, “Judgment without mercy to him that hath not done mercy.” The sin of Judas consisted in seeing the chiefs of the Jews raging against Christ, and, instead of having any pity for his innocent Lord and Master, he most cruelly delivered him up to be slain by them.
16 See the extreme cruelty of Judas and the Jews! in persecuting Christ, “the poor man and the beggar, and the broken in heart;” all which terms are most applicable to Christ. He was a poor man; for, as the Apostle says, “Though being rich, he became poor for your sakes, that, through his poverty, you might be rich;” he may also be called “a beggar,” for he chose to live upon alms, in order that he may devote himself entirely to his ministry and to prayer; and, finally, he was “broken in heart,” full of anxiety and solicitude for the safety of the human race; from which we may form a remote idea of the cruelty of his persecutors. They who seek the life of another are usually prompted by revenge for some real or supposed wrongs that have been inflicted on them; or by avarice, through a desire of getting hold of another’s wealth; or by envy of another’s happiness. Now, Christ, the meek and humble of heart, offered no injury to anyone; no one could court his riches, for he had none; and when his daily business was to deplore the sins of mankind, to exhort them to penance, to despise the things of this world, and to look forward to those of the next, there was no possible cause or reason for anyone’s seeking for his death.
17 It is impossible for anyone, looking at curses and blessings in their intrinsic light, to love one and hate the other; but man is said to love one and hate the other when his own wickedness causes him to he cursed instead of being blessed. Thus, Judas, in betraying Christ for a small sum of money, loved cursing, for he caused himself to be cursed by God; in like manner, by forsaking Christ, through whom all nations were to be blessed, “he would not have blessing,” inasmuch as himself was the cause of not being blessed by God. That applies to the Jewish people also; for the Son of God came from heaven to bless his people; but they, by putting him to death, were the cause of their being cursed instead of being blessed, and of having the benediction transferred to the gentiles. Now, God’s blessing implies an abundance of all good things, as well as his curse implies a heap of all misfortunes. The latter was strikingly exemplified in Judas, who, forthwith, lost not only the money, but the life of this world and of the next; as also in the Jews, who lost their kingdom and their priesthood, and obstinately lived on in blindness and incredulity, until they went down to that exterior darkness to be found only in hell. “And he put on cursing like a garment; and it went in like water into his entrails, and like oil in his bones.” The prophet, making use of most beautiful similes, declares that the divine malediction is a heap of all internal, as well as external evils; so that no room can be found for any manner of good in one accursed by God. He first compares God’s curse to a garment that completely covers the entire body; and as such garment cannot penetrate the interior of man, he compares it to water, which does, not only when man drinks, but when he gets drowned; for then it not only envelopes his exterior, but it gets into his stomach, his breast, and all the interior of his body; then, as water will not penetrate the bones, nor the flesh, nor the nerves, he compares it to oil which insinuates itself into all; and thus the curse of God will fill the body and all its members, the soul and all its affections, the mind and all its faculties of understanding and of will, not only of Judas and of the Jews, but of all who shall come under the sentence, “Go ye cursed,” with all manner of evils and misfortunes. If man would seriously reflect on these matters, he would, of necessity, tremble more for his safety.
18 He now adds, that the malediction will not only thoroughly encompass him, but will stick forever to him; that it will be like the clothes he wears to cover his nakedness, of which he can never divest himself; “and, like a girdle with which he is girded continually,” the malediction will adhere to him as firmly as if it were tied about him like a cincture, knotted and tied firmly to secure it. Who, then, can form an adequate idea of the firmness or the indissolubility of the knot tied by the unswerving, all powerful will of God?
19 He now concludes his prediction of the miseries of Judas by saying, “This is the work of them;” that is to say, this is the reward of their works, for the word work is used in the Scripture to signify the reward of works, as we have in Leviticus, “The work of him that hath been hired by thee thou shalt not retain until the morning”—”Who detract me,” call me a deceiver, deny that I am the Son of God, “before the Lord.” Such will be their recompense from the Lord.
20 In this latter part of Psalm 108, Christ prays for himself and for his body, the Church; and, as he predicted all manner of miseries to Judas and the Jews, in the first part of the Psalm, he now, in the shape of a prayer, predicts many blessings for the Church. He first, then, prays to the Lord that he may be always at hand to protect him in the Church, and that for the glory of his own name, “because thy mercy is sweet,” or it is kind, and lends itself at once to succor the wretched. He speaks here both for himself and for his body, the Church, and asks for God’s assistance against the persecutors of both, for three reasons; first, because God, being supreme Lord of all, can curb those enemies if he likes; secondly, because he asks it with a view to extol the name of God; and, thirdly, because the mercy of God is kind; and, therefore, God can not only show mercy, but he wishes to show it. And, as we said above, this is a prediction in the form of a prayer, or it is both together. We are, therefore, certain that the Church of Christ will be always helped and protected, “so that the gates of hell will not prevail against it.”
21 The prophet, still speaking in the person of Christ, goes on with his prayer, having, apparently, in view the time when Christ said, “Now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour;” or, perhaps, it refers to the time when he prayed in the garden, and said to his Apostles, “My soul is sorrowful unto death.”—”Deliver me” from this death that stares me in the face, “for I am poor and needy;” for I am destitute of all human assistance, having none to fight for me, “and my heart is troubled within me;” sorrow and sadness, arising from the consideration of my approaching death, have overwhelmed me. Christ said all this in order to show that he was truly man, and, as such, had a horror of death absolutely considered, and as contrary to nature, while he actually longed for and desired the same death, as being the price settled and decreed by his Father for the redemption of mankind; and, therefore, when he said in John, “Save me from this hour,” he at once added, “But for this cause I came unto this hour;” and when, in Matthew, he said, “Let this chalice pass from me” he also immediately added, “Nevertheless, not as I will but as thou wilt.” As regards his body, the Church, he asks that it may be delivered from persecutions and temptation, because its members are poor and needy, depending not on their own strength or merits, but, like a true mendicant, on God alone.
22 This is in allusion to the capture of our Lord after his prayer in the garden. He compares it to a “shadow when it declineth,” that flits away insensibly, in profound silence. And thus was the Lord torn away from his disciples, and led captive, brought before various tribunals, even to the very cross, without a murmur, without offering the slightest resistance or defence. “I am taken away like a shadow when it declineth.” I am hurried away from my disciples before the tribunal of Caiphas, Pilate, and Herod, in silence, as silently as the shadow that fades away; “and I am shaken off,” tossed from one tribunal to another, “as locusts,” the vilest of all animals, that are scattered by the wind from one place to another.
23 This is in allusion to the weakness Christ suffered from the fast, the watching, and the labor of the night previous to, as well as on, the day of his passion. For though the life of Christ was one continued fast, he must have felt his weakness particularly at that time, and it is in the knees one first feels the debility; “my flesh is changed for oil;” my whole person is changed in color and bulk, by reason of the loss of the natural fat or oil necessary to support it.
24 This was the finale of his passion; for immediately after that extreme weakness and debility, the Lord became a reproach to the Jews, when they saw him crucified between two robbers; and while he was yet alive they blasphemed him, wagging their heads and saying, “Vah, thou that destroyest the temple of God, save thy own self.”
25 The Lord, in his departure from this life, prays to his Father for a speedy resurrection, as we have explained in Psalm 21, 68, and at the same time prays for real salvation of both soul and body, for his mystical body, the Church.
26 Lest it may be supposed that Christ suffered so much, and died so ignominiously, against his will, and lest the Jews should be able to boast that they were an overmatch for him, the prophet, speaking in the person of Christ, says that this was all the work of God; as St. Peter, in Acts 3, says, “But those things which God hath foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled.” He, therefore, says, “And let them know,” all men, especially the Jews, “that this is thy hand;” that this matter, this suffering of mine, this death of mine, has come from your hand, that is, from your will, pleasure, and power; “and that thou, O Lord, hast done it.” Neither Jews nor gentiles could prevail over Christ, could persecute or put him to death, had not God so wished it. They are not to be excused, however, of a most grievous sin in putting Christ to death, by reason of their having been the instruments of God’s will; for in doing so they did not seek to do God’s will, but to indulge their own hatred and malice, and God only took advantage of their malice, of which he was not the author, to redeem the world, through the obedience, love, patience, and humility of his only Son.
27 My persecutors, being quite ignorant of all these prophecies, “will curse” me and my Church, and so the Jews do, even to the present day; “and thou wilt bless” not only myself, by glorifying and exalting me to your right hand, but you will also, for my sake, bless all nations, by adopting them as children through faith and baptism. Hence will come to pass, that those who persecute and revile me, will ultimately “be confounded; but thy servant,” your humble servant and his brethren “shall rejoice” forever.
28 He now confirms what he had previously laid down; and in the shape of an imprecation, he predicts that all the adversaries of Christ and of his Church would be, ultimately, as completely covered with shame and confusion as a person is entirely enveloped by a double garment, a thing that will be perfectly accomplished on the day of judgment. Such will be the confusion of the damned on the day of judgment. And what greater confusion can be imagined than to have the ingratitude, the folly, and the other vices of the damned, exposed before the whole world, before men and Angels, from the beginning of creation?
29 What a contrast to the confusion of the wicked! They will be struck dumb with confusion; but Christ and his elect “will give great thanks to the Lord with their mouth;” that is, with loud shouts, indicative of great joy, and that “in the midst of many,” on this terrestrial theater of ours here; on the day of judgment; and afterwards on the heavenly theater of the celestial Jerusalem for all eternity.
30 They are bound to give all the glory and praise alluded to in the previous verse; “because he hath stood at the right hand of the poor,” Christ and his people, “to save them from persecution;” to protect Christ from the Jews, who persecuted him, which was accomplished by the speedy resurrection of Christ, and also by the protection of his elect, who obtained life everlasting in spite of the demons and human beings who persecuted them. As regards Christ, his principal persecutors were Caiphas and Pilate, who sentenced him to death; but God’s wisdom, the best protection he could enjoy, stood by him, and caused that sentence to be revoked by the resurrection of Christ. As regards the Church, the persecutors consisted of the emperors and kings, and pagan magistrates, who doomed many thousand martyrs to death; and also of the demons, who acted as God’s ministers in carrying out the decree pronounced against the human race; but Christ, in the shape of a most powerful advocate, interfered, by “blotting out the handwriting of the decree which was against us, which was contrary to us, and the same he took out of the way, fastening it to the cross;” and thus saved the souls of the poor. We have here to observe that “God stands at the right hand of the poor;” that is, of those who acknowledge their poverty, and their want of strength, and, therefore, daily knock at the door of that God who is rich in mercy. “The poor” also mean those who have put away all affection for creatures, and, having become poor in spirit, place their riches in God alone.