Where Is a Just Judgment to Come: Therefore Let the Wicked Take Care
Explanation of the Psalm
1–2 The elect of God, who, from the superior knowledge of God enjoyed by them, say it is their duty to pray to, to praise; and to announce God to others, speak here, saying, “We will praise thee, O God, we will call upon thy name;” we will not only praise thee in this life, but we will invoke thy name, for pure praise does not belong to this life, but to the next. “We will relate thy wondrous works.” We will not only praise you in our heart, and pray to you, but we will also announce your wonderful works to all beside, that they too may learn to fear and to love you. “When I shall take a time, I will judge justices.” These words come from the supreme judge, in approbation of the preceding, promising the just their reward in due season, as well as condign punishment to the wicked, who neither confess to nor invoke him. “When I shall take a time,” the time of judgment determined from all eternity; then, “I will judge justices;” judge with the greatest candor and justice. That not only the day, but even the hour of judgment has been definitively laid down, is taught by the Apostle, Acts 17, where he says, “Because he hath appointed a day wherein he will judge the world in equity by the man who he hath appointed, giving faith to all by raising him up from the dead;” and St. John teaches, in the Apocalypse, “Fear the Lord, and give him honor, because the hour of his judgment is come.” Great thanks, says St. Augustine, should be given to God, who does not pronounce judgment immediately after the commission of the sin, but waits for mortals to do penance, never ceasing, in many and various ways, in the meantime to invite and exhort them until the appointed day and hour arrive.
3 The just speak again, saying, If you judge justly, O Lord, who can stand it? for, “the earth is melted;” gone to the bad, corrupted, become dissipated by the vices of its inhabitants; “and all that dwell therein” have also gone to the bad, there is no one, not even one, there to do good. The Lord answers, “I have established the pillars thereof.” It is not gone entirely, for I have established the pillars of it, perfect souls, who are allowed to exist; for God always had perfect and faithful servants, though it is said in Genesis that, “the earth was corrupt through the iniquities of its inhabitants;” yet in the very same chapter it is stated that “Noe was a just and perfect man.”
4 The prophet now, in the person of one of the just, admonishes the wicked to cease from their iniquity, while a hope of salvation remains; and that judgment is only deferred to give them an opportunity of doing penance. “And to the sinners, lift not up the horn;” that is, I said to the sinners, do not glory in your iniquity, do not proudly defend your sins. The horn is an emblem of pride, and they who not only commit sin, but even glory in their crimes, and seek to be praised for them, are the farthest from salvation. “Lift not up the horn;” do not allow yourselves to be so deeply immersed in sin as to despise and to blaspheme the Almighty.
5–6 He assigns a reason why we should not “speak iniquity against God,” because there will be no escaping his judgment; for he will not judge from the east, so that one may fly to the west; nor from the west, so that one may conceal himself in the east; nor from the desert mountains, where one may hide himself among the trees, or shelter himself in the valleys.
7–8 And he hath poured it out from this to that; but the dregs thereof are not emptied; all the sinners of the earth shall drink. “For God is the judge,” who is everywhere, and, therefore, there is no escaping him; “one he putteth down,” the proud man; “and another he lifteth up,” the humble man. “For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup of strong wine;” for God has the attribute of retributive justice, by virtue of which, while he punishes the haughty sinner, he, at the same time, raises up and consoles the just, after freeing them from the persecution of the wicked. Retributive justice is called a cup of strong wine in various parts of the Scripture, as Isaias 51, Jeremias 25, Lamentations 4, Ezechiel 23, Apocalypse 14, and in various other places. The metaphor is derived from the fact of man being so weakened by an excess of strong wine that he neither knows how, nor is he able, to help himself. The drunken man loses all power of judgment, totters, falls, is buried in sleep. He that is punished by his fellow man, generally speaking, has some remedy, either by seeking to regain the favor of the person who so punishes him, or by flying from him, or by resisting him; but he that is punished by God has no remedy, but, like a drunken man, suddenly falls down insensible under God’s judgments. He adds, “full of mixture;” that is, the cup of strong wine prepared by the Lord will not be simply a cup of strong wine, but various strong wines will be mixed up in it, to make it stronger again, thereby giving us to understand the severity and strength of God’s judgments, and the variety of punishments it has at command; as we read in Psalm 10, “fire and sulphur, and the spirit of storms is the portion of their cup.” “And he hath poured it out from this to that;” God has already poured out the cup of his anger on many, pouring it on this nation now, on another at another time; going from the Sodomites to the Chaldeans, from them to the Egyptians, and to other nations; “but the dregs thereof are not emptied;” the heaviest portion of his retributive justice has not been yet applied, it is reserved for the day of judgment, and then “all the sinners of the earth shall drink.” For then there will no longer be any room for mercy; but all who shall be found among the sinners on that day shall be compelled to drink the dregs of the cup of the anger of the Lord.
9 The prophet now speaks, after having described God’s judgment, and the punishment of the wicked, and promises that he will publish God’s praise forever. They may drink of the cup of the anger of God; but I, delivered through his grace, “will declare forever,” how? “I will sing to the God of Jacob;” what I will declare forever will be a hymn of praise and thanks to the God of Jacob, which I will sing forever.
10 God speaks here, and says, “I will break all the horns of sinners;” all their pride, all their glory, all their power; “but the horns of the just shall be exalted.” I will cause the power and the glory of every just man, and especially of Christ, who was so eminently just as to justify many, to be exalted, as it is said in Isaias 53, “My just servant shall justify many.” St. Jerome observes that this Psalm was composed in the form of a dialogue.