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David introduces the Psalms. Master Jean de Mandeville,
(French, active 1350 - 1370) [Getty Museum] |
We continue to build the pages of the
Little Office website. Below is Psalm 109, from Vespers, with notes based on St Robert Bellarmine's explanations.
Totus tuus ego sum
Et omnia mea tua sunt;
Tecum tutus semper sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam
[ ] Footnotes are not hyperlinked but refer to the notes after the Psalm.
Psalmus 109
Dixit Dominus. Christ's exaltation and everlasting priesthood.
[1] Dixit Dóminus Dómino meo: *
[1a] Sede a dextris meis:
The Lord said to my Lord: * Sit thou at my right hand:
[1b] Donec ponam inimícos tuos, * scabéllum pedum tuórum.
Until I make thy enemies * thy footstool.
[2]Virgam virtútis tuæ emíttet Dóminus ex Sion: *
[2a] domináre in médio inimicórum tuórum.
The Lord will send forth the sceptre of thy power out of Sion: * rule thou in the midst of thy enemies.
[3] Tecum princípium in die virtútis tuæ in splendóribus sanctórum: *
[3a] ex útero ante lucíferum génui te.
With
thee is the principality in the day of thy strength: in the brightness
of the saints: * from the womb before the day star I begot thee.
[4] Jurávit Dóminus, et non pœnitébit eum: * Tu es sacérdos in ætérnum secúndum órdinem Melchísedech.
The Lord hath sworn, and he will not repent: * Thou art a priest for ever according to the order of Melchisedech.
[5] Dóminus a dextris tuis, * confrégit in die iræ suæ reges.
The Lord at thy right hand * hath broken kings in the day of his wrath.
[6] Judicábit in natiónibus, implébit ruínas: * conquassábit cápita in terra multórum.
He shall judge among nations, he shall fill ruins: * he shall crush the heads in the land of many.
[7] De torrénte in via bibet: * proptérea exaltábit caput.
He shall drink of the torrent in the way: * therefore shall he lift up the head.
Notes
[1] Dixit Dóminus Dómino meo: *
[1a] Sede a dextris meis:
The Lord said to my Lord: * Sit thou at my right hand:
[1b] Donec ponam inimícos tuos, * scabéllum pedum tuórum.
Until I make thy enemies * thy footstool.
David,
in spirit, saw the Messias ascending into heaven after his death and
resurrection, and tells us the language the Father made use of when he
invited him to sit beside him and reign along with him. He makes use of
the past tense, “
the Lord said,” instead of the future; because, in the spirit of prophecy, he looks upon the matter as a thing of the past. “
The Lord said,”
God the Father said, “to my Lord,” to Christ,
for it cannot apply to Abraham or Ezechias, as some of the Jews will
have it, neither of whom sat on the right hand of the Father, nor were
they begot from the womb before the day star, nor were they priests
according to the order of Melchisedech; and, furthermore, when this
passage was quoted by Christ when arguing with the Jews, they did not
attempt to question its reference to the Messias.
[1a] “
Sit thou at my right hand.” Sitting
denotes peace and supreme power, which Christ was to enjoy; and sitting “
at my right hand,
denotes equality, and an equal share in that supreme power
enjoyed by God the Father. Christ, as far as his divine nature was
concerned, had that equality at all times, but he only got it as regards
his human nature after his humiliation unto death, even to the death of
the cross, as St. Paul says, “Wherefore God also hath exalted him, and
hath given him a name which is above every name, that in the name of
Jesus every knee should bow of those that are in heaven, on earth, and
in hell, and that every tongue should confess that the Lord Jesus Christ
is in the glory of God the Father.” Sitting on the right hand of God,
then, is the same as being in the glory and the majesty of God, and that
glory consists in having a name above every name, at which every knee
shall bend; for, as the same Apostle has it, “
He must reign until he hath put all enemies under his feet;” when the Apostle proves that the expression “
sit thou at my right hand” means nothing more or less than
share my sovereign power.
The same Apostle, Heb. 1, has, “
For
to which of the Angels hath he said at any time, sit on my right hand?
Are they not all ministering spirits sent to minister?” Thus proving
the difference between Christ and the Angels, from the fact of the
latter being merely ministers and servants, and, therefore, not allowed
to sit, but
obliged to stand, in readiness for the execution of
their Lord’s commands; while Christ, as Lord and King, sits with his
Father above all creatures.
Finally, St. Peter, Acts 2, says, “
Being
exalted, therefore, by the right hand of God, he hath poured forth this
which you see and hear; for David did not ascend into heaven, but he
himself said, The Lord said to any Lord, sit thou at my right hand,
until I make thy enemies thy footstool. Therefore, let all the house of
Israel know most assuredly that God hath made him Lord and Christ, this
same Jesus whom you have crucified.” St. Peter clearly says here that “
sitting at the right hand of God” means his having ascended into heaven, and ruling and governing in all places as God only can rule and govern.
[1b] “
Until I make thy enemies thy footstool.”
The kingdom of Christ, then, is never to have an end, nor is there any
danger of its being subverted by its enemies, God having determined to
bring them all under subjection by degrees, that Christ may then reign
peaceably forever after. The word, then, “until,” does not imply that
Christ’s reign was only to hold until his enemies should be subjected;
but it means that his kingdom would be always extended more and more
until as much as one single enemy not bowing the knee to him would not
remain; as if he said, in other words, Come on ruling with me, and cease
not extending our kingdom so long as one solitary enemy shall remain
uunconquered. That extension of Christ’s kingdom is daily going on
through the conversion of some to faith and obedience, who willingly put
themselves under Christ’s feet, that he may rest in them as he would on
a footstool, and who, after finishing their exile, set out for their
country, where they felicitously rest in God: others have either been
perverted, or have got hardened in their perversity and are, in the end,
hurried away by death to judgment, and, on being condemned, are
consigned to hell, where they are, for all eternity, trampled under the
feet of Christ. The extension of Christ’s kingdom will be completed on
the last day, when every knee shall bend of those that are in heaven, on
earth, and in hell, to Christ. But why is the assertion “
until I make”
attributed to the Father? does not the Son, too, “make thy enemies thy
footstool?” Everything done by the Father is also done by the Son, as he
himself asserts; but the Father is made to act here, in order, as it
were, to reward the obedience of the Son, as the Apostle says,
“Wherefore, God also hath exalted him.” With that, everything implying
power is usually attributed to the Father, though the Son has the same
power, because the Father shares it with him, though the Son cannot
share it with the Father, he having had it from the Father by
generation. The Son also, as man, enjoys it but by virtue of the
hypostatic union. The part the Son takes in subduing the common enemy
will be treated of in the next verse.
[2]Virgam virtútis tuæ emíttet Dóminus ex Sion: *
[2a] domináre in médio inimicórum tuórum.
The Lord will send forth the sceptre of thy power out of Sion: * rule thou in the midst of thy enemies.
David
having, in spirit, heard the Father saying to the Son, “Sit thou at my
right hand,” now addresses the Son, and, in the same spirit of prophecy,
shows how the propagation of Christ’s kingdom on earth was to be
commenced. “
The Lord will send forth the scepter of thy power out of Sion;”
that is, God the Father, in order to put your enemies under your feet,
will begin to extend the sceptre of your royal power out of the city of
Jerusalem, and to extend it from Mount Sion, and propagate it to the
remotest corners of the earth. This corresponds with the language of our
Lord after his resurrection. “
And thus it behoved Christ to suffer,
and to rise again from the dead on the third day, and that penance and
remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations,
beginning at Jerusalem.” And in the first chapter of the Acts, “
And you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the uttermost part of the earth.”
The sceptre of his power was sent out of Sion, as if it grew on that
mountain; for it was in Jerusalem that the spiritual kingdom of Christ
commenced, as there were the first believers, and there the faith began
to be propagated by the Apostles.
[2a] “
Rule thou in the midst of thy enemies.”
All success, triumph, and happiness to you on the way; extend your
kingdom to all nations; carry the banner of your cross in the midst of
Jews and pagans; plant it where they are thickest and strongest; “
rule everywhere in the midst of them;”
and in spite of them, and in opposition to them, set up your kingdom.
That was very soon accomplished; for within a few years, in spite of
both Jews and pagans, many Christian churches were established, for the
Apostle writes to the Colossians, chap. 1, “
The truth of the Gospel is in the whole world, and bringeth forth fruit and groweth;” and St. Ireneus, who lived in the century next the Apostles, writes, “
The Church has been planted through the entire world, even to the ends of the earth;”
and he specifies the Churches of Germany, Spain, Lybia, Egypt, France,
the East, and the churches he calls those in the middle of the world,
meaning Greece and Italy.
The Psalm most appropriately adds, “
in the midst of thy enemies;”
because, however prosperous and triumphant the Church may be, she will
always be surrounded by enemies—by pagans, Jews, heretics, and bad
Christians—as long as she sojourns here below. But at the end of the
world, when the good shall come to be separated from the bad, the
kingdom of Christ will be no longer in the midst of her enemies, but
will rise above, and be exalted over all her enemies.
[3] Tecum princípium in die virtútis tuæ in splendóribus sanctórum: *
[3a] ex útero ante lucíferum génui te.
With
thee is the principality in the day of thy strength: in the brightness
of the saints: * from the womb before the day star I begot thee.
Having said, “
Rule thou in the midst of thy enemies,” which meant at the time that Christ’s kingdom in this world was besieged by his enemies, he now tells us how matters will be
on the last day, when all his enemies shall have been subdued, and made his footstool. “
With thee is the principality in the day of thy strength;” your power or principality will then be evident to all, and it will be seen that yours is the kingdom. “
In the day of thy strength;”
on the last day, when your strength will move the heavens, darken the
sun, shake the earth, raise the dead, and summon all to your tribunal. “
In the brightness of thy saints;” when you shall be surrounded by your saints, who will shine like the sun.
[3a] “
From the womb, before the day star, I begot thee;” you will have such a principality with you, because I, your Almighty Father, “
begot you,” not as I did all other created things, from nothing, but “
from the womb,”
from my own womb, as my true, natural, and consubstantial Son, and that “
before the day star,” before I created the stars, before any creature, before all ages. “
From the womb.” The holy fathers very properly use this expression as a
proof of the divinity of Christ; for, if he were a
[4a]
creature, he could not be said to be born of the womb, for no one can
say that a house, or a seat, or anything manufactured, is born of the
womb; nor does God anywhere say that the heavens or the earth were born
of the womb.
By the womb is meant the secret and intimate essence of
the Deity; and, though the womb is to be found in woman only, still it
is applied to the Father, to show more clearly the consubstantiality of
the Son with him, as also to show that God needed not the cooperation of
woman to bring forth and produce. Himself begot and gave birth. As Isaias says, “
Shall not I, that made others to bring forth children, myself bring forth, saith the Lord.”—”
Before the day star.”
Here we have a proof of the eternity of Christ; for he was born before
the day star, and, consequently, before all created things; but he named
the day star, for he himself, as the Son of God, is the increate light.
For he is the true light, that enlighteneth every man and Angel.
[4] Jurávit Dóminus, et non pœnitébit eum: *
[4a] Tu es sacérdos in ætérnum secúndum órdinem Melchísedech.
The Lord hath sworn, and he will not repent: * Thou art a priest for ever according to the order of Melchisedech.
He
now passes from the regal to the sacerdotal dignity, and shows that
Christ is a priest forever, not by reason of his succeeding to Aaron,
but as a priest immediately appointed by God, and of whom Melchisedech
was a type. “
The Lord hath sworn,” hath confirmed his promise by an oath, “
and he will not repent;”
firmly resolved upon it, a resolution he will never alter; and that is,
that though the priesthood of Aaron was to be changed, that of Christ’s
never would. God is said to be sorry, a thing he cannot be subject to,
when he acts as men do who are sorry for anything; thus, God says in
Genesis, “
I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the
earth, from man even to the fowls of the air, for it repenteth me that I
have made them.” And, again, in 1 Kings 15, the Lord says, “
It repenteth me that I have made Saul king.”—”
[4a] Thou art a priest forever.”
These are the words of the Father to the Son, and not of David, as St.
Paul reasserts in Heb. 5. Now Christ is said to be a priest forever,
because the effect of the one sacrifice in which he offered his body on
the cross holds forever, as the Apostle, in Heb. 10 has it, “
For by one oblation he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified;”
as also, because he, living forever, daily, through the hands of the
priests of his Church, who succeed each other, offers a sacrifice to
which the Apostle alludes, when he says, “
And the others indeed were
made many priests, because, by reason of death, they were not suffered
to continue; but this, for that he continueth forever, hath an
everlasting priesthood.”—”
According to the order of Melchisedech;”
that is, the rite, law, or custom of Melchisedech, whose order is
distinguished from that of Aaron, and from which it differs in many
respects.
(1) Melchisedech succeeded no priest, nor had he a successor; and, thus, the Apostle says of him, “
without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life.” While in the priesthood of Aaron one succeeded another, the son supplied the father’s place.
(2) Melchisedech was both king and priest; Aaron was simply a priest.
(3) Melchisedech’s offering consisted of bread and wine, that of Aaron was of sheep and oxen.
(4) Melchisedech was the priest of mankind, Aaron’s priesthood was confined to the Jews.
(5)
Melchisedech required neither tent, tabernacle, nor temple for
sacrifice, Aaron did; and hence, to the present day, the Jews have no
sacrifice, because they have no temple.
Christ, then, is a priest
according to the order of Melchisedech, by reason of his having
succeeded no priest, and by reason of his having had no priest to
succeed him in the great dignity of his everlasting priesthood; and he
in fact, as to his human nature has really no father, and as to his
divine nature has no mother. The same Christ is both King and Priest,
and he offered bread and wine at his last supper, that is, his body
under the appearance of bread, and his blood under the appearance of
wine; and he is the priest, not only of the Jews, but of the gentiles;
nor is his priestly office confined to one temple or one tabernacle,
but, as Malachy predicted, “
From the rising of the sun, even to the
going down, in every place there is sacrifice, and there is offered to
my name a clean oblation.”
[5] Dóminus a dextris tuis, * confrégit in die iræ suæ reges.
The Lord at thy right hand * hath broken kings in the day of his wrath.
Having
asserted that the Son was called a priest forever by the Father, the
prophet now addresses the Father, and says that Christ will be really a
priest forever; for though many kings of the earth will conspire against
him in order to upset his religion and his priesthood, he, however,
seated at the right hand of his Father, will break his adversaries down,
and, in spite of them all, will perpetuate his priesthood and his
sacrifice. “
The Lord at thy right hand;” Christ, as you spoke to him sitting there, when you said, “
Sit thou at my right hand.” “
Hath broken kings in the day of his wrath;”
when he shall be angry with his enemies, the kings of the earth, for
persecuting his Church, he will break them, and, as far as I can
foresee, has already broken them; for in the spirit of prophecy, I
already see Herod stricken by the Angel. Nero, in his misery, laying
violent hands on himself; Domitian, Maximinus and Decius put to death;
Valerian taken captive by the barbarians; Diocletian and Maximinus
throwing up the reins of government in despair; Julian, Valens, and
Honoricus, and nearly all the kings hostile to Christ meeting a
miserable end here, and well merited punishment in hell afterwards for
all eternity.
[6] Judicábit in natiónibus, implébit ruínas: * conquassábit cápita in terra multórum.
He shall judge among nations, he shall fill ruins: * he shall crush the heads in the land of many.
Having
told us how Christ would deal for the present with his enemies, the
kings and princes of the earth, he tells us now, in addition, how he
will deal, on the day of judgment, with all his enemies, “
He shall judge among nations;”
He who, while here below, beat down the impetuosity of princes, and
preserved his Church in time of persecution, will afterwards, at the end
of the world, judge all nations; and having condemned all the wicked
amongst them, “
he shall fill ruins,” will
utterly exterminate, ruin, and destroy the whole body of the wicked; and thus “
he shall crush the heads in the land of many.”
He will humble and confound all the proud, that now, with heads erect,
make against him; for he will then trample on their pride, when he shall
make their weakness known to the whole world, and thus render them both
contemptible and confused; and such is the meaning of crushing their
heads: and he adds, “
in the land of many,” because
the truly
humble and pious in this world are very few indeed, when compared to the
proud and the haughty, who are nearly innumerable.
[7] De torrénte in via bibet: * proptérea exaltábit caput.
He shall drink of the torrent in the way: * therefore shall he lift up the head.
He
now assigns a reason for Christ being endowed with such power as to be
able to break kings, to judge nations, to fill ruins, and to crush
heads, and says, “
He shall drink of the torrent in the way, therefore shall he lift up the head;” as if he said with the Apostle, “
He
humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, even the death of the
cross; wherefore God also hath exalted him, and given him a name, which
is above every name.” The
torrent means the course of human affairs;
for, as a torrent flows with great noise and force, full of mud and
confusion, and soon after subsides without leaving even a trace of
itself, so it is with the affairs of this mortal life—they all pass
away, having, generally speaking, been much troubled and confused. Great
battles and revolutions, such as those in the time of Caesar and
Alexander, and others, have been heard of, but they and their posterity
have passed away without leaving a trace of their power. The Son of God,
through his incarnation, came down this torrent, and “
in the way,”
that is, during his mortal transitory life, drank the muddy water of
this torrent in undergoing the calamities consequent on his mortality;
nay, even he descended into the very depth of the torrent through his
passion, the waters of which, instead of contributing to his ease and
refreshment, only increased his pains and sufferings, as he complains in
Psalm 68. “
The waters have come in even unto my soul. I stick fast
in the mire of the deep, and there is no sure standing. I am come into
the depth of the sea, and a tempest hath overwhelmed me.” In
consideration, then, of such humiliation, freely undertaken for the
glory of the Father and the salvation of mankind, he afterwards “
lifted up his head,” ascended into heaven, and, sitting at the right hand of the Father, was made Judge of the living and the dead.
