Bellarmine on Psalm 31: Verses 10 & 11

Today we continue St Robert Bellarmine's commentaries on Psalm 31, the second in the series of Penitential Psalms.

The Latin is reproduced courtesy of the Digital Collection site  - UANL and is accompanied by my fairly literal translation. The Scripture excerpts (Douay Rheims/Vulgate) are taken from the DRBO site but the verse numbering follows that of Bellarmine’s Latin text.

Where footnotes are included, the text follows each verse.

Verse 10

I will give thee understanding, and I will instruct thee in this way, in which thou shalt go: I will fix my eyes upon thee.

Intellectum tibi dabo, et instruam te in via hac qua gradieris; firmabo super te oculos meos.

The Lord responds to the prayer of His servant and promises him the help he seeks. He promises three things: firstly, interior prudence, so that he may guard against the snares of his enemies and distinguish his friends from his foes, when He says: “I will give thee understanding,” that is, I will make thee intelligent and prudent. Secondly, the external assistance of the singular providence of God, without which even the most prudent of men may fall into many dangers; and this is what is meant by:  I will instruct thee in this way, in which thou shalt go: for in Hebrew it says, I will show thee the way thou art to walk; and indeed in Greek it says: I will accompany thee on the way, or I will walk together with thee. From all this we understand that I will instruct thee in the way signifies direction and guidance in all actions.  For God is said to show us the way and to accompany us so that, as leader on the journey,  He confers the help of His grace lest we go astray from good habits and fall into the dangers and snares set by the enemy, who are chiefly invisible. Thirdly, perseverance in grace, which is the greatest gift and peculiar to God’s elect. “ I will fix,” He says, “my eyes upon thee,” I will not turn my eyes from thee but, with a benevolent eye, I will look upon thee steadily and perseveringly; so that the assistance of internal prudence and of external providence may be with thee. In Hebrew it has, I will ponder over thee

with my eye, or, as St Jerome translates, I will think about thee with my eye, but by the change of a single point  oculo meo / with my eye can be rendered oculis meis / with my eyes, or oculos meos / my eyes, and so in that expression there is no difficulty. I suspect that for the word cogitabo / I will think or deliberabo / I will ponder, the Septuagint has read firmabo / I will fix or roborabo / I will confirm or strengthen. For how could it be that these most learned men should understand deliberare, consilium inire, cogitare to mean to fix and to confirm?  If, however, the Hebrew reading is to be reconciled with the Greek and Latin, it will be necessary to insert the word semper / always, so that the meaning may be: I think upon thee always with the eye of my mind; which as the same as: I will fix my eyes upon thee.

Verses 11 & 12

Do not become like the horse and the mule, who have no understanding. 

Nolite fieri sicut equus et mulus, quibus non est intellectus.

With bit and bridle bind fast their jaws, who come not near unto thee.

In camo et freno maxillas eorum constringe, qui non approximant ad te. 

Finally, he urges all the faithful, whether bad or good, that they should learn from his example the evils that follow on from sin and the benefits that follow on from penitence and virtue; for he himself had experienced all these things. Turning first to the wicked, he says: “Do not become like the horse and the mule, who have no understanding,” that is, do not be led by your senses alone, for you have been gifted with reason; do not, like the horse and the mule, go whinnying after the wives of your neighbours, as I did; do not, like unbridled and wild horses and mules, attack the poor and humble with biting and trampling hooves, as I did Urias.

He foretells the evils that will befall those who choose to imitate the horses and mules; for they will be forced by tribulations either to be converted to God or they will be prevented from harming others as much as they might have wished. But David expresses this prediction in a prophetic way by means of a prayer: “With bit,” he says, “and bridle bind fast their jaws, who come not near unto thee,” that is, with halter and bridle Thou wilt constrain like horses and mules those who reject Thee so that men gifted with reason may freely come nigh to Thee through obedience. The preposterous Calvin argues that the word should not be read as in camo / with bit but as in lupato / with halter, as if there is much between the two words and as if he is wiser than the Septuagint translators who translated it into the Greek for our in camo / with bit; and St Jerome who translated it from the Hebrew as with bit; and St Augustine, Theodoretus and other ancient writers did the same.  Now camus means a rope or halter, by which horses are restrained. But in this context, bit and bridle are metaphorical words and are put to signify calamities and tribulations which God uses to push men away from sin, which he explains in the next verse. In Hebrew, it has the singular, maxillam eius / their jaw; but not only the Septuagint but also St Jerome translates the word in the plural, maxillas eorum / their jaws. From which we understand that the points have not been placed correctly in our books, for according to addition of other points, the same word means maxillas eorum / their jaws.

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.