Today we begin St Robert Bellarmine's commentaries on Psalm 37, the third in the series of seven 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.
Psalm XXXVII
Title and subject matter
A psalm for David, for a remembrance of the sabbath.
Psalmus David, in rememorationem de sabbato.
The title of this Psalm in the Hebrew codex makes no mention of the sabbath, but has only rememorationis / of(in) remembrance; it suited the Septuagint translators, however, (who were) most serious men, to add thereto the word Sabbati / of the Sabbath.[1] The explanation of St Augustine seems sufficient and was followed by St Gregory, that this Psalm, one of those which pertains to penitence, was composed by a penitent David, in remembrance of the Sabbath, that is, for those at rest in a state of lost innocence or of the promise of resurrection of the just. It is also possible to understand by Sabbath a good conscience, which the grace of God brings; and which he who sins loses; and by whose groaning is recalled one who begins to offer true penance. The subject matter of this Psalm is a prayer from a penitent, similar to the one in Psalm vi, which has exactly the same beginning and was most probably composed at the time when David fled from Jerusalem because of Absalom’s persecution.[2]
[1] Sabbatum: Jewish sabbath; b (w. ref. to word play on Hebrew sheba ‘seven’ and shabbat ‘cessation’, ‘rest’); c (w. ref. to practice of counting days of week from the sabbath); d (fig.). e period of rest of soul after death.
[2] Absalom: "father of peace", the third son of David by Maacha, daughter of Tholmai, King of Gessur.
Verse 1
Rebuke me not, O Lord, in thy indignation; nor chastise me in thy wrath.
Domine, ne in furore tuo arguas me, neque in ira tua corripias me;
A penitent David prays that God will not punish him in his indignation and wrath, like a judge does with convicted criminals, but with mercy, like a physician with his patients. See what we said on the beginning of Psalm vi where we showed that there was no difference in that text between indignation and wrath, or between rebuke and chastise (see page 6 above). If, however, a distinction may be admitted, then with St Augustine and St Gregory you will say that those rebuked in indignation are those condemned to hell; whereas those chastised in wrath are those tormented after death in the fires of purgatory; and that the Prophet prays that God may punish him here for sins he has confessed and not in purgatory or hell. St Augustine warns against underestimating the fire of purgatory because that fire is more terrible than anything a man may suffer in this life. It should also be added that although in this verse, (and also in Psalm ii, verse 5 and Psalm vi, verse 1), God’s wrath should be endured on account of condemnation in justice, elsewhere it is to be borne because of a father’s zeal, who is angry with his sons, not so as to lose them but so that He may keep them safe.
Verse 2
For thy arrows are fastened in me: and thy hand hath been strong upon me.
quoniam sagittae tuae infixae sunt mihi, et confirmasti super me manum tuam.
Because the Prophet knew that nothing is more useful for obtaining forgiveness of sins than fully acknowledging the misery of sin, and weeping over it to the Lord, he laments in this verse (and some of the following) his unhappiness which he has brought on himself through mortal sin. Accordingly, he says: “Rebuke me not in thy wrath,” for it is most severe, as I have learned from experience. For certain, “thy arrows are fastened in me,” that is, with Thee punishing my sin, many tribulations have befallen me;
“and thy hand hath been strong upon me,” that is, Thy arrows are fastened in me, and have they touched me not just lightly, because Thou hast made heavy Thy hand upon me, so that the arrows might penetrate more deeply. It seems by these tribulations and torments we are to understand the death of his son by Bethsabee, the dishonouring of his daughter carried out by her own brother, the murder of his son Ammon, the fornication and adultery with his wives committed by David's own son, being expelled from his own kingdom and other things of this sort, which, because of his sin, he endured from (the hand of) an avenging God. Perhaps he even calls arrows those reproving and threatening words from Nathan, God’s messenger: “Thus saith the Lord the God of Israel: I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee from the hand of Saul, And gave thee thy master's house and thy master's wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and Juda: ...Why therefore hast thou despised the word of the Lord, to do evil in my sight? Thou hast killed Urias the Hethite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife ...Therefore the sword shall never depart from thy house,” etc. Assuredly, this reproach about the good things he had received and the threat of punishment without doubt mortified David’s soul and affected him with shame, fear and a most intense sorrow.
Totus tuus ego sum
Et omnia mea tua sunt;
Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam.
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