The Enarrations, or Expositions, on the Psalms

^7. Observe therefore what follows, and be not slothful. “Depart from evil, and do good”. Do not think it to be enough for you to do, if you dost not strip the man who is already clothed. For in not stripping the man who is already clothed, you have indeed “departed from evil:” but do not be barren, and wither. So choose not to strip the man who is clothed already, as to clothe the naked. For this is to “depart from evil, and to do good.” And you will say, “What advantage am I to derive from it?” He to whom you lend has already assured you of what He will give you. He will give you everlasting life. Give to Him, and fear not! Hear too what follows: “Depart from evil, and do good, and dwell for evermore.” And think not when you give that no one sees you, or that God forsakes you, when haply after you have given to the poor, and some loss, or some sorrow for the property you have lost, should follow, and you should say to yourself, “What has it profited me to have done good works? I believe God does not love the men who do good.” Whence comes that buzz, that subdued murmur among you, except that those expressions are very common? Each one of you at this present moment recognises these expressions, either in his own lips, or on those of his friend. May God destroy them; may He root out the thorns from His field; may He plant “the good seed,” and “the tree bearing fruit”! For wherefore are you afflicted, O man, that you have given some things away to the poor, and hast lost certain other things? Do you see not that it is what you have not given, that you have lost? Wherefore do you not attend to the voice of your God? Where is your faith? Wherefore is it so fast asleep? Wake it up in your heart. Consider what the Lord Himself said unto you, while exhorting you to good works of this kind: “Provide yourselves bags which wax not old; a treasure in the heavens that fails not, where no thief approaches.” Call this to mind therefore when you are lamenting over a loss. Wherefore do you lament, thou fool of little mind, or rather of unsound mind? Wherefore did you lose it, except that thou did not lend it to Me? Wherefore did you lose it? Who has carried it off? You will answer, “A thief.” Was it not this, that I forewarned you of? That you should not lay it up where the thief could approach? If then he who has lost anything, grieves, let him grieve for this, that he did not lay it up there, whence it could not be lost.

8. “For the Lord loves judgment, and forsakes not His Saints”. When the Saints suffer affliction, think not that God does not judge, or does not judge righteously. Will He, who warns you to judge righteously, Himself judge unrighteously? He “loves judgment, and forsakes not His Saints.” But (think) how the “life” of the Saints is “hid with Him,” in such a manner, that who now suffer trouble on earth, like trees in the winter-time, having no fruit and leaves, when He, like a newly-risen sun, shall have appeared, that which before was living in their root, will show itself forth in fruits. He does then “love judgment, and does not forsake His Saints.”...

9. “But the unrighteous shall be punished; the seed of the wicked shall be cut off.” Just as the “seed of the” other “shall be blessed,” so shall the “seed of the wicked be cut off.” For the “seed” of the wicked is the works of the wicked. For again, on the other hand, we find the son of the wicked man flourish in the world, and sometimes become righteous, and flourish in Christ. Be careful therefore how you take it; that you may remove the covering, and make your way to Christ. Do not take the text in a carnal sense; for you will be deceived. But “the seed of the wicked”— all the works of the wicked— “will be cut off:” they shall have no fruit. For they are effective indeed for a short time; afterwards they shall seek for them, and shall not find the reward of that which they have wrought. For it is the expression of those who lose what they have wrought, that text which says, “What has pride profited us, or what good has riches with our vaunting brought us? All those things are passed away like a shadow.” “The seed of the wicked,” then, “shall be cut off.”

10. “The righteous shall inherit the land”. Here again let not covetousness steal on you, nor promise you some great estate; hope not to find there, what you are commanded to despise in this world. That “land” in the text, is a certain “land of the living,” the kingdom of the Saints. Whence it is said: “You are my hope, my portion in the land of the living.” For if your life too is the same life as that there spoken of, think what sort of “land” you are about to inherit. That is “the land of the living;” this the land of those who are about to die: to receive again, when dead, those whom it nourished when living. Such then as is that land, such shall the life itself be also: if the life be for ever, “the land” also is to be yours “for ever.” And how is “the land” to be yours “for ever”?

“And they shall dwell therein” (it says) “for ever.” It must therefore be another land, where “they are to dwell therein for ever.” For of this land (of this earth) it is said, “Heaven and earth shall pass away.”

11. “The mouth of the righteous speaks wisdom”. See here is that “bread.” Observe with what satisfaction this righteous man feeds upon it; how he turns wisdom over and over in his mouth. “And his tongue talks of judgment.”

“The law of his God is in his heart”. Lest haply you should think him to have that on his lips, which he has not in his heart, lest you should reckon him among those of whom it is said, “This people honour Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.” And of what use is this to him?

“And none of his steps shall slide.” The “word of God in the heart” frees from the snare; the “word of God in the heart” delivers from the evil way; “the word of God in the heart” delivers from “the slippery place.” He is with you, Whose word departs not from you. Now what evil does he suffer, whom God keeps? Thou settest a watchman in your vineyard, and feelest secure from thieves; and that watchman may sleep, and may himself fall, and may admit a thief. But “He who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.” “The law of his God is in his heart, and none of his steps shall slide.” Let him therefore live free from fear; let him live free from fear even in the midst of the wicked; free from fear even in the midst of the ungodly. For what evil can the ungodly or unrighteous man do to the righteous? Lo! see what follows.

“The wicked watches the righteous, and seeks to slay him”. For he says, what it was foretold in the book of Wisdom that he should say, “He is grievous unto us, even to behold; for his life is not like other men's.” Therefore he “seeks to slay him.” What? Does the Lord, who keeps him, who dwells with him, who departs not from his lips, from his heart, does He forsake him? What then becomes of what was said before: “And He forsakes not His Saints”?