Psalm 143 Pt 1: overview

This psalm is set for Friday Vespers in the Benedictine Office; Saturday in the Roman.  St Benedict divides it although it is not actually that long, and the Liturgy of the Hours follows this lead.

David and Goliath

Cassiodorus explains the typological significance of the title, David to Goliath:

The historical event represented by this heading took place in the early life of the prophet, before he became king, but the importance of its typology summons it from that outworn context to our attention to enable you to realise that everything uttered and written in the psalms bears an allegorical meaning, as we shall state more explicitly in the conclusion. 

It is fitting for us to be aware that this war of David was a prophecy of the Lord Christ's struggle. Just as David laid low Goliath by using a rock as the weapon of war, so the power of the devil was overcome by the Rock which is the Lord Christ. These parallels are accordingly observed in this psalm as well. Not only is the victory described here which is contained in the Book of Kings,nor are thanks offered for that victory alone; there are many comments apposite to the Lord Christ's struggle which we shall duly expound in their proper place... 

After the slaying of Goliath, which we have said was fulfilled as a deed of typological significance, the prophet in the first section thanks the Lord, saying that he has been delivered from danger in the fight now over. He prays that the Lord's coming may be swiftly an-nounced, for through it the devil was overcome, and the consummation of the spiritual conflict waged in figure by Goliath was achieved, for at that moment the faithful were freed from great danger. In the second section, the prophet promises to hymn the Lord in the New and the Old Testaments, since he has been freed from most wicked enemies who reposed their happiness in success in this world; he states that only those whose Lord is their God are truly happy... 

Though the Lord through the agency of this holy man has revealed many mysteries of His religion, this one is seen to have been devised to announce the Church's battles which she endures spiritually; thus the proud one could be brought low by the shepherd's rock when he boasted in the presumption of his strength. So we must interpret this as an exemplar of the whole faith, pregnant with a sense of this kind: Goliath must represent the devil and his agents, and David must typify the entire Christian people, which is known to have overcome its fearful enemy through the solidity of the Rock. We must also pay great attention to the fact that after this extended chain of numerous psalms, this appears to have been set as the close, so to say, of worldly matters; for after this psalm nothing is recounted about persecutions of the Church, the bitterness of the world, the sufferings of martyrs, the afflictions of penitents, the laments of the faithful, or the execrable arrogance of Antichrist...

General Audience

Both Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI provided commentaries on this part of the psalm as General Audiences; here is the one from Pope Benedict XVI, from January 2006.  Note that the allusion to the 'rock' though it appears in some modern translations, is absent from the Septuagint-Vulgate (and Neo-vulgate) tradition:

"He is my stronghold' : Our journey through the Psalter used by the liturgy of Vespers now comes to a royal hymn, Psalm 144[143], the first part of which has just been proclaimed: in fact, the liturgy divides this hymn into two separate sections. The first part (cf. vv. 1-8) shows clearly the literary character of this composition:  the Psalmist has recourse to citations of other texts of psalms, presenting them in a new project of song and prayer... represents the shining and glorious figure of the Messiah, whose triumph is no longer an event of war or politics but an intervention of liberation from evil. The "messiah" - a Hebrew word that means "anointed one", as was a sovereign - thus gives way to the "Messiah" par excellence, who in the Christian interpretation has the Face of Jesus Christ, "son of David, son of Abraham" (cf. Mt 1: 1). 

The hymn opens with a blessing, that is, with an exclamation of praise addressed to the Lord, celebrated with a brief litany of saving titles:  he is the rock, safe and sound, he is loving grace, he is the protected fortress, the stronghold of defence, liberation, the shield that keeps at bay any assault by evil (cf. 144[143]: 1-2). There is also the martial image of God who trains his faithful one for battle so that he will be able to face the hostilities of the environment, the dark powers of the world. 

Before the all-powerful Lord, the person of prayer feels weak and frail, despite his royal dignity. He therefore makes a profession of humility that is formulated, as was said, with words from Psalms 8 and 39[38]. Indeed, he feels like "a breath", similar to a fleeting shadow, ephemeral and inconsistent, plunged into the flow of time that rolls on and marked by the limitations proper to the human creature (cf. Ps 144[143]: 4). 

Here then, is the question:  why does God care for and think about this creature who is so wretched and ephemeral? This question (cf. v. 3) elicits the great manifestation of the divine, the so-called theophany that is accompanied by a procession of cosmic elements and historical events, directed at celebrating the transcendence of the supreme King of being, of the universe and of history. Here, mountains smoke in volcanic eruptions (cf. v. 5), lightning like arrows routs the wicked (cf. v. 6), here are the "mighty waters" of the ocean that are the symbol of the chaos from which, however, the king is saved by the action of the divine hand itself (cf. v. 7). 

In the background remain the wicked who tell "lies" and swear false oaths (cf. vv. 7-8):  a practical depiction, in the Semitic style of idolatry, of moral perversion and evil that truly oppose God and his faithful. 

Now, for our meditation, we will reflect initially on the profession of humility made by the Psalmist, and entrust ourselves to the words of Origen, whose commentary on our text has come down to us in St Jerome's Latin version. "The Psalmist speaks of the frailty of the body and of the human condition", because "with regard to the human condition, the human person is nothing. "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity', said Ecclesiastes". But the marvelling, grateful question returns: ""Lord, what is man that you manifested yourself to him?'... It is a great happiness for men and women to know their Creator. In this we differ from wild beasts and other animals, because we know we have our Creator, whereas they do not". 

It is worth thinking a bit about these words of Origen, who sees the fundamental difference between the human being and the other animals in the fact that man is capable of recognizing God, his Creator, that man is capable of truth, capable of a knowledge that becomes a relationship, friendship. It is important in our time that we do not forget God, together with all the other kinds of knowledge we have acquired in the meantime, and they are very numerous! They all become problematic, at times dangerous, if the fundamental knowledge that gives meaning and orientation to all things is missing:  knowledge of God the Creator. 

Let us return to Origen. He says: "You will not be able to save this wretch that is man unless you take it upon yourself. "Lord..., lower your heavens and come down'. Your lost sheep cannot find healing unless it is placed on your shoulders.... These words are addressed to the Son: "Lord, lower your heavens and come down'.... You have come down, lowered the heavens, stretched out your hand from on high and deigned to take our human flesh upon yourself, and many believed in you" (Origen-Jerome, 74 Homilies on the Book of Psalms, Milan, 1993, pp. 512-515). 

For us Christians God is no longer a hypothesis, as he was in the philosophy that preceded Christianity, but a reality, for God "lowered the heavens and came down". Heaven is God himself and he came down among us. Origen rightly sees in the Parable of the Lost Sheep that the shepherd takes upon his shoulders the Parable of God's Incarnation. Yes, in the Incarnation, he came down and took upon his shoulders our flesh, we ourselves. Thus, knowledge of God became reality, it became friendship and communion. Let us thank the Lord because he "lowered the heavens and came down", he took our flesh upon his shoulders and carries us on our journey through life. 

The Psalm, having started with our discovery that we are weak and far from divine splendour, ends up with this great surprise of God's action:  beside us, with us, is God-Emmanuel, who for Christians has the loving Face of Jesus Christ, God made man, God made one of us. 

The text of the psalm

 Psalm 143/1

Vulgate	Douay-Rheims
Psalmus David. Adversus Goliath.	A psalm of David against Goliath.
Benedíctus Dóminus, Deus meus, qui docet manus meas ad prælium, * et dígitos meos ad bellum	1 Blessed be the Lord my God, who teaches my hands to fight, and my fingers to war.
2  Misericórdia mea, et refúgium meum: * suscéptor meus, et liberátor meus :	2 My mercy, and my refuge: my support, and my deliverer:
3  Protéctor meus, et in ipso sperávi: * qui subdit pópulum meum sub me.	My protector, and I have hoped in him: who subdues my people under me.
4  Dómine, quid est homo quia innotuísti ei? * aut fílius hóminis, quia réputas eum?	3 Lord, what is man,that you are made known to him? Or the son of man, that you make account of him?
5  Homo vanitáti símilis factus est: * dies ejus sicut umbra prætéreunt.	4 Man is like to vanity: his days pass away like a shadow.
6  Dómine, inclína cælos tuos, et descénde: * tange montes, et fumigábunt.	5 Lord, bow down your heavens and descend: touch the mountains, and they shall smoke.
7  Fúlgura coruscatiónem, et dissipábis eos: * emítte sagíttas tuas, et conturbábis eos.	6 Send forth lightning, and you shall scatter them: shoot out your arrows, and you shall trouble them.
8  Emítte manum tuam de alto, éripe me, et líbera me de aquis multis: * de manu filiórum alienórum.	7 Put forth your hand from on high, take me out, and deliver me from many waters: from the hand of strange children:
9  Quorum os locútum est vanitátem: * et déxtera eórum, déxtera iniquitátis.	8 Whose mouth hath spoken vanity: and their right hand is the right hand of iniquity.

 (divisio)

Scriptural and liturgical uses of the psalm

NT references	=
RB cursus	Friday Vespers+AN 1720
Monastic feasts etc	AN 2111 (7)
Roman pre 1911	: Sat Vespers
Responsories	Easter4&5 v9 (6419)
Roman post 1911	1911-62: Sat Vespers. 1970:
Mass propers (EF)	-