Introduction to Psalm 9 (part 1)

In the Benedictine Office, the first half of Psalm 9 is said on Tuesdays at Prime, closing that hour.

On Tuesdays in the Benedictine Office we are encouraged to focus on our heavenly destiny, and on how to ascend to it (mystically through the saying of the Gradual Psalms from Terce onwards) through the imitation of Christ.  This last psalm of Prime can be seen as a motivational contribution to that theme: it reminds us of the joy of heaven; of the grace God provides to aid us in our struggles; and of the reason we must follow the way of the Cross, least we face the reality of death, judgment and hell.

Psalm 9 part 1: Confitebor tibi Domine

Vulgate	Douay-Rheims
In finem, pro occultis filii. Psalmus David.	Unto the end, for the hidden things of the Son. A psalm for David.
1 Confitébor tibi, Dómine, in toto corde meo: * narrábo ómnia mirabília tua.	I will give praise to thee, O Lord, with my whole heart: I will relate all thy wonders.
2  Lætábor et exsultábo in te: * psallam nómini tuo, Altíssime.	I will be glad, and rejoice in thee: I will sing to thy name, O thou most high.
3  In converténdo inimícum meum retrórsum: * infirmabúntur, et períbunt a fácie tua.	When my enemy shall be turned back: they shall be weakened, and perish before thy face.
4  Quóniam fecísti judícium meum et causam meam: * sedísti super thronum, qui júdicas justítiam.	For thou hast maintained my judgment and my cause: thou hast sat on the throne, who judgest justice.
5  Increpásti Gentes, et périit ímpius: * nomen eórum delésti in ætérnum, et in sæculum sæculi.	Thou hast rebuked the Gentiles, and the wicked one hath perished; thou hast blotted out their name for ever and ever.
6  Inimíci defecérunt frámeæ in finem: * et civitátes eórum destruxísti.	The swords of the enemy have failed unto the end: and their cities thou hast destroyed
7  Périit memória eórum cum sónitu: * et Dóminus in ætérnum pérmanet.	Their memory hath perished with a noise: But the Lord remaineth for ever.
8  Parávit in judício thronum suum: * et ipse judicábit orbem terræ in æquitáte, judicábit pópulos in justítia.	He hath prepared his throne in judgment: And he shall judge the world in equity he shall judge the people in justice.
9  Et factus est Dóminus refúgium páuperi: * adjútor in opportunitátibus, in tribulatióne.	And the Lord is become a refuge for the poor: a helper in due time in tribulation.
10  Et sperent in te qui novérunt nomen tuum: * quóniam non dereliquísti quæréntes te, Dómine.	And let them trust in thee who know thy name: for thou hast not forsaken them that seek thee, O Lord.
11  Psállite Dómino, qui hábitat in Sion: * annuntiáte inter Gentes stúdia ejus:	Sing ye to the Lord, who dwelleth in Sion: declare his ways among the Gentiles:
12  Quóniam requírens sánguinem eórum recordátus est: * non est oblítus clamórem páuperum.	For requiring their blood, he hath remembered them: he hath not forgotten the cry of the poor.
13  Miserére mei, Dómine: * vide humilitátem meam de inimícis meis.	Have mercy on me, O Lord: see my humiliation which I suffer from my enemies.
14  Qui exáltas me de portis mortis, * ut annúntiem omnes laudatiónes tuas in portis fíliæ Sion.	You that lift me up from the gates of death, that I may declare all your praises in the gates of the daughter of Sion.
15  Exsultábo in salutári tuo: * infíxæ sunt Gentes in intéritu, quem fecérunt.	I will rejoice in your salvation: the Gentiles have stuck fast in the destruction which they prepared.
16  In láqueo isto, quem abscondérunt, * comprehénsus est pes eórum.	Their foot has been taken in the very snare which they hid.
17  Cognoscétur Dóminus judícia fáciens: * in opéribus mánuum suárum comprehénsus est peccátor.	The Lord shall be known when he executes judgments: the sinner has been caught in the works of his own hands.
18  Convertántur peccatóres in inférnum, * omnes Gentes quæ obliviscúntur Deum.	The wicked shall be turned into hell, all the nations that forget God.
19  Quóniam non in finem oblívio erit páuperis: * patiéntia páuperum non períbit in finem	For the poor man shall not be forgotten to the end: the patience of the poor shall not perish for ever.

The hidden mysteries of Christ's Redemption

At the end of psalm 7, King David promised to give God praise.  In Psalm 8, the marvelous works praised were God’s work of creation.  In this psalm, the marvelous works praised take the form of God’s practical help to David in relation to his kingdom in helping him defeat his enemies.

In addition to this literal meaning though, there is of course a Christological one, and in the title of this psalm, in the Septuagint,  'Unto the end, for the hidden things of the Son. A psalm for David', the Fathers and Theologians saw a reference to the mysteries of Christ's work of Redemption.  This title can be interpreted as referring not only to Our Lord’s first coming to redeem us (hidden in the sense that the people failed to realize that he was the promised Messiah), but also to his second coming to judge the world, as St Thomas Aquinas, for example, makes clear:

"So, hidden things of a son are as mysteries concerning Christ. For such hidden things of Christ are twofold, Christ's first coming on earth is hidden in reference to his divinity and glory,…Christ's second coming upon this earth will be evident…"

You that lift me up from the gates of death

Tuesday's section of the psalm broadly falls into two sections.  It opens with a hymn of praise for God's work in confounding the devil (verses 1-7).  It then turns to the Second Coming, and our proper preparation for it, in the form of the mission to the world (verse 11) and our trust in God, who will not forsake the poor (verses 9&19).

In fact the psalm emphasizes one of the most fundamental but today often overlooked messages of the Gospel, namely that Our Lord came to bring justice to all not just in the sense of social justice here and now, but above all in the eschatological sense.

Many today seem to think that what we do on this earth doesn't really matter, for all will be saved. But the Gospel message is that what we do think and say really does matter, for as the psalmist points out, ‘God is known for executing judgment’: he knows all and so can judge perfectly, ‘in equity’, based on both our thoughts and actions; and there are consequences for making the wrong choices.

The path to justice, however, the psalm makes clear, is not always as quick and easy as we would desire,  for evil does not give up without making a fight of it (the swords of verse 6, sound referred to in verse 7).   God does offer a key protection to the Church, through whom he ‘rebukes the gentiles’ by preaching the Gospel; opposes idolatry and error; and lifts it up, protecting it from ‘the gates of hell’ (verse 14).   Our way though, is the way of the Cross, and the poor and oppressed are required to show patience (verse 19); some will even be asked to die as martyrs (verse 12).

The three Tuesday Prime psalms together emphasize the duty to pray, worship and give thanks, and to ‘evangelize’.  In them, the psalmist expresses the upwelling of joy that the person truly committed to God feels, and the instinctive response to that, namely the desire to tell others about it (verses 1 &11), to spread the message about what revelation teaches us is right and wrong and thus ‘rebuke the nations’ and entreat them to repent (verses 5).  This duty is surely all the more imperative in the context put here of our rightful desire to avoid condemnation in the coming judgment both of ourselves, but also of our friends, family and the whole world.

The divisio puzzle(s)

Finally, by way of a footnote, a note on the division of the psalm into two.

In the older forms of the Roman Office, psalms (Psalm 118 aside) are never divided.

 St Benedict, however, does so quite frequently, and the final 'psalm' of Tuesday Prime is actually only the first half of Psalm 9.

In some cases, the main motivation for this is presumably to even up the number of verses said on each day at a particular hour: with the split, Tuesday Prime consists of 46 verses of psalmody, making it already one of the longer days of the week at Prime.

But that can't be the only, or even main reason, for in some cases splitting the psalms actually makes the days more uneven in length.  Prime for example, varies in length from a mere 21 verses on Thursday, to 53 on Friday.

A second possible rationale for splitting Psalm 9 is that the saint was following the Hebrew Masoretic Text's (somewhat illogical given that this is one of those alphabetic psalms, and the split occurs mid-way through the alphabet) division of the psalm into two.  Indeed the 1962 Breviarium Monasticum makes the divide occur at the same verse as that in protestant and modern Catholic Bibles.

Older versions of the Benedictine Office though, reflected in the Monastic Diurnal and Antiphonale Monasticum, actually split the psalm at a different point, two verses earlier.  I haven't (yet) tracked back how far this tradition goes, but I'm betting its a long way, because I actually think the saint has split the psalm across Tuesday and Wednesday to reflect his programmatic approach to the design of the Office, and more than a few commentators acknowledge that the change in tone in the psalm actually starts at verse 20, not 22, the point of the Masoretic Text divide.

In sum, Tuesday's half of the psalm is far more upbeat than Wednesday's: it sings of Sion, the heavenly city, one of the key themes of that day in the Benedictine Office, and praises the Lord for his coming.   Wednesday's section, on the other hand, is more of a song of lamentation and entreaty in the face of  deceit and betrayal, which is entirely consistent with the themes of that day in the Benedictine Office.   Accordingly, I have maintained the traditional Office dividing point here for expository purposes.

Liturgical and Scriptural uses of Psalm 9/1

NT References	Acts 17:31, Rev 19:11 (v8); Mt 16:18 (v13)
RB cursus	Prime Tuesday/Wednesday
Monastic feasts etc
Roman pre 1911	Sunday Matins
Roman post 1911	1911-62: Sunday Matins. 1970:
Mass propers (EF)	Lent 2 Tues CO (1-2); Lent 3 GR (3); Passion Tuesday, OF 10-12; Post Pent 1, CO (1-2), Post Pent 3 OF (10-12), Post Pent 4 A (4, 9);

You can also find some short summaries of this part of the psalm, primarily from the Fathers and Theologians here.

Introduction to Psalm 8

The first psalm of Tuesday Prime, Psalm 7, ends with a promise on the part of the psalmist ‘to sing a song to the name of the Lord the most high’.  Psalm 8 provides the first instalment on this (Psalm 9, the third psalm of Prime on Tuesday also references this commitment).

Psalm 8 is relatively short, but it is theologically very rich, with three main, and closely interrelated, levels of meaning.   First, the psalm represents some of the key ideas of the story of the creation from Genesis 1 in poetic form.  Secondly, it tells of the process by which, through Christ’s Incarnation, death and resurrection, the universe is renewed or recreated, and the dignity of man is restored. For this reason, it features at most of the feasts of Our Lord, as well as Our Lady.  Thirdly, it is a call to the praise and worship of God.

Psalm 8: Domine Dominus Noster

Vulgate	Douay-Rheims
In finem pro torcularibus, Psalmus David.	In finem pro torcularibus, Psalmus David.
1. Dómine, Dóminus noster, * quam admirábile est nomen tuum in univérsa terra!	O Lord, our Lord, how admirable is thy name in the whole earth!
2  Quóniam eleváta est magnificéntia tua, * super cælos.	For thy magnificence is elevated above the heavens.
3  Ex ore infántium et lacténtium perfecísti laudem propter inimícos tuos, * ut déstruas inimícum et ultórem.	Out of the mouth of infants and of sucklings thou hast perfected praise, because of thy enemies, that thou mayst destroy the enemy and the avenger.
4  Quóniam vidébo cælos tuos, ópera digitórum tuórum: * lunam et stellas, quæ tu fundásti.	For I will behold thy heavens, the works of thy fingers: the moon and the stars which thou hast founded.
5  Quid est homo quod memor es ejus? * aut fílius hóminis, quóniam vísitas eum?	What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him?
6  Minuísti eum paulo minus ab Angelis, glória et honóre coronásti eum: * et constituísti eum super ópera mánuum tuárum.	Thou hast made him a little less than the angels, thou hast crowned him with glory and honour: And hast set him over the works of thy hands.
7  Omnia subjecísti sub pédibus ejus, * oves et boves univérsas : ínsuper et pécora campi.	Thou hast subjected all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen: moreover, the beasts also of the fields.
8  Vólucres cæli, et pisces maris, * qui perámbulant sémitas maris.	The birds of the air, and the fishes of the sea, that pass through the paths of the sea.
9  Dómine, Dóminus noster, * quam admirábile est nomen tuum in univérsa terra!	O Lord, our Lord, how admirable is thy name in the whole earth!

The wonder of creation

A key theme of the psalm is God’s creation of the universe.

The psalm reminds that God stands outside (poetically “above”) his creation (verses 1-2).

Then, it describes creation itself, which includes heaven and earth, and all that is therein: poetically described as the work of his fingers (verses 4 – 8).

Most importantly it focuses on God’s special and ongoing attention (mindfulness) of man, created in God’s image with free will and intellect, and granted dominion over “the fish of the seas, over the birds of the air, over the cattle, and over all the earth…” (Genesis 1:26).

The idea of creation as the work of God’s fingers (which we also have) perhaps alludes also to the idea that through the gift of our intellect and stewardship, God makes us ‘co-creators’ in his ongoing work.

God in the midst of us

The work of creation is put here, I think, in the context of the work of recreation through Christ.  One of the key focuses of Tuesday in the Benedictine Office, I have suggested, is Our Lord's public ministry.  At Matins the first psalm of the day proclaims that 'God is in the midst of us', and this psalm too is strongly centred on the person of Christ, as Hebrews 2 makes clear:

"5 We are speaking of a world that is to come; to whom has God entrusted the ordering of that world? Not to angels.6 We are assured of that, in a passage where the writer says, What is man, that thou shouldst remember him? What is the son of man, that thou shouldst care for him? 7 Man, whom thou hast made a little lower than the angels, whom thou hast crowned with glory and honour, setting him in authority over the works of thy hands?8 Thou hast made all things subject at his feet. Observe, he has subjected all things to him, left nothing unsubdued. And what do we see now? Not all things subject to him as yet. 9 But we can see this; we can see one who was made a little lower than the angels, I mean Jesus, crowned, now, with glory and honour because of the death he underwent; in God’s gracious design he was to taste death, and taste it on behalf of all. 10 God is the last end of all things, the first beginning of all things; and it befitted his majesty that, in summoning all those sons of his to glory, he should crown with suffering the life of that Prince who was to lead them into salvation.11 The Son who sanctifies and the sons who are sanctified have a common origin, all of them; he is not ashamed, then, to own them as his brethren..." (Knox translation)

At his birth, God took the form of a human (verses 5-6), a nature lower in the order of things than the angels (though in his divine nature of course he always remains above them).  But through his Resurrection, he is ‘crowned with glory and honour’, elevating his human nature above all God’s works, and ushering in the possibility of man reaching heaven, from which he was previously barred.  
The praise of God’s name in the opening and closing verses of the psalm is also pertinent to this theme. In Jewish culture, God’s name is regarded so holy that it is never spoken aloud, and reflecting this, the Church substitutes ‘the Lord’ for the ‘tetragammaton’ (‘Yahweh’).  In the New Testament, however, God manifests his holiness by revealing and giving his name, in the form of Jesus: and his name terrorizes demons.

The importance of worship

Indeed, Our Lord quoted verse 3 of this psalm to the Pharisees when they tried to quiet the crowds at his entry to Jerusalem:

"Out of the mouth of infants and of sucklings thou hast perfected praise, because of thy enemies, that thou mayst destroy the enemy and the avenger."

The verse serves as a reminder that while studying the psalms, as we are doing here is good, it is far more important to perform this work of praise then to worry too much about how much we know or don’t know about theology, for what is required above all is attention on God and a pure heart.

More importantly still, the psalm conveys a sense of reverence and awe at God's workings that show why he is always 'worthy to be praised.  On this Pope Benedict XVI commented that:

“...in a monastery of Benedictine spirit, the praise of God, which the monks sing as a solemn choral prayer, always has priority. Monks are certainly – thank God! – not the only people who pray; others also pray: children, the young and the old, men and women, the married and the single – all Christians pray, or at least, they should!  In the life of monks, however, prayer takes on a particular importance: it is the heart of their calling…Monks pray first and foremost not for any specific intention, but simply because God is worthy of being praised….Such prayer for its own sake, intended as pure divine service, is rightly called officium. It is “service” par excellence, the “sacred service” of monks. It is offered to the triune God who, above all else, is worthy “to receive glory, honour and power” (Rev 4:11), because he wondrously created the world and even more wondrously renewed it.”

Liturgical and Scriptural uses of the psalm

NT References	Mt 11:25; 21:16 (3); Rom 1:20 (4); Hebrews 2:6-9 (5 - applies to Our Lord by his death…); 1 Cor 15:27, Eph 1:22 (6-7)
RB cursus	Prime Tuesday
Monastic feasts etc	Christ the King, Ascension, Pentecost, Trinity, Transfiguration, All Saints, Feasts of BVM; Commons of martyr, confessor, female saint
Roman pre 1911	Sunday Matins
Roman post 1911	1911-62: Sunday Matins. 1970:
Byzantine
Mass propers (EF)	Mass: Lent 2 Monday Co (1), Trinity, IN (1), Post Pent 9, GR 1, Vigil John the Bap, OF (6) Baptism of Adults (L)

You can also find some short summaries of Psalm 8 by various authors here.

Introduction to Psalm 2

Psalm 2, the second psalm of Prime on Monday in the Benedictine Office and one of the greatest of the Messianic psalms, has always been closely linked to Psalm 1 by way of serving as an introduction to and summary of the entire psalter.

In essence, Psalm 1 presents us with the choice between two ways, of truth and life that leads us to happiness, or the way of evil that leads to destruction; Psalm 2 sets out how that choice is manifested in history, through the Incarnation of Our Lord on the one hand, and all those who rage against him on the other.

Psalm 2 will be extremely familiar to many from Handel's setting of its opening verses in his Messiah, and from verse 7's use in the Introit (and Alleluia) for Midnight Mass of Christmas.

Psalm 2: Quare fremuérunt Gentes

Vulgate	Douay Rheims
Quare fremuérunt Gentes: * et pópuli meditáti sunt inánia?	Why have the Gentiles raged, and the people devised vain things?
2  Astitérunt reges terræ, et príncipes convenérunt in unum * advérsus Dóminum, et advérsus Christum ejus.	The kings of the earth stood up, and the princes met together, against the Lord, and against his Christ.
3  Dirumpámus víncula eórum: * et projiciámus a nobis jugum ipsórum.	Let us break their bonds asunder: and let us cast away their yoke from us.
4. Qui hábitat in cælis, irridébit eos: * et Dóminus subsannábit eos.	He that dwells in heaven shall laugh at them: and the Lord shall deride them.
5  Tunc loquétur ad eos in ira sua, * et in furóre suo conturbábit eos.	Then shall he speak to them in his anger, and trouble them in his rage.
6  Ego autem constitútus sum Rex ab eo super Sion montem sanctum ejus, * prædicans præcéptum ejus.	But I am appointed king by him over Sion, his holy mountain, preaching his commandment.
7  Dóminus dixit ad me: * Fílius meus es tu, ego hódie génui te.	The Lord has said to me: You are my son, this day have I begotten you.
8  Póstula a me, et dábo tibi Gentes hereditátem tuam, * et possessiónem tuam términos terræ.	Ask of me, and I will give you the Gentiles for your inheritance, and the utmost parts of the earth for your possession
9  Reges eos in virga férrea, * et tamquam vas fíguli confrínges eos.	You shall rule them with a rod of iron, and shall break them in pieces like a potter's vessel.
10  Et nunc, reges, intellígite: * erudímini, qui judicátis terram.	And now, O you kings, understand: receive instruction, you that judge the earth.
11  Servíte Dómino in timóre: * et exsultáte ei cum tremóre.	Serve the Lord with fear: and rejoice unto him with trembling.
12  Apprehéndite disciplínam, nequándo irascátur Dóminus, * et pereátis de via justa.	Embrace discipline, lest at any time the Lord be angry, and you perish from the just way.
13  Cum exárserit in brevi ira ejus: * beáti omnes qui confídunt in eo.	When his wrath shall be kindled in a short time, blessed are all they that trust in him.

Psalm 2 and the Incarnation

In verses 6 to 9, the psalm prophecies the Incarnation of the Messiah, God’s only begotten son whom he has been sent to be king over all the world, and who will ultimately triumph over all those who plot against him.

Verse 7 is a particularly important verse.  The Fathers and Doctors consistently interpret the phrase ‘this day have I begotten thee’ in three ways.

First, ‘this day’ can be taken as the eternal day of God, who stands outside of time and space, and thus the eternal generation of the Son.

Secondly, it refers to the fleshly incarnation of Christ, and so is used in the opening of the first Mass of Christmas.

Thirdly, it refers to the Resurrection of Christ: as Hebrews explains, Our Lord’s divinity was confirmed in his Resurrection, and thus he rises up again and again for us in the Eucharist, making, St Ambrose explains, ‘today’ the ‘this day’ of the Our Father.

The rejection of Christ

The New Testament repeatedly makes it clear that Psalm 2’s plotting King’s and raging peoples particularly refers especially to Herod and all those who plotted against and persecuted Our Lord, accounting for the psalm's place in Tenebrae for Good Friday.   In particular, in Acts 4, St Peter cites the psalm and then says:

“…for truly in this city there were gathered together against thy holy servant Jesus, whom thou didst anoint, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever thy hand and thy plan had predestined to take place.”

It can also be given more contemporary and eschatological meanings.  In his commentary on verse 3 of this psalm, for example, St Thomas Aquinas explains the rationale for the strong condemnations of atheism in the psalms.  He explains that atheism involves a specific rejection of God, the desire to ‘break the bonds’.  He explains that the duty to worship God is part of the natural law, ‘written on hearts’, product of a grace we need merely to co-operate with.  Rejecting that instinct represents an act of will, which is why all societies, at least until the communist states of the twentieth century, have naturally sought to worship God in some form, however distorted.   The degree of fault of an individual for the serious sin of atheism depends of course on the circumstances, but the message of the psalm is that we must seek to subjugate any doubts, and actively cultivate the virtue of faith.

This psalm is also used in the propers for the Feast of Christ the King: the peoples plotting together can perhaps be seen as those advocating the secularist and new aggressive-atheistic rejection of the authority of God in society.

Importance to Benedictine spirituality

The final verses of the psalm provide a series of instructions, particularly directed at those in position of authority, but applicable to all on how we should respond to God: listen to God’s teaching; serve the Lord with fear; accept correction; and most importantly, trust in God.

The injunction to ‘serve the Lord with fear and trembling’(v11)  is particularly important in Benedictine spirituality, and perhaps can be seen as another piece of preparation for the weekly renewal of monastic vows in the Suscipe said at Terce, since it underpins St Benedict’s exposition on the virtue of humility (RB 7).  The verse is also directly quoted in his instructions on how to approach the liturgy (RB 19), where St Benedict talks about the sense of ‘reverence and awe’ we should cultivate when saying the Office.

Hope in the Lord

The final phrase of the psalm is a beatitude, Beati omnes, bringing us back to the starting point of this hour at Prime in the opening words of Psalm 1 (Beatus vir) and enjoining us to trust in God.  In Psalm 1, the beatitude is applied only to one, perfect, man (beatus vir) arguably Christ himself.  Through his Incarnation though, all those (beati omnes) who trust in him can find happiness.




For more on this psalm:

Ps 2 in Tenebrae: why do the nations rage
Short summaries of Psalm 2

Introduction to Psalm 1 (Happy the man)

Today I want to provide an introduction to Psalm 1, since it is an introduction to and summary of the entire book of psalms.

Psalm 1 puts before us the two paths we can take: the path of good, or the way of evil, and tells us the fate of those on each of these roads.  Above all, though, it puts before us the example of the perfect ‘just’ man, that is, Christ.

Psalm 1 is said at Prime on Monday in the Benedictine Office.

 Psalm 1

Vulgate	Douay Rheims translation
Beátus vir, qui non ábiit in consílio impiórum, et in via peccatórum non stetit, * et in cáthedra pestiléntiæ non sedit	Blessed is the man who has not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stood in the way of sinners, nor sat in the chair of pestilence:
2  Sed in lege Dómini volúntas ejus, * et in lege ejus meditábitur die ac nocte.	But his will is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he shall meditate day and night.
3  Et erit tamquam lignum, quod plantátum est secus decúrsus aquárum, * quod fructum suum dabit in témpore suo:	And he shall be like a tree which is planted near the running waters, which shall bring forth its fruit, in due season.
4  Et fólium ejus non défluet: * et ómnia quæcúmque fáciet, prosperabúntur.	And his leaf shall not fall off: and all whatsoever he shall do shall prosper.
5  Non sic ímpii, non sic: * sed tamquam pulvis, quem prójicit ventus a fácie terræ.	Not so the wicked, not so: but like the dust, which the wind drives from the face of the earth.
6  Ideo non resúrgent ímpii in judício: * neque peccatóres in concílio justórum.	Therefore the wicked shall not rise again in judgment: nor sinners in the council of the just.
7  Quóniam novit Dóminus viam justórum: * et iter impiórum períbit.	For the Lord knows the way of the just: and the way of the wicked shall perish.

Scriptural context

Psalm 1 is often thought of as one psalm with Psalm 2, both together serving as an introduction to the entire psalter.

The central theme of the psalm is that our proper end is happiness, and the way to achieve this is by meditating on the law of the Lord and desiring to do God's will.

It is one of three psalms often known as the ‘Torah’ or law psalms (with Psalms 18 and 118).  All three are used at Prime in the Benedictine Office, and in all three the word ‘law’, from a Christian perspective can be seen as encompassing the three foundations of our faith that lie namely the Law, the teaching of the prophets, and the Gospel.

True happiness and Christ as the perfect man

The key theme of the psalm is the quest for happiness.  The psalm contrasts the effects of the choice between good and evil, stating that the good man seeks to follow God’s law by meditating on it with the help of God’s grace.  As a result he is happy and prosperous, and God will ‘know’ him.

St Thomas Aquinas suggests out that the psalm also provides a brief exposition on the stages of sin: first the evil man thinks about sinning (walks); then he decides to do it, and carries it out (stands); thirdly, he tries to persuade others in evil (teaching false doctrines, or ‘sitting in chair of pestilence’).

A psalm of the Incarnation

Many of the Fathers argue that the psalm can also be interpreted to be particularly about the grace offered by the coming of Our Lord.  The main image (verse 3) is the tree growing by the waterside.  St Jerome draws attention to the similarity of the imagery in Revelation 22 to suggest that Christ is the just man of the psalm:

“And he showed me a river of water of life [grace], clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street thereof, and on both sides of the river, was the tree of life [Our Lord], bearing twelve fruits [the apostles], yielding its fruits every month [meaning of Scripture understood with the help of the Holy Ghost]: the leaves of the tree [that do not wither, the words of Scripture] for the healing of the nations.”

Why Monday Prime?

In the traditional Roman Office, Psalm 1 starts off the liturgical week, being said on Sunday at Matins.  St Benedict, however, in his version of the Office moved it out of Matins altogether and shifted instead to Monday Prime.  On the face of it this seems an odd decision, both because it breaks the traditional running cursus of psalms, and because Psalm 1 (with Psalm 2) is generally considered to be an introduction, summary, and key to the entire book of psalms.

But it is a choice that makes sense if one takes the view that St Benedict's Sunday is more the culmination of the week, with its Resurrection focus, while Monday is the real start of the week in his Office,  focusing on the Incarnation, and Christ's hidden life on earth up to his Baptism and  the Temptation in the Desert.

There is also, it seems to me, an inner logic to the progression of ideas presented in Monday Prime (a progression, it might be added, that actually echoes the themes of Sunday Prime, in its selections of Psalm 118).

In Psalm 1 we are given the choice of the two ways, and the picture of the perfect man.  In Psalm 2 we told that perfect man has been incarnated to save us, yet even as he frees us, is rejected by the kings of the earth.  It contains a call to us to 'receive instruction', and 'accept discipline', as Christ himself did as a child under the care of his earthly parents.  And the last psalm of the hour, Psalm 6, provides us with the model in prayer of one of those 'kings of the earth', King David, who responded to the call to conversion, and from being a great sinner, became a great saint.

Psalms for this week and blog tidy up progress

Those of you have been following this blog for a while and have been waiting for me to get back to my series on the psalms of Vespers may have thought  I've been dragging my heels on getting started on the psalms of Wednesday.

I have.

And there is a reason for this, namely that I always find the psalms of Wednesday very uncomfortable, dealing, as I think they do, with man's betrayal of God and the consequences thereof.

But I do plan to get to it very very soon (viz next week).

This week

This week though, I thought I'd just complete my gap filling exercize by providing some introductory notes on those psalms of Prime of Monday and Tuesday that I haven't already covered (ie Psalms 1, 2, 8 and 9/1), so that as we go forward I'll have covered at least by way of introductory notes, all of the variable psalms of a particular day of the week in the Office.

I will then devote the next month or so to the psalms of Wednesday (mainly Vespers).

Getting ready for Lent!

Lent starts on March 5 this year, and I normally do a psalm series appropriate to the season, and plan to do so again this year.

In past years I've looked at the psalms of Holy Week Tenebrae and Psalm 118 (in honour of a possibly apocryphal letter of St Scholastica noting that one of her nuns was saying it daily as her Lenten penance) on this blog, and before that, the Penitential Psalms over at my Australia Incognita blog.

I'm thinking of looking at the Penitential Psalms here this year, with the aim of importing and updating my previous notes from Australia Incognita blog, as well as providing a more complete set of notes on individual psalms, as my previous series just picked out a few key verses from each one.

But another option would be to look at the Gradual Psalms (Psalm 119-133), the saying of which is another traditional Lenten penance.

So if you have a preference, do let me know!

St Benedict's psalter and the election of the Gentiles**

This is a cross-post from my Saints Will Arise Blog.

There is a very interesting series over at the always excellent Fr Hunwicke's Mutual Enrichment blog, which I strongly recommend reading, on what is known as 'two covenants theory', the idea that Judaism is not superseded by the New Covenant.

The situation of modern Jews when it comes to the Church is sensitive territory these days, for many in the Church, swayed by the desire to promote inter-religious unity, advocate ideas that are at odds with both Scripture and tradition.  Fr Hunwicke does a fairly comprehensive demolition on these erroneous theories in the light of the tradition, what Vatican II's Nostra Aetate actually says, and other evidence.

Fr Hunwicke's posts (as on some many other issues) have been rather helpful for my own understanding of this touchy subject, so I thought it might be timely to share some of my speculations on St Benedict's ordering of his psalm cursus that may reflect his understanding of this topic by way of a minor footnote.

The traditional understanding of the Old and New covenants

Fr Hunwicke provides a very carefully nuanced articulation of the tradition on this topic; let me provide the un-nuanced version for the sake of debate.

I would suggest that the hardline version of the traditionalist position is that modern-day Jews are no longer the chosen people: for God's promise to Abraham is fulfilled in the Church, which was founded by the faithful remnant of the Jewish people that he preserved, consisting of the apostles and disciples and their subsequent converts.  Catholics, in other words, are the new Jews.

In this view, instead of the whole Jewish people being granted a privileged place in ongoing salvation history (or at least are still the inheritors of an eschatological promise of reconciliation), they have been dispossessed just as the Canaanites were in their time, and their inheritance given to the new Israel, the Church, which is open to gentiles and Jews alike; Rabbinic Judaism, in other words, is not the Judaism of Our Lord's time.

Fr Hunwicke demolishes some of the obviously erroneous liberal views on this subject, but many traditionalists still struggle with the suggestion made by modern theologians, including Pope Benedict XVI, to the effect that while the Mosaic Covenant has been closed, modern Jews still have a privileged place in salvation history by virtue of the covenant with Abraham.

Fr Hunwicke suggests that Pope Benedict's rewrite of the (EF) Good Friday prayer, which reflects St Paul's words on the subject, arguably reflects an eschatological explanation for this view of the continuing covenant, while leaving the traditional view, that Jewish worship and practices have no salvific value, intact.

I want to draw your attention to five insights on this issue that can, I think, be gained from St Benedict's version of the Divine Office, which I think helps support the eschatological promise approach advocated by Pope Benedict and others.

1.  The old sacrifices have been superseded: Psalm 91 (92) on Friday

In the traditional version of the Roman Office, Psalm 91 (Bonum est confiteri Domino) is said on Saturday, perhaps because the title given to in Scripture is 'For (or 'on the day of' in the Vulgate) the Sabbath'.

St Benedict, however, places it on Friday at Lauds.  It is a change that contemporary liturgical scholar Paul Bradshaw, for one, finds puzzling (Daily Prayer in the Early Church, p147).

Ex-Trappist turned Orthodox scholar Patrick Reardon, in his book Christ in the Psalms, though offers a very elegant and plausible rationale for this change, for he notes that as well as the Sabbath, Jewish commentaries state that it was sung daily as an accompaniment to the morning sacrifice of a lamb.  Reardon, accordingly, sees the shift of the psalm to Friday Lauds as a testimony to the idea that Friday is "our true the true Pascha and Atonement Day, on which the Lamb of God took away the sins of the world."(p181)

Reardon sees Psalm 91 as a reminder that the Old Covenant, which merely foreshadowed what was to come, has ended, and the New has replaced it:

"Prayed on Friday mornings, as the ancient Western monastic rule prescribed, this psalm reminds the Church why it is no longer necessary to make the daily offering of lambs in the temple, for those sacrifices had only "a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things" (Heb. 10:1). With respect to those quotidian lambs offered of old, we are told that "every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins" (10:11). But, with respect to the Lamb in the midst of the Throne, we are told that "this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God . . . For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified" (10:12-14). This is the true Lamb to whom we chant: "You are worthy to take the scroll, / And to open its seals; / For You were slain, / And have redeemed us to God by Your blood" (Rev. 5:9)." (p181)

2.  Psalm 118: the new testament is superior to the old

In the Roman Office, Psalm 118 is sung over the course of Sunday from Prime to None (and in the older form of the Office, daily at these hours).  St Benedict, by contrast, splits the longest psalm in the psalter between Sunday (Prime to None) and Monday (Terce to None).   And he organises the split so as to end Sunday Nones with a stanza where the psalmist claims to have outshone his teachers and those of old in his understanding:

"Through your commandment, you have made me wiser than my enemies: for it is ever with me. I have understood more than all my teachers: because your testimonies are my meditation. I have had understanding above ancients: because I have sought your commandment." (verses 98-100)

It could of course just be how things fell out.  But St Benedict's contemporary Cassiodorus (author of easily the most popular commentary on the psalms amongst medieval monks) certainly understood these verses as affirming the new covenant over the Old:

“Certainly the new people had better understanding than the older Jewish people, for they happily accepted the Lord Christ who the Jews with mortal damage to themselves believed was to be despised.”

Cassiodorus actually sees the reference in another verse of the stanza, verse 103, which refers to the law being sweeter than honey, as another allusion to this same idea:

“Honey has particular reference to the Old Testament, the comb to the New; for though both are sweet, the taste of the comb is sweeter because it is enhanced by the greater attraction of its newness. Additionally, honey can be understood as the explicit teaching of wisdom, whereas the comb can represent that known to be stored in the depth, so to say, of the cells. Undoubtedly both are found in the divine Scriptures.”

3.  The canticle of Hannah and younger sons

Over at Fr Hunwicke's blog, commenters have noted that the recent tendency to refer to Jews as our 'older brother' is something of a mixed message given the fate of so many older brothers in the Bible!   Indeed, St Paul uses just this typology in one of his discussions on the status of the Jews, in Galatians 4:

"21 Tell me, you who are so eager to have the law for your master, have you never read the law? 22 You will find it written there, that Abraham had two sons; one had a slave for his mother, and one a free woman. 23 The child of the slave was born in the course of nature; the free woman’s, by the power of God’s promise. 24 All that is an allegory; the two women stand for the two dispensations. Agar stands for the old dispensation, which brings up its children to bondage, the dispensation which comes to us from mount Sinai.25 Mount Sinai, in Arabia, has the same meaning in the allegory as Jerusalem, the Jerusalem which exists here and now; an enslaved city, whose children are slaves. 26 Whereas our mother is the heavenly Jerusalem, a city of freedom. 27 So it is that we read, Rejoice, thou barren woman that hast never borne child, break out into song and cry aloud, thou that hast never known travail; the deserted one has more children than she whose husband is with her. 28 It is we, brethren, that are children of the promise, as Isaac was. 29 Now, as then, the son who was born in the course of nature persecutes the son whose birth is a spiritual birth. 30 But what does our passage in scripture say? Rid thyself of the slave and her son; it cannot be that the son of a slave should divide the inheritance with the son of a free woman."

Wednesday, in the Christian week, is traditionally associated with the betrayal of Judas.  That's the reason that Wednesday was a fast day in the early Church as it is in the Benedictine Rule, and in the Office, this is reflected, inter alia, in the choice of Psalm 63 at Lauds.  The variable (ferial) canticle of the day, though, is the Canticle of Hannah (I Kings [1 Sam] 2:1-10), a song of rejoicing at her pregnancy (with the prophet Samuel) that put paid to the taunts of her husband's fecund other wife.  We today tend to interpret this canticle as foreshadowing the Magnificat, which it certainly does.  But one of the earliest Benedictine monastic commentaries on the Office Canticles, by Rabanus Maurus (780-856), also interprets that typology in the light of St Paul's Galatians typology, saying by way of summary:

"But on Wednesday the Canticle of Anna the prophetess is sung, in which the expulsion of the perfidious Jews is set out, and the election of the Church of the gentiles is demonstrated."

And indeed St Benedict's psalm selections for this day come back to the theme of God's choice of peoples several times, most notably in Psalms 134 and 135.

4.  The redemption triptych (Psalms 113, 129 and 134/5) - redemption comes only through Christ

In the Benedictine Office, Psalm 113 (In exitu Israel) is said at Vespers on Monday rather than Sunday as it is in the Roman Office.  In part I think that is because it provides a type of baptism, in the parting of the Red Sea and the Jordan (especially in verse 3: Mare vidit, et fugit: Jordánis convérsus est retrórsum), one of the themes Maurus identifies in the Monday Lauds canticle (along with the Incarnation).  But it also, I think, sets up a nice triptych of opening psalms at Vespers on the first three days of the week around our redemption through Christ.

The two outer panels are provided by Psalms 113 on Monday and 134 and 135 (known as the Great Hallel in Jewish liturgy) on Wednesday.  These three psalms share both common themes and several verses between them, and take us through God's power compared to empty idols, manifested through the creation of the universe, and intervention in history to lead his people out of Egypt,and into the Promised Land.

If he were being consistent, St Benedict would have placed Psalm 128 as the first Psalm at Vespers on Tuesday, for on that day all of the other Gradual psalms are said from Terce through Vespers.  But St Benedict actually places Psalm 128 (where it arguably fits well for other reasons) on Monday, and instead, in the middle of the triptych sits Psalm 129 (De Profundis), with its promise of Christ's redeeming action ('For with the Lord there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption: he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquity').  Dom Gueranger, in his Liturgical Year, notes that this psalm above all, was often interpreted by medieval commentators, as a prophecy of that final reconciliation of the Jews.

5. The Hallel psalms reversed: The first shall be last?

St Benedict’s arrangement of the Sunday Office at both Lauds and Vespers is significantly different to the old Roman he is assumed to have started from.  Two key changes he makes are to start the variable psalmody  at Lauds with Psalm 117 (it was in Prime in the old Roman Office), and to end it with Psalm 112, at Vespers (moving Psalm 113 to Monday in order to do so).  These are, of course, the last and first respectively of the ‘Hallel’ psalms, the psalms sung at the three major Jewish festivals each year.

The more prominent St Benedict accords to Psalm 117 is easily explained: it is one of the most quoted psalms in the New Testament, important in particular for the verses directly prophesying the Resurrection, and pointing to Christ as the stone the builders rejected.

Is it possible, though, that the ending of Vespers on Psalm 112 was also meant to provide a subtle reference to the idea that the first shall come last in relation to St Paul's prophesy in Romans that  'all Israel shall come in'?

St Benedict (485-547) may very well have been familiar with the Bishop of Ravenna, St Peter Chrysologus' (380-450) teaching to just this effect (now used in the readings of the Liturgy of Hours as Fr Hunwicke notes).  And it is certainly nicely consistent with Pope Benedict's rewrite of the Good Friday prayer:

"Let us also pray for the Jews: That our God and Lord may illuminate their hearts, that they acknowledge Jesus Christ is the Savior of all men. (Let us pray. Kneel. Rise.) Almighty and eternal God, who want that all men be saved and come to the recognition of the truth, propitiously grant that even as the fullness of the peoples enters Thy Church, all Israel be saved. Through Christ Our Lord. Amen"

So, is this all too much of a stretch?  Do let me know what you think.