Salmi 36:6 Commento

It is uncertain when, and upon what occasion, David penned this psalm, probably when he was struck at either by Saul or by Absalom; for in it he complains of the malice of his enemies against him, but triumphs in the goodness of God to him. We are here led to consider, and it will do us good to consider seriously, I. The sinfulness of sin, and how mischievous it is (Psa 36:1-4). II. The goodness of God, and how gracious he is, 1. To all his creatures in general (Psa 36:5, Psa 36:6). 2. To his own people in a special manner (Psa 36:7-9). By this the psalmist is encouraged to pray for all the saints (Psa 36:10), for himself in particular and his own preservation (Psa 36:11), and to triumph in the certain fall of his enemies (Psa 36:12). If, in singing this psalm, our hearts be duly affected with the hatred of sin and satisfaction in God's lovingkindness, we sing it with grace and understanding. To the chief Musician. A psalm of David the servant of the Lord.

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 36 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, the servant of the Lord. This title, which the psalmist takes to himself, regards him not only as a creature, every man being the servant of the Lord as such, of right, though not in fact; but as a king, he being a minister of God for good to good men, and for evil to evil men; and also may respect him as a renewed man; and it is here used in opposition to and distinction from the wicked, who are the servants of sin and Satan, of whom he speaks in this psalm. The Syriac and Arabic versions in their titles suggest that this psalm was written when David was persecuted by Saul, and which is the sense of some interpreters; but R. Obadiah thinks Ahithophel is designed by the wicked man in it; and so it was penned on account of Absalom's rebellion.

Thy righteousness is like the great mountains,.... Or, "the mountains of God"; so called for their excellency, as the cedars of God, Psa 80:10; or, as Gussetius (e) observes, the greatest and highest mountains, which are here meant, reaching above the clouds and the region of the air, are the pillars of the palace of God, and a part of it; and therefore called his mountains with great propriety, to which his righteousness is compared: that is, either the righteousness of God in the government of the world, which is sometimes like the high mountains, not to be reached and accounted for in the present state of things, though always is, and is immovable as they are; or the righteousness of God, by which he justifies sinners, which may be said to be as the mountains of God, because of the dignity of his person, who has wrought it out; and because of the clear manifestation of it, the Gospel, and so visible, as high mountains; and because of the immovableness and duration of it; thy judgments are a great deep; both in a way of providence, many of them being at present not to be traced, though before long they will be made manifest; and in a way of grace, such as the choice of some, and the leaving of others, the rejection of the Jews, and the call of the Gentiles; see Rom 11:33; O Lord, thou preservest man and beast; in a providential way, upholding each in their being, and supplying them with the necessaries of life: some understand this figuratively, of God's saving Jews and Gentiles, wise and unwise, and particularly those who, through humility and modesty, as Jarchi says, compare themselves to beasts, because of their ignorance and stupidity, Pro 30:2. (e) Ebr. Comment. p. 66.

Human beings, being ignorant of the judgments of God, which are “a great abyss,” are accustomed to complain against God and to say, Why do unjust people and unjust robbers and impious and wicked ones suffer nothing adverse in this life but everything yields prosperity to them, honors, riches, power, health, and the health and strength of the body even serves them. On the contrary, innumerable tribulations come on the innocent and pious worshipers of God; they live rejected, humble, contemptible, under the blows of the powerful. Sometimes even more severe diseases dominate them in their body. But as I said, the ignorant complain about what order there is in the divine judgments. For however much more severely they want those to be punished whose power and iniquities they lament, there is that much greater necessity that the penalties be differed, that if they are not differed, … it is certain that they will be eternal and last forever. On the contrary, therefore, if they wanted good things to be given to the just and innocent in the present age, the good things themselves would also be temporal and would have to come to a quick end; but the more they are deferred into the future, by so much the more will they be perpetual and not know an end.

You will save people and animals, O Lord; for you have multiplied your mercy, O God. What are people and animals? Some are rational, others irrational. Rational beings are subject to judgment, while irrational beings receive mercy. Some are ruled, others are nurtured.

(Verses 5, 6.) Finally, let us consider what follows. 'O Lord,' he says, 'in heaven is your mercy, and your faithfulness reaches to the clouds. Your righteousness is like the mountains of God; your judgments are like the deep abyss.' Did not Paul follow this passage to say: 'Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?' But thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom. 7:24-25). For when the human mind is troubled and we are weary from the difficulties and hardships of our struggles, we must seek the help of the Lord. Therefore, turning to the Lord, he invokes and implores Him to assist those who are laboring. Therefore, mercy must be sought from heaven, and the truth of God must be gathered from the oracles of the prophets, who, like clouds, cover the mysteries of divine knowledge. For God has placed darkness as His hiding place; so that you may first receive the rain of mystical fertility, and then, infused with heavenly dew, recognize the brightness of revealed light, so that you may say: From His fullness we have received (John 1:16). For who can easily comprehend the secrets of God, whose justice is like the mountains of God, or (as the Eagle has said) like strong mountains; because the precepts are full of strong virtue. Therefore, the Apostle, seeing that what he heard was sublime, says: O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How incomprehensible are His judgments, and His ways unsearchable! For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been His counselor (Romans 11:23-24)? Therefore, he compared the height of wealth to the height of mountains. Listen to which mountains. For the Son of God Himself is a great mountain (Isaiah 40:9); and therefore, ascend this mountain that proclaims the good news to Zion, so that you may be rooted and planted in Christ. The mountain is like the wisdom of God, the mountain is like righteousness, the mountain is like the knowledge of God, the mountain is like sanctification, the mountain is like redemption, the mountain is like resurrection. The Scriptures have shown us these mountains, which say: In Him you are in Christ Jesus, who has become wisdom for us from God, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption (I Cor. I, 30). And also because the Son of God became an angel to the angels, and a prophet to the prophets; whose judgments are like an abyss. Listen to this good news: One abyss calls upon another abyss in the voice of your waterfalls (Psal. XLI, 8); that is, the scripture of the Old Testament calls upon the arrangement of the New Testament for the completion of sanctification and the fullness of grace, with a certain sound and an overflow of spiritual abundance.

"Your Righteousness is like the mountains of God: Your Judgments are a great deep" [Psalm 36:6]. Who are the mountains of God? Those who are called clouds, the same are also the mountains of God. The great Preachers are the mountains of God. And as when the sun rises, he first clothes the mountains with light, and thence the light descends to the lowest parts of the earth: so our Lord Jesus Christ, when He came, first irradiated the height of the Apostles, first enlightened the mountains, and so His Light descended to the valley of the world. And therefore says He in a certain Psalm, "I lifted up my eyes unto the mountains, from whence comes my help." But think not that the mountains themselves will give you help: for they receive what they may give, give not of their own. And if you remain in the mountains, your hope will not be strong: but in Him who enlightens the mountains, ought to be your hope and presumption. Your help indeed will come to you through the mountains, because the Scriptures are administered to you through the mountains, through the great Preachers of the Truth: but fix not your hope in them. Hear what He says next following: "I lifted up my eyes unto the mountains, from whence comes my help." What then? Do the mountains give you help? No; hear what follows, "My help comes from the Lord, which made Heaven and earth." Through the mountains comes help, but not from the mountains. From whom then? "From the Lord, which made Heaven and earth."...

While those people turn their hand to such things as though no one were watching, you, Lord, possess immeasurable mercy, incalculable truth and righteousness comparable to the highest mountains. Now, your truth comes to human beings through the inspired authors as though through some clouds, regaling them with saving rain. “Your judgments are like the great deep”: possessing such wonderful truth and righteousness, why you show long-suffering I do not know; your judgments resemble the impenetrable depths. That is to say, just as the bottom of the sea is beyond human vision, so an understanding of your judgments is beyond our grasp.

His decisions and decrees, which he applies in judging and examining human beings, are immeasurable, like the deep. Thus, it is impossible to find out why he allows righteous people often to suffer at the hands of the unrighteous, as I find happening in my own case. While the fact that his care and providence for us is wonderful is clear from his never allowing our sufferings to be unbearable, I am unable to discover precisely why he does not leave us in perfect peace but permits us for a time to be pursued unjustly by them. Hence, “your judgments” strike me as more inaccessible than any “deep.”

The truth is Christ, whose justice is just like the mountains of God, whose judgments are an abyss, who saves people and beasts by his advent, that is, both Jews and Gentiles. For people who, being without hope, standing in the sin of Adam, hope in the protection of his wings, that is, in the expanse of his hands fixed on the cross.

An abyss is a depth of water that we can neither measure nor peer all the way into. Who could discern what lies within the deep ocean, or who could comprehend its broad-ranging spaces? So also we are neither able to embrace God’s judgments with our mind, nor are we able to define them through some action of reason.

"Men." Above the Psalmist commended the justice, truth, and mercy of God, and his judgments, from which goods come to us; here he enumerates those goods: and concerning this he does two things. First he commemorates the goods that he commonly bestows upon every creature. Second, the proper goods that he confers upon the rational creature, at "But the children of men." Concerning the first he does two things. First he commemorates the things that commonly come from God. Second he rises to admiration of the divine mercy, at "How you have multiplied." I say, therefore, that your mercy is great, and from it "you save men and beasts," that is, rational and irrational creatures. Or by "men" are understood the just, and by "beasts" the sinners themselves, who are saved by God with temporal salvation: Mt. 5: "He sends rain upon the just and the unjust": Ps. 48: "Man, when he was in honor, did not understand," etc. And this common salvation consists in two things: namely, in the health of the body: Sir. 30: "There is no wealth above the wealth of bodily health": and in the provision of necessities: 2 Kgs. 6: "Save me, O king." Who said: "The Lord does not save you. How can I save you? From the threshing floor or from the winepress?"

"O Lord." Here he shows what he has received from God. And first he enumerates the goods themselves. Second he asks that they be given to him, at "Extend." Concerning the first he does two things. First he proposes the cause of the goods he has received from God. Second he enumerates the goods themselves, at "Men and beasts." And first he sets forth the commendation of the cause. Second he proposes the profundity of the effects, at "Your judgments." Whatever God does in us is either from justice, or from mercy, or from truth. From justice, when he renders according to merits. From truth, when he renders what he has promised. From mercy, when he exceeds merits and promises. Let us prove these three. The justice of God is lofty, because no one merits so much that God does not give back more. The truth is loftier, because God promises and pays what we never merited, such as the incarnation and other things pertaining to the mystery of redemption. But mercy is the loftiest: because the things we cannot even conceive, he bestows: 1 Cor. 2: "Eye has not seen," etc. And therefore he compares justice to mountains, truth to clouds, which are higher, and mercy to the heavens, which are above all. He says: "O Lord, in heaven is your mercy," which is the cause of all my goods, "is in heaven": Ps. 144: "His mercies are above all things," etc. Is. 63: "I will remember the mercies of the Lord." "And your truth reaches to the clouds. Your justice is like the mountains of God." All these things are said according to their effects, because according to their essence they are the same. Mystically, by these three are understood the just, because in the just themselves are found justice, truth, and mercy. The just are signified by the heaven because of retribution and charity: Mt. 5: "Your reward is great in heaven." Likewise, in them mercy shines forth most greatly, because they are entirely freed from every tribulation. We, however, are still in calamities. By the clouds are understood the teachers: Is. 5: "I will command my clouds not to rain upon it." And in them the truth which they make manifest shines forth. By the mountains are understood holy men. And what follows from all these? That "these judgments are a great abyss," that is, incomprehensible: Rom. 11: "How incomprehensible are his judgments," etc.

On servant of the Lord, see on Psa 18:1, title. The wickedness of man contrasted with the excellency of God's perfections and dispensations; and the benefit of the latter sought, and the evils of the former deprecated. (Psa 36:1-12) The general sense of this difficult verse is, "that the wicked have no fear of God." The first clause may be rendered, "Saith transgression in my heart, in respect to the wicked, there is no fear," &c., that is, such is my reflection on men's transgressions.

righteousness [and] judgments--qualities of a good government (Psa 5:8; Psa 31:1). These all are set forth, by the figures used, as unbounded.