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COMMENTARY ON PSALM 19 To the end. A psalm of David. e learn three kinds of divine laws from blessed Paul.1 One unwritten kind he said was given to human beings in creation and nature: “From the creation of the world,” he says, “his invisible attributes have been understood and espied in created things”; and again, “For when the Gentiles, who do not have the law, practice the obligations of the law instinctively, despite having no law they are a law to themselves.”2 He says another law was provided in writing through the mighty Moses: “The Law was added because of transgressions,” he says, “ordained through angels in the hand of a mediator.”3 He knew also a third one imposed after these, the law of grace: “For the law of the Spirit of life,” he says, “has set me free from the law of sin and death.”4 Blessed David in this psalm [992] teaches human beings the harmony between these, following the same order: firstly, the one the creator preaches in creation; then the one given through Moses, instilling a greater knowledge of the creator to those willing to attend; after that, the law of grace, perfectly purifying souls and freeing them from the present destruction. This in fact is the reason the psalm also refers us “to the end,” naming the New Testament in the end. 133 1. This psalm, with its abrupt movement from natural lyricism to praise of law after the opening six verses, leads modern commentators to admit an unhappy conjunction of two disparate compositions (Weiser refuses to take them both together) or, like Dahood, to see a Canaanite work in the opening part. Theodoret, not disposed to be so critical, arrives at an appealing synthesis of law natural and positive in the psalm as a whole—probably not of his own invention. 2. Cf. Rom 1.20, 2.14. 3. Cf. Gal 3.19. 4. Rom 8.2. (2) The heavens tell of the glory of God, and the firmament announces work of his hands (v. 1). Even the visible beauty and magnitude of the heavens are alone sufficient, he is saying, to proclaim the power of the creator: if you observe a most mighty and magnificent building, you admire the builder; and if you see a skillfully and beautifully designed ship, you think of the shipwright ; and at the sight of a painting the painter comes to mind. Much more, to be sure, does the sight of creation lead the viewers to the creator. It was also logical for him to mention heaven and firmament in the teaching of Moses: that one first mentioned the making of heaven, then described the creation of the firmament, which in turn he called heaven of heavens, the text says. Now, let the plural form “heavens” surprise no one: it is usual for Scripture to use it in the singular in some cases and in the plural in others. Blessed David uses it in the singular: “Heaven belongs to the Lord of heaven”;5 and again, “Who covers heaven in clouds.”6 But he likewise uses it in the plural: “Praise him, heavens of heavens,”7 he says, though the same meaning is had by “Heaven belongs to the Lord of heaven”: the heaven that is visible is like some kind of roof prepared for the earth, whereas the higher one stands in the same relation to it as the latter does to the earth. Hence it is called heaven of heaven, and they are named heavens of heavens. Now, it is possible to see amongst us also the double usage in connection with cities: we also call Tarsus Tarsoi, though it is one city, and Thebe Thebes, the same city; likewise, the ancients spoke both of Mycene and Mycenae, though aware they were giving a plural form to one city. In this case, however, in my view it is not an idle reference, but due to those who try to count several heavens. (3) Day to day belches forth speech, and night to night proclaims knowledge (v. 2). That is, the ordained succession of night and day illustrates the boundaries set by the creator, [993] which inanimate creation refrains from infringing. With regard for human beings’ needs, you see, day and night both wax and wane, 134 THEODORET OF CYRUS 5. Ps 115.16 [LXX]. Discrepancy in morphological details was grist to an Antiochene’s mill, of course. 6. Ps 147.8. 7...

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