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COMMENTARY ON PSALM 101 A psalm for David. OME OF THE COPIES have "On the fourth Sabbath day," but we did not find this addition in the Hebrew, in the other translators, or in the Septuagint.1 The psalm has the following theme. King Josiah overturned all altars of the idols, cut down their priests, and guided the people to their former piety. Not only did he give thought to the soundness of the teachings, but he attended also to the practices of virtue, judging properly, respecting righteousness, assisting the wronged, punishing the wrongdoers, being solicitous for the welfare of the citizens. Blessed David perceived this from afar and composed this psalm, describing the man's virtue and proposing him to all people as a model of perfection. ( 2 ) Of mercy and judgment I shall sing to you, 0 Lord (v. 1). Since the admirable Josiah took pity on the wronged and condemned the wrongdoers, the psalmist gave the complimentary term mercy and judgment to the account of it. I shall sing, and shall understand in the way ofinnocence (W. 1-2). Symmachus, on the other hand, put it this way, "I shall make music, 1 shall consider the way of innocence": to the way that 1 perceived by the grace of the Spirit to be innocent and pleasing to God 1 shall now give attention in song. When will you come to me? This admirable man acquired such purity as to cry with confidence to God, When will you come to mer-that is to say, 1 made the palace seemly for you, 1 long for your presence, 0 Lord, 1 yearn for your appearance; grant my desire. (3) I walked in the innocence of my heart in my house: 1 continued to live a life of simplicity, 1 did not practice [1673] duplici1 . See Introduction, section 3, for the range of textual resources Theodoret had at his disposal in writing his Commentary. 146 COMMENTARYON PSALM 101 147 ty, feigning a different appearance to outsiders while bringing myself to do the opposite at home; instead, my private face corresponded to my public one.2 I did not set before my eyes a lawless pursuit (v. 3): not only did I abhor lawless practices, but I also expelled thoughts of them, controlling and guiding my mind first of all. I hated those who commit transgressions: I gave short shrift also to those who despise the divine ordinances. No perverse heart stuck fast within me (v. 4): those who honor righteousness were my familiars, while those preferring the opposite and unwilling to hold to correct thinking I kept well out of my company . I had no relations with the wicked person of ways different from my own: ifany of my associates chose to adopt wicked habits and depart from my company, I did not regard such a loss as a loss; on this basis the one choosing evil was quite beneath contempt in my view. I banished those who maligned their neighbor in private (v. 5): I admitted no charges leveled in private, but drove off those attempting to do this. I did not entertain people with haughty eye and insatiable heart: nor did I make friends of those guilty of arrogance and greed. (4) My eyes are upon the faithful in the land so as to seat them in my company (v. 6): those adorned with faith, who highly prize divine things, shared gatherings and counsel with me. The one who treads a faultless path will minister to me: I was very careful not only about friends and advisers but also about attendants; I employed servants devoted to virtue and guiltless of evil. Anyone guilty of arrogance will not dwell in my house (v. 7): I preferred to have no one given to haughtiness residing with me. Anyone speaking false things did not prosper before my eyes: anyone recommending or pursuing injustice left disappointed, my anxiety being to close my ears to those intent on slander. (5) At dawn I executed all the sinners in the land so as to rid the Lord's city ofall the workers ofiniquity (v. 8). [1676] We know this clearly from history: he dispatched to death all the impious 2. Having decided, perhaps with the encouragement of tradition (the text itself not being decisive), that the psalm applies to Josiah's personal integrity, Theodoret is content to paraphrase the verses, characteristically avoiding any tendency to extend the application to the lives of his readers...

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