Tag: Eusebius Commentary on the Psalms

Psalm 82 is as follows (NIV):

A psalm of Asaph.

¹ God presides in the great assembly;
he renders judgment among the “gods”:

² “How long will you^[a] defend the unjust
and show partiality to the wicked?^[b]
3 Defend the weak and the fatherless;
uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed.
⁴ Rescue the weak and the needy;
deliver them from the hand of the wicked.

⁵ “The ‘gods’ know nothing, they understand nothing.
They walk about in darkness;
all the foundations of the earth are shaken.

⁶ “I said, ‘You are “gods”;
you are all sons of the Most High.’
⁷ But you will die like mere mortals;
you will fall like every other ruler.”

⁸ Rise up, O God, judge the earth,
for all the nations are your inheritance.

Footnotes

1. Psalm 82:2 The Hebrew is plural.
2. Psalm 82:2 The Hebrew has Selah (a word of uncertain meaning) here.

This psalm always tends to remind me of an unsigned pop group in the late 1960s, formed out of the most competent members of other local groups, which modestly called itself “The Gods”!

On reading the psalm yesterday, I found myself wondering about this “gods” and how it should be understood.  The modern punctuation, using apostrophes around “gods”, is not in the original Hebrew, nor in the Greek nor even the Latin Vulgate.  Modern punctuation is an innovation of the early modern period and later.  But it is a nice way to indicate how the modern translator understood the text.

But how did the ancients understand this psalm?  Well, there is always Eusebius of Caesarea’s massive early-fouth century Commentary on the Psalms, still awaiting an English translation.  So I found myself consulting it.  Fortunately there is an Italian translation, which I have run across into English.  I’ll post the output here, and then add a couple of thoughts of my own.

Note that in the ancient Greek translation of the psalms, the Septuagint, this psalm is numbered 81.  This was the numbering that Eusebius knew, and his text references it so, and the biblical footnotes from the Italian are also in the LXX numbering.

PSALM 81

Verse 1a: “A Psalm of Asaph.”
Verse 1b: “God stands in the assembly of the gods, and in their midst He judges the gods.”

The previous psalm accused the entire Jewish people, as God clearly said: “My people did not listen to My voice, and Israel did not obey Me. So I sent them away to follow their own desires”;^[1] and again: “If only My people would listen to Me, if Israel would walk in My ways, I would quickly humble their enemies.”^[2] In continuity with that, this one accuses those who preside over the people, since it addresses princes and judges, saying: “How long will you judge unjustly? And will you show favour to sinners? Defend the cause of the poor and the humble, do justice to the orphan and the needy.” Then it adds: I commanded this, but they “neither knew nor understood: they wander in darkness.”

He nevertheless calls them “gods,” either because of the honour they received from the people, so much so that they were approached with fear and reverence as if they were God Himself; or because, having the responsibility to administer justice, they acted on God’s behalf, punishing and chastising the wicked according to the law that was in their hands; or also because they were honoured by God with adoption as His children, to the point that it is said of them: “I have begotten children and raised them up”;^[3] or again, because they are made in the image and likeness of God,^[4] due to the intellectual and rational substance that is in man. And in this psalm, indeed, he continues by saying to those he accuses: “I have said: You are gods, and all of you are children of the Most High. But you will die like men, and fall like one of the princes.”

The Word of God, therefore, in judging those who preside over the people, that is, priests, high priests, and other leaders, declares these things. For this reason, it is said: “God stands in the assembly of the gods, and in their midst He judges the gods”; or, according to Aquila: “God stands in the assembly of the mighty; in what is inward, the Lord judges”; and according to Symmachus: “God stands in the council of God, in the midst, God judges.” The one who judges is this God, that is, the Word of God, and He judges the so-called “assembly of the gods,” declaring His accusations against those being judged. And since the powerful will be examined according to their power, He rightly separates the group of those He calls gods and judges them apart, while in the previous psalm, He had already declared His accusation against the mass of the people. But He also judges in the sense that He discerns those who are worthy of salvation and those who are not. He judges without arrogance, without the ways of a tyrant, without sitting high above, but, lowering Himself towards those He must judge, He stands among them, in a form similar to theirs, because of the man He has assumed. For this reason, He first addresses those who will be judged, to lead them to wisdom, so that they may avoid falling under punishment in judgment, so that they may correct themselves, so that they may be careful to avoid the causes of accusation that are being laid out.

For this reason, He says: “How long will you judge unjustly? And will you show favour to sinners? Defend the cause of the poor and the orphan.” The Spirit of prophecy cried out similar things to them when it said through Isaiah: “Learn to do good; seek justice, defend the orphan, and plead the case of the widow. Then come and let us reason together, says the Lord. And even if your sins are like scarlet, I will make them white as snow.”^[5] Certainly, these things had already been commanded by Scripture before, yet those who are honoured with the title of gods and made worthy of such teachings “neither knew nor understood: they wander in darkness.”

These words can also be referred to the time of the first coming of our Saviour among us, when, going to the synagogues of the Jews and standing among the leaders, He conversed with them and accused them, attesting to and describing what would happen to them in the future judgment. Thus, at that time, God stood “in the assembly of the gods,” and there in the midst, He judged these gods, as mentioned. Instead of “judges,” Symmachus and Aquila translated it as “judging.” But observe how He called those He judged “gods” and did not hesitate to speak of the “assembly of the gods,” to the shame of those who deny the divinity of the Saviour. Indeed, if He does not hesitate to call gods those who are accused and found guilty of iniquity, how much more justly should we revere with the august honour due to God the author of such extraordinary works, the one who has received from the Father the power to judge? It is with these objections that the Saviour Himself addressed the leaders of the Jews to confound them. For when they said, “We do not stone you for a good work but for blasphemy because you, a man, make yourself God,” Jesus answered them: “Is it not written in your Law: I said: You are gods? If He called those to whom the word of God came gods — and Scripture cannot be annulled — do you say of Him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world that He is blaspheming because I said: I am the Son of God?”^[6]

And do not be surprised if the Saviour says, “Is it not written in the Law?” because He lets us know that any word of God, not only through Moses but also through the prophets, should be understood as a sort of royal law. Therefore, it is entirely appropriate to call the precepts given by the prophets the laws of God, and this also applies to the psalms. He Himself, then, the Word of God, “taking the form of a servant and appearing in human form,” placed Himself in the assembly of the “gods,” and, standing among these men called “gods,” He judged them when He said: The word I have spoken will judge you. Thus, we should understand our text in this way, rather than thinking it refers to God the Father, who transcends all, and who would be standing among other “gods.” For it is not permissible to suppose that anyone could be His equal, nor to lower Him to the point of thinking He could stand among men in such a way, standing there in their midst. All this, instead, can be referred to the Christ of God. It is He Himself who, saying: “How long will you judge unjustly? And will you show favour to sinners?” does not only address those He is speaking to personally but all those who have received the power to judge others. And it is right that He criticizes those who hypocritically favour the rich and oppress the needy, while it is with the scales of justice that one must judge, remembering that the Law says: “You shall not show partiality in judgment.” And certainly, we too are often severe judges towards the poor for the small faults they commit, and we show no mercy in our judgments against them. But when the rich commit even grave offenses and then come to the Church of God, we show them favour. Thus, the words of the psalm are appropriate for us as well: “How long will you judge unjustly? And will you show favour to sinners?” By saying, “How long?” He reminds us that we must leave this life. Indeed, He asks: How long will you act this way? And after that, you will face the judgment of God.

Therefore, he adds: “Defend the cause of the poor and the orphan, do justice to the humble and the needy. Rescue the needy, and deliver the poor from the hand of the sinner.” If we, then, listen to these words, correct ourselves, and observe what is commanded of us, we will enjoy the benefits that come from these words. For it will also be said to us: “They neither knew nor understood; they wander in darkness.” And what is it that they neither knew nor understood, if not that, within a short time, they too will have to appear before the tribunal of God to give an account of what they did not judge justly? But those who do not keep the judgment of God in mind wander in darkness because they have filled the eyes of their souls with the darkness of ignorance. Therefore, it benefits them to be illuminated by the splendour of the Word, or not to engage in judgment at all, mindful of the One who said: “Do not judge, so that you may not be judged”;^[7] or, if it is indeed necessary to judge, to do so in the most just way and to rebuke sinners, even if it requires dying for the truth, firmly convinced that the end will come for all and that situations will change at the time of the universal judgment of God, which will happen through His Christ.

And this is also indicated by the present text, as it continues, adding: “All the foundations of the earth will be shaken. I said: You are gods, and all of you are children of the Most High. But you will die like men, and fall like one of the princes.” Once again, with these words, He addresses the aforementioned “gods,” the leaders and chiefs of the people. The God who came among them teaches that, in imitation of the Father’s generosity, He was not held back by jealousy in sharing His divinity with them, even going so far as to call them “gods” and to declare them all children of the Most High—a status that, however, belongs to Him alone. But they responded to grace with insults.

You will then understand how those who have received power from God are honoured by their subjects almost as if they were gods if you observe what was said to Moses: “See, I have made you like a god to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet.”^[8] Just as Moses, who was a man of God and was honoured by Him, is declared a god to Pharaoh, so too are all those whom God honours considered by their subjects to be acting in the place of God. Therefore, the subjects approach them with reverential fear, not because of any armed escort, wealth, or power they possess, but because of the honour God has bestowed upon them. Thus, the face of Moses was filled with glory, as were the faces of the apostles of our Saviour, the ancient prophets of God, and all those who are truly servants of God. Though they may remain without glory and poor in their lives, they are honoured by the faithful because of the grace that God has given them.

“So then,” he says, “this is how I wanted it, and I said: ‘You are gods’, because I wanted you also, like me—God who stands among you—to become children of the Most High. But you have despised this grace. And indeed, you die because of your human wickedness and your sins. For, ‘the soul that sins shall die.’^[9] Therefore, ‘you die like men, and fall like one of the princes.’ Because there was a time when even the devil was in honour before God, and was one of the princes of the angels in heaven, but then, for having followed an evil purpose, he fell from his status as an angel, so much so that it is said of him: ‘How have you fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, who rises in the morning?’^[10] Likewise with you: it is not by nature that you are wicked, but by your wicked choices. Therefore, as for me, I was calling you to divine honour, but since you have imitated the fallen prince, behold, you also ‘fall like one of the princes.’”

Verse 8: “Rise up, O God, judge the earth, for you shall inherit all the nations.”

In perfect continuity with the previous psalm, where the entire Jewish nation was accused, in this one, which we are now considering, addressing the leaders of the people, the psalmist prays for the reconciliation and manifestation of Christ, not for the nation of the Jews but for all the nations. Therefore, it adds: “Rise up, O God, judge the earth, for you shall inherit all the nations.” And who receives this inheritance, you may ask, but examine the facts and you will see that it can only be the Christ of God, to whom the Father had said: “You are my Son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance, and the ends of the earth as your possession.” To urge Him, God who is in the midst of those “gods” and reproves them, this psalm asks Him to finally bring to completion the promise He received, saying: “Rise up, O God, judge the earth, for you shall inherit all the nations.” Indeed, it says, those who have already been accused and have been poor judges have wandered in darkness. But it is your duty to judge with justice, for only you, the Son, have the judgment entrusted to you by the Father. Therefore, rise up, and with your resurrection, bring about the common resurrection of all men, and “judge the earth,” that is, all the people who inhabit the earth. It is up to you to judge all people “for you shall inherit all the nations.”

Thus this psalm has spoken of the “assembly of gods,” of God who is in their midst and “judges the gods,” and has outlined the whole doctrine of judgment, then at the end adds: “Rise up, O God, judge the earth.”

All this has been expounded by the Holy Spirit through the prophet Asaph. However, since we have seen that Psalm 49, also attributed to Asaph, has already dealt with judgment in a manner similar to this one, it seems appropriate to consider it analogous to the one we are now examining, given that it is also by Asaph and shares the same theme. In Psalm 49, it is said: “The God of gods, the Lord, has spoken, and has called the earth, from the rising of the sun to its setting.” Observe how the ending of what we are considering says: “Rise up, O God, judge the earth,” while Psalm 49 begins with: “The God of gods, the Lord, has spoken, and has called the earth.” Furthermore, here it is said: “For you shall inherit all the nations,” and there it says: “From the rising of the sun to its setting.”^[11] Moreover, Psalm 49 says: “God will come manifestly, our God, and will not keep silent,”^[12] while what He will do is taught here: “God stands in the assembly of gods, and in their midst, He judges the gods.” How He judges is explained in Psalm 49, which says: “A fire will burn before Him, and a mighty tempest will be around Him. He will call to the heavens above, and to the earth, to judge His people.”^[13]

So for these reasons, it seemed right to us to consider that Psalm 49 is connected to this one. It should also be noted that the psalms of Asaph that follow this point deal with the repudiation of Israel and its causes, and Psalm 49, by the same prophet, also introduces the topic of the abrogation of the Law of Moses, declaring that sacrifices are rejected. Thus, the context in both psalms presents similar themes. As for why Psalm 49 has been separated from those that are placed here one after the other and placed before the confession in Psalm 50, this we have already explained in our commentary.

An interesting commentary indeed, and I find myself wondering about the explanation of the position of psalm 49.

The Italian translator has treated the first verse as a summary of the psalm, rather than as part of the psalm itself.  Judging from the commentary, this is how Eusebius saw it also.

It is interesting that Eusebius treats psalm 82 as a continuation of psalm 81.  We think of the psalms as composed independently, and then gathered together at some subsequent point.  We always treat them independently in church use.  But here Eusebius plainly thinks that the psalmist composed them in the order in which we have them, and wrote them down in that order.  Furthermore it looks as if he thinks that the collection we now have is disarranged from the original, judging from the final remark.  Of course he could be right, or he could be speculating.  No ancient source preserves anything about the process of composition of the book of psalms, as far as I am aware, so imagination may play freely.

The rather shocking “God stands in the assembly of the gods, and in their midst He judges the gods” he understands as we do; as a reference to human beings, to the “great ones” of our day, who behave like gods over our lives, without regard to our wishes or even our votes.  The whole psalm then becomes a warning to the great, that God is watching them, and indeed to us when we have authority over others.  The non-Septuagint translations of Aquila and Symmachus are referenced, making the same point in different ways.

It is good to check a modern exegesis against the thoughts of antiquity!

1. ^[1]Ps. 80:12.↩
2. ^[2]Ps. 80:14.↩
3. ^[3]Is. 1:2.↩
4. ^[4]Genesis 1:26.↩
5. ^[5]Is. 1:17↩
6. ^[6]Jn. 10:33-36.↩
7. ^[7]Mt. 7:1/↩
8. ^[8]Exodus 7:1.↩
9. ^[9]Ezekiel 18:4.↩
10. ^[10]Is. 14:12.↩
11. ^[11]Ps. 49:1.↩
12. ^[12]Ps. 49:3.↩
13. ^[13]Ps. 49:3.↩

A kind correspondent draws my attention to an important blog post by Tommaso Interi on the Patristics.It blog, in English here, and in Italian here. (Update: unfortunately  not archived: similar post now here)  He points out that a preliminary text has appeared online of the new edition of Eusebius of Caesarea’s enormous Commentary on the Psalms.  It’s at this link: https://pta.bbaw.de/pta/texts/urn-cts-pta-pta0003.  They have also produced a text with German translation of the “Hypomnema de Psalmis” (CPG 1426), usually attributed to Origen but recently reattributed to Eusebius (online here).^[1]

The edition is from the Berlin-Brandenburgischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, and the three sections of the work have been edited by Barbara Villani (Ps 1-50), Cordula Bandt (Ps 51-100) and Franz-Xaver Risch (Ps 101-150).  Only the commentary on Ps.51-100 has been transmitted to us intact; the remainder has been recovered from quotations in the catenas, the medieval Greek bible commentaries.

The site is run by Città Nuova, the Italian publisher of a great many translations of patristic texts.  The post naturally reminds us that in 2004 the company produced a two-volume translation of the entire work!^[2]  I don’t think that I knew this, and I suspect that I am not alone in this.  The translation was made by Maria Benedetta Artioli.  It is available still from the publisher, although I find that research libraries don’t tend to hold it.

The translation is naturally based on the text in the Patrologia Graeca, going back to the Maurist fathers of the 18th century.  My correspondent has also discovered that a generous preview of each is accessible online!

Volume 1: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Commento_ai_Salmi/sDZLBphq88MC?hl=en
Volume 2: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Commento_ai_Salmi/76L9XADO0zkC?hl=en&gbpv=1

Here’s the cover of volume 1, in the characteristic softback livery of Città Nuova.

It is great to see such progress with one of the neglected works of antiquity.

Update (9th September 2024): The original blog post by Tommaso Interi has vanished, which is very sad.  A new fixed page is here.

1. ^[1]C. Bandt, F. Risch, “Das Hypomnema des Origenes zu den Psalmen – eine unerkannte Schrift des Eusebius”, Adamantius, 19, 2013, p. 395-435.  This includes an edition.↩
2. ^[2]Eusebio di Cesarea, Commento ai Salmi 1 (1-71), Città Nuova (2004), ISBN 978-8831131766, Publisher page here; Eusebio di Cesarea, Commento ai Salmi 2 (72-151), Città Nuova (2004), ISBN/EAN 9788831131773. Publisher page here.↩

A friendly note from Justin Gohl of the Sophiaphile blog informs me that he is translating selected passages from the monster Commentary on the Psalms by Eusebius of Caesarea!

This is extremely good news.  This text is very long, and has accordingly been very neglected.  I seem to remember commissioning translations of a few of these myself, in fact.

Of course Justin is only nibbling at it, but he’s making the first ever translations of what he’s doing.  Here’s what he has done so far:

• “What is Man that You remember Him?”: Eusebius of Caesarea, Commentary on Psalm 8 — A Translation
• “The Lord shepherds me”: Eusebius of Caesarea, Commentary on Psalm 22 LXX (23 MT)
• “The Queen stood at Thy Right Hand”: Eusebius of Caesarea, Commentary on Psalm 44 LXX — A Translation
• “I said, You are gods”: Eusebius of Caesarea, Commentary on Psalm 81 LXX — A Translation

I don’t know if he will do any more, but this is just invaluable.  Blessedly he is translating the whole commentary for a given psalm.

More please!

Update (6 September 2021): A bunch of these and more are collected at Justin Gohl’s page at Academia here!

I dislike translations of “selected passages”.  You always wonder what was in the missing bits.  On the other hand Eusebius’ Commentary on the Psalms is so immense that nobody has translated anything much of it.  Indeed Andrew Eastbourne’s translation of the portion on Ps.51/52 is pretty much all that anybody has done.

I’ve been compiling a list of passages that might usefully be translated (psalm numbers as in PG, i.e. LXX/Vulgate, rather than KJV/NIV).  Contributions are welcome, of course!

• Introduction – PG23.68-72 – a short list by Eusebius of the subject matter of each of the 150 Psalms, entitled Hupotheseis (“Themes”).  This is already done.
• Ps. 51 – PG 23.445d-448a, the conclusion to his preface to Ps 51, in which he presents a detailed review of the jumbled chronology of the psalms attributed to David in the first two portions of the Psalter.  This is already done as part of the Ps.51 translation.
• Ps. 60, v.6 – PG 23.580c – Recognizing that the psalms originated in the prayers of Israel, he says “. . . the things that were uttered were rightly no longer regarded as ordinary prayers but as prophetic words, and the ones who had received the charisma of the discernment of spirits inserted them into the divine books”.  TODO. There is a chunk of stuff about inspiration of the bible here, perhaps half a column to a column.
• Ps 62, 2-3 – PG 23.601a–604b – Prof. Hollerich in his article (below) says that he has a translation of this in the Eusebius chapter in the forthcoming New Cambridge History of the Bible, presumably vol. 1.  I don’t have access to this though.  It contains material on how the psalter was assembled.  TODO.  The commentary on v.2-3 actually starts on col. 599-605; but the interesting material is 599-603B, two and a half columns.
• Ps 86, 2-4 – PG 23.1040b – 1041d.  This has more material on how the psalter was assembled.  “There too, he says, the order of events and of prophecies is sometimes reversed, with prophecies from later times being found in earlier parts of the books. In both cases, the “probable” (eikos) explanation is that the unhistorical sequencing of the books is due to the fact that those who preserved the prophecies added them to the book as they incidentally came to their attention, following disruptions like the Babylonian Exile. The same explanation applies to the Psalter—unless, he adds, someone wishes to propose a deeper meaning (bathuteros nous) that has escaped him (PG 23.1041d).  He flatly denies that the psalm numbers themselves could carry inherent significance, as if “. . . the fiftieth in number contains the understanding of the forgiveness of sins because of the fifty year period referred to in the Law, the period which the children of the Hebrews call a ‘jubilee’ . .”  TODO:  Two columns, from 1040 to the top of 1043.
• Ps 86:5-7 – PG 23, 1048C – 1049C – In this psalm the LXX differs notably from the other Greek versions (and Eusebius usually presumed that that meant the LXX differed from the Hebrew as well).  So ought to be interesting.  TODO:  A column at most.
•  Ps.87:11 – PG 23, 1064A – This mentions the mnêma (tomb) and martyrion of the Savior in Jerusalem, where, he says, miracles were being performed among the faithful, thereby indicating that this is a late work.  TODO: Just a few lines before and after the sentence.
• Ps 91 (92), PG 23. 1169/1170B, the psalm is entitled, A psalm or song for the sabbath-day. Eusebius begins his commentary by stating that the patriarchs had not the legal Jewish sabbath; but still ‘given to the contemplation of divine things, and meditating day and night upon the divine word, they spent holy sabbaths which were acceptable to God.’  Then a long quote which I have here.  Then Ps 92 – PG 23. 1172A: καὶ πάντα δὴ ὅσα ἄλλα ἐχρῆν ἐν Σαββάτῳ τελεῖν, ταῦτα ἡμεῖς ἐν τῇ Κυριακῇ μετατεθείκαμεν (and so all the other things that one must observe on the Sabbath, these things we have transposed to the Lord’s Day’, as discussed here; and here).  TODO: The psalm starts at 1163D.  Our interest fades at 1173B.  About four columns.  The whole psalm would be nine columns.

   *   *   *   *

That’s not an impossible quantity of material, perhaps ten columns in all.  I might enquire whether Fr Alban Justinus might like to translate it for us.