The Divine Lamp

The following is a compilation of texts taken from patristic and Medieval writers and is quoted from a public domain text by John Mason Neale, entitled A COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS FROM PRIMITIVE AND MEDIEVAL WRITERS. Neale was, I believe, an Anglican writer. The texts in blue represent my notes, thoughts, speculations, ect. I have chosen not to give the many references to the writers being quoted/referred to, because of the sheer number of them, and because of the confusing reference system employed by Neale. The commentary is prefaced with an argument (exposition) concerning the content, purpose, meaning, circumstances, ect. of the Psalm. There then follows a list of some of the various usages made of this Psalm by the ancient and medieval Church according to the practice of various Monastic Orders and/or regional usage; followed by a list of antiphons. People who use the Psalms in their prayer-life will probably find at least some of the preface material useful.  Enjoy.

Psalm 3

Title: A Psalm of David when he fled from Absalom his son.

Argument.

(Thomas) That Christ for us slept the sleep of death and rose again. The voice of Christ in His Passion to the Father concerning the Jews. Of the guile of heretics.

(Bede). By David understand Christ; by Absalom Judas Iscariot; from whose face Christ fled either literally when He departed to Mount Olivet, or spiritually when He hid from him the light of His knowledge and love. It was meet, on account of the correspondence between type and antitype, that both persecutors should die in the same way, namely by hanging. Note that this Psalm was composed after the 50th (51st in some editions), and many others which refer to the plots of Saul; but is placed before them for a mystical reason: namely, that this, which speaks of the resurrection on the third day, should come third in order, and that which tells of remission and the fruits of repentance, should be 50th. It pertains altogether to the Person of Christ. First, He speaks to the Father, rebuking the persecutors who spake blasphemously against Him; Lord, how are they increased &c. Next, His faithful people are instructed by His example not to fear death, since they also, like their Head, are consoled by the hope of a most certain resurrection. (Bede sees a connection between the 50th {51st} Psalm and the fact that a Jubilee Year occurred every fifty years. These were years of restoration and forgiveness)

(Syriac Psalter) Written by David concerning good things to come.

Various Uses (in various Psalters and Monastic Orders).

Gregorian. Sunday: 1. Nocturn. [Easter Day: 1. Nocturn. Exaltation of the Cross: 1 Nocturn. Saints Agnes and Agath: 1. Nocturn. Common of one and of Many Martyrs: 1. Nocturn. Common of Confessors: 1. Nocturn.]

Monastic. Before Psalm 95: daily.
Parisian. Sunday: 1 Nocturn.
Lyons. Sunday: 1 Nocturn.
Ambrosian. Monday of the First Week: Matins.
Quigon. Friday: Terce.
Eastern Church. Prime: Daily.

Antiphons.

Gregorian. Serve the Lord, &c. [Easter Day: I laid me down and slept, and rose up again, for the Lord sustains me. Alleluia. Alleluia. Common of One Martyr: I did cry unto the Lord with my voice, and He heard me out of His holy hill. His holy hill is an allusion to the Temple which stood on a mountain. It is a symbol of His dwelling in heaven see Hebrews 12:22-24. Many Martyrs: If they have suffered torments before men, the life of the elect is immortal for evermore. Common of Confessors: Thou art my glory, Thou art my defense, O Lord: Thou art He that liftest up my head: Thou hast heard me from Thy holy mountain].

Parisain. They say to my soul, there is no help for him in his God. But Thou, O Lord, art my defender.

Commentary.

This Psalm in its literal sense applies to the flight of David from Absalom, but mystically to the Son of David; and it is one of the six which relate to His Passion and Resurrection. In commenting on this Psalm I have followed almost exactly St Bruno of Aste. The other Psalms are 22, 43, 64, 83, and 108 (109).

1. Lord, how are they increased that trouble me: many are they which rise against me.

Literally this refers to the multitude of those that troubled David. In his youth Saul, then the Philistines, now Absalom, Ahithophel, and Shimei. But principally it relates to Christ. How are they increased. Herod, when he slew the Holy Innocents, the Chief Priests and Scribes, the tempters that feigned themselves just men, Judas, Herod, Pilate, the band of soldiers, the thief that railed on Him, the standers-by at the cross; yes, and the Apostles that forsook Him, and St Peter that denied Him. Or we may understand the word of things as well as of persons. Our Lord was troubled in His Head, by the crown of thorns; in His hands, by the nails; in His side, by the spear; in His whole body, by the scourge; in His face, by the blows of the soldiers; in His sight, by the blindfold; in His hearing, when He was blasphemed; in His taste, when they gave Him vinegar to drink. An by this multiplication of sufferings was brought to pass a multiplication of Christ’s elect, even as it is written, “Lift up Thine eyes round about and see, all they gather themselves together, they come to Thee” (isa 60:4 se also Jn 12:32)); and a multiplication of the abodes of the blessed, for it is said, “In My Father’s house are many mansions” (Jn 14:2). Many that rise up. As the many false witnesses that rose up against Jesus to put Him to death (see Mark 14:55-60).

How many. So as to include even one of My chosen disciples, without whose aid they could not have succeeded (see Luke 22:1-6).

2. Man one there be that say to my soul: There is no help for him in his God.

So daid the Chief Priests: “He trusted in God; let Him deliver him now if He will have him (Matt 27:43);” “let him save himself, if he be the Christ the chosen of God” (Luke 23:35). And with reference to ourselves, the craft of the devil is often displayed in representing a sin to which we are tempted as trifling; after we have committed it, as so great that there is no help for us in our God. Note the various helps which there are for the Christian: the help of redemption, against the deceit of sin; of illumination, against ignorance; of peace which passeth all understanding, against discord; of hope of glory, against present trouble.

No help for him in his God. They said it, not merely when He hung upon the cross, but when they rejected His miracles, saying, “He casteth out devils through Beelzebub” (Luke 11:15).

3. But thou, O Lord, art my defender: thou art my worship, and the lifter up of my head.

Here we have the patience of Christ under the revilings of His enemies. And we, like Him, may thus look to our Father in tribulation as our defender, for all things work together for good to them that love Him (Rom 5:3); as our glory, for “we glory in tribulations also;” as the lifter up of our head, for He that lifted up our great Head from the grave will raise us likewise, like the butler of Pharaoh (Gen 40:20).

Observe that the Father was the lifter up of the Son in two ways. First, by exalting Him on the Cross, that He might draw all men unto Him (Jn 13:32); and then, by giving Him a Name which is above every other name (Phil 2:9-11), so that the stone rejected by the builders was exalted to the head of the corner (Ps 118:22). God lifts up the head of His Saints, when He raises their thoughts above all earthly desires to heavenly things.

4. I did call upon the Lord with my voice: and he heard me out of his holy hill.

Thus is the efficacy of our Lord’s intercession set forth: I did cal; as when He said, “I have prayed for thee that thy faith may not fail” (Lk 22:32); and again, “Neither pray I for these alone” (Jn 17:20); and again, “Father, I will that They also whom Thou hast given Me, may be with Me where I am” (Jn 17:24). Holy hill; even heaven, the hill to which we lift our eyes, and whence our help comes (see Ps 121:1).

I did call, saying, “Father, the hour is come, glorify Thy Son,” and “glorify Thy Name,” (Jn 17:1), and He heard me, answering, “I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again” (Jn 17:28). And every Saint who calls upon God is heard out of His holy hill, that is, through Christ, Who, born of no human father, is the “stone cut out without hands, which became a great mountain” (Dan 2:34-35).

5. I laid me down and slept, and rose again: for the Lord sustained me.

Still our blessed Lord is speaking: He laid Him down in a new sepulchre (tomb). He slept His sleep of three days; He rose up again, the third day from the dead. It was sleep in three senses; as being voluntary, for He said, “I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again” (Jn 10:18); as being short, for “His soul was not left in Hell” (Ps 16:10); as being harmless, for the “Holy One saw no corruption.”

I have laid me down, is said of man, when he takes pleasure in the thought of sin, and slept, indulging in sinful act, and forgetting God’s commands, and rose up again, in repentance, not of my own might, but of God’s grace, for He, the Lord, sustained me.

6. I will not be afraid for ten thousand of the people: that have set themselves against me round about.

If her dear Lord showed His love for the Church by lying down and sleeping, and His might by rising again, surely she needs not to be afraid of tens of thousands of enemies. And herein she further imitates that Savior, Who, when they cried, “Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him” (see Lk 23:18-21), “for the joy that was set before Him He endured the cross” (Heb 12:2). That have set themselves against me round about. Before, by alluring into sin; behind I.e., afterwards; after the sin has been committed), by exciting memories of evil things; on our right I.e., “on the one hand”), by prosperity; on our left (on the other hand), by misfortunes.

Ten thousands of peoples. This Psalm is fitly used by the Church in commemoration of the Martyrs, in whom this verse was fulfilled again and again to the letter, even by maidens and children, as they stood in the amphitheater, alone, unpitied, the mark for the cruel stare of myriads of spectators, crying Christians ad leones (Christians to the lions).

Thus in the arena he stood by himself, one minute, not longer:
Here on this side a child; on the other ten myriad pagans.
Then did the Christians in peace send up one deep supplication,
God would again show His praise in the mouth of babes and of sucklings:
Trembling nor fear now; but Philemon came forward a little
Nearer the mouth of the den, where the creaking which told was the lion.
Back flew the gate: black-maned, the beast, with the roar of his fury,
Sprang in one bound on the child,-and the child was in Abraham’s bosom.

7. Up, Lord, and help me, O my God: for thou smitest all mine enemies upon the cheek-bone; thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly.

The Church continues to pray to God for help, drawing from past deliverances present comfort. Note, both here and all through the Psalms, the repetition of that holy argument, “Because Thou hast been my helper, therefore under the shadow of Thy wing will I rejoice” (Ps 63:7).

The teeth of the ungodly, are the evil speeches of envious and slanderous men, of whom the Apostle saith: “If ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed (literally, eaten up) of one another” (Gal 5:15). Or, again, the words may denote those who cut men away from the fellowship of the just, and incorporate them into the body of evil, as the teeth do with food. Opposed to these are the teeth of the righteous preachers of the Church, who bring men into the Body of Christ, teeth which should not decay through luxury, but be white with innocence, joined in charity, even (straight; well aligned) in justice, firm in constancy, bony (hard) in vigor, biting into sin with doctrine and truth. Of such is written, “Thy teeth are like a flock of sheep that are even shorn (groomed), which came up from the washing” (Song 4:2).

8. Salvation belongeth unto the Lord: and thy blessing is upon thy people.

Here our Lord teaches us what we are to believe; and what, if we believe, will be our reward. Salvation belongeth unto the Lord; there is the doctrine; Thy blessing is upon Thy people; there is the prayer.

Wherefore: Glory be to the Father, Who, lifting up my Head, which is Christ, is glorified in Him; glory be to the Son, Who laid Him down and slept, and rose again; glory be to the Holy Ghost, Who is the salvation and Blessing of which is said, Salvation is of the Lord, and Thy blessing is upon Thy people. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be; world without end. Amen.

Collects.

Pour forth, O Lord, Thy blessing upon Thy people, that being fortified by Thy Resurrection, we may not be afraid for ten thousands of the adversaries that set themselves against us round about (From St Thomas?)

Albeit, O Lord, that there are many who say, that there is no help for us in God; yet Thou art our defender, and the lifter up of our head: vouchsafe, therefore, to give us the increase of hope, and to surround us with Thy perpetual mercy (Mozarabic Liturgy, collect in Advent).

O Lord, those are increased that trouble us; let Thy mercy be increased above them: for then we shall fear no evil, when we are defended by Thy grace (Mozarabic Liturgy, collect in Advent).

Hear us, O Lord, from Thy holy hill, when we cry unto Thee from the deep of our sin; be Thou our rock and our defense, that no kind of tempest may overthrow us, and no violence of adversaries may destroy us (Mozarabic Liturgy, collect in Advent).

Hear, O Lord, the confession of our sin, and vouchsafe to accept it, that as our resurrection had its beginning in Thee, so from Thee our life may have its reward: that our frailty may be so strengthened by Thy ready succor, as that our foes may be scattered by Thy just judgment: that Thy people, created by Thee, redeemed by Thee, regenerated by Thee, may here set forth Thy praise and may do all such good works as Thou hast prepared for them to walk in (Mozarabic Liturgy, collect in Advent).

Lord Jesus Christ, Who didst for us undergo the sleep of death, to the end that we might never sleep in death, grant that we, who have been born again by Thy dying, may rise from the bed of sins by Thy quickening, and may no longer be overwhelmed by the penalty of sin, who have been redeemed by the price of Thy most precious Blood (Mozarabic Liturgy, collect in Advent).

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