Life as union with God; the plagues and rebellions in the wilderness
Apollinaris is commenting on Psalm 103 (104), then Psalm 104 (105) and Psalm 105 (106), explaining the psalm verses about life, death, the plagues on Egypt, and the rebellions of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.
This is the gain of life, and it is for this that life itself is worth living. That is why death is terrible, because it silences the hymn-singer. Death is destruction, because in death no one remembers you, and life alone is true existence, because the living, he says, will praise you. For we have our being in union with the one who is, and separation from him is corruption. May my meditation be sweet to him, and I will rejoice in the Lord. It is worth praying that God may take pleasure in our hymns, and that joy may be ours through our hymns. And if this could be so through our whole life, so that all our actions were a hymn to God, God would rejoice in us as he rejoiced from the beginning.
We must not be ignorant, he says, that he is the Lord our God, whose providence governs the whole world by divine judgments, so that nothing happens without judgment or apart from his providence (Psalm 105:7; LXX 104:7).
They were christs, having received the anointing through the Spirit invisibly, or having become chosen ones.
He uses the order of the plagues indifferently and does not list them all, because, I think, the power of God is shown even from the wonders that are mentioned one by one. What is needed is that God's power be made known, not that a complete record of events be produced. He says the frogs were not simply produced on the earth, but in the houses, and in the most prominent parts of the houses, and in their innermost rooms, so that their onslaught was unhindered and most violent, and no one, not even the most powerful, could stop them (Psalm 105:30). It was also extraordinary that the gnats and the dog-fly were poured out over the whole land and stopped at the borders without going further, so that the punishment was clearly being carried out against Egypt alone. That is why the turning of the waters to blood also stopped at the borders, and the streams flowing into the neighboring country were no longer such, because the punishment was against the Egyptians, taking away the abundance of the river (Psalm 105:29).
Along with the salvation that was given, he also speaks of the abundance that came from God's power, which led the Egyptians to provide many costly things to those who asked and were about to leave the country (Psalm 105:37). It was also a great thing that they departed unharmed, every one of them, from a country that was suffering the worst plagues.
When they tested God in the waterless place, he, who cannot be tempted and bears no grudge, did not repay them, but gave them their request. And when they provoked him bitterly as they went up at the Red Sea, even then he made known to them his power. But when they angered Moses and Aaron in the camp, then the earth opened and swallowed them. For the servants were not to be despised. But since kindness and severity are both with him, according to the words, See then the kindness and the severity of God, he first gave them the things of kindness. And when they did not benefit from it, he accordingly treated them with the fitting medicine of punishment. So the followers of Dathan and Abiram angered Moses by saying, Has God spoken only through Moses? Has he not spoken through us as well? (Numbers 12:2). And Korah and his company, who dared to bring strange fire and offer sacrifices to God in the place of the priests, angered Aaron. But those who spoke against Moses—Dathan with his whole family—the earth opened wide and swallowed, and it covered the company of Abiram. And Korah and those with him who were about to offer their censers, a flame came out from the tabernacle and consumed them.
According to justice, the decree was destruction; according to love for humanity, there was the concession of being saved. The intercession made room for the concession, both because of the holiness of the one interceding and because of the providence over the world by which the intercessor pleaded, so that the grace of God toward Israel might not be thought incomplete, and because of the memory of the fathers and the promise made to them, which Moses recalled as he pleaded. For according to their impiety and the foreknowledge of their whole wickedness, they would have been destroyed.
The dispute about the land was older than the rebellion of Korah and Dathan, but greater and more impious, since it fought against the promise of God and was not striving about the worship of God. So it is fittingly joined with the impiety toward God mentioned before, since it came about through cowardice just as that one came about through faintheartedness. Cowardice produces despair of success, just as faintheartedness, because of Moses' separation, produced despair of Moses' return.
Greek
184 Ps 103,33.34 Τοῦτο τῆς ζωῆς τὸ κέρδος, ἐπὶ τοῦτο καὶ ζῆν ἄξιον, διὰ τοῦτο δεινὸς ὁ θάνατος ὁ κατασιγάζων τὸν
ὑμνητήν· ἀπώλειά τε ὁ θανάτος διότι Οὐκ ἔστιν ἐν τῷ θανάτῳ ὁ μνημονεύων σου, καὶ μόνη ὕπαρξις ἡ ζωὴ ὅτι Οἱ ζῶντές σε, φησίν, αἰνέσουσιν. ἐν γὰρ τῇ πρὸς τὸν ὄντα συναφείᾳ τὸ εἶναι ἔχομεν, καὶ ἡ διάστασις φθορά. Ἡδυνθείη αὐτῷ ἡ διαλογή μου, ἐγὼ δὲ εὐφρανθήσομαι ἐπὶ τῷ κυρίῳ· καὶ εὐχῆς δὲ ἄξιον, ἵνα τοῖς ὕμνοις ἡμῶν θεὸς εὐφράνηται, ἡμῖν δὲ πάντως εὐφροσύνη δι' ὑμνῶν. κἂν ᾖ δι' ὅλου τοῦτο ὥστε καὶ τὰς πράξεις ἁπάσας ἡμῶν ὕμνον εἶναι θεοῦ, εὐφρανθήσεται ἡμῖν θεὸς οἷσπερ ἐξ ἀρχῆς ηὐφραίνετο. 185 Ps 104,7 Οὐκ ἀγνοητέον, φησίν, ὅτι αὐτός ἐστι κύριος ὁ θεὸς ἡμῶν οὗ πρόνοια τὸν σύμπαντα κόσμον θείοις κρίμασι διοικεῖ ὡς μηδὲν ἀκρίτως μηδὲ ἄνευ τῆς αὐτοῦ προνοίας γίγνεσθαι. 186 Ps 104,15α Χριστοὶ ἦσαν τὴν χρῖσιν λαβόντες τὴν διὰ πνεύματος ἀόρατον ἢ καὶ ὡς ἐκλεκτοὶ γενόμενοι. 187 Ps 104,27®36 Ἀδιαφόρως τῇ τάξει κέχρηται τῶν πληγῶν καὶ οὐδὲ πάσας καταλέγει, ὅτι, οἶμαι, τὸ δυνατὸν τοῦ 26 θεοῦ καὶ ἐκ τῶν ἑκάστοτε λεγομένων τεράτων δείκνυται· δεῖ δὲ θεοῦ γνωρίζεσθαι δύναμιν καὶ οὐχ ἱστορίαν πραγμάτων ἀπαράλειπτον πάντως γίνεσθαι. οὐκ εἰς γῆν δὲ ἁπλῶς τοὺς βατράχους γεγενῆσθαί φησιν ἀλλ' εἰς τοὺς οἴκους καὶ τῶν οἴκων τοὺς ἐπιφανεστάτους καὶ τὰ τούτων ἐνδοτάτω, ὡς ἂν ἀκωλύτου τῆς ἐπιφορᾶς αὐτῶν γινομένης καὶ βιαιοτάτης καὶ μηδενὸς ἀποκωλῦσαι δυναμένου μηδὲ τῶν δυνατωτάτων. παράδοξον δὲ καὶ τὸ καθ' ὅλης τῆς γῆς χυθῆναι τὸν σκνῖπα καὶ τὴν κυνόμυιαν καὶ μέχρι τῶν ὅρων ἵστασθαι μὴ περαιτέρω χωροῦντας, ὡς ἂν κατὰ μόνης Αἰγύπτου τὴν δίκην ἐνεργεῖσθαι τότε φαίνοιτο. διὸ καὶ τὴν ἐξαιμάτωσιν τοῦ ποταμοῦ μέχρι τῶν ὁρίων συνέβαινεν ἵστασθαι, εἰς δὲ τὴν πλησιόχωρον μηκέτι τὰς ἐκροὰς εἶναι τοιαύτας, ὅτι κατ' Αἰγυπτίων ἡ κόλασις ἦν τὴν εὐπορίαν ἀφαιρουμένη τοῦ ποταμοῦ. 188 Ps 104,37 Πρὸς τῇ σωτηρίᾳ τῇ δοθείσῃ καὶ τὴν εὐπορίαν λέγει τὴν ἐκ θεοῦ δυνάμεως ἣ τοὺς Αἰγυπτίους ἀπηγάγετο παρασχεῖν αἰτοῦσι τοῖς ἐξιέναι τῆς χώρας μέλλουσι πολλά τε καὶ πολυτελῆ. μέγα δὲ καὶ τὸ ἐκ χώρας τὰ χείριστα παθούσης ἀπαθεῖς ἀπαλλάττεσθαι μέχρις ἑνός. 189 Ps 105,14®18 Ὅτε μὲν τὸν θεὸν ἐπείρασαν ἐν ἀνύδρῳ, ἀπείραστος ὢν καὶ ἀμνησίκακος οὐκ ἀμειψάμενος αὐτοὺς Ἔδωκεν αὐτοῖς τὸ αἴτημα αὐτῶν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὅτε Παρεπίκραναν ἀναβαίνοντες ἐν τῇ ἐρυθρᾷ θαλάσσῃ, καὶ τότε ἐγνώρισεν αὐτοῖς τὴν δυναστείαν αὐτοῦ· ὅτε δὲ παρώργισαν τὸν Μωυσῆν καὶ τὸν Ἀαρὼν ἐν τῇ παρεμβολῇ, τὸ τηνικαῦτα Ἠνοίχθη ἡ γῆ καὶ κατέπιεν αὐτούς. ἔδει γὰρ μὴ καταφρονηθῆναι τοὺς θεράποντας. ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐπείπερ χρηστότης ἐστὶ καὶ ἀποτομία παρ' αὐτῷ κατὰ τὸ Ἴδε οὖν χρηστότητα καὶ ἀποτομίαν θεοῦ, πρῶτα τὰ τῆς χρηστότητος αὐτοῖς παρέσχετο· ὡς δ' οὐκ ὤναντο δι' αὐτῆς, ἀκολούθως καταλλήλῳ μετέρχεται αὐτοὺς φαρμάκῳ τῷ κολαστηρίῳ. Μωυσῆν μὲν οὖν παρώργισαν οἱ περὶ ∆αθὰν καὶ Ἀβειρὼν εἰπόντες Μὴ Μωυσῇ μόνῳ ἐλάλησεν ὁ θεός; οὐχὶ καὶ ἡμῖν; τὸν δὲ Ἀαρὼν Κορὲ καὶ ἡ συναγωγὴ αὐτοῦ πῦρ ἀλλότριον προσαγαγεῖν καὶ θυσίας τῷ θεῷ ἐν χώρᾳ τῶν ἱερέων τολμήσαντες. ἀλλὰ τοὺς μὲν καταλαλήσαντες τοῦ Μωυσέως, τὸν ∆αθὰν παγγενεί, διανοιχθεῖσα ἡ γῆ κατέπιε καὶ συνεκάλυψεν ἐπὶ τὴν συναγωγὴν Ἀβειρών, τὸν δὲ Κορὲ καὶ τοὺς σὺν αὐτῷ μέλλοντας προσφέρειν τὰ θυμιατήρια αὐτῶν φλὸξ ἀπὸ τῆς σκηνῆς προελθοῦσα κατέφλεξεν. 190 Ps 105,23 Κατὰ μὲν τὸ δίκαιον ὁ τῆς ἀπωλείας ὅρος, κατὰ δὲ τὸ φιλανθρώπινον ἡ τοῦ σῴζεσθαι συγχώρησις. τῇ δὲ συγχωρήσει χώραν ἡ πρεσβεία δέδωκε διά τε τὴν ὁσιότητα τοῦ πρεσβεύοντος καὶ τὴν ὑπὲρ κόσμου πρόνοιαν καθ' ἣν ὁ πρεσβευτὴς ἱκέτευεν, ἵνα μὴ ἀτελὴς ἡ χάρις τοῦ θεοῦ νομισθείη περὶ τὸν Ἰσραήλ, καὶ διὰ τὴν μνήμην τῶν πατέρων καὶ τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν τὴν πρὸς αὐτοὺς ἧς ὁ Μωυσῆς ἀπεμνημόνευσεν ἱκετεύων, ἐπεὶ κατά γε τὴν ἀσέβειαν καὶ τὴν πρόγνωσιν τῆς ὅλης κακίας αὐτῶν ἀπώλοντο ἄν. 191 Ps 105,24®27 Καὶ ἡ περὶ τῆς γῆς ἀντιλογία πρεσβυτέρα τῆς Κορὲ καὶ ∆αθὰν στάσεως ἀλλὰ μείζων καὶ δυσσεβεστέρα πρὸς ἐπαγγελίαν θεοῦ διαμαχομένη καὶ οὐ περὶ θεραπείας θεοῦ φιλοτιμουμένη, εἰκότως οὖν τῇ εἰς θεὸν ἀσεβείᾳ τῇ προειρημένῃ συντέτακται διὰ δειλίαν γεγονυῖα καθάπερ ἐκείνη διὰ μικροψυχίαν, δυσελπιστίαν τοῦ κατορθώματος τῆς δειλίας ἐπαγούσης ὥσπερ ἡ μικροψυχία διὰ τὸν Μωυσέως χωρισμὸν δυσελπιστίαν ἐποίει τῆς ἐπανόδου Μωυσέως.