Love of the law as wisdom, endurance, and imitation of God
Apollinaris is commenting on verses of Psalm 118 (119), explaining how the psalmist's love for God's law brings understanding, endurance under persecution, and imitation of God's own judgments.
The unjust are blind to the beauty of righteousness and do not see clearly the dignity and grace of the words about it. But the one who has chosen these words and wished to belong to them—this person alone is established in understanding, because wisdom reveals her own beauty only to her lovers, as it is written: “Love her, and she will honor you; honor her, that she may embrace you” (Proverbs 4:6, 8).
All good things in a person come through practice, and so he was extended along with the intensity of his practice, so that through it he surpassed the elder, the young man, and the disciple—surpassing his teachers.
Presenting himself as humble and obedient, he asks for the salvation that comes from this, from God who gives grace to the humble and has promised mercy to those who love him (Psalm 119:107; LXX 118:107).
It is a greater proof of eagerness to pass through dangers and not stand away from the law, and to be in the midst of plots and not be dragged away from righteous things by anger and irritation toward those plotting against him (Psalm 119:109-110; LXX 118:109-110). Thus Saul’s plot did not lead David astray into avenging himself, even where that might have seemed fitting.
He intensified the demonstration of his zeal for the law when he said he had set the law as his own inheritance, choosing to live in it not for a time but forever, not as under a yoke of necessity but holily in gladness of soul. For what is done with gladness is lasting and hard to overturn.
Even if they are not hateful insofar as they are human, it is not unworthy of God that such people are said to be hateful to God, according to the words: “You hated all who work lawlessness” (Psalm 5:6 (5:5)) (Psalm 119:113; LXX 118:113). So the greatest proof of loving the law is hating those who have turned aside from the law. For this reason Jehoshaphat’s friendship with such a person became a reproach through the prophet, because he loved the one hated by God (2 Chronicles 19:2).
He shows an imitation of God. If every apostate from the ordinances is made worthless by God for his vain thoughts, then to him also they appear no more valuable than grape-pressings or dross. Therefore he is stirred up to love of the divine commands, taking the vanity of the wicked as an encouragement to care for what is good. The fifth edition reads: “They were counted as nothing.”
He longs for what is lacking to be filled up by God’s forbearance, since God waits for the good work that is still to come, as if guaranteeing that it will be fulfilled—just as those who guarantee debtors do so to keep them from falling badly into deceptions (Psalm 119:122; LXX 118:122). Symmachus says: “Receive me, your servant, for good,” and Aquila and Theodotion rendered: “Be my guarantee” (Psalm 119:122; LXX 118:122).
Others, he says, admire gold and precious stones, but I, knowing the divine commandments to be the only wonderful and beautiful thing, hold to them and guard them more than any treasure (Psalm 119:129).
The oracles need to be opened. Therefore the Lord opened the mind of the disciples to understand the Scriptures (Luke 24:45), and the understanding given through the words drives away the deception that comes through pleasure or glory (Psalm 119:130; LXX 118:130).
He asks for this because precision about sound teaching is difficult amid disturbances and griefs (Psalm 119:134; LXX 118:134).
See the enmity that the righteous have (Psalm 119:139; LXX 118:139). This was enmity toward their injustice and their forgetfulness of the law.
According to the history, the words can be referred to David speaking about himself. For he was the youngest of all the sons of Jesse, and also despised. When all his brothers were taken by their father to the feast that Samuel had prepared, David was with his father’s sheep and was not taken to the banquet. Yet although he was younger and despised, he himself received the kingdom by God’s decision, since he had not forgotten the ordinances of God. The one who is being instructed in the divine words is also younger and despised because he humbles himself. And the people called from the nations after the elder and firstborn Israel could also speak this verse.
Greek
233 Ps 118,97 Οἱ μὲν ἄδικοι καὶ τυφλώττουσι πρὸς τὸ τῆς δικαιοσύνης κάλλος καὶ τῶν περὶ αὐτῆς λόγων τὸ σεμνὸν
καὶ εὐπρεπὲς οὐ καθορῶσιν, ὁ δὲ τούτους ἑλόμενος καὶ τούτων εἶναι βουληθείς, οὗτος καὶ μόνος ἐν συνέσει καθίσταται, ὅτι καὶ μόνοις τοῖς ἐρασταῖς ἑαυτῆς ἡ σοφία τὸ ἴδιον κάλλος ἀποκαλύπτει κατὰ τὸ Ἐράσθητι αὐτῆς, καὶ τιμήσει σε· τίμησον αὐτήν, ἵνα σε περιλάβῃ. 234 Ps 118,‹99.100› Πάντα διὰ μελέτης ἐν ἀνθρώπῳ καλὰ, ὅθεν καὶ τῇ τῆς μελέτης ἐπιτάσει συνεπεκτείνετο, ὡς διὰ ταύτης ὑπερβαίνειν τὸν πρεσβύτερον καὶ τὸν νέον καὶ τὸν μαθητὴν τοὺς διδασκάλους. 235 Ps 118,107 Ταπεινὸν καὶ ὑπήκοον ἑαυτὸν παριστὰς τὴν ἐπὶ τούτῳ σωτηρίαν αἰτεῖ παρὰ θεοῦ τοῦ ταπεινοῖς διδόντος χάριν καὶ τοῖς ἀγαπῶσιν αὐτὸν ἐπαγγειλαμένου τὸν ἔλεον. 236 Ps 118,‹109.110› Μείζων τῆς προθυμίας ἀπόδειξις τὸ καὶ διὰ κινδύνων ἰόντα μὴ ἀφίστασθαι τοῦ νόμου καὶ ἐν ἐπιβουλαῖς ὄντα μὴ ἀφέλκεσθαι τῶν δικαίων ὀργῇ καὶ 33 παροξυσμῷ τῷ πρὸς τοὺς ἐπιβουλεύοντας, ὡς οὐκ ἐπλάνησε τὸν ∆αυὶδ ἡ τοῦ Σαοὺλ ἐπιβουλὴ πρὸς τὸ ἀμύνασθαι πρὸς τὸ προσῆκον. 237 Ps 118,111 Ἐπέτεινε τὴν ἔνδειξιν τῆς περὶ νόμον σπουδῆς, ὁπότε κλῆρον ἴδιον ἔφη τεθεῖσθαι τὸν νόμον, οὐ πρόσκαιρον ἀλλ' εἰς ἅπαν ἐν τούτῳ προσελόμενος ζῆν ὡς οὐχ ὑπό τι ζυγὸν ἀνάγκης ἀλλ' ἁγίως ἐν εὐφροσύνῃ ψυχῆς. τοῦτο γὰρ δὴ καὶ μόνιμον καὶ δυσμετάστατον ὅπερ εὐφροσύνῃ πράττεται. 238 Ps 118,113 Εἰ καὶ μὴ μισητοὶ καθὸ ἄνθρωποι, καθὸ καὶ θεῷ μισητοὺς λέγεσθαι τοὺς τοιούτους οὐκ ἀνάξιον θεῷ κατὰ τὸ Ἐμίσησας πάντας τοὺς ἐργαζομένους τὴν ἀνομίαν, ὥστε ἀπόδειξις μεγίστη τοῦ τὸν νόμον ἀγαπᾶν τὸ μισεῖν τοὺς παρηλλαγμένους τοῦ νόμου· διὸ καὶ τῷ Ἰωσαφὰτ ἡ πρὸς τὸν τοιοῦτον φιλία μέμψις ἐγένετο διὰ τοῦ προφήτου, ὅτι τὸν ὑπὸ θεοῦ μισούμενον ἠγάπα. 239 Ps 118,‹118.119› Θεοῦ μίμησιν ἐνδείκνυται. εἰ θεῷ τε ἐξευτέληται πᾶς ὁ τῶν δικαιωμάτων ἀποστατῶν ἐπὶ ματαίοις ἐνθυμήμασι, καὶ αὐτῷ καταφαίνονται στεμφύλων ἢ σκωρέας οὐδὲν τιμιώτεροι· διὸ καὶ πρὸς ἀγάπην τῶν θείων διατάξεων ἐπεγείρεται, τὸ μάταιον τῶν φαύλων εἰς προτροπὴν τῆς περὶ τὸ καλὸν ἐπιμελείας λαμβάνων. Ἡ δὲ Ε ἔκδοσις Εἰς οὐδὲν ἐλογίσθησαν. 240 Ps 118,122 Ἀνεξικακίᾳ θεοῦ τὸ ἐλλεῖπον ἀναπληροῦσθαι ποθεῖ, περιμένοντος αὐτοῦ τὴν ἔτι μέλλουσαν ἀγαθουργίαν οἷον ἐγγυωμένου ταύτην ὡς ἐκπληρωθησο μένην, καθάπερ οἱ τοὺς ὀφείλοντας ἐγγυώμενοι πρὸς τὸ μὴ ταῖς ἀπατήσεσι χαλεπῶς ὑποπίπτειν. Σύμμαχος Ἀνάδεξαί με τὸν δοῦλόν σου εἰς ἀγαθόν, ὁ δὲ Ἀκύλας καὶ ὁ Θεοδοτίων Ἐγγύησαι ἐκδεδώκασιν. 241 Ps 118,129 Οἱ μὲν ἄλλοι, φησί, χρυσίον θαυμάζουσι καὶ λίθους τιμίους, ἐγὼ δὲ θαυμάσιον καὶ μόνον καλὸν ἐπιστάμενος τὰ θεῖα προστάγματα τοῦτον ἔχομαι καὶ θησαυροῦ παντὸς μᾶλλον διαφυλάττω. 242 Ps 118,130 ∆ιανοίξεως δεῖται τὰ λόγια· διὸ καὶ ὁ κύριος διήνοιξε τὸν νοῦν τῶν μαθητῶν τοῦ συνιέναι τὰς γραφάς, καὶ τὴν δι' ἡδονῆς ἢ δόξης ἀπάτην ἀφίστησιν ἡ διὰ τῶν λόγων ἐνδιδομένη σύνεσις. 243 Ps 118,134 Τοῦτο δὲ αἰτεῖ, ἐπειδὴ καὶ δύσκολος ἐν ταραχαῖς καὶ λύπαις ἡ περὶ τὸν ὑγιῆ λόγον ἀκρίβεια. 244 Ps 118,139 Ὅρα τὴν ἔχθραν ἣν ἔχουσιν οἱ δίκαιοι. αὕτη δὲ ἦν πρὸς τὴν ἀδικίαν αὐτῶν καὶ τὴν λήθην τοῦ νόμου. 245 Ps 118,141 ∆ύναται μὲν κατὰ τὴν ἱστορίαν ἀναφέρεσθαι ἐπὶ τὸν ∆αυὶδ τὰ ἐγκείμενα λέγοντα αὐτὰ περὶ ἑαυτοῦ. βραχύτατος γὰρ ἦν πάντων τῶν Ἰεσσαὶ παίδων ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐξουδενώμενος. πάντων γοῦν τῶν ἀδελφῶν αὐτοῦ παραληφθέντων ὑπὸ τοῦ πατρὸς εἰς ἣν ηὐτρέπισε Σαμουὴλ ἑστίαν, ὁ ∆αυὶδ ἐν τοῖς προβάτοις τοῦ πατρὸς ἦν οὐ παραληφθεὶς εἰς τὴν εὐωχίαν· ἀλλὰ καίτοι νεώτερος ὢν καὶ ἐξουδενώμενος τὴν βασιλείαν αὐτὸς ἔσχε ψήφῳ θεοῦ, ἐπεὶ οὐκ ἐπελέληστο τὰ τοῦ θεοῦ δικαιώματα. νεώτερος δὲ καὶ ὁ τοῖς θείοις λόγοις στοιχειούμενος καὶ ἐξουδενώμενος διὰ τὸ ταπεινοῦν ἑαυτόν, καὶ ὁ ἀπὸ τῶν ἐθνῶν δὲ λαὸς κληθεὶς μετὰ τὸν πρεσβύτην καὶ πρωτότοκον Ἰσραὴλ φθέγξαιτο τὸ προκείμενον ῥητόν.