Verse 1
Lord, thou hast blessed thy land: thou hast turned away the captivity of Jacob.
Benedixisti, Domine, terram tuam; avertisti captivitatem Jacob.
At the beginning of the Psalm, through a revelation of the Holy Spirit, the Prophet shows us God’s eternal decree for the future deliverance (of man); firstly, he teaches us the first cause and final effect of our deliverance. The first cause is love, by which God loved mankind. No reason can be given as to why God “so loved the world, as to give his only begotten Son,”
[1] through whom we may be redeemed, “ and that we may be redeemed with every blessing,”;
[2] no reason can be given except the goodwill of God, or His
pleasure and mercy. The final effect will be complete deliverance from captivity, which we shall have in the resurrection, when we shall arrive at the freedom of the glory of the sons of God. As yet, we are only partially free, but we are looking forward to the redemption of our bodies, by which we shall be delivered from all corruption and necessity. He says, therefore, “Lord, thou hast blessed thy land,” that is, on account of the sin of the first man, Thou hast cursed the land Thou didst create and given to man as a habitation : but
I know from revelation that, in Thy mind and in Thy decree, “Thou hast blessed thy land;” Thou hast decreed in Thy eternal good pleasure to visit Thy land which Thou didst create, to bless it with every blessing and grace, sending there Thine only begotten son, “full of grace and truth.”
[3] The Hebrew and Greek codices explain more clearly this first cause of all good things, which is the goodwill of God. The Hebrew words properly signify
Thou hast pleased Thyself in Thy land, or
Thou hast willed well to Thy land. The Greek here means
Thou hast willed well to Thy land. We frequently read in the Gospels and in St. Paul the Greek word εὐδοχἱα, referring to this origin and root of all God’s benefits. Now just as God cursed the earth, not for itself but on account of its inhabitants : so too he blesses the earth on account of its inhabitants : for this reason, the whole blessing is to be referred to men. “Thou hast turned away the captivity of Jacob.” Here is explained the final effect of God’s mercy, which will be complete deliverance from captivity, into which we sink through sin. “Thou hast turned away,” he says, “the captivity of Jacob,” that is, being pleased in Thy eternal decree in the foreseen death of Thy son, Thou hast removed, or dissolved, the captivity of Jacob, Thy people, so that henceforth they may enjoy the freedom of the glory of God’s sons. The Hebrew word for
Thou has turned away, is translated by St. Jerome as
Thou hast led back: but the sense is the same. For the word Jacob is understood, with St. Augustine witnessing this, as the whole of God’s people, whether descended according to the flesh, such as the Jewish believers in Christ, or according to the spirit of faith, such as the gentiles converted to Christ, “who are like the branches of a wild olive ingrafted on a good olive tree, and like living stones built upon the foundation of the Apostles and the Prophets,” as the Apostle teaches in
Rom. ix and x, and in
Ephes. ii.
[1] Jesus answered, and said to him: If any one love me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and will make our abode with him. Respondit Jesus, et dixit ei : Si quis diligit me, sermonem meum servabit, et Pater meus diliget eum, et ad eum veniemus, et mansionem apud eum faciemus; [Ioann. Xiv. 23]
[2] Who then shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation? or distress? or famine? or nakedness? or danger? or persecution? or the sword? Quis ergo nos separabit a caritate Christi? tribulatio? an angustia? an fames? an nuditas? an periculum? an persecutio? an gladius? [Rom. Viii. 35]
[3] … no man shall pluck them out of my hand. ... et non peribunt in aeternum, et non rapiet eas quisquam de manu mea. ...: and no one can snatch them out of the hand of my Father. ... : et nemo potest rapere de manu Patris mei. I and the Father are one. Ego et Pater unum sumus. [Ioann. x. 28]
Totus tuus ego sum
Et omnia mea tua sunt;
Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam.
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