Verse 6
Blessed is the man that hath filled the desire with them; he shall not be confounded when he shall speak to his enemies in the gate.
Beatus vir qui implevit desiderium suum ex ipsis : non confundetur cum loquetur inimicis suis in porta.
The Psalm is concluded with an epiphonema,
[1] calling out to the Lord Christ Himself: “Blessed is the man that hath filled the desire with them,” that is, truly happy is He, namely Christ, “ that hath filled the desire with them,” (His) children, for He hath brought His desire to fulfilment, of living the salvation and glory of His children, for whom He did and suffered so many things, and so “ he shall not be confounded when he shall speak to his enemies in the gate,” that is, at the last judgement, which will be held in an exceptionally spacious gateway, that is, with the whole world assembled, “ he shall not be confounded when he shall speak to his enemies,” demons and wicked men; he will confound them and convict them of injustice and foolishness : for the whole of Christ’s strife with the devil and his minions, from the
beginning of the world to its end, concerned the salvation of the human race, which the devil has always been trying to drag in its entirety down into hell with himself. And to this end, in every age, he has stirred up persecutions against the Church, by the Jews, the pagans, heretics and wicked men of every stripe. But when, at the day of judgement, so many thousands of the elect are seen reigning gloriously and in triumph with Christ, and crowned most justly, all power will be removed from them, and the wicked, justly condemned to eternal torments, will have no
hope of renewing the war, for Christ will not be confounded but will Himself confound all his enemies. In Hebrew, it has:
Blessed is the man that hath filled his quiver with them, that is, with arrows. The Septuagint Elders preferred to explain the metaphor; and because
to fill a quiver with arrows means
to fill a house with most valiant sons, they preferred to translate the words thus: “Blessed is the man that hath filled the desire with them,” that is, by prayer and desire he has filled his house with the finest and most stalwart sons. In the sentence,
he shall not be confounded when he shall speak to his enemies, the Hebrew and Greek has the verbs in the plural,
they shall not be confounded when they shall speak. It is probable that the number was changed in a particular text trough an error of the scribes. When St. Jerome and St. Augustine in their Commentarii read the text in the singular, but St. Hilary and St. John Chrysostom read it in the plural, as
they shall not be confounded when they shall speak, it must be that the Greek and the Latin texts were different; but either reading is true : for it is truly said of Christ : “he shall not be confounded when he shall speak to his enemies in the gate;” and it is also truly said of the chosen children of God : “ they shall not be confounded when they shall speak to their enemies in the gate,” since it is written: “Then shall the just stand with great constancy against those that have afflicted them.”
[2] We have interpreted the words
in the gate as
in the last judgement, as we said in the explanation of Psalm
CXXI, among the Hebrews, the multitude of the people used to gather in the gates of the cities; moreover, St. Augustine teaches in his commentary on this verse that
to speak in the gates means to speak publicly, just as
to speak in the bedchamber means
to speak in a hidden and secret manner. Since, therefore, the last judgement will take place openly and publicly, in the sight of all angels and men, it is rightly said to take place in the gates, and Christ and His elect are rightly said to speak to their enemies in the gate.
[1] An exclamatory sentence or striking reflection, which sums up or concludes a discourse or a passage in the discourse. OED.
[2] Then shall the just stand with
great constancy against those that have afflicted them, and taken
away their labours. Tunc stabunt justi in magna constantia adversus
eos qui se angustiaverunt, et qui abstulerunt labores eorum. [Wisdom
v 1]
Totus tuus ego sum
Et omnia mea tua sunt;
Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam.
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