Psalms 73:9

Now, keeping in mind what we said above in regard to the passage from Isaiah about the bill of divorcement, we will say that the mother of the people separated herself from Christ, her husband, without having received the bill of divorcement, but afterwards when there was found in her an unseemly thing, and she did not find favour in his sight, the bill of divorcement was written out for her; for when the new covenant called those of the Gentiles to the house of Him who had cast away his former wife, it virtually gave the bill of divorcement to her who formerly separated from her husband, the law, and the Word. Therefore he, also, having separated from her, married, so to speak, another, having given into the hands of the former the bill of divorcement; wherefore they can no longer do the things enjoined on them by the law, because of the bill of divorcement. …

8. “They have said in their heart (the kindred of them is in one)”, Have said what? “Come ye, let us suppress the solemnities of the Lord from the land” ( ver. 8 ). “Of the Lord,” hath been inserted in the person of this man, that is, in the person of Asaph. For they raging would not have called Him the Lord whose temple they were overthrowing. “Come ye, let us suppress all the solemnities of the Lord from the land.” What of Asaph? What understanding hath Asaph in these words? What? Doth he not profit even by the discipline accorded? Is not the mind’s crookedness made straight? Overthrown were all things that were at first: nowhere is there priest, nowhere Altar of the Jews, nowhere victim, nowhere Temple. …

9. “How long, O God, shall the enemy revile?” ( ver. 10 ). Cry out as if forsaken, as if deserted: cry out like a sick man, who hast chosen rather to smite the physician than to be made whole: not as yet doth He know thee. See what He hath done, who doth not know thee as yet. For they to whom there hath been no preaching of Him, shall see; and they that have not heard shall understand: and thou yet criest out, “No longer is there a prophet, and us He will not know as yet.” Where is thine understanding? “The adversary doth provoke Thy name at the end.” For this purpose the adversary doth provoke Thy name at the end, that being provoked Thou mayest reprove, reproving Thou mayest know them at the end: or certainly, “at the end,” in the sense of even unto the end.

11. Asaph hath understood, because on the Title of the Psalm there is, “understanding of Asaph.” And what saith he? “But God, our King before the worlds, hath wrought Salvation in the midst of the earth” ( ver. 12 ). On the one hand we cry, “No longer is there prophet, and us He will not know as yet:” but on the other hand, “our God, our King, who is before the worlds” (for He is Himself in the beginning of the Word by whom were made the worlds), “hath wrought Salvation in the midst of the earth.” “God therefore, our King before the worlds,” hath done what? “hath wrought Salvation in the midst of the earth:” and I am yet crying as if forsaken!…Now the Gentiles are awake, and we are snoring, and as though God hath forsaken us, in dreams we are delirious. “He hath wrought Salvation in the midst of the earth.”

“He made the rivers a wilderness” ( ver. 33 ). Waters did run there, prophecies were in course. Seek now a prophet among the Jews; thou findest none. For “He made the outgoings of waters to be thirst.” Let them say, “Now there is no prophet more, and He will not know us any more.” “A fruitful land to be saltpools” ( ver. 34 ). Thou seekest there the faith of Christ, thou findest not: thou seekest a prophet, thou findest not: thou seekest a sacrifice, thou findest not: thou seekest a temple, thou findest none. Wherefore this? “From the wickedness of them that dwell therein.” Behold how He resisteth the proud: hear how He giveth grace to the humble. “He made the wilderness to be a standing water, and the dry ground to be outgoings of waters” ( ver. 35 ). “And He caused the hungry to dwell there” ( ver. 36 ). …