JOYFUL FEASTS Many of the early church fathers noticed that three psalms came under the title ‘For the sake of the winepresses’ (in the Septuagint version); and that they correspond to the major Jewish feasts: the Passover, the Pentecost, and the Tabernacles. The winepresses produce wine that refers to the spiritual joy. Churches were called ‘winepresses’, on account of that they partake of the crucifixion of their Christ, who has trodden the winepress alone. As though the church, in truth, is a fellowship of crucifixion together with Christ; an exultant life, and an unceasing feast! These three psalms are: 80, 81 (80), and 84 (83). The psalm in our hands is a call to enjoy a true, unceasing feast, through Christ Jesus, our Passover, and the Fountain of our heavenly joy. 1- A call to praise 1 – 3. 2- A call for liberation 4 – 7. 3- A Satisfying God 8 – 10. 4- Self- crushing 11 – 12. 5- God, the Grantor of conquest 13 – 15. 6- God, the Grantor of satisfaction 16. THE TITLE: To the Chief Musician. on an instrument of Gath. A psalm of Asaph. In the Septuagint version it came as: “In conclusion; For the sake of the winepresses’ The titles of many psalms include the words; “in conclusion” or “finally”, to refer to the fact that Christ is our Goal, in Whom we enjoy the spirit of praise and joy. “For the sake of the winepresses” Namely, for the sake of the churches of the crucified Christ; in whom we have the honor to partake of His crucifixion; to suffer together with Him, to be glorified together with Him. As there are three holy celebrations: the Passover, the Pentecost, and the Tabernacles; There are, as well, three psalms which have the title: “For the sake of the winepresses” … There are no winepresses where there are no vine and an abundance of grape crop … The Lord Savior says: “I have trodden the winepress alone, and from the peoples no one was with Me” (Isaiah 63: 3). That is why He “brought a vine out of Egypt, and planted it” (Psalm 80: 8). And according to Jeremiah: “I had planted you as a choice vine, from the purest stock. How then did you turn and become a wild vine?” (Jeremiah 2: 21)1. (St. Jerome) The term “winepresses” is given to the churches of the whole world. This psalm tells about the rejection of the Jews; and the faith of the world Gentiles in God, like clusters of grapes2. (Onesimus, bishop of Jerusalem) 1 On Psalms, homily 13. .(81) 2 تفسیر الم ا زمیر، الناشر ال ا رهب القس صموئیل السریاني، مز 80 https://coptic-treasures.com/ 2 St. Augustine often called the churches “winepresses or olive presses”; where grapes or olives are trodden by feet, or crushed between rocks. Without pressing or crushing we would not enjoy the (spiritual) wine, or the (holy) oil ointment. For the believer, pressing is a gift for edification; while for the wicked it is a disgrace. The term “winepresses” is taken as the secret of the church acting now. In the presses we notice that pressure gives two products: (the wine or oil) which are preserved, and the (trash) which is cast away1. (St. Augustine) According to Adam Clark, this psalm was sung in the feast of the trumpets (Leviticus 23: 24), and in the first day of the Jewish year. According to others, it was sung, as well, in the feast of the tabernacles, the feasts of the new months, the celebration of the creation of the world, and the liberation of Israel from the bondage of Pharaoh. While others believe that it was sung in every joyful celebration. 1- A CALL TO PRAISE: “Sing aloud to God our strength; Make a joyful shout to the God of Jacob” (1) If God intends for our journey in life, with all its troubles, to turn into an unceasing feast, the secret of our joy is in two main things: The enjoyment of God our strength, and the practice of the deposit of the heavenly life. Concerning ‘God;, it is written: “Sing aloud to God our strength”; as nothing will bring gladness like God, being our strength, support, and joy. And concerning ‘the deposit of the heavenly life’, it is said: “Make a joyful shout to the God of Jacob”. The verb ‘shout’ came in other locations as ‘scream’, ‘cry out’, ‘shout for joy’, and ‘make a shout of conquest’. This verb is often used to express the worship of angels, partaking of the joy of the earthly creation. And some believe that, as shouting here, refers to the inability of human languages to express certain emotions, the hearts join together to shout from their depths, and with the spirit of unity. The psalmist calls on us to utter a collective praise, in a fellowship with the heavenly creatures, with the spirit of conquest, to the God of Jacob; he who experienced the power of God in his relationship with his violent brother Esau; how he let him find favor in his sight, and kept Esau from doing him any harm. If Jacob refers to the life of strife, “having striven with God and with humans, and have prevailed” (Genesis 32: 28); Being the children of Jacob, the striver, we are called to praise God amid our unceasing strife! “Rejoice in God our Helper”; when other rejoice in their gods, namely, their bellies. He who bursts with joy, finding no words enough to express it, he resorts to shouting: “makes a joyful shout to the God of Jacob” 2. (St. Augustine) The prophet exhorts those who were spared from harm by their enemies to rejoice spiritually, and to raise a praise of thanksgiving to Him who supports and saves them.. And he calls on the nations to thank God who helped and saved them against the might of Satan. 1 On Psalms,81 (80). 2 On Psalms,81 (80). https://coptic-treasures.com/ 3 (Onesimus, bishop of Jerusalem) Let us make a shout to God in conquest; not refer it to ourselves, but to the Lord1. (St. Jerome) “Raise a song and strike the tambourine, the pleasant harp with the lyre” (2) If we ask the psalmist: How shall we praise the Lord, and exult in the God of Jacob? He will answer: I shall provide you with the psalm, namely the teaching and word of the Lord; and you have to play it with your instruments, namely, with your bodies, souls, spirits, emotions, and all your senses. You should be wholly transformed into musical instruments, played together to present a symphony of love to God. It is written: “David danced before the Lord with all his might; and David was wearing a lined ephod” (2 Samuel 6: 14). Take from me David the psalm he wrote through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit; play it with the musical instruments; and sing it with the tambourines, the harps, and the lyres. Take the divine teaching, and let yourselves be like a tambourine (made out of dead animal skins); namely, put your ugly lusts to death, by offering your bodies a holy living sacrifice which would bring pleasure to God. Let your souls and bodies be in conformation and harmony in praising God, like a flute and a harp. (Father Onesimus, bishop of Jerusalem) “We played the flute for you, and you did not dance” (Luke 7: 31-35). The prophets sang spiritual songs, preaching salvation for all; and they cried as well, hoping that their sad lamentations would draw the stony hearts of the Jews. The Holy Book teaches us to sing to the Lord (Psalm 46); and to respectfully dance, according to the command of the Lord to the prophet Ezekiel to “pound his fists and stamp his feet” (Ezekiel 6: 11). God does not seek funny moves by an ecstatic body with the applause of women; but seeks the respectable dancing of the soul through rising up the body by the good works; when we attach our harps to the willow. The Lord, commanding us to pound the fists and stamp the feet, and to sing; sees before His eyes, the wedding of Christ, the beloved Groom to His bride the church; a magnificent wedding in which the Spirit unites with the Word; and the body with the Spirit. That is the wedding which the prophet David attempted to celebrate, and to which we are invited … He exhorts us to hasten toward this joyful scenery … “Raise a song and strike the tambourine, the pleasant harp and the lyre” (2-3). Can’t you imagine the prophet dancing? … Can’t you hear the voice of music and the stamping feet of the dancers? It is the wedding! … Take for yourself a lyre, that when you enjoy the touch of the Spirit, your inner strings would respond to the echo of good works; … Take hold of a harp, so that there would be harmony between your words and your works; And take a tambourine, that the Spirit would grant you to sing through your inner body2. (St. Ambrose) 1 On Psalms, homily 13. 2 In Luc 7: 18-35. https://coptic-treasures.com/ 4 “Blow the trumpet at the time of the new moon, at the full moon, on our solemn feast day” (3) The trumpets were blown at the time of every new moon. The Jews used to send some persons to the top of a hill or a mountain at the time of the new moon; and the moment they see it appear, they blow the trumpet; and the chief of the Senhedrin, to announce that it conforms with the astronomical calculations, he cries out ‘Mikkodesh’, namely, (Holy); to which the people respond by crying out the same word twice. Then the trumpets are blown everywhere. According to Eusabius, bishop of Caesarea, this custom was cancelled after the preaching of the Holy Gospel, which is a trumpet heard by the whole earth in a famous feast. “Blow the trumpet”; Namely, preach loudly and daringly; … Do not be afraid! But, as said by the prophet somewhere else: “Cry aloud, spare not; lift up your voice like a trumpet” (see Isaiah 58: 1). What is the new moon, but the new life? “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation” (2 Corinthians 5: 17). What is the significance of blowing the trumpet at the new moon? Preach with confidence the new life, and do not be afraid of disturbing the old one1! (St. Augustine) According to St. Athanasius: God commanded Israel to blow material trumpets, as a testimony of their release from the bondage of Egypt. … And He commands the New Israel (the Christians) to blow (or to warn) by the spiritual trumpet, namely, the Holy Bible at the new moons, namely, once their minds are renewed by Christ the Lord. (Father Onesimus of Jerusalem) In the old, God called through His prophet Moses to keep the feasts at designated dates, saying: “Three times you shall keep a feast to Me in the year” (Exodus 23: 14). These feasts are: The Passover, or the feast of the unleavened bread; the Pentecost, or the feast of the weeks, or of the harvest; and the feast of the Tabernacles, or of the ingathering. At those three occasions, the priests used to blow the trumpets to exhort the people to keep the feasts. According to the Scripture, the trumpets are sometimes, used to call to feasts, sometimes to fasting, and sometimes to war. In the Book of Numbers, it came that God spoke to Moses, saying: “Make two silver trumpets for yourself; you shall make them of hammered work; you shall use them for calling the assembly” (Numbers 10: 1-2). This also conforms to God’s call now to those who love him. They not only blew the trumpets at the time of wars (Numbers 10: 9); but there were, as well, trumpets to be blown at the times of the feasts; as according to the law: “In the day of your gladness, in your appointed feasts, and at the beginning of your months, you shall blow the trumpets” (Numbers 10: 10). Never underestimate this as something of little value; for it is actually amazing and fearsome! … The voice of a trumpets make man alert and awe-stricken more than any other instrument. And lest they might be taken as human proclamations, they 1 On Psalms,81 (80). https://coptic-treasures.com/ 5 sounded very loud like those heard on the mountain “that all the people who were in the camp trembled” (Exodus 19: 16); when they were given the law to keep1. (Pope, Abba Athanasius the apostolic) 2- A CALL FOR LIBERATION: “For this is a statute for Israel, an ordinance of the God of Jacob” (4) We, the children of the new Israel, namely, the Christians, are committed to perpetually celebrate, not the appearance of the new moon, but the appearance of the Sun of Righteousness, who brought joy to our hearts; … to perpetually testify to His work in us; … and to transform our whole being to praise with the gladness of heart; so that our life would become a spiritual trumpet blown loudly in the whole earth. “This He established in Joseph for a testimony,, when he went out over the land of Egypt, where we heard a language we did not understand” (5) Previously, God called His people by the name of ‘Jacob or Israel’; when the people were committed to strive with the spirit of joy and praise. Here, speaking about His people in Egypt, He calls them by the name of ‘Joseph’; for all went down to Egypt because of Joseph. As when Joseph went down to Egypt, he heard a language he did not hear before, the language of the Egyptians; the children of Israel, coming out of Egypt, heading to the wilderness, heard the statutes of God, which they did not hear before. (Father Onesimus, bishop of Jerusalem) Coming out of the land of Egypt, we, as well, heard a language unknown to us. … Who among us knew about the Bible? Who knew about the apostles? Who knew about the prophets? … Coming out of Egypt, we heard things new to us; and learned a language we did not know before2. (St. Jerome) Joseph, by his faith, has been tempted in the waters of strife, and passing through the temptation, God set a covenant with him; as, according to David: “This He established as a testimony in Joseph” (5). Moses, as well, by his faith, has done amazing works: He struck the Egyptians by ten plagues; divided the Red Sea, crossed over with his people, while the Egyptians drowned in its midst; Casting a tree in the bitter water, it became sweet; By faith, God sent Manna from heaven to satisfy his people; and by holding up his hands Amalek was defeated “His hands were steady until the going down of the sun” (Exodus 17: 12 – the Syrian Pechito version); By faith he twice ascended Mount Sinai, and fasted forty days; And by faith he defeated Sihon and Og, the Emorite kings3. (St. Ephrahat, the wise Persian) As the word ‘Joseph’ could be translated as (increase), According to St. Augustine, [By being sold to the Egyptian Potiphar; coming to be in Pharaoh’s palace, after passing through a multitude of troubles and temptations; then his marriage to an Egyptian, Joseph could be a living portrait of the Lord Christ, who, by being rejected by 1 Paschal Letters, 1. 2 On Psalms, homily 13. 3 Demonstrations, 1: 14 (Of Faith). https://coptic-treasures.com/ 6 His own, and delivered to the Gentiles to be crucified, He drew the Gentiles to become His own flock; saying: “And other sheep I have which are not of this fold, them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice, and there will be one flock and one shepherd” (John 10: 16). An “increase” happened through the entry of the Gentiles into faith in Christ. And the way Joseph’s bones were carried out of Egypt (Genesis 5: 25), So will the church get out from the love of the world to the heavenly dwelling place! … That is Joseph’s testimony, when he went out of Egypt (5). “This He established in Joseph for a testimony”. As the word ‘Joseph’ could be translated as (increase); Joseph, who was sold in Egypt is a symbol of Christ who crossed over to the Gentiles. … There, Joseph was glorified after temptations; And here, Christ is glorified through the sufferings of the martyrs. Since then the Gentiles were referred to ‘Joseph’, because of the ‘increase’; “For more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married woman” (Isaiah 54: 1). … Yet, they were committed to come out of the land of Egypt1. (St. Augustine) “I removed his shoulder from the burden; his hands were freed from the basket” (6) Under the yoke of bondage, the children of Israel were committed to carry burdens on their shoulders beyond their endurance; and to fill their baskets with mire for the bricks, and carry them with their hands. We, likewise, under the yoke of the bondage of sin, are committed to carry on our shoulders bitter burdens, and to defile our hands with mire and corruption. Having endured such horrible yoke in Egypt, the children of Israel cried out with moaning to God, who had compassion on them, saved them, and “removed their shoulders from the burden, and their hands from the basket”. Likewise, God saved us from the burdens of our sins, and from the corruption of the mire and mud. (Father Onesimus, bishop ofJerusalem) According to St. Jerome, while God liberated the old Israel from carrying the baskets full of mire and mud; He grants the new Israel (the church) to have her baskets filled with the crumbs remaining from the bread which He blessed and by which He satisfied the multitudes! In the persons of the twelve disciples, the church carries the baskets filled with the flood of the divine blessing for the multitude of believers. While we were in Egypt, in bitter bondage, we carried the baskets of mire and bricks, and searched for the straw. … We had no wheat; … We had no divine Manna coming down from heaven; … We had no bronze serpent, raised up on a pillar to heal us; … We had no water flowing from the rock; … Nor we could hold up our hands to defeat Amalek. In Egypt we were slaves, sitting in the mire, and building cities for Pharaoh. “He removed his shoulder from the burden, and His hands were freed from the baskets” (6). That is why our own Moses says to us: “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden (with sins), and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11: 28) 2. (St. Jerome) 1 On Psalms,81 (80). 2 On Psalms, homily 13. https://coptic-treasures.com/ 7 Let us remember all the saints from the beginning; and see what they have endured. While doing good, talking good, and holding fast to every truth, they were despised and afflicted by others until their last breath. Yet they prayed for their persecutors, according to the command of the Savior (Luke 6: 28; Matthew 5: 44). Have you been sold like the righteous Joseph? (Genesis 37), and been cast in two pits (in the well and the prison like him)? Did your hands carry baskets of mire and bricks (6) 1? Have you been abused like Moses from his childhood to his last days (Hebrew 11: 25)? Have you been chased like David by King Saul who envied him; or even by his own son, who intended to kill him (2 Samuel 1: 11-27; 18: 33)? Or have you been cast into the sea like Jonah (Jonah 1: 15)? What have you endured in your life? (St. Parsnovius) “You called in trouble, and I delivered you; I answered you in the secret place of thunder; I tested you at the water of Maribah” (7) Amid their anguish the people of Israel cried out to the Lord; and as is written: “And the Lord said: I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I have known their sorrows. So I have come down todeliver them” (Exodus 3: 7-8). He says: “I answered you in the secret place of thunder”. What is that place? Some believe that He refers here to the appearance of God through the clouds, to talk to Moses, to proclaim His mercy to His people, and to terrify their enemies with His thunder. While some others believe that He refers here to the Lord’s way of dealing with His people and His believers, speaking to them as though in a secret way that bears some kind of divine awe. But unfortunately, despite the exalted compassion of God, and His intervention to save, the old people revealed denial at the waters of Maribah (Exodus 17: 7; Numbers 20: 7-13). Whenever you are in trouble, do not get disturbed; Call Me, and I, by my mercy and compassion, will listen to you. “I answered you in a secret way in the thunder”; I was there in the middle of the storm that almost destroyed you, and the violent waves that cast you here and there. “I tested you at the water of Maribah”. This phrase accurately tells how Moses and Aaron disobeyed God at the waters of Maribah (Numbers 20: 7-13); the reason why they were not allowed to enter into the promised land. …. Simon the sorcerer was tested “at the water of Maribah”, when he received baptism through hypocrisy. … This, likewise, could be addressed to us: “I tested you at the water of Maribah” 2. (St. Jerome) When you called Me, O Israel, in the time of your trouble, I responded to your call and saved you. I did not appear to you in Person, but, hidden from your eyes; by a mighty wind I dried up the sea, made you cross over, and saved you from your anguish. Yet, you revealed your non-gratitude on My goodness, when you rebelled at the water of Maribah. (Father Onesimus of Jerusalem) .(15 :40 ؛ 1 یبدو أنه یُشیر إلى البئر والسجن اللذین ألقوا فیهما یوسف الصدِّیق (تك 24 :37 2 On Psalms, homily 13. https://coptic-treasures.com/ 8 3- A SATISFYING GOD: “Hear, O My people, And I will admonish you! O Israel, if you listen to Me!” (8) He does not talk to strangers, but to people belonging to Him; He says: “Judge between Me and My vineyard” (Isaiah 5: 3) 1. (St. Augustine) “There shall be no foreign god among you; nor shall you worship any foreign god” (9) As it is man’s nature to deny, God admonishes His people against worshipping any foreign god beside, or instead of worshipping Him. He whose belly is his god; whose anger is his god; whose gold is his god; Anything that man covets and worship would be his god2. (St. Jerome) God has seen men do in an evil way, what is against nature; has seen them practice certain deadly abominations, which is not fitting for anyone to refer to or to talk about … By practicing such abominations, they, not only be counted among irrational animals, but animals would even be better than them; as it is said: “The ox knows its owner; and the donkey its master’s crib” (Isaiah 1: 3) 3. (Abba Shenouda the Archimandrite) “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt; Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it” (10) God, who is capable of liberating from the bondage of Pharaoh, would not leave His people hungry or needy; but He will provide, whenever the believer opens his mouth with faith and trust in God his Savior; the same way the little birds open their mouths before their mother. Open your mouth with thanksgiving for my goodness, and I shall add to your gifts and talents. (Father Onesimus of Jerusalem) Do you wish to receive food from the Lord? Do you wish to feed upon the Lord Himself, your Savior? Listen to Him saying: “Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it” He is both the Lord and the Bread; He exhorts us to eat; He is our Food; The wider you open your mouth, the more food you get; It is something in your authority, not in Mine; If you do not get everything, you will, at least, get a part4. (St. Jerome) By You I begin; and by You, I trust, I shall end! I shall open my mouth wide, and you will fill it! To You, I am the land; and you are the Farmer! Plant your voice in me, O who planted Himself in His mother’s womb5! 1 On Psalms,81 (80). 2 On Psalms, homily 13. 3 Fragment on Ecclesiastes. 4 On Psalms, homily 13. . 5 القمص تادرس یعقوب ملطي: ألحان المیلاد للقدیس مار أف ا رم السریاني 7 ینایر 1997 ، ص 11 https://coptic-treasures.com/ 9 (St. (Mar) Ephram the Syrian) God did not say: “Open your mouth, and I shall teach you”; but He promised to give both: He said to Moses: “I will be with your mouth, and teach you what you shall say” (Exodus 4: 12). And here He says: “Open your mouth wide and I will fill it” (10); which means that there has to be a will on man’s part to get what God gives. “Open your mouth wide” implies the proclamation of man’s will; while “I will fill it” refers to the grace of God1. (St. Augustine) Blessed are those whose mouths God opens to speak! He opens the mouths of the prophets and the apostles, and fills them with eloquence, as proclaimed by the apostle Paul who says to the Ephesians: “Pray for me that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel” (Ephesians 6: 19). Therefore, it is God who opens the mouths of those who utter the divine words2. (The scholar Origen) 4- SELF-CRUSHING: “But My people did not heed My voice; And Israel would have none of Me” (11) God, on His part, intends to fulfill all the needs of His people; Yet the problem is in the diversion of the people’s heart, and in their intention to have none of God Himself. According to St. Augustine, those people who did not listen to the voice of their God, are nothing but the precipitate to be cast away from the winepress; while the oil would be kept holy for the Lord. This talk also came in the prophet Isaiah, saying: They heard the teachings of the Lord, and did not heed His voice; and saw His signs, and did not believe. (Father Onesimus of Jerusalem) “So I gave them over to their own stubborn heart, to walk in their own counsel” (12) God gives every man his heart’s desire: he who seeks Him will find Him; and he who does not, will be given over to his own stubborn heart; and would get what he desires. It is written: “They shall eat the fruit of their own way, and be filled to the full with their own fancies” (Proverb 1: 31). When the Jews rejected the Lord Christ, and said: “We have no king but Caesar”, they were given their heart’s desire, when Titus, the Roman leader was sent by Caesar, took over Jerusalem, and destroyed the temple. It is befitting of us to know with upright faith that everything, either happen according to God’s will, or allowed by Him. Everything good happens through His will and care; And anything contradictory is allowed by Him. But once the Lord’s care is taken away from us because of our sins, of the hardness of our heart, or of allowing Satan and the shameful body passions to prevail over us; The apostle Paul confirms that: “For this reason God gave them up to vile passions” (Romans 1: 26); and: “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind 1 Questions on Exodus, 9. 2 In Exod. 3: 2. https://coptic-treasures.com/ 10 to do those things which are not fitting” (Romans 1: 28); And the prophet says: “My people did not heed My voice, and Israel would have none of Me. So I gave them over to their own stubborn heart, to walk in their own counsel” (11-12) 1. (Father Pavnotius) 5- GOD, THE GRANTOR OF CONQUEST: “Oh, that My people would listen to Me, that Israel would walk in My ways” (13) If man seeks the evil passions of his body, and refuse to submit to God; In the winepress of temptations, he would not become joyful spiritual wine, nor holy oil, but valueless precipitate to be cast to trash. … However, if he returns to the Lord, his Savior, He will reclaim him from the trash, make him holy, filled with the joy of the Spirit, and bearing the sweet fragrance of Christ, instead of the stink of death and corruption. “I would soon subdue their enemies, and turn My hand against their adversaries” (14) Sanctifying the freedom of will, God leaves it to man, to choose, either the way to his perdition, or to submit to God, who will subdue his enemies, as He previously did to Pharaoh and his soldiers. I will give you over to your free will; will put before you the race path; And will grant the crown only to him who conquers; I will leave the conquest to your own effort (with the grace of God) 2. (St. Jerome) “Those who hate the Lord would cringe before Him, and their punishment would last forever” (15) Those who hate the Lord assume that they are capable of destroying His people; but those wicked people will fall into an eternal humiliation, while the children of the Lord will abide in glory forever. 6- GOD, THE GRANTOR OF SATISFACTION: “I would feed you with the finest of the wheat, and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you” (16) The psalmist ends the psalm, saying that God will satisfy His people with the finest of the wheat, and the water He brings for them out of the rock would turn in their mouths into delicious honey. Comparing between the food of the rich and that of the poor, St. John Chrysostom, referring to the physiological ailments that inflict some of the rich because of their extreme submission to the lust of food and drink; says that pleasure does not depend upon the kind of food, but upon man’s longing and need for food. And, commenting on God’s saying, on the tongue of His prophet: “and with honey from the rock, I would satisfy you” (16), he says that, although God did not bring honey from the rock, but water; yet, because of their intense exhaustion, labor, and strife, water turned to 1 Cassian, Conferences 3: 14-15. 2 On Psalms, homily 13. https://coptic-treasures.com/ 11 honey in their mouths. That is concerning the table of the poor, but that of some of the rich, even what is sweet would turn in their mouths into bitterness (see proverb 27: 7) 1. “The finest of the wheat” is our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, the mental bread, on whom the souls feed. And He is also the Rock, from which the flowing waters are His divine teachings. (Father Onesimus of Jerusalem) Intending to show the abundance and riches of the divine grace, the prophet calls it “the finest of the wheat” … Christ is the Wheat, and is also the Rock (1 Corinthians 10: 4), whose water quenched the thirst of the children of Israel in the wilderness. He so satisfied their spiritual thirst with honey, and not with water; that those who believed, and received the food, tasted honey in their mouths. “How sweet are Your words to my taste, sweeter than honey in my mouth” (Psalm 119: 103). Finally, that is the reason why our Lord ate honey after His resurrection; … The Rock Himself ate honey, to provide us with honey and sweetness; that those who drank the bitterness of the law, would afterwards taste the sweetness of the gospel2. (St. Jerome) In the wilderness, God brought forth water out of the rock (Exodus 17: 6), and not honey. Honey is the wisdom, the sweetest among the food of the heart. How often have the enemies of the Lord, once they returned to Him, have not only eaten the finest of the wheat, but the honey of the Rock as well -- the wisdom of Christ. How, when they enjoyed the gladness of His words, the knowledge of His secrets, and the understanding of His parables; they clapped and applauded for joy; … That honey comes only from the Rock, “and the Rock was Christ” (1 Corinthians 10: 4). Many, who have been satisfied by that honey, cried out, saying: How sweet it is! Nothing could be sweeter3! (St. Augustine) 1 لا یستطیع أحد أن یؤذي إنسانًا ما لم یؤذ هذا الإنسان ذاته. 2 On Psalms, homily 13. 3 On Psalms,81 (80). https://coptic-treasures.com/ 12 AN INSPIRATION FROM PSALM 81 YOU ARE MY UNCEASING FEAST! By Your love, you came to our earth; To turn the valley of weeping to a joyful paradise; To turn the journey of my life to an unceasing feast. Amid my sufferings, I sing Your love; And shout loudly together with Your believers with the spirit of gladness and exultation. My whole being turned into musical instruments; My body brought to death its evil passions; To become a tambourine, that sounds the gladness of Your righteousness; And my soul became a sweet harp, whose strings would never fail; All my emotions and senses have become a lyre; All of them work together with the joyful evangelic trumpet; Receive the symphony of my love as a sacrifice of praise to You! Count me as a son of Jacob, wrestling and prevailing by Your grace; Lead me By Yourself, away from the servitude of the devil; Grant my shoulder rest from the burden of my sin; Cleanse my hands of the mire and filth; In my anguish, I call You to save me; You appear to me in the clouds, to enjoy Your encounter. Who can preoccupy my mind but You? You are the secret of my life and resurrection; You are the heavenly Bread that satisfy my soul; I will open wide my inner mouth, and You will fill it with Your grace. You are the pleasure of my heart; I enjoy submitting to You; I find conquest against the devil, the enemy of mankind; You grant me an eternal glory, that the enemy cannot corrupt. You give me Your body as the finest of the wheat; That I would never need the food of the world; You flow for me living water, O the divine Rock! Tasting it, I find it sweeter than honey! You are my satisfaction, presenting to me every sweetness!
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