Ps 1:2
But his delight is in the Law of the LORD,
And on His Law he meditates day and night1.
Psalm 1 in Polish2.
Psalm 1 in Hebrew3.
Ps 55:18
Evening and morning, and noon, will I lament and sigh,
And he will hear my voice4.
In the letter to Marcella written from Rome (385 CE), Jerome announced his aim to leave the town, contrasting his life with life in the countryside. At first, he mentioned Ambrose and Origen as an example of those who wisely avoided the burdensome distractions of urban life and again contrasted the latter with the blessing of rural life5.
Ambrose who supplied Origen, true man of adamant and of brass, with money, materials and amanuenses to bring out his countless books—Ambrose, in a letter to his friend from Athens, states that they never took a meal together without something being read, and never went to bed till some portion of Scripture had been brought home to them by a brother’s voice. Night and day, in fact, were so ordered that prayer only gave place to reading and reading to prayer.
Have we, brute beasts that we are, ever hone the like? Why, we yawn if we read for over an hour; we rub our foreheads and vainly try to suppress our languor. And then, after this great feat, we plunge for relief into worldly business once more. I say nothing of the meals with which we dull our faculties, and I would rather not estimate the time that we spend in paying and receiving visits. Next we fall into conversation; we waste our words, we attack people behind their backs, we detail their way of living, we carp at them and are carped at by them in turn. Such is the fare that engages our attention at dinner and afterwards. Then, when our guests have retired, we make up our accounts, and these are sure to cause us either anger or anxiety. The first makes us like raging lions, and the second seeks vainly to make provision for years to come. We do not recollect the words of the Gospel: “Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?” The clothing which we buy is designed not merely for use but for display. Where there is a chance of saving money we quicken our pace, speak promptly, and keep our ears open. If we hear of household losses—such as often occur—our looks become dejected and gloomy. The gain of a penny fills us with joy; the loss of a half-penny plunges us into sorrow. One man is of so many minds that the prophet’s prayer is: “Lord, in thy city scatter their image.” For created as we are in the image of God and after His likeness, it is our own wickedness which makes us assume masks. Just as on the stage the same actor now figures as a brawny Hercules, now softens into a tender Venus, now shivers in the role of Cybele; so we—who, if we were not of the world, would be hated by the world—for every sin that we commit have a corresponding mask.
Wherefore, seeing that we have journeyed for much of our life through a troubled sea, and that our vessel has been in turn shaken by raging blasts and shattered upon treacherous reefs, let us, as soon as may be, make for the haven of rural quietude. There such country dainties as milk and household bread, and greens watered by our own hands, will supply us with coarse but harmless fare. So living, sleep will not call us away from prayer, nor satiety from reading. In summer the shade of a tree will afford us privacy. In autumn the quality of the air and the leaves strewn under foot will invite us to stop and rest. In springtime the fields will be bright with flowers, and our psalms will sound the sweeter for the twittering of the birds. When winter comes with its frost and snow, I shall not have to buy fuel, and, whether I sleep or keep vigil, shall be warmer than in town. At least, so far as I know, I shall keep off the cold at less expense. Let Rome keep to itself its noise and bustle, let the cruel shows of the arena go on, let the crowd rave at the circus, let the playgoers revel in the theatres and—for I must not altogether pass over our Christian friends—let the House of Ladies hold its daily sittings. It is good for us to cleave to the Lord, and to put our hope in the Lord God, so that when we have exchanged our present poverty for the kingdom of heaven, we may be able to exclaim: “Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee.” Surely if we can find such blessedness in heaven we may well grieve to have sought after pleasures poor and passing here upon earth. Farewell.
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| The first half of the third century CE fresco depicting a Roman merchant vessel6. |
Jerome carried out his plan the following year (386 CE), arriving with the widowed Paula in Palestine. Jerusalem was not their destination. This city of commerce and pilgrimages from all over the world offered no peace, but they found their home in Bethlehem. There he built solitude using the money received from the sale of his patrimony and Paula’s support. He must have been impressed with Bethlehem’s rustic landscape because that is how he advertised it to Marcella in the name of Paula and Eustochium7.
[...] in the cottage of Christ all is simple and rustic: and except for the chanting of psalms there is complete silence. Wherever one turns the laborer at his plough sings alleluia, the toiling mower cheers himself with psalms, and the vine-dresser while he prunes his vine sings one of the lays of David. These are the songs of the country; these, in popular phrase, its love ditties; these the shepherd whistles; these the tiller uses to aid his toil.
The tradition of singing psalms during daily activities must have been rooted there before his arrival. Other authors also confirmed this practice for their neighborhood, e.g., Basil from distant Cappadocia8 or Theodoret from northern Syria9.
Not least of these, however, are those, who embrace religious life, and recite it aloud at night and in the middle of the day; they thus sing praise to the God of all and allay the bodily passions. You see, divine grace mingled benefit with the charm of the poetry, and thus provided human beings with teaching that is both welcome and lovable. You can find most people making little or no reference to the other divine Scriptures, whereas the spiritual harmonies of the divinely inspired David many people frequently call to mind, whether at home, in public places or while traveling, gain serenity for themselves from the harmony of the poetry, and reap benefit for themselves through this enjoyment. This is the reason, then, why I wanted to do a commentary on this piece of inspired composition first of all, and offer to discerning investors the profit lying hidden in its depths, so that they might sing its melodies and at the same time recognize the sense of the words they sing, thus reaping a double dividend.
It is no wonder that it has become Jerome’s and his male and female companions’ habit as well. They chanted Psalms and prayed at dawn, nine, noon, sunset, and midnight. The remaining time they devoted to reading the Bible, trying to memorize a passage every day; they studied the Psalms, fasted, and were engaged in manual labor. It was the happiest period of his life and the most productive. Others joined them, attracted by the example and virtues of Jerome, Paula, and her daughter Eustochium.
Notes
[1] New American Standard Bible. 2020. La Habra: The Lockman Foundation.
This verse recalls the command given to Joshua (Jo 1:8), and by repeating it in a new situation, establishes it in the spiritual tradition of Israel. In the person of Joshua, two motifs are noticeable: the leader of the nation in the age of conquest and the God-fearing man. The psalmist develops both, emphasizing at first God-fearing attitude (Ps 1), which is required of the ruler of Israel (Ps 2). The Messiah prophesied by Deutero-Isaiah brought these two themes to perfection both in His life and in His spiritual kingdom (Is 53:11). On the usage of the verb הָגָה (to groan, moan, meditate, muse) in the Psalms, see Estes DJ. 2013. The transformation of pain into praise: in the individual lament psalms. In: Schmutzer AJ, Howard DM, editors. The Psalms: language for all seasons of the soul. Chicago: Moody Publishers. In turn, Kaiser summarizes Biblical vocabulary on meditation (Kaiser W. 1985. What is Biblical meditation? In: Woodbridge JD, editor. Renewing your mind in a secular world. Chicago: Moody Bible Institute. p. 39–53). See also this note.
[2] Lepich D, Lepich H. 2005. Psalm 1. (Szukasz drogi). [accessed 2021 Feb 28]. YouTube.
[3] Duan R. 2021. Psalm 1 Hebrew song. [accessed 2024 Feb 9]. YouTube.
[4] The Holy Bible containing the Old and New Testaments of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 1913. Improved edition. Philadelphia: American Baptist Publication Society. Cook discussing the role of wayyiqtol in poetry translates this verse with the past imperfective: “Evening and morning and noonday I was lamenting and moaning and he heard my voice” (Cook JA. 2012. Time and the Biblical Hebrew verb: the expression of tense, aspect, and modality in Biblical Hebrew. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns. (Linguistic studies in ancient West Semitic; vol. 7). p. 300).
[5] Jerome. 1893. Letter XLIII (to Marcella). In: Schaff P, Wace H, editors; Fremantle WH, Lewis G, Martley WG, translators. The principal works of St. Jerome. New York: Christian Literature Company. (A select library of the Nicene and post-Nicene fathers of the Christian church, Second series; vol. 6).
[6] Fresco depicting the boat Isis Geminiana. [accessed 2020 Dec 19]. Musei Vaticani. Room of the Aldobrandini Wedding.
[7] Jerome, op. cit., Letter XLVI (Paula and Eustochium to Marcella).
[8] Basil of Caesarea. 1981. Homily 10. A Psalm of the lot of the just man (on Psalm 1). In: Way AC, translator. Exegetic homilies. Second printing. Washington: The Catholic University of America Press. (The Fathers of the church. A new translation; vol. 46). p. 151–154. See also the previous post.
[9] Theodoret of Cyrus. 2000. Commentary on the Psalms. Psalms 1–72. Hill RC, translator. Washington: The Catholic University of America Press. (The Fathers of the church. A new translation; vol. 101). p. 39–40.
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