Psalm 64 (63):7Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

What follows from this? A person and a profound heart will approach. They asked, ‘Who will see us?’ They faltered in their pursuit of wicked counsel. To this same counsel, the Son of Man drew near, allowing Himself to be regarded as a man. If He had not taken on humanity, He would not have been exalted, seen, struck, crucified, or perished as a man. Thus, all the sufferings He endured would have held no significance if He had not been human. Yet without His humanity, there would have been no salvation for humankind. The Son of Man approached, and the profound heart, which signifies the hidden heart, presented before humanity the Person known to God: concealing the image of God in which He is equal to the Father and revealing the image of a servant in which He is lesser than the Father. For He Himself spoke both truths: one declaration in the form of God, and the other in the form of a servant. He proclaimed in the form of God, I and the Father are one; and in the form of a servant, For the Father is greater than I. Thus, from the form of God, He asserts, I and the Father are one.

The Divine One declares: Because they have vanished, having engaged in iniquity—that is, they did not pursue the righteousness they sought in accordance with the law of God—they failed to attain it. However, those who seek to understand the knowledge of God with sincerity are not left wanting. A person will come, and the heart is profound.

They agreed to conceal their trap, questioning, "Who will notice them?" In the subsequent verse, he amplifies their treachery by asserting that they have exhausted all potential avenues for harm, leaving no stone unturned, as is clearly articulated in the original Hebrew: they have delved into wickedness through the consequences of their plotted schemes. He further addresses their most clandestine hiding places; "the deepest heart" symbolizes the most treacherous forms by which malevolent individuals typically shield themselves, and whose depths are utterly impenetrable. Ultimately, this illustrates how the enemies, employing not just blatant force but also insidious schemes, orchestrated David's downfall. Their cunning was so refined that they could extract means for harm even from the deepest shadows of darkness.

The prophet indicates that their attitude stems from a habitual reliance on their own understanding; they do not submit their minds to the obedience of faith, nor do they refine their restless thoughts, but instead, they seek to unravel the veil of God's profound mysteries through their own strength. They have tested lawlessness; more accurately, they have assessed iniquity. The prophet explicitly differentiates between a lawful testing prescribed by the Lord—whereby the Savior instructs us to examine the Scriptures since we believe that in them we find eternal life (John 5:39)—and the testing perpetrated by the unfaithful. St. Peter speaks to lawful testing as well, stating that concerning this salvation, the prophets have diligently inquired and searched as to the time and circumstances through which the Spirit of Christ revealed Himself to them (1 Pet. 1:10-11). Distinguishing these righteous inquiries from the unauthorized testing of nonbelievers, the prophet notes, ‘Lawless testing.’

To clarify this distinction more thoroughly: we engage in lawful testing when, with eyes of faith, we reverently explore the hidden paths of salvation and the righteous judgments of God; when we interpret one passage of Scripture by another; when we discern within a single event the resolution of various confusions faced elsewhere; and when we do not allow our inquiries to extend beyond the bounds set by faith, guided not by earthly wisdom but by the teachings of the Holy Church. The holy Apostles, encountering statements of the Lord they did not grasp, presented questions to Him and received clarity: ‘You desire to show Yourself to us, not to the world,’ and also, ‘What does it mean: “A little while and you will see Me no more; and again, a little while and you will see Me”?’ Thus, the revered prophet wondered as he observed the wicked thriving: ‘This troubled me deeply’ (Psalm 72:16). To resolve this perplexing dilemma, he entered into the sacred presence of God, where divine destinies are revealed to humanity, and where God illuminates from above. He did not seek understanding in human wisdom but in the revelations of God's word, and as a result of this turning to the sanctuary, he proclaimed this comforting truth for believers: ‘It is good for me to draw near to God’ (Psalm 72:28). In contrast, those who test unlawfully attempt to grasp the boundless truth with shortsighted reasoning, aspiring to comprehend the unfathomable while their hearts remain tainted with earthly desires, ultimately offending both faith and revelation.

The Wise One cautions against such scrutiny, stating, ‘Do not aspire to greatness for yourselves, nor challenge the strong for yourselves’ (Sirach). Both humanity and nature teach us that we must tread carefully in the pursuit of understanding. Is it wise for a sick individual to hesitate in discerning the composition of their remedy as their illness worsens by the minute? Consider a seed buried in the earth; it remains hidden from view, where, through nature’s mysterious process, it decays, is restored, and eventually bears fruit—all without human sight. If one were to continuously unearth the seed to ascertain its transformation, it would lead to barrenness. Likewise, if one cannot probe the secrets of nature without consequence, then to test the mysteries of grace and the abiding judgments of God reflects reckless arrogance, which ultimately leads to shame. The prophet expresses this sentiment incisively: ‘They who challenge Him shall be like smoke that vanishes’ (Psalm 37:20). He shows us that: (1) their disgraceful end, (2) their inherent weakness and folly, (3) the futility of their inquiries, and (4) the resulting glory of God and the joy of the righteous. Those who were audacious in their testing, in a Hebrew sense implying surrendering to the challenge of divine mysteries, have perished; they have been consumed like smoke. This analogy is strong and significant; just as smoke rises from burning substances, so too do the errant thoughts of disbelief ascend, obscured by earthly concepts and impure desires.

Such prideful inquiries may momentarily obscure the divine truth to the feeble human eye, yet they will soon vanish entirely. Moreover, along with these blasphemous ideas, the false prophets proffering them will also face destruction. Indeed, where are these skeptical challengers of God's mysteries now, the questioners of this age? With what seeming eloquence did they oppose the truth of God's word, subjecting it to the tortures of their arrogant intellect, and with what audacious presumption did they attempt to establish a new doctrine in defiance of the Gospel? Their new doctrine quickly fell, disintegrating and disappearing into nothingness. This is hardly surprising, as God transcends all human understanding. The prophet conveys this notion with a comparison: as man is finite and the heart profound, the Lord shall prevail—illustrating that when humanity attempts to assess the human heart, he soon realizes his limits and must concede that he cannot fathom its depths or uncover its mysteries. Just as the human heart is an unfathomable enigma to another person...