Psalm 85 (84):3Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Its title refers to a ‘Psalm of the end for the descendants of Kore.’ We should grasp only the intention that the apostle conveys since Christ signifies the culmination of the law. Romans 10:4 Thus, by inscribing these words at the beginning of the psalm’s title, he guides our hearts toward Christ. If we focus on Him, we won’t be diverted; for He is the Truth we strive to embrace, and He is the Way (John 14:6) through which we navigate.

2. The prophet declares truths about the future, expressing them as if they were historical facts: he references future events as already achieved, because for God, what lies ahead is as good as accomplished. “Lord, You have favored Your land” (Psalm 83:1); as if it had already occurred. “You have ended the captivity of Jacob.” This lineage of Jacob, representing the nation of Israel, sprung from Abraham’s seed, with a promise of becoming God’s heirs one day. It was indeed a tangible nation that was given the Old Testament; yet the New Testament was foreshadowed within it: such was its representation, such was its reflection of the truth. This depiction, a sort of prophetically destined foretelling, presented a promised land to this people, located where the Jewish nation existed; where the city of Jerusalem is found, a name that resonates with us all. As this people acquired ownership of that land, they encountered numerous adversities from surrounding enemies; and when they transgressed against their God, they faced captivity—not for destruction, but for correction; their Father did not condemn them but disciplined them. After their subjugation, they gained liberation, experiencing captivity and freedom numerous times; currently, they find themselves captives due to a grave transgression, particularly for having crucified their Lord. So, how ought we to interpret the phrase, “You have ended the captivity of Jacob?” This psalm delivers a prophetic song: “You have ended the captivity of Jacob.” To whom is it addressed? To Christ; for it speaks of ‘the end of the children of Kore,’ since He turned away the captivity of Jacob. Reflect on Paul’s personal acknowledgment: “I am a wretched man; who will deliver me from this body of death?” He posed the question, and in the instant, he realized: the grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 7:24-25 This grace from God is what the prophet relays to our Lord Jesus Christ, “You have turned away the captivity of Jacob.” Observe closely the captivity of Jacob and recognize this: “You have turned away our captivity, not by rescuing us from foreign adversaries, but by liberating us from our sinful acts, the sins that gave Satan authority over us. For if someone is freed from his sins, the accuser of sinners can no longer assert dominion over him.

3. How did He liberate Jacob? Observe that this deliverance is spiritual, occurring within. “You, O Lord, have pardoned the iniquities of Your people; You have covered all their sins” (Psalm 83:2). This is how He turned away their captivity: by erasing iniquity, for iniquity had them imprisoned; your sins forgiven, you are liberated. Therefore, confess that you are in captivity if you wish to be worthy of deliverance; for he who is unaware of his enemy cannot rightly call upon the Deliverer. You have covered all their sins. What does it mean that You have covered them? That You might not perceive them. How could You not observe them? That You would not exact vengeance for them. You willed not to recognize our sins; thus, You did not see them because You chose not to see them: “You have concealed all their sins.” “You have calmed all Your anger; You have turned away Your wrath” (Psalm 84:3).

4. Even as it is proclaimed in the future, though the resonance of these words may have diminished, it follows: “Restore us, O God of our salvation” (Psalm 83:4). How does one petition for what he has just referred to in the past tense, except to signify that he speaks as a prophet about what is yet to come? And to emphasize what he has articulated that has not yet transpired, he prays for its realization: “Restore us, O God of our salvation, and withdraw Your wrath from us.” Did You not previously state, “You have quenched all Your anger and turned away Your wrath?” Why then do You now say, “Turn away Your wrath from us?” The Prophet responds: I articulate these matters as fulfilled because I am aware they are impending; but since they have not yet been fulfilled, I petition that they may materialize:

5. “Do not be angry with us forever” (Psalm 84:5). By God’s wrath, we are condemned to death, and through His wrath, we strive to earn our daily bread in hardship and in toil (Genesis 3:19). This was the sentence decreed upon Adam when he sinned; and since Adam represents us all—“for in Adam all die” (1 Corinthians 15:22)—the sentence that was pronounced upon him extended to us. For we were not yet our own selves, but rather existed in Adam; thus, all that transpired to Adam also impacts us, bringing about death, for we were all in him. While the sin of your forefather may not harm you if you are transformed, it would not harm him if he had changed. Yet what our race received prior to succumbing to death originated from Adam. What brought this about? The weakness of the flesh, the agony of suffering, this home of poverty, this chain of death, and net of temptation; we endure all these trials within our flesh, and this constitutes God’s wrath, for it represents His vengeance. But it was ordained that we should be renewed and made anew through faith, that all this mortality would be eliminated in our resurrection, and that the entirety of humanity would be restored to newness; “For as in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:22). Understanding this, the Prophet implores, “Do not be angry with us forever, nor extend Your wrath upon the generation.” The first generation is mortal due to Your wrath; the second generation will attain immortality through Your grace.

6. “O God, You will restore us and revive us” (Psalm 84:6). Not as if we turn to You independently of Your grace, and then You will revive us; rather, that our revival stems solely from You, as does our very conversion, that we may be made alive. “And Your people will rejoice in You.” They shall rejoice for their transgressions, and for their goodness, they will celebrate You. When they once sought joy from within themselves, they discovered sorrow in themselves, but now, since all our joy is anchored in God, who will rejoice securely, let them celebrate Him who cannot perish. For why, dear brethren, do you delight in silver? Either your silver will vanish, or you will; but the order of which will occur first is uncertain; yet both will inevitably be lost. Neither man can remain here eternally, nor silver can endure indefinitely; likewise gold, clothing, homes, money, vast lands, and ultimately this very light itself. Therefore, do not wish to find delight in these transitory things; rather, rejoice in the everlasting light that is unending: rejoice in the dawn that is without yesterday or tomorrow. What is this light? “I am the Light of the world” (John 8:12). He who claims to be “the light of the world” beckons you to Himself. When He calls you, He will transform you; when He transforms you, He will heal you; when He heals you, you will behold your Restorer, to whom it is said, “Show us Your mercy, O Lord, and grant us Your salvation” (Psalm 84:7): Your salvation, that is, Your Christ. Blessed is the one to whom God reveals His mercy. He who cannot surrender himself to pride is the one to whom God reveals His mercy. For by showing him His salvation, He makes him aware that all that a virtuous person possesses, he has derived solely from Him who embodies all goodness. And when a person realizes that every good he has is not from himself but from God, he will comprehend that all the commendable attributes within him are endowed by grace and not due to personal merit; and recognizing this, he will not be proud; absent pride, he will not be exalted; without rising, he will not fall; and not falling, he shall stand; standing, he shall remain firm; remaining firm, he shall abide; and abiding, he shall find joy and delight in his Lord God. The Creator shall be his joy; a joy untouched, untroubled, and unassailable by any man.

So, what does John declare in his epistle? “Beloved, we are now sons of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be” (1 John 3:2). Who would not rejoice if suddenly it were announced while wandering about, unaware of one’s heritage, in want and hardship, “You are the son of a senator: your father has a vast inheritance in your family estate; I ask you to return to your father?” How would he rejoice if this promise came from a trustworthy messenger? One we can trust, the Apostle of Christ, came to us and proclaimed: “You have a Father, a homeland, an inheritance.” Who is that Father? “Beloved, we are the sons of God” (1 John 3:2). Consequently, He has pledged to reveal Himself to us. Contemplate, dear brethren, what His beauty entails. All the splendid things you see and cherish were crafted by Him. If they are beautiful, how magnificent must He be? Therefore, among those things we cherish here, let us strive primarily for Him, and by holding these things in disdain, let us instead love Him, that our love may, through faith, cleanse our hearts, and when His vision comes, it may find our hearts purified. The light that will be revealed to us must discover us well-prepared; for now, the matter rests upon faith in Him. This is what we have conveyed here: “And grant us Your salvation; grant us Your Christ, that we may know Your Christ, see Your Christ—not as the Jews saw Him and crucified Him, but as the angels behold Him and rejoice.”

7. “I will listen” (Psalm 84:8). The prophet declared that God spoke within him, while external chaos prevailed. Thus, withdrawing momentarily from the tumult of the world, he turned inward, and from there to the One whose voice he heard within; closing off his ears to the frantic clamor of life, and the struggles burdening his soul encased in a corruptible body, from an imagination beset by the earthly dwelling, he asserts, “I will hear what the Lord God speaks in me,” and what did he hear? “For He will speak peace to His people.” The voice of Christ, the voice of God, embodies peace: it beckons for peace. Ah! It is said, if one has not yet attained peace, love peace; for what can you find that surpasses peace? What is peace? A state without war. What exists in the absence of war? The absence of conflict, opposition, or anything contrary. Consider whether we remain in this state: examine if there is no battle with the devil, whether all the saints and the faithful are not engaged in a struggle against the prince of darkness. And how do they wrestle with what they cannot see? They struggle with their own desires, through which he tempts them to sin; not assenting to his proposals, they wrestle, and though they are not defeated, the struggle persists. Therefore, where there is conflict, peace is still absent.

You have abandoned the transgressions of Your people, meaning those who have become Your people through faith. This refers to the Gentile converts, as the prophet Zechariah proclaimed, “In that day shall many of the Gentiles resort unto the Lord, and shall be unto Him as men” (Zechariah 2:11).

Not due to their deeds, but by Your grace, You have redeemed Your people. "You have erased all their transgressions." The entirety of the psalm points to the arrival of the Messiah. "For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord will give grace and glory" (Psalm 84:11). "Surely, His salvation is near to those who revere Him, that glory may dwell in our land" (Psalms 84:10). Indeed, God's glory resided in our land, and even "truth shall spring forth from the earth" (Psalm 84:12). "For the Lord will bestow good things" (Psalm 84:12-13). What kind of goodness? "Our land shall yield its harvest." Mary, our earth, our very flesh, has borne her fruit. "Righteousness shall go before Him." The virtuous fruit that the pure earth produced. This represents our historical interpretation.

You have freed those bound by the chains of sin, granting liberation to the imprisoned while choosing to overlook their transgressions. Indeed, the entirety of mankind was held captive and received deliverance from our Redeemer; He attests to this Himself, proclaiming through the prophet Isaiah: The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to proclaim good news to the poor, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and recovery of sight for the blind (Isaiah 61:1). When the Lord read this prophecy in the synagogue, He declared to the Jewish audience, ‘Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing’ (Luke 4:21).

This group is referred to as blessed in Psalm 31, which states, ‘Blessed are they that forsake their iniquities, and that cover their sins.’ He has granted us forgiveness through our repentance, cleansing us from our wrongdoings and enveloping our transgressions with the sacred waters of divine baptism. The Israelites affirm that God pardoned the sins that led them into exile and concealed their iniquities in the abyss of forgetfulness. However, the people of God are identified not only as the ancient tribe of Judah, as noted in Psalm 80, but also as the renewed community of believers in Christ, as expressed in the opening verse of Psalm 77.

This reflects His gracious intent towards us: He has not left us with a single transgression, but rather all; and He has enveloped all our sins within His humanity, much like a doctor treats a wound with healing ointment. The prophet refers to transgressions and sins not to indicate the same concept, but to demonstrate that God’s forgiveness extends not only to the Jews, whose wrongdoings are termed iniquities due to their adherence to the Mosaic law, but also to the Gentiles, whose offenses are labeled sins because their wicked actions distort the divine purpose. This marks a shift in the tone of the prophet's proclamation, who pauses for a reason—intending to communicate something of great significance. Overwhelmed by the magnitude of the revelations, he requires this pause to grasp them more clearly.

Since the transgressions that separated humanity from God could instill fear and anguish in the faithful, the Prophet addresses this concern, demonstrating that the Lord, by liberating His people from bondage, affirmed that there were no wrongdoings He would not pardon for the sake of the covenant established with the descendants of Abraham. Had they not previously witnessed the immense kindness of God, they would have undoubtedly been crushed by the burdens of the prolonged trials they faced. Thus, we observe that God, being gracious toward His land, restored the fortunes of Jacob, having overlooked the iniquities of His people. Just as sin led to their captivity, so the forgiveness of sin led to their liberation. The Prophet then clarifies why God pardoned the transgressions of His people, explaining that He offered atonement and removed His anger; as God's wrath prompted the penalty, so the atoning sacrifice initiated the forgiveness of sins.

The culmination of the law is found in Christ (Rom. 10:4), granting righteousness to all who have faith. This psalm, attributed to the son of Kore and inspired by the Holy Spirit through David, was intended for worship. In it, the prophet reflects on God's love for humanity, narrating how He liberated His people from Egyptian bondage. It also foretells the return of the Israelites from Babylonian exile, while most importantly heralding salvation through the grace of Christ the Savior, who rescues humanity from the relentless forces of evil and sin, thereby liberating the glory of God's children (Rom. 8:21).