And David saith: Let their table be made a snare and a trap and a stumbling block and a recompense unto them.
και δαυιδ λεγει γενηθητω η τραπεζα αυτων εις παγιδα και εις θηραν και εις σκανδαλον και εις ανταποδομα αυτοις
11 Church Fathers comment on this verse
Then, to prove that the Jews would undergo extreme punishment for such unbelief, he again refers to the prophet. The prophet threatens them with precisely what happened to them and was fulfilled. He says, “Let their table become a snare, and a trap, and a stumbling block.” That is, let luxury and every good thing pass away and perish, and let them become easy prey for all. To show that the Jews endure this as punishment for sins, David added, “and a recompense to them.”
Since they are unchanging in malice, he says, they will be subjected to the utmost punishment. Their table, that is, all their goods and pleasures, will be turned into the opposite.
They will be caught in nets and taken captive, becoming easily captured and overcome by all, and always having scandals and stumbling blocks in their life.
"Let their table," he says, "become a snare," and so forth (Ps 68:23).
To prove what he has said, he brings forward the prophetic writing of not one prophet, but two. Just above, in verse 8, the Apostle had cited another Old Testament text, Deut 29:4, with Isa 6:9 and 29:10.
He does this for confirmation, so that "by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established" (Mt 18:16).
For their table, that is, the inhospitality and cruelty they showed Christ at the crucifixion, became accursed, and altogether justly so.
When He thirsted, they offered Him vinegar mingled with gall (cf. Mt 27:34). Therefore they were darkened in mind, as it says, "Let their eyes be darkened" (Rom 11:10).
They also bent downward, imagining only earthly things.
And David speaks thus: “Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see” (cf. Ps 68:23-24).
Paul curses the table of evil men because they are accustomed at it to deceive the innocent. By cunning they invite them to a feast, so that there they may destroy them.
David calls pleasure a table, and foretells that it will be changed into its opposite (Ps 68:23-24).
“Let their table become a snare and a trap.” In connection with the preceding words, which express Israel’s spiritual blindness, the meaning is this: while the spiritually blind eat and drink and enjoy good things, misfortune will overtake them.
What David wishes upon his enemies, the Apostle applies to the enemies of Christ’s Kingdom.
Concerning chapter 4, verse 5, we have already explained that, when the Apostle speaks of justification by faith apart from works, he means the justification given in baptism.
He does not mean the justification that will be given at the judgment of Christ and will be final. For this final justification, both faith and works are equally necessary.
The necessity of this distinction between the two kinds of justification is especially evident from what is said below in chapter 11.
The Apostle says that the Israelites, except for the remnant preserved "by grace and not by works" in verse 6, "were hardened" in verse 7. They "fell" and were "diminished" in verse 12.
They were "rejected" in verse 15 and "broken off" in verse 17. Through this, the Gentiles received "salvation" in verse 11, "riches" in verse 12, and "reconciliation" in verse 15.
They were "grafted in" and became "partakers of the root and fatness of the olive tree" in verse 17.
By this the Apostle makes it clear enough that this reconciliation and enrichment are not final. For he adds this exhortation to the Christian from the Gentiles: "Do not be arrogant," but "fear.
Behold the goodness and severity of God: severity toward those who fell, but goodness toward you, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off" (vv. 20-22).
Therefore, although initial reconciliation with God is given by faith alone in the merits of Christ, who suffered for us, final reconciliation and justification are given to the one who follows in His steps.
It is given to the one who, in the words of the Apostle Paul in Rom 12:1, presents his body "as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God." In short, he shows faith by works.
Of course, our life is so sinful that we never hope to be justified by our own works. We continually implore God not to enter into judgment with us.
But this does not mean that we are not obliged to care for works, or that they are not required of us.
In the seventh point, the Holy Apostle Paul teaches that the Gentiles called in place of the rejected Jews must not boast over them. Rather, they must be concerned for their own destiny.
For God did not cast away His whole people, nor did He cast them away forever (Rom 11:1-10).
To prove the first point, that the whole people was not rejected, the Apostle says: "For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin" (Rom 11:1).
St. Chrysostom remarks on this: lest someone object to Paul's words, "I am an Israelite," and say, "Do you constitute the people? Does your calling mean that the whole people has been called?" the Apostle adds: "God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew" (Rom 11:2).
He speaks as if saying: "There are three thousand with me, five thousand, and a great multitude of Israelites foreknown by God."
Indeed, referring to the example of the prophet Elijah, the Apostle goes on to say: "Or do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah? How he pleads with God against Israel, saying: Lord, they have killed Your prophets and torn down Your altars.
I alone am left, and they seek my life" (3 Kgs 19:14). "But what does the divine answer say to him? I have reserved for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal" (Rom 11:2-4).
"Even so then, at this present time," the Apostle adds, "there is a remnant according to the election of grace" (Rom 11:5). That is, some of the Jews received justification by faith in Jesus Christ.
Meanwhile the rest were hardened and did not receive salvation, as the prophets had foretold (Rom 11:6-10).
Concerning the Apostle's example from Elijah the prophet, St. Chrysostom observes: "If the Apostle had wanted to prove only that few make up the people properly belonging to God, he would merely have said that seven thousand remained in Elijah's time.
But lest the Jews say, 'We killed Christ as a deceiver and persecute the Apostles as seducers,' the Apostle brings forward the whole testimony.
It says: 'Lord, they have killed Your prophets and torn down Your altars.' This meant that, just as then they killed not false but true prophets, so now they killed not a false but the true Savior.
And they persecute not seducers, but true preachers."
Turning to those who were rejected, the Apostle shows the reason for their departure from the faith. It was the darkening and sleep of all their senses, as in drunken men.
He also sketches the consequences of this condition, which have partly overtaken them and will overtake them still more.
These are stubborn hardness, utter confusion of their state, and a grievous condition like bondage in harsh slavery. Such slavery brings premature decrepitude and deformity.
All this is depicted on the basis of prophetic words from Moses, David, and Isaiah, before whom the Hebrews stood in reverence. Thus the condition foretold appears unavoidable, and conversion therefore natural and necessary.
The deliverance of the Hebrews from Egyptian slavery is the final type of our deliverance from slavery to sin and the devil.
But then, according to the testimony of the prophet Moses, the Lord did not give the Hebrews a heart to understand, eyes to see, and ears to hear, even to that day.
So also now, seeing the multitude of saving works and divine miracles of Jesus Christ, the Hebrews related to them as men struck with blindness.
They were like those in a state of stupor, or sweetly intoxicated by their own unbelief. In the Apostle's expression, they were in a spirit of compunction.
Concerning this last expression, St. John Chrysostom says: "By compunction the Apostle here means a habit of soul toward the worse that is incurable.
As one who is moved to compunction in piety does not quickly depart from that state, so one moved to compunction in evil can change only with difficulty."
As for the words, "God gave," he observes: "The Apostle accuses nothing else but their stubborn will.
They had eyes to see miracles and received ears to hear wondrous teaching. Yet they did not use either as they ought.
Therefore by the word 'gave' understand here not action, but permission."
Pausing further over the fulfillment of the punishments foretold by the prophet David for those who do not believe in the Savior, St. John Chrysostom says: "When were the Jews ever so easily captured and overcome?
When were they subjected to such slavery? Most important of all, these calamities will have no end, as the prophet noted.
For he did not simply say, 'Bow down their back,' but added, 'always.' If you, Jew, claim that the calamities will end, then judge the present by the past.
Now everything has gone differently with you. What is especially astonishing is that the former vices are not visible, yet the punishment increases, and there is no hope of any change in your condition.
All this has overtaken you when you do not serve idols and do none of the things you once dared to do. What is the reason?
It is that the type has been replaced by the truth, and the law has been excluded by grace."
On verses 9 and 10. This passage is taken from Psalm 68, a prophetic psalm that foretold the sufferings of Christ the Savior and the punishment of the Jews.
From this psalm the Gospels cite: "Zeal for Your house has consumed Me" (Ps 68:10). They also cite: "They gave Me gall for My food, and for My thirst they gave Me vinegar to drink" (Ps 68:22).
This verse ends the depiction of the sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ. Immediately after it stand the verses cited by St. Paul (Ps 68:23-24).
In the prophet David, these verses begin the depiction of the destructive consequences of unjustly condemning Christ the Lord to death.
It is therefore beyond doubt that these verses contain a prophecy. The holy Apostle, understanding it by his spirit, cites it in confirmation of his position.
The punishment of the Jews for handing the Lord over to death is expressed by the prophet in the form of a wish: "Let it be," and, "Let them be darkened."
The Apostle also cites these words in this form. Their meaning is this: their table before them will become a snare, their eyes will be darkened, and their back will be bent down.
St. Athanasius the Great, interpreting this psalm, says the following on the words, "Let their table before them become a snare" (Ps 68:23): "By this the prophet depicts what will overtake the Jews after the Passion of the Lord."
St. Chrysostom and Blessed Theodoret give the word "table" an allegorical meaning, understanding by it enjoyment or pleasure.
That which promised them pleasure and enjoyment, and which they desired like a nourishing table, would itself become a snare for them. It would entangle them in calamities from which they could not escape.
How they thirsted and hungered for the death of the Lord, crying, "Crucify, crucify Him" (Lk 23:21), and paying no heed to any of Pilate's exhortations.
At last they satisfied their thirst for blood and were filled. This very thing brought upon them the most extreme calamities. They thirsted for blood, and with blood they paid.
St. Athanasius the Great writes: "By these words the prophet speaks, as it were, from the person of the Lord: they shall suffer the very thing they prepared for Me, wishing Me to undergo it.
Woe to the wicked, for wicked things shall happen to him according to the works of his hands" (cf. Isa 3:11).
The remaining words, "trap" and "stumbling block," mean the same thing. They stumbled. They thought to escape misfortune by handing the Deliverer over to death, and they fell into a trap, into every calamity.
The prophet added the words, "and as repayment to them," so that it might be clear that the Jews would suffer all this as punishment.
Passages read together with this verse.
Greek text, 19 words with lemma, transliteration and Strong’s number. Tap to expand.
THEOSIS