Salmos 19
John Chrysostom · Comentário Patrístico (catena)
Salmos 19:1
How … do they declare it? Voice they have none; mouth they possess not; no tongue is theirs! How then do they declare? By means of the spectacle itself. For when you see the beauty, the breadth, the height, the position, the form, the stability thereof during so long a period; hearing as it were a voice, and being instructed by the spectacle, you adore him who created a body so fair and strange! The heavens may be silent, but the sight of them emits a voice that is louder than a trumpet's sound, instructing us not by the ear but through the medium of the eyes, for the latter is a sense which is more sure and more distinct than the former. — HOMILIES CONCERNING THE STATUES 9:4
Salmos 19:1
Nevertheless, many have stumbled at it and in contrary directions to one another. And some have admired it so much above its worth as to think it God, while others have been so insensible of its beauty as to assert it to be unworthy of God's creating hand and to ascribe the greater share in it to a certain evil matter. And yet God provided for both points by making it beautiful and great that it might not be deemed alien from his wisdom, yet defective and not sufficient to itself that it might not be suspected to be God. — HOMILIES ON 2 CORINTHIANS 21:4
Salmos 19:4
The providence of God is clearer than the sun and its rays. On every occasion and in every place you will see clear and abundant evidence of this providence—in the desert, on cultivated and uncultivated land, on land and sea, wherever you go. This evidence is old and new. Voices are raised from every side that sound more clearly than the voices of our reason, and they tell of God's care to one who wishes to hear.… Our tongue is known only to those who share our language, not to those of other tongues; but the voice of creation is audible to all peoples who dwell in the inhabited world. Those of good judgment regard as sufficient God's proclamation, without the demonstration of deeds. It reveals not only his providence but also his abundant love for us; for he does not merely take thought for us but is also our lover, and he loves us boundlessly with an inconceivable love. It is a love that knows no emotion, but it is most warm and intense, noble, insoluble, unquenchable. — ON PROVIDENCE 5:2
Salmos 19:4
The Scythian, barbarian, Indian, Egyptian and everyone who walks on the earth shall hear this voice; for not by means of the ears but through the sight, it reaches our understanding. And of the things that are seen, there is one uniform perception; and there is no difference, as is the case with respect to languages. On this volume the unlearned, as well as the wise, shall be alike able to look; the poor person as well as the rich person; and wherever anyone may chance to come, there looking upward toward the heavens, he will receive a sufficient lesson from the view of them. — HOMILIES CONCERNING THE STATUES 9:5
Salmos 19:5
The sun renders the day brighter, shedding its rays like flashing lights and day by day revealing its own beauty in full bloom: as soon as it appears at dawn, it awakes the whole human race to the discharge of their respective duties.… Do you see how [in the psalm] he revealed to us both the sun's beauty and its speed of movement? That is, in saying, "Its span extends from one corner of heaven right to the other corner of heaven," it indicated to us how in one moment of time it traverses the whole world and scatters its rays from end to end, making its great resources available. It not only supplies heat to the earth but also dries it up, and not only dries it up but enkindles it and supplies us with many different resources, so marvelous a body is it, quite beyond one's power to describe adequately. I mention this to you and sing the praises of this heavenly body so that you may not stop short there, dearly beloved, but proceed further and transfer your admiration to the Creator of the heavenly body. After all, the greater the sun is shown to be, so much the more marvelous is the revelation of the Creator. — HOMILIES ON PSALMS 6:10-11
Salmos 19:10
[The words of God, the prophet says,] are "desirable above gold and a very precious stone, and sweeter than honey and the honeycomb," but they are so only to those in sound health. Therefore he added, "For your servant keeps them." And elsewhere again, after saying that they are sweet, he added, "to my palate." "How sweet to my palate," he says, "are your promises." And he goes on to insist on their excellence by the words "sweeter than honey and the honeycomb to my mouth," because he was in very sound health. Well, then, let us not on our part approach these words in ill health, but let us receive nourishment from them, after having restored our souls to health. — HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 1