Salmos 19
Theodoret of Cyrus · Comentário Patrístico (catena)
Salmos 19:1
We learn three kinds of divine laws from blessed Paul. One unwritten kind he said was given to human beings in creation and nature: "From the creation of the world," he says, "his invisible attributes have been understood and seen in created things"; and again, "For when the Gentiles, who do not have the law, practice the obligations of the law instinctively, despite having no law they are a law to themselves." … Another law was provided in writing through the mighty Moses: "The Law was added because of transgressions," he says, "ordained through angels in the hand of a mediator." He knew also a third one imposed after these, the law of grace: "For the law of the Spirit of life," he says, "has set me free from the law of sin and death." Blessed David in this psalm teaches human beings the harmony between these, following the same order: first, the one the Creator preaches in creation; then the one given through Moses, instilling a greater knowledge of the Creator to those willing to attend; after that, the law of grace, perfectly purifying souls and freeing them from the present destruction. This in fact is the reason the psalm also refers us "to the end," naming the New Testament in the end. — COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 19:1
Salmos 19:1
If you observe a most mighty and magnificent building, you admire the builder; and if you see a skillfully and beautifully designed ship, you think of the shipwright; and at the sight of a painting the painter comes to mind. Much more, to be sure, does the sight of creation lead the viewers to the Creator. — COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 19:2
Salmos 19:2
The ordained succession of night and day illustrates the boundaries set by the Creator … the visible things are inanimate, being a kind of mask that teaches everyone to be led from visible things to the invisible God and to offer singing to him … by putting forth neither words nor verbal expressions but the norm, and demonstrating their own order, they summon all land and sea to the divine singing. — COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 19:3
Salmos 19:7
He calls the Mosaic law Law, testimony, judgments, command, decrees.… It is called Law in that it regulates and prescribes the best way of life; testimony in testifying against sinners and highlighting the punishment for transgression; judgments in teaching what is right, forbidding what is wrong and declaring virtuous people righteous; command in commanding what is to be done and giving orders authoritatively; decrees in revealing the divine verdicts and teaching what goods the observant will enjoy and to what punishments the transgressor will be consigned … the law of God, being free of every fault, corrects people's souls and makes them faultless; the testimony gives wisdom to the immature and simple by frightening them; the judgments gladden the heart by revealing the basis of judgment; the command gives light to the mind's eye, teaching what constitutes service to the God of all. While piety and the fear of God, in suggesting observance of these, procure enjoyment of the eternal good, it was right for him to speak of the fear of God as pure—that is, free from blame—for the reason that human fear is blameworthy, being synonymous with dread. Now, he called the decrees true and justified on account of their conferring on people both honors and warranted punishments. In conclusion, he said these are worth more than gold and precious stones and sweeter than honey—not to all human beings, however, but to those truly human, whose life is not comparable with the brute beasts. — COMMENTARY ON THE PSALM 19:5-6
Salmos 19:14
[The psalm] instructs us first on creation and providence; in the middle, on the Law; and finally, on grace. — COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 19:9