Explanations of the Psalms by St. Ambrose

From the Explanations of the Psalms 

by St. Ambrose, bishop

The Appeal of the Book of Psalms

Though all Scripture is fragrant with God’s grace, the Book of Psalms has a special attractiveness.

Moses and the parting of the Red Sea

Moses wrote the history of Israel’s forefathers in prose, but after leading the people through the Red Sea—a wonder that remained in their memory—he broke into song of triumph in praise of God when he saw King Pharaoh drowned along with his forces.  His genius soared to a higher level, to match an accomplishment beyond his own powers.

Miriam too raised her timbrel and sang encouragement for the rest of the women, saying: Let us sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; he has cast horse and rider into the sea.

Miriam praising God

In the Book of Psalms there is profit for all, with healing power for our salvation.  There is instruction from history, teaching from the law, prediction form prophecy, chastisement from denunciation, persuasion from moral preaching.  All who read it may find the cure for their own individual failings.  

All with eyes to see can discover in it a complete gymnasium for the soul, a stadium for all the virtues, equipped for every kind of exercise; it is for each to choose the kind he judges best to help him gain the prize.

King David

If you wish to read and imitate the deeds of the past, you will find the whole history of the Israelites in a single psalm; in one short reading you can amass a treasure for the memory.  

If you want to study the power of the law, which is summed up in the bond of charity (Whoever loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law), you may read in the psalms of the great love with which one man faced serious dangers single-handedly in order to remove the shame of the whole people.  You will find the glory of charity more than a match for the parade of power.

Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God

What I am to say of the grace of prophecy?  We see that what others hinted at in riddles was promised openly and clearly to the psalmist alone: the Lord Jesus was to be born of his seed, according to the word of the Lord, I will place upon your throne one who is the fruit of your flesh.

In the psalms, then, not only is Jesus born for us, he also undergoes his saving passion in his body, he lies in death, he rises again, he ascends into heaven, he sits at the right and of the Father.  

What no man would have dared to say was foretold by the psalmist alone, and afterward proclaimed by the Lord himself in the Gospel.

St. Ambrose, 4th Century Church Father

 Taken from the Liturgy of the Hours for Friday, 10th Week in Ordinary Times

Christ's Passion Foretold - Psalm 22

Christ Crucified

Psalm 22: 2-23

My God, my God why have you forsaken me?

You are far from my plea and the cry of my distress.

O My God, I call by day and you give no reply.

I call by night and I find no peace.

Yet you, O God, are holy,

Enthroned on the praises of Israel.

In you our fathers put their trust;

They trusted and you set them free.

When they cried to you, they escaped.

In you they trusted and never in vain.

The rabble mock and ridicule Jesus Crucified

But I am a worm, and no man, scorned by men,

despised by the people.

 All who see me deride me.

They curl their lips, they toss their heads.

“He trusted in the Lord, let him save him;

Let him release him if he is his friend.”

Yes, it was you who took me from the womb,

Entrusted me to my mother’s breast.

To you I was committed from my birth,

From my mother’s womb you have been my God.

Do not leave me alone in my distress;

Come close, there is no one else to help.

Many bulls have surrounded me,

Fierce bulls of Bashan close me in.

Against me they open wide their jaws,

Like lions, rending and roaring.

Like water I am poured out,

Disjointed are all my bones.

My heart has become like wax,

It is melted within my breast.

Parched as burnt clay is my throat,

My tongue cleaves to my jaws.

Christ nailed to the CrossMany dogs have surrounded me,

A band of the wicked beset me.

They tear holes in my hands and my feet

And lay me in the dust of death.

I can count every one of my bones.

These people stare at me and gloat;

They divide my clothing among them.

They cast lots for my robe.

O Lord, do not leave me alone,

My strength, make haste to help me!

Rescue my soul from the sword,

My life from the grip of these dogs.

Save my life from the jaws of these lions,

My poor soul from the horns of these oxen.

I will tell of your name to my brethren

And praise you where they are assembled.

Bible Prophecy Christ's Passion, Death & Ressurection

Old Testament Prophets Speak

ISAIAH Between 701-681 BC

ZACHARIAH Between 520 and 518 BC

DANIEL About 530 BC

PSALMS  About 1000 BC

JOB Between 1440-950 BC
AMOS  Around 750 or 749 BC
JONAH  786 - 749 BC
MICAH 786-700 BC
MOSES 1393-1273 BC

Deuteronomy 18:15 

The Lord your God will raise up for you 

a prophet like me from among your fellow Israelites, 

and you must listen to that prophet.

"Lamb of God"

Jesus Christ The Lamb of God

Jeremiah 11:19-20

I, like a trusting lamb led to the slaughter, had not realized that they were hatching plots against me: “Let us destroy the tree in its vigor; let us cut Him off from the land of the living, so that His name will be spoken no more.

Isaiah 53:7

Though harshly treated, he submitted

and did not open his mouth;

Like a lamb led to slaughter

or a sheep silent before shearers,

he did not open his mouth.

The Messiah would enter Jerusalem 

while riding on a donkey

Zachariah 9:9

 Exult greatly, O daughter Zion! Shout for joy, O daughter Jerusalem! Behold: Your king is coming to you, a just savior is he, humble, and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

Jesus was betrayed by a friend

Judas' Betrayal "You betray Your Master with a kiss."

Psalm 41:10 

Even my trusted friend,

who ate my bread,

has raised his heel against me.

Judas betrays Jesus

Psalm 55:13-15 

For it is not an enemy that reviled me—

that I could bear—

Not a foe who viewed me with contempt,

from that I could hide.

But it was you, my other self,

my comrade and friend,

You, whose company I enjoyed,

at whose side I walked

in the house of God.

Foreshadowing the betrayal of Jesus 

for 30 pieces of silver

30 Piece of Silver the Price of Betrayal

Zachariah 11:12-13

Then I said to them, “If it seems good to you, give me my wages; but if not, withhold them.” And they counted out my wages, thirty pieces of silver.

Then the LORD said to me, Throw it in the treasury—the handsome price at which they valued me. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the treasury in the house of the LORD.

Jesus' Arrest at Garden of Gethsemane

Psalm 17:9-13

. . . from the wicked who despoil me.

My ravenous enemies press upon me;

they close their hearts,

they fill their mouths with proud roaring.

Their steps even now encircle me;

they watch closely, keeping low to the ground

Like lions eager for prey,

like a young lion lurking in ambush.

God's servant would be silent 

before His accusers

Jesus Accused and is Silent

 Isaiah 53:6-8

. . . But the LORD laid upon him

the guilt of us all.

Though harshly treated, he submitted

and did not open his mouth;

Like a lamb led to slaughter

or a sheep silent before shearers,

he did not open his mouth.

Seized and condemned, he was taken away.

Who would have thought any more of his destiny?

For he was cut off from the land of the living,

struck for the sins of his people.

The Messiah would be rejected

Isaiah 53:3

He was spurned and avoided by men,a man of suffering, knowing pain,

Like one from whom you turn your face, spurned, and we held him in no esteem.

Psalm 118:22-23

The stone the builders rejected

has become the cornerstone.

By the LORD has this been done;

it is wonderful in our eyes.

Jesus Beaten and Mocked

Isaiah 52:13-15

See, my servant shall prosper,

he shall be raised high and greatly exalted.

Even as many were amazed at him—

so marred were his features,

beyond that of mortals

his appearance, beyond that of human beings—

So shall he startle many nations,

kings shall stand speechless;

For those who have not been told shall see,

those who have not heard shall ponder it.

Christ is Mocked

Isaiah 50:4b-7

The Lord God opens my ear that I may hear;  And I have not rebelled, Have not turned back.

I gave my back to those who beat me, My cheeks to those who plucked my beard;

My face I did not shield from buffets and spitting.

The Lord God is my help,

Therefore I am not disgraced;

I have set my face like flint,

Knowing that I shall not be put to shame.

Psalm 22:7-8 

But I am a worm, not a man,

scorned by men, despised by the people.

All who see me mock me;

they curl their lips and jeer;

they shake their heads at me:

Jesus Stripped of His Clothing

Micah 1:8 

For this I will lament and wail,

go barefoot and naked; . . .

1 Samuel 19:24 

Then he, too, stripped himself of his garments

God's servant would die for our sins

Isaiah 53:3-6

He was spurned and avoided 

by men,

a man of suffering, 

knowing pain,

Like one from whom you turn your face,

spurned, and we held 

him in no esteem.

Yet it was our pain that he bore,

our sufferings he endured.

We thought of him as stricken,

struck down by God* and afflicted,

But he was pierced for our sins,

crushed for our iniquity.

He bore the punishment that makes us whole,

by his wounds we were healed.

We had all gone astray like sheep,

all following our own way;

But the LORD laid upon him

the guilt of us all.

Foreshadowing the Crucifixion of Jesus

Christ's Crucifixion

Psalm 21  

[2] My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?

Why so far from my call for help,

from my cries of anguish?

[7] But I am a worm, not a man, scorned by men, despised by the people.

[9]“He relied on the LORD—let him deliver him;

if he loves him, let him rescue him.”

Crucifixion of Jesus Christ

[15] Like water my life drains away;

all my bones are disjointed.

My heart has become like wax,

it melts away within me.

[16] As dry as a potsherd is my throat;

my tongue cleaves to my palate;

you lay me in the dust of death.

[17] Dogs surround me;

a pack of evildoers closes in on me.

They have pierced my hands 

and my feet

[18] I can count all my bones.

They stare at me and gloat;

Psalm 69:21-22

Insult has broken my heart, and I despair;

I looked for compassion, but there was none,

for comforters, but found none.

Instead they gave me poison for my food;

and for my thirst they gave me vinegar.

Christ's Death -- Darkness at Noon

Amos 8:9

On that day—oracle of the Lord GOD—

I will make the sun set at midday

and in broad daylight cover the land with darkness.

Psalm 34:21

He watches over all his bones;

not one of them shall be broken.

Casting Lots for His Garments

Casting Lots for Christ's clothing

Psalm 22:18 - 

they will divide His garments among them 

God's servant would be 

"numbered with the transgressors"

Isaiah 53:11-12

11] Because his soul hath laboured, he shall see and be filled: by his knowledge shall this my just servant justify many, and he shall bear their iniquities. [12] Therefore will I distribute to him very many, and he shall divide the spoils of the strong, because he hath delivered his soul unto death, and was reputed with the wicked: and he hath borne the sins of many, and hath prayed for the transgressors.

Jesus' Side Pierced with the Spear

Christ Pierced by a Lance

Zachariah 12:10 

I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants 

of Jerusalem a spirit of mercy and supplication, 

so that when they look on him 

whom they have thrust through,*

they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, 

and they will grieve for him as one grieves over a firstborn. 

God's servant would be buried 

Isaiah 53:9

He was given a grave among the wicked,

a burial place with evildoers,

Though he had done no wrong,

nor was deceit found in his mouth

Three Days in the Tomb

Jonah 2:1

But the LORD sent a great fish to swallow Jonah, and he remained in the belly of the fish three days and three nights three nights. 

The days in the belly of the whale foreshadows Jesus' death and rising on the third day.

Prophecy Christ's Resurrection

Christ's Resurrection

Psalm 16:10

For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol,

nor let your devout one see the pit

 Psalm 30:4

LORD, you brought my soul up from Sheol;

you let me live, from going down to the pit. 

Psalm 41:11-12

But you, LORD, take note of me to raise me up

that I may repay them.”

By this I will know you are pleased with me,

that my enemy no longer shouts in triumph over me.

Noel-coypel-the-resurrection-of-christ-1700

Psalm 118:17-18

I shall not die but live

and declare the deeds of the LORD.

The LORD chastised me harshly,

but did not hand me over to death.

Hosea 6:2 

He will revive us after two days;

on the third day* he will raise us up,

to live in his presence.

Psalm 40:2-4

Surely, I wait for the LORD;

who bends down to me and hears my cry,

Draws me up from the pit of destruction,

out of the muddy clay,

Sets my feet upon rock,

steadies my steps,

And puts a new song in my mouth,

a hymn to our God.

Many shall look on in fear

and they shall trust in the LORD.

Psalm 68:21

Our God is a God who saves;

escape from death is the LORD God’s.

Job 19:25

As for me, I know that my vindicator lives,

and that he will at last stand forth upon the dust.

Isaiah 53:10

But it was the LORD’s will to crush him with pain.

By making his life as a reparation offering,

he shall see his offspring, shall lengthen his days,

and the LORD’s will shall be accomplished through him.

Christ's Ascension

Christ's Ascenstion

Hosea 6:2 

After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight

Psalms 68:2-5

May God arise;

may his enemies be scattered;

may those who hate him flee before him.a

As the smoke is dispersed, disperse them;

as wax is melted by fire,

so may the wicked perish before God.b

Then the just will be glad;

they will rejoice before God;

they will celebrate with great joy.

Sing to God, praise his name;

exalt the rider of the clouds.*

Rejoice before him

whose name is the LORD.

***"Who ascends upon the west: Super occasum. St. Gregory understands it of Christ, who after his going down, like the sun, in the west, by his passion and death, ascended more glorious, and carried all before him. St. Jerome renders it, who ascends or comes  up, through the deserts"

Psalm 68:19 

You went up to its lofty height;

you took captives, received slaves as tribute,

even rebels, for the LORD God to dwell.