Psalm 34:3

Bring out the sword, and shut up the way against them that persecute me: say to my soul: I am thy salvation. (Psalm 34:3 DR)

There is an old adage that the best defense is a good offense, by which we mean that in many fields of endeavor one is best protected when one is proactively engaged rather than in a position of reacting.

In American football, for example, the longer one is on offense the more chances one has to score and the fewer chances one provides to the opponent. Since the game is predicated on a definite amount of time, often game plans will be structured around not simply scoring as fast as possible but rather in controlling possession, which sometimes means lengthy drives that consist of safe, low yardage plays that eat away at the time.

In war, being on offense has the advantage of providing one the initiative in attack, which allows one to select the place and time of engagement. This idea is to force the enemy to react to the attack on the terms which one has engaged, which lowers the chances of them proactively attacking you. Purely defensive postures can only be ultimately successful if the offensive actions do not have sufficient strength or resources to force submission or destruction. In the ancient world sieges were meant to starve cities into submission, and for the besieged city the hope was to have sufficient resources stockpiled such that the length of the siege would exceed the cost the besieging enemy was willing or able to bear. But unless there were outside forces that could come to break the siege, it was a foregone conclusion that the siege would be successful if the enemy had sufficient resources and manpower.

As the Psalmist considers those who fight against him, he has described the arms and shield that the Lord has taken up on his behalf. He has pleaded with God to overthrow his enemies, which describes an offensive rather than defensive action, and now that offensive action is described.

He says to the Lord, “bring out the sword,” which in the Vulgate is effunde frameam. In earlier Latin the term framea was more specifically the spear of the Germanic tribes, as Tacitus explains:

Even iron is not plentiful with them, as we infer from the character of their weapons. But few use swords or long lances. They carry a spear (framea is their name for it), with a narrow and short head, but so sharp and easy to wield that the same weapon serves, according to circumstances, for close or distant conflict. (Tacitus, Germany and its Tribes, 6.)

St. Isidore in his Etymologies (18.6) describes framea as a sword that is sharp on both sides, and gets its name from ferramentum, which means an implement made of iron. In this manner every sword (gladius) is a framea, and St. Jerome’s Hebrew translation uses gladius rather than framea.

The word effunde literally means to pour out, but can also carry the sense of unbind or release, which in this case creates the picture of quickly unsheathing a sword from its scabbard. St. Jerome’s Hebrew translation brings this out with the use of evagina, or unsheathe:

He now speaks of offensive arms, and says, unsheath your sword, and draw it against my persecutors. The word “bring out,” in the Hebrew, signifies a prompt and ready pull, the sword being sharp and in good order, and, therefore, easily drawn, as having no rust on it… (St. Robert Bellarmine, A Commentary on the Book of the Psalms, 34, 3.)

Cassiodorus reads this as the soul of Christ being wielded as a sword against the devil:

In the divine Scriptures, framea (weapon) has many meanings, for it denotes sword, royal spear, pike and punishment. Here, however, He wishes us to understand it as His soul, which was truly a weapon against adversaries. Through His soul the sacrilegious cult of idols died out, the devil’s wickedness was overcome, the power of death itself was shattered and surrendered, though previously it ruled with free rein throughout the world. Already in another Psalm we read: Deliver my soul from the wicked one as Thy weapon. So bring out the weapon means “Enlarge my soul by granting the gift of Your fatherly love.” (Cassiodorus, Explanation of the Psalms, 34, 3. Ancient Christian Writers.)

And since the enemies of which the Psalmist speaks are the spiritual forces of darkness, Christ’s Death and Resurrection become as it were, the double-edged blade of this sword with which sin is defeated and its power broken forever. And as those who are brought into the Church are incorporated into His mystical Body, so they too participate in this victory over sin, for as the charity of God is poured forth into the soul by means of the Holy Ghost (cf. Romans 5:5), so that soul becomes a sword which is brought out or poured forth:

Wouldest thou not be ruled by the devil? Come to the light. And how shalt thou come to the Light, unless He pour forth the weapon, and deliver thee from thy enemies, and from them that persecute thee? How poureth He forth the weapon? for we have already heard what His weapon is; even the soul of the righteous. Let the righteous abound, so is the weapon poured forth, and the way is stopped against the enemies. For from the very pouring forth of the weapon the Apostle warning us to live righteously, in the sequel saith. That he that is of the contrary part, may have no evil thing to say of you [Titus 2:8]. The way is stopped against him, because what to say against the saints he cannot find. (St. Augustine, Expositions on the Psalms, 34, 4.)

We can see in both complementary explanations the offensive approach to the battle against sin. In the spiritual life it is not enough to merely avoid sin and resist temptation; we must be ever seeking after and increasing in virtue. As St. Augustine says, if you want to overcome the devil, you have to come to the Light, which entails that one’s righteousness and virtue abounds.

It is crucial to note that we see here how the offensive nature of this action is also the predicate of a good defense. It is this bringing out or pouring forth of the sword that will shut up the way against them that persecute me. The Vulgate has conclude, which, as the English cognate suggests, can mean to finish or conclude, but also to shut up or contain. Both meanings are perhaps present, depending on the reading of this Psalm. Cassiodorus reads it in the sense of conclusion or fulfilling:

Shut up, that is, “when My Passion and Your law which You foretold through the prophets are fulfilled.” He also asks that the Lord say to His soul: I am Thy salvation, because He knows that His words are fulfilled without difficulty. (Cassiodorus, Explanation of the Psalms, 34, 3. Ancient Christian Writers.)

In this manner it is the fulfilling of the law by Christ’s passion that serves to shut up the way of the persecutors. Our Lord’s death and resurrection breaks the power of sin and closes off its dominion forever since he has overcome sin and death. And because the righteousness of Christ is poured forth into the soul, that soul is then truly justified, and—as St. Augustine earlier noted—the way is shut up for the devil to bring accusations against those who belong to Christ and are united to Him in charity. It is in this context that St. Paul writes:

Who shall accuse against the elect of God? God that justifieth. Who is he that shall condemn? Christ Jesus that died, yea that is risen also again; who is at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who then shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation? or distress? or famine? or nakedness? or danger? or persecution? or the sword? (As it is written: For thy sake we are put to death all the day long. We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.) But in all these things we overcome, because of him that hath loved us. For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor might, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:33-39 DR)

This offensive action on the part of the Lord is constructed in the parallelism of this passage to become the source of the soul’s hope. These things are the means by which the soul is convinced that the Lord is his salvation. The Psalmist does not hope in his own strength of will or ingenuity or intelligence or even righteousness. Rather, it is God Who fights for us, and as we are united to Him in the Church we participate in His victory over temptation and sin. Our confidence is thus in the Lord as the arm that wields the sword on our behalf, both in His Passion and Death on the cross and through the grace poured forth into our souls by the Holy Ghost:

Wonderful reflection for a faithful soul, to feel that God stands there armed with sword, shield, and lance, for its protection and hears him speaking to the heart “I am thy salvation.” For, though the assurance of the apostle, “If God be for us, who is against us,” ought to give us the greatest security, however, the Holy Ghost, to provide more effectually for our weakness, describes God in arms for us; and, in all description of arms, fighting against both the visible and invisible enemies, not only of the Church in general, but of each of the faithful in particular. “Say to my soul: I am thy salvation.” God’s defense of us; and, therefore, Christ asks for his Church and his faithful, that they may be apprised of such defense; and thereby have the more confidence. (St. Robert Bellarmine, A Commentary on the Book of the Psalms, 34, 3.)

In the midst of the battles of this life against temptation and sin it can be difficult to see God as our salvation, which is why the Psalmist uses the language he does. He is not trying to conjure faith in God’s help out of his own soul but pleads for God to speak directly to his soul, and this by means of freedom from the persecutions of the enemy, which is sin and the devil. The grace of God which provides for escape from temptation is thus how God speaks to the soul that He is salvation, that He will shut up the way against sin, for He has overcome it, and provides grace for us to overcome as well:

And whence shall these be righteous? Or what say the enemies who persecute us? Those invisible enemies, what say they? Say they nothing? Most of all is it suggested to the human heart, by the enemies who invisibly fight against it, that God is not our helper; that so seeking other helps, we may be found weak, and be taken by those same enemies. This then is suggested. Against those voices ought we most of all to watch, which are shewn in another Psalm, Many are they that rise up against me. Many there be which say of my soul, there is no help for him in his God. Against these voices what is here said? Say unto my soul, I am thy Salvation. When thou hast said unto my soul, I am thy Salvation, then will it live righteously, so that I seek no helper beside Thee. (St. Augustine, Expositions on the Psalms, 34, 4.)

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Enjoy.

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