Psalm 38:1
the spiritual high-jump
Unto the end, for Idithun himself, a canticle of David. (Psalm 38:1 DR)
If we hope to progress in the spiritual life, it is never enough to simply avoid doing evil, but to even avoid the occasion of evil. Virtue must of course be added on to this, but often pursuing virtue is a means of avoiding the occasions of sins. For example, a person tempted to sloth by inordinate use of entertainment or something similar might endeavor to spend some of that time in prayer, so that when tempted to sloth, instead of just avoiding the activity he might replace it with prayer and this avoid the occasion of sin and engage in a virtuous act. Similarly someone tempted to anger might also turn to prayer when the occasion of anger arises, or perhaps to do some good act for the object of his anger.
The Psalmist begins this penitential Psalm with another inscription for Idithun, which we have seen before. The historical occasion of the Psalm is (according to St. Alphonsus Liguori) when king David was fleeing Jerusalem during the attempted coup by his son Absalom and man of king Saul’s house named Semei curses him (cf. 2 Samuel 16:5-8). Although David’s men want to kill the man for the insults, David stays their hand, reasoning that perhaps God told Semei to curse him, and if he will bear them manfully perhaps God will reward him in the future.
The inscription to Idithun historically indicates that this Psalm was composed specifically for Idithun to perform, as Idithun was one of king David’s chosen musicians (cf. 1 Chronicles 16:41-42). In most commentaries (and the breviary) this passage is skipped over, but St. Augustine tends to comment upon them as he sees even in them a mystical or theological meaning.
Idithun, as we have seen, as it was carried over from Hebrew (or potentially the Septuagint rendering) to Latin (so St. Augustine relates) takes on the meaning of “over-leaping them.” St. Augustine is likely drawing significance from this for a number of reasons.
Firstly, he perceives the scriptures as being intimately bound together, and thus even the superscriptions partake of the inspiration of Scripture.
Secondly, Idithun as a historical figure was appointed to sing and praise the Lord in the presence of the Lord (that is, the ark of the covenant in the tabernacle). St. Augustine begins his commentary on this passage by noting that this is what he and his hearers have just concluded doing:
The title of this Psalm, which we have just chanted and proposed to discuss, is, “On the end, for Idithun, a Psalm for David himself.” Here then we must look for, and must attend to, the words of a certain person who is called Idithun; and if each one of ourselves may be Idithun, in that which he sings he recognises himself, and hears himself speak. (St. Augustine, Expositions on the Psalms, 38, 1.)
He thus sees the chanting of the Psalms in the Office or in the Mass as essentially engaging in what the Psalm speaks of, which means there is an intrinsic connection between the Mass or the Office and the Scriptures in that the former situate themselves in the latter, as it were. Such a conception naturally leads him to consider not whether Idithun has any significance but rather precisely what significance it contains.
Thirdly, the use of the same term in other Psalms and portions of Scriptures causes him to consider how these various passages are related to each other and how they inform the interpretation.
This leaping-over of Idithun is not for St. Augustine an interesting piece of trivia but contains moral and spiritual significance. For if Idithun “leaps-over,” the natural question is what or who exactly is being leaped over?
Who then is this person “over-leaping them?” Or who those whom he has over-leaped?...For there are some persons, yet clinging to the earth, yet bowed down to the ground, yet setting their hearts on what is below, yet placing their hopes in things that pass away, whom he who is called over-leaping them has over-leaped. (ibid.)
He immediately draws a moral and spiritual significance from the term, as those who leap-over are those who cast off all attachments to this world and do not let the pleasures of this life distract them from progresses in virtue and attaining blessedness. St. Paul uses similar language:
And therefore we also having so great a cloud of witnesses over our head, laying aside every weight and sin which surrounds us, let us run by patience to the fight proposed to us: Looking on Jesus, the author and finisher of faith, who having joy set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and now sitteth on the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:1-2 DR)
St. Augustine may very well have this passage in the background of his mind, for the superscription of this Psalm is also for the end, which he always interprets as being of Christ. And since St. Paul speaks of our Lord as the author and finisher of the faith and the example of one who “leaps-over,” as it were, it is natural for St. Augustine to weave all these allusions together into his interpretation.
But even other instances of Idithun inform this understanding, for another reference in the Psalms is in the gradual Psalms or the Psalms of Ascent (cf. Psalm 76). In that Psalm the singers (of which Idithun is one) ascend by steps, which he notes in the Latin is ambiguous, in that the term does not necessarily speak of ascent or descent but more generally of steps, leaving it open as to whether one is ascending or descending. However, in that passage he interprets Idithun as providing the necessary clarification and disambiguating steps so that it is clear that Idithun is one who ascends. The same is true here:
Just then as there the singer is some one who is “ascending,” so here is it some one who is over-leaping....Let this Idithun come still to us, let him over-leap those whose delight is in things below, and take delight in these things, and let him rejoice in the Word of the Lord; in the delight of the law of the Most High... (St. Augustine, Expositions on the Psalms, 38, 2.)
Dante captures the need for over-leaping in his Purgatorio, for we must remove all attachments of this world and the delights thereof so that God may be manifest to us:
“What is this, ye laggard spirits
What negligence, what standing still is this ?
Run to the mountain to strip off the slough,
That lets not God be manifest to you.” (Dante, Purgatorio, Canto II)
For this animation I found a nice image of this guy leaping and thought I’d keep this one fairly literal. In After Effects I added some slight wiggle hold to him and then brought in a colorful background texture and drew some masks and applied Stretch to it to create the movement. I duplicated this layer and did the same thing at different angles to create the effect, and finally added in some text and background textures and color correction to finish off the project.
Enjoy.
Unto the end, for Idithun himself, a canticle of David.
(Psalm 38:1 DR)
View a higher quality version of this gif here: