Their Recompense in Death and After Death (Verses 21–22)

Ps. 33:21. The Lord keeps all their bones; not one of them will be broken.

With the preceding verse the holy Prophet has transported the righteous man—and our attention along with him—into the other life, where he is properly delivered from all sorrows. But the righteous pass into blessed eternity in soul; the question arises, what is to be said of their bodies? The holy Prophet answers: the Lord keeps all their bones; not one of them will be broken. Not a single part of their bodily constitution is lost; all will appear in due time whole and unbroken, specifically at the future restoration of all things. These words suggest the thought of the glory of the future resurrection, as do the words of the Lord: not a hair of your head will perish (Lk. 21:18). The bones of the righteous are called unbroken and kept in the sense that, whatever their fate in time, the hour will come when they will all appear whole and glorious. Though the bones and all the members of the righteous may be reduced to dust, or devoured by beasts, or cast into the sea, or destroyed by fire; yet the Lord keeps them all in the depths of His providence, and not one of them will perish forever. All will rise on the day of resurrection whole and glorified (Irenaeus, Archbishop of Pskov).

With certain qualifications, however, this verse may also be understood literally—namely: there were holy righteous ones whose entire bodily constitution God preserved unharmed, allowing not a single part of it to be broken. The holy Prophet here generalizes what is particular or outstanding, and what is true of some he attributes to all; for even for all, without violating the laws of His justice, the Lord could have done the same that He did for some. And that this has truly occurred—how many examples there are of it both in the word of God and in the lives of the saints, especially the martyrs. The youths He did not burn in the furnace; many martyrs were left untouched by the savage beasts sent against them, while the bodies of others, lifeless, were cast before the beasts yet guarded as by sentinels; of others still the sea did not swallow, iron did not take hold, but itself broke to pieces, and so on. All such examples may be brought to mind when one reads: the Lord keeps all their bones.

Yet another still more important thought is fitting here—namely, concerning the incorruptibility of the holy relics. We have everywhere the example of how the bodies of the saints, and especially their bones, remain untouched by the destructive power of decay that reigns in the present order of things. In Russia whole bodies appear incorrupt; in the East their bones for the most part appear in such a state that their aspect is capable of assuring every person that decay has not touched them. Examples of the preservation of the bones of righteous people incorrupt, “with miracle-working power, also existed in the Old Testament.” Were it not such examples that the holy Prophet had in mind in this verse?

One cannot, however, consider out of place the thinking of those who, taking these words in a figurative sense, pass from them to the inner man’s moral dispositions and the arrangement of the righteous person’s heart. In this sense this verse will continue the thought of the preceding one. There it was said that the Lord delivers the righteous from all sorrows by giving them strength to stand firm in their righteousness despite all the pressure of sorrows. Here the same thing is expressed under the image of keeping the bones unbroken. That is: however great the sorrows may be, the inner structure of the righteous remains unbroken thereby. They yield neither to faintheartedness nor to complaint nor to wavering in faith and hope (Anthimus, Patriarch of Jerusalem).

Here are thoughts in this vein from Saint Basil the Great!

“Should one stop here—that is, at the words: the Lord keeps all their bones — at the bore expression and think that bodily bones, those supports of the flesh, will not be broken among the righteous? But how to reconcile this with the sufferings of the martyrs? Persecutors shattered the shins of some, and repeatedly pierced the hands and heads of others with nails. Yet who would deny that those who died in martyrdom were more righteous than all others?

Is it not better to understand this of the inner man? Sometimes the word ‘man’ is spoken, yet the soul and mind of man is meant; and the powers of the soul are named similarly to the parts of the body. For example, the eyes of the wise man are in his head (Eccl. 2:14), which signifies foresight and circumspection. On this basis, within the inner man one can conceive of certain bones, which sustain the connection and orderliness among the powers of the soul. The Lord keeps the bones of the righteous, that is, He keeps the inner good disposition of their powers amid all the destructive action of outward circumstances of sorrow. For this reason they become capable of lifting praise to God from the depths of the soul, as the Prophet says in another place: all my bones, that is, all the powers of my soul, will say: O Lord, who is like You? (Ps. 34:10).”

These words of Blessed Augustine agree with this: “this—that is, the Lord keeps all their bones — must not be understood carnally. Bones signify the firmness of the faithful. As bones constitute the stronghold of the body, so the stronghold of the Christian’s heart is unshakeable faith. Patience in faith—this is the inner bones, this is what cannot be broken. In our Lord Jesus Christ the non-breaking of bones was fulfilled literally. God preserved the bones of His Son, and not one of them was broken, just as it was commanded concerning the lamb that prefigured Him (Ex. 12:46). Regarding the righteous, however, this promise is fulfilled spiritually. Therefore when we see that some persecutor so tortures a saint that his bones are broken, let us not say: surely he is not righteous, since the Lord promised the righteous to keep their bones so that not one of them would be broken. Do you wish to be assured that different bones are meant here—precisely those which I called the firmness of faith, that is, patience and steadfastness in suffering, those indestructible spiritual bones—then listen, and in the circumstances of the Lord’s suffering you will see the truth of what I say. The crucified Lord hangs in the midst: on either side two robbers. One of these robbers blasphemed the Lord, and the other believed in Him; one, therefore, was to be condemned, the other justified, to whom the Lord said: today you will be with Me in paradise (Lk. 23:43). But the soldiers came and did not break the bones of the Lord, while they broke the shins of the robbers (Jn 19:32). Thus the bones were broken both of the robber who blasphemed and of the one who believed. Where then is what was said: the Lord keeps all their bones, not one of them will be broken? Could the Lord not have preserved all the bones of the one to whom He said: today you will be with Me in paradise? The answer is given to you: the Lord preserved his bones, for the firmness of his faith was not broken by those blows by which his shins were broken.”

Ps. 33:22. The death of sinners is dreadful, and those who hate the righteous will err.

Since the Prophet’s intention is to portray the fruits of righteousness and the fear of God, he mentions here the lot of sinners—as he mentioned earlier those who are rich in self-confidence—only in order that through this, by way of contrast, he may set the lot of the righteous in a stronger light. Where then is the contrast to what is said in this verse? It is either in the preceding two verses, or in the following final verse. In the first case, the thought given is: the Lord delivers the righteous from sorrows by leading them unharmed through the fire and water of sorrows, bringing their souls through the shadow of death into paradise, while keeping their bodies incorrupt; the sinners, by contrast, though they do not suffer in life, yet when death comes their souls go to hell, their bodies are given over to corruption, and all their proud hopes are scattered and put to shame—dreadful is their death and their lot after death. In the second case, the thought given is: the death of sinners is dreadful because dark powers seize their souls and cast them into hell, whereby their hopes are shown to have been erroneous; whereas the souls of God’s servants, God-fearing righteous ones, the Lord keeps at their departure from the body in such a way that the fearful hordes of impure forces dare not touch them, and thereby He vindicates that those who hope in Him hope aright. In both cases the thought is one and the same.

To place this verse in contrast with the last verse is perhaps more accurate, because the second half-lines of both are in evident correspondence. In this verse it says: those who hate the righteous will err, and in the following one: none who hope in Him will err. They illuminate each other and shed light for clarifying the full verses.

The death of sinners is dreadful, because in the hour of death they will see with horror that all is lost and they have perished: there is no hope at all of mending their lot. That on which they leaned is crumbling, and there is no other support: God is angered; conscience gnaws, and the examiners press close. The state after death is still more dreadful: there is fulfilled in deed what the expectation of it terrified them with in the hour of death. The souls of the sinful are immediately seized by dark forces and led to places of darkness and preliminary torments, in expectation of the final determination of their bitter lot at the Last Judgment.

“There is a death of the righteous,” says Saint Basil the Great, “but it is not dreadful, it is good. Those who have died with Christ have partaken of a good portion and, having died to sin, have died a good and saving death. Meanwhile the death of sinners is dreadful. For after death, torment overtakes them, as it overtook the rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and feasted brilliantly every day (Lk. 16:19). Those who make bad use of their body and turn it into a servant of every sin prepare for themselves a dreadful death.”

Blessed Augustine develops the same thought from another side: “by the words: the death of sinners is dreadful — the Lord instructed those who say: such-and-such a person died badly, was eaten by beasts; he was not righteous and perished miserably. He would not have perished so, if he had been righteous. So then, in your view, the person who dies peacefully in his own bed, in his own home, is righteous? But are you not saying yourself: I know his sins and iniquities, although he died peacefully among his family and acquaintances? So he is a sinner, though he died, to outward appearance, peacefully; and so again his death, peaceful in appearance, must be dreadful as the death of a sinner. What death appears good to you is dreadful, if you look at what is hidden. You see the outward—how peacefully he lies on his bed; but do you see the hidden—how he is cast into hell? Learn from the Gospel what is the dreadful death of sinners. Behold two people: a rich man clothed in purple and fine linen who feasts brilliantly every day, and a certain poor man lying at his gates covered with sores — dogs lick his wounds, and he desires to be fed from the crumbs falling from the rich man’s table. But death comes—and the lot of both is changed. The poor man dies—and he was righteous—and Angels carry his soul to Abraham’s bosom; yet his dead body lay at the rich man’s gates, and there was no one to bury him. The rich man also dies; and there is no need to say what the burial of one was like who was clothed in purple and fine linen! But look, where is his soul? Being in Hades in torments, he desired that a drop of water from the finger of the despised poor man might fall upon his tongue burning in fire—and he did not receive what he desired (Lk. 16:19–25). Understand now what is the dreadful death of sinners. Do not stop at what is visible alone. Look into what is invisible, and the eye of your faith will behold a soul burning in torments, to whom the magnificent funeral with which the vanity of the living imagined it was honoring the dead body rendered not the slightest assistance. By the state of the soul after death must one judge whether a death is dreadful or good—not by the honors or dishonor shown to dead bodies as seen among people.” Under the dreadful death of sinners, according to Saint Athanasius, one must understand death of the soul, after which eternal fire, outer darkness, the undying worm, weeping and gnashing of teeth will follow: for sinners await gehenna and darkness.

Those who hate the righteous will err. What is the connection of this half-line with the preceding one—or of the erroneousness of those who hate the righteous with the dreadfulness of their death, of sinners? It is in the word: will err — which means: they will be mistaken in their calculations and expectations; they will see that they were mistaken. This error is revealed precisely in the hour of death, which is preeminently what makes it dreadful for sinners. Those who hate the righteous — every righteous person, that is, and consequently the righteous in general—look down upon them as on superstitious people, backward people who do not know how to live; they turn away from them, persecute them, pushing them off the road when they happen to meet them, and in doing so are confident that they are gaining the upper hand, winning. But death comes and opens their eyes. They then see that their calculations have not been justified, that they have not gained but have lost everything—and they die a dreadful death (Irenaeus, Archbishop of Pskov). Therefore: those who hate the righteous will err — means that those who afflict, hate, and persecute a righteous man, who, while oppressing, tormenting, and killing the innocent, consider themselves victors as though gaining some great profit thereby, will perish and will not inherit eternal life—and one day in futile repentance will say: we have strayed from the path of truth, we have walked in the ways of iniquity, and we have not known the path of the Lord (Wis. 5:6–7).

In the hatred toward the righteous there is hidden a hatred toward their righteousness, toward the principles and convictions that animate them. Such is the thought of Saint Basil the Great: “they hate the righteous because they themselves live in sins, while the righteous man’s way of life, like the straightness of a rule, exposes them. Unable to bear exposure, they turn with enmity toward the righteous; and harboring this unrighteous hatred, they load themselves with new sins. Many pretexts will be found for sinners to hate the righteous; but is not the chief one that the righteous man by his very appearance and presence exposes sinners? They hate the one who reproves in the gate and abhor the one who speaks uprightly (Am. 5:10).” In our time, the principles or rules of righteousness are Christian ones. To display open hatred toward those who hold to these principles is now considered not altogether fitting; yet one’s ill-will toward the spirit and demands of Christianity is no longer concealed, and there are open attacks upon them. One person, looking down upon them from above, delivers his condescending opinion of them, which is however no less offensive than direct disapproval. And death will open the eyes of all such. Then they too will say: we have strayed from the path of truth; but it will already be too late and without benefit.

Blessed Augustine under “the righteous” here understands the One who justifies the ungodly (Rom. 4:5) and Who is the propitiation for our sins (1Jn 2:2), that is, our Lord Jesus Christ the Saviour. Those who hate this Righteous One, he says, must inevitably have a dreadful death, for they die in their sins, unreconciled to God by faith in the Lord who cleanses from sins. In the time of Blessed Augustine there were still not a few pagans who did not love the Lord and the holy faith in Him. Therefore, expounding the psalm, he found it very appropriate to remind believers that they had chosen the better part, having believed and come to love the Lord; whereas those who turn away from Him will die a dreadful death, being laden with sins which by all their effort they could not, of course, avoid, and the cleansing from which is found in faith in the Lord’s death on the cross and nothing else. Is it not also appropriate now to remind many self-righteous people who, limiting themselves to the rules of outward propriety and resting on such righteousness, do not think about the other conditions of justification and promise themselves entry into the Lord’s paradise without any relation to the Lord—is it not appropriate to remind such people: see whether the foundation of your righteousness is solid, which you wish to claim for yourselves while rejecting justification in the Lord Jesus Christ? Death will come—the test of life; one would not wish to be compelled to confess: alas, we have not known the path of the Lord! — and to confess it without benefit, only to increase one’s own terror.