Clement did not write a commentary on the Psalms, but made ample use of the Psalms throughout his other works. Below is a compiled list of psalm references in his works. This came out of dissertation research on the use of the Psalms in the early church. I cannot claim it is exhaustive, but it's likely pretty close to being exhaustive. The notes are geared towards how Clement referred to psalm authorship and understood the speaker in the Psalms.
References to the Psalms in Clement of Alexandria
Exhortation to the Heathen
·
I (378) – Ps 96:1 –
reference to the ‘new, Levitical song’
·
I – Ps 110:3 – the song of
salvation is not new, but has been around
·
IV (412) – Ps 116:5; 33:6;
8:3 – texts speaking of idols and of God’s creation
·
VIII (426) – Ps 2:10-12;
4:2
o
“According to that blessed
psalmist David” (2:10-12)
o
“But already the Lord, in
His surpassing pity, has inspired the song of salvation, sounding like a battle
march” (4:2) – the ‘vanity’ of the verse is answered with Romans 1 and
identified as idolatry
·
IX (428) – Ps 110:3 (quoted
for its statement about Christ); 95:8-9; 95:9-11; 95:7
o
“If you wish to learn, the
Holy Spirit will show you” (Ps 95:9-11)
o
No mention of David
·
IX (429) – Ps 34:8, 11 – as
words of Scripture, no real help.
·
X (437) – Ps 24:1 –
theological statement, no help.
·
X (438) – Ps 58:4-5 –
theological statement, no help.
·
X (439) – Ps 58:4-5; 72:9;
62:8; 70:4 – theological affirmations, no help
·
XI (443) – Ps 19:10 (no
help); 22:22
o
Ps 22 as the Word “has been
promised to the Father” = the Word vowing to the Father = the Word as the ‘I’
·
XII (449) – Ps 82:6
o
The grace of “having become
righteous and holy and wise by Jesus Christ” is “indicated by the prophet, when
he says”
The Instructor
Book I
·
I (452) – Ps 73:1 –
“singing with the hymning prophecy”
·
II (455) – Ps 86:2-3 – no
help; theological reflection
·
V (460) – Ps 113:1
o
“Prophecy also agrees with
it. David accordingly says”
·
V (462) – Ps 5:6
o
“For instance, by David, He
[the Lord] says of the devil”
·
VI (466) – Ps 82:6 –
unclear, likely the Father speaking, but maybe Christ
·
VI (478) – Ps 19:10 –
referred to as ‘prophecy’, but of no real help
·
VII (484) – Ps 118:18; 2:9;
110:2; 23:4
o
Ps 118:18 quoted as “by
David”
o
Ps 2:9 quoted as “by the
same prophet He says”
o
Ps 110:2 quoted as “He says
by another prophet”
o
Ps 23:4 quoted as “said
someone else”
o
Even though these
quotations are said to be by other people, is this a rhetorical device or
actual statements about authorship?
·
VIII (485) – Ps 103:14
o
“The prophet prays in these
words” = the words of the prophet
·
VIII (490) – Ps 8:4; 2:4;
11:5; 103:19
o
“For the Holy Spirit has
sung”
·
IX (494) – Ps 141:5 –
theological statement, no help
·
IX (495) – Ps 18:43-45
o
“Accusation is censure of
wrong-doers. This mode of instruction He
employs by David, when He says”
·
IX (498) – Ps 78:8, 10,
32-35, 38; Ps 89:14
o
Ps 78 as “David also says
of them” and “He therefore tells by David the most manifest cause of the
threatening”
o
Ps 89 as “Wherefore
David—that is, the Spirit by him—embracing them both, sings of God Himself”
·
X (500) – Ps 1:1-2; 48:8
o
Ps 1:1-2 as “And He [the
Instructor] counsels what is salutary: for counsel has for its end, choosing or
refusing a certain course; as He does by David, when He says”
o
Ps 48:8 as “Such was that
which David said when he prophesied”
·
X (501) – Ps 1:1-4
o
“He saith by David”
o
“By showing the punishment
of sinners, and their easy dispersion, and carrying off by the wind, the
Instructor dissuades from crime by means of punishment; and by holding up the
merited penalty, shows the benignity of His beneficence in the most skillful
way, in order that we may possess and enjoy its blessings.”
· XIII (507) – Ps 49:12, 20 – no help.
Book II
·
IV (532) – Ps 150:3, 5
o
“The Spirit, distinguishing
from such revelry the divine service, sings”
o
Offers an allegorical
reading of the psalm
§
The sound of the trumpet
raises the dead
§
The tongue is the psaltery
of the Lord
§
The lyre is the mouth
struck by the Spirit
§
Timbrel/dance refers to the
Church meditating on the resurrection of the dead in the resounding skin
§
Chords and organ = our
body, its nerves are the strings, when struck by the Spirit it gives forth
human voices
§
Cymbal = the tongue is the
cymbal of the mouth
·
IV (533) – Ps 33:1-3
o
“says the prophecy”
·
IV (534) – Ps 149:1-4 – no
real help; theologizing on music tones
·
VIII (543) – Ps 19:4; 132
o
Both verses refer to the
apostles
o
“And if I seem not to
insist too much, the feet of the Lord which were anointed are the apostles,
having, according to prophecy, received the fragrant unction of the Holy
Spirit. Those, therefore, who travelled
over the world and preached the Gospel, are figuratively called the feet of the
Lord, of whom also the Holy Spirit foretells in the psalm.”
·
VIII (545) – Ps 45:7-8
o
“Wherefore also the Lord
Himself [Christ] is anointed with an ointment, as is mentioned by David.”
·
XI (568) – Ps 104:2
o
“In such another robe the
Spirit arrayed the Lord through David, when he sang thus”
·
III (590) – Ps 133:2 – no
help
·
VI (597) – Ps 112:9 – no
help
·
XI (611) – Ps 133:2 – “Thus
the Psalmist, delighted with the hair of the beard, says”
·
XI (618) – Ps 1:1 – no help
·
XII (623) – Ps 34:15-16 –
no help
·
XII (624) – Ps 1:6 – no
help
·
XII (626) – Ps 51:17 – no
help
The Stromata (Miscellanies)
Book I
·
I (643) – Ps 51:7-12
o
Introduced as “And let each
of these, according to the blessed David, sing, giving thanks.”
o
The expectation is that
Christians would sing this when they assemble; so, they are able to take up Ps
51:7-12 as their own
·
VII (660) – Ps 118:19, 20 –
no help
·
X (666) – Ps 48:10, 11 – no
help
·
XXVII (726) – Ps 118:18 –
“for the prophet had said before” – good for describing the author of the
psalm, no help in persona.
·
VII (756) – Ps 111:10 – no
help; theological
·
XIII (771) – Ps 103:13;
126:5; 128:1; 49:16, 17; 5:7, 8 – “David writes”; but just theological truths
·
XIV (772) – Ps 7:9 – no
help; theological statement
·
XV (774) – Ps 32:1-2 – no
help
·
XV (774-775) – Ps 1
o
“David, too, and Moses
before David, show the knowledge of the three precepts in the following word”
o
Counsel of ungodly = “as
the fishes go down to the depths of darkness; for those which have not scales,
which Moses prohibits touching, feed at the bottom of the sea”
o
Way of sinners = “as those
who, while appearing to fear the Lord, commit sin, like the sow, for when
hungry it cries, and when full knows not its owner”
o
Chair of pestilence = “As
birds ready for prey. And Moses enjoined
not to eat the sow, nor the eagle, nor the hawk, nor the raven, nor any fish
without scales”
o
Alternatively
§
Counsel of ungodly = the
heathen
§
Way of sinners = Jewish
persuasion
§
Chair of pestilences =
heresies
o
Alternatively
§
First blessing = “Assigned
to those who had not followed wicked sentiments which revolt from God”
Second blessing = “Those who do not remain in the wide and broad road, whether
they be those who have been brought up in the law, or Gentiles who have
repented”
§
Chair of pestilences = “the
theatres and tribunals, or rather the compliance with wicked and deadly powers,
and complicity with their deeds”
·
XV (776) – Ps 108:8; 111:4
– no help
·
XIX (790) – Ps 112:9 – no
help
·
XX (798) – Ps 82:1, 6 – no
help
·
IV (823) – Ps 118:9
·
VI (831) – Ps 111:9
·
XII (844) – Ps 6:8
·
XVI (848) – Ps 50:7
·
XVII (849) – Ps 48:13, 21
·
III (865) – Ps 8:5 – no
help
·
V (874) – Ps 37:35-37;
62:4; 12:3-5 – no help
·
XI (893) – Ps 118:6 – no
help
·
XVII (905) – Ps 89:21;
51:1-4
o
Ps 89 quoted as God’s
choice of David
o
Ps 51 quoted, however, as
David’s prayer of confession even though his heart was after God’s
·
XVII (906) – Ps 51:6;
34:12-17; 32:10
o
All quoted as the Lord
speaking
·
XVIII (908) – Ps 50:14-15;
51:17
o
“Love permits not to sin;
but if it fall into any such case, by reason of interference of the adversary,
in imitation of David, it will sing”
·
XVIII (910) – Ps 1:3 – no
help
·
XXII (918) – Ps 139:7-10;
62:12; 2:8
o
Ps 139 and 62 are no help
o
Of 2:8 he says, “Now, in
the person of God it is said to the Lord…teaching Him to ask a truly regal
request—that is, the salvation of men without price, that we may inherit and
possess the Lord.”
·
XXIII (924) – Ps 82:6 – no
help; about Gnosticism
·
XXIV (925) – Ps 50:21; Ps
1:4 – no help; theological
·
XXVI (929) – Ps 39:12 – no
help
·
I (943) – Ps 22:26 – “For
it is written in David”; no help for persona, but a reference to the book of
Psalms as “David”
·
IV (951) – Ps 78:1-2 –
“Expressly then respecting all our Scripture, as if spoken in a parable, it is
written in the Psalms”
·
V (954) – Ps 1:1 – no help;
just about the Two Ways
·
VIII (965) – Ps 18:25, 26 –
no help
·
X (970) – Ps 51:6; Ps 19:2,
3 (no help)
o
On Ps 51:6, “Similarly
David sings”
·
X (971) – Ps 34:8 –
misreading ‘good’ for ‘Christ; no real help in any case
·
XI (976) – Ps 50:13
o
Not clear on the speaker of
Ps 50:13 [likely the prophet?], but also brings up Ps 51, “and what the Holy
Spirit by the prophet in the sequel forbids”
·
XII (979) – Ps 78:2
o
Understood as a prophecy
about Christ, how he would speak in miracles; so the speaking ‘I’ of the psalm
is Christ
o
“For prophecy says of Him”
·
XIII (982) – Ps 2:12 – no
real help
·
XIV (984) – Ps 36:5; 104:4
– of no real help
·
XIV (991) – Ps 3:5
o
“Was not this announced,
oracularly, of the Savior, by the Spirit, saying by David” = Ps 3:5
o
“For He not only
figuratively calls the resurrection of Christ rising from sleep; but to the
descent of the Lord into flesh he also applies the figurative sleep.”
·
XIV (999) – Ps 4:5 – says
that Menander paraphrases ‘Scripture’ in a poem
·
XIV (1006) – Ps 68:8 – says
that Aeschylus paraphrases the psalm
·
I (1018) – Ps 122:5, 9 –
“says David”
·
III (1037) – Ps 84:1 – no
help
·
VI (1047) – Ps 16:9-11;
9:15, 9, 11
o
Of Ps 16:9-11, “Again,
David expressly (or rather the Lord in the person of the sain, and the same
from the foundation of the world is each one who at different periods is saved,
and shall be saved by faith) says”
o
Of Ps 9, “And David says” –
theological things.
·
VI (1048) – Ps 11:7, 6 – no
help; theological statements
·
VII (1050) – Ps 102:9 –
“…not understanding what was spoken by David by way of confession”
·
VII (1051) – Ps 12:6 – no
help
·
VIII (1053) – Ps 119:125,
66; 147:20 (no help); 118:19-20 (no help)
o
Of Ps 119, “And does not
David…write” = David as speaker
·
VIII (1054) – Ps 29:3 (no
help); 9:17
o
Of 9:7, “And already
clearly David, bearing testimony to the truth, sings”
·
X (1061) – Ps 112:6, 7 –
“Now David cried” – theological statements
·
X (1062) – Ps 105:3, 4 –
“according to the prophet”
·
XI (1066) – Ps 45:9, 14 –
“Such David describes the Church”
·
XII (1069) – Ps 17:3-4 – no
help
·
XIV (1076) – Ps 15:1 –
“according to David”
·
XIV (1079) – Ps 50:21 –
quoting as from the sovereign God
·
XV (1080) – Ps 45:4; 18:11,
12
o
Of Ps 45, “writes David”
o
Of Ps 18, “To the point
David writes”
·
XVI (1092) – Ps 19:1 – no
help
·
XVI (1094) – Ps 90:9, 10;
118:24
o
Of Ps 90, “And the blessed
David delivers clearly to those who know the mystic account of seven and eight,
praising thus” = note: not Moses, but David
o
Of 118:24, “As David says”
·
XVII (1099) – Ps 133:2 – no
help
·
XVII (1102) – Ps 24:1 – no
help
·
I (1112) – Ps 119:2 – no
help
·
III (1119) – Ps 51:17, 19 –
no help
·
VII (1134) – Ps 119:164, 66
o
On 119, “…is evidently
presented by the prophet when he says”
·
VII (1138) – Ps 141:2 – no
help
·
X (1147) – Ps 24:3-6
o
“The first mode of the
Lord’s operation mentioned by us is an exhibition of the recompense resulting
from piety. Of the very great number of
testimonies that there are, I shall adduce one, thus summarily expressed by the
prophet David”
·
XII (1160) – Ps 19:9 – no
help
·
XIII (1162) – Ps 34:11 –
seems to think it is the voice of the Savior
·
XIII (1163) – Ps 48:12 – no
help
·
XVIII (1181) – Ps 1:4 – no
help
Fragment on the Prodigal Son
·
(1230) Ps 45:5; Ps 65:4 –
of no help
·
(1231) Ps 32:1 – of no help
Salvation of the Rich Man (nothing)
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