Melito of Sardis (ca. 100-180)

 

David and the Psalms in Melito of Sardis

The text I am using for this research is:

Melito of Sardis.  On Pascha and Fragments.  Oxford Early Christian Texts.  Translated by Stuart George Hall.  Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1979.

Hall’s introduction does not give us any firm dates on the life of Melito, but does date On Pascha sometime between 169-177 AD narrowly, 161-180 AD more widely (p. xii).

On Pascha 

§58-59 (p33)

• “If you look carefully at the model, you will perceive him through the final outcome. Therefore, if you wish to see the mystery of the Lord, look at…David who is similarly persecuted”
• Editor footnotes 1 Sam 23-26 and 1 Clement 4:13

§61-62 (p. 33)

• “But the mystery of the Lord is proclaimed by the prophetic voice”
• “And David said”, quoting from Psalm 2:1-2
• Editor footnotes Acts 4:25-27; Justin’s 1 Apology 40.11; and Irenaues AH 3.12.5

§72 (p. 39)

• Quotes from Ps 35:12 (cf. 38:21) as part of a pastiche of quotes which predict the mistreatment and murder of Christ

§98 (p. 55)

• Gives an allusion to Psalm 18:14, seemingly saying that the Lord’s thundering out of heaven referred to in the psalm was fulfilled in the thundering which happened after the death of Christ

§69 (p37)

• “He is the Pascha of our salvation. It is he who in many endured many things: it is he that was…in David persecuted”

The Fragments

Fragment 3

• In listing the books of the Old Testament, Melito says of the Psalms, “of Psalms, David”, indicating that the attribution the of Psalms is to David

Fragment 5

• This fragment comes from Origen’s Selecta in Psalmos, and comments on Psalm 3. It is unsure which work of Melito’s it comes from. Origen says that he is presenting Melito’s view concerning Absalom in Psalm 3.
• “Melito of Asia says that he [Absalom] is a model of the devil who rebelled against the kingdom of Christ. Having simply mentioned this, he does not add any further detail on the passage.” (69)

Fragment 15

• In line 5 (p. 82), the Word of God is said to be “begotten before the morning star,” taken from Psalm 110
• In lines 19 and 27 we read, “It is he [the Word]…who in David and in the prophets predicted his sufferings.”

New Fragment II

• In §3, “And so from the beginning the Word suffered with all the just, and will be with (them) forever…with David he was in flight.” (p. 87)