Psalm 101
Verses 1 to 6
Commentary on Verse 6
Superscription
A prayer to the poor man, when he is woebegone, and pours out his petition in front of the Lord.
The poor man refers to Christ who explains His own poverty by saying: ‘Foxes have holes, and birds of heaven nests, but the Son of Man has not where to lay His head” Mat. 8:20).
1. Hear my prayer, Lord, and let my cry come unto you.
2. Hide not your face from me, in the day when I am in trouble, incline your ear to me; in the day
when I call answer me speedily.
3. For my days have vanished like smoke, and my bones have been scorched like firewood.
4. I have been struck like grass, and my heart has been withered; for I have forgotten to eat my bread.
5. By reason of the voice of my groaning my bone has cleaved to my flesh.
Verse 6
“I am like a pelican of the wilderness; I have become like a night-heron of the area of ruins”
The likeness of Christ to the pelican is expressed by the following verse of sepultural lament:
“Like a pelican wounded in the side, O Logos, you have enlivened your dead children by instilling in them vital springs.”
Respecting the pelican it is said that it builds its nest on a cliff for the safety of its young, but that the serpent directs its venom into the nest by a current of air and kills the young. When the pelican comes and sees its own young dead, it beats its sides with its wings, and sheds drops of vitalizing blood therefrom upon its young, which are thereby revived. Becoming like this pelican of the wilderness, , by means of life-giving blood shed from His side upon Adam and his descendants after they have been poisoned and killed by the serpent, Christ revived them.
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