Rivista Antonianum
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SUMMARY: Structured in two unequal parts, Psalm 112 confronts the problem of retribution in accordance with the classic formula: the just prosper, the impious perish. The first part is made up of two parallel strophe: in the first (vv.1-4), the formulation is positive; in the second (vv.5-8), the formulation is negative, but the meaning is highly positive. The second part (vv.9-10), composed of only two antithetical verses, first of all describes the blessed destiny of the just (v. 9), and then the ruin of the impious (v. 10).The « blessed-happiness » of the just is linked to faithfulness to the code of the alliance. Of the two commandments of love: « You will love the Lord your God with all your heart... » (Dt.6:5), « You will love your neighbour as yourself» (Lev.19:18), Psalm 112, in its own « Ten Words », dwells on the second, that is on love towards one's neighbour. A love which postulates the prote­ction of the rights of the weaker and helpless in all social categories. The psalm declares blessed those « who fear the Lord ». The fear of the Lord, which has nothing terrifying about it, is defined on the basis of some parallel terms such as: to love, to comply, to walk to serve, to listen, etc. He who fears the Lord and remains faithful to the alliance will receive glory as an inheritance, while the impious will go to his ruin, that is, will come up against a premature death. Whatever is af­firmed of the just person is denied to the impious person and vice versa.The topical interest of the psalm, beyond that of the argument itself which is a summons back to faithfulness to the « law of goodness » in social relationships and to the value of almsgiving, lies above all in the use which St. Paul has made of it in 2 Cor. 9:9. Using the testimony of Psalm 112 as a basis, he underlines the equality which the life of faith requires not only on the spiritual, but also on the material level.