The Psalms and the Nativity

Περὶ τῆς τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἐπιδημίας, καὶ ὅτι μὲν Θεὸς ὢν ἐπιδημήσει, οὕτως φησὶν ἐν μὲν τῷ τεσσαρακοστῷ ἐννάτῳ ψαλμῷ· Ὁ Κύριος ἐμφανῶς ἥξει, ὁ Θεὸς ἡμῶν, καὶ οὐ παρασιωπήσεται· ἐν δὲ τῷ ἑκατοστῷ ἑπτακαιδεκάτῳ· Εὐλογημένος ὁ ἐρχόμενος ἐν ὀνόματι Κυρίου. Εὐλογήκαμεν ὑμᾶς ἐξ οἴκου Κυρίου· Θεὸς Κύριος, καὶ ἐπέφανεν ἡμῖν. Ὅτι δὲ οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ τοῦ Πατρὸς Λόγος, οὕτως ἐν τῷ ἑκατοστῷ ἕκτῳ ψάλλει· Ἀπέστειλε τὸν Λόγον αὐ τοῦ, καὶ ἰάσατο αὐτοὺς, καὶ ἐῤῥύσατο αὐτοὺς ἐκ τῶν διαφθορῶν αὐτῶν.  Ὁ γὰρ ἐρχόμενος Θεὸς αὐτός ἐστι καὶ Λόγος ἀποστελλόμενος. Τοῦτον δὲ τὸν Λόγον εἰδὼς ὄντα τὸν Υἱὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ, ᾄδει φωνὴν τοῦ Πατρὸς ἐν τῷ τεσσαρακοστῷ τετάρτῳ ψαλμῷ·  Ἐξηρεύξατο ἡ καρδία μου Λόγον ἀγαθόν· καὶ πάλιν ἐν τῷ ἑκα τοστῷ ἐννάτῳ· Ἐκ γαστρὸς πρὸ Ἑωσφόρου ἐξεγέννησά σε. Τί γὰρ ἂν ἄλλο τις εἴποι γέννημα τοῦ Πάτρος ἢ τὸν Λόγον καὶ τὴν Σοφίαν αὐτοῦ;  Τοῦτον εἰδυῖα ὄντα, ᾧ εἶπεν ὁ Πατήρ· Γενηθήτω φῶς, καὶ στερέωμα, καὶ τὰ πάντα, καὶ αὕτη ἡ βίβλος περιέχει λέγουσα· Τῷ Λόγῳ Κυρίου οἱ οὐρανοὶ ἐστερεώθησαν, καὶ τῷ πνεύματι τοῦ στόματος αὐτοῦ πᾶσα ἡ δύναμις αὐτῶν. Καὶ Χριστὸν δὲ αὐτὸν ἐρχόμενον οὐκ ἠγνόησεν· ἀλλὰ καὶ μάλιστα περὶ τούτου λέγει ἐν τῷ τεσσαρα κοστῷ τετάρτῳ ψαλμῷ· Ὁ θρόνος σου, ὁ Θεὸς, εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα τοῦ αἰῶνος· ῥάβδος εὐθύτητος ἡ ῥάβδος τῆς βασιλείας σου. Ἠγάπησας δικαιοσύ νην, καὶ ἐμίσησας ἀδικίαν· διὰ τοῦτο ἔχρισέ σε ὁ Θεὸς ὁ Θεός σου ἔλαιον ἀγαλλιάσεως παρὰ τοὺς μετόχους σου. Καὶ ἵνα μὴ κατὰ φαντασίαν τις ἔρχεσθαι αὐτὸν νομίσῃ, σημαίνει αὐτὸν ἄνθρωπον γενησόμενον, καὶ τοῦτον εἶναι δι' οὗ τὰ πάντα γέγονε, λέγων ἐν τῷ ὀγδοηκοστῷ ἕκτῳ· Μήτηρ Σιὼν ἐρεῖ· Ἄνθρωπος, καὶ ἄνθρωπος ἐγεννήθη ἐν αὐ τῇ, καὶ αὐτὸς ἐθεμελίωσεν αὐτὴν ὁ Ὕψιστος. Τοῦτο γὰρ ἴσον ἐστὶ τῷ εἰπεῖν· Καὶ Θεὸς ἦν ὁ Λόγος· πάντα δι' αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο, καὶ ὁ Λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο. Διὰ τοῦτο καὶ τὸ, ἐκ Παρθένου, γινώσκων οὐκ ἐσιώπησεν, ἀλλ' εὐθὺς ἔμφασίν τινα δίδωσιν ἐν τῷ τεσσαρακοστῷ τετάρτῳ ψαλμῷ, λέγων·  Ἄκου σον, θύγατερ, καὶ ἴδε, καὶ κλῖνον τὸ οὖς σου, καὶ ἐπιλάθου τοῦ λαοῦ σου καὶ τοῦ οἴκου τοῦ πατρός σου, ὅτι ἐπεθύμησεν ὁ βασιλεὺς τοῦ κάλλους σου. Τοῦτο γὰρ πάλιν ὅμοιόν ἐστι τοῦ λεγομένου παρὰ τοῦ Γαβριήλ·  Χαῖρε, κεχαριτωμένη, ὁ Κύριος μετὰ σοῦ. Καὶ γὰρ εἰρηκὼς αὐτὸν Χριστὸν, εὐθὺς καὶ τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην γένεσιν ἐκ τῆς Παρθένου ἐδήλωσε, λέγων· Ἄκουσον, θύγατερ. Ἰδὲ ὁ μὲν Γαβριὴλ ἐξ ὀνόματος καλεῖ Μαρίαν, ξένος ὢν αὐτῆς κατὰ τὴν γένεσιν·ὁ δὲ Δαβὶδ ἐκ τοῦ σπέρματος αὑτοῦ τυγχάνουσαν αὐτὴν εἰκότως θυγατέρα προσφωνεῖ ταύτην. Ἅγιος Ἀθανάσιος Ἀλεξανδρείας, προς Μαρκελλινον Εις Την Ἑρμηνειαν Των Ψαλμων

Concerning the advent of the Saviour and that God should dwell among us, the Psalmist says in the forty ninth Psalm, 'The Lord shall come openly, our God, and He shall not be silent.'1 and in the hundred and seventeenth Psalm he says: 'Blessed is he that comes in the Name of the Lord! We have blessed you from the House of the Lord. God is the Lord, and He has shone upon us.'2 And that He who comes is Himself the Father's Word in the hundred and sixth Psalm he sings, 'He sent His Word and healed them, and rescued them out of all their distresses.'3 For the God who comes is this same Word sent, and of this Word whom he knows to be the Son of God, the voice of the Father, he sings again in the forty fourth Psalm, 'Comes forth from my heart a good Word.'4 And also in the hundred and ninth psalm: 'Out of the womb, before the down, have I begotten You.'5 Who else might be called offspring of the Father but His own Word and Wisdom? And he, who knows that it was through Him that the Father said, 'Let there be light and a firmament and all things,' says again 'By the Word of the Lord the heavens were established, and by the breath of His mouth all the power of them.'6 And not being ignorant of the coming of Christ, he makes speaks of it foremost in the forty fourth psalm: 'Your throne, O God, is for ever and ever, a scepter of justice is the sceptre of Thy kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness, therefore God, even your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows.'7 Further, lest any one should think His coming was in appearance only, in the eighty sixth Psalm he shows that He who was to come should be as man and at the same time be the one through whom all things were made: 'Mother Sion shall say, A man, a man indeed is born in her: and He himself, the Most Highest, founded her,'8  And this is the same as saying 'The Word was God, all things were made by Him, and the Word became flesh.' And of his knowledge knowing of the birth from a virgin, he is not silent, for he gives emphasis to it again in the forty fourth Psalm: 'Hear, O daughter, he says, and see and incline your ear, and forget your own people and the house of your father, for the King has desired your beauty.'9 Is not this like what was said by Gabriel, 'Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you?10  For having called Him Christ, immediately he declares His human birth from the Virgin, saying, 'Hear, O daughter, and see,' Gabriel addresses Mary by name, because he is of another race from her, but because she comes from his seed, David fitly calls her his own daughter. Saint Athanasius of Alexandria, To Marcellinus On the Interpretation of the Psalms 1 Ps 49.3   2 Ps 117. 26-27 3 Ps 107.20 4 Ps 44.2 5 Ps 109.3  6 Ps 32.6   7 Ps 44 7-8  8 Ps 86.5  9 Ps 44. 11-12  10 Lk 1:28