Sleep

Psalm 4:5 “What you say in your hearts, upon your beds be pierced with compunction”

Psalm 4:5 Lexham Be angry and do not sin. For what you say in your heart, let your conscience be pained upon your beds.

Peter

Now that the spring-time has lengthened the day, of course the night is shorter; if, therefore, one desires to occupy some portion of the night in study, he must not keep the same hours for waking at all seasons, but should spend the same length of time in sleeping, whether the night be longer or shorter, and be exceedingly careful that he do not cut off from the period which he is wont to have for study, and so add to his sleep and lessen his time of keeping awake. And this also is to be observed, lest haply if sleep be interrupted while the food is still undigested, the undigested mass lead the mind, and by the exhalation of crude spirits render the inner sense confused and disturbed. It is right, therefore, that that part also be cherished with sufficient rest, so that, those things being sufficiently accomplished which are due to it, the body may be able in other things to render due service to the mind. — Peter, Recognitions of Clement, Book 6, chapter 1

Clement of Alexandria

Let everything you do be done for God, both deeds and words; and refer all that is yours to Christ; and constantly turn your soul to God; and lean your thought on the power of Christ, as if in some harbour by the divine light of the Saviour it were resting from all talk and action. And often by day communicate your thoughts to men, but most of all to God at night as well as by day; for let not much sleep prevail to keep you from your prayers and hymns to God, since long sleep is a rival of death.” — Clement of Alexandria: To the Newly Baptized

Perhaps that ten-stringed harp represents the Word—Jesus—revealed through the number ten. Just as we bless the Creator before we eat anything, it’s also right to sing to Him when we drink from the things He made. For a psalm is a musical blessing and a thoughtful one. The Apostle calls the psalm a “spiritual song.” Before going to sleep, it’s right to give thanks to God for His grace and kindness, so that even in sleep we approach Him with reverence. “Confess to Him with songs of the lips,” it says, “because in His command is all good will, and there is no shortage in His salvation.” — Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor 2.4

The bed should be plain and have smooth legs, because fancy carvings on bed frames often attract crawling insects that live in the cracks of the woodwork and don’t easily go away. Most of all, the softness of the bed should be manly and moderate. Sleep shouldn’t be a total loosening of the body, but just a resting. That’s why we should go to sleep not for laziness, but to recover our strength for our actions. So we must fall asleep in a way that wakes us up ready. For Scripture says: “Let your loins be girded and your lamps burning, and be like people waiting for their master to return from the wedding feast, so that when he comes and knocks, they may open the door for him at once. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes” (Luke 12:35–37). A man is of no benefit if he sleeps like he is already dead. That’s why we must often get up in the night from bed and bless God—blessed are those who stay awake for Him. They are like the angels, whom we call “watchers.” A sleeping person is not worthy of anything, no more than one who is dead. But the one who has the light stays awake, and darkness doesn’t overcome him—nor does sleep, because sleep is not light. So the person who is enlightened is awake to God, and this kind of person truly lives. “What came into being through Him was life” (John 1:3–4). And wisdom says: “Blessed is the person who listens to me, the one who keeps my ways, who watches at my doors every day and guards the posts of my entrances” (Proverbs 8:34). “So then, let us not sleep like the rest,” says Scripture, “but let us stay awake and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night”—that is, in the darkness of ignorance. “But since we belong to the day, let us be sober. For all of you are children of light and children of the day; we are not of night or of darkness” (1 Thessalonians 5:6–8). — Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor 2.9

Now the one who most watches over us so we may live truly and think genuinely has stayed awake as long as possible, protecting only what is needed for health, using sleep as much as is helpful here—and even that not much—and has made this a good habit. Practice in self-discipline produces constant wakefulness through hard work. So let food not weigh us down, but instead lighten us, so that we are not harmed by sleep—just like swimmers who carry weights sink down, but if relieved of them, they float upward again. In the same way, let self-control lift us toward the surface of wakefulness from the deep abyss. For the descent into sleep resembles death. It pulls us into numbness through a lack of thought, cutting off the light when our eyelids close. So let us, the children of the true light, not shut out that light with our doors, but instead turn it inward, lighting up the inner person who is hidden, seeing the truth itself clearly and sharing in its streams. Then we may rightly and wisely uncover the real meanings of dreams….And as for Lot the righteous—though I am now turning aside from my explanation of the new birth (palingenesia)—he would not have been led into that unlawful union had he not been made drunk by his daughters and knocked out in sleep. So if we cut off the causes of excessive sleep, we’ll sleep more soberly. “It is not right,” after all, “for those who have the Word dwelling in them—the one who is always awake—to sleep through the whole night.” Instead, we must wake up during the night, especially when the days grow shorter. Let the one who loves study read, the one with a trade do his work, women spin their wool, and everyone fight off sleep as much as possible. That way, through wakefulness, we can gain more time to live—for sleep is like a tax collector who takes half of our life away from us. Surely, then, we should not allow ourselves to sleep much during the day, especially if we already spend most of the night awake. Drowsiness, sleepiness, stretching, and yawning are all signs of a restless soul that lacks stability. And here’s something else we should know: it is not the soul that needs sleep—for the soul is always in motion—but the body, which, being supported by rest, lets go and stops working when the soul no longer works through the body, but begins to reflect on its own. That’s why the real dreams are thoughts of a sober soul, rightly understood by someone who reasons well. At that time, the soul is not distracted by bodily feelings but gives the best advice to itself. But if the soul becomes completely still and inactive, that is its ruin. So, when it always reflects on God through constant communion with Him and keeps wakefulness in the body, it becomes equal to angels by God’s grace, taking on eternal life through the practice of staying awake. — Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor 2.9

Since we are about to go from here to sleep, we should remember the commands about self-control. So this must now be said. After the meal, we should bless God for giving us things to enjoy and for bringing the day to its end, and then invite words that are fitting for sleep. We should send away the luxurious bedding, the gold-woven rugs, the delicately embroidered linens, the purple-dyed sheets, the fancy cushions, and the richly ornamented blankets, along with the beds that are said to be “softer than sleep.” Luxurious sleep is not only blameworthy for its indulgence, but even harmful—because sleeping in feathered beds with soft coverings is like the body falling into a deep hole. The softness of the mattress causes the body to sink, and it does not give support to the one turning from side to side in bed. The body has to lift itself up with effort from either side, making sleep uncomfortable. And such beds don’t help digestion—they actually make it worse, corrupting the food. But rolling over in a simple, flat bed works like a natural exercise for sleep and helps digestion happen properly. Those who can roll around on smooth beds have what you might call a natural “sleep gym,” and this helps them process their food more easily and prepares them better for whatever situations may come. Silver-footed couches are signs of great arrogance, and that couch of ivory where “the soul has left the body” is not something holy people would use—it’s a foolish invention for fake comfort. So we shouldn’t care about these things. It’s not that people who own them are forbidden to use them, but focusing too much on them is what’s wrong—because happiness isn’t found in these things. On the other hand, there’s a kind of false humility that tries to show off by acting like Diomedes, who slept on “the hide of a wild ox spread out beneath him,” unless perhaps the situation demands it. Even Odysseus fixed the broken part of his marriage-bed with a stone. Such simplicity and self-reliance were practiced not just by common people but even by the leaders among the ancient Greeks. But why talk about them? Jacob slept on the ground, using a stone for a pillow—and that’s when he was considered worthy to see a vision beyond human sight (Genesis 28:11–12). So we should follow that example, using a simple bed that is plain, with just enough to comfort us: something to cover us in summer and warm us in winter. The bed should be plain and have smooth legs, because fancy carvings on bed frames often attract crawling insects that live in the cracks of the woodwork and don’t easily go away. Most of all, the softness of the bed should be manly and moderate. Sleep shouldn’t be a total loosening of the body, but just a resting. That’s why we should go to sleep not for laziness, but to recover our strength for our actions. So we must fall asleep in a way that wakes us up ready. For Scripture says: “Let your loins be girded and your lamps burning, and be like people waiting for their master to return from the wedding feast, so that when he comes and knocks, they may open the door for him at once. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes” (Luke 12:35–37). Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor, Book 2, Chapter 9

For more see “The Instructor” Book 2, chapter 9

Origen

“Say these things in your hearts, on your beds be pierced with compunction” (Ps 4:5 LXX). By these words he seems to teach that each person, when going to bed, should require of himself an account of the deeds done throughout the day, and for the things done contrary to right reason he should reproach himself, accusing and sharply pricking himself with the word. For doing this continually will keep us from falling away from what is fitting. – Origen, Selections on Psalms PG 12.1144

Basil the Great

For prayer and psalmody, however, as also, indeed, for some other duties, every hour is suitable, that, while our hands are busy at their tasks, we may praise God sometimes with the tongue (when this is possible or, rather, when it is conducive to edification); or, if not, with the heart, at least, in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, as it is written (Col. 3:16). Thus, in the midst of our work can we fulfil the duty of prayer, giving thanks to Him who has granted strength to our hands for performing our tasks and cleverness to our minds for acquiring knowledge, and for having provided the materials, both that which is in the instruments we use and that which forms the matter of the arts in which we may be engaged, praying that the work of our hands may be directed toward its goal, the good pleasure of God. Thus we acquire a recollected spirit-when in every action we beg from God the success of our labors and satisfy our debt of gratitude to Him who gave us the power to do the work, and when, as has been said, we keep before our minds the aim of pleasing Him. If this is not the case, how can there be consistency in the words of the Apostle bidding us to “pray without ceasing,” (1 Thess. 5:17) with those others, “we worked night and day.” (2 Thess. 3:8) Nor, indeed, because thanksgiving at all times has been enjoined even by law and has been proved necessary to our life from both reason and nature, should we therefore be negligent in observing those times for prayer customarily established in communities—times which we have inevitably selected because each period contains a reminder peculiar to itself of blessings received from God. Prayers are recited early in the morning so that the first movements of the soul and the mind may be consecrated to God and that we may take up no other consideration before we have been cheered and heartened by the thought of God, as it is written: “I remembered God and was delighted,” (Ps. 76:4) and that the body may not busy itself with tasks before we have fulfilled the words: “To thee will I pray, O Lord; in the morning thou shalt hear my voice. In the morning I will stand before thee and will see.” (Ps. 5:4-5) — Basil the Great, The Long Rules, Q37 (Fathers of the Church Volume 9)

…So do not consent, through the insensibility of sleep, to render half your life useless; rather let the time of night be divided for you between sleep and prayer, and let your very dreams themselves be an exercise in piety. For the images that appear in sleep are, for the most part, echoes of the thoughts of the day. And what is more blessed than a man who, as soon as the day begins, rushes to prayer and honors his Maker with hymns and songs? Then, when the sun has clearly shone forth and he turns to his work, prayer is present with him everywhere, and he seasons his labors with hymns as with salt. For it is the consolations of hymns that bestow on the soul a cheerful and sorrowless state. Let there be prayers before food, worthy of the gifts of God, for what He now gives and for what He has stored up for the future; and prayers also after meals, containing thanksgiving for what has been given and petition for what has been promised. A good prayer is one that makes the thought of God vivid in the soul; for God’s indwelling is this—to have God firmly established within oneself through remembrance. In this way we become a temple of God, when the constancy of this remembrance is not broken by earthly cares, nor the mind thrown into confusion by unexpected sufferings, but, fleeing from all such things, it withdraws to God, driving away the passions that invite it to lack of self-control, and spending its time in pursuits that lead to virtue. And what dawn is for other men, that midnight is for the athlete of godliness: at that time the quiet of night especially grants leisure to the soul, when neither eyes nor ears are sending harmful sights or sounds into the heart, but the mind by itself alone is in company with God—correcting itself by the remembrance of its sins, setting bounds for itself for turning away from evil, and seeking from God cooperation for the perfection of what it strives after. – Basil the Great, Sermon 9, On Prayer (Sermons on Morals Collected by Symeon Metaphrast)

When the day’s work is ended, thanksgiving should be offered for what has been granted us or for what we have done rightly therein and confession made of our omissions whether voluntary or involuntary, or of a secret fault, if we chance to have committed any in words or deeds, or in the heart itself; for by prayer we propitiate God for all our misdemeanors. The examination of our past actions is a great help toward not falling into like faults again; wherefore the Psalmist says: “the things you say in your hearts, be sorry for them upon your beds.” (Psalm 4:5) – Basil the Great, The Long Rules Q37

John Chrysostom

Thus, introducing an apostolic rule and a Gospel philosophy, and saying the same things as Christ Himself, he adds another admonition: “What you say in your hearts, on your beds be pierced with compunction.” (Psalm 4:4) What does this mean? It may seem obscure. He is saying: At the time after supper, when you are about to go to sleep—when there is deep silence, calm, and no one to disturb you—then awaken the court of your conscience; summon it to account; and whatever evil thoughts you formed during the day—plots you devised, deceits you wove, your neighbor you sought to trip, or corrupt desires you entertained—bring all these before your mind in that hour of quiet; set your conscience as judge over these shameful thoughts; rebuke them, demand justice of yourself, and humble the soul that has sinned. For this is what the phrase “Be pierced with compunction” means — that is, “Strike, wound, and chastise within yourselves those things which you have spoken in your hearts during the day.” In other words, whatever evil thoughts or corrupt schemes you have entertained, judge and punish them upon your beds, in that quiet hour of night, when no friend disturbs you, no servant provokes you, no business presses upon you. Then take account of all you have done throughout the day. And why does he not say “words and deeds,” but “evil thoughts”? He teaches with great wisdom: for if even the evil plans of the heart are to be punished, lest they issue into action, how much more must the soul grieve and chastise itself for actual words and deeds! Let this be your practice every day — never go to sleep, man, until you have reckoned with yourself for the day’s transgressions. Then you will certainly be slower the next day to attempt the same sins. Do as you do with your money: you will not allow even two days to pass without calling your servant to account, lest confusion arise from forgetfulness. Do likewise with your deeds: every evening demand an account from your soul; condemn the sinful thought; hang it, as it were, upon the wood of judgment; torment it and command it never again to attempt the same things. Do you see what an excellent healing this is — how he uses both preventive and corrective medicines? The command “Be angry, and do not sin” is the preventive remedy, warning us not to fall into sin; while “What you say in your hearts, upon your beds be pierced with compunction” is the corrective one, providing healing after we have sinned, and teaching us to draw the cure from the very soul that committed the fault. Let us therefore practice this healing, which carries no difficulty. And if the soul cannot bear to recall its sins, feeling shame and blushing, say to it: “You gain nothing by forgetting, but suffer great harm. For if you do not remember your sins against yourself now, they will one day be set before you in the sight of all. But if you bring them to mind now, you will quickly be freed from them and will not so easily fall into others.” For the soul that fears the nightly trial—lest it be again condemned and chastised—becomes more cautious toward sin. Such is the benefit of this practice, that if we do it continually for only a month, we shall establish within ourselves the habit of virtue. Let us not neglect so great a good. For he who sets up this tribunal within himself here will not face bitter judgment there. For, as it is written, “If we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged; but when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world” (1 Corinthians 11:31–32). Therefore, that we may not be condemned, let us do this. — John Chrysostom, Commentary on Psalm 4, chapter 8

Theodore of Mopsuestia

And as if he were asked, “How, then, can one turn away from this error?” he says, The things you speak in your hearts, and in your beds be pierced with repentance (Psalm 4:5). The things that during the day come before your eyes and seem to present occasions for wrong thoughts—while you lie upon your beds, weigh them with sound reflection, and returning to a sane understanding, show by the testimony of repentance and compunction that you had erred before. – Theodore of Mopsuestia, Commentary on Psalms 4 (CORPVS CHRISTIANORVM Series Latina LXXXVIII A, page 23)

Theodoret of Cyrus

“Be angry.” This is to be treated separately, and the rest reads as follows: “and do not sin.” Psalm 4:4 Feel anger, he is saying, and impatience when you see those who oppress you unjustly living happily from day to day. But do not add evil to evil by trying to persuade the others that everything happens without rhyme or reason. In fact, you should act in an opposite way to them, calling yourselves to account at night for the sins committed by day. Repent in bed for what you say in your heart: since night time is free from external worries and brings peace to our thoughts, he was correct in this verse in bidding us pass in review what was said or done during the day and in obliging us to heal our wounds with the remedy of repentance. — Theodoret of Cyrus – Commentary on Psalm 4

Ante-Nicene Christianity