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| − | ON THE CITY OF GOD, BOOK XVII
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| − | [[Directory:Logic Museum/Augustine City of God|Index]]
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| − | Translated by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcus_Dods_%28theologian%29 Marcus Dods]
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| − | *[[#c0|Introduction]]
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| − | *[[#c1|Chapter 1]] Of the Prophetic Age
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| − | *[[#c2|Chapter 2]] At What Time the Promise of God Was Fulfilled Concerning the Land of Canaan, Which Even Carnal Israel Got in Possession
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| − | *[[#c3|Chapter 3]] Of the Three-Fold Meaning of the Prophecies, Which are to Be Referred Now to the Earthly, Now to the Heavenly Jerusalem, and Now Again to Both
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| − | *[[#c4|Chapter 4]] About the Prefigured Change of the Israelitic Kingdom and Priesthood, and About the Things Hannah the Mother of Samuel Prophesied, Personating the Church
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| − | *[[#c5|Chapter 5]] Of Those Things Which a Man of God Spoke by the Spirit to Eli the Priest, Signifying that the Priesthood Which Had Been Appointed According to Aaron Was to Be Taken Away
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| − | *[[#c6|Chapter 6]] Of the Jewish Priesthood and Kingdom, Which, Although Promised to Be Established for Ever, Did Not Continue; So that Other Things are to Be Understood to Which Eternity is Assured
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| − | *[[#c7|Chapter 7]] Of the Disruption of the Kingdom of Israel, by Which the Perpetual Division of the Spiritual from the Carnal Israel Was Prefigured
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| − | *[[#c8|Chapter 8]] Of the Promises Made to David in His Son, Which are in No Wise Fulfilled in Solomon, But Most Fully in Christ
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| − | *[[#c9|Chapter 9]] How Like the Prophecy About Christ in the 89th Psalm is to the Things Promised in Nathan's Prophecy in the Books of Samuel
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| − | *[[#c10|Chapter 10]] How Different the Acts in the Kingdom of the Earthly Jerusalem are from Those Which God Had Promised, So that the Truth of the Promise Should Be Understood to Pertain to the Glory of the Other King and Kingdom
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| − | *[[#c11|Chapter 11]] Of the Substance of the People of God, Which Through His Assumption of Flesh is in Christ, Who Alone Had Power to Deliver His Own Soul from Hell
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| − | *[[#c12|Chapter 12]] To Whose Person the Entreaty for the Promises is to Be Understood to Belong, When He Says in the Psalm, "Where are Your Ancient Compassions, Lord?" Etc
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| − | *[[#c13|Chapter 13]] Whether the Truth of This Promised Peace Can Be Ascribed to Those Times Passed Away Under Solomon
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| − | *[[#c14|Chapter 14]] Of David's Concern in the Writing of the Psalms
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| − | *[[#c15|Chapter 15]] Whether All the Things Prophesied in the Psalms Concerning Christ and His Church Should Be Taken Up in the Text of This Work
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| − | *[[#c16|Chapter 16]] Of the Things Pertaining to Christ and the Church, Said Either Openly or Tropically in the 45th Psalm
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| − | *[[#c17|Chapter 17]] Of Those Things in the 110th Psalm Which Relate to the Priesthood of Christ, and in the 22d to His Passion
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| − | *[[#c18|Chapter 18]] Of the 3d, 41st, 15th, and 68th Psalms, in Which the Death and Resurrection of the Lord are Prophesied
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| − | *[[#c19|Chapter 19]] Of the 69th Psalm, in Which the Obstinate Unbelief of the Jews is Declared
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| − | *[[#c20|Chapter 20]] Of David's Reign and Merit; And of His Son Solomon, and that Prophecy Relating to Christ Which is Found Either in Those Books Which are Joined to Those Written by Him, or in Those Which are Indubitably His
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| − | *[[#c21|Chapter 21]] Of the Kings After Solomon, Both in Judah and Israel
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| − | *[[#c22|Chapter 22]] Of Jeroboam, Who Profaned the People Put Under Him by the Impiety of Idolatry, Amid Which, However, God Did Not Cease to Inspire the Prophets, and to Guard Many from the Crime of Idolatry
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| − | *[[#c23|Chapter 23]] Of the Varying Condition of Both the Hebrew Kingdoms, Until the People of Both Were at Different Times Led into Captivity, Judah Being Afterwards Recalled into His Kingdom, Which Finally Passed into the Power of the Romans
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| − | *[[#c24|Chapter 24]] Of the Prophets, Who Either Were the Last Among the Jews, or Whom the Gospel History Reports About the Time of Christ's Nativity
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| − | ||<div id="c0"><b>BOOK XVII</b> [] ||The City of God (Book XVII) Argument-In this book the history of the city of God is traced during the period of the kings and prophets from Samuel to David, even to Christ; and the prophecies which are recorded in the books of Kings, Psalms, and those of Solomon, are interpreted of Christ and the church.
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| − | ||<div id="c1"><b>BOOK XVII</b> [I] Promissiones Dei, quae factae sunt ad Abraham, cuius semini et gentem Israeliticam secundum carnem et omnes gentes deberi secundum fidem Deo pollicente didicimus, quem ad modum compleantur, per ordinem temporum procurrens Dei civitas indicabit. Quoniam ergo superioris libri usque ad regnum David factus est finis, nunc ab eodem regno, quantum suscepto operi sufficere videtur, cetera quae sequuntur adtingimus. Hoc itaque tempus, ex quo sanctus Samuel prophetare coepit, et deinceps, donec populus Israel captivus in Babyloniam duceretur atque inde secundum sancti Hieremiae prophetiam post septuaginta annos reuersis Israelitis Dei domus instauraretur, totum tempus est prophetarum. Quamuis enim et ipsum Noe patriarcham, in cuius diebus universa diluuio terra deleta est, et alios supra et infra usque ad hoc tempus, quo reges in Dei populo esse coeperunt, propter quaedam per eos futura sive quoque nudo significata sive praedicta, quae pertinerent ad civitatem Dei regnumque caelorum, non inmerito possumus appellare prophetas, praesertim quia nonnullos eorum id expressius legimus nuncupatos, sicut Abraham, sicut Moysen: tamen dies prophetarum praecipue maximeque hi dicti sunt, ex quo coepit prophetare Samuel, qui et Saulem prius et eo reprobato ipsum David Deo praecipiente unxit in regem, de cuius ceteri stirpe succederent, quousque illos succedere sic oporteret. Quae igitur a prophetis sunt praedicta de Christo, cum moriendo decedentibus et nascendo succedentibus suis membris civitas Dei per ista curreret tempora, si omnia velim commemorare, in inmensum pergitur, primum quia ipsa scriptura, quae per ordinem reges eorumque facta et euenta digerens videtur tamquam historica diligentia rebus gestis occupata esse narrandis, si adivuante Dei spiritu considerata tractetur, vel magis vel certe non minus praenuntiandis futuris quam praeteritis enuntiandis invenietur intenta; (et hoc perscrutando indagare ac disserendo monstrare quam sit operosum atque prolixum et quam multis indiguum voluminibus, quis ignorat, qui haec vel mediocriter cogitet?) deinde quia ea ipsa, quae ad prophetiam non ambigitur pertinere, ita sunt multa de Christo regnoque caelorum, quae civitas Dei est, ut ad hoc aperiendum maior sit disputatio necessaria,quam huius operis modus flagitat. Proinde ita, si potuero, stilo moderabor meo, ut huic operi in Dei voluntate peragendo nec ea quae supersunt dicam nec ea quae satis sunt praetermittam. ||By the favor of God we have treated distinctly of His promises made to Abraham, that both the nation of Israel according to the flesh, and all nations according to faith, should be his seed, and the City of God, proceeding according to the order of time, will point out how they were fulfilled. Having therefore in the previous book come down to the reign of David, we shall now treat of what remains, so far as may seem sufficient for the object of this work, beginning at the same reign. Now, from the time when holy Samuel began to prophesy, and ever onward until the people of Israel was led captive into Babylonia, and until, according to the prophecy of holy Jeremiah, on Israel's return thence after seventy years, the house of God was built anew, this whole period is the prophetic age. For although both the patriarch Noah himself, in whose days the whole earth was destroyed by the flood, and others before and after him down to this time when there began to be kings over the people of God, may not underservedly be styled prophets, on account of certain things pertaining to the city of God and the kingdom of heaven, which they either predicted or in any way signified should come to pass, and especially since we read that some of them, as Abraham and Moses, were expressly so styled, yet those are most and chiefly called the days of the prophets from the time when Samuel began to prophesy, who at God's command first anointed Saul to be king, and, on his rejection, David himself, whom others of his issue should succeed as long as it was fitting they should do so. If, therefore, I wished to rehearse all that the prophets have predicted concerning Christ, while the city of God, with its members dying and being born in constant succession, ran its course through those times, this work would extend beyond all bounds. First, because the Scripture itself, even when, in treating in order of the kings and of their deeds and the events of their reigns, it seems to be occupied in narrating as with historical diligence the affairs transacted, will be found, if the things handled by it are considered with the aid of the Spirit of God, either more, or certainly not less, intent on foretelling things to come than on relating things past. And who that thinks even a little about it does not know how laborious and prolix a work it would be, and how many volumes it would require to search this out by thorough investigation and demonstrate it by argument? And then, because of that which without dispute pertains to prophecy, there are so many things concerning Christ and the kingdom of heaven, which is the city of God, that to explain these a larger discussion would be necessary than the due proportion of this work admits of. Therefore I shall, if I can, so limit myself, that in carrying through this work, I may, with God's help, neither say what is superfluous nor omit what is necessary.
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| − | ||<div id="c2"><b>BOOK XVII</b> [II] In praecedente libro diximus ab initio ad Abrabam promissionum Dei duas res fuisse promissas, unam scilicet, quod terram Chanaan possessurum fuerat semen eius (quod significat<ur>, ubi dictum est: Vade in terram, quam tibi demonstravero, et faciam te in gentem magnam), aliam vero longe praestantiorem non de carnali, sed de spiritali semine, per quod pater est non unius gentis Israeliticae, sed omnium gentium, quae fidei eius uestigia consequuntur; quod promitti coepit his verbis: Et benedicentur in te omnes tribus terrae; et deinceps aliis multis admodum testimoniis haec duo promissa esse monstravimus. Erat igitur iam in terra promissionis semen Abrahae, id est populus Israel, secundum carnem atque ibi non solum tenendo ac possidendo civitates adversariorum, verum etiam reges habendo regnare iam coeperat, impletis de ipso populo promissionibus Dei magna iam ex parte, non solum quae tribus illis patribus, Abrabam Isaac et Iacob, et quaecumque aliae temporibus eorum, verum etiam quae per ipsum Moysen, per quem populus idem de seruitute Aegyptia liberatus et per quem cuncta praeterita reuelata sunt, temporibus eius, cum populum per heremum duceret, factae fuerant. Neque autem per insignem ducem Iesum Nave, per quem populus ille in promissionis inductus est terram expugnatisque gentibus eam duodecim tribubus, quibus Deus iusserat, divisit et mortuus est, neque post illum toto tempore iudicium impleta fuerat promissio Dei de terra Chanaan a quodam flumine Aegypti usque ad flumen magnum Euphraten; nec tamen adhuc prophetabatur futurum, sed expectabatur implendum. Impletum est autem per David et eius filium Salomonem, cuius regnum tanto, quantum promissum fuerat, spatio dilatatum est; universos quippe illos subdiderunt tributariosque fecerunt. Sic igitur in terra promissionis secundum carnem, hoc est in terra Chanaan, sub his regibus semen Abrahae fuerat constitutum, ut nihil deinde superesset, quo terrena illa Dei promissio compleretur, nisi ut in eadem terra, quantum ad prosperitatem adtinet temporalem, per posteritatis successionem inconcusso statu usque ad mortalis huius saeculi terminum gens permaneret Hebraea, si Domini Dei sui legibus oboediret. Sed quoniam Deus noverat hoc eam non esse facturam, usus est eius etiam temporalibus poenis ad exercendos in ea paucos fideles suos et admonendos qui postea futuri erant in omnibus gentibus, quod eos admoneri oportebat, in quibus alteram promissionem reuelato nouo testamento per incarnationem Christi fuerat impleturus. ||In the preceding book we said, that in the promise of God to Abraham two things were promised from the beginning, the one, name ly, that his seed should possess the land of Canaan, which was intimated when it was said, "Go into a land that I will show you, and I will make of you a great nation;" Genesis 12:1-2 but the other far more excellent, concerning not the carnal but the spiritual seed, by which he is the father, not of the one nation of Israel, but of all nations who follow the footsteps of his faith, which began to be promised in these words, "And in you shall all families of the earth be blessed." Genesis 12:3 And thereafter we showed by yet many other proofs that these two things were promised. Therefore the seed of Abraham, that is, the people of Israel according to the flesh, already was in the land of promise; and there, not only by holding and possessing the cities of the enemies, but also by having kings, had already begun to reign, the promises of God concerning that people being already in great part fulfilled: not only those that were made to those three fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and whatever others were made in their times, but those also that were made through Moses himself, by whom the same people was set free from servitude in Egypt, and by whom all bygone things were revealed in his times, when he led the people through the wilderness. But neither by the illustrious leader Jesus the son of Nun, who led that people into the land of promise, and, after driving out the nations, divided it among the twelve tribes according to God's command, and died; nor after him, in the whole time of the judges, was the promise of God concerning the land of Canaan fulfilled, that it should extend from some river of Egypt even to the great river Euphrates; nor yet was it still prophesied as to come, but its fulfillment was expected. And it was fulfilled through David, and Solomon his son, whose kingdom was extended over the whole promised space; for they subdued all those nations, and made them tributary. And thus, under those kings, the seed of Abraham was established in the land of promise according to the flesh, that is, in the land of Canaan, so that nothing yet remained to the complete fulfillment of that earthly promise of God, except that, so far as pertains to temporal prosperity, the Hebrew nation should remain in the same land by the succession of posterity in an unshaken state even to the end of this mortal age, if it obeyed the laws of the Lord its God. But since God knew it would not do this, He used His temporal punishments also for training His few faithful ones in it, and for giving needful warning to those who should afterwards be in all nations, in whom the other promise, revealed in the New Testament, was about to be fulfilled through the incarnation of Christ.
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| − | ||<div id="c3"><b>BOOK XVII</b> [III] Quocirca sicut oracula illa divina ad Abraham Isaac et Iacob et quaecumque alia signa vel dicta prophetica in sacris litteris praecedentibus facta sunt, ita etiam ceterae ab isto regum tempore prophetiae partim pertinent ad gentem carnis Abrahae, partim vero ad illud semen eius, in quo benedicuntur omnes gentes coheredes Christi per testamentum nouum ad possidendam vitam aeternam regnumque caelorum; partim ergo ad ancillam, quae in seruitutem generat, id est terrenam Hierusalem, quae seruit cum filiis suis, partim vero ad liberam civitatem Dei, id est veram Hierusalem aeternam in caelis, cuius filii homines secundum Deum viventes peregrinantur in terris; sed sunt in eis quaedam, quae ad utramque pertinere intelleguntur, ad ancillam proprie, ad liberam figurate. Tripertita itaque reperiuntur eloquia prophetarum, si quidem aliqua sunt ad terrenam Hierusalem spectantia, aliqua ad caelestem, nonnulla ad utramque. Exemplis video probandum esse quod dico. Missus est Nathan propheta, qui regem David argueret de peccato gravi et ei, quae consecuta sunt mala, futura praediceret. Haec atque huius modi sive publice, id est pro salute vel utilitate populi, sive privatim, cum pro suis quisque rebus divina promereretur eloquia, quibus pro usu temporalis vitae futuri aliquid nosceretur, ad terrenam civitatem pertinuisse quis ambigat? Vbi autem legitur: Ecce dies veniunt, dicit Dominus, et consummabo domui Israel et domui Iuda testamentum nouum, non secundum testamentum, quod disposui patribus eorum in die, qua adprehendi manum eorum, ut educerem eos de terra Aegypti, quoniam ipsi non permanserunt in testamento meo, et ego neglexi eos, dicit Dominus. Quia hoc est testamentum, quod constituam domui Israel post dies illos, dicit Dominus, dando leges meas in mentem eorum et super corda eorum scribam eas, et videbo eos, et ero illis in Deum, et ipsi erunt mihi in plebem: Hierusalem sine dubio superna prophetatur, cuius Deus ipse praemium est, eumque habere atque ipsius esse summum ibi est atque totum bonum. Ad utramque vero pertinet hoc ipsum, quod Hierusalem dicitur Dei civitas, et in ea prophetatur futura domus Dei, eaque prophetia videtur impleri, cum Salomon rex aedificat illud nobilissimum templum. Haec enim et in terrena Hierusalem secundum historiam contigerunt, et caelestis Hierusalem figurae fuerunt. Quod genus prophetiae ex utroque veluti compactum atque commixtum in libris ueteribus canonicis, quibus rerum gestarum narrationes continentur, valet plurimum multumque exercuit et exercet ingenia scrutantium litteras sacras, ut, quod historice praedictum completumque legitur in semine Abrahae secundum carnem, etiam in semine Abrahae secundum fidem quid implendum allegorice significet inquiratur; in tantum ut quibusdam visum sit nihil esse in eisdem libris vel praenuntiatum et effectum, vel effectum, quamuis non praenuntiatum, quod non insinvet aliquid ad supernam civitatem Dei eiusque filios in hac vita peregrinos figurata significatione referendum. Sed si hoc ita est, iam bipertita, non tripertita erunt eloquia prophetarum, vel potius illarum scripturarum omnium, quae ueteris instrumenti appellatione censentur. Nihil enim erit illic, quod ad Hierusalem terrenam tantum pertineat, si, quidquid ibi de illa vel propter illam dicitur atque completur, significat aliquid, quod etiam ad Hierusalem caelestem allegorica praefiguratione referatur; sed erunt sola duo genera, unum quod ad Hierusalem liberam, alterum quod ad utram-ЎЃque pertineat. Mihi autem sicut multum videntur errare, qui nullas res gestas in eo genere litterarum aliquid aliud praeter id, quod eo modo gestae sunt, significare arbitrantur, ita multum audere, qui prorsus ibi omnia significationibus allegoricis inuoluta esse contendunt. Ideo tripertita, non bipertita esse dixi. Hoc enim existimo, non tamen culpans eos, qui potuerint illic de quacumque re gesta sensum intellegentiae spiritalis exsculpere, servata dumtaxat primitus historiae veritate. Ceterum quae ita dicuntur, ut rebus humanitus seu divinitus gestis sive gerendis convenire non possint, quis fidelis dubitet non esse inaniter dicta? Quis ea non ad intellegentiam spiritalem reuocet, si possit, aut ab eo qui potest reuocanda esse fateatur? ||Wherefore just as that divine oracle to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and all the other prophetic signs or sayings which are given in the earlier sacred writings, so also the other prophecies from this time of the kings pertain partly to the nation of Abraham's flesh, and partly to that seed of his in which all nations are blessed as fellow-heirs of Christ by the New Testament, to the possessing of eternal life and the kingdom of the heavens. Therefore they pertain partly to the bond maid who genders to bondage, that is, the earthly Jerusalem, which is in bondage with her children; but partly to the free city of God, that is, the true Jerusalem eternal in the heavens, whose children are all those that live according to God in the earth: but there are some things among them which are understood to pertain to both,-to the bond maid properly, to the free woman figuratively. Galatians 4:22-31 Therefore prophetic utterances of three kinds are to be found; forasmuch as there are some relating to the earthly Jerusalem, some to the heavenly, and some to both. I think it proper to prove what I say by examples. The prophet Nathan was sent to convict king David of heinous sin, and predict to him what future evils should be consequent on it. Who can question that this and the like pertain to the terrestrial city, whether publicly, that is, for the safety or help of the people, or privately, when there are given forth for each one's private good divine utterances whereby something of the future may be known for the use of temporal life? But where we read, "Behold, the days come, says the Lord, that I will make for the house of Israel, and for the house of Judah, a new testament: not according to the testament that I settled for their fathers in the day when I laid hold of their hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my testament, and I regarded them not, says the Lord. For this is the testament that I will make for the house of Israel: after those days, says the Lord, I will give my laws in their mind, and will write them upon their hearts, and I will see to them; and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people;" Hebrews 8:8-10 -without doubt this is prophesied to the Jerusalem above, whose reward is God Himself, and whose chief and entire good it is to have Him, and to be His. But this pertains to both, that the city of God is called Jerusalem, and that it is prophesied the house of God shall be in it; and this prophecy seems to be fulfilled when king Solomon builds that most noble temple. For these things both happened in the earthly Jerusalem, as history shows, and were types of the heavenly Jerusalem. And this kind of prophecy, as it were compacted and commingled of both the others in the ancient canonical books, containing historical narratives, is of very great significance, and has exercised and exercises greatly the wits of those who search holy writ. For example, what we read of historically as predicted and fulfilled in the seed of Abraham according to the flesh, we must also inquire the allegorical meaning of, as it is to be fulfilled in the seed of Abraham according to faith. And so much is this the case, that some have thought there is nothing in these books either foretold and effected, or effected although not foretold, that does not insinuate something else which is to be referred by figurative signification to the city of God on high, and to her children who are pilgrims in this life. But if this be so, then the utterances of the prophets, or rather the whole of those Scriptures that are reckoned under the title of the Old Testament, will be not of three, but of two different kinds. For there will be nothing there which pertains to the terrestrial Jerusalem only, if whatever is there said and fulfilled of or concerning her signifies something which also refers by allegorical prefiguration to the celestial Jerusalem; but there will be only two kinds one that pertains to the free Jerusalem, the other to both. But just as, I think, they err greatly who are of opinion that none of the records of affairs in that kind of writings mean anything more than that they so happened, so I think those very daring who contend that the whole gist of their contents lies in allegorical significations. Therefore I have said they are threefold, not two-fold. Yet, in holding this opinion, I do not blame those who may be able to draw out of everything there a spiritual meaning, only saving, first of all, the historical truth. For the rest, what believer can doubt that those things are spoken vainly which are such that, whether said to have been done or to be yet to come, they do not beseem either human or divine affairs? Who would not recall these to spiritual understanding if he could, or confess that they should be recalled by him who is able?
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| − | ||<div id="c4"><b>BOOK XVII</b> [IV] Procursus igitur civitatis Dei ubi pervenit ad regum tempora, quando David Saule reprobato ita regnum primus obtinuit, ut eius deinde posteri in terrena Hierusalem diuturna successione regnarent, dedit figuram, re gesta significans atque praenuntians, quod non est praetereundum silentio, de rerum mutatione futurarum, quod adtinet ad duo testamenta, uetus et nouum, ubi sacerdotium regnumque mutatum est per sacerdotem eundemque regem nouum ac sempiternum, qui est Christus Iesus. Nam et Heli sacerdote reprobato substitutus in Dei seruitium Samuel simul officium functus sacerdotis et iudicis, et Saule abiecto rex David fundatus in regno hoc quod dico figuraverunt. Mater quoque ipsa Samuelis Anna, quae prius fuit sterilis et posteriore fecunditate laetata est, prophetare aliud non videtur, cum gratulationem suam Domino fundit exultans, quando eundem puerum natum et ablactatum Deo reddit eadem pietate, qua voverat. Dicit enim: Confirmatum est cor meum in Domino, exaltatum est cornum meum in Deo meo. Dilatatum est super inimicos meos os meum, laetata sum in salutari tuo. Quoniam non est sanctus sicut Dominus, et non est iustus sicut Deus noster; non est sanctus praeter te. Nolite gloriari et nolite loqui excelsa, neque procedat magniloquium de ore uestro. Quoniam Deus scientiarum Dominus, et Deus praeparans adinventiones suas. Arcum potentium fecit infirmum, et infirmes praecincti sunt virtutem; pleni panibus minorati sunt, et esurientes transierunt terram. Quia sterilis peperit septem, et multa in filiis infirmata est. Dominus mortificat et vivificat, deducit ad inferos et reducit. Dominus pauperes facit et ditat, humiliat et exaltat. Suscitat a terra pauperem et de stercore erigit inopem, ut conlocet eum cum potentibus populi, et sedem gloriae hereditatem dans eis; dans votum voventi, et benedixit annos iusti, quoniam non in virtute potens est vir. Dominus infirmum faciet adversarium suum, Dominus sanctus. Non glorietur prudens in prudentia sua, et non glorietur potens in potentia sua, et non glorietur dives in divitiis suis. sed in hoc glorietur, qui gloriatur, intellegere et scire Dominum et facere iudicium et iustitiam in medio terrae. Dominus ascendit in caelos et tonuit, ipse iudicabit extrema terrae, quia iustus est; et dat virtutem regibus nostris, et exaltabit cornum christi sui. Itane vero verba haec unius putabuntur esse mulierculae, de nato sibi filio gratulantis? Tantumne mens hominum a luce veritatis aversa est, ut non sentiat supergredi modum feminae huius dicta quae fudit? Porro qui rebus ipsis, quae iam coeperunt etiam in hac terrena peregrinatione compleri, convenienter movetur, nonne intendit et aspicit et agnoscit per hanc mulierem, cuius etiam nomen, id est Anna, gratia eius interpretatur, ipsam religionem Christianam, ipsam civitatem Dei, cuius rex est et conditor Christus, ipsam postremo Dei gratiam prophetico spiritu sic locutam, a qua superbi alienantur, ut cadant, qua humiles implentur, ut surgant, quod maxime hymnus iste personuit? Nisi quisquam forte dicturus est nihil istam prophetasse mulierem, sed Deum tantummodo propter filium, quem precata inpetravit, exultanti praedicatione laudasse. Quid ergo sibi uult quod ait: Arcum potentium fecit infirmum, et infirmi praecincti sunt virtute; pleni panibus minorati sunt, et esurientes transierunt terram. quia sterilis peperit septem, et multa in filiis infirmata est? Numquid septem ipsa pepererat, quamuis sterilis fuerit? Vnicum habebat, quando ista dicebat; sed nec postea septem peperit, sive sex, quibus septimus esset ipse Samuel, sed tres mares et duas feminas. Deinde in illo populo cum adhuc nemo regnaret, quod in extremo posuit: Dat virtutem regibus nostris, et exaltabit cornum christi sui, unde dicebat, si non prophetabat? Dicat ergo ecclesia Christi, civitas regis magni, gratia plena, prole fecunda. dicat quod tanto ante de se prophetatum per os huius piae matris agnoscit: Confirmatum est cor meum in Domino, exaltatum est cornum meum in Deo meo. Vere confirmatum cor et cornu vere exaltatum, quia non in se, sed in Domino Deo suo. Dilatatum est super inimicos meos os meum. quia et in angustiis pressurarum sermo Dei non est adligatus nec In praeconibus adligatis. Laetata sum, inquit, in salutari tuo. Christus est iste Iesus, quem Simeon, sicut in euangelio legitur, senex amplectens paruum, agnoscens magnum: Nunc, inquit, dimittis, Domine, seruum tuum in pace, quoniam viderunt oculi mei salutare tuum. Dicat itaque ecclesia: Laetata sum in salutari tuo; quoniam non est sanctus, sicut Dominus, et non est iustus, sicut Deus noster; tamquam sanctus et sanctificans, iustus et iustificans. Non est sanctus praeter te, quia nemo fit nisi abs te. Denique sequitur: Nolite gloriari et nolite loqui excelsa, neque exeat magniloquium de ore uestro; quoniam Deus scientiarum Dominus. Ipse vos scit, et ubi nemo scit; quoniam qui putat se aliquid esse, cum nihil sit, se ipsum seducit. Haec dicuntur adversariis civitatis Dei ad Babyloniam pertinentibus, de sua virtute praesumentibus, in se, non in Domino gloriantibus; ex quibus sunt etiam camales Israelitae, terrenae Hierusalem cives terrigenae, qui ut dicit apostolus, ignorantes Dei iustitiam (id est, quam dat homini Deus, qui solus est iustus atque iustificans) et suam volentes constituere (id est velut a se sibi partam, non ab illo inpertitam) iustitiae Dei non sunt subiecti, utique quia superbi, de suo putantes, non de Dei, posse placere se Deo, qui est Deus scientiarum atque ideo et arbiter conscientiarum, ibi videns cogitationes hominum, quoniam uanae sunt, si hominum sunt et ab illo non sunt. Et praeparans, inquit, adinventiones suas. Quas adinventiones putamus, nisi ut superbi cadant et humiles surgant? Has quippe adinventiones exequitur dicens: Arcus potentium infirmatus est, et infirmi praecincti sunt virtute. Infirmatus est arcus, id est intentio eorum, qui tam po,tentes sibi videntur, ut sine Dei dono atque adiutorio humana sufficientia divina possint implere mandata, et praecinguntur virtute, quorum interna vox est: Miserere mei, Domine, quoniam infirmus sum. Pleni panibus, inquit, minorati sunt, et esurientes transierunt terram. Qui sunt intellegendi pleni panibus, nisi idem ipsi quasi potentes, id est Israelitae, quibus credita sunt eloquia Dei? Sed in eo populo ancillae filii minorati sunt (quo verbo minus quidem Latine, bene tamen expressum est, quod ex maioribus minores facti sunt), quia et in ipsis panibus, id est divinis eloquiis, quae Israelitae soli tunc ex omnibus gentibus acceperunt, terrena sapiunt. Gentes autem, quibus lex illa non erat data. postea quam per nouum testamentum ad eloquia illa venerunt, multum esuriendo terram transierunt, quia in eis non terrena, sed caelestia sapuerunt. Et hoc velut quaereretur causa cur factum sit: Quia sterilis, inquit, peperit septem, et multa in filiis infirmata est. Hic totum quod prophetabatur eluxit agnoscentibus numerum septenarium, quo est universae ecclesiae significata perfectio. Propter quod et Iohannes apostolus ad septem scribit ecclesias, eo modo se ostendens ad unius plenitudinem scribere; et in proverbiis Salomonis hoc antea praefigurans Sapientia aedificavit sibi domum et suffulsit columnas septem. Sterilis enim erat in omnibus gentibus Dei civitas, antequam iste fetus, quem cernimus, oreretur. Cernimus etiam, quae multa in filiis erat, nunc infirmatam Hierusalem terrenam; quoniam quicumque filii liberae in ea erant, virtus eius erant; nunc vero ibi quoniam littera est et spiritus non est, amissa virtute infirmata est. Dominus mortificat et vivificat; mortificavit illam, quae multa erat in filiis, et vivificavit hanc sterilem, quae peperit septem. Quamuis commodius possit intellegi eosdem vivificare, quos mortificaverit. Id enim velut repetivit addendo: Deducit ad inferos et reducit. Quibus enim dicit apostolus: Si mortui estis cum Christo, quae sursum sunt quaerite, ubi Christus est in dextera Dei sedens, salubriter utique mortificantur a Domino; quibus adiungit: Quae sursum sunt sapite, non quae super terram; ut ipsi sint illi, qui esurientes transierunt terram. Mortui enim estis, inquit; ecce quo modo salubriter mortificat Deus; deinde sequitur: Et vita uestra abscondita est cum Christo in Deo; ecce quo modo eosdem ipsos vivificat Deus. Sed numquid eosdem deduxit ad inferos et reduxit? Hoc utrumque sine controversia fidelium in illo potius videmus impletum, capite scilicet nostro, cum quo vitam nostram in Deo apostolus dixit absconditam. Nam qui proprio filio non pepercit, sed pro nobis omnibus tradidit eum, isto modo utique mortificavit eum; et quia resuscitavit a mortuis, eundum rursus vivificavit. Et quia in prophetia vox eius agnoscitur: Non derelinques animam meam in inferno, eundem deduxit ad inferos et reduxit. Hac eius paupertate ditati sumus. Dominus enim pauperes facit et ditat. Nam quid hoc sit ut sciamus, quod sequitur audiamus: Humiliat et exaltat; utique superbos humiliat et humiles exaltat. Quod enim alibi legitur: Deus superbis resistit, humilibus autem dat gratiam, hoc totus habet sermo huius, cuius nomen interpretatur gratia eius. Iam vero quod adiungitur: suscitat a terra pauperem, de nullo melius quam de illo intellego, qui propter nos pauper factus est, cum dives esset, ut eius paupertate, sicut paulo ante dictum est, ditaremur. Ipsum enim de terra suscitavit tam cito, ut caro eius non videret corruptionem. Nec illud ab illo alienabo, quod additum est: Et de stercore erigit inopem. Inops quippe idem, qui pauper; stercus vero, unde erectus est, rectissime intelleguntur persecutores Iudaei, in quorum numero cum se dixisset apostolus ecclesiam persecutum: Quae mihi fuerunt, inquit, lucra, haec propter Christum damna esse duxi; nec solum detrimenta, verum etiam stercora existimavi esse, ut Christum lucri facerem. De terra ergo suscitatus est ille supra omnes divites pauper, et de illo stercore erectus est supra omnes opulentos ille inops ut sedeat cum potentibus populi, quibus ait: Sedebitis super duodecim sedes. _ - Et sedem gloriae hereditatem dans eis; dixerant enim potentes illi: Ecce nos dimisimus omnia et secuti sumus te. Hoc votum potentissime voverant. Sed unde hoc eis, nisi ab illo, de quo hic continuo dictum est: Dans votum voventi? Alioquin ex illis essent potentibus, quorum infirmatus est arcus. Dans, inquit, votum voventi. Non enim Domino quisquam quicquam rectum voveret, nisi qui ab illo acciperet quod voveret. Sequitur: Et benedixit annos iusti, ut cum illo scilicet sine fine vivat, cui dictum est: Et anni tui non deficient. Ibi enim stant anni, hic autem transeunt, immo pereunt; antequam veniant enim, non sunt; cum autem venerint, non erunt, quia cum suo fine veniunt. Horum autem duorum, id est dans votum voventi, et benedixit annos iusti, unum est quod facimus, alterum quod sumimus. Sed hoc alterum Deo largitore non sumitur, nisi cum ipso adiutore primum illud efficitur: Quia non in virtute potens est vir. Dominus infirmum faciet adversarium eius; illum scilicet, qui homini voventi inuidet et resistit, ne valeat implere quod vovit. Potest ex ambiguo Graeco intellegi et adversarium suum. Cum enim Dominus possidere nos coeperit, profecto adversarius, qui noster fuerat, ipsius fit et vincetur a nobis, sed non viribus nostris, quia non in virtute potens est vir. Dominus ergo infirmum faciet adversarium suum, Dominus sanctus; ut vincatur a sanctis, quos Dominus sanctus sanctorum efficit sanctos. Ac per hoc non glorietur prudens in sua prudentia, et non glorietur potens in sua potentia, et non glorietur dives in divitiis suis; sed in hoc glorietur, qui gloriatur, intellegere et scire Dominum et facere iudicium et iustitiam in medio terrae. Non parua ex parte intellegit et scit Dominum, qui intellegit et scit etiam hoc a Domino sibi dari, ut intellegat et sciat Dominum. Quid enim habes, ait apostolus, quod non accepisti? Si autem et accepisti, quid gloriaris, quasi non acceperis? id est, quasi a te ipso tibi sit, unde gloriaris. Facit autem iudicium et iustitiam, qui recte vivit. Recte autem vivit, qui obtemperat praecipienti Deo; et finis praecepti, id est, ad quod refertur praeceptum, caritas est de corde puro et conscientia bona et fide non ficta. Porro ista caritas, sicut Iohannes apostolus testatur, ex Deo est. Facere igitur iudicium et iustitiam ex Deo est. Sed quid est: In medio terrae? Neque enim non debent facere iudicium et iustitiam qui habitant in extremis terrae. Quis hoc dixerit? Cur ergo additum est: In medio terrae? Quod non si adderetur et tantummodo diceretur: Facere iudicium et iustitiam, magis hoc praeceptum ad utrosque homines pertineret, et mediterraneos et maritimos. Sed ne quisquam putaret post finem vitae, quae in hoc agitur corpore, superesse tempus iudicium iustitiamque faciendi, quam dum esset in carne non fecit, et sic divinum euadi posse iudicium: in medio terrae mihi videtur dictum "cum quisque vivit in corpore". In hac quippe vita suam terram quisque circumfert, quam moriente homine recipit terra communis, resurgenti utique redditura. Proinde in medio terrae, id est, cum anima nostra isto terreno clauditur corpore, faciendum est iudicium atque iustitia, quod nobis prosit in posterum, quando recipit quisque secundum ea, quae per corpus gessit, sive bonum sive malum. Per corpus quippe ibi dixit apostolus per tempus, quo vixit in corpore. Neque enim si quis maligna mente atque impia cogitatione blasphemet neque id ullis membris corporis operetur, ideo non erit reus, quia id non motu corporis gessit,cum hoc per illud tempus gesserit, quo gessit et corpus. Isto modo congruenter intellegi potest etiam illud, quod in psalmo legitur: Deus autem rex noster ante saecula operatus est salutem in medio terrae; ut Dominus Iesus accipiatur Deus noster, qui est ante saecula, quia per ipsum facta sunt saecula, operatus salutem nostram in medio terrae, cum Verbum caro factum est et terreno habitavit in corpore. Deinde postea quam prophetatum est in his verbis Annae, quo modo gloriari debeat, qui gloriatur, non in se utique, sed in Domino, propter retributionem, quae in die iudicii futura est: Dominus ascendit, inquit, in caelos et tonuit; ipse iudicabit extrema terrae, quia iustus est. Prorsus ordinem tenuit confessionis fidelium. Ascendit enim in caelum Dominus Christus, et inde venturus est ad vivos et mortuos iudicandos. Nam quis ascendit, sicut dicit apostolus, nisi qui et descendit in inferiores partes terrae? Qui descendit, ipse est et qui ascendit super omnes caelos, ut adimpleret omnia. Per nubes ergo suas tonuit, quas sancto Spiritu cum ascendisset implevit. De quibus ancillae Hierusalem, hoc est ingratae vineae, comminatus est apud Esaiam prophetam, ne pluant super eam imbrem. Sic autem dictum est: Ipse iudicabit extrema terrae, ac si diceretur: "Etiam extrema terrae." Non enim alias partes non iudicabit, qui omnes homines procul dubio iudicabit. Sed melius intelleguntur extrema terrae extrema hominis; quoniam non iudicabuntur, quae in melius vel in deterius medio tempore commutantur, sed in quibus extremis inventus fuerit, qui iudicabitur. Propter quod dictum est: Qui perseueraverit usque in finem, hic saluus erit. Qui ergo perseueranter facit iudicium et iustitiam in medio terrae, non damnabitur, cum iudicabuntur extrema terrae. Et dat, inquit, virtutem regibus nostris; ut non eos iudicando condemnet. Dat eis virtutem, qua carnem sicut reges regant et in illo mundum, qui propter eos fudit sanguinem, vincant. Et exaltabit cornum christi sui. Quo modo Christus exaltabit cornum christi sui? De quo enim supra dictum est: Dominus ascendit in caelos, et intellectus est Dominus Christus: ipse, sicut hic dicitur, exaltabitt cornum christi sui. Quis ergo est christus Christi? An cornum exaltabit uniuscuiusque fidelis sui, sicut ista ipsa in principio huius hymni ait: Exaltatum est cornum meum in Deo meo? Omnes quippe unctos eius chrismate recte christos possumus dicere; quod tamen totum cum suo capite corpus unus est Christus. Haec Anna prophetavit, Samuelis mater, sancti viri multumque laudati; in quo quidem tunc figurata est mutatio ueteris sacerdotii et nunc impleta, quando infirmata est quae multa erat in filiis, ut nouum haberet in Christo sacerdotium sterilis, quae peperit septem. ||Therefore the advance of the city of God, where it reached the times of the kings, yielded a figure, when, on the rejection of Saul, David first obtained the kingdom on such a footing that thenceforth his descendants should reign in the earthly Jerusalem in continual succession; for the course of affairs signified and foretold, what is not to be passed by in silence, concerning the change of things to come, what belongs to both Testaments, the Old and the New,-where the priesthood and kingdom are changed by one who is a priest, and at the same time a king, new and everlasting, even Christ Jesus. For both the substitution in the ministry of God, on Eli's rejection as priest, of Samuel, who executed at once the office of priest and judge, and the establishment of David in the kingdom, when Saul was rejected, typified this of which I speak. And Hannah herself, the mother of Samuel, who formerly was barren, and afterwards was gladdened with fertility, does not seem to prophesy anything else, when she exultingly pours forth her thanksgiving to the Lord, on yielding up to God the same boy she had born and weaned with the same piety with which she had vowed him. For she says, "My heart is made strong in the Lord, and my horn is exalted in my God; my mouth is enlarged over mine enemies; I am made glad in Your salvation. Because there is none holy as the Lord; and none is righteous as our God: there is none holy save You. Do not glory so proudly, and do not speak lofty things, neither let vaunting talk come out of your mouth; for a God of knowledge is the Lord, and a God preparing His curious designs. The bow of the mighty has He made weak, and the weak are girded with strength. They that were full of bread are diminished; and the hungry have passed beyond the earth: for the barren has born seven; and she that has many children is waxed feeble. The Lord kills and makes alive: He brings down to hell, and brings up again. The Lord makes poor and makes rich: He brings low and lifts up. He raises up the poor out of the dust, and lifts up the beggar from the dunghill, that He may set him among the mighty of [His] people, and makes them inherit the throne of glory; giving the vow to him that vowes, and He has blessed the years of the just: for man is not mighty in strength. The Lord shall make His adversary weak: the Lord is holy. Let not the prudent glory in his prudence and let not the mighty glory in his might; and let not the rich glory in his riches: but let him that glories glory in this, to understand and know the Lord, and to do judgment and justice in the midst of the earth. The Lord has ascended into the heavens, and has thundered: He shall judge the ends of the earth, for He is righteous: and He gives strength to our kings, and shall exalt the horn of His Christ."Do you say that these are the words of a single weak woman giving thanks for the birth of a son? Can the mind of men be so much averse to the light of truth as not to perceive that the sayings this woman pours forth exceed her measure? Moreover, he who is suitably interested in these things which have already begun to be fulfilled even in this earthly pilgrimage also, does he not apply his mind, and perceive, and acknowledge, that through this woman-whose very name, which is Hannah, means "His grace"-the very Christian religion, the very city of God, whose king and founder is Christ, in fine, the very grace of God, has thus spoken by the prophetic Spirit, whereby the proud are cut off so that they fall, and the humble are filled so that they rise, which that hymn chiefly celebrates? Unless perchance any one will say that this woman prophesied nothing, but only lauded God with exulting praise on account of the son whom she had obtained in answer to prayer. What then does she mean when she says, "The bow of the mighty has He made weak, and the weak are girded with strength; they that were full of bread are diminished, and the hungry have gone beyond the earth; for the barren has born seven, and she that has many children is waxed feeble?" Had she herself born seven, although she had been barren? She had only one when she said that; neither did she bear seven afterwards, nor six, with whom Samuel himself might be the seventh, but three males and two females. And then, when as yet no one was king over that people, whence, if she did not prophesy, did she say what she puts at the end, "He gives strength to our kings, and shall exalt the horn of His Christ?"Therefore let the Church of Christ, the city of the great King, full of grace, prolific of offspring, let her say what the prophecy uttered about her so long before by the mouth of this pious mother confesses, "My heart is made strong in the Lord, and my horn is exalted in my God." Her heart is truly made strong, and her horn is truly exalted, because not in herself, but in the Lord her God. "My mouth is enlarged over mine enemies;" because even in pressing straits the word of God is not bound, not even in preachers who are bound. "I am made glad," she says, "in Your salvation." This is Christ Jesus Himself, whom old Simeon, as we read in the Gospel, embracing as a little one, yet recognizing as great, said, "Lord, now let Your servant depart in peace, for my eyes have seen Your salvation." Luke 2:25-30 Therefore may the Church say, "I am made glad in Your salvation. For there is none holy as the Lord, and none is righteous as our God;" as holy and sanctifying, just and justifying. "There is none holy beside You;" because no one becomes so except by reason of You. And then it follows, "Do not glory so proudly, and do not speak lofty things, neither let vaunting talk come out of your mouth. For a God of knowledge is the Lord." He knows you even when no one knows; for "he who thinks himself to be something when he is nothing deceives himself." Galatians 6:3 These things are said to the adversaries of the city of God who belong to Babylon, who presume in their own strength, and glory in themselves, not in the Lord; of whom are also the carnal Israelites, the earth-born inhabitants of the earthly Jerusalem, who, as says the apostle, "being ignorant of the righteousness of God," Romans 10:3 that is, which God, who alone is just, and the justifier, gives to man, "and wishing to establish their own," that is, which is as it were procured by their own selves, not bestowed by Him, "are not subject to the righteousness of God," just because they are proud, and think they are able to please God with their own, not with that which is of God, who is the God of knowledge, and therefore also takes the oversight of consciences, there beholding the thoughts of men that they are vain, if they are of men, and are not from Him. "And preparing," she says, "His curious designs." What curious designs do we think these are, save that the proud must fall, and the humble rise? These curious designs she recounts, saying, "The bow of the mighty is made weak, and the weak are girded with strength." The bow is made weak, that is, the intention of those who think themselves so powerful, that without the gift and help of God they are able by human sufficiency to fulfill the divine commandments; and those are girded with strength whose in ward cry is, "Have mercy upon me, O Lord, for I am weak."They that were full of bread, she says, "are diminished, and the hungry have gone beyond the earth." Who are to be understood as full of bread except those same who were as if mighty, that is, the Israelites, to whom were committed the oracles of God? Romans 3:2 But among that people the children of the bond maid were diminished,-by which word minus, although it is Latin, the idea is well expressed that from being greater they were made less,-because, even in the very bread, that is, the divine oracles, which the Israelites alone of all nations have received, they savor earthly things. But the nations to whom that law was not given, after they have come through the New Testament to these oracles, by thirsting much have gone beyond the earth, because in them they have savored not earthly, but heavenly things. And the reason why this is done is as it were sought; "for the barren," she says, "has born seven, and she that has many children is waxed feeble." Here all that had been prophesied has shone forth to those who understood the number seven, which signifies the perfection of the universal Church. For which reason also the Apostle John writes to the seven churches, Revelation 1:4 showing in that way that he writes to the totality of the one Church; and in the Proverbs of Solomon it is said aforetime, prefiguring this, "Wisdom has built her house, she has strengthened her seven pillars." Proverbs 9:1 For the city of God was barren in all nations before that child arose whom we see. We also see that the temporal Jerusalem, who had many children, is now waxed feeble. Because, whoever in her were sons of the free woman were her strength; but now, forasmuch as the letter is there, and not the spirit, having lost her strength, she is waxed feeble.The Lord kills and makes alive: He has killed her who had many children, and made this barren one alive, so that she has born seven. Although it may be more suitably understood that He has made those same alive whom He has killed. For she, as it were, repeats that by adding, "He brings down to hell, and brings up." To whom truly the apostle says, "If you be dead with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sits on the right hand of God." Colossians 3:1-3 Therefore they are killed by the Lord in a salutary way, so that he adds, "Savor things which are above, not things on the earth;" so that these are they who, hungering, have passed beyond the earth. "For you are dead," he says: behold how God savingly kills! Then there follows, "And your life is hid with Christ in God:" behold how God makes the same alive! But does He bring them down to hell and bring them up again? It is without controversy among believers that we best see both parts of this work fulfilled in Him, to wit our Head, with whom the apostle has said our life is hid in God. "For when He spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all," Romans 8:32 in that way, certainly, He has killed Him. And forasmuch as He raised Him up again from the dead, He has made Him alive again. And since His voice is acknowledged in the prophecy, "You will not leave my soul in hell," He has brought Him down to hell and brought Him up again. By this poverty of His we are made rich; 2 Corinthians 8:9 for "the Lord makes poor and makes rich." But that we may know what this is, let us hear what follows: "He brings low and lifts up;" and truly He humbles the proud and exalts the humble. Which we also read elsewhere, "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble." This is the burden of the entire song of this woman whose name is interpreted "His grace."Farther, what is added, "He raises up the poor from the earth," I understand of none better than of Him who, as was said a little ago, "was made poor for us, when He was rich, that by His poverty we might be made rich." For He raised Him from the earth so quickly that His flesh did not see corruption. Nor shall I divert from Him what is added, "And raises up the poor from the dunghill." For indeed he who is the poor man is also the beggar. But by the dunghill from which he is lifted up we are with the greatest reason to understand the persecuting Jews, of whom the apostle says, when telling that when he belonged to them he persecuted the Church, "What things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ; and I have counted them not only loss, but even dung, that I might win Christ." Philippians 3:7-8 Therefore that poor one is raised up from the earth above all the rich, and that beggar is lifted up from that dunghill above all the wealthy, "that he may sit among the mighty of the people," to whom He says, "You shall sit upon twelve thrones," Matthew 19:27-28 "and to make them inherit the throne of glory." For these mighty ones had said, "Lo, we have forsaken all and followed You." They had most mightily vowed this vow.But whence do they receive this, except from Him of whom it is here immediately said, "Giving the vow to him that vowes?" Otherwise they would be of those mighty ones whose bow is weakened. "Giving," she says, "the vow to him that vowes." For no one could vow anything acceptable to God, unless he received from Him that which he might vow. There follows, "And He has blessed the years of the just," to wit, that he may live for ever with Him to whom it is said, "And Your years shall have no end." For there the years abide; but here they pass away, yea, they perish: for before they come they are not, and when they shall have come they shall not be, because they bring their own end with them. Now of these two, that is, "giving the vow to him that vowes," and "He has blessed the years of the just," the one is what we do, the other what we receive. But this other is not received from God, the liberal giver, until He, the helper, Himself has enabled us for the former; "for man is not mighty in strength." "The Lord shall make his adversary weak," to wit, him who envies the man that vows, and resists him, lest he should fulfill what he has vowed. Owing to the ambiguity of the Greek, it may also be understood "his own adversary." For when God has begun to possess us, immediately he who had been our adversary becomes His, and is conquered by us; but not by our own strength, "for man is not mighty in strength." Therefore "the Lord shall make His own adversary weak, the Lord is holy," that he may be conquered by the saints, whom the Lord, the Holy of holies, has made saints. For this reason, "let not the prudent glory in his prudence, and let not the mighty glory in his might, and let not the rich glory in his riches; but let him that glories glory in this,-to understand and know the Lord, and to do judgment and justice in the midst of the earth." He in no small measure understands and knows the Lord who understands and knows that even this, that he can understand and know the Lord, is given to him by the Lord. "For what have you," says the apostle, "that you have not received? But if you have received it, why do you glory as if you had not received it?" 1 Corinthians 4:7 That is, as if you had of your own self whereof you might glory. Now, he does judgment and justice who lives aright. But he lives aright who yields obedience to God when He commands. "The end of the commandment," that is, to which the commandment has reference, "is charity out of a pure heart, and a good conscience, and faith unfeigned." Moreover, this "charity," as the Apostle John testifies, "is of God." 1 John 4:7 Therefore to do justice and judgment is of God. But what is "in the midst of the earth?" For ought those who dwell in the ends of the earth not to do judgment and justice? Who would say so? Why, then, is it added, "In the midst of the earth?" For if this had not been added, and it had only been said, "To do judgment and justice," this commandment would rather have pertained to both kinds of men,-both those dwelling inland and those on the sea-coast. But lest any one should think that, after the end of the life led in this body, there remains a time for doing judgment and justice which he has not done while he was in the flesh, and that the divine judgment can thus be escaped, "in the midst of the earth" appears to me to be said of the time when every one lives in the body; for in this life every one carries about his own earth, which, on a man's dying, the common earth takes back, to be surely returned to him on his rising again. Therefore "in the midst of the earth," that is, while our soul is shut up in this earthly body, judgment and justice are to be done, which shall be profitable for us hereafter, when "every one shall receive according to that he has done in the body, whether good or bad." 2 Corinthians 5:10 For when the apostle there says "in the body," he means in the time he has lived in the body. Yet if any one blaspheme with malicious mind and impious thought, without any member of his body being employed in it, he shall not therefore be guiltless because he has not done it with bodily motion, for he will have done it in that time which he has spent in the body. In the same way we may suitably understand what we read in the psalm, "But God, our King before the worlds, has wrought salvation in the midst of the earth;" so that the Lord Jesus may be understood to be our God who is before the worlds, because by Him the worlds were made, working our salvation in the midst of the earth, for the Word was made flesh and dwelt in an earthly body.
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| − | Then after Hannah has prophesied in these words, that he who glories ought to glory not in himself at all, but in the Lord, she says, on account of the retribution which is to come on the day of judgment, "The Lord has ascended into the heavens, and has thundered: He shall judge the ends of the earth, for He is righteous." Throughout she holds to the order of the creed of Christians: For the Lord Christ has ascended into heaven, and is to come thence to judge the quick and dead. Acts 10:42 For, as says the apostle, "Who has ascended but He who has also descended into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up above all heavens, that He might fill all things." Ephesians 4:9-10 Therefore He has thundered through His clouds, which He has filled with His Holy Spirit when He ascended up. Concerning which the bond maid Jerusalem _ that is, the unfruitful vineyard _ is threatened in Isaiah the prophet that they shall rain no showers upon her. But "He shall judge the ends of the earth" is spoken as if it had been said, "even the extremes of the earth." For it does not mean that He shall not judge the other parts of the earth, who, without doubt, shall judge all men. But it is better to understand by the extremes of the earth the extremes of man, since those things shall not be judged which, in the middle time, are changed for the better or the worse, but the ending in which he shall be found who is judged. For which reason it is said, "He that shall persevere even unto the end, the same shall be saved." Matthew 24:13 He, therefore, who perseveringly does judgment and justice in the midst of the earth shall not be condemned when the extremes of the earth shall be judged. "And gives," she says, "strength to our kings," that He may not condemn them in judging. He gives them strength whereby as kings they rule the flesh, and conquer the world in Him who has poured out His blood for them. "And shall exalt the horn of His Christ." How shall Christ exalt the horn of His Christ? For He of whom it was said above, "The Lord has ascended into the heavens," meaning the Lord Christ, Himself, as it is said here, "shall exalt the horn of His Christ." Who, therefore, is the Christ of His Christ? Does it mean that He shall exalt the horn of each one of His believing people, as she says in the beginning of this hymn, "Mine horn is exalted in my God?" For we can rightly call all those christs who are anointed with His chrism, forasmuch as the whole body with its head is one Christ. 1 Corinthians 12:12 These things has Hannah, the mother of Samuel, the holy and much-praised man, prophesied, in which, indeed, the change of the ancient priesthood was then figured and is now fulfilled, since she that had many children is waxed feeble, that the barren who has born seven might have the new priesthood in Christ.
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| − | ||<div id="c5"><b>BOOK XVII</b> [V] Sed hoc evidentius ad ipsum Heli sacerdotem missus loquitur homo Dei, cuius quidem nomen tacetur, sed intellegitur officio ministerioque suo sine dubitatione propheta. Sic enim scriptum est: Et venit homo Dei ad Heli et dixit: Haec dicit Dominus: Reuelatus reuelatus sum ad domum patris tui, cum essent in terra Aegypti serui in domo Pharao; et elegi domum patris tui ex omnibus sceptris Israel mihi sacerdotio fungi,ut ascenderent ad altare meum et incenderent incensum et portarent Ephod; et dedi domui patris tui omnia, quae sunt ignis filiorum Israel, in escam. Et ut quid respexisti in incensum meum et in sacrificium meum inpudenti oculo et glorificasti filios tuos super me, benedicere primitias omnis sacrificii in Israel in conspectu meo? Propter hoc haec dicit Dominus Deus Israel: Dixi: Domus tua et domus patris tui transibunt coram me usque in aeternum. Et nunc dicit Dominus: Nequaquam, sed glorificantes me glorificabo, et qui spernit me, spernetur. Ecce dies veniunt, et exterminabo semen tuum et semen domus patris tui, et non erit tibi senior in domo mea omnibus diebus, et virum exterminabo tibi ab altari meo, ut deficiant oculi eius et defluat anima eius; et omnis qui superaverit domus tuae, decident in gladio virorum. Et hoc tibi signum, quod veni et super duos filios tuos hos, Ophni et Phinees: una die morientur ambo. Et suscitabo mihi sacerdotem fidelem, qui omnia, quae in corde meo et quae in anima mea, faciat; et aedificabo ei domum fidelem, et transibit coram Christo meo omnibus diebus. Et erit, qui superaverit in domo tua, veniet adorare ei obolo argenti dicens: lacta me in unam panem sacerdotii tui manducare panem. Non est ut dicatur ista prophetia, ubi sacerdotii ueteris tanta manifestatione praenuntiata mutatio est, in Samuele fuisse completa. (Quamquam enim non esset de alia tribu Samuel, quam quae constituta fuerat a Domino, ut seruiret altari, tamen non erat de filiis Aaron, cuius progenies fuerat deputata, unde fierent sacerdotes; ac per hoc in ea quoque re gesta eadem mutatio quae per Christum Iesum futura fuerat adumbrata est, et ad uetus testamentum proprie, figurate vero pertinebat ad nouum prophetia facti etiam ipsa, non verbi, id scilicet facto significans, quod verbo ad Heli sacerdotem dictum est per prophetam.) Nam fuerunt postea sacerdotes ex genere Aaron, sicut Sadoc et Abiathar, regnante David, et alii deinceps, antequam tempus veniret, quo ista, quae de sacerdotio mutando tanto ante praedicta sunt, effici per Christum oportebat. Quis autem nunc fideli oculo haec intuens non videat esse completa? Quando quidem nullum tabernaculum, nullum templum, nullum altare, nullum sacrificium et ideo nec ullus sacerdos remansit Iudaeis, quibus, ut de semine Aaron ordinaretur, in Dei fuerat lege mandatum. Quod et hic commemoratum est illo dicente propheta: Haec dicit Dominus Deus Israel: Dixi: Domus tua et domus patris tui transibunt coram me usque in aeternum. Et nunc dicit Dominus: Nequaquam, sed glorificantes me glorificabo, et qui me spernit, spernetur. Quod enim nominat domum patris eius, non eum de proximo patre dicere, sed de illo Aaron, qui primus sacerdos est institutus, de cuius progenie ceteri sequerentur, superiora demonstrant, ubi ait: Reuelatus sum ad domum patris tui, cum essent in terra Aegypti serui in domo Pharao, et elegi domum patris tui ex omnibus sceptris Israel mihi sacerdotio fungi. Quis patrum fuit huius in illa Aegyptia seruitute, unde cum liberati essent, electus est ad sacerdotium, nisi Aaron? De huius ergo stirpe isto loco dixit futurum fuisse, ut non essent ulterius sacerdotes; quod iam videmus impletum. Vigilet fides, praesto sunt res, cernuntur, tenentur et videre nolentium oculis ingeruntur. Ecce, inquit, dies veniunt, et exterminabo semen tuum et semen domus patris tui, et non erit tibi senior in domo mea omnibus diebus, et virum exterminabo tibi ab altari meo, ut deficiant oculi eius et defluat anima eius. Ecce dies, qui praenuntiati sunt, iam venerunt. Nullus sacerdos est secundum ordinem Aaron; et quicumque ex eius genere est homo, cum videt sacrificium Christianorum toto orbe pollere, sibi autem honorem illum magnum esse subtractum, deficiunt oculi eius et defluit anima eius tabe maeroris. Proprie autem ad huius domum Heli, cui haec dicebantur, quod sequitur pertinet: Et omnis qui superaverit domus tuae, decident in gladio virorum. Et hoc tibi signum, quod veniet super duos filios tuos hos, Ophni et Phinees: uno die morientur ambo. Hoc ergo signum factum est mutandi sacerdotii de domo huius, quo signo significatum est mutandum sacerdotium domus Aaron. Mors quippe filiorum huius significavit mortem non hominum, sed ipsius sacerdotii de filiis Aaron. Quod autem sequitur, ad illum iam pertinet sacerdotem, cuius figuram gessit huic succedendo Samuel. Proinde quae sequuntur, de Christo Iesu novi testamenti vero sacerdote dicuntur: Et suscitabo mihi sacerdotem fidelem, qui omnia quae in corde meo et quae in anima mea faciat; et aedificabo ei domum fidelem. Ipsa est aeterna et superna Hierusalem. Et transibit, inquit, coram Christo meo omnibus diebus. Transibit dixit "conversabitur"; sicut superius dixerat de domo Aaron: Dixi: Domus tua et domus patris tui transibunt coram me in aeternum. Quod autem ait: Coram Christo meo transibit, de ipsa domo utique intellegendum est, non de illo sacerdote, qui est Christus ipse mediator atque saluator. Domus ergo eius coram illo transibit. Potest et transibit intellegi de morte ad vitam, omnibus diebus, quibus peragitur usque in finem saeculi huius ista mortalitas. Quod autem ait Deus: Qui omnia quae in corde meo et quae in anima mea faciat: non arbitremur habere animam Deum, cum sit conditor animae; sed ita hoc de Deo tropice, non proprie dicitur, sicut manus et pes et alia corporis membra. Et ne secundum hoc credatur homo in carnis huius effigie factus ad imaginem Dei, adduntur et alae, quas utique non habet homo, et dicitur Deo: Sub umbra alarum tuarum proteges me; ut intellegant homines de illa ineffabili natura, non propriis, sed translatis rerum vocabulis ista dici. Quod vero adiungitur: Et erit, qui superaverit in domo tua, veniet adorare eo, non proprie de domo dicitur huius Heli, sed illius Aaron, de qua usque ad adventum Iesu Christi homines remanserunt, de quo genere etiam nunc usque non desunt. Nam de illa domo huius Heli iam supra dictum erat: Et omnis qui superaverit domus tuae, decident in gladio virorum. Quo modo ergo hic vere dici potuit: Et erit, qui superaverit in domo tua, veniet adorare ei, si illud est verum, quod ultore gladio nemo inde superarit? nisi quia illos intellegi voluit, qui pertinent ad stirpem, sed illius totius sacerdotii secundum ordinem Aaron. Ergo si de illis est praedestinatis reliquiis, de quibus alius propheta dixit: Reliquiae saluae fient (unde et apostolus: Sic ergo, inquit, et in hoc tempore reliquiae per electionem gratiae factae sunt), quia de talibus reliquiis bene intellegitur esse, de quo dictum est: Qui superaverit in domo tuas profecto credit in Christum; sicut temporibus apostolorum ex ipsa gente plurimi crediderunt, neque nunc desunt, qui, licet rarissime, tamen credant; et impletur in eo quod hic iste homo Dei continuo secutus adiunxit: Veniet adorare ei obolo argenti. Cui ado re, nisi summo illi sacerdoti, qui et Deus est? Neque enim in illo sacerdotio secundum ordinem Aaron ad hoc veniebant homines ad templum vel altare Dei, ut sacerdotem adorarent. Quid est autem quod ait: Obolo argenti, nisi brevitate verbi fidei, de quo commemorat apostolus dictum: Verbum consummans et brevians faciet Dominus super terram? Argentum autem pro eloquio poni psalmus testis est, ubi canitur: Eloquia Domini eloquia casta, argentum igne examinatum. Quid ergo dicit iste, qui venit adorare sacerdoti Dei et sacerdoti Deo? Iacta me in partem sacerdotii tui, manducare panem. Nolo in patrum meorum conlocari honore, qui nullus est; iacta me in partem sacerdotii tui. Elegi enim abiectus esse in domo Dei; qualecumque et quantulumcumque membrum esse cupio sacerdotii tui. Sacerdotium quippe hic ipsam plebem dicit, cuius plebis ille sacerdos est mediator Dei et hominum, homo Christus Iesus. Cui plebi dicit apostolus Petrus: Plebs sancta, regale sacerdotium. Quamuis nonnulli "sacrificii tui" sint interpretati, non "sacerdotii tui"; quod nihilo minus eundem significat populum Christianum. Vnde dicit apostolus Paulus: Vnus panis, unum corpus multi sumus. Quod ergo addidit: Manducare panem, etiam ipsum sacrificii genus eleganter expressit, de quo dicit sacerdos ipse: Panis, quem ego dedero, caro mea est pro saeculi vita. Ipsum est sacrificium; non secundum ordinem Aaron, sed secundum ordinem Melchisedech, qui legit, intellegat. Brevis itaque ista confessio et salubriter humilis, qua dicitur: Iacta me in partem sacerdotii tui manducare panem; ipse est obolus argenti, quia et breue est et eloquium Domini est habitantis in corde credentis. Quia enim dixerat superius, dedisse se cibos domui Aaron de victimis ueteris testamenti, ubi ait: Dedi domui patris tui omnia, quae sunt ignis filiorum Israel, in escam (haec quippe fuerant sacrificia Iudaeorum): ideo hic dixit: Manducare panem, quod est in nouo testamento sacrificium Christianorum. ||But this is said more plainly by a man of God sent to Eli the priest himself, whose name indeed is not mentioned, but whose office and ministry show him to have been indubitably a prophet. For it is thus written: "And there came a man of God unto Eli, and said, Thus says the Lord, I plainly revealed myself unto your father's house, when they were in the land of Egypt slaves in Pharaoh's house; and I chose your father's house out of all the sceptres of Israel to fill the office of priest for me, to go up to my altar, to burn incense and wear the ephod; and I gave your father's house for food all the offerings made by fire of the children of Israel. Wherefore then have you looked at mine incense and at mine offerings with an impudent eye, and hast glorified your sons above me, to bless the first-fruits of every sacrifice in Israel before me? Therefore thus says the Lord God of Israel, I said your house and your father's house should walk before me for ever: but now the Lord says, Be it far from me; for them that honor me will I honor, and he that despises me shall be despised. Behold, the days come, that I will cut off your seed, and the seed of your father's house, and you shall never have an old man in my house. And I will cut off the man of yours from mine altar, so that his eyes shall be consumed, and his heart shall melt away; and every one of your house that is left shall fall by the sword of men. And this shall be a sign unto you that shall come upon these your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas; in one day they shall die both of them. And I will raise me up a faithful priest, that shall do according to all that is in mine heart and in my soul; and I will build him a sure house, and he shall walk before my Christ for ever. And it shall come to pass that he who is left in your house shall come to worship him with a piece of money, saying, Put me into one part of your priesthood, that I may eat bread."We cannot say that this prophecy, in which the change of the ancient priesthood is foretold with so great plainness, was fulfilled in Samuel; for although Samuel was not of another tribe than that which had been appointed by God to serve at the altar, yet he was not of the sons of Aaron, whose offspring was set apart that the priests might be taken out of it. And thus by that transaction also the same change which should come to pass through Christ Jesus is shadowed forth, and the prophecy itself in deed, not in word, belonged to the Old Testament properly, but figuratively to the New, signifying by the fact just what was said by the word to Eli the priest through the prophet. For there were afterwards priests of Aaron's race, such as Zadok and Abiathar during David's reign, and others in succession, before the time came when those things which were predicted so long before about the changing of the priesthood behoved to be fulfilled by Christ. But who that now views these things with a believing eye does not see that they are fulfilled? Since, indeed, no tabernacle, no temple, no altar, no sacrifice, and therefore no priest either, has remained to the Jews, to whom it was commanded in the law of God that he should be ordained of the seed of Aaron; which is also mentioned here by the prophet, when he says, "Thus says the Lord God of Israel, I said your house and your father's house shall walk before me for ever: but now the Lord says, That be far from me; for them that honor me will I honor, and he that despises me shall be despised." For that in naming his father's house he does not mean that of his immediate father, but that of Aaron, who first was appointed priest, to be succeeded by others descended from him, is shown by the preceding words, when he says, "I was revealed unto your father's house, when they were in the land of Egypt slaves in Pharaoh's house; and I chose your father's house out of all the sceptres of Israel to fill the office of priest for me." Which of the fathers in that Egyptian slavery, but Aaron, was his father, who, when they were set free, was chosen to the priesthood? It was of his lineage, therefore, he has said in this passage it should come to pass that they should no longer be priests; which already we see fulfilled. If faith be watchful, the things are before us: they are discerned, they are grasped, and are forced on the eyes of the unwilling, so that they are seen: "Behold the days come," he says, "that I will cut off your seed, and the seed of your father's house, and you shall never have an old man in mine house. And I will cut off the man of yours from mine altar, so that his eyes shall be consumed and his heart shall melt away." Behold the days which were foretold have already come. There is no priest after the order of Aaron; and whoever is a man of his lineage, when he sees the sacrifice of the Christians prevailing over the whole world, but that great honor taken away from himself, his eyes fail and his soul melts away consumed with grief.But what follows belongs properly to the house of Eli, to whom these things were said: "And every one of your house that is left shall fall by the sword of men. And this shall be a sign unto you that shall come upon these your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas; in one day they shall die both of them." This, therefore, is made a sign of the change of the priesthood from this man's house, by which it is signified that the priesthood of Aaron's house is to be changed. For the death of this man's sons signified the death not of the men, but of the priesthood itself of the sons of Aaron. But what follows pertains to that Priest whom Samuel typified by succeeding this one. Therefore the things which follow are said of Christ Jesus, the true Priest of the New Testament: "And I will raise me up a faithful Priest that shall do according to all that is in mine heart and in my soul; and I will build Him a sure house." The same is the eternal Jerusalem above. "And He shall walk," says He, "before my Christ always." "He shall walk" means "he shall be conversant with," just as He had said before of Aaron's house, "I said that your house and your father's house shall walk before me for ever." But what He says, "He shall walk before my Christ," is to be understood entirely of the house itself, not of the priest, who is Christ Himself, the Mediator and Saviour. His house, therefore, shall walk before Him. "Shall walk" may also be understood to mean from death to life, all the time this mortality passes through, even to the end of this world. But where God says, "Who will do all that is in mine heart and in my soul," we must not think that God has a soul, for He is the Author of souls; but this is said of God tropically, not properly, just as He is said to have hands and feet, and other corporal members. And, lest it should be supposed from such language that man in the form of this flesh is made in the image of God, wings also are ascribed to Him, which man has not at all; and it is said to God, "Hide me under the shadow of Your wings," that men may understand that such things are said of that ineffable nature not in proper but in figurative words.But what is added, "And it shall come to pass that he who is left in your house shall come to worship him," is not said properly of the house of this Eli, but of that Aaron, the men of which remained even to the advent of Jesus Christ, of which race there are not wanting men even to this present. For of that house of Eli it had already been said above, "And every one of your house that is left shall fall by the sword of men." How, therefore, could it be truly said here, "And it shall come to pass that every one that is left shall come to worship him," if that is true, that no one shall escape the avenging sword, unless he would have it understood of those who belong to the race of that whole priesthood after the order of Aaron? Therefore, if it is of these the predestinated remnant, about whom another prophet has said, "The remnant shall be saved;" Isaiah 10:21 whence the apostle also says, "Even so then at this time also the remnant according to the election of grace is saved;" Romans 11:5 since it is easily understood to be of such a remnant that it is said, "He that is left in your house," assuredly he believes in Christ; just as in the time of the apostle very many of that nation believed; nor are there now wanting those, although very few, who yet believe, and in them is fulfilled what this man of God has here immediately added, "He shall come to worship him with a piece of money;" to worship whom, if not that Chief Priest, who is also God? For in that priesthood after the order of Aaron men did not come to the temple or altar of God for the purpose of worshipping the priest. But what is that he says, "With a piece of money," if not the short word of faith, about which the apostle quotes the saying, "A consummating and shortening word will the Lord make upon the earth?" But that money is put for the word the psalm is a witness, where it is sung, "The words of the Lord are pure words, money tried with the fire."What then does he say who comes to worship the priest of God, even the Priest who is God? "Put me into one part of Your priesthood, to eat bread." I do not wish to be set in the honor of my fathers, which is none; put me in a part of Your priesthood. For "I have chosen to be mean in Your house;" I desire to be a member, no matter what, or how small, of Your priesthood. By the priesthood he here means the people itself, of which He is the Priest who is the Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. 1 Timothy 2:5 This people the Apostle Peter calls "a holy people, a royal priesthood." 1 Peter 2:9 But some have translated, "Of Your sacrifice," not "Of Your priesthood," which no less signifies the same Christian people. Whence the Apostle Paul says, "We being many are one bread, one body." 1 Corinthians 10:17 [And again he says, "Present your bodies a living sacrifice." Romans 12:1 ] What, therefore, he has added, to "eat bread," also elegantly expresses the very kind of sacrifice of which the Priest Himself says, "The bread which I will give is my flesh for the life of the world." John 6:51 The same is the sacrifice not after the order of Aaron, but after the order of Melchisedec: let him that reads understand. Matthew 24:15 Therefore this short and salutarily humble confession, in which it is said, "Put me in a part of Your priesthood, to eat bread," is itself the piece of money, for it is both brief, and it is the Word of God who dwells in the heart of one who believes. For because He had said above, that He had given for food to Aaron's house the sacrificial victims of the Old Testament, where He says, "I have given your father's house for food all things which are offered by fire of the children of Israel," which indeed were the sacrifices of the Jews; therefore here He has said, "To eat bread," which is in the New Testament the sacrifice of the Christians.
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| − | ||<div id="c6"><b>BOOK XVII</b> [VI] Cum igitur haec tanta tunc altitudine praenuntiata sint, tanta nunc manifestatione clarescant, non frustra tamen moveri quispiam potest ac dicere: Quo modo confidimus venire omnia, quae in libris illis ventura praedicta sunt, si hoc ipsum, quod ibi divinitus dictum est: Domus tua et domus patris tui transibunt coram me in aeternum, effectum habere non potuit? quoniam videmus illud sacerdotium fuisse mutatum, et quod illi domui promissum est, nec sperari aliquando complendum, quia illud, quod ei reprobato mutatoque succedit, hoc potius praedicatur aeternum. Hoc qui dicit, nondum intellegit aut non recolit etiam ipsum secundum ordinem Aaron sacerdotium tamquam umbram futuri aeterni sacerdotii constitutum; ac per hoc, quando aeternitas ei promissa est, non ipsi umbrae ac figurae, sed ei, quod per ipsam adumbrabatur figurabaturque, promissum est. Sed ne putaretur ipsa umbra esse mansura, ideo etiam mutatio eius debuit prophetari. Regnum quoque isto modo etiam Saulis ipsius, qui certe reprobatus atque reiectus est, futuri regni erat umbra in aeternitate mansuri. Oleum quippe illud, quo unctus est et ab eo chrismate christus est dictus, mystice accipiendum et magnum sacramentum intellegendum est; quod in eo tantum veneratus est ipse David, ut percusso corde pavitaverit, quando in tenebroso occultatus antro, quo etiam Saul urgente intraverat necessitate naturae, exiguam particulam uestis eius retrorsum latenter abscidit, ut haberet unde monstraret, quo modo ei pepercerit, cum posset occidere, atque ita suspicionem de animo eius, qua sanctum David putans inimicum suum uehementer persequebatur, auferret. Ne itaque reus esset tanti sacramenti in Saule violati, quia vel indumentum eius sic adtrectavit, extimuit. Ita enim scriptum est: Et percussit cor David super eum, quia abstulit pinnulam chlamydis eius. Viris autem, qui cum illo erant et, ut Saulem in manus suas traditum interimeret, suadebant: Non mihi, inquit, contingat a Domino, si fecero hoc verbum domino meo christo Domini, inferre manum meam super eum. quia christus Domini est hic. Huic ergo umbrae futuri non propter ipsam, sed propter illud, quod praefigurabat, tanta veneratio exhibebatur. Vnde et illud, quod ait Sauli Samuel: Quoniam non servasti mandatum meum, quod mandavit tibi Dominus, quem ad modum nunc paraverat Dominus regnum tuum usque in aeternum super Israel: et nunc regnum tuum non stabit tibi, et quaeret Dominus sibi hominem secundum cor suum, et mandabit ei Dominus esse in principem super populum suum. quia non custodisti quae mandavit tibi Dominus, non sic accipiendum est, ac si ipsum Saulem Deus in aeternum praeparaverit regnaturum, et hoc postea noluerit servare peccanti (neque enim eum peccaturum esse nesciebat); sed praeparaverat regnum eius, in quo figura regni esset aeterni. Ideo addidit: Et nunc regnum tuum non stabit tibi. Stetit ergo et stabit, quod in illo significatum est; sed non huic stabit, quia non in aeternum ipse fuerat regnaturus, nec progenies eius, ut saltem per posteros alterum alteri succedentes videretur impleri quod dictum est: In aeternum. Et quaeret, inquit, Dominus sibi hominem; sive David sive ipsum Mediatorem significans testamenti novi, qui figurabatur in chrismate etiam, quo unctus est ipse David et progenies eius. Non autem quasi nesciat ubi sit, ita sibi hominem Deus quaerit; sed per hominem more hominum loquitur, quia et sic loquendo nos quaerit. Non solum enim Deo Patri, verum ipsi quoque Vnigenito eius, qui venit quaerere quod perierat, usque adeo iam eramus noti, ut in ipso essemus electi ante constitutionem mundi. Quaeret sibi ergo dixit "suum habebit". Vnde in Latina lingua hoc verbum accipit praepositionem et "adquirit" dicitur; quod satis apertum est quid significet. Quamquam et sine additamento praepositionis quaerere intellegatur adquirere; ex quo lucra vocantur et quaestus. ||While, therefore, these things now shine forth as clearly as they were loftily foretold, still some one may not vainly be moved to ask, How can we be confident that all things are to come to pass which are predicted in these books as about to come, if this very thing which is there divinely spoken, "Your house and your father's house shall walk before me for ever," could not have effect? For we see that priesthood has been changed; and there can be no hope that what was promised to that house may some time be fulfilled, because that which succeeds on its being rejected and changed is rather predicted as eternal. He who says this does not yet understand, or does not recollect, that this very priesthood after the order of Aaron was appointed as the shadow of a future eternal priesthood; and therefore, when eternity is promised to it, it is not promised to the mere shadow and figure, but to what is shadowed forth and prefigured by it. But lest it should be thought the shadow itself was to remain, therefore its mutation also behoved to be foretold.In this way, too, the kingdom of Saul himself, who certainly was reprobated and rejected, was the shadow of a kingdom yet to come which should remain to eternity. For, indeed, the oil with which he was anointed, and from that chrism he is called Christ, is to be taken in a mystical sense, and is to be understood as a great mystery; which David himself venerated so much in him, that he trembled with smitten heart when, being hid in a dark cave, which Saul also entered when pressed by the necessity of nature, he had come secretly behind him and cut off a small piece of his robe, that he might be able to prove how he had spared him when he could have killed him, and might thus remove from his mind the suspicion through which he had vehemently persecuted the holy David, thinking him his enemy. Therefore he was much afraid lest he should be accused of violating so great a mystery in Saul, because he had thus meddled even his clothes. For thus it is written: "And David's heart smote him because he had taken away the skirt of his cloak." But to the men with him, who advised him to destroy Saul thus delivered up into his hands, he says, "The Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my lord, the Lord's christ, to lay my hand upon him, because he is the Lord's christ." Therefore he showed so great reverence to this shadow of what was to come, not for its own sake, but for the sake of what it prefigured. Whence also that which Samuel says to Saul, "Since you have not kept my commandment which the Lord commanded you, whereas now the Lord would have prepared your kingdom over Israel for ever, yet now your kingdom shall not continue for you; and the Lord will seek Him a man after His own heart, and the Lord will command him to be prince over His people, because you have not kept that which the Lord commanded you," is not to be taken as if God had settled that Saul himself should reign for ever, and afterwards, on his sinning, would not keep this promise; nor was He ignorant that he would sin, but He had established his kingdom that it might be a figure of the eternal kingdom. Therefore he added, "Yet now your kingdom shall not continue for you." Therefore what it signified has stood and shall stand; but it shall not stand for this man, because he himself was not to reign for ever, nor his offspring; so that at least that word "for ever" might seem to be fulfilled through his posterity one to another. "And the Lord," he says, "will seek Him a man," meaning either David or the Mediator of the New Testament, Hebrews 9:15 who was figured in the chrism with which David also and his offspring was anointed. But it is not as if He knew not where he was that God thus seeks Him a man, but, speaking through a man, He speaks as a man, and in this sense seeks us. For not only to God the Father, but also to His Only-begotten, who came to seek what was lost, Luke 19:10 we had been known already even so far as to be chosen in Him before the foundation of the world. Ephesians 1:4 "He will seek Him" therefore means, He will have His own (just as if He had said, Whom He already has known to be His own He will show to others to be His friend). Whence in Latin this word (quжrit) receives a preposition and becomes acquirit (acquires), the meaning of which is plain enough; although even without the addition of the preposition quжrere is understood as acquirere, whence gains are called quжstus.
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| − | ||<div id="c7"><b>BOOK XVII</b> [VII] Rursus peccavit Saul per inoboedientiam, et rursus Samuel in verbo Domini ait illi: Quia sprevisti verbum Domini, sprevit te Dominus, ut non sis rex super Israel. Et rursus pro eodem peccato, cum id confiteretur. Saul et veniam precaretur rogaretque Samuelem, ut reuerteretur cum illo ad placandum Deum: Non reuertar, inquit, tecum; quia sprevisti verbum Domini, et spernet te Dominus, ne sis rex super Israel. Et convertit Samuel faciem suam, ut abiret; et tenuit Saul pinnulam diploidis eius et disrupit eam. Et dixit ad eum Samuel: Disrupit Dominus regnum ab Israel de manu tua hodie et dabit proximo tuo bono super te, et dividetur Israel in duo; et non convertetur neque paenitebit eum; quoniam non est sicut homo, ut paeniteat eum; ipse minatur, et non permanet. Iste, cui dicitur: Spernet te Dominus, ne sis rex super Israel, et: Disrupit Dominus regnum ab Israel de manu tua hodie, quadraginta regnavit annos super Israel, tanto scilicet spatio temporis, quanto et ipse David, et audivit hoc primo tempore regni sui; ut intellegamus ideo dictum, quia nullus de stirpe eius fuerat regnaturus, et respiciamus ad stirpem David, unde exortus est secundum carnem mediator Dei et hominum, homo Christus Iesus. Non autem habet scriptura, quod in plerisque latinis codicibus legitur: Disrupit Dominus regnum Israel de manu tua; sed sicut a nobis positum est inventum in Graecis: Disrupit Dominus regnum ab Israel de manu tua; ut hoc intellegatur de manu tua, quod est ab Israel. Populi ergo Israel personam figurate gerebat homo iste, qui populus regnum fuerat amissurus, Christo Iesu Domino nostro per nouum testamentum non carnaliter, sed spiritaliter regnaturo. De quo cum dicitur: Et dabit illud proximo tuo, ad carnis cognationem id refertur; ex Israel enim Christus secundum carnem, unde et Saul. Quod vero additum est: bono super te, potest quidem intellegi "meliori te"; nam et quidam sic sunt interpretati; sed melius sic accipitur bono super te, ut, quia ille bonus est, ideo sit super te, iuxta illud aliud propheticum: Donec ponam omnes inimicos tuos sub pedibus tuis; in quibus est et Israel, cui suo persecutori regnum abstulit Christus; quamuis fuerit illic et Israel, in quo dolus non erat, quoddam quasi frumentum illarum palearum; nam utique inde erant apostoli, inde tot martyres, quorum prior Stephanus; inde tot ecclesiae, quas apostolus Paulus commemorat, in conversione eius magnificantes Deum. De qua re non dubito intellegendum esse quod sequitur: Et dividetur Israel in duo; in Israel scilicet inimicum Christo et Israel adhaerentem Christo; in Israel ad ancillam et Israel ad liberam pertinentem. Nam ista duo genera primum simul erant, velut Abraham adhuc adhaereret ancillae, donec sterilis per Christi gratiam fecundata clamaret: Eice ancillam et filium eius. Propter peccatum quidem Salomonis regnante filio eius Roboam scimus Israel in duo fuisse divisum atque ita perseuerasse, habentibus singulis partibus reges suos, donec illa gens tota a Chaldaeis esset ingenti uastatione subuersa atque translata. Sed hoc quid ad Saulem, cum, si tale aliquid comminandum esset, ipsi David fuerit potius comminandum, cuius erat filius Salomon? Postremo nunc inter se gens Hebraea divisa non est, sed indifferenter in eiusdem erroris societate dispersa per terras. Divisio vero illa, quam Deus sub persona Saulis, illius regni et populi figuram gerentis, eidem regno populoque minatus est, aeterna atque inmutabilis significata est per hoc, quod a diunctum est: Et non convertetur neque paenitebit eum; quoniam non est sicut homo, ut paeniteat eum; ipse minatur, et non permanet; id est, homo minatur, et non permanet; non autem Deus, quem non paenitet, sicut hominem. Vbi enim legitur, quod paeniteat eum, mutatio rerum significatur, inmutabili praescientia manente divina. Vbi ergo non paenitere dicitur, non mutare intellegitur. Prorsus insolubilem videmus per haec verba prolatam divinitus fuisse sententiam de ista divisione populi Israel et omnino perpetuam. Quicumque enim ad Christum transierunt vel transeunt vel transibunt inde, non erant inde secundum Dei praescientiam, non secundum generis humani unam eandemque naturam. Prorsus quicumque ex Israelitis adhaerentes Christo perseuerant in illo, numquam erunt cum eis Israelitis, qui eius inimici usque in finem vitae huius esse persistunt; sed in divisione, quae hic praenuntiata est, perpetuo permanebunt. Nihil enim prodest testamentum uetus de monte Sina in seruitutem generans, nisi quia testimonium perhibet testamento nouo. Alioquin, quamdiu legitur Moyses, velamen super corda eorum positum est; cum autem inde quisque transierit ad Christum, auferetur velamen. Transeuntium quippe intentio ipsa mutatur de uetere ad nouum, ut iam non quisque intendat accipere carnalem, sed spiritalem felicitatem. Propter quod ipse magnus propheta Samuel, antequam unxisset regem Saul, quando exclamavit ad Dominum pro Israel, et exaudivit eum, et, cum offerret holocaustosim, accedentibus alienigenis ad pugnam contra populum Dei tonuit Dominus super eos, et confusi sunt et offenderunt coram Israel atque superati sunt: adsumpsit lapidem unum et statuit illum inter Massephat nouam et ueterem, et vocavit nomen eius Abennezer; quod est Latine lapis adiutoris, et dixit: Vsque hoc adivuit nos Dominus. Massephat interpretatur intentio. Lapis ille adiutoris medietas est Saluatoris, per quem transeundum est a Massephat uetere ad nouam, id est ab intentione, qua expectabatur in carnali regno beatitudo falsa carnalis, ad intentionem, qua per nouum testamentum expectatur in regno caelorum beatitudo verissima spiritalis; qua quoniam nihil est melius, huc usque adivuat Deus. ||Again Saul sinned through disobedience, and again Samuel says to him in the word of the Lord, "Because you have despised the word of the Lord, the Lord has despised you, that you may not be king over Israel." 1 Samuel 15:23 And again for the same sin, when Saul confessed it, and prayed for pardon, and besought Samuel to return with him to appease the Lord, he said, "I will not return with you: for you have despised the word of the Lord, and the Lord will despise you that you may not be king over Israel. And Samuel turned his face to go away, and Saul laid hold upon the skirt of his mantle, and rent it. And Samuel said unto him, The Lord has rent the kingdom from Israel out of your hand this day, and will give it to your neighbor, who is good above you, and will divide Israel in twain. And He will not be changed, neither will He repent: for He is not as a man, that He should repent; who threatens and does not persist." He to whom it is said, "The Lord will despise you that you may not be king over Israel," and "The Lord has rent the kingdom from Israel out of your hand this day," reigned forty years over Israel,-that is, just as long a time as David himself,-yet heard this in the first period of his reign, that we may understand it was said because none of his race was to reign, and that we may look to the race of David, whence also is sprung, according to the flesh, Romans 1:3 the Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. 1 Timothy 2:5 But the Scripture has not what is read in most Latin copies, "The Lord has rent the kingdom of Israel out of your hand this day," but just as we have set it down it is found in the Greek copies, "The Lord has rent the kingdom from Israel out of your hand;" that the words "out of your hand" may be understood to mean "from Israel." Therefore this man figuratively represented the people of Israel, which was to lose the kingdom, Christ Jesus our Lord being about to reign, not carnally, but spiritually. And when it is said of Him, "And will give it to your neighbor," that is to be referred to the fleshly kinship, for Christ, according to the flesh, was of Israel, whence also Saul sprang. But what is added, "Good above you," may indeed be understood, "Better than you," and indeed some have thus translated it; but it is better taken thus, "Good above you," as meaning that because He is good, therefore He must be above you, according to that other prophetic saying, "Till I put all Your enemies under Your feet." And among them is Israel, from whom, as His persecutor, Christ took away the kingdom; although the Israel in whom there was no guile may have been there too, a sort of grain, as it were, of that chaff. For certainly thence came the apostles, thence so many martyrs, of whom Stephen is the first, thence so many churches, which the Apostle Paul names, magnifying God in their conversion.Of which thing I do not doubt what follows is to be understood, "And will divide Israel in twain," to wit, into Israel pertaining to the bond woman, and Israel pertaining to the free. For these two kinds were at first together, as Abraham still clave to the bond woman, until the barren, made fruitful by the grace of God, cried, "Cast out the bond woman and her son." Genesis 21:10 We know, indeed, that on account of the sin of Solomon, in the reign of his son Rehoboam, Israel was divided in two, and continued so, the separate parts having their own kings, until that whole nation was overthrown with a great destruction, and carried away by the Chaldeans. But what was this to Saul, when, if any such thing was threatened, it would be threatened against David himself, whose son Solomon was? Finally, the Hebrew nation is not now divided internally, but is dispersed through the earth indiscriminately, in the fellowship of the same error. But that division with which God threatened the kingdom and people in the person of Saul, who represented them, is shown to be eternal and unchangeable by this which is added, "And He will not be changed, neither will He repent: for He is not as a man, that He should repent; who threatens and does not persist,"-that is, a man threatens and does not persist, but not God, who does not repent like man. For when we read that He repents, a change of circumstance is meant, flowing from the divine immutable foreknowledge. Therefore, when God is said not to repent, it is to be understood that He does not change.We see that this sentence concerning this division of the people of Israel, divinely uttered in these words, has been altogether irremediable and quite perpetual. For whoever have turned, or are turning, or shall turn thence to Christ, it has been according to the foreknowledge of God, not according to the one and the same nature of the human race. Certainly none of the Israelites, who, cleaving to Christ, have continued in Him, shall ever be among those Israelites who persist in being His enemies even to the end of this life, but shall for ever remain in the separation which is here foretold. For the Old Testament, from the Mount Sinai, which genders to bondage, Galatians 4:25 profits nothing, unless because it bears witness to the New Testament. Otherwise, however long Moses is read, the veil is put over their heart; but when any one shall turn thence to Christ, the veil shall be taken away. 2 Corinthians 3:15-16 For the very desire of those who turn is changed from the old to the new, so that each no longer desires to obtain carnal but spiritual felicity. Wherefore that great prophet Samuel himself, before he had anointed Saul, when he had cried to the Lord for Israel, and He had heard him, and when he had offered a whole burnt-offering, as the aliens were coming to battle against the people of God, and the Lord thundered above them and they were confused, and fell before Israel and were overcome; [then] he took one stone and set it up between the old and new Massephat [Mizpeh], and called its name Ebenezer, which means "the stone of the helper," and said, "Hitherto has the Lord helped us." Massephat is interpreted "desire." That stone of the helper is the mediation of the Saviour, by which we go from the old Massephat to the new,-that is, from the desire with which carnal happiness was expected in the carnal kingdom to the desire with which the truest spiritual happiness is expected in the kingdom of heaven; and since nothing is better than that, the Lord helps us hitherto.
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| − | ||<div id="c8"><b>BOOK XVII</b> [VIII] Iam nunc video esse monstrandum, quid ipsi David, qui Sauli successit in regnum, cuius mutatione finalis illa mutatio figurata est, propter quam divinitus cuncta dicta, cuncta conscripta sunt, Deus promiserit, quod ad rem qua de agimus pertinet. Cum regi David multa prospera provenissent, cogitavit facere Deo domum, templum illud scilicet excellentissime diffamatum, quod a rege Salomone filio eius postea fabricatum est. Hoc eo cogitante factum est verbum Domini ad Nathan prophetam, quod perferret ad regem. Vbi cum dixisset Deus, quod non ab ipso David sibi aedificaretur domus, neque per tantum tempus se mandasse cuiquam in populo suo, ut sibi fieret domus cedrina: Et nunc, inquit, haec dices seruo meo David: Haec dicit Dominus omnipotens: Accepi te de ovili ovium, ut esses in ducem super populum meum super Israel, et eram tecum in omnibus quibus ingrediebaris, et exterminavi omnes inimicos tuos a facie tua, et feci te nominatum secundum nomen magnorum, qui sunt super terram; et ponam locum populo meo Israel, et plantabo illum, et inhabitabit seorsum, et non sollicitus erit ultra; et non apponet filius iniquitatis humiliare eum, sicut ab initio a diebus, quibus constitui iudices super populum meum Israel; et requiem tibi dabo ab omnibus inimicis tuis, et nuntiabit tibi Dominus, quoniam domum aedificabis ipsi. Et erit, cum repleti fuerint dies tui, et dormies cum patribus tuis, et suscitabo semen tuum post te, qui erit de ventre tuo, et praeparabo regnum eius. Hic aedificabit mihi domum nomini meo, et dirigam thronum illius usque in aeternum. Ego ero illi in patrem, et ille erit mihi in filium. Et si venerit iniquitas eius, redarguam illum in virga virorum et in tactibus filiorum hominum; misericordiam autem meam non amoveam ab eo, sicut amovi, a quibus amovi a facie mea; et fidelis erit domus eius et regnum eius usque in aeternum coram me, et thronus eius erit erectus usque in aeternum. Hanc tam grandem promissionem qui putat in Salomone fuisse completam, multum errat. Adtendit enim quod dictum est: Hic aedificabit mihi domum, quoniam Salomon templum illud nobilissimum struxit, et non adtendit: Fidelis erit domus eius et regnum eius usque in aeternum coram me. Adtendat ergo et aspiciat Salomonis domum plenam mulieribus alienigenis colentibus deos falsos et ipsum ab eis regem aliquando sapientem in eandem idolatriam seductum atque deiectum; et non audeat existimare Deum vel hoc promisisse mendaciter vel talem Salomonem domumque eius futuram non potuisse praescire. Non hinc autem deberemus ambigere, nec si non in Christo Domino nostro, qui factus est ex semine David secundum carnem, iam videremus ista compleri, ne uane atque inaniter hic alium aliquem requiramus, sicut carnales Iudaei. Nam et ipsi usque adeo filium, quem loco isto regi David promissum legunt, intellegunt non fuisse Salomonem, ut eo qui promissus est tanta iam manifestatione declarato adhuc mirabili caecitate alium sperare se dicant. Facta est quidem nonnulla imago rei futurae etiam in Salomone, in eo quod templum aedificavit et pacem habuit secundum nomen suum (Salomon quippe pacificus est Latine) et in exordio regni sui mirabiliter laudabilis fuit; sed eadem sua persona per umbram futuri praenuntiabat etiam ipse Christum Dominum, non exhibebat. Vnde quaedam de illo ita scripta sunt, quasi de ipso ista praedicta sint, dum scriptura sancta etiam rebus gestis prophetans quodam modo in eo figuram deliniat futurorum. Nam praeter libros divinae historiae, ubi regnasse narratur, psalmus etiam septuagensimus primus titulo nominis eius inscriptus est; in quo tam multa dicuntur, quae omnino ei convenire non possunt, Domino autem Christo apertissima perspicuitate conveniunt, ut evidenter appareat, quod in illo figura qualiscumque adumbrata sit, in isto autem ipsa veritas praesentata. Notum est enim, quibus terminis regnum conclusum fuerat Salomonis; et tamen in eo psalmo legitur, ut alia taceam: Dominabitur a mari usque ad mare et a flumine usque ad terminos orbis terrae, quod in Christo videmus inpleri. A flumine quippe dominandi sumpsit exordium, ubi baptizatus a Iohanne eodem monstrante coepit agnosci a discipulis, qui eum non solum magistrum, verum etiam Dominum appellaverunt. Nec ob aliud vivente adhuc patre suo David regnare coepit Salomon, quod pulli regum illorum contigit, ЎЃnnisi ut hinc quoque satis eluceat non esse ipsum, quem prophetia ista praesignat, quae ad eius patrem loquitur dicens: Et erit, cum repleti fuerint dies tui, et dormies cum patribus tuis, et suscitabo semen tuum post te, qui erit de ventre tuo, et praeparabo regnum illius. Quo modo ergo propter id quod sequitur: Hic aedificabit mihi domum, iste Salomon putabitur prophetatus, et non potius propter id quod praecedit: Cum repleti fuerint dies tui et dormies cum patribus tuis. suscitabo semen tuum post te, alius pacificus intellegitur esse promissus, qui non ante, sicut iste, sed post mortem David praenuntiatus est suscitandus? Quamlibet enim longo interposito tempore Iesus Christus veniret, procul dubio post mortem regis David, cui sic est promissus, eum venire oportebat, qui aedificaret domum Deo, non de lignis et lapidibus, sed de hominibus, qualem illum aedificare gaudemus. Huic enim domui dicit apostolus, hoc est fidelibus Christi: Templum enim Dei sanctum est, quod estis vos. ||And now I see I must show what, pertaining to the matter I treat of, God promised to David himself, who succeeded Saul in the kingdom, whose change prefigured that final change on account of which all things were divinely spoken, all things were committed to writing. When many things had gone prosperously with king David, he thought to make a house for God, even that temple of most excellent renown which was afterwards built by king Solomon his son. While he was thinking of this, the word of the Lord came to Nathan the prophet, which he brought to the king, in which, after God had said that a house should not be built unto Him by David himself, and that in all that long time He had never commanded any of His people to build Him a house of cedar, he says, "And now thus shall you say unto my servant David, Thus says God Almighty, I took you from the sheep-cote that you might be for a ruler over my people in Israel: and I was with you whithersoever you went, and have cut off all your enemies from before your face, and have made you a name, according to the name of the great ones who are over the earth. And I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant him, and he shall dwell apart, and shall be troubled no more; and the son of wickedness shall not humble him any more, as from the beginning, from the days when I appointed judges over my people Israel. And I will give you rest from all your enemies, and the Lord will tell [has told] you, because you shall build an house for Him. And it shall come to pass when your days be fulfilled, and you shall sleep with your fathers, that I will raise up your seed after you, which shall proceed out of your bowels, and I will prepare his kingdom. He shall build me an house for my name; and I will order his throne even to eternity. I will be his Father, and he shall be my son. And if he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the sons of men: but my mercy I will not take away from him, as I took it away from those whom I put away from before my face. And his house shall be faithful, and his kingdom even for evermore before me, and his throne shall be set up even for evermore." 2 Samuel 7:8-16 He who thinks this grand promise was fulfilled in Solomon greatly errs; for he attends to the saying, "He shall build me an house," but he does not attend to the saying, "His house shall be faithful, and his kingdom for evermore before me." Let him therefore attend and behold the house of Solomon full of strange women worshipping false gods, and the king himself, aforetime wise, seduced by them, and cast down into the same idolatry: and let him not dare to think that God either promised this falsely, or was unable to foreknow that Solomon and his house would become what they did. But we ought not to be in doubt here, or to see the fulfillment of these things save in Christ our Lord, who was made of the seed of David according to the flesh, Romans 1:3 lest we should vainly and uselessly look for some other here, like the carnal Jews. For even they understand this much, that the son whom they read of in that place as promised to David was not Solomon; so that, with wonderful blindness to Him who was promised and is now declared with so great manifestation, they say they hope for another. Indeed, even in Solomon there appeared some image of the future event, in that he built the temple, and had peace according to his name (for Solomon means "pacific"), and in the beginning of his reign was wonderfully praiseworthy; but while, as a shadow of Him that should come, he foreshowed Christ our Lord, he did not also in his own person resemble Him. Whence some things concerning him are so written as if they were prophesied of himself, while the Holy Scripture, prophesying even by events, somehow delineates in him the figure of things to come. For, besides the books of divine history, in which his reign is narrated, the 72d Psalm also is inscribed in the title with his name, in which so many things are said which cannot at all apply to him, but which apply to the Lord Christ with such evident fitness as makes it quite apparent that in the one the figure is in some way shadowed forth, but in the other the truth itself is presented. For it is known within what bounds the kingdom of Solomon was enclosed; and yet in that psalm, not to speak of other things, we read, "He shall have dominion from sea even to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth," which we see fulfilled in Christ. Truly he took the beginning of His reigning from the river where John baptized; for, when pointed out by him, He began to be acknowledged by the disciples, who called Him not only Master, but also Lord.Nor was it for any other reason that, while his father David was still living, Solomon began to reign, which happened to none other of their kings, except that from this also it might be clearly apparent that it was not himself this prophecy spoken to his father signified beforehand, saying, "And it shall come to pass when your days be fulfilled, and you shall sleep with your fathers, that I will raise up your seed which shall proceed out of your bowels, and I will prepare His kingdom." How, therefore, shall it be thought on account of what follows, "He shall build me an house," that this Solomon is prophesied, and not rather be understood on account of what precedes, "When your days be fulfilled, and you shall sleep with your fathers, I will raise up your seed after you," that another pacific One is promised, who is foretold as about to be raised up, not before David's death, as he was, but after it? For however long the interval of time might be before Jesus Christ came, beyond doubt it was after the death of king David, to whom He was so promised, that He behoved to come, who should build an house of God, not of wood and stone, but of men, such as we rejoice He does build. For to this house, that is, to believers, the apostle says, "The temple of God is holy, which temple you are." 1 Corinthians 3:17
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| − | ||<div id="c9"><b>BOOK XVII</b> [IX] Propter quod et in psalmo octogensimo octauo, cuius est titulus: Intellectus ipsi Aethan Israelitae, commemorantur promissiones Dei factae regi David, et istis, quae in libro regnorum sunt posita, quaedam ibi similia dicuntur, sicut est: Iuravi David seruo meo: Vsque in aeternum praeparabo semen tuum; et iterum: Tunc locutus es in aspectu filiis tuis et dixisti: Posui adiutorium super potentem, exaltavi electum de populo meo. Inveni David seruum meum, in oleo sancto meo unxi eum. Manus enim mea auxiliabitur ei et bracchium meum confortabit eum. Non proficiet inimicus in eo et filius iniquitatis non apponet nocere ei. Et concidam inimicos eius a facie eius, et eos, qui oderunt eum, fugabo. Et veritas mea et misericordia mea cum illo, et in nomine meo exaltabitur cornum eius. Et ponam in mari manum eius et in fluminibus dexteram eius. Ipse inuocabit me: Pater meus es tu, Deus meus et susceptor salutis meae. Et ego primogenitum ponam eum, excelsum apud reges terrae. In aeternum servabo ei misericordiam meam et testamentum meum fidele ipsi. Et ponam in saeculum saeculi semen eius, et thronum eius sicut dies caeli. Quae omnia de Domino Iesu intelleguntur, quando recte intelleguntur, sub nomine David propter formam serui, quam de semine David idem Mediator adsumpsit ex virgine. Continuo etiam dicitur de peccatis filiorum eius tale aliquid, quale in regnorum libro positum est et quasi de Salomone proclivius accipitur. Ibi namque, hoc est in regnorum libro: Et si venerit, inquit, iniquitas eius, redarguam illum in virga virorum et in tactibus filiorum hominum; misericordiam autem meam non amoveam ab eo; tactibus significans plagas correptionis. Vnde illud est: Ne tetigeritis christos meos. Quod quid est aliud, quam "ne laeseritis"? In psalmo vero cum ageret tamquam de David, ut quiddam eius modi etiam ibi diceret: Si dereliquerint, inquit, filii eius legem meam et in iudiciis meis non ambulaverint; si iustificationes meas profanaverint et mandata mea non custodierint: visitabo in virga iniquitates eorum et in verberibus peccata eorum; misericordiam autem meam non dispergam ab eo. Non dixit "ab eis", cum loqueretur de filiis eius, non de ipso; sed dixit ab eo, quod bene intellectum tantundem valet. Non enim Christi ipsius, quod est caput ecclesiae, possent inveniri ulla peccata, quae opus esset humanis correptionibus servata misericordia divinitus coherceri; sed in eius corpore ac membris, quod populus eius est. Ideo in libro regnorum: Iniquitas eius dicitur; in psalmo autem: Filiorum eius; ut intellegamus de ipso dici quodam modo, quod de eius corpore dicitur. Propter quod etiam ipse de caelo, cum corpus eius, quod sunt fideles eius, Saulus persequeretur: Saule, inquit, Saule, quid me persequeris? Deinde in consequentibus psalmi: Neque nocebo, inquit, in veritate mea, neque profanabo testamentum meum, et quae procedunt de labiis meis non reprobabo. Semel iuravi in sancto meo, si David mentiar; id est, nequaquam David mentiar. Solet enim sic loqui scriptura. Quid autem non mentiatur, adiungit et dicit: Semen eius in aeternum manet; et sedes eius sicut sol in conspectu meo, et sicut luna perfecta in aeternum, et testis in caelo fidelis. ||Wherefore also in the 89th Psalm, of which the title is, "An instruction for himself by Ethan the Israelite," mention is made of the promises God made to king David, and some things are there added similar to those found in the Book of Samuel, such as this, "I have sworn to David my servant that I will prepare his seed for ever." And again, "Then you spoke in vision to your sons, and said, I have laid help upon the mighty One, and have exalted the chosen One out of my people. I have found David my servant, and with my holy oil I have anointed him. For mine hand shall help him, and mine arm shall strengthen him. The enemy shall not prevail against him, and the son of iniquity shall harm him no more. And I will beat down his foes from before his face, and those that hate him will I put to flight. And my truth and my mercy shall be with him, and in my name shall his horn be exalted. I will set his hand also in the sea, and his right hand in the rivers. He shall cry unto me, You are my Father, my God, and the undertaker of my salvation. Also I will make him my first-born, high among the kings of the earth. My mercy will I keep for him for evermore, and my covenant shall be faithful (sure) with him. His seed also will I set for ever and ever, and his throne as the days of heaven." Which words, when rightly understood, are all understood to be about the Lord Jesus Christ, under the name of David, on account of the form of a servant, which the same Mediator assumed Philippians 2:7 from the virgin of the seed of David. For immediately something is said about the sins of his children, such as is set down in the Book of Samuel, and is more readily taken as if of Solomon. For there, that is, in the Book of Samuel, he says, "And if he commit iniquity I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the sons of men; but my mercy will I not take away from him," 2 Samuel 7:14-15 meaning by stripes the strokes of correction. Hence that saying, "Touch ye not my christs." For what else is that than, Do not harm them? But in the psalm, when speaking as if of David, He says something of the same kind there too. "If his children," says He, "forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments; if they profane my righteousnesses, and keep not my commandments; I will visit their iniquities with the rod, and their faults with stripes: but my mercy I will not make void from him." He did not say "from them," although He spoke of his children, not of himself; but he said "from him," which means the same thing if rightly understood. For of Christ Himself, who is the head of the Church, there could not be found any sins which required to be divinely restrained by human correction, mercy being still continued; but they are found in His body and members, which is His people. Therefore in the Book of Samuel it is said, "iniquity of Him," but in the psalm, "of His children," that we may understand that what is said of His body is in some way said of Himself. Wherefore also, when Saul persecuted His body, that is, His believing people, He Himself says from heaven, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" Acts 9:4 Then in the following words of the psalm He says, "Neither will I hurt in my truth, nor profane my covenant, and the things that proceed from my lips I will not disallow. Once have I sworn by my holiness, if I lie unto David,"-that is, I will in no wise lie unto David; for Scripture is wont to speak thus. But what that is in which He will not lie, He adds, saying, "His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before me, and as the moon perfected for ever, and a faithful witness in heaven."
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| − | ||<div id="c10"><b>BOOK XVII</b> [X] Post haec tantae promissionis validissima firmamenta, ne putarentur in Salomone completa, tamquam id speraretur nec inveniretur: Tu vero, inquit, reppulisti et ad nihilum deduxisti, Domine. Hoc quippe factum est de regno Salomonis in posteris eius usque ad euersionem ipsius terrenae Hierusalem, quae regni eiusdem sedes fuit, et maxime ipsius templi labem, quod fuerat a Salomone constructum. Sed ne ob hoc putaretur Deus contra sua promissa fecisse, continuo subiecit: Distulisti christum tuum. Non ergo est ille Salomon, sed nec ipse David, si dilatus est christus Domini. Cum enim christi eius dicerentur omnes reges mystico illo chrismate consecrati, non solum a rege David et deinceps, sed ab illo etiam Saule, qui populo eidem rex primus est unctus (ipse quippe David eum christum Domini appellat): erat tamen unus verus christus, cuius illi figuram prophetica unctione gestabant; qui secundum opinionem hominum, qui eum putabant in David vel in Salomone intellegendum, differebatur in longum; secundum dispositionem autem Dei venturus suo tempore parabatur. Interea dum ille differtur, quid factum sit de regno terrenae Hierusalem, ubi sperabatur utique regnaturus, secutus iste psalmus adiunxit atque ait: Euertisti testamentum serui tui, profanasti in terra sanctitatem eius; destruxisti omnes macerias eius, posuisti munitiones eius <in> formidinem; diripuerunt eum omnes transeuntes viam, factus est opprobrium vicinis suos; exaltasti dexteram inimicorum eius, ivacundasti omnes inimicos eius; avertisti adiutorium gladii eius et non es opitulatus ei in bello; dissolvisti eum ab emundatione, sedem eius in terram conlisisti; minuisti dies sedis eius, perfudisti eum confusione. Haec omnia venerunt super ancillam Hierusalem, in qua regnaverunt nonnulli etiam filii liberae, regnum illud tenentes in dispensatione temporaria, regnum autem caelestis Hierusalem, cuius erant filii, in vera fide habentes et in vero Christo sperantes. Quo modo autem ista venerint super illud regnum, index est rerum gestarum, si legatur, historia. ||That it might not be supposed that a promise so strongly expressed and confirmed was fulfilled in Solomon, as if he hoped for, yet did not find it, he says, "But You have cast off, and hast brought to nothing, O Lord." This truly was done concerning the kingdom of Solomon among his posterity, even to the overthrow of the earthly Jerusalem itself, which was the seat of the kingdom, and especially the destruction of the very temple which had been built by Solomon. But lest on this account God should be thought to have done contrary to His promise, immediately he adds, "You have delayed Your Christ." Therefore he is not Solomon, nor yet David himself, if the Christ of the Lord is delayed. For while all the kings are called His christs, who were consecrated with that mystical chrism, not only from king David downwards, but even from that Saul who first was anointed king of that same people, David himself indeed calling him the Lord's christ, yet there was one true Christ, whose figure they bore by the prophetic unction, who, according to the opinion of men, who thought he was to be understood as come in David or in Solomon, was long delayed, but who, according as God had disposed, was to come in His own time. The following part of this psalm goes on to say what in the meantime, while He was delayed, was to become of the kingdom of the earthly Jerusalem, where it was hoped He would certainly reign: "You have overthrown the covenant of Your servant; You have profaned in the earth his sanctuary. You have broken down all his walls; You have put his strong-holds in fear. All that pass by the way spoil him; he is made a reproach to his neighbors. You have set up the right hand of his enemies; You have made all his enemies to rejoice. You have turned aside the help of his sword, and hast not helped him in war. You have destroyed him from cleansing; You have dashed down his seat to the ground. You have shortened the days of his seat; You have poured confusion over him." All these things came upon Jerusalem the bond woman, in which some also reigned who were children of the free woman, holding that kingdom in temporary stewardship, but holding the kingdom of the heavenly Jerusalem, whose children they were, in true faith, and hoping in the true Christ. But how these things came upon that kingdom, the history of its affairs points out if it is read.
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| − | ||<div id="c11"><b>BOOK XVII</b> [XI] Post haec autem prophetata ad precandum Deum propheta convertitur; sed et ipsa precatio prophetatio est. Vsque quo, Domine, avertis in finem? subauditur "faciem tuam", sicut alibi dicitur: Quo usque avertis faciem tuam a me? Nam ideo quidam codices hic non habent avertis, sed "averteris"; quamquam possit intellegi: "Avertis misericordiam tuam, quam promisisti David". Quod autem dixit: In finem, quid est nisi usque in finem? Qui finis intellegendus est ultimum tempus, quando in Christum Iesum etiam gens illa est creditura, ante quem finem illa fieri oportebant, quae superius aerumnosa deflevit. Propter quae et hic sequitur: Exardescit sicut ignis ira tua: memento quae est mea substantia. Nihil hic melius quam ipse Iesus intellegitur substantia populi eius, ex quo natura est carnis eius. Non enim uane, inquit, constituisti omnes filios hominum. Nisi enim esset unus filius hominis substantia Israel, per quem filium hominis liberarentur multi filii hominum, uane utique constituti essent omnes filii hominum. Nunc vero omnis quidem humana natura per peccatum primi hominis in uanitatem de veritate conlapsa est, propter quod dicit alius psalmus: Homo uanitati similis factus est, die eius velut umbra praetereunt; sed non uane Deus constituit omnes filios hominum, quia et multos a uanitate liberat per mediatorem Iesum, et quos liberandos non esse praescivit, ad utilitatem liberandorum et comparationem duarum inter se a contrario civitatum non utique uane in totius rationalis creaturae pulcherrima atque iustissima ordinatione constituit. Deinde sequitur: Quis est homo, qui vivet et non videbit mortem, eruet animam suam de manu inferni? Quis est iste, nisi substantia illa Israel ex semine David, Christus Iesus? De quo dicit apostolus, quod surgens a mortuis iam non moritur, <et> mors ei ultra non dominabitur. Sic enim vivet et non videbit mortem, ut tamen mortuus fuerit, sed animam suam eruerit de manu inferni, quo propter quorundam soluenda inferna vincla descenderat; eruerit autem potestate illa, de qua in euangelio dicit: Potestatem habeo ponendi animam meam et potestatem habeo iterum sumendi eam. ||But after having prophesied these things, the prophet betakes him to praying to God; yet even the very prayer is prophecy: "How long, Lord, dost Thou turn away in the end?" "Your face" is understood, as it is elsewhere said, "How long dost Thou turn away Your face from me?" For therefore some copies have here not "dost," but "will You turn away;" although it could be understood, "Thou turnest away Your mercy, which You promised to David." But when he says, "in the end," what does it mean, except even to the end? By which end is to be understood the last time, when even that nation is to believe in Christ Jesus, before which end what He has just sorrowfully bewailed must come to pass. On account of which it is also added here, "Your wrath shall burn like fire. Remember what is my substance." This cannot be better understood than of Jesus Himself, the substance of His people, of whose nature His flesh is. "For not in vain," he says, "have You made all the sons of men." For unless the one Son of man had been the substance of Israel, through which Son of man many sons of men should be set free, all the sons of men would have been made wholly in vain. But now, indeed, all mankind through the fall of the first man has fallen from the truth into vanity; for which reason another psalm says, "Man is like to vanity: his days pass away as a shadow;" yet God has not made all the sons of men in vain, because He frees many from vanity through the Mediator Jesus, and those whom He did not foreknow as to be delivered, He made not wholly in vain in the most beautiful and most just ordination of the whole rational creation, for the use of those who were to be delivered, and for the comparison of the two cities by mutual contrast. Thereafter it follows, "Who is the man that shall live, and shall not see death? shall he snatch his soul from the hand of hell?" Who is this but that substance of Israel out of the seed of David, Christ Jesus, of whom the apostle says, that "rising from the dead He now dies not, and death shall no more have dominion over Him?" Romans 6:9 For He shall so live and not see death, that yet He shall have been dead; but shall have delivered His soul from the hand of hell, whither He had descended in order to loose some from the chains of hell; but He has delivered it by that power of which He says in the Gospel, "I have the power of laying down my life, and I have the power of taking it again." John 10:18
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| − | ||<div id="c12"><b>BOOK XVII</b> [XII] Sed cetera psalmi huius, quae ita se habent: Vbi sunt miserationes tuae antiquae, Domine, quas iurasti David in veritate tua? Memento, Domine, opprobrii seruorum tuorum, quod continui in sinu meo multarum gentium; quod exprobraverunt inimici tui, Domine. quod exprobraverunt, commutationem Christi tui, utrum ex persona dicta sint illorum Israelitarum, qui desiderabant reddi sibi promissionem, quae facta est ad David, an potius Christianorum, qui non secundum carnem, sed secundum spiritum sunt Israelitae, merito quaeri potest. Dicta sunt quippe ista vel scripta tempore, quo fuit Aethan, de cuius nomine titulum iste psalmus accepit; et idem tempus regni David fuit; ac per hoc non diceretur: Vbi sunt miserationes tuae. antiquae, Domine, quas iurasti David in veritate tua? nisi eorum personam in se prophetia transfiguraret, qui longe postea futuri erant, quibus hoc tempus esset antiquum, quando regi David ista promissa sunt. Potest autem intellegi multas gentes, quando Christianos persequebantur, exprobasse illis passionem Christi, quam scriptura commutationem vocat, quoniam moriendo inmortalis est factus. Potest et commutatio Christi secundum hoc accipi exprobrata Israelitis, quia, cum eorum speraretur futurus, factus est gentium, et hoc eis nunc exprobrant multae gentes, quae crediderunt in eum per testamentum nouum, illis in uetustate remanentibus, ut ideo dicatur: Memento, Domine, opprobrii seruorum tuorum, quia non eos obliviscente, sed potius miserante Domino et ipsi post hoc opprobrium credituri sunt. Sed ille, quem prius posui, convenientior mihi sensus videtur. Inimicis enim Christi, quibus exprobratur, quod eos ad gentes transiens reliquerit Christus, incongrue vox ista coaptatur: Memento, Domine, opprobrii seruorum tuorum; non enim serui Dei nuncupandi sunt tales Iudaei; sed eis verba ista conpetunt, qui, cum graves humilitates persecutionum pro Christi nomi ne paterentur, record a ri potuerunt excelsum regnum semini David fuisse prissum, et eius desiderio dicere, non desperando, sed petendo quaerendo pulsando: Vbi sunt miserationes tuae antiquae, Domine, quas iurasti David in veritate tua? Memento, Domine, opprobrii seruorum tuorum, quod continui in sinu meo multarum gentium (hoc est, in interioribus meis patienter pertuli); quod exprobraverunt inimici tui, Domine, quod exprobraverunt, commutationem Christi tui; non eam putantes commutationem <esse>, sed consumptionem. Quid est autem: Memento, Domine, nisi ut miserearis et pro tolerata patienter humilitate mea reddas celsitudinem, quam iurasti David in veritate tua? Si autem Iudaeis adsignemus haec verba, illi serui Dei talia dicere potuerunt, qui expugnata terrena Hierusalem, antequam Iesus Christus humanitus nasceretur, in captivitatem ducti sunt, intellegentes commutationem Christi, quia scilicet non per eum terrena carnalisque felicitas, qualis paucis annis regis Salomonis apparuit, sed caelestis ac spiritalis esset fideliter expectanda; quam tunc ignorans infidelitas gentium, cum Dei populum exultabat atque insultabat esse captivum, quid aliud quam Christi commutationem, sed scientibus nesciens, exprobrabat? Et ideo quod sequitur, ubi psalmus iste concluditur: Benedictio Domini in aeternum: fiat, fiat, universo populo Dei ad caelestem Hierusalem pertinenti sive in illis, qui latebant in testamento uetere, antequam reuelaretur nouum, sive in his, qui iam testamento nouo reuelato manifeste pertinere cernuntur ad Christum, satis congruit. Benedictio quippe Domini in semine David non ad aliquod tempus, qualis diebus Salomonis apparuit, sed in aeternum speranda, est, in qua certissima spe dicitur: Fiat, fiat. Illius enim spei est confirmatio verbi huius iteratio. Hoc ergo intellegens David ait in secundo regnorum libro, unde ad istum psalmum digressi sumus: Et locutus es pro domo serui tui in longinquum. Ideo autem post paululum ait: Nunc incipe et benedic domum serui tui usque in aeternum et cetera, quia tunc geniturus erat filium, ex quo progenies eius duceretur ad Christum, per quem futura erat domus eius aeterna eademque domus Dei. Domus enim David propter genus David; domus autem Dei eadem ipsa propter templum Dei de hominibus factum, non de lapidibus, ubi habitet in aeternum populus cum Deo et in Deo suo, et Deus cum populo atque in populo suo; ita ut Deus sit implens populum suum, et populus plenus Deo suo, cum Deus erit omnia in omnibus, ipse in pace praemium, qui virtus in bello. Ideo cum in verbis Nathan dictum sit: Et nuntiabit tibi Dominus, quoniam domum aedificabis ipsi, postea dictum est in verbis David: Quoniam tu dominus omnipotens Deus Israel, reuelasti aurem serui tui dicens: Domum aedificabo tibi. Hanc enim domum et nos aedificamus bene vivendo, et Deus ut bene vivamus opitulando; quia nisi Dominus aedificaverit domum, in uanum laborarunt aedificantes eam. Cuius domus cum venerit ultima dedicatio, tunc fiet illud, quod hic per Nathan locutus est Deus dicens: Et ponam locum populo meo Israel, et plantabo illum, et inhabitabit seorsum, et non sollicitus erit ultra, et non apponet filius iniquitatis humiliare eum, sicut ab initio a diebus, quibus constitui iudices super populum meum Israel. ||But the rest of this psalm runs thus: "Where are Your ancient compassions, Lord, which Thou swarest unto David in Your truth? Remember, Lord, the reproach of Your servants, which I have borne in my bosom of many nations; wherewith Your enemies have reproached, O Lord, wherewith they have reproached the change of Your Christ." Now it may with very good reason be asked whether this is spoken in the person of those Israelites who desired that the promise made to David might be fulfilled to them; or rather of the Christians, who are Israelites not after the flesh but after the Spirit. Romans 3:28-29 This certainly was spoken or written in the time of Ethan, from whose name this psalm gets its title, and that was the same as the time of David's reign; and therefore it would not have been said, "Where are Your ancient compassions, Lord, which You have sworn unto David in Your truth?" unless the prophet had assumed the person of those who should come long afterwards, to whom that time when these things were promised to David was ancient. But it may be understood thus, that many nations, when they persecuted the Christians, reproached them with the passion of Christ, which Scripture calls His change, because by dying He is made immortal. The change of Christ, according to this passage, may also be understood to be reproached by the Israelites, because, when they hoped He would be theirs, He was made the Saviour of the nations; and many nations who have believed in Him by the New Testament now reproach them who remain in the old with this: so that it is said, "Remember, Lord, the reproach of Your servants;" because through the Lord's not forgetting, but rather pitying them, even they after this reproach are to believe. But what I have put first seems to me the most suitable meaning. For to the enemies of Christ who are reproached with this, that Christ has left them, turning to the Gentiles, Acts 13:46 this speech is incongruously assigned, "Remember, Lord, the reproach of Your servants," for such Jews are not to be styled the servants of God; but these words fit those who, if they suffered great humiliations through persecution for the name of Christ, could call to mind that an exalted kingdom had been promised to the seed of David, and in desire of it, could say not despairingly, but as asking, seeking, knocking, Matthew 7:7-8 "Where are Your ancient compassions, Lord, which Thou swarest unto David in Your truth? Remember, Lord, the reproach of Your servants, that I have borne in my bosom of many nations;" that is, have patiently endured in my inward parts. "That Your enemies have reproached, O Lord, wherewith they have reproached the change of Your Christ," not thinking it a change, but a consumption. But what does "Remember, Lord," mean, but that You would have compassion, and would for my patiently borne humiliation reward me with the excellency which Thou swarest unto David in Your truth? But if we assign these words to the Jews, those servants of God who, on the conquest of the earthly Jerusalem, before Jesus Christ was born after the manner of men, were led into captivity, could say such things, understanding the change of Christ, because indeed through Him was to be surely expected, not an earthly and carnal felicity, such as appeared during the few years of king Solomon, but a heavenly and spiritual felicity; and when the nations, then ignorant of this through unbelief, exulted over and insulted the people of God for being captives, what else was this than ignorantly to reproach with the change of Christ those who understand the change of Christ? And therefore what follows when this psalm is concluded, "Let the blessing of the Lord be for evermore, amen, amen," is suitable enough for the whole people of God belonging to the heavenly Jerusalem, whether for those things that lay hid in the Old Testament before the New was revealed, or for those that, being now revealed in the New Testament, are manifestly discerned to belong to Christ. For the blessing of the Lord in the seed of David does not belong to any particular time, such as appeared in the days of Solomon, but is for evermore to be hoped for, in which most certain hope it is said, "Amen, amen;" for this repetition of the word is the confirmation of that hope. Therefore David understanding this, says in the second Book of Kings, in the passage from which we digressed to this psalm, "You have spoken also for Your servant's house for a great while to come." 2 Samuel 7:19 Therefore also a little after he says, "Now begin, and bless the house of Your servant for evermore," etc., because the son was then about to be born from whom his posterity should be continued to Christ, through whom his house should be eternal, and should also be the house of God. For it is called the house of David on account of David's race; but the selfsame is called the house of God on account of the temple of God, made of men, not of stones, where shall dwell for evermore the people with and in their God, and God with and in His people, so that God may fill His people, and the people be filled with their God, while God shall be all in all, Himself their reward in peace who is their strength in war. Therefore, when it is said in the words of Nathan, "And the Lord will tell you what an house you shall build for Him," 2 Samuel 7:8 it is afterwards said in the words of David, "For You, Lord Almighty, God of Israel, hast opened the ear of Your servant, saying, I will build you an house." 2 Samuel 7:2 For this house is built both by us through living well, and by God through helping us to live well; for "except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it." And when the final dedication of this house shall take place, then what God here says by Nathan shall be fulfilled, "And I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant him, and he shall dwell apart, and shall be troubled no more; and the son of iniquity shall not humble him any more, as from the beginning, from the days when I appointed judges over my people Israel." 2 Samuel 7:10-11
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| − | ||<div id="c13"><b>BOOK XVII</b> [XIII] Hoc tam magnum bonum quisquis in hoc saeculo et in hac terra sperat, insipienter sapit. An quispiam putabit in pace regni Salomonis id esse completum? Pacem quippe illam scriptura in umbra futuri excellenti praedicatione commendat. Sed huic suspicioni vigilanter occursum est, cum, postea quam dictum est: Et non apponet filius iniquitatis humiliare eum, continuo subiunctum est: Sicut ab initio a diebus, quibus constitui iudices super populum meum Israel. Iudices namque, priusquam reges ibi esse coepissent, super illum populum fuerant constituti, ex quo terram promissionis accepit. Et utique humiliabat eum filius iniquitatis, hoc est hostis alienigena, per interualla temporum, quibus leguntur paces alternasse cum bellis; et inveniuntur illic pacis tempora prolixiora quam Salomon habuit, qui quadraginta regnavit annos; nam sub eo iudice, qui est appellatus Aod, octoginta anni pacis fuerunt. Ab sit ergo ut Salomonis tempora in hac promissione praedicta esse credantur; multo minus itaque cuiuslibet regis alterius. Non enim quisquam eorum in tanta, quanta ille, pace regnavit; nec umquam omnino gens illa ita regnum tenuit, ut sollicita non fuerit ne hostibus subderetur; quia in tanta mutabilitate rerum humanarum nulli aliquando populo concessa est tanta securitas, ut huic vitae hostiles non formidaret incursus. Locus ergo iste, qui promittitur tam pacatae ac securae habitationis, aeternus est aeternisque debetur in matre Hierusalem libera, ubi erit veraciter populus Israel; hoc enim nomen interpretatur "uidens Deum"; cuius praemii desiderio pia per fidem vita in hac aerumnosa peregrinatione ducenda est. ||Whoever hopes for this so great good in this world, and in this earth, his wisdom is but folly. Can any one think it was fulfilled in the peace of Solomon's reign? Scripture certainly commends that peace with excellent praise as a shadow of that which is to come. But this opinion is to be vigilantly opposed, since after it is said, "And the son of iniquity shall not humble him any more," it is immediately added, "as from the beginning, from the days in which I appointed judges over my people Israel." 2 Samuel 7:10-11 For the judges were appointed over that people from the time when they received the land of promise, before kings had begun to be there. And certainly the son of iniquity, that is, the foreign enemy, humbled him through periods of time in which we read that peace alternated with wars; and in that period longer times of peace are found than Solomon had, who reigned forty years. For under that judge who is called Ehud there were eighty years of peace. Judges 3:30 Be it far from us, therefore, that we should believe the times of Solomon are predicted in this promise, much less indeed those of any other king whatever. For none other of them reigned in such great peace as he; nor did that nation ever at all hold that kingdom so as to have no anxiety lest it should be subdued by enemies: for in the very great mutability of human affairs such great security is never given to any people, that it should not dread invasions hostile to this life. Therefore the place of this promised peaceful and secure habitation is eternal, and of right belongs eternally to Jerusalem the free mother, where the genuine people of Israel shall be: for this name is interpreted "Seeing God;" in the desire of which reward a pious life is to be led through faith in this miserable pilgrimage.
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| − | ||<div id="c14"><b>BOOK XVII</b> [XIV] Procurrente igitur per tempora civitate Dei, primo in umbra futuri, in terrena scilicet Hierusalem, regnavit David. Erat autem David vir in canticis eruditus, qui harmoniam musicam non uulgari voluptate, sed fideli voluntate dilexerit eaque Deo suo, qui verus est Deus, mystica rei magnae figuratione seruierit. Diversorum enim sonorum rationabilis moderatusque concentus concordi varietate compactam bene ordinatae civitatis insinuat unitatem. Denique omnis fere prophetia eius in psalmis est, quos centum quinquaginta liber continet, quem psalmorum vocamus. In quibus nonnulli volunt eos solos factos esse a David, qui eius nomine inscripti sunt. Sunt item qui putant non ab eo factos, nisi qui praenotantur: Ipsius David; qui vero habent in titulis: Ipsi David, ab aliis factos personae ipsius fuisse coaptatos. Quae opinio voce euangelica Saluatoris ipsius refutatur, ubi ait, quod ipse David in spiritu Christum dixerit esse Dominum suum; quoniam psalmus centensimus nonus sic incipit: Dixit Dominus Domino meo: Sede a dextris meis, donec ponam inimicos tuos scabellum pedum tuorum. Et certe idem psalmus non habet in titulo: Ipsius David, sed: Ipsi David, sicut plurimi. Mihi autem credibilius videntur existimare, qui omnes illos centum et quinquaginta psalmos eius operi tribuunt eumque aliquos praenotasse etiam nominibus aliorum aliquid, quod ad rem pertineat, figurantibus, ceteros autem nullius hominis nomen in titulis habere voluisse, sicut ei varietatis huius dispositionem, quamuis latebrosam, non tamen inanem Dominus inspiravit. Nec movere debet ad hoc non credendum, quod nonnullorum nomina prophetarum, qui longe post David regis tempora fuerunt, quibusdam psalmis in eo libro leguntur inscripta et quae ibi dicuntur velut ab eis dici videntur. Neque enim non potuit propheticus spiritus prophetanti regi David haec etiam futurorum prophetarum nomina reuelare, ut aliquid, quod eorum personae conveniret, prophetice cantaretur; sicut rex Iosias exorturus et regnaturus post annos amplius quam trecentos cuidam prophetae, qui etiam facta eius futura praedixit, cum suo nomine reuelatus est. ||In the progress of the city of God through the ages, therefore, David first reigned in the earthly Jerusalem as a shadow of that which was to come. Now David was a man skilled in songs, who dearly loved musical harmony, not with a vulgar delight, but with a believing disposition, and by it served his God, who is the true God, by the mystical representation of a great thing. For the rational and well-ordered concord of diverse sounds in harmonious variety suggests the compact unity of the well-ordered city. Then almost all his prophecy is in psalms, of which a hundred and fifty are contained in what we call the Book of Psalms, of which some will have it those only were made by David which are in scribed with his name. But there are also some who think none of them were made by him except those which are marked "Of David;" but those which have in the title "For David" have been made by others who assumed his person. Which opinion is refuted by the voice of the Saviour Himself in the Gospel, when He says that David himself by the Spirit said Christ was his Lord; for the 110th Psalm begins thus, "The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit at my right hand, until I make Your enemies Your footstool." And truly that very psalm, like many more, has in the title, not "of David," but "for David." But those seem to me to hold the more credible opinion, who ascribe to him the authorship of all these hundred and fifty psalms, and think that he prefixed to some of them the names even of other men, who prefigured something pertinent to the matter, but chose to have no man's name in the titles of the rest, just as God inspired him in the management of this variety, which, although dark, is not meaningless. Neither ought it to move one not to believe this that the names of some prophets who lived long after the times of king David are read in the inscriptions of certain psalms in that book, and that the things said there seem to be spoken as it were by them. Nor was the prophetic Spirit unable to reveal to king David, when he prophesied, even these names of future prophets, so that he might prophetically sing something which should suit their persons; just as it was revealed to a certain prophet that king Josiah should arise and reign after more than three hundred years, who predicted his future deeds also along with his name.
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| − | ||<div id="c15"><b>BOOK XVII</b> [XV] Nunc iam expectari a me video, ut hoc loco libri huius aperiam quid in psalmis David de Domino Iesu Christo vel eius ecclesia prophetaverit. Ego autem ut hoc non ita faciam, sicut videtur ipsa expectatio postulare (quamuis iam in uno fecerim), copia quam inopia magis impedior. Omnia enim ponere vitandae prolixitatis causa prohibeor; vereor autem ne, cum aliqua elegero, multis, qui ea noverunt, videar magis necessaria praeterisse; deinde (quia testimonium, quod profertur, de contextione totius psalmi debet habere suffragium, ut certe nihil sit quod ei refragetur, si non omnia suffragantur), ne more centonum ad rem, quam volumus, tamquam versiculos decerpere videamur, velut de grandi carmine, quod non de re illa, sed de alia longeque diversa reperiatur esse conscriptum. Hoc autem ut in quocumque psalmo possit ostendi, exponendus est totus; quod quanti operis sit et aliorum et nostra volumina, in quibus hoc fecimus, satis indicant. Legat ergo illa, qui voluerit et potuerit; inveniet quot et quanta rex David idemque propheta de Christo et eius ecclesia prophetaverit, de rege scilicet et civitate quam condidit. ||And now I see it may be expected of me that I shall open up in this part of this book what David may have prophesied in the Psalms concerning the Lord Jesus Christ or His Church. But although I have already done so in one instance, I am prevented from doing as that expectation seems to demand, rather by the abundance than the scarcity of matter. For the necessity of shunning prolixity forbids my setting down all things; yet I fear lest if I select some I shall appear to many, who know these things, to have passed by the more necessary. Besides, the proof that is adduced ought to be supported by the context of the whole psalm, so that at least there may be nothing against it if everything does not support it; lest we should seem, after the fashion of the centos, to gather for the thing we wish, as it were, verses out of a grand poem, what shall be found to have been written not about it, but about some other and widely different thing. But ere this could be pointed out in each psalm, the whole of it must be expounded; and how great a work that would be, the volumes of others, as well as our own, in which we have done it, show well enough. Let him then who will, or can, read these volumes, and he will find out how many and great things David, at once king and prophet, has prophesied concerning Christ and His Church, to wit, concerning the King and the city which He has built.
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| − | ||<div id="c16"><b>BOOK XVII</b> [XVI] Quamlibet enim de quacumque re propriae sint atque manifeste propheticae locutiones, necesse est ut eis etiam tropicae misceantur; quae maxime propter tardiores ingerunt doctoribus laboriosum disputandi exponendique negotium. Quaedam tamen Christum et ecclesiam ipsa prima facie, mox ut dicuntur, ostendunt; etsi ex otio estant exponenda, quae in eis minus intelleguntur; quale illud est in eodem psalmorum libro: Eructuavit cor meum verbum bonum, dico ego opera mea regi. Lingua mea calamus scribae velociter scribentis. Speciosus forma prae filiis hominum; diffusa est gratia in labiis tuis, propterea benedixit te Deus in aeternum. Accingere gladio tuo circa femur, potentissime specie tua et pulchritudine tua, et intende, prospere procede et regna propter veritatem et mansuetudinem et iustitiam, et deducet te mirabiliter dextera tua. Sagittae tuae acutae, potentissime, (populi sub te cadent) in corda inimicorum regis. Sedes tua, Deus, in saecula saeculorum, virga directionis virga regni tui. Dilexisti iustitiam et odio habuisti iniquitatem; propterea unxit te Deus, deus tuus oleo exultationis prae participibus tuis. Myrrha et gutta et casia a uestimentis tuis, a domibus eburneis; ex quibus te delectaverunt filiae regum in honore tuo. Quis non hic Christum, quem praedicamus et in quem credimus, quamlibet sit tardus, agnoscat, cum audiat Deum, cuius sedes est in saecula saeculorum, et unctum a Deo, utique sicut unguit Deus, non visibili, sed spiritalli atque intellegibili chrismate? Quis enim tam rudis est in hac religione vel tam surdus adversus eius famam longe lateque diffusam, ut Christum a chrismate, hoc est ab unctione appellatum esse non noverit? Agnito autem rege Christo, iam cetera, quae hic tropice dicta sunt, quo modo sit speciosus forma prae filiis hominum, quadam tanto magis amanda atque miranda, quanto minus corporea pulchritudine, quis gladius eius, fquae sagittae, et cetera isto modo non proprie, sed tropice posita iam subditus ei, qui regnat propter veritatem et mansuetudinem et iustitiam, inquirat ex otio. Deinde aspiciat eius ecclesiam tanto viro suo spiritali conubio et divino amore coniunctam, de qua dicitur in his quae sequuntur. Astitit regina a dextris tuis in uestitu deaurato, circumamicta varietate. Audi, filia, et vide et inclina aurem tuam, et obliviscere populum tuum et domum patris tui. quoniam concupivit rex speciem tuam, quia ipse est Deus tuus. Et adorabunt eum filiae Tyri in muneribus; uultum tuum deprecabuntur divites plebis. Omnis gloria eius filiae regis intrinsecus, in fimbriis aureis circumamicta varietate. Adferentur regi virgines post eam, proximae eius adferentur tibi. Adferentur in laetitia et exultatione; adducentur in templum regis. Pro patribus tuis nati sunt tibi filii; constitues eos principes super omnem terram. Memores erunt nominis tui in omni generatione et generatione. Propterea populi confitebuntur tibi in aeternum et in saeculum saeculi. Non opinor quemquam ita desipere, ut hic aliquam mulierculam praedicari credat atque describi; coniugem videlicet illius, cui dictum est: Sedes tua, Deus, in saecula saeculorum; virga directionis virga regni tui. Dilexisti iustitiam et odio habuisti iniquitatem. propterea unxit te Deus, Deus tuus oleo exultationis prae participibus tuis; Christum utique prae Christianis. Hi sunt enim participes eius, ex quorum in omnibus gentibus unitate atque concordia fit ista regina, sicut in alio psalmo de illa dicitur: Civitas regis magni. Ipsa est Sion spiritaliter; quod nomen Latine interpretatum speculatio est; speculatur enim futuri saeculi magnum bonum, quoniam illuc dirigitur eius intentio. Ipsa est et Hierusalem eodem modo spiritaliter, unde multa iam diximus. Eius inimica est civitas diaboli Babylon, quae confusio interpretatur; ex qua tamen Babylone regina ista in omnibus gentibus regeneratione liberatur et a pessimo rege ad optimum regem, id est a diabolo transit ad Christum. Propter quod ei dicitur: Obliviscere populum tuum et domum patris tui. Cuius civitatis impiae portio sunt et Israelitae sola carne, non fide; inimici etiam ipsi magni huius regis eiusque reginae. Ad ipsos enim veniens et ab eis Christus occisus magis aliorum factus est, quos non vidit in carne. Vnde per cuiusdam psalmi prophetiam dicit ipse rex noster: Erues me de contradictionibus populi, constitues me in caput gentium. Populus, quem non cognovi, seruivit mihi; in obauditu auris obaudivit mihi. Populus ergo iste gentium, quem non cognovit Christus praesentia corporali, in quem tamen Christum sibi adnuntiatum credidit, ut merito de illo diceretur: In obauditu auris obaudivit mihi, quia fides ex auditu est _ - iste, inquam, populus additus veris et carne et fide Israelitis civitas est Dei, quae ipsum quoque secundum carnem peperit Christum, quando in solis illis Israelitis fuit. Inde quippe erat virgo Maria, in qua carnem Christus, ut homo esset, adsumpsit. De qua civitate psalmus alius ait: Mater Sion, dicet homo, et homo natus est in ea, et ipse fundavit eam Altissimus. Quis est iste Altissimus nisi Deus? Ac per hoc Christus Deus, antequam in illa civitate per Mariam fieret homo, ipse in patriarchis et prophetis fundavit eam. Cum igitur huic reginae civitati Dei tanto ante dictum sit per prophetiam, quod iam videmus impletum: Pro patribus tuis nati sunt tibi filii, constitues eos principes super omnem terram (ex filiis quippe eius per omnem terram sunt praepositi et patres eius, cum confiteantur ei populi concurrentes ad eam confessionem laudis aeternae in saeculum saeculi): procul dubio quidquid hic tropicis locutionibus subobscure dictum est, quoquo modo intellegatur, debet his rebus manifestissimis convenire. ||For whatever direct and manifest prophetic utterances there may be about anything, it is necessary that those which are tropical should be mingled with them; which, chiefly on account of those of slower understanding, thrust upon the more learned the laborious task of clearing up and expounding them. Some of them, indeed, on the very first blush, as soon as they are spoken, exhibit Christ and the Church, although some things in them that are less intelligible remain to be expounded at leisure. We have an example of this in that same Book of Psalms: "My heart bubbled up a good matter: I utter my words to the king. My tongue is the pen of a scribe, writing swiftly. Your form is beautiful beyond the sons of men; grace is poured out in Your lips: therefore God has blessed You for evermore. Gird Your sword about Your thigh, O Most Mighty. With Your goodliness and Your beauty go forward, proceed prosperously, and reign, because of Your truth, and meekness, and righteousness; and Your right hand shall lead You forth wonderfully. Your sharp arrows are most powerful: in the heart of the king's enemies. The people shall fall under You. Your throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a rod of direction is the rod of Your kingdom. You have loved righteousness, and hast hated iniquity: therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of exultation above Your fellows. Myrrh and drops, and cassia from Your vestments, from the houses of ivory: out of which the daughters of kings have delighted You in Your honor." Who is there, no matter how slow, but must here recognize Christ whom we preach, and in whom we believe, if he hears that He is God, whose throne is for ever and ever, and that He is anointed by God, as God indeed anoints, not with a visible, but with a spiritual and intelligible chrism? For who is so untaught in this religion, or so deaf to its far and wide spread fame, as not to know that Christ is named from this chrism, that is, from this anointing? But when it is acknowledged that this King is Christ, let each one who is already subject to Him who reigns because of truth, meekness, and righteousness, inquire at his leisure into these other things that are here said tropically: how His form is beautiful beyond the sons of men, with a certain beauty that is the more to be loved and admired the less it is corporeal; and what His sword, arrows, and other things of that kind may be, which are set down, not properly, but tropically.Then let him look upon His Church, joined to her so great Husband in spiritual marriage and divine love, of which it is said in these words which follow, "The queen stood upon Your right hand in gold-embroidered vestments, girded about with variety. Hearken, O daughter, and look, and incline your ear; forget also your people, and your father's house. Because the King has greatly desired your beauty; for He is the Lord your God. And the daughters of Tyre shall worship Him with gifts; the rich among the people shall entreat Your face. The daughter of the King has all her glory within, in golden fringes, girded about with variety. The virgins shall be brought after her to the King: her neighbors shall be brought to You. They shall be brought with gladness and exultation: they shall be led into the temple of the King. Instead of your fathers, sons shall be born to you: you shall establish them as princes over all the earth. They shall be mindful of your name in every generation and descent. Therefore shall the people acknowledge you for evermore, even for ever and ever." I do not think any one is so stupid as to believe that some poor woman is here praised and described, as the spouse, to wit, of Him to whom it is said, "Your throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a rod of direction is the rod of Your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated iniquity: therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of exultation above Your fellows;" that is, plainly, Christ above Christians. For these are His fellows, out of the unity and concord of whom in all nations that queen is formed, as it is said of her in another psalm, "The city of the great King." The same is Sion spiritually, which name in Latin is interpreted speculatio (discovery); for she descries the great good of the world to come, because her attention is directed thither. In the same way she is also Jerusalem spiritually, of which we have already said many things. Her enemy is the city of the devil, Babylon, which is interpreted "confusion." Yet out of this Babylon this queen is in all nations set free by regeneration, and passes from the worst to the best King,-that is, from the devil to Christ. Wherefore it is said to her, "Forget your people and your father's house." Of this impious city those also are a portion who are Israelites only in the flesh and not by faith, enemies also of this great King Himself, and of His queen. For Christ, having come to them, and been slain by them, has the more become the King of others, whom He did not see in the flesh. Whence our King Himself says through the prophecy of a certain psalm, "You will deliver me from the contradictions of the people; You will make me head of the nations. A people whom I have not known has served me: in the hearing of the ear it has obeyed me." Therefore this people of the nations, which Christ did not know in His bodily presence, yet has believed in that Christ as announced to it; so that it might be said of it with good reason, "In the hearing of the ear it has obeyed me," for "faith is by hearing." Romans 10:5 This people, I say, added to those who are the true Israelites both by the flesh and by faith, is the city of God, which has brought forth Christ Himself according to the flesh, since He was in these Israelites only. For thence came the Virgin Mary, in whom Christ assumed flesh that He might be man. Of which city another psalm says, "Mother Sion, shall a man say, and the man is made in her, and the Highest Himself has founded her." Who is this Highest, save God? And thus Christ, who is God, before He became man through Mary in that city, Himself founded it by the patriarchs and prophets. As therefore was said by prophecy so long before to this queen, the city of God, what we already can see fulfilled, "Instead of your fathers, sons are born to you; you shall make them princes over all the earth;" so out of her sons truly are set up even her fathers [princes] through all the earth, when the people, coming together to her, confess to her with the confession of eternal praise for ever and ever. Beyond doubt, whatever interpretation is put on what is here expressed somewhat darkly in figurative language, ought to be in agreement with these most manifest things.
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| − | ||<div id="c17"><b>BOOK XVII</b> [XVII] Sicut etiam in illo psalmo, ubi sacerdos Christus, quem ad modum hic rex, apertissime praedicatur: Dixit Dominus Domino meo: Sede a dextris meis, donec ponam inimicos tuos scabellum pedum tuorum, sedere Christus ad dexteram Patris creditur, non videtur; eius etiam inimicos poni sub pedibus eius nondum apparet; id agitur, apparebit in fine; etiam hoc nunc creditur, post videbitur. Verum quod sequitur: Virgam virtutis tuae emittet Dominus ex Sion, et dominare in medio inimicorum tuorum, ita clarum est, ut non solum infideliter et infeliciter, sed etiam inpudenter negetur. Et ipse quippe fatentur inimici ex Sion missam fuisse legem Christi, quod euangelium nos vocamus, et eam virgam virtutis eius agnoscimus. Dominari vero eum in medio inimicorum suorum idem ipsi, inter quos dominatur, dentibus frendendo et tabescendo et nihil adversus eum valendo testantur. Deinde quod paulo post dicit: Iuravit Dominus, et non paenitebit eum, quibus verbis inmutabile futurum esse significat, quod adiungit: Tu es sacerdos in aeternum secundum ordinem Melchisedech, ex eo quod iam nusquam est sacerdotium et sacrificium secundum ordinem Aaron et ubique offertur sub sacerdote Christo, quod protulit Melchisedech, quando benedixit Abraham, quis ambigere permittitur, de quo ista dicantur? Ad haec itaque manifesta referuntur, quae paulo obscurius in eodem psalmo posita sunt, quando recte intelleguntur; quod in nostris iam popularibus sermonibus fecimus. Sic et in illo, ubi humilitatem passionis suae per prophetiam Christus eloquitur dicens: Foderunt manus meas et pedes, dinumeraverunt omnia ossa mea; ipsi vero consideraverunt et conspexerunt me (quibus utique verbis in cruce corpus significavit extentum manibus pedibusque confixis et clauorum transuerberatione confossis, eoque modo se spectaculum considerantibus et conspicientibus praebuisse), addens etiam: Diviserunt sibi uestimenta mea et super uestimentum meum miserunt sortem, quae prophetia quem ad modum impleta sit euangelica narratur historia, tunc profecto et alia recte intelleguntur, quae ibi minus aperte dicta sunt, cum congruunt his, quae tanta manifestatione claruerunt; praesertim quia et illa, quae non transacta credimus, sed praesentia contuemur, sicut in eodem psalmo leguntur tanto ante praedicta, ita nunc exhibita iam toto orbe cernuntur. Ibi enim paulo post dicitur: Commemorabuntur et convertentur ad Dominum universi fines terrae et adorabunt in conspectu eius universae patriae gentium. quoniam Domini est regnum, et ipse dominabitur gentium. ||Just as in that psalm also where Christ is most openly proclaimed as Priest, even as He is here as King, "The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit at my right hand, until I make Your enemies Your footstool." That Christ sits on the right hand of God the Father is believed, not seen; that His enemies also are put under His feet does not yet appear; it is being done, [therefore] it will appear at last: yea, this is now believed, afterward it shall be seen. But what follows, "The Lord will send forth the rod of Your strength out of Sion, and rule You in the midst of Your enemies," is so clear, that to deny it would imply not merely unbelief and mistake, but downright impudence. And even enemies must certainly confess that out of Sion has been sent the law of Christ which we call the gospel, and acknowledge as the rod of His strength. But that He rules in the midst of His enemies, these same enemies among whom He rules themselves bear witness, gnashing their teeth and consuming away, and having power to do nothing against Him. Then what he says a little after, "The Lord has sworn and will not repent," by which words He intimates that what He adds is immutable, "You are a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek," who is permitted to doubt of whom these things are said, seeing that now there is nowhere a priesthood and sacrifice after the order of Aaron, and everywhere men offer under Christ as the Priest, which Melchizedek showed when he blessed Abraham? Therefore to these manifest things are to be referred, when rightly understood, those things in the same psalm that are set down a little more obscurely, and we have already made known in our popular sermons how these things are to be rightly understood. So also in that where Christ utters through prophecy the humiliation of His passion, saying, "They pierced my hands and feet; they counted all my bones. Yea, they looked and stared at me." By which words he certainly meant His body stretched out on the cross, with the hands and feet pierced and perforated by the striking through of the nails, and that He had in that way made Himself a spectacle to those who looked and stared. And he adds, "They parted my garments among them, and over my vesture they cast lots." How this prophecy has been fulfilled the Gospel history narrates. Then, indeed, the other things also which are said there less openly are rightly understood when they agree with those which shine with so great clearness; especially because those things also which we do not believe as past, but survey as present, are beheld by the whole world, being now exhibited just as they are read of in this very psalm as predicted so long before. For it is there said a little after, "All the ends of the earth shall remember, and turn unto the Lord, and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before Him; for the kingdom is the Lord's, and He shall rule the nations."
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| − | ||<div id="c18"><b>BOOK XVII</b> [XVIII] De resurrectione quoque eius nequaquam psalmorum oracula tacuerunt. Nam quid est aliud quod in psalmo tertio ex persona eius canitur: Ego dormivi et somnum cepi; exsurrexi, quoniam Dominus suscipiet me? An forte quisquam ita desipit, ut credat velut aliquid magnum nobis indicare voluisse prophetam, quod dormierit et exsurrexerit, nisi somnus iste mors esset et evigilato resurrectio, quam de Christo sic oportuit prophetari? Nam et in quadragensimo multo manifestius id ostenditur, ubi ex persona eiusdem Mediatoris more solito tamquam praeterita narrantur, quae futura prophetabantur; quoniam, quae ventura erant, iam in praedestinatione et praescientia Dei velut facta erant<, quia certa erant>. Inimici, inquit, mei dixerunt mala mihi: Quando morietur et peribit nomen eius? Et si ingrediebatur ut videret, uana locutum est cor eius, congregavit iniquitatem ipsi. Egrediebatur foras et loquebatur simul in unum. Adversus me susurrabant omnes inimici mei, adversus me cogitabant mala mihi. Verbum iniquum disposuerunt adversus me: Numquid qui dormit non adiciet ut resurgat? Hic certe ita posita sunt verba haec, ut nihil aliud dixisse intellegatur, quam si diceret: "Numquid qui moritur, non adiciet ut revivescat?" Superiora quippe demonstrant mortem ipsius cogitasse et disposuisse inimicos eius, et hoc actum esse per eum, qui ingrediebatur ut videret, et egrediebatur ut proderet. Cui autem hic non occurrat ex discipulo eius factus traditor Iudas? Quia ergo facturi erant quod moliebantur, id est occisuri erant eum, ostendens illos uana malitia frustra occisuros resurrecturum sic adiecit hunc versum, velut diceret: "Quid agitis uani? quod uestrum scelus est, meus somnus erit": Numquid qui dormit non adiciet ut resurgat? Et tamen eos tam magnum nefas non inpune facturos consequentibus indicat versibus dicens: Etenim homo pacis meae, in quem speravi, qui edebat panes meos, ampliavit super me calcaneum, hoc est conculcavit me. Tu autem, inquit, Domine, miserere mei et resuscita me, et reddam illis. Quis hoc iam neget, qui Iudaeos post passionem resurrectionemque Christi de sedibus suis bellica strage et excidio funditus eradicatos videt? Occisus enim ab eis resurrexit et reddidit eis interim temporariam disciplinam, excepto quod non correctis servat, quando vivos et mortuos iudicabit. Nam Dominus ipse Iesus istum ipsum traditorem suum per panem porrectum ostendens apostolis hunc etiam versum psalmi huius commemoravit et in se dixit impletum: Qui edebat panes meos, ampliavit super me calcaneum. Quod autem ait: In quem sperauo, non congruit capiti, sed corpori. Neque enim nesciebat eum ipse Saluator, de quo ante iam dixerat: Vnus ex vobis me tradet et: unus ex vobis diabolus est. Sed solet in se membrorum suorum transferre personam et sibi tribuere quod esset illorum, quia caput et corpus unus est Christus; unde illud est in euangelio: Esurivi, et dedistis mihi manducare, quod exponens ait: Quando uni ex minimis meis fecistis, mihi fecistis. Se itaque dixit sperasse, quod tunc speraverant de Iuda discipuli eius, quando est connumeratus apostolis. Iudaei autem Christum, quem sperant, moriturum esse non sperant. Ideo quem lex et prophetae adnuntiaverunt, nostrum esse non putant, sed nescio quem suum, quem sibi alienum a mortis passione confingunt. Ideo mirabili uanitate atque caecitate verba, quae posuimus, non mortem et resurrectionem, sed somnum et evigilationem significasse contendunt. Sed clamat eis etiam psalmus quintus decimus: Propter hoc iucundatum est cor meum et exultavit lingua mea, insuper et caro mea requiescet in spe; quoniam non derelinques animam meam in inferno, nec dabis sanctum tuum videre corruptionem. Quis in ea spe diceret requievisse carnem suam, ut non derelicta anima sua in inferno, sed cito ad eam redeunte revivesceret, ne corrumperetur, sicut cadavera corrumpi solent, nisi qui die tertio resurrexit? Quod utique dicere non possunt de propheta et rege David. Clamat et sexagensimus septimus: Deus noster Deus saluos faciendi, et Domini exitus mortis. quid apertius diceretur? Deus enim saluos faciendi Dominus est Iesus, quod interpretatur saluator sive salutaris. Nam ratio nominis huius haec reddita est, quando priusquam ex virgine nasceretur dictum est: Pariet filium, et vocabis nomen eius Iesum. Ipse enim saluum faciet populum suum a peccatis eorum. In quorum peccatorum remissionem quoniam sanguis eius effusus est, non utique oportuit eum de hac vita exitus alios habere quam mortis. Ideo cum dictum esset: Deus noster Deus saluos faciendi, continuo subiunctum est: Et Domini exitus mortis, ut ostenderetur moriendo saluos esse facturus. Sed mirando dictum est: Et Domini; tamquam diceretur: "Talis est ista vita mortalium, ut nec ipse Dominus aliter ab illa exiret, nisi per mortem." ||About His resurrection also the oracles of the Psalms are by no means silent. For what else is it that is sung in His person in the 3d Psalm, "I laid me down and took a sleep, [and] I awaked, for the Lord shall sustain me?" Is there perchance any one so stupid as to believe that the prophet chose to point it out to us as something great that He had slept and risen up, unless that sleep had been death, and that awaking the resurrection, which behoved to be thus prophesied concerning Christ? For in the 41st Psalm also it is shown much more clearly, where in the person of the Mediator, in the usual way, things are narrated as if past which were prophesied as yet to come, since these things which were yet to come were in the predestination and foreknowledge of God as if they were done, because they were certain. He says, "Mine enemies speak evil of me; When shall he die, and his name perish? And if he came in to see me, his heart spoke vain things: he gathered iniquity to himself. He went out of doors, and uttered it all at once. Against me all mine enemies whisper together: against me do they devise evil. They have planned an unjust thing against me. Shall not he that sleeps also rise again?" These words are certainly so set down here that he may be understood to say nothing else than if he said, Shall not He that died recover life again? The previous words clearly show that His enemies have mediated and planned His death, and that this was executed by him who came in to see, and went out to betray. But to whom does not Judas here occur, who, from being His disciple, became His betrayer? Therefore because they were about to do what they had plotted,-that is, were about to kill Him,-he, to show them that with useless malice they were about to kill Him who should rise again, so adds this verse, as if he said, What vain thing are you doing? What will be your crime will be my sleep. "Shall not He that sleeps also rise again?" And yet he indicates in the following verses that they should not commit so great an impiety with impunity, saying, "Yea, the man of my peace in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has enlarged the heel over me;" that is, has trampled me under foot. "But You," he says, "O Lord, be merciful unto me, and raise me up, that I may requite them." Who can now deny this who sees the Jews, after the passion and resurrection of Christ, utterly rooted up from their abodes by warlike slaughter and destruction? For, being slain by them, He has risen again, and has requited them meanwhile by temporary discipline, save that for those who are not corrected He keeps it in store for the time when He shall judge the quick and the dead. For the Lord Jesus Himself, in pointing out that very man to the apostles as His betrayer, quoted this very verse of this psalm, and said it was fulfilled in Himself: "He that ate my bread enlarged the heel over me." But what he says, "In whom I trusted," does not suit the head but the body. For the Saviour Himself was not ignorant of him concerning whom He had already said before, "One of you is a devil." John 6:70 But He is wont to assume the person of His members, and to ascribe to Himself what should be said of them, because the head and the body is one Christ; 1 Corinthians 12:12 whence that saying in the Gospel, "I was an hungered, and you gave me to eat." Matthew 25:35 Expounding which, He says, "Since you did it to one of the least of mine, you did it to me." Matthew 25:40 Therefore He said that He had trusted, because his disciples then had trusted concerning Judas; for he was numbered with the apostles. Acts 1:17 But the Jews do not expect that the Christ whom they expect will die; therefore they do not think ours to be Him whom the law and the prophets announced, but feign to themselves I know not whom of their own, exempt from the suffering of death. Therefore, with wonderful emptiness and blindness, they contend that the words we have set down signify, not death and resurrection, but sleep and awaking again. But the 16th Psalm also cries to them, "Therefore my heart is jocund, and my tongue has exulted; moreover, my flesh also shall rest in hope: for You will not leave my soul in hell; neither will You give Your Holy One to see corruption." Who but He that rose again the third day could say his flesh had rested in this hope; that His soul, not being left in hell, but speedily returning to it, should revive it, that it should not be corrupted as corpses are wont to be, which they can in no wise say of David the prophet and king? The 68th Psalm also cries out, "Our God is the God of Salvation: even of the Lord the exit was by death." What could be more openly said? For the God of salvation is the Lord Jesus, which is interpreted Saviour, or Healing One. For this reason this name was given, when it was said before He was born of the virgin: "You shall bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus; for He shall save His people from their sins." Matthew 1:21 Because His blood was shed for the remission of their sins, it behoved Him to have no other exit from this life than death. Therefore, when it had been said, "Our God is the God of salvation," immediately it was added, "Even of the Lord the exit was by death," in order to show that we were to be saved by His dying. But that saying is marvellous, "Even of the Lord," as if it was said, Such is that life of mortals, that not even the Lord Himself could go out of it otherwise save through death.
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| − | ||<div id="c19"><b>BOOK XVII</b> [XIX] Sed ut Iudaei tam manifestis huius prophetiae testimoniis etiam rebus ad effectum tam clarum certumque perductis omnino non cedant, profecto in eis illud impletur, quod in eo psalmo, qui hunc sequitur, scriptum est. Cum enim et illic ex persona Christi, quae ad eius passionem pertinent, prophetice dicerentur, commemoratum est, quod in euangelio patuit: Dederunt in escam meam fel et in siti mea potum mihi dederunt acetum. Et velut post tale conuivium epulasque sibi huiusce modi exhibitas mox intulit: Fiat mensa eorum coram ipsis in muscipulam et in retributionem et in scandalum; obscurentur oculi eorum ne videant, et dorsum eorum semper incurua, et cetera, quae non optando sunt dicta, sed optandi specie prophetando praedicta. Quid ergo mirum, si haec manifesta non vident, quorum oculi sunt obscurati, ne videant? Quid mirum, si caelestia non suspiciunt, qui ut in terrena sint proni, dorsum eorum semper incuruum est? His enim verbis translatis a corpore vitia intelleguntur animorum. Ista de psalmis, hoc est de prophetia regis David, satis dicta sint, ut aliquis modus sit. Ignoscant autem qui haec legunt et cuncta illa noverunt, et de his, quae fortasse firmiora me praetermisisse vel intellegunt vel existimant, non querantur. ||But when the Jews will not in the least yield to the testimonies of this prophecy, which are so manifest, and are also brought by events to so clear and certain a completion, certainly that is fulfilled in them which is written in that psalm which here follows. For when the things which pertain to His passion are prophetically spoken there also in the person of Christ, that is mentioned which is unfolded in the Gospel: "They gave me gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar for drink." And as it were after such a feast and dainties in this way given to Himself, presently He brings in [these words]: "Let their table become a trap before them, and a retribution, and an offence: let their eyes be dimmed that they see not, and their back be always bowed down," etc. Which things are not spoken as wished for, but are predicted under the prophetic form of wishing. What wonder, then, if those whose eyes are dimmed that they see not do not see these manifest things? What wonder if those do not look up at heavenly things whose back is always bowed down that they may grovel among earthly things? For these words transferred from the body signify mental faults. Let these things which have been said about the Psalms, that is, about king David's prophecy, suffice, that we may keep within some bound. But let those readers excuse us who knew them all before; and let them not complain about those perhaps stronger proofs which they know or think I have passed by.
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| − | ||<div id="c20"><b>BOOK XVII</b> [XX] Regnavit ergo David in terrena Hierusalem, filius caelestis Hierusalem, divino multum testimonio praedicatus, quia et delicta eius tanta pietate superata sunt per saluberrimam paenitendi humilitatem, ut prorsus inter eos sit, de quibus ipse ait: Beati quorum remissae sunt iniquitates et quonam tecta sunt peccata. Post hunc regnavit eidem populo universo Salomon filius eius, qui, ut supra dictum est, patre suo vivo coepit regnare. Hic bonis initiis malos exitus habuit. Quippe secundae res, quae sapientium animos fatigant, magis huic offuerunt, quam profuit ipsa sapientia, etiam nunc et deinceps memorabilis, et tunc longe lateque laudata. Prophetasse etiam ipse reperitur in suis libris, qui tres recepti sunt in auctoritatem canonicam: Proverbia, ecclesiastes et canticum canticorum. Alii vero duo, quorum unus sapientia, alter ecclesiasticus dicitur, propter eloquii nonnullam similitudinem, ut Salomonis dicantur, obtinuit consuetudo; non autem esse ipsius non dubitant doctiores; eos tamen in auctoritatem maxime occidentalis antiquitus recepit ecclesia. Quorum in uno, qui appellatur sapientia Salomonis, passio Christi apertissime prophetatur. Impii quippe interfectores eius commemorantur dicentes: Circumveniamus iustum, quia insuavis est nobis et contrarius est operibus nostris et inproperat nobis peccata legis et infamat in nos peccata disciplinae nostrae. Promittit scientiam Dei se habere et filium Dei se nominat. Factus est nobis in traductionem cogitationum nostrarum. Gravis est nobis etiam ad videndum, quoniam dissimilis est aliis vita illius et inmutatae viae eius. Tamquam nugaces aestimati sumus ab illo, et abstinet se a viis nostris quasi ab inmunditiis; praefert novissima iustorum et gloriatur patrem Deum se habere. Videamus ergo si sermones illius veri sunt, et temptemus quae euentura sunt illi, et sciemus quae erunt novissima illius. Si enim est iustus filius Dei, suscipiet illum et liberabit eum de manibus contrariorum. Contumelia et tormento interrogemus illum, ut sciamus reuerentiam illius et probemus patientiam eius. Morte turpissima condemnemus illum; erit enim ei respectus ex sermonibus illius. Haec cogitaverunt et erraverunt; excaecavit enim illos malitia ipsorum. In ecclesiastico autem fides gentium futura praedicitur isto modo: Miserere nostri, dominator Deus omnium, et inmitte timorem tuum super omnes gentes. extolle manum tuam super gentes alienas et videant potentiam tuam. Sicut coram illis sanctificatus es in nobis, ita coram nobis magnificeris in illis, et agnoscant te secundum quod et nos agnovimus te, quia non est Deus praeter te, Domine. Hanc optandi et precandi specie prophetiam per Iesum Christum videmus impletam. Sed adversus contradictores non tanta firmitate proferuntur, quae scripta non sunt in canone Iudaeorum. In tribus vero illis, quos Salomonis esse constat et Iudaei canonicos habent, ut ostendatur ad Christum et ecclesiam pertinere quod in eis eius modi reperitur, operosa disputatio necessaria est, quae nos ultra quam oportet, si nunc adhibetur, extendit. Tamen quod in proverbiis legitur, viros impios dicere: Abscondamus in terra virum iustum iniuste, absorbeamus vero eum tamquam infernus viventem et auferamus eius memoriam de terra, possessionem eius pretiosam adprehendamus, non ita obscurum est, ut de Christo et possessione eius ecclesia sine laboriosa expositione non possit intellegi. Tale quippe aliquid etiam Dominus ipse Iesus per euangelicam parabolam ostendit dixisse malos colonos: Hic est heres, venite, occidamus eum, et nostra erit hereditas. Itemque illud in eodem libro, quod iam ante perstrinximus, cum ageremus de sterili, quae peperit septem, non nisi de Christo et ecclesia, mox ut fuerit, pronuntiatum consuevit intellegi ab eis, qui Christum sapientiam Dei esse noverunt: Sapientia aedificavit sibi domum et suffulsit columnas septem; immolavit suas victimas, miscuit in cratere vinum suum et paravit mensam suam. Misit seruos suos conuocans cum excellenti praedicatione ad craterem dicens: Quis est insipiens? Divertat ad me. Et inopibus sensu dixit: Venite, manducate de meis panibus et bibite vinum quod miscui vobis. Hic certe agnoscimus Dei sapientiam, hoc est Verbum Patri coaeternum, in utero virginali domum sibi aedificasse corpus humanum et huic, tamquam capiti membra, ecclesiam subiunxisse, martyrum victimas immolasse, mensam in vino et panibus praeparasse, ubi apparet etiam sacerdotium secundum ordinem Melchisedech, insipientes et inopes sensu vocasse, quia, sicut dicit apostolus, infirma huius mundi elegit, ut confunderet fortia. Quibus tamen infirmis quod sequitur dicit: Derelinquite insipientiam, ut vivatis, et quaerite prudentiam, ut habeatis vitam. Participem autem fieri mensae illius, ipsum est incipere habere vitam. Nam et in alio libro, qui vocatur ecclesiastes, ubi ait: Non est bonum homini, nisi quod manducabit et bibet, quid credibilius dicere intellegitur, quam quod ad participationem mensae huius pertinet, quam sacerdos ipse Mediator testamenti novi exhibet secundum ordinem Melchisedech de corpore et sanguine suo? Id enim sacrificium successit omnibus illis sacrificiis ueteris testamenti, quae immolabantur in umbra futuri; propter quod etiam vocem illam in psalmo tricensimo et nono eiusdem Mediatoris per prophetiam loquentis agnoscimus: Sacrificium et oblationem noluisti, corpus autem perfecisti mihi; quia pro illis omnibus sacrificiis et oblationibus corpus eius offertur et participantibus ministratur. Nam istum ecclesiasten in hac sententia manducandi et bibendi, quam saepe repetit plurimumque commendat, non sapere carnalis epulas voluptatis, satis illud ostendit, ubi ait: Melius est ire in domum luctus quam ire in domum potus; et paulo post: Cor, inquit, sapientium in domo luctus et cor insipientium in domo epularum. Sed illud magis commemorandum existimo de hoc libro, quod pertinet ad civitates duas, unam diaboli, alteram Christi, et earum reges diabolum et Christum: Vae tibi, terra, inquit, cuius rex adulescens, et principes tui mane comedunt. Beata tu, terra, cuius rex tuus filius ingenuorum, et principes tui in tempore comedunt, in fortitudine, et non in confusione. Adulescentem dixit diabolum propter stultitiam et superbiam et temeritatem et petulantiam ceteraque vitia, quae huic aetati adsolent abundare; Christum autem filium ingenuorum, sanctorum scilicet patriarcharum, pertinentium ad liberam civitatem, ex quibus est in carne progenitus. Principes illius civitatis mane manducantes, id est ante horam congruam, quia non expectant oportunam, quae vera est, in futuro saeculo felicitatem, festinanter beari huius saeculi celebritate cupientes; principes autem civitatis Christi tempus non fallacis beatitudinis patienter expectant. Hoc ait: In fortitudine, et non in confusione, quia non eos fallit spes, de qua dicit apostolus: Spes autem non confundit; dicit et psalmus: Etenim qui te expectant, non confundentur. Iam vero canticum canticorum spiritalis quaedam sanctarum est voluptas mentium in coniugio illius regis et reginae civitatis, quod est Christus et ecclesia. Sed haec voluptas allegoricis tegminibus inuoluta est, ut desideretur ardentius nudeturque, iucundius, et appareat sponsus, cui dicitur in eodem cantico: Aequitas dilexit te, et sponsa, quae ibi audit: Caritas in deliciis tuis. Tacita multa transimus cura huius operis terminandi. ||David therefore reigned in the earthly Jerusalem, a son of the heavenly Jerusalem, much praised by the divine testimony; for even his faults are overcome by great piety, through the most salutary humility of his repentance, that he is altogether one of those of whom he himself says, "Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered." After him Solomon his son reigned over the same whole people, who, as was said before, began to reign while his father was still alive. This man, after good beginnings, made a bad end. For indeed "prosperity, which wears out the minds of the wise," hurt him more than that wisdom profited him, which even yet is and shall hereafter be renowned, and was then praised far and wide. He also is found to have prophesied in his books, of which three are received as of canonical authority, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Songs. But it has been customary to ascribe to Solomon other two, of which one is called Wisdom, the other Ecclesiasticus, on account of some resemblance of style,-but the more learned have no doubt that they are not his; yet of old the Church, especially the Western, received them into authority,-in the one of which, called the Wisdom of Solomon, the passion of Christ is most openly prophesied. For indeed His impious murderers are quoted as saying, "Let us lie in wait for the righteous, for he is unpleasant to us, and contrary to our works; and he upbraids us with our transgressions of the law, and objects to our disgrace the transgressions of our education. He professes to have the knowledge of God, and he calls himself the Son of God. He was made to reprove our thoughts. He is grievous for as even to behold; for his life is unlike other men's and his ways are different. We are esteemed of him as counterfeits; and he abstains from our ways as from filthiness. He extols the latter end of the righteous; and glories that he has God for his Father. Let us see, therefore, if his words be true; and let us try what shall happen to him, and we shall know what shall be the end of him. For if the righteous be the Son of God, He will undertake for him, and deliver him out of the hand of those that are against him. Let us put him to the question with contumely and torture, that we may know his reverence, and prove his patience. Let us condemn him to the most shameful death; for by His own sayings He shall be respected. These things did they imagine, and were mistaken; for their own malice has quite blinded them." Wisdom 2:12-21 But in Ecclesiasticus the future faith of the nations is predicted in this manner: "Have mercy upon us, O God, Ruler of all, and send Your fear upon all the nations: lift up Your hand over the strange nations, and let them see Your power. As You were sanctified in us before them, so be sanctified in them before us, and let them acknowledge You, according as we also have acknowledged You; for there is not a God beside You, O Lord." Sirach 36:1-5 We see this prophecy in the form of a wish and prayer fulfilled through Jesus Christ. But the things which are not written in the canon of the Jews cannot be quoted against their contradictions with so great validity.But as regards those three books which it is evident are Solomon's and held canonical by the Jews, to show what of this kind may be found in them pertaining to Christ and the Church demands a laborious discussion, which, if now entered on, would lengthen this work unduly. Yet what we read in the Proverbs of impious men saying, "Let us unrighteously hide in the earth the righteous man; yea, let us swallow him up alive as hell, and let us take away his memory from the earth: let us seize his precious possession," Proverbs 1:11-13 is not so obscure that it may not be understood, without laborious exposition, of Christ and His possession the Church. Indeed, the gospel parable about the wicked husbandmen shows that our Lord Jesus Himself said something like it: "This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance shall be ours." Matthew 21:38 In like manner also that passage in this same book, on which we have already touched when we were speaking of the barren woman who has born seven, must soon after it was uttered have come to be understood of only Christ and the Church by those who knew that Christ was the Wisdom of God. "Wisdom has built her an house, and has set up seven pillars; she has sacrificed her victims, she has mingled her wine in the bowl; she has also furnished her table. She has sent her servants summoning to the bowl with excellent proclamation, saying, Who is simple, let him turn aside to me. And to the void of sense she has said, Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled for you." Here certainly we perceive that the Wisdom of God, that is, the Word co-eternal with the Father, has built Him an house, even a human body in the virgin womb, and has subjoined the Church to it as members to a head, has slain the martyrs as victims, has furnished a table with wine and bread, where appears also the priesthood after the order of Melchizedek, and has called the simple and the void of sense, because, as says the apostle, "He has chosen the weak things of this world that He might confound the things which are mighty." 1 Corinthians 1:27 Yet to these weak ones she says what follows, "Forsake simplicity, that you may live; and seek prudence, that you may have life." Proverbs 9:6 But to be made partakers of this table is itself to begin to have life. For when he says in another book, which is called Ecclesiastes, "There is no good for a man, except that he should eat and drink," what can he be more credibly understood to say, than what belongs to the participation of this table which the Mediator of the New Testament Himself, the Priest after the order of Melchizedek, furnishes with His own body and blood? For that sacrifice has succeeded all the sacrifices of the Old Testament, which were slain as a shadow of that which was to come; wherefore also we recognize the voice in the 40th Psalm as that of the same Mediator speaking through prophesy, "Sacrifice and offering You did not desire; but a body have You perfected for me." Because, instead of all these sacrifices and oblations, His body is offered, and is served up to the partakers of it. For that this Ecclesiastes, in this sentence about eating and drinking, which he often repeats, and very much commends, does not savor the dainties of carnal pleasures, is made plain enough when he says, "It is better to go into the house of mourning than to go into the house of feasting." Ecclesiastes 7:2 And a little after He says, "The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, and the heart of the simple in the house of feasting." Ecclesiastes 7:4 But I think that more worthy of quotation from this book which relates to both cities, the one of the devil, the other of Christ, and to their kings, the devil and Christ: "Woe to you, O land," he says, "when your king is a youth, and your princes eat in the morning! Blessed are you, O land, when your king is the son of nobles, and your princes eat in season, in fortitude, and not in confusion!" Ecclesiastes 10:16-17 He has called the devil a youth, because of the folly and pride, and rashness and unruliness, and other vices which are wont to abound at that age; but Christ is the Son of nobles, that is, of the holy patriarchs, of those belonging to the free city, of whom He was begotten in the flesh. The princes of that and other cities are eaters in the morning, that is, before the suitable hour, because they do not expect the seasonable felicity, which is the true, in the world to come, desiring to be speedily made happy with the renown of this world; but the princes of the city of Christ patiently wait for the time of a blessedness that is not fallacious. This is expressed by the words, "in fortitude, and not in confusion," because hope does not deceive them; of which the apostle says, "But hope makes not ashamed." Romans 5:5 A psalm also says, "For they that hope in You shall not be put to shame." But now the Song of Songs is a certain spiritual pleasure of holy minds, in the marriage of that King and Queen-city, that is, Christ and the Church. But this pleasure is wrapped up in allegorical veils, that the Bridegroom may be more ardently desired, and more joyfully unveiled, and may appear; to whom it is said in this same song, "Equity has delighted You; Song of Songs 1:4 and the bride who there hears, "Charity is in your delights." Song of Songs 7:6 We pass over many things in silence, in our desire to finish this work.
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| − | ||<div id="c21"><b>BOOK XVII</b> [XXI] Ceteri post Salomonem reges Hebraeorum vix inveniuntur per aliqua aenigmata dictorum suorum rerumue gestarum, quod ad Christum et ecclesiam pertineat, prophetasse, sive in Iuda sive in Israel. Sic enim appellatae sunt illius populi partes, ex quo propter Salomonis offensam tempore filii eius Roboam, qui patri successit in regnum, Deo vindicante divisus est. Proinde tribus decem, quas accepit Hieroboam, seruus Salomonis, rex eis in Samaria constitutus, proprie vocabantur Israel, quamuis hoc universi illius populi nomen esset. Duabus vero tribubus, Iudae scilicet et Beniamin, quae propter David, ne penitus regnum stirpis eius fuisset eradicatum, remanserant subiacentes civitati Hierusalem, Iudae nomen fuit, quia ipsa erat tribus unde David. Beniamin vero tribus altera ad idem regnum, sicut dixi, pertinens erat, unde fuit Saul rex ante David. Sed simul istae duae tribus, ut dictum est, Iuda vocabantur, et hoc nomine discernebantur ab Israel;quod appellabantur proprie decem tribus habentes suum regem. Nam tribus Levi, quoniam sacerdotalis fuit, Dei, non regum seruitio mancipata, tertia decima numerabatur. Ioseph quippe unus ex duodecim filiis Israel, non unam, sicut ceteri singulas, sed duas tribus fecit, Ephraem et Manassen. Verum tamen etiam tribus Levi ad regnum Hierosolymitanum pertinebat magis, ubi erat Dei templum, cui seruiebat. Diviso igitur populo primus regnavit in Hierusalem Roboam, rex Iuda, filius Salomonis, et in Samaria Hieroboam, rex Israel, seruus Salomonis. Et cum voluisset Roboam tamquam tyrannidem divisae illius partis bello persequi, prohibitus est populus pugnare cum fratribus suis dicente Deo per prophetam se hoc fecisse. Vnde apparuit nullum in ea re vel regis Israel vel populi fuisse peccatum, sed voluntatem Dei vindicantis impletam. Qua cognita pars utraque inter se pacata conquievit; non enim religionis, sed regni fuerat facta divisio. ||The other kings of the Hebrews after Solomon are scarcely found to have prophesied, through certain enigmatic words or actions of theirs, what may pertain to Christ and the Church, either in Judah or Israel; for so were the parts of that people styled, when, on account of Solomon's offence, from the time of Rehoboam his son, who succeeded him in the kingdom, it was divided by God as a punishment. The ten tribes, indeed, which Jeroboam the servant of Solomon received, being appointed the king in Samaria, were distinctively called Israel, although this had been the name of that whole people; but the two tribes, namely, of Judah and Benjamin, which for David's sake, lest the kingdom should be wholly wrenched from his race, remained subject to the city of Jerusalem, were called Judah, because that was the tribe whence David sprang. But Benjamin, the other tribe which, as was said, belonged to the same kingdom, was that whence Saul sprang before David. But these two tribes together, as was said, were called Judah, and were distinguished by this name from Israel which was the distinctive title of the ten tribes under their own king. For the tribe of Levi, because it was the priestly one, bound to the servitude of God, not of the kings, was reckoned the thirteenth. For Joseph, one of the twelve sons of Israel, did not, like the others, form one tribe, but two, Ephraim and Manasseh. Yet the tribe of Levi also belonged more to the kingdom of Jerusalem, where was the temple of God whom it served. On the division of the people, therefore, Rehoboam, son of Solomon, reigned in Jerusalem as the first king of Judah, and Jeroboam, servant of Solomon, in Samaria as king of Israel. And when Rehoboam wished as a tyrant to pursue that separated part with war, the people were prohibited from fighting with their brethren by God, who told them through a prophet that He had done this; whence it appeared that in this matter there had been no sin either of the king or people of Israel, but the accomplished will of God the avenger. When this was known, both parts settled down peaceably, for the division made was not religious but political.
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| − | ||<div id="c22"><b>BOOK XVII</b> [XXII] Verum rex Israel Hieroboam mente peruersa non credens Deo, quem veracem promisso sibi regno datoque probaverat, timuit ne veniendo ad templum Dei, quod erat in Hierusalem, quo secundum divinam legem sacrificandi causa universae illi genti veniendum fuit, seduceretur ab eo populus et stirpi David tamquam regio semini redderetur, et instituit idolatriam in regno suo et populum Dei secum simulacrorum cultu obstrictum nefanda impietate decepit. Nec tamen omni modo cessavit Deus non solum illum regem, verum etiam successores eius et impietatis imitatores populumque ipsum arguere per prophetas. Nam ibi extiterunt et magni illi insignesque prophetae, qui etiam mirabilia multa fecerunt, Helias et Helisaeus discipulus eius; ibi etiam dicenti Heliae: Domine, prophetas tuos occiderunt, altaria tua suffoderunt, et ego relictus sum solus, et quaerunt animam meam, responsum est esse illic septem milia virorum, qui non curuaverunt genua contra Bahal. ||But Jeroboam king of Israel, with perverse mind, not believing in God, whom he had proved true in promising and giving him the kingdom, was afraid lest, by coming to the temple of God which was in Jerusalem, where, according to the divine law, that whole nation was to come in order to sacrifice, the people should be seduced from him, and return to David's line as the seed royal; and set up idolatry in his kingdom, and with horrible impiety beguiled the people, ensnaring them to the worship of idols with himself. Yet God did not altogether cease to reprove by the prophets, not only that king, but also his successors and imitators in his impiety, and the people too. For there the great and illustrious prophet Elijah and Elisha his disciple arose, who also did many wonderful works. Even there, when Elijah said, "O Lord, they have slain Your prophets, they have dug down Your altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life," it was answered that seven thousand men were there who had not bowed the knee to Baal.
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| − | ||<div id="c23"><b>BOOK XVII</b> [XXIII] Itemque in regno Iuda pertinente ad Hierusalem etiam regum succedentium temporibus non defuerunt prophetae; sicut Deo placebat eos mittere vel ad praenuntiandum, quod opus erat, vel ad corripienda peccata praecipiendamque iustitiam. Nam et illic, etsi longe minus quam in Israel, tamen extiterunt reges, qui suis impietatibus Deum graviter offenderent et moderatis flagellis cum populo simili plecterentur. Priorum sane regum merita ibi non parua laudantur; in Israel autem reges alios magis; alios minus, omnes tamen reprobos legimus. Vtraque igitur pars, sicut iubebat divina providentia vel sinebat, variis et erigebatur prosperitatibus et adversitatibus premebatur, et sic adfligebatur non solum externis, verum et inter se civilibus bellis, ut certis existentibus causis misericordia Dei vel ira patesceret, donec eius indignatione crescente universa gens illa a Chaldaeis debellantibus non solum subuerteretur in sedibus suis, sed etiam ex maxima sui parte transferretur in terras Assyriorum; prius illa pars, quae vocabatur Israel in tribubus decem; postea vero etiam Iudas, euersa Hierusalem et templo illo nobilissimo; in quibus terris per annos septuaginta captivum egit otium. Post quos inde dimissa templum, quod euersum fuerat, instauravit; et quamuis plurimi eius in alienigenarum degerent terris, non habuit tamen deinceps duas regni partes et duos diversos in singulis partibus reges; sed in Hierusalem princeps eorum erat unus, atque ad Dei templum, quod ibi erat, omnes undique, ubicumque essent et undecumque possent, per certa tempora veniebant. Sed nec tunc eis hostes ex aliis gentibus expugnatoresque defuerunt; nam etiam Romanorum iam tributarios eos Christus invenit. ||So also in the kingdom of Judah pertaining to Jerusalem prophets were not lacking even in the times of succeeding kings, just as it pleased God to send them, either for the prediction of what was needful, or for correction of sin and instruction in righteousness; 2 Timothy 3:16 for there, too, although far less than in Israel, kings arose who grievously offended God by their impieties, and, along with their people, who were like them, were smitten with moderate scourges. The no small merits of the pious kings there are praised indeed. But we read that in Israel the kings were, some more, others less, yet all wicked. Each part, therefore, as the divine providence either ordered or permitted, was both lifted up by prosperity and weighed down by adversity of various kinds; and it was afflicted not only by foreign, but also by civil wars with each other, in order that by certain existing causes the mercy or anger of God might be manifested; until, by His growing indignation, that whole nation was by the conquering Chaldeans not only overthrown in its abode, but also for the most part transported to the lands of the Assyrians,-first, that part of the thirteen tribes called Israel, but afterwards Judah also, when Jerusalem and that most noble temple was cast down,-in which lands it rested seventy years in captivity. Being after that time sent forth thence, they rebuilt the overthrown temple. And although very many stayed in the lands of the strangers, yet the kingdom no longer had two separate parts, with different kings over each, but in Jerusalem there was one prince over them; and at certain times, from every direction wherever they were, and from whatever place they could, they all came to the temple of God which was there. Yet not even then were they without foreign enemies and conquerors; yea, Christ found them tributaries of the Romans.
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| − | ||<div id="c24"><b>BOOK XVII</b> [XXIV] Toto autem illo tempore, ex quo redierunt de Babylonia, post Malachiam, Aggaeum et Zachariam, qui tunc prophetaverunt, et Esdram non habuerunt prophetas usque ad Saluatoris adventum) nisi alium Zachariam patrem Iohannis et Elisabeth eius uxorem, Christi nativitate iam proxima, et eo iam nato Simeonem senem et Annam viduam iamque grandaeuam et ipsum Iohannem novissimum; qui ivvenis iam ivuenem Christum non quidem futurum praedixit, sed tamen incognitum prophetica cognitione monstravit; propter quod ipse Dominus ait: Lex et prophetae usque ad Iohannem. Sed istorum quinque prophetatio ex euangelio nobis nota est, ubi et ipsa virgo mater Domini ante Iohannem prophetasse invenitur. Sed hanc istorum prophetiam Iudaei reprobi non accipiunt; acceperunt autem, qui ex eius innumerabiles euangelio crediderunt. Tunc enim vere Israel divisus est in duo divisione illa, quae per Samuelem prophetam Sauli regi est inmutabilis praenuntiata. Malachiam vero, Aggaeum, Zachariam et Esdram etiam Iudaei reprobi in auctoritatem divinam receptos novissimos habent. Sunt enim et scripta eorum, sicut aliorum, qui in magna multitudine prophetarum perpauci ea scripserunt, quae auctoritatem canonis obtinerent. De quorum praedictis, quae ad Christum ecclesiamque eius pertinent, nonnulla mihi in hoc opere video esse ponenda; quod commodius fiet adivuante Domino sequenti libro, ne hunc tam prolixum ulterius oneremus. ||But in that whole time after they returned from Babylon, after Malachi, Haggai, and Zechariah, who then prophesied, and Ezra, they had no prophets down to the time of the Saviour's advent except another Zechariah, the father of John, and Elisabeth his wife, when the nativity of Christ was already close at hand; and when He was already born, Simeon the aged, and Anna a widow, and now very old; and, last of all, John himself, who, being a young man, did not predict that Christ, now a young man, was to come, but by prophetic knowledge pointed Him out though unknown; for which reason the Lord Himself says, "The law and the prophets were until John." Matthew 11:13 But the prophesying of these five is made known to us in the gospel, where the virgin mother of our Lord herself is also found to have prophesied before John. But this prophecy of theirs the wicked Jews do not receive; but those innumerable persons received it who from them believed the gospel. For then truly Israel was divided in two, by that division which was foretold by Samuel the prophet to king Saul as immutable. But even the reprobate Jews hold Malachi, Haggai, Zechariah, and Ezra as the last received into canonical authority. For there are also writings of these, as of others, who being but a very few in the great multitude of prophets, have written those books which have obtained canonical authority, of whose predictions it seems good to me to put in this work some which pertain to Christ and His Church; and this, by the Lord's help, shall be done more conveniently in the following book, that we may not further burden this one, which is already too long.
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