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The City of God Against the Pagans
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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
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 thou spakest in vision
to thy sons, and saidst, 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, Thou art 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 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,"
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," saith 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." a 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
saith from heaven, "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?" 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."
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
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 Thou hast 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,
"Thou hast delayed Thy 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: "Thou
hast overthrown the covenant of Thy servant; Thou hast profaned in the
earth his sanctuary. Thou hast broken down all his walls; Thou hast put
his strong-holds in fear. All that pass by the way spoil him; he is made a
reproach to his neighbors. Thou hast set up the right hand of his enemies;
Thou hast made all his enemies to rejoice. Thou hast turned aside the help
of his sword, and hast not helped him in war. Thou hast destroyed him
from cleansing; Thou hast dashed down his seat to the ground. Thou hast
shortened the days of his seat; Thou hast 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.
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
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?" "Thy face" is understood, as it is
elsewhere said, "How long dost Thou turn away Thy face from me?" For
therefore some copies have here not "dost," but "wilt Thou turn away;"
although it could be understood, "Thou turnest away Thy mercy, which
Thou didst promise 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, "Thy 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, "hast Thou 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
dieth not, and death shall no more have dominion over Him?" 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 hath 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."
CHAPTER 12
TO WHOSE PERSON THE ENTREATY FOR THE PROMISES
IS TO BE UNDERSTOOD TO BELONG, WHEN HE SAYS IN
THE PSALM, "WHERE ARE THINE ANCIENT
COMPASSIONS, LORD?"
But the rest of this psalm runs thus: "Where are Thine ancient
compassions, Lord, which Thou swearst unto David in Thy truth?
Remember, Lord, the reproach of Thy servants, which I have born in my
bosom of many nations; wherewith Thine enemies have reproached, O
Lord, wherewith they have reproached the change of Thy 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. 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 Thine ancient compassions, Lord, which Thou hast sworn
unto David in Thy 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 Savior 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 Thy 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 hath left them, turning to the Gentiles, this speech is
incongruously assigned, "Remember, Lord, the reproach of Thy 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, "Where are Thine ancient
compassions, Lord, which Thou swearst unto David in Thy truth?
Remember, Lord, the reproach of Thy servants, that I have born in my
bosom of many nations;" that is, have patiently endured in my inward
parts. "That Thine enemies have reproached, O Lord, wherewith they
have reproached the change of Thy Christ," not thinking it a change, but a
consumption. But what does "Remember, Lord," mean, but that Thou
wouldst have compassion, and wouldst for my patiently born humiliation
reward me with the excellency which Thou swearst unto David in Thy
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, "Thou hast spoken
also for Thy servant's house for a great while to come." Therefore also a
little after he says, "Now begin, and bless the house of Thy 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 thee what an house thou shalt build for
Him," it is afterwards said in the words of David, "For Thou, Lord
Almighty, God of Israel, hast opened the ear of Thy servant, saying, I will
build thee an house." 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."
CHAPTER 13
WHETHER THE TRUTH OF THIS PROMISED PEACE
CAN BE ASCRIBED TO THOSE TIMES PASSED AWAY
UNDER SOLOMON
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." 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. 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.
CHAPTER 14
OF DAVID'S CONCERN IN THE WRITING OF THE PSALMS
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
inscribed 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 Savior
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 Thou at my right hand, until I make Thine enemies Thy
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.
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
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.
CHAPTER 16
OF THE THINGS PERTAINING TO CHRIST
AND THE CHURCH, SAID EITHER OPENLY
OR TROPICALLY IN THE 45TH PSALM
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. Thy form is beautiful beyond the sons of men;
grace is poured out in Thy lips: therefore God hath blessed Thee for
evermore. Gird Thy sword about Thy thigh, O Most Mighty. With Thy
goodliness and Thy beauty go forward, proceed prosperously, and reign,
because of Thy truth, and meekness, and righteousness; and Thy right
hand shall lead Thee forth wonderfully. Thy sharp arrows are most
powerful: in the heart of the king's enemies. The people shall fall under
Time. Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a rod of direction is the rod
of Thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness, and hast hated iniquity:
therefore God, Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of exultation
above Thy fellows. Myrrh and drops, and cassia from Thy vestments,
from the houses of ivory: out of which the daughters of kings have
delighted Thee in Thine 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 Thy right hand in gold-embroidered
vestments, girded about with variety. Hearken, O daughter, and look, and
incline thine ear; forget also thy people, and thy father's house. Because
the King hath greatly desired thy beauty; for He is the Lord thy God. And
the daughters of Tyre shall worship Him with gifts; the rich among the
people shall entreat Thy 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 Thee. They
shall be brought with gladness and exultation: they shall be led into the
temple of the King. Instead of thy fathers, sons shall be born to thee: thou
shalt establish them as princes over all the earth. They shall be mindful of
thy name in every generation and descent. Therefore shall the people
acknowledge thee 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, "Thy throne,
O God, is for ever and ever: a rod of direction is the rod of Thy kingdom.
Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity: therefore God, Thy
God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of exultation above Thy 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 thy people and thy 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, "Thou wilt deliver
me from the contradictions of the people; Thou wilt make me head of the
nations. A people whom I have not known hath served me: in the hearing
of the ear it hath 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 hath obeyed me," for "faith is by hearing." 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 hath founded her." Who is this
Highest, save God? And thus Christ, who is God, before He became man
through Mary in that city, Himself rounded 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 thy fathers,
sons are born to thee; thou 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.
CHAPTER 17
OF THOSE THINGS IN THE 110TH PSALM
WHICH RELATE TO THE PRIESTHOOD OF CHRIST,
AND IN THE 22D TO HIS PASSION
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 Thou
at my right hand, until I make Thine enemies Thy 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 doth 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 Thy
strength out of Sion, and rule Thou in the midst of Thine 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 hath
sworn and will not repent," by which words He intimates that what He
adds is immutable, "Thou art 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
nay 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."
CHAPTER 18
OF THE 3D, 41ST, 15TH, AND 68TH PSALMS, IN WHICH
THE DEATH AND RESURRECTION OF THE LORD ARE
PROPHESIED
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
behooved 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 spake
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 m whom I
trusted, who ate my bread, hath enlarged the heel over me;" that is, hath
trampled me under foot. "But Thou," he saith, "O Lord, he 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 Savior Himself was not ignorant of him concerning whom He had
already said before, "One of you is a devil." 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; whence that saying in
the Gospel, "I was an hungered, and ye gave me to eat." Expounding
which, He says, "Since ye did it to one of the least of mine, ye did it to
me." Therefore He said that He had trusted, because his disciples then had
trusted concerning Judas; for he was numbered with the apostles.
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 hath exulted; moreover, my flesh also shall rest in hope: for Thou
wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt Thou give Thine 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 Savior, or Healing One. For this reason this name was given,
when it was said before He was born of the virgin: "Thou shall bring forth
a Son, and shalt call His name Jesus; for He shall save His people from
their sins." Because His blood was shed for the remission of their sins, it
behooved 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 marvelous, "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.
CHAPTER 19
OF THE 69TH PSALM, IN WHICH THE OBSTINATE
UNBELIEF OF THE JEWS IS DECLARED
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 offense: 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.
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
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 profiled
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 hooks, 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
upbraideth us with our transgressions of the law, and objecteth to our
disgrace the transgressions of our education. He professeth to have the
knowledge of God, and he calleth 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 abstaineth from our ways as from filthiness. He extols
the latter end of the righteous; and glorieth that he hath 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 hath quite blinded them." 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 Thy fear upon all the
nations: lift up Thine hand over the strange nations, and let them see Thy
power. As Thou wast sanctified in us before them, so be Thou sanctified
in them before us, and let them acknowledge Thee, according as we also
have acknowledged Thee; for there is not a God beside Thee, O Lord." 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," 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." 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 hath born seven, must soon after it was tittered have
come to be understood of only Christ and the Church by those who knew
that Christ was the Wisdom of God. "Wisdom hath builded her an house,
and hath set up seven pillars; she hath sacrificed her victims, she hath
mingled her wine in the bowl; she hath also furnished her table. She hath
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 hath 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, hath builded Him an house, even a
human body in the virgin womb, and hath subjoined the Church to it as
members to a head, hath slain the martyrs as victims, hath furnished a table
with wine and bread, where appears also the priesthood after the order of
Melchizedek, and hath called the simple and the void of sense, because, as
saith the apostle, "He hath chosen the weak things of this world that He
might confound the things which are mighty." Yet to these weak ones she
saith what follows, "Forsake simplicity, that ye may live; and seek
prudence, that ye may have life." 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 Thou didst not desire; but a body hast Thou 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." 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." 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 thee, O land," he says,
"when thy king is a youth, and thy princes eat in the morning! Blessed art
thou, O land, when thy king is the son of nobles, and thy princes eat in
season, in fortitude, and not in confusion!" 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 tile 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 maketh not ashamed." A psalm also saith, "For they that
hope in Thee 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 hath delighted Thee; and the bride who there hears,
"Charity is in thy delights." We pass over many things in silence, in our
desire to finish this work.
CHAPTER 21
OF THE KINGS AFTER SOLOMON,
BOTH IN JUDAH AND ISRAEL
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 offense,
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.
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
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 Thy prophets, they have digged
down Thine 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.
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
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; 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.
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
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 Savior'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." 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.