{"collection":"chr","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/chr/ecf/108/1080116.htm","path":"chr/ecf/108/1080116.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/chr/ecf/108/1080116.htm","text":"Psalm CV. 4777\n1. This Psalm is the first of those to which is prefixed the word Allelujah; the meaning of which word, or rather two words, is, Praise the Lord. For this reason he beginneth with praises: \u201cO confess unto the Lord, and call upon His Name\u201d (Psa. 105.1); for this confession is to be understood as praise, just as these words of our Lord, \u201cI confess to Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth.\u201d 4778 For after commencing with praise, calling upon God is wont to follow, whereunto he that prayeth doth next add 4779 his longings: whence the Lord\u2019s Prayer itself hath at the commencement a very brief praise, in these words, \u201cOur Father which art in Heaven.\u201d 4780 The things prayed for, then follow.\u2026This also followeth, \u201cTell the people what things He hath done;\u201d 4781 or rather, to translate literally from the Greek, as other Latin copies too have it, \u201cPreach the Gospel of His works among the Gentiles.\u201d Unto whom is this addressed, save unto the Evangelists in prophecy?\n2. \u201cO sing unto Him, and play on instruments unto Him\u201d (Psa. 105.2). Praise Him both by word and deed; for we sing with the voice, while we play with an instrument, that is, with our hands. \u201cLet your talking be of all His wondrous works. Be ye praise in His holy Name\u201d (Psa. 105.3). These two verses may without any absurdity seem paraphrases of the two words above; so that, \u201cLet your talking be of all His wondrous works,\u201d may express the words, \u201cO sing unto Him;\u201d and what followeth, \u201cbe ye praised in His holy Name,\u201d may be referred to the words, \u201cand play on instruments unto Him;\u201d the former relating to the \u201cgood word\u201d wherewith we sing unto Him, in which His wondrous works are told; the latter to the good work, in which sweet music is played unto Him, so that no man may wish to be praised for a good work on the score of his own power to do it. For this reason, after saying, \u201cbe ye praised,\u201d which assuredly they who work well deservedly may, he added, \u201cin His holy Name,\u201d since \u201che that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.\u201d 4782 \u2026This is to be praised in His holy Name. Whence we read also in another Psalm: \u201cMy soul shall be praised in the Lord: let the meek hear thereof, and be glad;\u201d 4783 which here in a sense followeth, \u201cLet the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord:\u201d for thus the meek are glad, who do not rival with a bitter jealousy those whom they imitate as already workers of good.\n3. \u201cSeek the Lord, and be strengthened\u201d 4784 (Psa. 105.4). This is very literally construed from the Greek, though it may seem not a Latin word: whence other copies have, \u201cbe ye confirmed;\u201d others, \u201cbe ye corroborated.\u201d\u2026While these words, then, \u201cCome unto Him, and be enlightened,\u201d 4785 apply to seeing; those in the text relate to doing: \u201cSeek the Lord, and be strengthened.\u201d\u2026But what meaneth, \u201cSeek His face evermore\u201d? I know indeed that to cling unto God is good for me; 4786 but if He is always being sought, when is He found? Did he mean by \u201cevermore,\u201d the whole of the life we live p. 521 here, whence we become conscious that we ought thus to seek, since even when found He is still to be sought? To wit, faith hath already found Him, but hope still seeketh Him. But love hath both found Him through faith, and seeketh to have Him by sight, where He will then be found so as to satisfy us, and no longer to need our search. For unless faith discovered Him in this life, it would not be said, \u201cSeek the Lord.\u201d Also, if when discovered by faith, He were not still to be diligently sought, it would not be said, \u201cFor if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.\u201d 4787 \u2026And truly this is the sense of the words, \u201cSeek His face evermore;\u201d meaning that discovery should not terminate that seeking, by which love is testified, but with the increase of love the seeking of the discovered One should increase.\n4. \u201cRemember,\u201d he saith, \u201cHis marvellous works that He hath done, His wonders, and the judgments of His mouth\u201d (Psa. 105.5). This passage seemeth like that, \u201cThou shalt say unto the children of Israel, I Am hath sent me unto you:\u201d an expression which, in ever so small part, scarce a mind 4788 taketh in. Then mentioning His own Name, He mercifully mingled in His grace towards men, saying, \u201cI am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; this is My Name for ever.\u201d 4789 By which He would have it to be understood, that they whose God He declared Himself lived with Him for ever, and He said this, which might be understood even by children, that they who by the great powers of love knew how to seek His face for evermore, might according to their capacity comprehend, I Am that I Am.\n5. Unto whom is it said, \u201cO ye seed of Abraham His servant, ye children of Jacob, His chosen\u201d? (Psa. 105.6).\u2026He next addeth, \u201cHe is the Lord our God: His judgments are in all the world\u201d (Psa. 105.7). Is He the God of the Jews only? 4790 God forbid! \u201cHe is the Lord our God:\u201d because the Church, where His judgments are preached, is in all the world.\u2026\n6. \u201cHe hath been alway mindful of His covenant\u201d (Psa. 105.8). Other copies read, \u201cfor evermore;\u201d and this arises from the ambiguity of the Greek. But if we are to understand \u201calway\u201d of this world and not of eternity, why, when he explaineth what covenant He was mindful of, doth he add, \u201cThe word that He made to a thousand generations\u201d? Now this may be understood with a certain limitation; but he afterwards saith, \u201cEven the covenant that He made with Abraham\u201d (Psa. 105.9): \u201cand the oath that He sware unto Isaac; and appointed the same unto Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting 4791 testament\u201d (Psa. 105.10). But if in this passage the Old Testament is to be understood, on account of the land of Canaan; for thus the language of the Psalm runneth, \u201csaying, Unto thee will I give the land of Canaan: the lot of your inheritance\u201d (Psa. 105.11): how is it to be understood as everlasting, since that earthly inheritance could not be everlasting? And for this reason it is called the Old Testament, because it is abolished by the New. But a thousand generations do not seem to signify anything eternal, since they involve an end; and yet are also too numerous for this very temporal state. For by howsoever few years a generation is limited, such as in Greek is called \u03b3\u03b5\u03bd\u2122\u03b1, whereof the shortest period some have fixed is at fifteen years, after which period man hath the power of generation; what then are those \u201cthousand generations,\u201d not only from the time of Abraham, when that promise was made him, unto the New Testament, but from Adam himself down to the end of the world? For who would dare to say that this world should last for 15000 years? Hence it seemeth to me that we ought not to understand here the Old Testament, which it said through the prophet was to be cancelled by the New: \u201cBehold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant.\u201d 4792 \u2026After saying, \u201cHe hath been mindful of His covenant unto an age;\u201d which we ought to understand as lasting for evermore, the covenant, namely, of justification and an eternal inheritance, which God hath promised to faith; he addeth, \u201cand the Word that He commanded 4793 unto a thousand generations.\u201d What meaneth \u201ccommanded\u201d?\u2026The command then was faith, that the righteous should live by faith; 4794 and an eternal inheritance is set before this faith. \u201cA thousand generations,\u201d then, are, on account of the perfect number, to be understood for all; that is, as long as generation succeedeth generation, so long is it commanded to us to live by faith. This the people of God doth observe, the sons of promise who succeed by birth, and depart by death, until every generation be finished; and this is signified by the number thousand; because the solid square of the number ten, ten times ten, and this taken ten times amounts to a thousand. \u201cEven the covenant,\u201d he saith, \u201cwhich He made with Abraham: and the oath that He sware unto Isaac; and appointed the same unto Jacob,\u201d that is, Jacob himself, \u201cfor a law.\u201d These are the very three p. 522 patriarchs, whose God He calleth Himself in a special sense, whom the Lord also doth name in the New Testament, where He saith, \u201cMany shall come from the east and the west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven.\u201d 4795 This is everlasting inheritance.\u2026\n7. He next followeth out the history well known in the truth of the holy Scriptures. \u201cWhen they were in small numbers, very few, and they strangers in the land\u201d (Psa. 105.12); that is, in the land of Canaan.\u2026But some copies have the words \u201cvery few, and they strangers,\u201d in the accusative case, 4796 the translator having turned the Greek phrase too literally into Latin. If we were to render the whole clause in this way, we must say, \u201cthat they were very few, and they strangers;\u201d but the phrase, \u201cwhile they were,\u201d is the meaning of the Greek; and the verb, \u201cto be,\u201d takes not an accusative, but a nominative after it. 4797\n8. \u201cWhat time as they went from one nation to another, from one kingdom to another people\u201d (Psa. 105.13). This is a repetition of what he had said, \u201cfrom one nation to another.\u201d \u201cHe suffered no man to do them harm: but reproved even kings for their sakes\u201d (Psa. 105.14). \u201cTouch not,\u201d He said, \u201cMine anointed, and do My prophets no harm\u201d (Psa. 105.15). He declareth the words of God chiding or reproving kings, that they might not harm the holy fathers, while they were small in number, very few, and they strangers in the land of Canaan. Although these words be not read in the books of that history, yet they are to be understood as either secretly spoken, as God speaketh in the hearts of men by unseen and true visions, or even as announced through an Angel. For both the king of Gerar and the king of the Egyptians were warned from Heaven not to harm Abraham, 4798 and another king not to harm Isaac, 4799 and others not to harm Jacob; 4800 while they were very few, and strangers, before he went over into Egypt to sojourn with his sons: which is understood to be herein mentioned. But since it occurred to ask, before they passed over and multiplied in Egypt, how so few in number, and those strangers in a foreign land, could maintain themselves: he next addeth, \u201cHe suffered no man to do them wrong,\u201d etc.\n9. But it may well excite a question, in what sense they were styled (Christs, or) anointed, before there was any unction, from which this title was given to the kings. 4801 \u2026Whence then were those patriarchs at that time called \u201canointed\u201d? For that they were prophets, we read concerning Abraham; and certainly, what is manifestly said of him, should be understood of them also. Are they styled \u201cchrists,\u201d because, even though secretly, yet they were already Christians? For although the flesh of Christ came from them, nevertheless Christ came before them; for He thus answered the Jews, \u201cBefore Abraham was, I am.\u201d 4802 But how could they not know Him, or not believe in Him; since they are called prophets for this very reason, because, though somewhat darkly, they announced the Lord beforehand? Whence He saith Himself openly, \u201cYour father Abraham desired to see My day, and he saw it, and was glad.\u201d 4803 For no man was ever reconciled unto God outside of that faith which is in Christ Jesus, either before His Incarnation, or after: as it is most truly defined by the Apostle: \u201cFor there is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus.\u201d 4804\n10. He then beginneth to relate how it happened that they went from one nation to another, from one kingdom to another people. \u201cHe calleth,\u201d he saith, \u201cfor a famine upon the land: and brake all the staff of bread\u201d (Psa. 105.16). Thus it happened that they went from one nation to another, from one kingdom to another people. But the expressions of the holy Scriptures are not to be negligently passed by. \u201cHe called,\u201d he saith, \u201cfor a famine upon the land;\u201d as if famine were some person, or some animated body, or some spirit that would obey Him who called.\u2026Under this impression the old Romans consecrated some such deities, as the goddess Fever, and the god Paleness. Or meaneth it, as is more credible, He said there should be famine; so that calling be the same thing as mentioning by name; mentioning by name, as speaking; speaking, as commanding? Nor doth the Apostle say, 4805 \u201cHe calleth those things which be not, that they may be;\u201d but, \u201cas though they were.\u201d For with God that hath already happened which, according to His disposition, is fixed for the future: for of Him it is elsewhere said, \u201cHe who made things to come.\u201d 4806 And here when famine happened, then it is said to have been called, that is, that that which had been determined in His secret government, might be realized. Lastly, he at once expounds, how He called for the famine, saying, \u201cHe brake all the staff of bread.\u201d\n11. \u201cBut He had sent a man before them\u201d (Psa. 105.17). What man? \u201cEven Joseph.\u201d How did He send him? \u201cJoseph was sold to be a bond-servant.\u201d When this happened, it was the sin of his brethren, and, nevertheless, God sent Joseph into Egypt. We should therefore meditate on this important and necessary subject, how God useth well the evil works of men, as p. 523 they on the other hand use ill the good works of God.\n12. Next he doth relate the story, mentioning what Joseph suffered in his low estate, and how he was raised on high. \u201cHis feet they hurt in the stocks: the iron entered into his soul, until his word came\u201d (Psa. 105.18). That Joseph was put in irons, we do not indeed read; but we ought no ways to doubt that it was so. For some things might be passed over in that history, which nevertheless would not escape the Holy Spirit, who speaketh in these Psalms. We understand by the iron which entered into his soul, the tribulation of stern necessity; for he did not say body, but \u201csoul.\u201d There is a somewhat similar expression in the Gospel, where Simeon saith unto Mary, \u201cA sword shall pierce through thy own soul also.\u201d 4807 That is, the Passion of the Lord, which was a fall unto many, and in which the secrets of many hearts were revealed, since their sentiments respecting the Lord were extorted from them, without doubt made His own Mother exceeding sorrowful, heavily struck with human bereavement. Now Joseph was in this tribulation, \u201cuntil his word came,\u201d with which he truly interpreted dreams: whence he was introduced to the king, that unto him also he might foretell what would happen in respect to his dreams. 4808 But since he said, \u201cUntil his words were heard,\u201d that we might not altogether so understand \u201chis,\u201d that any one might think so great an event was to be ascribed unto man; he at once added, \u201cThe word of the Lord inflamed him\u201d (Psa. 105.19); or, as other copies have it more closely from the Greek, \u201cThe word of the Lord fired him,\u201d that he also might be reputed amongst those to whom it is said, \u201cReceive ye praise in His holy Name.\u201d 4809\n13. \u201cThe king sent and loosed him, the prince of the peoples, and let him go free\u201d (Psa. 105.20). The \u201cking\u201d is the same as \u201cthe prince of the peoples:\u201d he \u201cloosed\u201d him from his bonds \u201cand let him go free\u201d from his prison. \u201cHe made him lord also of his house: and ruler of all his substance\u201d (Psa. 105.21). \u201cThat he might inform his princes like unto himself, and teach his old men wisdom\u201d (Psa. 105.22). The Greek hath, \u201cand teach his elders wisdom.\u201d Which might altogether be rendered to the letter thus; \u201cMight inform his princes like unto himself, and make his elders wise.\u201d The word translated old men being presbyters or elders, not gerontas, old men: and to teach wisdom being from the Greek to sophize, which cannot be rendered by a single word in Latin, and is from the word sophia, wisdom, different from prudence, which is in Greek phronesis. Yet we do not read this in the high elevation of Joseph, as we read not of fetters in his low estate. But how could it happen that so great a man, the worshipper of the One True God, whilst in Egypt, should have been intent upon the nourishing of bodies, and the government of carnal matters only, and have felt no anxiety for souls, and how he could render them better? But those things are written in that history, which, according to the intention of the writer, in whom was the Holy Spirit, were judged sufficient for signifying future events in that narration.\n14. \u201cJoseph also came into Egypt, and Jacob was a stranger in the land of Ham\u201d (Psa. 105.23). Israel is the same with Jacob, as is Egypt with the land of Ham. Here it is very plainly shown, that the Egyptian race sprang from the seed of Chain, the son of Noah, whose first-born was Canaan. So that in those copies wherein in this passage Canaan is read, we must alter the reading. It is better construed, \u201cwas a stranger,\u201d than \u201cdwelt,\u201d as other copies have it: which would be the same as \u201cwas an inhabitant,\u201d for it meaneth nothing different; the very same word is used in the Greek passage above, where it is said, \u201cVery few, and they strangers in the land.\u201d Moreover, the state of an incola or accola doth not signify a native, but a stranger. Behold how \u201cthey went from one nation to another.\u201d What had been briefly proposed, hath been briefly explained in the narration. But from what kingdom they passed over to another people may well be asked. For they were not yet reigning in the land of Canaan, because the kingdom of the people of Israel had not yet been established there. How then can it be understood, except by anticipation, because the kingdom of their seed was destined there to exist?\n15. Next is related what happened in Egypt. \u201cAnd He increased,\u201d he saith, \u201cHis people exceedingly, and made them stronger than their enemies\u201d (Psa. 105.24). Even the whole of this is briefly set forth, in order that the manner in which it took place may be afterwards related. For the people of God was not made stronger than their enemies the Egyptians, at the time when their male offspring were slain, or when they were worn out with making bricks; but when by His powerful hand, by the signs and portents of the Lord their God, they became objects of fear and of honour, until the opposition of the hardened king was overcome, and the Red Sea overwhelmed the persecutor with his army.\n16. \u201cAnd He turned their heart so, that they hated His people, and dealt untruly with His servants\u201d (Psa. 105.25). Is it to be in any wise understood or believed, that God turneth man\u2019s heart to do sin?\u2026For they were not good before they hated His people; but being malignant and p. 524 ungodly, they were such as would readily envy their prosperous sojourners. And so, in that He multiplied His own people, this bountiful act turned the wicked to envy. For envy is the hatred of another\u2019s prosperity. In this sense, therefore, He turned their heart, so that through envy they hated His people, and dealt untruly with His servants. It was not then by making their hearts evil, but by doing good to His people, that He turned their hearts, that were evil of their own accord, to hatred. For He did not pervert a righteous heart, but turned one perverted of its own accord to the hatred of His people, while He was to make a good use of that evil; 4810 not by making them evil, but by lavishing blessings upon those, which the wicked might most readily envy.\n17. The following verses, which are sung in praise of Him when Allelujah is chanted, show how He used this hatred of theirs, both for the trial of His own people, and for the glory of His Name, which is profitable for us. \u201cHe sent Moses His servant, and Aaron whom He had chosen him\u201d (Psa. 105.26). \u201cWhom He had chosen,\u201d would be sufficient; but there is no difficulty in the addition of \u201chim.\u201d It is a phrase of Scripture, as, \u201cThe land in which they shall dwell in it:\u201d 4811 a phrase which the divine pages are full of.\n18. \u201cHe set forth in them the words of His tokens, and of His wonders in the land of Ham\u201d (Psa. 105.27). We ought not to understand by \u201cthe words of His tokens,\u201d words literally, words with which the tokens and wonders were worked, that is, which they uttered, that these tokens and wonders might take place. For many were performed without words, either with a rod, or with outstretched hand, or by ashes sent towards heaven.\u2026\n19. \u201cHe sent darkness, and made it dark\u201d (Psa. 105.28). This is also written among the plagues with which the Egyptians were smitten. But what followeth, is variously read in different copies. For some have, \u201cand they provoked His words;\u201d while others read, \u201cand they provoked not His words;\u201d but the reading first mentioned we have found in most; while, where the negative particle is added, we could hardly discover two copies. But perhaps the false reading has abounded owing to the easy sense; for what is easier understood than this, \u201cThey provoked His words,\u201d that is, by their contumacious rebellions? We have endeavoured to explain the other reading also according to some true sense: and this for the present occurs: \u201cThey provoked not His words,\u201d that is, in Moses and Aaron; because they most patiently bore with a very stiffnecked people, until all things which God had determined to work by them, were fulfilled in order.\n20. \u201cHe turned their waters into blood, and slew their fish\u201d (Psa. 105.29). \u201cHe made their land frogs, yea, even in the king\u2019s chambers\u201d (Psa. 105.30): as if he were to say, He turned their land into frogs. For there was so great a multitude of frogs, that this might well be said by hyperbole.\n21. \u201cHe spake the word, and there came all manner of flies, and lice in all their quarters\u201d (Psa. 105.31). If it be asked when He spake, it was in His Word before it took place; and there it was, without time, at what time it should take place: although even then He commanded it to be done, when it was to be done, through Angels, and through his servants Moses and Aaron.\n22. He made their rains hail\u201d (Psa. 105.32). It is a similar expression to the former, \u201cHe made their land frogs;\u201d except that the whole land was not actually turned into frogs, though the whole of the rain may have been turned into hail. \u201cA burning fire in their land:\u201d understand, \u201cHe sent.\u201d\n23. \u201cHe smote their vines also and fig-trees; and brake every tree of their coasts\u201d (Psa. 105.33). This was done by the violence of the hail, and by lightnings; whence he spoke of the fire as \u201cburning.\u201d\n24. \u201cHe spake the word, and the locust came, and the caterpillar, of which there was no number\u201d (Psa. 105.34). The locusts and the caterpillars are one plague: of which the one is the parent, the other the offspring.\n25. \u201cAnd did eat up all the grass in their land, and devoured the fruit of the ground\u201d (Psa. 105.35). Even grass is fruit, as Scripture is wont to speak, which calleth even the ripe corn grass; but it wished these two things to harmonize in number with the two which it had spoken of before, that is, the locust and the caterpillar. But the whole of this doth belong to the variety of speech, which is a remedy for weariness, not to any difference of senses.\n26. \u201cHe smote every first-born in their land: even the first-fruits of all their strength\u201d (Psa. 105.36). This is the last plague, excepting the death in the Red Sea. \u201cThe first-fruits of all their strength,\u201d I imagine to be an expression derived from the first-born of cattle. These plagues are ten in number, but they are not all mentioned, nor in the same order in which they are there read to have happened. For praise-giving is free from the law which bindeth one who is relating or composing a history. And since the Holy Spirit is the Author and Dictator, through the Prophet, of this praise; by the very same authority with which He guided him who wrote that history, he doth both mention somep. 525 thing to have taken place which is not there read, and passeth over what is there read.\n27. Now he addeth this also to the praises of God, that He led the Israelites out of Egypt enriched with silver and gold; because even they were then in such a condition, that they could not as yet despise the just and due, though temporal, reward of their toils.\u2026\u201cHe brought them forth also in silver and gold\u201d (Psa. 105.37): this too is a Scripture idiom; for \u201cin silver and gold\u201d is said for the same as if it had been said \u201cwith silver and gold: there was not one feeble person among their tribes:\u201d in body, not in mind. This also was a great blessing of God, that in this necessity of removal there was no infirm person.\n28. \u201cEgypt was glad at their departing: for their fear fell upon them\u201d (Psa. 105.38); that is, the fear of the Hebrews upon the Egyptians. For \u201ctheir fear\u201d is not that with which the Hebrews feared, but that with which they were feared. Some one will say, how then were the Egyptians unwilling to dismiss them? why did they let them go as if they expected them to return? why did they lend them gold and silver, as to men who were to return, and to repay them, if \u201cEgypt was glad at their departing\u201d? But we must understand, after that final destruction of the Egyptians, and the terrible overthrow of the mighty pursuing army in the Red Sea, that the rest of the Egyptians feared lest the Hebrews should return, and with great ease crush the relics of them: illustrating what he had stated, that He made His people stronger than their enemies.\n29. He now proceedeth to the divine blessings which were conferred upon them as they wandered in the desert. \u201cHe spread out a cloud to be their covering: and fire to give them light in the night season\u201d (Psa. 105.39). This is as clear as it is well known.\n30. \u201cThey asked, and the quail came\u201d (Psa. 105.40). They did not desire quails, but flesh. But since the quail is flesh, and in this Psalm he speaketh not of the provocation of those who did not please God, but of the faith of the elect, the true seed of Abraham; they are to be understood to have desired that that might come which might crush the murmurs of those who provoked. Then in the next line, \u201cAnd He filled them with the bread of heaven,\u201d he has not indeed named manna, but it is obscure to none who hath read those records.\n31. \u201cHe opened the rock of stone, and the waters flowed out: so that rivers ran in the dry places\u201d (Psa. 105.41). This fact too is understood as soon as read.\n32. But in all these blessings of His, God doth commend in Abraham the merit of faith. For the Psalmist goeth on to say, \u201cFor why? He remembered His holy promise, which He made to Abraham His servant\u201d (Psa. 105.42). \u201cAnd He brought forth His people with joy, and His chosen with gladness\u201d (Psa. 105.43). What he said, \u201cHis people,\u201d he has repeated in, \u201cHis chosen.\u201d So also what he said, \u201cwith joy,\u201d he has repeated in, \u201cwith gladness.\u201d \u201cAnd gave them the lands of the heathen: and they took the labours of the people in possession\u201d (Psa. 105.44). \u201cThe lands of the heathen,\u201d and \u201cthe labours of the people,\u201d are the same; and the words, \u201cHe gave,\u201d are repeated in these, \u201cthey took in possession.\u201d\n33. \u2026\u201cThat they may keep His statutes, and seek out His law\u201d (Psa. 105.45). Lastly, since by the seed of Abraham he wished those to be understood here, who were truly the seed of Abraham, such as were not wanting even in that people; as the Apostle Paul clearly showeth, when he saith, \u201cBut not in all of them was God well pleased;\u201d 4812 for if He was not pleased with all, surely there were some in whom He was well pleased: since then this Psalm praiseth such men as this, he hath said nothing here of the iniquities and provocations and bitterness of those with whom God was not well pleased. But since not only the justice but also the mercy of Almighty God, the merciful, was shown even unto the wicked; concerning these attributes the rest of the Psalm pursueth the praises of God. And yet both sorts were in one people: nor did the latter pollute the good with the contagion of their iniquities. For \u201cthe Lord knoweth who are His;\u201d 4813 and if he cannot separate in this world from wicked men, yet, \u201clet every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.\u201d\u2026\nOxf. mss. \u201cthe sinner doth allege.\u201d\n520:4780 520:4781 520:4782 520:4783 520:4784 520:4785 520:4786 521:4787 521:4788\nRara mens. Oxf. mss. read \u201ca pure mind.\u201d\n521:4789\nExod. 3:14, 15.\n521:4790 521:4791\n[He adds: \u201cWhere there is no room for doubt: for the Greek has \u03b1\u1f30\u03ce\u03bd\u03b9\u03bf\u03bd, which our interpreters have never rendered by any other word than eternal; though scarce any authors in any passage have used \u03b1\u1f30\u03ce\u03bd\u03b9\u03bf\u03bd in the sense of everlasting. Unless perhaps, because they render \u03b1\u1f34\u03c9\u03bd as meaning time, in a more familiar way, they may choose to interpret \u03b1\u1f30\u03ce\u03bd\u03b9\u03bf\u03bd, not eternal, but \u2018for an age;\u2019 which I do not remember any one having ventured to do.\u201d Conf. Matt. xxv. 46.\u2014C.]\n521:4792\nJer. 31:31, 32.\n521:4793 521:4794 522:4795 522:4796 522:4797\nLXX. \u1f10\u03bd \u03c4\u1ff7 \u03b5\u1f36\u03bd\u03b1\u03b9 \u03b1\u1f50\u03c4\u03bf\u1f7a\u03c2. \u201cFor we cannot say, cum essent paucissimos, but cum essent paucissimi.\u201d\n522:4798 522:4799 522:4800 522:4801 522:4802 522:4803 522:4804 522:4805 522:4806 523:4807 523:4808 523:4809 524:4810\n[A felicitous exposition of the sense in which \u201cgood is brought out of evil.\u201d Compare A.N.F. vol. viii. pp. 140 and 223.\u2014C.]\n524:4811 525:4812 525:4813","title":"Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Vol. VIII: Expositions on...","type":"page"}