Expositions on the Book of Psalms
Psatm LXXVIII.] ON THE PSALMS. 379 also Moses was.' Nor hath he said, He rejected the tabeftnacle of Benjamin, or the tribe of Benshe doth pass out of this life in mortal manner, is yet founded for everlasting ? jamin He chose not, out of whicha king already had begun to be; for thence there had been chosen Saul ;? whence because of the very proximity of the time, when he had been rejected and refused, and David chosen,3 this might conveniently have been said ; but yet was not said: but he hath named those especially who seemed to excel for more surpassing merits. For Joseph fed in Egypt his father and his brethren, and having been impiously sold, because of his piety, chastity, wisdom, he was most justly exalted ; +4 and Ephraim by the blessing of his grandfather Jacob was preferred before his elder brother :5 and yet God " rejected the tabernacle of Joseph, and the tribe of Ephraim He chose not." In which place by these names of renowned merit, what else do we understand but that whole people with old cupidity requiring of the Lord earthly rewards, rejected and refused, but the tribe of Judah chosen not for the sake of the merits of that same Judah? For far greater are the merits of Joseph, but by the tribe of Judah, inasmuch as thence arose Christ according to the flesh, the Scripture doth testify of the new people of Christ preferred before that old people, the Lord: opening in parables His mouth. Moreover, thence also in that which followeth, " the Mount Sion which He chose," we do better understand the Church of Christ, not worshipping God for the sake of the carnal blessings of the present time, but from afar looking for future and eternal rewards with the eyes of faith: for Sion too is interpreted a" looking out."
36. "And He chose David His servant" (ver. 71). The tribe, I say, of Judah, for the sake of David: but David for the sake of Christ : the tribe then of Judah for the sake of Christ. At whose passing by blind men cried out, " Have pity on us, Son of David: "9 and forthwith by His pity they received light, because true was the thing which they cried out. This then the Apostle doth not cursorily speak of, but doth heedfully notice, writing to Timothy, " Be thou mindful, that Christ Jesus hath risen from the dead, of the seed of David," etc.'° Therefore the Saviour Himself, made according to the flesh of the seed of David, is figured in this passage under the name of David, the Lord opening in parables His mouth. And let it not move us, that when he had said, " and He chose David," under which name he signified Christ, he hath added, "' His servant," not His Son. Yea even hence we may perceive, that not the substance of the Only-Begotten coeternal with the Father, but the " form of a servant" was taken of the seed of David.
37- "And He took him from the flocks of sheep, from behind the teeming sheep He received him: to feed Jacob His servant, and Israel His inheritance' (ver. 72). This David indeed, of whose seed the flesh of Christ is, from the pastoral care of cattle was translated to the kingdom of men: but our David, Jesus Himself, from men to men, from Jews to Gentiles, was yet according to the parable from sheep to sheep taken away and translated. For there are not now in that land "Churches of Judea in Christ,"" which belonged to them of the circumcision after the recent Passion and Resurrection of our Lord, of whom saith the Apostle, " But I was unknown by face to the Churches of Judza, which are in Christ," etc.' Already from hence those Churches of the circumcised people have passed away: and thus in Judea, which now doth exist on 'the earth, there is not now Christ.' He hath been removed thence, now He doth feed flocks of Gentiles. Truly from behind teeming sheep He hath been taken thence. For those former Churches were of such sort, as that of them it is said in the Song of Songs, " Thy teeth—are like a flock of shorn ewes going up from the washing," all of which do bear twins, and a barren one is not among them."'4 For they then laid aside like as it were fleeces the burdens of the world,'5 when before the feet of the Apostles they laid the prices of their sold goods,'® going up from that Laver, concerning which the
35. Lastly there followeth, "and He builded like as of unicorns His sanctification " (ver. 70) : or, as some interpreters have made thereof a new word, "His sanctifying.'® The unicorns are rightly understood to be those, whose firm hope is uplifted unto that one thing, concerning which another Psalm saith, " One thing I have sought of the Lord, this I will require." 7 But the sanctifying of God, according to the Apostle Peter, is understood to be a holy people and a royal priesthood.' But that which folhoweth, "in the land which He founded for everlasting :" which the Greek copies have «is rév aiéva, whether it be called by us "for everlasting," or "for an age," is at the pleasure of the Latin translators ; forasmuch as it doth signify either: and therefore the latter is found in some Latin copies, the former in others. Some also have it in the plural, that is, "for ages: '',which in the Greek copies which we have had we have not found. But which of the faithful would doubt, that the Church, even though, some going, others coming, 9 Matt. xx. 30. II Gal. i. 22, 23. 13 Lavacro. TS Acts il. 45.
10 2 Tim. ii. 8. 12 [A noteworthy testimony. —C.] 14 Song of Sol. iv. 2. 16 Acts iv. 34, 35.
3 1 Sam. xvi. 1. 6 Sanctifictum. 2 x Sam. ix. r.
1 Exod. ii. 1. 4 Gen. xli. 40. 7 Ps, xxvil. 4.
' 5 Gen. xlviii. 17, 19. 8 x Pet. ii. 9.