CHAPTER 9
THE PROOF OF THE GOSPEL
Bk. IX.
CHAPTER
From Psalm Ixvii.
Of the Calling of the Apostles.
[aa\) [Passage quoted, Ps.
Ixvii. 24-27.] I THiXR that here none but the Apostles can be meant by the rulers of Nephthali.
For thence our Lord and Saviour called them according to the quotation from Matthew.
The Scripture is prophesying the Coming of the Word of God to men, and His Incarnate sojourn here, (c) when it says, "Thy goings, O God, have been seen," and that which follows.
And the prophets of old were like heralds of His Epiphany, and arrived before Him with proclamation and chant, with music of psaltery and choir and all kinds of spiritual instruments, in the midst of damsels playing on timbrels.
For the inspired prophets going in every way into the midst of the Jewish synagogues, heralded the coming of the Christ, and by the Holy Spirit
(d) addressed the Apostles of our Saviour saying, "Praise the Lord God in the congregations from the fountains of Israel."
And the " fountains of Israel "' must be the words delivered to Israel.
" For they first trusted the oracles of Rom.iii.2. God," whence it will be necessary for us to draw and water the churches of Christ.
By " maidens playing on timbrels " he suggested the souls that lived of old by the more external
Law of Moses, calling them "maidens'" because" of their youth and imperfectly developed minds, and "timbrel- "' because of their devotion to external worship. players (442) CHAPTl-R 1(1 From Isaiah.
Of the Rea(fi/i(^from f/ie Prophecy by Our Lord in the Je'ivish Sy/ia^i^Oi^f/e.
[Passage quoted, Isa.
Ixi. i.] Now this prediction our Lord Himself claims to be fulfilled in Himself, when He came to Nazareth, where He was brought up :
Ch.
10.
AT CAPERNAUM
" He entered, as his custom was on the Sabbath day, into the synagogue, and stood up to read.
And there was deHvered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias.
And when he had opened the book he found the place where it was written, The vSpirit of the Lord is upon (c) me, because he hath anointed me, to preach the gospel to the poor: he hath sent me to proclaim deliverance to the captives, and giving of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.
And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down.
And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened upon him.
And he began to say unto Luke iv. them, I'his day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears." i6 21.
Our Lord and Saviour is clearly shewn in this passage to('l) have been anointed with another and a better unction than the priests of old days, who were externally anointed, not with oil manufactured, nor by men, as were those others, but with the Divine Spirit of His God and Father, whereby as sharing in His unbegottcn Godhead He is called God and Lord by the Holy Scriptures.
And in harmony with the prophecy before us He is introduced by Matthew jireaching the Gospel to the poor when " Seeing the multitudes he went up into a mountain, and when he had sat down, his disciples came unto him, and he opened his mouth and taught them, saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
Matt, v, i.
And it is recorded that He gave sight to many that were (443) blind, not only enlightening them that were deprived of bodily vision, but also causing them that were before blind in soul to receive spiritual vision and the knowledge of God.
And, moreover. He preached freedom and release from their bonds to the prisoners bound and constrained by the unseen daemonic powers, and hampered by the chains of sin, if they, too. would believe His preaching, and run to Him as their Ransom and Saviour, and trust His promises.
The remainder of this oracle I will expound in its place (b) in the section concerning the promises.^
* .\ section in one of the lost books.
VOL.
II.