Vulgate Ps 112:1
1. ...When ye hear sung in the Psalms, "Praise the Lord, ye children"
Lectionary 467 · Year II · Weekdays in Ordinary Time — Year II
Monday of the 28th week in Ordinary Time
read on Mon · Oct 12, 2026
First Reading — Galatians 4:22-24, 26-27, 31–5:1
DRC
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CPDV
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· commentary ·
first reading
Responsorial Psalm — Psalm 113:1b-2, 3-4, 5a, 6-7
DRC
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1Praise the Lord, ye children: praise ye the name of the Lord.2Blessed be the name of the Lord, from henceforth now and for ever.3From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same, the name of the Lord is worthy of praise.4The Lord is high above all nations; and his glory above the heavens.5Who is as the Lord our God, who dwelleth on high:6and looketh down on the low things in heaven and in earth?7Raising up the needy from the earth, and lifting up the poor out of the dunghill:
1Alleluia. Praise the Lord, children. Praise the name of the Lord.2Blessed is the name of the Lord, from this time forward and even forever.3From the rising of the sun, even to its setting, praiseworthy is the name of the Lord.4The Lord is high above all nations, and his glory is high above the heavens.5Who is like the Lord, our God, who dwells on high,6and who gazes upon the humble things in heaven and on earth?7He lifts up the needy from the ground, and he urges the poor away from filth,
1Praise ye the Lord. Praise, O ye servants of the Lord, praise the name of the Lord.2Blessed be the name of the Lord from this time forth and for evermore.3From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same the Lord’s name is to be praised.4The Lord is high above all nations, and his glory above the heavens.5Who is like unto the Lord our God, who dwelleth on high,6Who humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven, and in the earth!7He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill;
CPDV
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1Praise the Lord, ye children: praise ye the name of the Lord.2Blessed be the name of the Lord, from henceforth now and for ever.3From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same, the name of the Lord is worthy of praise.4The Lord is high above all nations; and his glory above the heavens.5Who is as the Lord our God, who dwelleth on high:6and looketh down on the low things in heaven and in earth?7Raising up the needy from the earth, and lifting up the poor out of the dunghill:
1Alleluia. Praise the Lord, children. Praise the name of the Lord.2Blessed is the name of the Lord, from this time forward and even forever.3From the rising of the sun, even to its setting, praiseworthy is the name of the Lord.4The Lord is high above all nations, and his glory is high above the heavens.5Who is like the Lord, our God, who dwells on high,6and who gazes upon the humble things in heaven and on earth?7He lifts up the needy from the ground, and he urges the poor away from filth,
1Praise ye the Lord. Praise, O ye servants of the Lord, praise the name of the Lord.2Blessed be the name of the Lord from this time forth and for evermore.3From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same the Lord’s name is to be praised.4The Lord is high above all nations, and his glory above the heavens.5Who is like unto the Lord our God, who dwelleth on high,6Who humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven, and in the earth!7He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill;
· commentary ·
responsorial psalm
The first word of the summons is unstable, and the instability is fruitful. Praise the Lord, ye children (v. 1) renders a Hebrew word that Menochius says means slaves; Haydock notes that the Greek and Latin can carry both senses at once. Calmet accordingly hears it addressed to the Levites, who were bound to God's service, or else to new converts made docile like little children — Worthington simply widens it to all God's servants. The second reading has textual company: from the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same (v. 3) is taken by Calmet as all the day long, but Muis and Chrysostom prefer to read it of all places rather than all hours. Augustine hears a further question in from henceforth now and for ever (v. 2) — why from this, and not from before all ages? He answers what he calls the infant who asks without contumacy: from the moment you speak the words. You begin to praise, but you praise without end. This psalm and the five after it are what the Jews call the great Alleluia, sung after the eating of the paschal lamb.
Augustine settles the ambiguity by refusing the question of age. Be not children in understanding, he quotes; in malice be children, but in understanding be men. Which malice in particular? Pride — for it is pride, presuming on a false greatness, that cannot walk the narrow path or fit through the narrow gate, whereas a child passes the narrow entrance easily. "Let old age be childlike, and your childhood like old age; that is, that neither may your wisdom be with pride, nor your humility without wisdom." He then reads vv. 4 through 6 as one argument about height. The heathen see above themselves the sun and moon and stars, and serve those creatures while neglecting their Creator; but the Lord's glory is above the heavens themselves, so that the heavens look up to him, while the humble, though placed in flesh beneath the heavens, have him together with them. Where, then, is the high dwelling from which he looks down on the low things in heaven and earth? Augustine's answer is that the humble he beholds are that dwelling. He exalts them in a way that does not make them proud; he dwells in those he raises and makes them his own heaven — which is why Isaias glosses the Highest that dwelleth on high with the fuller phrase, dwelling in the holy.
The error the psalm rebukes is exactly the one Augustine finds in the star-worshippers: the reflex of measuring greatness by elevation and giving one's service to whatever is visibly above. Its modern forms need no listing; they all consist of looking up at a creature. What the psalm requires instead is the childhood Augustine describes, which is not naïveté but the absence of pride, and which is compatible with grey hair. Worthington puts the scale bluntly — with respect to God, even those who are in heaven are low. Calmet reads the lifted poor of v. 7 as Christ and his servants, along with Joseph and Mardochai, and Augustine finishes the sentence the lectionary breaks off: he raises the needy out of the dust and the poor out of the dunghill that he may set him with the princes, even with the princes of his people. The distance from the dunghill to that bench is the same distance God crossed to look down at all.
Gospel — Luke 11:29-32
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29And the multitudes running together, he began to say: This generation is a wicked generation. It asketh a sign: and a sign shall not be given it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet.30For as Jonas was a sign to the Ninivites; so shall the Son of man also be to this generation.31The queen of the south shall rise in the judgment with the men of this generation and shall condemn them: because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon. And behold more than Solomon here.32The men of Ninive shall rise in the judgment with this generation and shall condemn it; Because they did penance at the preaching of Jonas. And behold more than Jonas here.
29Then, as the crowds were quickly gathering, he began to say: “This generation is a wicked generation: it seeks a sign. But no sign will be given to it, except the sign of the prophet Jonah.30For just as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so also will the Son of man be to this generation.31The queen of the South will rise up, at the judgment, with the men of this generation, and she will condemn them. For she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon. And behold, more than Solomon is here.32The men of Nineveh will rise up, at the judgment, with this generation, and they will condemn it. For at the preaching of Jonah, they repented. And behold, more than Jonah is here.
29And when the people were gathered thick together, he began to say, This is an evil generation: they seek a sign; and there shall no sign be given it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet.30For as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation.31The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation, and condemn them: for she came from the utmost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.32The men of Nineve shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.
CPDV
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29And the multitudes running together, he began to say: This generation is a wicked generation. It asketh a sign: and a sign shall not be given it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet.30For as Jonas was a sign to the Ninivites; so shall the Son of man also be to this generation.31The queen of the south shall rise in the judgment with the men of this generation and shall condemn them: because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon. And behold more than Solomon here.32The men of Ninive shall rise in the judgment with this generation and shall condemn it; Because they did penance at the preaching of Jonas. And behold more than Jonas here.
29Then, as the crowds were quickly gathering, he began to say: “This generation is a wicked generation: it seeks a sign. But no sign will be given to it, except the sign of the prophet Jonah.30For just as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so also will the Son of man be to this generation.31The queen of the South will rise up, at the judgment, with the men of this generation, and she will condemn them. For she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon. And behold, more than Solomon is here.32The men of Nineveh will rise up, at the judgment, with this generation, and they will condemn it. For at the preaching of Jonah, they repented. And behold, more than Jonah is here.
29And when the people were gathered thick together, he began to say, This is an evil generation: they seek a sign; and there shall no sign be given it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet.30For as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation.31The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation, and condemn them: for she came from the utmost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.32The men of Nineve shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.
· commentary ·
gospel
Basil gives the working definition the passage needs: a sign is a thing brought openly to view which contains in itself the manifestation of something hidden. On that definition the crowd's request is not refused so much as answered from the wrong direction. They want a prodigy in the heavens or in the air; Calmet says what they get instead is one in the bosom of the earth, a return alive from below three days after death. Bede sharpens the trade-off — a sign not from heaven, since they were unworthy to see it, but from the depths: a sign of the incarnation and not of the divinity, of the passion and not of the glory. A second point turns on a single word. In behold more than Solomon here (v. 31), Bede insists that here is not the pronoun but the adverb of place: not "this thing is greater," but "there is one present among you incomparably superior to Solomon." Christ does not say I am greater than Solomon — Bede reads the reticence as instruction, that we may be humble while fruitful in spiritual graces.
The verb condemn is likewise narrower than it sounds. Neither the queen nor the Ninivites judge by any authority, Bede says; they condemn by the contrast of a better deed. Chrysostom shows why the contrast was chosen for maximum force. Condemnation may come from those like the condemned, as in the parable of the ten virgins, or from those unlike them, which is more remarkable — and here it is the second. The Ninivites were barbarians who had never received the divine word; to them came a servant, foretelling destruction, and they repented. To this generation came the Master, preaching the kingdom of heaven. Bede draws out one more consequence in passing: if the queen of the South, who is certainly of the elect, rises in judgement together with the wicked, then there is one resurrection of all men, good and bad, and it happens at the judgement itself and not a thousand years before it. And Ambrose refuses to let the sign be heard as sentence only. In the Ninivites both a punishment is denounced and a remedy promised — which is precisely why no one addressed here need despair of pardon, if he will practise repentance.
Bede's comparison is the one that lands. A barbarian woman took an enormous journey to be instructed in the nature of living creatures and the virtues of herbs; you stand beside Wisdom herself teaching invisible and heavenly things and confirming her words with wonders, and remain strangers to the word, disregarding the miracles senselessly. The appetite for a sign from heaven is alive in every demand that God authenticate himself on terms set in advance, and it coexists comfortably with never having crossed the room for what is already being said. Ambrose reads the queen mystically as the Church herself, gathered out of distant nations into one undivided kingdom by the desire of wisdom, and Gregory sees the Gentiles bringing to Christ the frankincense of piety, the gold of divine knowledge, and precious stones of obedience. Theophylact adds that the south is praised as warm and life-giving, and that the soul comes to hear this Solomon only by reigning in a good life. Ambrose's summary is the whole passage in one line: the Church is made of two things, ignorance of sin, which is the queen, and ceasing from sin, which is Nineveh — for repentance blots out the offence, and wisdom guards against it.
First Reading · Galatians 4:22-24, 26-27, 31–5:1
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No verses found for this reference.
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commentary
Which things are said by an allegory (v. 24) is a technical claim, and Lapide separates the two senses of the word. To the rhetoricians an allegory is a continued metaphor; to ecclesiastical writers it is a type or figure, in which events of the Old Testament stand for their parallels in the New — the second of the four senses of Scripture, the literal being that Abraham begat Ishmael of Hagar naturally and Isaac of Sarah supernaturally, since Sarah was by then sterile with age and no son could come of her in the order of nature. Witham catches the difficulty that forces the allegorical reading. Paul says that Sina has an affinity with Jerusalem, and Sina and Jerusalem are nearly twenty days' journey apart. The affinity cannot be one of place or situation. It can only be mystical: Jerusalem was the capital of the people whose fathers took the law at Sinai, and whose children were living under that same law still.
The contrast Lapide draws at v. 26 turns on four words — the Jerusalem above is above, is Jerusalem, is free, is a mother. Jerusalem, on his account, means the vision of peace, and the peace in question comes of a good conscience toward God, self, and all men. But free is where the argument is decided, because freedom is fourfold and only one kind is meant here. There is civil freedom, opposed to the status of slaves. There is moral freedom, which excludes slavery to passion and to the fear of adversity — the freedom in which the Stoics located the whole of happiness, wanting every man able to say that if the world shattered around him its fragments would strike him but not daunt him. There is celestial freedom, which will exclude every bondage of mind and body to pain. And there is spiritual freedom, springing from the perfect charity that casts out fear, by which we serve God not in servile dread but in filial love, and not with material ceremonies but in spirit and truth. That third one, Lapide says, is the freedom in the Apostle's mind. The Church already enjoys the moral and the spiritual, and tastes the heavenly beforehand by hope.
She is called mother because out of a Gentile barrenness once subject to devils she has borne, and goes on bearing, children to Christ from Jews and Gentiles without distinction. Lapide notes what else has been made of the verse Paul quotes: the Jews read Isaias liv. 1 of a return to the earthly Jerusalem, and the Millenarians, on Jerome's testimony, of a thousand years of sensual happiness on earth after the judgement. Ambrose keeps it where Paul put it — "the Church is immaculate in conception, fruitful in offspring, a virgin in chastity, a mother in her family," feeding her children with milk not of earth but of the Apostles. Against that stands the thing Paul actually warns about, which is not paganism but a system: the exchange of filial love for an observance one can measure and be measured by. Witham names the yoke as the old law; Lapide's note on the verb makes the danger tactile. The Greek behind be not held again is rendered contained by the Vulgate, implicated by Vatablus, ensnared by Erasmus. The Judaisers are enticing the Galatians into their law as into a net — and once inside its windings and toils, a man does not get out.
Responsorial Psalm · Psalm 113:1b-2, 3-4, 5a, 6-7
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1Praise the Lord, ye children: praise ye the name of the Lord.2Blessed be the name of the Lord, from henceforth now and for ever.3From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same, the name of the Lord is worthy of praise.4The Lord is high above all nations; and his glory above the heavens.5Who is as the Lord our God, who dwelleth on high:6and looketh down on the low things in heaven and in earth?7Raising up the needy from the earth, and lifting up the poor out of the dunghill:
1Alleluia. Praise the Lord, children. Praise the name of the Lord.2Blessed is the name of the Lord, from this time forward and even forever.3From the rising of the sun, even to its setting, praiseworthy is the name of the Lord.4The Lord is high above all nations, and his glory is high above the heavens.5Who is like the Lord, our God, who dwells on high,6and who gazes upon the humble things in heaven and on earth?7He lifts up the needy from the ground, and he urges the poor away from filth,
1Praise ye the Lord. Praise, O ye servants of the Lord, praise the name of the Lord.2Blessed be the name of the Lord from this time forth and for evermore.3From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same the Lord’s name is to be praised.4The Lord is high above all nations, and his glory above the heavens.5Who is like unto the Lord our God, who dwelleth on high,6Who humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven, and in the earth!7He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill;
commentary
The first word of the summons is unstable, and the instability is fruitful. Praise the Lord, ye children (v. 1) renders a Hebrew word that Menochius says means slaves; Haydock notes that the Greek and Latin can carry both senses at once. Calmet accordingly hears it addressed to the Levites, who were bound to God's service, or else to new converts made docile like little children — Worthington simply widens it to all God's servants. The second reading has textual company: from the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same (v. 3) is taken by Calmet as all the day long, but Muis and Chrysostom prefer to read it of all places rather than all hours. Augustine hears a further question in from henceforth now and for ever (v. 2) — why from this, and not from before all ages? He answers what he calls the infant who asks without contumacy: from the moment you speak the words. You begin to praise, but you praise without end. This psalm and the five after it are what the Jews call the great Alleluia, sung after the eating of the paschal lamb.
Augustine settles the ambiguity by refusing the question of age. Be not children in understanding, he quotes; in malice be children, but in understanding be men. Which malice in particular? Pride — for it is pride, presuming on a false greatness, that cannot walk the narrow path or fit through the narrow gate, whereas a child passes the narrow entrance easily. "Let old age be childlike, and your childhood like old age; that is, that neither may your wisdom be with pride, nor your humility without wisdom." He then reads vv. 4 through 6 as one argument about height. The heathen see above themselves the sun and moon and stars, and serve those creatures while neglecting their Creator; but the Lord's glory is above the heavens themselves, so that the heavens look up to him, while the humble, though placed in flesh beneath the heavens, have him together with them. Where, then, is the high dwelling from which he looks down on the low things in heaven and earth? Augustine's answer is that the humble he beholds are that dwelling. He exalts them in a way that does not make them proud; he dwells in those he raises and makes them his own heaven — which is why Isaias glosses the Highest that dwelleth on high with the fuller phrase, dwelling in the holy.
The error the psalm rebukes is exactly the one Augustine finds in the star-worshippers: the reflex of measuring greatness by elevation and giving one's service to whatever is visibly above. Its modern forms need no listing; they all consist of looking up at a creature. What the psalm requires instead is the childhood Augustine describes, which is not naïveté but the absence of pride, and which is compatible with grey hair. Worthington puts the scale bluntly — with respect to God, even those who are in heaven are low. Calmet reads the lifted poor of v. 7 as Christ and his servants, along with Joseph and Mardochai, and Augustine finishes the sentence the lectionary breaks off: he raises the needy out of the dust and the poor out of the dunghill that he may set him with the princes, even with the princes of his people. The distance from the dunghill to that bench is the same distance God crossed to look down at all.
Gospel · Luke 11:29-32
DRC ▾
29And the multitudes running together, he began to say: This generation is a wicked generation. It asketh a sign: and a sign shall not be given it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet.30For as Jonas was a sign to the Ninivites; so shall the Son of man also be to this generation.31The queen of the south shall rise in the judgment with the men of this generation and shall condemn them: because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon. And behold more than Solomon here.32The men of Ninive shall rise in the judgment with this generation and shall condemn it; Because they did penance at the preaching of Jonas. And behold more than Jonas here.
29Then, as the crowds were quickly gathering, he began to say: “This generation is a wicked generation: it seeks a sign. But no sign will be given to it, except the sign of the prophet Jonah.30For just as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so also will the Son of man be to this generation.31The queen of the South will rise up, at the judgment, with the men of this generation, and she will condemn them. For she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon. And behold, more than Solomon is here.32The men of Nineveh will rise up, at the judgment, with this generation, and they will condemn it. For at the preaching of Jonah, they repented. And behold, more than Jonah is here.
29And when the people were gathered thick together, he began to say, This is an evil generation: they seek a sign; and there shall no sign be given it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet.30For as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation.31The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation, and condemn them: for she came from the utmost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.32The men of Nineve shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.
commentary
Basil gives the working definition the passage needs: a sign is a thing brought openly to view which contains in itself the manifestation of something hidden. On that definition the crowd's request is not refused so much as answered from the wrong direction. They want a prodigy in the heavens or in the air; Calmet says what they get instead is one in the bosom of the earth, a return alive from below three days after death. Bede sharpens the trade-off — a sign not from heaven, since they were unworthy to see it, but from the depths: a sign of the incarnation and not of the divinity, of the passion and not of the glory. A second point turns on a single word. In behold more than Solomon here (v. 31), Bede insists that here is not the pronoun but the adverb of place: not "this thing is greater," but "there is one present among you incomparably superior to Solomon." Christ does not say I am greater than Solomon — Bede reads the reticence as instruction, that we may be humble while fruitful in spiritual graces.
The verb condemn is likewise narrower than it sounds. Neither the queen nor the Ninivites judge by any authority, Bede says; they condemn by the contrast of a better deed. Chrysostom shows why the contrast was chosen for maximum force. Condemnation may come from those like the condemned, as in the parable of the ten virgins, or from those unlike them, which is more remarkable — and here it is the second. The Ninivites were barbarians who had never received the divine word; to them came a servant, foretelling destruction, and they repented. To this generation came the Master, preaching the kingdom of heaven. Bede draws out one more consequence in passing: if the queen of the South, who is certainly of the elect, rises in judgement together with the wicked, then there is one resurrection of all men, good and bad, and it happens at the judgement itself and not a thousand years before it. And Ambrose refuses to let the sign be heard as sentence only. In the Ninivites both a punishment is denounced and a remedy promised — which is precisely why no one addressed here need despair of pardon, if he will practise repentance.
Bede's comparison is the one that lands. A barbarian woman took an enormous journey to be instructed in the nature of living creatures and the virtues of herbs; you stand beside Wisdom herself teaching invisible and heavenly things and confirming her words with wonders, and remain strangers to the word, disregarding the miracles senselessly. The appetite for a sign from heaven is alive in every demand that God authenticate himself on terms set in advance, and it coexists comfortably with never having crossed the room for what is already being said. Ambrose reads the queen mystically as the Church herself, gathered out of distant nations into one undivided kingdom by the desire of wisdom, and Gregory sees the Gentiles bringing to Christ the frankincense of piety, the gold of divine knowledge, and precious stones of obedience. Theophylact adds that the south is praised as warm and life-giving, and that the soul comes to hear this Solomon only by reigning in a good life. Ambrose's summary is the whole passage in one line: the Church is made of two things, ignorance of sin, which is the queen, and ceasing from sin, which is Nineveh — for repentance blots out the offence, and wisdom guards against it.
· sources ·
The complete public-domain commentary this reading's note draws from, unabridged. Every claim in the note traces to a passage here.
Responsorial Psalm Psalm 113:1b-2, 3-4, 5a, 6-7
Expositions on the Psalms (Enarrationes in Psalmos), NPNF1-08 · Public Domain
Vulgate Ps 112:1
(ver. 1); imagine not that that exhortation pertaineth not unto you, because having already passed the youth of the body, ye are either blooming in the prime of manhood, or growing gray with the honours of old age: for unto all of you the Apostle saith, "Brethren, be not children in understanding; howbeit, in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men." What malice in particular, save pride? For it is pride that, presuming in false greatness, suffereth not man to walk along the narrow path, and to enter by the narrow gate; but the child easily entereth through the narrow entrance; and thus no man, save as a child, entereth into the kingdom of heaven. "Praise the Name of the Lord."...Let Him therefore be alway proclaimed: "Blessed be the Name of the Lord, from this time forth for evermore"
Vulgate Ps 112:2
(ver. 2). Let Him be proclaimed everywhere: "From the rising up of the sun unto the going down of the same, praise ye the Name of the Lord"
Vulgate Ps 112:3
(ver. 3).
2. If any of the holy children who praise the Name of the Lord were to ask of me and say to me, "for evermore" I understand to mean unto all eternity: but why "from this," and why is not the Name of the Lord blessed before this, and before all ages? I will answer the infant, who asketh not in contumacy. Unto you it is said, masters and children, unto you it is said, "Praise the Name of the Lord; blessed be the Name of the Lord:" let the Name of the Lord be blessed, "from this," that is, from the moment ye speak these words. For ye begin to praise, but praise ye without end....Or, since in this passage he seemeth to signify rather humility than childhood, the contrary of which is the vain and false greatness of pride; and for this reason none but children praise the Lord, since the proud know not how to praise Him; let old age be childlike, and your childhood like old age; that is, that neither may your wisdom be with pride, nor your humility without wisdom, that ye may "praise the Lord from this for evermore." Wherever the Church of Christ is diffused in her childlike saints, "Praise ye the Name of the Lord;" that is, "from the rising up of the sun unto the going down of the same."
3. "The Lord is high above all heathen"
Vulgate Ps 112:4
(ver. 4). The heathen are men: what wonder if the Lord be above all men? They see with their eyes those whom they worship high above themselves to shine in heaven, the sun and moon and stars, creatures which they serve while they neglect the Creator. But not only "is the Lord high above all heathen;" but "His glory" also "is above the heavens." The heavens look up unto Him above themselves; and the humble have Him together with them, who do not worship the heavens instead of Him, though placed in the flesh beneath the heavens.
4. "Who is like unto the Lord our God, that hath His dwelling so high; and yet beholdeth the humble?"
Vulgate Ps 112:5
(ver. 5). Any one would think that He dwelleth in the lofty heavens, whence He may behold the humble things on earth; but "He beholdeth the humble things that are in heaven and earth"
Vulgate Ps 112:6
(ver. 6): what then is His high dwelling, whence He beholdeth the humble things that are in heaven and earth? Are the humble things He beholdeth His own high dwelling itself? For He thus exalteth the humble, so as not to make them proud. He therefore both dwelleth in those whom He raiseth high, and maketh them heaven for Himself, that is, His own abode; and by seeing them not proud, but constantly subject to Himself, He beholdeth even in heaven itself these very humble things, in whom raised on high He dwelleth. For the Spirit thus speaketh through Isaiah: "Thus saith the Highest that dwelleth on high, that inhabiteth eternity; the Lord Most High, dwelling in the holy." He hath expounded what He meant by dwelling on high, by the more full expression, "dwelling in the holy."...
5. And he hath moved us also to enquire whether the Lord our God beholdeth the same humble things in heaven and in earth: or different humble things in heaven to what He beholdeth on earth....But if the Lord our God beholdeth other humble things in heaven to what He doth on earth; I suppose that He already beholdeth in heaven those whom He hath called, and in whom He dwelleth; while on earth He beholdeth those whom He is now calling, that He may dwell in them. For He hath the one with Him musing on heavenly things, the others He is waking, while they yet dream things earthly. But since it is difficult to call even those humble, who have not as yet submitted their necks in piety to the gracious yoke of Christ, since the divine writings throughout the whole Psalm warn us to understand holy by the word humble; there is also another interpretation, which, Beloved, ye may consider with me. I believe that those are now meant by heavens who shall sit upon twelve thrones, and shall judge with the Lord; and under the name of the earth, the rest of the multitude of the blessed, who shall be set on the right hand, that through works of mercy they may be praised and received into everlasting habitations by those whom they have made friends to themselves from the mammon of unrighteousness in this mortal life. ...
6. "He taketh up the destitute out of the dust, and lifteth the poor out of the mire"
Vulgate Ps 112:7
(ver. 7); "that He may set Him with the princes, even with the princes of His people"
Haydock Catholic Bible Commentary · Public Domain
Vulgate Ps 112:1
Alleluia. The Jews style this, and the five following psalms, "the great Alleluia," which they sing after eating the paschal lamb. Eusebius adds, "a psalm of Aggæus and Zacharias," as it seems to speak of the captives, who return thanks for their deliverance; (Isaias xlv. 6., &c.; Calmet) or David has left this model of thanksgiving for all. (Berthier) --- Children. Hebrew, "slaves." (Menochius) --- The Greek and Latin may signify both. (Haydock) --- He addresses the Levites, who were addicted to God's service, or the new converts, who were become docile like little children, (1 Peter ii. 2., and Psalm viii. 3.; Calmet) and in a word, (Haydock) all God's servants. (Worthington)
Vulgate Ps 112:3
Same. All the day long, (Calmet) or rather in all places. (Muis) (Malachias i. 10.) (St. Chrysostom)
Vulgate Ps 112:6
Earth. Providence watches over all, Psalm cxxxvii. 6. (Haydock) --- With respect to God, even those who are in heaven are low. (Worthington)
Vulgate Ps 112:7
Poor. Jesus Christ and his servants, as well as Joseph, Mardochai, &c., 1 Kings ii. 8., and Luke i. 51. (Calmet)
Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible · Public Domain
113:1–9
1 Praise ye the Lord . Praise, O ye servants of the Lord , praise the name of the Lord . 2 Blessed be the name of the Lord from this time forth and for evermore. 3 From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same the Lord 's name is to be praised. 4 The Lord is high above all nations, and his glory above the heavens. 5 Who is like unto the Lord our God, who dwelleth on high, 6 Who humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven, and in the earth! 7 He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill; 8 That he may set him with princes, even with the princes of his people. 9 He maketh the barren woman to keep house, and to be a joyful mother of children. Praise ye the Lord .
In this psalm,
I. We are extorted to give glory to God, to give him the glory due to his name.
1. The invitation is very pressing: praise you the Lord, and again and again, Praise him, praise him; blessed be his name, for it is to be praised, v. 1-3 . This intimates, (1.) That it is a necessary and most excellent duty, greatly pleasing to God, and has a large room in religion. (2.) That it is a duty we should much abound in, in which we should be frequently employed and greatly enlarged. (3.) That it is work which we are very backward to, and which we need to be engaged and excited to by precept upon precept and line upon line. (4.) That those who are much in praising God themselves will court others to it, both because they find the weight of the work, and that there is need of all the help they can fetch in (there is employment for all hearts, all hands, and all little enough), and because they find the pleasure of it, which they wish all their friends may share in.
2. The invitation is very extensive. Observe, (1.) From whom God has praise—from his own people; they are here called upon to praise God, as those that will answer the call: Praise, O you servants of the Lord! They have most reason to praise him; for those that attend him as his servants know him best and receive most of his favours. And it is their business to praise him; that is the work required of them as his servants: it is easy pleasant work to speak well of their Master, and do him what honour they can; if they do not, who should? Some understand it of the Levites; but, if so, all Christians are a royal priesthood, to show forth the praises of him that has called them, 1 Pet. ii. 9 . The angels are the servants of the Lord; they need not be called upon by us to praise God, yet it is a comfort to us that they do praise him, and that they praise him better than we can. (2.) From whom he ought to have praise. [1.] From all ages ( v. 2 )— from this time forth for evermore. Let not this work die with us, but let us be doing it in a better world, and let those that come after us be doing it in this. Let not our seed degenerate, but let God be praised through all the generations of time, and not in this only. We must bless the Lord in our day, by saying, with the psalmist, Blessed be his name now and always. [2.] From all places— from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same, that is, throughout the habitable world. Let all that enjoy the benefit of the sun rising (and those that do so must count upon it that the sun will set) give thanks for that light to the Father of lights. God's name is to be praised; it ought to be praised by all nations; for in every place, from east to west, there appear the manifest proofs and products of his wisdom, power, and goodness; and it is to be lamented that so great a part of mankind are ignorant of him, and give that praise to others which is due to him alone. But perhaps there is more in it; as the former verse gave us a glimpse of the kingdom of glory, intimating that God's name shall be blessed for ever (when time shall be no more that praise shall be the work of heaven), so this verse gives us a glimpse of the kingdom of grace in the gospel-dispensation of it. When the church shall no longer be confined to the Jewish nation, but shall spread itself all the world over, when in every place spiritual incense shall be offered to our God ( Mal. i. 11 ), then from the rising to the setting of the sun the Lord's name shall be praised by some in all countries.
II. We are here directed what to give him the glory of.
1. Let us look up with an eye of faith, and see how high his glory is in the upper world, and mention that to his praise, v. 4, 5 . We are, in our praises, to exalt his name, for he is high, his glory is high. (1.) High above all nations, their kings though ever so pompous, their people though ever so numerous. Whether it be true of an earthly king or no that though he is major singulis—greater than individuals, he is minor universis—less than the whole, we will not dispute; but we are sure it is not true of the King of kings. Put all the nations together, and he is above them all; they are before him as the drop of the bucket and the small dust of the balance, Isa. lx. 15 , 17 . Let all nations think and speak highly of God, for he is high above them all. (2.) High above the heavens; the throne of his glory is in the highest heavens, which should raise our hearts in praising him, Lam. iii. 41 . His glory is above the heavens, that is, above the angels; he is above what they are, for their brightness is nothing to his,—above what they do, for they are under his command and do his pleasure,—and above what even they can speak him to be. He is exalted above all blessing and praise, not only all ours, but all theirs. We must therefore say, with holy admiration, Who is like unto the Lord our God? who of all the princes and potentates of the earth? who of all the bright and blessed spirits above? None can equal him, none dare compare with him. God is to be praised as transcendently, incomparably, and infinitely great; for he dwells on high, and from on high sees all, and rules all, and justly attracts all praise to himself.
2. Let us look around with an eye of observation, and see how extensive his goodness is in the lower world, and mention that to his praise. He is a God who exalts himself to dwell, who humbles himself in heaven, and in earth. Some think there is a transposition, He exalts himself to dwell in heaven, he humbles himself to behold on earth; but the sense is plain enough as we take it, only observe, God is said to exalt himself and to humble himself, both are his own act and deed; as he is self-existent, so he is both the fountain of his own honour and the spring of his own grace; God's condescending goodness appears,
(1.) In the cognizance he takes of the world below him. His glory is above the nations and above the heavens, and yet neither is neglected by him. God is great, yet he despises not any, Job xxxvi. 5 . He humbles himself to behold all his creatures, all his subjects, though he is infinitely above them. Considering the infinite perfection, sufficiency, and felicity of the divine nature, it must be acknowledged as an act of wonderful condescension that God is pleased to take into the thoughts of his eternal counsel, and into the hand of his universal Providence, both the armies of heaven and the inhabitants of the earth ( Dan. iv. 35 ); even in this dominion he humbles himself. [1.] It is condescension in him to behold the things in heaven, to support the beings, direct the motions, and accept the praises and services, of the angels themselves; for he needs them not, nor is benefited by them. [2.] Much more is it condescension in him to behold the things that are in the earth, to visit the sons of men, and regard them, to order and overrule their affairs, and to take notice of what they say and do, that he may fill the earth with his goodness, and so set us an example of stooping to do good, of taking notice of, and concerning ourselves about, our inferiors. If it be such condescension for God to behold things in heaven and earth, what an amazing condescension was it for the Son of God to come from heaven to earth and take our nature upon him, that he might seek and save those that were lost! Herein indeed he humbled himself.
(2.) In the particular favour he sometimes shows to the least and lowest of the inhabitants of this meaner lower world. He not only beholds the great things in the earth, but the meanest, and those things which great men commonly overlook. Not does he merely behold them, but does wonders for them, and things that are very surprising, out of the common road of providence and chain of causes, which shows that the world is governed, not by a course of nature, for that would always run in the same channel, but by a God of nature, who delights in doing things we looked not for. [1.] Those that have been long despicable are sometimes, on a sudden, made honourable ( v. 7, 8 ): He raises up the poor out of the dust, that he may set him with princes. First, Thus God does sometimes magnify himself, and his own wisdom, power, and sovereignty. When he has some great work to do he chooses to employ those in it that were least likely, and least thought of for it by themselves or others, to the highest post of honour: Gideon is fetched from threshing, Saul from seeking the asses, and David from keeping the sheep; the apostles are sent from fishing to be fishers of men. The treasure of the gospel is put into earthen vessels, and the weak and foolish ones of the world are pitched upon to be preachers of it, to confound the wise and mighty ( 1 Cor. i. 27, 28 ), that the excellency of the power may be of God, and all may see that promotion comes from him. Secondly, Thus God does sometimes reward the eminent piety and patience of his people who have long groaned under the burden of poverty and disgrace. When Joseph's virtue was tried and manifested he was raised from the prison-dust and set with princes. Those that are wise will observe such returns of Providence, and will understand by them the loving-kindness of the Lord. Some have applied this to the work of redemption by Jesus Christ, and not unfitly; for through him poor fallen men are raised out of the dust (one of the Jewish rabbies applies it to the resurrection of the dead), nay, out of the dunghill of sin, and set among princes, among angels, those princes of his people. Hannah had sung to this purport, 1 Sam. ii. 6-8 . [2.] Those that have been long barren are sometimes, on a sudden, made fruitful, v. 9 . This may look back to Sarah and Rebecca, Rachel, Hannah, and Samson's mother, or forward to Elizabeth; and many such instances there have been, in which God has looked on the affliction of his handmaids and taken away their reproach. He makes the barren woman to keep house, not only builds up the family, but thereby finds the heads of the family something to do. Note, Those that have the comfort of a family must take the care of it; bearing children and guiding the house are put together, 1 Tim. v. 14 . When God sets the barren in a family he expects that she should look well to the ways of her household, Prov. xxxi. 27 . She is said to be a joyful mother of children, not only because, even in common cases, the pain is forgotten, for joy that a man-child is born into the world, but there is particular joy when a child is born to those that have been long childless (as Luke i. 14 ) and therefore there ought to be particular thanksgiving. Praise you the Lord. Yet, in this case, rejoice with trembling; for, though the sorrowful mother be made joyful, the joyful mother may be made sorrowful again, if the children be either removed from her or embittered to her. This, therefore, may be applied to the gospel-church among the Gentiles (the building of which is illustrated by this similitude, Isa. liv. 1 , Sing, O barren! thou that didst not bear, and Gal. iv. 27 ), for which we, who, being sinners of the Gentiles, are children of the desolate, have reason to say, Praise you the Lord.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) · Public Domain
113:1–3
1-3. Earnestness and zeal are denoted by the emphatic repetitions.
servants of the Lord-- or, all the people of God.
name of the Lord-- perfections ( Psa 5:11 ; 111:9 ).
113:4–6
4-6. God's exaltation enhances His condescension;
113:7–8
7-8. which condescension is illustrated as often in raising the worthy poor and needy to honor (compare 1Sa 2:8 ; Psa 44:25 ).
Gospel Luke 11:29-32
The Great Biblical Commentary of Cornelius a Lapide · Public Domain
11:28–33
CHAPTER 11
Ver. 28.But He said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear one word of God, and keep it. Christ does not say that His mother is not blessed, as Calvin would have us believe, but only that they are more blessed who hear the word of God and keep it, i.e. fulfil its precepts. Because to be the mother of God is a grace and free gift of God, but external, and therefore not of necessity acting upon the soul, but to hear and keep the word is an internal grace, finding acceptance in the sight of God. Again, to be the mother of God does not absolutely ensure everlasting happiness, but to keep God's word up to death has the sure promise of eternal life. And further, to be the mother of God is, of necessity, the blessing of one virgin only, but to hear and keep the word of God, a privilege common to all believers.
Christ therefore would encourage the woman who had addressed Him. Thou callest My mother blessed, and sorrowest that so great a privilege has not fallen to thy lot, but I offer thee a better and more lasting blessing, if thou wilt hear My word, and keep My commandments. For My mother was blessed more because she acknowledged My divinity than because she conceived Me in her womb, nay more, because, had she not recognised the purpose of God and been obedient unto His word, she would have been accounted unworthy to have become the mother of His Son; and so S, Augustine says, "The near relationship of mother would not have profited Mary had she not conceived Christ in her heart as well as in her womb. For she was more blessed in her faith than in her conception."
Catena Aurea (Golden Chain) · Public Domain
11:29–32 (block headed 11:29)
And when the people were gathered thick together, he began to say, This is an evil generation: they seek a sign; and there shall no sign be given it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet.30. For as Jonas was a sign to the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation.31. The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation, and condemn them; for she came from the utmost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.32. The men of Nineve shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.
11:29–32 (block headed 11:29)
Our Lord had been assailed with two kinds of questions, for some accused Him of casting out devils through Beelzebub, to whom up to this point His answer was addressed; and others tempting Him, sought from Him a sign from heaven, and these He now proceeds to answer. As it follows, And when the people were gathered thick together, he began to say, This is an evil generation, etc.
11:29–32 (block headed 11:29)
That you may know that the people of the Synagogue are treated with dishonor, while the blessedness of the Church is increased. But as Jonas was a sign to the Ninevites, so also will the Son of man be to the Jews. Hence it is added, They seek a sign; and there shall no sign. be given them but the sign of Jonas the prophet.
11:29–32 (block headed 11:29)
A sign is a thing brought openly to view, containing in itself the manifestation of something hidden, as the sign of Jonas represents the descent to hell, the ascension of Christ, and His resurrection from the dead. Hence it is added, For as Jonas was a sign to the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation. He gives them a sign, not from heaven, because they were unworthy to see it, but from the lowest depths of hell; a sign, namely, of His incarnation, not of His divinity; of His passion, not of His glorification.
11:29–32 (block headed 11:29)
Now as the sign of Jonas is a type of our Lord’s passion, so also is it a testimony of the grievous sins which the Jews have committed. We may remark at once both the mighty voice of warning, and the declaration of mercy. For by the example of the Ninevites both a punishment is denounced, and a remedy promised. Hence even the Jews ought not to despair of pardon, if they will but practice repentance.
11:29–32 (block headed 11:29)
Now Jonas after he came forth from the whale’s belly converts the men of Nineveh by his preaching, but when Christ; rose again, the Jewish nation believed not. So there was a sentence already passed upon them, of which there follows a second example, as it is said, The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation, and condemn them.
11:29–32 (block headed 11:29)
Not certainly by any authority to judge, but by the contrast of a better deed. As it follows, For she came from the utmost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, greater than Solomon is here. Here in this place is not the pronoun, but the adverb of place, that is, "there is one present among you who is incomparably superior to Solomon." He said not, "I am greater than Solomon," that he might teach us to be humble, though fruitful in spiritual graces. As if he said, "The barbarian woman hastened to hear Solomon, taking so long a journey to be instructed in the knowledge of visible living creatures, and the virtues of herbs. But you when you stand by and hear Wisdom herself teaching you invisible and heavenly things, and confirming her words with signs and wonders, are strangers to the word, and senselessly disregard the miracles."
11:29–32 (block headed 11:29)
But if the queen of the South, who doubtless is of the elect, shall rise up in judgment together with the wicked, we have a proof of the one resurrection of all men, good as well as bad, and that not according to Jewish fables to happen a thousand years before the judgment, but at the judgment itself.
11:29–32 (block headed 11:29)
Herein also while condemning the Jewish people, He strongly expresses the mystery of the Church, which in the queen of the South, through the desire of obtaining wisdom is gathered together from the uttermost parts of the whole earth, to hear the words of the Peacemaking Solomon; a queen plainly whose kingdom is undivided rising up from different and distant nations into one body.
11:29–32 (block headed 11:29)
Now as she was queen of the Ethiopians’ and in a far distant country, so in the beginning the Church of the Gentiles was in darkness, and far off from the knowledge of God. But when Christ the Prince of peace shone forth, the Jews being still in darkness, thither came the Gentiles, and offered to Christ the frankincense of piety, the gold of divine knowledge, and precious stones, that is, obedience to His commands.
11:29–32 (block headed 11:29)
Or because the South is praised in Scripture as warm and life-giving, therefore the soul reigning in the south, that is, in all spiritual conversation, comes to hear the wisdom of Solomon, the Prince of peace, the Lord our God, (i.e. is raised up to contemplate Him,) to whom no one shall come except he reign in a good life. But He brings next an example from the Ninevites, saying, The men of Nineveh shall rise up in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it.
11:29–32 (block headed 11:29)
The judgment of condemnation comes from men like or unlike to those who are condemned. From like, for instance, as in the parable of the ten virgins, but from unlike, when the Ninevites condemn those who lived at the time of Christ, that so their condemnation might be the more remarkable. For the Ninevites indeed were barbarians, but these Jews. The one enjoying the prophetic teaching, the other having never received the divine word. To the former came a servant, to the latter the Master, of whom the one foretold destruction, the other preached the kingdom of heaven. To all men then was it known that the Jews ought rather to have believed, but the contrary happened; therefore he adds, For they repented at the preaching of Jonas, and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.
11:29–32 (block headed 11:29)
Now in a mystery, the Church consists of two things, either ignorance of sin, which has reference mainly to the queen of the South, or ceasing to sin, which relates indeed to the repentant Ninevites. For repentance blots out the offense, wisdom guards against it.
11:29–32 (block headed 11:29)
Luke indeed relates this in the same place as Matthew, but in a somewhat different order. But who does not see that it is an idle question, in what order our Lord said those things, seeing that we ought to learn by the most precious authority of the Evangelist, that there is no falsehood. But not every man will repeat another’s words in the same order in which they proceeded from his mouth, seeing that the order itself makes no difference with respect to the fact, whether it be so or not.
Haydock Catholic Bible Commentary · Public Domain
11:29
But the sign of Jonas. Instead of a prodigy in the heavens or in the air, I will give you one in the bosom of the earth, more wonderful than that of the prophet Jonas, who came out alive from the belly of the fish, which had swallowed him. Thus I will return alive from the bosom of the earth three days after my death. (Calmet) --- He gave them a sign, not from heaven, for they were unworthy to behold it, but from the deep; the sign of his incarnation, not of his divinity; of his passion, not of his glory. (Ven. Bede)
11:31
Queen of the South shall condemn this generation, not by exercising the power of judgment against them, but by having performed an action which, when put in competition with theirs, will be found superior to them. (Ven. Bede)
Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible · Public Domain
11:29–36
29 And when the people were gathered thick together, he began to say, This is an evil generation: they seek a sign; and there shall no sign be given it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet. 30 For as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation. 31 The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation, and condemn them: for she came from the utmost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here. 32 The men of Nineve shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here. 33 No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light. 34 The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness. 35 Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness. 36 If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light.
Christ's discourse in these verses shows two things:—
I. What is the sign we may expect from God for the confirmation of our faith. The great and most convincing proof of Christ's being sent of God, and which they were yet to wait for, after the many signs that had been given them, was the resurrection of Christ from the dead. Here is,
1. A reproof to the people for demanding other signs than what had already been given them in great plenty: The people were gathered thickly together ( v. 29 ), a vast crowd of them, expecting not so much to have their consciences informed by the doctrine of Christ as to have their curiosity gratified by his miracles. Christ knew what brought such a multitude together; they came seeking a sign, they came to gaze, to have something to talk of when they went home; and it is an evil generation which nothing will awaken and convince, no, not the most sensible demonstrations of divine power and goodness.
2. A promise that yet there should be one sign more given them, different from any that had yet been given them, even the sign of Jonas the prophet, which in Matthew is explained as meaning the resurrection of Christ. As Jonas being cast into the sea, and lying there three days, and then coming up alive and preaching repentance to the Ninevites, was a sign to them, upon which they turned from their evil way, so shall the death and resurrection of Christ, and the preaching of his gospel immediately after to the Gentile world, be the last warning to the Jewish nation. If they be provoked to a holy jealousy by this, well and good; but, if this do not work upon them, let them look for nothing but utter ruin: The Son of Man shall be a sign to this generation ( v. 30 ), a sign speaking to them, though a sign spoken against by them.
3. A warning to them to improve this sign; for it was at their peril if they did not. (1.) The queen of Sheba would rise up in judgment against them, and condemn their unbelief, v. 31 . She was a stranger to the commonwealth of Israel, and yet so readily gave credit to the report she heard of the glories of a king of Israel, that, notwithstanding the prejudices we are apt to conceive against foreigners, she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear his wisdom, not only to satisfy her curiosity, but to inform her mind, especially in the knowledge of the true God and his worship, which is upon record, to her honour; and, behold, a greater than Solomon in here, pleion Solomontos — more than a Solomon is here; that is, says Dr. Hammond, more of wisdom and more heavenly divine doctrine than ever was in all Solomon's words or writings; and yet these wretched Jews will give no manner of regard to what Christ says to them, though he be in the midst of them. (2.) The Ninevites would rise up in judgment against them, and condemn their impenitency ( v. 32 ): They repented at the preaching of Jonas; but here is preaching which far exceeds that of Jonas, is more powerful and awakening, and threatens a much sorer ruin than that of Nineveh, and yet none are startled by it, to turn from their evil way, as the Ninevites did.
II. What is the sign that God expects from us for the evidencing of our faith, and that is the serious practice of that religion which we profess to believe, and a readiness to entertain all divine truths, when brought to us in their proper evidence. Now observe,
1. They had the light with all the advantage they could desire. For God, having lighted the candle of the gospel, did not put it in a secret place, or under a bushel; Christ did not preach in corners. The apostles were ordered to preach the gospel to every creature; and both Christ and his ministers, Wisdom and her maidens, cry in the chief places of concourse, v. 33 . It is a great privilege that the light of the gospel is put on a candlestick, so that all that come in may see it, and may see by it where they are and whither they are going, and what is the true, and sure, and only way to happiness.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) · Public Domain
11:29–32
29-32. (See on Mt 12:39-42 .)
Which things are said by an allegory (v. 24) is a technical claim, and Lapide separates the two senses of the word. To the rhetoricians an allegory is a continued metaphor; to ecclesiastical writers it is a type or figure, in which events of the Old Testament stand for their parallels in the New — the second of the four senses of Scripture, the literal being that Abraham begat Ishmael of Hagar naturally and Isaac of Sarah supernaturally, since Sarah was by then sterile with age and no son could come of her in the order of nature. Witham catches the difficulty that forces the allegorical reading. Paul says that Sina has an affinity with Jerusalem, and Sina and Jerusalem are nearly twenty days' journey apart. The affinity cannot be one of place or situation. It can only be mystical: Jerusalem was the capital of the people whose fathers took the law at Sinai, and whose children were living under that same law still.
The contrast Lapide draws at v. 26 turns on four words — the Jerusalem above is above, is Jerusalem, is free, is a mother. Jerusalem, on his account, means the vision of peace, and the peace in question comes of a good conscience toward God, self, and all men. But free is where the argument is decided, because freedom is fourfold and only one kind is meant here. There is civil freedom, opposed to the status of slaves. There is moral freedom, which excludes slavery to passion and to the fear of adversity — the freedom in which the Stoics located the whole of happiness, wanting every man able to say that if the world shattered around him its fragments would strike him but not daunt him. There is celestial freedom, which will exclude every bondage of mind and body to pain. And there is spiritual freedom, springing from the perfect charity that casts out fear, by which we serve God not in servile dread but in filial love, and not with material ceremonies but in spirit and truth. That third one, Lapide says, is the freedom in the Apostle's mind. The Church already enjoys the moral and the spiritual, and tastes the heavenly beforehand by hope.
She is called mother because out of a Gentile barrenness once subject to devils she has borne, and goes on bearing, children to Christ from Jews and Gentiles without distinction. Lapide notes what else has been made of the verse Paul quotes: the Jews read Isaias liv. 1 of a return to the earthly Jerusalem, and the Millenarians, on Jerome's testimony, of a thousand years of sensual happiness on earth after the judgement. Ambrose keeps it where Paul put it — "the Church is immaculate in conception, fruitful in offspring, a virgin in chastity, a mother in her family," feeding her children with milk not of earth but of the Apostles. Against that stands the thing Paul actually warns about, which is not paganism but a system: the exchange of filial love for an observance one can measure and be measured by. Witham names the yoke as the old law; Lapide's note on the verb makes the danger tactile. The Greek behind be not held again is rendered contained by the Vulgate, implicated by Vatablus, ensnared by Erasmus. The Judaisers are enticing the Galatians into their law as into a net — and once inside its windings and toils, a man does not get out.