14For while all things were in quiet silence, and the night was in the midst of her course,15Thy Almighty word leaped down from heaven from thy royal throne, as a fierce conqueror into the midst of the land of destruction,16With a sharp sword carrying thy unfeigned commandment, and he stood and filled all things with death, and standing on the earth, reached even to heaven.
6For every creature, according to its kind was fashioned again as from the beginning, obeying thy commandments, that thy children might be kept without hurt.7For a cloud overshadowed their camps and where water was before, dry land appeared, and in the Red Sea a way without hindrance, and out of the great deep a springing field:8Through which all the nation passed which was protected with thy hand, seeing thy miracles and wonders.9For they fed on their food like horses, and they skipped like lambs, praising thee, O Lord, who hadst delivered them.
14For, when a quiet silence surrounded all things, and when the course of the night was passing the middle of its journey,15your almighty word from heaven leapt down from your royal throne, as a fierce warrior in the midst of the land of extermination,16as a sharp sword carrying your unfeigned authority, and standing, filled all things with death, and, standing on the earth, reached all the way up to touch heaven.
6For every creature according to its kind was fashioned again as from the beginning, diligently serving your teachings, so that your children would be preserved unharmed.7For a cloud overshadowed their camp, and where water was before, dry land appeared, and in the Red Sea, a way without hindrance, and out of the great deep, a level field sprung up,8through which the whole nation passed, protected by your hand, seeing your miracles and wonders.9For they consumed food like horses, and they leapt about like lambs, praising you, O Lord, who had freed them.
14For while all things were in quiet silence, and that night was in the midst of her swift course,15Thine Almighty word leaped down from heaven out of thy royal throne, as a fierce man of war into the midst of a land of destruction,16And brought thine unfeigned commandment as a sharp sword, and standing up filled all things with death; and it touched the heaven, but it stood upon the earth.
6For the whole creature in his proper kind was fashioned again anew, serving the peculiar commandments that were given unto them, that thy children might be kept without hurt:7As namely, a cloud shadowing the camp; and where water stood before, dry land appeared; and out of the Red sea a way without impediment; and out of the violent stream a green field:8Wherethrough all the people went that were defended with thy hand, seeing thy marvellous strange wonders.9For they went at large like horses, and leaped like lambs, praising thee, O Lord, who hadst delivered them.
14For while all things were in quiet silence, and the night was in the midst of her course,15Thy Almighty word leaped down from heaven from thy royal throne, as a fierce conqueror into the midst of the land of destruction,16With a sharp sword carrying thy unfeigned commandment, and he stood and filled all things with death, and standing on the earth, reached even to heaven.
6For every creature, according to its kind was fashioned again as from the beginning, obeying thy commandments, that thy children might be kept without hurt.7For a cloud overshadowed their camps and where water was before, dry land appeared, and in the Red Sea a way without hindrance, and out of the great deep a springing field:8Through which all the nation passed which was protected with thy hand, seeing thy miracles and wonders.9For they fed on their food like horses, and they skipped like lambs, praising thee, O Lord, who hadst delivered them.
14For, when a quiet silence surrounded all things, and when the course of the night was passing the middle of its journey,15your almighty word from heaven leapt down from your royal throne, as a fierce warrior in the midst of the land of extermination,16as a sharp sword carrying your unfeigned authority, and standing, filled all things with death, and, standing on the earth, reached all the way up to touch heaven.
6For every creature according to its kind was fashioned again as from the beginning, diligently serving your teachings, so that your children would be preserved unharmed.7For a cloud overshadowed their camp, and where water was before, dry land appeared, and in the Red Sea, a way without hindrance, and out of the great deep, a level field sprung up,8through which the whole nation passed, protected by your hand, seeing your miracles and wonders.9For they consumed food like horses, and they leapt about like lambs, praising you, O Lord, who had freed them.
14For while all things were in quiet silence, and that night was in the midst of her swift course,15Thine Almighty word leaped down from heaven out of thy royal throne, as a fierce man of war into the midst of a land of destruction,16And brought thine unfeigned commandment as a sharp sword, and standing up filled all things with death; and it touched the heaven, but it stood upon the earth.
6For the whole creature in his proper kind was fashioned again anew, serving the peculiar commandments that were given unto them, that thy children might be kept without hurt:7As namely, a cloud shadowing the camp; and where water stood before, dry land appeared; and out of the Red sea a way without impediment; and out of the violent stream a green field:8Wherethrough all the people went that were defended with thy hand, seeing thy marvellous strange wonders.9For they went at large like horses, and leaped like lambs, praising thee, O Lord, who hadst delivered them.
2Sing to him, yea sing praises to him: relate all his wondrous works.3Glory ye in his holy name: let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord.36And he slew all the firstborn in their land: the firstfruits of all their labour.37And he brought them out with silver and gold: and there was not among their tribes one that was feeble.42Because he remembered his holy word, which he had spoken to his servant Abraham.43And he brought forth his people with joy, and his chosen with gladness.
2Sing to him, and sing psalms to him. Describe all his wonders.3Be praised in his holy name. Let the heart of those who seek the Lord rejoice.36And he struck all the first-born in their land, the first-fruits of all their labor.37And he led them out with silver and gold, and there was not an infirm one among their tribes.42For he had called to mind his holy word, which he kept near to his servant Abraham.43And he led forth his people in exultation, and his elect in rejoicing.
2Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him: talk ye of all his wondrous works.3Glory ye in his holy name: let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord.36He smote also all the firstborn in their land, the chief of all their strength.37He brought them forth also with silver and gold: and there was not one feeble person among their tribes.42For he remembered his holy promise, and Abraham his servant.43And he brought forth his people with joy, and his chosen with gladness:
2Sing to him, yea sing praises to him: relate all his wondrous works.3Glory ye in his holy name: let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord.36And he slew all the firstborn in their land: the firstfruits of all their labour.37And he brought them out with silver and gold: and there was not among their tribes one that was feeble.42Because he remembered his holy word, which he had spoken to his servant Abraham.43And he brought forth his people with joy, and his chosen with gladness.
2Sing to him, and sing psalms to him. Describe all his wonders.3Be praised in his holy name. Let the heart of those who seek the Lord rejoice.36And he struck all the first-born in their land, the first-fruits of all their labor.37And he led them out with silver and gold, and there was not an infirm one among their tribes.42For he had called to mind his holy word, which he kept near to his servant Abraham.43And he led forth his people in exultation, and his elect in rejoicing.
2Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him: talk ye of all his wondrous works.3Glory ye in his holy name: let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord.36He smote also all the firstborn in their land, the chief of all their strength.37He brought them forth also with silver and gold: and there was not one feeble person among their tribes.42For he remembered his holy promise, and Abraham his servant.43And he brought forth his people with joy, and his chosen with gladness:
The psalm (Psalm 104 in the Douay's Vulgate numbering) tells the story of the Exodus as praise, and the selection jumps straight from the call to sing to the last plague: he slew all the firstborn in their land: the firstfruits of all their labour (v. 36). Haydock reads the second clause as explaining the first, with a reference to Genesis 49. Augustine thinks the phrase may come from the firstborn of cattle. Worthington notices what the psalm leaves out: the fifth and sixth plagues are never named. Then comes a detail that sounds like hyperbole: there was not among their tribes one that was feeble (v. 37).
Augustine takes the omissions head-on. The plagues were ten, he says, but the psalm neither lists them all nor keeps the order of Exodus, because praise-giving is free from the law which bindeth one who is relating or composing a history. The same Holy Spirit who guided the historian dictates the praise, and by that authority the psalmist may mention what the history does not and pass over what it does. On the silver and gold of verse 37, Augustine says the Israelites were not yet in a state to despise the just, if temporal, wages of their labour, and Haydock adds that the Egyptians handed it over gladly to be rid of them. Calmet reads not one feeble polemically: it refutes the story put about by Israel's enemies that the Jews were expelled for leprosy. Augustine is more careful, limiting it to in body, not in mind, and Berthier does the arithmetic, reckoning that in a population of two and a half million about 150 would die in the ordinary course of a day. In the opening verses Augustine finds the whole of the response the psalm wants. Sing is the good word that tells his works; play is the good deed, done with the hands. And because those who work well might want praise for it, the psalm says glory ye in his holy name (v. 3), so that he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.
Augustine's reading of verse 3 rebukes two habits at once: telling God's works with no matching life, and doing good works in order to be admired for them. Haydock puts the positive demand plainly, telling the reader to know the honour to which they have been raised and to live accordingly, and Augustine adds that the meek who seek the Lord rejoice without envying those further along. Verse 42 grounds the whole deliverance in God's memory, because he remembered his holy word, which he had spoken to his servant Abraham. The psalm ends with the picture to hold onto: a people walking out of Egypt at full strength, not one of them lagging, carrying their wages, brought out with joy (v. 43).
1And he spoke also a parable to them, that we ought always to pray and not to faint,2Saying: There was a judge in a certain city, who feared not God nor regarded man.3And there was a certain widow in that city; and she came to him, saying: Avenge me of my adversary.4And he would not for a long time. But afterwards he said within himself: Although I fear not God nor regard man,5Yet because this widow is troublesome to me, I will avenge her, lest continually coming she weary me.6And the Lord said: Hear what the unjust judge saith.7And will not God revenge his elect who cry to him day and night? And will he have patience in their regard?8I say to you that he will quickly revenge them. But yet the Son of man, when he cometh, shall he find, think you, faith on earth?
1Now he also told them a parable, that we should continually pray and not cease,2saying: “There was a certain judge in a certain city, who did not fear God and did not respect man.3But there was a certain widow in that city, and she went to him, saying, ‘Vindicate me from my adversary.’4And he refused to do so for a long time. But afterwards, he said within himself: ‘Even though I do not fear God, nor respect man,5yet because this widow is pestering me, I will vindicate her, lest by returning, she may, in the end, wear me out.’ ”6Then the Lord said: “Listen to what the unjust judge said.7So then, will not God grant the vindication of his elect, who cry out to him day and night? Or will he continue to endure them?8I tell you that he will quickly bring vindication to them. Yet truly, when the Son of man returns, do you think that he will find faith on earth?”
1And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;2Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man:3And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary.4And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man;5Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.6And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith.7And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them?8I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?
1And he spoke also a parable to them, that we ought always to pray and not to faint,2Saying: There was a judge in a certain city, who feared not God nor regarded man.3And there was a certain widow in that city; and she came to him, saying: Avenge me of my adversary.4And he would not for a long time. But afterwards he said within himself: Although I fear not God nor regard man,5Yet because this widow is troublesome to me, I will avenge her, lest continually coming she weary me.6And the Lord said: Hear what the unjust judge saith.7And will not God revenge his elect who cry to him day and night? And will he have patience in their regard?8I say to you that he will quickly revenge them. But yet the Son of man, when he cometh, shall he find, think you, faith on earth?
1Now he also told them a parable, that we should continually pray and not cease,2saying: “There was a certain judge in a certain city, who did not fear God and did not respect man.3But there was a certain widow in that city, and she went to him, saying, ‘Vindicate me from my adversary.’4And he refused to do so for a long time. But afterwards, he said within himself: ‘Even though I do not fear God, nor respect man,5yet because this widow is pestering me, I will vindicate her, lest by returning, she may, in the end, wear me out.’ ”6Then the Lord said: “Listen to what the unjust judge said.7So then, will not God grant the vindication of his elect, who cry out to him day and night? Or will he continue to endure them?8I tell you that he will quickly bring vindication to them. Yet truly, when the Son of man returns, do you think that he will find faith on earth?”
1And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;2Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man:3And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary.4And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man;5Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.6And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith.7And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them?8I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?
The judge's reason for giving in is more vivid in the original than in the Douay's lest continually coming she weary me (v. 5). The Vulgate has sugillet me, and Haydock's note gives the Greek as upopiaze me, literally "lest she give me strokes on the face" that leave it black and blue. The same verb appears once more in the New Testament, where Paul says he chastises his body (1 Corinthians 9:27). Since no one supposes the judge feared an actual beating, Haydock takes it as a metaphor for constant reproach, and Lapide adds the senses of deafening the ears and branding with disgrace. The widow's own words are milder than they sound. Avenge me (v. 3) is a Hebraism for "do me justice," says Witham, and Lapide insists she asked for her rights, not for revenge.
Augustine explains that some parables work by likeness and others by contrast, and this one belongs with the lilies of the field: if the grass is clothed so, how much more you. Calmet warns that comparisons "are not meant to hold good in every particular," and Lapide, following Euthymius and Chrysostom, prefers to read it from the less to the greater, not as a portrait of God. Theophylact marks how low the judge stands, since a man who has lost even his shame before others has reached "the summit of all wickedness." On always to pray (v. 1) the commentators part company. Bede offers either the canonical hours or everything the righteous man does toward God. Lapide, against the Euchitae who would pray and do no work, reads "always" as perseverance, not unbroken continuance: fixed times, and no stopping until the thing is obtained. Augustine, cited by Witham, moves it inward: "Desire always, and you pray always," and "the cooling of charity is the silence of the heart." He then ties the parable to its last line. The faith the Son of man may not find (v. 8) is perfect faith, and "when faith fails, prayer dies"; faith pours out prayer, and prayer steadies faith. Bede hears the question as a rebuke, the way a master asks a servant, "Am I not your master?"
The parable cuts against prayer as a single request filed and forgotten, and against the opposite habit of treating a long delay as a refusal. Witham, drawing on Augustine, warns that God may grant in anger what in mercy He would withhold, and delays to stretch patience. Lapide names a third error from the end of the passage: the settled belief that the world runs on by nature with "no Deity to judge us," which empties prayer of its reason. The text requires a petitioner who keeps returning to the same door with the same case. Its picture is a corrupt official, indifferent to God and to his reputation, wincing at the prospect of a widow who will not stop coming, and the Lord's comment that this man's words are worth hearing.
14For while all things were in quiet silence, and the night was in the midst of her course,15Thy Almighty word leaped down from heaven from thy royal throne, as a fierce conqueror into the midst of the land of destruction,16With a sharp sword carrying thy unfeigned commandment, and he stood and filled all things with death, and standing on the earth, reached even to heaven.
6For every creature, according to its kind was fashioned again as from the beginning, obeying thy commandments, that thy children might be kept without hurt.7For a cloud overshadowed their camps and where water was before, dry land appeared, and in the Red Sea a way without hindrance, and out of the great deep a springing field:8Through which all the nation passed which was protected with thy hand, seeing thy miracles and wonders.9For they fed on their food like horses, and they skipped like lambs, praising thee, O Lord, who hadst delivered them.
14For, when a quiet silence surrounded all things, and when the course of the night was passing the middle of its journey,15your almighty word from heaven leapt down from your royal throne, as a fierce warrior in the midst of the land of extermination,16as a sharp sword carrying your unfeigned authority, and standing, filled all things with death, and, standing on the earth, reached all the way up to touch heaven.
6For every creature according to its kind was fashioned again as from the beginning, diligently serving your teachings, so that your children would be preserved unharmed.7For a cloud overshadowed their camp, and where water was before, dry land appeared, and in the Red Sea, a way without hindrance, and out of the great deep, a level field sprung up,8through which the whole nation passed, protected by your hand, seeing your miracles and wonders.9For they consumed food like horses, and they leapt about like lambs, praising you, O Lord, who had freed them.
14For while all things were in quiet silence, and that night was in the midst of her swift course,15Thine Almighty word leaped down from heaven out of thy royal throne, as a fierce man of war into the midst of a land of destruction,16And brought thine unfeigned commandment as a sharp sword, and standing up filled all things with death; and it touched the heaven, but it stood upon the earth.
6For the whole creature in his proper kind was fashioned again anew, serving the peculiar commandments that were given unto them, that thy children might be kept without hurt:7As namely, a cloud shadowing the camp; and where water stood before, dry land appeared; and out of the Red sea a way without impediment; and out of the violent stream a green field:8Wherethrough all the people went that were defended with thy hand, seeing thy marvellous strange wonders.9For they went at large like horses, and leaped like lambs, praising thee, O Lord, who hadst delivered them.
The scene opens in stillness: while all things were in quiet silence, and the night was in the midst of her course (v. 14). Into that hush the Almighty word leaped down from heaven from thy royal throne, a conqueror with a sharp sword who filled all things with death, and who, standing on the earth, reached even to heaven (vv. 15-16). The author is retelling the death of Egypt's firstborn, and the agent of that night is a single figure spanning earth and sky. The second half of the reading turns from slaughter to rescue, and the picture is just as strange. Creation is fashioned again as from the beginning (v. 6): a cloud covers the camps, dry land appears where water stood, and out of the great deep a springing field (v. 7). Haydock notes that the Septuagint word behind it is germinans, "growing grass," so that the sea floor becomes, as Calmet puts it, like a meadow. Israel crosses it as if it were pasture, and the people skipped like lambs (v. 9).
Haydock calls the description of the decree, or angel of the Lord, in verse 14 most magnificent, and he records two ways the Church has read it beyond its first sense. Calmet observes that the Church applies the midnight descent of the word to Christ's nativity, since he is thought to have been born at midnight. Worthington draws a different detail from the same verse: the silence points to his coming at a time when the world enjoyed a profound peace while still buried in the darkness of ignorance. On the Red Sea, Haydock explains fashioned again by saying the elements seemed open to any form and to take on another nature: fire burned in water, the sea drew back. Calmet adds Pliny's report that the Red Sea and the eastern ocean are full of wood, and he links the passage to the psalm's claim that the Hebrews walked through the deep as through a desert, while the sea seemed to look for other channels. Read together, the two halves of the reading show one word that kills and also remakes, which is why the Christmas application Calmet records does not soften the text. The child born at midnight is the same word that came down with a sword.
For a reader who knows this verse mainly from the Christmas liturgy, the reading restores what the carols leave out. The word that comes in silence comes to judge as well as to save, and a faith that keeps only the gentle half has misread both halves. Worthington's gloss also cuts against the assumption that peace and enlightenment arrive together: the world was quiet and still in the dark. What the passage asks is the response of verse 8, a people who passed through seeing thy miracles and wonders and knew whose hand had covered them. Its last image is the one to keep: lambs leaping on a seabed that until that night had been the great deep.
2Sing to him, yea sing praises to him: relate all his wondrous works.3Glory ye in his holy name: let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord.36And he slew all the firstborn in their land: the firstfruits of all their labour.37And he brought them out with silver and gold: and there was not among their tribes one that was feeble.42Because he remembered his holy word, which he had spoken to his servant Abraham.43And he brought forth his people with joy, and his chosen with gladness.
2Sing to him, and sing psalms to him. Describe all his wonders.3Be praised in his holy name. Let the heart of those who seek the Lord rejoice.36And he struck all the first-born in their land, the first-fruits of all their labor.37And he led them out with silver and gold, and there was not an infirm one among their tribes.42For he had called to mind his holy word, which he kept near to his servant Abraham.43And he led forth his people in exultation, and his elect in rejoicing.
2Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him: talk ye of all his wondrous works.3Glory ye in his holy name: let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord.36He smote also all the firstborn in their land, the chief of all their strength.37He brought them forth also with silver and gold: and there was not one feeble person among their tribes.42For he remembered his holy promise, and Abraham his servant.43And he brought forth his people with joy, and his chosen with gladness:
The psalm (Psalm 104 in the Douay's Vulgate numbering) tells the story of the Exodus as praise, and the selection jumps straight from the call to sing to the last plague: he slew all the firstborn in their land: the firstfruits of all their labour (v. 36). Haydock reads the second clause as explaining the first, with a reference to Genesis 49. Augustine thinks the phrase may come from the firstborn of cattle. Worthington notices what the psalm leaves out: the fifth and sixth plagues are never named. Then comes a detail that sounds like hyperbole: there was not among their tribes one that was feeble (v. 37).
Augustine takes the omissions head-on. The plagues were ten, he says, but the psalm neither lists them all nor keeps the order of Exodus, because praise-giving is free from the law which bindeth one who is relating or composing a history. The same Holy Spirit who guided the historian dictates the praise, and by that authority the psalmist may mention what the history does not and pass over what it does. On the silver and gold of verse 37, Augustine says the Israelites were not yet in a state to despise the just, if temporal, wages of their labour, and Haydock adds that the Egyptians handed it over gladly to be rid of them. Calmet reads not one feeble polemically: it refutes the story put about by Israel's enemies that the Jews were expelled for leprosy. Augustine is more careful, limiting it to in body, not in mind, and Berthier does the arithmetic, reckoning that in a population of two and a half million about 150 would die in the ordinary course of a day. In the opening verses Augustine finds the whole of the response the psalm wants. Sing is the good word that tells his works; play is the good deed, done with the hands. And because those who work well might want praise for it, the psalm says glory ye in his holy name (v. 3), so that he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.
Augustine's reading of verse 3 rebukes two habits at once: telling God's works with no matching life, and doing good works in order to be admired for them. Haydock puts the positive demand plainly, telling the reader to know the honour to which they have been raised and to live accordingly, and Augustine adds that the meek who seek the Lord rejoice without envying those further along. Verse 42 grounds the whole deliverance in God's memory, because he remembered his holy word, which he had spoken to his servant Abraham. The psalm ends with the picture to hold onto: a people walking out of Egypt at full strength, not one of them lagging, carrying their wages, brought out with joy (v. 43).
1And he spoke also a parable to them, that we ought always to pray and not to faint,2Saying: There was a judge in a certain city, who feared not God nor regarded man.3And there was a certain widow in that city; and she came to him, saying: Avenge me of my adversary.4And he would not for a long time. But afterwards he said within himself: Although I fear not God nor regard man,5Yet because this widow is troublesome to me, I will avenge her, lest continually coming she weary me.6And the Lord said: Hear what the unjust judge saith.7And will not God revenge his elect who cry to him day and night? And will he have patience in their regard?8I say to you that he will quickly revenge them. But yet the Son of man, when he cometh, shall he find, think you, faith on earth?
1Now he also told them a parable, that we should continually pray and not cease,2saying: “There was a certain judge in a certain city, who did not fear God and did not respect man.3But there was a certain widow in that city, and she went to him, saying, ‘Vindicate me from my adversary.’4And he refused to do so for a long time. But afterwards, he said within himself: ‘Even though I do not fear God, nor respect man,5yet because this widow is pestering me, I will vindicate her, lest by returning, she may, in the end, wear me out.’ ”6Then the Lord said: “Listen to what the unjust judge said.7So then, will not God grant the vindication of his elect, who cry out to him day and night? Or will he continue to endure them?8I tell you that he will quickly bring vindication to them. Yet truly, when the Son of man returns, do you think that he will find faith on earth?”
1And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;2Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man:3And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary.4And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man;5Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.6And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith.7And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them?8I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?
The judge's reason for giving in is more vivid in the original than in the Douay's lest continually coming she weary me (v. 5). The Vulgate has sugillet me, and Haydock's note gives the Greek as upopiaze me, literally "lest she give me strokes on the face" that leave it black and blue. The same verb appears once more in the New Testament, where Paul says he chastises his body (1 Corinthians 9:27). Since no one supposes the judge feared an actual beating, Haydock takes it as a metaphor for constant reproach, and Lapide adds the senses of deafening the ears and branding with disgrace. The widow's own words are milder than they sound. Avenge me (v. 3) is a Hebraism for "do me justice," says Witham, and Lapide insists she asked for her rights, not for revenge.
Augustine explains that some parables work by likeness and others by contrast, and this one belongs with the lilies of the field: if the grass is clothed so, how much more you. Calmet warns that comparisons "are not meant to hold good in every particular," and Lapide, following Euthymius and Chrysostom, prefers to read it from the less to the greater, not as a portrait of God. Theophylact marks how low the judge stands, since a man who has lost even his shame before others has reached "the summit of all wickedness." On always to pray (v. 1) the commentators part company. Bede offers either the canonical hours or everything the righteous man does toward God. Lapide, against the Euchitae who would pray and do no work, reads "always" as perseverance, not unbroken continuance: fixed times, and no stopping until the thing is obtained. Augustine, cited by Witham, moves it inward: "Desire always, and you pray always," and "the cooling of charity is the silence of the heart." He then ties the parable to its last line. The faith the Son of man may not find (v. 8) is perfect faith, and "when faith fails, prayer dies"; faith pours out prayer, and prayer steadies faith. Bede hears the question as a rebuke, the way a master asks a servant, "Am I not your master?"
The parable cuts against prayer as a single request filed and forgotten, and against the opposite habit of treating a long delay as a refusal. Witham, drawing on Augustine, warns that God may grant in anger what in mercy He would withhold, and delays to stretch patience. Lapide names a third error from the end of the passage: the settled belief that the world runs on by nature with "no Deity to judge us," which empties prayer of its reason. The text requires a petitioner who keeps returning to the same door with the same case. Its picture is a corrupt official, indifferent to God and to his reputation, wincing at the prospect of a widow who will not stop coming, and the Lord's comment that this man's words are worth hearing.
The complete public-domain commentary this reading's note draws from, unabridged. Every claim in the note traces to a passage here.
Course. This description of the decree, or angel of the Lord, is most magnificent. The Church applies it to Christ's nativity, who is thought to have been born at midnight. (Calmet) --- It insinuates his coming, when the world should enjoy a profound peace, though buried in the darkness of ignorance. (Worthington)
Beginning. It seemed susceptible of any form; and the elements appeared to be of another nature. The fire burnt in water, the sea retired, &c., chap. v. 21., and xvi. 24.
Field. Like a meadow, (Calmet) germinans, "growing grass." (Septuagint) (Haydock) --- Pliny ([Natural History?] xiii. 25.) attests, that "the Red Sea, and all the eastern ocean, are full of wood." The Hebrews passed with as much ease as in a desert, (Psalm cv. 9., and Isaias lxiii. 13.) or place of pasture, while the sea seemed to be in quest of other channels. (Calmet) (Genesis i. 9.) (Haydock)
(ver. 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. "Let your talking be of all His wondrous works. Be ye praise in His holy Name"
(ver. 3). These two verses may without any absurdity seem paraphrases of the two words above; so that, "Let your talking be of all His wondrous works," may express the words, "O sing unto Him;" and what followeth, "be ye praised in His holy Name," may be referred to the words, "and play on instruments unto Him;" the former relating to the "good word" 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, "be ye praised," which assuredly they who work well deservedly may, he added, "in His holy Name," since "he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord." ...This is to be praised in His holy Name. Whence we read also in another Psalm: "My soul shall be praised in the Lord: let the meek hear thereof, and be glad;" which here in a sense followeth, "Let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord:" for thus the meek are glad, who do not rival with a bitter jealousy those whom they imitate as already workers of good.
3. "Seek the Lord, and be strengthened"
(ver. 36). This is the last plague, excepting the death in the Red Sea. "The first-fruits of all their strength," 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 something to have taken place which is not there read, and passeth over what is there read.
27. 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...."He brought them forth also in silver and gold"
(ver. 37): this too is a Scripture idiom; for "in silver and gold" is said for the same as if it had been said "with silver and gold: there was not one feeble person among their tribes:" in body, not in mind. This also was a great blessing of God, that in this necessity of removal there was no infirm person.
28. "Egypt was glad at their departing: for their fear fell upon them"
(ver. 42). "And He brought forth His people with joy, and His chosen with gladness"
(ver. 43). What he said, "His people," he has repeated in, "His chosen." So also what he said, "with joy," he has repeated in, "with gladness." "And gave them the lands of the heathen: and they took the labours of the people in possession"
Glory. 2 Corinthians x. 17. (Eusebius) --- Literally, "be praised," (Haydock) knowing to what an honor you have been raised, (Deuteronomy xxx. 7., and Jeremias ix. 23.) and live accordingly.
Labour. This explains the first part of the verse, Genesis xlix. 3., and Psalm lxxvii. 51. (Haydock) --- The fifth and sixth plagues are not specified. (Worthington)
Gold. Which the Egyptians gave to get quit of them, (Exodus xi. 1.) and that with joy, (ver. 38.) though they might at first only intend to lend. (St. Augustine) (Berthier) --- Feeble. This refutes the notion which the enemies of the Jews had propagated, saying that they were banished on account of the leprosy. They felt none of the inconveniences which fell on the Egyptians, and God removed every obstacle which might retard their flight. (Calmet) --- According to the course of nature, out of two million and a half, 150 people die daily. (Berthier)
1 O give thanks unto the Lord ; call upon his name: make known his deeds among the people. 2 Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him: talk ye of all his wondrous works. 3 Glory ye in his holy name: let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord . 4 Seek the Lord , and his strength: seek his face evermore. 5 Remember his marvellous works that he hath done; his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth; 6 O ye seed of Abraham his servant, ye children of Jacob his chosen. 7 He is the Lord our God: his judgments are in all the earth.
Our devotion is here warmly excited; and we are stirred up, that we may stir up ourselves to praise God. Observe,
I. The duties to which we are here called, and they are many, but the tendency of them all is to give unto God the glory due unto his name. 1. We must give thanks to him, as one who has always been our bountiful benefactor and requires only that we give him thanks for his favours—poor returns for rich receivings. 2. Call upon his name, as one whom you depend upon for further favours. Praying for further mercies is accepted as an acknowledgment of former mercies. Because he has inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I call upon him. 3. Make known his deeds ( v. 1 ), that others may join with you in praising him. Talk of all his wondrous works ( v. 2 ), as we talk of things that we are full of, and much affected with, and desire to fill others with. God's wondrous works ought to be the subject of our familiar discourses with our families and friends, and we should talk of them as we sit in the house and as we go by the way ( Deut. vi. 7 ), not merely for entertainment, but for the exciting of devotion and the encouraging of our own and others' faith and hope in God. Even sacred things may be the matter of common talk, provided it be with due reverence. 4. Sing psalms to God's honour, as those that rejoice in him, and desire to testify that joy for the encouragement of others and to transmit it to posterity, as memorable things anciently were handed down by songs, when writing was scarce. 5. Glory in his holy name; let those that are disposed to glory not boast of their own accomplishments and achievements, but of their acquaintance with God and their relation to him, Jer. ix. 23, 24 . Praise you his holy name, so some; but it comes all to one, for in glorying in him we give glory to him. 6. Seek him; place your happiness in him, and then pursue that happiness in all the ways that he has appointed. Seek the Lord and his strength, that is, the ark of his strength; seek him in the sanctuary, in the way wherein he has appointed us to seek him. Seek his strength, that is, his grace, the strength of his Spirit to work in you that which is good, which we cannot do but by strength derived from him, for which he will be enquired of. Seek the Lord and be strengthened; so divers ancient versions read it. Those that would be strengthened in the inward man must fetch in strength from God by faith and prayer. Seek his strength, and then seek his face; for by his strength, we hope to prevail with him for his favour, as Jacob did, Hos. xii. 3 . " Seek his face evermore; seek to have his favour to eternity, and therefore continue seeking it to the end of the time of your probation. Seek it while you live in this world, and you shall have it while you live in the other world, and even there shall be for ever seeking it in an infinite progression, and yet be for ever satisfied in it." 7. Let the hearts of those rejoice that do seek him ( v. 3 ); for they have chosen well, are well fixed, and well employed, and they may be sure that their labour will not be in vain, for he will not only be found, but he will be found the rewarder of those that diligently seek him. If those have reason to rejoice that seek the Lord, much more those that have found him.
25 He turned their heart to hate his people, to deal subtilly with his servants. 26 He sent Moses his servant; and Aaron whom he had chosen. 27 They showed his signs among them, and wonders in the land of Ham. 28 He sent darkness, and made it dark; and they rebelled not against his word. 29 He turned their waters into blood, and slew their fish. 30 Their land brought forth frogs in abundance, in the chambers of their kings. 31 He spake, and there came divers sorts of flies, and lice in all their coasts. 32 He gave them hail for rain, and flaming fire in their land. 33 He smote their vines also and their fig trees; and brake the trees of their coasts. 34 He spake, and the locusts came, and caterpillars, and that without number, 35 And did eat up all the herbs in their land, and devoured the fruit of their ground. 36 He smote also all the firstborn in their land, the chief of all their strength. 37 He brought them forth also with silver and gold: and there was not one feeble person among their tribes. 38 Egypt was glad when they departed: for the fear of them fell upon them. 39 He spread a cloud for a covering; and fire to give light in the night. 40 The people asked, and he brought quails, and satisfied them with the bread of heaven. 41 He opened the rock, and the waters gushed out; they ran in the dry places like a river. 42 For he remembered his holy promise, and Abraham his servant. 43 And he brought forth his people with joy, and his chosen with gladness: 44 And gave them the lands of the heathen: and they inherited the labour of the people; 45 That they might observe his statutes, and keep his laws. Praise ye the Lord .
After the history of the patriarchs follows here the history of the people of Israel, when they grew into a nation.
I. Their affliction in Egypt ( v. 25 ): He turned the heart of the Egyptians, who had protected them, to hate them and deal subtilely with them. God's goodness to his people exasperated the Egyptians against them; and, though their old antipathy to the Hebrews (which we read of Gen. xliii. 32 ; xlvi. 34 ) was laid asleep for a while, yet now it revived with more violence than ever: formerly they hated them because they despised them, now because they feared them. They dealt subtilely with them, set all their politics on work to find out ways and means to weaken them, and waste them, and prevent their growth; they made their burdens heavy and their lives bitter, and slew their male children as soon as they were born. Malice is crafty to destroy: Satan has the serpent's subtlety, with his venom. It was God that turned the hearts of the Egyptians against them; for every creature is that to us that he makes it to be, a friend or an enemy. Though God is not the author of the sins of men, yet he serves his own purposes by them.
II. Their deliverance out of Egypt, that work of wonder, which, that it might never be forgotten, is put into the preface to the ten commandments. Observe,
1. The instruments employed in that deliverance ( v. 26 ): He sent Moses his servant on this errand and joined Aaron in commission with him. Moses was designed to be their lawgiver and chief magistrate, Aaron to be their chief priest; and therefore, that they might respect them the more and submit to them the more cheerfully, God made use of them as their deliverers.
2. The means of accomplishing that deliverance; these were the plagues of Egypt. Moses and Aaron observed their orders, in summoning them just as God appointed them, and they rebelled not against his word ( v. 28 ) as Jonah did, who, when he was sent to denounce God's judgments against Nineveh, went to Tarshish. Moses and Aaron were not moved, either with a foolish fear of Pharaoh's wrath or a foolish pity of Egypt's misery, to relax or retard any of the plagues which God ordered them to inflict on the Egyptians, but stretched forth their hand to inflict them as God appointed. Those that are instructed to execute judgment will find their remissness construed as a rebellion against God's word. The plagues of Egypt are here called God's signs, and his wonders ( v. 27 ); they were not only proofs of his power, but tokens of his wrath, and to be looked upon with admiration and holy awe. They showed the words of his signs (so it is in the original), for every plague had an exposition going along with it; they were not, as the common works of creation and providence, silent signs, but speaking ones, and they spoke aloud. They are all or most of them here specified, though not in the order in which they were inflicted. (1.) The plague of darkness, v. 28 . This was one of the last, though here mentioned first. God sent darkness, and, coming with commission, it came with efficacy; his command made it dark. And then they (that is, the people of Israel) rebelled not against God's word, namely, a command which some think was given them to circumcise all among them that had not been circumcised, in doing which the three days' darkness would be a protection to them. The old translation follows the LXX., and reads it, They were not obedient to his word, which may be applied to Pharaoh and the Egyptians, who, notwithstanding the terror of this plague, would not let the people go; but there is no ground for it in the Hebrew. (2.) The turning of the river Nilus (which they idolized) into blood, and all their other waters, which slew their fish ( v. 29 ), and so they were deprived, not only of their drink, but of the daintiest of their meat, Num. xi. 5 . (3.) The frogs, shoals of which their land brought forth, which poured in upon them, not only in such numbers, but with such fury, that they could not keep them out of the chambers of their kings and great men, whose hearts had been full of vermin, more nauseous and more noxious-contempt of, and enmity to, both God and his Israel. (4.) Flies of divers sorts swarmed in their air, and lice in their clothes, v. 31 ; Exod. viii. 17 , 24 . Note, God can make use of the meanest, and weakest, and most despicable animals, for the punishing and humbling of proud oppressors, to whom the impotency of the instrument cannot but be a great mortification, as well as an undeniable conviction of the divine omnipotence. (5.) Hail-stones shattered their trees, even the strongest timber-trees in their coasts, and killed their vines, and their other fruit-trees, v. 32, 33 . Instead of rain to cherish their trees, he gave them hail to crush them, and with it thunder and lightning, to such a degree that the fire ran along upon the ground, as if it had been a stream of kindled brimstone, Exod. ix. 23 . (6.) Locusts and caterpillars destroyed all the herbs which were made for the service of man and ate the bread out of their mouths, v. 34, 35 . See what variety of judgments God has, wherewith to plague proud oppressors, that will not let his people go. God did not bring the same plague twice, but, when there was occasion for another, it was still a new one; for he has many arrows in his quiver. Locusts and caterpillars are God's armies; and, how weak soever they are singly, he can raise such numbers of them as to make them formidable, Joel i. 4 , 6 . (7.) Having mentioned all the plagues but those of the murrain and boils, he concludes with that which gave the conquering stroke, and that was the death of the first-born, v. 36 . In the dead of the night the joys and hopes of their families, the chief of their strength and flower of their land, were all struck dead by the destroying angel. They would not release God's first-born, and therefore God seized theirs by way of reprisal, and thereby forced them to dismiss his too, when it was too late to retrieve their own; for when God judges he will overcome, and those will certainly sit down losers at last that contend with him.
3. The mercies that accompanied this deliverance. In their bondage, (1.) They had been impoverished, and yet they came out rich and wealthy. God not only brought them forth, but he brought them forth with silver and gold, v. 37 . God empowered them to ask and collect the contributions of their neighbours (which were indeed but part of payment for the service they had done them) and inclined the Egyptians to furnish them with what they asked. Their wealth was his, and therefore he might, their hearts were in his hand, and therefore he could, give it to the Israelites. (2.) Their lives had been made bitter to them, and their bodies and spirits broken by their bondage; and yet, when God brought them forth, there was not one feeble person, none sick, none so much as sickly, among their tribes. They went out that very night that the plague swept away all the first-born of Egypt, and yet they went out all in good health, and brought not with them any of the diseases of Egypt. Surely never was the like, that among so many thousands there was not one sick! So false was the representation which the enemies of the Jews, in after-ages, gave of this matter, that they were all sick of a leprosy, or some loathsome disease, and that therefore the Egyptians thrust them out of their land. (3.) They had been trampled upon and insulted over; and yet they were brought out with honour ( v. 38 ): Egypt was glad when they departed; for God had so wonderfully owned them, and pleaded their cause, that the fear of Israel fell upon them, and they owned themselves baffled and overcome. God can and will make his church a burdensome stone to all that heave at it and seek to displace it, so that those shall think themselves happy that get out of its way, Zech. xii. 3 . When God judges, he will overcome. (4.) They had spent their days in sorrow and in sighing, by reason of their bondage; but now he brought them forth with joy and gladness, v. 43 . When Egypt's cry for grief was loud, their first-born being all slain, Israel's shouts for joy were as loud, both when they looked back upon the land of slavery out of which they were rescued and when they looked forward to the pleasant land to which they were hastening. God now put a new song into their mouth.
4. The special care God took of them in the wilderness. (1.) For their shelter. Besides the canopy of heaven, he provided them another heavenly canopy: He spread a cloud for a covering ( v. 39 ), which was to them not only a screen and umbrella, but a cloth of state. A cloud was often God's pavilion ( Ps. xviii. 11 ) and now it was Israel's; for they also were his hidden ones. (2.) For their guidance and refreshment in the dark. He appointed a pillar of fire to give light in the night, that they might never be at a loss. Note, God graciously provides against all the grievances of his people, and furnishes them with convenient succours for every condition, for day and night, till they come to heaven, where it will be all day to eternity. (3.) He fed them both with necessaries and dainties. Sometimes he furnished their tables with wild fowl ( v. 40 ): The people asked, and he brought quails; and, when they were not thus feasted, yet they were abundantly satisfied with the bread of heaven. Those are curious and covetous indeed who will not be so satisfied. Man did eat angels' food, and that constantly and on free-cost. And, as every bit they ate had miracle in it, so had every drop they drank: He opened the rock, and the waters gushed out, v. 41 . Common providence fetches waters from heaven, and bread out of the earth; but for Israel the divine power brings bread from the clouds and water from the rocks: so far is the God of nature from being tied to the laws and courses of nature. The water did not only gush out once, but it ran like a river, plentifully and constantly, and attended their camp in all their removes; hence they are said to have the rock follow them ( 1 Cor. x. 4 ), and, which increased the miracle, this river of God (so it might be truly called) ran in dry places, and yet was not drunk in and lost, as one would have expected it to be, by the sands of the desert of Arabia. To this that promise alludes, I will give rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen, Isa. xliii. 19, 20 .
5. Their entrance, at length, into Canaan ( v. 44 ): He gave them the lands of the heathen, put them in possession of that which they had long been put in hopes of; and what the Canaanites had taken pains for God's Israel had the enjoyment of: They inherited the labour of the people; and the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just. The Egyptians had long inherited their labours, and now they inherited the labours of the Canaanites. Thus sometimes one enemy of the church is made to pay another's scores.
6. The reasons why God did all this for them. (1.) Because he would himself perform the promises of the word, v. 42 . They were unworthy and unthankful, yet he did those great things in their favour because he remembered the word of his holiness (that is, his covenant) with Abraham his servant, and he would not suffer one iota or tittle of that to fall to the ground. See Deut. vii. 8 . (2.) Because he would have them to perform the precepts of the word, to bind them to which was the greatest kindness he could put upon them. He put them in possession of Canaan, not that they might live in plenty and pleasure, in ease and honour, and might make a figure among the nations, but that they might observe his statutes and keep his laws, —that, being formed into a people, they might be under God's immediate government, and revealed religion might be the basis of their national constitution,—that, having a good land given them, they might out of the profits of it bring sacrifices to God's altar,—and that, God having thus done them good, they might the more cheerfully receive his law, concluding that also designed for their good, and might be sensible of their obligations in gratitude to live in obedience to him. We are therefore made, maintained, and redeemed, that we may live in obedience to the will of God; and the hallelujah with which the psalm concludes may be taken both as a thankful acknowledgment of God's favours and as a cheerful concurrence with this great intention of them. Has God done so much for us, and yet does he expect so little from us? Praise you the Lord.
3-4. Seeking God's favor is the only true mode of getting true happiness, and His strength [Psa 105:4] is the only true source of protection (compare Psa 32:11 ; 40:16 ).
Glory ... name-- boast in His perfections. The world glories in its horses and chariots against the Church of God lying in the dust; but our hope is in the name, that is, the power and love of God to His people, manifested in past deliverances.
28-36. The ninth plague is made prominent as peculiarly wonderful.
they rebelled not-- Moses and Aaron promptly obeyed God ( He 11:27 ); (compare Ex 7: 1-11:10 and Psa 78:44-51 , with which this summary substantially agrees). Or, rather, the "darkness" here is figurative ( Jr 13:16 ), the literal plague of darkness ( Ex 10:22 , 23 ) being only alluded to as the symbol of God's wrath which overhung Egypt as a dark cloud during all the plagues. Hence, it is placed first, out of the historical order. Thus, "They rebelled not (that is, no longer) against His word," refers to the Egyptians. Whenever God sent a plague on them, they were ready to let Israel go, though refusing when the plague ceased.
his word-- His command to let Israel go [Hengstenberg]. Of the ten plagues, only eight are mentioned, the fifth, the murrain of beasts, and the sixth, the boils, being omitted.
37. with silver and gold-- presented them by the Egyptians, as an acknowledgment due for their labors in their bondage (compare Ex 12:35 ).
one feeble person-- or, "stumbler," unfit for the line of march. Compare "harnessed," that is, accoutred and marshalled as an army on march ( Ex 13:18 ; Is 5:27 ).
42-45. The reasons for these dealings: (1) God's faithfulness to His covenant, "His holy promise" of Canaan, is the fountain whence flowed so many acts of marvellous kindness to His people (compare Psa 105:8 , 11 ). Ex 2:24 is the fundamental passage [Hengstenberg]. (2) That they might be obedient. The observance of God's commands by Abraham was the object of the covenant with him ( Ge 18:19 ), as it was also the object of the covenant with Israel, that they might observe God's statutes.
remembered ... and Abraham-- or, "remembered His holy word (that is, covenant confirmed) with Abraham."
And he spoke a parable to them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;2. Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man:3. And there was a widow in that city; and she came to him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary.4. And he would not for a while: but afterwards he said within himself; Though I fear not God, nor regard man;5. Yet because this widow troubles me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.6. And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge said.7. And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night to him, though he bear long with them?8. I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man comes, shall he find faith on the earth?
Our Lord having spoken of the trials and dangers which were coming, adds immediately afterward their remedy, namely, constant and earnest prayer.
He who has redeemed you, has shown you what He would have you do. He would have you be instant in prayer, He would have you ponder in your heart the blessings you are praying for, He would have you ask and receive what His goodness is longing to impart. He never refuses His blessings to them that pray, but rather stirs men up by His mercy not to faint in praying. Gladly accept the Lord’s encouragement: be willing to do what He commands, not to do what He forbids. Lastly, consider what a blessed privilege is granted you, to talk with God in your prayers, and make known to Him all your wants, while He though not in words, yet by His mercy, answers you, for He despises not petitions, He tires not but when you are silent.
We should say that he is always praying, and faints not, who never fails to pray at the canonical hours. Or all things which the righteous man does and says towards God, are to be counted as praying.
Our Lord utters His parables, either for the sake of the comparison, as in the instance of the creditor, who when forgiving his two debtors all that they owed him was most loved by him who owed him most; or on account of the contrast, from which he draws his conclusion; as, for example, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith. So also here when he brings forward the case of the unjust judge.
We may observe, that irreverence towards man is a token of a greater degree of wickedness. For as many as fear not God, yet are restrained by their shame before men, are so far the less sinful; but when a man becomes reckless also of other men, the burden of his sins is greatly increased. It follows, And there was a widow in that city.
The widow may be said to resemble the Church, which appears desolate until the Lord shall come, who now secretly watches over her. But in the following words, And she came to him, saying, Avenge me, etc. we are told the reason why the elect of God pray that they may be avenged; which we find also said of the martyrs in the Revelations of St. John, though at the same time we are very plainly reminded to pray for our enemies and persecutors. This avenging of the righteous then we must understand to be, that the wicked may perish. And they perish in two ways, either by conversion to righteousness, or by punishment having lost the opportunity of conversion. Although, if all men were converted to God, there would still remain the devil to be condemned at the end of the world. And since the righteous are longing for this end to come, they are not unreasonably said to desire vengeance.
Or else; Whenever men inflict injury upon us, we must then think it a noble thing to be forgetful of the evil; but when they offend against the glory of God by taking up arms against the ministers of God’s ordinance, we then approach God imploring His help, and loudly rebuking them who impugn His glory.
If then with the most unjust judge, the perseverance of the suppliant at length prevailed even to the fulfillment of her desire, how much more confident ought they to feel who cease not to pray to God, the Fountain of justice and mercy?And so it follows. And the Lord said, Hear what, etc.
As if He said, If perseverance could melt a judge defiled with every sin, how much more shall our prayers incline to mercy God the Father of all mercies! But some have given a more subtle meaning to the parable, saying, that the widow is a soul that has put off the old man, (that is, the devil,) who is her adversary, because she approaches God, the righteous Judge, who neither fears (because He is God alone) nor regards man, for with God there is no respect of persons. Upon the widow then, or soul ever supplicating Him against the devil, God shows mercy, and is softened by her importunity.
Our Lord speaks this of perfect faith, which is seldom found on earth. See how full the Church of God is; were there no faith, who would enter it? Were there perfect faith, who would not move mountains?
When the Almighty Creator shall appear in the form of the Son of man, so scarce will the elect be, that not so much the cries of the faithful as the torpor of the others will hasten the world’s fall. Our Lord speaks then as it were doubtfully, not that He really is in doubt, but to reprove us; just as we sometimes, in a matter of certainty, might use the words of doubt, as, for instance, in chiding a servant, "Remember, am I not your master?"
Our Lord adds this to show, that when faith fails, prayer dies. In order to pray then, we must have faith, and that our faith fail not, we must pray. Faith pours forth prayer, and the pouring forth of the heart in prayer gives steadfastness to faith.
Always to pray, i.e. to pray daily, and frequently; (Witham) and also to walk always in the presence of God, by a spirit of prayer, love, and sorrow for sin.
This judge, who feared not God, nor cared for man, yet yielded to the importunity of the widow, represents the absolute and sovereign power of God. But we must not suppose the Almighty has any of the faults we see in this iniquitous judge. Comparisons are not meant to hold good in every particular. The only consequence to be drawn from the present parable, is this: if a man, who has neither piety nor tenderness for his fellow creatures, yield to the importunity of a widow, who is not wearied out with repeating her petitions; how much more will God, who is full of bounty and tenderness to man, and only seek occasions to grant him his gifts, hear the prayers of the fervent, and fill with benedictions the petitioner, who can continue like the widow to importune his interference, and can beg without languor or discouragement? (Calmet)
Avenge me; i.e. do me justice. It is a Hebraism. (Witham)
And he would not for a long time. The Almighty does not always hear us as soon as we could wish, nor in the manner that seems best to us; but if we are not always heard according to our desires, we always are as far as is conducive to our salvation. He sometimes delays, in order to exercise our patience, and increase our ardour: sometimes he grants, in his anger, what, in him mercy, he would refuse. Let us then pray always, desire always, love always. Desire always, and you pray always. This is the continual voice of prayer, which the Almighty demands of you. You are silent, when you cease to love. The cooling of charity, is the silence of the heart. (St. Augustine, in Psalm xxxvii.) (Witham)
She weary me out.[1] This, as much as I am able to find out, seems the literal signification both of the Latin and Greek text. (Witham)
Sugillet me, Greek: upopiaze me. The Greek word literally signifies, lest she give me strokes on the face, that make me appear black and blue; which were called, Greek: upopia. This word, Greek: upopiazein, is only used in one other place in the New Testament, (1 Corinthians ix. 27.) where St. Paul says, castigo, or contundo corpus meum. Now, as we cannot imagine that this judge feared lest the widow should beat him in this shameful manner, the word metaphorically seems to imply, lest she should injuriously upbraid and continually reproach me.
In the Greek, although he suffer for the present the elect to be oppressed. (Bible de Vence) --- Our divine Redeemer adds, this, to shew that faith must necessarily accompany our prayers. For whosoever prays for what he does not believe he shall obtain, will pray in vain; let us, therefore, entreat the Father of mercies to grant us the grace of prayer, and firmness in faith; for faith produces prayer, and prayer produces firmness of faith. (St. Augustine, de verb. Dom. Serm 36.) --- But of this there is little left on the earth, and there will be still less at the second coming of the Son of God.
CHAPTER 18
Ver. 1.He spake a parable unto them to the end that. Christ had said, at the end of the last chapter, that the Apostles and the faithful should suffer persecutions, in which they should wish for His presence that they might seek and receive help from Him. He now names a remedy for all their sufferings, prayer, for He both hears them and grants what they ask, for He teaches, directs, strengthens.
Always to pray. Hence the heretics called Euchitæ wished, but without reason, to be always praying and to do no manual work. But it is written, "If any man will not work, neither let him eat" (2Th_3:10). "Always" here seems to mean sedulously, perseveringly, diligently, assiduously as in other things, and at befitting times, especially when temptation, persecution, and affliction are hard at hand. It is impossible for us to pray always and at all times. We must have a time for eating, drinking, labouring, &c. The word "always" means, therefore, not continuance but perseverance in prayer: that is, that we should set apart fit times for prayer, and not cease to pray until we have obtained what we need and what we ask for. Our Lord adds, "and not to faint" or in the Greek "be weary." The reason is that we daily meet so many difficulties and troubles that our whole lives appear to be one temptation and warfare. And as we are infirm and unable to overcome them we ought to ask help and strength from God through prayer. Thus our whole Christian life seems as it were one prayer. Again, "always," that is frequently, at the hours appointed by the Church, that we may do nothing without prayernothing that we do not ascribe to the glory of God. Bede says, mystically, "He prays always who works for God always;" and the Gloss, "He prays always who lives virtuously always." S. Chrysostom: "The Lord would have you to obtain by prayer that which He wishes to give you. The palace and the ears of princes are open to few. The ears of God are open to all who will." He refers to Ecclus. 35:20. So the apostle, Eph_6:18; 1Th_5:17. See what I have said on those three passages, Climachus: Gradu xxviii.: "Prayer, if we regard its nature or quality, is the familiar conversation and union of man with God, but if we consider its force and efficacy it is the conservation of the world, our reconciliation with God, the mother, at once, and daughter of tears, the propitiation of sins, the bridge of escape from temptation, the bulwark against the attacks of afflictions, the destruction of war, the office of angels, the food of all spirits-future joy, continual action, the fountain of virtues, the reconciler and authoress of divine graces." Not content, he speaks more highly, exaltedly, nobly still: "It is spiritual progress, the food of the soul, the illumination of the mind, the axe of despair, the demonstration of hope, the distinction of sorrow, the wealth of monks, the treasure of solitaries, the decreasing of anger, the mirror of religious growth, the index of our stature, the declaration of our condition, the signification of things future, the proof of the glory to come." So the Church sings of S. Cæcilia: She always bore the evangel of Christ in her bosom, and neither by day nor by night did she cease from divine conversation and prayer, and when the organs sounded Cæcilia sang to the Lord, "Cleanse thou my heart, that I may not be confounded." Valerian her husband found her on her bed praying, with an angel. By this increasing prayer she merited to be given to the angel for the preservation of her virginity, the conversion of her espoused husband Valerian, of Tiburtius and 400 others, and lastly a glorious martyrdom with them all.
Ver. 2.Saying there was in a city a judge which feared not God. This judge was wicked, unjust, cruel, and godless, one who feared neither the vengeance of God, nor the ill-report of men, who cared nothing for his conscience or his character. For the wicked who have no fear of God are often deterred by the shame of men, from confessing those acts for which they are openly despised and considered godless and infamous. But this judge was moved by no fear of God or man, and therefore he had arrived, says Theophylact, at the summit of all wickedness.
Ver. 3.And there was a widow in that city. Avenge me, that is, vindicate my right against my oppressor, and free my innocence; righteousness, substance, and character, which are brought to trial by my enemy who is powerful, and against whom I cannot stand. She did not ask for vengeance but only for justice, that she might be delivered from the violence of her adversary and get back her own.
Ver. 4.And he would not for a while. Partly from his own wickedness and partly because he hoped for a great bribe from the opponent.
But afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man, i.e., Although I am unjust and without scruple or shame yet because this widow is troublesome to me, I will avenge her of her adversary, and give her back her right, lest continually (in novissimo) coming she weary me out (sugillet me). The Syriac has "omni tempore;" the Arabic "semper." Sugillo is properly to bruise the face and make it livid by blows. The Greek is ύποπιάζω. The metaphorical meaning is, firstly, to deafen the head and ears with noise, and many so understand it. The Syriac has, "Lest she continually trouble me." The Arabic, "Lest she be always coming to trouble me." S. Augustine (Ep. 121 to Proba): "She moved the unjust judge by her persistence to listen to her. Not that he was influenced by justice or mercy, but he was overcome by weariness." So Bede, Euthymius, Lucas and others from the Greek. "As therefore this widow by the assiduity and importunity of her supplications conquered the judge, so do we overcome God. What fear cannot effect prayer can. Threats and the fear of punishment have not moved men to justice; but when the widow came as a suppliant, from a savage she made the judge humane. What then may we not conjecture of a beneficent God, if the widow by her prayers changed a judge who had been cruel before, into a humane one?" S. Chrysostom adds that Christ here wishes to show that the chief strength of prayer consists in turning unjust and cruel judges to piety and mercy. Sugillare, applied from the body to the mind, means to brand with a mark, to affect with disgrace, to accuse. Although this senseless judge regarded neither God nor man, he feared for himself and his office, lest he should be deposed from his judgeship, and deprived of honour and profit; he therefore gave the widow her due.
A1legorically, S. Augustine (Lib. ii. Quæst. Evangel. qu. 45), says, "The widow is the Church, which seems desolate until her bridegroom Christ, who now bears her griefs in secret, return from heaven to judgment."
In trope, "The widow," says Theophylact, "is the soul which has put away her former husband. He was hostile to her because she came to God. God is a judge Who fears no one, and regards not the persons of men. The widow represents every soul that is desolate and afflicted, and who prays to the judge, that is God, to be delivered from her adversary. But because it is incongruous to compare God to the unjust and wicked judge, as Euthymius rightly says, from S. Chrysostom, we should rather say that it is Christ who is here spoken of; and not in comparison but as concluding from the less to the greater. That is: If the unjust judge were overcome by the importunity of the widow to change injustice into justice, and give her her rights, how much rather should God do this, who is most just, nay who is justice itself, punishing all injustice?" So S. Augustine aboveS. Chrysostom and Theophylactas will be clearly shown on
verse 7.
Vers. 6, 7.And the Lord said, hear what the, &c. "God," says Theophylact, "is the leader, the judge and the vindicator of all righteousness." So David on Psa_34:17, "The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth." The Arabic has, "Hear what the unjust judge said; and shall not God more rightly avenge His own elect who cry to Him day and night?" So Ecclus. 35:21, 22; Rev_6:9-10, where the souls of the slain for Christ cry to God demanding vengeance. They hear from Him that they must rest yet a little while until the number of their fellow servants is completed. See what I have commented on the place.
Morally. Behold how great is the dignity, the need, and the power of prayer. The need, that by it we may be delivered from all the temptations and tribulations by which we are every where, and always, surrounded. The dignity, because by means of prayer we converse with God, as do the angels. The power, because by it we overcome all adversities and hardships. "To pray always," says S. Chrysostom (Book ii. of Prayer) "is the work of angels, who, wholly intent upon God, teach us while we pray to forget our human nature, and to have no regard to things present, but to conceive of ourselves as standing in the midst of angels, and performing the same sacrifice with them." He adds, "Satan does not venture to come too near to a soul fortified by prayer, for he fears the strength and fortitude which prayer confers. Prayer supports the soul more than food supports the body." And (Book i.), "As the sun gives light to the body, so does prayer to the soul. If it be a loss to a blind man not to see the sun, how much greater a loss is it to a Christian not to pray assiduously, nor to introduce the light of Christ into his soul by prayer! By it we attain to this end, that we cease to be mortal and of time. By nature we are mortal, but by pray and our life with God, we pass to the life immortal. For it is inevitable that he who holds communion with God, should come out superior to death and to all that is subject to corruption."
Ver. 8.When the Son of man cometh. He comes to the universal judgment, when He will deliver His elect, whom He ordered to be always ready and eager; and to await that day patiently, preparing themselves for it by prayer and good works. For that day will be sudden and unexpected like lightning, as He Himself has said (chap. xvii. 24). Christ gives the reason why we should always pray, and persevere in prayer; because from His long absence, faith will fail even in many who believe, so that they will either lose all faith or believe very feebly, scarcely thinking that He will return at all. Secondly, Christ here gives the reason, why many are not heard in prayer. Their faith begins to fail and they do not continue steadfast in prayer, nor await the coming of the Lord with patience as they ought.
Thirdly, Theophylact says, "He rightly connected His words on prayer with those on faith, for the base and foundation of all prayer is faith. He declared at the same time that few would pray, for faith would be found in few."
Christ says this to add a fresh incentive to unceasing prayer, for by degrees faith is failing more and more, and offences and persecutions are therefore increasing.
Shall He find faithperfect faith, that is; faith formed by certain confidence (fiducia) and love. "This," says S. Augustine (tract xxxvi), "is scarcely found on earth, for the Church of the faithful is full of imperfect faith, and is, as it were, half dead." Christ Him-self explains it so, S. Mat_24:12.
This will happen more especially; at the end of the world before the coming of Christ to judgment, when men shall eat and drink themselves over to pleasure and think not of the judgment, as Christ said, Luk_17:27; and S. Peter, 2Pe_3:3. That is, Christians will deny that He is coming to judgment, even when that coming is near at hand (2Peter 3:4). As if they had said, "Nature has made the world: the same Nature continues its course in the same tenor, and always will continue it. There is no God to destroy it: no Deity to judge us and our works, and to punish them."
1 And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint; 2 Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man: 3 And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary. 4 And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man; 5 Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. 6 And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith. 7 And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? 8 I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?
This parable has its key hanging at the door; the drift and design of it are prefixed. Christ spoke it with this intent, to teach us that men ought always to pray and not to faint, v. 1 . It supposes that all God's people are praying people; all God's children keep up both a constant and an occasional correspondence with him, send to him statedly, and upon every emergency. It is our privilege and honour that we may pray. It is our duty; we ought to pray, we sin if we neglect it. It is to be our constant work; we ought always to pray, it is that which the duty of every day requires. We must pray, and never grow weary of praying, nor think of leaving it off till it comes to be swallowed up in everlasting praise. But that which seems particularly designed here is to teach us constancy and perseverance in our requests for some spiritual mercies that we are in pursuit of, relating either to ourselves or to the church of God. When we are praying for strength against our spiritual enemies, our lusts and corruptions, which are our worst enemies, we must continue instant in prayer, must pray and not faint, for we shall not seek God's face in vain. So we must likewise in our prayers for the deliverance of the people of God out of the hands of their persecutors and oppressors.
I. Christ shows, by a parable, the power of importunity among men, who will be swayed by that, when nothing else will influence, to do what is just and right. He gives you an instance of an honest cause that succeeded before an unjust judge, not by the equity or compassionableness of it, but purely by dint of importunity. Observe here, 1. The bad character of the judge that was in a certain city. He neither feared God nor regarded man; he had no manner of concern either for his conscience or for his reputation; he stood in no awe either of the wrath of God against him or of the censures of men concerning him: or, he took no care to do his duty either to God or man; he was a perfect stranger both to godliness and honour, and had no notion of either. It is not strange if those that have cast off the fear of their Creator be altogether regardless of their fellow-creatures; where no fear of God is no good is to be expected. Such a prevalency of irreligion and inhumanity is bad in any, but very bad in a judge, who has power in his hand, in the use of which he ought to be guided by the principles of religion and justice, and, if he be not, instead of doing good with his power he will be in danger of doing hurt. Wickedness in the place of judgment was one of the sorest evils Solomon saw under the sun, Eccl. iii. 16 . 2. The distressed case of a poor widow that was necessitated to make her appeal to him, being wronged by some one that thought to bear her down with power and terror. She had manifestly right on her side; but, it should seem, in soliciting to have right done her, she tied not herself to the formalities of the law, but made personal application to the judge from day to day at his own house, still crying, Avenge me of mine adversary; that is, Do me justice against mine adversary; not that she desired to be revenged on him for any thing he had done against her, but that he might be obliged to restore what effects he had of hers in his hands, and might be disabled any more to oppress her. Note, Poor widows have often many adversaries, who barbarously take advantage of their weak and helpless state to invade their rights, and defraud them of what little they have; and magistrates are particularly charged, not only not to do violence to the widow ( Jer. xxi. 3 ), but to judge the fatherless, and plead for the widow ( Isa. i. 17 ), to be their patrons and protectors; then they are as gods, for God is so, Ps. lxviii. 5 . 3. The difficulty and discouragement she met with in her cause: He would not for awhile. According to his usual practice, he frowned upon her, took no notice of her cause, but connived at all the wrong her adversary did her; for she had no bribe to give him, no great man whom he stood in any awe of to speak for her, so that he did not at all incline to redress her grievances; and he himself was conscience of the reason of his dilatoriness, and could not but own within himself that he neither feared God nor regarded man. It is sad that a man should know so much amiss of himself, and be in no care to amend it. 4. The gaining of her point by continually dunning this unjust judge ( v. 5 ): " Because this widow troubleth me, gives me a continual toil, I will hear her cause, and do her justice; not so much lest by her clamour against me she bring me into an ill name, as lest by her clamour to me she weary me; for she is resolved that she will give me no rest till it is done, and therefore I will do it, to save myself further trouble; as good at first as at last." Thus she got justice done her by continual craving; she begged it at his door, followed him in the streets, solicited him in open court, and still her cry was, Avenge me of mine adversary, which he was forced to do, to get rid of her; for his conscience, bad as he was, would not suffer him to send her to prison for an affront upon the court.
II. He applies this for the encouragement of God's praying people to pray with faith and fervency, and to persevere therein.
1. He assures them that God will at length be gracious to them ( v. 6 ): Hear what the unjust judge saith, how he owns himself quite overcome by a constant importunity, and shall not God avenge his own elect? Observe,
(1.) What it is that they desire and expect: that God would avenge his own elect. Note, [1.] There are a people in the world that are God's people, his elect, his own elect, a choice people, a chosen people. And this he has an eye to in all he does for them; it is because they are his chosen, and in pursuance of the choice he has made of them. [2.] God's own elect meet with a great deal of trouble and opposition in this world; there are many adversaries that fight against them; Satan is their great adversary. [3.] That which is wanted and waited for is God's preserving and protecting them, and the work of his hands in them; his securing the interest of the church in the world and his grace in the heart.
(2.) What it is that is required of God's people in order to the obtaining of this: they must cry day and night to him; not that he needs their remonstrances, or can be moved by their pleadings, but this he has made their duty, and to this he has promised mercy. We ought to be particular in praying against our spiritual enemies, as St. Paul was: For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me; like this importunate widow. Lord, mortify this corruption. Lord, arm me against this temptation. We ought to concern ourselves for the persecuted and oppressed churches, and to pray that God would do them justice, and set them in safety. And herein we must be very urgent; we must cry with earnestness: we must cry day and night, as those that believe prayer will be heard at last; we must wrestle with God, as those that know how to value the blessing, and will have no nay. God's praying people are told to give him no rest, Isa. lxii. 6, 7 .
(3.) What discouragements they may perhaps meet with in their prayers and expectations. He may bear long with them, and may not presently appear for them, in answer to their prayers. He is makrothymon ep autois —he exercises patience towards the adversaries of his people, and does not take vengeance on them; and he exercises the patience of his people, and does not plead for them. He bore long with the cry of the sin of the Egyptians that oppressed Israel, and with the cry of the sorrows of those that were oppressed.
(4.) What assurance they have that mercy will come at last, though it be delayed, and how it is supported by what the unjust judge saith: If this widow prevail by being importunate, much more shall God's elect prevail. For, [1.] This widow was a stranger, nothing related to the judge; but God's praying people are his own elect, whom he knows, and loves, and delights in, and has always concerned himself for. [2.] She was but one, but the praying people of God are many, all of whom come to him on the same errand, and agree to ask what they need, Matt. xviii. 19 . As the saints of heaven surround the throne of glory with their united praises, so saints on earth besiege the throne of grace with their united prayers. [3.] She came to a judge that bade her keep her distance; we come to a Father that bids us come boldly to him, and teaches us to cry, Abba, Father. [4.] She came to an unjust judge; we come to a righteous Father ( John xvii. 25 ), one that regards his own glory and the comforts of his poor creatures, especially those in distress, as widows and fatherless. [5.] She came to this judge purely upon her own account; but God is himself engaged in the cause which we are soliciting; and we can say, Arise, O Lord, plead thine own cause; and what wilt thou do to thy great name? [6.] She had no friend to speak for her, to add force to her petition, and to use interest for her more than her own; but we have an Advocate with the Father, his own Son, who ever lives to make intercession for us, and has a powerful prevailing interest in heaven. [7.] She had no promise off speeding, no, nor any encouragement given her to ask; but we have the golden sceptre held out to us, are told to ask, with a promise that it shall be given to us. [8.] She could have access to the judge only at some certain times; but we may cry to God day and night, at all hours, and therefore may the rather hope to prevail by importunity. [9.] Her importunity was provoking to the judge, and she might fear lest it should set him more against her; but our importunity is pleasing to God; the prayer of the upright is his delight, and therefore, we may hope, shall avail much, if it be an effectual fervent prayer.
2. He intimates to them that, notwithstanding this, they will begin to be weary of waiting for him ( v. 8 ): " Nevertheless, though such assurances are given that God will avenge his own elect, yet, when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth? " The Son of man will come to avenge his own elect, to plead the cause of persecuted Christians against the persecuting Jews; he will come in his providence to plead the cause of his injured people in every age, and at the great day he will come finally to determine the controversies of Zion. Now, when he comes, will he find faith on the earth? The question implies a strong negation: No, he will not; he himself foresees it.
(1.) This supposes that it is on earth only that there is occasion for faith; for sinners in hell are feeling that which they would not believe, and saints in heaven are enjoying that which they did believe.
(2.) It supposes that faith is the great thing that Jesus Christ looks for. He looks down upon the children of men, and does not ask, Is there innocency? but, Is there faith? He enquired concerning the faith of those who applied themselves to him for cures.
(3.) It supposes that if there were faith, though ever so little, he would discover it, and find it out. His eye is upon the weakest and most obscure believer.
1-5. always-- Compare Lu 18:7 , "night and day."
faint-- lose heart, or slacken.
6-8. the Lord-- a name expressive of the authoritative style in which He interprets His own parable.
The scene opens in stillness: while all things were in quiet silence, and the night was in the midst of her course (v. 14). Into that hush the Almighty word leaped down from heaven from thy royal throne, a conqueror with a sharp sword who filled all things with death, and who, standing on the earth, reached even to heaven (vv. 15-16). The author is retelling the death of Egypt's firstborn, and the agent of that night is a single figure spanning earth and sky. The second half of the reading turns from slaughter to rescue, and the picture is just as strange. Creation is fashioned again as from the beginning (v. 6): a cloud covers the camps, dry land appears where water stood, and out of the great deep a springing field (v. 7). Haydock notes that the Septuagint word behind it is germinans, "growing grass," so that the sea floor becomes, as Calmet puts it, like a meadow. Israel crosses it as if it were pasture, and the people skipped like lambs (v. 9).
Haydock calls the description of the decree, or angel of the Lord, in verse 14 most magnificent, and he records two ways the Church has read it beyond its first sense. Calmet observes that the Church applies the midnight descent of the word to Christ's nativity, since he is thought to have been born at midnight. Worthington draws a different detail from the same verse: the silence points to his coming at a time when the world enjoyed a profound peace while still buried in the darkness of ignorance. On the Red Sea, Haydock explains fashioned again by saying the elements seemed open to any form and to take on another nature: fire burned in water, the sea drew back. Calmet adds Pliny's report that the Red Sea and the eastern ocean are full of wood, and he links the passage to the psalm's claim that the Hebrews walked through the deep as through a desert, while the sea seemed to look for other channels. Read together, the two halves of the reading show one word that kills and also remakes, which is why the Christmas application Calmet records does not soften the text. The child born at midnight is the same word that came down with a sword.
For a reader who knows this verse mainly from the Christmas liturgy, the reading restores what the carols leave out. The word that comes in silence comes to judge as well as to save, and a faith that keeps only the gentle half has misread both halves. Worthington's gloss also cuts against the assumption that peace and enlightenment arrive together: the world was quiet and still in the dark. What the passage asks is the response of verse 8, a people who passed through seeing thy miracles and wonders and knew whose hand had covered them. Its last image is the one to keep: lambs leaping on a seabed that until that night had been the great deep.