13For God made not death, neither hath he pleasure in the destruction of the living.14For he created all things that they might be: and he made the nations of the earth for health: and there is no poison of destruction in them, nor kingdom of hell upon the earth.15For justice is perpetual and immortal.
23For God created man incorruptible, and to the image of his own likeness he made him.24But by the envy of the devil, death came into the world:
13because God did not make death, nor does he rejoice in the loss of the living.14For he created all things that they might exist, and he made the nations of the world curable, and there is no medicine of extermination in them, nor a kingdom of hell upon the earth.15For justice is perpetual and immortal.
23For God created man to be immortal, and he made him in the image of his own likeness.24But by the envy of the devil, death entered the world,
13For God made not death: neither hath he pleasure in the destruction of the living.14For he created all things, that they might have their being: and the generations of the world were healthful; and there is no poison of destruction in them, nor the kingdom of death upon the earth:15(For righteousness is immortal:)
23For God created man to be immortal, and made him to be an image of his own eternity.24Nevertheless through envy of the devil came death into the world: and they that do hold of his side do find it.
13For God made not death, neither hath he pleasure in the destruction of the living.14For he created all things that they might be: and he made the nations of the earth for health: and there is no poison of destruction in them, nor kingdom of hell upon the earth.15For justice is perpetual and immortal.
23For God created man incorruptible, and to the image of his own likeness he made him.24But by the envy of the devil, death came into the world:
13because God did not make death, nor does he rejoice in the loss of the living.14For he created all things that they might exist, and he made the nations of the world curable, and there is no medicine of extermination in them, nor a kingdom of hell upon the earth.15For justice is perpetual and immortal.
23For God created man to be immortal, and he made him in the image of his own likeness.24But by the envy of the devil, death entered the world,
13For God made not death: neither hath he pleasure in the destruction of the living.14For he created all things, that they might have their being: and the generations of the world were healthful; and there is no poison of destruction in them, nor the kingdom of death upon the earth:15(For righteousness is immortal:)
23For God created man to be immortal, and made him to be an image of his own eternity.24Nevertheless through envy of the devil came death into the world: and they that do hold of his side do find it.
2I will extol thee, O Lord, for thou hast upheld me: and hast not made my enemies to rejoice over me.4Thou hast brought forth, O Lord, my soul from hell: thou hast saved me from them that go down into the pit.5Sing to the Lord, O ye his saints: and give praise to the memory of his holiness.6For wrath is in his indignation; and life in his good will. In the evening weeping shall have place, and in the morning gladness.11The Lord hath heard, and hath had mercy on me: the Lord became my helper.12Thou hast turned for me my mourning into joy: thou hast cut my sackcloth, and hast compassed me with gladness:13To the end that my glory may sing to thee, and I may not regret: O Lord my God, I will give praise to thee for ever.
2I will extol you, Lord, for you have sustained me, and you have not allowed my enemies to delight over me.4Lord, you led my soul away from Hell. You have saved me from those who descend into the pit.5Sing a psalm to the Lord, you his saints, and confess with remembrance of his holiness.6For wrath is in his indignation, and life is in his will. Toward evening, weeping will linger, and toward morning, gladness.11The Lord has heard, and he has been merciful to me. The Lord has become my helper.12You have turned my mourning into gladness for me. You have cut off my sackcloth, and you have surrounded me with joy.13So then, may my glory sing to you, and may I not regret it. O Lord, my God, I will confess to you for eternity.
2O Lord my God, I cried unto thee, and thou hast healed me.4Sing unto the Lord, O ye saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness.5For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.6And in my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved.11Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing: thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness;12To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever.
2I will extol thee, O Lord, for thou hast upheld me: and hast not made my enemies to rejoice over me.4Thou hast brought forth, O Lord, my soul from hell: thou hast saved me from them that go down into the pit.5Sing to the Lord, O ye his saints: and give praise to the memory of his holiness.6For wrath is in his indignation; and life in his good will. In the evening weeping shall have place, and in the morning gladness.11The Lord hath heard, and hath had mercy on me: the Lord became my helper.12Thou hast turned for me my mourning into joy: thou hast cut my sackcloth, and hast compassed me with gladness:13To the end that my glory may sing to thee, and I may not regret: O Lord my God, I will give praise to thee for ever.
2I will extol you, Lord, for you have sustained me, and you have not allowed my enemies to delight over me.4Lord, you led my soul away from Hell. You have saved me from those who descend into the pit.5Sing a psalm to the Lord, you his saints, and confess with remembrance of his holiness.6For wrath is in his indignation, and life is in his will. Toward evening, weeping will linger, and toward morning, gladness.11The Lord has heard, and he has been merciful to me. The Lord has become my helper.12You have turned my mourning into gladness for me. You have cut off my sackcloth, and you have surrounded me with joy.13So then, may my glory sing to you, and may I not regret it. O Lord, my God, I will confess to you for eternity.
2O Lord my God, I cried unto thee, and thou hast healed me.4Sing unto the Lord, O ye saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness.5For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.6And in my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved.11Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing: thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness;12To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever.
The verse most quoted from this psalm is also its hardest to translate. The Douay has wrath is in his indignation (v. 6), but Haydock reports the Hebrew as "momentary is his indignation," or, as he and Calmet prefer with the Septuagint, "from his indignation comes destruction" (roga). Menochius keeps the brevity either way, defining wrath as "a short fury." The rest of the psalm is full of small textual shifts. Where the Douay says saved me (v. 4) the Hebrew has "granted me life"; the saints of v. 5 are in Hebrew those "who have obtained mercy"; and the sackcloth of v. 12 is cut, not simply removed. In v. 13, that I may not regret renders Latin compungar, "be pricked" or filled with grief, and Jerome and Symmachus read the Hebrew as "that glory may sing thee, and may not be silent."
Calmet and Worthington read the psalm as David's thanksgiving for deliverance, perhaps when he purified his house after Absalom's revolt; Calmet adds that "this may all be explained of Christ's resurrection." Augustine reads it as a resurrection psalm from the start, "the joy of the Resurrection" of the Lord and "of the whole Church," with "whole Christ" speaking. For him the evening of v. 6 began "when the light of wisdom withdrew from sinful man," and weeping tarries while God's people wait among labours and temptations for the morning of the resurrection, which "hath shone forth by anticipation in the morning resurrection of the Lord." The commentators guard the character of God here. Augustine says we are not miserable unless we have deserved it; Worthington, that even in chastising God considers our welfare; Haydock, that he "takes no pleasure in our torments." On the sackcloth Augustine and Jerome, through Haydock, see the human nature of Christ, which "was cut, and the price of our redemption came forth," while Augustine in his own commentary has God tear off "the veil of my sins, the sadness of my mortality."
The psalm rebukes two pictures of God: one in which suffering proves God's indifference, and one in which his anger is the permanent weather of a life. Berthier's reading holds both halves of v. 6 in proportion, saying eternal joys are the fruit of the short sorrows of this world, which the psalm represents as a single night. Worthington adds that the life of the just is "a constant vicissitude of sorrow and of comfort." Augustine gives the morning its content: a glory that can confess for ever "that I have nothing of myself." Du Hamel gives the image that ends the psalm, mourning weeds exchanged for robes of joy.
7That as in all things you abound in faith and word and knowledge and all carefulness, moreover also in your charity towards us: so in this grace also you may abound.9For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that being rich he became poor for your sakes: that through his poverty you might be rich.13For I mean not that others should be eased and you burdened, but by an equality.14In this present time let your abundance supply their want, that their abundance also may supply your want: that there may be an equality,15As it is written: He that had much had nothing over; and he that had little had no want.
7But, just as in all things you abound in faith and in word and in knowledge and in all solicitude, and even more so in your charity toward us, so also may you abound in this grace.9For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, he became poor for your sakes, so that through his poverty, you might become rich.13And it is not that others should be relieved, while you are troubled, but that there should be an equality.14In this present time, let your abundance supply their need, so that their abundance may also supply your need, in order that there may be an equality, just as it was written:15“He with more did not have too much; and he with less did not have too little.”
7Therefore, as ye abound in every thing, in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love to us, see that ye abound in this grace also.9For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.13For I mean not that other men be eased, and ye burdened:14But by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want: that there may be equality:15As it is written, He that had gathered much had nothing over; and he that had gathered little had no lack.
7That as in all things you abound in faith and word and knowledge and all carefulness, moreover also in your charity towards us: so in this grace also you may abound.9For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that being rich he became poor for your sakes: that through his poverty you might be rich.13For I mean not that others should be eased and you burdened, but by an equality.14In this present time let your abundance supply their want, that their abundance also may supply your want: that there may be an equality,15As it is written: He that had much had nothing over; and he that had little had no want.
7But, just as in all things you abound in faith and in word and in knowledge and in all solicitude, and even more so in your charity toward us, so also may you abound in this grace.9For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, he became poor for your sakes, so that through his poverty, you might become rich.13And it is not that others should be relieved, while you are troubled, but that there should be an equality.14In this present time, let your abundance supply their need, so that their abundance may also supply your need, in order that there may be an equality, just as it was written:15“He with more did not have too much; and he with less did not have too little.”
7Therefore, as ye abound in every thing, in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love to us, see that ye abound in this grace also.9For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.13For I mean not that other men be eased, and ye burdened:14But by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want: that there may be equality:15As it is written, He that had gathered much had nothing over; and he that had gathered little had no lack.
Paul ends his appeal for the collection with a text about food, not money. He that had much had nothing over; and he that had little had no want (v. 15) comes from the manna in Exodus 16:18, and Witham, through Haydock, explains the rule behind it: each Israelite was told to gather a fixed measure, a gomer, and those who gathered more for fear of going short found they had only the measure, while those who gathered less still had a full one. Lapide adds that the gomer held as much as a man would ordinarily eat in a day, for men, women and children alike. Paul applies this to a collection for the poor Christians of Judea, with the word equality used twice (vv. 13-14), and he grounds it in a single sentence about Christ: being rich he became poor for your sakes (v. 9).
Lapide describes that poverty in concrete detail: a manger for a throne, the breath of ox and ass for a fire, Joseph and Mary for a crowd of nobles. He notes that Erasmus renders the Greek as "beggary," and concludes that Christ "was also an actual beggar." Gregory Nazianzen sets each descent of Christ against a gift to us, "He was despised that He might fill us with glory," and Augustine asks, "What will His riches do if His poverty made us rich?" On v. 13 the commentators measure the demand. Theophylact has Paul asking each to think of others' needs "according to his power, without neglecting his own"; Aquinas and Anselm call total renunciation an evangelical counsel, not a command; and the Bible de Vence says God asks "not ... what we have not, but what we have to spare." Theophylact also reads the abundance of v. 14 as giving beyond one's strength, of the kind Paul praised in the Macedonians, and Lapide offers Paulinus of Nola, who gave himself up to the Vandals as a slave in place of a widow's son. The equality is two-way. Witham and Lapide read the return as spiritual, the prayers of the poor supplying the giver's want, though Aquinas warns that the exchange is proportionate and not exact.
The text rules out both a charity that is only sentiment and a scheme of levelling that impoverishes the giver. What it asks is that superfluity be yielded so that, as Menochius puts it, the poor may not want necessaries, and that it be yielded in trust; Witham reads the manna as Paul urging them to give "without fear of wanting themselves." Chrysostom, quoted by Lapide, states the equality that already holds: "we all have but one belly to fill, and one time to live in, and one body to cover." The manna is the picture, an equal measure in every tent, which Lapide notes "tasted differently to different people."
Mark keeps Christ's own words at the bedside, talitha cumi (v. 41). Lapide explains that where Hebrew calls a boy ieled, the Syrians and Chaldeans say tali, whence the feminine talitha, girl, and cumi means arise. Jerome answers anyone who would accuse the evangelist of padding his translation with I say to thee, which the Aramaic lacks. Mark added it to show that Christ was calling and commanding. The two stories are bound by a number, the woman ill for twelve years (v. 25) and the girl twelve years old (v. 42), and the details after the raising are physical. The Gloss says her walking showed she was of an age to walk and fully cured, and Lapide reads the order to feed her (v. 43) as proof that she woke well and hungry, as children do.
The woman's touch divides the commentators. Chrysostom says that being unclean under the law she dared not come openly and touched him from behind, and that "it was not however the hem of the garment, but her frame of mind that made her whole." Theophylact calls her "most faithful"; Lapide, answering Calvin's charge that she was superstitious, argues that her fear and trembling (v. 33) came from having taken a cure in secret, and shows that her faith was real but imperfect, or she would not have thought she could hide. The question Who hath touched my garments? (v. 30) draws two answers. One catena father says the crowds who thronged him did not touch him, because they did not come near in thought and faith; Bede says he asked so that she would confess and be confirmed. On the power that went out, Bristow and Lapide agree that the virtue was Christ's, the garment or relic only its instrument, and Lapide adds that nothing travelled from the hem into the woman. Jairus is treated more gently. Theophylact faults him for asking Christ to come rather than to speak the word, but Augustine reads Fear not, only believe (v. 36) as strengthening a faith he already had, and Haydock refuses the verse as a proof-text for faith alone, since it concerns trust in his power to work a miracle.
Gregory the Great reads the raisings as a scale of sin, the girl in the house for sin concealed, the young man carried out of the gate for sin broken into open deed, Lazarus in the tomb for sin settled into habit. The catena draws the practical rule that slight sins call for secret penance, which is why this girl is raised before few witnesses who are told to say nothing. Against the crowd that pressed close and touched nothing, the text sets a woman who reached through it, and a father told to keep believing after the messengers had come. Bede's moral reading of v. 42, as Lapide gives it, stays with the girl, who is not left sitting up in bed. She rises and walks, and a soul raised from sin, he says, "should advance in good works."
13For God made not death, neither hath he pleasure in the destruction of the living.14For he created all things that they might be: and he made the nations of the earth for health: and there is no poison of destruction in them, nor kingdom of hell upon the earth.15For justice is perpetual and immortal.
23For God created man incorruptible, and to the image of his own likeness he made him.24But by the envy of the devil, death came into the world:
13because God did not make death, nor does he rejoice in the loss of the living.14For he created all things that they might exist, and he made the nations of the world curable, and there is no medicine of extermination in them, nor a kingdom of hell upon the earth.15For justice is perpetual and immortal.
23For God created man to be immortal, and he made him in the image of his own likeness.24But by the envy of the devil, death entered the world,
13For God made not death: neither hath he pleasure in the destruction of the living.14For he created all things, that they might have their being: and the generations of the world were healthful; and there is no poison of destruction in them, nor the kingdom of death upon the earth:15(For righteousness is immortal:)
23For God created man to be immortal, and made him to be an image of his own eternity.24Nevertheless through envy of the devil came death into the world: and they that do hold of his side do find it.
Two words in v. 14 carry the argument that God made not death (v. 13). The nations of the earth were made for health, which Calmet reads as the "good" of Genesis 1:31, the creation God looked on and approved. And there is no poison of destruction in them, where Worthington gives the Latin medicamentum, a word that covers both poison and medicine. The note in Haydock draws the conclusion: poison and wild beasts "become noxious to man only after sin," which is what "infects the veins," and from Jesus Christ all may draw the antidote. Death, on this reading, is not built into the world but came into it, and v. 24 names how: by the envy of the devil.
The commentary explains that envy. Calmet, with Bernard and Lapide behind him, says Lucifer thought the honour of the hypostatic union belonged to the angelic nature rather than the human, and so fell into envy and strove to become like the Most High (Isa 14:14). That reading binds the two halves of the passage together, for man was created incorruptible and to the image of his own likeness (2:23), and the devil grudged human nature the dignity God meant to give it. The sources say little more, but the shape they give the passage is clear: death enters through a grudge against human nature, and what that envy poisoned Christ heals.
2I will extol thee, O Lord, for thou hast upheld me: and hast not made my enemies to rejoice over me.4Thou hast brought forth, O Lord, my soul from hell: thou hast saved me from them that go down into the pit.5Sing to the Lord, O ye his saints: and give praise to the memory of his holiness.6For wrath is in his indignation; and life in his good will. In the evening weeping shall have place, and in the morning gladness.11The Lord hath heard, and hath had mercy on me: the Lord became my helper.12Thou hast turned for me my mourning into joy: thou hast cut my sackcloth, and hast compassed me with gladness:13To the end that my glory may sing to thee, and I may not regret: O Lord my God, I will give praise to thee for ever.
2I will extol you, Lord, for you have sustained me, and you have not allowed my enemies to delight over me.4Lord, you led my soul away from Hell. You have saved me from those who descend into the pit.5Sing a psalm to the Lord, you his saints, and confess with remembrance of his holiness.6For wrath is in his indignation, and life is in his will. Toward evening, weeping will linger, and toward morning, gladness.11The Lord has heard, and he has been merciful to me. The Lord has become my helper.12You have turned my mourning into gladness for me. You have cut off my sackcloth, and you have surrounded me with joy.13So then, may my glory sing to you, and may I not regret it. O Lord, my God, I will confess to you for eternity.
2O Lord my God, I cried unto thee, and thou hast healed me.4Sing unto the Lord, O ye saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness.5For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.6And in my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved.11Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing: thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness;12To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever.
The verse most quoted from this psalm is also its hardest to translate. The Douay has wrath is in his indignation (v. 6), but Haydock reports the Hebrew as "momentary is his indignation," or, as he and Calmet prefer with the Septuagint, "from his indignation comes destruction" (roga). Menochius keeps the brevity either way, defining wrath as "a short fury." The rest of the psalm is full of small textual shifts. Where the Douay says saved me (v. 4) the Hebrew has "granted me life"; the saints of v. 5 are in Hebrew those "who have obtained mercy"; and the sackcloth of v. 12 is cut, not simply removed. In v. 13, that I may not regret renders Latin compungar, "be pricked" or filled with grief, and Jerome and Symmachus read the Hebrew as "that glory may sing thee, and may not be silent."
Calmet and Worthington read the psalm as David's thanksgiving for deliverance, perhaps when he purified his house after Absalom's revolt; Calmet adds that "this may all be explained of Christ's resurrection." Augustine reads it as a resurrection psalm from the start, "the joy of the Resurrection" of the Lord and "of the whole Church," with "whole Christ" speaking. For him the evening of v. 6 began "when the light of wisdom withdrew from sinful man," and weeping tarries while God's people wait among labours and temptations for the morning of the resurrection, which "hath shone forth by anticipation in the morning resurrection of the Lord." The commentators guard the character of God here. Augustine says we are not miserable unless we have deserved it; Worthington, that even in chastising God considers our welfare; Haydock, that he "takes no pleasure in our torments." On the sackcloth Augustine and Jerome, through Haydock, see the human nature of Christ, which "was cut, and the price of our redemption came forth," while Augustine in his own commentary has God tear off "the veil of my sins, the sadness of my mortality."
The psalm rebukes two pictures of God: one in which suffering proves God's indifference, and one in which his anger is the permanent weather of a life. Berthier's reading holds both halves of v. 6 in proportion, saying eternal joys are the fruit of the short sorrows of this world, which the psalm represents as a single night. Worthington adds that the life of the just is "a constant vicissitude of sorrow and of comfort." Augustine gives the morning its content: a glory that can confess for ever "that I have nothing of myself." Du Hamel gives the image that ends the psalm, mourning weeds exchanged for robes of joy.
7That as in all things you abound in faith and word and knowledge and all carefulness, moreover also in your charity towards us: so in this grace also you may abound.9For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that being rich he became poor for your sakes: that through his poverty you might be rich.13For I mean not that others should be eased and you burdened, but by an equality.14In this present time let your abundance supply their want, that their abundance also may supply your want: that there may be an equality,15As it is written: He that had much had nothing over; and he that had little had no want.
7But, just as in all things you abound in faith and in word and in knowledge and in all solicitude, and even more so in your charity toward us, so also may you abound in this grace.9For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, he became poor for your sakes, so that through his poverty, you might become rich.13And it is not that others should be relieved, while you are troubled, but that there should be an equality.14In this present time, let your abundance supply their need, so that their abundance may also supply your need, in order that there may be an equality, just as it was written:15“He with more did not have too much; and he with less did not have too little.”
7Therefore, as ye abound in every thing, in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love to us, see that ye abound in this grace also.9For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.13For I mean not that other men be eased, and ye burdened:14But by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want: that there may be equality:15As it is written, He that had gathered much had nothing over; and he that had gathered little had no lack.
Paul ends his appeal for the collection with a text about food, not money. He that had much had nothing over; and he that had little had no want (v. 15) comes from the manna in Exodus 16:18, and Witham, through Haydock, explains the rule behind it: each Israelite was told to gather a fixed measure, a gomer, and those who gathered more for fear of going short found they had only the measure, while those who gathered less still had a full one. Lapide adds that the gomer held as much as a man would ordinarily eat in a day, for men, women and children alike. Paul applies this to a collection for the poor Christians of Judea, with the word equality used twice (vv. 13-14), and he grounds it in a single sentence about Christ: being rich he became poor for your sakes (v. 9).
Lapide describes that poverty in concrete detail: a manger for a throne, the breath of ox and ass for a fire, Joseph and Mary for a crowd of nobles. He notes that Erasmus renders the Greek as "beggary," and concludes that Christ "was also an actual beggar." Gregory Nazianzen sets each descent of Christ against a gift to us, "He was despised that He might fill us with glory," and Augustine asks, "What will His riches do if His poverty made us rich?" On v. 13 the commentators measure the demand. Theophylact has Paul asking each to think of others' needs "according to his power, without neglecting his own"; Aquinas and Anselm call total renunciation an evangelical counsel, not a command; and the Bible de Vence says God asks "not ... what we have not, but what we have to spare." Theophylact also reads the abundance of v. 14 as giving beyond one's strength, of the kind Paul praised in the Macedonians, and Lapide offers Paulinus of Nola, who gave himself up to the Vandals as a slave in place of a widow's son. The equality is two-way. Witham and Lapide read the return as spiritual, the prayers of the poor supplying the giver's want, though Aquinas warns that the exchange is proportionate and not exact.
The text rules out both a charity that is only sentiment and a scheme of levelling that impoverishes the giver. What it asks is that superfluity be yielded so that, as Menochius puts it, the poor may not want necessaries, and that it be yielded in trust; Witham reads the manna as Paul urging them to give "without fear of wanting themselves." Chrysostom, quoted by Lapide, states the equality that already holds: "we all have but one belly to fill, and one time to live in, and one body to cover." The manna is the picture, an equal measure in every tent, which Lapide notes "tasted differently to different people."
Mark keeps Christ's own words at the bedside, talitha cumi (v. 41). Lapide explains that where Hebrew calls a boy ieled, the Syrians and Chaldeans say tali, whence the feminine talitha, girl, and cumi means arise. Jerome answers anyone who would accuse the evangelist of padding his translation with I say to thee, which the Aramaic lacks. Mark added it to show that Christ was calling and commanding. The two stories are bound by a number, the woman ill for twelve years (v. 25) and the girl twelve years old (v. 42), and the details after the raising are physical. The Gloss says her walking showed she was of an age to walk and fully cured, and Lapide reads the order to feed her (v. 43) as proof that she woke well and hungry, as children do.
The woman's touch divides the commentators. Chrysostom says that being unclean under the law she dared not come openly and touched him from behind, and that "it was not however the hem of the garment, but her frame of mind that made her whole." Theophylact calls her "most faithful"; Lapide, answering Calvin's charge that she was superstitious, argues that her fear and trembling (v. 33) came from having taken a cure in secret, and shows that her faith was real but imperfect, or she would not have thought she could hide. The question Who hath touched my garments? (v. 30) draws two answers. One catena father says the crowds who thronged him did not touch him, because they did not come near in thought and faith; Bede says he asked so that she would confess and be confirmed. On the power that went out, Bristow and Lapide agree that the virtue was Christ's, the garment or relic only its instrument, and Lapide adds that nothing travelled from the hem into the woman. Jairus is treated more gently. Theophylact faults him for asking Christ to come rather than to speak the word, but Augustine reads Fear not, only believe (v. 36) as strengthening a faith he already had, and Haydock refuses the verse as a proof-text for faith alone, since it concerns trust in his power to work a miracle.
Gregory the Great reads the raisings as a scale of sin, the girl in the house for sin concealed, the young man carried out of the gate for sin broken into open deed, Lazarus in the tomb for sin settled into habit. The catena draws the practical rule that slight sins call for secret penance, which is why this girl is raised before few witnesses who are told to say nothing. Against the crowd that pressed close and touched nothing, the text sets a woman who reached through it, and a father told to keep believing after the messengers had come. Bede's moral reading of v. 42, as Lapide gives it, stays with the girl, who is not left sitting up in bed. She rises and walks, and a soul raised from sin, he says, "should advance in good works."
The complete public-domain commentary this reading's note draws from, unabridged. Every claim in the note traces to a passage here.
CHAPTER I.
Health. Good, Genesis i. 31. (Calmet) --- Poison, or medicine, (Worthington) medicamentum. (Worthington) --- Poison and wild beasts become noxious to man only after sin. It is this which infects the veins. All may derive an antidote from Jesus Christ.
Envy. Lucifer thought that the honour of the hypostatic union (Calmet) belonged to the angelic, rather than to the human nature; and this he was guilty of envy, (Haydock) and strove to become like the most High, Isaias xiv. 14. (St. Bernard, ser. xvii. in Canticle of Canticles) (Cornelius a Lapide, &c.)
To the end, the psalm of the canticle of the dedication of the house, of David himself.
1. To the end, a Psalm of the joy of the Resurrection, and the change, the renewing of the body to an immortal state, and not only of the Lord, but also of the whole Church. For in the former Psalm the tabernacle was finished, wherein we dwell in the time of war: but now the house is dedicated, which will abide in peace everlasting.
2. It is then whole Christ who speaketh. "I will exalt Thee, O Lord, for Thou hast taken Me up"
(ver. 1). I will praise Thy high Majesty, O Lord, for Thou hast taken Me up. "Thou hast not made Mine enemies to rejoice over Me." And those, who have so often endeavoured to oppress Me with various persecutions throughout the world, Thou hast not made to rejoice over Me.
3. "O Lord, My God, I have cried unto Thee, and Thou hast healed Me"
(ver. 3). Thou hast saved Me from the condition of profound darkness, and the lowest slough of corruptible flesh.
5. "Sing to the Lord, O ye saints of His." The prophet seeing these future things, rejoiceth, and saith, "Sing to the Lord, O ye saints of His. And make confession of the remembrance of His holiness"
(ver. 4). And make confession to Him, that He hath not forgotten the sanctification, wherewith He hath sanctified you, although all this intermediate period belong to your desires.
6. "For in His indignation is wrath"
(ver. 5). For He hath avenged against you the first sin, for which you have paid by death. "And life in His will." And life eternal, whereunto you could not return by any strength of your own, hath He given, because He so would. "In the evening weeping will tarry." Evening began, when the light of wisdom withdrew from sinful man, when he was condemned to death: from this evening weeping will tarry, as long as God's people are, amid labours and temptations, awaiting the day of the Lord. "And exultation in the morning." Even to the morning, when there will be the exultation of the resurrection, which hath shone forth by anticipation in the morning resurrection of the Lord.
7. "But I said in my abundance, I shall not be moved for ever" (ver. 6). But I, that people which was speaking from the first, said in mine abundance, suffering now no more any want, "I shall not be moved for ever."
8. "O Lord, in Thy will Thou hast afforded strength unto my beauty"
(ver. 7). But that this my abundance, O Lord, is not of myself, but that in Thy will Thou hast afforded strength unto my beauty, I have learnt from this, "Thou turnedst away Thy Face from me, and I became troubled;" for Thou hast sometimes turned away Thy Face from the sinner, and I became troubled, when the illumination of Thy knowledge withdrew from me.
9. "Unto Thee, O Lord, will I cry, and unto my God will I pray" (ver. 8). And bringing to mind that time of my trouble and misery, and as it were established therein, I hear the voice of Thy First-Begotten, my Head, about to die for me, and saying "Unto Thee, O Lord, will I cry, and unto My God will I pray."
10. "What profit" is there in the shedding of My blood, whilst I go down to corruption? "Shall dust confess unto Thee?" For if I shall not rise immediately, and My body shall become corrupt, "shall dust confess unto Thee?" that is, the crowd of the ungodly, whom I shall justify by My resurrection? "Or declare Thy truth?" Or for the salvation of the rest declare Thy truth?
11. "The Lord hath heard, and had mercy on Me, the Lord hath become My helper." Nor did "He suffer His holy One to see corruption" (ver. 10).
12. "Thou hast turned My mourning into joy to Me"
(ver. 11). Whom I, the Church, having received, the First-Begotten from the dead, now in the dedication of Thine house, say, "Thou hast turned my mourning into joy to me. Thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness." Thou hast torn off the veil of my sins, the sadness of my mortality; and hast girded me with the first robe, with immortal gladness.
13. "That my glory should sing unto Thee, and I should not be pricked"
(ver. 12). That now, not my humiliation, but my glory should not lament, but should sing unto Thee, for that now out of humiliation Thou hast exalted me; and that I should not be pricked with the consciousness of sin, with the fear of death, with the fear of judgment. "O Lord, my God, I will confess unto Thee for ever." And this is my glory, O Lord, my God, that I should confess unto Thee for ever, that I have nothing of myself, but that all my good is of Thee, who art "God, All in all."
Extol. Or publish thy great goodness and power, (Haydock) in the same sense as we say Hallowed be thy name. (Berthier) --- Though God can receive no increase of glory, we must shew our gratitude. (Worthington) --- Me. Thou hast not suffered my people to be wholly destroyed, nor myself to perish in consequence of my vain curiosity. (Calmet) --- David sings this psalm in thanksgiving for his many deliverances. (Worthington)
Hell. Preserving me from great dangers of sinning, (Worthington) or from death. --- Saved. Hebrew, "granted me life." This may all be explained of Christ's resurrection. (Calmet)
Saints. Hebrew, "who have obtained mercy." Priests and faithful people come to return thanks, because God has turned away the scourge. (Calmet) --- Memory, or name, Exodus iii. 15. (Calmet) --- It is from God, and not from ourselves, that holiness comes. (Worthington)
Wrath, which is a short fury. (Menochius) (Isaias liv. 7.) --- Hebrew, "momentary is his indignation;" or rather, "from his indignation comes destruction," roga, as the Septuagint constantly (Haydock) agree, Job xx. 5., and Isaias xxviii. 12., &c. (Calmet) --- "The miseries which are inflicted, are in consequence of his indignation." (Prin. dis. Berthier)--- We are not miserable unless we have deserved it. (St. Augustine) --- Even in chastising, God considers our welfare. (Worthington) --- He takes no pleasure in our torments, but delights to crown us with life and happiness. (Haydock) --- Eternal joys are the fruits of the short sorrows of this world, (Berthier) which is represented as one night or evening. (Haydock) --- A few moments ago Jerusalem expected nothing but destruction. Thus the apostles grieved till Christ rose again; (Calmet) and the life of the just is a constant vicissitude of sorrow and of comfort. (Worthington)
The Lord. Hebrew points determine, "Lord, hear," &c. But the Greek interpreters agree with the Vulgate, which seems better. (Berthier) --- St. Jerome, however, make this a prayer. "Hear," &c. (Haydock)
Joy. When thou orderest the angel, 2 Kings xxiv. 16. (Calmet) --- Sackcloth, of human nature, which was cut, and the price of our redemption came forth. (St. Augustine; St. Jerome) --- Thou hast changed my mourning weeds for robes of joy. (Du Hamel)
Regret. Or be filled with grief, compungar. (Haydock) --- Hebrew, "that glory may sing thee, (or thy praise) and may not be silent." (St. Jerome; Symmachus) (Haydock) --- Glory often signifies the tongue. (Du Hamel) --- My is added, to shew that this was David's glory, (Haydock) who considered God in all events. (Berthier) --- Protestants supply the word my. (Haydock) --- Chaldean, "that the great ones of the world may praise thee incessantly." --- Ever. In this my happy change. (Worthington) --- Those who suppose that David sung this, when he purified his house from the abominations of Absalom, explain his illness (ver. 2.) to mean the anxiety caused by that revolt, 2 Kings xvi. 21. (Bossuet) (Calmet) --- He gives thanks for the favour which God had shown him on that, or on any other occasion. (Haydock) --- He might consider this purifying as a sort of dedication, as it was customary to dedicate even private houses, Deuteronomy xx. 5. (Calmet)
1 I will extol thee, O Lord ; for thou hast lifted me up, and hast not made my foes to rejoice over me. 2 O Lord my God, I cried unto thee, and thou hast healed me. 3 O Lord , thou hast brought up my soul from the grave: thou hast kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit. 4 Sing unto the Lord , O ye saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness. 5 For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.
It was the laudable practice of the pious Jews, and, though not expressly appointed, yet allowed and accepted, when they had built a new house, to dedicate it to God, Deut. xx. 5 . David did so when his house was built, and he took possession of it ( 2 Sam. v. 11 ); for royal palaces do as much need God's protection, and are as much bound to be at his service, as ordinary houses. Note, The houses we dwell in should, at our first entrance upon them, be dedicated to God, as little sanctuaries. We must solemnly commit ourselves, our families, and all our family affairs, to God's guidance and care, must pray for his presence and blessing, must devote ourselves and all ours to his glory, and must resolve both that we put away iniquity far from our tabernacles and that we and our houses will serve the Lord both in the duties of family worship and in all instances of gospel obedience. Some conjecture that this psalm was sung at the re-dedication of David's house, after he had been driven out of it by Absalom, who had defiled it with his incest, and that it is a thanksgiving for the crushing of that dangerous rebellion. In these verses,
I. David does himself give God thanks for the great deliverances he had wrought for him ( v. 1 ): " I will extol thee, O Lord! I will exalt thy name, will praise thee as one high and lifted up, I will do what I can to advance the interest of thy kingdom among men. I will extol thee, for thou hast lifted me up, not only up out of the pit in which I was sinking, but up to the throne of Israel." He raiseth up the poor out of the dust. In consideration of the great things God has done to exalt us, both by his providence and by his grace, we are bound, in gratitude, to do all we can to extol his name, though the most we can do is but little. Three thing magnify David's deliverance:—1. That it was the defeat of his enemies. They were not suffered to triumph over him, as they would have done (though it is a barbarous thing) if he had died of this sickness or perished in this distress: see Ps. xli. 11 . 2. That it was an answer to his prayers ( v. 2 ): I cried unto thee. All the expressions of the sense we have of our troubles should be directed to God, and every cry be a cry to him; and giving way, in this manner, to our grief, will ease a burdened spirit. " I cried to thee, and thou hast not only heard me, but healed me, healed the distempered body, healed the disturbed and disquieted mind, healed the disordered distracted affairs of the kingdom." This is what God glories in, I am the Lord that healeth thee ( Exod. xv. 26 ), and we must give him the glory of it. 3. That it was the saving of his life; for he was brought to the last extremity, dropping into the grave, and ready to go down into the pit, and yet rescued and kept alive, v. 3 . The more imminent our dangers have been, the more eminent our deliverances have been, the more comfortable are they to ourselves and the more illustrious proofs of the power and goodness of God. A life from the dead ought to be spent in extolling the God of our life.
6 And in my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved. 7 Lord , by thy favour thou hast made my mountain to stand strong: thou didst hide thy face, and I was troubled. 8 I cried to thee, O Lord ; and unto the Lord I made supplication. 9 What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit? Shall the dust praise thee? shall it declare thy truth? 10 Hear, O Lord , and have mercy upon me: Lord , be thou my helper. 11 Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing: thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness; 12 To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent . O Lord my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever.
We have, in these verses, an account of three several states that David was in successively, and of the workings of his heart towards God in each of those states—what he said and did, and how his heart stood affected; in the first of these we may see what we are too apt to be, and in the other two what we should be.
I. He had long enjoyed prosperity, and then he grew secure and over-confident of the continuance of it ( v. 6, 7 ): " In my prosperity, when I was in health of body and God had given me rest from all my enemies, I said I shall never be moved; I never thought either of having my body distempered or my government disturbed, not had any apprehensions of danger upon any account." Such complete victories had he obtained over those that opposed him, and such a confirmed interest had he in the hearts of his people, such a firmness of mind and such a strong constitution of body, that he thought his prosperity fixed like a mountain; yet this he ascribes, not to his own wisdom or fortitude, but to the divine goodness. Thou, through thy favour, hast made my mountain to stand strong, v. 7 . He does not look upon it as his heaven (as worldly people do, who make their prosperity their felicity), only his mountain; it is earth still, only raised a little higher than the common level. This he thought, by the favour of God, would be perpetuated to him, imagining perhaps that, having had so many troubles in the beginning of his days, he had had his whole share and should have none in his latter end, or that God, who had given him such tokens of his favour, would never frown upon him. Note, 1. We are very apt to dream, when things are well with us, that they will always be so, and never otherwise. To-morrow shall be as this day. As if we should think, when the weather is once fair, that it will be ever fair; whereas nothing is more certain than that it will change. 2. When we see ourselves deceived in our expectations, it becomes us to reflect, with shame, upon our security, as our folly, as David does here, that we may be wiser another time and may rejoice in our prosperity as though we rejoiced not, because the fashion of it passes away.
II. On a sudden he fell into trouble, and then he prayed to God, and pleaded earnestly for relief and succour.
1. His mountain was shaken and he with it; it proved, when he grew secure, that he was least safe: " Thou didst hide thy face and I was troubled, in mind, body, or estate." In every change of his condition he still kept his eye upon God, and, as he ascribed his prosperity to God's favour, so in his adversity he observed the hiding of God's face, to be the cause of it. If God hide his face, a good man is certainly troubled, though no other calamity befal him; when the sun sets night certainly follows, and the moon and all the stars cannot make day.
2. When his mountain was shaken he lifted up his eyes above the hills. Prayer is a salve for every sore; he made use of it accordingly. Is any afflicted? Is any troubled? Let him pray. Though God hid his face from him, yet he prayed. If God, in wisdom and justice, turn from us, yet it will be in us the greatest folly and injustice imaginable if we turn from him. No; let us learn to pray in the dark ( v. 8 ): I cried to thee, O Lord! It seems God's withdrawings made his prayers the more vehement. We are here told, for it seems he kept account of it,
(1.) What he pleaded, v. 9 . [1.] That God would be no gainer by his death: What profit is there in my blood? implying that he would willingly die if he could thereby do any real service to God or his country ( Phil. ii. 17 ), but he saw not what good could be done by his dying in the bed of sickness, as might be if he had died in the bed of honour. "Lord," says he, "wilt thou sell one of thy own people for nought and not increase thy wealth by the price? " Ps. xliv. 12 . Nay [2.] That, in his honour, God would seem to be a loser by his death: Shall the dust praise thee? The sanctified spirit, which returns to God, shall praise him, shall be still praising him; but the dust, which returns to the earth, shall not praise him, nor declare his truth. The services of God's house cannot be performed by the dust; it cannot praise him; there is none of that device or working in the grave, for it is the land of silence. The promises of God's covenant cannot be performed to the dust. "Lord," says David, "if I die now, what will become of the promise made to me? Who shall declare the truth of that?" The best pleas in prayer are those that are taken from God's honour; and then we ask aright for life when we have that in view, that we may live and praise him.
(2.) What he prayed for, v. 10 . He prayed for mercy to pardon ( Have mercy upon me ), and for grace to help in time of need— Lord, be thou my helper. On these two errands we also may come boldly to the throne of grace, Heb. iv. 16 .
III. In due time God delivered him out of his troubles and restored him to his former prosperity. His prayers were answered and his mourning was turned into dancing, v. 11 . God's anger now endured but for a moment, and David's weeping but for a night. The sackcloth with which, in a humble compliance with the divine Providence, he had clad himself, was loosed; his griefs were balanced; his fears were silenced; his comforts returned; and he was girded with gladness: joy was made his ornament, was made his strength, and seemed to cleave to him, as the girdle cleaves to the loins of a man. As David's plunge into trouble from the height of prosperity, and then when he least expected it, teaches us to rejoice as though we rejoiced not, because we know not how near trouble may be, so his sudden return to a prosperous condition teaches us to weep as though we wept not, because we know not how soon the storm may become a calm and the formidable blast may become a favourable gale. But what temper of mind was he in upon this happy change of the face of his affairs? What does he say now? He tells us, v. 12 . 1. His complaints were turned into praises. He looked upon it that God girded him with gladness to the end that he might be the sweet psalmist of Israel ( 2 Sam. xxiii. 1 ), that his glory might sing praise to God, that is, his tongue (for our tongue is our glory, and never more so than when it is employed in praising God) or his soul, for that is our glory above the beasts, that must be employed in blessing the Lord, and with that we must make melody to him in singing psalms. Those that are kept from being silent in the pit must not be silent in the land of the living, but fervent, and constant, and public, in praising God. 2. These praises were likely to be everlasting: I will give thanks unto thee for ever. This bespeaks a gracious resolution that he would persevere to the end in praising God and a gracious hope that he should never want fresh matter for praise and that he should shortly be where this would be the everlasting work. Blessed are those that dwell in God's house; they will be still praising him. Thus must we learn to accommodate ourselves to the various providences of God that concern us, to want and to abound, to sing of mercy and judgment, and to sing unto God for both.
2. healed me-- Affliction is often described as disease ( Psa 6:2 ; 41:4 ; 107:20 ), and so relief by healing.
4. remembrance-- the thing remembered or memorial.
holiness-- as the sum of God's perfections (compare Psa 22:3 ), used as name ( Ex 3:15 ; Psa 135:13 ).
5. Relatively, the longest experience of divine anger by the pious is momentary. These precious words have consoled millions.
6-7. What particular prosperity is meant we do not know; perhaps his accession to the throne. In his self-complacent elation he was checked by God's hiding His face (compare Psa 22:24 ; 27:9 ).
8-11. As in Psa 6:5 ; 88:10 ; Is 38:18 , the appeal for mercy is based on the destruction of his agency in praising God here, which death would produce. The terms expressing relief are poetical, and not to be pressed, though "dancing" is the translation of a word which means a lute, whose cheerful notes are contrasted with mourning, or ( Am 5:16 ) wailing.
12. Though "my" is supplied before "glory" it is better as in Psa 16:9 , to receive it as used for tongue, the organ of praise. The ultimate end of God's mercies to us is our praise to Him.
CHAPTER 8
SYNOPSIS OF THE CHAPTER
i. He exhorts the Corinthians to imitate the generosity of the Macedonian Christians in sending alms to the poor at Jerusalem.
ii. He points (
ver. 9) to the example of Christ, who for our sakes was made poor, that through His poverty we might be rich.
iii. He urges them (
ver. 13) that by so doing rich and poor will be equalised, through the former giving their temporal goods in return for spiritual benefits.
v. He reminds them (
ver. 7 and elsewhere he applies it to the alms itself.
Ver. 7.See that ye abound in this grace also. See that, as ye abound in faith, care, and love towards me, so ye abound in almsgiving to the poor (Anselm).
Ver. 9.For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is a fresh stimulus to almsgiving. Christ, the King of kings, for your sakes became poor when He was born in the stable, because there was no room for Him in the inn. Instead of His royal throne He had a manger; for bedding, hay; for fire, the breath of ox and ass; for curtains, spiders' webs; for sweet perfumes, stable ordure; for purple, filthy rags; for His stud, ox and ass; for a crowd of nobles, Joseph and Mary. So, too, His whole after-life was stamped with poverty, or, as Erasmus renders the Greek here, with beggary. From this it appears that Christ was not merely poor, but was also an actual beggar.
That ye through His poverty might be rich. Rich with spiritual riches, with lessons of godliness, with forgiveness of sins, righteousness, holiness, and other virtues. The Corinthians are tacitly bidden, if they wish to imitate Christ closely, to enrich the poor with their alms, to impoverish themselves so as to enrich others. Cf. Anselm on the riches and poverty of Christ, and Chrysostom (Hom. 17), who points out how the Christian should not be ashamed of or shrink from poverty.
S. Gregory Nazianzen (Oral. 1 in Pascha) beautifully contrasts our benefits and Christ's loving-kindness. He says: "Christ was made poor that we through His poverty might be rich. He took the form of a servant that we might regain liberty. He descended that we might be exalted. He was tempted that we might overcome. He was despised that He might fill us with glory. He died that we might be saved. He ascended, to draw to Himself those lying prostrate on the ground through sin's stumblingblock." S. Augustine again says beautifully: "What will His riches do if His poverty made us rich?" Lastly, from these words of the Apostle, Bede infers: "All good faithful souls are rich: let none despise himself. The poor in his cell, being rich in his conscience, sleeps more quietly on the hard ground than he that is Rich in gold sleeps in purple."
Ver. 13.For I mean not that other men be eased, and ye burdened. I do not enjoin on you such liberal almsgiving as to enable the poor to live in luxury and you in need, but I wish every one to think of the necessities of others according to his power, without neglecting his own (Theophylact). S. Paul does not enjoin this, but he counsels it. It is, say S. Thomas and Anselm, an evangelical counsel, and, therefore, a sign of greater perfection, to give all your goods to the poor and become wholly poor yourself. "If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast and give to the poor," said Christ (S. Mat_19:21). This can be done not only by those who are going to devote themselves to the religious life, but even by those who remain in the world, as, e.g., by the poor widow (S. Mar_12:43). Do not mistake me: any one may do this provided he do not bring himself into extreme necessity, and if he has no family, for whom he is bound to provide. Theophylact adds that in the next verse the Apostle exhorts the Corinthians to give beyond their strength, when he says "that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want," meaning: If you wish for a great reward, give liberally; if for the whole reward, give your all. He takes abundance to mean profuse almsgiving, abounding beyond their strength, such as S. Paul praised in the Macedonians. The reason is this, that such an act is one of supreme, heroic almsgiving, poverty, fortitude, and hope in God.
We have a striking example of this in S. Paulinus, Bishop of Nola, who, after spending all his goods on the poor, at last gave himself up to the Vandals to be enslaved in the place of the son of a widow. His self-abnegation is praised by S. Augustine (de Civ. Dei, lib. i. c. 10). The event showed that his action was pleasing to God, for, when he was living as a slave, he was recognised by the Vandals under the inspiration of God, and was honourably treated and sent back home. S. Paula, again, was so liberal to the poor that her frequent prayer was heard, and, according to her wish, she had to be buried at the expense of others, and in another's garments. S. Jerome, in his Life of her, praises her warmly for this. S. Martin, S. John the Almoner, and many others are examples of the same liberality. But abundance in this verse more properly denotes the abundant wealth of the Corinthians; for S. Paul contrasts it with the poverty of the Christians of Jerusalem, and desires that one may relieve the other.
Ver. 14.But by an equality. I do not command so large almsgiving that your homes be pauperised while the poor have ample, but of your superfluity, which supplies the proper matter of almsgiving, I beg you to communicate with the poor, and supply their want, so that you may both have the necessities of life, and may each hold the mean between the two extremes of poverty and abundance. Let there be nothing superfluous in the means of them that give, and nothing deficient in the way of the necessaries of life to them that receive (Theophylact).
That their abundance also may be a supply for your want. So their abundant supply of faith and hope and all graces will, by their prayers and merits before God, assist your spiritual poverty in this life, and in the other life they will, when you die, receive you into everlasting habitations. The kingdom of heaven is the possession of Christ's poor (Anselm).
That there may be equality. By an interchange of spiritual goods as well as temporal.
Ver. 15.As it is written. Exo_16:18. Paul applies what is said of the gathering and eating of manna, to show that God wishes men to strive after equality in communion of goods.
He that had gathered much. He that gathered much had no more than he that gathered little, and vice versâ. The passage quoted from Exodus declares that by a continuous miracle God rained down manna for forty years in the wilderness on so many hundreds of thousands of Jews, in such a way that the greedy who gathered much, and the idle who gathered little, both found, when they returned home and measured what they had got, that they had but an homer full, or enough for a day's food for each. If they collected either more or less, God or an angel subtracted from it or added to it invisibly, to bring all to an equality. So, then, an homer was the measure for men, women, and children, and it contained as much only as a man would ordinarily eat in a day (Nyssen, de Vita Moysis, Chrysostom, Anselm, Vatablus, Theophylact).
The reason for this was (1.) that God would in this way restrain the greediness and gluttony of the Jews, and their excessive love of earthly things (Chrysostom and Theophylact). (2.) By this continuous miracle God would remind us that in all our necessity we should look to His Providence, and recollect that He provides for each all that is needful for his life; therefore, as we sit at table, let us regard God as raining down manna upon us from heaven. So now God supplies, not only to the rich but the poor also, and those that have bad health or are burdened with a large family, their daily portion, which is enough to maintain the life of all. This will seem to any one who considers the matter, and compares the small gain made with the great expenditure of so many heads of families, a wonderful and incredible thing; and by this test alone any one may see God's sweet and wondrous care for all. Let not the poor, therefore, bewail their lot, nor desire great riches, "For since we all," says S. Chrysostom, "have but one belly to fill, and one time to live in, and one body to cover, the rich man has no more from his abundance, nor the poor man less from his poverty; but both have food and clothing, and in this they are equal."
Observe, again, the beautiful application S. Paul makes of the symbolic manna. As God gave of it an equal measure to all, so is it right that Christians should cultivate an equality: those who have abundant wealth should distribute to the poor, and make them equal to themselves, so far as the necessaries of life go, that all may be content, and, having what is necessary, live equally (Theophylact and Chrysostom). Observe, however, that as the rich, by giving of their superfluous wealth to the poor, make them equal to themselves, so too do the poor, by a fellowship of merits, make the rich equal to them, not altogether absolutely, but by way of proportion, in such a way that neither has any lack of either kind of benefits, or has an excessive supply when compared with others; for otherwise the rich would not by giving to the poor make them as rich as themselves, nor would the poor by giving in return his prayers and other spiritual goods give an equal gift, but rather a far more valuable gift than he received. Nor again does he give of his spiritual goods as much as he has (S. Thomas).
Analogically, S. Chrysostom and Anselm refer this passage to the glory of heaven, which all will share equally. But this must he understood of the objective bliss; for all will see the same God, and in Him will be satisfied and blessed; but in this vision, and consequently in joy and glory, there will be degrees, and a disparity proportioned to merit. It was so in the case of the manna: an equal share was given to each, satisfying all equally, yet it tasted differently to different people.
He tells them that it is the will that chiefly makes their charity acceptable to God, who sees the heart. And that the design is not to make others live at their ease, in a richer condition than those who give, but to make a kind of equality, their brethren in Judea being now in great poverty and want. (Witham) --- God regards two things in our alms: first, the zeal and good-will with which we give our alms; secondly the greatness of our charities, that is, if they be proportionate to our means. If you have little, give a little, but with good-will; if you have much, give also much, but with equal benevolence and zeal. God measures the extent of our charity by the greatness of our zeal, not requiring of us what we have not, but what we have to spare, relieving others, without overcharging ourselves. (Bible de Vence) --- Yielding our superfluities, that the poor may not want necessaries. (Menochius)
This present time, let your abundance, &c. The sense, according to some interpreters is, that the time may perhaps come, when they in Judea may supply the wants of those in Achaia in the same kind. Others rather understand it of a communication of spiritual for temporal goods, that your alms, by the assistance of those who will pray for you, and your charities, may obtain for your the spiritual riches of grace, which every one stands chiefly in need of. (Witham)
He that had much, &c. The words were spoken of those who gathered the manna. (Exodus xvi. 18.) Every one was there ordered to gather such a particular measure, called a gomer, and they who for fear of wanting, gathered more, found they had no more than the measure they were ordered to take, and they, who as it happened, took less, still found they had their measure of a gomer. By this example, St. Paul exhorts them to contribute to the relief of their brethren, with confidence in God's providence, and without fear of wanting themselves. (Witham)
7 Therefore, as ye abound in every thing, in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love to us, see that ye abound in this grace also. 8 I speak not by commandment, but by occasion of the forwardness of others, and to prove the sincerity of your love. 9 For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich. 10 And herein I give my advice: for this is expedient for you, who have begun before, not only to do, but also to be forward a year ago. 11 Now therefore perform the doing of it; that as there was a readiness to will, so there may be a performance also out of that which ye have. 12 For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not. 13 For I mean not that other men be eased, and ye burdened: 14 But by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want: that there may be equality: 15 As it is written, He that had gathered much had nothing over; and he that had gathered little had no lack.
In these verses the apostle uses several cogent arguments to stir up the Corinthians to this good work of charity.
I. He urges upon them the consideration of their eminence in other gifts and graces, and would have them excel in this of charity also, v. 7 . Great address and much holy art are here used by the apostle. When he would persuade the Corinthians to this good thing, he commends them for other good things that were found in them. Most people love to be complimented, especially when we ask a gift of them for ourselves or others; and it is a justice we owe to those in whom God's grace shines to give them their due commendation. Observe here, What it was that the Corinthians abounded in. Faith is mentioned first, for that is the root; and, as without faith it is impossible to please God ( Heb. xi. 6 ), so those who abound in faith will abound in other graces and good works also; and this will work and show itself by love. To their faith was added utterance, which is an excellent gift, and redounds much to the glory of God and the good of the church. Many have faith who want utterance. But these Corinthians excelled most churches in spiritual gifts, and particularly in utterance; and yet this was not in them, as in too many, both the effect and evidence of ignorance; for with their utterance there appeared knowledge, abundance of knowledge. They had a treasury of things new and old, and in their utterance they brought out of this treasury. They abounded also in all diligence. Those who have great knowledge and ready utterance are not always the most diligent Christians. Great talkers are not always the best doers; but these Corinthians were diligent to do, as well as know and talk, well. And further, they had abundant love to their minister; and were not like too many, who, having gifts of their own, are but too apt to slight their ministers, and neglect them. Now to all these good things the apostle desires them to add this grace also, to abound in charity to the poor; that, where so much good was found, there should be found yet more good. Before the apostle proceeds to another argument he takes care to prevent any misapprehensions of his design to impose on them, or to bind heavy burdens upon them by his authority; and tells them ( v. 8 ) he does not speak by commandment, or in a way of authority. I give my advice, v. 10 . He took occasion from the forwardness of others to propose what would be expedient for them, and would prove the sincerity of their love, or be the genuine effect and evidence thereof. Note, A great difference should be made between plain and positive duty, and the improvement of a present opportunity of doing or getting good. Many a thing which is good for us to do, yet can not be said to be, by express and indispensable commandment, our duty at this or that time.
II. Another argument is taken from the consideration of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. The best arguments for Christian duties are those that are taken from the love of Christ, that constraineth us. The example of the churches of Macedonia was such as the Corinthians should imitate; but the example of our Lord Jesus Christ should have much greater influence. And you know, saith the apostle, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ ( v. 9 ), that though he was rich, as being God, equal in power and glory with the Father, rich in all the glory and blessedness of the upper world, yet for your sakes he became poor; not only did become man for us, but he became poor also. He was born in poor circumstances, lived a poor life, and died in poverty; and this was for our sakes, that we thereby might be made rich, rich in the love and favour of God, rich in the blessings and promises of the new covenant, rich in the hopes of eternal life, being heirs of the kingdom. This is a good reason why we should be charitable to the poor out of what we have, because we ourselves live upon the charity of the Lord Jesus Christ.
III. Another argument is taken from their good purposes, and their forwardness to begin this good work. As to this he tells them, 1. It was expedient for them to perform what they purposed, and finish what they had begun, v. 10, 11 . What else did their good purposes and good beginnings signify? Good purposes, indeed, are good things; they are like buds and blossoms, pleasant to behold, and give hopes of good fruit; but they are lost, and signify nothing, without performances. So good beginnings are amiable; but we shall lose the benefit unless there be perseverance, and we bring forth fruit to perfection. Seeing therefore the Corinthians had shown a readiness to will, he would have them be careful also in the performance, according to their ability. For, 2. This would be acceptable to God. This willing mind is accepted ( v. 12 ), when accompanied with sincere endeavours. When men purpose that which is good, and endeavour, according to their ability, to perform also, God will accept of what they have, or can do, and not reject them for what they have not, and what is not in their power to do: and this is true as to other things besides the work of charity. But let us note here that this scripture will by no means justify those who think good meanings are enough, or that good purposes, and the profession of a willing mind, are sufficient to save them. It is accepted, indeed, where there is a performance as far as we are able, and when Providence hinders the performance, as in David's case concerning building a house for the Lord, 2 Sam. vii .
7. in faith-- ( 2Co 1:24 ).
utterance-- (See on 1Co 1:5 ). Not as Alford, "doctrine" or "word."
knowledge-- ( 1Co 8:1 ).
diligence-- in everything that is good.
your love to us-- literally, "love from you (that is, on your part) in us" (that is, which has us for its object; which is felt in the case of us).
9. ye know the grace-- the act of gratuitous love whereby the Lord emptied Himself of His previous heavenly glory ( Php 2:6 , 7 ) for your sakes.
became poor-- Yet this is not demanded of you ( 2Co 8:14 ); but merely that, without impoverishing yourselves, you should relieve others with your abundance. If the Lord did so much more, and at so much heavier a cost, for your sakes; much more may you do an act of love to your brethren at so little a sacrifice of self.
might be rich-- in the heavenly glory which constitutes His riches, and all other things, so far as is really good for us (compare 1Co 3:21 , 22 ).
13. For-- Supply from 2Co 8:8 , "I speak." My aim is not that others (namely, the saints at Jerusalem) may be relieved at the cost of your being "distressed" (so the Greek for "burdened"). The golden rule is, "Love thy neighbour as thyself," not more than thyself.
14. by an equality-- "by the rule of equality" [Alford]: literally, "Out of equality."
now at this time-- Greek, "at the present juncture" or season.
that their abundance also-- The Greek being distinct from the previous "that," translate, "in order that," namely, at another season, when your relative circumstances may be reversed. The reference is solely to temporal wants and supplies. Those, as Bengel, who quote Ro 15:27 for interpreting it of spiritual supplies from the Jews to the Gentiles, forget that Ro 15:27 refers to the past benefit spiritually, which the Jews have conferred on the Gentiles, as a motive to gratitude on the part of the latter, not to a prospective benefit to be looked for from the former, which the text refers to.
15. ( Ex 16:18 ; Septuagint). As God gave an equal portion of manna to all the Israelites, whether they could gather much or little; so Christians should promote by liberality an equality, so that none should need the necessaries of life while others have superfluities. "Our luxuries should yield to our neighbor's comforts; and our comforts to his necessities" [J. Howard].
Two words in v. 14 carry the argument that God made not death (v. 13). The nations of the earth were made for health, which Calmet reads as the "good" of Genesis 1:31, the creation God looked on and approved. And there is no poison of destruction in them, where Worthington gives the Latin medicamentum, a word that covers both poison and medicine. The note in Haydock draws the conclusion: poison and wild beasts "become noxious to man only after sin," which is what "infects the veins," and from Jesus Christ all may draw the antidote. Death, on this reading, is not built into the world but came into it, and v. 24 names how: by the envy of the devil.
The commentary explains that envy. Calmet, with Bernard and Lapide behind him, says Lucifer thought the honour of the hypostatic union belonged to the angelic nature rather than the human, and so fell into envy and strove to become like the Most High (Isa 14:14). That reading binds the two halves of the passage together, for man was created incorruptible and to the image of his own likeness (2:23), and the devil grudged human nature the dignity God meant to give it. The sources say little more, but the shape they give the passage is clear: death enters through a grudge against human nature, and what that envy poisoned Christ heals.