Anf-01 viii.iv.xxxiii Pg 0
Anf-03 v.iv.vi.ix Pg 20
Ps. cx.
was a chant in honour of Hezekiah,5599 5599 In Ezechiam cecinisse.
because “he went up to the house of the Lord,”5600 5600
Anf-03 v.iv.vi.ix Pg 23
Tertullian, as usual, argues from the Septuagint, which in the latter clause of Ps. cx. 3 has ἐκ γαστρὸς πρὸ ἑωσφόρου ἐγέννησά σε; and so the Vulgate version has it. This Psalm has been variously applied by the Jews. Raschi (or Rabbi Sol. Jarchi) thinks it is most suitable to Abraham, and possibly to David, in which latter view D. Kimchi agrees with him. Others find in Solomon the best application; but more frequently is Hezekiah thought to be the subject of the Psalm, as Tertullian observes. Justin Martyr (in Dial. cum Tryph.) also notices this application of the Psalm. But Tertullian in the next sentence appears to recognize the sounder opinion of the older Jews, who saw in this Ps. cx. a prediction of Messiah. This opinion occurs in the Jerusalem Talmud, in the tract Berachoth, 5. Amongst the more recent Jews who also hold the sounder view, may be mentioned Rabbi Saadias Gaon, on Dan. vii. 13, and R. Moses Hadarsan [singularly enough quoted by Raschi in another part of his commentary (Gen. xxxv. 8)], with others who are mentioned by Wetstein, On the New Testament, Matt. xxii. 44. Modern Jews, such as Moses Mendelsohn, reject the Messianic sense; and they are followed by the commentators of the Rationalist school amongst ourselves and in Germany. J. Olshausen, after Hitzig, comes down in his interpretation of the Psalm as late as the Maccabees, and sees a suitable accomplishment of its words in the honours heaped upon Jonathan by Alexander son of Antiochus Epiphanes (see 1 Macc. x. 20). For the refutation of so inadequate a commentary, the reader is referred to Delitzch on Ps. cx. The variations of opinion, however, in this school, are as remarkable as the fluctuations of the Jewish writers. The latest work on the Psalms which has appeared amongst us (Psalms, chronologically arranged, by four Friends), after Ewald, places the accomplishment of Ps. cx. in what may be allowed to have been its occasion—David’s victories over the neighboring heathen.
are applicable to Hezekiah, and to the birth of Hezekiah. We on our side5602 5602 Nos.
have published Gospels (to the credibility of which we have to thank5603 5603 Debemus.
them5604 5604 Istos: that is, the Jews (Rigalt.).
for having given some confirmation, indeed, already in so great a subject5605 5605 Utique jam in tanto opere.
); and these declare that the Lord was born at night, that so it might be “before the morning star,” as is evident both from the star especially, and from the testimony of the angel, who at night announced to the shepherds that Christ had at that moment been born,5606 5606 Natum esse quum maxime.
and again from the place of the birth, for it is towards night that persons arrive at the (eastern) “inn.” Perhaps, too, there was a mystic purpose in Christ’s being born at night, destined, as He was, to be the light of the truth amidst the dark shadows of ignorance. Nor, again, would God have said, “I have begotten Thee,” except to His true Son. For although He says of all the people (Israel), “I have begotten5607 5607 Generavi: Sept. ἐγέννησα.
children,”5608 5608
Anf-03 v.iv.vi.ix Pg 23
Tertullian, as usual, argues from the Septuagint, which in the latter clause of Ps. cx. 3 has ἐκ γαστρὸς πρὸ ἑωσφόρου ἐγέννησά σε; and so the Vulgate version has it. This Psalm has been variously applied by the Jews. Raschi (or Rabbi Sol. Jarchi) thinks it is most suitable to Abraham, and possibly to David, in which latter view D. Kimchi agrees with him. Others find in Solomon the best application; but more frequently is Hezekiah thought to be the subject of the Psalm, as Tertullian observes. Justin Martyr (in Dial. cum Tryph.) also notices this application of the Psalm. But Tertullian in the next sentence appears to recognize the sounder opinion of the older Jews, who saw in this Ps. cx. a prediction of Messiah. This opinion occurs in the Jerusalem Talmud, in the tract Berachoth, 5. Amongst the more recent Jews who also hold the sounder view, may be mentioned Rabbi Saadias Gaon, on Dan. vii. 13, and R. Moses Hadarsan [singularly enough quoted by Raschi in another part of his commentary (Gen. xxxv. 8)], with others who are mentioned by Wetstein, On the New Testament, Matt. xxii. 44. Modern Jews, such as Moses Mendelsohn, reject the Messianic sense; and they are followed by the commentators of the Rationalist school amongst ourselves and in Germany. J. Olshausen, after Hitzig, comes down in his interpretation of the Psalm as late as the Maccabees, and sees a suitable accomplishment of its words in the honours heaped upon Jonathan by Alexander son of Antiochus Epiphanes (see 1 Macc. x. 20). For the refutation of so inadequate a commentary, the reader is referred to Delitzch on Ps. cx. The variations of opinion, however, in this school, are as remarkable as the fluctuations of the Jewish writers. The latest work on the Psalms which has appeared amongst us (Psalms, chronologically arranged, by four Friends), after Ewald, places the accomplishment of Ps. cx. in what may be allowed to have been its occasion—David’s victories over the neighboring heathen.
are applicable to Hezekiah, and to the birth of Hezekiah. We on our side5602 5602 Nos.
have published Gospels (to the credibility of which we have to thank5603 5603 Debemus.
them5604 5604 Istos: that is, the Jews (Rigalt.).
for having given some confirmation, indeed, already in so great a subject5605 5605 Utique jam in tanto opere.
); and these declare that the Lord was born at night, that so it might be “before the morning star,” as is evident both from the star especially, and from the testimony of the angel, who at night announced to the shepherds that Christ had at that moment been born,5606 5606 Natum esse quum maxime.
and again from the place of the birth, for it is towards night that persons arrive at the (eastern) “inn.” Perhaps, too, there was a mystic purpose in Christ’s being born at night, destined, as He was, to be the light of the truth amidst the dark shadows of ignorance. Nor, again, would God have said, “I have begotten Thee,” except to His true Son. For although He says of all the people (Israel), “I have begotten5607 5607 Generavi: Sept. ἐγέννησα.
children,”5608 5608
Anf-03 v.iv.vi.ix Pg 37
Similarly the Rabbis Saadias Gaon and Hadarsan, above mentioned in our note, beautifully applied to Messiah’s placid birth, “without a human father,” the figures of Ps. cx. 3, “womb of the morning,” “dew of thy birth.”
Solomon, however, if he had indeed any descent at all, came not down like a shower, because he descended not from heaven. But I will set before you more literal points.5616 5616 Simpliciora.
“He shall have dominion,” says the Psalmist, “from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth.”5617 5617
Anf-03 v.ix.xi Pg 7
In allusion to Ps. cx. 3 (Sept.)
and likewise, “I the Lord possessed Myself the beginning of my ways for my own works; before all the hills, too, did I beget myself;”7880 7880
Anf-02 vi.iv.v.vi Pg 12.3
Anf-03 v.iv.iv.xxiv Pg 37
Isa. lx. 8.
—that is, simply like a dove.3470 3470
Anf-03 v.iv.vi.xv Pg 19
Isa. lx. 8.
Now, as Christ has prepared for us this ascension into heaven, He must be the Christ of whom Amos5909 5909 Oehler and Fr. Junius here read Amos, but all the other readings give Hosea; but see above, book iii. chap. xxiv., where Amos was read by all.
spoke: “It is He who builds His ascent up to the heavens,”5910 5910 Amos ix. 6.
even for Himself and His people. Now, from whom shall I expect (the fulfilment of) all this, except from Him whom I have heard give the promise thereof? What “spirit” does he forbid us to “quench,” and what “prophesyings” to “despise?”5911 5911
Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge, Chapter 13
VERSE (44) - Ge 49:10 Ps 110:3 Isa 11:10; 60:8
