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Therefore the advance of the city of God, where it reached the times
of the kings, yielded a figure, when, on the rejection of Saul,
David first obtained the kingdom on such a footing that thenceforth his
descendants should reign in the earthly Jerusalem in continual
succession; for the course of affairs signified and foretold, what is
not to be passed by in silence, concerning the change of things to
come, what belongs to both Testaments, the Old and the New, where
the priesthood and kingdom are changed by one who is a priest, and at
the same time a king, new and everlasting, even Christ Jesus. For
both the substitution in the ministry of God, on Eli's rejection as
priest, of Samuel, who executed at once the office of priest and
judge, and the establishment of David in the kingdom, when Saul was
rejected, typified this of which I speak. And Hannah herself, the
mother of Samuel, who formerly was barren, and afterwards was
gladdened with fertility, does not seem to prophesy anything else,
when she exultingly pours forth her thanksgiving to the Lord, on
yielding up to God the same boy she had born and weaned with the same
piety with which she had vowed him. For she says, "My heart is made
strong in the Lord, and my horn is exalted in my God; my mouth is
enlarged over mine enemies; I am made glad in Thy salvation.
Because there is none holy as the Lord; and none is righteous as our
God: there is none holy save Thee. Do not glory so proudly, and do
not speak lofty things, neither let vaunting talk come out of your
mouth; for a God of knowledge is the Lord, and a God preparing His
curious designs. The bow of the mighty hath He made weak, and the
weak are girded with strength. They that were full of bread are
diminished; and the hungry have passed beyond the earth: for the
barren hath born seven; and she that hath many children is waxed
feeble. The Lord killeth and maketh alive: He bringeth down to
hell, and bringeth up again. The Lord maketh poor and maketh rich:
He bringeth low and lifteth up. He raiseth up the poor out of the
dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, that He may set
him among the mighty of [His] people, and maketh them inherit the
throne of glory; giving the vow to him that voweth, and He hath
blessed the years of the just: for man is not mighty in strength. The
Lord shall make His adversary weak: the Lord is holy. Let not the
prudent glory in his prudence and let not the mighty glory in his
might; and let not the rich glory in his riches: but let him that
glorieth glory in this, to understand and know the Lord, and to do
judgment and justice in the midst of the earth. The Lord hath
ascended into the heavens, and hath thundered: He shall judge the
ends of the earth, for He is righteous: and He giveth strength to
our kings, and shall exalt the horn of His Christ."
Do you say that these are the words of a single weak woman giving
thanks for the birth of a son? Can the mind of men be so much averse
to the light of truth as not to perceive that the sayings this woman
pours forth exceed her measure? Moreover, he who is suitably
interested in these things which have already begun to be fulfilled even
in this earthly pilgrimage also, does he not apply his: mind, and
perceive, and acknowledge, that through this woman, whose very name,
which is Hannah, means "His grace", the very Christian religion,
the very city of God, whose king and founder is Christ, in fine,
the very grace of God, hath thus spoken by the prophetic Spirit,
whereby the proud are cut off so that they fall, and the humble are
filled so that they rise, which that hymn chiefly celebrates? Unless
perchance any one will say that this woman prophesied nothing, but only
lauded God with exulting praise on account of the son whom she had
obtained in answer to prayer. What then does she mean when she says,
"The bow of the mighty hath He made weak, and the weak are girded
with strength; they that were full of bread are diminished, and the
hungry have gone beyond the earth; for the barren hath born seven, and
she that hath many children is waxed feeble?" Had she herself born
seven, although she had been barren? She had only one when she said
that; neither did she bear seven afterwards, nor six, with whom
Samuel himself might be the seventh, but three males and two females.
And then, when as yet no one was king over that people, whence, if
she did not prophesy, did she say what she puts at the end, "He
giveth strength to our kings, and shall exalt the horn of His
Christ?"
Therefore let the Church of Christ, the city of the great King,
full of grace, prolific of offspring, let her say what the prophecy
uttered about her so long before by the mouth of this pious mother
confesses, "My heart is made strong in the Lord, and my horn is
exalted in my God." Her heart is truly made strong, and her horn is
truly exalted, because not in herself, but in the Lord her God.
"My mouth is enlarged over mine enemies;" because even in pressing
straits the word of God is not bound, not even in preachers who are
bound.
"I am made glad," she says, "in Thy salvation." This is
Christ Jesus Himself, whom old Simeon, as we read in the Gospel,
embracing as a little one, yet recognizing as great, said," Lord,
now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen
Thy salvation." Therefore may the Church say, "I am made glad in
Thy salvation. For there is none holy as the Lord, and none is
righteous as our God;" as holy and sanctifying, just and
justifying.
"There is none holy beside Thee;" because no one becomes so except
by reason of Thee. And then it follows, "Do not glory so proudly,
and do not speak lofty things, neither let vaunting talk come out of
your mouth. For a God of knowledge is the Lord." He knows you
even when no one knows; for "he who thinketh himself to be something
when he is nothing deceiveth himself."
These things are said to the adversaries of the city of God who belong
to Babylon, who presume in their own strength, and glory in
themselves, not in the Lord; of whom are also the carnal
Israelites, the earth-born inhabitants of the earthly Jerusalem,
who, as saith the apostle, "being ignorant of the righteousness of
God," that is, which God, who alone is just, and the justifier,
gives to man, "and wishing to establish their own," that is, which
is as it were procured by their own selves, not bestowed by Him,
"are not subject to the righteousness of God," just because they are
proud, and think they are able to please God with their own, not with
that which is of God, who is the God of knowledge, and therefore
also takes the oversight of consciences, there beholding the thoughts
of men that they are vain, if they are of men, and are not from Him.
"And preparing," she says, "His curious designs." What curious
designs do we think these are, save that the proud must fall, and the
humble rise? These curious designs she recounts, saying, "The bow
of the mighty is made weak, and the weak are girded with strength."
The bow is made weak, that is, the intention of those who think
themselves so powerful, that without the gift and help of God they are
able by human sufficiency to fulfill the divine commandments; and those
are girded with strength whose in ward cry is, "Have mercy upon me,
O Lord, for I am weak."
"They that were full of bread," she says, "are diminished, and
the hungry have gone beyond the earth." Who are to be understood as
full of bread except those same who were as if mighty, that is, the
Israelites, to whom were committed the oracles of God? But among
that people the children of the bond maid were diminished, by which
word minus, although it is Latin, the idea is well expressed that
from being greater they were made less, because, even in the very
bread, that is, the divine oracles, which the Israelites alone of
all nations have received, they savor earthly things. But the nations
to whom that law was not given, after they have come through the New
Testament to these oracles, by thirsting much have gone beyond the
earth, because in them they have savored not earthly, but heavenly
things. And the reason why this is done is as it were sought; "for
the barren," she says, "hath born seven, and she that hath many
children is waxed feeble." Here all that had been prophesied hath
shone forth to those who understood the number seven, which signifies
the perfection of the universal Church, For which reason also the
Apostle John writes to the seven churches, showing in that way that
he writes to the totality of the one Church; and in the Proverbs of
Solomon it is said aforetime, prefiguring this, "Wisdom hath
builded her house, she hath strengthened her seven pillars." For the
city of God was barren in all nations before that child arose whom we
see. We also see that the temporal Jerusalem, who had many
children, is now waxed feeble. Because, whoever in her were sons of
the free woman were her strength; but now, forasmuch as the letter is
there, and not the spirit, having lost her strength, she is waxed
feeble.
"The Lord killeth and maketh alive:" He has killed her who had
many children, and made this barren one alive, so that she has born
seven. Although it may be more suitably understood that He has made
those same alive whom He has killed. For she, as it were, repeats
that by adding, "He bringeth down to hell, and bringeth up." To
whom truly the apostle says, "If ye be dead with Christ, seek those
things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of
God." Therefore they are killed by the Lord in a salutary way, so
that he adds, " Savor things which are above, not things on the
earth;" so that these are they who, hungering, have passed beyond
the earth. "For ye are dead," he says: behold how God savingly
kills! Then there follows, "And your life is hid with Christ in
God:" behold how God makes the same alive! But does He bring them
down to hell and bring them up again? It is without controversy among
believers that we best see both parts of this work fulfilled in Him,
to wit our Head, with whom the apostle has said our life is hid in
God. "For when He spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up
for us all," in that way, certainly, He has killed Him. And
forasmuch as He raised Him up again from the dead, He has made Him
alive again. And since His voice is acknowledged in the prophecy,
"Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell," He has brought Him down to
hell and brought Him up again. By this poverty of His we are made
rich; for "the Lord maketh poor and maketh rich." But that we may
know what this is, let us hear what follows: "He bringeth low and
lifteth up;" and truly He humbles the proud and exalts the humble.
Which we also read elsewhere, "God resisteth the proud, but giveth
grace to the humble." This is the burden of the entire song of this
woman whose name is interpreted "His grace."
Farther, what is added, "He raiseth up the poor from the earth,"
I understand of none better than of Him who, as was said a little
ago, "was made poor for us, when He was rich, that by His poverty
we might be made rich." For He raised Him from the earth so quickly
that His flesh did not see corruption. Nor shall I divert from Him
what is added, "And raiseth up the poor from the dunghill." For
indeed he who is the poor man is also the beggar. But by the dunghill
from which he is lifted up we are with the greatest reason to understand
the persecuting Jews, of whom the apostle says, when telling that
when he belonged to them he persecuted the Church, "What things were
gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ; and I have counted
them not only loss, but even dung, that I might win Christ."
Therefore that poor one is raised up from the earth above all the
rich, and that beggar is lifted up from that dunghill above all the
wealthy, "that he may sit among the mighty of the people," to whom
He says, "Ye shall sit upon twelve thrones," "and to make them
inherit the throne of glory." For these mighty ones had said,
"Lo, we have forsaken all and followed Thee." They had most
mightily vowed this vow.
But whence do they receive this, except from Him of whom it is here
immediately said, "Giving the vow to him that voweth?" Otherwise
they would be of those mighty ones whose bow is weakened. "Giving,"
she saith, "the vow to him that voweth." For no one could vow
anything acceptable to God, unless he received from Him that which he
might vow, There follows, "And He hath blessed the years of the
just," to wit, that he may live for ever with Him to whom it is
said, "And Thy years shall have no end." For there the years
abide; but here they pass away, yea, they perish: for before they
come they are not, and when they shall have come they shall not be,
because they bring their own end with them. Now of these two, that
is, "giving the vow to him that voweth," and "He hath blessed the
years of the just," the one is what we do, the other what we
receive. But this other is not received from God, the liberal
giver, until He, the helper, Himself has enabled us for the
former; "for man is not mighty in strength." "The Lord shall make
his adversary weak," to wit, him who envies the man that vows, and
resists him, lest he should fulfill what he has vowed. Owing to the
ambiguity of the Greek, it may also be understood "his own
adversary." For when God has begun to possess us, immediately he
who had been our adversary becomes His, and is conquered by us; but
not by our own strength, "for man is not mighty in strength."
Therefore "the Lord shall make His own adversary weak, the Lord is
holy," that he may be conquered by the saints, whom the Lord, the
Holy of holies, hath made saints. For this reason, "let not the
prudent glory in his prudence, and let not the mighty glory in his
might, and let not the rich glory in his riches; but let him that
glorieth glory in this, to understand and know the Lord, and to do
judgment and justice in the midst of the earth," He in no small
measure understands and knows the Lord who understands and knows that
even this, that he can understand and know the Lord, is given to him
by the Lord. "For what hast thou," saith the apostle, "that thou
hast not received? But if thou hast received it, why dost thou glory
as if thou hadst not received it?" That is, as if thou hadst of
thine own self whereof thou mightest glory. Now, he does judgment and
justice who lives aright. But he lives aright who yields obedience to
God when He commands. "The end of the commandment," that is, to
which the commandment has reference, "is charity out of a pure heart,
and a good conscience, and faith unfeigned." Moreover, this
"charity," as the Apostle John testifies, "is of God,"
Therefore to do justice and judgment is of God. But what is "in the
midst of the earth?" For ought those who dwell in the ends of the
earth not to do judgment and justice? Who would say so?
Why, then, is it added, "In the midst of the earth?" For if
this had not been added, and it had only been said, "To do judgment
and justice," this commandment would rather have pertained to both
kinds of men, both those dwelling inland and those on the sea-coast.
But lest any one should think that, after the end of the life led in
this body, there remains. a time for doing judgment and justice which
he has not done while he was in the flesh, and that the divine judgment
can thus be escaped, "in the midst of the earth" appears to me to be
said of the time when every one lives in the body; for in this life
every one carries about his own earth, which, on a man's dying, the
common earth takes back, to be surely returned to him on his rising
again.
Therefore "in the midst of the earth," that is, while our soul is
shut up in this earthly body, judgment and justice are to be done,
which shall be profitable for us hereafter, when "every one shall
receive according to that he hath done in the body, whether good or
bad." For when the apostle there says "in the body," he means in
the time he has lived in the body. Yet if any one blaspheme with
malicious mind and impious thought, without any member of his body
being employed in it, he shall not therefore be guiltless because he
has not done it with bodily motion, for he will have done it in that
time which he has spent in the body. In the same way we may suitably
understand what we read in the psalm, "But God, our King before
the worlds, hath wrought salvation in the midst of the earth;" so
that the Lord Jesus may be understood to be our God who is before the
worlds, because by Him the worlds were made, working our salvation in
the midst of the earth, for the Word was made flesh and dwelt in an
earthly body.
Then after Hannah has prophesied in these words, that he who glorieth
ought to glory not in himself at all, but in the Lord, she i says,
on account of the retribution which is to come on the day of judgment,
"The Lord hath ascended into the heavens, and hath thundered: He
shall judge the ends of the earth, for He is righteous."
Throughout she holds to the order of the creed of Christians: For
the Lord Christ has ascended into heaven, and is to come thence to
judge the quick and dead. For, as saith the apostle, "Who hath
ascended but He who hath also descended into the lower parts of the
earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up above all
heavens, that He might fill all things." Therefore He hath
thundered through His clouds, which He hath filled with His Holy
Spirit when He ascended up. Concerning which the bond maid
Jerusalem, that is, the unfruitful vineyard, is threatened in
Isaiah the prophet that they shall rain no showers upon her. But
"He shall judge the ends of the earth" is spoken as if it had been
said, "even the extremes of the earth." For it does not mean that
He shall not judge the other parts of the earth, who, without doubt,
shall judge all men. But it is better to understand by the extremes of
the earth the extremes of man, since those things shall not be judged
which, in the middle time, are changed for the better or the worse,
but the ending in which he shall be found who is judged. For which
reason it is said, "He that shall persevere even unto the end, the
same shall be saved." He, therefore, who perseveringly does
judgment and justice in the midst of the earth shall not be condemned
when the extremes of the earth shall be judged. "And giveth," she
saith, "strength to our kings," that He may not condemn them in
judging. He giveth them strength whereby as kings they rule the
flesh, and conquer the world in Him who hath poured out His blood for
them. "And shall exalt the horn of His Christ." How shall
Christ exalt the horn of His Christ? For He of whom it was said
above, "The Lord hath ascended into the heavens," meaning the
Lord Christ, Himself, as it is said here, "shall exalt the horn
of His Christ." Who, therefore, is the Christ of His Christ?
Does it mean that He shall exalt the horn of each one of His
believing people, as she says in the beginning of this hymn, "Mine
horn is exalted in my God?" For we can rightly call all those
christs who are anointed with His chrism, forasmuch as the whole body
with its head is one Christ. These things hath Hannah, the mother
of Samuel, the holy and much-praised man, prophesied, in which,
indeed, the change of the ancient priesthood was then figured and is
now fulfilled, since she that had many children is waxed feeble, that
the barren who hath born seven might have the new priesthood in
Christ.
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