Arnobius the Younger — Commentary on Scripture

Isaiah 29:13

Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:

For God is necessary to all things, but nothing is necessary to him. Because, however, he loved everything he created, by the great grace of his kindness he deemed it worthy to invite the soul to come to him through the law, through trials of virtue, through sorrows of the heart, and through the greatness of human works. He gave not only the bread of angels, therefore, but also the flesh of innumerable birds to the concupiscent, even to the ungrateful. And lest their descendants fail to fear the unpunished crime of the ungrateful, “the wrath of God came upon them when their food was still in their mouths” because they did not believe in his wonders.“Their days vanished in emptiness and their years in partying.” Truly, as I have said, you will not desire to do good unless you are compelled by the fear of suffering evil: “When he killed them,” it says, “they sought him, repented, and came to him immediately.” It was then that “they remembered that God is their helper and their defense.” But only those who said, “You are our God” are the ones who “lied to him with their tongues, for the…

For God is necessary to all things, but nothing is necessary to him. Because, however, he loved everything he created, by the great grace of his kindness he deemed it worthy to invite the soul to come to him through the law, through trials of virtue, through sorrows of the heart, and through the greatness of human works. He gave not only the bread of angels, therefore, but also the flesh of innumerable birds to the concupiscent, even to the ungrateful. And lest their descendants fail to fear the unpunished crime of the ungrateful, “the wrath of God came upon them when their food was still in their mouths” because they did not believe in his wonders.“Their days vanished in emptiness and their years in partying.” Truly, as I have said, you will not desire to do good unless you are compelled by the fear of suffering evil: “When he killed them,” it says, “they sought him, repented, and came to him immediately.” It was then that “they remembered that God is their helper and their defense.” But only those who said, “You are our God” are the ones who “lied to him with their tongues, for their hearts were not right within them.” Consequently the Lord said, “This people loves me with its lips, but its heart is far from me.” Why these people in particular? Because “they did not have faith in his covenant.” For “without faith,” said the apostle, “it is impossible to please God.”

Psalms 1:2

But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

The memory of the law of God overtakes [the blessed person’s] own will. And day and night he models his behavior through meditation on divine law so that the life that Adam destroyed by his contempt, he himself may find by guarding it, remaining deep in the flowing water of the law, taking hold of the everlasting tree of life; so, finally, whatever he does will prosper.

Psalms 15:1

A Psalm of David. LORD, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill?

All the defiled approach the tabernacle of the Lord, and there they are made undefiled. Jesus alone, undefiled, having entered the uncorrupted tabernacle, has freed us from the defilement of the flesh and has given us holiness.

Psalms 18:1

To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, the servant of the LORD, who spake unto the LORD the words of this song in the day that the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul: And he said, I will love thee, O LORD, my strength.

Let us ask the Lord and say, “Who is he who loves you?” He will respond to us through his Gospel and say, “He who hears my words and does them, this is the one who loves me.”

Psalms 18:3

I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies.

He is my refuge, he is my liberator; as I praise and call on him I will be safe from my enemies. Let me say this in the present so that I may not doubt it in the future.

Psalms 18:6

In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried unto my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears.

While the groans of death, the injustices, griefs, and snares, surround me, I called out to him in faith. He heard my voice from his holy temple, and my cry reached his ears.

Psalms 18:23

I was also upright before him, and I kept myself from mine iniquity.

I will be blameless with him, with that very one who, himself blameless, suffered on the cross for our iniquities.

Psalms 18:25

With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful; with an upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright;

We agree with common opinion, “He will be like the one with whom he is joined.” Indeed, this statement is very true, but it does not apply to the interpretation of the present verse. In this verse, if you wish to make the plain sense of the hymn, you will remember what the Lord said through the prophet to the people: If you walk upright in my sight, I will walk upright with you; if you walk turned from my ways, I will be turned from you. The psalmist speaks to this statement: With the holy, you will be holy; with the innocent, innocent, and et cetera.

Psalms 18:28

For thou wilt light my candle: the LORD my God will enlighten my darkness.

Just as the eye is the lamp of the body, so the lamp of the soul is the mind, in which, unless Christ has poured the oil of his grace, there will not be light within. The prophet, therefore, proclaims that his lamp is lighted by the Lord.

Psalms 18:37

I have pursued mine enemies, and overtaken them: neither did I turn again till they were consumed.

Not only do we avoid the ones pursuing us as we flee, but we pursue our enemies, and we seize them, and we do not turn back until they fail.

Psalms 18:40

Thou hast also given me the necks of mine enemies; that I might destroy them that hate me.

We will see the backs of our enemies fleeing, not the faces of ones pursuing us.

Psalms 18:48

He delivereth me from mine enemies: yea, thou liftest me up above those that rise up against me: thou hast delivered me from the violent man.

All these things will happen to us through him who placed his arms on the cross as a bow in the sky, and daily he intercedes for us.

Psalms 19:4

Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun,

The Lord placed his own tabernacle in the sun. Not in that sun that, by arranging the days, directs the measure of the hours according to the seasons, but “the sun of righteousness,” which, having been brought forth from the virginal womb in the splendor of eternal life has shone the true light to minds, and he has stepped forth from the Virgin just like the bridegroom from the bridal chamber. He rejoiced as a strong man running his course, and in every way he walked blameless on the way in the law of the Lord, having stepped forth from the highest heaven. Not from the seed of people, but from the word of the Father, who is in the highest of the heavens, his course is also the highest, not from the rising in the east, or as from the highest to the lowest points, but from highest to the highest and from excellence to excellence, and from the highest to the highest there will not be one who may hide himself from his heat.

Psalms 19:11

Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward.

In the guarding of the precepts of God there is so much reward, that “the sufferings of this time are not worth (comparing) to the future glory that will be revealed to us.”

Psalms 20:8

They are brought down and fallen: but we are risen, and stand upright.

We will rise upright as others are collapsing, because our King is saved, and arising from the dead he ascends into the heavens, and as he sits on the right hand of God the Father he hears us in the day we call him. To him be glory forever. Amen.

Psalms 21:4

He asked life of thee, and thou gavest it him, even length of days for ever and ever.

He sought life; he lived as a man. Having been limited in life, in death he received length of days not just to old age but to eternity.

Psalms 21:5

His glory is great in thy salvation: honour and majesty hast thou laid upon him.

Great is his glory. In what way is it great? Not in the assumption of deity but in the salvation of humanity.

Psalms 21:7

For the king trusteth in the LORD, and through the mercy of the most High he shall not be moved.

For that reason you placed glory and great honor on him, and you gave him eternal blessing, because he hoped in the Lord and in his mercy he was not deeply disturbed.

Psalms 21:8

Thine hand shall find out all thine enemies: thy right hand shall find out those that hate thee.

From the place [of exaltation] the Father says to his Son, “Let your hand be found by all your enemies; let your right, which received the nails on the cross, find those who hated you; discard them as earthen vessels in a fire in the time of your appearance. Then in your wrath you will throw them into disorder, and the fire will devour them.”

Psalms 22:14-15

I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels.

As much as his brokenness seems without cure, so much more praiseworthy then is his recovery. And, likewise, the more the work of the potter is fired, the better and more solid will the work be found.