Eusebius of Caesarea — Commentary on Scripture

So that the righteous, when they see it, will be afraid and will mock him.

And this was said as though to Doeg, who was a Syrian by descent, but lived in the midst of Israel—and, I suppose, perhaps even entered the tabernacle of God along with the multitude, pretending to be pious. But it was also said to everyone who is powerful in wickedness, who uses his tongue instead of a sword for the destruction of souls: the "farmer of souls" would pluck him out just like some bitter and destructive root, even if he seems for some brief time to have been planted in the tabernacle of God and in his Church. Such a person, after being plucked out and cast away far from the tabernacle of the holy, will lie as a pitiable spectacle for the benefit and chastening of those who see him—they will take in with their eyes the severe judgment of God against such a person and will make every effort and guard themselves against falling into a similar situation. Later, when they recall with their memory the former boasting of the one who was powerful in wickedness, his grandeur and arrogance, but also see the humiliation and destruction that pursued him after that, they will co…

And this was said as though to Doeg, who was a Syrian by descent, but lived in the midst of Israel—and, I suppose, perhaps even entered the tabernacle of God along with the multitude, pretending to be pious. But it was also said to everyone who is powerful in wickedness, who uses his tongue instead of a sword for the destruction of souls: the "farmer of souls" would pluck him out just like some bitter and destructive root, even if he seems for some brief time to have been planted in the tabernacle of God and in his Church. Such a person, after being plucked out and cast away far from the tabernacle of the holy, will lie as a pitiable spectacle for the benefit and chastening of those who see him—they will take in with their eyes the severe judgment of God against such a person and will make every effort and guard themselves against falling into a similar situation. Later, when they recall with their memory the former boasting of the one who was powerful in wickedness, his grandeur and arrogance, but also see the humiliation and destruction that pursued him after that, they will consider him a laughing-stock, considering how he has fallen so low from such a height. And they will accept the judgment of God, confessing that it is righteous. Then, they will also go through the reasons why the impious one has suffered these things and justify God's judgment. For he ought not to have been haughty-minded over riches, nor to have been exalted over the vanity of the present life, but to have made God alone his hope and help, and not to have wavered in this hope. But he abandoned the good anchor of his own soul, and by hanging his hopes on vain wealth he made himself a joke, incurring nothing more than laughter for his vain and thoughtless boastfulness.

Psalms 52:8

From what I have said already, we have learned what sort of end the one who is powerful in wickedness will obtain. But as for me, says David, since I have been taught this by the Holy Spirit, I would never be exalted over abundance of wealth, nor over the vanity of mortal life. For "vanity of vanities, all is vanity." But also, as I flee from the path of the one who is powerful in wickedness, I would not sharpen my tongue and my words for the destruction of others, but rather for the benefit of souls and the service of the words of salvation. And in my other actions too, I would become so flourishing and fruitful that my soul would be compared with an ever-flourishing and richly fruitful plant that has been planted in the house of God. For this reason, I say: "But I am like a fruitful olive tree in the house of God"—or, according to Symmachus' translation: "But I am like a flourishing olive tree in the house of God." For I did not turn away at all from the house of God; rather, after being planted inside it, as it were in God's own garden, and while enjoying the streams of the…

From what I have said already, we have learned what sort of end the one who is powerful in wickedness will obtain. But as for me, says David, since I have been taught this by the Holy Spirit, I would never be exalted over abundance of wealth, nor over the vanity of mortal life. For "vanity of vanities, all is vanity." But also, as I flee from the path of the one who is powerful in wickedness, I would not sharpen my tongue and my words for the destruction of others, but rather for the benefit of souls and the service of the words of salvation. And in my other actions too, I would become so flourishing and fruitful that my soul would be compared with an ever-flourishing and richly fruitful plant that has been planted in the house of God. For this reason, I say: "But I am like a fruitful olive tree in the house of God"—or, according to Symmachus' translation: "But I am like a flourishing olive tree in the house of God." For I did not turn away at all from the house of God; rather, after being planted inside it, as it were in God's own garden, and while enjoying the streams of the spring in the house of God, I became richly fruitful and ever-flourishing, in accordance with the pattern of the planted olive tree that has been received among the ever-flourishing [plants].

But observe that when David said this, he was not in Jerusalem, which the Jewish people considered to be the house of God—for it had not yet been built; and neither was he in the tabernacle built by Moses, which did still exist at that time among the Jews. For when he was fleeing from Saul, he passed his time among others—and yet he did indeed know that he had been planted in the house of God, since he understood the "house of God" to be the pious way of life. And because he was fruitful—not bearing bitter fruits but sweet fruits full of compassion,[36] he was rightly compared to a fruitful olive tree: the pattern signifying mercy towards one's neighbors and compassion toward all. Therefore, since he was overflowing with this sort of good things, he logically added, "I have put my hope in the mercy of God forever, even forever and ever."

Psalms 52:9

Now, he pointed out that the end of the one who is powerful in wickedness is uprooting and destruction. For it was necessary for the root that bears bitter fruit to be †------ off† by the wise farmer of the universe. But David, like a fruitful olive tree in the house of God, put his hope in the mercy of God for ever, even forever and ever, procuring for himself immortality and eternal life on the basis of his good hope, from which he will never fall away. For according to the Apostle, "hope does not put us to shame." Then, having sketched out good hopes for himself as it were on the basis of good fruits, he attributes the responsibility [for all this] to the provider of all good things, saying: "I shall praise you forever, because you did [this]." For (he says) I did not make myself like a fruitful olive tree, but rather, you did. For grace comes from you. And so I will never cease from the knowledge of your grace, and from praising you; having once put my hope in the mercy of God, "I shall patiently await his name." For once the foundation of good hope has been established, we…

Now, he pointed out that the end of the one who is powerful in wickedness is uprooting and destruction. For it was necessary for the root that bears bitter fruit to be †------ off† by the wise farmer of the universe. But David, like a fruitful olive tree in the house of God, put his hope in the mercy of God for ever, even forever and ever, procuring for himself immortality and eternal life on the basis of his good hope, from which he will never fall away. For according to the Apostle, "hope does not put us to shame." Then, having sketched out good hopes for himself as it were on the basis of good fruits, he attributes the responsibility [for all this] to the provider of all good things, saying: "I shall praise you forever, because you did [this]." For (he says) I did not make myself like a fruitful olive tree, but rather, you did. For grace comes from you. And so I will never cease from the knowledge of your grace, and from praising you; having once put my hope in the mercy of God, "I shall patiently await his name." For once the foundation of good hope has been established, we need patience. Therefore, he says, "I shall patiently await your name, because it is beneficial before your holy ones"—or, according to Symmachus' translation: "…because your name is good in front of your holy ones." Knowing, therefore, that it is good, and productive of good—not for those who are powerful in wickedness nor for those who are to be cast out from among the living, but to the holy ones, he quite rightly said, "I shall patiently await your name," being hopeful that I will never fall out of your mercy. In this way, I have put my hope in him forever, even for ever and ever.

Psalms 68:21-27

I think that here none but the apostles can be meant by the rulers of Naphtali. For thence our Lord and Savior called them according to the quotation from Matthew. The Scripture is prophesying the coming of the Word of God to human beings and his incarnate sojourn here, when it says, “Your goings [solemn processions], O God, have been seen,” and that which follows. And the prophets of old were like heralds of his epiphany and arrived before him with proclamation and chant, with music of psaltery and choir and all kinds of spiritual instruments, in the midst of maidens playing on timbrels. For the inspired prophets going in every way into the midst of the Jewish synagogues heralded the coming of the Christ, and by the Holy Spirit they addressed the apostles of our Savior, saying, “Praise the Lord God in the congregations from the fountains of Israel.” And the “fountains of Israel” must be the words delivered to Israel. “For they [the inspired prophets] first trusted the oracles of God,” whence it will be necessary for us to draw and water the churches of Christ. By “maidens playing on…

I think that here none but the apostles can be meant by the rulers of Naphtali. For thence our Lord and Savior called them according to the quotation from Matthew. The Scripture is prophesying the coming of the Word of God to human beings and his incarnate sojourn here, when it says, “Your goings [solemn processions], O God, have been seen,” and that which follows. And the prophets of old were like heralds of his epiphany and arrived before him with proclamation and chant, with music of psaltery and choir and all kinds of spiritual instruments, in the midst of maidens playing on timbrels. For the inspired prophets going in every way into the midst of the Jewish synagogues heralded the coming of the Christ, and by the Holy Spirit they addressed the apostles of our Savior, saying, “Praise the Lord God in the congregations from the fountains of Israel.” And the “fountains of Israel” must be the words delivered to Israel. “For they [the inspired prophets] first trusted the oracles of God,” whence it will be necessary for us to draw and water the churches of Christ. By “maidens playing on timbrels” he suggested the souls that lived in the past by the more external law of Moses, calling them “maidens” because of their youth and imperfectly developed minds and “timbrel players” because of their devotion to external worship.

PROOF OF THE GOSPEL 9:9

Psalms 72:1-4

As this psalm is addressed to Solomon, the first verse of the psalm must be referred to him, and all the rest to the son of Solomon, not Rehoboam, who was king of Israel after him, but him that was of his seed according to the flesh, the Christ of God; for all who are acquainted with the holy Scriptures will agree that it is impossible to connect what is said in this psalm with Solomon or his successors, because of what they reveal about Christ. No, how is it possible to apply to Solomon, or his son Rehoboam, the burden of the whole psalm?—for instance, “He shall rule from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth.” And “He shall remain as long as the sun, and before the moon for ever,” and other similar statements. Yet the words at the beginning of the psalm are at once seen to apply to Solomon, which say, “O God, you will give judgment to the king,” And the addition, “And your justice to the king’s son,” to the Son of Solomon, not his first-born who succeeded him in the kingdom (for he only ruled the Jewish nation seventeen years, being a wicked king), nor any of the…

As this psalm is addressed to Solomon, the first verse of the psalm must be referred to him, and all the rest to the son of Solomon, not Rehoboam, who was king of Israel after him, but him that was of his seed according to the flesh, the Christ of God; for all who are acquainted with the holy Scriptures will agree that it is impossible to connect what is said in this psalm with Solomon or his successors, because of what they reveal about Christ. No, how is it possible to apply to Solomon, or his son Rehoboam, the burden of the whole psalm?—for instance, “He shall rule from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth.” And “He shall remain as long as the sun, and before the moon for ever,” and other similar statements. Yet the words at the beginning of the psalm are at once seen to apply to Solomon, which say, “O God, you will give judgment to the king,” And the addition, “And your justice to the king’s son,” to the Son of Solomon, not his first-born who succeeded him in the kingdom (for he only ruled the Jewish nation seventeen years, being a wicked king), nor any of the successors of Rehoboam, but only to one of the seed of David, who could thus be called the son both of David and Solomon. And this is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. For his kingdom and its throne will stand as long as the sun. And he alone of people, as the Word of God, existed before the moon and the creation of the world, and he alone came down like dew from heaven on all the earth; and it was said in our quotation a little above, that he had risen on all people and that his justice would remain even until the consummation of life, which is called the removal of the moon. And our Savior’s power is supreme from the eastern sea to the west, beginning its activity at the river, which is either the sacrament of baptism, or from Jordan, where he first appeared to benefit humankind. From that time his kingdom has spread and extended through the whole world.

PROOF OF THE GOSPEL 7:3

Psalms 72:5-7

And the oracle in the Psalms, which says about Christ, “There shall rise in his days justice and peace,” is in agreement with this. And I think that is why he is called “Prince of Peace” in the prophecy that I quoted before this. And I would ask you to notice that the prophet we are considering says at the outset that the Lord will come from heaven and that the subject of the prophecy will only pasture his flock after his birth at Bethlehem. And the Evangelist, whose words I have cited, furnishes the evidence that this was the case with regard to our Lord and Savior.

PROOF OF THE GOSPEL 7:2

Psalms 96:1-3

In Psalm 95 [LXX] the coming of the Lord to humankind is again foretold, and that a new song, by which is meant the new covenant, will be sung by the whole earth at his coming, not by the Jewish race; and that the good news will no longer be for Israel but for all the nations, since it says that the Lord who is to come will be their King. Who could this be but God the Word, who, intending to judge the world in righteousness and the human race in truth, considers all people in the world equally worthy of his call, and consequently of the salvation of God?

PROOF OF THE GOSPEL 6:5

Psalms 96:7-8

And if they say that they were chosen to act as priests and to offer worship to God, it can be shown that the Word promised that he would give to the Gentiles an equal share in his service, when he said, “Render to the Lord, O you kindreds of the nations, render to the Lord glory and honor: bring sacrifices and come into his courts.” To which the oracle in Isaiah may be conjoined: “There shall be an altar to the Lord in the land of Egypt … and the Egyptians will know the Lord. And they shall sacrifice, and say prayers to the Lord and make offering.” And in this you will understand that it is prophesied that an altar will be built to the Lord away from Jerusalem in Egypt and that the Egyptians will there offer sacrifice, say prayers and give gifts to the Lord. Yes, and not only in Egypt, but in the true Jerusalem itself, whatever it is thought to be, all the nations, including the Egyptians indeed, the most superstitious of them all, are invited to keep the feast of tabernacles, as a feast of the heart.

PROOF OF THE GOSPEL 2:3

Psalms 98:1-4

Along with my prayers I now add book 10 to the Church History and dedicate it to you, my most consecrated Paulinus, and blazon you as the seal of the whole work. It is appropriate that in a perfect number I shall here provide a completed account in celebration of the restoration of the churches, in obedience to the divine Spirit who urges us: Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things; His right and his holy arm have wrought salvation for him. The Lord has made known his salvation: His righteousness he has revealed in the sight of the heathen. Accordingly, let me now sing the new song, since after those grim and horrifying scenes and narratives, I was now privileged to see and to celebrate what many righteous people and martyrs of God before me desired to see but did not see and to hear but did not hear. But they hurried on to far better things in the heavens, caught up into a paradise of divine bliss, while I, admitting that even the present circumstances are more than I deserve, have been totally astonished at the magnitude of grace he has confe…

Along with my prayers I now add book 10 to the Church History and dedicate it to you, my most consecrated Paulinus, and blazon you as the seal of the whole work. It is appropriate that in a perfect number I shall here provide a completed account in celebration of the restoration of the churches, in obedience to the divine Spirit who urges us:

Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things;
His right and his holy arm have wrought salvation for him.
The Lord has made known his salvation:
His righteousness he has revealed in the sight of the heathen.

Accordingly, let me now sing the new song, since after those grim and horrifying scenes and narratives, I was now privileged to see and to celebrate what many righteous people and martyrs of God before me desired to see but did not see and to hear but did not hear. But they hurried on to far better things in the heavens, caught up into a paradise of divine bliss, while I, admitting that even the present circumstances are more than I deserve, have been totally astonished at the magnitude of grace he has conferred and offer him my total awe and worship, confirming the truth of the prophecies that declare:

Come and behold the works of the Lord,
What wonders he has wrought on the earth,
Making wars to cease to the ends of the world.
He will break the bow and shatter the spear,
And the shields he will burn with fire.

Rejoicing that all this has been clearly fulfilled, let me proceed with my narrative.

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 10:1

Psalms 98:9

It is prophesied here that the coming of the Lord will be the cause of great benefits to the nations, which have been proved to have actually accrued to them, through the manifestation of our Savior. For of a truth from then and not before the new song of the new covenant has been sung among all people, and his wonders have been known and heard by all people through the written Gospels. And salvation also, by the resurrection of the Lord from the dead, has been revealed to all nations, and the true righteousness, by which it has been clearly proved that God is not the God of the Jews only, but of the Gentiles. “Since there is one God,” in the words of the holy apostle, “who will judge the circumcised from their faith, and the uncircumcised through faith.” And the words “for he, comes to judge the earth,” might refer also to his second coming.”

PROOF OF THE GOSPEL 6:6

Psalms 105:4-5

In Psalm 104 [LXX], David, when referring to the stories of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the very men who were his godly ancestors, who lived before Moses’ day, calls them Christs, only because they all received the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. And when he tells how they were hospitably received by foreigners, and how they learned that God was their Savior when plots were devised against them, following Moses’ account, he names them prophets also and Christs, before Moses had been born and before he had laid down the rule that such men should be anointed with oil.

PROOF OF THE GOSPEL 4:15

Psalms 107:20

For, if it would be unreasonable to suppose that the unbegotten and immutable substance of God the Almighty was changed into the form of man and, in turn, that the eyes of the beholders were deceived by the illusion of something created and that such things were falsely invented by the Scripture, who else could be proclaimed God and the Lord who judges all the earth and passes sentence, appearing in the shape of a man—if it is not proper to call him the first cause of all things—than his preexistent word alone?” And concerning him it was also said in the Psalms: “He sent his word and healed them and delivered them from their destructions.” Of him Moses speaks very clearly, calling him a second Lord after the Father, when he says, “The Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord.” The divine Scripture also calls him God, when he again appeared to Jacob in the form of a man, saying to Jacob: “Your name shall not be called Jacob, but your name shall be Israel, because you have been strong with God,” when also he called the name of the place “the Vision of God,”…

For, if it would be unreasonable to suppose that the unbegotten and immutable substance of God the Almighty was changed into the form of man and, in turn, that the eyes of the beholders were deceived by the illusion of something created and that such things were falsely invented by the Scripture, who else could be proclaimed God and the Lord who judges all the earth and passes sentence, appearing in the shape of a man—if it is not proper to call him the first cause of all things—than his preexistent word alone?” And concerning him it was also said in the Psalms: “He sent his word and healed them and delivered them from their destructions.” Of him Moses speaks very clearly, calling him a second Lord after the Father, when he says, “The Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord.” The divine Scripture also calls him God, when he again appeared to Jacob in the form of a man, saying to Jacob: “Your name shall not be called Jacob, but your name shall be Israel, because you have been strong with God,” when also he called the name of the place “the Vision of God,” saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and my soul has been saved.”

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 1:2

Psalms 107:20

This clearly proclaims the good news of the descent of God the Word from heaven … and of the result of his coming. For it says, “He sent his Word and healed them.” And we say distinctly that the Word of God was he who was sent as the Savior of all humankind, whom we are taught by the holy Scriptures to consider divine. And it sadly suggests that he even came down to die for the sake of those who had died before him. By revealing the redemption of those who would be saved by him, it gives the reason of his coming. For he saved without assistance from any one of those who had gone before him even to the gates of death; he healed and rescued them from their destruction. He did this simply by breaking what are called the gates of death and crushing the bars of iron. And then the prophecy proceeds to predict the state of desolation of those who rejected him when he came. For it says, “He turned rivers into a wilderness and rivers of waters into thirst, a fruitful land into a salty waste for the wickedness of them that dwell therein.” You will understand this if you think of Jerusalem of o…

This clearly proclaims the good news of the descent of God the Word from heaven … and of the result of his coming. For it says, “He sent his Word and healed them.” And we say distinctly that the Word of God was he who was sent as the Savior of all humankind, whom we are taught by the holy Scriptures to consider divine. And it sadly suggests that he even came down to die for the sake of those who had died before him. By revealing the redemption of those who would be saved by him, it gives the reason of his coming. For he saved without assistance from any one of those who had gone before him even to the gates of death; he healed and rescued them from their destruction. He did this simply by breaking what are called the gates of death and crushing the bars of iron. And then the prophecy proceeds to predict the state of desolation of those who rejected him when he came. For it says, “He turned rivers into a wilderness and rivers of waters into thirst, a fruitful land into a salty waste for the wickedness of them that dwell therein.” You will understand this if you think of Jerusalem of old, the famous city of the Jewish race, its glory and its fruitfulness, devoid now of its saintly citizens and pious people. For after the coming of Christ it became, as the prophet truly says, without fruit or water and quite deserted, “a salty waste for the wickedness of them that dwell therein.”35To this is added very much in the prophetic manner a veiled prediction of the change of the longtime desert and thirsty land, referring either to the individual soul or to the turning of the Gentile church to holiness and of its fertility in divine words. This is clearly predicted in a veiled way when it says, “He made the desert into pools of water,” and that which follows. But to understand this, one must have wisdom from God; according to the admonition at the end of the psalm, which says, “Who is wise, and he will keep this?” and that which follows.

PROOF OF THE GOSPEL 6:7

Psalms 110:3-4

And what follows in the psalm would agree with him alone, where it says, “The Lord said to me, You are my Son. Today have I begotten you. Ask of me, and I will give you the heathen for your inheritance and the utmost parts of the earth for your possession.” For surely only in him has this part of the prophecy received an indubitable fulfillment, since the voice of his disciples has gone forth into all the earth and their words to the ends of the world. And the passage distinctly names Christ, saying as in his own person, that he is the Son of God, when it says, “The Lord said to me, You are my Son. Today I have begotten you.” With which you may compare the words in the Proverbs, also spoken in his own person: “Before the mountains were established, before all the hills he brings me forth.” And also the address by the Father to him in Psalm 109 [LXX]: “I begat you from my womb before the morning star.” Understand then how the holy Scriptures prophesy that one and the same being, Christ by name, who is also Son of God, is to be plotted against by people, to receive the nations for his…

And what follows in the psalm would agree with him alone, where it says, “The Lord said to me, You are my Son. Today have I begotten you. Ask of me, and I will give you the heathen for your inheritance and the utmost parts of the earth for your possession.” For surely only in him has this part of the prophecy received an indubitable fulfillment, since the voice of his disciples has gone forth into all the earth and their words to the ends of the world. And the passage distinctly names Christ, saying as in his own person, that he is the Son of God, when it says, “The Lord said to me, You are my Son. Today I have begotten you.” With which you may compare the words in the Proverbs, also spoken in his own person: “Before the mountains were established, before all the hills he brings me forth.” And also the address by the Father to him in Psalm 109 [LXX]: “I begat you from my womb before the morning star.” Understand then how the holy Scriptures prophesy that one and the same being, Christ by name, who is also Son of God, is to be plotted against by people, to receive the nations for his inheritance and to rule over the ends of the earth, showing his dispensation among people by two proofs: the one being the attacks on him and the other the subjection of the nations to him.

PROOF OF THE GOSPEL 4:16

Psalms 118:22-23

[Christ] ordained that the former law should stand till he came, and he was revealed as the originator of the second law of the new covenant preached to all nations, as being responsible for the law and influence of the two religions, I mean Judaism and Christianity. And it is wonderful that divine prophecy should accord:“Behold, I lay in Zion a stone, choice, a cornerstone; precious, and he that believes on him shall not be ashamed.” Who could be the cornerstone but he, the living and precious stone who supports by his teaching two buildings and makes them one? For he set up the Mosaic building, which was to last till his day, and then fitted on to one side of it our building of the gospel. Hence he [Christ] is called the cornerstone. And it is said in the Psalms: “The stone that the builders refused, the same is become the head of the corner. This is of the Lord, and it is marvelous in our eyes.” This oracle too indubitably indicates the Jewish conspiracy against the subject of the prophecy, how he has been set at naught by the builders of the old wall, meaning the scribes and Phar…

[Christ] ordained that the former law should stand till he came, and he was revealed as the originator of the second law of the new covenant preached to all nations, as being responsible for the law and influence of the two religions, I mean Judaism and Christianity. And it is wonderful that divine prophecy should accord:“Behold, I lay in Zion a stone, choice, a cornerstone; precious, and he that believes on him shall not be ashamed.”
Who could be the cornerstone but he, the living and precious stone who supports by his teaching two buildings and makes them one? For he set up the Mosaic building, which was to last till his day, and then fitted on to one side of it our building of the gospel. Hence he [Christ] is called the cornerstone. And it is said in the Psalms:
“The stone that the builders refused, the same is become the head of the corner. This is of the Lord, and it is marvelous in our eyes.”
This oracle too indubitably indicates the Jewish conspiracy against the subject of the prophecy, how he has been set at naught by the builders of the old wall, meaning the scribes and Pharisees, the high priests and all the rulers of the Jews. And it prophesied that though he should be despised and cast out he would become the head of the corner, regarding him as the originator of a new covenant, according to the preceding proofs.

PROOF OF THE GOSPEL 1:7

Psalms 144:5-7

I consider this to be connected with my present subject. For in his wonder at the knowledge of God the Word coming to people, the psalmist is astonished beyond measure at the love by which he descends from his divinity, and lessens his natural majesty and reckons the human race worthy of bearing him. So here he prays, saying, “Lord, bow the heavens and descend.” While in the seventeenth psalm [LXX] it is written, “And he bowed the heavens and descended, and it was dark under his feet. And he rode on cherubim and flew, he flew on the wings of the winds,” wherein there is a prophecy of his ascension from earth to heaven. And when there is a fit opportunity I will show that we must understand the descent and ascension of God the Word not as of one moving locally, but in the metaphorical sense that Scripture intends in the use of such conventional terms.

PROOF OF THE GOSPEL 6:9

Psalms 146:3-6

To these were added the sons of Maximin, with whom he had already shared imperial honors and whose features he had displayed publicly in portraits. Those who previously had boasted that they were related to the tyrant and tried to lord it over others endured the same sufferings and disgrace, for they did not accept correction or understand the precept in the sacred books:Put not your trust in princes,
In the sons of men who cannot save.
His breath shall depart and he shall return to his earth.
In that day all his thoughts shall perish.
When the impious were thus removed, the rule that belonged to them was preserved secure and undisputed for Constantine and Licinius alone. They had made it their priority to purge the world of hostility to God, and, acknowledging the blessings he had conferred on them, they showed their love of virtue and of God, their devotion and gratitude to the Deity, through their edict in behalf of the Christians.

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 9:11

Psalms 147:12-15

“He that sends his word on earth, until his word runs swiftly.” He that sends is evidently distinct from him that is sent. You have then, here, both the Sender, the almighty God, and also the Word that was sent, who having many names is called by the holy oracles now Wisdom, now Word, now God, and also Lord. And as you know how in a very short time the word of his teaching has filled the whole world, I am sure you will wonder at the fulfillment of the prophecy, “Till his word runs swiftly.”

PROOF OF THE GOSPEL 6:10