Jerome

Knowing, that is, their designs against Him withdrew Himself, that He might remove from the Pharisees all opportunity of sin.

But the Holy Spirit is put, not on the Word of God, but on the Only-Begotten, who came forth from the bosom of the Father; on Him, that is, of whom it is said, Behold my servant. And what He will do by Him He adds, And he shall declare judgment to the Gentiles.

For the way is broad and wide which leads to destruction, and many walk in it; and being many, they will not hear the voice of the Saviour, because they are not in the narrow but in the broad way.

He that holds not out his hand to a sinner, nor bears his brother's burden, he breaks a bruised reed; and he who despises a weak spark of faith in a little one, he quenches a smoking flax.

(Ep. 121.2.) Or, the reverse, He calls the Jews a bruised reed, whom tossed by the wind and shaken from one another, the Lord did not immediately condemn, but patiently endured; and the smoking flax He calls the people gathered out of the Gentiles, who, having extinguished the light of the natural law, were involved in the wandering mazes of thick darkness of smoke, bitter and hurtful to the eyes; this He not only did not extinguish, by reducing them to ashes, but on the contrary from a small spark and one almost dead He raised a mighty flame.

What does it mean that it is written in Matthew: 'A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench' (Matthew 12:20). For the explanation of this passage, the whole testimony that Matthew takes from the Prophet Isaiah must be set forth, even the words of Isaiah (Isaiah 42): according to the Septuagint interpreters and the Hebrew itself, to which Theodotus, Aquila, and Symmachus agree. Thus of the four Evangelists, only Matthew relates: "And Jesus knowing it, retired from thence: and many followed him, and he healed them all. And he charged them that they should not make him known. That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaias the prophet, saying: Behold my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved in whom my soul hath been well pleased. I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall shew judgment to the Gentiles." (Chapter 12, verses 15-18) He will not strive, nor cry out, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break, and smoking flax he will not extinguish, until he brings forth judgment unto victory. And in his name the Gentiles will hope" (Matthew 12:15 and following). For which in Isaiah, according to the Septuagint interpreters, it is thus written: "Jacob my servant, I will uplift him. My chosen one, my soul has received him. I have given my spirit upon him, he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not cry, nor have respect to person, neither shall his voice be heard abroad. The bruised reed he shall not break: and smoking flax he shall not extinguish: but he shall bring forth judgment unto truth. He shall shine, and shall not be broken, until he set judgment in the earth: and the countries shall wait for his law." However, we translate it from Hebrew like this, "Behold my servant, I will uphold him; my chosen, my soul has delighted in him. I have given my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. "He will not cry out, nor raise his voice, nor make it heard in the street. A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. In truth he will bring forth justice. He will not grow faint or be discouraged till he has established justice on the earth; and the islands will put their hope in his law." This shows that the Gospel writer Matthew, not bound by authority of the old interpretation, dismissed the Hebrew truth and brought forth to the nations, educated in the Law of the Lord, the things he had read in Hebrew as if he were a Hebrew among Hebrews. For if it is to be taken thus, as the Seventy Interpreters have given it: Jacob is my servant, I will receive him; Israel is my chosen, my soul has received him, how do we understand that it has been fulfilled in Jesus, what has been written concerning Jacob and Israel? We read that Blessed Matthew did this not only in this testimony, but also in another place: Out of Egypt I called my son (Hosea 11:2): for which the Seventy translated: Out of Egypt I called his sons. Certainly, if we do not follow the Hebrew truth, it is evident that it does not pertain to the Lord and Savior. For it follows: but they sacrificed to Baalim. And that which is less in the assumed testimony in the Gospel: it shall shine and not be shaken, until he shall place judgment upon the earth, seems to have happened by the error of the first writer who, reading the higher sentence to be finished in the word judgment, thought that the final word of the lower sentence was judgment, and he omitted a few words which were in the middle, that is, between judgment and judgment. And again, that which is read among the Hebrews: And in his law shall the islands hope, Matthew, interpreting the sense rather than the words, put for law and islands, a name and nations. And not only in the present place, but wherever the testimonies of the Evangelists and Apostles from the old Instrument have been brought forth, it should be observed more diligently: not that they followed words, but the sense: and where they differ from the Hebrew in the Septuagint, they expressed the Hebrew sense in their own words. Therefore, the Child of the almighty God, according to the dispensation of assumed flesh, which is sent to us, is called the Savior. To whom and in another place the Father says: It is great for you to be called my child, to gather the tribes of Jacob (Isai. 49.3). This is the vineyard of Sorec, which is interpreted as chosen. This is the beloved son, in whom the soul of God is pleased; not because God has a soul, but because every affection of God is shown in the soul. And it is not surprising if the soul is named in God, when all the members of the human body, according to the laws of tropology, and various intelligences, are said to have it. He also placed his spirit upon him: the Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding, the Spirit of Counsel and Strength, the Spirit of Knowledge and Piety, and the Spirit of the Fear of the Lord (Isaiah 11): He who descends upon him in the form of a dove, about whom John the Baptist narrates having heard from God the Father: "The One upon whom you see the Holy Spirit descending and remaining upon, He is" (John 1:33). And He will announce judgment to the Gentiles; concerning whom it is also written in the Psalms: "Give the king your justice, O God, and your righteousness to the son of a king" (Psalm 71:1). He Himself speaks about it in the Gospel: "For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son" (John 5:22). He will not contend: like a lamb led to the slaughter: He will not argue in the hearing. Nor will he cry out, in accordance with what the Apostle Paul writes: Let all clamor, and anger, and bitterness be taken away from you (Ephesians 4:31). He will not cry out: because Israel did not do justice, but cry out. Nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets or outdoors. For all the glory of the daughter of the king is within (Psalm 44:14): And, Narrow, and cramped is the way that leads to life (Matthew 7:14). Therefore his voice is not heard in the streets, where wisdom confidently acts, not entering a broad and spacious way, but accusing and condemning. And so he spoke to those who were outside, not in his own voice, but in parables: 'The reed, he said, shaken does not break; or, as the Septuagint translated, the broken reed not to be crushed. The broken reed that was once vocal, and sang in praise of the Lord, is called Israel, who, because he stumbled on a corner stone and fell on it, was broken in it; therefore it is said of him: Rebuke, O Lord, the beasts of the reed (Ps. 67. 31): and in the volume of Jesus he is called the torrent of the cane, that is, of the reed; who has turbid waters, which Israel chose, despising the purest streams of the Jordan: and turning his mind back to Egypt, and desiring the marshy and swampy region, and pumpkins, and onions, and garlic, and cucumbers, and the pots of Egyptian flesh, is rightly called a broken reed by Isaiah: he who wants to lean on which, his hand will be pierced. For whoever, after the advent of the Lord and Savior and leaving behind the spirit of interpreting the Gospel, rests in the death of Jewish literature, all the works of that person are harmed. Even smoking linen will not extinguish a people gathered from the nations who, with the ardor of natural law extinguished, are wrapped in the bitter smoke, which is hurtful to the eyes, and enveloped in the darkness of errors. He who not only did not restrain and reduce to ashes, but on the contrary, from a small spark, and almost dying, raised the greatest fire; so that the whole world burned with the fire of the Lord and Savior, whom he came to send upon the earth, and in all desires to burn (Luke 12:49). According to the tropology, what we see in this place, we have briefly noted in the Commentaries of Matthew. But he who has not broken the bruised reed, and has not extinguished the smoking flax, has also brought judgment unto victory (Isai. 42:3), whose judgments are true, justified in themselves (Psalm 18), so that he may be justified in his words and may overcome in judgment (Psalm 50), and so that the light of his preaching may shine in the world, not be crushed by anyone, and may overcome all snares, until he establishes judgment on earth and that which is written may be fulfilled: 'Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven' (Matthew 6:10). And, in his name shall the Gentiles hope (Isaiah 11:10); or the islands shall hope in his law (Ibid. 42:4). For just as the islands are struck by the blast and rush of winds and frequently buffeted by storms, but they are not overturned, as an example of the Gospel house built on a sturdy foundation of rock (Matthew 7; and Luke 6), so the Churches, which hope in the law and in the name of the Lord and Savior, speak through Isaiah: I am a strong city, a city that cannot be taken (Isaiah 27:3, LXX).

But if ye think, ye Scribes and Pharisees, that the dæmons depart out of the possessed in obedience to their Prince, that men may be imposed upon by a concerted fraud, what can ye say to the healing of diseases which the Lord also wrought? It is something more if ye assign to the dæmons even bodily infirmities, and the signs of spiritual virtues.

He alludes, as is His manner, under the name children of the Jews, either to the exorcists of that race, or to the Apostles who are by race of that nation. If He means the exorcists who by the invocation of God cast out dæmons, He thus constrains the Pharisees by a wise enquiry to confess that their work was of the Holy Spirit. If, He would say, the casting out of the dæmons by your children is imputed to God, and not to dæmons, why should the same work wrought by Me not have the same cause? Therefore shall they be your judges, not by authority but by comparison, they ascribe the casting out of the dæmons to God, you to the Prince of the dæmons. But if it is of the Apostles also that this is said, (and so we should rather take it,) then they shall be their judges, for they shall sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

For the kingdom of God denotes Himself, of whom it is written in another place, The kingdom of God is among you; (Luke 17:21) and, There standeth one in the midst of you whom ye know not. (John 1:26) Or surely that kingdom which both John and the Lord Himself had preached above, Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. (Mat. 3:2 4:17.) There is also a third kingdom of the Holy Scripture which shall be taken from the Jews, and be given to a nation that brings forth the fruit thereof.