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what was said for the confirmation of what was promised. Therefore he says: Once I have sworn by my Holy One, if I should lie to David, his seed remains forever, and his throne as the sun before me, and as the moon established forever; and the witness in heaven is faithful. Diapsalma. God is indeed true, and uses a promise without an oath; but since it was necessary, as conversing with men, to use a human condescension according to those among men who swear well, and use the testimony of God for the confirmation of their own words; He also says that He has sworn and will not break the oaths, so that through two, says the divine Apostle, unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong encouragement. And another reason has also been given why God is introduced as swearing, in return for David's promise with an oath. And God swears by His Holy One, as a father also would swear well for the salvation of a genuine and beloved son; in the same way, I, he says, have sworn by my Holy One, that is, by my Holy One, if I should lie to David. And what did the oath contain? His seed, he says, remains forever. This first, and this is the first promise concerning the seed; concerning which it was also said above: And I will establish his seed forever and ever; and it signified the succession of Christ. And a second promise concerning the aforementioned throne; wherefore he also adds: And his throne as the sun before me, and as the moon established forever. Therefore, the seed, that is, the word of Christ that was sown, or his people and the Church, he says will never be corrupted, nor will it cease; and his throne will remain forever; or according to Symmachus, As the moon, firm, will remain eternally; so also will be the ecclesiastical throne of Christ. But perhaps when the word, having said before, Once I have sworn by my Holy One, and having added next, His seed remains forever, does it decree that the seed of his Holy One will prevail forever? so as to be the seed of the Holy One of God, that is, of the Only-begotten of God, the teaching which he sowed upon the earth, himself becoming its sower, according to the parable spoken by him, through which it is said: A sower went out to sow, and the rest. And these things, he says, will thus be and will happen and will be confirmed. For the witness of these things is the faithful God who dwells in heaven. And the outcome through the works establishes the truth of the word; for with our eyes we see the seed and the succession of the horn of David, that is, of our Savior Jesus Christ; 23.1109 but also the heavenly seed of the evangelical teaching of the Holy One of God, his only-begotten Word, which was cast upon the earth, enduring forever; nay but also throughout the whole inhabited world of men, in all nations, both cities and villages and countries, we see the throne established in his Church filling the entire world. But if someone should not understand the throne in this way, but in a Jewish manner, thinking that the physical kingdom of David is being spoken of, the prophecies will be proven false. For after the captivity of the nation of the Jews to Babylon, no one was seated on the throne of David; and from that time until now, it happens to be somewhere near a thousand years, from which, his kingdom having been destroyed, and his succession having ceased, the throne of David was dissolved. Therefore indeed the following parts of the psalm lament these very things, clearly signifying the destruction of the physical throne, and showing that the opposite of the promises has happened, as far as concerns the perceptible throne and the physical succession of the kingdom of David; which indeed themselves ought not to have been passed over in silence, but necessarily to have been included in the prophecy concerning Christ; so that we might learn that, when the time of the things being prophesied had arrived, of the perceptible things held by the Jews

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εἰρημένα εἰς βεβαίωσιν τῶν ἐπηγγελμένων. ∆ιό φησιν· Ἅπαξ ὤμοσα ἐν τῷ Ἁγίῳ μου, εἰ τῷ ∆αυῒδ ψεύσομαι, τὸ σπέρμα αὐτοῦ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα μένει, καὶ ὁ θρόνος αὐτοῦ ὡς ὁ ἥλιος ἐναντίον μου, καὶ ὡς ἡ σελήνη κατηρτισμένη εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα· καὶ ὁ μάρτυς ἐν οὐρανῷ πιστός. ∆ιάψαλμα. Ἀψευδὴς μέν ἐστιν ὁ Θεὸς, καὶ ἀνωμότῳ χρώμενος τῇ ἐπαγγελίᾳ· ἐπεὶ δὲ ἐχρῆν ὡς πρὸς ἀνθρώπους διαλεγόμενον ἀνθρωπίνῃ χρήσασθαι συμπεριφορᾷ κατὰ τοὺς ἐν ἀνθρώποις εὐορκοῦντας, καὶ Θεοῦ μαρτυρίᾳ χρωμένους εἰς πίστωσιν τῶν οἰκείων λόγων· καὶ αὐτός φησιν ὀμωμοκέναι καὶ μὴ διαψεύσασθαι τοὺς ὅρκους, Ἵνα διὰ δύο, φησὶν ὁ θεῖος Ἀπόστολος, πραγμάτων ἀμεταθέτων, ἐν οἷς ἀδύνατον ψεύσασθαι τὸν Θεὸν, ἰσχυρὰν παράκλησιν ἔχωμεν. Εἴρηται δὲ καὶ ἄλλη αἰτία, δι' ἣν ὀμνὺς ὁ Θεὸς εἰσῆκται, κατὰ ἀμοιβὴν τῆς τοῦ ∆αυῒδ μεθ' ὅρκου ἐπαγγελίας. Ὀμνύει δὲ ὁ Θεὸς κατὰ τοῦ Ἁγίου αὐτοῦ, ὡς ἂν καὶ πατὴρ εὐορκῶν κατὰ σωτηρίας υἱοῦ γνησίου καὶ ἀγαπητοῦ· τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον κἀγὼ, φησὶν, ὤμοσα ἐν τῷ Ἁγίῳ μου, τουτέστι κατὰ τοῦ Ἁγίου μου, εἰ τῷ ∆αυῒδ ψεύσομαι. Τί δὲ περιεῖχεν ὁ ὅρκος; Τὸ σπέρμα αὐτοῦ, φησὶν, εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα μένει. Τοῦτο πρῶτον, καὶ αὕτη μὲν πρώτη ἐπαγγελία ἡ περὶ τοῦ σπέρματος· περὶ οὗ καὶ ἀνωτέρω ἐλέγετο· Καὶ θήσομαι εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα τοῦ αἰῶνος τὸ σπέρμα αὐτοῦ· ἐδήλου δὲ τοῦ Χριστοῦ τὴν διαδοχήν. ∆ευτέρα δὲ ἐπαγγελία περὶ τοῦ θρόνου τοῦ προλεχθέντος· διὸ καὶ ἐπιλέγει· Καὶ ὁ θρόνος αὐτοῦ ὡς ὁ ἥλιος ἐναντίον μου, καὶ ὡς σελήνη κατηρτισμένη εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα. Τὸ μὲν οὖν σπέρμα, τουτέστι τὸν τοῦ Χριστοῦ κατασπαρέντα λόγον, ἢ τὸν λαὸν αὐτοῦ καὶ τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν, οὔποτε διαφθαρήσεσθαί φησιν, οὐδὲ διαλείψειν· τὸν δὲ θρόνον αὐτοῦ διαμένειν εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα· ἢ κατὰ τὸν Σύμμαχον, Ὡς ἡ μήνη ἑδραία αἰωνίως μενεῖ· οὕτως ἔσται καὶ ὁ ἐκκλησιαστικὸς τοῦ Χριστοῦ θρόνος. Μήποτε δὲ προειπὼν ὁ λόγος, Ἅπαξ ὤμοσα ἐν τῷ Ἁγίῳ μου, καὶ ἐπισυνάψας ἑξῆς, Τὸ σπέρμα αὐτοῦ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα μένει, τοῦ Ἁγίου αὐτοῦ τὸ σπέρμα κρατήσειν εἰς αἰῶνα θεσπίζει; ὡς εἶναι σπέρμα τοῦ Ἁγίου τοῦ Θεοῦ, δηλαδὴ τοῦ Μονογενοῦς τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἣν ἔσπειρεν ἐπὶ γῆς διδασκαλίαν, αὐτὸς γενόμενος αὐτῆς σπορεὺς, κατὰ τὴν λεχθεῖσαν ὑπ' αὐτοῦ παραβολὴν, δι' ἧς εἴρηται· Ἐξῆλθεν ὁ σπείρων τοῦ σπεῖραι, καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. Καὶ ταῦτα μὲν, φησὶν, οὕτως ἔσται καὶ γενήσεται καὶ πιστωθήσεται. Ὁ γὰρ τούτων μάρτυς πιστός ἐστιν ὁ ἐν οὐρανῷ κατοικῶν Θεός. Συνίστησι δὲ τοῦ λόγου τὴν ἀλήθειαν τὸ διὰ τῶν ἔργων ἀποτέλεσμα· ὀφθαλμοῖς γὰρ ὁρῶμεν τοῦ κέρως ∆αυῒδ, τουτέστι τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, τὸ σπέρμα καὶ τὴν διαδο 23.1109 χήν· ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῦ Ἁγίου τοῦ Θεοῦ τοῦ μονογενοῦς αὐτοῦ Λόγου τὸ καταβληθὲν ἐπὶ γῆς οὐράνιον σπέρμα τῆς εὐαγγελικῆς διδασκαλίας διαιωνίζον· οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ καθ' ὅλης τῆς ἀνθρώπων οἰκουμένης, ἐν πᾶσιν ἔθνεσι, πόλεσί τε καὶ κώμαις καὶ χώραις ὁρῶμεν τὸν ἐν τῇ Ἐκκλησίᾳ αὐτοῦ ἱδρυμένον θρόνον πληροῦντα τὸν σύμπαντα κόσμον. Εἰ δέ τις μὴ οὕτως, ἀλλὰ Ἰουδαϊκῶς ἐκλάβοι τὸν θρόνον, τὴν σωματικὴν βασιλείαν τοῦ ∆αυῒδ λέγεσθαι νομίζων, ψευδεῖς ἐλεγχθήσονται αἱ προφητεῖαι. Μετὰ γὰρ τὴν εἰς Βαβυλῶνα αἰχμαλωσίαν τοῦ Ἰουδαίων ἔθνους, οὐδεὶς εἰς τὸν θρόνον ἐκαθέσθη ∆αυΐδ· ἐξ ἐκείνου δὲ καὶ εἰς δεῦρο, ἐγγύς που ἔτη τυγχάνει χίλια, ἐξ οὗ, καθαιρεθείσης τῆς βασιλείας αὐτοῦ, καὶ τῆς διαδοχῆς αὐτοῦ παυσαμένης, λέλυτο τοῦ ∆αυῒδ ὁ θρόνος. ∆ιὸ δὴ τὰ ἑξῆς τοῦ ψαλμοῦ αὐτὰ ταῦτα ἀποδύρεται, σαφῶς τοῦ σωματικοῦ θρόνου τὴν καταστροφὴν σημαίνοντα, καὶ τἀναντία παριστῶντα συμβεβηκέναι ταῖς ἐπαγγελίαις, ὅσον ἐπὶ τῷ αἰσθητῷ θρόνῳ καὶ τῇ σωματικῇ διαδοχῇ τῆς τοῦ ∆αυῒδ βασιλείας· ἃ δὴ καὶ αὐτὰ ἐχρῆν μὴ ἀποσιωπηθῆναι, ἀναγκαίως δὲ ἐν τῇ περὶ τοῦ Χριστοῦ προφητείᾳ παραληφθῆναι· ὡς ἂν μάθοιμεν, ὅτι, τοῦ καιροῦ τῶν προφητευομένων ἐπιστάντος, τῶν μὲν αἰσθητῶν παρὰ Ἰουδαίων νομιζομένων