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to his neighbors, and the right hand of those who afflicted him was exalted; and all the rest was then fulfilled in the one from the seed of David. For otherwise one could not apply these things to David himself, nor show that the aforementioned things were fulfilled in him, just as neither were the more august and better things contained in the promises of God. For indeed the throne of David did not illuminate the entire inhabited world, shining like the sun, nor did it become enduring as the moon, nor was it preserved for ever and ever; nor does it make sense 23.1116 for that David to be named the Firstborn of God; since both before him myriads better than him and after him have existed. Nor does David appear to have stretched out his right hand to the rivers, and his left hand to the sea, nor to have ruled from sea to sea, nor to have acquired a kingdom that extended to the ends of the inhabited world. But neither to Solomon, who was born from him, will all these things be applied; for he too, having ruled no more than Judea, is recorded similarly to his own father; but neither did he exceed a period of 40 years of kingship similarly to his own father; nor did he live an irreproachable life. Indeed, such were the things concerning him that he was accused of madness for women and idolatry, on account of which God is said to have sent Satan to him. But neither can the promises be referred to another of those who reigned over the nation of the Jews after Solomon from the seed and succession of David; but all things together and at the same time, both the better things and the sorrowful things, are established as fulfilled in one only, the one from the seed of David, called Jesus Christ our Savior; which things the divine Spirit also foresaw, putting forward first the divine promises, but teaching that one must expect the more sorrowful things to happen concerning one and the same person; especially when it also sees that of all the succession of David, the perceptible throne of the kingdom will be destroyed. Indeed, until the captivity of the people in Babylon did those who had reigned from the seed of David endure; and they did not reign over the whole nation of the Jews, but only over three tribes, and not even all of these; but the entire time of their rule amounts to only about four hundred years, after which, when Jeconiah became the last of the succession of David, no king of the Jews from the seed of David is recorded to have existed; so that in this way also were fulfilled the aforementioned oracles of the divine Spirit, through which it has been said: But now you have cast off and despised, and you have rejected your Anointed. You have overthrown the covenant of your servant, you have profaned his sanctuary to the ground; and the things that follow these. Then, since the promises of God to David described certain good and great hopes for the seed of David, but the things that happened concerning his succession contained all the opposite things, and the throne of his human kingdom was dissolved, having ceased from the time of Jeconiah; reasonably the prophetic Spirit, having foreseen these things, urges us to a search for the truth of the words of God, and teaches us to seek and learn from God himself, questioning him and saying: Where are your ancient mercies, Lord, which you swore to David? For both the perceptible and human succession of his kingdom was dissolved, having been destroyed long ago, and Jesus Christ, who came from his seed, who was expected to be himself the heir of the promises to David, did not acquire a perceptible nor a human kingdom; but he himself suffered all the opposite things to what men expected, reaching even to death, and enduring all things, which indeed the divine Spirit uttered with prophetic 23.1117 power. On account of which it reasonably teaches to question and inquire, saying: Where are your ancient mercies, Lord, and the rest, After which it adds: How long, Lord,

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γείτοσιν αὐτοῦ, καὶ ὑψώθη ἡ δεξιὰ τῶν θλιβόντων αὐτόν· καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ δὲ πάντα τότε εἰς τὸν ἐκ σπέρματος ∆αυῒδ ἐπληροῦτο. Ἄλλως γὰρ οὐκ ἄν τις ἔχοι ταῦτα ἐπ' αὐτὸν τὸν ∆αυῒδ ἐφαρμόζειν, οὐδ' ἐπιδεῖξαι εἰς ἐκεῖνον πεπληρωμένα τὰ προκείμενα, ὡς οὐδὲ τὰ σεμνότερα καὶ χρηστότερα ἐμφερόμενα ταῖς τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐπαγγελίαις. Οὐ γὰρ δὴ τοῦ ∆αυῒδ ὁ θρόνος κατηύγασε τὴν σύμπασαν οἰκουμένην, δίκην ἡλίου φωτίσας, οὐδ' ὡς ἡ σελήνη διαρκὴς γέγονε, οὐδὲ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα τοῦ αἰῶνος διεφυλάχθη· οὐδ' ἔχει λό 23.1116 γον τὸν ∆αυῒδ ἐκεῖνον Πρωτότοκον χρηματίσαι τοῦ Θεοῦ· ἐπεὶ καὶ πρὸ αὐτοῦ μυρίοι καλλίους αὐτοῦ καὶ μετ' αὐτὸν γεγόνασιν. Ἀλλ' οὐδὲ φαίνεται ὁ ∆αυῒδ τὴν δεξιὰν ἐπὶ ποταμοὺς ἐκτείνας, καὶ τὴν ἀριστερὰν ἐπὶ θάλασσαν, οὐδὲ κατακυριεύσας ἀπὸ θαλάσσης ἕως θαλάσσης, οὐδὲ βασιλείαν κτησάμενος τὴν παρεκταθεῖσαν ἕως τῶν περάτων τῆς οἰκουμένης. Ἀλλ' οὐδ' ἐπὶ τὸν ἐξ αὐτοῦ γενόμενον Σολομῶνα ταῦτα πάντα ἐφαρμοσθήσεται· οὐ πλέον γὰρ τῆς Ἰουδαίας οὐδ' οὗτος κρατήσας ὁμοίως τῷ ἑαυτοῦ ἱστορεῖται πατρί· ἀλλ' οὐδ' ὑπερβὰς χρόνον ἐτῶν μʹ τῆς βασιλείας ὁμοίως τῷ ἑαυτοῦ πατρί· ἀλλ' οὐδὲ ἀνεπίληπτον βίον διατελέσας. Τοιαῦτα γοῦν ἦν τὰ περὶ αὐτὸν ὡς καὶ γυναικομανίαν καὶ εἰδωλολατρείαν διαβάλλεσθαι, ὧν ἕνεκα καὶ Σατανᾶν αὐτῷ ἐπιπέμψαι λέγεται ὁ Θεός. Ἀλλ' οὐδ' ἐφ' ἕτερον τὸν μετὰ Σολομῶνα τοῦ Ἰουδαίων ἔθνους ἐκ σπέρματος καὶ διαδοχῆς ∆αυῒδ βασιλευσάντων ἀναφέρεσθαι δύναται τὰ ἐπηγγελμένα· πάντα δὲ ὁμοῦ καὶ κατὰ τὸ αὐτὸ τά τε χρηστότερα καὶ τὰ σκυθρωπὰ εἰς ἕνα μόνον τὸν ἐκ σπέρματος ∆αυῒδ λεγόμενον Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν τὸν ἡμέτερον Σωτῆρα συνίσταται πεπληρωμένα· ἃ δὴ καὶ προείληφε τὸ θεῖον Πνεῦμα, προτάξαν μὲν τὰς ἐνθέους ἐπαγγελίας, διδάξαν δὲ χρῆναι προσδοκᾷν περὶ ἕνα καὶ τὸν αὐτὸν συμβήσεσθαι τὰ σκυθρωπότερα· μάλιστα ὅτε καὶ πάσης τῆς τοῦ ∆αυῒδ διαδοχῆς, τὸν αἰσθητὸν τῆς βασιλείας θρόνον καταλυθησόμενον θεωρεῖ. Μέχρι γοῦν τῆς εἰς Βαβυλῶνα αἰχμαλωσίας τοῦ λαοῦ διήρκεσαν οἱ ἐκ σπέρματος ∆αυῒδ βεβασιλευκότες· καὶ οὐδὲ ὅλου τοῦ Ἰουδαίων ἔθνους βασιλεύσαντες ἀλλὰ μόνων τριῶν φυλῶν, καὶ οὐδὲ τούτων ὅλων· ἀλλὰ καὶ σύμπας ὁ χρόνος τῆς τούτων ἀρχῆς ἀμφὶ τὰ τετρακόσια ἔτη μόνα συντείνει, μεθ' ἃ, Ἰεχονίου ὑστάτου τῆς τοῦ ∆αυῒδ διαδοχῆς γενομένου, οὐδέτερος βασιλεὺς Ἰουδαίων ἐκ σπέρματος ∆αυῒδ γεγονὼς μνημονεύεται· ὡς καὶ κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον πεπληρῶσθαι τὰ προκείμενα τοῦ θείου Πνεύματος λόγια, δι' ὧν εἴρηται· Νυνὶ δὲ ἀπώσω καὶ ἐξουδένωσας, καὶ ἀνεβάλου τὸν Χριστόν σου. Κατέστρεψας τὴν διαθήκην τοῦ δούλου σου, ἐβεβήλωσας εἰς τὴν γῆν τὸ ἁγίασμα αὐτοῦ· καὶ τὰ τούτοις ἐπιφερόμενα. Εἶτ' ἐπειδήπερ τὰ μὲν τῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ πρὸς τὸν ∆αυῒδ ἐπαγγελιῶν ἀγαθάς τινας καὶ μεγάλας ἐλπίδας τῷ σπέρματι ∆αυῒδ ὑπέγραφε, τὰ δὲ περὶ τὴν διαδοχὴν αὐτοῦ συμβεβηκότα τἀναντία πάντα περιεῖχεν, ὅ τε θρόνος τῆς κατὰ ἄνθρωπον βασιλείας αὐτοῦ λέλυτο πεπαυμένος ἀπὸ τῶν Ἰεχονίου χρόνων· εἰκότως ταῦτα προθεωρῆσαν τὸ προφητικὸν Πνεῦμα, ἐπὶ ζήτησιν ἡμᾶς παρορμᾷ τῆς τῶν λόγων τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀληθείας, καὶ παρ' αὐτοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ ζητεῖν καὶ μανθάνειν διδάσκει ἐρωτῶντας αὐτὸν καὶ λέγοντας· Ποῦ ἐστι τὰ ἐλέη σου τὰ ἀρχαῖα, Κύριε, ἃ ὤμοσας τῷ ∆αυΐδ; Ἥ τε γὰρ τῆς βασιλείας αὐτοῦ τῆς αἰσθητῆς καὶ κατὰ ἄνθρωπον διαδοχὴ λέλυτο, ἐκ μακροῦ καθῃρημένη, ὅ τε ἐκ σπέρματος αὐτοῦ γεγονὼς Ἰησοῦς ὁ Χριστὸς, προσδοκηθεὶς αὐτὸς εἶναι ὁ τῶν πρὸς τὸν ∆αυῒδ ἐπαγγελιῶν κληρονόμος, αἰσθητὴν μὲν οὐκ ἐκτήσατο, οὐδ' ἀνθρωπίνην βασιλείαν· τἀναντία δὲ πάντα καὶ αὐτὸς οἷς προσεδόκησαν ἄνθρωποι πέπονθε, μέχρι καὶ θανάτου φθάσας, καὶ πάντα ὑπομείνας, ἃ δὴ προγνωστικῇ 23.1117 δυνάμει τὸ θεῖον ἀνεφθέγξατο Πνεῦμα. Ὧν ἕνεκα εἰκότως ἀνερωτᾷν καὶ πυνθάνεσθαι διδάσκει λέγοντας· Ποῦ ἐστι τὰ ἐλέη σου τὰ ἀρχαῖα, Κύριε, καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς, Μεθ' ἃ ἐπιλέγει· Ἕως πότε, Κύριε,