The LORD has sworn in truth unto David; he will not turn from it;
Of the fruit of your body will I set upon your throne.
All Commentaries on Psalms 132:11 Go To Psalms 132
Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
11. "The Lord hath made a faithful oath unto David, and He shall not repent" (ver. 11). What meaneth, "hath made an oath"? Hath confirmed a promise through Himself. What meaneth, "He shall not repent"? He will not change. For God suffereth not the pain of repentance, nor is He deceived in any matter, so that He would wish to correct that wherein He hath erred. But as when a man repents of anything, he wisheth to change what he hath done; thus where thou hearest that God repenteth, look for an actual change. God doth it differently from thee, although He calleth it by the name of repentance; for thou dost it, because thou hadst erred; while He doth it, because He avengeth, or freeth. He changed Saul's kingdom, when He repented, as it is said: and in the very passage where the Scripture saith, "It repented Him;" it is said a little after, "for He is not a man that He should repent." When therefore He changeth His works through His immutable counsel, He is said to repent on account of this very change, not of His counsel, but of His work. But He promised this so as not to change it. Just as this passage also saith: "The Lord sware, and will not repent, Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedec;" so also since this was promised so that it should not be changed, because it must needs happen and be permanent; he saith, "The Lord hath made a faithful oath unto David, and He shall not repent; Of the fruit of thy body shall I set upon thy seat." He might have said, "of the fruit of thy loins," wherefore did He choose to say, "Of the fruit of thy body"? Had He said that also, it would have been true; but He chose to say with a further meaning, Ex fructu ventris, because Christ was born of a woman without the man.
