City of God, book xx, ch. 30: Seeing He preached the judgment to come which was hidden from the Gentiles.
So He neither bruised nor quenched the Jewish persecutors, who are here likened to a bruised reed which has lost its wholeness, and to a smoking flax which has lost its flame; but He spared them because He was not come to judge them, butto be judged by them.
Quaest. Ev., i, 3: In the smoking flax it is observed, that when the flame is out it causes a stink.
In his name the Gentiles. Here are two words differing from those used by the prophet: in the Hebrew text we have, in his law the islands shall hope: probably the oversight of the amanuensis substituting onoma for nomo; the latter variation is of still less moment, as the prophets understand by islands, countries far removed; and also the poet, Et penitus toto divisos orbe Britannos. And, Mittam ad insulas longe ad eos, qui non audierunt de me. (Isaias, lx. 9, and lxvi. 19)
The Pharisees are moved with jealousy at what had been done; because beholding the outward body of a man, they did not recognize the God in His works; “The Pharisees sent out and sought counsel against him, how they ought destroy him.”.
And He knowing their plots withdrew, that He might be far from the counsels of the evil hearted, as it follows, “Jesus knowing it departed thence.”.
On those whom He healed He enjoined silence, whence it follows, “And he charged them that they should not make him known.” For his restored health was awitness to each man. And by commanding them to hold their peace, He avoids all ostentation of Himself, and at the same time notwithstanding affords aknowledge of Himself in that very admonition to hold their peace; for the observance of silence proceeds from that very thing which is to be kept silent.
Or, “Until he shalt send forth judgment to victory,” that is, Until He shall take away the power of death, and bring in judgment and the return of His splendou...
Knowing, that is, their designs against Him withdrew Himself, that He might remove from the Pharisees all opportunity of sin.
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 benches a smoking flax.
Ep. 121, 2: Or the reverse; He calls the Jews a bruised reed, whom tossed bythe 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 ...
This the Prophet puts in the beginning, that you might learn that that which is here said was according to the counsel of the Father. For he that is beloved does according to his will who loveth him. And again, he that is chosen, does not as an enemy break the lair, nor as one being an adversary of the legislator, but as one in agreement with Him. Because therefore He is beloved, "I will put my Spirit upon him.”.
Further, to show His lowliness, He says, “He shall not strive;” and so He was offered up as the Father had willed, and gave Himself willingly into the hands of His persecutors. “Neither shall he cry;” so He was dumb as a lamb before his shearer. “Nor shall any hear his voice in the streets.”.
The Lord sought to heal the Jews by this mildness. But though they rejected Him, yet He did not resist them by destroying them; whence the Prophet, displaying His power and their weakness, says, “A bruised reed he shall not break, and a smoking flax he shall not quench.”.
Or this, “He sha...
What then? Shall these things always be? And will He endure them perpetually, forming such frantic plots against Him? Far from it; but when He has performed His part, then shall He execute the other purposes also. For this He declared by saying Till He send forth judgment unto victory: and in His name shall the Gentiles trust. As Paul likewise says, Having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.
But what is, when He sends forth judgment unto victory? When He has fulfilled all His own part, then, we are told, He will bring down upon them His vengeance also, and that a perfect vengeance. Then shall they suffer His terrors, when His trophy is gloriously set up, and the ordinances that proceed from Him have prevailed, and He has left them no plea of contradiction, however shameless. For He is wont to call righteousness, judgment.
But not to this will His dispensation be confined, to the punishment of unbelievers only, but He will also win to Hims...
In this also He instructs us, that when we have done any thing great we are notto seek praise abroad.
“Whom I have chosen,” says, for a work which none else has done, that He should redeem the human race, and make peace between God and the world. It follows, "My beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased,” for He alone is the Lamb without spot of sin, of whom the Father speaks, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” .
Or, Until that judgment which was being done in Him should come forth to victory. For after that by His resurrection He had overcome death, and driven forth the prince of this world, He returned as conqueror to His kingdom to sit on the right, hand of the Father, until He shall put all His enemies under His feet.
Or; He withdrew from thence as avoiding the designs of His own when they persecuted Him; or because that was not the time or place for Him to suffer, for “It cannot be that a Prophet should perish out of Jerusalem,” as He Himself spake.The Lord also shunned those who persecuted Him through hatred, and went thither where He found many who were attached to Him from affection, whence it follows, “And there followed him many.” Him whom the Pharisees with one consent plotted against to destroy, the untaught multitude with one consent love and follow; whence they soon received the fulfilment of their desires, for it follows, “And he healed them all.”.
And He also gives them command that they should not make Him known, that they might not by persecuting Him be put into a worse state.
The Lord Jesus Christ is called the servant of the Almighty God , not in respect of His divinity, but in respect of the dispensation of the flesh which He took upon Him because bythe cooperation of the Holy Spiri...
So that the Jews would have no excuse, Christ endured all things, so that later He might condemn and overcome those who could say nothing in their own defense. What did He not do to win them over? But the Jews were not willing; therefore the Gentiles shall hope in Him.
