I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his offspring begging bread.
Read Chapter 37
Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
1. "I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread" (ver. 25).
If it is spoken but in the person of one single individual, how long is the whole life of one man? And what is there wonderful in the circumstance, that a single man, fixed in some one part of the earth, should not, throughout the whole space of his life, being so short as maws life is, have ever seen "the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread," although he may have advanced from youth to age. It is not anything worthy of marvel; for it might have happened, that before his lifetime there should have been some "righteous man seeking bread;" it might have happened, that there had been some one in some other part of the earth not where he himself was. Hear too another thing, which makes an impression upon us. Any single one among you (look you) who has now grown old, may perhaps, when, looking back upon the past course of his life, he turns over in his thou...
Seeking, in vain. (Haydock)
Roman and Gothic Ps. read, "wanting. "This does not condemn the mendicant orders. (Menochius)
Nothing was more unusual under the old law than the extreme distress of the just: yet Job and Lazarus were reduced to it. They were not, however, discontent. (Calmet)
They found the bread of life in conformity to God's will, John iv. 34. (Haydock)
Their souls were enriched with grace, which was never wanting, as the Fathers explain this passage. (Berthier) (Amos viii. 11.)
It is certain that there were poor among the Jews; (Deuteronomy xv. 11.) and who would assert that they were all wicked, or the children of such? Yet the prophet had not witnessed (Calmet) any person renowned for virtue reduced to this condition, (Haydock) though he does not deny but it might be possible. (Calmet)
The proposition may be restrained to those who have been very charitable, and who are not often thereby reduced to want, Daniel iv. 24. (Genebrard) (Menochius)
But the word just i...
