Psalm 131 [MT 132]

"Lord, remember David, and all his meekness" [Psalm 132:1]. David according to the truth of history was one man, king of Israel, son of Jesse. He was indeed meek, as the Divine Scriptures themselves mark and command him, and so meek that he did not even render evil for evil to his persecutor Saul. He preserved towards him so great humility, that he acknowledged him a king, and himself a dog: and answered the king not proudly nor rudely, though he was more powerful in God; but he rather endeavoured to appease him by humility, than to provoke him by pride. Saul was even given into his power, and this by the Lord God, that he might do to him what he listed: but since he was not commanded to slay him, but had it only placed in his power (now a man is permitted to use his power), he rather turned towards mercy what God gave him....The humility of David is therefore commended, the meekness of David is commended; and it is said to God, "Lord, remember David, and all his meekness."

For what purpose? "How he sware unto the Lord, and vowed a vow unto the Almighty God of Jacob" (ver. 2). Therefore remember for this, that he may fulfil what he hath promised. David himself vowed as though he had it in his power, and he prayeth God to fulfil his vow: there is devotion in the vow, but there is humility in the prayer. Let no one presume to think he fulfilled by his own strength what he hath vowed. He who exhorteth thee to vow, Himself aideth thee to fulfil. Let us therefore see what he vowed, and hence we comprehend how David should be understood in a figure. "David" is interpreted, "Strong of hand," for he was a great warrior. Trusting indeed in the Lord his God, he despatched all wars, he laid low all his enemies, God helping him, according to the dispensation of that kingdom; prefiguring nevertheless some One strong of hand to destroy His enemies, the devil and his angels. These enemies the Church warreth against, and conquereth. ...

What then doth he mean, "How he sware," etc.? Let us see what vow is this. We can offer God nothing more pleasing than to swear. Now to swear is to promise firmly. Consider this vow, that is, with what ardour he vowed what he vowed, with what love, with what longing; nevertheless, he prayeth the Lord to fulfil it in these words, "O Lord, remember David, and all his meekness." In this temper he vowed his vow, and there should be a house of God: "I will not come within the tabernacle of mine house, nor climb up into my bed" (ver. 3). "I will not suffer mine eyes to sleep, nor mine eyelids to slumber" (ver. 4). This seemeth not enough; he adds, "Neither the temples of my head to take any rest, until I find out a place for the Lord; an habitation for the God of Jacob" (ver. 5). Where did he seek a place for the Lord? If he was meek, he sought it in himself. For how is one a place for the Lord? Hear the Prophet: "Upon whom shall My Spirit rest? Even upon him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at My words." Dost thou wish to be a place for the Lord? Be thou poor in spirit, and contrite, and trembling at the word of God, and thou wilt thyself be made what thou seekest. For if what thou seekest be not realized in thyself, what doth it profit thee in another. ...

The more I meditate on the mind of the saints, the more I am reminded of something that is high and hard and beyond the powers of human nature. Call to mind what the same psalmist [David] has said: "If I shall go up into the bed wherein I lie; if I shall give sleep to my eyes, or slumber to my eyelids or rest to my temples; until I find out a place for the Lord, a tabernacle for the God of Jacob." Who would not be amazed at such a love of God, such dedication of soul, that a king and prophet should deny himself all sleep—the very essential of bodily vigor—until he should find a place to build a temple to the Lord? This fact should be a strong admonishment to us who long to be a dwelling place of the Lord and to be considered his tabernacle and temple forever. "You are," as Paul reminds us, "the temple of the living God." Let us, then, be moved by the example of the saints to love vigils to the utmost of our power. And let it not be said of us what is said in the psalm: "They have slept their sleep and … found nothing." Rather, let each of us be glad to say, "In the day of my trouble I have sought God and with my hands lifted up to him in the night and was not deceived." The reason is that "it is good to give praise to the Lord and to sing to your name, O most High; to show forth your mercy in the morning and your truth in the night." These and many other such thoughts the saints have left us in song and other writings, so that we who are their heirs may be moved by such examples to celebrate at night the vigils of our salvation.

Girded with such things to serve as invincible armor, let us take our stand against the evil one, being wakeful and well prepared, as though it was day. Let us pierce him with the mighty arrows of the Spirit's words and cut off all his hopes, joining David, the son of Jesse, in adjuring him by the covenant that does not fail: "Depart from us and go to your ill fate, you mad dog" that audaciously barks against its master, for we have sworn to the Lord and make our vow to the God of Jacob that we shall "not allow sleep to touch our eyes, or drowsiness our eyelids, until we have found a place for the Lord to rest in our souls, a tent for the God of Jacob" to dwell in our hearts. We will certainly not cease from vigil, prayer, toil and labor until the Lord is pleased at our soul and chooses it as a place in which to live, saying, "This is my resting place for eternal ages; here shall I reside, for I have desired it."

"Lo, we heard of the same at Ephrata" [Psalm 132:6]. What? A place for the Lord. "We heard of it at Ephrata: and found it in the plains of the forests." Did he hear it where he found it? Or did he hear it in one place, find it in another? Let us therefore enquire what Ephrata is, where he heard it; let us also enquire what mean the plains of the forests, where he found it. Ephrata, a Hebrew word, is rendered in Latin by Speculum, as the translators of Hebrew words in the Scriptures have handed down to us, that we might understand them. They have translated from Hebrew into Greek, and from Greek we have versions into Latin. For there have been who watched in the Scriptures. If therefore Ephrata means a mirror, that house which was found in the woodland plains, was heard of in a mirror. A mirror has an image: all prophecy is an image of things future. The future house of God, therefore, was declared in the image of prophecy. "We have found it in the plains of the forests." What are the "plains of the forests"? Saltus is not here used in its common sense, as a plot of ground of so many hundred acres; saltus properly signifies a spot as yet untilled and woody. For some copies read, in the plains of the wood. What then were the woodland plains, save nations yet untilled? What were they, save regions yet covered with the thorns of idolatry? Thus, though there were thorns of idolatry there, still we find a place for the Lord there, a tabernacle for the God of Jacob. What was declared in the image to the Jews, was manifested in the faith of the Gentiles.

"We will go into His tabernacles" (ver. 7). Whose? Those of the Lord God of Jacob. They who enter to dwell therein, are the very same who enter that they may be dwelt in. Thou enterest into thy house, that thou mayest dwell therein; into the house of God, that thou mayest be dwelt in. For the Lord is better, and when He hath begun to dwell in thee, He will make thee happy. For if thou be not dwelt in by Him, thou wilt be miserable. That son who said, "Father, give me the portion of the goods," etc., wished to be his own master. It was well kept in his father's hands, that it might not be wasted with harlots. He received it, it was given into his own power; going to a far country, he squandered it all with harlots. At length he suffered hunger, he remembered his father; he returned, that he might be satisfied with bread. Enter therefore, that thou mayest be dwelt in; and mayest be not thine own, so to speak, but His: "We will go into His tabernacles. We will worship on the spot where His feet stood." Whose feet? The Lord's, or those of the house of the Lord itself? For that is the Lord's house, wherein he saith He ought to be worshipped. Beside His house, the Lord heareth not unto eternal life; for he belongeth to God's house, who hath in charity been built in with living stones. But he who hath not charity, falleth; and while he falls, the house stands. ...

"Arise, O Lord, into Your resting place" [Psalm 132:8]. He says unto the Lord sleeping, "Arise." You know already who slept, and who rose again...."You, and the ark of Your sanctification:" that is, Arise, that the ark of Your sanctification, which You have sanctified, may arise also. He is our Head; His ark is His Church: He arose first, the Church will arise also. The body would not dare to promise itself resurrection, save the Head arose first. The Body of Christ, that was born of Mary, has been understood by some to be the ark of sanctification; so that the words mean, Arise with Your Body, that they who believe not may handle.

"Let Thy priests be clothed with righteousness, and let Thy saints sing with joyfulness" [Psalm 132:9]. When Thou risest from the dead, and goest unto Thy Father, let that royal Priesthood be clothed with faith, since "the righteous liveth by faith;" [Romans 1:17] and, receiving the pledge of the Holy Spirit, let the members rejoice in the hope of resurrection, which went before in the Head: for to them the Apostle saith, "Rejoicing in hope." [Romans 12:12]

But lest we linger too long on the forms of individual virtues, we can briefly say that they indicate those things by which the church is adorned. Its faith can be compared with gold; the word of preaching with silver; bronze with patience; incorruptible wood with the knowledge that comes through the wood or to the incorruptibility of purity that never grows old; virginity with linen; the glory of suffering with scarlet; the splendor of love with purple; the hope of the kingdom of heaven with the blue. Let those, however, be the materials from which the whole tabernacle is constructed, the priests are clothed and the high priest is adorned. The prophet speaks in another passage about the nature and quality of their clothing: "Let your priests be clothed with justice." All those garments, therefore, are garments of justice. And again the apostle Paul says, "Put on heartfelt mercy." They are also, therefore, garments of mercy. But the same apostle no less also designates other more noble garments when he says, "Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and give no attention to the flesh for lusting." Those, therefore, are the garments with which the church is adorned.

"For Thy servant David's sake, turn not away the face of Thine Anointed" [Psalm 132:10]. These words are addressed unto God the Father. "For Thy servant David's sake, turn not away the face of Thine Anointed." The Lord was crucified in Judaea; He was crucified by the Jews; harassed by them, He slept. He arose to judge those among whose savage hands He slept: and He saith elsewhere, "Raise Thou Me up again, and I shall reward them." He both hath rewarded them, and will reward them. The Jews well know themselves how great were their sufferings after the Lord's death. They were all expelled from the very city, where they slew Him. What then? have all perished even from the root of David and from the tribe of Judah? No: for some of that stock believed, and in fact many thousands of men of that stock believed, and this after the Lord's resurrection. They raged and crucified Him: and afterwards began to see miracles wrought in the Name of Him Crucified; and they trembled still more that His Name should have so much power, since when in their hands He seemed unable to work any; and pricked at heart, at length believing that there was some hidden divinity in Him whom they had believed like other men, and asking counsel of the Apostles, they were answered, "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ." [Acts 2:38] Since then Christ arose to judge those by whom He had been crucified, and turned away His Presence from the Jews, turning His Presence towards the Gentiles; God is, as it seemeth, besought in behalf of the remnant of Israel; and it is said unto Him, "For Thy servant David's sake, turn not away the presence of Thine Anointed." If the chaff be condemned, let the wheat be gathered together. May the remnant be saved, as Isaiah saith, "And the remnant hath" clearly "been saved:" [Isaiah 10:21-22] for out of them were the twelve Apostles, out of them more than five hundred brethren, to whom the Lord showed Himself after His Resurrection: [1 Corinthians 15:6] out of their number were so many thousands baptized, [Acts 2:41] who laid the price of their possessions at the Apostles' feet. Thus then was fulfilled the prayer here made to God: "For Thy servant David's sake, turn not away the presence of Thine Anointed."

"The Lord has made a faithful oath unto David, and He shall not repent" [Psalm 132:11]. What means, "has made an oath"? Hath confirmed a promise through Himself. What means, "He shall not repent"? He will not change. For God suffers not the pain of repentance, nor is He deceived in any matter, so that He would wish to correct that wherein He has erred. But as when a man repents of anything, he wishes to change what he has done; thus where you hear that God repents, look for an actual change. God does it differently from you, although He calls it by the name of repentance; for thou dost it, because you had erred; while He does it, because He avenges, or frees. He changed Saul's kingdom, when He repented, as it is said: and in the very passage where the Scripture says, "It repented Him;" it is said a little after, "for He is not a man that He should repent." When therefore He changes 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 says: "The Lord swore, and will not repent, You are 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 says, "The Lord has made a faithful oath unto David, and He shall not repent; Of the fruit of your body shall I set upon your seat." He might have said, "of the fruit of your loins," wherefore did He choose to say, "Of the fruit of your 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.

That the Lord was to be born of a virgin we know clearly; now we must show of what stock the virgin was. "The Lord swore to David a firm promise from which he will not withdraw: 'Your own offspring I will set on your throne.' " Again, "I will make his posterity endure forever and his throne as the days of heaven." Then, "Once by my holiness I have sworn; I will not be false to David: his posterity shall continue forever, and his throne shall be like the sun before me; like the moon, which remains forever." You see that the words concern Christ, not Solomon, for Solomon's throne did not endure as the sun. But if anyone should object that Christ did not sit on the wooden throne of David, let us produce that saying: "The scribes and Pharisees have sat on the chair of Moses." For this signifies not the chair of wood but the authority of his teaching.

What then? "The Lord has made a faithful oath unto David, and He shall not shrink from it; Of the fruit of your body shall I set upon your seat. If your children will keep My covenant and My testimonies that I shall learn them, their children also shall sit upon your seat for evermore" [Psalm 132:12]. If your children keep My covenant, their children also shall sit for evermore. The parents establish a desert on behalf of their children. What if his children should keep the covenant, and their children should not keep it? Why is the happiness of the children promised in relation to their parents' deservings? For what says He, "If your children will keep My covenant, their children also shall sit for evermore"— He says not, if your children keep My covenant, they shall sit upon your seat; and if their children keep My covenant, they also shall sit upon your seat: but he says, "If your children keep My covenant, their children also shall sit upon your seat for evermore"— except because He here wished their fruit to be understood by their children? "If your children," He says, "will keep My covenant, and if your children shall keep My testimonies that I shall learn them; their children also shall sit upon your seat:" that is, this will be their fruit, that they sit upon your seat. For in this life, brethren, do all of us who labour in Christ, all of us who tremble at His words, who in any way endeavour to execute His will, and groan while we pray His help that we may fulfil what He commands; do we already sit in those seats of bliss which are promised us? No: but holding His commandments, we hope this will come to pass. This hope is spoken of under the figure of sons; because sons are the hope of man living in this life, sons are his fruit. For this reason also men, when excusing their avarice, allege that they are reserving for their children what they hoard up; and, unwilling to give to the destitute, excuse themselves under the name of piety, because their children are their hope. For all men who live according to this world, declare it to be their hope, to be fathers of children they may leave behind them. Thus then He describes hope generally under the name of children, and says, "If your children will keep My covenant and My testimonies that I shall learn them, their children also shall sit upon your seat for evermore:" that is, they shall have such fruits, that their hope shall not deceive them, that they may come there where they hope to come. At present therefore they are as fathers, men of hope for the future; but when they have attained what they hope, they are children; because they have brought forth and produced in their works that which they gain. And this is preserved unto them for the future, because futurity itself commonly signifies children.

"For the Lord has chosen Sion to be an habitation for Himself" [Psalm 132:13]. Sion is the Church Herself; She is also that Jerusalem unto whose peace we are running, who is in pilgrimage not in the Angels, but in us, who in her better part waits for the part that will return; whence letters have come unto us, which are every day read. This city is that very Sion, whom the Lord has chosen.

"This shall be My rest for ever" [Psalm 132:14]. These are the words of God. "My rest:" I rest there. How greatly doth God love us, brethren, since, because we rest, He saith that He also resteth! For He is not sometimes Himself disturbed, nor doth He rest as we do; but He saith that He resteth there, because we shall have rest in Him. "Here will I dwell: for I have a delight therein."

"I will bless her widow with blessings, and will satisfy her poor with bread" [Psalm 132:15]. Every soul that is aware that it is bereft of all help, save of God alone, is widowed. For how does the Apostle describe a widow? "She that is a widow indeed and desolate, trusts in God." [1 Timothy 5:5-6] He was speaking of those whom we all call Widows in the Church. He says, "She that lives in pleasure, is dead while she lives;" and he numbers her not among the widows. But in describing true widows, what says he? "She that is a widow indeed and desolate, trusts in God, and continues in supplications and prayers night and day." Here he adds, "but she that lives in pleasure, is dead while she lives." What then makes a widow? That she has no aid from any other source, save from God alone. They that have husbands, take pride in the protection of their husbands: widows seem desolate, and their aid is a stronger one. The whole Church therefore is one widow, whether in men or in women, in married men or married women, in young men or in old, or in virgins: the whole Church is one widow, desolate in this world, if she feel this, if she is aware of her widowhood: for then is help at hand for her. Do ye not recognise this widow in the Gospel, my brethren, when the Lord declared "that men ought always to pray and not to faint"? "There was in a city a judge," He said, "which feared not God, neither regarded man. And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him day by day, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary." The widow, by daily importunity, prevailed with him: for the judge said within himself, "Though I fear not God; neither regard man, yet because this woman troubles me, I will avenge her." [Luke 18:1-8] If the wicked judge heard the widow, that he might not be molested; hears not God His Church, whom He exhorts to pray?

"I will clothe her priests with salvation, and her saints shall rejoice and sing" [Psalm 132:16]. We are now at the end of the Psalm; attend for a short space, Beloved. "I will clothe her priests with salvation, and her saints shall rejoice and sing." Who is our salvation, save our Christ? What means, therefore, "I will clothe her priests with salvation"? "As many of you as have been baptized into Christ, have put on Christ." [Galatians 3:27] "And her saints shall rejoice and sing." Whence shall they rejoice and sing? Because they have been clothed with salvation: not in themselves. For they have become light, but in the Lord; for they were darkness before. [Ephesians 5:8] Therefore he has added, "There will I raise up the horn of David" [Psalm 132:17]: this will be David's height, that trust be put in Christ. For horn signifies height: and what sort of height? Not carnal. Therefore, while all the bones are wrapped up in flesh, the horn goes beyond the flesh. Spiritual altitude is a horn. But what is spiritual loftiness, save to trust in Christ? Not to say, It is my work, I baptize; but, "He it is who baptizes." [John 1:33] There is the horn of David: and that you may know that there is the horn of David, heed what follows: "I have ordained a lantern for mine Anointed." What is a lantern? You already know the Lord's words concerning John: "He was a burning and a shining light." [John 5:35] And what says John? "He it is who baptizes." Herein therefore shall the saints rejoice, herein the priests shall rejoice: because all that is good in themselves, is not of themselves, but of Him who has the power of baptizing. Fearlessly therefore does every one who has received baptism come unto His temple; because it is not man's, but His who made the horn of David to flourish.

What is the woman? The flesh of Christ. What is the lamp? "I have prepared a lamp for my anointed." Therefore we were sought in order that we might be found; having been found, we speak. Let us not be proud because, before we were found, if we were not sought for, we would have been lost. Therefore let not those whom we love and whom we wish to win over to the peace of the catholic church say to us, "Why do you want us? Why do you seek us if we are sinners?" We seek you precisely that you may not be lost; we seek you because we were sought; we wish to find you because we were found.

We speak to your charity in the house of God about what the present Psalm has reminded us. Who is it that says: I have prepared a lamp for my Christ. His enemies I will clothe with shame; but upon him my sanctification shall flourish; and what is that lamp which he has prepared for his Christ; and who are the enemies of his Christ, whom he clothes with shame through that lamp; and what is his sanctification, who prepared a lamp for his Christ, which will flourish upon his Christ. In all these words, it seems clear and open that he says here: For my Christ; for nothing else is to be understood than Christ the Lord and our Savior. Therefore, when exploring, as God grants, the depth of this meaning, we find that God the Father says this. Therefore, God the Father, that is, the person of God the Father speaks through the Prophet: I have prepared a lamp for my Christ. However, it is not necessary to explain to Christians that the Son of God is also the Christ of God. Having found the person speaking, let us see what the lamp prepared by God the Father for Christ the Son is. The Lord himself speaks about John the Baptist: He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. Therefore, he called John a lamp, kindled from the source of light. To bear witness to the truth. For men lay in this blindness and in this infirmity of the inner eye, so that the sun of righteousness would be sought through the lamp. For if anyone had a clear eye of the heart, he would first gaze upon it, nor would he seek a lamp for its testimony. For when he had said about that lamp: You were willing to rejoice for a while in his light; but I, he says, have greater testimony than John. Therefore, a lamp was kindled for the weak in the night. And how did he kindle it? The Father says to his Christ the Son about John: Behold, I send my angel before you, who will prepare your way before you. He has prepared a lamp for his Christ.

A lamp was therefore prepared for Christ our Lord, John the Baptist; his enemies, slanderous questioners, retreated confused when the light of the lamp was brought forth; it was fulfilled: I will clothe his enemies with shame. But we, brothers, recognizing through John the Baptist the precursor the Lord, and even more through the testimony of the Lord himself, of whom he said: I have a greater testimony than John, believing in Christ, let us be made the body of his head, so that Christ may be one head and body; and in all of us having been made one it will be fulfilled: And upon him shall my sanctification flourish.

For Joshua was to lead the people into the land of promise, not Moses. Now he called him an "angel," on account of the magnitude of the mighty deeds that he was to achieve (which mighty deeds Joshua the son of Nun did, and you yourselves have read about) and on account of his office of prophet announcing the divine will. Just as the Spirit, speaking in the person of the Father, calls the forerunner of Christ, John, a future "angel," through the prophet: "Behold, I sent my angel before your"—that is, Christ's—"face, who shall prepare your way before you." Nor is it a novel practice to the Holy Spirit to call those "angels" whom God has appointed as ministers of his power. For the same John is called not merely an "angel" of Christ but also a "lamp" shining before Christ. For David predicts, "I have prepared the lamp for my Christ"; and so Christ, coming "to fulfill the prophets," referred to him [John] [when speaking] to the Jews. "He was," he says, "the burning and shining lamp," being the one who not only prepared his ways in the desert" but, by pointing out "the Lamb of God," enlightened the minds of people by his proclaiming, so that they understood him to be that Lamb whom Moses was accustomed to announce as destined to suffer.

"Upon Him shall My sanctification flourish" (ver. 18). Upon whom? Upon Mine Anointed. For when He saith, "Mine anointed," it is the voice of the Father, who saith, "I will bless her widow with blessings, and will satisfy her poor with bread. I will clothe her priests with salvation, and her saints shall rejoice and sing." He who saith, "There will I raise up the horn of David," is God. He Himself saith, "I have ordained a lantern for Mine Anointed," because Christ is both ours and the Father's: He is our Christ, when He saveth us and ruleth us, as He is also our Lord: He is the Son of the Father, but both our Christ and the Father's. For if He were not the Father's Christ, it would not be said above, "For Thy servant David's sake, turn not Thou away the presence of Thine Anointed." "Upon Him shall My sanctification flourish." It flourisheth upon Christ. Let none of men assume this to himself, that he himself sanctifieth: otherwise it will not be true, "Upon Him shall My sanctification flourish." The glory of sanctification shall flourish. The sanctification of Christ therefore in Christ Himself, is the power of the sanctification of God in Christ. In that he saith, "shall flourish," he refers to His glory: for when trees flourish, then are they beautiful. Sanctification therefore is in Baptism: thence it flourisheth, and is brightened. Why hath the world yielded to this beauty? Because it flourisheth in Christ; for, put it in man's power, and how doth it then flourish? since "all flesh in grass, and all the goodliness thereof as the flower of the grass."

Therefore He showed that for the sake of men He desired to have Himself revealed by a lamp to the faith of those who believed, that by means of the same lamp His enemies might be confounded. There were enemies who tempted Him, and said, "Tell us by what authority doest thou these things?" "I also," saith He, "will ask you one question; answer me. The baptism of John, whence was it? from heaven, or of men?" And they were troubled, and said among themselves, "If we shall say, From heaven, he will say unto us, Why did ye not believe him?" (Because he had borne testimony to Christ, and had said, I am not the Christ, but He.) "But if we shall say, Of men, we fear the people, lest they should stone us: for they held John as a prophet." Afraid of stoning, but fearing more to confess the truth, they answered a lie to the Truth; and "wickedness imposed a lie upon itself." For they said, "We know not." And the Lord, because they shut the door against themselves, by professing ignorance of what they knew, did not open to them, because they did not knock. For it is said, "Knock, and it shall be opened unto you." Not only did these not knock that it might be opened to them; but, by denying that they knew, they barred that door against themselves. And the Lord says to them, "Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things." And they were confounded by means of John; and in them were the words fulfilled, "I have ordained a lamp for mine anointed. His enemies will I clothe with shame."

In 132 we have 'David' again; 'As for his enemies, I shall clothe them with shame, but upon himself shall his crown flourish'. All this emphasises an aspect of the Nativity to which our later sentiment about Christmas (excellent in itself) does less than justice. For those who first read these Psalms as poems about the birth of Christ, that birth primarily meant something very militant; the hero, the 'judge' or champion or giant-killer, who was to fight and beat death, hell and the devils, had at last arrived, and the evidence suggests that Our Lord also thought of Himself in those terms. (Milton's poem on the Nativity well recaptures this side of Christmas.)