{"author":null,"canonical_references":[],"database_sha256":"8cfbe7284c6936871d57c02dc6aa63ebbdfd4722422d539dd9f716e46e91112e","date_end":null,"date_start":null,"edition_year":null,"id":"sermonindex-ecf-7426","native_reference":{"book_number":290,"chapter_from":42,"chapter_to":42,"system":"MyBible module coordinates (mapping unverified)","verse_from":3,"verse_to":3},"public_import_allowed":false,"record_kind":"verse-keyed-module-record","review_required":["English edition and exact text","author/work attribution","dating","verse mapping and citation kind","reuse and attribution","split author quotations and deduplicate"],"review_status":"unreviewed","source_html":"<p><b>Benedict of Nursia</b>: [The abbot] must be aware of his own frailty and remember that it is forbidden to break the already bruised reed. We do not mean that he should countenance the growth of vice but that he use discretion and tenderness as he sees it expedient for the different characters of his brothers. He is to endeavor much more to be loved than to be feared.<br/><i>— RULE OF ST. BENEDICT 64</i></p><p><b>Eusebius of Caesarea</b>: He does not say, \"Jacob my son and Israel my beloved,\" but simply \"Behold my son and my beloved.\" Hence, the names of Jacob and Israel are marked with an obelisk in the Septuagint, as if the prophecy were not in the Hebrew. And it is silently omitted by the other translators, as it is not found in the Hebrew.… Therefore, the prophecy does not apply either actually or figuratively to the Jews but only to the Christ of God, to whom clear evidence and the results bear witness. For Christ alone prophesied the future judgment to the Gentiles, quietly sojourning in human life and setting judgment on the earth. And not only did he not break the bruised reed, but so to say he bound it up, setting up and strengthening the weak and the bruised in heart. And just as Christ did not neglect the sick and the corrupt, who needed his medicine, or bruise the repentant with harsh judgment, so he did not quench those who continued in evil and were smoking under the fire of passion by preventing their following their own choice; nor did he punish any of them before the time, reserving the time of their due chastisement for the general judgment.<br/><i>— PROOF OF THE GOSPEL 9:15</i></p><p><b>Irenaeus</b>: The prophets, therefore, did not openly behold the actual face of God, but [they saw] the dispensations and the mysteries through which man should afterwards see God. As was also said to Elias: \"Thou shalt go forth tomorrow, and stand in the presence of the Lord; and, behold, a wind great and strong, which shall rend the mountains, and break the rocks in pieces before the Lord. And the Lord [was] not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord [was] not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord [was] not in the fire; and after the fire a scarcely audible voice\" (vox aurae tenuis). For by such means was the prophet-very indignant, because of the transgression of the people and the slaughter of the prophets-both taught to act in a more gentle manner; and the Lord's advent as a man was pointed out, that it should be subsequent to that law which was given by Moses, mild and tranquil, in which He would neither break the bruised reed, nor quench the smoking flax. The mild and peaceful repose of His kingdom was indicated likewise. For, after the wind which rends the mountains, and after the earthquake, and after the fire, come the tranquil and peaceful times of His kingdom, in which the spirit of God does, in the most gentle manner, vivify and increase mankind.<br/><i>— AGAINST HERESIES 4:20.10</i></p><p><b>Ishodad of Merv</b>: \"A bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not quench,\" that is, [Christ] will not be hard or angered with those who have a feeble spirit. He will not render powerless that strength that is left to them, but he will lead them back to virtue with kindness. [Isaiah] calls a \"dimly burning wick\" the one whose oil is finished and where there is no greasy matter left. This means, when the people are about to be extinguished because of the affliction of captivity, he will make them shine against their hope. This is clearly said with regard to Zerubbabel but is evidently accomplished by our Lord, the Savior.<br/><i>— COMMENTARY ON Isaiah 42:3</i></p><p><b>Jerome</b>: It appears that Matthew the Evangelist did not by preferring the authority of the old interpretation ignore the truth of the Hebrew text. Rather, as a Hebrew among Hebrews and deeply taught in the law of the Lord, Matthew distributed his Hebrew learning to the nations. For if the Septuagint translators are accepted when they write, \"Jacob my son, I will lift him up; Israel my chosen, my soul has lifted him up,\" then how can we understand the text fulfilled in Jesus, since it was obviously written about Jacob and Israel? We read that the blessed Matthew, not only in this verse but in another, has done this: \"Out of Egypt I have called my son,\" while the Septuagint translated, \"Out of Egypt he has called his sons.<br/><i>— LETTER 121.2</i></p><p><b>Jerome</b>: For after the coming of the Lord and Savior, who gave the spirit of the gospel interpretation, [Christ] rested in the death of the Jewish letter, with which all works are bruised. Christ did not snuff out the smoking wick, reducing it to ashes. Instead, he ignited a great flame from this little spark, a spark that had almost gone out. The result is that the whole earth was ablaze with the fire of the Lord and Savior.<br/><i>— LETTER 121.2</i></p><p><b>Jerome</b>: (Verse 3) A bruised reed he will not break: a smoldering wick he will not put out: he will faithfully bring forth justice. LXX: A bruised reed he will not break, and smoking flax he will not extinguish: he will bring forth justice in truth. A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. For he will be merciful to all and will grant forgiveness to sinners, saying to the woman: Have confidence, daughter, your sins are forgiven (Luke VII, 48). And the smoking flax, or as the others have translated it, dim and gloomy, will not be extinguished: those who were near to being extinguished were saved by the mercy of the Lord (which we have discussed about the Jews and the nations in the aforementioned writings); but with truth He will judge all things; not fearing the Scribes and Pharisees, whom He boldly called hypocrites (Mat. VII, XV, XXII, XXIII throughout, and Luc. VI, XII).<br/><i>— Commentary on Isaiah</i></p><p><b>Theodoret of Cyrus</b>: [Isaiah] calls him \"servant\" or \"slave,\" according to the other interpreters, in connection with his humanity. It is in relation to this that he has [also] given him the name of Jacob and Israel, seeing that it is from Jacob, who is also Israel, that [Christ] descended according to the flesh. In the same way he also receives the most Holy Spirit, not insofar as [he is] God—for he lacks nothing—but as man for the purpose of becoming the model for those who have believed in him. Of this gentleness both his words and his deeds give witness: \"Learn from me,\" [Christ] says, \"for I am gentle and lowly of heart.\" Even when he received a blow to the face, he said to the one who struck him, \"Friend, if I have spoken evil, bear witness to the evil; but if well, why do you strike me?\" Although he could destroy those who unleashed rage against him by having lightning strike them immediately, he breaks them like a bruised reed and snuffs them like smoldering flax; he has borne their folly. For [Christ] was aware of the outcome of these events, and he knew that the truth would be manifested through them. It was likewise even after he had been delivered over to death; he shone forth anew, filled the earth with truth and had invited the Gentiles to put their hope in him. It is this that the prophetic text has said: \"In his name the nations put their trust.\"<br/><i>— COMMENTARY ON Isaiah 12:42.4</i></p>","source_html_sha256":"8149571a208fd752be8ec2fa576bc9d7eff920cc6f9190318bf58947108b5839","source_module":"ECF","source_row_id":7426,"source_url":"https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/ecf/","text_sha256":"eb6d19c68a0b4a2c30d4a74d167ce1bf8b7c84d9c3c899159cfeeb0194746e4d","translator":null,"work":null}