And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Juda a possessor of my mountains: and my elect shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there.

“They have sought. Here the judge, namely God, gives the sentence concerning the distinguishing of the evil from the good, in the receiving of the promised salvation. And it is divided into two parts. In the first he pronounces the sentence of distinction; in the second he determines the manner of its execution, chapter 66: Thus says the Lord. Concerning the first, two things. First he promises a response, showing the fitting occasion for responding: They have sought; as if he were to say: until now you Jews were not seeking from me, but from idols. Since you now seek, I will respond. Mystically, concerning the conversion of the Gentiles. Romans 10: I was found by those who did not seek. And he sets down the promise: I said: Behold, I am to a nation: I will respond, namely, to the Jews, or I will turn to the nations that have been converted. Song of Songs 6: I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine. Second, he pronounces the sentence of distinction: I have spread out my hands; and first he pronounces the distinguishing of the evil from the good on account of the sins of transgression; second, on account of the sins of omission: And you who have forsaken. The first is divided into two. In the first he threatens the wicked with punishments; in the second he promises the good their rewards: Thus says the Lord. Concerning the first, two things. First he charges them with the fault of transgression; second he threatens the punishment: These shall be smoke. He charges them with their fault on three grounds. First, from ingratitude for his benefits: I have spread out — by giving many benefits — all the day, that is, the whole time since I took them to myself. Mystically, on the cross. Jeremiah 16: Each one walks. Second, from the continuity of their sinning: a people before the face, because all things are naked and open to his eyes. Hebrews 4. Or because they set up an idol in the temple. Deuteronomy 32: They have provoked me with that which is not God. Third, from the diversity or gravity of their sins, with respect to four things. First, with respect to the worship of idols: who sacrifice — to idols — in gardens, because they worshipped idols in pleasurable places; upon bricks — upon altars built out of bricks, so that they could sustain the fire of the sacrifice. Above, chapter 1: They shall be confounded by their idols. Second, with respect to their pursuit of divinations: who dwell among the tombs, so that they might have answers from the dead; and in shrines — temples of idols, so called from diluendo, washing away, because there they thought all things were washed clean. Or because of the fountains that were there for washing the victims. And the priests sleep — upon the skins of the victims, for the sake of divination. Ezekiel 6: Your shrines shall be broken down. Third, with respect to the uncleanness of foods: who eat; and a profane broth, of swine. Below, the last chapter: those who ate swine's flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together. Fourth, with respect to their contempt of the just, who say — namely, to those not adoring idols; Wisdom 2: He is grievous to us; or who say — to God, Job 21: who say to God: Depart from us, we do not desire the knowledge of your ways. These shall be smoke. Here he threatens the punishment: and first the length of the punishment: smoke; that is, as smoke is consumed by fire; and they shall be kindled in my wrath. Deuteronomy 32: A fire is kindled in my fury, and shall burn even to the depths of hell. Second, the certainty of the punishment: Behold, it is written; because the sin is fixed firmly in memory, and the punishment in predetermination. I will not keep silence, dissembling. Jeremiah 17: The sin of Judah is written; above, chapter 42: I have kept silence, I have always held my peace. Third, the multitude of the punishments, because for all the sins of the fathers: but I will repay. Exodus 20: I am a jealous God, visiting the sins of the fathers upon the children. They have reproached — by adoring idols upon the high places; and for the sins also of their youth: and I will measure back — as if to say, I will measure the punishment to match the fault. Above, chapter 40: She has received double from the hand of the Lord. Thus says the Lord. Here he promises the good their rewards: and first, with respect to their preservation from evils: the grain, of the grape, a blessing; that is, it pleases God that it be kept in reserve as a blessing, for the sake of the servants: our fathers, that is, the whole race of the Jews. Above, chapter 17: It shall be like one gathering. Second, with respect to their advancement in goods: and first with respect to the multiplying of seed: And I will bring forth from Jacob. Above, chapter 1: Unless the Lord of hosts had left us a seed, we should have been like Sodom. Second, with respect to the restoring of their ancestral inheritance: And they shall inherit. Ezekiel 36: They shall possess you as an inheritance, and you shall be their inheritance. Third, with respect to the abundance of pastures: and there shall be plains, and the valley of Achor — named from him who was stoned there, Joshua 7. Hosea 2: I will give them the valley of Achor, to open hope. And you who have forsaken. Here he distinguishes the wicked from the consolation of the good, on account of their sins of omission: and first he threatens the wicked with punishments; second, the good with rewards, because to oblivion. Concerning the first, two things. First he threatens them because they have forsaken God, setting down the fault: and you, O Jews, to Fortune — the god of the Egyptians — a table: he touches upon the rite by which it was worshipped, because at the end of the year a table was prepared for it, laden with every kind of food. Deuteronomy 32: They forsook God who made them, and departed from God their savior. Setting down also the punishment: I will number; as if to say: so that none shall remain who is not oppressed. Jeremiah 44: They shall fall by the sword and by famine. Second, because they did not obey him calling them back, setting down the fault: because I called. Proverbs 1: I called, and you refused; and he threatens the punishment of this distinction, first in the satiety of the body: therefore thus says the Lord, Psalm 33: The rich have wanted and suffered hunger, but they that seek the Lord shall not be deprived of any good. Second, in the gladness of heart: Behold, my servants shall rejoice. Wisdom 5: Doing penance. Third, in the difference of name. And first he sets down what the name of the impious shall be: and you shall leave — as an oath, so that they might confirm their words thus: if it is not so, may it happen to me just as to them. Jeremiah 44: They shall die by the sword and by famine; and they shall be for an oath, and for a wonder, and for a curse, and for a reproach. And then he sets down what the name of the good shall be: and his servants — in which name, namely, the name is Jesus — Amen, that is, faithfully. Above, chapter 62: You shall be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord has named. Because to oblivion. Here he promises the seen rewards. And first, in general, with respect to the removal of evils: because to oblivion — not from a defect of knowledge, but from the succession of goods. Above, chapter 54: You shall forget the confusion of your youth. And with respect to the restoring of goods: for behold, I create new heavens — new helps from heaven; a new earth — new benefits from the earth. Or with reference to the day of judgment, when the world shall be renewed unto the glory of the saints. Apocalypse 21: The former things have passed away. Second, in particular: for behold, I create Jerusalem. And first, with respect to the gladness of hearts: Jerusalem — the earthly one; but rather heavenly exultation, emphatically, so that it might be wholly absorbed in joy. Above, chapter 35: They shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and mourning shall flee from them. Second, with respect to the length of life: there shall no longer be one who does not fulfill — dying before his time; but the child shall die at a hundred years old, that is, when he has come to such an age; and if there be a sinner, although he has lived so long, he shall be subject to a curse. Genesis 25: Abraham died in a good old age. Mystically, in the heavenly Jerusalem all shall fulfill their days, because no one shall die. The child of a hundred years, that is, he who has lived childishly even up to the age of old age, shall die, with an eternal death. Wisdom 4: For venerable old age is not that of long time, nor counted by the number of years. Third, with respect to the prosperity of goods: both with respect to the security of possessions, and they shall build. Psalm: And they built houses; Amos, the last chapter: They shall plant vineyards. And he assigns the reason: for according to the days, that is, because they shall live long, just as the wood of a tree lasts long. They shall grow old; that is, they shall remain for their use even unto old age. Psalm 1: He shall be like a tree which is planted near the running waters. Above, chapter 49: They have labored in vain. And also with respect to the peace of their children: neither shall they beget in trouble, as those begetting children into the servitude of enemies. Ecclesiasticus 44: Good things continue with their seed. Fourth, with respect to the hearing of prayers: and it shall be, before they cry — with the mouth. Above, chapter 30: At the voice of your cry, as soon as he shall hear, he will answer you. Fifth, with respect to the tranquility of peace: the wolf and the lamb; because those who were formerly tyrants and evildoers shall dwell peaceably with others; above, chapter 11, the same.”

“And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob,.... Jerom says most understand this of Christ; and who indeed is called the seed of the woman, the seed of Abraham, the seed of David, and sprang from Jacob or Israel, and came out of the tribe of Judah; and may be fitly signified by the cluster, in which new wine and a blessing were, which "seed" here is explanative of; since the clusters of all divine perfections, of all the blessings of grace, and of all the promises of it, are in him: and since he is that seed in whom all the nations of the earth are blessed, and with whom the covenant of grace was made, Gal 3:16, but others, the above ancient writer observes, understood it of the apostles; and it seems to design the first that believed in Christ, who were of the Jewish nation, the apostles and others; for though the generality of that people rejected the Messiah, there were a few that believed on him, a remnant according to the election of grace, whom the apostle calls a seed, the Lord left among them, and reserved for himself, Rom 9:29, Rom 11:4 such who received the seed of the word into their hearts, and were born again of incorruptible seed, and which remained in them; these were distinguished by the grace of God from the rest of the people, and were called and brought forth from among them: and out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains; this also is true of Christ, who not only came out of the tribe of Judah, as was foretold he should, and as it is manifest he did; hence he is called the Lion of that tribe; but he is also an heir or inheritor of the mountains of God; he is indeed heir of all things, Heb 1:2, as he is the Son of God, he is heir by nature of all the Father has; and, as Mediator, he is heir by appointment of all persons and things; he has all persons for his inheritance, and in his possession, and at his dispose, angels and men; and he is possessed of all things, of all blessings of goodness, natural and temporal, spiritual and eternal; and his chosen people are joint heirs with him, and who may be here meant; such as are the seed of the Lord are sons and heirs; they are heirs of God, being the sons of God; heirs of his covenant, the blessings and promises of it, which is as a mountain, firm and immovable; they are heirs of the grace of life, and of the kingdom; heirs of righteousness, life, and salvation; of eternal glory, the heavenly Canaan, signified by the mountains of the Lord; alluding to the mountains on which the temple and Jerusalem stood, or to those about Jerusalem, or in the land of Judea in general: and mine elect shall inherit it; Christ is God's first and chief elect, and his people are chosen in him through grace to glory; and these are the seed and heirs that do inherit grace, and shall inherit glory; for this is to be understood not literally of the land of Judea, which was not long inherited by any after the times of Christ and his apostles, to which this prophecy respects; unless it can be thought to belong to the latter day, when the Jews will be converted, and return to it; but figuratively of Mount Zion, or of the heavenly country: and my servants shall dwell there; my righteous servants, as the Targum; these are the same with the seed, the inheritor, and the elect, who become the servants of God, through the power of his grace, and serve him cheerfully, willingly, and without selfish ends and views; to this they are chosen, and for this purpose become a spiritual seed; nor is this inconsistent with their being heirs; and who shall receive the inheritance in a way of grace, and possess it for ever; they shall dwell in the church below, and enjoy all the privileges of it, and shall dwell upon their estate for ever; for their inheritance is an eternal one, reserved in the heavens.”