Offertory of Saint John of the Cross

Psalm 91:13

The just shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow up like the cedar of Libanus.

Haydock

Verse 13. Palm-tree. Sept. foinix, means also a “Phœnician, or the Phœnix” bird, of which the ancients have said so much, Job xxix. 18. (C.) and of which Tertullian, (de Res. xiii.) and S. Ambrose, (de fid. Res.) seem to understand this passage. Amama. — But it must be explained in the sense of the Vulg. as the Heb. Tamar evinceth. This tree, and the cedar, were the most famous in those countries; the former for its fruit, and the latter for buildings and duration. The palm-tree will shoot forth again, after it has been cut down or burnt, (Pliny xiii. 14.) so the just will rise up from oppression. C.

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