Renewal in Christ: Athanasius on the Christian Life

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Renewal in Christ: Athanasius on the Christian Life

the Lord’s and its fullness, its inhabitants and all who dwell in it; he laid its foundation upon the sea . The accounts in Exodus, Numbers and Deuteronomy are sung beautifully in Psalm 78 and in the 114th [and 115th] Psalm: In the exodus of Israel from Egypt, of the house of Jacob that came from a barbarous people, Judah became his sanctuary, Israel his dominion . And again Psalm 105 says: He sent his servant Moses, and Aaron whom he had chosen: he placed in them the words of his signs and of his wonders in the Land of Cham . 3 He sent darkness, and it darkened, and they rebelled against his words. He changed their waters into blood and killed their fish. Their land issued forth frogs in the palaces of their kings, it says, and the dog-fly and lice went into all their borders . And we find the whole entirety of this psalm and Psalm 106 are written about these things. The matters concerning the priesthood and the tabernacle are referenced in Psalm 29, 4 which was sung when the tabernacle was brought out: Bring to the Lord, sons of God, bring to the Lord the ram’s offspring. Bring to the Lord glory and honor. §4 – The Psalms Recapitulate Joshua and Judges The events of Joshua, son of Nun, and Judges are shown in Psalm 107: And they built cities to inhabit, and sowed fields, and planted vineyards . For under Joshua, son of Nun, the promised land was handed over to them. And when we read in this same psalm frequently: And they cried to the Lord in their afflictions, and from their distress he delivered them , this indicates the events in the book of Judges. For when they cried out, he raised up judges at the time and saved the people from their afflictions. He sings the same 3 I.e., Ham. 4 The heading of Psalm 28 in the Septuagint is “A psalm of David when the tabernacle went forth.”