The Nations And Salvation

Gloriosa dicta sunt de te, civitas Dei. Quasi intuebatur civitatem illam Ierusalem in terra. Nam videte quam civitatem dicit, de qua dicta sunt quaedam gloriosissima. Nam illa destructa est in terra; hostes passa cecidit in terram, iam non est quod erat: expressit imaginem, transivit umbra. Unde igitur: Gloriosa dicta sunt de te, civitas Dei? Audi unde: Memor ero Raab et Babylonis, scientibus me. In illa civitate, inquit iam ex persona Dei, memor ero Raab, et memor ero Babylonis. Raab non pertinet ad populum Iudaeorum; Babylon non pertinet ad populum Iudaeorum. Nam sequitur: Etenim alienigenae, et Tyrus, et populus Aethiopum, hi fuerunt ibi. Merito gloriosa dicta sunt de te, civitas Dei: ubi non solus est ille populus Iudaeorum natus ex carne Abrahae; sed ibi omnes gentes, quarum quaedam nominatae sunt, ut omnes intellegantur. Memor ero, inquit: Raab: quae ista est meretrix, illa in Iericho meretrix quae suscepit nuntios et alia via eiecit; quae praesumpsit in promissione, quae timuit Deum, cui dictum est ut per fenestram mitteret coccum, id est, ut in fronte haberet signum sanguinis Christi. Salvata est ibi, et Ecclesiam Gentium significavit. Unde Dominus superbientibus Pharisaeis: Amen dico vobis, publicani et meretrices praecedunt vos in regnum coelorum. Praecedunt, quia vim faciunt: impellunt credendo, et ceditur fidei, nec obsistere potest quisquam; quia qui vim faciunt, diripiunt illud. Ibi enim positum est: Regnum coelorum vim patitur, et qui vim faciunt, diripiunt illud. Hoc fecit ille latro, fortior in cruce quam in fauce. Memor ero Raab et Babylonis. Babylon civitas dicitur secundum saeculum. Quomodo una civitas sancta, Ierusalem; una civitas iniqua, Babylon: omnes iniqui ad Babyloniam pertinent; quomodo omnes sancti ad Ierusalem. Sed delabitur de Babylone in Ierusalem. Unde, nisi per eum qui iustificat impium? Piorum civitas Ierusalem; impiorum civitas Babylon. Sed venit ille qui iustificat impium; quia: Memor ero, inquit, non solum Raab, sed etiam Babylonis. Sed quorum memor erit Raab et Babylonis? Scientibus me. Ideo quodam loco dicit Scriptura: Effunde iram tuam in gentes quae te non cognoverunt. Hic ait: Effunde iram tuam in gentes quae te non cognoverunt; et alibi: Praetende misericordiam tuam scientibus te. Et ut noveritis quia in Raab et Babylone Gentes significavit; quasi diceretur: Quid est quod dixisti: Memor ero Raab et Babylonis, scientibus me? quare hoc dixisti? Etenim alienigenae, inquit, id est, pertinentes ad Raab, pertinentes ad Babylonem, et Tyrus. Sed quousque Gentes? Usque ad fines terrae. Elegit enim populum qui in fine terrae est: Et populus, inquit: Aethiopum, hi fuerunt ibi. Si ergo ibi Raab, ibi ex Babylone, quia ibi alienigenae, ibi Tyrus, ibi populus Aethiopum; merito, gloriosissima de te dicta sunt, civitas Dei. Sanctus Augustinus Hipponensis, Enarratio in Psalmum LXXXVI Source: Migne PL 37 1105-1106

Glorious things are said of you, city of God. 1 He was, as it were, contemplating that city of Jerusalem on earth. For consider what city he speaks of, of which are spoken certain most glorious things. For the earthly city has been destroyed; suffering the enemy, it fell to the earth; now it is not what it was; it has shown the image and the shadow has passed away. How then is it said: 'Glorious things spoken of you, city of God'? Listen how: 'I will be mindful of Rahab and Babylon, with those who know me' 2. In that city, he says in the person of God, 'I will be mindful of Rahab and I will be mindful of Babylon.' Rahab does not belong to the Jewish people, Babylon does not belong to the Jewish people. For it follows: 'Even a foreign people, and Tyre, and the people of Ethiopia, they were there.' With good reason then, 'Glorious things are spoken of you, city of God,' where not only is found the Jewish people, born of the flesh of Abraham, but all nations, some of which are named that all may be understood. 'I will be mindful,' he says, 'of Rahab.' She who is that harlot, that harlot in Jericho who received the spies and conducted them out of the city by a different road, who trusted beforehand in the promise, who feared God, who was told to hang out of the window a scarlet thread, that is, to bear upon her brow the sign of the blood of Christ. She was saved there, and thus signified the Church of the Gentiles, whence our Lord said to the proud Pharisees, 'Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the harlots go before you into the kingdom of God.' 3 They go before, because they act vigorously. They are driven by faith, and to faith there is yielding, nor can any resist, since they who are forceful seize it. For it is written, 'The kingdom of Heaven suffers violence, and the violent seize it' 4 Such was the conduct of the thief, more courageous on the cross than at ambush. 'I will be mindful of Rahab and Babylon.' And by Babylon he speaks of the city of this world. As there is one holy city, Jerusalem, so there is one unholy one, Babylon. All the wicked belong to Babylon, even as all the holy do to Jerusalem. But he slips from Babylon to Jerusalem. How, but by Him who justifies the impious? The city of the pious is Jerusalem, Babylon is the city of the impious, but He comes who justifies the impious, since it is said, 'I will be mindful' not only 'of Rahab,' but even 'of Babylon.' And then of whom shall he be mindful? 'Those who know me.' Whence it is said in Scripture, 'Pour out your anger on the people who have not known you.' 5 Here then he says: Pour out your anger on a people who have not known you. And elsewhere: 'Give your mercy to those who know you.' 6 And that you know that by Rahab and Babylon the Gentiles are signified, it is as if it were said, 'What is this that you say, 'I am mindful of Rahab and Babylon with those who know me of me? Why do you say this?' Even a foreign people, he says, belonging to Rahab, to Babylon, to Tyre. 'And how many people?' Even to the ends of the earth. For indeed he chooses a people who are at the end of the earth, and the people of Ethiopia, he says, these shall be with me. If then there is Rahab, and there is the people of Babylon, and there is a foreign people, and there is the people of Ethiopia, rightly it is said, 'Most glorious things are said of you, city of God.' Saint Augustine of Hippo, Enarrations on the Psalms, from Psalm 86 1 Ps 86.3 2 Ps 68.4 3 Mt 21.31 4 Mt 11.12  5 Ps 78.6  6 Ps 35.11