227. ut genua figerent. A rite belonging to Public Penance. Cf. Tertullian de Poen. ix.
228. post unitatem.
229. post turificationem.
230. ne . . . Oleum, quod Dei est, feriatur.
231. Ps. xiii, 3.
232. Id est qui mente Deum viderint. St. Jerome tells us that it was commonly thought in his time that Israel signifies vir videns Deum. Great names can be quoted for this opinion, and we see in the text that it was taken for granted by St. Optatus. It persisted even to the days of St. Bernard (cf. serm. 5 ad Fest. Omnium Sanctorum), notwithstanding the fact that it had been rejected by St. Jerome (Liber Hebraic. Quaestionum in Genesim, 357)----and rightly, not only on etymological grounds, but also as being opposed to the words of Scripture, which he quotes in his text as follows:---- 'Vocabitur nomen tuum Israel, quia invaluisti cum Deo, et cum hominibus valebis' (Gen. xxxiii, 28). The mistake probably arose from the next verse but one:----'Vocavitque Jacob nomen loci illius Phanuel dicens: Vidi Deum facie ad faciem.' St. Jerome understands Israel to mean 'Prince with God' (Princeps cum Deo). It seems, however, more likely that the true meaning is 'One who wrestled with God.' (From Hebrew Sarah = to fight, to strive, and El = God.) Thus the LXX ὅτι ἐνίσχυσας μετὰ Θεοῦ . And this sense is in harmony with the context. The late Professor Driver (see Article on Jacob in Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible, vol. ii, p. 530) writes: 'The name Israel, meaning (on the analogy of other names similarly formed) God persists (or perseveres), is interpreted as suggesting the meaning Perseverer with God.' Professor Driver also tells us that Professor 'Sayce's derivation from yashar, to be upright, to direct (!), has nothing to recommend it.' (The note of exclamation is Driver's.)
233. Vae filiabus Israel, quae sarciunt cervicalia. We have here another mystical reference to Ez. xiii, 18 which runs as follows in the Vulgate: 'Vae quae consuunt pulvillos sub omni cubito manus; et faciunt cervicalia sub capite universae aetatis ad capiendas animas: et cum caperent animas populi Mei, vivificabant animas eorum.'
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