Then I was by him, [as] one brought up [with him]: and I was daily [his] delight, rejoicing always before him;
Ver. 30. Then I was by him.] Accursed then for ever be that blasphemous assertion of the Arians, ην οταν ουκ ην, There was a time when he was not. This scripture, so much abused by them, makes utterly against them. But heretics pervert the Scriptures, saith St Peter. 2Pe 3:15 A metaphor from those who put a man upon the rack, and make him speak that which he never thought. Tertullian calls Marcion the heretic, Mus Ponticus, because of his arroding a and gnawing the Scripture, to make it serviceable to his errors.
As one brought up with him.] Or, As a nourisher; that is, as a maintainer and upholder of that his excellent workmanship of creation. Heb 1:3 The Septuagint render it, I was with him making all fine and trim, Eram apud eum aptans; b so Irenaeus.
Rejoicing always.] Or, Laughing c with him. This, as the very Jews are forced to confess, doth notably set forth that unspeakable sweetness and joy that the blessed God findeth in the apprehension of his own wisdom, which, say they, is one and the same with God himself.
a To gnaw or nibble at.
b ημην παρα αυτου αρμοζουσα - Sept.
c More pueri qui alatur, et risum captans ac concilians. - Mercer.