9 “And He shall come down like rain into a fleece, and like drops distilling upon the earth”. He has called to our minds and admonished us, that what was done by Gedeon the Judge, in Christ has its end. For he asked a sign of the Lord, that a fleece laid on the floor should alone be rained upon, and the floor should be dry; and again, the fleece alone should be dry, and the floor should be rained upon; and so it came to pass. Which thing signified, that, being as it were on a floor in the midst of the whole round world, the dry fleece was the former people Israel. The same Christ therefore Himself came down like rain upon a fleece, when yet the floor was dry: whence also He said, “I am not sent but to the sheep which were lost of the house of Israel.” There He chose out a Mother by whom to receive the form of a servant, wherein He was to appear to men: there the disciples, to whom He gave this same injunction, saying, “Into the way of the nations go ye not away, and into the cities of the Samaritans enter ye not: go ye first to the sheep which are lost of the house of Israel.” When He says, go ye first to them, He shows also that hereafter, when at length the floor was to be rained upon, they would go to other sheep also, which were not of the old people Israel, concerning whom He says, “I have other sheep which are not of this fold, it behooves Me to bring in them also, that there may be one flock and one Shepherd.” Hence also the Apostle: “for I say,” he says, “that Christ was a minister of the Circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises of the fathers.” Thus rain came down upon the fleece, the floor being yet dry. But inasmuch as he continues, “but that the nations should glorify God for His mercy:” that when the time came on, that should be fulfilled which by the Prophet He says, “a people whom I have not known has served Me, in the hearkening of the ear it has obeyed Me:” we now see, that of the grace of Christ the nation of the Jews has remained dry, and the whole round world through all nations is being rained upon by clouds full of Christian grace. For by another word he has indicated the same rain, saying, “drops distilling:” no longer upon the fleece, but “upon the earth.” For what else is rain but drops distilling? But that the above nation under the name of a fleece is signified, I think is either because they were to be stripped of the authority of teaching, just as a sheep is stripped of its skin; or because in a secret place He was hiding that same rain, which He willed not should be preached to uncircumcision, that is, be revealed to uncircumcised nations.
10. “There shall arise in His days justice and abundance of peace, until the moon be taken away”. The expression tollatur some have interpreted by “be taken away,” but others by “be exalted,” translating one Greek word, which is there used, ‡ νταναιρεθῇ, just as each of them thought good. But they who have said, “be removed,” and they who have said, “be taken away,” do not so very much differ. For by the expression, “be removed,” custom does teach us that there should be rather implied, that a thing is taken away and is no more, than that it is raised to a higher place: but “be taken away” can be understood in no other way at all, than that a thing is destroyed: that is, it is no more: but by “be exalted,” only that it is raised to a higher place. Which indeed when it is put in a bad sense is wont to signify pride: as is the passage, “In your wisdom be not exalted.” But in a good sense it belongs to a more exceeding honour, as, for instance, when anything is being raised; as is, “In the nights exalt ye your hands unto holy places, and bless ye the Lord.” Here then if we have understood the expression, “be removed,” what will be, “until the moon be removed,” but that it be so dealt with that it be no more? For perchance he willed this also to be perceived, that mortality is to be no longer, “when the last enemy shall be destroyed, death:” so that abundance of peace may be brought down so far as that nothing may withstand the felicity of the blessed from the infirmity of mortality: which will come to pass in that age, of which we have the faithful promise of God through Jesus Christ our Lord, concerning which it is said, “There shall arise in His days justice and abundance of peace:” until, death being utterly overcome and destroyed, all mortality be consumed. But if under the term moon, not the mortality of the flesh through which the Church is now passing, but the Church Herself in general has been signified, which is to endure for everlasting, being delivered from this mortality, thus must be taken the expression, “There shall arise in His days justice and abundance of peace, until the moon be exalted;” as though it were said, There shall arise in His days justice, to conquer the contradiction and rebellion of the flesh, and whereby there may be made a peace so increasing and abundant, until the moon be exalted, that is, until the Church be lifted up, through the glory of the Resurrection to reign with Him, who went before Her in this glory, the first-born of the dead, that He might sit at the right hand of the Father; thus with the sun enduring before the moon, in the place whereunto hereafter was to be exalted the moon also.
11. “And He shall be Lord from sea even unto sea, and from the river even unto the ends of the round world”: He to wit concerning whom he had said, “There shall arise in His days justice and abundance of peace, until the moon be exalted.” If the Church here is properly signified under the term moon, in continuation he showed how widely that same Church He was going to spread abroad, when He added, “and He shall be Lord from sea even unto sea.” For the land is encircled by a great sea which is called the Ocean: from which there flows in some small part in the midst of the lands, and makes those seas known to us, which are frequented by ships. Again, in “from sea even unto sea” He has said, that from any one end of the earth even unto any other end, He would be Lord, whose name and power in the whole world were to be preached and to prevail exceedingly. To which, that there might not be understood in any other manner, “from sea even unto sea:” He immediately added, “and from the river even unto the ends of the round world.” Therefore that which He says in “even unto the ends of the round world,” the same He had said before in “from sea even unto sea.” But in that which now He says, “from the river,” He has evidently expressed that He willed Christ to publish at length His power from that place from whence also He began to choose His disciples, to wit from the river Jordan, where upon the Lord, on His baptism, when the Holy Ghost descended, there sounded a voice from Heaven, “This is My beloved Son.” From this place then His doctrine and the authority of the heavenly ministry setting out, is enlarged even unto the ends of the round world, when there is preached the Gospel of the kingdom in the whole world, for a testimony unto all nations: and then shall come the end.
Source: The Enarrations, or Expositions, on the Psalms (New Advent)