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By popular request - from the 1998 archives. Originally posted by Bill East
19/12/98:
O Clavis David (20th December) 


O Clavis David, et sceptrum domus Israel: qui aperis, et nemo claudit; 
claudis, et nemo aperit: veni, et exuc vinctum de domo carceris, sedentem 
in tenebris. 


'O Key of David, and Sceptre of the house of Israel; that openest, and no 
man shutteth, and shuttest, and no man openeth: come and bring the prisoner 
out of the prison-house, and him that sitteth in darkness and the shadow of 
death.' 


Our antiphons grow fuller and fuller of allusion - referentialer and 
referentialer, as Alice didn't say. Our main reference is to a certain 
Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who is promised at Isaiah 22:22, 


Et dabo clavem domus David 
Super humerum eius; 
Et aperiet, et non erit qui claudat; 
Et claudet, et non erit qui aperiat. 


'And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so he 
shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open.' 


Into this text, more or less, the antiphon inserts the word 'sceptre'. 
Whencefrom? From a Messianic prophecy very early in the Bible, at Genesis 
49:10, 


Non aufertur sceptrum de Iuda, 
Et dux de femore eius, 
Donec veniat qui mittendus est, 
Et ipse erit expectatio gentium. 


'The sceptre shall not be taken away from Judah, 
nor the leader from his thigh, 
until he comes who is to be sent, 
and he will be the expectation of the nations.' 


And who is this chap who sits in darkness, in prison? We find him in Isaiah 
42, another key Messianic passage, which begins: 


'Behold my servant, who I uphold: mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; 
I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the 
Gentiles. He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in 
the street. A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall 
he not quench . . .' 


Then at verse 7 we find that his mission is: 


Ut aperies oculos caecorum, 
Et educeres de conclusione vinctum, 
De domo carceris sedentes in tenebris. 


'To open blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them 
that sit in darkness out of the prison house.' 


We find St Luke quoting this passage in the Song of Zechariah, or 
'Benedictus', in Luke 1:78-79, 


Per viscera misericordiae Dei nostri: 
In quibus visitavit nos, oriens ex alto: 
Illuminare his qui in tenebris et in umbra mortis sedent, 
Ad dirigendos pedes nostros in viam pacis. 


Look out for that fellow 'Oriens ex alto' - we shall meet him tomorrow! 


Oriens.