Letter 74: Rufinus, a Roman Presbyter (to be carefully distinguished from Rufinus of Aquileia and Rufinus the Syrian), had written to Jerome for an explanation of the judgment of Solomon 1 Kings 3:16-28. This Jerome gives at length, treating the narrative as a parable and making the false and true mothers types of the Synagogue and the Church. The date of ...
Letter 74: To Rufinus of Rome, On the Judgment of Solomon (398 AD)
[Written to Rufinus the Roman presbyter — carefully to be distinguished from Rufinus of Aquileia, Jerome's friend-turned-bitter-enemy, and from Rufinus the Syrian. This Rufinus had asked for an interpretation of Solomon's famous judgment between the two mothers claiming the same child (1 Kings 3:16-28). Jerome treats the narrative as a parable: the false mother represents the Synagogue, the true mother represents the Church, and the child is the soul of man over which both contend. Whether or not one finds the allegory convincing, the letter displays Jerome's typical exegetical method — historical fact overlaid with typological meaning — at its most vigorous.]
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.
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A friendly letter of remonstrance written by Jerome to Rufinus on receipt of his version of the περὶ ᾿Αρχῶν see the preceding letter). Being sent in the first instance to Pammachius this latter treacherously suppressed it and thus put an end to all hope of the reconciliation of the two friends. The date of the letter is 399 A.D.
1. That God gives more than we ask Him for, Ephesians 3:20 and that He often grants us things which eye has not seen nor ear heard, neither have they entered into the heart of man, 1 Corinthians 2:9 I knew indeed before from the mystic declaration of the sacred volumes; but now, dearest Rufinus, I have had proof of it in my own case. For I who f...