For if we sow to the flesh, we make the offspring of the soul female, not male; but enervated, soft, and material. If, however, looking upon eternal things and having our mind set upon the better things, we bring forth the fruits of the Spirit, then all our offspring are male. A Therefore, the things brought before God, which are also set to be seen by the gaze of the Creator, are male, not female. For God judges not the female and the bodily things worthy to be seen. He who looks down upon the present age and has been transposed by the Word of God to walk toward the age to come has gone out from Egypt, that is, from the bodily and oppressive things which would be a house of bondage, seeking the house of liberty, Jerusalem, wishing to stand in confessing to the Lord and to see His peace; at which time God also becomes his Lord. For he is not in Egypt, even if he eats the Passover as one ought, nor is he at any one of the aforementioned stations. For such a one is not yet free from bondage after so great a demonstration, if he has not come to the mountain of God. This is the prelude to the coming decalogue. The likenesses of existing things, therefore, are images of animals and bodies, but idols are fabrications of things that do not exist. For an idol is not an existence; "an idol is nothing in the world," Paul says; for example, if someone were to fabricate centaurs or pans or some monstrous natures. Every concept, therefore, B that occurs in the intellect to encompass the divine nature by way of imaginative phantasy fashions an idol of God, but does not proclaim God. And this would also be the case for those who paint or carve likenesses of those in heaven, whether the sun or the moon.
A 587 ORIGENIS 588 meratos, for he says: "But even the hairs of your head are all numbered." In this, he certainly did not mean those hairs of the head which are usually shorn off by a blade and cast away, or which are accustomed to fall out and perish with the length of time; but those hairs of the head are numbered before God which were in the Nazarites, in whom there was the power of the Holy Spirit to overthrow foreigners. Therefore, he called the virtues of the soul and the multitude of senses, which were produced from the ruling principle of the mind as if from the head of the apostles, the hairs of the head. But we have arrived at these topics through a certain digression; now let us return to the subject proposed. B 71 "in the desert of Sinai": Namely, all those things which we summarized in a brief narrative above, where it is commanded that every man who proceeds in the virtue of Israel from twenty years old and upward be numbered. If anyone, therefore, proceeds in virtue, he is numbered, and not in any kind of virtue—that is, not in the virtue of the Egyptians, nor of the Assyrians, nor of the Greeks, but in the virtue of Israel, he himself is numbered before God. For there is an excellence of soul which the philosophers of the Greeks teach. But this does not pertain to the numbering of God. For it is exercised not for God, but for human glory. There is also the virtue of the Assyrians, and the virtue of the Chaldeans, which is proclaimed in studies of astrology. But that is not Israelite virtue, and therefore it does not pertain to God. There is also the virtue of the Egyptians in what they call secret wisdom, but this is not added to the account of God. Only Israelite virtue is numbered before God. This is that virtue C which is taught by God, which is learned through the divine Scriptures, which is handed down through the evangelical and apostolic faith. And therefore he says that those alone are to be numbered who progress in the virtue of Israel.
But let us also consider why it is that the people are not numbered immediately as they go out of Egypt. For Pharaoh was still pursuing them. Nor, when passing through the Red Sea and coming into the desert, are they said to be numbered. For they had not yet been tempted, nor had they been attacked by the enemy. They clash against Amalek and win. But not even then are they numbered. For one victory does not suffice for one who is tending toward perfection. They receive the food of manna, and they draw the water of a drink from the rock that followed them; but not even then are they numbered. For those things which are regarded as fit for numbers had not yet grown in them. The tabernacle of the testimony is constructed, but not even at this time does the season for numbering the people arrive. The Law is given by Moses, the custom of sacrifices is handed down, the rite of purifications is taught, the laws of sanctifications and sacraments are established, and then the people are brought to be numbered according to the command of God. Describe these things, O listener, in your heart doubly and triply. See how many things you must pass through, how many D struggles you must fight and win, that you may be worthy to be numbered, that you may be able to be visited, that you may be able to pertain to the divine number, that you may be held in some account before God, that you may be held worthy to be numbered among the holy tribes, that you may be able to be visited and, through the priests of God, Aaron and Moses, inscribed in the censuses of numbers. You must first receive the law of God, the law of the Holy Spirit; you must offer sacrifices; you must fulfill purifications; you must perform all things which the law of the Spirit teaches, so that you may at last be able to pertain to the Israelite number.
In the book of Numbers is the mystery. For the order of the tribes, and the distinction of the ranks, the association of families, and the whole arrangement of the camps, reveal to me proofs of great sacraments, with the apostle Paul scattering for us the seeds of spiritual understanding. And come, let us now see what all this account of numbers, what this diversity of ranks, contains of mystical intelligence.
There is a certain expectation for us of the resurrection of the dead, when those who are alive, who remain, shall not forestall those who have fallen asleep at the coming of Christ, but, joined and associated with them at the same time, shall be caught up in the clouds to meet Christ in the air, leaving behind the corruption of this earthly place, that is, and the habitations of death, whether all are to remain in the air, as Paul declares, or some are even to be transferred to paradise or any other of the many mansions which are with the Father. But the diversity of the translation, and the glory, will without a doubt be granted according to the merits and actions of each individual, and each shall be in that order which the merits of his deeds have brought to him; just as the same Paul protests, saying concerning those who rise: "But each in his own order." From this, therefore, it will happen in the resurrection that each one will be inscribed either in the tribe of Reuben by spiritual proofs, for the very reason that he had something in his character, actions, or life similar and kindred to Reuben himself. Another, perhaps, in the tribe of Simeon, for obedience. Another in the tribe of Levi, one who I believe presided well over the priesthood, or who, by ministering well, acquired for himself a good degree. Another in the tribe of Judah, I have no doubt, he who bore royal spirits and well directed the people who are within him—namely, the senses of the mind and the thoughts of the heart. But each individual will be associated with each of the tribes for those things which he had, in actions or in behavior, related to each one of them. There will therefore be certain orders of this kind in the resurrection of the dead, as the Apostle designates; the type and figure of whose orders seems to me to be preformed in this book. But also that which [is implied] by a certain association...
of their own people, namely, bodily pleasures and the leaders of vices being called together for consultation, a deliberation is entered into against the sons of Israel: how they may be circumvented, how they may be oppressed, so that they might be afflicted with mud and bricks, so that they might expose the males [to death] and nourish the females, so that they might build the cities of Egypt and fortified towns. These things A were not written for us as history, nor should it be thought that the divine books narrate the deeds of the Egyptians; but what is written, was written for our instruction and admonition, that you who hear these things—if perhaps you have already attained the grace of baptism, and have been numbered among the sons of Israel, and have received the King God within you—if after these things you should wish to decline toward the works of the age, to engage in the acts of the earth, and to fulfill muddy ministries, you might know and recognize that there has arisen within you B a king other than [the one] who knew Joseph, the king of Egypt; and he himself forces you to his works, and he himself makes you work for him in brick and mud. It is he who, setting masters and taskmasters over you, drives you with whips and blows to earthly works, so that you might build cities for him. It is he who makes you rush hither and thither through the world, to disturb the elements of sea and earth for the sake of cupidity. He is the king of C Egypt who makes you strike at others in lawsuits, and for a small clod of earth to weary yourself with neighborly quarrels, and, if I may so say, to lie in wait for chastity, to betray innocence, to commit foul deeds at home and cruel deeds abroad, and heinous things within your own conscience. When, therefore, you see such acts of yours, know that you are serving the Egyptian king, which is to be driven by the spirit of this world.
But if something even deeper is to be understood from this, that king who does not know Joseph can be seen as the devil, D that fool who said in his heart: "There is no God," and to his own people, that is, to the apostate angels, speaks and says: "Behold, the race of the sons of Israel is a great multitude"—meaning those who can see God with their mind—"and it is more powerful than we. Come, therefore, let us circumvent them lest perchance they increase, and when war shall happen to us, they might consent with our adversaries, and conquering us, they might depart from our land." But whence does the devil sense this? Whence does he understand that the race of Israel is great and stronger than he, unless because he has often engaged in conflict, has often had a struggle, and has often been overcome? He knows that even Jacob himself wrestled and prevailed over the adversary by the aid of an angel, and prevailed with God. I do not doubt but that he also experienced the struggle of other saints and has often borne spiritual contests; and from there he says that the race of the sons of Israel is very great and is more powerful than we. But that which he fears—lest a war happen to them, and they consent to his adversaries, and having been defeated, they depart from his land—seems to me to have also foreseen those things which were sometimes indicated to the holy patriarchs or prophets concerning the advent of Christ.
A And he knows from this that a war is impending for him. He senses that the one who will spoil his principalities and powers is coming, and that he will triumph over them with confidence and fix them to the wood of his cross. Therefore, having gathered all his people, he desires to circumvent and hem in the rational sense in men, which is now figuratively called Israel; and for this reason he sets masters of works over them, who compel them to learn the works of the flesh, just as it is said in the Psalms: "They were mingled among the nations, and learned their works." He teaches them also to build for Pharaoh the cities Pithom, which in our language signifies "mouth of defection" or "mouth of the abyss," and Raamses, which is interpreted "the agitation of the moth"; and On, which is Heliopolis, called the city of the sun. You see what sort of cities Pharaoh orders to be built for himself! A "failing mouth," he says; for the mouth fails when it speaks a lie, and it fails in its proofs of the truth. For he was a liar from the beginning, and therefore he wants such cities to be built for him. Or even "mouth of the abyss," because B the abyss is the place of perdition and destruction. And his other city is "the agitation of the moth." For all who follow him gather their treasures there, where the moth devours, and where thieves break through and steal. But they also build the city of the sun under a false name, because he transforms himself as an angel of light. In these things, therefore, he anticipates, in these he occupies the minds which were created to see God. Yet he foresees that a war is impending for him, and senses that an early destruction will come for his people. Therefore he says that "the nation of Israel is stronger than we." Would that he might say this also of us, and sense that we are stronger than him! How could he sense this? If, when he casts evil thoughts and most wicked desires into me, I do not receive them, but repel his fiery darts with the shield of faith; if, in everything that he suggests to my mind, I am mindful of Christ my Lord, C and say: "Get behind me, Satan. For it is written: You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve." If, therefore, we do these things with all faith and all constancy, he says also of us that "the nation of Israel is great, and is stronger than we." But this also which he says—"Lest perhaps a war should happen to us, and they also should join with our enemies"—predicts from prophetic voices the war that will come to him, and that he will be abandoned by the sons of Israel, and that they will agree with his adversary and be added to the Lord. This is what the prophet Jeremiah had predicted concerning him: "The partridge has cried, it gathered those which it did not bring forth; it made its riches not with judgment; in the midst of its days it will abandon him, and in its end it will be foolish." He understands, therefore D that it is said of himself as the partridge, that it gathers what it has not brought forth, and that those whom it gathered without judgment will abandon it in the midst of its days, and will follow the Lord and their Creator Christ Jesus, who brought them forth. But he gathered those whom he did not bring forth. And therefore he will remain foolish in his end, when all creation, which now groans under his tyranny, flees for refuge to its Maker and its Parent. And he is indignant at this, and says: "Lest, he says, they fight against us, and depart from our land." He does not want us to depart from his land, but wants us to always bear the image of the earthly. For if we flee to his adversary, that One who has prepared for us the kingdoms of heaven, it is necessary that we leave behind the image of the earthly and receive the image of the heavenly. Therefore, Pharaoh appointed masters of works, that they might teach us their arts, that they might make us artificers of malice, that they might provide us with a mastery of evils. And because many are these masters and teachers of malice, whom Pharaoh set over them, and there is a huge multitude of such taskmasters, who all exact, command, and extort earthly works: therefore, the coming Lord Jesus made other masters and teachers, who, fighting against them and subjecting all their principalities, and powers, and virtues, might defend the sons of Israel from their violence, and teach us Israelitish works: and again might teach us to see God in the mind, to leave the works of Pharaoh, to go out of the land of Egypt, to cast off the Egyptians and barbaric customs, to put off the whole old man with his deeds, and to put on the new, which is created according to God to be renewed always from day to day to the image of Him who made us, Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom is glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
HOMILY II. On the midwives.
1. Indeed, this king, who did not know Joseph, plots many things against the people of God and is always inquiring for new arts of harming. But now his craftiness transcends measure, since he tries to extinguish with the ministry of midwives the offspring of the nation, by whose art life is accustomed to be preserved. For what does he say? "And the king of the Egyptians said, he says, to the midwives of the Hebrews, of whom one's name was Sephora, and the other's name was Phua, and said: When you perform the office of midwife for the Hebrew women, and they are near to birth, if it be a male, kill it, if a female, save it alive." But to these things is added in the following: "But the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king had ordered them."
A If one were to take what is written according to the historical narrative, that which the Scripture says—that the midwives did not do as the king of Egypt ordered them—would seem to stand without support. For the midwives are not found to have failed to save the females, whom the king of Egypt ordered to be saved. For he says thus: "If it is a male, kill it; if a female, save it alive." Even if the midwives did not do as the king of Egypt had commanded, they should at least have killed the females, just as they were saving the males contrary to the king's command, so that this too would have been contrary to the king's command. For to have saved the females is to have acted according to Pharaoh's command. These things, then, are for those who are friends of the letter, and who do not think that the Law is spiritual and to be understood spiritually. But we, who have learned that all things which are written were not written for the sake of ancient narratives, but for our discipline and utility, discover that these things which are read are happening even now—not only in this world, which is figuratively called Egypt, but in each one of us. B Let us ask, therefore, how the king of Egypt, who is the prince of this world, does not wish males to be saved, but wishes females to be. If you remember, we have often shown in our discussions that in females, the flesh and the affect of the flesh are designated, while in the male, the rational sense and the intellectual spirit. Now the rational sense, which can savor celestial things, which can understand God, and which can seek the things that are above, this Pharaoh, the king and prince of Egypt, hates; this he desires to be killed and destroyed. But he desires that all things which are of the flesh should live, and whatever pertains to material reality, these he wishes not only to live, but also to be increased and cultivated. For he wants all men to savor carnal things, to desire temporal things, to seek the things that are above the earth; he wants no one to lift their eyes to heaven, no one to inquire from whence they came to this place, no one to remember their fatherland, Paradise. When, therefore, you see men leading their lives in pleasures and delights, squandering their efforts on luxury, banquets, wine, feasting, bedding, and impurities, in these know that the king of Egypt is killing the males and saving the females. But if you see some rare soul—one among a thousand—converting to the Lord, lifting their eyes upward, seeking those things that are perpetual and eternal, contemplating not those things which are seen, but those which are not seen, hating delights, loving continence, fleeing from luxury, and cultivating the virtues—this one, as if it were a male, as if it were a man, Pharaoh desires to be killed; he pursues, he hounds, he fights against him with a thousand machines. He hates such as these, he does not allow them to live in Egypt. Hence it is that in this world, the servants of God and all who seek God are exposed to mockery and contempt. From there they are filled with reproach, from there hatreds and persecutions are stirred up against them, because Pharaoh hates them, hates such males, who love what is feminine. He even attempts to corrupt the midwives, and through them to fulfill what he desires; their names are even indicated to us by the providence of the Holy Spirit, who willed these things to be written. Sephora, he says, is the one, which is interpreted "sparrow"; and Phua, who can be called among us either "blushing" or "bashful." Through these, then, he seeks that males be killed and only females be saved.
2. But what does the Scripture say? "And the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt had commanded them." Those who were before us said that these midwives hold the form of rational education. For midwives are a kind of physician, and they nurture infants, both male and female. This education, therefore, of common rational science, reaches almost every sense; it instructs all, it nurtures all. If anyone has a manly spirit in this, and wishes to seek celestial things and pursue divine things, as if medically treated and nurtured by this kind of education, he will come more prepared to the understanding of divine things. For one is like a sparrow, which teaches higher things and provokes souls to fly on high with the rational wings of doctrine. The other, which is blushing or bashful, is moral; it composes manners, teaches bashfulness, and institutes honesty. To me, however—since the Scripture says of them that they feared God and did not carry out the commands of the king of Egypt—these two midwives seem C to keep the figure of both Testaments; and Sephora, who is interpreted as "sparrow," can be compared to the Law, which is spiritual; while Phua, who is blushing or bashful, indicates the Gospels, which are red with the blood of Christ, and which throughout the whole world shine with the gore of His passion. By these, therefore, the souls that are born in the Church are treated as if by midwives, because from the reading of the Scriptures, all the medicine of education is conferred upon them. Pharaoh, however, attempts through these to kill the males of the Church, when he suggests heretical senses and perverse dogmas to those who are studious in the divine Scriptures. But the firm foundation of God stands. For the midwives fear God, that is, they teach the fear of God, because "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." D Thus, finally, I think it is more fittingly adjusted that which is written in the following, where it says: "Because the midwives feared God, they made themselves houses." This statement, according to the letter, can have no sequence. For what order is there, that it should say: "Because...
they feared God, they made themselves houses"? If this is taken according to the letter, it will seem to have absolutely no consequence, but rather a great deal of vanity. But if you see how the Scripture of the New and Old Testament makes the fear of God the basis of the Churches—that they should fill the whole world with houses of prayer—then that which is written will appear reasonable. Thus, because these midwives fear God and teach the fear of God, they do not perform the command of the king of Egypt, but keep the males alive, yet it is not said that they obeyed the king of Egypt's command to keep the females alive. I confidently dare to say, according to the sense of Scripture (94): these midwives do not keep the females alive. For not only are vices not preached in the Churches, nor are sins nourished (for what does Pharaoh want, when he orders that females be kept alive, but that only vice be cultivated, and virtue rejected?), but let us refer these things to each one of us. A If you fear God, you do not perform the command of the king of Egypt. For he commands you to live in luxury, so that you might love the present age and desire present things. If you fear God, and fulfill the office of midwife to your soul, and if you desire to bring it salvation, you do not do these things, but you keep the male within you alive, and you heal and nourish your inner man; and by acts or thoughts you seek eternal life.
3. But after this, when Pharaoh saw that he could not kill the males of Israel, he commanded, he says (85), to all the people, saying: "Every male that is born to the Hebrews, throw into the river, and every female keep alive." You see that the prince of this world commands his own to snatch away our infants, and to throw them into the river, so that they might lie in wait for our births immediately, so that the moment they come to the Church, they might fall upon us, rob us, pursue us, and absorb us in the B waters and waves of this age. You see what you hear, wisdom says by Solomon (86): "Intelligently understand what is set before you." See immediately when you are born, or rather when you are reborn, what threatens you. That which is in the Gospel (87), that Jesus, directly after His baptism, "was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil." This, therefore, is what is signified in this place: Pharaoh commands the people, as soon as the Hebrews' infants are born, to invade them, and to drown them in the waters. This, perhaps, is what is said by the Prophet (88): "I am stuck in deep mire, and there is no substance." But on the contrary, Christ overcame and won, so that He might open the way to conquer by fasting, and so that you might know that this kind of demon is conquered by fasts.
84. Exod. 1, 22. 85. Prov. XXIII, 1. 86. Matth. IV, 1. 2 et seqq. 87. Exod. II, 9. 88. Psal. LXVIII, 1, 2. (94) Alias, "Scripturae sensus."
A even though she has an impious and iniquitous father, it is said to her by the Prophet: "Hear, O daughter, and see, and incline your ear, and forget your people and your father’s house, because the king has desired your beauty" [Ps. XLIV, 11]. This, therefore, is she who went forth from her father’s house and came to the waters, that she might be cleansed from the sins she had contracted in her father's house. Finally, she immediately receives the bowels of mercy, and has pity on the infant. This Church, therefore, coming from the Gentiles, finds Moses lying in the marsh, cast out by his own and exposed; she gives him to a nurse, and he is nourished among his own, and there he passes his infancy. But when he has become stronger, then he is brought to her, and is adopted as a son. But that Moses is called the Law, has already been frequently discussed in many places. Therefore, the Church, coming to the waters of baptism, received also the Law, which, however, was enclosed within a chest, smeared with pitch and bitumen. A *thebis* is a kind of covering, woven out of twigs or papyrus, or also formed from the bark of trees, within which the infant was seen to be cast out. The Law, therefore, lay enclosed within such coverings, and smeared with pitch and bitumen; it was defiled and obstructed by the base and earthly senses of the Jews [ephes. VI, 19], until the Church should come from the Gentiles and take it from the muddy and marshy places, and install it within the halls of wisdom and royal dwellings. B Yet this Law passes its infancy among its own. For among those who do not know how to understand it spiritually, it is small and an infant, and has only the milk of babes. But when it comes to the Church, when it enters the house of the Church, Moses is stronger and more valid. For with the veil of the letter removed, its food is found to be perfect and solid in its reading. What, however, is this, that he also receives the reward of his nourishment from the daughter of Pharaoh—she with whom the Law was both born and nourished? What is it that the Synagogue receives from the Church? I think it can be understood as that which the same Moses writes, saying: "I will provoke you to jealousy by a non-people, over a foolish nation I will provoke you to anger" [Deuter. XXXII, 21]. The Synagogue, therefore, receives this from the Church as a reward, that it no longer worships idols. For seeing those who are from the Gentiles so turned to God, that they know no more of idols, and worship no one except the one God, it itself blushes to worship idols any longer. This, therefore, is the benefit which the Synagogue receives from the Church: that it was seen to have nourished the infant Law for it. But even if we have had Pharaoh as our father, even if the prince of this world has begotten us in evil deeds, when we come to the waters, let us take the Law of God to ourselves; let not its vile and obscure covering of the letter be disgusting to us, but let us concede what is small and for babes, and take what is perfect and valid, and let us place these within the royal halls of our heart. Let us have a great and valid Moses; let us think nothing small, nothing humble about him; but let us think of the whole as magnificent, the whole C as excellent, the whole as elegant. For everything is great that is spiritual, whatever is of sublime intelligence. And let us pray to the Lord Jesus Christ that He Himself may reveal and show us how great Moses is, and how sublime he is. For He Himself reveals to whom He wills, through the Holy Spirit. To Him be glory and power for ever and ever. Amen.
HOMILY III.
*On that which is written: "But I am slow of speech and slow of tongue."* [Exod. IV, 10]1. Until Moses was in Egypt and was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, he was not slow of speech nor slow of tongue, nor did he profess (99) himself to be ineloquent. For he was, as far as the Egyptians were concerned, both of sonorous voice and incomparable eloquence. B But when he began to hear the voice of God and to receive the divine oracles, then he felt his own voice to be exiled and weak, and he understood his tongue to be slow and impeded; then he pronounces himself mute, when he began to recognize that true Word which was in the beginning with God [Joan. I, 1]. But so that what we say may be more easily perceived, let us use a similitude of this kind. In comparison with mute animals, although a human being may be unskilled and unlearned, if he is compared, he will appear eloquent in comparison to those things which are destitute of reason and voice; but if he is compared to learned and eloquent men, and those most expert in all wisdom, he will appear both ineloquent and mute. But if one considers the divine Word itself, and looks upon the divine wisdom, no matter how great his erudition, and no matter how great his wisdom, C much more than the cattle before us, he will profess himself to be a mute animal before God. Doubtless this was Moses. And the blessed David, seeing this, and balancing himself in such order before divine wisdom, said: "I have become as a beast before thee" [Psal. LXXII, 23]. Therefore, according to this, the greatest of the prophets, Moses, says in the present reading to Him, that he is of weak voice, and slow of tongue, and that he is not eloquent. For all men, in comparison to the divine Word, are to be thought not only ineloquent, but even mute.
2. Because, therefore, he progressed into that intelligence so as to recognize himself, in which consists the greatest part of wisdom, the divine dignity rewards him. Hear with what excellent and magnificent gifts. "I," He says [Exod. IV, 12], "will open your mouth, and I will teach you what you ought to speak." Blessed are they whose mouth God opens so that they may speak. God opens the mouth to the prophets, and fills it with His own eloquence, just as He says in the present: "I will open your mouth, and I will teach you what you ought to speak." But also through David, God says: "Open your mouth, and I will fill it" [Psal. LXXX, 10]. Similarly, Paul says: "That speech may be given to me in the opening of my mouth" [Ephes. VI, 19]. Therefore, God opens the mouth of those who speak the words of God. But I fear lest there be some D whose A
mouth the devil opens on the contrary. For whoever speaks a lie, it is certain that the devil has opened his mouth so that he might speak a lie. Whoever speaks false testimony, whoever utters scurrilities, obscenities, and other things of this kind from his mouth, the devil has opened their mouth. I fear lest the devil also opens the mouth of whisperers and slanderers, and indeed of those who utter idle words, for which an account must be given on the day of judgment. Now, as for those who speak iniquity on high, who deny that my Lord Jesus Christ came in the flesh, or who blaspheme the Holy Spirit—to whom it will not be forgiven either in the present age or in the future—who would doubt that the devil opens their mouth? Do you wish for me to show you even this from the Scriptures, how the devil opens the mouth of such men who speak against Christ? See what is written A of Judas, how it is reported that Satan entered into him, and that the devil put it into his heart that he should betray the Lord. He himself, therefore, opened his mouth, so that he might speak with the chief priests and the Pharisees about how he might betray him for money. Whence it seems to me that it is no small grace to understand the mouth which God opens, and to understand the mouth which the devil opens. It is not without the grace of the Holy Spirit to discern such mouths and words. And therefore in the distributions of spiritual gifts there is added also this, that to some is given the discernment of spirits. Therefore, there is a spiritual grace by which the spirit is discerned, just as the Apostle says elsewhere: "Test the spirits whether they are of God."
But just as God opens the mouth of the saints, so I think that God also opens the ears of the saints to hear divine words. For so says the prophet Isaiah: "The Lord opened my ear, that I might know when it is appropriate to speak a word." So also the Lord opens the eyes, as He opened the eyes of Hagar: "And she saw a well of living water." But also the prophet Elisha says: "Open, O Lord, the eyes of the boy, that he may see because there are more with us than with the adversaries. And the Lord, he says, opened the eyes of the boy, and behold the whole mountain was full of horses, and chariots, and celestial aids. For the angel of the Lord camps around those who fear him, that he might deliver them." God therefore opens, as we have said, both the mouth, and the ears, and the eyes, so that we may either speak, or see, or hear those things which are of God. But I do not accept idly that which the prophet says: "The instruction, he says, of the Lord opened my ear." This seems to me to pertain to us, that is, commonly to the whole Church of God. For if we are engaged in the instruction of the Lord, the instruction of the Lord opens our ear also. But the ear which is opened by the instruction of the Lord is not always open, but is sometimes open, sometimes closed. Hear the lawgiver saying: "You shall not receive a vain report."
If, therefore, vain, foolish, dirty, profane, or wicked things are uttered, he who knows the instruction of the Lord closes his ears and turns away his hearing, and says: "But I, as a deaf man, was not hearing, and as a mute who did not open his mouth." If, however, the things being said pertain to the benefit of the soul, if the discourse is about God, if it teaches morals, invites to virtues, or cuts away vices, ears ought to lie open to discourses of this kind; and not only ears, but the heart and the mind, and the whole door of the soul must be thrown open to hearing of this kind. Yet the law has used supreme moderation in its command: it did not say, "You shall not hear a vain report," but, "You shall not receive [it]." For we frequently hear vain things. The things that Marcion speaks are vain; the things that Valentinus speaks are vain; and for all who speak against God the Creator, the things they speak are vain. But yet we frequently hear these things, so that we might be able to respond against them, lest by chance they might creep into the simpler ones among our brethren through the ornamentation of speech. We hear these things, therefore; but we do not receive them. For they are spoken from that mouth which the devil opened. And therefore it is necessary for us to pray that the Lord may deign to open our mouth, so that we might be able both to refute those who contradict and to stop the mouth which the devil opened. These things regarding that which is written: "I will open your mouth, and I will instruct you in what you ought to speak." But it is not only to Moses that it is promised that his mouth will be opened by the Lord, but also to Aaron. For it is said even of him: "I will open your mouth, and his mouth, and I will instruct you what you should do." For Aaron also meets Moses, and he came out from Egypt. But he meets him. Where? In what place? It matters where he who is to have his mouth opened by God meets Moses. For he meets him, it says, on the mountain of God. You see that his mouth is deservedly opened, who is able to meet [him] on the mountain of God. Peter, and James, and John ascended the mountain of God that they might merit to see the transfigured Jesus, and that they might see Moses and Elijah with Him in glory. And so you, too, unless you ascend to the mountain of God, and meet Moses there, that is, unless you ascend to the lofty meaning of the Law, unless you reach the summit of spiritual intelligence, your mouth is not opened by the Lord. If you stand in the low place of the letter, and connect the text of history with Jewish narrations, you have not met Moses on the mountain of God, C nor has God opened your mouth, nor instructed you what you ought to speak. Unless, therefore, Aaron had met Moses on the mountain, unless he had seen his lofty and difficult meaning, unless he had perceived his sublime intelligence; he would never have spoken to him the words of God, nor would he have handed down the power of signs and wonders, nor would he have made him a participant in such a great mystery.
3. But since it is long to speak of each thing in order, let us see, having entered to Pharaoh
A what Moses and Aaron say: "Thus says the Lord: Let my people go, so that they may serve me in the wilderness." Moses does not want the people, once placed in Egypt, to serve the Lord, but that they should go out into the desert and there serve the Lord. This is, without doubt, what he shows: as long as one remains in the darkness of the world and is caught up in the obscurity of business, one cannot serve the Lord. For no one can serve two masters: one cannot serve the Lord and Mammon. We must therefore depart from Egypt; the world must be abandoned if we wish to serve the Lord. However, I say that it must be abandoned, not in location, but in spirit; not by pursuing a journey, but by advancing in faith. Hear these same things from John who says: "Little children, do not love the world, nor the things that are in the world, because all that is in the world is the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes." But what does he say nevertheless? Let us see how, or to what extent, he orders us to depart from Egypt: "A journey of three days," he says, "we will go into the wilderness, and there we will sacrifice to the Lord our God." What is the three-day journey that we must take, so that, departing from Egypt, we may be able to arrive at the place where we ought to sacrifice? I understand that way to be the one who said: "I am the way, and the truth, and the life." This way must be traversed by us in three days. For whoever confesses with his mouth the Lord Jesus, and believes in his heart that God raised him from the dead on the third day, shall be saved. The way of three days is therefore the journey B by which one arrives at the place where a sacrifice of praise may be offered and rendered to the Lord. This pertains to the mystical understanding. But if we also seek the moral meaning, which is very useful for us, it is a three-day journey that we begin from Egypt if we thus keep ourselves from every defilement of soul, body, and spirit, so that, as the Apostle said: "your whole spirit, and soul, and body, may be preserved in the day of Jesus Christ." We set out on a three-day journey from Egypt if we remove rational, natural, and moral wisdom from worldly things and turn it toward divine statutes; we set out on a three-day journey from Egypt if, by purifying within us our speech, actions, and thoughts (for there are three things through which men can sin), we become pure of heart so that we may be able to see God. But do you wish to see what things these are, which the Holy Spirit indicates in the Scriptures? Pharaoh here, who is the prince of Egypt, when he sees himself being pressed more vehemently to let the people of God go, seeks at the second stage to obtain that they should not go far, that they should not complete the whole three-day journey, and says: "Do not go far away." He does not want the people of God to be made far from him; he wants them to sin, if not in deed, then at least in word; if not in word, then to do wrong in thought. He does not want them to depart from him for the full three days. He wants to have at least one day of his own in us; in others, two; C and for others he keeps the whole three days for himself. But those blessed ones withdraw the whole three days from him, and he possesses no day of his own in them. Do not think, therefore, that Moses led the people out of Egypt only at that time. Even now Moses, whom we have with us (for we have Moses and the prophets), that is, the law of God, wants to lead you out of Egypt; if you listen to it, it wants to make you far from Pharaoh. It desires to rescue you from the work of clay and straw; if, however, you listen to the law of God and understand it spiritually. It does not want you to remain in the deeds of the flesh and darkness, but to go out to the wilderness, to come to a place empty of the perturbations and waves of the world, to come to the quiet of silence. For the words of wisdom are learned in silence and quiet. When you have come to this place of quiet, there you will be able to sacrifice to the Lord, there you will be able to recognize the law of God and the power of the divine voice. Therefore, Moses desires to cast you out from the midst of fluctuating business and from the midst of clamoring crowds. Therefore, he desires you to go out from Egypt, that is, from the darkness of ignorance, so that you may hear the law of God and receive the light of knowledge. But Pharaoh resists; the ruler of this darkness does not want to release you; he does not want you to be drawn away from his darkness and brought to the light of knowledge. And hear what he says: "Who is it," he says, "whose voice I shall hear? I do not know the Lord, and I will not let Israel go." Hear what the prince of this world replied; he says that he does not know God. You see what crude pride does. As long as he is not in the labors of men, and is not scourged with men; because of this, pride has held him. Finally, you will see him a little later, how much he advances under the lash; how much better he becomes when beaten. He who says at this moment: "I do not know the Lord," later, when he perceives the force of the lashes, will say: "Pray for me to the Lord," and not only this, but he will even confess more to those who protest that the finger of God is in the power of the signs. Let no one, therefore, be so unlearned in divine discipline as to think that divine scourges are destruction, or to believe that the stripes of the Lord are punishment. Behold the most hardened Pharaoh: yet he makes progress when beaten. Before the lashes, he does not know the Lord; beaten, he asks that one pray to the Lord for him. It is progress in punishments, to recognize this very thing, that you have deserved punishment. "I do not know the Lord," he says, "and I will not let Israel go." D But see in the Gospels how, when beaten, he amends this utterance. For it is written that the demons cried out to the Lord and said: "Why have you come before the time to torment us? We know who you are: You are the Son of the living God." When they felt torments, they know the Lord. Before the scourges he says: "I do not know the Lord, and I will not let Israel go," but later he lets Israel go, and not only lets them go, but he himself will urge them to depart. For there is no fellowship of light with darkness; no part for the believer with the unbeliever. But what does he further add in his responses? "Why," he says, "do you, Moses and Aaron, divert the people from their works?"
A Since the people were occupied with the mud and the brick, so long as they were occupied with straw, he did not consider them to be perverse, but to be going along the right path. But if they should say, "We want to go a three days' journey and serve the Lord," he says that the people are being led astray by Moses and Aaron. This was indeed said to the ancients. But even today, if Moses and Aaron—that is, the prophetic and priestly word—solicit the soul to the service of God and invite it to depart from the world, to renounce all that it possesses, to apply itself to the divine law, and to follow the word of God, you will immediately hear it said by those who are of one mind and friendly with Pharaoh: "See how men are seduced and perverted, how young people do not exert themselves, do not serve as soldiers, do not do anything that is of profit to them; instead, they abandon necessary and useful things and pursue trifles and leisure." What does it mean to serve the Lord? "They do not want to work, and they seek occasions for idle laziness." These were the words of Pharaoh then, and these are what his friends and intimates say now. It is not only by words that the matter is conducted; blows also follow. He commands the scribes of the Hebrews to be whipped, he commands that no straw be given to them, and that work be exacted. Our fathers endured these things, B according to whose figure the people of God who are in the Church often also suffer. For you will find, if you consider those who have entirely given themselves over to the prince of this world, that they prosper in their successes, and that everything, as they themselves think, turns out happily for them; but for the servants of God, often not even those humble and small things of human sustenance turn out well. For I think these are the straw that is ministered by Pharaoh. It happens, therefore, often that those who fear God are in need even of this vile, straw-like food. Often they also sustain the persecutions of tyrants, they endure tortures and cruel torments, so that some, worn out, say to Pharaoh: "Why do you afflict your people?" For some, overcome by the blows, fall away from the faith and confess themselves to be the people of Pharaoh. "For not all who are of Israel are Israelites, nor because they are of the seed are they all children." Therefore, those who are doubtful and are worn out in tribulations speak even against Moses and Aaron, saying: "From the day you entered and went out to Pharaoh, you have made our odor abominable before him." These men speak the truth, although perhaps they are ignorant of what they say, just as that Caiaphas also spoke the truth when he said that D "it is expedient for you that one man should die for the people," but he did not know what he was saying. For, as the Apostle says, "We are the good odor of Christ; but to others," he says, "an odor from life to life, but to others an odor from death to death." Thus also the prophetic word is a sweet odor to believers; but to the doubtful and the incredulous, and to those who confess themselves to be the people of Pharaoh, it becomes an abominable odor. But even Moses himself says to the Lord, that "from the day I spoke with Pharaoh, he has afflicted your people." For it is certain that before the word of God is heard, before divine preaching is born, there is no tribulation, there is no temptation: for unless the trumpet sounds, no war is engaged; but when the sign of war has been shown by the trumpet of preaching, there, he says, follows affliction, there all the battle of tribulations arises. From the time, therefore, that Moses and Aaron began to speak to Pharaoh, the people of God are afflicted. From the time the word of God is carried into your soul, of necessity a battle is stirred up within you, of virtues against vices; but before the word came that would rebuke, the vices within you remained in peace: but when the word of God began to make a distinction for each person, then a great perturbation arises, and war is born without a treaty. For when can injustice find agreement with justice, immodesty with sobriety, or falsehood with truth? And therefore let us not be greatly perturbed if our odor seems to be abominable to Pharaoh. For virtue is led to execration and vices. Rather, as he says in the later passages, because Moses stood before Pharaoh, let us also stand against Pharaoh, and let us not be bent, but let us stand with our loins girded in truth, and our feet shod in the preparation of the Gospel of peace. For thus the Apostle B exhorts us, saying: "Stand therefore and do not again be entangled in the yoke of slavery." He says again: "In which we stand, and glory in the hope of the glory of God." We stand, however, confidently if we entreat the Lord that He may set our feet upon the rock, lest that happen to us which the same Prophet says: "But my feet were almost moved, and my steps were almost poured out." Let us stand, therefore, before Pharaoh—that is, let us resist him in the struggle—just as Peter the Apostle also says: "Whom resist, being strong in the faith." But Paul also nevertheless says: "Stand in the faith, and act manfully." For if we stand bravely, that which Paul prayed for his disciples will follow, saying that "the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet quickly." For the more constantly and bravely we stand, the weaker and more invalid will Pharaoh be. But if we begin to be either weak or doubtful, he will become stronger and more constant against us. And truly that will be fulfilled in us, in which Moses gave a figure. For when he raised his hands, Amalek was conquered. But if he let them down as if weary, and set down his weak arms, Amalek prevailed. Let us, therefore, also in the virtue of the cross of Christ lift up our arms, and let us lift up holy hands in prayer in every place without anger and disputation, that we may merit the help of the Lord. For the Apostle James also exhorts this same thing, saying: "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." Let us act, therefore, with all faith, that he not only flees from us, but that Satan is crushed under our feet, just as Pharaoh was submerged in the sea and extinguished in the depth of the abyss. But if we depart from Egypt.
HOMILY IV.
On the ten plagues, whereby Egypt was struck.
1. The history, indeed, is most famous and is recited to us; and because of its own magnitude, it is known to the whole world. Through it, it is signified that Egypt, together with Pharaoh the king, was chastised by the mighty whip of signs and prodigies, so that it might restore to its innate liberty the people of the Hebrews, whom, born of free ancestors, it had violently reduced to servitude. But the context of the narrated events is such that, if you look into the details diligently, you will find more things in which the intellect might falter than things in which it might find its way. And because it is tedious to set forth the things said in Scripture in their order one by one, we shall review the content of the entire history more concisely. Therefore, at the first sign, Aaron cast down his rod, and it became a dragon, and the enchanters and magicians of Egypt being summoned, they did likewise from their rods, producing dragons. But the dragon which had been effected from Aaron’s rod swallowed up the dragons of the Egyptians. And though this should have been a source of wonder to Pharaoh, and have profited him unto belief, it turned into the contrary. For Scripture says that "Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he did not listen to them." And here, indeed, it says that the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, but also in the first plague, where water is turned into blood, it is written likewise; and in the second, when frogs boil up; and in the third, when gnats swarm; in the fourth also, when the dog-fly is brought forth; and in the fifth, where the hand of the Lord is upon the cattle of the Egyptians, things similar and equal to this are said. But in the sixth, where Moses took ash from the furnace and sprinkled it, and there were boils and burning blisters on men and on quadrupeds, and the magicians could no longer stand in the presence of Moses, it is not said that Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, but something more terrible is said. For it is written, "The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he did not listen to them, just as the Lord had ordained." Again, in the seventh, when hail and fire waste all of Egypt, the heart of Pharaoh is indeed hardened, but not by the Lord. In the eighth, where the locust is produced, the Lord is said to harden Pharaoh’s heart. But also in the ninth, when palpable darkness comes over the entire land of Egypt, it is written that the Lord hardens Pharaoh’s heart. And lastly, when, with the firstborn of the Egyptians extinguished, the Hebrew people had departed, after much it is said: "And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and of his servants, and he followed after the children of Israel." But also when Moses is sent from the land of Midian to Egypt, and it is enjoined upon him to perform all the prodigies which the Lord gave him to perform in the sight of Pharaoh, it is added: "I will harden," he says, "his heart, and he will not send forth my people." Here it is first said by the Lord: "I will harden the heart of Pharaoh." But also, a second time, when the princes of Israel have been enumerated, after a few words, He adds in the person of the Lord: "I," He says, "harden the heart of Pharaoh, and I multiply my signs."
2. But if we believe that these letters are divine and written through the Holy Spirit, I do not think we should have so unworthy an opinion of the divine Spirit as to hold that such a variety occurred by chance in so great a work—that now the Lord is said to have hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and now, not by the Lord, but that it is said to have been hardened as if by his own free will. For my own part, I confess myself less suitable and less capable of being able to search out the secrets of divine wisdom in varieties of this kind. Yet I see the Apostle Paul, who, because of the Spirit of God dwelling in him, dared to say confidently: "But to us God has revealed them through his Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God." Him, I say, I see as one understanding how it differs that "Pharaoh’s heart was hardened" and "the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh." In one place, indeed, he says: "Do you despise the riches of his goodness, and of his patience, and of his long-suffering, not knowing that the patience of God leads you to repentance? But according to your hardness and impenitent heart, you are storing up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the just judgment of God." By which he undoubtedly blames him who is hardened by his own will. But in another place, as if proposing a question about this, he says: "Therefore, he has mercy on whom he will, and whom he will he hardens. You say to me, therefore: Why then does he still complain? For who resists his will?" He adds also to these: "O man, who are you that you should answer back against God?" By which, regarding him who is said to be hardened by the Lord, he answers not so much by an explanation of the question as by apostolic authority, believing—I think—that it is not worthy, given the incapacity of the listeners, to commit the secrets of such explanations to paper and ink. Just as, in another place, he himself says regarding certain words that he heard things which it is not permitted for men to speak. Whence also, in what follows, he deters him who immerses himself too curiously in more secret questions—not so much by the merit of study as by the desire for knowledge—with the severity of a magnificent teacher, when he says: "O man, who are you that you should answer back against God? Does the thing formed say to him who formed it: Why have you made me thus?" and the rest. Whence also, let it suffice for us to have only observed and inspected these things, and to have shown the listeners how many mysteries lie submerged in the deep parts of the divine law, for which we ought to say in prayer: "Out of the depths I have cried to you, O Lord."
A note, when certain lashes are said to be inflicted by Aaron upon Pharaoh or Egypt, certain ones by Moses, and certain ones by the Lord Himself. For in the first plague, when He turns the waters into blood, Aaron is said to have lifted the rod and struck the water. And likewise in the second, when he struck the waters and brought forth frogs, and in the third when he stretched out his rod with his hand and struck the dust of the earth, and lice were made. In these three lashes, the ministry was Aaron’s. In the fourth, however, the Lord is said to have brought it about so that the dog-fly might arrive and fill the houses of Pharaoh. And in the fifth, when the cattle of the Egyptians are destroyed, the Lord is nevertheless said to have performed this word. In the sixth, moreover, Moses sprinkles ashes from the furnace, and sores and blisters with heat come upon men B and upon the cattle. And in the seventh, Moses lifts his hand to heaven, and voices occur in the heaven, and hail, and fire runs over the earth. In the eighth, the same Moses likewise stretches out his hand to heaven, and the Lord brings a wind all day and all night, and brings the locusts. And in the ninth, the same Moses nevertheless stretches out his hand to heaven, and darkness and gloom come upon all the land of Egypt. In the tenth, however, the end and perfection of the whole work is ministered by the Lord. For so it is written: "And it happened about midnight, and the Lord struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat upon his throne, to the firstborn of the captive who is in the dungeon, and every firstborn of cattle."
4. And there is another difference in these things, which we observe: that in the first plague, when the water flows into blood, it is not yet commanded to Moses that he should enter to Pharaoh, but it is said to him: "Go out to meet him at the bank of the river, when he comes to the water." In the second plague, however, after the first has been consistently and faithfully administered by them, it is said to him: "Enter to Pharaoh, and having entered, say: Thus says the Lord," and the rest. Now, indeed, in the third, where the lice are brought in, the magicians who had formerly resisted yield, confident that this is the finger of God; in the fourth, Moses is also commanded to keep watch in the morning and stand against Pharaoh as he proceeds C to the water, when the houses of the Egyptians are filled with the dog-fly. In the fifth, nevertheless, where the cattle of the Egyptians are destroyed, Moses is commanded to enter to Pharaoh. In the sixth, truly, Pharaoh is despised, and it is not reported that Moses or Aaron entered to Pharaoh, because sores and blisters were made with heat even upon the sorcerers of Egypt, and they could not withstand Moses. In the seventh, he is commanded to watch early in the morning and stand against Pharaoh when he produces hail and fire and voices. In the eighth, it is commanded to enter to him when the locust is produced. In the ninth, again, Pharaoh is despised, and it is commanded to Moses to stretch out his hand to heaven, so that palpable darkness might come upon all the land of Egypt; and he does not, indeed, enter by himself, but is called by Pharaoh. Likewise also in the tenth, when the firstborn are destroyed, and he is forced to depart from Egypt in haste. There are also very many other observations, in which are demonstrated the individual signs of divine wisdom. For you will find that in the first, Pharaoh is not softened, nor does he yield to the divine lashes when the waters are turned into blood. In the second, however, he seems to be softened a little. For he called Moses and Aaron and said to them: "Pray for me to the Lord, that he may take away the frogs from me and from my people, and I will let the people go." In the third, the magicians yield and say to Pharaoh: "This is the finger of God." In the fourth, he who is troubled by the dog-fly says: "Go, sacrifice to your Lord God, but do not go any farther on your journey. Pray, therefore, for me to the Lord." In the fifth, the slaughter of cattle occurs, and not only does he not yield, but he is hardened all the more. Similarly, in the sixth, he does the same concerning the plagues of sores. In the seventh, however, when he is devastated by hail and fires, he says: "I have sinned," he says, "Pharaoh, and called Moses and Aaron and said to them: I have sinned, and now the Lord is just, but I and my people are impious. Pray, therefore, for me to the Lord." In the eighth, when he is pressed by the locusts: "And he hurried," he says, "Pharaoh, and called Moses and Aaron saying: I have sinned before the Lord your God and against you; take away my sin even now, and pray for me to the Lord your God." In the ninth, when he is covered in darkness: "He called," he says, "Pharaoh, Moses and Aaron, saying: Go, serve your Lord God." Now, indeed, in the tenth, when the firstborn of men and cattle are destroyed: "He called," he says, "Pharaoh, Moses and Aaron by night and said to them: Arise and go out from my people, you and the children of Israel, go, serve your Lord God, as you say; take your sheep and your oxen and go, as you said. Bless me also. And the Egyptians compelled the people to go out of the land of Egypt as quickly as possible. For they were saying, because we are all dying."
5. Who is he whom God fills with that spirit with which He filled Moses and Aaron, when they performed these prodigies and signs, so that, illuminated by the same spirit, he might be able to explain what was done through them? For I do not think that these varieties and differences of such great things are explained otherwise than by the same spirit by which they were done, since the apostle Paul also says that the spirit of the prophets is subject to the prophets. Therefore, they are not said to be subject to just anyone for the explanation of the sayings of the prophets, but to the prophets. But since the same blessed Apostle, concerning this grace—that is, the prophetic gift—as if from...
the earth, which is fashioned as it were into earthen vessels. Therefore, sinners become earthen vessels, just as the prophet Jeremiah designates in the Lamentations, saying: "The sons of Sion, who were honorable and clothed in refined gold, how are they considered as earthen vessels, the work of the hands of the potter?" And: "In a great house there are," says the Apostle, "not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and of clay; and some indeed for honor, but others for dishonor." There are, therefore, earthen vessels for dishonor, which can also be broken. B But let us consider more diligently what the Apostle says next concerning these earthen vessels: "If anyone," he says, "has cleansed himself from these, he shall be a vessel for honor, sanctified, and useful to the Lord, prepared for every good work." In this he seems to show that both the vessel itself that is made, and the one by whom it is made, is one and the same human being. Understand, therefore, that the purpose of man is that which works; but the remaining part of man is the vessel itself, which is made either unto honor, or unto dishonor. When, therefore, our mind chooses those things which are good, and draws us to good conversation, it makes us a useful vessel. But when it has neglected, and our purpose has fallen away from good things, we are made a vessel for dishonor. If, therefore, our intellect is muddy, and always thinks of mud and of earthly things, we are made an earthen vessel, and the work of the hands of the potter. And perhaps because of this, such a one as this is rebuked by the Apostle, as one who, having a muddy and earthly mind, would seek and say concerning great things and those which he cannot grasp: "Why then does he still complain? For who resists his will?" C To whom the Apostle replies as if to one who is muddy: "Who are you, O man, that you should answer back to God? Does the thing formed say to him who formed it, Why have you made me thus?" Furthermore, our body is called an earthen vessel, or even the letter of the law, in that which the Apostle says: "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels." For both can be accepted in this discourse: both that the Lord bestows the treasure of grace upon us through the Holy Spirit while we are placed in the body, and that the treasure of the wisdom and knowledge of God is hidden in the discourses of the Law, which are held to be vile and in contempt because they seem not to be polished by any art of grammar; so that it may rightly be said that in them are the treasures of the wisdom and knowledge of God hidden. Let these things be said by us concerning the breaking, which is recorded to have ceased: now, however, let us discuss a few things about the following history, in which the commemoration of rods is introduced: D "Speak to the children of Israel, and take from them a rod for each of their fathers' houses, from all their princes according to their fathers' houses, twelve rods; and write the name of each of them on his rod: and write the name of Aaron on the rod of Levi: for there is one rod, per tribe, per the houses of their fathers, they shall give to you. And you shall place them in the tabernacle of the testimony before the ark, from which I will be known to you. And the man whom I shall have chosen, his rod shall bud, and I will take away from you the murmuring of the children of Israel: in which they murmur against you. Every prince of a tribe and of the people has a rod. For no one can rule the people unless he has a rod. Whence also the Apostle Paul, because he was a prince of the people, therefore said: "What do you wish? Shall I come to you with a rod, or in love, and in a spirit of gentleness?" Therefore, every prince of the tribes must necessarily have his own rod, but there is only one, as Scripture reports, the high priest Aaron, whose rod budded. But because, as we have often shown, the true high priest is Christ, He alone is the one whose rod of the cross not only budded, but also blossomed, and brought forth all these fruits of the believing peoples. But what is this fruit, which it has brought forth? Nuts, he says, which fruit is first bitter in its husk: in the next place, it is protected and covered. In the third place, it feeds and nourishes the one who takes it. Such, therefore, is the doctrine of the Law and the Prophets in the assembly of Christ. The first face of the letter is bitter enough, which commands the circumcision of the flesh, which mandates sacrifices, and the rest which are designated by the letter that kills. Cast away all these things as the bitter shell of a nut. In the second place, you will arrive at the defenses of the shell, in which is designated either moral doctrine or the rule of continence. These are indeed necessary for the protection of those things which are kept inwardly, yet they are to be broken at some time, and without doubt dissolved. As if, for example, we say, abstinence from foods, and the chastisement of the body, so long as we are in this corruptible and passible body, it is without doubt necessary. But when it has been broken and dissolved, and in the time of the resurrection rendered incorruptible from corruptible, and from an animal body a spiritual one, no longer by the labor of affliction, nor by the chastisement of abstinence, but by quality, no corruption will any longer dominate the body. Thus, therefore, even now the rule of abstinence seems necessary, and afterwards it is not to be sought. In the third place, however, you will find in them the hidden and secret sense of the mysteries of the wisdom and knowledge of God, by which the souls of the saints are nourished and fed not only in the present life, but also in the future. For this is the pontifical fruit, which is promised to those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.
HOMILY X.
Concerning that which is written: "And the Lord said to Aaron: You and your sons, and your father’s house with you, shall bear the sins of the sanctuary."
It might indeed be explained in this way: that by those things which the pontiff offers for the sin of each one, and cleanses the one for whom he has offered, it is written: "You and your sons with you shall bear the sins of the sanctuary." But to me, it does not seem trivial that he mentions the sins of the saints. For in many places of Scripture this utterance is repeated. Whence it must be inquired how some are called saints, and yet it is written concerning their sins. For it is not, as some think, that as soon as anyone begins to be a saint, he is no longer able to sin, nor is he to be considered immediately without sin. For if a saint did not sin, it would not have been written: "You shall bear the sins of the sanctuary." If a saint were without sin, the Lord would not have said through the prophet Ezekiel to the angels, whom He was sending to punish sinners: "And you shall begin from my sanctuary." For if the saints are without sin, how do they themselves fall first into the punishments for sins? If the saints were without sin, Scripture would never say that the righteous man is his own accuser at the beginning of his discourse. If the saints were without sin, the Apostle Paul would never have said, writing to the Romans: "Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God," to whom at the beginning of the Epistle he had written: "To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints." And again the same Apostle, writing to the Corinthians, says: "Paul, called an apostle of Jesus Christ," and a little later, "To the Church of God which is at Corinth, sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints." Hear then how many sins he reproves in those whom he calls sanctified and saints. For he says in what follows: "For since there are among you envying and contention, are you not carnal, and walking according to man?" And again: "Already you are full, already you have become rich, without us you reign, and would to God you did reign!" And again: "As though I were not coming to you, some are puffed up." And a little later: "It is altogether heard that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not even among the Gentiles." In the following, however: "And you," he says, "are puffed up, and have not rather mourned." In which he certainly left no one immune, while he attributes the crime of fornication to some, and of inflation and pride to others. He notes them also in the following regarding judgments, and says: "Already indeed there is an altogether fault in you, because you have judgments among yourselves." He argues against those whom he had called saints; and for the reason that they eat things sacrificed to idols, he says as if pronouncing a sentence among them: And they take upon themselves the sins. For so also does the Apostle say: "You who are stronger, bear the imbecilities of the weak." If an Israelite, that is, a layman, sins, he cannot take away his own sin; but he requires a Levite, he has need of a priest, nay rather, he even seeks something more eminent than these; there is need of the pontiff, that he may be able to receive the remission of sins. But if a priest or a pontiff should stumble, he is able himself to purge his own sin; provided, however, he does not sin against God. For we do not easily see any remission designated in the letters of the law for such sins. But we have said these things in view of those things which have been read to us: And the Lord, he says, said to Aaron, saying: You and your sons, and your father’s house with you, shall bear the sins of the sanctuary.
A And you and your brothers of the tribe of Levi, the people of your father, take with you, and let them be joined to you, and minister to you; and you and your sons with you in the sight of the tabernacle of the testimony shall keep your watches of the tabernacle. It is fitting that those especially who glory in the priestly order should observe and attend more diligently to those things which are written, so that they may know what the divine law has commanded them to observe. "You," he says, "and your sons with you in the sight of the tabernacle, guard your watches, and the altar, and the guards of the tabernacle." The commands are indeed certain and evident, that we ought to guard the watches of the tabernacle, and of the altar, and of the priesthood; but who it is who may observe and perform those things which have been commanded to the priests, and who it is who may indeed use the order and honor of the priesthood, but not observe the works and the mystery of the priesthood, he alone can know who searches the hearts and kidneys.
Commands are given to observe not only those things which are outside, "But also," he says, "that the priests should take care especially of those things which are inside the veil"; as if he were to say: let it be the care of the priests to fulfill the evident and manifest commands of the divine law, and to contemplate with every insight its hidden and veiled mysteries. If, however, you wish to refer the tabernacle of the testimony to man—since Paul indeed calls the body of man a tabernacle, saying: "For we who are in this tabernacle groan, being burdened; not that we wish to be unclothed, but to be clothed upon"—if, therefore, we refer the tabernacle to man, we shall say that the inner things of the veil, where the inaccessible things are covered, are the principal part of the heart, which alone can receive the mysteries of truth and be capable of the secrets of God.
As to the two altars, that is, the inner and the outer, since the altar is an indication of prayer, I think that indicates what the Apostle says: "I will pray with the spirit, I will pray also with the mind." For when I shall have prayed with the heart, I enter into the inner altar. And I think this is what the Lord also says in the Gospels: "But you, when you pray, enter into your room, and close your door, and pray to your Father in secret." Therefore, whoever prays as I have said, enters into the altar of incense which is within. But when someone pours out a prayer to God with a loud voice and with words uttered with sound, as if to edify the hearers, this man prays with the spirit and appears to offer a sacrifice on the altar which is set outside for the burnt offerings of the people. B Therefore, it is necessary for priests especially to care for and guard those things which are contained within the inner veil, lest anything polluted or anything unclean be found there; this is to care for the inner man and the secrets of the heart, so that they may remain immaculate.
The Cherubim and the mercy seat must be understood as the knowledge of the Trinity; for the interpretation of Cherubim indicates a multitude, that is, the perfection of knowledge, and what is other perfection, unless it be to have known the Father and the Son, and the Holy Spirit? Therefore, these things must be so cared for by the priests that they are kept uncontaminated and unharmed. But also the urn having the heavenly food of manna is certainly the treasury of the divine word. And the golden ark, in which are the tablets of the testament, in my opinion, is declared to be nothing other than our mind, in which we ought to have the law of God written. This mind, moreover, must be golden, that is, pure and precious, in which we always have the law of God written, as the Apostle says: "Written not with ink, but by the Spirit of the living God; not on tablets of stone, but on the fleshy tablets of the heart." For this is what is also said of certain ones: "who show the work of the law written in their hearts." But who wrote it in their hearts, unless God by his finger? The natural law, at any rate, which God gave to the human race, and wrote in the minds of all: from which we also take the beginnings, and receive certain seeds for searching out the truth, which seeds, if we cultivate them well, will bring forth for us the fruit of life in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom is glory and power for ever and ever. Amen.
HOMILY XI. Of first fruits to be offered.
1. God commands in the law that first fruits be offered to the priests: so that everyone who possesses a field, or vineyard, or olive grove, or even a garden, and if there is anything that is worked on the land, but also if anyone keeps livestock of any kind, he should offer from them to God whatever is the first—that is, he should convey it to the priests. For what is given to the priests is said to be offered to God. And this is what we are taught from the law, that no one may lawfully or legitimately use the fruits which the earth has produced, nor the living things which the birth of cattle has brought forth, unless from each thing C that he receives he first bestows something upon the priests.
A If you wish to come to Succoth, that the Lord may be your guide, and that He may precede you in a pillar of cloud, and the rock may follow you, which nevertheless offers you both spiritual food and spiritual drink, set out and go forth from Rameses, and do not store up treasures there, where the moth destroys, where thieves break in and steal. This is what the Lord clearly says in the Gospels: "If you wish to be perfect, go, sell all that you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, and come, follow me." This, then, is to set out from Rameses and to follow Christ. But let us see what the place of the encampment is to which one comes from Rameses. "They came," he says, "into Succoth." Succoth (4) is translated by those who interpret names among the Hebrews as "tabernacles." When, therefore, you have left Egypt and shaken off from yourself the moths of all corruption, and have cast away the enticements of vices, you will dwell in tabernacles. For we dwell in tabernacles from which we do not wish to be stripped, but to be clothed upon. The dwelling of tabernacles indicates that he who hastens to God is unencumbered and without any obstacles. But one must not even stop there; the journey must be urged on. The camp must be moved even from Succoth, and one must hasten so as to come to Etham. They say that Etham (5) is translated into our language as "signs for them." And with good reason. For here, as one hears, the Scripture says, "For God went before them by day in a pillar of cloud, and by night in a pillar of fire;" you do not find this having happened at Rameses, nor at Succoth, which are said to be the second encampment for those who are setting out. But it is the third camp where divine signs are made. Remember what was said above when Moses was speaking to Pharaoh: "We will go a journey of three days into the desert, B and we will sacrifice to the Lord our God." This, therefore, was the three-day period to which Moses was hastening, and which Pharaoh was opposing; for he said: "Do not go further." Pharaoh was not allowing the children of Israel to reach the place of the signs; he was not allowing them to progress so far that they could enjoy the mysteries of the third day. For hear what the prophet says: "After two days He will revive us, and on the third day we shall arise, and live in His sight." The first day for us is the Passion of the Savior, and the second is that on which He descended into hell, but the third is the day of the Resurrection. And therefore, on the third day, God went before them, by day in a pillar of cloud, and by night in a pillar of fire. And if, according to those things which we have said above, the Apostle rightly teaches us that the mysteries of baptism are contained in these words; it is necessary that those who are baptized into Christ should be buried in His death, and should themselves rise again from the dead on the third day; whom, also, according to that which the Apostle says, "He has raised up together and made to sit in the heavens." When, therefore, the mystery of the third day has been received by you, God will begin to lead you, and He Himself will show you the way of salvation.
3. But let us see what is said after this concerning Othon, which way is commanded to be chosen. "From Othon," he says, "turn back, and make the journey between Pihahiroth and Migdol, which is opposite Baal-Zephon." These, however, are interpreted as follows: Pihahiroth is an "ascent of the winding path"; Migdol (6) is "a tower"; Baal-Zephon is the "ascent of the watchtower," or "having a watchtower." You perhaps believed that the way which God shows is plain and soft, and has nothing at all of difficulty or labor. C It is an ascent, and a winding ascent (7). For it is not a downhill road that leads to the virtues; but one ascends, and it is ascended narrowly and with difficulty. Hear also the Lord in the Gospel saying, "For the way is narrow and constricted that leads to life." See, therefore, how much the Gospel agrees with the Law. In the Law, the way of virtue is shown as a winding ascent. In the Gospels, it is called a narrow and constricted way that leads to life. Could not even the blind clearly see here that the same Spirit wrote both the Law and the Gospels? The path, therefore, that they travel is a winding ascent and the ascent of the watchtower, or "having a watchtower." The ascent pertains to actions, the watchtower to faith. It shows, therefore, that there is much difficulty and much labor in both actions and in faith. For many temptations occur to us, and many stumbling blocks in faith, to those who wish to do the things of God. Then, furthermore, you will find many winding things in faith, very many questions, many objections of heretics, many contradictions of the faithless. Therefore, this journey must be traveled while following God. But there is also a tower on this journey. What is this tower? Surely that which the Lord says in the Gospel: "Who of you, wishing to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the expenses, if he has the wherewithal to complete it?" This, therefore, is the tower, the arduous and lofty seat of the virtues. But Pharaoh, seeing these things, hear what he says: "They are wandering," he says. In the eyes of Pharaoh, the man who follows God is said to wander, because, as we have said, the way of wisdom is winding, having many turns, many difficulties, and D very many windings. Finally, when you confess one God, and in the same confession assert (8) that the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit are one God, how wind- [index: entries preserved]
how burdensome, how difficult, how inextricable does this seem to the infidels! And then, when you speak of the Lord of majesty crucified, and of the Son of man who descended A from heaven, how tortuous and how difficult these things appear! Whoever hears, if he does not hear with faith, says that these men are in error; but do you remain steadfast, and do not doubt concerning faith of this kind, knowing that God has shown you this way of faith. For He Himself said: "Taking the camps from Othon, place them between Epanleum and between Magdalum, opposite Beelsephon." Therefore, fleeing Egypt, you come to these places, you come to these ascents of works and of faith, you come to the building of the tower, you come even to the sea, and waves rush upon you. For the journey of life is not conducted without the waves of temptations. Just as the Apostle also says: "All who wish to live piously in Christ will suffer persecutions." But Job nevertheless declares that "our life upon earth is a temptation." This then is what it means to have come to the sea.
4. But if, following Moses—that is, the Law of God—you undergo this journey, the Egyptian indeed pursues and stalks you, but see what happens: "The angel of the Lord," it says, "which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them. The pillar of the cloud also removed from before their face, and stood behind them, and came between the camp of the Egyptians and the Israelites." This pillar of the cloud is made indeed a wall for the people of God, B but it imposes obscurity and darkness upon the Egyptians. For the pillar of fire is not transferred toward the Egyptians so that they might see light, but they remain in darkness, because "they loved darkness rather than light." And so, if you depart from the Egyptians and flee from the power of the demons, see what great aids are prepared for you by God, see what great ministers you have. It is only required that you remain strong in faith, and that the cavalry and fear of the chariots of the Egyptians do not terrify you, nor that you complain against the Law of God and Moses, and say, just as some of them said: "As if there were no graves in Egypt, you have led us out so that we might die in this desert. It had been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in this desert." These are the words of a spirit failing under temptation. But who is so blessed that he can so manage the weight of temptations that no thought of ambiguity creeps into his mind? Look to that great foundation of the Church, and to the most solid rock upon which D Christ founded the Church, what is said by the Lord: "O you of little," He says, "faith, why did you doubt?" Nevertheless, because they say: "It had been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert," these are the words of temptation and frailty. Otherwise it is false; for it is far better to die in the desert than to serve the Egyptians. For he who dies in the desert, by this very fact that he is separated from the Egyptians and has departed from the rulers of darkness and from the power of Satan, has had some progress, even if he could not arrive at the whole. For it is better for one seeking the perfect life to die on the journey A than not to set out at all to seek perfection. Hence, the opinion of those is seen to be false who, while they expound the path of virtue as too arduous, and they enumerate many of its difficulties, and many dangers and falls, judge that it should not even be entered upon or begun. But it is much better for me to die on this journey, if it is necessary, than to remain among the Egyptians, be killed, and be overwhelmed by false and most bitter waves. But in the meantime, Moses cries out to the Lord. How does he cry out? No voice of his outcry is heard, and yet God says to him: "Why do you cry out to me?" I would like to know how the saints cry out to the Lord without a voice. The Apostle teaches that God has given the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying: "Abba, Father." And he adds: "The Spirit Himself intercedes for us with inenarrable groanings." And again: "He who searches the hearts knows what the spirit desires, because he pleads for the saints according to God." Thus, with the Holy Spirit interceding before God, through the silence of the saints, the cry is heard.
5. And what happens after this? Moses is bidden to strike the sea, so that it might open and yield to the people of God entering it, and that the services of the elements might minister to the divine will; and the waters which were feared, on the right and on the left, are made a wall for the servants of God, not only not knowing destruction, but providing a defense. The wave is therefore forced into a heap, and the water, repressed into itself, is curved. The liquid receives solidity, and the floor of the sea dries into dust, so that the people of God might pass over with a dry foot. Understand the goodness of God the Creator: if you obey His will, if you follow His law, He compels the elements themselves to serve you even against their nature. I have heard it handed down from the ancients, that in this crossing of the sea, for each of the individual tribes of the children of Israel, individual divisions of the waters were made, and an open path was made in the sea for each tribe specifically, and that this is shown from the fact that it is written in the Psalms: "Who divided the Red Sea into parts," by which many divisions are taught to have been made, not one. But also by that which is said: "There is Benjamin the youngest in stupor, the princes of Juda their leaders, the princes of Zabulon, and the princes of Nephthalim," nevertheless, for each tribe, a path seems to be enumerated as entered. This, observed by the ancients in the divine Scriptures, I believed it religious not to leave undiscussed. What then are we taught by these things? We have already said above what the sense of the Apostle is in these matters. He calls this a baptism consummated in Moses in the cloud and in the sea, so that you who are baptized in Christ, in water and in the Holy Spirit, might know that the Egyptians indeed pursue you, and wish to call you back to their service—that is to say, the rulers of this world and the spiritual wickedness to which you previously served. Which indeed strive to pursue you, but you descend into
631 permanently, rather it is always increased. It is therefore, as the Apostle says, a spiritual food, which the more it is consumed, the more it grows. For the more you take of the word of God, B and the more insistently you eat this bread, the more abundantly will it overflow within you. These things are said because it is written, «For the preserving of the first fruits.» For the bread itself, which although always eaten, always remains, and is always increased. Blessed is he who is worthy to be in that life, the portion of the Lord, and His people Jacob, and the cord of His inheritance, Israel. It is therefore desirable, as we have said, that each one should make such progress that he deserves to be chosen among the first fruits, or first-born, and offered to God, and to be the portion of the Lord, just as on the contrary it is greatly to be feared that we might be found among those of whom it is written: «They shall enter into the lower parts of the earth, they shall be delivered to the hands of the sword, they shall be the portions of foxes.» You see, C therefore, that at the time of the resurrection, when the Most High shall begin to divide the nations and to disperse the sons of Adam according to their merits, there shall be some who shall enter into the lower parts of the earth, and become the portions of foxes, that is to say, the portions of demons. For these are the foxes that destroy the vines, amongst whom was also Herod, of whom it is said: «Go, tell that fox.» Let us therefore flee from earthly acts and earthly understanding, lest, weighed down by earthly senses, we be said to enter into the lower parts of the earth and become the portions of foxes. For those also enter into the lower parts of the earth, who receive the law of God and the goods of the promises with an understanding of earthly thought, and do not excite the souls of their hearers to the expectation of heavenly things and the contemplation of higher things: for the Apostle clearly says: «If you have risen with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God, not the things that are upon the earth.» This, at any rate, the Apostle was saying to those who, by earthly observance, were saying: «Touch not, taste not, handle not,» to which he adds: «Which all are unto corruption by the very use, according to the commandments and doctrines of men.»
632 A ...to Aaron, saying: «Behold, I have given you the first fruits to preserve.» Although in some Latin copies it is written «to observe,» it is nevertheless truer «to preserve.» But it must be inquired how, according to the law, the first fruits are preserved. For priests do not receive the first fruits so that they may save them, but so that they may consume them. How then is it said: «Behold, I have given you the first fruits to preserve»? Whence it is evident that this cannot be applied to the law of the letter, but to the law of the spirit. For those first fruits which we expounded spiritually above can be preserved; those others cannot. But even if Christ, according to the Apostle, is the first fruits, truly these first fruits were given to us to preserve. B For what is so blessed as for a soul that has received Christ to always preserve Him, and always have Him remaining within itself? And such a soul truly receives the first fruits to preserve. For those first fruits which were offered in the law were consumed through food, and having entered into the belly, were directed, as the Gospel says, into the draught. But whoever shall have eaten these first fruits, and shall have tasted the bread that descended from heaven, shall not die, but remains unto eternal life. This is the bread... C ...that are sanctified to Me by the sons of Israel. Nor is this said without a mystery; for God does not wish to receive first fruits from elsewhere, except from the sanctified of Israel. For it could happen that even among the Gentiles some works worthy of God might be found. For among them, too, some cultivated the virtues of the soul, and philosophy did something in some cases, but He does not wish these to be offered as first fruits. From those He wishes to receive good deeds, whose mind sees God, and who have been sanctified to God by faith. A Gentile, however, even if he seems to have something honest and acceptable in his morals, by the very fact that he does not ascribe the virtue of the soul to God, but attributes it to his own boasting, such probity is not sanctified, and therefore is not received among the first fruits. D As much, however, as concerns the definition of the letter of the law, it seems even to exclude proselytes from such a gift. For He wishes only the sanctified from the sons of Israel to offer first fruits. I think, however, that one can be called an Israelite from the time it is permitted for him to enter into the Church of God: for it is written: «You shall not abhor an Edomite, because he is your brother, nor an Egyptian, because you were a sojourner in the land of Egypt. Their children, if they be born to them, shall enter into the Church of God in the third generation.» Until, therefore, the Egyptian or the Edomite brings forth fruit, and has not made sons of the first, second, and third generation, he cannot enter into the Church of the Lord, but the generation of sons makes them enter into the Church of the Lord. Let him who reads the divine letters observe more diligently, and not pass over the words of Scripture as he pleases; but let him look at every phrase, how it did not say "if sons or daughters be born to them," but «if sons be born to them, they shall enter into the Church of the Lord in the third generation.» And consider, if you can, according to the mystical sense, why it is only sons, and not also daughters, who cause the fathers to enter into the Church of the Lord. Finally, you will find even saints to whom exceptional testimony is given by God, who begot sons with difficulty, but not daughters. Abraham did not beget daughters, Isaac neither, only Jacob begot one, and she was burdensome to her brothers and parents. For, contaminated by Emmor the son of Sichem, she stirred up disgrace for her kin and fury of vengeance for her brothers. Moreover, every male is commanded to appear before the Lord three times in the year. The woman is not called to appear before the Lord. Thus, therefore, if anyone should attend diligently to the divine Scriptures, he will find it is not meaningless that in one place he names daughters along with sons, but in another he makes no mention of daughters.
C Whose gift has he offered to God, and again, from his gift, are the first-fruits to be offered to the high priest? I believe that this can be established in allegorical exposition as follows: If anyone distributes to the needy, or performs some good work, he has offered a gift to God in accordance with the commandment. But again, he offers the first-fruits of the gift if he distributes not only food, for example, or money, but also possesses the affection of showing mercy and compassion. For this is what God requires of man: that his very mind be filled and formed by pious and merciful affections. "And from all their oblations." A spiritual oblation is that which we read of: "Offer to God a sacrifice of praise, and pay thy vows to the Most High." Therefore, to praise God and offer the vows of prayer is to offer a sacrifice to God. But the first-fruits of this sacrifice are offered through the high priest if we pray not only with words and voice, but also D with mind and heart, according to what the Apostle also advises: "I will pray with the spirit, I will pray also with the mind; I will sing with the spirit, I will sing also with the mind." For even now, the angels of God stand by, the cultivators of our heart, and they seek to see if there is in any of us such a mind—so solicitous, so intent—that has received the word of God like divine seed with total eagerness; if it has shown fruit as soon as we rise to prayer—that is, if, having gathered and collected his senses within himself, he prays to God; if he does not wander in his mind and fly off in his thoughts, in such a way that, while his body is bowed in prayer, his senses run off in different directions. If anyone, I say, has felt his prayer to be intent and directed, and has understood himself to be standing in the very sight of God and before that ineffable light, and has there poured out his prayers, supplications, petitions, and thanksgivings, not troubled by any phantasy from without—let him know that he has—through the angel who stands by the altar—offered the first-fruits of his oblation to the great and true High Priest, Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom is glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
HOMILY XII. On the well and its canticle.
A Since Israel sang at the well, as is recounted in the book of Numbers, we see that it overflows with mysteries, as is usual, perhaps even more than usual. For it says: "And the people drank from the well." This is the well of which the Lord said to Moses: "Assemble the people, and I will give them water to drink." But in these words, the historical letter seems to me to possess little power. B For what is the reason that the Lord commands Moses so urgently to assemble the people, so that He may give them water from a well to drink? As if the people had not gathered of their own accord for the sake of drinking at the well. Why, then, is the prophet so urgently commanded to assemble the people with his own effort and labor to draw the water of the well? Hence the lowliness of the letter directs us to the preciousness of spiritual understanding. And therefore I think it is fitting to gather together the mysteries of wells from other places of Scripture as well, so that by comparing many, if the present discourse contains any obscurity, it may be made clear. The Spirit of God says, therefore, through Solomon in the Proverbs: "Drink waters from thy vessels and from the fountain of thy wells, and let not thy waters flow over abroad beyond thy fountain." Although in other copies we have read: "And let thy waters flow C abroad beyond thy fountain: let thy waters be thy own, and let no stranger share in them." Therefore, as is indicated in these things, each one of us has a well within himself. Moreover, we shall say something more: each one of us has not just one well, but many wells; and not just one vessel of water, but many vessels. For He did not say, "drink waters from thy vessel," but "from thy vessels"; and He did not say "from the fountain of thy well," but "from the fountain of thy wells." We read that the patriarchs also had wells: Abraham had one; Isaac also had one. I believe Jacob also had one. And having taken the beginning from these wells, run through all Scripture, seeking out the wells, and you will come to the Gospels, and there you will find the well by which our Savior was sitting, D resting after the labor of the journey, at that time when the Samaritan woman came and wished to draw water from the well. The virtue of the well or wells is explained in the Scriptures, and a comparison of waters is made, where the secrets of the divine mystery are also unfolded. For it is said that if anyone drinks from those waters which that earthly well contained, he will thirst again; but he who drinks from those which Jesus gives, "it shall become in him a fountain of water springing up into life everlasting." In another place in the Gospel, however, it is spoken of as no longer a fountain, nor a well, but something even greater: "He that believeth in me," He says, "as the Scripture saith, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." You see, therefore, that he who believes in Him has not only a well, but also rivers, and not only a fountain...emitted, so that it may be further refined, that even if there be but a little gold, at least that which is purified remains. But if one should come there entirely of lead, it will become for him that which is written: he will be plunged into the deep, as lead into the most violent waters. But it would be too long if we should wish to explain this in order; let it suffice to touch upon a few points. "Who is like to thee among the gods, O Lord? glorious in holiness, fearful and praiseworthy, doing wonders?" That which it says: "Who is like to thee among the gods?" does not compare God to the idols of heathens, nor to demons, who falsely ascribe to themselves the name of gods; but it calls those gods who by grace and participation in God are called gods. Of whom Scripture also says elsewhere: "I have said: You are gods." And again: "God hath stood in the congregation of gods." But these, although they are capable of receiving God and seem to be endowed with this name by grace, yet no one is found like God, neither in power nor in nature. And although the Apostle John says: "Little children, we know not yet what we shall be; but if it should be revealed to us (speaking, of course, of the Lord), we shall be like him," yet this likeness is not referred to nature, but to grace. For example, if we should say that a painting is like the person whose image is seen expressed in the painting, in so far as it relates to the grace of vision, it is called similar, but in so far as substance is concerned, it is far different. For the latter is a species of flesh, and the beauty of a living body, while the former is A a tint of colors and wax placed upon boards devoid of sense. No one, therefore, among the gods is like the Lord; for no one is invisible, no one incorporeal, no one immutable, no one without beginning and without end, no one the creator of all things, except the Father with the Son and the Holy Spirit. 6. "You have extended your right hand, and the earth swallowed them." As if their being swallowed by the earth were the very reason that the Lord extended his right hand. If you consider how the Lord, exalted on the cross, all the day long extended his hands to an unbelieving and contradicting people, and how He oppressed the unfaithful people, who cried out, "Crucify, crucify him," by the admission of their own wickedness: you will clearly find how He extended his right hand, and the earth swallowed them. Yet one must not be utterly despaired of. For it is possible that, if he who is swallowed should perchance repent, he may be vomited up again, just as Jonah was. But I think that all of us were at some time swallowed by the earth and held in the deep recesses of the underworld; and for this reason, our Lord descended not only to the lands, but even to the lower parts of the earth. And there He found us swallowed B and sitting under the shadow of death; and leading us forth from there, He prepares for us not a place of earth, where we might again be swallowed, but the place of the kingdom of heaven. 7. "You have led forth in your justice your people, whom you have liberated. You have comforted them in your strength, in your holy resting place." The Lord leads forth his people, whom He has liberated through the bath of regeneration, in justice; He also comforts them through the comfort of the Holy Spirit in his strength and in his resting place. For the hope of future things produces rest for those who labor; just as for those placed in the struggle, the hope of the crown mitigates the pain of wounds. 8. "The nations have heard and were angry; sorrows took hold on the inhabitants of Philistia. Then the dukes of Edom were troubled, and the princes of Moab, fear and trembling seized upon them. All the inhabitants of Chanaan have fainted." So far as history is concerned, it is clear that none of these nations were present at the wonders that were performed. How, then, will they be seen as deterred by trembling, or as having hastened, as it says, or as being angry, C just as the Philistines, the Moabites, and the Edomites, and the remaining nations that it enumerates? But if we return to the spiritual understanding, we shall find that the Philistines, that is to say the "falling people," and Edom, which is translated "earthly," tremble; and the princes of all these run about, and they fear, constrained by sorrows, when they see their kingdoms, which are in the lower regions, penetrated by Him who descended to the lower parts of the earth to rescue those who were possessed by death. Hence fear and trembling took hold of them, because they sensed the magnitude of his arm. Hence also all the inhabitants of Chanaan fainted, who are changeable... D "The earth swallowed them." Indeed, today also the earth swallows the impious. Does it not seem to you that the earth swallows him who always thinks of the earth, who always has earthly deeds, who speaks of the earth, who quarrels about the earth, who desires the earth, and places all his hope in the earth; who does not look to heaven, who does not think of future things, who does not fear the judgment of God, nor desire his blessed promises, but always thinks of present things and sighs for earthly ones? When you see such an one, say that the earth has swallowed him. But even if you see one given over to the luxury of the flesh and the pleasures of the body, in whom the mind is of no account, but the lust of the flesh has obtained everything, say of this one also that the earth has swallowed him. Still, what he says moves me:
A they are interpreted as 'moving' (15), when they see kingdoms being shaken, the strong man being bound, and his vessels being plundered. "May fear and trembling therefore come upon them, by the greatness of your arm." Why do the demons fear? Why do they tremble? Without doubt, they fear the cross of Christ, in which they were triumphed over, in which their principalities and powers were stripped away. Fear, then, and trembling shall fall upon them when they see in us the sign of the cross firmly fixed, and the greatness of that arm which the Lord stretched out upon the cross, as He says: "All day long I have stretched out my hands to a people who do not believe, but speak against me." Therefore, they will not fear you otherwise, nor will your trembling come upon them otherwise, unless they see in you the cross of Christ, unless you also can say: "Far be it from me to glory, except in the cross of my Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world."
9. "May they become like stone until your people pass by, O Lord, until this people of yours, whom you have acquired, pass by." To become like stone is not to have stone as a nature. For they would not become so, unless they had not been so before. We say this because of those who claim that Pharaoh, or the Egyptians, were of an evil nature and were not brought into this state by the freedom of their own will; but also because of those who accuse the Creator God of cruelty, for turning men into stones. Therefore, before they blaspheme, let them consider with the utmost deliberation what has been written. For he did not say: "Let them become like stone" and stay silent, but he set a time and decreed a measure for the condemnation. He says, in fact: "Until your people pass by, O Lord." Which implies that after the passing of the people, they should no longer be like stones. In this, it seems to me that something of prophecy lies hidden. For I see that the prior people, who were before us, were made like a stone, hard and unbelieving. But not to the extent that they should remain in the nature of stone, but only until this people passes by, this people whom the Lord has acquired (16): "For blindness in part has happened to Israel," according to the flesh, "until the fullness of the Gentiles comes in." For when the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, then also all Israel, who through the hardness of unbelief had been made like a stone, will be saved. And do you wish to see how he will be saved? "God," he says, "is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham." These, then, remain stones now, B until your people pass by, O Lord, this people of yours whom you have acquired. But if the Lord himself is the Creator of all things, it must be seen how He is said to have acquired those which it is not doubted are His own. It is said also in another canticle of Deuteronomy: "Is not this your own God, who made you, and created you, and acquired you?" For it seems that each one acquires what was not his own. Thence, finally, heretics say regarding the Savior that those whom He acquired were not His own. For, having paid a price, He purchased men whom the Creator had made. And it is certain, they say, that no one buys what is his own. For the Apostle says: "You were bought with a price." But hear what the prophet says: "By your sins you have been sold, and for your iniquities I have sent away your mother." You see, therefore, that we are indeed all creatures of God, but each one is sold by his own sins, and for his own iniquities departs from his own creator. We are, therefore, God's, insofar as we were created by him. But we were made slaves of the devil, insofar as we were sold by our own sins. But Christ, coming, redeemed us when we were serving that master to whom we had sold ourselves by sinning. And thus He seems to have received back His own, whom He had created, but to have acquired them as if they were strangers, because they had sought for themselves a master—whether by erring or by sinning—that was alien. And perhaps it is rightly said that Christ redeemed us, who gave His own blood as the price for us. But what sort of thing did the devil give so that he might buy us? Therefore, if it seems so, listen. Homicide is the devil's money. For he is a murderer from the beginning. You have committed homicide; you have received the devil's money. Adultery is the devil's money. For the devil's image and inscription are on it. You have committed adultery; you have received the devil's coin. Theft, false testimony, rapacity, violence—all these are the devil's census and the devil's treasury. For such money proceeds from his mint. With this money, therefore, he buys—whoever buys—and makes all who receive such an amount of his census his slaves. But I fear lest the devil be C secretly purchasing some of those standing here, whom we know, lest he urge this money, which we enumerated above, upon some of our own, and make them his once more, and once more write out for them scrolls of servitude and a handwriting of sin, and mingle those whom he has made his slaves for the price of sin with the slaves of God. For he is accustomed, because he is an "enemy man," to mingle tares with the wheat. And yet, if by chance anyone has received such money deceived by the devil, let him not altogether despair; for the Lord is merciful and compassionate, and does not wish the death of His creature, but that he should be converted and live. By repenting, weeping, and making satisfaction, let him blot out what has been committed. For the prophet says that if you are converted and groan, then you will be safe. Having progressed a little further, D [index: entries preserved]
A we are, while we wish to explain how God is said to acquire what is His own, and how Christ redeems with His precious blood those whom the devil had bought for the cheap price of sin.
10. B *Inducing, plant them in the mountain of Thy inheritance* (Exod. xv, 17). God does not wish to plant them in Egypt, nor in cast-down and humble places, but He wishes to plant those whom He plants in the mountain of His inheritance. Then, furthermore, what He adds: *Inducing, plant them*; does it seem to you as if He is speaking of boys who are led to schools, led to literature, led to every kind of erudition? Understand, therefore, by these things—if indeed you have ears to hear—how God plants, lest perhaps when you hear Him "inducing" and "planting," you might think Him to be setting fig trees or other such-like shoots into the ground. Hear also elsewhere how God plants. The prophet says (Ps. lxxix, 9): *Thou hast pulled up a vine out of Egypt, and hast cast out the nations, and hast planted it. Thou hast made a way before it, Thou hast planted its roots, and filled the land. Its shadow covered the mountains, and its shoots the cedars of God.* Have you noticed now how God plants, and where He plants? He does not plant in valleys, but in mountains that are high and in sublime places. For whom He leads out of Egypt, whom from the world He brings to faith, He does not wish to place them again in humble things, but wishes their manner of life to be sublime. He wishes us to dwell in mountains, yet in those same mountains He does not want us to crawl upon the earth, nor does He want His vine to have its fruits cast upon the ground, but He wants its branches to be led upward, to be placed on high, to be made into layers, and those layers not into any humble trees whatsoever, but into the high and most lofty cedars of God. I consider the prophets and apostles to be the cedars of God, to whom, if we are joined as the vine which God brought out of Egypt, and if through their branches our own branches are spread out, and we ourselves, leaning upon them, are made into certain layers connected by the bonds of mutual charity, we shall without doubt bring forth much fruit. For *every tree that does not bring forth good fruit shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire* (Matt. vii, 19).
11. *In Thy prepared habitation, O Lord* (Exod. xv, 17). C See the kindness of the Lord; He does not wish to lead you to labor, He does not wish that you yourself make a habitation, but leads you to a habitation already prepared. Hear God saying in the Gospel (John iv, 38): *Others have labored, and you have entered into their labors.*
12. *Sanctification, Lord, which Thy hands have prepared* (Exod. xv, 17). Sanctification, 151, is called the tabernacle of God, or the temple, from the fact that it sanctifies those who approach. This is not said to be made by the hand of man, but by the hand of God. What therefore? On your behalf God both plants and builds; He becomes the farmer, He becomes the builder, so that nothing may be wanting to you. Hear also Paul saying (1 Cor. iii, 9): *You are God's agriculture, God's building.* What, then, is this sanctification that is not made by the hand of man, but prepared by the hands of God? Hear Wisdom saying (Prov. ix, 1): *That she has built herself a house.* But I think this should be understood more correctly concerning the incarnation of the Lord. For it was not made by the hand of men, that is, the temple of the flesh is not built in the Virgin by human work, but, as Daniel had predicted (Dan. ii, 34), the stone cut out without hands grew and became a great mountain. This is the sanctification of the assumed flesh, and without hands, that is, without the work of men, it was cut out from the mountain of human nature and the substance of flesh.
15. *The Lord shall reign for ever, and beyond* (Exod. xv, 18). As often as "for ever" is said, while it indicates a length of time, yet some end is implied; and if "into another age" is said, although it is without doubt longer, yet an end is set; and as often as "ages of ages" are named—perhaps though it is unknown to us—yet some limit appointed by God is indicated. But what He adds in this place, *and beyond*, D left no sense of any term or end. For whatever you might think, in which you believe an end could consist, the prophetic word always says to you, *And beyond*, as if He were speaking to you and saying: Do you think the Lord will reign for the age of an age? *And beyond.* Do you think for the ages of ages? *And beyond.* (17). And however you may speak of the spaces of His kingdom, the prophet always says to you: *And beyond.*
14. *For the horse of Pharaoh went in with his chariots and horsemen into the midst of the sea, and the Lord brought back upon them the waters of the sea. But the children of Israel walked on dry land in the midst of the sea* (Exod. xv, 19). And you, if you are a child of Israel, can walk on dry land in the midst of the sea. If you should be in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, like the light of the sun, holding the word of life for glory, it can happen that as you walk in the midst of sinners, the moisture of sin does not infect you; it can happen that as you pass through this world, no wave of lust splashes back upon you, no heat of cupidity lashes you. But he who is an Egyptian and follows Pharaoh is overwhelmed by the waves of vices. But he who follows Christ, and as He Himself walked, so also he walks, the waters become a wall to him on the right and on the left, but he himself proceeds by the middle way on dry land. He does not turn to the right, nor to the left, until he comes out to liberty, and sings a hymn of victory to the Lord, saying (Exod. xv, 1): *Let us sing to the Lord, for He is gloriously magnified,* through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom be glory and empire for ever and ever. Amen.
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all the diseases which I have brought upon the Egyptians." What, A then, does He seem to say? That if anyone keeps the commandments, he will suffer no disease? That is to say, he will neither have a fever nor suffer other bodily pains? I do not think that these are the things which are promised to those who keep the divine commandments. Otherwise, we have the example of the most just Job, who was most observant of all piety, yet was covered from head to foot with a most grievous ulcer. Those who keep the commandments are not said to be free from these infirmities, but they will not have those infirmities which the Egyptians have. For Egypt is figuratively called "the world." To love the world, therefore, and the things that are in the world, is to have Egyptian sickness. To observe days, and months, and seasons, to seek signs, to cling to the courses of the stars, is to have Egyptian sickness. To be a slave to the luxury of the flesh, to give oneself over to voluptuousness, to be devoted to pleasures, is to have Egyptian sickness. He, therefore, who keeps the commandments is free from these infirmities and sicknesses.
3. After this, it says that "they came to Elim, and there were twelve springs of water, and seventy palm trees." Do you think there is any reason why the people were not led first to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water, in which there was no bitterness, but rather where there was much pleasantness from the density of the palm trees; but were led first to the salty and bitter waters, which were made sweet by the wood shown by the Lord, and only afterward came to the springs? If we follow only the history, it does not edify us much to know to which place they came first and to which they came second. But if we search for the mystery hidden in these things, we find the order of faith. For first, the people are led to the letter of the law. From this letter of the law, as long as it remains in its bitterness, one cannot withdraw; but when it has been made sweet through the wood of life, and the law begins to be understood spiritually, then one passes from the Old Testament to the New, and comes to the twelve apostolic springs. There also are found the trees of seventy palms. For not only the twelve apostles preached the faith of Christ, but seventy others were also sent to preach the word of God, through whom the world might recognize the palms of Christ’s victory. Therefore, it does not suffice for the people of God to drink the water of Marah, even though it has been turned into sweetness; even though through the wood of life and the mystery of the cross all the bitterness of the letter has been dispelled. The Old Testament alone does not suffice for drinking; but one must come to the New Testament, from which one drinks without hesitation, and from which one drinks without any difficulty. Even now the Jews are at Marah; even now they sit by the bitter waters. For God has not yet shown them the wood, through which their waters might become sweet. For the prophet predicted to them, saying: "Unless you believe, you shall not understand."
4. After this it is written: "In the second month, A on the fifteenth day of the month, the people murmured against Moses, saying: Would that we had died in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, and ate bread to the full, because you have brought us into this desert to kill the whole congregation with hunger." Grant that because of the correction of the nations the sin of the people is indicated, because they murmured and were ungrateful for divine benefits, when they were receiving heavenly manna; why is even the day described, on which the people murmured? "On the second month," he says, "on the fifteenth day of the month." This, indeed, is not written without reason. Remember the laws of the Passover which are written, and you will find there that this is the time which is appointed for the second Passover to be celebrated by those who were unclean in soul, or occupied in foreign business. Those, therefore, who were not unclean in soul, or who were not traveling far away, celebrated the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month. But those who were traveling far away, and were unclean, celebrate the second Passover at this time, during which the manna also descended from heaven. On the day when the first Passover is celebrated, the manna does not descend from heaven, but it does on the day when the second Passover is celebrated. Let us see, therefore, now what is the order of the mystery in these things. The first Passover belongs to the first people. The second Passover belongs to us. For we were unclean in soul, who worshipped wood and stone, and, not knowing God, served those who by nature were not gods. We were also those who were traveling far away, of whom the Apostle says: that we were "strangers and foreigners of the covenants of God, having no hope, and without God in this world." Nevertheless, the manna is not given from heaven on the day on which the first Passover is celebrated, but on that on which the second is. For the bread which descended from heaven does not come to those who were celebrating the first solemnity, but to us, who have received the second. "For our Passover, Christ, has been sacrificed C," who is the true bread that descended for us from heaven. But in the meantime, let us see what it is that is shown to have been done on this day. "On the fifteenth," he says, "day of the second month the people murmured, and said that it had been better for us to die in Egypt, when we sat over the flesh pots." O ungrateful people, they desire Egypt, they who saw the Egyptians destroyed! They demand the meats of Egypt, they who saw the meats of the Egyptians given to the fishes of the sea and the birds of the sky. They raise a murmur, therefore, against Moses, or rather against God. But this is forgiven the first time, it is forgiven the second, and perhaps the third: nevertheless, if they do not desist, but persist, hear what follows for the murmuring people. In the book of Numbers it is reported, as the Apostle also retold in his own writings, saying: "Neither let us murmur, as some of them murmured, and perished by the serpents." The venomous bite of serpents feeds upon the murmuring people in the wilderness. Let us see D
A that this is not hidden from God—our murmuring: He hears all things, and because He does not punish immediately, He expects the repentance of our conversion.
5. But what is recited after this? "The Lord," he says, "said to Moses: Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather what is sufficient for each day, that I may test them whether they walk in My law or not. And it shall be on the sixth day, that they shall prepare whatever they have brought, and it shall be double what they are accustomed to bring daily." I, for my part, would wish to have a conversation first with the Jews, to whom the oracles of God are said to have been entrusted, regarding what they think of that which says: "For six days you shall gather. But on the sixth day you shall gather double." It appears that the sixth day is named that which is placed before the Sabbath, which among us is called the Preparation. But the Sabbath is the seventh day. I ask, therefore, on what day manna began to be given from heaven, and I wish to compare our Lord's day with the Sabbath of the Jews. For it is apparent from the divine Scriptures that manna was first given on earth on the Lord's day. If, as Scripture says, it was gathered for six consecutive days, and on the seventh day, which is that of the Sabbath, it ceased, then without doubt its beginning was from the first day, which is the Lord's day. But if it is established from the divine Scriptures that on the Lord's day God rained manna from heaven, and on the Sabbath He did not rain it, let the Jews understand that even then our Lord's day was preferred to the Jewish Sabbath, and even then it was indicated that on their Sabbath no grace of God descended upon them from heaven, and no celestial bread, which is the word of God, came to them. For the prophet says also B elsewhere: "For the children of Israel shall sit for many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a prophet, and without a victim, and without a sacrifice, and without a priest." For on our Lord's day, the Lord always rains manna from heaven. But today I also say that the Lord rains manna from heaven. For these oracles that have been read to us are heavenly, and the words that have been recited to us descended from God; and therefore we are happy to have received such manna. Manna is always given to us from heaven, but those unhappy ones grieve, and sigh, and call themselves miserable, because they do not deserve to receive manna as their fathers received it. They never eat manna, for they cannot eat that which is small as coriander seed and white as frost. For they perceive nothing small, nothing subtle, nothing spiritual in the word of God, but all is fat, all is coarse: "For the heart of that people has become gross." But also, the interpretation of the name signifies the same thing. For manna is translated "What is this?" See if the very power of the name does not provoke you to learn, so that when you hear the law of God being recited, you may always inquire, and ask, and say to the teachers: "What is this?" For this is what manna indicates. If, therefore, you wish to eat manna—that is, if you desire to receive the word of God—know that it is small and very subtle, like coriander seed. For it has something in itself of a vegetable, whereby it can nourish and restore the infirm, because "he who is weak eats vegetables." It has some rigor, and therefore it is like frost. But it has much whiteness and sweetness. For what is whiter, what is more splendid than divine instruction? What is sweeter, and what is more pleasant than the oracles of the Lord, which are above honey and the honeycomb? C But what is it that it says, that on the sixth day a double amount is gathered in the promise, as much as suffices even for the Sabbath? We should not pass over or disregard this according to our understanding. The sixth day is this life in which we now exist, for in six days the Lord made this world. On this day, therefore, we ought to lay up and store away as much as would suffice even for the coming day. For if you acquire any good work here, if you store up any justice, mercy, and piety, this will be food for you in the future age. Do we not read in the Gospel that he who acquired ten talents here received ten cities there, and he who acquired four received four cities? This is what the Apostle also says through another figure: "For whatever a man sows, that he will also reap." What, then, are we doing, we who love to store away that which is corrupted, not that which remains and endures until the morrow? The rich of this world store away those things which in this world—nay, with this world—are corrupted. If, however, D
you store up treasure merely for the present life and for the love of the age, worms immediately breed. How do these worms breed? Hear from the sinners, and from those who love the present age, what the prophet's sentiment is: "Their worm, he says, shall not die, and their fire shall not be extinguished." These are the worms which avarice generates; these are the worms which the blind desire of riches generates in those who have money, and who, seeing their brothers in need, close their bowels of compassion against them. Therefore, the Apostle also says: "Command those who are rich in this world not to be haughty, nor to hope in the uncertainty of riches, but to be rich in good works, to give easily, to communicate, and to lay up for themselves true life." But someone says: If you say that manna is the Word of God, how does it produce worms? Worms do not come to be in us from elsewhere, except from the Word of God. For thus He Himself says: "If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin." After receiving the Word of God, therefore, if anyone sins, the Word itself becomes a worm for him, which ever gnaws his conscience and consumes the secret places of his heart.
7. But what does the divine Word teach us further A regarding this? "And at evening," he says, "you shall know that I am the Lord, and in the morning you shall see the majesty of the Lord." And concerning this, I would like the Jews to answer me: how is the Lord known at evening, and yet His majesty seen in the morning? Where has the Lord been known at evening, and His majesty seen in the morning? "Answer us, you who are instructed from infancy even to old age, always learning and never attaining to the knowledge of the truth!" Why do you not understand that these things are said prophetically? But if you wish to understand these things, you cannot do so except through the Gospel. For there you will find it written that "at the close of the Sabbath, which begins to dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and Mary the wife of James came to the sepulcher and found the stone rolled back from the monument." There you will hear of the earthquake that happened, of the monuments broken open, and of the centurion and the soldiers who had been placed for a guard, saying: "Truly this was the Son of God." Therefore, the Lord was known at evening through these things, because the Lord Himself was known in the power of the resurrection. But how is His glory seen in the morning? When other women had come early in the morning on the first day B of the week, they found angels sitting by the sepulcher, and saying: "He is not here; He has risen from the dead. Come and see the place where He was laid, and go, tell His disciples that He has risen, and He will go before you into Galilee." The majesty of the Lord was therefore seen in the morning, when the resurrection was announced through the angels.
8. In the consequences it is added: "At evening, he says, you shall eat flesh, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread." And concerning this I would like to know: in what order do you Jews accept the words of the prophets? For what sequence will it seem to be, that you should eat meats at evening without bread, or in the morning eat breads without the addition of meat? What do you show in this of a divine gift, what of the moderation of heavenly grace? Is this that in which you lay claim to recognize God, that meats are eaten at evening without breads? And do you say the majesty of God appears if, in turn, breads are eaten without meats? But keep these things for yourselves, and for those who agree with you, and who think that God can be recognized in quail. As for us, to whom in the end of the age, that is, at the evening of the world, "The Word was made flesh," we say that God is recognized in that flesh which He took from the Virgin. For no one ate these meats of the Word of God in the morning, nor at noon, but at evening. For the Advent of the Lord in the flesh took place at evening: just as John also says: "Children, it is the last hour." But "in the morning," he says, "you shall be filled with bread." To us, also, this bread is the Word of God C. For He is the living bread, who descends from heaven and gives life to this world. But how does he say that this bread is given in the morning, when we have said that His advent in the flesh took place at evening? I think it must be understood in this way: that the Lord indeed came at the evening of a declining world, placed close to the end of its course; but by His advent, because He Himself is the Sun of Justice, He prepared a new day for the believers. Because, therefore, He kindled a new light of knowledge for the world, He made it in a manner His own day, and brought forth His own morning as the sun of justice, and in this morning they are filled with bread who accept His precepts. Nor should you marvel that the Word of God is called both flesh, and bread, and is called milk, and is called herbs, and is named diversely according to the measure D of the believers or the capability of those who receive Him. It may, however, also be understood that after His resurrection—which we have shown took place in the morning—He filled the believers with bread, for the reason that He gave us the books of the Law and the Prophets, previously unknown and obscure, and allowed these instruments of the Church for our instruction, so that He Himself is the bread in the Gospel; but the other books of the Law or of the Prophets, or of the histories, have been called many breads, from which those who...
believe from the nations are fed. We teach that this was done not without prophetic authority. For the prophet Isaiah had foretold this in this way: "They shall ascend the mountain, they shall drink wine, they shall be anointed with ointment." A Turn all these things to the nations; for this is the counsel of the Lord Almighty. If, then, we have fittingly received flesh at evening, and we are filled with bread in the morning—since it was not possible for us to eat flesh in the morning, for the time had not yet come, nor were we able to eat at midday—for scarcely do the angels eat flesh at midday, and perhaps the midday time is granted to that order. Furthermore, we can also understand that for each of us, the morning is the beginning of the day, that time in which we are first illumined, and we approach to the light of faith. In this time, therefore, while we are still in the beginnings of faith, we cannot eat the flesh of the Word of God, that is, we are not yet capable of perfect and consummated doctrine. But after long exercises, after much progress, when we are now approaching the evening and are pressed toward the very goal of perfection, then at last we can become capable of solid food and the perfect Word. Now, therefore, let us hasten to receive the heavenly manna; for this manna, according as each one wishes, gives back such a taste in his mouth. For hear also the Lord saying to those who approach Him: "Let it be done to you according to your faith." And you, therefore, if you receive the Word of God, which is preached in the Church, with full faith, with full devotion, the Word itself will become for you whatever you desire. For instance, if you are troubled, it consoles you, saying: "A contrite and humbled heart God does not despise." If you are rejoicing for the future hope, it heaps up joys for you, saying: "Rejoice in the Lord and exult, you just." If you are prone to anger, it mitigates you, saying: "Cease from anger and leave aside indignation." If you are in pains, it heals you, saying: "The Lord heals all your infirmities." If you are consumed by poverty, it consoles you, saying: "The Lord lifts the needy from the earth and raises the poor from the dung." Thus, then, the manna of the Word of God renders in your mouth the taste you have desired. Yet if anyone receives this without faith, and does not eat, but hides it, worms crawl out of it. Do you think the Word of God is to be lowered to such an extent that it is even thought to become a worm? Let not this hearing trouble you here; hear the Prophet saying in the person of the Lord: "But I am a worm and not a man." For just as He Himself is the one who becomes to some a ruin, but to others for a resurrection, so also He is the one who now in the manna becomes for the faithful indeed the sweetness of honey, but for the unfaithful a worm. For He Himself is the Word of God, which reproves the minds of the wicked and pierces the consciences of sinners with the stings of correction. He is the one who also becomes fire in their hearts, to whom He opens the Scriptures, who say: "Was not our B heart burning within us, when He was opening the Scriptures to us?" And to others He himself is fire, who burns up the thorns from the bad ground, that is, who consumes evil thoughts in the heart. And therefore for sinners, neither the correcting worm dies, nor the consuming fire is ever extinguished; but for the just and the faithful, He remains sweet and pleasant. "Taste then and see, for the Lord is sweet," the Lord Himself and our Savior Jesus Christ, to whom is glory and power for ever and ever. Amen.
HOMILY VIII. On the Beginning of the Decalogue.
1. Everyone who has learned to despise the present age, which is figuratively called Egypt, and has been—if I may speak according to the Scriptures—transferred by the Word of God, and is not found, because he hastens and tends toward the future age, of such a soul the Lord says: "I am the Lord your God, who led you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage." Therefore, these things are not said only to those who have departed from Egypt, but much more to you, who now hear these things, if indeed you depart from Egypt and no longer serve the Egyptians, God says these things: "I am the Lord your God, who led you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage." See if the business of the age and the act of the flesh is not the house of bondage: just as, on the contrary, to leave worldly things and to live according to God is the house of liberty, just as the Lord says in the Gospel: "If you remain in my word, you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." Therefore Egypt is the house of bondage, but Judea and Jerusalem is the house of liberty. Hear also the Apostle pronouncing concerning these things according to the wisdom which had been given to him in the ministry: "But that Jerusalem which is above," he says, "is free, which is the mother of all of us." Therefore just as Egypt, that earthly province, is called the house of bondage for the children of Israel, in comparison with Judea and Jerusalem, which becomes for them a house of liberty: so in comparison with the heavenly Jerusalem, which, if I may so say, is the mother of liberty, all this world, and all things that are in this world, is a house of bondage. And since from the paradise of liberty through the punishment for sin, it had come to such a kind of bondage, for this reason the first discourse of the Decalogue, that is, C the first voice of God's commandments, is brought forth concerning liberty, saying: "I am the Lord your God, who led you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage." Placed in Egypt, you could not hear this voice, even if it were enjoined upon you to make the Pasch, and even if your loins were girded, and you took sandals on your feet, and even if you held a staff in your hand, and ate unleavened bread with bitterness. And what am I saying, that placed in Egypt you could not hear these things? But not even when you had departed from there, in the very first station, could you hear these
words, nor in the second, nor in the third, nor when you crossed the Red Sea, even if you came to Marah, and the bitterness there was turned into sweetness, and even if you came to Elim to the twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and even if you passed by Rephidim, and ascended the other stages: you are not yet judged worthy of such words, but only when you have arrived at Mount Sinai. Having therefore performed many labors and overcome many tribulations and temptations, you will scarcely at last be worthy to receive the precepts of freedom, and to hear from the Lord: "I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage." But this speech is not yet the speech of a commandment; rather, it shows who it is that commands. Now, therefore, let us see what the beginning of the ten commandments of the law is; and if we do not reach everything, let us at least explain the beginnings, as the Lord shall grant.
2. The first commandment, therefore, is: "There shall be no other gods before me." And after this follows: "Thou shalt not make to thyself an idol, nor any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; and thou shalt not adore them, nor serve them. For I am the Lord thy God, a jealous God, visiting the sins of the fathers upon the children, unto the third and fourth generation to them that hate me, and showing mercy unto thousands to them that love me and keep my commandments." Some think that B all these things together are one commandment. But if this be thought so, the number of ten commandments will not be complete. And where will the truth of the Decalogue be then? But if it be divided in the way we distinguished in the preceding exposition, the entire number of the ten commandments will appear. The first commandment is therefore: "There shall be no other gods before me"; the second, however: "Thou shalt not make to thyself an idol, nor any likeness," etc. Let us begin therefore from the first commandment. But I myself need the help of Him who commanded these things, God, to speak, and you need ears more purified to hear. If any of you therefore has ears to hear, let him hear how it was said: "There shall be no other gods before me." If He had said, "There are no gods besides me," the speech would seem more absolute. But now, because He says: "There shall be no other gods before me," He did not deny that they be, but He forbade that they should be to him to whom all these commandments are given. Hence I think the apostle Paul took that which he wrote to the Corinthians, saying: "For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or on earth." And he adds: "And as there are many gods, and many lords, but to us there is one God the Father, of whom are all things, and we by Him, and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by Him." But also in many other places of Scripture you will find gods mentioned, A just as it is said elsewhere: "For the Lord is the most high, terrible, and a great king over all gods"; and: "The God of gods, the Lord hath spoken"; and: "In the midst, however, He discerns the gods." Concerning lords, the same Apostle says: "Whether thrones, or dominations, or powers, all things were created by Him and in Him." But dominations are nothing other than a certain order and multitude of lords. In which, as it seems to me, the apostle Paul made the sense of the law clearer. For such is what he says: Although there are many lords who rule over other nations, and many gods who are worshipped by others, yet to us there is one God, one Lord. But what reason there may be for many gods or many lords, if you listen intently and patiently, Scripture itself will be able to teach us. For the same Moses says in the canticle of Deuteronomy: "When the Most High divided the nations, and dispersed the sons of Adam, He set the bounds of the nations according to the number of the angels of God; and Jacob became the portion of the Lord, Israel the line of his inheritance." The angels, therefore, to whom the Most High committed the ruling of the nations, are also declared to be called gods and lords; gods, as if they had received power from God, and lords, as if they had obtained it from the Lord. Whence the Lord also said to the angels who did not keep their principality: "I said: You are gods, and all of you the sons of the Most High. But you like men shall die, and you shall fall like one of the princes"; C indeed imitating the devil, who, having been made prince of all, fell to ruin. Whence it is evident that it was prevarication, not nature, that made them execrable. Therefore for you, O my people Israel, who are a part of God, who have become the line of His inheritance, He says, "There shall be no other gods before me"; because there truly is one God who is God, and there truly is one Lord who is Lord. But to the others, who were created by Him, He bestowed this name not by nature, but by grace. But do not think that these things are said only to that Israel who was born according to the flesh. Much more are these things said to you, who have become Israel by seeing God with the mind, and are circumcised in heart, not in flesh. For even if we are Gentiles in the flesh, we are Israel in the spirit, because of Him who said: "Ask of me and I will give thee the nations for thy inheritance, and the ends of the earth for thy possession." And because of Him who also said: "Father, all mine are thine, and thine are mine, and I have been glorified in them," if indeed you act in such a way that you are worthy to be a part of God and to be measured in the line of His inheritance. Otherwise, if you act unworthily, let those be an example to you, who had been called to this, that they should be a part of God, and D by their sins they deserved to be dispersed among all the nations. And they who formerly were brought out...
of the house of bondage, now again (since he who sins is a slave of sin) no longer serve the Egyptians alone, but all the nations. Therefore it is said to you, who through Jesus Christ have been brought out of Egypt, and from the house of bondage: "There shall be no other gods for you besides me."
3. After this, let us see what else the commandment seems to contain. "You shall not make for yourself an idol, nor any likeness of those things that are in heaven, or that are on the earth, or that are in the waters, and that are under the earth." Idols are far different things, and it is something else, as the Apostle himself nonetheless teaches. For He said of the gods: "For there are many gods, and many lords." Concerning idols, however, he says, "that an idol is nothing in the world." From this it seems to me that it is not in vain that I have read what the law says. He saw the difference between gods and idols; and again, the difference between idols and likenesses. For he who said about idols that they are not, does not add that likenesses are not. But here he says: A "You shall not make for yourself an idol, nor any likeness of all things." It is one thing, therefore, to make an idol, another to make a likeness. For an idol is one thing, and a likeness is another. For a likeness, if you make a fish, or a quadruped, or a beast through art, or through painting, is a likeness. But idols are those things which, when someone shapes them—or which exist from their origins, for instance, a mixture of the living being—[the mind] fashions from man and horse, from serpent or bird, and sets it up to be adored, not an idol, but it has made a likeness. Or even if he has made a picture, or a statue for this purpose, he is to be called one who has made a likeness. But he is to be called an idolater, who, according to the Apostle saying that "an idol is nothing," makes that which is not. But what is that which is not? It is a species that the eye has not seen, but the soul fashions for itself. For example, if someone were to fashion a head upon human limbs, or that of a ram, or were to fashion again in one human form two faces, or were to attach to a human chest the hind parts of a horse or of birds. He who makes these and similar things does not make a likeness, but he makes an idol. And it is not, nor does it have anything like itself. And therefore B the Apostle, knowing this, says: "that an idol is nothing in the world." For it is not that some species is assumed from existing things, but what the soul itself, idle and curious, has found. It is a similarity, however, when something from among these that are either in heaven or on earth, or in the waters, is fashioned, as we said above. But it is not as with those things that are on the earth or in the sea, that are ready to be described—so also with celestial things: unless someone thinks this should be understood of the sun, and the moon, and the stars. And the nations are accustomed to express the forms of these. But because Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, he wished to prohibit even those things which were among them in secret and hidden matters: as, for instance, we also use the names of these, they call them by other names, the forms of demons, which the Apostle calls "spiritual wickedness in heavenly places." Perhaps, even, the prophet says: "and my sword is drunk in heaven." For by these forms and likenesses to invoke demons is a matter of custom, by which, because they are C curable, or to be repelled, or even to avoid evils, now the discourse of God comprehends all things at once and rejects them, and not only forbids one to become an idol, but [also] a likeness of all things that are on the earth, and in the waters, and in heaven.
4. He adds also and says: "You shall not adore them, nor shall you serve them." It is one thing to serve, another to adore. It is possible for someone sometimes inadvertently to adore, as some who flatter kings, though they have not dedicated their studies to them, have been seen to adore, when in their heart it is certain that it is no idol. To serve, however, is to be bound with all affection and study. Therefore, the divine discourse cuts off both, so that you neither serve with affection, nor adore with species. One must know, however, that when you have decreed to observe the commandment and to repudiate all other gods and lords, and to have no one besides one God and Lord, this is a war without a treaty against all others. Since, therefore, we come to grace,
A we come to Christ, although, as I said above, our soul fornicated with its lovers, the demons. But after it said, "I will return to my former husband," and it came to Christ, who created it from the beginning unto His own image, it necessarily saw its legitimate husband. We have therefore been received by Christ, and our house has been cleansed of its former sins, and adorned with the ornaments of the sacraments, which those know who have been initiated. But this house does not immediately have Christ as its inhabitant unless its life and conduct are so holy, so pure and unpolluted, that it deserves to be the temple of God. B For it should not yet be a house—it should be a temple wherein God dwells. If, therefore, [a person] neglects the grace he has received and involves himself in worldly affairs, that unclean spirit immediately returns and claims the empty house for itself. And that it may not be driven out again, it takes with it seven other spirits more wicked, and the final state of such a man becomes worse than the first; for it would have been more tolerable for the soul not to have returned to its former husband, having once withdrawn, than, after having gone out upon confession, to become an adulteress again. There is, therefore, no fellowship, as the Apostle says, [a] "of the temple with idols, no agreement of Christ with Belial." If we are God's, we must be such that what is said to us is fulfilled: "I will dwell in them, and I will walk in them, and they shall be my people." C And as the prophet says in another place: "Go out from the midst of them, and be separated, says the Lord, who carries the vessels of the Lord. Go out, and touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you, and I will be to you a father, and you shall be to me sons and daughters," says the Lord Almighty. Therefore it is said: "You shall have no other gods before me, and you shall not make for yourself an idol, nor any likeness of whatsoever is in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, or in the waters; you shall not adore them, nor serve them."
5. "For I am the Lord your God, a jealous God." D See the goodness of God, how He teaches us and makes us perfect, not refusing the frailty of our human affections. For who, when hearing God is jealous, does not immediately wonder and see in this the fault of human frailty? But God does and suffers all things for our sake, that we might be taught, and He speaks to us in familiar and customary terms. Let us see, therefore, what is meant by "I am a jealous God." That we may contemplate divine things more easily by means of human things, according to what we discussed above, let us be taught by examples. Every woman who is under a man and subject to a husband's laws, or a harlot, and uses the liberty of sinning, whoever therefore goes to a harlot, she knows that she is to him... GREEK COLUMN: For there are many things that fight and wish to drag [the soul] back again to their own portion, in accordance with the spirit that has gone forth and, finding no rest in dry places, then finds the house whence it came out to be at leisure, and though it feared to enter alone, by taking seven [others] more wicked it makes the last state of that man worse than the first. For judge him who returns to the demons, and you will find his life after these things has become worse than it was before he approached God. For a demon dwells in every one of the nations, because all the gods of the nations are demons. If you cast this one out, unless you possess Him who said, "I will dwell in them and will be their God," you have given yourself to that one and to the seven more wicked; for while God is present, they will not come; for what fellowship has righteousness with unrighteousness, or what communion has light with darkness, or what consent has the temple of God with idols, or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? 6. For we are the temple of the living God, just as God said, that "I will dwell in them and walk among them, and I will be their God and they shall be my people." For this reason, "Come out from the midst of them, and be separated, and touch no unclean thing."
A evident to all who wish; and he cannot be indignant if he sees other lovers with her as well. But he who uses lawful marriage does not allow his wife to use the power of sinning, but is inflamed with zeal to preserve the chastity of the marriage, by which he may become a legitimate father. Let us understand from this example that every soul is either prostituted to demons, and has very many lovers, so that there enters into it at one time the spirit of fornication, and when that departs, there enters the spirit of avarice; after this comes the spirit of pride, then of anger, then of envy, after that also of vainglory, and many other unclean spirits with them. But all these have intercourse with the unfaithful soul in such a way that one does not envy the other, nor are they moved to jealousy against one another. And why do I say that one does not exclude the other? Nay, they even invite one another, and of their own accord call each other together, as we said a little before, that it is written in the Gospel of that spirit which goes out of a man, and returning, brings with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, so that they might dwell in one soul together. Thus, therefore, the soul that is prostituted to demons suffers no jealousy from its lovers. But if it be joined to a legitimate husband—to that husband with B whose marriage Paul joins and unites souls, as he himself says: "For I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ" (II Cor. XI, 2)—and of whom it is written in the Gospels that a certain man made a marriage for his son; when the soul has given itself to the marriage of this man, and has obtained a legitimate marriage with him, even if it was at one time a sinner, even if it played the harlot, yet if it has surrendered itself to this husband, He does not allow it to sin further. He cannot endure that the soul which has obtained Him as its husband should again dally with adulterers, because the zeal of its husband is excited over it, and He defends the chastity of the marriage. And therefore the Lord is called "jealous," because He does not allow the soul that is betrothed to Him to be mingled with demons. Otherwise, if He sees it violating the laws of marriage, and seeking an occasion to sin, then, as it is written, He gives it a bill of divorce, and dismisses it, saying: "Where is the bill of your mother's divorce, with whom I put her away?" (Isa. L, 1). To which He also adds and says: "Behold, you have been sold for your sins, and for your iniquities I have put away your mother" (Isa. L, 1). He who speaks these things is jealous, and moved by zeal He says these things; for after the acknowledgement of Himself, after the illumination of the divine Word, after the grace of baptism, after the confession of the faith, and after marriage has been confirmed by so many and such great sacraments, He does not wish us to sin further, nor does He allow the soul—of which He is called either bridegroom or husband —to play with demons, to commit fornication with unclean spirits, with vices and impurities. A But if by chance it should happen unhappily, He awaits, having taken pity, that at least it may be converted, and return, and repent. For this is a new type of goodness, that even after adultery He receives the soul that returns and repents with its whole heart. Just as He Himself also says through the prophet: "If a woman has gone away from her husband, and has slept with another man, will she return to her husband? Will she not be defiled by contamination? But you have committed fornication with many lovers, and you returned to me" (Jer. III, 1). Elsewhere He also says: "And after you have committed fornication in all these things, I said: Return to me; and not even so have you returned, says the Lord" (Jer. III, 7). Here, therefore, if God, being jealous, seeks and desires your soul to adhere to Him, if He keeps you from sin, if He reproves, if He chastises, if He is indignant, if He is angry, and uses toward you a kind of jealousy, recognize that there is hope of salvation for you. But if, being chastised, you do not come to your senses, if being reproved you are not amended, if being scourged you show contempt; know that if you have progressed in sin that far, His zeal departs from you, and that will be said to you which is said to Jerusalem through the prophet Ezekiel: "Therefore my zeal shall depart from you, and I will not be angry over you any more" (Ezech. XVI, 43). See the mercy and piety of the good God. When He wishes to show mercy, He says He is indignant and angry, as He says through Jeremiah: "You shall be chastised, Jerusalem, with pain and the scourge, that my soul may not depart from you" (Jer. VI, 8). If you understand these things, it is the voice of a pitying God; where He is angry and jealous, there He applies pains and scourges. "For He scourges every son whom He receives" (Heb. XII, 6). But do you wish to hear the terrible voice of the indignant God? Hear what He says through the prophet; when He had enumerated many wicked things that the people had committed, He adds also these: "And for this, He says, I will not visit upon your daughters when they commit fornication, nor upon your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery" (Osee IV, 14). This is terrible, this is the extreme, when we are no longer reproved for our sins, when we are no longer corrected for our offenses. For then, when we have exceeded the measure of sinning, God, being jealous, turns His zeal away from us, as He said above: "My zeal shall be taken away from you, and I will not be angry over you any more" (Ezech. XVI, 43). These things regarding that which is said: "A jealous God."
C 6. Let us see now also what follows, how it is said that the sins of the fathers are rendered upon the children, unto the third and fourth generation. For in this passage heretics are accustomed to slander us, saying that this is not a word of a good God, which says that one is punished for the sins of another. But according to their own reasoning, those who say that God commanding these things is not good, even though they say it is just, they themselves are not even able to show how, according to their own understanding, it seems to be consistent with His justice if one is punished for another's sin.
A It remains, therefore, to entreat the Lord that He may show us how these precepts are consistent with a just and good God. We have often said that the words of divine Scripture do not all speak to the outward man, but for the most part speak to the inward man. Our inner man, therefore, is said to have God as his father if he lives according to God and does the things that are of God; or the devil, if he is in sins and does his will—as the Savior clearly shows in the Gospels when He says: "You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning and did not stand in the truth." Just as therefore the seed of God is said to remain in us when, by keeping the word of God, we do not sin, as John says: "Whoever is of God does not sin, because the seed of God remains in him," so also, when we are persuaded by the devil to sin, we receive his seed. When we even fulfill what he has suggested, then he has also begotten us. For we are born even as children through sin. Yet, because it happens almost rarely that we sin without an assistant, but we always seek out either ministers of sin or accomplices—for instance, if someone plots adultery, he cannot engage in this alone, but it is necessary that an adulteress also become a partner and ally in the sin—then, further, even if there are not many, it is nevertheless necessary that there be someone, male or female, in the ministries to the fellowship of sin; all of whom, as if begotten one from another according to the order of persuasion, derive their harmful lineage from their father the devil. B And let us come to those things which are written: the Lord of majesty, Jesus Christ our Savior, was crucified. The author of this tragedy and the father of this crime is undoubtedly the devil. For so it is written: "And when the devil had entered into the heart of Judas Iscariot, that he might betray Him." The devil, therefore, is the father of sin. In this crime, he first begets a son, Judas, but Judas could not fulfill this alone. What, therefore, is written? "He went," he says, "Judas to the Scribes and Pharisees, and to the chief priests, saying to them: 'What will you give me, and I will betray Him to you?'" There arises, therefore, from Judas, the third and fourth generation of sin. And you will be able to detect this same order in each of all sins. Now, therefore, let us see, according to this lineage we have mentioned, how God renders the sins of the fathers upon the children, unto the third and fourth generation, and does not render them upon the fathers themselves. For God said nothing about the fathers. The devil, therefore, who has already exceeded the measure of sinning, as the prophet says, just as a garment clotted with blood will not be clean, so he himself will not be clean. C The world in this age is neither punished for sin, nor scourged: for all things are reserved for him for the future. Whence he himself also, knowing that this is the appointed time of punishments for him, was saying to the Savior: "Why have You come before the time to torment us?" While, therefore, this world stands, the devil, who is the father of those who sin, does not receive his own sins. But they are rendered unto the children, that is, unto those whom he has begotten through sin. For humans, placed in the flesh, are taken by the Lord, beaten, and scourged. For the Lord does not wish the death of the sinner, but that he may turn back and live. And therefore the kind and merciful Lord renders the sins of the fathers upon the children, so that, because the fathers—that is, the devil and his angels, and the rest of the princes of this world and the rulers of these darknesses (for they too are made fathers of sin, just as the devil is)—because, I say, these fathers are unworthy to be punished in the present age, but in the future will receive what they deserve, their children, that is, those whom they have persuaded to sin, and who nevertheless have been summoned by them into the fellowship and society of sin, may here receive what they have done: so that they may proceed toward the future age more purified, and may no longer be made companions of the devil in punishment. Because, therefore, the Lord is merciful, and "wishes all men to be saved," therefore He says: "I will visit their iniquities with an iron rod, and their sins with scourges. But My mercy I will not take away from them." The Lord visits, therefore, the souls, and seeks out those whom this most wicked father has begotten by the persuasion of sin, and says to each of them: "Hear, O daughter, and see and incline your ear, and forget your people, and your father's house." D He visits you, therefore, after the sin, and warns you, and in the scourge and rod He visits you for the sin which the father, the devil, suggested to you, that He may render that unto your own bosom, that is, while you dwell in the body. And thus it is completed, that the sins of the fathers are rendered into the bosom of the children unto the third and fourth generation. For God is zealous, and the soul which He has pledged to Himself in faith, He does not wish to remain in the contamination of sin; but He wishes it to be cleansed quickly, He wishes it to cast away its own uncleannesses swiftly, if it is by chance subject to any. If, however, it remains in sins and says: "We will not hear the voice of the Lord, but we will do our own will, and we will set fire to the queen of heaven," as is reproached through the prophet: then they themselves are also reserved for that sentence of Wisdom, which says: "Because I was calling and you did not hear, but you were mocking my words; therefore I also will look upon your destruction."
or also that which is set forth in the Gospel, the Lord saying: "Depart from me into the eternal fire, which A God prepared for the devil and his angels." I pray that, while I am in this age, the Lord may visit my sins and restore me here, so that Abraham may speak about me there too, as he said about the poor man Lazarus to the rich man: "Remember, child, that you received good things in your life, and Lazarus likewise bad things. But now he is comforted here, and you are tormented." Therefore, when we are corrected, when we are chastised by the Lord, we ought not to be ungrateful, but let us understand that we are being corrected in the present age so that we may obtain rest in the future, just as the Apostle also says: "But when we are chastised by the Lord, we are corrected, so that we may not be condemned with this world." For this reason, then, the blessed Job willingly received all his punishments, and said that "if we have received good things from the hand of the Lord, shall we not also endure evils? The Lord gave, the Lord has taken away; as it pleased the Lord, so it is done; blessed be the name of the Lord." Moreover, He restores mercy unto thousands to those who love Him. For those who love do not need correction, for they do not sin, as the Lord also says: "He who loves me will keep my commandments." And therefore "perfect love casts out fear." For this reason, therefore, only mercy is set before those who love, for the merciful are blessed, because God will have mercy on them in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory and empire for ever and ever. Amen.
HOMILY IX. On the Tabernacle.
1. If anyone can worthily understand the departure of the Hebrews from Egypt, or the crossing of the Red Sea, and this whole journey which takes place through the desert and the individual stages of the encampments—if he should be capable of these things, so that he may also receive the law of God written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God; if anyone, I say, comes to these things in such a way in the order of progress that he perfectly attains each one in spirit, and the growth of virtues which is indicated in these things, he will be able consequently to arrive also at the vision and understanding of the tabernacle. About which tabernacle the divine Scriptures make mention in many places, and seem to indicate certain things of which human hearing could scarcely be capable; but especially the apostle Paul reveals to us certain signs of a higher knowledge concerning the understanding of the tabernacle, but I know not by what means, perhaps looking at the fragility of his hearers, he in some way closes what he reveals. For he says B to the Hebrews: "For a first tabernacle was made, in which were the lampstand, and the table, and the setting forth of the loaves, which was called the Holy of Holies. And after the second veil, the tabernacle which is called holy, having the golden altar of incense, and the ark of the testament, and inside it two tablets, and the manna, and the rod of Aaron that had blossomed." But he added to them: "Of which it is not now time to speak in detail." What he says, therefore, "of which it is not now time to speak in detail," some refer to the time when he was writing the Epistle to the Hebrews. To others, however, it seems that he denies that the whole time of the present life is suitable for explaining these things because of the magnitude of the mysteries. But the Apostle does not leave us sad in every way, but, as is his habit, opens a few things out of many: so that it may indeed be closed to the negligent, but be found by those who knock, and be opened to those who seek. He returns, therefore, again about the tabernacle, and says: "For Jesus has not entered into hand-made holies, the models of the true, but into heaven itself, so that he may appear now before the face of God through the veil, that is, through his flesh." He, therefore, who has interpreted the veil of the inner tabernacle as the flesh of Christ, and the holy places as heaven itself, or the heavens, and the Lord Christ as the high priest having entered once into the holies, having found eternal redemption, from these few words, if anyone knows how to understand the mind of Paul, he can observe how great a sea of understanding he has opened for us. But those who love the letter of the law of Moses sufficiently, but flee from its spirit, hold in suspicion the apostle Paul who brings forward such interpretations.
2. Let us see, therefore, if even some of the ancient saints had an opinion of the tabernacle far different from what these men now think. For David, the greatest of the prophets, how magnificently he feels about the tabernacle, listen: "As it is said," he says, "to me day by day, Where is your God? I remembered these things, and I poured out my soul within me, because I will enter into the place of the wondrous tabernacle, even to the house of God." And again in the fourteenth psalm he says: "Lord, who shall dwell in your tabernacle? Or who shall rest on your holy mountain? He who walks without stain, and works justice, etc." What then is this place of the wondrous tabernacle, from which one arrives even to the house of God, of which he was mindful, and his soul was poured out in him, and he was as if dissolved by some intolerable desire? Is it then to be believed that the Prophet, when he was pouring out his soul and turning with his whole mind, was desiring this tabernacle which consisted of skins and curtains and haircloth coverings and other materials of our use? Or indeed how will it be true for it to be said of that tabernacle that "none shall dwell in it except the innocent in hands, and clean of heart, who has not received his soul in vain"?
nor done evil to his neighbor, nor received reproach against his neighbor? Such, therefore, must be the inhabitant of this tabernacle, which the Lord established, and not man.
But let us come also to the Gospels, if we might find anything said in them concerning tabernacles, that by the pronouncement of the Lord what we seek may be made certain. We find, therefore, the Savior Jesus Christ himself mentioning not one tabernacle, but many, and not temporal ones, but eternal, when He says: "Make unto yourselves friends of the mammon of iniquity, that when you shall fail, they may receive you into everlasting tabernacles." You have heard the Lord declaring that there are eternal tabernacles; hear now also the Apostle saying: "Our tabernacle which is from heaven, desiring to be clothed upon." The way is not yet opened to you from all these things, by which, having left behind the earth, following the prophetic and apostolic sense, and (which is the greatest of all) following the word of Christ, you might with your whole mind and whole sense ascend into heaven, and there seek the magnificence of the eternal tabernacle, the figure of which is shadowed forth through Moses on earth? In fine, thus the Lord also says to him: "See," He says, "that thou do all things according to the figure which was shown thee on the mount." But the human mind, and ours especially, who know ourselves to be the least, or even nothing at all in divine wisdom, C might perhaps be able to reach thus far, that it might perceive indeed these things, which are inserted in the divine volumes, to be spoken not of earthly things, but of heavenly, and that they are forms not of present things, but of future goods, not of corporeal, but of spiritual things: but how the narration of these things can be adapted to heavenly and eternal things, it is not for our measure to speak, nor, as I suppose, for your capacity to hear. Yet we shall attempt to disclose a few things, if the Lord deign to illuminate us as you pray, which pertain to the edification of the Church.
3. The whole people is commanded, each according to his strength contributing, to make the tabernacle, so that in a certain way all together may be one tabernacle. But this contribution itself is not made by necessity, but spontaneously. For the Lord says to Moses, that everyone, according as it has seemed good to his heart, D should offer precious stones, brass, and then besides byssus, scarlet, hyacinth, and purple, and also red skins of rams, and hyacinthine skins, but also incorruptible woods, and goat hair for the construction of the tabernacle. Wise women also are required in the art of weaving, and craftsmen who might know how to prepare gold or silver, or brass, and even stones, to fashion gold and woods. Then, next, the measurements of the atria are handed down. These atria are extended by curtains, erected by columns, secured by bars, and fastened by ropes. Furthermore, certain things are made, distinct by veils, which are called the holy, and others nonetheless divided by a second veil, which are called the Holy of Holies. Inside is placed the ark of the testament, above which the cherubim, with extended wings and touching one another, are set, and there, fashioned of gold like a base, a certain table is placed, which is called (45) the propitiatory, but also the golden altar of incense (46). Then besides, in the outer place, the golden lampstand is placed on the south side, that it may look toward the north. But on the side of the north, the table is placed, and the proposition of loaves upon it. Likewise also the altar of holocausts (47) is placed next to the inner veil. But why do I revolve these things one by one? We are scarcely sufficient just to recount these things; the very form of material things can scarcely be brought before our eyes, and how will anyone be sufficient to unfold the mysteries latent in these? Nevertheless, the cause for which the tabernacle ought to be made is found predicted in the things above, the Lord saying to Moses: "Thou shalt make," He says, "for me a sanctification, and from there I shall be seen by you." God wills, therefore, that we make for Him a sanctification. For He promises that, if we shall have made for Him a sanctification, He might be seen by us. Whence also the Apostle says to the Hebrews: "Follow peace and sanctification, without which no man shall see God." This, therefore, is the sanctification which the Lord commands to be made, which the Apostle also wishes to be in virgins, that they may be holy in body and in spirit: knowing without doubt that he who shall have made for the Lord a sanctification through the purity of his heart and body, he himself shall see God. Let us therefore also make a sanctification for the Lord, and all one, and each one individually one. Perhaps we all make the sanctification the Church (49) which is holy, having not spot or wrinkle, in this way, if it has its columns, its teachers and ministers, of whom the Apostle says: "Peter, James, and John, who seemed to be pillars, gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship." In this tabernacle, therefore, columns are joined by inserted bars, while in the Church teachers are joined by the right hands given to them. But the columns…
A themselves are covered with silver, and their bases are covered with silver. But let the two bases be assigned to the individual columns. The one which is called the head, and is laid upon it; the other which is truly called the base, and is placed under the column as a foundation. The columns, therefore, are covered with silver because they preach the word of God; they receive through the Spirit "the oracles of the Lord, which are pure oracles, silver tried in the fire" (Ps. XII, 7). Indeed, these have the prophets as the bases of their preaching. For they set the Church "upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets" (Eph. II, 20), using whose testimonies they confirm the faith of Christ. And the head of the columns is He, as I think, of whom the Apostle speaks: "For the head of man is Christ" (I Cor. XI, 3). We have already spoken of the bars of the columns, the right hands of apostolic fellowship given to one another. As for the curtains—which, having been stitched to loops and suspended by rings and joined by ropes, are spread out to the measure of twenty-eight cubits in length and four in breadth, like tent-cloths—let the rest of the believing people be understood, who cling to and hang upon the ropes of faith. For a threefold cord is not easily broken (Eccl. IV, 12), which is the faith of the Trinity, from which the whole Church depends and by which it is sustained. And as for the twenty-eight cubits, as much as it is stretched in length, and four in breadth, the measure of one court, I think that the law inserted into the Gospels is signified. For the number seven is accustomed to signify the Law, owing to the many sacraments of the number seven. If it is associated with four, four times seven consequently make the number twenty-eight. And these courts are ten, that they may hold the full number of perfection and signify the Decalogue of the Law. B Indeed, by the species of scarlet, and hyacinth, fine linen, and purple, many and diverse works are explained. From these come the tent-cloths, from these the veil, outer and inner, from these the whole priestly and pontifical garment is decked out with gold and gems added to it. But lest we delay too long over the species of individual virtues, we can say briefly that those things are signified by these materials with which the Church is adorned. Its faith can be compared to gold, the speech of its preaching to silver; the endurance of patience to precious stones; knowledge, which comes through the wood, or the incorruption of chastity, which never grows old, to imperishable woods; virginity to fine linen; the glory of confession to scarlet; the brightness of charity to purple; the hope of the kingdom of heaven to hyacinth. These are, for the time being, the materials of which the whole tabernacle is built, with which the priests are clothed and the pontiff is adorned. What and of what quality their garments are, the Prophet declares in another place, saying: "Let thy priests be clothed with justice" (Ps. CXXXII, 9). All these, therefore, are garments of justice. And again the Apostle Paul says: "Put on therefore... bowels of mercy" (Coloss. III, 12). Therefore, these are garments of mercy. C But the Apostle nonetheless designates more noble garments when he says: "Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, in its concupiscences" (Rom. XIII, 14). These, therefore, are the garments with which the Church is adorned.
4. But every one of us can also establish a tabernacle to God within himself. For if, as some before us have also said, this tabernacle holds the figure of the whole world, but each individual can also have the image of the world, why should not each one be able to fulfill in himself the form of the tabernacle? He ought, therefore, to fit to himself these columns of virtues, silver columns, that is, rational patience. For there can indeed be patience in a man which might seem so, but is not rational. For even he who does not feel an injury, and therefore does not retaliate, seems patient, but this patience is not rational. This person, therefore, has columns indeed, but they are not silver. But he who suffers for the sake of the word of God, and bears it bravely, he is adorned and fortified by silver columns. He can also extend the courts within himself, when he has dilated his heart according to the voice of the Apostle saying to the Corinthians: "Be you also enlarged" (II Cor. VI, 13). D He can fortify himself with bars, when he has bound himself with the unanimity of love. He can stand upon silver bases, when he is placed upon the stability of the word of God, the prophetic and apostolic word. He can have a gilded head on the column, if the golden head is for him the faith of Christ. "For the head of every man is Christ" (I Cor. XI, 3). And he can extend the ten courts within himself, when he is not dilated by only one word of the law, nor by two or three, but is able to dilate the amplitude of the entire Decalogue of the spiritual understanding of the law, or when he has brought forth the fruit of the spirit: joy, peace, patience, kindness, modesty, faith, continence, added to which is charity, which is the mother of all. Let this soul still have in itself—which "will not give sleep to its eyes, nor slumber to its eyelids, nor rest to its temples," until it finds a place for the Lord, a tabernacle for the God of Jacob (Ps. CXXXI, 4, 5)—let it have, I say, an altar fixed within, on which it may offer to God the hosts of prayers and the victims of mercy; on which, with the knife of continence, it may sacrifice pride like a bull, slaughter anger like a ram, and immolate all luxury and lust like he-goats and kids. Let him know, however, even from these priests, how to separate the right arm, and the breast, and the jaws, that is, good works and right deeds. For let him reserve nothing for the left. Let him also have a whole breast, which is restored and a mind consecrated to God; and jaws for speaking the word of God. Let him know for himself in
A the saints also, the lampstand of light is to be placed, so that there may always be lamps burning for him, and his loins girded, and he himself like a servant who awaits his master to return from the wedding. For the Lord said of these lamps: “The lamp of your body is your eye.” But let him place this lampstand of lamps in the south, so that it may face toward the north. For when the light is kindled, that is, with a watchful heart, he ought always to look toward the north and observe him who is from the north. Just as the prophet also says that he sees a boiling cauldron, or a pot, and its face is from the face of the north. For from the north are the evils of the whole earth kindled. Let him therefore, watchful and solicitous and ardent, always look upon the deceits of the devil, and always see whence temptation is to come, whence the enemy may rush in, whence the adversary may creep up. For the apostle Peter also says: “Because your adversary the devil, like a roaring lion, goes about seeking whom he may devour.” Let the table of proposition also, having twelve loaves, be placed in the part of the north looking toward the south. Let these loaves—that is, the apostolic message, as powerful in number as in virtue, which he is commanded to place before the Lord daily—look again toward the south, whence the Lord comes: for the Lord shall come from Theman, as it is written, which is from the south. Let him also have the altar of incense in the inner chambers of his breast, that he himself may say: “For we are the good odor of Christ.” Let him also have the ark of the testament, in which are the tablets of the law, that he may meditate on the law of God day and night, and his memory may be made the ark and library of the books of God, since the prophet also calls them blessed who keep his commandments in memory, so that they may do them. Let there be inside him the urn of manna deposited, the intellect of the word of God, subtle and sweet. Let there also be the rod of Aaron within him, the priestly teaching, and the flowery severity of discipline; but above all glory, let there be to him the pontifical adornment. For that part which is the most precious of all in him can act as a pontiff within itself—that which some call the principal part of the heart, others the rational sense, or the intellectual substance, or by whatever name that portion of ours can be called within us, through which we can be made capable of God. This part in us, therefore, let it be adorned like a certain pontiff with garments, and with precious necklaces, and with the linen tunic. This species of garment is one which is led down to the feet, covering the whole body. In which it is signified that, first of all, he should be entirely clothed in chastity. Let him afterward receive also the jeweled ephod, in which the splendor of works is placed, so that men, seeing his good works, may glorify the Father who is in heaven. Let him receive also the breastplate, which can be called rational, placed upon the breast, distinguished by a quadruple row of stones.
B But let the golden plate also shine on the forehead, which is called the petal, in both of which truth and manifestation are said to be placed. I perceive in these things that are said to be placed on the breast the evangelical message, which in a fourfold order sets forth to us the truth of the faith and the manifestation of the Trinity, referring all things to the head, that is, to the nature of the one God. In these, therefore, is all truth, and all manifestation of truth. If, therefore, you wish to rightly exercise the pontificate for God, let the evangelical message and the faith of the Trinity always be had by you in your breast. To which also corresponds the apostolic message, as much in virtue as in number, so that the name of God may always be held in the head, and all things may be referred to the one God. Let the pontiff also have his coverings in his inner parts, let him have his shameful parts covered; that he may be holy in body and spirit, and pure in his thoughts and works. Let him also have bells around the perimeter of his garment, that when he enters, he says, into the holy places, he may give forth a sound, and not enter in silence. And these bells, which ought always to sound, are placed on the extreme edge of the garment, for this reason, I believe, so that concerning the last times and the end of the world you may never be silent, but may always sound therefrom, and therefrom you may dispute and speak, according to him who said: “Be mindful of your last things, and you shall not sin.” By this manner, therefore, let our interior man be adorned as a pontiff for God, so that he may be able to enter not only into the holy places, but also into the Holy of Holies; so that he may be able to approach the propitiatory where the cherubim are, and thence God may appear to him. The holy places can be those things which in the present age a holy conversation can possess. But the Holy of Holies, into which one enters only once, I think to be the passage to heaven, where the propitiatory is, and the cherubim, where God will be able to appear to those who are pure in heart, or because the Lord says: “Behold the kingdom of God is within you.” These things meanwhile, as much as could occur to our senses in passing for the present, and as much as we could regulate for the ears of the hearers, let them be spoken concerning the tabernacle, so that each one of us may strive to make a tabernacle for God within himself. For it is not in vain related concerning the fathers that they dwelt in tabernacles. I thus understand Abraham to have dwelt in tabernacles, and Isaac, and Jacob. For these built a tabernacle for God within themselves, who adorned themselves with such and so many splendors of virtues. For the royal emblem of purple shone in them, on account of which it was said to Abraham by the sons of Heth: “You are a king from God among us.” Scarlet also shone; for he led out his only-begotten to sacrifice to God, and for that reason an angel held his right hand. The hyacinth shone, when, always looking to heaven, he followed the Lord of heaven. But he was adorned in the rest similarly. I thus also understand the feast day of tabernacles.
A
The things written are: "But if a false witness stands up, bearing witness against a man concerning impiety, both men, between whom the controversy exists, shall stand before the Lord, and before the priests, and before the judges, whoever they may be in those days; and the judges shall discuss and examine diligently. And if they find that the false witness has testified unjustly, and has risen up against his brother, you shall do to him just as he attempted to do to his brother, and you shall remove the evil from your midst, so that the others, hearing, may have fear, and may not add to do any more according to this evil word among you. Your eye shall not spare him: life for life, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot." In both places similar things seem to be said, yet it is not clearly shown from which place in particular the saying that is placed in the Gospel seems to have been taken, when it says: "For you have heard that it was said: Eye for eye, tooth for tooth."
HOMILY X.
Concerning a pregnant woman who has miscarried because two men were fighting.
1. "But if two men fight and strike a pregnant woman, and her child goes forth not yet formed, he shall suffer a penalty as much as the woman's husband shall demand, and he shall give it with honor. But if it is formed, he shall give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise." First of all, I think it must be inquired into under what title of the law such statutes as these are reckoned. For it is not, as seems to the simpler folk, that everything which is decreed is called "law," but some things are indeed called law, others testimonies, others commandments and righteousnesses, others judgments. That this is collected more evidently into one is taught by the eighteenth psalm, when it says: "The law of the Lord is irreprehensible, converting souls: the testimony of the Lord is faithful, granting wisdom to the little ones. The righteousnesses of the Lord are right, gladdening the hearts: the commandment of the Lord is clear, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is holy, remaining unto the age of the age: the judgments of the Lord are true, justified in themselves." Since, therefore, there are these diversities of those things which have been decreed in the law, now the discourse B which is at hand is written under the title of righteousnesses or justifications. For thus it says above: "And these are the righteousnesses which you shall set before them." It is not, however, of the present time to explain the differences of each of these, for we are required to arrive at an explanation of those things which have been read. It is indeed to be known that a certain part of these matters about which we must discourse is placed in the Gospel according to Matthew, the Lord saying in this manner: "You have heard that it was said to the ancients: Eye for eye, tooth for tooth. But I say to you, not to resist evil. But if someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him also the other." But perhaps one who reads the Scriptures more attentively may say that the things which we have mentioned as written in the Gospel were not taken from this passage of Exodus, but rather from Deuteronomy, where nevertheless certain things are written in this way, the discourse must be turned to where two men fight, and they strike a pregnant woman, and they strike her in such a way that the infant goes forth from her, either already formed, or not yet formed. C First, indeed, let us see concerning him who has gone forth not yet formed, how one of those who are fighting is ordered to be struck with a penalty of money, when by the Scripture the guilt of the dispute is referred not to one, but to both? What also that he declares, or imposes upon him, the husband of the woman, and not upon them? And "he shall give," and not rather "they shall give" with honor? And what is this honor? But if the infant has already gone forth formed, the pregnant woman having been struck by the fighting men, we easily understand "life to be given for life," that is, that the admitted act be punished by death. But it is worth the effort to explain the things which follow: "Eye for eye, tooth for tooth." For it does not seem possible that the infant whom the woman who was struck has miscarried, even if it has gone forth formed, that we should understand that it, having been struck by the heel of the fighting man, lost an eye in the womb, for which the striker D ought to be deprived of an eye by the judges. But suppose it be even this, that it is reported as already formed; what shall we say also concerning the tooth? Could it have had teeth in the mother's womb, which the blow of the striker might knock out? If, however, we refer this to her who has miscarried, how again will it be appropriate that the woman miscarrying lose an eye, or suffer in her teeth? But suppose that she is said to have been struck in the eye, or in the tooth, and thence the cause of the miscarriage has arisen; suppose it, suppose she has received a bruise, suppose a wound; what also shall we say of "burn for burn"? Could a woman standing by the fighting men have been burned, so that "burn for burn" might be paid? Yet these individual things do not seem to me, even in the places of Deuteronomy, where things are similarly written, to provide an easy...
A answer, in that we spoke of "fathering men," we previously sent ahead how you ought to take the naming of the members, so that you might withdraw from bodily senses and grasp the understanding of the inner man. But if you wish that I satisfy you still further on this in the Scriptures, hear the Apostle saying 61: "My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you." They are therefore perfect and strong men, who immediately conceive, bring forth, and produce in their deeds the fruit of faith. But the soul that has conceived and retains it in its womb, and does not bring it forth, this is called a woman, just as the prophet says 62: "Pains of childbirth have come upon her, and the power of bringing forth is not in her." This soul, then, which for its weakness is now called a woman, is in two men B contending and bringing forth scandals—which it usually has to have the contention of words—he who is struck and he who scandalizes, so that the word of faith, which it had weakly conceived, it casts away and loses; and this is the strife and contention for the subversion of the hearers. If, therefore, an animus not yet formed has cast away the word that has scandalized it, it is said to suffer a loss. Do you wish to see that it is formed in some as a word, but in others not yet formed? The sermon of the Apostle clearly teaches us this, which we remembered above, when he says 63: "Until Christ be formed in you." Now Christ is the Word of God. Through this it shows that at the time when he was writing, the Word of God was not yet formed in them. If, therefore, it has gone forth not yet formed, it suffers a loss. Of the loss of doctrines the Apostle also teaches, when he says 64: "If any man’s work shall burn, he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire." C But the Lord says in the Gospels 65: "For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul, or cause a loss?" Whence it appears shown that some sins pertain to loss, indeed, yet not to death; because he who has suffered loss is yet said to be saved, though by fire. Whence I believe that the Apostle John in his Epistle 66 says that some sins are "unto death," and some are "not unto death." But what the species of sins unto death are, and which are not unto death but unto loss, I do not think it easy for any man to discern. For Scripture says 67: "Who can understand sins?" Nevertheless, from those things which are recounted through parables in the Gospel, we can in part distinguish which are termed losses, when there we see again some being reckoned as gain, which are said to have been sought through D transaction. For example, when they are reported as having been acquired over five minae, others two acquired others two 68: or with a drachma, or a denarius, or a talent being named, either money or some gain of works is named; but when it is said 69: "the householder to reckon with his servants, and to him one is offered" (95). "And Israel drew near to Sition," or to "Refutation." It did not apply well. Finally, look at what he encountered in this stopping place. He fornicated with the women of the Midianites, and was refuted: because he not only fornicated, but was also consecrated to the idols of the nations, and ate of those things which had been sacrificed to idols, which are certainly abominations to God. For what concord hath the temple of God with idols? But I was also very much amazed at those things which the Apostle writes to the Corinthians, saying 18: "If anyone shall see him who has knowledge reclining in an idol’s temple, will not his conscience, being weak, be built up to eat things offered to idols?" For he seems to pronounce not so much upon the thing itself as grave, as upon the offense of him who, seeing these things, is provoked by a similar example, when he is not fortified by a similar knowledge, so that he shows him who, having knowledge, reclines in an idol’s temple, to be guilty not so much of his own as of another’s loss. But see whether perhaps not only this was done among the Corinthians, that they reclined in the idol’s temple and ate things offered to idols. But perhaps because they were men studious of Greek literature, and lovers of philosophy, they were still held by the desire of former studies, and they ate the dogmas of the philosophers as if offered to idols: which yet perhaps could not hurt those who had received the full knowledge of the truth. But these who had less erudition in Christ, if they imitated them in reading such things, and still applying themselves to those studies, could be wounded and implicated in the various errors of different dogmas. Thus, therefore, it happened that another was hurt, whence he who had full knowledge of the truth could not be hurt. But since charity does not seek what is useful to itself, but to many, one ought to observe how to take such food of the Word, which not only builds us up and delights us, but also which does not offend or hurt those who see. There is, therefore, not only in foods what is offered to idols, but also in words. I think that just as every sermon which teaches piety, and justice, and truth, is consecrated to God and offered to God, so also every sermon which looks to impurity, or injustice, or impiety, may be offered to idols, and he who receives it, eats as if things offered to idols. Therefore the people ate of their sacrifices, and worshiped their idols. For the mystery of iniquity is at work. They not only ate, but also worshiped. See the order of evil: first concupiscence, thence gluttony of the belly, finally impiety captivated the servants of the Lord. But as a reward of impiety, fornication is paid out. If you reread what is written about Solomon, you will find him, even when he was very wise, to have bent his sides to many women, when the law of God says 19: "You shall not multiply women to yourself, lest perhaps they make you commit fornication from your God." Therefore, when he was placed in this state, he incurred this. He committed fornication from God: because he not only fornicated, but was also consecrated to the idols of the nations, and ate of those things which had been sacrificed to idols, which are certainly abominable to God. For what concord hath the temple of God with idols? Because it is found in our tongue that SATTIN is called ANSWER or Refutation. Whence SATTIN can be called answer or refutation, I do not see, unless perhaps from a scourge, because foolish reasons are restrained by refutation as if by a scourge, or what is a little more likely, from going around, repeating, running about. "The Lord, and he opened," and the name Beelphegor is stirred up.
4. And he said, according to what he A said, [o]r if her husband imposed, he shall give with honor. The husband of the learning soul is her master; according to what this man has said, therefore, whether it be Christ who is the master of all, or he who presides over the Church in place of Christ as a doctor of souls—he who contends with words to the subversion of those who hear—he shall suffer loss for that soul, which has cast away the infant not yet formed. This may perhaps be understood of the scandal given to a catechumen not yet formed. It may happen that he himself who caused harm may again instruct, repair, and restore to the soul the things it has lost, and this he will now do with honor, with modesty, with patience; as the Apostle says: "With meekness correcting those who resist," not with strife, as he did before, when he brought about scandal. But if the infant is already formed, "he shall give soul for soul." The formed infant may be seen as the Word of God in the heart of that soul, which has obtained the grace of baptism, or which has more evidently and clearly conceived the word of faith. If, therefore, this is cast away by the soul having been struck by the excessive contention of teachers, and it is found to be of those of whom the Apostle said: "For already some have turned back after Satan," he shall give soul for soul. Or it is to be understood of the day of judgment before God the judge, who can destroy both soul and body in hell: because elsewhere also the prophet says to Jerusalem: "I have given thy commutation, Egypt, Ethiopia, and Soene, for thee." Or certainly it may perhaps also be applied in this way, that whoever is conscious of such a great scandal B may put his own soul in place of the soul of him whom he has scandalized, and even unto death may busy himself with how he may return, how he may be repaired, how he may be restored to the faith. Let him also put eye for eye, if he has harmed the eye of the soul, that is, if he has troubled its intellect; let the eye of him who presides over the Church be taken away, and let that turbulent and fierce intellect of his which produces scandal be cut off. But also if he has harmed the tooth of the hearer, by which, receiving the food of the Word of God, he was wont either to break it or to grind it with his molars so that he might transmit a subtle sense of these to the belly of the soul; if he has vexed and pulled out this tooth, so that by his contention the soul cannot subtly and spiritually receive the word of God, let his tooth be taken away, who does not well crush and chew the food of Scripture. Perhaps for this reason it is said also elsewhere by the Lord: "Thou hast broken the teeth of sinners." And elsewhere nonetheless it is written: "He that eats a sour thing, his teeth shall be set on edge." And elsewhere: "The Lord shall break the molars of lions." Thus, therefore, through the members the soul is said to be harmed and struck, and "hand for hand and foot for foot" is requested. The hand is the virtue of the soul, by which it can hold and constrain something, just as if we were to say its actions and strength; and the foot is that by which it walks toward good or evil. Because, therefore, if the soul suffers scandal, it is cast down not only in faith but also in actions, which are signified by the hand; and both the feet of him who offered the obstacle shall be taken away, and the hands by which he does not work well, and the feet by which he does not walk well. He will also receive "burning for burning," with which he burned and delivered the soul to hell. Through each of which it is shown that this striker, with all his members cut off, should be excised from the body of the Church; so that the rest, he says, seeing it, may have fear and not do the like. Therefore, the Apostle also, when he describes the doctor C of the Church, among other things commands him not to be a striker, nor one striking pregnant women, souls not yet wise; let him put soul for soul, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. Such also are those souls whom the Lord even laments in the Gospel when he says: "Woe to them that are with child and that give suck in those days," in which they shall be scandalized, if it be possible, even the elect. It must be known, however, that it is not for the perfect to be scandalized, but for either women or little ones, just as the Lord also says in the Gospel: "If anyone shall scandalize one of these little ones." A little one, therefore, is he who is least, who can be scandalized: "But the spiritual man judgeth all things," he tests all things, and holds fast to what is good, and abstains from every appearance of evil. These things, as far as they could occur to us, we have stated in the present chapter. But let us ask of the Lord that he may deign to reveal to us the things which are perfect, through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom is glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
HOMILY XI.
Concerning the thirst of the people at Raphidin, and concerning the war of the Amalekites, and concerning the arrival of Jethro.
1. Since he who wishes to live piously in Christ suffers persecution, and is attacked by enemies, he who is acting out the journey of this life ought always to be armed and always to stand in camp. Therefore it is reported concerning the people of God: "The whole congregation of the children of Israel set out, he says, from the desert of Sin, according to"
the word of the Lord. A It is therefore one synagogue of the Lord, but this one is divided into four camps. For four camps are described around the tabernacle of the Lord, as is related in Numbers. You, therefore, be always watchful and be always armed, and know that if you are to serve in the camp of the Lord, observe that commandment, that "no one serving God entangles himself in worldly affairs, so that he may please the one who chose him" to be a soldier; and if you are free from worldly affairs and are in the camp of the Lord, always keep watch. And it is said that "you leave the desert of Sin and come to Rephidim." For Sin is interpreted as "temptation," but Rephidim as "the soundness of judgment." He who emerges well from temptation, and makes the temptation a useful test, has come to the soundness of judgment; for in the day of judgment there will be soundness with him who was not wounded in temptation, just as it is written in the Apocalypse: "He who overcomes, I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God." He, therefore, has come to the soundness of judgment who well arranges his words in judgment.
2. But what is it that follows? "The people thirsted there," he says, "for water, and they murmured against Moyses." It seems perhaps to be said superfluously, that the people thirsted for water. It would have sufficed to say that they thirsted; what need was there to add "thirsted for water"? The addition is not superfluous. There are diverse thirsts, and everyone has a proper thirst. Blessed are they who, according to the word of the Lord, hunger and thirst after righteousness; and others, who thirst for nothing. "My soul has thirsted for you." But they who are sinners, they suffer not the thirst of water, nor the hunger for bread, but a thirst for hearing the word of God. C Therefore, it is added here that the people thirsted for water, who should have thirsted for God, who should have thirsted for righteousness. But because God is truly a teacher of infants, and a master of the foolish, he corrects faults, and amends errors, and says to Moyses that he should take the staff, and striking the rock, should bring out water. For he wants them now to drink from the rock, he wants them to proceed and come to the interior mysteries. For they murmured against Moyses, and because of this, the Lord commands him to show them the rock, from which they may drink. Who is it that, reading Moyses, murmurs against him, and finds displeasing the law which is written according to the letter, which in many ways does not seem to preserve consistency, he shows him the rock, which is Christ, and leads him to it, so that he may drink from it and refresh D his thirst. But this rock, unless it were struck, would not give water; having been struck, it produces fountains. For Christ was struck, and having been pierced on the cross, he produced the fountains of the New Testament; and therefore it is said of him, that "I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be dispersed." It was necessary, therefore, that he be struck. Unless he had been struck, and water and blood had flowed from his side, we would not all have thirsted for the word of God. This is what is interpreted, that "all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. They drank from the spiritual, following rock, and the rock was Christ." Observe, however, that God said in this place to Moyses: "Go before the people, and take with you the elders of the people." Not only does Moyses lead the people to the waters of the rock, but the elders of the people go with him. For not only does the law announce Christ, but the prophets and the patriarchs, and all the elders.
3. After this, a battle is described fought with the Amalecites, as the people are reported to have fought and overcome. Before they ate the bread from heaven, and drank water from the rock, the people are not reported to have fought, but it is said to him: "The Lord will fight for you, and you will be silent." There is, therefore, a time when the Lord fights for us, and does not permit us to be tempted beyond what we are able, nor does he allow the weak to come against the strong. Finally, Job has already completed all that most famous struggle of temptation. And you, therefore, when you have begun to eat the manna, the heavenly bread of the word of God, and to drink the water of the rock, and have approached the interior spiritual doctrines, I hope for the battle; and prepare yourself for the war. With the war imminent, we see what Moyses commands: "He said, he says, to Jesus: 'Choose for yourself men, and go out, and fight with Amalec tomorrow.'" Up to this point, there is no mention of the name of Jesus. Here for the first time the splendor of this name shone forth. Here for the first time Moyses called him Jesus, and said to him: "Choose for yourself men." Moyses calls Jesus, the Law calls Christ, let it choose for you powerful men among the people. And yet he could not choose, but Jesus is the one who can choose powerful men, who says: "You did not choose me, but I chose you." For he himself is the leader of the elect, he himself is the prince of the powerful, he himself is the one who enters into the house of the strong man and binds the strong man, and carries off his vessels.
A But in the meantime, let us see what the present history reveals: "Moses," it says, "ascended to the top of the hill." He has not yet ascended to the top of the mountain, but to the top of the hill; for it was reserved for him to ascend to the top of the mountain at that time when Jesus was to ascend, and Moses and Elijah with him, to be transformed there in glory. Now, therefore, as if not yet glorified by the transformation of Jesus, he has not yet ascended to the top of the mountain, but has ascended to the top of the hill: "And it came to pass," it says, "when Moses would lift up his hands, Israel became stronger." Moses, indeed, lifted his hands, but he did not extend them; but Jesus, who was to embrace the whole world with his arms, having been exalted on the cross, says: "I have stretched out my hands to a disobedient and gainsaying people." Moses, therefore, lifts up his hands, and when he would lift up his hands, Amalek was overcome. To lift up one's hands is to lift up one's works and actions to God, and not to have one’s actions cast down and lying on the ground, but pleasing to God and raised toward heaven. Therefore, he lifts up his hands who lays up treasure in heaven; for where his treasure is, there is his eye, and there his hands. He also lifts up his hands who says: "The lifting up of my hands is an evening sacrifice." If, therefore, our actions are lifted up and are not upon the earth, Amalek is overcome. But the Apostle also commands us to lift up holy hands without wrath and disputation; and he said to some: B "Lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet." If, therefore, the people keep the law, Moses lifts up his hands and the adversary is overcome. If they do not keep the law, Amalek gains strength. Since, therefore, we have a struggle against principalities and powers, and the rulers of the darkness of this world, if you wish to conquer and to prevail, lift up your hands, and lift up your actions, and let not your way of life be on earth, but as the Apostle said: "Walking upon the earth, our citizenship is in heaven." And thus you will be able to overcome the people of Amalek who oppose you, so that it may be said of you also: "For the Lord was fighting against Amalek in an hidden hand." Lift up your hands also to God and fulfill the command by which the Apostle says: "Pray without ceasing," and then that which is written will come to pass, that "as the ox licks up the grass on the green plains, so shall this people lick up all that are round about them." By which, as we have received from those before us, it is said to be signified that the people of God did not fight so much with hand and iron as with voice and tongue, that is, by pouring out prayer to God, they laid low their enemies. Therefore, so too do you, if you wish to conquer your enemies, lift up your actions to God, as the Apostle says: "Instant in prayer and watching in the same." For this is the struggle of a Christian, by which he overcomes the enemy. I think, however, that by this figure Moses also denotes the form of two peoples, and shows that there is one people from the Gentiles that lifts up the hands of Moses and raises them—that is, who lifts up in the sublime things that Moses wrote, and establishes their understanding in the heights, and through this conquers; but that there is another who, because it does not lift up the hands of Moses, nor raises them from the earth, nor considers anything high or subtle in it, is overcome by its adversaries and is cast down.
C 5. After these things Jethro his father-in-law comes to Moses. But he goes out to meet him from the camp, and he does not lead him to the mountain of God, but leads him to his tent. For the priest of Midian could not ascend to the mountain of God, nor could he or the wife of Moses even descend into Egypt, but now he comes to him with his sons. For no one can descend into Egypt and undergo the Egyptian struggles unless he has been a proven athlete, and such as the Apostle says, "Everyone who strives in the games exercise temperance in all things; and they indeed to receive a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible one. I therefore so run, not as at an uncertain thing; so fight I, not as one beating the air." Moses, therefore, because he was a great and powerful athlete, descended to the struggles and exercises of virtues. But Abraham also descended into Egypt, because he himself was a great and powerful athlete. For what shall I say about Jacob, who is an athlete by the very name? For he is interpreted as a wrestler and a supplanter. And therefore when Jacob had descended into Egypt with seventy-five souls, he became as the stars of heaven in multitude. But all who descend into Egypt fight and finish the struggle in such a way that they become a multitude, and are multiplied like the stars of heaven. For others, descending into Egypt results in the contrary. I know that Jeroboam, fleeing from Solomon, descended into Egypt, and not only did he not grow into a multitude, but he also divided and corrupted the people of God, because, descending into Egypt, he received from Shishak the king the wife of Thecimena, sister to his wife. But in the meantime, Jethro came to Moses, bringing with him his daughter, the wife of Moses, and his sons. "And Aaron," it says, "and all the presbyters of Israel came to eat bread with the father-in-law of Moses in the presence of God." Not all eat bread in the presence of God, but those who are presbyters, who are the elders, who are perfect and proven by their merits.
For they observe what the Apostle says: "Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God" (1 Cor. 10:31). Therefore, all that the saints do, they do in the presence of God. But the sinner flees from the presence of God. Finally, it is written that Adam, after he had sinned, fled from the presence of God, and when questioned answered: "I heard thy voice, and I hid myself because I was naked" (Gen. 3:10). And Cain also, after being condemned by God for fratricide, "went out," it says, "from the face of God, and dwelt in the land of Nod" (Gen. 4:16). He went out, therefore, from the face of God, who is unworthy of the presence of God. But the saints eat and drink in the presence of God, and all things that they do, they do in His presence. Discussing this present passage still more fully, I perceive that those who receive a fuller knowledge of God, and are more fully imbued with divine teachings, these also, if they commit sin, do so before God and in His presence, as he said: "Against thee only have I sinned, and done evil in thy sight" (Ps. 50:6). What advantage, then, has he who does evil before God? This, truly: that he repents immediately and says, "I have sinned." But he who departs from the presence of God knows not how to be converted, nor how to purge his sin by repenting. This, therefore, is the difference: to do evil before God, versus to have departed from God's presence while sinning. B
6. But I see that Jethro did not come to Moses in vain, nor did he eat bread with the elders of the people in the presence of the Lord in vain. For he gives counsel to Moses, quite reasonable and useful, to choose men and appoint them as princes of the people, men worshiping God, powerful men, and those who hate pride. For it is fitting that the princes of the people be such that they not only are not proud, but that they even hate pride—that is, that they themselves not only are without vice, but that they also hate vices in others. I do not say to hate the humans, but the vices. "And you shall appoint," he says, "tribunes, and centurions, and fifty-men, and ten-men, and they shall judge the people at all times. And the word that is too hard for them, they shall refer to you" (Exod. 18:21). Let the princes of the people and the presbyters of the populace hear that they ought to judge the people at all times, to sit in judgment always and without ceasing, to resolve disputes, to reconcile those who disagree, and to call the discordant back to grace. Let each one learn his duty from the Holy Scriptures. Moses, he says, is to be in those things that pertain to God, and to expound the word of God to the people. But the other princes, whom they call tribunes (for they are called tribunes because they preside over tribes)—therefore the rest, the tribunes, or centurions, or fifty-men, C should preside over the lesser judgments, resolving those that pertain to individual cases. I think, moreover, that this very figure is given not only to the Church in the present age, but is also to be maintained in the future. Hear finally what the Lord says in the Gospel: "When," he says, "the Son of man shall sit on the throne of his glory, you also shall sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel" (Matt. 19:28). You see, therefore, that not only does the Lord judge, to whom the Father has given all judgment, but He also appoints for Himself other princes who may judge the people in lesser cases, while the word that is too hard for them they refer to Him. For this reason, the Lord also said concerning one person that "he shall be liable to the council," and of another, "he shall be liable to the judgment," and of another, "he shall be liable to the hell of fire" (Matt. 5:22). But we are told that we shall render an account for every idle word, and He did not say that we shall render an account to God, as He says concerning perjury: "But perform to the Lord your oaths" (Matt. 5:33). Truly, even "the queen of the south will rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation, and will condemn them" (Matt. 12:42). Behold, another kind of judgment. "He who has ears to hear, let him hear" (Matt. 13:43). For all these things are a type and shadow of heavenly things, and an image of things to come (Col. 2:17). But as we read in the Scripture that "the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear with hearing" (Eccl. 1:8), so neither can we be satisfied in observing and considering what things are written—how many parts edify us, and in how many ways they instruct us. For when I perceive that Moses the prophet, full of God, to whom God spoke face to face, accepted counsel from Jethro, the priest of Midian, I fall into a stupor of mind from immense admiration. For the Scripture says: "And Moses heard the voice of his father-in-law, and did all that he said to him" (Exod. 18:24). He did not say, "God speaks to me, and what I ought to do is brought to me by heavenly discourse; and how shall I accept counsel from a man, and from a Gentile man, one alien to the people of God?" But he hears his voice and does everything he says, and he listens not to who is speaking, but to what is spoken. Whence we, too, if we ever find something wisely said by Gentiles, ought not immediately to despise both the sayings along with the name of the author, nor, because we possess the law given by God, does it befit us to swell with pride and despise the words of the wise, but as the Apostle says: "Test all things; hold fast what is good" (1 Thess. 5:21). But who today among those who preside over the people—I do not say if some things have already been revealed to him by God, but if he has some merit in the knowledge of the law—deigns to accept counsel from an inferior, at least a priest? Let alone, I might say, a layman? D
Or even a Gentile? But Moses, who was a man meek A above all others, accepted the counsel of an inferior, so that he might give the leaders of the people a pattern of humility and designate an image of the future sacrament. For he knew that it would one day happen that the Gentiles would offer good counsel to Moses, such that they would bring a good and spiritual understanding to the law of God; and he knew that the law would hear them, and do all things as they say. For the law cannot do as the Jews say, because the law is weakened in the flesh, that is, in the letter, and it can do nothing according to the letter: for the law brings nothing to perfection. According, however, to the counsel which we bring to the law, all things can be done spiritually. Sacrifices can also be offered spiritually, which in the present cannot be offered carnally. The law of leprosy can also be kept spiritually, which cannot be kept according to the letter. Thus, therefore, in the way we understand, in the way we perceive, and give counsel, the law does everything; but according to the letter, not everything, but very few things.
7. After this, when Jethro had departed and Moses had come from Raphidim into the desert of Sinai, and the Lord had descended there to Moses in a pillar of cloud, so that the people might see and believe him, and hear his words, the Lord said to Moses: "Descend, testify to the people, and sanctify them today, and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments, and be ready for the third day." If there is anyone who comes to hear the word of God, let him hear what the Lord has commanded: one must come sanctified to hear the word, C he must wash his garments. For if you have brought filthy garments here, you will also hear: "Friend, how did you enter here not having a wedding garment?" Therefore, no one can hear the word of God unless he has first been sanctified, that is, unless he has been holy in body and spirit, unless he has washed his garments. For he is about to enter shortly to the wedding feast; he is about to eat of the flesh of the Lamb; he is about to drink the cup of salvation. Let no one enter this feast in filthy garments. For Wisdom also commanded this elsewhere, saying: "At all times let your garments be clean." Your garments were washed once when you came to the grace of baptism; you were purified in body, cleansed from every defilement of flesh and spirit. Therefore, do not make unclean what God has cleansed. Hear then now the manner of sanctification: "Do not approach," he says, "a woman today and tomorrow, so that on the third day you may hear the word of God." This is what the Apostle also says: "It is good for a man not to touch a woman"; saving, however, the remedy for those who, because of their weakness, require the wedding remedy. Nevertheless, let us hear the counsel of the Apostle saying: A "Because the time is short, it remains that those who have wives should be as though they had none, and those who buy, as though they did not possess, and those who use this world, as though they did not use it. For the fashion of this world passes away," the temporal kingdom passes away, so that the perpetual and eternal one may come: just as we are commanded to say in prayer: "Thy kingdom come," in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom is glory and power for ever and ever. Amen.
HOMILY XII.
On the glorified face of Moses, and the veil which he placed upon his face.
1. The reading from Exodus given to us, which either incites us to the search for understanding or repels us. It incites studious and free minds; it repels the sluggish and occupied, for it is written: "For Aaron and all the sons of Israel saw Moses, and his face was glorified, and the color of his countenance, and they feared to approach him." And after a little: "He placed," he says, "a veil over his face. But when he entered into the presence of the Lord, that he might speak to Him, he would take off the veil." B But the Apostle, discussing this with that magnificent sense which he uses in his other writings, concerning which he said: "But we have the mind of Christ," says: "But if the ministry of death, fashioned in letters upon stones, was in glory, so that the sons of Israel could not look upon the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which fades away, how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more in glory?" And again a little later he says: "And not as Moses placed a veil upon his face, so that the sons of Israel might not look upon the face of his countenance. For their senses were dulled, even unto this day. For when Moses is read, a veil is placed over their heart." Who would not admire the magnitude of the mysteries? Who would not fear the mark of a dulled heart? The face of Moses was glorified, but the sons of Israel could not look upon the face of his countenance; the people of the Synagogue could not look upon it. C But if anyone can have a conduct and a life more eminent than the rest of the common crowd, he can look upon the glory of his countenance. "And for now," as the Apostle says, "a veil is placed in the reading of the Old Testament: and now Moses speaks with a glorified countenance, but the glory which is in his countenance we cannot look upon." And we cannot, for this reason, that we are still people, and we have no study, no merit, beyond the rest of the mob. But because the holy Apostle says: "But that same veil remains in the reading of the Old Testament," the sentence of such and so great an Apostle would cut off from us every hope of understanding, had he not added: "But when one is converted to the Lord, D the veil will be taken away." Therefore the cause of removing the veil…
A he says is our conversion to the Lord. From this we must infer for ourselves that as long as our understanding is hidden from us while we read the divine Scriptures, and as long as what is written is obscure and closed to us, we have not yet been converted to the Lord. For if we had been converted to the Lord, without doubt the veil would be taken away.
2. But let us see what it is to be converted to the Lord. And so that we may know more clearly what "converted" means, we must first say what it is to be "a-verted" (turned away). Every man who, when the words of the Law are recited, is occupied with common gossip, is turned away. Everyone who, when Moses is read, worries about business matters, money, and profit, is turned away. Everyone who is gripped by the desire for possessions or is puffed up by the love of wealth, or who is eager for the glory of the age and the honors of the world, is turned away. But even one who seems alien to these things, yet stands there hearing the words of the Law while his heart and his thoughts wander, though his face and eyes are attentive, he too is turned away. What, therefore, is it to be converted? It is if we turn our backs on all these things, and apply ourselves to the work of the Word of God with our efforts, our actions, our minds, and our anxieties, and if we meditate on his Law day and night, neglecting all else to make room for God, and exercising ourselves in his testimonies—this is what it means to be converted to the Lord. If you wanted your son to learn what they call the liberal B arts, to know grammar or rhetorical discipline, would you not render him empty and free from all other things? Would you not, setting aside the rest, make him apply his efforts to this one study? You see that tutors, masters, books, and expenses are not lacking in any way, until he brings back the perfected work of his intended study. Which of us thus converts himself to the study of the divine Law? Which of us has applied himself to it in this way? Who seeks divine studies with as much zeal and labor as he has sought human ones? And why do we complain if we are ignorant of what we have not learned? Some of you C as soon as you have heard that the readings are being recited, depart immediately. There is no inquiry among you about these things that have been said, no discussion, nowhere the memory of that command by which the divine Law moves you: "Ask your fathers, and they will tell you; your elders, and they will declare it to you." Others do not even wait patiently for this, until the readings are recited in the Church. Others indeed do not even know if they are being recited, but are occupied with secular gossip in the more remote places of the Lord's house. Of these, therefore, I have dared to say that, when Moses is read, there is no longer just a veil upon their hearts, but a certain wall and rampart has been placed.
D For if the man who is present, who listens, and who is intent, and who reconsiders and discusses what he hears, and questions and learns about those things he cannot grasp, is still barely able to arrive at the liberty of knowledge, how is the man to be described who hides his ears so as not to hear, and turns his back to the face of the reader—the man to whom not even the veil of the letter, which is the sound of the voice by which the sense is veiled, has reached? It is evident, therefore, what a figure it is, how the face of Moses is made glorious: for the things he speaks hold glory, but this is covered and hidden, and all his glory is interior.
3. Consider also what it is that, in the Law, the face of Moses is reported to be glorified, although it is covered by a veil; but his hand, having been put into his bosom, is remembered as having been made leprous, like snow. In this, it seems to me, the form of the entire Law is most fully designed. For in his face the discourse of the Law is designated, and in his hand its works. Because, therefore, from the works of the Law no one was to be justified, and the law could lead no one to perfection, for that reason the hand of Moses becomes leprous and is hidden in his bosom, as if it were to hold no perfect work; but his face is glorified, yet it is covered by a veil, because his discourse has the glory of knowledge, but it is hidden. Whence also the prophet says: "Unless you hear, your soul will weep in secret," and David says: "The uncertain and hidden things of your wisdom you have manifested to me." In the Law, therefore, Moses has only his face glorified, nor do his hands have glory, but rather contempt: nor even his feet. Finally, he is ordered to remove his footwear; thus there was no glory in his feet, although this too happened not without some form of mystery. For the feet are the most recent (last) part of a man. It was shown, therefore, that in the latter times Moses would remove his footwear so that another might receive the bride, and she would be called the house of him who is unshod until this very day. Moses, therefore, has nothing else in the Law that is glorious, except for his face alone. But in the Gospels, he is completely glorified in his entirety. For hear what is said in the Gospels: "When Jesus had ascended the high mountain, taking with him Peter, and John and James, he was transfigured there before them: and behold, he says, Moses and Elias appeared in glory, speaking with him." Here it is not reported that his face was glorified, but that he appeared wholly in glory, speaking with Jesus, and there is fulfilled for him that promise which he received on Mount Sinai, when it was said to him: "You shall see my back parts." He saw, therefore, his back parts.
For he saw what was done in the latter and final days, and rejoiced. For just as Abraham desired to see the day of the Lord, and saw it, and rejoiced, so also Moses desired to see the day of the Lord, and he saw it, and rejoiced; and he rightly rejoiced, because he descended from the mount not only glorified in face, but he ascended onto the mount wholly glorified. Moses undoubtedly rejoiced that he whom he had spoken of as, "The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet from among your brothers, just as you will listen to me in all things," he now beheld to be present, and that it gave credence to his words. And so that he might not hesitate in anything, he hears the paternal voice saying: "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased: listen to him." Moses had long since said, "You shall listen to him"; now the Father says: "This is my Son, listen to him"; and He points out the present One of whom He speaks. It seems to me that Moses rejoiced for this reason, because he himself in a certain way now cast off the veil, turning to the Lord, when the things which he foretold were evidently fulfilled; or when the time arrived that the things he had veiled should be revealed by the Holy Spirit. A
4. Yet the words of the holy Apostle must be reconsidered, and one must consider what his meaning is when he said: "But if anyone has turned to the Lord, the veil is taken away," and then added: "Now the Lord is Spirit"; by which he seems to interpret what the Lord is. For who does not know that the Lord is Spirit? But was he treating here of the Lord’s nature or substance, that he should say the Lord is Spirit? Let us see, then, that the veil may not be placed over our heart, not only when Moses is read, but also when Paul is read. And clearly, if we listen negligently, if we bring no study to bear upon our instruction and understanding, not only the Scripture of the Law and the Prophets, but also that of the Apostles and Gospels is covered for us with a great veil. As for me, I fear that through excessive negligence and dullness of heart, the divine volumes are not only veiled for us, but even sealed; so that if a book were given to be read into the hands of a man who does not know letters, he would say that he does not know letters; if it were given into the hands of a man who knows letters, he would say that it is sealed. Whence it is shown that we must not only apply study to learning the sacred letters, but must also suppliantly entreat the Lord, and make petition day and night that the Lamb who comes from the tribe of Judah might deign to open the sealed book. For He is the One who, opening the Scriptures, ignites the hearts of the disciples, so that they say: "Was not our heart burning within us when He opened the Scriptures to us?" May He, therefore, also deign to open to us even now what He inspired His Apostle to say: "Now the Lord is Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." I, indeed, as far as I can perceive from the smallness of my understanding, think that the Word of God is mentioned in connection with what concerns the hearers, as we have often said: now as the way, now as the truth, now as the life, now as the resurrection, now even as flesh, and now in truth as Spirit. B For although He truly received from the Virgin the substance of flesh, in which He also endured the cross and initiated the resurrection, yet there is a place where the Apostle says: "Even if we have known Christ according to the flesh, but now we know Him no longer." Because, therefore, His discourse even now provokes the hearers to a more subtle and spiritual understanding, and wishes them to perceive nothing carnal in the Law, it is said: "Let him who wants the veil taken away from his heart turn to the Lord," not as if to the Lord in the flesh—for it is also this, because "the Word was made flesh"—but as if to the Lord who is Spirit. For if one turns as if to the Lord who is Spirit, he will come from carnal things to spiritual things, and will pass to liberty from servitude: "For where," he says, "the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." And that what is said may become even more evident, let us use other thoughts of the Apostle. He says to some whom he had sensed were incapable, "For I judged myself to know nothing among you, except Christ Jesus, and him crucified." He was not saying to such as these that the Lord is Spirit, nor was he saying to them that Christ is the wisdom of God. For they were unable to recognize Christ according to that which He is the wisdom of God, but according to that which He was crucified. But to those to whom he was saying: "We speak wisdom among the perfect, but not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this world, who are being destroyed, but we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, hidden," they did not need to receive the Word of God according to this, that He was made flesh, but according to this, that He is wisdom hidden in a mystery. So, therefore, even in this place, to those who are provoked from a carnal to a spiritual understanding, it is said: "Now the Lord is Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." C But in order to show that he himself had already arrived at the liberty of knowledge, and had been divested of the servitude of the veil, he adds to these things, and says: "But we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord." If, therefore, we also entreat the Lord that He may deign to take the veil from our heart, we can grasp spiritual understanding, if, however, we turn to the Lord and seek the liberty of knowledge. But how can we find liberty, we who serve the age, who serve money, who serve the desires of the flesh? I rebuke myself, I judge myself, I accuse my own faults; let those who hear see what they think of themselves. I, meanwhile, say that, until I serve one of these, I am not turned to the Lord, nor have I attained any liberty, so long as such business and worries bind me. I am a slave to the task and worry by which I am bound. For I know it to be written, that D
A everyone is enslaved to the one by whom he is overcome, even if the love of money does not overcome me, even if the care for possessions and riches does not bind me, yet I am desirous of praise and I seek human glory; if I depend upon the faces and words of men, what that man may think of me, how he may treat me, whether I displease him, whether I please him. As long as I seek these things, I am their slave. But I wished at least to do enough in this, if I might be able to become free, if I might be able to be absolved from the yoke of this base servitude, and to arrive at liberty according to the warning of the Apostle who says: "You were called into liberty; do not become slaves of men." But who shall grant me this manumission? Who shall deliver me from this most shameful servitude, unless He who said: "If the Son shall make you free, you shall be truly free"? For I know that a slave cannot be gifted with liberty unless he serves faithfully, unless he loves the Lord. And therefore let us also serve faithfully, and with all our heart, and with all our soul, and with all our strength let us love the Lord our God, that we may deserve to be gifted with liberty by Christ Jesus His Son our Lord, to whom is glory and power for ever and ever. Amen.
175 HOMILY XIII.
Of those things which are offered for the tabernacle.
1. We have already spoken before concerning the tabernacle for the sake of the men; but because the description itself is often repeated in the book of Exodus—for it is spoken of both when the Lord commanded Moses how it ought to be done, and again when Moses commanded the people to offer the materials for the building of the work, just as this reading contains, which has now been recited to us; and furthermore the individual things are enumerated, when they are fashioned by Bezalel and the other wise men, and again when they are brought to the sight of Moses; and again, when they are dedicated by the command of the Lord; it happens moreover in other books and places also, that a commemoration of these things is made, and it is frequently repeated, as though it were necessarily reminded—now therefore that discourse has been recited to us, where it says: "And Moses said to all the assembly of the children of Israel, saying: This is the word which the Lord commanded, saying: Take from among yourselves an heave-offering to the Lord. Everyone who has conceived in his heart, let him offer first-fruits to the Lord: gold, silver, bronze, blue, purple, scarlet doubled, and twisted linen, goat skins, and rams' skins dyed red, and hyacinthine skins, incorruptible wood, and sardine stones, and stones for sculpture in the ephod and for the breastplate; and let every wise-hearted man among you come and work all that the Lord hath commanded." When I consider myself first, and examine, I am ashamed to set my hand to unfold these things. For I B truly fear—lest perhaps even if the Lord deigned to reveal to someone, as perhaps He deigns (for I have not dared to speak regarding myself), I fear, I say, and I greatly doubt if he might find listeners: and since it is so, lest perhaps by him who will try to explain it, it might be asked, where, or how, or before whom the pearls of the Lord are cast. But because you greatly expect that some of these things which have been read should be discussed, and my Lord commands me, saying: "It behooved you to give my money to the table, and I coming with interest would surely have exacted it": I Myself shall pray that He may deign to make my word His money, so that I may speak not my own money, not my own gold to you, but His which is lent, for I shall speak by His word and by His sense, and I shall carry these to the table of your hearing. You for your part shall see to it, receiving the Lord's money, how you may prepare its interest for the coming Lord. But the interests of the Word of God are to have in the use of life and deeds those things which the word of God has commanded. If therefore, hearing the Word, you use it, and act according to those things which you hear, and live according to these, you prepare interests for the Lord: and it can come to pass that each one of you may make ten out of five talents, and hear from the Lord: "Well done, good and faithful servant; you shall have power over ten cities." Only take care of this, that no one of you gather the received money, or hide it in a napkin, or bury it in the earth, because you well know what the end of such a man is at the arrival of the Lord. We shall therefore attempt a few things out of many, or rather fewer out of few, inasmuch as our discourse is to be weighed, and your hearing. C
2. First of all, let us see what it is that Moses says to the children of Israel: "Take from among yourselves an heave-offering to the Lord, everyone who has conceived in his heart, let him offer first-fruits to the Lord." Moses does not want you to offer to God anything that is outside of you; "from among yourselves," he says, "take, and offer first-fruits to the Lord, according as each one has conceived in his heart." Gold is ordered to be brought, and silver, bronze and the rest of the materials; how can I offer this from myself? Is gold or silver born within me, or the rest of the things which are ordered? Does not each one produce this from his own storehouses and chests? What then is it that Moses says, "Offer from among yourselves," and "each one as he has conceived in his heart"? That gold indeed and silver and the rest of the materials, from which the tabernacle was constructed, it is clear were brought from the chests and storehouses of each one. But the spiritual law requires gold for the tabernacle which is within us, silver which is within us, and it demands all those other materials which we can have within ourselves and produce from ourselves. D For Scripture says, that Moses says to the children of Israel: "Take from among yourselves an heave-offering to the Lord, everyone who has conceived in his heart, let him offer first-fruits to the Lord."
A what are the first-fruits of gold, or what are the first-fruits of silver? But how are scarlet, and purple, and fine linen to be brought? Or how does one offer what he has conceived in his heart? Let this now strike each of us, and let us see together how one conceives in the heart. How are we present here, and how is the Word of God handled? There are some who conceive what they have read, there are some who do not conceive at all what is said, but their heart and mind are in the affairs of the world, or in the calculations of profit, and especially the women, how do you think they conceive in their heart, who chatter so much, who disturb things with so many fables, and do not hold their peace? Now, what am I to say about their mind, what am I to discuss about their heart, if they think of their infants, or of wool, or of the necessities of the B house? I fear rather that those words of the Apostle might follow them: "They learn to go about from house to house, not only idle, but also gossips, and busybodies, saying things which they ought not." How then do such as these conceive in the heart? No one conceives in the heart unless he is at leisure in the heart, unless he is free in mind and fully intent, unless he is awake in the heart; no one can conceive and offer gifts to God. If we have neglected this until now, let us at least be more attentive from this point on, and let us strive anxiously, that we may be able to conceive in the mind. For it is right that in the tabernacle of the Lord everyone should be found to have his own portion. For it is not the case that each one offers whatever he pleases to God. How glorious it is, if it be said in the tabernacle of the Lord: "This gold is the Word of God, C by which the Ark of the Testament is covered, that is his; silver, of which the bases and columns are made, is his; bronze, of which the rings, and the lampstand, and not a few of the bases of the columns were made, is his; and those stones for the ephod and the breastplate are his; and the purple with which the high priest is adorned is his; and the scarlet is his, and the rest, each thing by itself." And on the other hand, how unseemly it would be, how miserable it would be, if when the Lord comes to search the building of the tabernacle, he finds no part of your gift in it, knows nothing to be offered by you. Thus you have lived as an infidel, and nothing of your memory is preserved in the tabernacle of God. For just as the prince of this world comes to each one of us, D and seeks if he might find anything of his deeds in us, and indeed if he finds it, he claims it for himself; so conversely, the coming Lord will find some part of yours in his tabernacle; there he defends it, and says it is his. Lord Jesus, grant to me that I may deserve to have something of mine in your tabernacle. I would wish, if it were possible, that something of mine be in that gold from which the Ark is covered, or from which the lampstand is made, for light and for the lamps. Or if I do not have gold, at least that I might find some silver to offer, which might be useful for the columns, or for the bases. Or even if I should deserve to have something of bronze in the tabernacle, from which the rings are made, and the rest which the divine Word describes. Moreover,
A if it were possible for me to be one of the princes and to offer precious stones for the adornment of the high priest's ephod and breastplate! But because these things are above me, I surely deserve to have at least the goats' hair in the tabernacle of God, so that I may not be found empty and fruitless in all things. "Everyone, therefore, just as he has conceived in his heart." See if you conceive; see if you hold fast, lest perchance those things which are said flow away and perish. I wish to warn you by the examples of your own religion: you know, who are accustomed to be present at the divine mysteries, how, when you receive the Body of the Lord, you do so with all caution and veneration, so that not a little part of it may fall away, nor anything of the consecrated gift be lost (87). For you believe yourselves—and you rightly believe—to be guilty if anything falls therefrom through negligence. But if you use such caution, and rightly use it, to preserve His body, how do you think it a lesser sin to have neglected the Word of God than His body? Offerings are commanded to be brought, that is to say, first-fruits. He who offers what is first must necessarily himself possess the rest. See how much we ought to abound in gold, how much in silver, and in all the rest which are commanded to be offered, so that we may both offer to the Lord and have something left over for ourselves. For first of all, my mind ought to understand God and offer to Him the first-fruits of its own intellect, so that when it has well understood God, it may consequently know the rest. Let the discourse also do this; let all things which are in us do this. But let us see also the rest: the hyacinth and the purple, and the scarlet twice-dyed, and the twisted linen. These four are those from which are fashioned either the garments of the priest or the rest which are prepared for sacred adornment. B Regarding these, some before us have spoken (88): and just as it is not fitting to steal another man's goods, so I think it is proper to acknowledge the source of well-said things so as not to abuse them. These four, therefore, as it seemed to those before us, represent the four elements of which both the world and the human body consist, that is, air, fire, water, and earth. The hyacinth therefore is referred to the air, for the color itself indicates this, just as the scarlet is referred to the fire. Purple holds the figure of water, as if it receives its hue from the waters. Linen is of the earth, because it springs from the earth. We have, therefore, all these things in us, and because we are commanded to offer the first-fruits of these to the Lord, therefore He says: "Take from your own selves and offer first-fruits to the Lord." (Exod. xxxv, 5).
4. But I think this must be considered, that while Moses spoke simply of the others, he added "twice-dyed" only to the scarlet, and "twisted" to the linen. It is asked, therefore, why he spoke simply of the other materials, from which the other elements are indicated, but placed the term "twice-dyed" only on the scarlet, by which fire is designated. C These things are difficult to understand, and much more difficult to set forth. Nevertheless, as the Lord will grant, we will attempt to explain. For it is necessary that some things be said, and some things be kept. Let us see, therefore, for what reason he called the scarlet "twice-dyed." This color, as we have said, indicates the element of fire. But fire has a double power: one by which it illuminates, the other by which it burns. This is the reasoning of the history. Let us come also to the intellectual meanings. Even in these, fire is double (89). There is a certain fire in this age, and there is one in the future. The Lord Jesus says: "I have come to cast fire upon the earth" (Luc. XII, 49). This fire illuminates. Again, the Lord will say to the workers of iniquity in the future: "Go into the eternal fire, which my Father has prepared for the devil and his angels" (Matth. XXV, 41). That fire burns. Nevertheless, this fire, which Jesus came to cast, illuminates indeed "every man coming into this world" (Joan. I, 9), yet it has something that also burns, as they confess who say: "Was not our heart burning within us while He opened to us the Scriptures?" (Luc. XXIV, 32). Therefore, it was simultaneously burning and illuminating, by opening the Scriptures. But I do not know if that fire in the age to come which burns also has something that illuminates. There is, therefore, as we have shown, a double nature of fire, and for that reason, the scarlet is commanded to be offered as "twice-dyed." How, therefore, can we offer this double fire for the building of the tabernacle, let us see. If you are a teacher, D you build the tabernacle by building up the Church of God; God therefore says also to you what He said to Jeremiah: "Behold, I have given my words into your mouth" (Jer. I, 9), that is, the fire. If, therefore, in teaching and building the Church of God, you only rebuke and argue and punish, and upbraid the sins of the people, but bring forth no consolation from the divine Scriptures, explain nothing that is obscure, touch upon no deeper knowledge, and open up nothing of more sacred intelligence, you have indeed offered the scarlet, but not "twice-dyed." For your fire only burns and does not illuminate. And again, if in teaching you open the mysteries of the law and discuss the arcana of the secrets, but do not argue with the sinner, do not correct the negligent, and do not maintain the severity of discipline, you have indeed offered the scarlet, but not "twice-dyed." For your fire only illuminates and does not burn. Therefore, he who offers correctly and divides correctly, offers the scarlet "twice-dyed," so that he may mix the little fire of severity with the light of knowledge.
5. But what is meant by the "twisted linen," let us see. For here too He gave some addition beyond the other elements. We said that linen has the form of the earth, which is our flesh. Therefore, He does not want the flesh to be offered to God, flowing in luxury and dissolved in delights.
but requires it to be tormented and constrained. Who, then, is he who tormented his own flesh? He is surely A the one who said: “I pommel my body and subdue it, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.” Thus, therefore, it is to offer, and to toil to complete the twisted byssus, the flesh, with abstinence, vigils, and the labor of meditation. The hair of goats is also offered. This type of beast is commanded in the Law to be offered for sin. But hair is a dead species, bloodless and lifeless. He who offers this shows that the sense of sin is already dead in him, and that sin no longer lives or reigns in his members. The skins of rams are also offered. Some before us have interpreted the ram as a sign of fury. And because the skin of a dead animal is a mark of death, he who offers the skins of rams to God shows that the fury in him is dead. After these things: “And the men,” he says, “came with their wives, as many as were willing in spirit, and they brought brooches, and earrings, and signet rings, and B frontlets, and armlets.” You see here, too, how those who see with their hearts, who conceive the intellect in their hearts, who keep their minds intent and devoted to the Word of God, offer gifts to God. These, therefore, offer gifts, and they offer also from their wives, “earrings,” he says, “and brooches, and armlets.” The wife, according to the allegorical sense, we have often said, is taken to be the flesh, and the husband the rational sense. These wives are good, therefore, who obey their husbands. Good is the flesh which no longer resists the spirit, but obeys and consents, and therefore, “if two or three of you shall agree,” says the Lord, “concerning anything you shall ask, it shall be done for you.” Therefore they offer earrings from their wives. You see how hearing is offered to the Lord. But also armlets are offered to the Lord; the right works, and the good works, which are performed through the flesh. These let the rational sense offer to the Lord. But frontlets are also offered. He offers frontlets who well knows how to discern what should be done, what should be avoided, what is pleasing to God, and what is displeasing, what is just, and what is unjust. These are the frontlets which are offered to the Lord. These women, therefore, offer earrings to the Lord, because they are wise women. For “the wise women,” he says, “spun, and made all things that were necessary for the vestments of the priest.” But those women who offered their earrings that a calf might be made were unwise, who indeed turned their hearing away from the truth, but had turned themselves toward fables and impiety, and therefore they offered their earrings so that they might become the head of a calf. But also in the book of Judges we find another idol no less made from the earrings of women. These, therefore, are blessed women, that is blessed flesh, which offers to the Lord its earrings, and its armlets, and its rings, and C all the works of its hands which are done according to the commandments of the Lord.
6. He adds after these things, that also before whom incorruptible wood is found, he has offered it to God. If anyone loves Christ the Lord, he offers incorruptible wood and incorruption to the Lord. Blessed, therefore, is he before whom is found either an incorrupt sense or an incorrupt body, and he offers this to God. Whence he said very well: “Before whom incorruptible wood is found.” For incorruptible wood is not found before all. He did not speak of gold, nor of silver, before whom it is found. For sense and speech can be found before all. But neither did he speak of this regarding the four colors. For it belongs to all things to consist of the four elements according to the body. But incorruptible wood, that is, the grace of incorruption and virginity, can be found before few, just as the Lord also says: “Not all can receive this saying, but those to whom it is given.”
7. But “the princes,” he says, “offered their gifts. What are these gifts which the princes offer? “They offered,” he says, “brooches, and emerald stones, and filling stones, and shoulder-stones.” Filling stones are called those that are placed in the logion, that is, which are placed upon the breast of the priest, inscribed with the names of the tribes of the children of Israel. This which is called the logion, that is, the breastplate, which is a small cloth made of gold and gems and varied colors, and was attached against the breast of the priest over the shoulders, has the form of the rational sense which is in us. In this are said to be placed the filling stones, which nevertheless cohere and are connected to the shoulder stones, and are held tightly by them. The shoulder-ornament is a sign of good actions. Therefore when action is joined with reason and reason with action, there may be consistency in both: “For whoever shall do and teach, this one shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” Let there be, therefore, in us speech depending upon actions, and let actions adorn the speech. For this is the ornament of the priest related. But to complete these things, princes are required: this is their ornament, who have progressed so much that they merit to preside over the peoples. The princes also offer oil, which will be useful for a double purpose, for lamps and for chrism. For the lamp of those who preside over the peoples must not be hidden, nor put under a bushel, but upon a candlestick, that it may shine to all who are in the house. But the princes also offer the composition of incense, which is to be compounded by Moses in the odor of sweetness to the Lord, that they themselves may also say that “we are the good odor of Christ.” And after the people had offered, Moses called, he says, every wise man to the construction, and the architect, that they might compose, and construct each and every thing that was written.