Solid food belongs to the mature (Hebr. v, 14). But Benjamin, he says, while still a learner, was of benefit to others. Regarding the Jews, moreover, those oracles are rendered: "Behold a foolish and senseless people; they have eyes and do not see; they have ears and do not hear" (Jerem. v, 21). And again: "Instructed from the womb, and even unto extreme old age." But to the faithful, John says: "You have no need that anyone teach you" (1 Joan. II, 27). For they hold the mind of Christ, who knows all things. Therefore, you are sufficiently competent to both teach and exhort one another.
CAP. L.
VERS. 3. *And forty days were fulfilled for him, etc.* The Egyptians observe this number in mourning and preparing the dead for burial. That a period of thirty days was in use among the Jews is sufficiently proven by the examples of Aaron and Moses, for whom thirty days were given for mourning, as is evident in Numbers and Deuteronomy. A
VERS. 5. *In my tomb, which I dug for myself in the land of Chanaan, there you shall bury me, etc.* Actually, Abraham had prepared that burial place, not Jacob. But here Jacob claims for himself those things which were his father's, just as above, when he said: "With my sword and with my bow" (Gen. XLVIII, 22), etc.
VERS. 10. *They came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, and they mourned there with a great and very strong lamentation, etc.* That site is situated at the third milestone from Jericho, and is distant from the Jordan by two milestones. Now its name is Bethagla. The meaning of the name is "house of the circle." For when they mourned Jacob who was dead there, they stood around in a circle. B
VERS. 19. *Do not fear, for I am of God, etc.* As it befits a pious man, he remembers God both in prosperity and in adversity.
Joseph lived seventeen years in the land of Chanaan. He endured servitude for ten years. He spent three years in prison. For eighty years, he was second to the king and ruled over all Egypt. C But let us praise and glorify God, the giver of all good things, and the dispenser of the Holy Spirit, who reveals to the worthy the knowledge hidden in the Holy Scripture, in Christ Jesus our Lord, with whom be glory to Him, with the Holy Spirit, unto the ages of ages. Amen.
COMMENTARIES ON EXODUS
CAP. I.
Those also who are oppressed by diabolical servitude, and who do not cease to flee to repentance, the merciful God sets free and grants them liberty, not enduring that they be further detained in working mud and baking bricks. He leads them into a most fertile land, one truly flowing with milk and honey. How it is permitted to migrate from Egypt, and how the journey is to be made, we shall learn from the present work. D
A The family of Jacob is enumerated with care, so that it may be demonstrated in reality that what God promised to Abraham was brought to pass. Furthermore, that precise enumeration of the family makes for this, that as we discern the miracles of this race, we might simultaneously recognize the cause that led the Hebrew nation to those increases.
They became common, that is, they were spread abroad into a multitude. Whence Aquila says: *They were poured out*; but Symmachus says: *They crept forth*, as if referring to things given forth from the earth. Therefore, that he might explain that phrase more clearly, Aquila says: *They were spread abroad like a flood into all the land of Egypt*. But Symmachus, that he might denote in a similar manner the manifold increase of the Hebrews, says: *Sprouting up they were increased*, taking the metaphor from herbs, which the earth yields in great abundance.
Vers. 10. *Let us deal craftily*, that is, let us deceive by wiles and circumvent this people. They turn to stratagems and artifices by which they might ensnare the Hebrews. For the excuse was lacking to openly oppress the Jewish people.
B *The Egyptians abhorred the children of Israel*, the Hebrew has: *They afflicted and tortured the children of Israel*. They were incited to torture this people, seeing them to be constantly increasing with fruitful offspring.
As to the text: *And the earth multiplied them*, Aquila interpreted: *And the earth was filled by them*.
*Strong cities*, or walled ones he says, or great ones, as if they were fortified by the multitude of those dwelling in them. For Aquila rendered: *tabernacles*.
*God dealt well with the midwives*. This is to be joined to that which says: *And He made them houses*. For the other things are in between. By *houses*, He signifies possessions, and the abundance of substance and lineage.
For even when David pondered in his mind that his own dwelling was of cedar, while the ark of the covenant remained in a tent made of hair, God addresses him through the prophet Nathan: *I will build thee a great house, and one to endure for ever* (by which words He indicated the lineage that would proceed from him), *inasmuch as thou hast brought into thy mind to build me a house*. In no different way did He dilate the race of the midwives. Because even they, as far as was in them, preserved the Israelite nation. Nor would I contend much if anyone thought that houses in the heavenly kingdom not made by hands are to be understood here, which He may have prepared for the midwives. Pious men build houses of this kind, while they do not cease to persevere in divine worship.
But I judge it to be observed with what force the devil attacks brave men in a hostile manner. But in this way he constructs his snares in a threefold manner. First, trusting in evil arts and wiles, he casts mortals into unforeseen evils. He corrupts the minds of men, that they may scorn the increases of virtue. But because his snares do not succeed in this, God always protecting and saving His own, he approaches by another way to attack the human race. He stirs up those who are joined to us in faith and religion against us, just as Paul testifies, saying: *In perils from false brethren, in perils from my own nation*. But when he cannot even so find a cause for victory, God guarding us in His fear as He once did the midwives, what remains except that he should arm his satellites with inhuman cruelty for the slaughter of the pious: not with fraud anymore, but should join battle in open warfare? Moreover, when we have conquered and tamed these ministers of diabolical cruelty, not with arms, but with the groans by which we attest our grievances before God, we at last emerge liberated from their tyranny.
Then, troubled by a famine of divine utterances, which had compelled us to descend into Egypt, we return back here, just as the likeness of the prodigal son teaches, who, when he had wasted his father's goods in foreign regions, at length craved to fill his empty belly with the foods which are thrown to the unclean swine. But we rush to earthly things, having scorned better ones: and we have renounced a holy and pious life. Therefore, having fallen back into the violent hands of Pharaoh, we have been gravely afflicted by the digging of clay and the making of bricks. Without a doubt, by clay and bricks we must understand the pursuits and anxieties of the world, and the rest of the customs of human life, which are performed with great labor and not without sweat. For the course of the present life is subject to very many...
labors. The devil sets over us his ministers, the demons, who load the minds of each of us with various vices, lest the idle eyes of the soul be able to lift themselves toward God, and lest they finally rescue their necks from the yoke of servitude with which they have served the devil and his ministers. For the demons consider it a notable profit and great wealth if they can draw the souls of men away from God and involve them in the solicitudes and cares of the world; this is clearly shown when they are ordered to build cities for Pharaoh. For Pharaoh hates the male sex most intensely, and indeed all masculine virtue. He strives with all his might to blunt and pound this down by draining them into the pits of carnal pleasures. But God, having compassion on the human race through Christ—whose type Moses had preceded—sets mortals free into liberty and grants them eternal salvation.
CAP. II.
VERS. 1. *There was a certain man of the tribe of Levi, etc.*, up to the words: *She took him from the water, etc.* The infant was well-born in the eyes of his parents. They saw his grace was liberal. For a marvelous grace shone even in the countenance of the infant. Yet the fear of the royal edict overcame paternal and maternal affections, though they desired with their utmost prayers that the little boy remain safe and unharmed. Yet, not without divine providence had the daughter of Pharaoh come to that place. The Egyptians are by nature most greedy for money. Wherefore the royal virgin searches the little ark with curiosity. Having found the boy, she recognized him immediately. Circumcision, by which the Hebrews were distinguished from other peoples, made him known. Moses obtained salvation through the intervention of the sacraments of the Church, in the same manner as we all strive for salvation. For the ark was fashioned of wood: and the wood, or the ark, was taken from the waters. Now, she who took up the ark was not born of Hebrew blood; indeed, she gloried in a Gentile or pagan parent. I could scarcely believe that those things which were done with Moses happened by human means. For who would have claimed the parents of Moses, when they had exposed him and cast him away—they through whom it had happened that he would see the bright radiance of the sun? Will you say that an Egyptian was his mother? With what mouth will you dare to say this, since she did not give birth to him? But is she his mother who suckled and nourished him? Neither should she be called mother. For she accepted a wage for nursing, 216 which true mothers refuse to do. Since, therefore, it is clear that he was not brought under the power of any man, he was surely the man of God by a most fitting reason. The name Moses was given to him, since in the Egyptian tongue *Mos* is called "water." And this, indeed, is according to antiquity. Moreover, the mortal race, serving a most ferocious tyrant, led God the Father to mercy. Who, that He might remove the yoke of servitude from us, did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, and exposed Him to the present peril. He came into His own; for He was sent to the lost sheep of Israel. But His own received Him not. Wherefore God cries out through Isaiah: *I have brought up children, and exalted them: but they have rejected me.* Wherefore the Gentiles, who were immersed in the worship of idols, are called to the sacred anchor of faith. And they recognized their Redeemer. Truly, that was long ago predicted by the prophecies of the prophets, as is clear from this: *I have set watchmen over you: you have heard the sound of the trumpet. And you said: We will not hear. Therefore the nations have heard, and those who pastured their flocks.* The type of this matter is Moses, sprung from the tribe of Levi. For Christ also bore the name of high priest, though He proceeded from the tribe of Judah. But this was done so that He might be exalted with praises and believed to be the King of the universe in holiness and glory, as one who possesses holiness and the priesthood not from the flesh, but as King and God, authentically and properly. Now that the infant is born, He is estimated and held to be such because of His Divinity, which is immune from every stain of sin; or because He was a new creature. *Suffer, for He says, the little children to come to me, and do not forbid them: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.* And again: *Amen, amen I say to you, unless you be converted and become as these little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.* Explaining this divine pronouncement, Paul says: *Brethren, do not become children in sense, but in malice be children.* Nor indeed was the father of Moses passed over in silence without the foresight of divine Providence. For it is written indefinitely: *There was a certain man, etc.* For Christ also, as far as He was man, lacked a father. Many, however, suspected that He had a father on earth. For He was thought to be the son of Joseph. Moses was a charming and elegant little boy. For Christ also surpassed all the children of men in beauty. Therefore David addresses Him, saying: *Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, who aboundest in comeliness and beauty.* For He shone with the beauty of divinity above measure. But as for His humanity, the prophet writes in this manner: *We have seen him, and he had no form nor comeliness. But his form was ignoble, and he was the lowest of all men as to his appearance.* Before the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, there was no male in the world who was not a target for the injury of those who set snares for the flower of youth. And thus they were depraved, the devil suffocating them in the delights of the world as if in mud and mire. Therefore, as all had strayed from the path of virtue, it was not without reason said: *All have gone aside, they are become useless together. There is none that does good, no not one.* For no one, captured by the allurements of pleasures, could perform deeds of fortitude. But for us a child is born, and with us there lived one who was truly strong and endowed with masculine virtue, namely Christ. For He was in no way enervated by sin. At the beginning of His birth, He was hidden from the prince of this world. Thus Moses also, when he was just born, was hidden, that he might not fall into the cruel edict of Pharaoh. Where Christ grew up, (the mother according to the flesh, that is, the Synagogue of the Jews, in—
- A closed him in an ark, that is to say, a sepulcher, and exposed him, in a manner, by alienating him. The daughter of Pharaoh, however—that is, the Church gathered from the nations, although she had at one time lived under the devil as her father—found Christ at the waters, namely at the waters of baptism, of which the Egyptian river, to which Moses had been committed, had borne the type. But Christ is found in baptism and through baptism. The Church opens the little ark. For the fact that he revived and did not remain in the sepulcher sufficiently declared that, having been subjected to punishment for our sake, he now lives for us, being about to bring us into eternal life. In this faith he confirms us sufficiently. The royal maiden finds the wailing Moses. Thus we fall in with Christ recounting with tears—or nearly so—what he suffered for our salvation: "They pierced my hands and my feet; they numbered all my bones," etc. And again: "They gave me gall for my food, and when I was thirsty, they gave me vinegar to drink." The Church, gathered into one from the nations, acknowledged Christ as having proceeded from the tribe of Judah, just as Moses was known to have been bred of Hebrew blood. The Synagogue of the Jews will one day receive Christ from the Church, once it has been taught the mystery that is contained in Him. For it was in that manner that the mother of Moses received the infant from the royal daughter for an agreed reward, which was the hope of future good things.
Let us repeat what has been said thus far, so that we may be the more carried off toward the contemplation of virtue, and let us transfer the wondrous birth of Moses to ourselves. Each one of us, when cast down from the state of his mind, if he is ensnared by affections or vices toward which nature leans, is immediately called a female. And this offspring is most pleasing to the cruelest tyrant. But if, having abandoned vices, one strives toward the hill of virtue, he is accounted a male, and an enemy hostile to that most ruthless tyrant, who always here suspects war and defection. Let each one, therefore, be a father to himself, begetting from within himself an offspring, whether female or male. If one wishes to adhere to virtue and to govern his life according to it, he will do well if he generates an offspring by which the devil is offended, while he sees laying before it—and not before himself—trophies and monuments of victory. It is our duty to beget, nourish, and protect with solicitous care such an offspring, and to carry it out of the waters; nor are we to deliver it, naked and despised, to the river of life, which surges with various affections, lest it should come into danger and be drowned. Such are the reasons which bring forth strength; and these carefully conceal the male infant in an ark, which they do not construct of wood, but compose of diverse disciples, by whom they protect him. For instruction alone, which starts from good disciplines, ensures that the soul overcomes all the floods of the present life and is not enveloped by the swell of the waves. Nay, it settles us in a harbor both safe and stable, into which whoever has arrived should not refrain from tears, even if he is sufficiently fortified by the aid of the ark. For tears are said to be the most faithful guardian of those who have been cast forth from the shipwreck of time and saved. He who has attained salvation in this way will endure being held a son of the alien—that is, of external philosophy—until, in as much as it befits his age, he has drawn from it. When he has grown and has been enrolled in the list of men, he will blush to be called the son of a barren woman. For she had never known how to bring forth fruit worthy of any labor. For all the fetuses of external philosophy are miscarried and perish before they come into the light of the knowledge of God. Therefore, let one linger in the bosom of external philosophy only until one attains its principal dogmas, and then let him immediately and with swift foot run back to his natural mother. But let us not in the meantime be separated from the milk of the Church, which nourishes us just as, besides the Egyptian one, a mother also nourished Moses.
A "He went out to his brothers, the sons of Israel." Moses had been instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, as the protomartyr Stephen says. It was necessary, before the impending war against the Egyptians, that he should spy out the weaknesses of those things. Therefore, God Himself orchestrated that he should be insinuated among the Egyptians. Moses was not ungrateful toward his benefactors. For he gave thanks not to her who took him in, but to God who put it into her heart, having esteemed Him more highly than the kingdom and the bright things that were in Egypt. If God had not been present, he would not have preferred Him to the Egyptian woman. But now, it was He who saved him even through his enemies, for whom one must not love father or mother. For they are, indeed, ministers toward birth; but God is the Creator. He who also saved him when he was cast into the river, and brought the Egyptian woman at the right time to the place in order to take up the child. He knew also how to be grateful toward men, when it was in accordance with piety. For he went out to his brothers for a visitation. Let no one, therefore, love the enemies of God, lest he be found to be hating God. Consider, therefore, how he himself was in wealth and luxury, while he of the B [index: entries preserved]
A generation. Yet it is God who forms and creates us from nothing. Here he preserved Moses, cast into the river; here he opportunely led the Egyptian woman to that place, that she might take up the little boy. Nor was Moses of such a heartless and crude disposition. He knew how to show gratitude toward mortals, if this could be done while preserving religion. “He went out, that he might look upon the hardships of his brothers,” etc. Let no one, therefore, embrace the enemies of God with love, lest he appear to hate God as well. He was moved to look upon his brothers, lest he himself be seen to abound in riches and flow in luxury, while the people of God—namely, the sons of Abraham—were being exhausted by the work of making mortar. At that time, as the state of the Jews then was, some other man might perhaps have been ashamed to profess himself a Jew. But Moses prefers religion above all else. Foreknowing this disposition of Moses, God not without reason deemed him worthy of such great care from his earliest age. Moses calls the Hebrews brothers, moved not so much by lineage as by paternal religion.
Consequently, bearing with an uneasy mind that a Hebrew was being treated rather unjustly by a cruel taskmaster, he put that taskmaster to death. For he did not judge a brawl or a quarrel worthy of slaughter, but he considered him who lived for the destruction of men unworthy of life. B
On this account, the anger of the king was the more moved, he judging it a grave matter—not considering who had been killed, or whether he was killed justly or unjustly; but reflecting that his adopted grandson did not share his own sentiments, nor did he consider those whom the king considered enemies to be enemies, and those whom he himself desired, he held as friends. Hence the king's ministers, having seized the occasion, incited the mind of the king with very many calumnies, that he might take vengeance on Moses. Nor did they care at all whether that man, whose life Moses had violently taken away, was of the lowest or highest rank. They looked only to this: that they might make Moses hateful to the king on account of that slaughter.
Furthermore, Moses bore witness to the most burning love that he had for his own people by that prompt slaughter. But if anyone wishes to consider it, he will find that that slaughter was not wicked, but an argument of the highest piety. Sacred Scripture celebrates two homicides which Phinehas committed, for which, beyond the order and rite of the priesthood, he obtained the eternal dignity of the priesthood. One reads of the slaughters of Elijah, and meanwhile the egregious and wonderful translation of the prophet is not passed over in silence. You have Samuel, foremost in the dignity C of the priesthood, and he too, that the commands of God might attain their effect, struck down Agag, seizing the sword of the man himself, I say. Even Peter, the prince of the apostles, slew Ananias with his wife Sapphira. No one would call those killings unjust; indeed, those men gained the praise of piety from these deeds. The slaughter with which Moses afflicted the Egyptian was a symbol that God would, through Moses, destroy the Egyptians with slaughter and save the Israelites.
That this slaughter was a token of the highest love toward the Jewish people, the things that follow prove. For when he encountered brothers fighting among themselves, he did not breathe slaughter, but set out to mitigate their souls with friendly castigation: which indeed was to be a sign of his being the future judge of the Israelite people once the Egyptians had been slain. Hence that contumacious Hebrew addressed Moses in the plural number, saying, “Who made you a prince and a judge over us?” D That contumacious man was surely, as it seems, the very one whom Moses had liberated from the hand of the Egyptian by committing the slaughter, unless perhaps he was a friend of his, who had experienced the help of Moses, and having heard it from him, had learned what Moses had done.
A But what shall Moses do, cast out by both friends and enemies? He goes forth to the nations, having reached Arabia, and becoming a type of Christ. Therefore, a priest who was an idolater receives him and welcomed the relationship with him. But he, loving God, prefers the wilderness to kingdoms, and poverty to luxury. B "I am a sojourner in a foreign land." Not that he was renouncing Egypt as his fatherland, but because he was separated from his kindred and his pious parents, living with a Gentile father-in-law. Similarly, divine Scripture calls the father-in-law "son-in-law." For either one, having an affinity through marriage, is a "son-in-law." And you have the same term used for both in the final argument of the Book of Judges.
Patres who are zealous for piety do not only show their gratitude to the Supreme Deity in words, but they also impose names upon their children, from which, as if from certain statues, their gratitude might shine forth. It is established that Joseph did similarly, as is recounted in Genesis. Let us repeat what has been said thus far, and demonstrate how all those things correspond, according to the allegorical sense, to Christ. Moses, having been enrolled in the roster of men, goes out to his brothers. Thus, as the divine Apostle testifies, "When the fullness of time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, and subject to the Law." But he was sent to the sons of Israel. For to them belonged the promises. For he himself cries out: "I am not sent, except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." When he found that the Israelites were being gravely afflicted by the tyranny of the demons, he removed the demons from their midst: and just as Moses covered the cruel taskmaster with sand, so Christ relegated the demons to the abyss. But when very many demons had been thrust into the abyss, the rest, who still survived, wearied the Savior with prayers, that he might not wish to cast them into the abyss, but grant that they might be able to wander in the world until the day of the final judgment. For when he had bound, as he himself says, the strong man, he finally plundered his vessels, that is, the souls which he possessed subject to his dominion. A type of this matter was Joshua, who, when Moses had died, led the forces across the Jordan and shackled the five kings of the Amorites, who had fled into a cave. Indeed, after the life which we have passed under the Law, Christ the King, commanding us, enclosed the princes of the demons, having precipitated them into a deep cave, and brought the discordant Israelites into harmony, just as Moses reconciled the contentious Jews. Therefore he spoke thus: "My peace I give to you." But they themselves rejected Christ the King, although it is read concerning him in the Psalms: "But I have been constituted king over them, and over Sion his holy mountain." Him they spurned, when they said: "Who gave you this authority?" And again, when they chattered: "We know that God spoke with Moses. But this man, we do not know from whence he is." Furthermore, when it was their duty to praise Christ with divine honors as he performed miracles, they say basely and impudently: "This man does not cast out demons, except by Beelzebub, the prince of the demons." But the fact that the Egyptian had been killed without anyone seeing was a symbol of the invisible power by which the devil was to be cast into the abyss. For the Lord was fighting against the Amalekite with a hidden hand and a clandestine power. Christ, when he perceived that the Israelites were hostilely disposed toward him, departed into Galilee, just as Moses, having left Egypt, betook himself to the Madianite region: and he brought help to the daughters of Jethro, watering their sheep. Furthermore, Jethro in a certain way represents the world dedicated to the worship of idols. For if you interpret the name Jethro, it signifies superfluity or the superfluous. Thus the world adhered to vain and supervacuous things, doing nothing of those which ought to have been done by one who is a candidate for piety: despising salvation, and lingering over external matters with a certain superstition. Therefore Christ says:
"What will it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world, yet suffer the loss of his soul?" From one mother Moses was born, as he watered the many daughters of Jethro. Thus, there is one multitude of the Jewish race, from which Christ was born to us according to the flesh. But among the nations there were many flocks which evil and savage shepherds sorely afflicted; for while the rule of the world was in their power, they cut off from us the fountain by which we know God and what we ought to do in this life, in order to please Him. Wherefore it is not without reason that Jeremiah cries out, as if in the person of God: "My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and have hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water." For false religion is indeed like a broken cistern. Christ drove away and repelled these false shepherds and gave the thirsty to drink of the living water, that is, by announcing His own divine and heavenly doctrine, He says: "If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink."
The daughters reported to their father the kindness they had received from Moses. The father summons Moses, and joins to him in stable wedlock the eldest and most beautiful of his daughters, who eventually bore him Gerson. Thus, Christ also is known by the world, while He aids it with his benefits, which do not cease to declare His virtue. Wherefore He betrothed to Himself the Church gathered from the nations, symbolically called Sephora. For Sephora, if you interpret the name, means "visitation" or "beautiful." For the "dayspring from on high" visited the most beautiful Church, giving to her from heaven a gift, namely, the increase of His own breath, which is nothing other than the participation of the Holy Spirit. And she bears a foreign people. For Christians are foreigners in this land. "For we have not here an abiding city, but we seek one to come," whose architect and maker is Christ. Furthermore, the world before Moses—that is, before Christ—is not without reason called Jethro with respect to the blessing of the daughters, which means "superfluous." But then the name is changed, taking the name Raguel, which, if you explain it, denotes "divine shepherd." For the world finally yielded, having been freed from false and perverse shepherds, to the rule of the supreme Shepherd.
We can also understand the aforementioned things in another way, according to virtue. Every foreign doctrine, therefore, wars against the Hebrew one. But he who wishes to be truly pious must needs be a mediator between both, and in this manner overcome the foreign doctrine. Nor should he imitate those to whom the contrary happens, while, having rejected piety, they turn to foreign dogmas. But he who possesses a Mosaic mind ought to stand in the middle between piety and idolatry, between intemperance and temperance, between justice and injustice, between pride and humility. Some of these things he will vanquish to destroy, just as Moses did the Egyptian, by the more powerful doctrine of the Hebrews. Let him use the rest for salvation and victory by overcoming our adversary, the devil. But if we are unable to do this, let us hasten from here to the more excellent and sublime doctrine of the mysteries, even if it behooves us to dwell with foreign—that is, external—philosophy. Furthermore, repelling the bad shepherds and corrupt teachers, and refuting their error, let us return to ourselves and, without contentions, strive for peace, adhering to more sound and peaceful doctrine, like the sheep to whom salutary religion commands. For if we pursue peace, and repudiate contentions and quarrels, the truth will be seen immediately, and will cause the eyes of the mind to glisten and shine with a wonderful splendor.
When can one opportunely groan? If the king of Egypt has died within you. Even so, Isaiah himself beheld the Lord only when Uzziah had died. Therefore, it is added now: "And He was known unto them." For while they were held by the error of idolatry and were occupied with making tiles from mud, they knew not the Lord.
VERS. 23. "And it came to pass in those many days, that the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel groaned," etc. But neither the brick-making, nor the mud, nor the straw caused the groaning; but the labors by which they were oppressed stirred up the groan, and because of these they cried out to the Lord. Therefore, He heard their groaning. He does not listen to those who cry out unimpeded by any works; but He shows propitious ears to those who, oppressed by mud and earthly works, send forth a cry. Therefore, as one says, we flee with a swift foot from the brick-making mud, that is, from the frail and unstable constitution of our body, which for the most part is governed by frivolous reasons, which differ not from straw. Moses was at length tossed by various storms of danger; he was strengthened, while for the Egyptians cruelty increased, and for the Hebrews, humility. Furthermore, God remembered them, which He had promised to Abraham.
CAP. III.
VERS. 2. "And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the bush." Not the Lord, but the angel appeared. But it was not the angel that called Moses, but the Lord, who commanded this to the ministering angel. Now nowhere... A B
CHAPTER III.
...is it said in the Scripture that the Lord appeared to Moses. Which, etc. [index: entries preserved]appears to have been spoken as an exception solely regarding the three patriarchs. From all this, it is manifest that the entire legislation delivered to those in the desert—who were, as it were, children in their souls, and being led along as if by pedagogues and stewards—was delivered by angels (69). Some say that God, as the announcer of future things, is deservedly called an angel, that is, a messenger.
Note, however, that it is not fire that speaks to Moses in the bush, nor does fire give the law to the people on the mountain, but God in the fire. So when He says further down, "The Lord your God is a consuming fire," He provides the reason why He called Him Lord. For God, He says, is jealous, [that is] the zeal of God for you, or against you, is vehement, like a consuming fire.
Chapter III
AIt is in the legislation that Scripture speaks: "The Lord appeared to Moses." For that, as a certain sign of excellence, is declared only of the three patriarchs. From all these things it is surely inferred that the laws, which were promulgated in the wilderness, were given by angels, as by pedagogues and guardians. For the Jews were at that time unrefined and ignorant of all things. Therefore, with them, as with children, one had to stammer.
Moreover, the fire which had settled on the bush does not converse with Moses. Nor does that same fire sanction laws for the Jewish people. God, who was in the fire, performs these things. Therefore, when it says below: "The Lord your God is a consuming fire," etc., it immediately adds the cause, saying: "God is jealous," that is, the zeal of God for you, or against you, is vehement, and like fire, it devours and consumes whatever resists it.
It was a wondrous and truly strange spectacle to see nature contending with itself. Fire easily consumes; the bush was by its nature so ordered that it would be easily destroyed by fire. But these wondrous and prodigious spectacles largely pervade and move the minds of men. Wherefore, not without reason does Moses marvel, and is compelled to go and see what the thing is. To the Jewish nation, however, this example was given as a monument, that it might no longer deem it inconsistent and alien to the custom of Holy Scripture if it sees God dwelling in the flesh, and the flesh not meanwhile being destroyed by the excellence of the Deity. Although He had dwelt in the Virgin, yet He preserved the Virgin unharmed and rendered her capable of the Divinity. The same bush signifies that the Hebrews were exposed and subject to the injuries of all: yet that they were asserted and freed, as if from the ignited afflictions of the Egyptians. That henceforth they would not be harmed with impunity, but, as if fortified by certain thorns, would repel those approaching. For so Scripture testifies: "Fear not, I am with you; no flame shall burn you." The beginning of miracles is through wood, which predicts the cross of the New Testament. And that the miracle might appear more wondrous, it provides the matter of a bush, which easily catches fire. Furthermore, that it might oppose the rising idolatry, in which they had been nurtured among the Egyptians, it appears in the bush. Lest, namely, from that tree, being as it were useless for such a purpose, they might fashion an idol, because God had been seen in it. The same bush also taught that the Israelites had been entirely a wild and barren tree, and were completely lacking in the milder fruits of justice. For as yet they kept the Egyptian scent, with which they were imbued. The Law, indeed, which was given to them by the agency of angels, would have been sufficient for illuminating the intellect, if anyone had accepted it according to the spirit. But to the Hebrews, to whom so much Egyptian filth adhered, it appeared plainly foolish. Because they lacked the light that illuminates the mind: just as the fire also brought no sense of burning to the bush. The Savior addresses them, saying: "Search the Scriptures, for you think in them to have eternal life, and they are they which testify of me." But Moses immediately perceived the stupidity and rudeness of the Jews under the type of the bush, which was not consumed by fire. That this miracle denoted the mystery of the incarnation of Christ, is clear even from the fact that sacred Scripture compares the divine nature to fire. For God is truth, and truth is light. The same Scripture likens the earthly man to the trees and herbs of the field. For in one place Scripture has: "God is a consuming fire." Which indeed is said because of the excellence of virtue, by which He illuminates, and because of the immense matter of sin. For Scripture sometimes calls sin thorns, sometimes a prickly branch, as in the fifty-seventh psalm: "Before your thorns understand the branch, even as living ones so in anger he shall swallow them up." And elsewhere: "I am turned into misery, while the thorn is fastened in me." Elsewhere it says: "Man is as grass, his days are as the flower of the field, so shall he flourish." As fire is intolerable to thorns, so is the Deity to humanity. But in Christ all these things have been made tolerable. For in Him dwelt all the fullness of the Deity bodily. And He who inhabits unapproachable light had His dwelling in the Virgin's temple, lowering Himself to a gentleness that can never be sufficiently wondered at, and, as it were, blunting and dulling His vehement impulse, just as the fire spared the bush. For He lived among us, not cruelly exacting punishments, just as He Himself says: "God sent not His Son into the world, that He should judge the world, but that the world through Him might be saved." Moses, approaching the sight of God, hears: "Put off your shoe from your feet," etc.
A Some opine that by these words Moses is ordered to put away his wife. For the wife is subject to the husband. But if this is true, why is the same thing said to Joshua? Was he, too, expected to put away his wife? He had indeed been angry previously because, setting out to liberate the people, he took his wife and children as companions. But now, he is not indignant for that reason. Some say that this warning was a monument to the law about to be given, according to which priests performed divine service barefoot, on account of the filth that usually adheres to footwear. You should not, however, think that footwear is on that account an abominable thing. He commanded the same to Joshua as he now commands to Moses, desiring to confirm and establish the Law. Some want it to be understood that God gave this command to Moses so that the Jews, who were then catechumens, might learn to conduct themselves and walk before the Lord with greater caution; and that this might be done more easily, He suggests carnal precepts. Others think that by this "type," God signifies to Moses that he is to trample and crush the Egyptians, and that, having returned hither, he will perform a magnificent sacrifice to the Lord. He addressed Joshua B in this way also as he was crossing the Jordan, so that he might attack hostile nations in war. But if this is true, why does He not say "Bind" rather than "Loose"? Furthermore, someone teaches that "loose" should not be taken to refer to the lower part; for he does not loose anything in the lower part. But neither of these has grasped the occult sense of the words. Another brings forward someone who understands the foot by the "shoe," as if God were saying: "Move your foot against the enemies," just as it is said somewhere: <I will extend my foot against Idumea>—that is, I will trample Idumea. Nevertheless, God Himself submits the reason, saying: <The place in which you stand is holy ground.> But what was contaminating the holy ground? Or was it not that, where it had been taken off, it was placed on the ground again?
But, they say, it is the custom of Scripture to perform some things and signify others by them. On the journey, an angel indeed appears as if to kill Moses; but something else was being transacted here. For He would have simply killed him if He had been present for that purpose. Similarly, the angel says to Balaam: <Unless the donkey had turned aside, I would have killed you and spared the donkey.> So here, too, by the loosening of the shoe, He demonstrates the presence of the Holy One. And He wants him to recognize, from the very place where God stood, who it was that was present. Others think that, since the cult of the Law was not entirely devoid of blame, He demonstrates that the course of life which is lived under the Law is not entirely free from corruption and death. And this is declared by the rite of the sacrifices of the Greeks, C who approached sacred rites barefoot. And at the same time, He teaches us that it is not right for him in whom remnants of mortality still exist to approach God—from which remnants we are liberated not by the Law, but by Christ. <For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins.> For no one is justified by the Law. Because sin, not yet having been rendered void, it is necessary that corruption still flourish and death rule in those contaminated by sin. Therefore, it is necessary for him who wishes to join himself to Christ to put off the cult of the Law, which contained types and shadows. For thus one enters into the holy land, that is, the Church, previously vast in divine and human cult and overgrown with thorns, inasmuch as it was a place where the bush might be. Such was the Church of the Gentiles in the beginning, to which these words are spoken: <Rejoice, thirsty and arid wilderness. Let the vast wilderness exult, and bloom like the lily.> And God promises that He will turn the wilderness into pools, and the thirsty land into springs of water. For God D has irrigated the Church abundantly with His word, and has cultivated us so that we might be holy ground. For every place in which Christ is found is judged a holy place. That the Law could not quicken us, Christ proves sufficiently elsewhere, saying: <Amen, amen I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you do not have life in yourselves.> To this height and light of the Divinity, it is not permitted to ascend with feet that are burdened by shoes. The covering, which consists of earthen and dead skins, must be loosened and removed so that the soul may roam freely. A covering, I say, by which we were veiled on account of the contempt for the precept of God when we were naked in paradise. Thus, the knowledge of God will accompany us, which will thereafter be increased by divine meditations and contemplations, quietly dwelling, and will experience that God alone is truly the most principal Being, by whose participation are other beings, and by whose participation they have need to endure. This Being alone is immutable, and is the highest good, and is never moved to evil. You will give nothing either purer or better than Him.
VERS. 6-15. And He said to him: I am the God of thy father, Abraham, etc., up to this place: 'This is My name forever, and this is My memorial throughout all generations.' Moses was struck dumb and shuddered completely at being brought to this spectacle. But it struck the man even more to hear the voice of God. He rejoiced that he was deemed worthy to hear the voice of God; yet fear disturbed that pleasure. Therefore, he turned away his face, not sustaining to gaze upon God. For casting away the death-dealing works of the flesh, and walking with a pure and free foot in the republic of Christ, we shall approach God by a spiritual union, not by an interval of place. And in ourselves we shall gather a knowledge of God, the Father showing Himself to us in the Son: and we shall contemplate Him with certainty, and more evidently than the ancient people, who, while they turned themselves away from the face of Moses, sufficiently declared the minds of those whom Moses instructed in the Law to be weak, just as it is read in the Psalms: <Let their eyes be blinded that they see not.> The same is held in the prophets: <Behold a foolish and senseless people; they have eyes and see not.> But we, with unveiled face, behold the beauty of the Father in the Son. For He says, <He that has seen Me, has seen the Father,> who per se is invisible. And again: <No one knows who the Son is except the Father; and no one knows who the Father is except the Son and he to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him.> For
Baruch says: <After this He appeared upon earth, and conversed with men.>" David’s testimony A also contributes to this: <The Lord, the God of gods, has spoken, and called the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting. The beauty of its splendor. God shall come manifestly, my God I say, and shall not keep silence.> The Jews thought they had seen God appearing in the fire on Mount Sinai, and had even heard His voice. But Christ refutes them in these words: <Amen, amen I say to you, neither have you heard His voice, nor have you seen His form. And you do not have His word abiding in you. For you do not believe in Him whom He has sent.> Therefore, if we believe in Him, we have seen the Father in the Son, and we have His word abiding in us. God indeed wished to show Himself to them, as He did to Moses. But in order to demonstrate the weakness of the Law, He turned His face away, just as they turned away from Christ, who was preferring them over the Gentiles. Therefore He says: <I was found by those who did not seek me: I was made manifest to those who did not inquire of me. I said: Behold, I have become known to a nation that knew me not. All day long I have stretched out my hands to a disobedient and gainsaying people.> Because of this, they did not behold the glory of Christ. Hence, He speaks through the prophet: <They have turned their backs to me, and not their faces.> Paul agrees with this, saying somewhere: <But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil is placed upon their hearts. But we all with open face reflecting the glory of the Lord, etc.>
COMMENTARY ON EXODUS
A But what is that statement which God makes with Moses? <I have seen and heard the affliction of the people,> etc. As if to say: "You also have seen and heard." For this was not unknown to you, when you killed the Egyptian. The sense is: I have seen, I say, the miseries and labors of the people, which you also have known and explored thoroughly. And that you did not sufficiently provide a clear proof that those labors, by which my people are overwhelmed, were displeasing to you, was when you, forestalling me, slew the wicked Egyptian.
B But I am raising you to this pinnacle of honor so that you may perform the office of a leader in asserting the ancient liberty for the Israelite people. Therefore, do not refuse this province which I am entrusting to you, alleging the intractable hardness of the people. Nay, if they should thunder petulantly and impudently: <Who made you a prince and a judge over us?> Respond using no circumlocution, and say freely: <The God of our fathers has caused me to mount to this pinnacle of honor.>
Moses, there is no doubt—nay, it is certainly constant—spent days and nights considering how he might be able to remove the yoke of intolerable servitude from the Israelite people. Since he was meditating on this by himself, who then doubts but that he would have gladly obeyed God calling him? But this agitated the man, and compelled him to tergiversate, because it was not sufficiently clear with what arguments he would be about to create faith in that people, that he had been sent by God as a champion and defender. He did not fear the Egyptians: the intractable disposition of his own race was deterring the good man. Therefore he says, not making words about the Egyptians, but about the Hebrews, saying: <They will ask what is your name.>
By these words Moses renders conspicuous even then the incredulity of the Jews, whom we now, provoking them to emulation, venerate, although they refused him as prince and wished to overwhelm him with stones. But this happens because it was said: <I will provoke you to emulation in that nation which is not a nation,> etc. In order that these words may be led to effect, it happens that they treat with honor Moses and the prophets, whom they cruelly put to death. They abstained for this same reason from their accustomed idolatry. Observing their perversity, Moses excuses the defect of his tongue before God, who had created the tongue and all of Moses. Therefore He could also correct the defect of the tongue. Because, therefore, even Moses hung back somewhat in spirit, God did not wish to amend the vice of his tongue: but He added an interpreter to him, not for the sake of honor, but so that he might learn that one must be obedient to God, and that nothing is to be considered more ancient than that obedience.
He asks the name of God. But who gave a name to God? Or who, existing prior to God, imposed a name upon Him? You think correctly: but they are rude, to whom a certain expression is proposed in place of a name. For suppose that "Being" is not a name, but signifies a thing, as one who exists through Himself, and did not receive essence from another, but supplied this to all. Do you see that it is an angel who appeared, and God who speaks: and what He did not indicate to Jacob, He now opened to Moses. For little by little, as generations succeeded, the Lord manifested Himself. Thus, when the fullness of time came, He signified that He is the Son of God, Christ, God the Word. That He promises His presence, saying: <I will be with you,> etc., He confirms throughout the entire time of legislation. For always and everywhere the Son of God was at hand for him with a certain exact type of presence. Moses testifies to this same thing: <A prophet will the Lord your God raise up for you from among your brethren, like me.> Therefore, that no one may wonder if Moses held the appellation of God. He said: "Existing." But because they could not understand the force of this appellation, He added: <The God of Abraham,> etc., so that from their own worshipers they might recognize whom He Himself in His
could not grasp by their essence. Moses puts forward another cause for his excuse, namely: "Send whom you are to send." For he knew that Christ was at some time to be sent. When at last he brought forward: "I know their stubbornness: they will not believe me," in order to remedy this portion for Moses, He descends to signs. For the impious are moved by signs, but the pious by doctrine. See, however, how Moses, having gone forth from all earthly excuses, and seeing the light flashing from the bush—that is, shining through the thorny flesh and emitting a ray for us, namely the Gospel, the true light and truth—is so instructed that he can now assist others, destroy the most atrocious tyranny, and vindicate for liberty whatever is burdened by difficult servitude. Furthermore, those two signs precede: the right hand turned into leprosy and restored to health, and the rod or staff transformed into a serpent. "And this is a sign for you, that you may lead out my people, etc." Symmachus reads: "When you have led out." "He called you," that is, he appeared and was visible to you. "And plunder the Egyptians." The Syrus translates: "Shake out, empty"; Aquila: "Pillage." A But this had been promised to Abraham, as God said: "Afterwards he shall go forth with great plunder."
CAP. IV.
VERS. 2. *The Lord said to him: What is this that you have in your hand?* God says this, not as if He did not see, or as if He wished to learn something from it—far be it!—but in this way He leads him to the symbols that lie hidden in the rod, namely that the beginning of the signs should be through wood. When he heard that it was a staff or rod, he is ordered to cast it upon the ground. Why is he interrogated so diligently? So that by his own confession it might be manifest that it was a rod, lest, when he saw it had become a serpent, he might think he had been carrying not a rod, but a serpent before.
Truly, it is well said: where the rod is, there the serpent is seen; just as where the wood is, there the ensnarer and enemy is. B When Moses looked upon the serpent, he fled in horror, warned of the calamity which passed from the serpent to the whole human race.
But God confirms the terrified man, and arms him with such virtue that he does not shudder to grab the tail of the serpent with his hand. This sign, indeed, signified the serpent being killed by the human body fixed to the cross, or wood. But the descent of Him who is incarnate to us is hinted at by the casting down of the staff. For Christ is called the staff, because we are all supported and confirmed by Him. For the heavens were confirmed and consolidated by the word of the Lord. The word of God also sustains the just. And through the Son, as if by a staff, we are carried to the Father. For He says: "I will compel, or force them under my staff." The staff or rod is a symbol of kingship. For God the Father rules all things through the Son. To this David says: "Your rod and your staff have comforted me." This is the rod which sprouts from the root of Jesse. This is the flowering rod of Aaron. But as long as it remained on high, and as it were in the hand of the Father, it remained what it was, nor was it said of Him: "He emptied himself, taking the form of a servant," etc. But when He left the paternal dignity, having fallen from heaven, He lingered on earth, made conformable to us in our evils, and as it were to venomous beasts, to whom it is said: "If you, therefore, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children." He became a serpent, and not without reason is it handed down, because of the human nature which He assumed, while He Himself remained outside the gamble of sin. The change of the right hand, which the Most High altered, represents the same thing. Since His nature is immutable, He bore glory and praise on our behalf, becoming mutable by adapting Himself to us and descending to us. The right hand of the legislator performed this token later. For when brought forth from the bosom, it turns its color into a different one from its nature. Retracted into the bosom, it recovers its own. Thus the Only-Begotten of God, who is in the bosom of the Father and is the right hand of the Most High, when He had come to us as if produced from the bosom, became subject to change. Furthermore, He was considered just as we are, in leprosy—that is, infected by sin. "For all our justice is as a menstrual cloth." Wherefore the Jews impudently called Him a sinner, a wine-bibber, and a Samaritan. But having returned to His Father, of whom He is declared to be the right hand, He recovers the pristine glory which He had with the Father before the creation of the world.
To this point serves the testimony of the divine Apostle, saying: "For if we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him no longer," namely, constituted in the hardships and evils by which He was tormented before His passion, namely by thirsting, hungering, dying, and lastly by encountering the peril of His life. While, therefore, He restores His body to its pristine immortality, He has also led our body, which was disturbed by affections, back into its ancient tranquility, making us partakers of the spiritual nature—we, I say, who
A long ago were infested with leprosy and had need of God alone, who could apply to us a remedy, to whom alone were possible the things which to man are impossible. At the same time, He also demonstrated to the Israelites, who believed it impossible that they should be snatched from their present servitude, that with the help of God assisting them, their present misery would be removed. For those who were defiled by the wicked customs of the Egyptians—like leprosy—and had turned away from the piety of their fathers or ancestors, and were "dead" on account of their vain religion and impious deeds (for leprosy is a sign of death), were to be set free from all evils by returning to God.
But let us return to the exposition of the staff or rod, from which we have digressed, and explain everything more precisely. That it is neither discordant nor absurd to say that the incarnation of the Word is signified by the serpent, Christ Himself taught, saying: "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up" (John iii, 14). For if in Scripture the serpent is both and is called the father of sin, and whatever is born from the serpent is altogether a serpent: shall it not then correctly be said to have the same appellation as the father of sin? But for our sake, as the divine Apostle says (II Cor. v, 21), He permitted the Lord to become sin, by donning our sinful nature. B According to this discourse, therefore, that enigma corresponds to the Lord. For He who was made sin, for our sake was made a serpent. Then, when it had devoured and consumed the Egyptian serpents, which the magicians had stirred up with their incantations, it was changed back into the staff or rod, by which sinners are corrected. Upon this rod rest those who enter the steep and difficult hill of virtue, supported by the staff of faith and instructed by good hope. "For faith is the evidence of things hoped for" (Hebr. xi, 1). We have admitted the Only-Begotten of God coming to us, but the Jewish people, prefigured by Moses the lawgiver, fled from Christ. For when they judged Him to be evil, it happened that He was by no means honored by them with faith. However, in their own time they shall cry out and recognize that He was not, as they supposed, evil; but rather the fulcrum and support of the pious, as the symbols that exist concerning Him teach.
These things also signify the restoration and reformation of our nature, which Adam held before the fall, to its original state. For the rod is a sign of kingdom, and a sprout of paradise. Adam, however, had been instituted to rule over the circle of the earth, and he was in the hand of God, indeed through the holiness of life, and he flourished as it were like a sprout of paradise. But being caught by the fraud and deceit of the serpent, he was torn away from his primary place, and his primogenial root, and he fell from His hand, by whom he was preserved in holiness, C and having fallen to the ground, he lost the image of God. If you look at extreme malice, it differs in no way from the nature of the serpent; it is stripped and despoiled of the kingdom and dignity which it had previously possessed. Wherefore the lawgiver abominates it under the type of Moses recoiling at the sight of the serpent.
But the Father sends His right hand from heaven, and raised up him who had been cast down to the ground: and having liberated us from immense ferocity, He brought us back through sanctification to the regal dignity from which we had fallen, just as it is written: "The right hand of the Lord hath wrought strength: the right hand of the Lord hath exalted me" (Ps. cxvii, 16). For Christ, apprehending us in the final times, just as Moses took hold of the tail of the serpent, has granted us restoration even unto the head, that is, even unto Adam, the first parent. For the entire mortal race is reckoned as one animal, having a beginning like a head, and an end like a tail. Christ therefore, arriving in the final times of the age, saved the entire human race. For as it has been handed down to memory: "For to this end Christ died, that he might be lord both of the dead and the living" (Rom. xiv, 9).
This same thing is signified by the hand defiled with leprosy. For as long as man, created according to the image of God, remained in the bosom of God keeping the law, so long was he pure from every stain of sin. As soon as he transgressed against the law, he contracted impurity, and became abominable. But with God the Father receiving us again in Christ, and leading us to grace, as if into the bosom out of the abyss of our pristine execration, we have once again cast off the danger of death. And so we have been saved through the Son, whom Holy Scripture is wont to name the hand, the arm, and the right hand of the Father. D Hence Isaiah, when he was rebuking the disobedient Jews, said: "Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?" (Isa. liii, 1). And again: "I have with my hand established the heavens" (Isa. xl, 12). And again: "For I am the Lord thy God, who have confirmed thee, and helped thee, and have set thee in safety with my just right hand" (Isa. xli, 10). Certain people say that the right hand of Moses was eroded by leprosy, so that it might be signified that the body is to be corrupted, and then resurrected. For by what reasoning would it not have been absurd for the place itself to be called holy on account of God, who had appeared there, when He said, "Put off thy shoes," etc., and yet for him who was, according to the law, impure, to suffer from leprosy and for the sanctity of the place not to be polluted? But under this type lies hidden that mystery: that death would precede, as is hinted by the leprosy; then would follow renewal and resurrection.
One may also elicit this meaning from hence: the hand is almost everywhere a sign of works. Furthermore, two powers existed in the bosom of Moses. One, which understood the law according to the external letter, and performed it literally; and this power indeed had its work contaminated by leprosy. The other power is that which receives the law spiritually, and induces purity and honesty of life, and joins us in all things to the will of Christ. But I think it is to be noted what He immediately adds: "If they will not believe thee, neither hear the voice of the former sign, they will believe the voice of the latter sign" (Exod. iv, 8). For he who will not believe the literal sense because of his immense gifts of soul or mind, he will certainly be captured by the spiritual exposition of the law. Indeed, to him who will not believe the first sign, whose work is considered leprous, nor the second, which returns his pristine health—to him, I say, the water will be turned into blood. For concerning this sign those words are not repeated: "If they believed, or did not believe." For it is sufficiently clear that to him who by these two...
signs is not moved, the water being taken from the river is turned into blood, and it is impossible for him because of his unbelief to draw from the throat of Christ [those] sweet and drinkable waters. Some say that for this reason the sign of the leprous hand was produced. Since the right hand of Moses was to perform great and stupendous miracles, God first weakens it with the contagion of leprosy, so that when Moses had discovered the weakness of the flesh, he might also have the grace of God always known and perceived. Some assert that this prodigy occurred so that it might be shown that the law was not established for the just. Although he subsequently sanctions laws concerning how the disease of leprosy is to be examined and pronounced unclean: yet most laws are issued as if they were given to fools and those who are still infants. So marvelously does God accommodate and attemper himself to our infirmity. A
VERS. 9. "You shall take of the water of the river, and pour it upon the dry land, and the water which you have drawn from the river shall be blood upon the dry land." This third sign recalls to memory and announces the casting of infants into the river. Mysteries also underlie this. Indeed, this very triad is held to be mystical. For Moses, receiving three signs in this manner—namely, by the rod, by death and resurrection, and by water and blood—offered them as if they were the first-fruits of mysteries. For the first mystery is the cross, the third is the blood which flowed from the side of Christ, and the middle one is self-evident. And these mysteries lie hidden under those three signs. Moreover, all these things manifestly declare the disobedience of the Jews, whom no prodigies were able to move. Scarcely, in the end, by the third sign did some of them—namely, the remnant according to grace—induce [themselves] to accommodate faith to their minds. But here is seen death, which the blood denotes, and the nearby resurrection; these two were given as signs to the children of Israel, the Savior saying: "An evil and adulterous generation seeks a sign; and no sign shall be given to it, except the sign of Jonah the prophet"; by which words he signified his death, through which he was about to acquire very many not only from the Jews, but also from the Gentiles, according to that saying: "When I have been lifted up from the earth, I will draw all things to myself." The simile of the grain of mustard [wheat] pertains to this. The Word of one God was represented by water, which is the sign of that thing. For water taken from the river signified that the Son is of the same substance as the Father, that is, *homoousios*. For it is life from life, and light from light. But the fact that the water was poured upon the ground indicated the incarnation of the Word. But it is turned into blood. The Word of God, if considered by itself, is life. But because he assumed our nature, he is preached as having sustained death. For the water would not have been turned into blood had it not first been poured upon the ground. This miracle, however, so affected the pious that they believed that with death and corruption destroyed, human nature would fly upward into eternal life. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. Nevertheless, even with this sign exhibited, timid Moses tergiversates and weaves delays, and excuses his lack of eloquence and his own weakness, especially because he had heard God himself speaking. For he thought that human eloquence differed nothing from the dumb, if it were compared with the truth of the divine oracles. Furthermore, although he was by his own nature cautious and pious, so that he might not seem to arrogate those magnificent deeds to himself, he hesitated somewhat, especially with God saying that the power and strength were present with him to correct that which he complained was lacking in himself. Indeed, the Law stammers, and does not clearly explain the promises of divine mysteries. Christ is the true Levite and the great high priest, of whom Aaron bore the type. The Law indeed taught the unwise, and described the shadows of things to come and set them before our eyes. Christ, most clearly eloquent, offers us the naked truth. For he is the Wisdom of the Father. Therefore the Law is not sufficiently adequate to provide liberty to those who are placed under the hand of the invisible Pharaoh. It is necessary that Christ be present, and that he assert us into liberty. For unless the Law is understood spiritually, and unless Christ reveals the hidden things to us, whatever is delivered in the Law will be truly dark and obscure. Wherefore a veil lies upon the Jews, because they reject Christ, the interpreter of the Law. He himself is the mouth of the Law. But how was he himself under the Law, when with respect to God he was more potent and superior to the Law, and as it were the head of the family? Doubtless because, just as he was made subject to the Law for men, namely by receiving circumcision, by paying the didrachma, and by eating the Passover, although he was free, being the Son and the true Lamb. But Moses is not persuaded, by which thing it was signified that the future disobedience of the Jews could not be repressed or turned back by any signs or prodigies. A
VERS. 11. "Who has made the deaf or the mute?" The question here is turned: whether God made only universal or more general [natures], and entrusted the making of particular natures to nature: or whether he himself also creates and effects the particulars. If this is true, he also makes the blind, the deaf, and the lame, which seems alien to God. Nature, receiving its course from God, for the most part performs all things rightly, or [is hindered] by embryos being harmed in the maternal womb either by mutual struggle, or blows, or the jolting of the mother, or some harmful food, through which, by these occasional disorders or sloths, nature is maimed. Therefore, "I have made the deaf and the mute," does not signify the affliction, but the man himself.
For Scripture often puts forward the outcome as the cause; as for example: "That seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not hear." Again, it is asked whether the soul is generated from a soul, just as a body is from a body; or whether, as happened in the creation of Adam, the body is formed first by itself, and then the immortal soul is introduced, not having existed before, but being created now by God. And this latter view seems more probable to most, since Holy Scripture says at one time: "Who fashions their hearts individually," A that is, their souls; and at another: "Who forms the spirit of a man within him," as in the case of Adam. God, therefore, gives the souls; but for adultery or fornication, let us blame men. For it is possible for those born in such ways to be pious and temperate, God making good use of those things which occur wrongly.
"And I will instruct thee: I will teach thee, and will lead thee into the harmony of words."
"The king of Egypt died." It is not that one died before God appeared to Moses, and another died afterwards; but it is a recapitulation regarding the same one. That this is so, God adds: "Go; for they are dead who sought thy life." [If this had been another who died, this would not have been spoken to Moses, who was about to descend and was occupied with his journey.] This B is also what the angel says to the blessed Joseph, the husband of the holy Virgin. From all of which it is shown that Moses was in every respect a most exact type of our Lord.
Moses departed, and returned to Jethro his father-in-law. Destined for the apostolic office, Moses does not readily undertake that mission. He yields somewhat to human frailty, as well as to kinship and relationships. Nor does he set out for Egypt before he hears that the king of Egypt has passed away. For the fear of death was gravely troubling and distressing him. But these things indicate the life which is lived under the law, always subject to the fear of death, and divided between divine and human concerns. But those who follow Christ with their whole heart have crucified the flesh with its affections and lusts. Thus the great Paul, C when called to the apostolic ministry, says: "I conferred not with flesh and blood."
VER. 20. "Moses therefore took his wife and his sons, etc." Confirmed by the preceding signs and receiving an earnest of faith, he departs, again putting God before his father-in-law. For when God calls, everything earthly, even if it be precious, must be held in contempt. This is indeed a sign of a pious and not idle spirit. But the angel approaches, threatening and menacing death; and that Moses was ignorant of this when he deprecated the apostolic office, and that he only now believed it when he was persuaded—this I consider to be clearly absurd. But D the simulation of death was being performed. For if he had come to kill, what was the impediment, that it did not happen? If, as the Jews might object, the circumcision of one could prevent death, how is it that the foreskin of another did not bring death upon Moses? Furthermore, if Moses knew this, why did he neglect those born in the wilderness and not apply circumcision, when he had an angel as his guide and instructor? Do you not see that circumcision was not the cause that Moses escaped the danger of death? For the angel had not come to punish Moses with death. But because Moses feared Pharaoh, God, in order to remove this fear, expelled the lesser fear with a greater one, by which he himself was to be feared. For even now Pharaoh...
A was feared on the journey. Truly, Moses thought that God was angry with him because, having been ordered to hasten and free the Israelite people from Egyptian servitude, he was delaying, and was bringing his wife and children into Egypt, whence he ought to have led the Israelites out: which was indeed a sign that he himself also doubted somewhat concerning the promises. Hence, not without cause, the Divinity was angered. Wherefore he left his wife and children behind with his father-in-law, who later led them to Moses as he was making his journey through the wilderness with the Israelites. Furthermore, Zipporah believed that wrath had been stirred up against the Divinity on account of the infant, whose foreskin had not been cut away. For she had often heard Moses saying that this was, as it were, a peculiar custom of his race, that the foreskins of the males should be cut off. But if this had not been done, how would he have intended to circumcise the infant? And he says: “The blood ceased,” etc., namely, the flow of blood, which circumcision provided, was stopped. But the angel was prevented in that manner from slaughtering Moses, as it appeared to the woman B.
VERS. 26. *And the angel departed*, etc. The angel did not go away because of the words of Zipporah. But the angel perhaps departed at that moment in time when the woman was speaking those words, being somewhat pleased by the religion of the woman. For the angel had arrived to strike fear into Moses, or rather to add boldness to him, so that he might not fear Pharaoh, but might the more greatly fear God. For having remembered the greater, that is, God, he will easily despise the lesser, namely, Pharaoh. The angel, however, thinking that he had done what was ordered in a fitting manner, pretends to go away because of the voice of Zipporah, just as happened to Balaam, to whom an angel appeared holding a drawn sword, certainly in order to strike him from the number of the living. Yet he had not come primarily for that cause. For if he had targeted killing the man, he could have brought a lethal blow from behind or from the front or from above: and the ass could not have provided impediments to the angel’s purpose. Why, therefore, did he appear? Indeed, to terrify him, who was preferring the opinion of men to the bribes and honors that Balak was promising. Where he thought he had accomplished this, he withdraws, pretending to be deterred from the slaughter by the ass, which had turned off the road. Balaam, certainly, had to be deterred. For he had already heard, when the legates of king Balak had approached him, that he should not wish to join himself to them as a companion. But when other, more honorable legates had been sent with more magnificent gifts, he bent his mind somewhat, and did not refuse, and he had been warned by a divine oracle to give himself as a companion to them. Nevertheless, he says that he would consult the supreme Divinity. God, seeing toward which side the mind of the seer was inclining, gave him the power to do what he wanted: but ensured that he should speak only those things which He himself had ordered, warning him on account of the man's inconstancy not to be turned aside again. But what are the things that God ordered the seer to utter? Truly, that he should bless the people. Yet it is not to be believed that there was such power in the execration of Balaam and his art that he could overturn a heavenly curse. But because the Israelite people were dull and unskilled, if they had heard the execration of Balaam, they would have despised the blessing of God. If greater faith had been held in the seer than in God, they would have been made guilty of impiety, and the execration would have received strength—not from its own nature and power, but because men would have been believed more than God. Those who were summoning the seer would have taken on boldness and strength. The people, trusting in this, would have been made altogether more fearful on account of their impiety. The angel does not appear to him, who was little obedient to the divine voice. He was seen by the ass, which he considered more excellent than Balaam. The latter turned off from the road; the seer did not understand. When this happened twice, and yet he did not know the cause of the matter, at last he caught sight of that horrible spectacle, and by that terror was he instructed to act 231 cautiously, and not to prophecy anything other than what he had from God in his commands. At this point, Moses regained the spirit to approach Pharaoh, not unlike Jacob when he was traveling to his brother Esau. Others affirm that a good man ought to be accompanied by a foreign wife. For external disciplines, if they are joined to us, have certain things not to be despised for the generation of virtue. But so that that generic sprout of virtue might not be polluted by some foreign stain, and thus bring about the danger of death, it will be advisable to use circumcision, so that that offspring might be known not to be ethnical, but a germ of Israelite nobility. For example: if someone reads the Pythagorean dogma concerning the immortality of the soul, which evidently supports the immortality of the soul, in order that it might not be polluted by some ethnical stain, it will be advisable to use circumcision, and cut away the other dogma, by which that same Pythagoras strives to confirm the migration of the soul from one body into another. Another interpreter says that it is not clearly handed down whom the angel, as killer, wished to remove from the midst. For if he wished to destroy Moses, he would certainly have abstained from his slaughter unwillingly, once the circumcision of the boy was known. Furthermore, that same type clearly proves that death has been defeated in the blood of Christ: and that the multitude of the fathers up to the first author of the race, Adam, has been saved. If the angel proposed to kill Gershom, it is clear enough that the danger of death was not averted by carnal circumcision. But, if we wish to evaluate the matter in a straight path, the grace of the Holy Spirit accomplished this in the firstborn and in the new people, who were foreigners in that land. Zipporah, born of the Gentiles, circumcised him with a sharp stone, signifying the Holy Spirit through the firmness and solidity of the stone. Since it was taken from the rock. Since it was the spirit of Christ. *But the rock was Christ.* That stone instrument, however, shows the stone knives with which later Joshua (or Jesus) circumcised the sons of Israel with the circumcision which is performed in the spirit, without the ministry of hands. And this is that circumcision by which death is tamed, with lust cut away, just as the present type teaches.
VERS. 27. *And he went, and met him in the mountain of God, and kissed him*, etc. In the beginning of the life which is lived according to virtue, Moses was met with hostility and sedition. For the Egyptian taskmaster treated the Hebrew cruelly; then the Hebrew was quarreling with the Hebrew. But when Moses had long meditated...
celestial things, and had flown upward in spirit to the true light; he experiences the friendly and peaceful encounter of his brother, with God managing all things. For since our nature had collapsed into sin, the merciful God appointed for each of us a guardian as a source of help. He also set against this another enemy of our nature. We, placed in the middle, follow the works of whichever one we lean toward. One suggests the good of virtue, the other the pleasures of the age. If we bruise and trample these beneath us, being reformed once again into the divine image, we shall see our brother striving to meet us. This brother is rational and spiritual, and he is visited and stands by us when we approach Pharaoh. A
*And the people believed and rejoiced.* [Exodus 4:31] Beautiful indeed is that faith, if it persists and they do not murmur after these things. For these are they concerning whom the Son said to the Father: "I go away into the vineyard, being ready in word, but an enemy in deed."
See Moses, who at the beginning was a youth and could not reconcile two who were struggling against each other in hostility: now, grown in virtue and rendered worthy of a divine vision, and with his brother added to him, he is so powerful that he is able to rule such a great people and suffices for them, freeing them from the works of mud and brick-making. So much care and so much study is needed before we set out to teach others.
232 CHAPTER V
*Vers. 3. And they say to him: The God of the Hebrews hath called us, etc.* [Exodus 5:3] Truly, he declares a feast. For who would not call it a feast when God summons those pressed by the yoke of servitude to liberty? Although the tyrant resisted and refused to grant them permission to depart to celebrate a feast day, and said that the Lord was not known to him: nevertheless, he did not cease from what he had begun. For one must not let liberty be cut off while the devil prepares obstacles. Constantly one must respond and be persistent, saying: "The God of the Hebrews has called us. There is need of a journey of three days and into the wilderness." For it is not fitting for the God of the Hebrews to share in the rites and sacrifices of the Egyptians. Egypt is darkness, which we ought to flee, as well as the tyrant's province which compels us toward sin. But it becomes us to follow a life that is free, and completely empty and separated from the vanities of Egypt, so that we may be able to sacrifice to God the fruits of justice. He uses a pretext that is probable and customary for idolaters, who, when entering the temple, not to say touch, do not even endure to see a dead body. Wherefore we too ought to depart as far as possible from your sight, lest our feast be defiled by slaughter or by a dead corpse, whether one is snatched away by a natural or violent death. You indeed can take care by edict that your sacred rites are not profaned in this way. But if we perform sacred rites in the middle of the city, it will easily happen that ours are defiled. This speech admonishes us that we must depart from death-dealing works if we wish to sacrifice to God; we must also flee Egyptian darkness, that is, the pollution which follows upon wicked affections.
*Vers. 7. You shall no more give straw to make bricks, etc.* [Exodus 5:7] The more anyone strives toward liberty by rejecting vices and false religion, the more he falls into greater and worse temptations. At the onset of these, some become lame, as happened at that time to the Israelite people. Others, however, are tested by these and take increments of virtue, resisting the tyrant who tries to pull them away from the contemplation of celestial things and to immerse them in mud and brick-making, so that they think of nothing but earthly things. That he forces them to mix the mud happens for this reason, that we may understand that all pleasure is brought to perfection from water or moisture and earth, the end of which, if you attend, is nothing. When pleasure has reached its height and has been as if fulfilled, it is evacuated, just like a workshop where bricks are formed, where, the mixed mud having been consumed, another is heaped up. Stubborn straw and chaff the divine Gospel and the vocal and eloquent Paul have interpreted, saying that they are the material of fire. In this way, the devil solicits those who study to give service to God. He offers difficult wickedness, lest its satiety begets disgust for its worshipper. For we strive for the forbidden and we always desire what is denied. And the more we are restrained, the more we burn with desire. No one at that time, when the divine law called, was indignant and disobedient: nor did anyone inveigh bitterly against the lawgiver while he understood it rightly, especially he who desired to be saved and could not bear the lures of the tyrant by which he was being ensnared. But God, who even then was providing salvation, says to Moses: "Now you will see what I shall do to Pharaoh, etc." Making the Hebrews more ready by promises than by force.
233 CHAPTER VI
*Vers. 3. And my name Adonai I did not show them, etc.* [Exodus 6:3] But to you I have signified it, although you are much inferior in faith to the Patriarchs. Moreover, you have obtained a greater knowledge of me than they, when I showed you my tetragrammaton name, which is unutterable to others except the priests alone, which was inscribed on the golden miter. Now these letters, from which that name is composed, are those four: iod, aleph, vau, het. This name signifies the perennial life and eternity of God. Above, he named himself "the Existing One," which name he revealed neither to the patriarchs nor to Jacob, although he asked the name of God when he wrestled with him. Why did he hide this name from them? It was not necessary to divulge that name. For they were faithful. But he made those his own, whose infirmity was about to cast a golden calf and was about to worship it with divine honors, that he made more certain of his name.
VER. 14. *Sons of Ruben, the firstborn of Israel.* Why does the genealogy start from Ruben and stop when it reaches Levi? It is clear that he begins here in order to trace the genealogy of Levi, and so be able to say something about Moses and Aaron. A
VER. 23. *And Aaron took Elisabeth, daughter of Aminadab, sister of Naasson, to wife.* It should be noted that the priests, and especially the high priests, did not descend only from the tribe of Levi, but also from the tribe of Judah. For Naasson was born of the tribe of Judah, and his father as well, as you shall learn in the Book of Numbers. B
VER. 27. *These are they who spoke to Pharao, king of Egypt*, etc. These are they who first administered the kingdom in Israel before any judge, or king, or high priest had arisen. Hence it is not without reason that the beginning of the genealogy is sought from them. Therefore, when God says, "in the fourth generation they shall come back hither," etc., the number of years should be calculated from the tribe of Levi, which at that time held authority. But when He says, "in the fifth generation the children of Israel went up out of Egypt," the calculation must begin from Jacob. For the fifth generation descending from Levi perished in the wilderness, but the sixth entered the Promised Land. For Aaron, if you consider the series of his lineage, is reckoned as the fifth in order from Jacob, but the fourth from Levi. Phinees, therefore, who entered the Promised Land, was the sixth from Jacob. C
CAP. VII
VER. 3. *And I will harden the heart of Pharao*, etc. Pharao was clearly a creature of the earth if you consider his malice, and because he lived entirely according to the dictates of the flesh or of pleasure, remaining a friend to the mire, he burned with a desire to lead the Hebrews into the same state, that they might live in the mire, since his primary part of the soul—that is, his reason—was not purified from the mire. Just as mud hardens in the sun, so his mind hardened, for it was not rightly formed by the characters of reason; its hardness is condemned by Him who sought to impress upon it the signs and forms which Pharao rejected. If anyone attempts to bring such a man back to the right path with gentle words, he despises these blandishments, and while he does not fear the latent and hidden wrath of God, he becomes more sluggish and hardened—that is, he is rebuked and censured as one who is callous and disregards the goodness of the One who commands and admonishes. Indeed, he thinks it all mere flattery and believes that by his audacity he will overcome and conquer God, whom he himself considers powerless. Thus, the goodness of God, while intending to lead the impious man to repentance, becomes an occasion for him to be hardened, although this is not the will of God, who has hitherto patiently borne his vices and crimes. For whether God resolves to draw us by persuasion or by force, He delays the punishment. Moreover, the wicked and the impious, even if they despise God, nevertheless experience His kindness. Wherefore it is said that He hardens, as if to say that God’s kindness exposes, rather than produces, the hardness of the mind. Now, however, he demonstrates how Moses became a god to Pharao, whom he had feared. In the desert, God commands Moses to cast his staff upon the ground, but in the sight of Pharao, Moses commands Aaron to cast down the staff. D
VER. 11, 12. *And Pharao called also the wise men and the magicians, and they also by their Egyptian enchantments did in like manner*, etc. They each cast down their rods, and they were turned into serpents; but Aaron's rod devoured their rods. These cunning deceits and contrived tricks are shown by Aaron's rod devouring the deceptive serpents to be false; at the same time, it teaches that the miracles which he himself performs are done by divine power, not by prestige or illusion. But just as the burning bush and...
in the sight of the children of Israel, the rod thrown down turned into a serpent; but before Pharaoh it is said to have been converted into a dragon. The reason for this diversity is as follows: the Israelites only needed faith, so that they might believe that it was God who looked upon them and called them to liberty. But the Egyptians needed a dragon, that is, a great beast, not just a serpent, so that it might strike their hardness of heart. The devil sets these traps for those hastening toward liberty, and turns to various arts. Therefore, the sting of punishment is necessarily directed against those who have refused to be softened and healed by speech. Punishments are inflicted to the number of ten. For the number ten is perfect. Thus, they had reached the height of their vices. Wherefore, they are deservedly subjected to so many punishments. But the punishments differ from the usual ones. For God decided to corrupt the earth of the impious by the elements from which the world is constructed, so that it might be understood from this who holds the sum of all things. There are three plagues which Aaron is commanded to bring on, and they are elicited from the densest elements, namely earth and water. Moses inflicts three plagues which are taken from the two remaining elements, namely air and fire. The seventh participates with both aforementioned. God reserves for Himself the three that still remain so that the number ten may be completed. The punishments which are inflicted first are drawn from the watery element. For the Egyptians worshipped water with the greatest and divine honors, positing it as the principle of this universe. Accordingly, they are first afflicted by the water, so that they may learn to what a vain thing they are enslaved, and so that they, corrected by this, might depart toward the true religion. Or perhaps He introduces this punishment first because they rejoiced and triumphed most in their river, as if on account of this they had no need of either heaven or flowing water. Moreover, since they had ordered the infants of the Hebrews to be cast into it, and at length it had been turned into blood by divine power, it sufficiently refutes them and recalls to their minds the cruel and monstrous edict. Furthermore, because the river had been defiled by the innocent gore of infants, it was deservedly turned into blood. For the blood of the infants was crying out to God. VERS. 17. But the Lord says: Behold I strike with the rod which is in my hand, etc. Because miracles were performed by divine power through the intervention of the rod, He calls it His rod, which was Moses’s.
Chapter VII
How then did the Egyptian sorcerers perform the same things, as it seemed? By prestige and illusions, all those things were carried out, with God permitting it, so that they might be struck with greater punishments, because they were worthy of many. For when the loosening of the bonds was sought, they tightened the bonds all the more. Moreover, Pharaoh deserved many punishments, not just one.
The Israelites are simultaneously instructed by these ten miraculous plagues, so that they might more readily and promptly receive the ten commandments. For there was a double utility here: one for those who were being punished, another for those who were being taught. For, as Solomon advises: "When the foolish man is punished, the wise man is made wiser." Similarly, the Israelite people gained no small benefit, since those plagues did not fall upon them. For that whole land was subject to the dominion of the Egyptians. But the habitation concerned now the Egyptians, now the Hebrews. If it is permitted to make a conjecture from the second plague of frogs, the land of Goshen was not adjacent to Egypt nor situated at the Egyptian borders, especially with the Lord saying: "Behold I strike all your borders with frogs." For also the land of Goshen, into which the Hebrews had immigrated long ago, if it had been an Egyptian border, would not have been immune from that disaster. Wherefore, also the water which sprang up among them was not defiled by blood. From this, as some say, the Egyptian sorcerers, taking it, were unable to convert blood into water, but were able to transform water into blood, by which vain skill the evil was not softened but rather increased.
Now the corruption seems to have lasted until the seventh day. Concerning which the enemies of the Church raise questions: "How could Egypt, being most hot, have lasted for so many days without water?" But what is wondrous if, when God desires to exact justice from them, they endured? Yet Holy Scripture declares another meaning. For when the waters that had appeared on the surface had sensed the evil of the mutation, the Egyptians, it says, dug around the river so as to drink from there, since the waters in the depths, which had not partaken of the air that had become destructive, were not tainted, nor does this support the divine oracle, which is as follows: "Take your rod, and stretch out your hand."
upon the waters of Egypt, and upon their streams." Whence the difficulty A regarding where the sorcerers of the Egyptians obtained water to transform into another species is also resolved. Furthermore, Scripture does not explicitly teach that that blood persisted for seven full days. It is likely that as soon as the water took on the nature of blood, it soon returned to its own nature—once the divine power was manifested by that miracle—out of philanthropy. Thus, even the sorcerers, having obtained some, transformed it. Therefore, the Scripture adds: "And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not listen to them." This is what it is accustomed to add at the conclusion of the other signs. Next, the text points this out, saying: "And he did not set his mind even to this," not even when the transformation of the waters into blood had already ceased. For if it had not ceased, it is likely that he would have set his mind to what had happened and supplicated Moses B for it to stop; for this is what he does in other instances. Moreover, not only does Scripture not say this now, but it also remarks that Pharaoh did not set his mind even to this; it is clear that, just as with the transformation of the rod into a serpent, owing to the imitation by the sorcerers, he despised it even now no less.
Chapter VIII
VERS. 9. "Appoint for me when C I shall pray for you," etc. Moses boldly promises the repulsion of the evil; furthermore, he appoints the day on which the evil is to be repulsed. Nevertheless, by praying he performs everything brilliantly, signifying by the prayer itself that these things are accomplished not by his own power, but by divine power. To these points, he indicates that it is easy for God, who works miracles, to introduce a plague and again to remove it by divine authority. For all things are subject to God, and by His nod everything is governed.
A Ver. 10. *But he said, To-morrow.* See how the divine Moses is most ready to do good, giving Pharaoh the choice of [setting] a time by which the evil might be ended; but he is a procrastinator even in this, thinking perhaps that these things happened entirely by chance, or by a momentary magical power, and that therefore the end of the evil would soon come of its own accord; at the same time, he also spurns the divine benefit, not seeking it except in the greatest necessity.
A Ver. 15. *And his heart was aggravated, and he did not listen to them.* Holy Scripture has used these three words—that the heart of Pharaoh was held, that it was aggravated, and that it was hardened. And sometimes it is said to suffer this by itself, and sometimes by God. It is necessary, therefore, that those hearts which receive the holy dogmas be softened, and not have the strength to resist the Deity, and not be aggravated, nor drawn down to earthly things. But an intractable heart, which is opposed to these things, resists sound doctrine like a stone, and repels the divine word, and being repelled, stands firm with a certain false pretense of strength. B Yet these are sufferings regarding one thing, occurring under different concepts. For insofar as it is stony, it is hardened; insofar as it is heavy, it is drawn down; insofar as it does not yield, fighting against the superior nature, it is said to have strength. Wherefore, regarding the first, Jeremiah says: *I will take away from them their stony hearts, and I will place in them hearts of flesh.* Regarding the second, David says: *My sins have towered over my head; like a heavy burden they have been aggravated upon me.* And Zechariah: *I saw a woman sitting upon a talent of lead; and it was said that this is iniquity.* Since, then, the heart of Pharaoh and of the Egyptians was aggravated, they sank like lead in the mighty water; and because they were hardened, they sank to the bottom like a stone; C and because it had its strength, it is said to the Lord who brought it down: *Thy right hand, O Lord, has been glorified in strength.*
Of the three things mentioned, none of the others is said of God, only this: *I will harden the heart of Pharaoh,* and sometimes this: *The heart of Pharaoh was hardened.* Wherefore the Apostle sometimes accuses the one who is hardened, saying: *But according to thy hardness and impenitent heart, thou treasurest up for thyself wrath;* and sometimes, as if posing a question, he brings up the man hardened by the Lord: *Why then does He still blame? For who resists His will?* D There is a difference from this, however, in what is related in Isaiah, where it is said to be "fattened," when it is read: *With your ears you will hear, and you will not understand; and seeing you will see, and you will not perceive; for the heart of this people has been fattened, and with their ears they have heard heavily.* Nevertheless, the heart is made thin by true manna, which is white and fine, so that wisdom, which is an intelligible, holy, unbegotten Spirit, divisible into various gifts and subtle, may be able to penetrate through it. This permeates through intelligible spirits, which are pure and most subtle. But it is fattened by Egyptian foods, which were greedily demanded by those who could not bear the subtlety of the manna; and mindful of the pots and flesh and other foods, they cried: *Our soul loathes this manna.*
A "So then, he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills." To this is added: "So then, O man, who are you to answer back to God?" Paul says such things, clearly discerning the difficulty of the question, and being afraid to commit the solution to writing, or perhaps not judging the one who blames Divine Providence to be worthy of an answer. For he would not have said this to one who had the boldness to answer back to God, such as was Moses, who, it is said, spoke, and God answered him with a voice. And he spoke as a friend to a friend.
How, then, is it said that God hardens the heart? It is exactly as it is written concerning Christ, that he is set for the fall and rising of many. Moreover, He Himself says: "For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind." Christ is set for a fall, not because he casts down and prostrates one who is standing well—far from it!—but according to free will, to those who do not receive Him, He is the cause of a fall, by which they would not have fallen if He had not come, just as, had He not come, those who had fallen would not have risen again. For the same reason, the very same word, being one, is the cause for hearers who do not see to see; while for some, who before His advent were clear-sighted, it is the cause of them now becoming blind. For example, the same word offered Judas a fall, but brought Paul resurrection. And while Judas was in the number of those who saw, when He sent the twelve apostles to perform their apostolic duty, he was finally reckoned in the number of the blind when, at the devil’s prompting, he proceeded to betray the Savior of the world. But Paul was laboring under the blindness of his mind. Having experienced the help of God, the blindness of his mind was put to flight. For he had a zeal for God, intending to do good, although not according to knowledge. Just as the sun, being hot, by one operation melts and liquefies wax, but hardens clay; and so it produces these effects, that the wax may receive the imprint of the sign, while the hardened clay rejects it. We are compared in no other way, as we either receive or reject the divine sign or character. It was signified in the first sign that he had strengthened the heart of Pharaoh; in the second, that it had been aggravated. But from the third sign up to the sixth, the mind of Pharaoh gathered hardness without God as yet causing the hardness.
Thus, even if it is said from the beginning: "I will harden the heart of Pharaoh," it must be understood as follows: "Finally, when he has not repented at one sign after another, he shall be hardened." Hence, those who introduce [innate] natures are refuted. For if Pharaoh existed from the very beginning of a lost and corrupted nature or condition, being hard and not yielding to a God who acts upon him, there was no need for One to harden him. For he who is hardened is transferred into a hard state from a state that previously lacked hardness. He is not, therefore, hardened by the Lord because of the wickedness of his nature. For if God had not hardened him, I ask, what sort of response would he have made to the signs and wonders? If he had yielded to divine power, this would certainly not have been an indication of a corrupted nature. If, however, he had not yielded, it would have been said in vain many times: "The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh." Moreover, if God had primarily inflicted hardening and mental stupefaction upon Pharaoh, he would surely have persisted in it immediately. But as it is, with the plague burning, he promises that he will let the Hebrews go; yet, when the plague is removed, he reverts to his own disposition and hardness. But all these things happen by design, and are considered mutations and movements of the mind or will. Why, then, does God also rebuke him through Moses? To this, Moses himself says: "Beware of deceiving us any longer, so as not to dismiss the people."
VERS. 14. *And the earth stank*, etc. In the first plague, the river stank and gave off a foul odor. In the plague of frogs, the earth felt that evil. For the Egyptians were flesh and blood; thus also was the earth, becoming the thicker part of their bodies. For their heart was thickened. Wherefore, since they stank and the welts of their sin rotted, for this reason both the river and the earth stank of them.
Regarding the former plague, it is written: "Strike with the rod that is in my hand the water that is in the river"; but concerning the second plague it is said: "Behold, I strike all your borders with frogs." Accordingly, we must strive with all our might to escape from Egypt and from its borders, lest that utterance of Scripture be brought against us: "What is there for you and the land of Egypt, that you should drink the water of Gihon?" And again: "Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help." For if all the Egyptian borders are struck by divine judgment, we ought to flee from them by all means, lest the same destruction, on account of neighborliness, seize us as well. It should be noted, however, that through all the plagues, sometimes Moses is commanded to stand in the way of Pharaoh; sometimes to enter into him; sometimes to resist in the sight of Pharaoh. Yet, he who enters into Pharaoh has more power against him than he who goes to meet him as he is coming out. Nevertheless, God always commands Moses to stand in the sight of Pharaoh.
In the same manner, God commands through the divine Apostle that we should stand equipped against the stratagems of the devil, so that we may not be disturbed or confounded by them. A You will also observe the words of Pharaoh, now speaking indefinitely: "I will let the people go"; but now: "Sacrifice in the land," namely, of Egypt. However, Moses does not accept this condition, but requests a journey of three days into the wilderness. Pharaoh indeed consents, but commands that they not go too far. When these things are granted, he sometimes orders the men only to go out into the wilderness; at other times, he allows all the men to depart, but keeps back the cattle, and finally, he permits even these only with reluctance. Divine Providence governs all these things, intent on this single object: that that people might not only perform sacrifices to the Lord, but that they might not sacrifice to the Lord in Egypt, and that, having been led as far as possible from Egypt, they might never return there. Nor does He require only the men, but also the sheep and the oxen, of which God takes no less account than of spiritual oxen and sheep. And to return to few words, He does not wish for anything to remain in Egypt that in the least belongs to the Hebrews by right or by any necessity. And observe that as often as Moses pours out prayers to the Lord, he goes out and does not remain with Pharaoh. For if he had remained with him, he would not have prayed, or he would not have been heard. At first, Moses goes out from Pharaoh alone; then, progressing, he goes out even from the city itself, which he did when the hail was raging. Moreover, Pharaoh himself, although he seemed somewhat softened and inclined toward religion, because he urged Moses to undertake prayer, nevertheless in the meantime he is a delayer, and thinks that the prayer should be deferred until the morrow. That Moses petitions God with prayers for the Egyptians and is heard is a great example that it is our duty to pray also for those who follow a different religion. In this, Moses contributed excellently to the matter, as Christ hands down: "Love your enemies, and pray for those who curse you." He who considered greater and more excellent riches, namely the reproaches and humiliations which he sustained for the sake of the business of religion, was already a spiritual disciple of Christ.
But I would have you observe how much the judgments of God abound in wisdom, power, and clemency. First, He begins to rebuke the customs of the Egyptians. When He sees them obstinate toward rebuke, He proceeds to threats; having scorned and despised these, He confers upon the matter, and endeavors to correct them with punishments. But gradually He first casts terror upon them with blood, frogs, and gnats. Then He attacks their external goods. Then He applies avenging hands to their bodies, not to destroy, but to lead the wanderers back to the path. And this is the greatest evidence of divine clemency, that in each plague He shows Himself exorable. Finally, when He sees their disease desperate and refusing healing hands, He destroys them all to the roots, lest their infamous life be an obstacle and cause of evil and destruction even to others, and lest those who were treated by the Egyptians in unworthy ways be subjected to punishments.
VERS. 6. *And the frog came up, and covered the surface of Egypt.* The race of frogs is foul in appearance, noisy, and fetid. It is a participant in both elements, namely, of earth and of water. It is numbered among the reptiles on account of its leaping. When the frogs had filled the houses of the Egyptians, they did not even touch the Hebrews. Under the shell of this plague is signified the corrupt offspring of vices born, as it were, from the foul mire of men's hearts. From this calamity, nothing that was Egyptian remained free and immune: not the house, not the chamber, or the storehouse; not the bed, not the table. But see, can the Egyptian man not also be compared to the frog that lives as much on land as in the waters? Man is indeed so by nature, but by the institution of his mind or by his will, he is a brute beast: one may recognize someone to be such from the pursuits of his whole life. You may see his walls painted with varied pictures and idols, which thereupon recall foul lusts and pleasures to memory and enflame him. You may see his table furnished with many meats, that he might thus be led into a sordid life. The storehouses of his mind teem with not dissimilar thoughts. But how is the rod of virtue said to be the cause and author of these things? Undoubtedly in the same way that Pharaoh is said to be hardened by God, namely, in that part of the soul which the will moves, not receiving the divine word which softens the hardness of the mind. In this manner, the rod of virtue preserves the Hebrew pure from the unclean life of frogs, and declares the Egyptian full of uncleanness and most defiled by a foul life. We indeed have need of someone who might extend hands to God for us like Moses. But that is the one who accomplishes this, Christ, who extended His hands for us on the altar of the cross. Let us look to Him, and we shall be freed from the association and cohabitation of the wicked, with our putrid and fetid affections slain. For being freed from the reptilian movements of the soul, we shall perceive their grave stench; and by the recollection of our dishonorable former life, we shall torment our soul according to Paul, who says: "What fruit therefore had you then, for which you are now ashamed?"
VERS. 21. *And there shall be gnats.* He does not threaten Pharaoh with a plague of insects, and then bring it upon him, but that plague punishes and takes vengeance upon the perfidious Pharaoh.
A "This is the finger of God," instead of "by the power of God these things happen, and not by men; because this touch is entirely from God." For if God had not willed it, the plagues would not have been brought; but once all things...
VERS 22. *This is the finger of God.* Namely, that all this, that we are thus afflicted and infested with insects, is to be attributed to God as having received it. For if it had seemed otherwise to God, they say, He would not have brought the plagues upon us; but by one...
A finger they called it, and not by a hand. Nevertheless, they also yielded to the finger. The third plague, then, is called a finger; but the fifth, as if five fingers were completed by each plague, has been named a hand, which the divine Spirit has wrought. It is said in the Gospel: "But if I by the finger of God cast out demons," which, interpreting it elsewhere, He says: "But if I by the Spirit of God cast out demons." The third is called a finger; but the fifth plague, as if the number of fingers were complete, has been called a hand. Moreover, it was the divine Spirit who was sending all the plagues. To this pertains what is read in the evangelical history: "But if I by the finger of God cast out demons," etc. Christ Himself interprets this elsewhere, saying: "But if I by the Spirit of God cast out demons."
VERS. 25. *Go, sacrifice to your God in the land.* Our adversary wishes, and solicitously seeks, that we be not severed from his service, and thus that we might perform our sacred rites in a manner less proper than God requires. But we must not acquiesce to this: let nothing be more ancient to us than the divine law, which leads us away, as far as possible, from the service of the adversary into safety. For it is not said without reason: "Thy word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my paths." Let us therefore answer our adversary, as Moses did: we cannot act in this way and serve the Lord. For no one can serve two masters. Woe to the double-hearted, and to the hands that are slack, and to the sinner who walks in two ways.
VERS. 26. *We will sacrifice the abominations of the Egyptians to our God.* For they will abhor and detest us, seeing slaughtered and immolated by us those victims which they frequent with divine honors. For the Egyptians have venerated he-goats and calves with divine honors. If they see us slaughtering these and placing them upon the altars, they will be enraged and will proceed to stones, which they may cast at us. Furthermore, unless we have first overthrown the idols and removed them from that place where we are about to perform the sacred rite, God will not accept our sacrifice. Indeed, Jeremiah calls idols abominations in one place, saying: "What? Has my beloved done abominations in my house?" We must flee as far as possible from Egypt, that is, it is not fitting for us to worship the creature above the Creator. Nor to linger in the borders of Egypt, observing, as it were, days and months, seasons and years. Certainly, unless we depart from your sight, you will hold both us and our sacrifices in contempt. It is necessary, however, that we sacrifice to God all things which the Egyptians worship with divine honors; every thing that seems precious and excellent to the demons must be brought to an end. Hence Paul says: "Present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing to God, your rational service." For he says: "Mortify your members which are upon the earth, namely, fornication, uncleanness," etc. Furthermore, the Egyptians abhor even those things which are most precious to us, namely, the virtues which we offer in place of sacrifice as a sweet-smelling savor to God. For there is nothing to prevent us from accepting "abominations" in this way as well.
Moreover, there are many who remained in Egypt and celebrated their sacred rites there; but of those who went out from there and sacrificed in the desert, there were very few. For many are called, but few are chosen. We have all indeed been called to freedom through faith in Christ, the true lawgiver and high priest, who was already long ago foreshadowed through Moses and Aaron; but more adhere to their former evils, not shunning their former confusion, nor do they sacrifice in the solitude, following a tranquil life.
Furthermore, see how often Pharaoh does not stand by his promises. For he is a liar, and has not stood in the truth according to the Savior's proclamation.
VERS. 22. *And I will make wonderful in that day the land of Gesen.* Now for the first time the land of Gesen is distinguished from the Egyptian calamities.
VERS. 24. *And the land was corrupted by the flies.* See how a worldly man is corrupted by turbulent and base affections. The tiniest gnats afflict the Egyptians with dark bites. By this thing it is demonstrated that God did not wish to destroy, but to correct and amend the Egyptians. If the will had been to destroy the Egyptians, certainly the means would not have been lacking. He could have stirred up reptiles and beasts, and indeed all animals of a baneful kind, and brought war or induced famine. But God does not use great wild beasts in overcoming Egypt, but calls for the ministry of the most contemptible little creatures and insects, so that, to be sure, the results might not be ascribed to their power. To these cast-off and weak little creatures He grants inexpugnable strength, so that Egypt despairs of being able to resist these little creatures, and cries out: "This is the finger of God." For the whole world, gathered into one, will not bear the hand of God.
The following passage coheres in a continuous series of speech, for the author has not intentionally distinguished it by chapters, because the subject matter does not permit such an interpolation, and the brevity of the commentator seems to demand this.
*Behold, the hand of the Lord will be upon thy cattle, which are in the fields, etc.* Those among the cattle are counted first B
A that are struck, the false ones for salvation; second, the beasts of burden which are completely unclean: for they neither have cloven hooves nor do they ruminate; third, the camels, which through their rumination are for the most part regarded as clean, but because of not having cloven hooves, they are unclean. The third category is therefore half-clean. After these, the plague becoming more obscure, the oxen of Pharaoh are struck, and last of all the meekest among the cattle, the sheep.
*Of the soot of the furnace, etc.* [IX, 10.] The furnace recalls to us the enigma of the furnace. For the soot of the furnace signifies the punishment of the fire of Gehenna, which Scripture threatens us with. But that punishment will burn no one, unless he be an imitator of the Egyptians. If anyone is truly an Israelite and a son of Abraham, showing by the honesty of his life that he is joined to the elect, he will be saved, nor will he be harmed or violated by the fire of Gehenna, which is represented by the furnace.
*And I will now send all my plagues into thy heart.* [IX, 14.] You have prepared and equipped yourself excellently for destruction, when you have committed things worthy of a thousand deaths. You will, however, be to me a vessel of wrath, deterring from evil and calling back the world to a better life: just as Moses, as a vessel of mercy, hastened toward piety, so that by his example he might correct very many. *For now I will stretch out my hand and strike thee.* I will no longer spare, since you do not cease to do wicked things, and since you continuously oppose me, I will take you from the midst, lest you drag the contagion of evil toward those whom you have burdened with injuries. It should be noted that God predicts destruction to Pharaoh, namely, so that he may not later be able to cloak his sins with ignorance.
*That my name may be announced in all the earth.* [IX, 16.] Because you persist in disobedience, you announce God against your will, whom you willingly and deliberately deny.
*Behold, tomorrow about this same time.* [IX, 17.] It is worthy of note that Moses always foretells both the plague and the time, and also the end of the plague. But why is this recorded? Least anyone should think that it happens by chance, or that those disasters are inflicted by an angry God. And because he was about to say: *He that feared the word of the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh, gathered his cattle together* [Exod. ix, 20], etc., he fittingly forewarned of the coming disaster. For many of the Egyptians had already taken on a different habit of mind, and recognized God, and gave themselves as companions to the departing Hebrews. Furthermore, it was by divine Providence that not all the cattle perished. For there was need of beasts of burden that would pull the chariots with which Pharaoh was later to pursue the fugitives, so that he might slaughter them in the wilderness. But divine Providence governed the whole business differently, and drowned in the sea those who were plotting destruction for the Israelites.
*Stretch forth thy hand towards heaven, and there shall be hail, etc.* [IX, 23.] The reader must be admonished at this point that Moses is not commanded to perform all miracles with his rod, but at least some: others he is to foretell, such as the gnats and the death of the cattle: others he is to perform by the ministry of his hands, as when he takes soot from the furnace and stirs up the hail. But what is the cause of these things? Lest the common people suspect that the rod was the instrument of magical superstition; and so attribute those wondrous effects to it themselves. But does it not exceed all miracles that Egypt, a most sweltering region, the greater part of which never receives rain, should succumb to those atmospheric disturbances which are experienced by regions subject to the north? And that, concerning one and the same subject, warring substances should be present, namely fire and hail? That the hail should not melt by the power of the fire, nor the fire be extinguished by the force of the cold? Hence it is clear that nature yields to the will of the Creator. In this manner the fire did not consume the bush, Balaam's ass spoke, and a virgin gave birth.
*And Moses lifted up his rod towards heaven: and the Lord sent a south-west wind.* [IX, 23.] Having performed some miracles without the ministry of the rod, he now uses the rod again. But the south-west wind brings the locust, which ravages and strips the Egyptian crops. The south wind brought the quails. The south-west wind dried up the Red Sea.
*I have sinned.* [IX, 27.] These now, B are the words of him who a little while before had shouted impiously: *I know not the Lord* [Exod. v, 2].
*How long shall this stumbling block be unto us?* [IX, 26.] They could scarcely withstand so many scourges. In this way the devil, while he sees himself inferior, and that nothing is accomplished by his own powers, persisting in malice, does not yield, but existing as hard, adheres to his own depravity by his own will. For it is written concerning him: that his heart was congealed and hardened like a stone: and stood like an anvil, which is beaten by many blows. The tyrant is eager to retain in the place of hostages the baggage of the Israelites. But Moses concedes no remnants to the tyrant, lest he take therefrom an occasion to reduce to the yoke of slavery those who have been asserted into true liberty. To this solid liberty are all called: neither sex nor age is excluded, as John testifies.
A “I write to you, little children, because you have known the Father. I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who was from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.” The young—if such an exposition pleases you—are a type of fortitude; the old represent prudence; the infant state in Christ is borne by sons and daughters. Therefore, relying on fortitude, prudence, and Christian simplicity, let us advance from the servitude of sin to the holiness of life. He says: “Act manfully and be strong.” Not dissimilar to this is that saying of Christ: “Be prudent as serpents and simple as doves.” That Moses also wants to receive oxen and sheep into his retinue sufficiently teaches that it is not fitting that we leave the affections and impulses of the body—which are borne along without reason—to Satan. For according to the Apostle: “You must so instruct your members that they may serve justice, just as before they were subject to impurity.” But he frees them from current vanity who deem themselves constant in the religion they have once received, as if, supported by their own strength, they were able to resist the devil and were sufficient for themselves in all things, not needing divine aid. But how does he free them? By saying: “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” He loves the feminine and youthful disposition; he expresses crude and brute natures under the guise of the nature of oxen and sheep.
And Moses said: “You will give us burnt offerings.” [Exodus 10:25] For the devil, when he sees us snatched away from him entirely, seeks to cling to at least the smallest part of us. But the law of God does not permit him, I do not say a particle of the soul, but not even any impulse of bodily motion. He desires, however, that the things which are seen in this life, provided we live in the world, are very beautiful, we should join to God, snatching them, that is to say, from the world, from Egypt. Such, indeed, will be those who, endowed with human wisdom and skill, consent to the truth and refute falsely called sciences. For all wisdom, as it is written, is from the Lord. But if you look to the spirit of the world, the sons of the Greeks have obtained excellent eloquence. Wherefore Paul says: “We have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that we may know the things that are given us by God: which we also speak, not in the learned words of human wisdom, but in the demonstration of the Spirit.” The same is shown a little later, when the Hebrews are ordered to spoil the Egyptians.
And there was darkness. [Exodus 10:22] Now the air is darkened among the Egyptians, and the sun is obscured, so that the Egyptians may not enjoy the life-giving light. But the solar rays and the life-giving light shine among the Hebrews. Yet God does not force anyone, so that one remains in the light and another dwells in gloom. For although the sun illuminated all things equally with its brilliance and splendor, nevertheless some enjoyed the light, and some did not perceive the divine grace. But the judgment of God is brought in, and a sentence is passed according to the merit of each. Yet let no one believe that punishments and other evils derive their origin from God. To each one, on account of the institution of their own life, evils befall. “For,” as Paul says, “according to thy hardness and impenitent heart, you treasure up to yourself wrath against the day of wrath, and revelation of the just judgment of God, who will render to every man according to his works.” For like a physician, he draws out what is burdensome because of some confusion and evokes it from the depths into the open; which indeed is not done without pain. But those who were not sinners are struck by no plague. B C “But as for us, we do not know what we shall sacrifice to the Lord our God.” Lest Pharaoh should reply: “Take, therefore, what is necessary for the sacrifices, but let the rest remain here,” Moses cautiously anticipates this objection, saying: “The will of God is still uncertain to us, nor do we know what kind of victims He desires.”
Silver and gold vessels. [Exodus 11:2] They spoil the Egyptians, not as those greedy for the possessions of others—absit!—but they carry these away as a wage for their long and hard servitude. And meanwhile, they do not receive a sufficiently worthy wage. For what equality can exist between liberty and wealth? Yet the Egyptians stripped the Hebrews of their liberty, even though they were suppliants and foreigners in the Egyptian kingdom. But of such a great boon the Egyptians deprived the Hebrews, for which noble and strong men forfeit not only wealth but life itself in peril. Therefore, by taking away the liberty of the Hebrews, they made them slaves, as if they were captured in war. Thus, on a double account the Hebrews acted with distinction: partly because they were receiving a wage which, owing to the cruelty of the tyrants, had not been paid for a long time during peace, and partly because they were carrying off those vessels as spoils of the war they were waging, without armed combat, with God fighting for them and supplying the victory. For the law of war grants to the victors what the conquered possessed. But neither is deceit toward the enemy reproved; rather, it is thought of as a certain kind of skill. And all these things signify the immense clemency of God, who preferred that they be gathered in this manner rather than by the slaughter of the Egyptians. Furthermore, it is to be ascribed to divine beneficence if we lose things ill-gotten and they slip away. For the dominion of those things which the Hebrews were taking was not that of the Egyptians: especially with the Lord saying: “The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine: and I will give it to whom I will.” Yesterday they were theirs, for they were granted to them by God; today they are ours, that we may make friends of the Mammon of iniquity. We have already sufficiently understood the discussion of this matter, having anticipated it above. D
A At midnight I will go into the midst of Egypt, and every firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die. [XI, 4.] He teaches that the first origin or generation of evil must be removed from our midst; for we shall not otherwise avoid the Egyptian life. Christ commands this same thing in the Gospel, while He desires the first shoots of murder and adultery—namely, anger and greed—to be rooted out. Just as he who has crushed the head of a serpent has slain the long train of its body, so he who eradicates the first shoots of vices has also removed all other things that might proceed from them. But this will never happen unless the blood of Him who slew the slayer or the killer has been sprinkled upon our doorposts. Affections are slain in two ways: namely, by the perishing of the firstborn, and by our own doors being placed in safety due to the sprinkling of the blood. In some places it signifies the first movement of vices, in others the first approach of vices. It behooves us to be attentive in the first place, that it may not enter in upon us anywhere. But no one will attain this unless he has been sprinkled with the blood of the true lamb. If, however, it should violently break in upon us while we are sluggish and lazy, the first incursion and onset must be forcefully broken, and the firstborn of virtues must be carefully preserved, lest they be corrupted by the contagion of evil. This happens if the three parts of the soul, into which it itself is divided, are preserved by the blood through faith in Christ. For the lintel placed upon the houses signifies the rational part of the soul, which moderates greed and anger and draws and gathers them into one knot, as it were. It governs those parts in such a way that they are led by reason, not by their own lust: that anger may be whetted for fortitude, that greed may seek good and not harmful things, and that the soul itself may be carried aloft by both of those parts. But if affection rules in a man, and reason is suppressed, and if no one approaches to stain the lintel with blood, a very large window has now been opened for the slayer of souls. But all these things are proved even more especially by the context of the history itself. Pharaoh sinned, and the firstborn who had admitted nothing were punished, and often infants still lying in cradles, not yet capable of evil or sin. By what logic could that slaughter be justly defended? Especially when Ezekiel cries aloud: “The soul that sins, it shall die. And the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father.” This question is not dissimilar to that one concerning when He destroys infants by earthquake, famine, or shipwreck. Therefore, committing these and matters of that kind to divine judgment, and lest we appear to have neither raised nor resolved this question, we will add this: no one would call unjust any punishment that is dealt out with a certain clemency. Furthermore, the Egyptians did not merely give the firstborn of the Hebrews to death, but they destroyed every male. They do not, therefore, suffer small penalties, if the example is to be compared. Moses knew precisely the mysteries that the Hebrews performed. But they themselves performed them, yet did not know which mysteries they were.
B The words set forth were spoken by Moses, as it appears, to Pharaoh before departing from him, when he had heard his threats. For when he had once resolved no longer to behold his face, he would by no means have entered in to him again. But God had already predicted to Moses what needed to be done. Therefore, he finishes his commands briefly, as he had been ordered, especially since he remembered that God had said, “I will bring one more plague upon Pharaoh,” namely the slaughter of the firstborn, which Moses was expecting.
“This month shall be to you the beginning of months among the months of the year, etc.” [XII, 2.] But because they were being cast out of Egypt in haste, and were making their journey in haste, it was not without reason that, dressed in the manner of travelers, they ate the lamb roasted with fire on account of the shortness of time, and did not break the bones while eating, searching for the marrow, as those who are idle are wont to do. Nor, led by that same cause, did they wait until the whole mass of flour should ferment.
The name was placed upon the feast from the very act itself that has just been commemorated. For it is called *Phase*, which is, if you explain the word, “to use expansive steps.” But those who translated this word into the Greek language thought it should be called *Pascha* and not *Phase*, on account of the passion of Christ.
It is well written, “This month shall be to you the beginning of months,” etc. For some begin the months of the year in one way, and others in another, either by places, rivers, fruits, or by idols. Or that word, “to you,” is said especially to Moses and Aaron. For God did not command that they should tell it to the whole council of the Jews; but only the things concerning the lamb. For to him who has renounced the world and birth...
another being born, it is fitting to say, "This month shall be the beginning of months."
Of these, Paul writes: "Our old man is crucified together with Christ." And again: "If we be dead with him, we shall also live with him." And of himself he says: "I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me." For it behooves us to be reborn, and only then to receive the blessings of God, of which not Abram was made a partaker, but Abraham; not Jacob, but Israel; not Simon, the first disciple of the Savior, but Peter. The apostolic office was not entrusted to James and John until they had been made sons of thunder. For a change in names signifies also a change in the subject. To these, therefore, that saying corresponds: "The beginning of months among the months of the year," etc. Yet one does not always see the beginning where one sees the first. For example, imagine a large heap of logs placed here, each of which has its own beginning and end, yet none of them individually is the first; that is considered the first which took the first place in the placing, with which the beginning and end of the whole heap coincide. For where the first is, there the beginning is held to be present. But the converse is not true. For the first is not always seen where the beginning or starting point is. But the beginning and the first, I say, both converged in Reuben, as Jacob said: "Reuben, my first-born, and my might, and the beginning of my children." B Then, however, the month of transition occurs when one goes out of Egypt: namely, when darkness is deserted and one passes over to the light; which indeed happens under a certain type by water. Therefore that transition is called the bath of regeneration, which indeed indicates the beginning of another generation. But Christ, who is the true Pascha, who came not to abolish but to fulfill the Law, demonstrated this true transition. That He himself is the spiritual Pascha, and not that external one perceived by the senses, He sufficiently teaches with these words: "Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you shall not have life in you," which words, beyond the type of the mysteries that lie hidden under them, also contain a spiritual contemplation, about which we shall speak below.
That the law is indeed a shadow and a type, is sufficiently clear from this oracle: "See that you do all things according to the type and image of the tabernacle shown to you on the mountain." First the sheep is taken, then it is named, then it is slaughtered, thus it is eaten roasted by fire, no leftovers are reserved for the next day. The feast of Unleavened Bread is celebrated only then, when Egypt is left behind and it is cried out: "The world is crucified to me, and I to the world." And again: "Stripping off principalities and powers, and triumphing over them on the wood." It was fitting for them to take the sheep on the tenth day, according to houses and families, and to feed them until the fourteenth day of the month; then the sheep was to be named, saying: "This sheep is sacrificed for this person or that," the names not exceeding eighteen. It is slaughtered on the fourteenth day when evening is approaching, etc. [XII, 6] Thus, from that time, when the sheep is chosen, until its immolation, five days run their course. And since we now also dwell in Egypt, we do not cut or slaughter the little lamb as soon as we have received it. For he who hears of Christ, and directs his mind to faith, he has received Christ. He does not slaughter and eat Him before five days have passed within him. For since we are endowed with five senses, around which the spiritual battle is born once the center of sin is received, unless Christ is welcomed by each one, He cannot be slaughtered and eaten roasted by fire. For when He has mixed clay with His own spittle and anointed our eyes, so that we may see clearly; when He has opened the ears of our heart, so that we might hear, having ears; when we have adored the good aroma which proceeds from Him, knowing His name to be poured-out ointment; when we have tasted and known that Christ is Lord; when we have, as it were, touched Him with our hands, just as John says: "And our hands have handled of the Word of life," etc. With all these things, I say, duly performed, we shall be able to eat worthily and desert Egypt. But the little lamb was taken on the tenth day. For that number is perfect and most full, from the unities a perfect unity generates perfection. It was sacrificed on the fourteenth day under the evening, when, as it seems to some, the cycle of the moon is most full. For neither would we, if the true light had not perfectly shone upon us and illuminated the principal part of our soul to the quick, be able to sacrifice and eat the true sheep. Or perhaps the time of the sacrifice is defined as being in the beginning of the year and in the first month by way of an aside. For the beginning of all things, and in the beginning of all things, is Christ according to His eternal generation from the Father, sanctifying us from the beginning to the end. And the feast is celebrated in the month of new fruits. For the former things have passed away, and behold, all things, as Paul says, have become new. For we flee the ancient tyranny of Pharaoh, under the auspices and leadership of Christ. For we served the most grievous servitude to the ancient Pharaoh like the Hebrews. "For everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin. But the slave does not remain in the house forever. If therefore the Son has liberated you, you are truly free." Furthermore, we do not have life if we do not eat His flesh and drink His blood. But a certain type of all these things existed C D
in the land of promise, toward which they hurried after leaving Egypt. What prevented the little lamb from being taken on the first day of the month? Why? Was that more superstitious observance of five days necessary? To understand the matter, know that one part of it signifies the infinite ages in which God was, is, and always will be. The other part indicates the near and imminent age, which succeeded the prior ages. But this present age is distributed and divided into A five times, just as the parable of the laborers in the evangelical history suggests. Some came in the morning, others at the third hour, others at the sixth, others at the ninth and the eleventh, to work in the vineyard. The morning recalls to our memory the first time when, before sin had arisen, Adam moved about in Paradise. The third hour signifies the age which was in the time of Noah. The sixth demonstrates that time when God called Abraham to the true knowledge of God. The ninth represents Moses and the prophets. The fifth age is denoted by the eleventh hour. In this time, which is indeed contracted, Christ hired the nations at the latest hour; those who alone said: "No one has hired us." The lamb is therefore taken on the first [day], if you reckon the group of five, on the day of the five, which is indeed the tenth day of the month, bearing the type of the beginning by which we initiate the present age. The lamb, however, kept until the fifth and final age, was slaughtered toward evening. For the mystery of Christ is not recent or new: it was guarded in the foreknowledge of God from the foundation of the world. He died for us in the final times of the age, when men were held in deep darkness and were completely darkened by the deceits of the princes of this age. Therefore, Christ, dissolving the darkness and bringing in the light, not undeservedly says: "I am the light of the world." The saints, who are participants in this light, are believed to be stars and heavenly bodies in this world, such that they are able to illuminate the minds of men obscured by darkness with their own radiance.
By "toward evening," therefore, understand the final time of the age, or the darkness by which human minds were darkened. However, because the full moon occurs on the fourteenth day, and the moon illuminates the world with an adulterous and borrowed radiance, and gradually wanes, it is a great example of Satan, who is the prince of the night and of darkness, having held tyranny in the world. For the moon was established to rule the night. Thus, Satan instilled an adulterous light, namely human wisdom, into human minds. But when the true Lamb was slain for us, who takes away the sin of the world, He also demolished the tyranny of Satan by His own death. This is indeed evident from the psalms: "Justice shall arise in his days, and an abundance of peace, until the moon is taken away from the opposite B side." For justification flows from faith, and divine peace has been manifested through Christ. And on the opposite side, the prince of night and darkness has been removed. Nor is Satan simply delivered as destroyed: but when he had first killed man, he himself was also removed from the midst on the opposite side. Another interpreter says that in this place the sacred night is placed before our eyes, which is opposed to the night of the present life, in which the primordial darkness is driven away, and all things arrive at light, order, and beauty, and the world relapses and is revolved into its ancient chaos. Another interpreter, proving that the Law agrees with Christ, says: "For it was the same month, the same day: nor is there any error even in the hour." For since Adam had sinned at the entrance of the month, it was necessary for Him who repels sin, also at the entrance or evening of the month, to obey the Father even unto death, and that, the death of the cross. And because Adam sinned around midday, when men take food and care for their bodies, it was necessary also for Him who took away the crime, to be driven to the cross at the sixth hour. And because Adam went out of Paradise toward evening, at the same time the robber not inappropriately hears: "Today you will be with me in Paradise." Why, therefore, is the lamb not slaughtered at the sixth hour, but rather as evening approaches? Let us hear the Scripture of the New Testament, and we will find everything to be in agreement. For those who affixed Christ to the cross, accomplished that at the sixth hour. But our high priest Jesus sacrificed the lamb which He had assumed in the evening, when He was keeping the paschal feast with His disciples and distributing to them the sacred mysteries. But when the end of the law is brought, the beginnings of the Gospel are established. And He who was the priest within, while on the outside He was the lamb, offered Himself. If we begin the sacrifice of Christ from the supper, the number of three days and nights will be preserved, during which, according to the type of Jonah, He lay asleep in the bowels of the earth: but according to this calculation, the day on which the resurrection happens will also be calculated.
C 248 "Let them take every man a lamb for their families," etc. [XII, 3.] For Christ has His dwelling perfectly within us through the participation of the Holy Spirit: nor is He divided, as the divine Apostle teaches. Furthermore, he says: "If they are too few for the little lamb to be eaten, let neighbors and those nearby be invited." For those who are ruder and weaker than to be able to grasp the mystery of Christ, will be confirmed in the true knowledge by having obtained auxiliary sharers of the same region. For if we sometimes listen to others, we understand higher and greater things than we could have attained by our own effort. Thus, the eunuch, hearing Philip discoursing on the mystery of Christ, was greatly helped in understanding the obscurity of the prophecy when he took him as a neighbor. For we are all neighbors and those nearby, if you look at the sincere religion of faith. "According to the number of souls," etc. For the heavenly or divine Lamb is accustomed to be the food of souls.
"A perfect, male, one-year-old lamb shall be for you," etc. [XII, 5.] For all notions in Christ were divine: and according to the incarnation, which was anointed and imbued with divinity, He himself was the same as the one anointing;
A He therefore, as a male, generates for all the seeds of the knowledge of God; and He perfects us, according to the prophetic word, as willing earth. And because Adam, for whom He was being slaughtered, was strong, it was fitting that Christ Himself be firm and strong. For there was nothing fluid or effeminate to be perceived in Christ. Annual, etc., for which reason also perfect and whole. For the year signifies a completed number, the sun, of course, completing its course in the space of twelve months. Furthermore, the Sun of justice is Christ, and He holds immense light, He reflects it into Himself, and the crown of goodness is accounted blessed, and everywhere and on all sides He is found equal and similar to Himself. And He suggests the life of virtues connected among themselves by a bond of friendship and order. The sheep was also called annual for this reason, that they were to celebrate the most holy feast yearly, who accounted the holy passion of Christ to be the chief thing for themselves, and had in it all hope of salvation settled.
Ab agnis et hædis, etc. A lamb, as the law prescribes, is presented as a pure and irreprehensible victim. But goats have always been placed upon the altars for the expiation of sins. Thus also Christ, as an unblamable host, offered Himself to God and the Father in an odor of sweetness: and as a lamb, He was sacrificed for our sins on the altar of the cross. Yet they do not eat in like manner, but in diverse ways according to the capacity and virtue of each. For not all are fit to feed on a sheep or certain parts of a sheep. More feed on a goat. Those who are perfect, and have sent a repudiation to sin, they feed on lambs. Because Christ is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. Those who are still subject to sins take food from goats. And indeed this is that which is said, that Christ satisfied those who accompanied Him, not with the same, but with different loaves: some cooked with barley, others with wheat. He fed them, therefore, with barley loaves, who, because of an uncultivated and beastly life, could not take the purer and wheaten bread, namely Christ. And because there are more men of this flour than there are pious ones, seven are handed down to have been the barley loaves. For this number is considered perfect and full. Thus those are signified, who are the most numerous, who sit with pressed hands, and work not while it is day. But it is related in the literary monuments that there were five wheaten loaves. For those who follow a better instinct of nature, according to the number of the senses, are not pressed by hunger. But they have these always fed and satisfied with rational bread, as it is written: “They shall not hunger, nor shall they thirst, nor shall their eyes fail.” B He wishes that little lamb to be blameless and sincere, namely, to chase away and wipe out the fault and filth of sin. Although Christ transferred our sins into Himself, and He Himself carried our diseases, He did not however suffer so that He who lacked sin should be healed by His own passion. 249 “He was tempted in all things according to the likeness, but without sin.” For the law, which followed the light shining in darkness, did not apprehend it. For the law constituted men as priests having infirmity. But the word of the oath, which was above the law, constituted the Son perfected forever.
Et mactabunt ipsam universa multitudo congregationis, etc. [XII, 6.] Because without the shedding of blood neither for the elders nor for the descendants could salvation come. C You see that without blood it was not possible for salvation to come, neither to the former nor to the latter.
After the slaughter of the little lamb, He commanded that the doorposts and the lintel be anointed with blood. But why? So that defending our earthly habitation with precious blood, we might drive away the death that follows the transgression of the law through Christ, the life of our body: and in this blood, we might henceforth pursue our enemy. D Just as imperial statues, although they be inanimate, are wont to save those who flee to them, so the blood of the lamb, although it lacks sense and soul, being sprinkled on the lintel, protected the salvation of the Hebrews, existing as a type of the blood of Christ.
Furthermore, let us imagine that the doors of our body are the senses. Through them the struggle of the passions and the destruction of the soul are produced for us. Concerning these, Joel prophesies in this manner: “Some thieves will enter through your doors.” For they were not forgotten by the blood of Christ. Two doorposts and a lintel designate, as it has been said, the three parts of the soul. Moreover, says one, the soul receives its principal powers from the blood. For not quantity, but the virtue of grace blesses him who submits himself to faith. Furthermore, the punishment of Christ is denoted by blood. But see how the peoples themselves who sacrifice attain holiness, who are truly a holy priesthood and a chosen race, and a people for acquisition.
Et edent carnes ea nocte tostas igne. [XII, 8.] He wishes His own body to yield itself to us for food. Wherefore He allows blood to flow, by the sprinkling of which the persecutor and enemy is turned into flight. For after we have been anointed, or imbued with His blood, that is, when we have believed in Christ, then we proceed to the eating of His flesh: “But you shall eat them that night,” namely, in this present age, according to Him who said: “The night has passed, but the day has drawn near.” For day signifies the future age, which
A Christ illuminates like the sun. While therefore we linger in this world, we enjoy Christ more grossly through His sacred flesh and blood. But we shall experience and perceive His power and virtue on that day of which we spoke. For it is written: “Yours is the dominion on the day of Your power.” Then, therefore, shall we be more excellently and truly participants of Him. Indeed, the participation by which we partake of Christ in the present time contains a confession of His passion, just as it has been handed down to memory: “For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim my death.” But when He B shall have come in the glory of the Father, we shall no longer express the confession of His passion; but we shall know God purely and face to face, as Paul is a sufficiently wealthy witness; and we shall honor and sing of Him as Lord. For since, as Paul testifies, He has died once, He dies no more. Nor shall death hold dominion over Him any longer. Wherefore the same apostle says: “Even if we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Christ no longer according to the flesh.” For then we shall not only perceive Him as far as He is man, but we shall arrive at the full knowledge of His divinity.
He commands, however, that the flesh be eaten roasted by fire, so that it may be gathered from this, that those who wish to approach the feast of Christ ought to be fervent in faith and charity. So too Paul commands that we be fervent in the spirit. For it is necessary that our reason be attentive and hold nothing fluid, so that it may be solid and firm, and by the fire which melts all things, proved and examined, and segregated and refined from all earthly things. Let there also be ready sacred coals, which may inflame and purify our mind: descending from Him who came to cast fire, which consumes vices and matures that inflammation. Elijah was translated through the intervention of fire. And the words of Christ, like a lamp, were burning. Also, our God is a consuming fire. For He makes us like glowing iron. C
And they shall eat unleavened bread with bitter herbs, etc. [XII, 8.] For those who have been enrolled in the register of Christians, as their duty demands, nourish their life with the purest desires, accustoming themselves to a sincere and wholehearted polity. Nor in the meantime do they deprecate the bitterness of temptations, according to that common oracle of Scripture: “Son, if you come to serve the Lord, prepare your soul for temptation.” Or the mention of bitter herbs, which are bitter, is made because of the Christian life, which overcomes the allurements of the world; and because it is steep, it seems difficult to those who are novices in religion. For if Christ is a new yoke and His burden is described as light, nevertheless it is so spoken of because of the hope of immortality and the most abundant reward, which by many parasangs exceeds the hardships and calamities of this age. But if we wish to measure the matter with a straight foot, the Gospel is more difficult and laborious than the Law. For the Law forbids works, which are the ends of vices. But the Gospel forbids even the causes of vices, as if they were the works themselves. Likewise, the leaves of the bitter herbs signified the heavy slavery which they suffered under the Egyptians. But in the New Testament, bile denotes bitterness. We must abstain from the old leaven and from acrid malice. For we are not warned here that we must avoid external leaven, from which bread is prepared and life is sustained. By that edict, guard is taken lest we be defiled by Egyptian vices, and lest we be infected with the remnants of Pharisaic and impious doctrine.
You shall not eat of it raw, nor boiled in water, etc. [XII, 9.] He who eats raw flesh provides no nourishment therefrom to his members. Indeed, the teeth themselves reject such food. They live on raw food, however, who do not, by diligent and exact inquiry, refine the word of Christ, inflaming and testing it according to divine David, who says: “And in my meditation, a fire shall be kindled.” At the same time, also, any lax presumption regarding Christ is forbidden, which is held by those who do not believe Him to be God, but merely man. But the words of God are holy and ignited words. For all His sayings, which are held regarding His Divinity, are fervent, according to that saying: “Your word is very refined, and your servant has loved it.” If Christ is the sheep, what is it that is believed to be meat among the divine oracles, if not the sacred Scriptures? Those devour them raw who adhere to the letter, and thereby gain death and not life. For like wild beasts rather than by the custom of men, they swallow them raw. Since the letter kills, but the spirit gives life. D If, therefore, the spirit is given by God, and God is a consuming fire, Paul elegantly says that we should be fervent in spirit. We shall not, therefore, have acted foolishly if we have received the Holy Spirit, by whose help we may be conversant with the flesh of Christ, that is, the sacred Scriptures. Let us then roast these with the flames of the Holy Spirit, and let us eat them afterwards, just as the divine law commands. For by the aid of the Holy Spirit they will be changed into another form, which is delivered therein. And we shall see and perceive the sweet food of the Scriptures if we have not boiled them with inferior water poured upon them. For that water is more excellent, which Christ promises He will give to the Samaritan woman.
The head with the feet and the intestines, etc. God wills that the entire knowledge of the whole mystery which is held concerning Christ should adhere to the minds of the faithful. For this we ought to know first of all, that in the beginning the Word was existing in the Father, and with the Father. For this is believed as the head and beginning of the mystery. Another foundation is that upon which we ought to lean, namely, that He who is God existing, is to come to judge the living and the dead, and to put an end to all things which He has transacted with us in this age. And this is suggested by the feet. But the words of Him incarnate can also be understood in this manner. For some grasp the head, others the hands, others still the breast; likewise others eat His intestines. There are those who obtain His thighs. There are those who attain the feet, to which a few pieces of meat adhere. But individuals participate therein according to the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Likewise, if you wish also to recount the parts of the head, some are allotted ears, namely, that they may have ears to offer to the divine oracles. Some taste the eyes, trusting in which they see keenly, lest they
A stumble and fall. Some receive the hands, so that they may work strenuously, and not have hands that are slack or closed against giving; furthermore, that they may take hold of discipline and be corrected, lest, when the Lord finally becomes angry, they pay the heavy penalties for their transgressions. Some, reclining upon his breast, as though enlightened by the eating of this, might recognize the traitors of Christ. But those who feed upon his entrails—these, I say, being diligent, will see and search out the depths of God. For the entrails have twists and various coils, and they minister life to the entire body. Such also is he who has been initiated into the most sacred mysteries of Christ, whether we receive the hidden or the manifest discourse of the incarnation, or the head, that is to say, his Divinity. Those who are partakers of the thighs keep and guard their flesh pure and clean from every stain, following Christ the leader wherever he institutes the journey. Those who are admitted to the feast of the feet of Christ are no longer slow or idle dawdlers; rather, they run hastily to the prize of the heavenly calling of Christ. It is no obstacle that faith is understood by the head, and by the feet, works, without which faith is dead. But the eating of those who celebrate the Pasch is marvelous and varied; yet all agree and meet at one end, namely, he who commits both head and feet to the belly. For the head cannot say to the feet, "I have no need of you." There are indeed many members that are eaten, but the body of Christ is one. Therefore, we must strive with the utmost effort to keep the harmony or proportion of the members intact, lest we be blamed at last as those who tear apart the members of Christ.
"You shall not leave anything of it until morning," etc. [XII, 10]. For it is neither good nor useful to defer the knowledge of the mystery, and to procrastinate. Let him who has once tasted it possess a complete and solid knowledge, so that you do not remain in the class of catechumens and reject until the very end of life the true illumination which proceeds from baptism through the illumination of the Spirit. For where this night has passed by, there is no remaining cleansing of sin. Just as it is expedient for us, lest the setting of the sun B oppress the angry (for it is not safe that the Sun of Justice should set upon us while we are angry, or still fostering anger), so it is not right that we should suffer anything to remain until the morrow of that little lamb. For the night has passed, namely, this present age; but the day has approached, into which we should not defer the eating of the flesh of Christ: that is, until the true sun rises for us. For when that which is perfect has come, that which is in part, or particular, will be done away with. Nevertheless, you might find few whose senses are sufficiently trained to be able to discern good from evil, and to move solid food to their mouths, and who leave nothing of the flesh until the morrow.
"You shall not break a bone in it," etc. [XII, 46]. Our teeth can never grind bones, namely, the human mind can never in this age perfectly attain the white, if I may so speak, and hidden discourse of the Divinity of Christ. Although we know exactly that Christ is God begotten of God, yet we are unable to explain the manner of his generation. For so the prophet exclaims: "Who shall declare his generation?" But as for the bones, in so far as it lies in them, heretics crush them, who degrade and distort things that are good and right. Whatever, therefore, is osseous and cannot be chewed by us—that is, the certain cause of which we cannot find or assign—must not be rejected or gnawed upon, lest, to be sure, holy things be thrown to the dogs, that is, to those who with livid teeth crush and tear apart the secret mysteries of the discourse. Let there not be sought, therefore, the substance of God, or what preceded this creation of the universe, or what exists outside this visible machinery of the world: and other things of this kind. Let us grant that all these things be inquired into by the divine fire, namely, by the Spirit, who searches even the depths of God. For, as Wisdom commands: "Seek not things stronger than you, or those which surpass the small powers of your intellect." These things have been delivered to the Spirit to be examined and guarded. They are not to be lost or corrupted by being given to the water; nor are they to be scattered and dispersed, as the head of the calf was, of its own accord, by the tumultuous works arising among the Israelites, crushed and diffused into the waters. One may understand by the fire that splendor which will be present to the pious in the future everlasting age, when we shall look upon our King C face to face, that knowledge which consists as it were in an enigma being taken away from our midst. There are those who think that the literal sense of Scripture is shown by the bones; but that the flesh signifies the spiritual sense of Scripture, which, if we follow, we see as in an enigma and in a mirror the things that are to come. The blood represents the evangelical faith, which the New Testament teaches, just as Paul warns, saying: "The blood of the testament, that is, faith." With this blood, that is, by being sprinkled with faith, we shall avoid the slayer. Hence some think that under the bones and blood, holy Scripture is comprehended. But it is manifest from the evangelical history that in Christ, who was the true lamb, the bones were not broken. Here a question may be moved: why did the soldiers not shatter the members of Christ? If they remained intact because they beheld him dead, why did one of the number of soldiers open his side with a lance, and blood and water flowed out? Do you perceive that this was done by divine Providence, so that the soldiers might not lay impious hands upon the bones, and violate them?
"Let your loins be girded," etc. [XII, 11]. Other places in Scripture interpret the present passage. For the Apostle says: "In the loin of Abraham, blessed by Melchisedech, even Levi, who receives tithes, was tithed: because he was still held in his paternal loins." Similarly, it is read about the devil in the book of Job: "His strength is in the loins, and in the navel of his belly." For by this power he easily overcomes appetite and desire, so that they are subjected to him. But D more elegantly and conveniently, the loin refers to the man, and the navel to the woman specifically.
When, therefore, we gather to celebrate those most holy mysteries of Christ, it behooves us to abstain from venereal intercourse. For the girdle declares this sufficiently, signifying the mortification of that affect. John, the herald of truth and precursor of Christ, followed this affect. That he indeed mortified it is sufficiently taught by the leather girdle with which his loins were bound. If anyone is girded in this manner, he will surely leave nothing of the flesh remaining until the morrow. As concerns the loins of brute animals, we find nothing handed down. They may use them at their own discretion, for they lack the reason by which to govern the loins. Moreover, brute animals restrain themselves, even in their pleasures, within the limits prescribed by nature. Let the girdle bind you, and let temperance govern your desire, that you may feed purely on the paschal lamb, mortifying the members which are upon the earth. Scripture also mentions another girdle, namely the military and virile girdle. According to this, some are called "prepared," and others "girded with one girdle." Job, needing to be restrained by one girdle, hears God saying: “Gird up your loins like a man, and give answer” (Job XL, 2). The divine David testifies that he is bound by this girdle while he celebrates with praises the power of God with which he is girded. Similarly, he depicts God as girded with power and might, so that He might destroy the wicked. Unless, perhaps, someone thinks that by this, David signifies His power as superfluous and as it were contracted, according to which way of speaking God is said to clothe Himself with light as with a garment. For who would sustain His infinite power? And who would bear His perfect and true light? Moreover, what does it signify for Paul to say: “Stand, having your loins girt about with truth” (Ephes. VI, 14)? Surely it means that the intellectual power of the soul should so bind desire with the love of heavenly things that it does not suffer desire to embrace anything besides heavenly things. That which is written in the prophets: “And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins” (Isa. XI, 5), etc., has this meaning: “He shall be terrible and strong to defend justice.” He also wishes him who approaches the feast of the paschal lamb to be such: and indeed, He requires that he bind his tunic with a girdle, lest it, flowing loosely, impede the feet of him who is making the journey. By this girding we are admonished that, in the present age, we should coerce the luxury in which we drift. A soul studious of temperance easily inhibits this, which will serve as a girdle for one entering upon the way. “And there are sandals on your feet,” etc. “How beautiful are your feet in sandals!” If the author of things had followed the true order, he would have expressed it more conveniently: “And the feet are in the sandals.” But now, in a preposterous order, as it were, he says: “The sandals are on the feet,” by which words he declares that the sandals are of greater excellence than the feet. These words also indicate that we must proceed without hesitation wherever God has called us. Paul understood this place in this way when he said: “Your feet shod, being ready for the Gospel of peace” (Ephes. VI, 15). Furthermore, let one draw off his sandals, just as Moses, who is about to enter the holy land, where the footprints of God exist. But why are the sandals put off? Lest he bring anything deadly with him into that region. Moreover, if any disciple is sent to preach the Gospel after the manner of philosophers, in a frugal way, it is necessary for him not only to lack a staff and money, but even, content with a single tunic, to walk on naked feet, that the feet of those who announce peace may appear beautiful (Rom. X, 15). But he who flees Egypt, let his feet be shod for the sake of security, lest his naked feet be violated by the thorns of life, namely, sins. But let them have sandals as a defense. Moreover, a life bordering on temperance and fortitude knows how to blunt those thorns, and prevents them from inflicting sin upon the body with their obscure and barely visible point. To these things, because of the serpents and scorpions of which Egypt is very fertile, feet are ordered to be protected by sandals, lest they suffer some evil from these hidden perils. We are ordered to trample and crush these. This passage also manifests the resurrection of the flesh, which accompanies us as we go out of Egypt. For we must mortify the members which are upon the earth. Moreover, observe the harmonious agreement of the Old and New Testaments. For what is enjoined to Moses desiring to lead the people out of Egypt, the same are the apostles ordered, who were sent to lead the gentile people out of the invisible Egypt.
“And let there be staves in your hands,” etc. The staff which is carried in the hands is also a weapon by which one defends himself from the incursion of noxious beasts. It is, however, a type of hope, which, by hardening one in perils, produces patience. Therefore the prophets say: “Hope in the Lord, and in turn be supported by God.” This is that staff by which we sustain a soul that is faltering, and like old men, we drive away barking dogs. One sort of staves or rods sustains and supports us; another feeds us, namely, doctrine, converting those endowed with reason and leading the sheep back into the way. In this place, one is ordered to take that by which we may be sustained on the journey, lest indeed, hearing the mention of the blood and the Passion of the Lord, we should limp. Let us eat the body and drink the blood, doubting nothing, as they are life and they give life. Furthermore, a rod is a symbol of discipline and doctrine. For “He who spares the rod hates his son; but he who loves his son, diligently instructs him,” as the proverb has it (Prov. XIII, 24).
“And eat it with haste: it is the Lord’s Passover,” etc. For he who has become a participant in the Christian religion ought not to be seen as either lazy or negligent in good works. For that expression, “with haste,” signifies this very thing: or it is demonstrated that it will someday be that those things which are delineated in the Law will come with great velocity, and will sort out their outcome. Nevertheless, the preceding cause, which we have just given, is more suitable to the text. For it is added: “Because it is the Passover of the Lord.” For we are crossing over from this worldly life into the city of God. We have need of zeal and speed for that matter, lest we suffer what Lot...
was forbidden. Truly, we must not look back, nor should we stand still in the whole surrounding region. Let us hasten to the mountain, and there obtain salvation, lest the Sodomitic and foreign fire drag us away, lest we harden into a pillar of salt while we turn aside toward worse things, all of which delay promotes.
A "And I will see the blood, and I will cover you, etc." [Ex. xii, 13]. In order that we might know that what is being carried out there is a mystery, he adds a cause that is not entirely consistent. For could he not have distinguished who was a Hebrew and who was an Egyptian, even without the blood? The sign of circumcision was present, by which the Hebrew was recognized. Furthermore, this passage is similar to that which is held in Ezekiel in this manner: "Upon whomsoever this sign shall be, do not kill him." So that we may truly be able to say: "The light of thy countenance, O Lord, has been marked upon us" [Ps. iv, 7].
We, too, find salvation in this way. Egypt laments the firstborn of its reason and action. But Scripture is accustomed to call the firstborn of Egypt the seed of the Chaldeans, and the Babylonian infants dashed and broken against the rock.
"For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, etc." [Ex. xii, 15]. This number is, among all others, the most mystical, and it squares with the creation of this universe. He called the first and the seventh day holy. For the first time, when Adam was created at the beginning of creation, and had not yet transgressed the law of God, and was dining on the foods of paradise—that time, I say, was holy. Similarly, that time is holy in which those who join themselves to faith in Christ, who restored us to wholeness, will be justified in the last days. Therefore, the mystery of our Savior has truly been demonstrated to us in these things, as if under a type. Hence it is not without cause that Christ addresses the Jews, saying: "If you had believed Moses, you would surely have believed me also. For he wrote of me" [John v, 46].
"Moses called all the senate of the children of Israel, etc." [Ex. xii, 21]. Who the ritual of the Paschal lamb is, the Lord first disclosed to Moses and Aaron. Then Moses explained it according to the gift of the Spirit—not to everyone, but at least to the senate—handing down most things in like manner, except that he admonishes them that a bundle of hyssop must be prepared so that all defilements might be cast away. With this blood, he orders the lintel and the two doorposts to be anointed. But the posts signify wrath and desire; the lintel portends reason. Moreover, he warns those who celebrate the Paschal feast not to bring their heads out of the doors. If anyone seeks here the allegorical sense, let him remember that the doors or the portal are Christ. For He himself says: "I am the door" [John x, 7]. The house is the Church. Let no one who desires to be a participant in salvation be separated from these, not only regarding place, but also by thinking and doing what is commanded in the Church. This passage can be explained otherwise according to the proportion of those things which are preached about the Synagogue. For just as the soul must be contracted, not permitting it to wander to external affairs, so let no one go out from himself. For every person who is agitated by passions goes outside; whereas he ought to collect his mind, and keep his reason within the inner chamber of the mind until the morning time.
B "And the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians, etc." [Ex. xii, 23]. Noting three parts of our soul excellently instructed for stable faith, and that every approach is closed to the slayer seeking to enter, he enters (if I may say so) into the heart of Judas, that he might betray the Savior.
Furthermore, the bundle of hyssop seems to signify the sponge, which, moistened with vinegar and hyssop, they offered to Christ on the cross when He was thirsty.
"But the people took the dough before it was leavened, etc." [Ex. xii, 34]. The Hebrews were sent out, liberated from Egypt in the dead of night from bitter servitude and darkness. For in darkness, and not in divine light, does the servitude of sin desire to subsist. Therefore, united to the Lord, they carried away no remnants of vices. Nor were they aided by profane and foreign provisions. They lacked leaven, they sought after heavenly bread. This celebration was indeed the purest of all celebrations.
"An innumerable mixed multitude went up with them, etc." [Ex. xii, 38]. These were born partly of C Egyptian mothers and related to the Hebrews by paternal extraction. Others followed the Hebrews, moved by the piety of the people. Some, corrected by the multitude of the plagues, were abandoning Egypt and were joining themselves to the Hebrews. D
A This is the rite of the Passover: "No foreigner shall eat of it," etc. [Exodus XII, 43.] This is the third law regarding the celebration of the Passover that is brought by the Lord. However, He promulgated it only when they had already gone forth from Egypt. For if He had established it while they were still in Egypt, such a great crowd of aliens would not have accompanied the departing Hebrews. Therefore, by a great kindness—since He had snatched everyone out of Egypt—He proposed the present law. For as long as we abide in Egypt, whoever wishes may approach and frequent the feast of the Passover. When you have left Egypt behind, the law no longer admits the foreigner. Those born in the house, or house-born slaves, are the common concepts of the mind imprinted upon our souls. Those bought with silver are the discourses that are naturally engendered in us through diligent study of letters and the disciplines. It is therefore fitting that the common concepts of the mind, and also the discourses which we have acquired through diligent study, be purified if they are to be brought to the feast of the Paschal lamb; for anyone who has imbibed a dogma alien to the true religion profanes the feast of the Lord. Thus, he serves the Hebrew—that is, the free soul—either as one not yet such a person, or as one bought for money. He who dwells with the children of Israel eats the Passover; but the stranger or the foreigner is not admitted to that banquet. B An "adventitious one of the Church" is anyone who gathers with the pious in the temple. But having heard the word of the Lord, and the consecration being completed, he turns aside into the number of the apostates. And this one shall not taste of the Paschal lamb. A hireling differs in no way from him; for he abandons the sheep because they are not his own, and he allows the wolf to ravage them. He does not love the sheep with his whole heart, but he follows them, led by the sweetness of gain, because of which he tends them. In this manner, a hireling creeps in among the Israelites under the pretext of religion, and he thinks that religion is a source of profit, and from there he fancies that riches are to be sought. To this class belong the hypocrites who attach themselves to virtue, not for the love of virtue, but for the desire of empty glory. For he who will be perfect, as the Heavenly Father is, will kiss those virtues with supreme desire and ardor, as it is written: "Love justice, you who judge the earth" [Wisd. I, 1]. For that which is done for the sake of something else is less than that for which it is done. Thus, they prefer the wage to the virtue. Hence, such a one does not partake of the Paschal lamb, since he puts justice after other things.
"In one house it shall be eaten," etc. [Exodus XII, 46.] It is necessary at times, on account of the gluttonous, to listen to the discourses of the heretics and for them to be gathered with us in one place, yet as if in another house. But if nothing transpires here, except that the little sheep and the flesh are taken, do you think it matters greatly if it is eaten in two houses? He understands the "house of the flesh" to be the Church, outside of which ecclesiastical discourses are not to be brought forth, lest, forsooth, pearls be cast before swine, and holy things be given to dogs. The concordant consonance of discourse and doctrine must be diligently retained, nor is it right for us to destroy this, as those do who grind the bones.
"You shall circumcise every male of his," etc. [Exodus XII, 48.] Every offspring or descendant who, having left behind earthly things, is carried on high and contemplates heavenly things. For earthly things and whatever is earthly is contained and held under the name of the feminine. But the male offspring must be circumcised and purified, that it may worthily be able to sit down at the table upon which the Paschal flesh is placed. In this place, the proselyte differs in nothing from the native-born. For God approves not nobility of birth, but a noble disposition of the mind. "Everyone who has not been circumcised shall not eat of it," etc. Various and many are the circumcisions. Those are said to be "uncircumcised in heart" who collect and conclude through reasonings and syllogisms things that it is not fitting to do. Those are "uncircumcised in ears"—to whom that vice is attributed—who have ears that are impure and averse to hearing sound doctrine. To the Hebrews, it is said that he is "uncircumcised in lips" who does not prune away every discourse repugnant to true religion, and who does not cease to utter impure and foul words. You might say that someone is "uncircumcised in flesh" who does not prune away carnal desires. Nor does circumcision pertain only to the aforementioned things; there are other members that demand circumcision. Those are "uncircumcised eyes" that do not rightly purge the faculty of vision. Hands are called "uncircumcised" that do not perform and execute the works of virtue. And so, the Jews, who believe that circumcision is to be applied only to the member, are to be warned that the ears also must be circumcised. For it is recorded somewhere in the scriptures: "For your ears are not circumcised" [Jerem. VI, 10]. We can also understand those things which are written about circumcision in an allegorical fashion, such that we consider the fornicator [index: entries preserved]
not to be circumcised, but the continent person to be distinguished by circumcision, even though the latter has a foreskin and the former is an uncircumcised person. A *And all the children of Israel did as the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron, etc.* [XII, 50.] He who is not devoted to the naked letter, but listens to the will of Scripture, is the one who performs all things, just as the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron.
*Sanctify unto me every firstborn that openeth every womb, etc.* [XIII, 2.] The slaughtered lamb was a type of Christ, through whom the children of Israel escaped the destroyer. For He died for our sake, so that He might render death void. He desires, therefore, that those for whom He risked the danger of life should be subject to their Lord, and that indeed by a most just right. For in wars, whoever were captives, and are finally restored to their ancient liberty by the aid of the soldiers who liberated them, are no longer their own masters; but they are subject to the dominion of those who preserved them at the risk of their lives. For they are now the lords of those by whose blood, when they were captives, they were withdrawn from captivity. B Thus also Christ, by His own blood, has conquered and dissipated the most firm battle-line of the demons. Wherefore Paul, as if he no longer lives for himself, says: "I have been crucified with Christ. And I live, now not I; but Christ liveth in me. And that I live now in the flesh: I live in the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered himself for me" [Gal. II, 19, 20]. Thus also the Israelites no longer lived their own life, but that of the lamb which was slaughtered for them. It behooves us, therefore, to cultivate a life that is holy and truly of Christ—the Only-begotten in respect to God, the firstborn in respect to the human race, and the male in respect to sin, from which He was entirely alien. Hence it comes about that in the commemoration of the firstborn, males are chosen: namely, casting off the unwarlike and womanly softness that inclines toward sin. C *Everything that openeth the womb of the ass, thou shalt exchange with a sheep, etc.* [XIII, 13.] For a sheep is used, as the Law teaches, for sacrifices: an ass is profane and unclean, nor is it used for sacrifices. Thus also we, who were profane and sinners, by the grace of Christ, who is the integer and irreprehensible lamb, have been taken up and are found acceptable to the Lord.
*Every firstborn of the sons of men thou shalt redeem, etc.* By offerings or gifts, or by the compensation of a price. For that which is consecrated to God was to be utterly slain. Yet God abominates homicide, as He who created all things so that they might be whole and remain inviolate. "For God created not death, neither hath he pleasure in the destruction of the living," as Scripture states; "demons delight in the ruin of men" [Sap. I, 13; II, 24]. Furthermore, by the consecration of the firstborn He strives to instruct us that we owe our own life or soul. For the same reason He commanded the didrachma to be paid. Shortly after, the same thing He establishes on Mount Horeb with this addition: D *Thy calf, and thy sheep, and thy beast, shall be seven days under its mother; the eighth day thou shalt give it to me* [Exod. XXII, 30]. The same thing is still wont to be observed among us, who dedicate rational sheep. For we do not bring those who are newly called and novices, who still adhere to the first rudiments of the faith, to that divine and unbloody sacrifice; but such men are retained for some time in the number of catechumens and are nourished and confirmed little by little with the drink of milk, which Mother Church provides, according to Him who says: "I gave you milk to drink, not meat; for you were not able as yet. But neither indeed can you now" [1 Cor. III, 2]. And again: "Every one, that is a partaker of milk, is unskillful in the word of justice: for he is a child. But strong meat is for the perfect" [Hebr. V, 13, 14]. Those imbued and fed with milk they bring on the eighth day, which signifies the time of the resurrection: of which thing baptism is the symbol, by which, as if they were rude and infants, they are weaned from milk. For, as Paul says, "We are buried together with him by baptism into death; that as Christ is risen from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also may walk in newness of life" [Rom. VI, 4], regenerated through faith to the acknowledgment of the truth, and rendered conformable to Him who is the firstborn in respect to us. Then, having drunk that rational and sincere milk, we are renewed into a perfect man, unto the measure of the age of the fullness of Christ. Then at last we shall be holy to the Lord, and shall be consecrated to Him—namely, as dead to the world and living to God in holiness, like victims which are slain at the altar. For, says Paul, "You are dead; and your life is hid with Christ in God" [Coloss. III, 3]. For the death of the saints is holy, as this utterance teaches: "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints" [Psal. CXV, 15]. These things also harmonize with the Jews, who, after the shadow of the Law and its Sabbaths, were brought into the knowledge of Christ, as they had long ago been instructed through the mystery of the eight days. For the Law brought nothing to perfection.
*God did not lead them by the way of the land of the Philistines, which was near, etc.* [XIII, 17.] He did not immediately from the beginning show to the Israelites the path of faith, which He shows to us as a compendious and short way to prepare for justice, just as Paul testifies: "The word is near thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: this is the word of faith, which we preach" [Rom. X, 8]. Through enigmas and long detours of the Law were the Israelites led, so that, exercised with great labor in shadows and certain wrappings, they might be taught the mystery of Christ, and not, struck by any terrors, fall away from true religion: but rather that they might most eagerly seek after the truth, well-confirmed by such exercises. At the same time also, they might pursue with constant love the immortal God. But the way,
which leads to Christ, and which He himself prescribes, is straight and short, and it stirs up and raises our souls against adversaries, and teaches us to bear with strength and present courage all the perils that occur on account of Christ, always setting against them that prophetic saying: “The Lord is my helper, whom then shall I fear?” A We receive noble and manly spirits immediately when we have been clothed with power from on high, that is, the Holy Spirit. But the time in which Christ is to come is predicted in these words: "In the fifth generation the children of Israel went up out of Egypt," according to the evangelical parable which introduces five classes of workers, as we taught above when we were discussing the feast of the Passover.
“And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him,” etc. [XIII, 19.] The Hebrews, because they were pursuing carnal things, were commanded to take from one another vessels of gold and silver; Moses chooses the bones of the just man, which he prefers to the immense treasures of the Egyptians. In this way, Joseph also transferred the bones of his father Jacob into the land of Canaan. And yet, by handling the bones, they contracted no uncleanness. The law commands the coarser-minded not to touch corpses. But behold, Moses, who gave the Law, not only handles the bones, but carried them as if lifted onto his shoulder; for he had been faithful in the house of the Lord for about forty years, and was defiled by no sin. Therefore, he gave the letter to the Jews, but he himself reserved the reality which is held by the letter. For he believed in God, who is truly the God of the living saints. Let those, therefore, be ashamed who find fault with us because we compare Moses to the martyrs, seeing that he performed works that were evangelical rather than legal.
“By day He showed them the way in a pillar of cloud, and by night in a pillar of fire.” [XIII, 21.] Both pillars represented Christ. For He is the pillar and support of truth, sustaining us above the earth. For He does not allow us to lean upon the works of the flesh, and be wallowed in earthly vices. For they who are powerful in God, as Scripture says, are B raised on high, far above the earth. These, since they are conformed to Christ, are called pillars in the Psalms: “I have established its pillars.” For the disciples were established and strengthened when they were clothed with power from on high, so that they might be able to sustain the world like pillars. Night signifies the time that preceded the incarnation of Christ, which is truly the day; the devil, who darkens and obscures the minds of men, exercised his tyranny in that time which preceded the incarnation of Christ. Now Christ, who is the day and the light, reigns. He went before the Israelites in the form of fire, that is, in the Law, which condemns and punishes. But in us, the Sun of righteousness, shining forth, goes before in the form of a cloud, so that it may be a type of salvation provided through water. Wherefore Paul says: “The night is far spent, but the day is at hand,” clearly indicating both the time of darkness and the time of light. Moreover, there was a different angel who went before the children of Israel. For the cloud was a certain bodily instrument of the Lord, by the intervention of which, while He himself was incorporeal and transcended every sensible and composite substance, He used a sensible voice to address his servant Moses. But why He addressed Moses in this way, He himself gives the reason, saying: “That the people may hear me speaking to you, and believe.”
“Over against Phiroth, which is between Magdalum and the sea against Beelsephon,” etc. [XIV, 2.] In the book of Numbers it is read that the children of Israel encamped by Butha, over against Iroth, which place is situated opposite Beelsephon. The word Beelsephon, if you interpret it, signifies places turned toward the north.
“I will harden the heart of Pharaoh,” etc. [XIV, 4.] I am not the author of a hardened heart. But the various ambages, which the people followed as they set out at the instinct of God, Pharaoh took as a pretext and cause for his own sluggish mind. And indeed, he had taken up the plan of pursuing the Hebrews quite unjustly. For they had not yet covered the three days' journey, where Moses had announced that the people would perform sacred rites. Pharaoh, therefore, did not seize upon a just cause for pursuing the Hebrews.
“You shall no longer see them for ever.” [XIV, 13.] He added this to a long time: not for an everlasting age. For the Hebrews did see the Egyptians armed again, but at last, after many C
A generations. He said this: "You shall no longer see them for ever, because all are destined to be destroyed in the sea."
“Why do you cry out to me?” etc. [XIV, 15.] But to whom? "Take," he says, "the staff; if you lift it up, the sea itself will recognize the symbol." The Israelites depart from Egypt, with God going before them in the form of a cloud and fire. For how else could we arrive at the holy land and the holy city of God which is on high? Verily, however, many persecutions accompany those who resolve to flee from Egypt and attain virtue as soon as they have crossed the borders of the Egyptian kingdom. The enemies gnash their teeth. With these evils, the mind of the novices in faith is terrified and falls most plainly into despair; and it longs to return to the pursuits of its former life, murmuring: "Let us alone, that we may serve." Nor do they differ from tender seedlings which cannot yet, due to their own lack of strength, resist the scorching sun and the onset of the winds. Yet unless Moses is near, who urges on the terrified by encouraging them. But that, indeed, does not happen unless his heart communes with God. For although it is obvious that Moses did not cry out, yet God testifies that he does indeed cry out, but in his mind. For such a voice, or outcry, is heard most easily and penetrates to the ears of God with a good conscience, unaided by any external clamor. When God heard this voice, he leads the Hebrews on dry ground through the Red Sea with the cloud going before, doubtless the grace of the Holy Spirit, through which Pharaoh, who pursues the pious with hostility, is drowned in the mystical water together with the Egyptians. For Pharaoh, having the Egyptians as auxiliaries, descends into the sea and is drowned alone, while the remaining soldiers are suffocated by the sea; I mean, however, the passions and demons which urge them on. If the enemy pursues you with a stone, remember that an insult also, no less than a stone hurled from a sling, can strike and wound. You may call anger a spear. The horses are understood as the passions, by whose assistance pleasure is obtained. Those who are carried by these are swept away by an intolerable force, namely by the three riding upon them, who denote the three parts of the soul. The water destroys these through faith in the preceding staff and the cloud protecting those who had fled to it. It is necessary, therefore, that those who have once emerged from the waters carry nothing with them that was in the camp of the adversaries, nor any longer tolerate in themselves the tyrant who is coming. Indeed, every destructive passion must be destroyed in the waters, just as the passover is in the blood that supplies life to the one anointed, for whose sake we eat unleavened bread, reserving no remnants of malice for our future life. In this way, the enemy and the friend are distinguished in the mystical water, with the former perishing and the latter remaining unharmed. That the sea is a type of baptism is a witness sufficiently constant, Paul, saying: "For all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea." In baptism, in place of Moses, we shall have Christ as our leader, the mediator between God and man. Inasmuch as he is the Word, he is incarnate, and thus he is the mediator of those who believe and of those who persecute them, inhibiting their violent incursions against believers, just as it was said long ago: "The angel of God and the column of cloud stood up, and they went into the midst of the Egyptians and the children of Israel," namely, preventing both peoples from mixing and becoming confused.
"And the water was a wall to them on the right, and a wall on the left," etc. [XIV, 22.] By an elegant anticipation, God protects the truth, not being ignorant of the cunning of the perfidious who teach that the Arabian Gulf is naturally sometimes exhausted and sometimes filled with water. But if that Arabian Gulf was so naturally constituted, is it not likely that the nature of the place was better known and perceived by the Egyptians than by the Hebrews who were fleeing? By a similar anticipation, the miracle which later occurred in the Jordan is prevented.
There are other authors from among the Greeks, who B assert that the Egyptians were Hebrews and pastured their flocks. Then, conspiring against their masters, they departed from Egypt. The Greeks prattle these things, little considering how much the Hebrews differ from the Egyptians in language and customs.
"Let us sing to the Lord. For he has been magnificently glorified," etc. [XV, 1.] The song is theology founded on sound and upright pronouncements. The soul of the perfect man is accustomed to transmit this to God. Moreover, a song is to be defined in this manner: a song is a voice rendered with due measure, without instrumental sound. The Israelites first sang this song when they had crossed the Red Sea on dry land. There were two choirs: the one of men, whose precentor and leader was Moses; the other of women, which Mary, the sister of Moses, directed and moderated, sounding the cymbal and mortifying her limbs through the virtue of continence. For a cymbal is fashioned from the skin of a slaughtered animal. Mary, who had not testified to her joys by dancing when her brother was rescued from the river, now dances when she sees the people having escaped the cruel hands of the enemies. She dances, however, in honor of God, who had miraculously avenged the innocent blood of the infants, and turned the water, by which the infants had been suffocated, into a vengeance for the Egyptians. The song itself is one, and is sung by a double choir, singing and responding in turn. Moreover, this song extols God, who...
pushes and moves all things by His nod at His pleasure to punish the impious, and He knows how to invert the laws of nature. Now also in the mystical Jordan, Christ submerges the devil, whom the Egyptian Pharaoh represents, and He completely enervates his strength, and so that he may no longer oppress us with the affections of infamy, He makes us secure, if we obey Him who says: C «If you go out to war against your enemies, and you see horse and rider and a people more numerous than you, do not fear. For the Lord your God is with you.» From this we shall say freely and boldly: The Lord is my light and my savior, whom shall I fear? The Lord is my shield and my defender, from whom shall I tremble? If camps were placed against me, my heart will not tremble. Furthermore, He does not wish that foreigners rule over us. For He says: «You shall not be able to set a foreigner over you. Because he is not your brother.» Furthermore, He also warns that a king should not multiply horses for himself, nor lead the people back into Egypt. For usually subjects follow the customs of those by whom they are governed. Therefore, so that the people, who lack a king who breeds horses, who lack horses and horsemen, might not tremble with fearful dread, it hears the Prophet saying: «The Lord is my helper and protector for salvation.»
D And the Lord delivered the Israelites that day from the hand of the Egyptians, etc. [XIV, 30]. This is indeed the principal cause, because in that song they celebrate Him, singing: «This is my God, and I will glorify Him,» showing by that emphatic demonstration: «This is,» etc., that He Himself has neither association nor communion with the remaining gods, who are not and are nothing. They said this to Pharaoh, but we direct these words to the father of Pharaoh: This is my Christ. Now, those things which are recounted about Pharaoh bring to our memory the impiety of the tyrant: who, although he heard the command of the Lord ordering that he release the people, nevertheless thundered: «I do not know the Lord, nor do I release the people.» Wherefore now they say, That is the God whom you objected that you did not know; this honor is not fitting for your own, who are falsely named gods and are worshipped by you. This One, therefore, I will celebrate with praises. For I will adore the Lord God, and I will worship Him alone: liberated from the error by which I was agitated while I lived under your tyranny. And I will exalt Him, that is to say, by thinking or presuming nothing humble or sordid about Him. Nor does the Scripture call Him either a creature or some created thing, but calls Him the Creator Himself: not recent and new, but eternal, as He was praised by my father Jacob. Moreover, out of excess of joy, by inculcating it, He repeats the same thing more often: now indeed naming the horse and the rider, now truly the chariots of Pharaoh and his power and forces. Just as the pious are the elect of God, so those were the elect soldiers of Pharaoh. Thus also the holy Scripture somewhere calls his food elect. A Moreover, as much as concerns the triple order of this, we have explained it allegorically above. Now let us return to the history. This one drives a chariot, the other stands in the order of shield-bearers and champions, another fights. Ascenders, he says, not cavalry who mount horses, nor even helmsmen. For everywhere, the art is salutary. But they felt less than a stone: they were heavier and weightier than lead. For they differed not at all from a heavy and unbearable burden, never contending toward light and sublime things. Therefore, not undeservedly were they submerged in the depth of the sea. For they had arrived at the depth of sins, contumaciously despising God. But the holy and pious, after the example of the clouds, as Isaiah says, fly, and like eagles they transcend the aerial element with their flight.
Your right hand, Lord, has been glorified in power, etc. [XV, 6]. The right hand, to be sure, is the Son, who is also called the Power of God. That right hand at that time routed Pharaoh: now it tames and crushes Satan.
You have sent your wrath, etc. [XV, 7]. That movement of the mind, by which You are moved and incited to take punishment from sinners. You also sent angels (whom He calls the spirit of fury), who execute Your wrath. In this way the water, divided, hardened when He moved the law. Therefore God sent into them wrath and fury through the evil angels. For God is incorporeal, nor is He battered by any affections.
You have sent your spirit, etc. [XV, 10]. Others have interpreted this place thus: You breathed, or, You stirred up winds. For God brought into the sea a known and valid wind. And it is called the spirit of God. For God created the wind, and the wind is considered a creature of God.
They were submerged like lead in the valid water, etc. [XV, 11]. The seat of iniquity is lead, as is evident by the testimony of Zechariah saying: «I saw a woman sitting upon a talent of lead.» He interprets this later as being iniquity. Furthermore, since the Egyptians were the seat of iniquity, it is not without cause that they are read to have fallen like lead into the bottom of the sea. «Who is like You among the gods, Lord?» as if to say: No one. For by no comparison do the Creator and the creature cohere. For God is eternal, the creature was brought into essence when nothing existed before. B Symmachus, for "gods," rendered "in powers and magistrates."
You have extended your hand, and the earth devoured them, etc. [XV, 12]. For the hand, which before had been contracted to punish because of goodness and patience, now He extends against the contemners, so that they may be subjected to punishments. For to themselves, as a treasure, they gathered wrath in the day of wrath. Moreover, the earth, after it was despoiled, settled down, and covered them with its yawning mouth, the Scripture here signifying incidentally what it had skipped in the narrative of events. Or perhaps the earth is mentioned in this place because in the beginning, when God had created heaven and earth, He wished the watery element to be numbered with the earth. Or He commemorated the floor of the sea itself in this place. Because they were thrust into the depths. Furthermore, the earth is accustomed to be the receptacle of all, as many as perished in the sea. Or He compares it to a chasm, because they were swallowed by the earth with one attack. For thus, as if to say:
they perished, as if the earth, opening, had swallowed them up. One might also assign this meaning to it: namely, that the devil is called the "earth" in this place, because they were delivered over to punishment.
B “You were a guide in your justice,” etc. [XV, 13.] For indeed, it is the work of justice to protect and save strangers against whom snares were laid, to defend the free so that they are not dragged back into slavery, to lead the wandering back to the path, and to rescue the pious from temptations. Aquila, in his version, has instead of “justice”: “In your mercy.” And in this he agrees with the divine Apostle, who writes: “Not by works of justice which we have done ourselves, but according to His great mercy.” “You have exhorted them with your strength unto your holy habitation,” etc. Surely, you defended them solicitously, guarding them everywhere and in everything, repelling their enemies, and bestowing very many good things, until they arrived at the land of promise. Interpret, moreover, the “habitation” as the pious words and the practice of virtue, to which two things God called that people.
“The nations heard and were angered,” etc. [XV, 14.] Aquila reads: “They were troubled.” But those words are spoken in the prophetic manner: and because of the certainty of prophecy, He foretells future events that had not yet occurred. Indeed, Rahab the harlot bore witness to this prophecy, when she explained everything to the spies, as is evident from the narration of her history. Foreigners also bear witness to the same prophecy, those who had caught sight of the ark. For it has been handed down in the written records concerning the Philistines: “Pains laid hold of the inhabitants of Palestine.” For they knew certainly, the same as the Egyptians, that destruction awaited them also.
“Then the princes of Edom hastened,” etc. [XV, 15.] Esau was named Seir and Edom. From this, the Idumeans draw the origin of their race. The Moabites obtained this name from Moab, the son of Lot. “Let them be struck with dread,” that is, let them be numbed by fear and remain immobile—though not so that they suffer any evil, since we are brothers, but lest any harm be brought upon us from this.
“Plant them,” etc. [XV, 17.] Grant that your people may firmly inhabit the land promised to their fathers, and that they may never be driven from their dwellings, with your providence keeping them in safety. Since in this you have determined to build your C holy temple, which you were accustomed to call a house of prayer. Moreover, we sound these things deservedly and boldly, seeing the Egyptians and Pharaoh destroyed by you. These things, indeed, according to allegory, can be spoken regarding the devil and the demons, who were vehemently troubled, seeing the unconquered and impregnable hand of God extended against the impious. Hence they uttered such voices: “Leave us! What have we to do with you, Son of God? Have you come to torment us before the time?” Furthermore, they were consumed with envy, seeing in one and the same day the delivery and birth of Sion, an immense nation and a formed people, who chanted praises to the Lord when He submerged the filth of sin in the mystical water. These, I say, regenerated through baptism, that they might show themselves grateful, sing a hymn and ask to be raised to the sublimity of the Church. Concerning this, Isaiah prophesies thus: “In the last days the mountain of the Lord shall appear.” Thus, everywhere in Holy Scripture, the Church is named, the Jerusalem which is above, and her tabernacles are called high and holy. Concerning these, Christ addresses His disciples, saying: “I go to prepare a place for you.” Concerning the same tabernacles, he hands down elsewhere in this manner: “The sanctuary, which your hands have prepared.” But what are those hands? The Lord reigning forever and beyond: through whom the Father created all things. He dissolved empires, destroyed powers, and crushed or bruised the heads of the serpents over the waters. He drew into liberty His own people, who were being afflicted by most iniquitous tyranny.
“And they came to Marath, and they could not drink the water,” etc. [XV, 23.] God suffers nothing either sluggish or remiss in the Israelitic people, so that, perhaps, gradually relapsing into idle sloth, they might desire to return to Egypt. For perils and labors provide this benefit, that they join us more closely with God. Hence someone says: “In tribulation (or adverse circumstances) I have remembered you.” When, therefore, they were parched with thirst, they struggled with the lack of water. Moreover, Holy Scripture compares the word of God to water. For not only does water give life, but the word of God also bestows life. The latter strengthens the soul with life-giving power; the former cools and refreshes the body nearly perishing from thirst. Hence Christ exclaims: “If anyone is oppressed by thirst, let him come to me and drink.” He also urges the Samaritan woman in this manner: “Whoever shall drink of this water that I will give him shall not thirst forever.” After they went out of Egypt, they were not immediately governed by divine laws. But their spirit was drying up and being tormented by heavy thirst. Therefore they come to Marath, which place is a type of the literal law, which, inasmuch as it punishes, is not without bitterness. Hence the divine Paul says: “If anyone has transgressed the law of Moses, he is put to death without mercy under two or three witnesses.” And again: “For if there is glory in the ministry of condemnation, much more does the ministry of justice abound in glory.” And again: “The letter kills (namely, the law), but the spirit gives life,” signifying the worship which is performed in spirit. Even great Peter sounds forth: “And now why do you tempt God, to put a yoke upon the necks of the disciples, which neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear?” Furthermore, the law was bitter, because no one is justified through the law. But he who receives the mystery of Christ—which is signified by the wood cast into the water—which Christ himself first rose from the dead: he, I say, experiences a life-giving and potable Christ, with the sense of the present history turned into allegory. For
and Christ proposes to us justifications and judgments, by which we are freed from all punishment. For he adds, "Every plague, which I have brought upon the Egyptians, I will not bring upon thee." Consistent with this is also that word of Christ: "Amen, amen I say to you, he that heareth my word, and believeth him that sent me, hath life everlasting; and cometh not into judgment, but is passed from death to life." And again: "He that believeth in the Son, is not judged." Then also we shall attain to Elim, which is *ascent*. For from a childish and rude age we progress toward perfection and toward the measure of the age of the fullness of Christ, and with great delight 263 we shall draw spiritual waters, by which the intellect is greatly gladdened. If you enter into the number, you perceive the seventy palms to correspond in number to the choir of the apostles. For, having sent the twelve, he sent also others besides. Of these it is written: "Draw water with joy out of the fountains of the Saviour." And elsewhere: "In the churches bless ye God from the fountains of Israel." Of the just man also it is read: "The just shall flourish like the palm tree." The same Christ taught, the Church, his spouse, singing: "I will go up into the palm tree, and will take hold of the fruits thereof." For the palm is always green, nor is it ever stripped of its falling foliage. Moreover, it is sweet, stands firm with deep roots, and has a white heart. Furthermore, all these things, if one does not spurn the allegorical sense, harmonize with Christ. To these, as to him who has escaped Egypt and left behind its allurements and pleasures, to which he was enslaved before crossing the sea, the life of self-restraint appears difficult, troublesome, and steep in comparison to his former life. But if we receive the prayer of the resurrection, which happened after the cross, self-restraint will appear to us sweet, like potable waters, and we shall be greatly gladdened as we approach the apostolic fountains and palms. Nevertheless, all these things possess the appearance of prophecy, while they are demonstrated by works which are things of the future.
Quod autem dicitur: *Illic ponebat justificationes et judicia*, do not understand this as the Law. For the Law was given afterward at Mount Horeb. But understand those things which he shows by saying: *Tentavit eos*, that is, he taught them and instructed them by certain quasi-preliminary exercises, so that they might attain the most excellent virtue of obedience, so that they would no longer tempt the Lord, but would always flee to him as the most ready help in adverse circumstances.
Prima lex, quæ ponitur Israelitis, est, quæ jubet ut sint dicto audientes. Nam, inquit, *Si audiendo audieris vocem Domini Dei tui*, etc., by which words he prepares the minds of the Israelites, so that they might more readily receive the law about to be promulgated.
*Ecce ego pluo vobis panes*, etc. [XVI, 4.] God treats even those by whom he has been offended with mercy and humanity. For they had not a little irritated the Lord by not asking him for food when they were suffering from a shortage of grain. For from whom or from what other source, if not from God alone, is food to be requested with prayer and supplication? But to those who were indignant and murmuring, and consigning to oblivion the benefits with which they had previously been most liberally gifted, he provides manna, just as David recounts: "He gave them bread from heaven, and man gave them to eat the bread of angels." He indeed persuaded the foolish and imprudent Jews that he could prepare and set a table with banquets even in a vast wilderness. This same thing Christ subsequently performed while he was living among the Jews, as evangelical history teaches. I believe it should be noted, however, that they were not fed from heaven before the food which they had brought from Egypt had run out. Moreover, that food, which arrived sent down from heaven without agriculture, represented the mystery which happened regarding the holy Virgin, from whom there was given to us the bread that nourishes and feeds us in all things. We are also taught not to be anxious about the morrow, nor to promise ourselves a long life from the riches of the age: nor even to overstep the limits of nature and necessity, beyond which and short of which uprightness cannot exist. If food has been heaped up for you in great abundance, take care that your belly does not take more or less than is suitable for it. For just as it is foolish and absurd to overstep the limits of nature in taking food, and to gorge oneself more than is necessary, so also is it held a no less fault to defraud one’s own genius of its proper measure. Nor, in the meantime, should one curiously inquire by what reasons God performs miracles; let this word always be in our mouth: "I know that all things are possible to you, and that nothing is impossible for your divine power."
*Tentabo autem eos, inquit, si ambulaturi sint in lege mea*, etc. By "law" in this place he calls the measure of food which the necessity of the human body demands: which he warns is to be observed in bringing in heavenly nourishment. For whatever God has commanded is to be held as law. Some laws are not 264 perpetual, like this one, nor are the laws of circumcision and the Sabbath, which lasted until the coming of Christ. Others are perpetual, of which other things will be said. God sets heavenly food before the Jews, gradually instructing them as if through shadows and certain outlines so that they might contemn earthly things, and seek Christ, the heavenly bread and ambrosia of angels, nourishing the faithful of the holy
A Trinity, prefiguring as a guide the true path of virtue. Wherefore while it was day and the sun had risen, the manna descended. For the day has shone upon the believers, and the Morning Star has risen in the hearts of all, and the sun of righteousness now promises its rays to us. That the manna was a type of Christ, Christ himself teaches, saying: “Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead.” And again, speaking of himself: “I am the living bread which came down from heaven,” which he also testifies to bestow eternal life. But he means his own flesh, which he declares gives life to mortals. He desires that this food be gathered and stored by those who dwell in the tabernacle in such a way that they may abound as if by a cornucopia. For he says to the apostles, as those confirmed in the business of religion beyond others: “Freely ye have received, freely give.” Furthermore, when the apostles had gathered together much spiritual nourishment, they deservedly heard this voice, so that they might then more generously distribute that same nourishment to the infirm. Since even the blessed Paul writes somewhere: “I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established.” He also prescribes that the manna be gathered with fellow-members, that is, with those who share our true religion, lest we be mingled with heretics who follow a different doctrine. Nor, he says, is anything of it to be kept until the morrow. For when the shadows of the types have vanished, we must not seek the shadow: nor must we cling superstitiously to the law, after the divine radiance of grace has begun to shine.
B For if we do otherwise, and follow the law and the shadow, we shall not escape punishments and corruption, as is signified by the worms. To this Paul bears witness: “Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law.” Yet for those who, exhausted by sins, strive to rest and seize the true Sabbath in Christ, the discipline of the law is not useless, which can lead us as if by the hand to Christ, mixed with evangelical precepts, just as that saying of Christ suggests: “Every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old.” Therefore, since we hold the true celebration of the Sabbath, let us no longer gather manna, that is, let us not cling only to the letter: nor let us be constrained by external circumcision, nor let us offer the victims which are prescribed in the law, since now we enjoy the truth itself, which was shadowed by types of that kind. And thus much concerning the manna, which was gathered during the day. But the quails, which flew in at evening, designate the fleshly desires of the Jews, and truly savor of Egypt: while they follow these greedily, they do not hold back their tears, being darkened in mind, not crucifying the flesh with its affections and lusts. For he commands: “Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” Why did the quails arrive only at the evening time? Because he who greedily receives and embraces earthly things is held in the shadows of ignorance and stupidity, not having Him who said: “I am the light of the world.” Wherefore he says concerning the Pharisees: “Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind.” In the book of Numbers, discussing the mixing, he says: “The people wept, calling to mind the foods by which they were sustained in C Egypt.” But nothing were the Israelites more tolerant for it, whom it behooved to rebuke those bound by evil desire. Yet the ancient people was able to care neither for their own salvation nor for that of others. But God, who calls things that are not as though they were, offered those ungrateful people quails. Perhaps even that which happened to Elijah, to whom ravens brought flesh in the evening, delineated the ancient people. But they brought food more foul and putrid, both of which signified fleshly pleasures, which, although God first bore them patiently, he afterwards severely punishes. For he does not wish to fill their minds with respect to pleasures: rather, he seeks to lead them by persuasion to recognize the great power of God, by whom whatever he wills is accomplished. For signs and miracles always follow incredulity. Abraham faces the danger of famine and descends into Egypt; the condition of Jacob is read to have been no better. Yet nowhere is there mention of a miracle. For they were beautifully corroborated in faith, and not inexperienced in human misfortunes, nor did they, like those others, shamefully speak against and murmur. Nor were they snatched away by an untimely death, as they were. For they by no means rejected the heavenly bread to give themselves over to pleasures: a thing which it is clear the Jews later did, who preferred pleasures and worldly delights to faith in Christ, as we are taught by the evangelical parable, when those invited preferred to a splendid and rich feast, one his farm, another his merchandise, and another his wife. Not undeservedly, therefore, do they hear Christ saying: “Moses accused you, for he wrote of me.” For God gave them bread in place of nourishment, which encompassed every spiritual pleasure. It serves his palate to whom it ministers, and offers to each what they desire. He nourishes with milk those who desire milk, of whose number are infants in Christ, and who are still unrefined: these, I say, he feeds with the rational milk they affect. He refreshes the infirm with herbs. To the perfect and those exercised in all things, he sets down more solid food. We carry these foods on that day which is wont to precede the celebration of the Sabbath, and signifies the present age. For the present and the future age will no longer allow the gathering of food: in it we shall enjoy, if we have contemned the works and studies of the world, and have been free for divine worship, eternal beatitude. This will result for those who have not departed from the place in which they stood, that is, D from Christ: nor have made fires, that is, for sinning: nor have taken up the burden of sin. For he says: “As a heavy burden they weighed upon me.” But that enjoyment of eternal beatitude is called pleasurable and holy, as it has been handed down elsewhere: “My Sabbaths are pleasant and holy.”
A “Whom you have seen: for they are the elders of the people,” etc. It is not, therefore, a question now of the external elders of the people who have been set over this ruling; he means, of course, those whom Moses alone could perceive by his intellect to be fit for that task. So that Moses might not decline the monarchy, those elders are added to him as colleagues. For the Law does not possess such power that it alone might suffice to instruct and perfect us. After Moses, however, in the final times, those perfected in number are appointed by Christ, the elders who rule the peoples. The divine disciples were considered as the first-fruits of these. B “From your spirit, which is upon you, I will give to them,” etc. This is so that we may understand that God sanctifies our ancestors and us by one and the same Holy Spirit. For the same Spirit by which the prophets were moved is also in us. For there is one Father and one Son. But since the Spirit is one, and because the gifts of the Spirit are various, it should not be said that the Spirit is divided; far from it! The Spirit is one and suffers no division, and He is perfect in all things. Two were missing from the number of seventy, whose names were Modad and Eldad, whom God also filled with the Spirit, and they prophesied. Some tried to extinguish the gift of prophecy in them through censure. But Moses, foreseeing the mystery of Christ, said: “Who will grant that all the people of God might flourish with the spirit of prophecy, which will come to pass if the Lord pours His Spirit upon them?” We understand that the Law instructed many and joined them to Christ, but it was too weak to be able to join everyone to Christ. Christ imbued even these, who had been absent, with the Holy Spirit. For the Gentiles were called to the knowledge of the truth—not by the works of Moses, nor through the Law, but rather by the virtue and power of the heavenly Father revealing His image, that is, the Son, to those who were ignorant. He rendered those called holy, anointed with the most fragrant ointment of the Holy Spirit. But the Jews, serving the Law and moved by a certain zeal, will emulate those who have attained righteousness in Christ and by faith, and who flourish by the gift of the Holy Spirit. Truly, Moses, foreseeing the mystery, rejoiced with gladness. And so, the Jews do not reflect the character of Moses; indeed, they degenerate, as they pursue Christians with hatred. C “And they were turned into solitude,” etc. Aquila renders: “They inclined,” or “they looked back.”
“This is the word which the Lord has commanded.” It is the custom of Scripture to give names to the results of works from their causes. For what the word and command of God brought into effect, it calls the word of God. And manna is not a name, but the question became a name. D “And you shall strike the rock.” It is to be noted that the miracle of the manna and the quails is prior to striking the rock and bringing forth water from it, since the seventy-seventh Psalm seems to place the incident of the rock earlier. Again, the congregation murmured, and they put forward the weariness of the journey. In the book of Numbers, it also sets forth a memory of pleasant things in detail, saying: “Where there is no sowing, nor figs, nor vines, nor pomegranates, nor is there water to drink.” And that these things happened after the death of Mariam in the first month—I speak of the events concerning the rock, where he is commanded to take only Aaron and to speak to the rock; and as he hesitated, saying: “Shall we bring water for you out of this rock?” Therefore he struck the rock twice, whereas he had extended his rod only once in Egypt and turned the Egyptian waters into blood. Because of this, he was reprimanded together with his brother for not bringing the people into the land of promise.
They did not consider that difficult things are also beautiful. For beautiful and honorable things do not come from leisure, but from labors. Moreover, these things were reserved for Christians, who through various trials and so many dangers of circumstance press onward toward the ethereal hall of the great God. Those ungrateful Jews thrice and four times judge them blessed who, after the quails were consumed, met their death. Moses, somewhat broken by so many hardships of the journey when he was inclined to falter in faith, is commanded to summon as companions now the elders, now Aaron alone. God also brings to Moses' mind the miracles which He had formerly performed through the ministry of the staff. For He says: "Take the staff with which you struck the river." As if to say: The staff, which by divine power transformed such a great river into blood, how could it not have been able to draw forth water from this rock? Furthermore, He rouses his spirit to a better hope, saying: "Behold, I will stand before you." You will not be alone and destitute. I will be present. It is not yours, but Mine, the miracle which I perform for your aid. But he, A hesitating and leaning toward incredulity, struck the rock twice with his staff. But God, suffering, and in no way moved by the man's incredulity, caused the fecund springs of water to leap forth, lest indeed the people should be caught up in a similar incredulity. So much for this, as far as concerns the exposition of the history. But that we may also show the allegory, remember that Moses represents the Law; Aaron, the priesthood; Mary, the ceremonial worship of the Law. For somewhere Scripture relates: "I sent before your face Moses and Aaron and Mary." Therefore, as is evident from this, she herself was also declared, so that she might come into the part and society of that governance by which the people were led. Wherefore, B after Pharaoh was defeated, she sang the song of victory, a sign which Moses had composed, emitting a heavy sound through the timbrel. For the Law, and he who dwelt in the shadows of 267 worship, sings of the immense and infinite power of God. But she dies in the first month. For in this month the paschal lamb is sacrificed. And she dies no otherwise than the legal rite of worshipping God. But the Sun of justice, for whose sake she performs that life, has risen in the month of new fruits. For indeed He Himself, who speaks, was saying: "I am present as the ripeness of fruits on the mountains, and as it were in the month of new fruits." In like manner, He addressed the Church of the nations: "Arise, come nearer to Me, my beautiful dove. For behold the winter has passed, and the rain has departed. The flowers have come C for her; flowers, I say, have been seen on the surface of the earth. The time of pruning has come." For we have reflourished in Christ, hastening toward newness of life, and gazing upon the invisible, which is discerned by the mind alone; namely, the divine advent of Christ. Legal worship having died, the people were vexed by thirst, by a lack of spiritual rivers. Therefore they drink most abundantly of the oracles of Christ, according to Paul who writes: "They drank from the spiritual rock which followed them. But the rock was Christ," remaining unbroken and immovable. For the divine nature, resting upon its own goods, is confirmed and consolidated. But how was the water produced? The elders of the people and the priests were present, that is, the princes of the priests, the Scribes D and Pharisees, who were instructed and educated in the law by Moses, and eventually were clamoring in the sight of Pilate: "Crucify" him, etc.; and this was the first blow. The other or second blow was that which they inflicted upon Christ the Rock, while they tried to persuade everyone that He had not risen from the dead. Although they prepared impediments for everyone in every way, still the evangelical flood flows into the whole world, according to the prophet's prediction: "Behold, I incline toward them as a river of peace, and as a torrent overflowing the glory of the nations." The psalm confirms this: "The onsets of the river gladden the city of God." And to the heavenly Father it says: "How You have multiplied Your mercy, O God: the sons of men shall hope under the shelter of Your wings. They shall be inebriated from the fatness of Your house, and You will make them drink from the torrent of Your food. For with You is the fountain of life," through whom we shall arrive at the inheritance of the fathers, to which we could not attain by the aid of the Law.
It is permitted to interpret this passage otherwise, that Moses and Aaron were blamed on account of incredulity. Camps are placed in various and many places by those who went out from Egypt. But nothing prevents us from understanding by the ranks and places of the camps the virtues, in which the people following the pillar of cloud dwell and rest. But let us examine more diligently the miracle which happened in the striking of the rock. The rock, which by nature is solid and hard, provides drink in abundance to the thirsty, its hardness dissolved into watery liquid. For he who had left Pharaoh dead in the water, and by the throwing of wood had rendered bitter water sweet and drinkable, and who delighted in apostolic fountains resting under the shade of palms, now becomes capable of God, with God Himself signifying under the rock, that he is arid and hard to the incredulous. If, however, anyone should move forward the staff of faith, let him offer sweet water to the thirsty. "For I," He says, "and My Father will come, and we will make our dwelling with him." In the book of Numbers it is added: "Because you did not believe, to sanctify me," that is, to honor me. For indeed it is honoring God not to pry into His works more superstitiously with reasons, but to ascribe all things to divine and higher and better power. Nevertheless, the just sin with their lips: but the impious with their mind. For just as the impious man is alienated from God in his mind, and yet seems in some way to approach God: "For that people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me"; so the pious man is sometimes afflicted in his lips. Wherefore David excuses him, saying: "And Moses was afflicted on their account, and not on his own." For he did not believe inconsolably, subverted and turned inside out by the contradicting people. But how was Moses afflicted on their account? He himself provides the cause: "Because they provoked his spirit, and he spoke doubtfully with his lips," that is, he had a divided tongue.
And Amalek came, and Israel set out in
A Raphidim. Moses said to Jesus, etc. [XVII, 8.] Amalek was third from Esau, as it is stated in Genesis, born of Thamna the concubine.
Because Jesus [Joshua] was about to succeed Moses and to undertake a great war against the nations inhabiting Palestine, Moses, while still living, trains him and prepares him to conquer by the power of his own prayers. In the book of Numbers he calls him Ausen, but here Moses changes his name and calls him Jesus. It is, therefore, proleptically said here "Jesus," just as the city subsequently called Jerusalem is referred to in advance, having previously been called Jebus; and in the same way he calls Bæsan "Scythopolis."
Just as generals or commanders first provide supplies for their soldiers and then give the signal for battle, so do the soldiers of divine virtue, having received spiritual food, proceed against the enemy under the auspices and leadership of Jesus. Observe the sequence of the account. As long as a man is weaker, he cannot repel the enemy by himself; but God crushes the enemy with many blows and wounds, so that He may protect the weaker one. But when he has been exempted from tyrannical service, and has fulfilled the type of the Red Sea through baptism, and has drunk the water tempered by the sweetness of the wood, and has rested under the shade of the palm trees sated with heavenly nourishment, and has known the mystery of the rock: he, I say, no longer repels and routs the enemy by another's strength, but by his own hand, as one who has now passed out of childhood; nor does he any longer use as his leader Moses, who was a servant of God, but follows God as his leader—of whom Jesus was a type. You fulfill the role of a leader, who has fulfilled the law and succeeded Moses: he who was also predicted and, as it were, prefigured by the name itself. For Christ, whom Joshua represented, was under the law just as Joshua was under Moses; for he was circumcised, he paid the didrachma. Indeed, he says: "I have not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it." As Joshua chose strong and hardy men to defeat Amalek, so Christ chose the apostles, to whom it is truly said: "You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession." Relying on the apostles, he joined battle with the prince of this world, of whom He who conquers all things speaks: "Now is the judgment of this world; now the prince of this world will be cast out." John, however, crowns them as victors who have gained the victory with Him and through Him. For he says: "I write to you, young men; because you are strong, and you have conquered the evil one." Moses orders Joshua to lead an army drawn up for battle against the enemy on the morrow. For the glorious deeds done by Christ were not revealed and made known at that time; but only after the law was removed did Christ come and raise His trophies. He climbed to the top of the hill, so that from there He might be able to oversee the battle. Thus the law, little by little, brings us to a sublime place so that we may be able to behold Christ from afar, contending for us as a strenuous commander. If the people see the hands of the lawgiver raised, they conquer; but if they see the hands of the lawgiver relaxed, they are vanquished. Thus, if anyone understands the law spiritually, he attains the victory. But the contrary occurs if one follows the lowly and literal sense. Perhaps those words signify that the Israelites were not entirely untouched and unharmed in everything, but that they also suffered some evil from the enemy. But those who departed from that battle unharmed were made conformable to Christ, bearing His reproach, namely the cross, which was shown under the figure of the extended hands. Those who lacked this help fell. Christ addresses these, saying: "Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you believe that I am, you will die in your sins." The hands of Moses were heavy, so that under their type the cross of Christ might be demonstrated. For the Israelites admitted this with difficulty. Therefore Paul teaches that the cross was an offense and a scandal to the Jews. Moses leaned upon a stone, namely the chosen and corner-stone Christ, in whom the remainder of Israel rested according to election. These, whom the prophet calls "the remnant," with extended palms received the cross, with Christ in a certain sense supporting and protecting them, as is declared through Hur and Aaron, who in type teach that Christ is both Judge and High Priest. For He is an upright judge, whom you can corrupt with no bribes. Furthermore, He preserves, as is the duty of a priest, the remnant according to election in the salvation which comes through the intervention of faith. Hence Isaiah prophesies thus concerning Christ: "Unless the Lord of Hosts had left us a seed, we should have become as Sodom, and we should have been made like unto Gomorrah." For the word "unless" signifies that through this utterance the true priesthood is portended. For Hur was a kinsman of Aaron if you look at the lineage. For Hur, as Josephus testifies, was the husband of Mariam. He raises up the operations of the law, weighed down by the stupor of the Jewish mind and cast to the ground; and He supports the collapsed law with a stone. Furthermore, He manifests by His own condition, through His outstretched hands, who is the end and scope of the law, namely Christ. For if any are a little more sharp-sighted, they easily perceive in the law and the truth the mystery of the cross. Therefore, the evangelical history says in one place: "Neither one iota nor one dot shall perish from the law," etc., designating the straight and the transverse line of the cross. Amalek having been slain, God says: "Write this, so that his memory may endure forever, and put it into the ears of Jesus, etc." By these things is signified the work of Christ.
For certain gifts and sacred offerings are considered to be the writings and volumes of the saints. A He built an altar and named it: "The Lord is my refuge," etc. [XVII, 15.] For Christ is truly our refuge, since He has defeated the prince of this world and has trampled and crushed the power of death, offering Himself for us as a blameless victim in the odor of a sweet fragrance to God and the Father. That altar was a type of Christ, to whom also the name corresponds: "The Lord is my refuge." B Taming the devil with a hidden hand, whom Amalek shadowed forth, He took possession of the nations, and plundered the vessels of the strong man, as He Himself testifies somewhere. He added the spoils to the ancient flocks, saying: "And I have other sheep that are not of this fold; and them I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd." For according to the pronouncement of Paul: "He is our peace who has made both one and has broken down the middle wall of partition."
Therefore, it is not without cause that Jesus was a type of Christ. A For He received power when He was about the Jordan, from which point Christ, having been baptized, began to spread the seed of the Gospel. He appointed twelve lots, which the twelve tribes took by hereditary right; but this one sent out twelve apostles into the whole world, that they might measure the valley of the tabernacles. Jesus, or Joshua, saved the harlot Rahab; but the true Jesus says: "Behold, the tax collectors and the harlots go before you into the kingdom of God." By a shouting of the type, the walls of Jericho fell, and by a prediction of the True One: "There shall not be left a stone upon a stone in the temple." And the end of all things, because He Himself led the people into the land of promise, not the lawgiver Moses. For the law was incomplete, but the grace of God is perfect.
B Furthermore, it is asked with what arms the Israelites were furnished when they engaged with the Amalekites. For they had set out from Egypt unarmed. It appears, therefore, that they used the arms of the Egyptians, which they had stripped from the Egyptians whom the sea, having swallowed them up, finally cast out. Nor does it hinder that you might understand allegorically by this armament the Greek sword, of which Jeremiah says: "From the face of the Greek sword each man will turn to his own people." But the Jews were so far from fleeing that it is clear they even pursued the enemies themselves. In this manner David descended into single combat, rejecting the armor of Saul, but taking five smooth stones, with which he attacked the enemy, whom he also struck down. Then, having obtained the enemy's sword, he beheaded Goliath with his own blade. For unless he had gained the enemy's sword, he could not have cut off the enemy's head. He killed the enemy with the stones he took from the field of the Hebrews, but he cut off the head of his enemy with the sword with which he had come girded.
"And Jethro, the priest of Midian, the father-in-law of Moses, etc.," down to these words: "And Moses heard the voice of his father-in-law, and did everything he had said," etc. [XVIII, 1.] Jethro was a Gentile, and as a priest, he observed the religion customary at that time. They did indeed worship the most high God, just as Melchizedek did; yet they did not entirely abstain from idolatry, since they joined and applied creatures to the worship which is owed to God alone. Even now, some Greeks worship the God of the Hebrews, and yet do not flee from idolatry; and having followed a certain middle path between true and false religion, they dare to call themselves pious. When the Jews were once walking this path of religion, they were attacked by Elijah with a grave rebuke, saying: "How long do you limp between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, go after him." C Under Jethro, therefore, the multitude of the Gentiles is tacitly hinted at, invited to repentance, which formerly had been driven by most grievous errors. For the Gentiles had previously set themselves against God in all things, refusing to obey Him. At length, of their own accord, like deserters, having abandoned the camps of the devil, they defect to the divine law, that is, to the first instruction, which is made according to the tenor of the sacred Scriptures. And in this manner he arrives at the first tabernacle. For the law knows how to lead men to this point. Thence, the Gentiles, being persuaded by the accounts of the Old Testament, proceed little by little and step by step to the truth of one and the only God. In this manner he progresses
until he brings forth fruit to God, crying out with Jethro: "I have known that the Lord is great and above all gods." For this is the faith of those who are first instructed and remain in the class of catechumens, whom the Law, recalling the things that happened to the ancients, reforms, though it cannot bring them to perfection. Aaron deems Jethro worthy to sit at the same table with him and dine. For he himself, along with the elders of Israel, took food or bread with him in the sight of God. Indeed, Christ, the true Aaron, makes us perfect and completed with the living bread; and he refreshes and perfects not only the Gentiles with this bread, but also the Israelites mixed in with them. But that the food which they took was mystical, the following words declare: "Before God." Through Christ, therefore, and the institution of the Law, having progressed toward perfection, we receive increments incredible to the intellect. For Jethro approaches Moses and gives him excellent counsels, which he draws from the treasury of his own mind and skillfully discovers by his own ingenuity. Moses is not ashamed to obey his father-in-law, which Paul also points out as if with a finger, saying: "I have regarded the legal things as refuse for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ." But those who kiss only Moses and detest the perfection that comes through Christ, Jeremiah lashes out at with these words: "How do you say: We are wise, and the law of the Lord is with us? Truly the pen has written in vain, and the scribes have written it in vain. The wise are confounded, broken, and taken. For they have rejected the word of the Lord, and what wisdom will there be for them?" But for us, who do not reject his saving word, he himself has been made wisdom from God.
"You have seen what I have done to the Egyptians, etc." [Exodus XVIII, 3.] God excellently premised these words to the Jews, and as it were constructs for himself an approach and prepares for legislation, conciliating and capturing their minds with great promises, which are as follows: "You shall be a peculiar people to me, a royal priesthood, a holy nation." Since they wandered away, and did not receive those magnificent promises, the grace of Christ granted them to those who have accepted it, as Peter discusses in his Catholic Epistle.
"That the people may hear me speaking to you, and believe you forever, etc." [Exodus XIX, 9.] You see then a type of the transfiguration of Christ on the mount, and of the testimony of the Father. For he commands that no one touch the mountain, so as to introduce religion to the people. He therefore casts terror upon that people, as if they were little children. For it is useful for the slothful to be in fear.
And the Lord said to Moses: "Descend and testify to the people, etc." [Exodus XIX, 10.] up to the promulgation of the Decalogue. Necessity demanded that, as far as is right and possible for man, the Hebrews, who were educated and nourished in the false religion of the Egyptians, worshiping wood and stones with divine honors, saying to a log: "You are my God," and to a stone: "You have begotten me," as the prophet's utterance has it, should receive some knowledge of God. Why was this knowledge necessary? Lest, if nothing met their eyes, they might think that God is not in the nature of things. For those things which are seen, [are believed] with a firmer and more solid faith, and unusual and monstrous sights are heard and occur to the eyes, so that it may appear that the very nature of the universe serves God, and bends its neck to his yoke.
"And God descends in the form of fire," showing that fire awaits those who disobey; not that God has need of material assistance, as the Manichaeans say. For when he wished, by the power of an angel, he destroyed 185 thousand men in one night, without needing fire or any other material of the elements. Could not the Lord, by the invincible power of an angel, have put such a number of men to death in one night, and not have needed the help of any element for that matter?
He orders only the arbiter and mediator to ascend the mountain, threatening the rest with death. Nor is this done as if he were trying to seem cruel and difficult to approach, but so that they might know that approaching God is to be held in the highest honor, and especially owing to the Egyptian sacrifices. For if they observed chastity, the secret shrines of demons were open to them: how much more was it right for the mysteries of God to be open to the chaste? Furthermore, by a greater prerogative, as is the custom with the common people, a leader is to be held more worthy than the people. A little before, God said to Moses: "Behold, I come to you in a cloud, that the people may hear me speaking to you, and have faith in you forever."
A We have explained a little above how the discourse leads our mind toward the higher things of virtue by a certain progression. For whoever enters upon the path of virtue turns his eyes toward Moses and the cloud. Moses shows the precepts of the Law: the cloud indicates the mind, which has preceded the Law, and in the transit of the water has laid aside and killed every alien religion, being thoroughly bathed and purged; which has tasted the waters of Marah—that is, a life segregated from the pleasures of the age, and bringing sweetness to those who have received the wood decently and worthily—which, then, delighted by the beauty and pleasantness of the evangelical palms and the fruitful spring of the fountains, enjoys the heavenly bread and truly ambrosia; which, subsequently satiated by the moisture flowing from the rock, overcomes and powerfully subdues adversaries by the sign of the cross. B The mind, I say, then at last applies itself to spiritual contemplation if it uses purification as a guide, namely, by body and garments washed with water. For it is necessary that we be pure in both body and soul, so that the external habit may correspond to the internal. For polished garments signify an honest dress and habit of life. For it is necessary also that the pleasures of the flesh be killed, if we wish to be considered upright in regard to our internal state. For it says: "Put on our Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts" (Rom. xiii, 14). Wherefore, not without reason does the Law remove lepers as far as possible from the camp, and those whom hemorrhoids infest. Perhaps in this place it understands the senses that cohabit with us, to which he who wishes to ascend to the higher contemplation of God ought to give a divorce. C For theology is truly something steep and difficult of approach, to whose roots the unrefined multitude can hardly arrive. Wherefore the beasts and cattle, which possess a sensitive soul, are driven far from the mountain. For they are moved by irrational motion, and only follow sense. Perhaps in this place it understands the evil and bestial man, who, since he is not capable of theology, ought not to linger in the forests, insidiously hunting for some dogma or word, and then, with a tumult, leaping out to lacerate healthy discourses with reproaches. Whoever shall have approached nearer shall be pelted with stones. For indeed, to wild and beastly men, true discourses are rigid stones. If it be a leopard, let it be killed together with its various spots; or a rapacious and roaring lion seeking whom it may devour; or a boar trampling the beautiful and pellucid gems of truth; or an alien and Arabian wolf. Or if there be some beast more cunning than the aforementioned, let it also be killed—namely, the fox, some fraudulent man and unbeliever, who for the diversity of matters and times puts on various forms and habits. The fox also which corrupts the little vines; D this is a great danger to those fleeing it. Furthermore, if there remains any other carnivorous animal, which the Law pronounces unclean and condemns in food. For the discourse of the Law, separated from these, wishes to be inscribed on solid and stony tablets. Stones also are understood in this place as the inventions of heretics, who crush the inventor and author of impious dogmas. But let us consider and diligently weigh the third day, in whose morning twilight those wondrous things coincided. For the only-begotten Son of God has come to us, not in the beginning of the age, or in the intermediate times, but as if in the third and last time; and as if in the dawn and principle of the day, with night and darkness put to flight, he has come to us. This time, which preceded the Lord's advent, the prince of this age had corrupted and darkened with idolatry and the impurity of life. But Christ, appearing, showed the most desired day. Of this day David sings: "This is the day which the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it" (Ps. cxvii, 24). But the most wise Paul speaks in this way: "The night is far spent, the day is at hand" (Rom. xiii, 12). And again: "We are not children of the night or of darkness; but we are children of light and children of the day" (1 Thess. v, 5). Lightning was seen on Mount Sinai, which was a type of the divine light and splendor running through that region which is subject to the sky. For it says: "Your lightnings lit up the world" (Ps. xcvi, 4). Darkness signifies that the mystery of Christ cannot be grasped, just as that passage: "He made darkness his hiding place, his pavilion round about him" (Ps. xvii, 12); the dark, airy water, which needs God alone to illuminate it, just as it is also said to Peter: "Flesh and blood has not revealed it to you, but my Father in heaven" (Matth. xvi, 17). Paul is also a witness that the mystery and revelation was made known to him (1 Tim. iii, 16). The sounding of the trumpet sub-signified the consonance of the evangelical oracles, which with a certain joy flowed into the ears and minds. For God says somewhere through the prophet in this way: "I have set watchmen over you: Hear the sound of the trumpet. But they said: We will not hear. Therefore the nations have heard, and those who feed flocks among them. Hear, O earth: Behold, I bring evil upon this people, the fruit of their aversion, because they have not listened to my words, and have rejected my law" (Jerem. vi, 17-19). For the evangelical trumpet sounded through the apostles first among them. But the watchmen spoke, saying: "We will not hear." Hence it happens that the sound of the trumpet reached the nations, when it had previously been said to the Jews: "It was necessary for the word of God to be spoken first to you; but because you reject it, and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we turn to the nations. For so the Lord commanded us" (Act. xiii, 46, 47). Of this trumpet Isaiah also writes in this way: "And it will be in that day, that a great trumpet will sound" (Isa. xxvii, 13). The Law also can be called a trumpet, but one rendering a thin and slow voice, and resounding only in Judea, in which God is known. But the great trumpet, namely Christ, sounds, saying: "And this Gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations" (Matth. xxiv, 14). The prophets and apostles, however, gave forth the sound as if with organs. For "their sound has gone out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world" (Ps. xviii, 5; Rom. x, 18). Moses leads the people to meet God at the root of Mount Sinai. For indeed the Law cannot bring those whom it has instructed into the mountain. For so the Savior also says: "To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom, but to those it has not been given" (Matth. xiii, 11).
Furthermore, He confesses to the Father that He has hidden all these things from the wise and understanding, and revealed them to infants. Therefore, not Moses, but Christ brings us to perfection: "For in Him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Coloss. ii, 3). Moreover, He descended to us as the fire of the refiner, if it is pleasing to use the voice of the prophet. "And He Himself will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire" (Matth. iii, 11). The fire will certainly consume whatever is superfluous in us, and will purge the filth of sin, nor will it permit us to return to absurd pleasures, and take our rest there. For we have been made fervent in the spirit itself. Wherefore He says: "I have come to cast fire upon the earth, and what do I wish if it is already kindled?" (Luc. xii, 49). Hence, to the ancients too, fire appeared; but smoke was added to the fire, which signifies the tears of those who despise the divine glory and the outer darkness, into which they will be cast headlong, and there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Voices of trumpets stronger, etc. [XX, 19.] The trumpet of the Gospels resounds clearly and with a great clang. At first it was heard in Judea, then, extending its boundaries, it went throughout the whole world. God commands that no one, looking curiously, should draw near—that the priests who draw near must be sanctified, or else they will incur the penalty of death, etc. For the law does not flourish with such virtue that it can set us in the presence of God. It exists, indeed, in shadows and types. But the beauty of truth consists in Christ, through whom we have been brought near and placed close to the Father, as if ascending into the very mountain, namely, into the knowledge of Him. For he who has known the Son, has known the Father through Him and in Him. He also teaches that the consecration of the law does not perfectly hold holiness, since it commands that priests also must be consecrated and sanctified. But Christ is our blameless and most holy high priest of the holy ones. For the consecration of the law, providing a bath and waters to wash away the filth of the flesh, rendered no one perfect as to conscience. Wherefore, as being imperfect, it is commanded to be consecrated, as that which does not have perfect and absolute holiness; but it is to be sanctified in its own time in Christ, when, the types having passed away, the truth itself will have shone forth. Therefore, it does not befit us to pursue the holiness of the law while the holiness of Christ is apparent. Either death or punishment. For in Christ, the people and the ancient and venerable family of priests is consecrated and dedicated. Whatever has not been holy, you shall call that impure, profane, and dead. "For amen," He says, "I say to you, unless you believe that I am, you will die in your sins" (Joan. viii, 24). From this it is also gathered that the recalcitrant Jews will in their own time be rejected by the Lord, to whom they will not return except through Christ. That this is the state of the matter is evident from these words with which God spoke to Moses, saying: "Come, descend, and ascend, you and Aaron with you." For Moses, having been sent away, did not return to the mountain except accompanied by Aaron, who was a type of Christ. For only through Christ is the way to the Father open to us. The exiled Jews will recognize Him in the end times.
I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of slavery, etc. [XX, 2.] Everyone who, having despised the present age, has been ordered by the inspiration of the divine word to undertake a journey into the kingdom of heaven: he, I say, has gone out of Egypt, freed and loosened from worldly affairs and evils, which torment us. One would deservedly have called these the house of slavery. Such a one seeks the house of liberty, namely Jerusalem, wishing to stand in the presence of God, and to confess to the Lord, and to contemplate His peace. In this manner the Lord becomes his God. Nor does he enjoy liberty in Egypt, even if he eats the paschal lamb, nor in the camps, which the children of Israel changed from one to another before they came to the promised land. For such a one, although he may have been set free in many ways, does not receive true liberty before he has approached the mountain of God. This is the prologue of the Decalogue.
You shall have no other gods besides Me. The first and one commandment, the second, which follows after this, concerning idols and likenesses, being distinct. For otherwise no one could set the Decalogue in order. And the first would be concerning incorporeal powers, which some
(85) worship without idols and likenesses. "You shall have no other gods besides me," etc. [XX, 3.] This is the first commandment, with the second one discoursing about idols and images. For unless one distinguishes the laws in this manner, he will not be able to put the Decalogue into a certain order. The first commandment, therefore, is concerned with incorporeal and invisible powers, which some pursue with divine honors, with no idols or images placed there.Images are of animals and bodies which are in the nature of things. But idols are likenesses and figments of those things which it is established do not exist in the nature of things. For an idol is nothing subsisting. Therefore Paul says: "For no idol is in the world" (1 Cor. viii, 4); just as if one should fashion hippocentaurs and pans, or other monstrous natures. Therefore, every intellect engaged in some contemplation of divine nature according to imaginative virtue, fashions an idol, yet does not proclaim God. Likenesses of celestial bodies are also sought, with some painting or sculpting the sun or the moon. Perhaps this edict should be extended also to the decades of the astrologers. For they describe and delineate certain absurd demons, who are, of course, called by Paul spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places, as we may also conjecture from these words: "My sword is inebriated in heaven" (Isa. xxxiv, 5). For demons of that kind are ascribed [index: entries preserved]
A to their astrological tables; they even fasten them to amulets, by which they either stir up or repel demons. In amulets one can find images and idols.
Some ask: If He so detests images, why did He wish for Cherubim to be fashioned? The answer is: He did not command the Cherubim to be made so that they would be adored; rather, the Ark was to be adored—but not under the images of the calves, to which among the Egyptians divine honor was offered, so that they might thus know to worship both God equally and the Egyptian deities.
"You shall not bow down to them or serve them," etc. [XX, 5]. He who worships idols, he also adores them; but he who adores does not necessarily worship. For worship proceeds from a soul inclined toward the image; but adoration is performed by a certain movement and outward show of reverence. Thus, for instance, ministers sometimes adore magistrates, whether by way of flattery or by following the impulses of a mind drawing them on, regarding whom it is read in the book of Numbers that they served idols. For it is written of them that they performed worship and served their idols. However, God, who seeks to be loved with the whole soul, does not endure those who act impiously even in appearance. Since120 this one, who has renounced alien gods, ought already to be a portion of God and to love Him with the whole soul.
One must also abstain from evil lovers who, like a harlot, corrupt the soul, as is told of Jerusalem when her lovers had turned into enemies: "I will return to my former husband, for it was better for me then than now." If you have not returned to God in this manner, and prayed that He Himself may receive you, and wash away and cleanse your sin, you will surely be in the greatest danger. B Therefore Joshua speaks to the Israelites in this manner: "Choose for yourselves whether you wish to serve the gods of these places or to worship God." When they respond, "We will worship the Lord God," he replies: "You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen to worship the Lord God of Israel." Therefore, it is the greatest loss and danger if anyone, having spurned this choice, should fail away from the true Deity, or not worship Him in the prescribed manner. For many most hostile enemies remain, who strive to entice and draw us to their sides.
For when the unclean spirit has gone out of a man, it wanders through arid places: and finding no rest, if it returns and finds the house from which it had gone out empty, it does not fear to enter alone. Therefore, it attaches to itself seven other spirits worse than itself, and makes the latter state of that man more dangerous and severe than the first. For in this way it hands over the recovered man to demons, and declares his life much worse and more depraved than it was before he joined himself to the Lord. For in individual heathens dwell demons; because the gods of the gentiles are demons. When, therefore, the demon has been cast out, and you have not firmly embraced Him who said, "I will dwell in you, and I will be their God," you will have returned yourself to the former demon, and to seven others more pernicious. If God is with you and in you, the demons will not dare to approach you. C For "What fellowship has righteousness with unrighteousness? Or what communion has light with darkness? Or what concord of the temple of God with idols? What part has a believer with an unbeliever?" For we are the temple of the living God, as God has said: "I will dwell in them, and I will walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people." Therefore, "Come out from the midst of them, and be separate, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you, and will be to you instead of a Father, and you will be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord," in whose power is the sum of all things.
"For I am the Lord your God, a jealous God," etc. [XX, 5]. No one is inflamed with the passion of jealousy because of a harlot; but a wife excites that affection. For a harlot is publicly for sale and makes herself available to all. A wife is her husband's, and no one else's, to whom she is joined in marriage. Rightly, therefore, if a suspicion of adultery were to arise, the husband would be jealous of her. For "jealousy is the fury of a man," as Solomon says. It happens similarly with the soul that has one discourse and one spouse to whom she is attached. But if the soul is prone to prostitution, and one demon enters and another goes out, as is wont to happen: no jealousy is present. Therefore, the laws of the gentiles taught them to venerate idols. But the Spouse, that good and jealous One, even if at some point He receives a harlot, does not cease to correct her and lead her to modesty. Hence Hosea, receiving a harlot, says: "You shall sit for many days for me, and you shall not play the harlot, nor will you be joined to another man, and I will not come to you."
God prepared a great banquet for the nuptials of His Son, and God is jealous, not conceding that another should have relations with the soul. Furthermore, He permits a bill of divorce in the law: when he produced this passage against the Pharisees according to the letter, Paul finally says: "I have become as a Jew to the Jews, that I might win the Jews." D He explains the same thing more broadly: "And this is the bill of divorce, by which I cast away your mother. Behold, because of your sins you have been sold, and because of your sins I have put away your mother." If, however, the adulteress 275 has returned and God has absolved her of all iniquities, thus He addresses her: "See that you no longer pollute yourself." For every soul, God strives and labors diligently. If, however, the soul has left the Church, she herself gives the bill of divorce to the Spouse. Him she addresses: "You have played the harlot with many shepherds, and you have returned to me, says the Lord." But if the soul performs penance, she is to be received, with immunity for past deeds granted.
If anyone, however, joins himself to a soul still pursuing prostitution, let him beware that, being conglutinated to the harlot, he does not coalesce into one body. The Lord will no longer hold the adulterous soul as worthy of His own jealousy. For He says through Ezekiel: "My jealousy will recede from you, and I will no longer be angry with you." All these things are signs of divine kindness and clemency. Pitying us, He is angry and punishes us: and at the approach of mercy the fury is calmed. But he is unworthy of mercy and discipline who does not cease to do wrong. Therefore He says that she is abandoned and hateful. For the face of a harlot...
A you have put on. You have acted impudently with all your lovers." Then He will say: "My zeal shall depart from you."
"Visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me," etc. [XX, 5.] This period of the law has unloosed the tongues of heretics against God, since they object that the law of God possesses nothing of justice or fairness. When the children of the Jews later fostered the same heresy, they were gravely rebuked. For God challenges Ezekiel thus: "Son of man, what is this proverb that you have among the children of Israel, saying: The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge? As I live, saith the Lord, this proverb shall no more be a proverb in Israel. For all souls are mine. As the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine. The soul that sinneth, the same shall die. And the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father." Therefore, an exposition is to be sought that properly concerns this passage. Some say that there was need of very grave terrors by which those who were to receive the law might be terrified, so that they might hold to it more tenaciously. Wherefore God straightway names Himself "a jealous God"; then He added: "Visiting the children for the penalties of their wicked parents, if they follow the paternal impiety and emulate the false religion of their ancestors;" B even if Divine clemency has spared the parents, nevertheless that profane kind of despised religion will not go unpunished. But lest He appear cruel, He adds: "Showing mercy unto thousands to them that love me," etc. This threat appeared very dangerous and grave if it were to be referred to a thing before the second succession of the race. For all their hope and wealth were placed in the fruitful propagation of the race. Thus, if He threatens that their race will cease, they who are not yet born are not affected by injury. For how could a capacity for injury or an injury itself befall one who is not yet in the nature of things? They are punished for whose sake He introduced such penalties. An equal or not dissimilar account is that children suffer for the sins of their parents. These are not punished for their own sake, insofar as they are carried off by natural death; those perceive the penalties for whose sake they are precipitated into the danger of death. Parents do not grieve so much for their own death as for that of their children, especially if they have been the authors of their death. For natural death is not considered a penalty, but to die for sins is grave and ignominious. Therefore, C in order to deter parents from the license of sinning, He predicts that most grave and bitter penalties impend over their children for the sins of their parents. Others, holding different views, propose that these words are not to be understood universally, but particularly, as applying only to those who went forth from Egypt, to whom they were said, and in whom they were brought to effect. For when the evil of idolatry had turpidly grown in the third and fourth generation of those who had come into Egypt, He makes an edict that he who is about to form the calf will no longer, after so many egregious and miraculous deeds which they saw, give pardon to idolaters, as He did in Egypt. Indeed, if they have imitated the impiety of those who were in Egypt in the third and fourth generation, it would come to pass that they too would pay penalties for their name—not so much for the sins of those others, which the clemency of God overlooked, as for their own, since they are not worthy of pardon after such great benefits and miracles of God if they surrender themselves to the cult of idols. This passage is supported by what is said in Deuteronomy: "The father shall not for the son, nor the son for the D father, but every one shall die in his own sin." Furthermore, others have not ineptly inquired who the fathers are in this passage, and what the generations are. For everyone who reforms anyone toward virtue, or leads him toward vices, is in a certain way his father by the authority of Scripture. Since Christ says to sinners: "Because you are of the devil." The devil's sin is attributed to the son, because he receives the paternal operation, when he ought to oppose this, clothed in the whole armor of God and wearing the shield of faith. But if someone has accepted a missile sent by the devil, he will soon be wounded by it himself. Thus, when the devil had first crept into the mind of Judas, then, having taken a morsel, he entered into him. Let us therefore establish that the father of the sinner is the devil: and that not only is this the father of the delinquent, but whoever has taught this evil and compelled him to commit vices. But God is considered the father of the just. Wherefore the Savior says: "Little children, yet a little while I am with you." And again: "Son, thy sins are forgiven thee." And again: "Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole." There are very many fathers of these, as well. For it was said to Abraham: "Thou shalt go to thy fathers," namely, to those fathers whom he obtained according to carnal birth; who were neither faithful nor holy. For if they had been endowed with either faith or holiness, Abraham would not have heard Him commanding: "Go forth out of thy country, and from thy father's house." Therefore, not undeservedly does one receive either reward or punishment for his own character, by which he receives the inspiration of either God or the devil. Since God observes sinners. For He says: "Hear, O daughter, and see and incline thy ear, and forget thy people and thy father's house." Therefore God, because He is a jealous God, compensates for what He has suggested to you with His own beneficence, you who are a son. Regarding those who are worthy to be instructed, He speaks thus: "I will visit and I will look upon their iniquities with the rod, and their sins with stripes." Why? "That I may pour out my mercy upon them." Therefore He chastises not the apostates, but every son whom He writes in the album of sons. For concerning sinners who do not know how to return to repentance, he speaks words in a certain prophet: "I will not visit your daughters when they shall commit whoredom, nor your spouses when they shall commit adultery." The devil has sinned from the beginnings of the world. Fire and scourges come to pass. For he is not worthy of those penalties by which the pious are corrected by God, of whom good hope is conceived. Nor can the same devil utter these words: "O Lord, rebuke me not in thy fury, nor chastise me in thy wrath." Therefore, with the highest prayers it is to be sought and hoped for, first…
A that we do not sin, or if we have sinned, that we pay the penalties for our transgressions immediately in this life, so that we may not be punished in the world to come; but rather that we may rest and enjoy beatitude, having been carried into the bosom of Abraham. So much, then, for the fathers.
Now let us come to the generations. The Savior, among other things, says in a certain place: "This generation shall in no wise pass away, till all these things be fulfilled." And indeed He was speaking of the consummation. Therefore, He would not have spoken the truth if He had understood that generation to be the one which was surviving at that time. Thus it is evident that by "generation" is meant that whole period of time which extends from the advent of Christ until the consummation. Four covenants and generations are counted from the foundations of the world. The first, which extended itself until the flood. To this succeeded the second, which lasted from its beginning with Abraham until the Law. The third runs until the advent of Christ. The fourth will persevere until the consummation. In each of the generations, He instructed those about whom He had good hope. He distinguished the first three beautifully; but the definitive distinction of the fourth is uncertain to us. The generations that preceded the advent of Christ, He contracted into one and collected into a number; for those alone concerned the Israelites. But the fourth, into which all have hoped, He separated not without reason. These things, however, are to be understood in this manner, more by way of anticipation.
"Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain [XX, 7]." Or, thou shalt not swear falsely; or, thou shalt not attribute the name of God to an idol or another work fashioned from wood, according to the words of Isaiah, who says: "On the other part of the wood they have made gods, and they adored them." Yet B 277 "although there be that are called gods and lords in heaven and on earth, yet to us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we unto him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him." For we do not terminate the Godhead in the Father alone, but we confess one Godhead and essence in three persons. "There shall not be," He says, "to thee other gods beside Me." And: "Thou shalt adore the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve." Since God the Father is one, and the Lord is one. And we neither deprive one God of His dominion, nor do we assert that He who is truly and naturally Lord is also not God. For dominion or lordship will altogether follow the Godhead, and the glory of the Godhead will follow true lordship.
"Remember the day of the Sabbath to sanctify it, etc. [XX, 8]." The Sabbath is the extreme or last day of the week, and it bears before it, as if under a kind of veil, the advent of Christ, who appeared at the end and consummation and setting of the present age. Through Him we have obtained tranquility and rest of the affections. For while we rest in Him, we obtain the liberty of life, no longer distracted into various labors and vices. Concerning this Sabbath, Paul disputes, saying: "There remaineth therefore a Sabbath to the people of God." C Those who have not apprehended the faith, he denies have entered into His rest, however much they may boast of the external rest of the Sabbath. But why did the law punish with death him who had gathered wood on the Sabbath? For those dead and dry sticks, fit for the fire, signify sin. For death, which breaks forth from vices, is the fuel and nourishment of the fire, which is prepared for punishing the impious. Therefore, only the faithful, freed from all sins, enter into rest. These same things Jeremiah commands, saying: "Stand in all the gates of death, command the kings and people of Judah, that they bear no burdens on the Sabbath day," that is, once having obtained impunity through Christ, let them no longer bear the difficult and unbearable burden of sin upon their shoulders: "And let them not go out," He says, "by the gates of Israel." For it does not behoove us to take a foot outside the holy city, meditating on defection while established within the house of God, namely the Church. Concerning the Church, David speaks in this manner: "Glorious and honorable things are said of thee, O city of God." Concerning this also the Savior says: "Here will I dwell, for I have chosen it." They are commanded to sanctify the Sabbath, which indeed is done if they exercise themselves in good works on that day, even as the priests, who do not profane the Sabbath, although they perform divine matters and offer victims. To this is added that the mark of circumcision is received on the Sabbath. For Christ objected both of these to those who blamed the transgression of the Sabbath. Furthermore, circumcision, which is performed without the work of hands according to Paul, is celebrated by those who have given their name to Christ, on the eighth day, which represents the resurrection. On this day, when Christ had destroyed the empire of death, He sealed His disciples with the divine Spirit. For He breathed on them, saying: "Receive ye the Holy Ghost." It behooves the worshippers of the Sabbath to be strong and to crush their enemies, even as Jesus on the Sabbath besieged and captured Jericho. The Law also commands that in the seventh year the Hebrew servant be manumitted, that he may be sent away. In Deuteronomy it is added that the servant is not to be sent away empty: "Give him viaticum from thy sheep, from thy threshing-floor, from thy winepress, even as the Lord thy God hath blessed thee." The six years signify the time during which, before the advent of the Lord, the Israelites were held in a spirit of servitude, with the avenging of sinners at hand. But in these last times, which are indicated by the seventh year, upon the advent of Christ, the spirit of servitude became void, with redemption and adoption offered by faith, and not by works. Wherefore it is added: "He shall go out free for nothing." Those viatica set Christ before our eyes. For that He might snatch and withdraw us from the tyranny of sin, He was made an innocent victim, and as a sheep He was led to the slaughter, bestowing upon us the participation in the blessing of His life-giving and holy flesh and blood. The Jews, contumaciously transgressing these things, He heavily rebukes through Jeremiah, not bearing that the types be violated by transgression, and that reality be mocked in shadows. 278 That we are indeed D justified freely in Christ is clear from Deuteronomy, where God commands every debt to be forgiven to a brother in the seventh year. Since that year is named by God a release or an abolition of ledgers, "From a stranger…"
you shall demand it, etc., in which words the mystery of Christ also lies hidden. For to those who by the intervention of faith have come into the number of kinsmen and brethren, and have become participants and companions of the divine nature through the participation of the Holy Spirit—to them, I say, He has forgiven all debts, punishing nothing on account of sins. But strangers—namely, those prone to unbelief—He has excluded from this benefit. Therefore, He addresses the disciples: "If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free." To the unbelievers He speaks thus: "Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you believe that I am, you will die in your sins."
It is also signified that it is our duty to set aside in the present age and gather spiritual foods; and that the heavenly manna is not to be gathered on the Sabbath, which food David calls "the bread of angels." This food nourishes and refreshes us in a divine manner, if we have the word of God abiding in us, quickening mortals, which must be prepared by us in this age if we aspire to the everlasting Sabbath, just as this preface, which is appropriate for every saint, has it: "You shall eat the fruit of your labors." Not inconsequently, therefore, the incarnation of Christ is connected to the precept, "You shall love the Lord your God," etc., under the type of the Sabbath, according to that oracle: "And this is eternal life, that they may know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent." For immediately following the mention of the Father is placed the relation of the Son to the Jews, who thought they knew the Father without the Son; He says: "Neither have you known me, nor my Father. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also."
A "Honor your father and your mother, that it may be well with you," etc. [XX]. God, who produces and creates all things, after the laws that pertain to Himself, deservedly bestows the second place upon parents, who after God are the second cause of our existence. Parents are worthy of very great honor; yet let no one prefer them to the Deity according to this oracle: "He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me." That reverence is to be deferred to progenitors is shown by the example of Christ, who, hanging from the cross, committed his mother to the keeping of his most outstanding disciple.
"You shall not kill; you shall not commit adultery," etc. [XX, 13, 14]. After God and venerable parents, the rest of mortals hold the third place, to whom also benevolence and love are owed. For these are the words of the Law: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Christ showed the way to love one's neighbor, not refusing to pour out his life for his neighbor, which example of love is so excellent that no one could easily surpass it. But Holy Scripture has proposed to us two canons that adorn us with every virtue. For in one place it commands: "Do not do to another what you do not want to be done to yourself." This canon removes all injuries and all desire to inflict injuries. Somewhere else Christ says: "Whatever you want men to do to you, do the same to them." This canon similarly exhorts us to every beneficence. Therefore charity, more excellent in faith and hope, fulfills the Law, which Paul extolled with many praises, comparing it to alms and martyrdom, and pronouncing all other things that exist within it as good.
"And all the people saw the voice," etc. By what reasoning is sight predicated of hearing? Perhaps this is a custom of Scripture. For you may find even sight attributed to the ears, as in Psalm LXXXVIII: "Then you spoke in a vision to your sons, and said: I have placed help upon the mighty." Amos also says: "The words that were in Accarim from Thekne, which he saw." For God places things before the eyes of the holy prophets with such evidence that they think they see them with their eyes and as if they had been brought into the presence of the thing. The following makes for this: "The vision of Abdias"; furthermore observe: "And guard your soul vehemently, lest you forget the words which your eyes have seen."
B 279 "Moses entered into the thick darkness," etc. [XX, 21]. This apparition is different from the former. For the former occurred in light, the latter by the intervention of darkness. But if you consider the reason for the consequences, you will see nothing absurd here. For when the knowledge of piety has first seized someone, it immediately passes into light. Since darkness and piety clash as opposites against each other. But the mind dedicated to the speculation of divine things subsequently profits and grows in the vision of the invisible God. For having left behind sensible and intelligible things, it strives toward the most stable and solid good: nor does it put aside the study and ardor of seeking before it attains the invisible and incomprehensible good, and enjoys the vision of God. For true knowledge of God is to acknowledge one’s own ignorance, which it loves to bring darkness and thick mist. Therefore John, who...
A scrutinizes the lofty and abstruse things of theology, says with great affirmation: "No man hath seen God at any time," etc., which statement signifies that the knowledge of God cannot be comprehended by any powers of the human intellect. Moses, therefore, entered into the darkness where God was, "who made darkness his secret place," as David sings, initiated into the most hidden mysteries.
"An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me," etc. [XX, 24.] God turns His own away from all idolatry, and converts their minds to Himself alone. For you have seen that I spoke with you from heaven, of which I am the creator. But because we are brought to the Father through the Son, He establishes laws concerning Him as well, and teaches how we ought to bear fruit in Him. He is the altar of earth erected, because He assumed flesh, which is indeed earthly if you look at the material. In Him we are brought and offered. For He Himself testifies: "Without me ye can do nothing." To those who would build an altar, He promises His own advent and blessing. Since even to those who received the types, the dawn of truth arose, namely Christ. He it is who spoke to us from heaven and enriched us with the eternal blessing which the Father imparts. Through Him we have been adopted, which adoption is confirmed by the Holy Spirit. Furthermore, that which follows also finds its effect in Christ, when He commands that an altar be built of stones not hewn by the hand of an artificer. For Christ was the chosen, cornerstone, precious, and untouched by any sin; knowing not how to receive the wounds which the devil inflicts upon mortals. Nor is He divided separately into God and man. For He is not divided, as the divine Apostle testifies. Or the unhewn stones signify that the ministers of God are not to be distracted by various worldly business, but ought to be equally devoted and consecrated in body and soul to the divine worship, as was the holy temple of God. But in a prophetic manner, He predicts that it will one day come to pass that circumcision will be abolished. "Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto mine altar," that is, do not be a transgressor of the law.
"And these are the judgments," etc. [XXI, 1.] He holds the form of the law, saying: "If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve thee." And again: "If any man sell his daughter into service," etc. This is a judgment, for example: if a priest's daughter has played the harlot, or committed adultery, let her be burned alive; but if she was born of another tribe, let her be stoned. A commandment is, for example: "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." An imperium or mandate is, for example: "Go down, and testify to the children of Israel, saying: Wash your clothes, and abstain from your women for three days." A testimony: "I call heaven and earth to witness this day against you, if ye shall have transgressed," etc. "His master shall bring him unto the judges." Concerning the six-year servitude and manumission, we have discoursed in the exposition of the fourth commandment. But for the judgment or convocation of judges, Aquila translates: "to the gods." For thus are judges named, and he calls the sentence or votes of the judges a "judgment," as Moses showed above, saying to his father-in-law Jethro: "Because the people come unto me, and seek judgment from God." Therefore, the judgment of God is called the sentence and calculation of the pious. "For whatsoever," He says, "ye shall bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven."
"Shall redeem her," etc. [XXI, 8.] "He shall restore her to the father, perhaps receiving the price himself." But what reason permits it to be just that he who bought a woman for concubinage and has lain with her, should finally give her back to her father, receiving himself the price which he had previously paid for her? But what is inferred concerning her who was betrothed to the son, said in place of the price: "She shall go out free," etc., sufficiently declares that it was not just that she should go out for nothing. Wherefore not undeservedly does He add: "perhaps he shall redeem her." What then does it mean, when He says: "She shall not go out as the bondwomen do"? Truly He teaches that it is not lawful for her to be sold to just anyone, nor to a foreign people, or perhaps the master desires or affects her marriage, just as we gave [the example] of her whom the son of the master took to wife. But if he has provided her with necessities, clothing, and the price of chastity, it is not unjust even if he himself has received the price. Therefore, the exposition according to the first is offered. For what would be the exception, that these words should be understood differently concerning the father and differently concerning the son? Therefore, by equal right, both the father and the son... B "He shall redeem her," it is clear that he restores her to the father and perhaps receives the price. But where is it just, having bought her for concubinage and cohabited with her, to take back the price? Yet the passage that follows concerning one joined to the son is by way of penalty, then "She shall go out free without money," since it was not right that she should go out for nothing (from the one who hired her to the father), whence perhaps also [the text] "he shall redeem her," he says. What then is the meaning of "She shall not go out as the bondwomen do"? Either that he does not hand her over to be sold to whom he wishes; for he does not sell her to a foreign nation; or he deems her worthy to be taken, which he also says concerning the one joined to the son. But if he (the father who has the concubine) provided her with the necessities, and clothing, and association, it is not unjust if he himself also received the price; therefore the second [version] is a clarification of the first (the one concerning the son); since what is the dismissal, in the case of the father as such, and in the case of the son otherwise? So that in the case of the father it is a common thing: "According to the manner of daughters he shall do unto her." Which Symmachus translated, "of the maidens." According to the…
A manner of noblewomen. For he joined her to his son, not as an ignoble person or a slave, but as a noblewoman. Wherefore, departing, she receives the price of modesty. And this must be interpreted as applying as much to the father as to the son.
"If anyone shall have stolen one of the children of Israel," etc. Allegorically, under the term "kidnappers," understand the heretics, who enter upon the straight path of religion and liberty and undermine it, and lure [others] to their pestiferous opinions. Death, however, is set as the penalty for these. Scripture warns us not even so much as to say "hail" B to such men. It does not strive to make us savage and cruel, but commands such things so that the sheep may not fall into the ferocity of such wolves. For what portion has the faithful with the faithless? Furthermore, it adds: "And with the fornicators of this world, do not mingle, lest they snatch you away from the ancestral hearth of the Church and cast you into the church of the malignant. For evil communications corrupt good manners." This same thing Amos seems to hint at, saying: "For three sins of Tyre, and for four, I will not turn her away. Because they have enclosed the captives of Solomon in Edom." Through another prophet, he addresses Tyre and Sidon in these words: "And you have sold the sons of Juda and the sons of Jerusalem to the sons of the Greeks, that you might drive them out of their own borders."
"He shall pay for his works and the expenses incurred for the physicians," etc. [XXI, 19] It is dealt with differently in the Evangelical Republic. For it says: "To him who strikes you on your right cheek, offer the other."
"If anyone shall have beaten his servant," etc. [20.] He punishes anger capitally in every respect. For it is not just that a life should be recklessly despoiled, which, for a certain superior force to which it could not resist, was addicted to slavery. Why, however, when the servant has recovered from the wound or the blow, and afterwards dies, shall the master be held innocent? Because that death happened to the servant not from the master's anger, but a certain natural accident provided the cause of death. For no one wishes to lose a servant whom he has purchased with his money.
"And if the little child shall have come out formed by her," etc. [22] They say that on the fortieth day the fetus in the maternal womb receives form. Wherefore they relate that Moses, reforming the Israelites after the Egyptian error had been repelled, and Christ, regenerating human nature which had fallen from continence in Adam, both fasted for forty days. For necessity demanded that the immoderate appetite of the primeval parent be cured by the remedy of temperance. In this place, the soul is also signified, which conceives Christ through faith and forms the divine Word within itself, according to this utterance: "For your fear, O Lord, we have conceived in the womb and have brought forth." Fides (Faith) is therefore the fetus, which carves the divine characters in us. Consequently, to the Galatians, who had fallen away from the solidity of faith, Paul cries out: "Little children, whom I am bringing forth again, until Christ be formed in you." If, therefore, anyone through fraudulent speech has ejected this birth from anyone's soul, and has procured an abortion of faith in his soul, it will be situated in Christ the Bridegroom, to determine with what penalty or what fine he is to be struck. "And he shall give with dignity," that is, he shall give thanks, and shall have immense [thanks] that he was not also punished with death. But if he has injured the one who is already near to birth, he will be in extreme danger.
"If anyone shall have struck the eye of his servant," etc. [26] Again, he warns that impetuous affections must be suppressed, declaring that no one should recklessly do wrong, incited by anger, against a nature of which God is the Creator. For slavery is not a natural malady, but is considered an added evil, flowing from avarice. Therefore the Law, excellently fortifying us for the coming grace, forbids mutilations and blindings of the nature which was afterwards to be restored through Christ. The eye truly represents the mind, in which the light that is perceived by the intellect glitters and shines. As food is prepared by the teeth, and thence transmitted into the ventricle suggests life: so the hard and incomprehensible things which the contemplation of divine matters holds, are ground down by the power of the mind and nourish the soul. If, therefore, a master following a different religion brings any damage upon his servants in the matter of religion, let the servants flee and direct their steps to where they can preserve their soul unharmed. Nor let anyone have any regard for slavery, as if this were necessary: which truly faithful servants have often done, not sustaining with an equal mind the violence which is intended by the masters on account of these things.
"If a bull shall have pushed a man or a woman with its horn," etc. [28.] Are oxen a care to God? Or does he say these things altogether for our sake, says Paul. He compares an animal that is ferocious and robust to the contentious man and the proud one, who always desires to take the lead in every business and contract. If the bull does damage on its own, it does not bring danger to its master. For no one is harassed by penalties for the faults of others, of which he is neither the author nor the cause. But if it does damage by the counsel and impulse of its master, it brings capital punishment not only upon itself, but also upon its master.
"The flesh of this bull is condemned as food," etc. For it is not fitting for us to come into the society of another's impurity. Therefore Scripture decrees: "Do not communicate in other men's sins." The Lord, however, avoids capital punishment if he has been condemned to an appraisal of the matter by the judges. Thus also the true Judge strikes down enormous vices and sins with a capital sentence, [but] in lesser ones he grants pardon if anyone is prepared to offer an appraisal of the matter. Furthermore, a little tear, which the labor of true penance has expressed, compensates for the appraisal of the matter.
A Avarice is the cause that a son and daughter of free condition are valued more highly than a male or female slave. But in Christ Jesus there is no difference between free or slave. Therefore, the present passage differs in no way from an enigma. For those who follow the true religion are held in place of sons and daughters, while all who are pressed by the yoke of sin are reckoned as male or female slaves. God, therefore, judges the offense by which a pious person is offended in one way, and in another way He punishes a crime that is committed by an impious person.
If anyone shall have opened a pit, etc. [XXI, 33]
We must not place a stumbling block for a brother, so that we might derive some advantage from it; or, to speak more openly, it is not fitting that we procure our own comforts from another’s inconvenience. Moreover, he opens or digs a pit who draws forth meanings from the depths of Holy Scripture, and does not cling to its bare surface. For in the deep, and as it were in the inmost sanctuaries of Holy Scripture, hides a life-giving power. But this power is nothing other than eternal life, as Christ attests, saying: "This is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent" (Joan. XVII, 3). Whoever, therefore, strives to benefit others by his own labors, which he expends in clarifying Scripture, is said to be digging a pit. But here he should cautiously teach the unskilled and uneducated what is silently hinted at by the cadaver, namely, so that through his teaching destruction is not brought upon a holy soul which is from Israel, or an unholy one which comes from the Gentiles. For the ox and the ass in the Law bear this distinction. If such a thing occurs, he shall pay the penalty; but the cadaver shall be adjudged to him. So also the death of the one perishing shall be imputed to him. Wherefore Paul says: "Do not give a stumbling block to the Jews and to the Greeks and to the Church of God" (1 Cor. X, 32). Heretics also dig pits when they introduce false religion; but these pits are called broken, for they cannot hold water.If any man’s ox shall have gored another’s, etc. [35]
If anyone intentionally has caused injury to someone at the prompting of avarice, the principle of equity permits that the one affected by the injury should take compensation from the goods of the one who did the injury, and should experience common joy; just as, conversely, one who has unintentionally caused injury to another should make the disaster of the one suffering the injury common to himself. All these things are taught through these words, by which they are commanded to divide the cadaver between them. For the Law strives to introduce under a covering that which is said: "Rejoice with them that rejoice, and weep with them that weep" (Rom. XII, 15). But if anyone, following avarice, has out of settled purpose of mind inflicted an injury upon someone, he shall certainly pay the appraisal of the injury, and he alone shall receive into his own soul the danger of the loss suffered. For the principle of equity does not allow that the unjust should be condemned for that which they can—if you look at the goods—repay, but they shall feel the loss, and the disaster which they have brought upon their neighbor shall redound upon their own heads.If anyone shall have stolen an ox or a sheep, etc. [XXII, 1]
According to the Law, these animals are both considered clean, and they differ between themselves only in quantity. The ox is dedicated to agriculture, but the sheep gives very many benefits to man through its body, and is counted among fruitful things. Both, however, have the signification of pious people, who labor and have labored in the folds and stables of Holy Scripture. There are many thieves and plagiarists who wander about, lying in wait for the Churches, digging through her walls, and silently entering in, capturing the souls of the simpler folk with various illusions and frauds. Therefore, according to the proportion of spiritual quantity, and according to the magnitude of faith, these are condemned, some into five, others into four. For we are not all equal in regard to religion. For each one of us has his own peculiar gift from God, this one indeed in this way, but another in that (1 Cor. VII, 7). But if anyone is caught in the act and at night, that is, while he is still mutilating the soul and performing the works of the night, let him be put to death without a trial, as if he had fallen in battle or war. But if the day has shone out—that is, if the true knowledge of religion has already radiated in him—he no longer allows the thief to be in danger of his life. For the works of the night are punished; pardon is given to those things which are committed in the light. For God has forgiven the sins of the ancients committed through ignorance and in darkness. To this agrees that saying: "You who were once darkness, now are light in the Lord" (Ephes. V, 8). In that manner also Paul, who had been a blasphemer, is justified; he is sold who cannot pay much, namely, he who cannot persevere as is fitting in true penance, and remains obstinately in his former vices. Stripped, therefore, of the honor which befits the free, they hear: "Behold, you have been sold for your sins" (Isa. L, 1). If, however, anyone fraudulent has attempted the first enticement but has not yet destroyed or corrupted the one deceived, he shall be condemned in double. For the one whose soul he plotted against, he did not take. For it is reserved for the Lord. And the evil which he was preparing, he himself suffers, enduring capital punishment.If anyone shall have damaged the field of another by letting in his livestock, etc. [5]
For it is not fitting that we seek our own things, but also those which are others’. The sons of heretics, like savage beasts, consume the field, the Church, and the vineyards of the Lord. But the pestiferous authors of heresy will pay the penalties for all things which the heretics have done against the Church of the Lord. For destruction will fall back upon them, the destruction in which they entangled us, who, while we adhere to sound doctrine, are compared to a most pleasant and beautiful field as regards the soul. Therefore, the evils which they have given to us, they themselves will also suffer.If fire having gone forth into thorns, etc. [6]
For it is not fitting that those who are born to destroy and corrupt should also destroy the good itself. Thorns, according to the allegorical intellect, are considered religionwandering, I say, heretical, and—if one may say—heathenish, which indeed nourishes fire and kindles the flame of Gehenna. Under the harvest are to be understood the mild foods which nourish life. These are compared to teachings, which feed their followers with the life-giving bread, namely Christ. The plain field, suitable for travelers, is judged to be Holy Scripture. For all things are accessible and, as it were, in plain view for those who understand Scripture according to the letter, and these things are considered upright by those who have discovered the knowledge of the Church; thus the teachers, consuming the thorns of their adversaries with the flame of their own discourses while they champion the truth, keep the industrious and cautious from despising any dogma of the truth. If the fire has consumed any things necessary for religion along with the thorns or evils, the teacher of the Church will pay the penalties of negligence.
If any man entices a virgin not yet betrothed, etc. [XXII, 16.] The adultery of a woman married to a husband represents the destruction of the union by which we are joined to God. The law imposes the capital penalty on both. For the adulterer sows evilly; the adulteress receives the seed evilly. By the "betrothed virgin" understand the soul, which is now being instructed in religion for the first time and is not yet perfectly joined to God, but still awaits, as it were, the gift of the baptismal wedding, holding in a certain way the discourse of instruction as a pledge, just as it is written: "I have betrothed you to one husband, that you might present a chaste virgin to Christ." Furthermore, the bridegroom of souls speaks thus in the prophets: "I will betroth you to myself forever in justice, and in judgment, and in mercy, and in compassions. And I will betroth you to myself in faith, and you shall know the Lord." If, therefore, the soul is corrupted while still a novice in faith, it will be accused of corrupted virginity. For it is under the hand of the bridegroom, who will soon lead it away. But the soul which has not yet contracted a betrothal with Christ by way of faith, and to which a deception has been made by heretics, is implicated in error. For frequently the heretics of the heathen and the Jews have enticed unguarded souls to themselves. The seducer will pay penalties to the Father of spirits in the name of the discourses by which he enticed the wretched; and these will be reckoned for much. But his wife [the soul] will remain until, having washed away the filth, she has returned to the truth. And if any piety has still clung to that woman from her former works, it will not remain with the fraudulent deceiver, but will rather be taken away. He will pay, by way of punishment, for the discourses with which he has mocked the virgin. A *Everyone who lies with a beast shall be put to death.* For an intellectual union with a mind that has contracted irrationality is the agent of death for both those who are corrupted and those who corrupt. B Id for this is explained sufficiently in Leviticus. *Everyone who sleeps with a beast, etc.* [19.] For if anyone endowed with intellect has entered into friendship and familiarity with a brutish man, neither one gains anything but death from that familiarity.
*For you also were strangers, etc.* [21.] You were indeed strangers, but not in the way they were. For you lacked a region and a land. But they are to be admitted into the society of the republic and the laws. Although those strangers abstained from Egyptian superstition and approached God, it nevertheless indicates that those strangers did not possess circumcision of the flesh. For not all the Hebrews in Egypt were marked by circumcision. Therefore, in this place, spiritual circumcision is to be understood, which exerts itself through continence. He deems orphans and widows worthy of remarkable providence on account of their solitude. And he gravely commands that no one should do them injury. And he prohibits not so much injuries of the body as injuries of the soul, to which they are susceptible. For let no one teach orphans folly or intemperance, but rather let them resolve to instill wisdom and temperance in them, as far as they are endowed by nature to receive the characters of the divine discourse.
*You shall not revile the gods, etc.* [28.] You shall not harass judges with curses, as appears from what follows, when he says: "You shall not revile the princes of your people." For reverence is to be deferred to magistrates, and we must watch anxiously lest we succumb to their fury in secret. Every reproach, moreover, which is cast at a true prince is false. Furthermore, he who disparages judges scorns the law and Him who gave us the law. Many, in addition to these things, while they do not abstain from tearing their neighbor apart with reproaches, through habit have not shrunk from hurling reproaches even at God. Thus the Jews learned to blaspheme God, while they did not cease to defile the teachers of the law with a cursing mouth. Trained in that manner by the slaughter of the prophets and the just, they dared to shed the blood of the Lord. Wherefore Christ says: "The Scribes and Pharisees sit in the chair of Moses. All things therefore that they say to you, observe; but do not act according to their works." Hence also Paul reproves himself and checks himself when he had inveighed too freely against the high priest. Wherefore Eliud says in Job: "He is impious whoever says to the king: You act unjustly." He will be most impious toward magistrates who does not revere the face of a venerable man, and knows not how to honor upright men. It is read in Proverbs: "To fine a just man is not honorable, nor is it holy to conspire against just nobles."
*You shall not eat flesh caught by beasts, but you shall throw it to the dog, etc.* [31.] Holy Scripture is accustomed to call the impudent and the impure a dog, to whom every discourse is appropriate which proceeds to the destruction of souls and to the devil, without whom it is not permitted to say anathema to Jesus. Those discourses are therefore to be omitted which, if anyone has received them, may result in food for the devil.
A "You shall not receive a false report," etc. [Exodus XXIII. 1.] Therefore, some lawgivers forbid witnesses who have heard from others to give testimony; but it is permitted to eyewitnesses, as if the truth of a thing is confirmed by the testimony of the eyes, but falsehood is strengthened by the testimony of the ears.
"You shall not be partial to a poor man in his lawsuit," etc. [3.] For justice is a certain divine and sincere thing, and it is not corrupted by hatred or favor. Wherefore it was elegantly said: "The judgment is God’s," etc., "that which is altogether just you shall follow." For if a just man perishes justly, it is his own doing. There is need, therefore, of wisdom to discern the just; and one must not rashly and unseasonably have recourse to mercy.
"If you meet your enemy’s ox," etc. [4.] Excellent clemency is taught here, namely, that we should not injure an enemy; nay, rather, that we should strive to benefit him with all our strength. For whom will he injure, who does not even admit into his mind the thought of being injurious to an enemy? Furthermore, it removes hatred and discord, scattering seeds of peace. For a benefit, when it is truly given, knows how to reconcile friendships, and impels a man not entirely wicked to render gratitude. But he who is instructed not to despise even beasts, how shall he not exhibit remarkable benevolence and humanity toward men? Thus also Christ, although He was pelted with stones by the Israelites, yet exclaims: "Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you" [John XII. 35]; as if He were to say: "Do good to your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you" [Matt. V. 44].
"Three times in the year you shall celebrate a feast for me," etc. [14.] Since God is spirit, He has spiritual celebrations, which no earthly person will frequent, even as no spiritual person will frequent an earthly one, concerning which it is said: "Your solemnities shall be turned into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation and dirges" [Amos VIII. 10]. Just as "He who believes in me is not condemned, but he who does not believe is condemned already" [John III. 18]; so among those who do not celebrate feasts to God carnally, they are not judged and condemned. If the month of new fruits were not present, it would not be permitted to celebrate feasts to the Lord. If the month of new fruits is required, tell me, what are those new fruits? If you understand external fruits, which the nourishing earth produces, surely if the year has brought forth its fruits late to maturity, the month of new fruits is certainly not imminent. Furthermore, if sterility has arisen, and no fruits have been produced on account of it, in what way shall we keep the feast to the Lord? Truly, however, we are commanded by divine voice to keep feast days every year. Furthermore, in what way shall we perform the second feast, which is named not only a harvest but also the first fruits? For if to someone the latest fruits are born, how will he celebrate the feast while struggling with a lack of first fruits? What will he do, to whom a field is wanting, when the law says in clear words: "Of your works, which you sow in your field" [Exodus XXIII. 16]? In what way shall I begin the third celebration, not having the works of the consummation at the end of the year? If the end of the year falls in the tenth month, it happens that the third celebration is held before the Passover, which the first month produces for us. By what reason is the celebration of the end held in the seventh month, which nevertheless does not end the year? But let us leave these things aside, and let us follow that which is said: "Ascend the mountain," and ascending in mind, let us establish those days dedicated to the Lord. These celebrations cohere in a certain order. If the first has not preceded, the second cannot follow: similarly it must be said of the third, which does not come unless the two precede it. In the second feast I cannot gather all my works, but at least those which I have sown. For the necessity does not rest upon me merely of sowing, but also of planting, and of guarding and pruning plants. If, therefore, you wish to frequent the feast of Unleavened Bread in the month of new fruits, cast off the old man with his deeds, and you shall become a new man, so that the month of the feast of new fruits may be new to you and yours. For this month is not addicted to both the old and the new. But how shall we be new? If we put off the old man with his deeds, and put on the new, "who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of the Creator" [Coloss. III. 9-10]. Therefore, what the celebration of Unleavened Bread is, and what those unleavened breads are, Paul teaches: "Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth" [I Cor. V. 7-8]. The same thing the law also demonstrates, saying: "Every soul shall be rooted out, where leaven shall have been found" [Exodus XII. 15]. If in the sight of God they are the same—leaven, adultery, fornication, and Sodom—why does He inhibit each one of those with peculiar laws? If, therefore, you possess the leaven of malice, and you have not exterminated all the leaven of malice from the principal part of your soul, which is considered the house, surely divine authority commands that you be rooted out. For necessity demands that he who has reached the month of new fruits should be renewed, and should retain none of the pristine dregs. "Old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new" [II Cor. V. 17]. Since, however, it says: "Three times in the year," etc., we shall first explain the year itself. At what time Christ Jesus appeared to me, who is held to be the true Sun of justice, He established the first month for me. For while I still lingered in Egypt, I did not see the first month, nor was it imminent to me. But as soon as I began to celebrate the feast of the Lord, it is said to me: "This month shall be to you the beginning of months" [Exodus XII. 2]. And just as the sun measures and completes this external year in its course: so the Sun of justice completes the accepted year, whose healing is in His wings, just as it is held in the Prophet: "But to those who fear my name the Sun of justice shall arise [Malach. IV. 2], the true light, namely, which illuminates every man coming into the world" [John I. 9]. For since He is the Word, He sends His rays into souls. Some understand the accepted year, which Christ B
Himself alone announced. And indeed, three things are shown while He celebrated the Passover and preached, as John reminds us in the Gospel. In this year, therefore, we observe three feast days; we have spoken of the first, let us now explain the second. Furthermore, in the middle of both (which we must preface) it is placed: "You shall not appear before me empty" [Ex. XXIII, 15]. For everyone is full and abounds in knowledge and in understanding of the Trinity, and knows how to distinguish each person exactly, and is instructed in every virtue: or if he lacks these, he abounds in opinions, and because of them he is considered empty. But no one who is empty dares to associate himself with the feast. Such, however, would be he who has not eaten unleavened bread in the month of new fruits. B "The second, therefore," He says, "is the celebration of your works which you sow in the field," etc. [XXIII, 16]. There is no mortal who does not possess a field into which he might cast seeds. Looking back to this, the Apostle Paul says: "Whatever a man sows, that also will he reap" [Galat. VI, 7]; or as it may be explained more elegantly: As you have sown, so will you reap. "He who sows in the flesh, will reap from the flesh corruption. He who sows in the spirit, will reap from the spirit eternal life" [Galat. VI, 8]. The field, therefore, is the spirit, in which, as you sow, seek that the firstfruits may spring up for you, without which you will not be able to celebrate the feast day to the Lord. But what are these firstfruits? The fruits of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, self-control—of which Jesus speaks: "From their fruits you shall know them" [Matt. VII, 16]. The harvest, therefore, is the celebration. And what is that? "Behold, I say to you: Lift up your eyes and see the regions, for they are white for the harvest. He who reaps receives a wage, and gathers fruit unto eternal life" [John IV, 35, 36]. Therefore, having sown in the aforementioned field, strive then to reap the harvest of the firstfruits, that you may not delay and put off the sowing; lest, when you procrastinate, you be unable at last to offer the sheaf of firstfruits, without which you will be unable to frequent the feast of the Lord. These must be procured, so that they may be from your works and your field. In particular, the firstfruits are not to be delayed, so that they might be thought of as existing not only by reason of the time, but also by reason of excellence, so that you may be seen to have lived worthily of those who sow in the spirit.
For it happens that one may sow, yet not live so that the firstfruits are brought forth; but the second and third fruits occur, nothing different from common grain. One reaps excellent fruits, another less excellent, a third reaps fruits corrupted by the wind, just as the prophetic oracle holds. Others commit seeds to the furrows, which are given to the locust, the moth, and the caterpillar. This happens when seeds are not worthy to receive a blessing from God. Such things are therefore surrendered to corruption because they are not deemed worthy to be offered and placed upon the altar of God. The third celebration is of the perfection and consummation of works, and of the consummation of the world. This is frequented by the one who progresses perfectly, and who cries out with Paul: "Through whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world" [Galat. VI, 14]. Here, although he lives in the flesh, he does not war according to the flesh. He does not look upon what is subject to the eyes, but looks upon eternal things.
"At three times of the year, all your males shall appear before the Lord your God," etc. [17]. What is the reason that He commands this separately, and has not spoken conjunctively in this manner: Thrice every year you shall celebrate a feast to me, and all your males shall appear before the Lord your God? Our works, therefore, which we do, are either called "female," that is, if we sow in the flesh, which works are indeed external and enervated; or they are called "male," that is, if we have brought forth works of the spirit, which alone are worthy to be brought forth in the sight of God. For He disdains to look upon women. It is fitting, therefore, only for those who act manfully to perform the celebrations of the Lord. When He had spoken the law, prohibited the occasion of injury, praised that which tends to the utility of one’s neighbor, and proposed the way of life which pleases Him, He finally brought in the spiritual celebrations, leaving it to their own minds to consider that labor as something that would finally end in delight. Let us again direct those three celebrations toward Christ. But of the first, the words...
the paschal celebration have instructed us. In the second, however, one may discern the firstfruits of the renewed and restored man, namely Christ, offered under the type of a sheaf of firstfruits. For we have flourished again in the world like ears and grains of corn. Wherefore Christ testified that the regions were white. This Christ was the firstfruits, the new fruit, and the firstborn from the dead, transforming all things to newness and expelling antiquity. This one, I say, has been seen for our sake in the sight of God and the Father. A For our sake He ascended the heavens, as a sheaf of new produce offered to the Father. Indeed, He Himself brings us into the sight of the Father. For He, being God, is coeternal with the Father; and us—us, I say, who had been cast off by the Father who was angry because of the transgression of Adam and the sin which creeps into us—He has brought back into the sight of the Father. Let us now approach the third solemnity, which we shall likewise examine. Thus, the seventh month seems to signify the time of consummation. For then the works stored up in His treasuries will be revealed, and the storm of judgment will redound upon us. Wherefore let us remember Him who says: "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven." For now, in truth, the final age is passing.
*Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven,* etc. [Exodus 23:18]. There is a difference in sacrifices. Some victims are offered in their entirety; of others, only parts are burned upon the altar. Of others, the blood is offered, but the flesh is eaten. Now those victims are called holocausts and peace-offerings, because they are burned to abolish sin. But now, you shall not burn nor offer blood with leavened bread, but with bread devoid of leaven. For leaven, when mixed with the mass, induces a change and makes the flour acidic, and from the leavened mass a portion is taken which also passes into fermentation. And in this way, the first leaven goes into many generations, just as does fire, which, when extinguished, we preserve as remnants in the ashes, from which, once moved, we stir up another fire. But it is uncertain whether those who take the leaven truly ferment it well. Therefore, through those uncertainties, He dissuades us from leaven. Under this symbol, as it were, He warns that pleasure is to be held in contempt. For leaven is not a food, but a certain irritant to food and gluttony. Furthermore, under the symbol of leaven, He warns us not to be puffed up with vain opinion. The blood of the victims demonstrates the soul, which offers itself to the Lord. But it is not pious to join and commingle those things which, by their nature, refuse to be mixed. B *The fat of my festival shall not remain until the morning,* etc. Rather, let it be the material of the holy flame. More will be said below regarding this and other sacrifices. *The firstfruits of the produce of thy land thou shalt bring into the house of the Lord thy God,* etc. [v. 19]. These things are enjoined so that there may be gratitude, and from this, sustenance may be provided to the priests and Levites. The anagogical sense of these has been elucidated above. *Thou shalt not boil a lamb in its mother's milk,* etc. Neither shall you cut off a lamb from its mother's womb and boil it. Or if you boil a lamb, do not pour over it the milk of its mother. Or as long as the lamb drinks the maternal udder, you shall not sacrifice and boil it. But above all, one is exhorted to avoid this on account of the pain of the dam. D
Truly, for this same reason, He says in Leviticus: "A calf or a lamb or a goat, if they have been born, shall be seven days under the mother. On the eighth day and thereafter, they are accepted as a sacrifice and gift to the Lord. The calf and the lamb, the mother and her young, you shall not sacrifice on one day." He does not allow a lamb just born and still suckling to be sacrificed, showing that it is still imperfect, and therefore, whoever lacks the measure of understanding and is not yet holy, is not on that account acceptable and pleasing to God. Of this flour were those to whom Paul writes: "For since you ought to be teachers by reason of time, you have need again of one to teach you what are the beginner's elements of the oracles of God. And you have become such as have need of milk and not of solid food." C The eighth day and the remaining days, which followed the eighth unto infinity, were brought into the number and use of victims. But the eighth day adumbrates for us the day on which Christ rose from the dead and yields to the beginning of a new age, the ancient age of the Law having elapsed in the previous seven days. For the first age was still profane with respect to time, during which the Law prevailed and carnal worship; but a gift becomes grateful and acceptable in Christ on the eighth day and those that follow. For the calling in Christ cannot cease, taking its beginning from the resurrection. Now, in laying down the Law concerning Christ, God foreknew the intractable disobedience of the Jews, who would refuse every governance and moderation. Wherefore they were rightly exterminated as parricides, who defiled their hands with the blood of their Lord. Yet Jerusalem will not perish entirely only once. Rather, it will remain bereaved, awaiting the final time, when it will be saved, having followed the Gentiles who went before. Symmachus has interpreted: "You shall not prepare a kid in the milk of its mother," etc. Which translation teaches that sinners cannot be eaten while still infants and drawing the milk of malice under their mother, unless they are first brought to better doctrine and instruction. For "kids" are understood to be those who, standing on the left beside the tribunal of Christ, hear the Lord saying: "Amen, amen, I never knew you."
A Nor surely should anyone cook a kid in its mother’s milk. For it is impossible for infants in the business of Christ, and those still imperfect in their minds, to be driven through fire and tribulations. We must wait until they reach mature age and grow in spiritual fortitude. Furthermore, under a certain type, he intimates that not all things will perish because of a grave tyranny that might await them; rather, they themselves will remain and endure, as if by certain successions of the race—while one finds deliverance in another and another in this one—God averting the universal destruction of His creatures. And these things are fittingly foretold to these people. For they accord with the words of Christ, through whom things that were lost are kept and grow green again unto life.
And behold, I send my angel before thy face, etc. [XXIII, 20.] Some say it is the prophet, and the voice of the speaker within him, which prophet they are commanded to hear. But the confirmation of the discourse is the work that follows the discourse. He who is persuaded and does what is commanded will have a patron and defender, a teacher who will protect his own doctrines by himself; and adversaries, though they endeavor, will not be able to infringe upon them. Now the prophet who led them into the promised land is Jesus, that is to say, the son of Nave, if you wish to consider the external Jesus. But if it is Jesus who has the present prayer, that which follows will also befit him: "For my name is upon him." If that word is uttered by the Father, it is to be understood in this place as the Angel of Great Counsel, who is and is truly called God, just as the Father who begat Him. B *He will not shrink from thee; for my name is upon him.* The phrase "He will not shrink" (οὐ μὴ ὑποστείληται), Symmachus rendered as: *He will not remit your transgression.*
By destroying you shall destroy, and by crushing you shall crush their statues, etc. [21.] Under statues, as in an enigma, are understood the dogmas of heretics, which are thought to stand and be firm. Certain dogmas, which are injected into our sense and intellect under these statues, are civil: which truly it would be sacrilege for me to say should be torn down; rather, let them remain solid and unshaken in their place. But the dogmas that impel us to a fall must be torn down, and so torn down that they cannot be refitted and joined together again. For these are expressed through that emphasis: "By destroying you shall destroy, and by crushing you shall crush." C For if I rebuild the things that I have demolished, I constitute myself a transgressor.
289 And I will bless thy bread, and thy wine, and thy water; and I will turn away sickness from you, etc. [25.] He promises nourishment and health. Meanwhile, while he makes mention only of necessary things, he also commends temperance to us in passing. Furthermore, he presented a most healthful lesson, that none of the aforementioned things will feed or help us, but rather will harm us more, if God does not prosper them with His blessing. It seems that toward these, a mystical table is promised to those who perform the aforementioned things.
There shall not be one who is barren nor a widow in thy land, etc. [26.] External fertility pertains to those who affect fruitful offspring with great desire. Internal fertility grasps hold of those who follow the aforementioned things and obtain the blessing; by which things they are so formed that they know it to be their duty not to be sterile and unfruitful in mind and deed.
I will fill the number of thy days, etc. I will lead you into a splendid, strong, and long-lived old age. As he promises premature deaths to the disobedient, so he promises Nestorean years to the obedient. For he does not show that there is a certain fixed end of life for each individual, while He now diminishes and now produces and extends the time of our life at His own will: which, of course, would not happen at all if a certain, predetermined end of life were set for each. God indeed foreknows all these things: yet it is not to be believed on that account that His foreknowledge is the limit of our life. The limit of God, which He places upon our life, D regards the purpose of our soul, according as we grasp virtue or vice; therefore, it is either enlarged or contracted at the will of God, and does not bring any necessity upon mortals. Nature, receiving its course from God, is often interpolated by accidents of matter, just as nothing without piety would have prevented. But if the contrary happens to sinners and the just, it must be believed that these things exist on our account and must be attributed to us as authors, not to the just and refined judgments of God. But he elegantly says that the life of His suppliants is not to be numbered by months or years. For truly the day of a wise man is to be compared to an age. Furthermore, it is well handed down: "I will fill," etc., because of the empty intervals of virtue and wisdom which are in the mind of the one progressing; whom He wishes to be brought to harmony after the example of a musical instrument, so that his will, discourse, and deeds may resonate and sing together fittingly. These things, therefore, are to be taken for days which the Sun of Justice measures in our souls: now, indeed, shining particularly according to the proportion of the believers. But when that which is in part is brought to naught, it will shine universally and as a whole. This will be when He will show His rays perpetually, not hindered by any intervening night. For the prophet indeed says: "The sun will not set for them." Of such days Abraham was full. And God holds the days of the just in number; none of the days of the impious is deemed worthy of memory, as can be seen in the example of those who descend from Seth, and those who descend from Cain. Of these days David speaks, saying: "Take me not away in the midst of my days."
And I will send my fear which will go before thee, etc. [27.] This dread knows how to rout enemies more powerfully than immense military forces. But the fear of charity precedes the pious, which is born in the perfect. For through both, God is worshiped and honored. He who has this fear will not fear from terror by night, whether from the right or from a corner, or from the winds of malice, or from the affections of ignominy.
A "And I will send hornets before you, etc." [Ex. XXIII, 28.] Hornets, being unseen and unexpected, strike and wound the head mortally, and those parts attached to the head. As is therefore evident from the forementioned verse, we see that God is able to subdue the proud Egyptians through the smallest insects—by mosquitoes, and indeed by frogs. He also signifies that He will send help from heaven, unexpectedly and beyond hope. If you fear the forces of foreigners, cast aside your fear; I will break the force of their attack with hornets and wasps, and I will deliver them conquered; for God delights in conquering through a few, as is clear from the example of Gideon, who with three hundred routed the countless forces of the enemy. He furthermore foretells what follows, lest where they have conquered, they should become arrogant in victory and attribute the victory to their own strength.
"I will not cast them out in one year, etc." [29.] For wild creatures flee the dwellings of many men, as though by nature they held sway over them; but they are accustomed to frequent solitudes and lonely places. Nor is it permitted to gather into one the spirits of those who were hastening toward the Promised Land, released from the chains of ignorance, and abounding and filled with divine knowledge. For they cannot endure it if anyone removes ignorance from their minds; nor can they tolerate an excessive abundance of doctrine. Furthermore, He does not wish for them to acquire dominion over the land without battles and dangers; for we value most highly the possession of things that we have obtained for ourselves with great labor. Moreover, everyone who is engaged in battle implores divine help, that he may be delivered from imminent danger—namely, lest he fall into the power of the enemy. To these things, the soul, which obtains and enjoys liberty without dust and labor, inclines toward sloth and negligence, and is vulnerable and susceptible to invisible enemies; and at length it suffers what we have learned in the Gospel happened to the impure spirit, which returned to its original dwellings, having joined to itself seven others worse than itself. Little by little, therefore, He expels the inhabitants of the land, until they reach the measure of the age of the fullness of Christ.
"And I will set your borders, etc." [31.] He promises the expansion of the boundary if they observe the law; He threatens the contraction of the boundary if they transgress the law.
"From Dan even unto Beersheba, etc." This happened when David and Solomon were reigning, whose kingdom was extended even unto the Euphrates.
"If you serve their gods, they will be a snare to you, etc." [33.] For if obstacles are placed before one traveling, he is fatigued and severely vexed by the annoyances of the journey before he completes it. Furthermore, the soul, entering upon the journey to God, is dragged away from the straight path by impious detours.
"Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, up to this place: B They appeared in the place of God, and they ate and drank, etc." [Ex. XXIV, 1-11.] Holy Scripture is accustomed frequently to name the Church with this word, and especially loves to comprehend the spiritual Church under the name of a mountain, and because of this it attributes that name to the earthly Church. For they who dwell in the Churches think nothing lowly; but being separated from the care and filth of earthly affairs, they are carried to the heights and seek out by meditating on celestial things. For the powerful ones of God are raised exceedingly above the earth. And again: "Who shall ascend into the mountain of the Lord?" etc., which mountain cannot be climbed by the impious. Why does the people not ascend into the mountain? Because many are called, but few are chosen. Of these who have betaken themselves to the mountain, Moses alone approaches God, but Aaron stays at a distance with the rest, although he bore the type of Christ the true pontiff, through whom we also are reckoned a royal priesthood. Wherefore He does not despise our condition, but descending to us, abides among us. Moses is preferred to his brother as a mediator and arbiter between the natural lawgiver and God, in that he himself was also subject to the law. Although Moses did not dare to enter in to Pharaoh without Aaron, but received him as a helper and companion in danger from God, although he was second in dignity. We ascend, therefore, as if into the mountain, into the holy and supernal mansions, we who are holy and elect, nor yet do we ascend unless accompanied by Christ as our companion. For Aaron was with them, although he was listed among those who were stationed at a distance. For Christ indeed stands at a distance for our sake, so that we also may approach the Father with Him and through Him. For since Christ is by nature joined to the Father, if we have become participants in Him through the Spirit, we shall also be connected through Him to the Father, coming into a communion of the divine nature. Nor did they contend into the mountain in any other way than by first being exercised by the blood of Christ, who gave Himself as the price of redemption for us, offering His own flesh as an irreprehensible sacrifice to God C and Father. For in the morning, He says, Moses built an altar, and placed twelve stones upon it according to the number of the twelve tribes of Israel. Dismissing then the young men of the children of Israel, he commanded them to offer burnt offerings and calves as a sacrifice of salvation. The altar which he had set at the roots of the mountain signified the Church on earth, subject however to the supernal Church, the mother of the firstborn. He commands the twelve tribes to surround this altar, as if that place, being as it were the Church of God, would be especially suited to them. For Christ says: "I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel." But the prompt and strong men were to perform the mystery of Christ, as was indicated by those young men who were sent. And we discover that the apostles fulfilled this, who, being sent into all the regions of the world, announced the Gospel, bringing back burnt offerings—namely, the faithful, adorned with faith and virtue. This work indeed required a youthful and strong spirit, which would not be bent by earthly things, and could truly say: "To me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." But the true sacrifice was prefigured by the calves. For Christ is compared to a perfect calf because of His strength and purity. He is also compared to a small calf because He did not bear the servile yoke of the law, since He was, as God, free. A calf is now and then subject to the yoke, now and then it is immune from the plow. Thus Christ carried the flesh, which was subject to the yoke of sin, while at the same time it was entirely pure from sin. For
he condemned sin in the flesh. A calf is also mentioned, because he was a new creature. With its blood, Moses sprinkles the people and the book itself. Since the law is imperfect, it cannot confer holiness, and for the accomplishment of this matter, it stands in need of Christ.
B He builds an altar at daybreak, etc. As the Morning Star shone, and the spiritual day arose—the rising of which calmed the night of this present life—the splendid radiance of the Church appeared. The altar, indeed, is that upon which the mystery of Christ is performed. The tribes of the earth stood by it, which the twelve stones portended, as is evident from the testimony of Peter, who says: "In whom you yourselves also, as living stones, are built up, a spiritual house, a holy priesthood." At that time, too, we were in the sight of the Father, as it is written: "In the morning I will stand before you, and you will see me." In this manner, therefore, instructed, we hasten to the mountain, though Moses wrote down the words of the Lord beforehand. For it behooves those desirous of the heavenly journey to keep the law of the Lord inscribed and engraved upon their minds, saying: "I have hidden your oracles in my heart, so that I may never sin against you." This agrees with what is written: "You shall speak of them sitting in your house, traveling on the road, lying down, and rising up." Wherefore they also saw the place where the God of Israel had stood. That color represents the heaven in which he dwells, resting among the angels, and holy, enjoying deep peace among the saints, showing by this word to those who until now had been defiled by the superstition of many gods, and had worshiped the creature with divine honors, that heaven is subject to God. Furthermore, that they ate and drank there explains the delights prepared for those climbing to heaven. As to the statement, "No one dissented," etc., if you look at the series of the narrative, this will be the sense: All were preserved unharmed. But if you wish to elicit a spiritual sense from this, it indicates that all agreed with one mind in the business of religion.
Sapphire denotes the blessed Virgin, concerning whom the blessed Job prophesied, saying: "Earth from it shall come forth bread, underneath it is turned as by fire. The place of sapphire are its stones," by which words is designated the purest body of the Virgin, and that she gave birth to the law of God. Moreover, in the Song of Songs, the bride sings of the bridegroom: "His belly is an ivory box set with sapphire stones." She calls the belly of Christ the choir of the saints, whom he himself brought forth into the soul's light and cherished. It is said to be pure, like an ivory box, which admits no impurity. "Upon a sapphire stone," etc. Because the sapphire potently attracts all adjacent matter, in that same way the holy choir of saints transmits to the heavens those who approach him in true faith and are imbued with the Holy Spirit.
C And rising, Moses and his minister Jesus ascended, etc. Moses is called, as one who was to receive the law. Jesus, not called, ascended along with Moses. But Jesus is a type of Christ, who is not called by the Father as others are. For he is always present to us, and prepares the way for the called, so that through him they may be able to enter to the Father, acting the part of Mediator and Arbiter. For it is impossible that we should approach God the Father without the aid of the Mediator and Arbiter, Christ.
292 And the glory of God descended upon Mount Sinai, etc. [XXIV, 16.] He refutes those who think that certain ambulatory powers and virtues abide with God. For he testifies that not only God alone descended of himself into the mount, but also his glory—either indicating the presence of his powers or virtues (for the hand of the army is also called the glory of the king), or manifesting the reputation and fame of the divine glory. The present spectacle so confirmed the minds of all that they believed most firmly that God himself had sanctioned the laws that were given. Nothing prevents you from understanding the true glory of the Father—namely, the Son—as having appeared there, as far as it was permitted.
And the cloud covered him for six days. And the Lord called Moses on the seventh day from the midst of the cloud. He assigned the same number to the creation of the world and the election of the Israelitic people. This number is the senary. By these words he teaches that he is the creator of the world, and that he chose the race of Israel.
The recall of the Prophet, however, is a second birth, better than the first. And it is called on the seventh day, in this differing from the first-formed man. For he indeed consisted of earth and with a body; this one, however, without a body. Therefore to the earth-born man was assigned his proper number, namely the senary; but to this one, the most sacred nature of the hebdomad. A
God displayed fire, not because that fire was external, but to strike fear into the Jews. To signify this same thing, he immediately added: "Before the children of Israel." Now fire is a symbol of God consuming impious reasonings, just as fire tames and consumes everything that stands in its way.
Moses remained on the mountain for forty continuous days. For by that space of years, calculating a day for a year, that ungrateful generation of the Jews was to be destroyed and abolished in the wilderness: for whom he interceded with the Lord for as many days, especially at such a time as laws were to be given. The tabernacle was a sanctuary that could be carried about. But for whom were the laws established? Were they for those about to perish in the wilderness? For whom were victims to be slaughtered? Was it for those who were soon to be deprived of life in the vast wilderness? B
And take for me firstfruits from all, whose heart it shall seem good that they give, etc. [XXV, 2.] By these words the Lord teaches that if anyone wishes to bestow benefits upon the Churches, they should set about doing so from the heart. Since he does not spurn even goats' hair, if it be offered with a ready mind: and he also highly values those two coins which the widow cast into the treasury. For when the firstfruits were gathered, look there, he says, that you may build me a tabernacle, and I shall appear to you: and he pours forth these words as if he had not hitherto appeared to them, although he seemed to have descended in the form of fire. But that vision should be called a shadow, and consider Christ as the true vision, just as Scripture warns, saying: "God is the Lord, and he appeared to us." In Christ, of course, we behold both him and the Father. That external church is built according to the model of the Church of the firstborn. Wherefore it says: "As I shall show you." And in this way, making his journey while he transcends from one height to another, reaching toward the sublime, he is borne ever upward. First, he leaves behind the base of the mountain, separated from all things that might hinder him in the steep ascent. Then he hears the blast of trumpets, lifted little by little toward the mountain. Then he enters into the hidden sanctuary of the knowledge of God. Nor does he make a delay here: thence he directs his steps toward the tabernacle not fashioned by human hands. Here he rests. For that tabernacle is the end which is proposed to one striving toward the mountain, just as he was previously instructed by the heavenly trumpet. For the wonderful arrangement and adornment of the heavens, of God, as is held in the Psalms, declare his glory. To this tends the prophetic text: "The trumpet sounded forth the heaven from above." Therefore the heaven declares the glory of God, that, impelled by this, we may pass over in mind to where God is. Darkness is named the cloud in which, hidden, he viewed the tabernacle which no hands had stirred up. That tabernacle reveals to us, who dwell on earth, under a type of a hand-made tabernacle. For it says: "You shall make for me according to all that I shall show you." The power and wisdom of God, which require no ministries of hands in themselves, allow themselves to be built by our hands, if that tabernacle must be fixed within us without hindrance; and they receive this material edifice which is being built. C 293 For he who was begotten before the ages were founded, took on flesh, and received a birth restricted to time. He who contains this Universe in himself, established his own tabernacle in us. For all things must be drawn hither by interpretation, taking the occasion from Paul, who, when he had been caught up into the third heaven, says that the veil of the tabernacle built on earth is the flesh of Christ. Moreover, the same Apostle, initiated into the mysteries of paradise, affirms that the ark also was a type of Christ. For just as in the ark, so in the temple of the Virgin dwelt all the fullness of the Deity bodily. For the mysteries which lay hidden in the ark represented the Word of God. The wood of the ark perceived no rot. So the body of Christ experienced no corruption. The ark was gilded; so the body of Christ was confirmed and compacted by the divine nature, that it might be able to resist corruption powerfully. For his flesh did not see corruption. Since it says: "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." Peter also teaches that he was indeed killed in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit. For he transmitted splendor and immortality into his own flesh. For if the just shall shine as the sun in the kingdom of the Father, what shall we say of the glory of Christ? The bars, the rings, and all things that concern the ark glitter with gold. So those who were famous for the glory of Christ, and united to him through charity, being enlightened from heaven, provide much utility, explaining the visions of God to all. Or these things are to be understood concerning the invisible powers, for in Him indeed all things were created, invisible and visible,
A whether Thrones, or Principalities, or Powers, or Dominations, or Potentates. These, according to the will of God, sustain the whole ark and carry it for our ministry, sent on behalf of those who by right of inheritance obtain salvation. These powers, inserted as it were into certain rings for the souls of those to be saved, lift up those cast down upon the earth to the heights of virtue.
B "And you shall make a mercy seat of pure gold," etc. [XXV, 17.] The name of the mercy seat signifies the cover of the ark, and Christ was indeed that cover and propitiation. For Paul says: "Whom God has set forth as a propitiation through faith in His blood, for the showing of His justice." To this pertains the pronouncement of John: "And He is the propitiation for our sins." For through Him indeed we desire and ask for all good things. "Hitherto," He says, "you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and it shall be given to you." For through Him the Father is appeased, to whom we hasten through Christ. For He Himself says: "I am the way; I am the door. No one comes to the Father, except through Me." Although Christ was among us, He nevertheless obtained the divine glory that befitted Him. Therefore, Cherubim are applied to the mercy seat, that they may watch over and guard Him. They always look upon Him, not knowing how to be satisfied by the vision of Him. With their wings they cover the ark, just as Isaiah reports that the Seraphim covered their feet with two wings, and their faces with two, and with the remaining two they flew. Moreover, the name Cherubim denotes a certain infinite knowledge and an overflowing abundance of wisdom. At the same time, we are also taught that the face of God cannot be seen by any mortal. For, as Paul has it, He "inhabits light inaccessible." Furthermore, God Himself thus addresses Moses: "No one shall see the face of God and live," nor even if someone had sighted His footprints and ways. C "For His footsteps are inscrutable, and His ways past searching out," says Paul. Furthermore, David says: "Thy way is in the sea, and Thy paths in many waters! And Thy footsteps shall not be found (or known)." For the sea does not receive, or if it receives, it does not keep the print of a foot. Perhaps the Seraphim are described as hiding their feet and their faces with their wings. For in the wisdom of God, there is neither beginning nor end to be found. The beginning of the human body is the head, and its end is said to be the feet. Yet all those things clearly teach and prove a ministry, which is carried out for those to whom the inheritance of eternal life will be devolved. Here the ark is hidden by the wings of the Cherubim, elsewhere the face is covered by the wings of the Seraphim. The same meaning holds in both.
"Above the mercy seat I will be known to you, and I will speak to you," etc. [22.] Here we are instructed that, although Christ emptied Himself, He speaks not in a human, but in a divine manner: "I and the Father are one." And: "He who sees Me, sees the Father." From which words it is elicited that He preceded everything that is created, even though He eventually put on flesh. Nevertheless, He surpassed all mortals, even regarding His humanity, by many parasangs. The gilded mercy seat manifests the divine nature of Christ. Human beings are compared to it, in so far as they transform themselves into His likeness. Truly, the place that holds them is not trodden by the crowd, and is named the Holy of Holies.
"And you shall set the loaves of proposition upon the table before Me always," etc. [30.] It is clearly shown to us that the bread given from heaven is to be placed upon the holy tables of the churches. And all vessels that serve the mystical use of the divine mysteries are to be believed as being most manifest types of things to come.
"And you shall make a candelabrum of pure gold," etc. [31.] The golden candelabrum bears the type of Christ, on account of the pure sincerity of His nature. "The candelabrum should be lathe-wrought," etc. Which is added to demonstrate elegance. The splendor and elegance will be greater if you turn to that beauty which does not fall under the senses, but is perceived by the intellect alone. For He is beautiful, if you look at the elegance of His form, "above the sons of men," that is, the elegance of His form easily surpasses all mortals. "Branches or calami, which emerge on both sides, let them proceed," He says, "from the candelabrum itself." For Christ, though He is one, is thought to be infinite and multiple on account of the variety of His operations. He is called light, life, power or virtue, and immortality, which names He has attained on account of His various operations. Nor does His power depend on anything other than Himself, being full and abundant in His operations and virtues. Yet you do not err if you believe those lights shimmering from many branches or calami—so that there is no lack of light in the tabernacle—represent the various rays of the Holy Spirit, which Isaiah sets forth in a sevenfold division. D Alternatively, you can interpret this statement in this way: "It was of one pure gold," etc. Christ is wholly God in every way, nor is He considered sanctified in the manner in which created mortals are. But that He is wholly anointed is designated by the number six of the calami. Hence the distribution of gifts is poured forth lavishly. "To one is given the word of wisdom; to another, the word of knowledge; and the discerning of spirits," etc. "For not according to measure," as John says, "does He give the Spirit; but of His fullness we have all received."
"And you shall set lamps on the candelabrum, and they shall shine from one perspective," etc. [37.] In the book of Numbers we find it so written: "Over against the candelabrum he lit the lamps." For the light transmits no splendor to those who turn themselves away from God; truly it shines for those who, through sanctification, have been drawn into the presence of God; and there they stand, with faces turned toward God because of the alacrity of their faith and the gravity of their pious life. Therefore, through Isaiah, God addresses sinners: "When you stretch out your hands to Me, I will turn My eyes away from you."
from you. A But the eyes of the Lord are upon the just, as David sings. Zacharias saw this candelabrum. The angel who shows this transfers the whole matter to Christ, saying: "These are the eyes of the Lord looking upon the whole earth." For divine providence surveys all things most keenly. It knows all things, even those that lie in darkness, according to the saying: "And the light is with him." For it indicates and searches out the senses and thoughts of the heart. And there is no creature not manifest in his sight; "all things are naked and opened to his eyes." Furthermore, it is said thus through one of the prophets: "Am I a God at hand, saith the Lord, and not a God afar off? Shall a man be hidden so that I shall not see him?" Zacharias, perceiving two olive branches, knew well that they were the two sons of oil, or fatness, who stood in the presence of the Lord of all the earth. These are the Gentile and Israelitic peoples, having Christ in their midst, from whom they are anointed with oil. Truly the oil is a type of the Holy Spirit, as it is written: "Thou hast anointed my head with oil." He calls them the broken branches of the olive, and not olives, etc., by which words he shows the faithful of both peoples. For not all believed. Therefore David addresses Christ concerning his bride and the children transplanted by faith into him: "Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine on the sides of thy house, and thy children as olive plants round about thy table." For we acquire life from participation in the Spirit, and we recover life at the holy table of Christ, receiving within us faith in him.
Make the altar of woods that know no rot, of five cubits, etc. [XXVII, 1]. For a great measure was required because of the pile of wood, and the cutting up of oxen, and the holocausts. All its vessels are of bronze. For thus shall they be able to endure the assault of fire. Crowns and horns are added at the corners. For there is nothing to be seen before the most wise God that is not ornate. This altar is suitable for the victims which the law commanded. For nothing of the material—as in those mentioned previously—of gold is seen on this altar. For the shadow of the law is too weak to be able to provide the Holy Spirit to its worshipers. For they were agitated not by liberty, but by the spirit of slavery. Since the Spirit reserved for these times was given to the apostles after the ascension of the Lord. B "For he breathed on them, saying: Receive the Holy Spirit." John also says: "For as yet the Spirit was not given, because Jesus was not yet glorified." Furthermore, Paul declared the difference in spirits, saying: "For you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear: but you have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry: Abba, Father." We have indeed obtained immortality, which is signified by gold, through participation in the Holy Spirit. Bronze sets before our eyes the rebel Jews, who stirred up sedition against Christ, just as Core and Dathan conspired against Moses. But the bronze censers of these were by divine command melted down and extended into plates, and affixed to the altar. Beseleel constructed the bronze altar from such material, as we shall perceive more clearly from what follows. The law, therefore, by examples of this kind, had long ago declared that the worship of the law was a certain tyranny, and that by the seditious Core and Dathan and their accomplices, hard punishments for the disobedient were signified. For that altar, which the law ordered to be made, is a symbol of an exasperated and contradicting people. But the aforementioned gifts, to which gold is added, teach that the oblation of the faithful is pleasant and acceptable.
He calls the altar, as some say, the altar placed under the open sky. It is situated at the first entrance of the tabernacle: and it is distant from the tabernacle by as much space as the victims, which are slaughtered daily, require. The ministers who perform the sacred rites claim this place for themselves. It is situated on the boundary of the four and five pillars, of which it will be spoken later. You may, therefore, call this place the vestibule of the temple, which is distinguished by two fabrics: the inner one, which is called the veil: and the outer one, to which they have given the name covering. Here were seen the censer, the candelabrum, and the table. C And you shall make an altar of incense, etc. Behold, the altar of grace succeeds in order to the altar of the law. For the gold, which is added to this, portends grace, as we have already warned a thousand times. The horns are fashioned like hands stretched out to this altar: which demonstrate under a type the precious cross of Christ. The sight of this everywhere and through all things suggests to our intellect that square altar. For in every place Christ crucified is recognized. This altar is adorned with a flexible crown. For Christ is beautiful, if you consider his form, above all mortals, that is, he easily surpasses all mortals in elegance of form. The disciples of Christ are compared to the coverings. For they carry about the mystery of Christ by preaching, as ministers of God and dispensers of the mysteries of Christ. Put it near the veil, which is over the ark, etc. [21.] D That is to say, near the propitiatory, which was
raised high, while the ark was placed upon the ground. For the Word of God was more excellent in respect of His divine nature than of His human nature, which He had taken from the earth. He commands the golden altar, which is a type of Christ, to be placed before the Cherubim, face to face with the place from which God speaks and is understood, as if we are brought through Christ into the sight of the Father, and dwell in His eyes. For Christ restored and brought back again to the sight of the Father the man who had turned away from God because of sin. Since for our sake He entered the A heavens as a forerunner, so that He might appear there before the face of God, and intercede for us sinners. He Himself is our peace; He Himself is that compound incense, seen in light of the incarnation. For Christ is composed of two natures, the subtle and the dense: the latter is human, the former divine; because it lacks the grossness of legal worship. For He offered Himself for us as a sweet-smelling savor, being called priest and saying: “Sacrifice and offering Thou wouldst not. But a body hast Thou prepared me. Then I said: Lo, I come, that I may do Thy will, O God.” B For, to use His own words, “For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of Him who sent me. And this is the will of my Father, that of all which He hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.” Even David directs to the sweet-smelling savor of God the incense or perfume of his prayer, performing his sacrifice by the stretching forth of his hands. Thus Christ offered Himself as a composite and subtle or refined incense. Of this matter Paul is a rich witness, saying: “But thanks be to God, who always leadeth us in triumph in Christ, and manifesteth the fragrance of His knowledge by us in every place. For we are a sweet savor of Christ in them that are saved and in them that perish.” And again: “Christ loved us, and delivered Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor.” Moreover, the time of the incense is assigned for morning and evening, by which is signified that we must pray perpetually. C When the lamps are prepared and kindled, etc. For while we are illuminated by the splendor of divine light, we are filled abundantly with the good fragrance of Christ. For the light of faith provides, and so prepares us, that we may be able to know the mystery of Christ. For He says: “If ye believe not, ye shall not understand.” Incense must always be burnt. For Christ always scatters and pours out sweet odors in His tabernacle, that is to say, the Church. Moreover, that the law is rendered obsolete through Christ is declared sufficiently by the fact that He forbids the offering of holocausts and libations upon the golden altar. Therefore the prophet cries out: “The sacrifice and the libation have been taken away from the house.” For there is a new nature in Christ. They have fallen from grace, who seek justification in the law after the truth has been manifested. D You shall not offer, he says, any other incense on this altar, etc. For there is one teacher and high priest for us: and to Him alone let us adhere and let us be dedicated, saying: “Thy name is as ointment poured forth; therefore have the maidens loved thee. We will run after thee in the odor of thine ointments.” Not so were the Jews. For flinching from the good fragrance of Christ, and receiving other incense, namely the son of iniquity, they follow the most foul odor of Satan. For his coming, he says, shall be according to the working of Satan. On this altar, it is commanded that Aaron shall make atonement for himself and the people once every year. He is also commanded to anoint and moisten with the blood of atonement the tips of the projecting horns. For it is the Holy of Holies. Paul elegantly explains this same thing, saying: “But Christ, coming as high priest of the good things to come, entered once through a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is, not of this structure, and not by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood, having found eternal redemption.” And again: “Since He has died once, He dies no more: death shall no longer have dominion over Him. For in that He died to sin, He died once: but in that He lives, He lives to God.” It is possible, therefore, to see Christ, so that He might wash away and abolish our sins, moistening and irritating the cross with His own blood: which is indeed signified by the fact that the horns of the altar are commanded to be stained with blood; you shall rightly name Christ alone the Holy of Holies. For from this, every creature which is in heaven and which is on the earth receives sanctification. Since John says: "Of His fullness have we all received." Concerning the blood, moreover, by which the people are expiated, which also must be sprinkled upon the altar, it is related in Leviticus by these words: “If, however, the whole people of Israel have ignored the word,” etc. When you hear of the altar and the censer, remember that adoration is to be understood, by which all the heavenly hosts venerate the supreme King in heaven. For not only the tongue of those who are upon the earth and under the earth, but also the tongue of those who dwell in heaven, are said to transmit praise to Him in whom is the sum of all things. Thus this sacrifice, namely the sacrifice of lips, is pleasing to God, as the Apostle testifies: “And the sweet odor of prayers.” Make a bronze laver and its bronze base, that they may be washed there, etc. [XXX, 18.] The priests, who were holy according to the prescriptions of the law, had need of the type of divine baptism, by which they were washed before they proceeded to perform the sacred task. For the external washing of the law, which cleanses the body only, is not sufficient for salvation: that washing is required which purifies the heart and wipes away the filth and stains of the soul. He whom all according to the law declare clean, if he lacks this washing and does not accept it gratefully and eagerly from the Lord who calls, is held to be most impure. For we are not justified by the works of the law, if we listen to the Scriptures. Salvation has come to us from faith in Jesus Christ, who has prepared for us a secure approach to Himself and to the Father, having cast aside death. For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should be able to take away
A sins. John, that illustrious forerunner of Christ, besought the Lord for the power of divine baptism, saying: “I have need to be baptized by you.” By the "laver," one must understand all those who wash away the defilements of sin through baptism, just as John also offered a baptism of repentance. Similarly, Peter, who at the same time immersed three in the waters of baptism. The laver was a baptism for the eunuch of Queen Candace. The washing of the hands and feet of the priests indicates purity and integrity in all things to which one must go, and in all things which must be done. There is no other way to enter the evangelical city. In this way we are to be washed and consecrated. For this reason the divine Apostle writes: “Therefore many are weak among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.” That this laver signified holy baptism is testified to by Bezalel the craftsman, who made it. For Scripture discourses on it in this way: “Bezalel made the laver of bronze, and its base of bronze, from the mirrors of the women who fasted, who fasted at the doors of the tabernacle of the testimony, on the day he set it up.” But what did those mirrors signify? The Israelites, when they dwelt in Egypt, worshipped idols. There, however, women dedicated and devoted to the cult of idols entered the temple clothed in linen garments. The right hand was adorned with a sistrum, the left with a mirror, according to the custom of their superstition. B The Israelite women still held the remnants of this vanity, which they offered for the construction of the tabernacle. But having built the tabernacle, the women, representing evangelical temperance and mortifying their limbs, sat by the tabernacle, wearing themselves out with fasts. This tabernacle was a specimen of the true tabernacle, that is, the Church, which the Lord fixed and not man, in that time, I say, when it was necessary for those given over to the troop of demons to be reformed into holy vessels, which would be fit for receiving holy baptism, so that they might boast that they had surpassed the Law. For he says: “Offer your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, your rational worship.” And again: “Glorify therefore God in your body.” The fasting women are examples of those who have been inscribed into the evangelical city.
And you shall make the tabernacle, ten curtains of twisted linen, etc. [XXVI, 1.] Ten, he says, are the tapestries connected among themselves. For there are many mansions with the Father, and a fullness of churches, which have one knowledge of God and one proposed goal toward which they strive. For in peace God has called us: and we are joined and connected among ourselves by charity and faith in all the churches diffused throughout the world. “One Lord, one faith, one baptism.” David also foretold this, singing: “Who makes your borders peace.” If you consider the breadth of each curtain, they will be of four cubits: the length will consist of twenty-eight cubits. Under this covering lies hidden the fact that the doctrine of the Law is received into the churches, and that it is narrow and strait because of the obscurity of the literal sense. But when the fullness of time comes, the mystery of Christ will be proven in reality through the resurrection, which the number eight seems to display. For the end of the Law and the prophets is Christ, whose commandment is broad, as the testimony of the royal Psalmist holds. Paul also addresses the Corinthians, who still savored the things of the Law C and who were almost preferring them to Christ, in this way: “Our mouth has been opened to you, O Corinthians: our heart has been dilated. You are not narrowed in us, but you are narrowed in your own bowels. Now I demand the same remuneration as from children. Be you also dilated, and do not bear the yoke with unbelievers.” He orders the curtains to be woven of twisted and doubled linen, etc., through which words he shows the connection of the word with the human body. For linen comes from the earth. And of hyacinth, etc., which indeed demonstrates that the word descended from heaven. For the color of hyacinth reflects the color of the sky. Furthermore, it is added: “Of purple,” etc., because Christ is not of servile condition, as other mortals: rather, He is of free condition, and is King from God, and Lord of this universe. And of twisted scarlet, etc. For Christ, with both natures joined and constructed in one person, poured out His gore and blood for us. These are the trophies by which the Church seriously triumphs. For as David sings: “The Queen stood on your right hand, clothed and adorned in varied garments.” But that adornment with which she was conspicuous was Christ, who indeed, while being one in Himself, yet others see as one thing and others as another, while He is brought forth from various types by the intellectual virtue. “The painting of the Cherubim was on the curtains,” etc. For through Christ the highest things have been joined and glued to the lowest, and the earthly Church is connected to the supreme virtues and powers. Hence Solomon also sculpted Cherubim on the walls of the temple. With this painting he adorned the house of God, which Ezekiel delineates. The curtains woven of hair, and the red and hyacinthine skins, by which the curtains are covered, subject to our eyes Christ, in whom both His divine and human nature are noted. This is the defender and protector of His Church. The sign of the Incarnation is the blood. The blood / D and the hair signify both His painful death and that of His disciples. The skins demonstrate those who have done violence to their own lascivious and petulant flesh, laying hold of continence and temperance; when, however, these, if you consider the color, bloom wonderfully, they sufficiently recall to our minds the participation of the Holy Spirit, which He had promised long ago. Or perhaps they demonstrate to us under that color, modest temperance.
Let columns be made for the curtains, the width of which is one and a half cubits, etc. You shall give no column of the tabernacle which does not represent to us Christ, who is the most firm column of the Church. Christ is perfect with respect to the divine nature, which is signified by the one cubit of the column. But because He was incarnate, He also assumed the half, and is believed as it were diminished because of the flesh. Therefore He, who is with the Father
A is recognized as equal, says: “The Father is greater than I.” But the most absolute perfection of Christ is immediately perceived in the ten cubits of length. For the decas (ten) is always a sign of perfection in Holy Scripture.
“A golden head, and a golden body,” etc. Because Christ, who is considered the temple, born from a Virgin, enriched His dwelling place, namely the blessed Virgin, with a heavenly nature.
“But of silver and of two” shall the base be, etc. [XXVI, 2. 4.] For Christ is splendid and conspicuous even on earth, just as that saying has it: “The Lord God has appeared to us,” having a twofold knowledge.
The statement should be distinguished thus: “The one curtain shall be the measure.” That is to say, you shall make all others according to the pattern A and the size of that one. And for the sake of clarity he adds: “The same measure shall be for the curtains.” He calls the veils A curtains, which in the Roman tongue are called *cortinae*.
He divided and distributed all the curtains into two groups of five, while ordering the five to be fastened together. But he did not explain how they were to be joined, unless perhaps B the matter is understood from the fact that he ordered loops and rings to be made at the extremities of each group of five, by which perhaps they were to be joined together. For I do not think the groups of five curtains were joined together [at the top]. For if the individual groups of five have their own loops and rings, what is the reason for the division into two groups of five, if what happened in the middle happens in each? Unless perhaps the two groups of five curtains are connected to each other at the summit of the breadth B; and at the summit of the length in like manner the two groups of five curtains are coupled. Hence perhaps he says that the groups of five are applied one to another with opposite fronts, which is indeed made manifest by the skins, of which the eleventh is doubled over against the front of the tabernacle, by which he also increased the cubits of length, adding two more, so that they might exceed the curtains by two cubits. But what does that appendix or addition C signify? Namely, that the cubit protruding and hanging down on either side should cover the oblique tabernacle, no otherwise than the doubled eleventh skin veils the front of the tabernacle. What we have said about the curtains is confirmed and more elucidated by the following words: “And you shall make fifty loops or clasps on the lip of the one skin, which is in the middle, as if the group of five and the group of six should meet at the summit of the breadth of the curtains, which are placed in the middle; and not at the summit of the length, where the five are connected to the five curtains.” Since the length of the tabernacle spanned thirty cubits, C it is not without reason that the breadth of the curtains which covered the tabernacle was extended up to forty cubits. The curtains of thirty cubits covered the tabernacle. Then the curtains of nine cubits covered the back part of the tabernacle. The one cubit of curtain hung over the front of the tabernacle. In this manner those forty cubits of curtains were distributed for covering the tabernacle.
15. “And you shall make columns for the tabernacle of incorruptible wood.” By columns he means thick boards joined one to another by certain rings or clasps. They also had certain incisions, by which they were constricted, so that they might not gape open unsightly in the middle. Single boards...
A were supported by an upright base composed of two parts, which received the board in the middle at their mutual junction.
There were twenty columns, each of one and a half cubits. Thus, the length of the tabernacle was thirty cubits. The width had eight columns, that is to say twelve cubits equal to the first, and to one another, at the heads and at the bases; except for the two corner ones, which by the curvature of the angle held together each side, I mean the one in the length and the one in the width. If, therefore, the length of the hangings was twenty-eight cubits, and the width of the tabernacle was twelve, it happened that the other sixteen cubits were cast over the walls of the tabernacle, covering the sides on each hand by eight, being two cubits distant from the earth, so that the holy fabric might not be dragged along the ground and defiled by the rubbing of the earth. For the height of the tabernacle was ten cubits. Some, however, say that the width of the tabernacle was ten cubits together with the depth of the B columns, and they sagged towards the sides, so that they were one cubit distant from the earth.
So that the columns might be fastened to one another, they each had a beam in the middle, passing through the entire width of the column; the ends of which were joined to the ends of the columns on either side, so that the columns might hold themselves together; this piece in the middle was called a bar. The other four bars did not pass through from the center, but were held by rings fixed to the external surface of the tabernacle, and they held the columns or boards tightly together.
He sets four columns before the tabernacle supporting a veil, within which the ark was to be placed at the end of the tabernacle, so that it might be opposite to those who enter the tabernacle from the eastern region. However, he does not mention the bases of these as being doubled.
He calls the texture by which the other veil was contracted and extended an *epispastron*, that is, as it seems, a veil covering the lampstand and the table, C hanging from five columns, as the preceding one hung from four. Wherefore the version of Aquila has: *And you shall make with an epispastron*. But the Septuagint interpreters read it in this manner: *And you shall make with a veil five columns*. Some think these things are to be understood concerning the courtyard, so that those things which are in the tabernacle may not be seen by those who are outside.
*And you shall make the courtyard for the tabernacle*, etc. The tabernacle was situated in the middle of this courtyard. Therefore, lest anyone should think that the columns of the courtyard, which is here commanded to be prepared, were joined together to one another in the way that we have hitherto described concerning the junction of the boards or columns of the tabernacle: the columns of the courtyard were set in such a way that a vacant interval of five cubits was left between each one. For in what other way D could they have surrounded the tabernacle constructed in the middle, since they corresponded to the number of the columns of the tabernacle? These columns supported
A The curtains, moreover, extended to a length of one hundred cubits on each side, and to a width of fifty. The holding pillars were twenty on each side for the length, and ten for the width; the height was fifteen cubits all around. But outside the aforementioned pillars, both along the length and the width, we find three more on each side, and four at the entrance of the courtyard. And might it be that these must be regarded as woven into the curtains with embroidery, as he himself said, needle-worked? Therefore, having spoken of the materials of the others and the adornment surrounding the capitals and the bases, he added nothing of the sort regarding these. On the contrary, after the account of the four, as if differentiating them from those in the circle, he says: “All the pillars of their courtyard in a circle are silver-plated.” B Some say that the four stood before the courtyard, fulfilling the need for a propylon, with a veil placed opposite the tabernacle, so that one might not see back in from the way—as one would inside the tabernacle—and such was that veil. Could it be, then, that those three on each side were for the sake of decoration? It is written down not as “towards the South-West,” but “towards the South”; or not as “towards the North-East,” but “towards the North,” changed for the sake of clarity. For he adds the remaining two distinct directions, both “towards the sea,” which is towards the west, and “towards the rising of the sun.”
Moreover, observe how the Church is demonstrated now as narrower and more compressed under the type of the tabernacle, but now again is amplified and dilated under the type of the courtyard, according to the proclamation of Isaiah: “Enlarge the place of your tabernacle and your curtains; fix your stakes, do not spare. Furthermore, expand to the right and left sides.” For the Church, at its beginning, was huddled into as it were one corner of the world, but in the ensuing time it was diffused into the entire world. Now behold the pillars completely coated in gold, whose bases, upon which they support themselves, shine with silver and gold. As if with a finger, those pillars point out Christ, who flashes with silver rays, pouring forth onto our eyes a clear judgment of light. That the bases of the columns consist of bronze and silver indicates clearly enough that his word flies through the world, luminous and resounding everywhere. Nor would it be absurd for the holy apostles to be understood under the columns, since Paul does not shrink from calling Christ the Church. Hence the apostles also shine with divine radiance, to some extent drawing their splendor from participation in Christ, just as it is read somewhere in Sacred Scripture: “And the splendor of the Lord our God shall be upon us.” Moreover, that splendor is He who calls Himself the Light of the world. Their base and most stable foundation is believed to be their having proclaimed the sacred Gospel to miserable mortals with a loud and eloquent voice. For the Lord, he says, will give a word to those announcing the Gospel in great power and virtue. Furthermore, the feet of those bringing good tidings are beautiful, as is evident from Scripture. And I judge that it is not doubted by anyone that not only the apostles, but also the prophets and ecclesiastical teachers are intended under that covering. For not only are Peter and James and John considered columns of the Church, nor was John the Baptist alone the burning lamp; these names suit everyone who supports the Church through themselves and keeps it intact and sheltered. A clear testimony of this matter is what he says: “You are the light of the world.” And again, when the divine Paul commands some to be pillars, saying: “Be solid and immovable.” He also prepared and instructed Timothy, that he might be a pillar and a bulwark of the Church.
301 And let them take for me oil from the olives, etc. [Exodus XXVII, 20.] The perpetual lamp, which is fed by true and pure oil, is nothing else than the doctrine of the true priests, pouring light into our ears of Christ, and C of error’s dark-
A rejecting artificial and adulterated oil—of which number are those that men press out from certain seeds. For true and legitimate teachers do not teach the truth in the persuasive words of human wisdom; just as heretics devise adulterated oil and scheme to produce light from it. Or if they have olive oil, they do not possess it pure, but turbid and defiled with dregs, as is likely, since the demons themselves defile this oil through impiety. For, "No one," says the Lord God, "can say [that Jesus is Lord except] in the Holy Spirit." Yet it is brought by the children of Israel. For what fruit is offered by us to God, or what spiritual gift is there that is to be compared to the true Word, which does not allow a weak illumination proceeding from Christ to remain in us? The lampstand was placed outside the veil. For since Christ is light in Himself, He has no need of adventitious light; but to us, who were born and dwell outside the habitation of God, He sends down the rays of His own light.
"Bring near to you Aaron your brother and his sons from among the children of Israel, etc." [XXVIII, 1.] Then he introduced their names. For they who were to be assigned to the priesthood are described by name. For no one takes the honor upon himself, B but is called by God. But whoever shall dare with rash audacity to draw the priesthood to himself will pay the penalty, just as we know Dathan and Abiron paid the penalty. For even Christ, as the Apostle teaches, did not glorify Himself to be declared high priest, but He who called Him in this way promoted Him to that dignity: "You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek." God orders Moses to summon and anoint Aaron according to the rite of the law. For Christ also was called by the counsel of the Father to discharge the supreme priesthood. The disciples, too, were called to the same office, who say: "We are God’s fellow-workers." For they traveled through almost all the climates of the world, announcing the most holy Gospel, serving the Evangelical business with great labors. Nor is it absurdly advised that Aaron should be summoned and called. For the law of itself was weak in providing sanctification for its worshippers. Since it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. But Christ, offering one sacrifice for the abolishing of sins, made those who are sanctified perfect forever. Wherefore Paul, considering these things, deems as refuse and dung the things that are handed down in the law, if they are compared with the immense and excellent knowledge of Christ. C Also, in the beginning, had Aaron not been added as a companion to Moses when he excused the weakness of his tongue, Moses could not have entered to Pharaoh to ask for provisions for the people. To Christ were given wonderful disciples, confirmed by Him to take up the apostolic function with a strong spirit, according to the declaration of Paul, saying: "I can do all things in Christ who strengthens me."
"And you shall make a holy robe, etc." [2.] Christ is the garment fitting for the holy race. For Paul commands: "Put on the Lord Jesus Christ." Also Isaiah, separated from the Church by a long interval of time, says: "My soul shall exult in the Lord. For He has clothed me in a garment of salvation, and a tunic of joy." For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
"And they shall take the gold and the hyacinth, etc." [5.] What things were to be said concerning these, we have already narrated above in abundance. Therefore, it would be superfluous.
"And the weaving of the breastplate, which is upon him, according to the workmanship, will be of itself, etc." [XVIII, 8.] Aquila translates: "And the texture of his garment, which is upon him." The breastplate, however, is a short tunic reaching to the breast, resembling a thorax. It derives its name from the shoulders, upon which it rests and which it covers.
"And you shall take two stones, emerald stones, etc." [XVIII, 9.] This gem is pale, and keeps a black color pellucidly infused, and reflects the color of the sky, just as does the sapphire, which is reported to be not unlike an emerald. This gem was attached to the breastplate, containing the Israelite people, described and distributed into their own tribes. For as many as are written in the book of life will rest in heaven in Christ, D who carries them on His shoulders according to the example of lambs. Since, extending His wings, He received them and lifted them onto His back. Hence David testifies, saying: "He will overshadow you on His back." Therefore they will be lifted onto His shoulders, according to the word of the prophet. And they will be assumed into His arm, or forearms, according to the example of ancient Ephraim. To this pertains what Christ says: "Do not rejoice that the demons are subject to you, but that your names are written in heaven." For in Christ we shall be looked upon by the Father, and Christ will cause the Father to remember us.
"And you shall make rings of pure gold, etc." [XVIII, 13.] They are called rings because of their roundness. They are, however, wider than the roundness of coins. He calls "fringe" certain small chains resplendent with various colors like flowers; hence they are named flowers here. He calls "plates" the leaves of extremely thin gold distributed and divided into hairs, which were woven with threads. The breastplate (rationale) was a square and equilateral texture containing the measure of a palm, which hung around the breast, suspended by certain chains from the rings. For the rational part of the soul sits in that place in the heart, trusting in which we rightly judge whatever things may happen. Hence it was called the "rationale of judgment." Moreover, Scripture names judgment "true judgment," according to that oracular utterance of Scripture: "Blessed are they who keep judgment, and do (that is, work) justice."
And again: "The king's honor loveth judgment." For indeed, the love of justice procures the king notable glory.
B Supra ipsum duodecim lapides auro inclusi, quibus inscriptæ sunt tribus in memoriam filiis Israel, etc. [XVIII, 21]. Those stones represent holy men who, on account of their excellence—by which they are conspicuous before the Lord—are set in His mind, as it were in His heart. Hanging also from the breastplate are certain fringes, signifying a fertile examination of good works. Wherefore we read in David that the Church is adorned with golden fringes. From the breastplate, intercepted by golden rings, an elegant chain creeps along, passing through both clasps, and extending even down to the top of the ephod, upon which are the stones of the description. For those who rely upon the knowledge and memory of Christ hasten toward that heavenly description, and they attain the very thing they desire, equipped with the arms of justice on the right hand and on the left. Therefore, Paul exhorts us, saying: "Put on the whole armor of God," whose golden arms are denoted by the clasps or small shields; clothed with these, and walking strenuously, we shall be in the description and memory of God. The breastplate was attached to the ephod, declaring in reality that for Christ, the judge, things above are connected to things below. For He Himself is our peace. That threefold division demonstrates the faith of the saints. It signifies firmness, because those ranks are enclosed in a square and equilateral figure. The breastplate, he says, must have manifestation and truth resting upon it. It is uncertain whether other stones are to be understood here, or if the inscription of two names is to be taken as if upon a certain tablet: which indeed indicated that Christ exists and dwells with the saints. For He Himself says: "Behold, I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world." In Him, indeed, we have known the Father, and His good will, and absolute perfection, and that He is acceptable to the Father, as we are taught by the Holy Scripture. Furthermore He says: "I will not now call you servants. You are my friends. Because all things whatsoever I have heard from my Father, I have made known to you." But the truth is that we know Him alone to be the natural Son of God, and that we have obtained the rights of sons through the intercession of adoption. Christ, existing in the sight of the Father, always pleads our cause and speaks for us. Or there lies hidden here another such meaning. The superior ornament of the heart, which is prepared from various virtues, is designated by those highest fringes, which were added to the work for the sake of ornament. Jacinth is mingled with purple. For the kingdom of heaven is conjoined to purity and sincerity of life. Scarlet is applied to fine linen. For the splendor and purity of life C is wont to be coupled with the blush of modesty. Gold, which glitters on every side in these flowers, indicates the treasure which is reserved for those who pursue innocence of life. By the examples of the patriarchs who went before, the rule of human life is more informed, which it is fitting should be strengthened, as it were, by certain clasps or shields—namely, by the virtue of life and the firmness of faith. Furthermore, such a person is wounded by no injury, existing safe with the arms of justice on the right hand and on the left. From these, the breastplate hangs about the precordia. You might call it the veil of the heart, which carries within itself all the symbols of the patriarchs. He who, instructed by the aforementioned arms, has obtained victory, will illuminate and decorate his soul with all the virtues of the patriarchs, with one virtue conspicuous in one way and another in another. The shoulder-pieces, which apply that external ornament to the arms, teach that the contemplative life depends upon the practical.
"And thou shalt make the robe of the ephod all of hyacinth, etc."
He calls it "inner," because it is closer to the aforementioned body. It is called "talaris" (stole-like) because of its length, by which it was promised down to the feet. It is ordered to be made of hyacinth because of Christ’s immortality, which He always held. Therefore David sings: "I will clothe her priests (the Church) with salvation." Most wise Paul confirms this: "Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ." Assuredly, this is considered that heavenly dwelling with which we desire to be clothed, namely, the robe of gladness, the garment of salvation, according to the words of the prophet. If Christ is considered to be Aaron insofar as He wears the talaris robe, He had a reason that resounded everywhere and in every way. For when He was God and the only-begotten of the Father, He made His body incorruptible: and clothing or vesting this with heavenly life, He declared it more powerful and superior to death. For to teach that He is truly life, He says: "I am the resurrection and the life." To demonstrate that He bestows life, He says: "For as the Father hath life in himself, so he hath given to the Son also to have life in himself." On the fringe of the robe, pomegranates and bells were observed placed alternately, which indeed made Aaron’s entrance into the Holy of Holies more illustrious. The bells show forth, under a certain type, the Evangelical and divine preaching which resounds through the entire city, because the great priest, who is the irreprehensible sacrifice, has entered into the Holy of Holies having found eternal redemption. For by one oblation He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. But the pomegranates exhibit a certain appearance of cities. For they are covered by a rind or crust, just as towns are surrounded by walls. Inside, the seeds are separated by thin membranes, just as cities contain within themselves infinite buildings. A bell is placed at every pomegranate. For the doctor resounds in individual cities by announcing the entrance of our Savior into the Holy of Holies. A capital punishment is inflicted D if the bells do not sound. For silence is indeed dangerous for evangelical doctors. Hence Paul exclaims: "Woe unto me if I do not evangelize." Or this passage could be explained otherwise. Hyacinth is the color with which the talaris robe is dyed, and it indicates the air. For it behooves one administering the apostolic function to macerate the body, and to be delivered from a dense and thick garment, and to render the body in some way light and aerial, that...we may once at the blast of the last trumpet ascend on high to meet the Savior. Such is he whom David speaks of: “Thou hast made his body to wither (or drained it) like a spider,”—he who does not mutilate virtue, but is adorned on all sides with virtues as if clothed in a robe reaching to the heels. But in order that it may shine with the splendor of good works, he summons bells, to which pomegranates have been added. Primarily, however, the resounding bells proclaim the purity of faith, but the pomegranates announce works. For it behooves us to pursue a life that is in some way miserable and tasteless at first glance, like the pomegranate, whose rind is not eaten because of its insipid bitterness. Yet by similar reasoning, that same life keeps a sweet and delightful fruit in reserve, like the pomegranate. This philosophical life is removed from the sense of the vulgar, and is thought to have little pleasure. But since it is like a sea of good things, its fruit is, in its own time, as it were thoroughly cooked and ripens most beautifully. Those fruits shall be seen when our true husbandman reveals our life and uncovers the beauty of the hidden things. Then at last shall a wonderful sweetness reach those who enjoy these hidden fruits. For according to the Apostle: “All discipline for the present indeed seemeth not to bring joy, but sorrow.”
But let the tunic be fringed, etc. The fringes, which he himself calls *korymbous*, are certain circular appendages which are added to the works for the sake of ornament. For it is not only required of us to perform what is commanded, but it is necessary that something should come from our own side to adorn and improve the soul. Of the number of these was Paul, who preached the Gospel gratuitously, refusing to accept even those things which the law and custom permitted those performing sacred ministries to accept. Moreover, now hungering, now thirsting, sometimes existing in nakedness, he was excellently preparing for himself those adventitious ornaments.
B “Thou shalt make a pure golden plate, wherein thou shalt grave by the work of the engraver, Holy to the Lord, etc.” [XVIII, 36]. This was truly the mystery of Christ, and the prelude to his descent into this world or his mission. For Emmanuel makes it sufficiently evident that he was sanctified by God the Father, in that he was delivered up and sent, truly to glory and the kingdom. Therefore he crowns him. For what Christ possessed of himself, that Aaron attains by participation, as is indicated by the plate. The hyacinth is the emblem of heaven, just as Christ himself speaks: “My kingdom is not of this world.” What is said, “And Aaron shall cleanse the sins of the holy things,” etc., refers to this, that the abolition of former transgressions signifies that every cleansing and perfection is consummated in Christ. For He takes away our sins. But in order to set before us the eternity of His kingdom, he says: “And it shall be always upon the forehead of Aaron.” The heretics therefore teach impiously that Christ is at some time to return the kingdom to the Father, and that He Himself is to cease to reign.
That He might equip His own ornaments for Him, as a soldier with a belt and helmet, He draws for Him the miter and the tiara. For Christ fought a hard battle for our sake, as it is written: “And He bent his bow, and made it ready, He made His arrows,” etc. And again: “Having disarmed and defeated the principalities, He triumphed over the powers, He shook the dominions, and redeemed the captives that were upon the earth.” And from fine linen a miter and a tiara, etc. For the spiritual war is not dense or visible. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood. These head ornaments, if one should seek another meaning, show that there is reserved for those who have lived piously a crown polished and adorned with ineffable carvings. He does not add shoes adorned with such-like ornaments, lest he be weighed down by the heaviness of the shoes, and in some way become immobile by the addition of the skins stripped from dead beasts. Furthermore, God ordered shoes to be put off when He first appeared in the burning bush.
“And for the sons of Aaron thou shalt make tunics, and girdles, and tiaras, etc.” [XVIII, 40]. For the whole order of priests is militant, and most fiercely attacks vices, and never ceases with all its strength to defend the dogmas of the sacred truth, taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. Nor does the use of linen breeches bring any defilement. For the linen breeches are applied for this reason, that they may cool and extinguish the flames of lust. The dead have nothing from sin. For they are not made of wool. Those who satisfy the flames in this manner will not feel eternal death.
“Thou shalt wash them with water, and taking the garments thou shalt clothe them, etc.” [XVIII, 42]. Thus we also, having been washed and purged by holy baptism, receive the heavenly grace, clothed in the tunic of joy, as it is written: “Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ.” He anoints the heads with oil, just as that utterance of Scripture has it: “Thou hast anointed my head with oil.” That anointing signifies the lively cheerfulness of hope which is present to the life of the saints, or it signifies the heavenly visitation wherewith Christ has visited us, and brought us into the greatest joy. For we have obtained mercy, whoever we are that have believed, and we are blessed by the Lord, macerating the soul or the mind with the abundance of the Holy Spirit. For the head, which was receiving the anointing, is a type of the mind. These things having been performed, the hands of the priests were consecrated so that they might be fit to offer sacrifices irreprehensibly. And we also then offer spiritual gifts to God. “For who shall ascend into the mountain of the Lord?” According to the testimony of David: “He who shall be innocent of hands, and clean of heart.”
“And thou shalt bring the calf to the doors of the tabernacle of the testimony, etc.” up to this place: “Thou shalt burn the remainder with fire. They shall not be eaten, because they are holy, etc.” [10-34]. In a thousand ways our Lord Jesus Christ makes us holy, inasmuch as He is received in various ways within the legal shadows. For the calf is understood as Christ.
C But he is also immune to the yoke, inasmuch as He is God. He is subjected to the yoke because He is also man. He is sacrificed at the doors of the tabernacle, as one undergoing death for the Church. His blood is poured out upon the holy altar. For the death of the Only-Begotten was most holy and acceptable to the Father. The entrails are consumed in an odor of sweet fragrance. By this type they also refer to the inner man, that is, the mind, wherein is the seat of the virtues, to which the spiritual fragrance clings. Nor, however, do the entrails signify those things which we have mentioned in one way only, but in many ways, because there are very many things which are numbered among the entrails, such as the fat, the kidneys, and the top of the liver. The remaining parts of the body are burned outside the camp, just as Christ bore a cruel punishment outside the gate (as Paul is witness). The signal and splendid glory of that death is delineated by the nature of the fire, which consumes the sacrifices. This same nature of fire adumbrates the divinity of Christ, just as we know to have happened also in the Burning Bush and on Mount Sinai. But Christ is exalted with immense glory, because He took away death. For the glory of the resurrection overcame the ignominy of the punishment. The proof of this matter is the carcass of the calf, which is consumed by fire. But as for what he adds: “For it is for sin,” etc., it indicates quite clearly that the death of Christ is the true expiation for sins.
Then the ram, which is known to be a perfect animal, also represents that Christ was perfect. The blood sprinkled on the altar declares that the life of Christ was holy. For the seat of life is in the blood. Moreover, Christ was offered for us all to God and the Father in an odor of sweet fragrance. For every ram was offered having been dissected and cut into limbs. For we are the members of Christ, and all Christians are considered one body. That the entrails are washed teaches us sufficiently that the purity of the Word is insinuated thereby. The life of Christ from head to foot pours forth an odor of sweet fragrance. Wherefore the feet are offered along with the head, that is, the beginning and the end. Nor let it be an obstacle if you understand the mind by the head, and the practical life by the feet. For in Christ not only works, but also thoughts are considered pure. As victims and sacrifices are offered in vain for Him who does not sin, namely Christ; so we, when we sin greatly according to the testimonies of Scripture, experience Christ as our Savior. For as death oppressed the whole human race because of the sin of Adam, so the life of Christ gives life to all. Inasmuch as He became obedient even unto death, that He might remove the crime of disobedience which Adam had committed. Thus Paul also teaches, saying: “By one there was condemnation, and by one justification spread to all.” Therefore we have been saved through the death of Christ, which the calf adumbrated. D But while we follow a holy life, it happens that we are pleasing and acceptable to the Father, transmitting to Him the fragrance of good works, which the blood of the ram poured upon the altar prefigured. Another ram again brings forth the mystery of Christ, when it is said to be the victim of perfection. For Christ established all to be perfect in the virtues, that is, He who has sanctified our ears, so that we may obey God and receive the truth of His doctrine, stopping the ears and mouths of heretics. Hence John says: “Brothers, test the spirits whether they are from God. Every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not of God.” All sanctification has come to us through the blood of Christ, in which also the hand, which has the significance of the practical life, has been consecrated. The foot signifies the rectitude of the steps, just as the Psalm has it: “I turned my feet to your testimonies.” And again in the Proverbs: “Make straight paths for your feet, and make your ways direct.” But the right sides and the highest parts seem to be anointed with holy oil. For the works of virtue are considered to be on the right, and they possess nothing that one might interpret as being on the left as far as the end, which is depicted by the tops or extremities. For the Apostle says: “He who began good works in us, let Him perfect them (or bring them to the end).”
Moses, however, receives the victims from the priests, in which he represents God. For he teaches that in this way God is as if by hands about to accept the sacrifices of the sanctified concerning Christ. For they contain the good odor of Christ. This same thing is declared by the offering of the entrails, which are commanded to be burned in an odor of sweet fragrance. The breast and the shoulder are handed over to the priest from the ram of perfection. For Christ was given to the sacred race as power and wisdom from God and the Father. The breast shows wisdom, the type of the arm or shoulder leads us to the knowledge of power. Moreover, it belongs by a certain right to the souls of the holy that they should enter into the fellowship of the body of Christ. Aliens cannot approach this, nor those who, because of unbelief, are not counted in the number of the baptized, and the children of heretics. Nothing of the flesh is left over until the morrow. For the sanctification which we will possess in the future age will not be bodily. Inasmuch as our corruptibility will be abolished at the time of the resurrection: nor will there be any further need to command those things by which we might be able to escape it, as in this age God does not cease to urge, warn, and exhort us. There will be another mode of sanctification in the future age, which will befit that time, and will be known from the manner of life by which Christ will always converse with us.
"You shall perfect their hands for seven days," etc. [XXIX, 35]. The number seven signifies that we ought always to be devoted to divine worship: "If you take the collection of the children of Israel," etc. They pay the didrachm by the law of the king, neither the woman nor the underage child. For whatever is soft and enervated and less than perfect in understanding is rejected. Only those are fit to offer gifts to the Lord who reach the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; who indeed are worthy to appear in the sight of God. For this is called the divine visitation, with David speaking: "For the eyes of the Lord are upon the just." All those things which the people...
had contributed were expended on the work of the tabernacle. In this way the works of the saints provide the greatest ornament for the Church. The princes of the tribes, besides what was previously mentioned, offered emeralds and pearls, which were set upon the ephod and the rational. To these they added the compositions, and the oil of anointing, and the composition of incense. For they offer themselves, that they may be an ornament for Christ, just as the governors of the peoples are certain most precious gems. Hence the prophet, to demonstrate the apostles, says: "Holy stones are rolled over the earth." To these one may compare Paul, who, having made Jerusalem the starting point, traveled through all Illyricum preaching. You may also call the apostles the oil of anointing and the composition of incense, spreading the best odor from themselves, and as if with the oil of doctrine rendering the souls of those who have received the word of the kingdom anointed. Moreover, the incense is composite. Thus too the knowledge of Christ is fashioned from two [natures]. For it is engaged in the cognition of the divine and human nature. "There will not be a fall in them when I shall visit them," etc., that is, when I look upon their sins, or when they visit my sanctuary.
The didrachm is the fourth part of an ounce. Thus a drachma would be the eighth part of an ounce. An obol was also minted, which was itself the eighth part of an ounce, not indeed of silver, but of iron: and it corresponded in value, though not in material, to a silver obol. There was also another silver obol, which was very small, worth the eightieth part of an ounce. B And you, take spices, the flower of myrrh, etc. This is commanded because of the death which the high priest suffered for the people and the bridegroom for the Church. But not simply myrrh is taken for this ointment, but the flower of myrrh, and of the most select myrrh. For the words are select and precious, which deaden the members that are upon the earth, and render us ready and prepared to be buried with Christ through baptism; so that there may be born from the death of the Savior the flower and the choice of the rational nature of those who have died to the world and migrated from sensible things to celestial ones. That they might be cleansed and become blameless, fragrant cinnamon is taken in half the number related to the senses; perhaps taking in sight and hearing, and the, if I may so call it, half of the sense of touch; but the others, as more servile senses, and the touch within them, being left behind. Perhaps also for the sake of the Holy Scriptures the one having a tongue as the pen of a quick-writing scribe, who is beautiful in beauty above the sons of men, is ordered to take fragrant reed; so that the mysteries might be written not with ink, but by the spirit of the living God, and boldly engraved upon the memory of those listening. And the cause is the same for the number as it is in the case of the fragrant cinnamon. After these, five hundred shekels of cassia are taken, perhaps on account of the divine and spiritual senses which are found in those fervent in spirit. For naturalists say that the nature of cassia, or iris, is hot.
All those species are mixed and joined with good and unadulterated oil. But oil is the food of light. The measure of the oil is pronounced only by the divine word. And from these species the sacred oil of anointing is fashioned. Moreover, I would never call this external oil the oil of exultation. This name is imposed only upon the spiritual oil, with which no one, except God alone, anoints him who loves justice and pursues injustice with hatred. For therefore it says: "God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of exultation above your fellows." Without doubt the fragrance of those ointments far surpasses other aromatics: Shekels, etc. The fourth part of an ounce is a drachma. By the weight of shekels they weighed the hair of Absalom, when he was shorn. These hairs contained the weight of shekels, that is, [two] ounces and one with one shekel.
According to that which is said in the Song of Songs, "The cheeks A of the bridegroom put forth perfumed ointments," both of the perfumed ointments are brought forth, both the oil of anointing and the incense: so that with the one they may anoint the tabernacle of God, that is, the Church; and if anything in this can be an ark, it is capable of receiving and keeping the mysteries of God; and thirdly the lampstand, the soul that serves the light of knowledge; and the altar of incense, those who are intent upon prayers, and who sense, breathe, and utter a sweet odor; and the altar of burnt offerings, those who make expiation for sins; and the laver, which can be a vessel for sprinkling, and which cleanses those who enter into the tabernacle; and the base of the laver, upon which such a one has stepped and finds rest.
The composition is from stacte: because the mouth of a righteous man distills wisdom; and from sweet-smelling onyx: when one says, "I said, I will confess my transgression to the Lord"; for sin is the furthest of all things, as the nail (onyx) is to the body; but the galbanum of sweetness may be the petition for great and heavenly things; and the transparent frankincense is the praise of God by one who prays from the light of knowledge. But these four shall breathe of justice, which is manifested by the phrase, "It shall be equal to equal." He makes the whole mixture pure who, through confession, has cleansed himself of past sins.
The incense is ground up by one who does not introduce any of the crasser things into prayer. For one must make fine—that is, "I have sinned"—by narrating the transgressions in their specific kinds through confession. This is indicated by the onyx. And he makes fine the frankincense who praises God for each of His wonders. And someone who makes wisdom clear makes fine the stacte.
Let us repeat these same things again and more deeply. Oil added to ointments designates the holiness which, in Christ, has been bestowed through the spirit of sanctification upon those who have obtained mercy, according to this utterance of Scripture: "You have anointed my head with oil." The tabernacle and all the vessels of the tabernacle are anointed with that oil. For a place is sanctified because of the Holy One who dwells in it, just as each of the vessels of the tabernacle is sanctified in its place. When therefore you see all these things anointed with oil, do you understand David saying, "Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your companions"? And again, do you grasp the words of Paul, which are as follows: "For He that sanctifies and they who are sanctified are all of one"? For while He introduces sanctification, insofar as He is God, He obtains sanctification together with us, insofar as He is man. This is that which is commemorated in the Scripture, the emptying. To these, Peter brings his consent, saying: "How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit." He is anointed with the rest.
A The Scripture designates elsewhere the activity of God as the "finger of God," as Pharaoh says: "It is the finger of God." And the Lord: "But if I by the finger of God cast out demons,"—in Luke. Which Matthew says as: "By the Spirit of God." The Scripture says this so as to be distinguished from the tablets that were to come. For those, Moses himself both hews and writes at the command of God.
By this name, he signifies His wondrous power, by which He accomplishes all things, just as above: "This is the finger of God." Similarly, Christ also says in the Gospel of Luke: "If, however, I by the finger of God cast out demons." The same person explains this evidently in Matthew, writing: "If I by the Spirit of God cast out demons." But those tablets are said to be written by the finger of God, so that they might be distinguished and separated from those tablets which Moses was about to prepare, and upon which he was to carve the Decalogue according to the prescription of God.
"And the people seeing that Moses delayed, etc." [XXXII, 1] What is this to God, who always, even if He is not seen by human eyes, is present to the inhabitants of the earth, even if Moses is absent? Let David now exclaim: "A crooked and provoking generation." Let Moses also sound forth: "You did forget the God who feeds you." But why did they long for strange gods, when by such great power and so many miracles they had been asserted into true liberty by the one and true God? Such was the obstinacy of the blind mind, that having contemned the supreme Divinity, they relapsed into Egyptian superstition, as is evident from the idol which they had prepared. For the Egyptians offer divine honors to a calf. 309 The event, therefore, was worse in its omen for the Jews, or, to use the words of Christ, the last things became worse for them than the first. Aaron, that he might break their senseless onslaught, asks for ornaments and women’s finery. For such madness had invaded their spirits that Aaron feared to rebuke their purpose, perceiving from that matter a great evil prepared for him by the undisciplined multitude. Yet the taken-away ear ornaments sufficiently indicated to them that they were stripped of their own beauty, they who had before heard God declaring: "You shall have no other gods before me." Aaron yields to their fury, and while he chides them as if with insults: "These are your gods, which brought you out of Egypt," etc., he tacitly recalls to their memory the true God, by whom with a strong hand and an outstretched arm they had been snatched from Egyptian servitude. For because he feared to go against their onslaught, he struck their spirits with these words. That, however, the people were most violent at that time, and would have done violence to Aaron if he had resisted their wishes, the man himself sufficiently teaches while he purges himself to his brother as he returns, saying: "Lay aside your anger, Lord; for the rash impulses of this people do not escape you." If any man falls away from God, him immediately there follow the vices of the flesh, which Paul recounts, with which he also enumerates idolatry. The words of Paul are these: "For the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these: adul-
tery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry." But true uncleanness is considered to be luxury, which is seen in the celebrations of idolaters. Some say that the victim A was not offered in honor of the calf, but so that it might be an expiation of an impious transgression. Therefore, that sacrifice is called a sacrifice of salvation.
"For thy people, which thou hast brought out, etc." [XXXII, 7.] God rejects the Jews, and delivers them to Moses, although He Himself had given the laws. He imitates therefore the saying: "Depart from me, ye that work iniquity; I know you not." He detained Moses with Him on the mount for forty days, so that he might learn how easily that people would return to detestable idolatry. Therefore, festival days and sacrifices and splendid and solemn feasts were to be introduced, lest they should return to the forbidden worship of idols. And in this way, and by exercises and games of that kind, their childish minds were to be led on toward spiritual goods. Moreover, necessity demanded that Moses, who had been chosen as arbiter, should imitate Christ, who powerfully dissipated the wrath hanging over sinners from heaven. Wherefore, he most promptly offers himself as a suppliant for the fault committed by the Jews; raised up somewhat in the hope of obtaining forgiveness by the most benign words of God, which were as follows: "Let me alone." For what could have stood in the way of God, if He had willed to remove that people from the midst? Therefore, by that friendly allocution, He encourages Moses, that he might not be slow B to supplicate the Lord for the sin of the people. For it did not escape Him that Moses, weighing the enormity of the sin, would not dare to intercede for the people, especially since now, encouraged by the kind address, he brings forth with fearful heart: "Do not turn away from me, who am supplicating for the people." Moses, having heard the cry of the tumultuous people in the descent from the mountain, crushed the tables of the law, refusing to be the schoolmaster of an disobedient people. He scattered the calf, reduced to dust, into the waters, with which he caused the Israelites to drink, so that he might demonstrate that this nefarious crime was internal, and reached their very liver and all their vitals: or, that he might teach that their minds were utterly infected with idolatry, and brought forth nothing but the worship of idols; or, that by this example he might declare, in a prophetic manner, that it would one day happen (as has occurred in our own age) that all idols would be cut down, and every occasion that might impel one to fabricate these things would be amputated: as it were, those occasions being drunk up by the mouths of pious men, which happens by a true confession. By this confession, which takes place with the mouth, firm and fixed, the mysteries of idolatry pass away like water and dissolve; although that water was previously corrupted and muddied by the blood of insane idolaters. For those who previously, with great veneration, falling on their knees, worshipped idols, now do not cease to destroy the dogmas of idolatry. Moses, when the punishment had been taken from the guilty, turns to prayers for the remaining ones, for whose sake he departs from the camp. The Jews C dared to commit things not unlike this against Christ, who was calling them into the kingdom of heaven, just as Moses was calling them into the land of promise, and who was promising that He would liberate the faithful, just as Moses took the yoke of servitude from the Jews. Furthermore, the paschal lamb clearly taught that the blood of Christ would bestow salvation upon the faithful. But the perfidious Jews, having spurned and held in contempt so many and such great types, snatched away doctrines which were the commandments of men, and chose, for those things they believed, the frauds and deceits of the age, by which they were so affected and subverted that they spurned Christ, and, diligently invited to the nuptials, they refused to come. Therefore, when the time arrived in which those wicked men would perish utterly, the prayers of the saints preserved the remnants: while the Roman arms were consuming the rest. Just as they were stripped of their robes in ancient times, the garment of glory, which was Christ, was torn away from them. He departed from them, just as He had retreated from their tabernacles. For when their camps were deserted, He went as far as possible to the Gentiles, and there fixed His tabernacle, that is to say, He constructed the Church, whom, making subject to His own law, He says: "Here will I dwell, for I have chosen her." With the garments of which He despoiled the lost Jews, He clothed and adorned her. Therefore He says: "My soul shall exult in the Lord. For He has clothed me with the garment of salvation, and with the tunic of gladness; he has placed a mitre on me, and adorned me as a bride with many ornaments." Some report that not only the guilty were consumed by that plague, but everyone, just as each one happened to meet the slaughter. For since all sinned, they are punished without discrimination, just as if someone is beaten with rods for his own merit, whatever member or whatever part of the body is chastised, it is believed to be justly struck. In that way, the whole people were paying the penalty for the committed crime, when the punishment extended through the heads of the few. It is observed that the same happens now also, when God brings about His public judgments, by which He punishes the incredulous and impious human race. The Law cries out through Moses: "If anyone wishes to be a friend of God, let him be a friend to me." For he who is a friend to the law, is also considered a friend to God. Therefore, everyone who diligently observes both God and the law, strives diligently to kill his kinsmen and neighbors who are evilly joined to him. For the names themselves do not signify kinship and proximity in Holy Scripture. There are also friends, there are neighbors to us, whom we account as enemies. There are reasons and affections which are born in us and are counted among the number of kinsfolk, for whom, unless they are slain and killed, no hope of life remains; who, if they live, we die: if they are killed, then at last we enjoy life. The true brother was the one whom Aaron represented. He is the one who was running to bring aid to Moses. He is called senior, because the creation of the angels preceded the creation of men. That Aaron is also called one who devoted his effort to the people when they were declining into idolatry. But the same name is added on both sides, yet in a different respect. This brother is killed, while we extirpate the inspiration and the instinct.
A Some say that along with the making of the calf, other idols were also fashioned by each person. Moreover, they did not refrain from the worship of the stars and the firmament. Wherefore Moses said to God, "This people has sinned a great sin, they have made for themselves gods of gold." And the protomartyr Stephen, speaking about the making of the calf, says, "God turned and gave them up to worship the host of heaven." Wherefore he also says it was written in the prophets: "And you took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan, the figures which you made to worship them." The bearer of the Spirit therefore signified that they also worshipped the host of heaven. From which it is possible to understand that they also took up the tabernacle of Moloch. For having constructed a tabernacle, they set up an idol which they called Moloch. Now Moloch is an idol which the Moabites worship. 311 "It is not a voice of those who lead in virtue, nor a sound of those who flee from those who flee," that is, it is not the voice of those who are winning or of those who are fleeing.
"And he broke them under the hill," etc. [Exodus 32:19]. As if under a veil, through the corruption of the tablets, he signifies the abrogation of the Law. Otherwise it would not have been right for the tablets, which were the image of God, to be destroyed.
B But you, carefully consider with yourself what is meant by that appendix: "Under the hill."
"He scattered it in the water, and gave it to the sons of Israel to drink," etc. [20]. This passage foretells the dispersion of the Jews into the whole world, according to that oracle: "I said, I will scatter them." To this pertains that verse of the Psalm: "He clothed himself with cursing as with a garment, and it entered like water into his inward parts."
God did not deign to punish Aaron, either when he was sinning then, or when he later spoke shamefully against Moses, partly for other reasons, but especially because he was the first High Priest, and on account of the saints who were to descend from his loins.
"But if not, blot me out of the book which you have written," etc. Lo, it was fully explored and known to Moses that he himself was also contained in the book of life; those, therefore, are written at this time of whom he says: "To the church of the firstborn who are written in heaven," according to that: "Israel is my firstborn son."
A On the day that I visit, I will bring upon them their sin. In the canticle he says: "In the day of vengeance I will repay, in the time when their foot shall slip."
The pillar of the cloud descended, and stood at the doors of the tabernacle, and spoke to Moses. God himself declares above the reason for Moses's intimacy with Him: "That the people may hear me speaking to you, and may believe you forever." For it would not have been possible for us to learn the truth otherwise, had it not been written in a human manner and according to our weakness. Since it is manifest that the incorporeal God does not speak through phonetic organs. For the very act of willing is itself a word.
B And the Lord spoke to Moses. God is said to "speak" to those to whom He reveals His will. For Paul also did not hear by sense-perception from Christ who was speaking within him; and David, saying: "I will hear what the Lord God will speak in me." For the preposition "in" indicates the hearing within the mind. Habacuc also says: "I will look to see what the Lord will speak in me." This is also signified by the phrase, "face to face." For God was present to him who was present, not having a perceptible face, but the hearing and the word were an act of divine vision. So they ask in vain which dialect God used when speaking to the saints. How then does he add, "As if one speaks to his friend"? Either because an angel, being kind and benevolent, and a creature at that, speaks in this way, how much more does God speak in such a manner? Or at least it must be understood analogously. Of the same mind is that of Elias: "The Lord of hosts lives, before whom I stand." And the other saints also say: "As the eyes of servants are to the hands of their masters, so our eyes are toward the Lord our God." To this conversation, as far as Moses was able C to attain, having been granted to him, he returned to the camp.
For as long as one hears God speaking with him, so long is he separated from the contact and company of men. Then he is ordered to communicate to the other mortals the divine oracles he has received, so that they may bring much profit to them. That this is to be done, he admonishes clearly enough, where it is said: "And he was sent away into the camp." From this does not differ that oracle: "These things you shall say to the house of Jacob, and you shall announce to the sons of Israel: You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and I took you up on eagles' wings, and brought you to me," etc. Necessity required that the benefits which that people had received should be commemorated. They were exalted by divine power, so that they might not be injured by earthly and low-creeping things. He, therefore, who is admitted to divine conversation, is deeply separated from the world, and dwells in heaven, enjoying eternal goods, although he may live on earth in the body. Furthermore, Joshua, because of his still youthful years, could not speak with the Lord outside the tabernacle as Moses did. But he was made a participant in the divine conversation while standing on the high mountain. For he was still feeling the increments of religion, and was still perfecting himself in that business. Indeed, the tabernacle was constructed for that use, so that it might defend those traveling from injuries, whether by heat or cold, so that it might be a shelter to which they could withdraw. But a house embraces a certain appearance of perfection and a fixed seat. Wherefore David sings: "I will pass into the place of the wonderful tabernacle, even to..."
house of God. For when one has reached that point, the tabernacle is removed, as it has no further use. Elsewhere, the same David also exclaims: "How beloved are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts! My soul longeth and fainteth for the courts of the Lord." Shortly after, the same Prophet says: "Blessed are all they that dwell in thy house: they shall praise thee for ever and ever." For a firm dwelling-place, which is subject to no migration, is recognized in the house of God. Wherefore, they who have attained unto it shall praise and celebrate him for ever and ever. Those tabernacles are pleasant and acceptable to those who tend toward the courts of the Lord, and from there they desire to hasten their journey into his house. Joshua, therefore, while he was still little by little receiving the increments of religion, keeps himself within the camp. For he who is still progressing in virtues, if he places himself outside the fellowship of the virtues, is greatly harmed in his begun course. It is for the perfect man alone to go out of the camp and to return into the camp, so that he may also teach others and entice them toward virtue. Joshua is called a minister, as one who is already deputed A and destined for divine worship.
"For there is harm," he says, "to one who is progressing to go outside the progress." And he is called a minister [therapon], because he has already been led to the service of God. "Behold, you say to me, 'Lead up this people,' but you have not shown me with whom you will send me." And who, he says, will travel with me along with the people? For human nature is not sufficient. Nor is it easy even to lead a people simply; how much more so for one who is being moved to places that have warlike inhabitants? For since God had already said, "I will send my angel before you," and he had replied, "If you yourself do not go with me, do not lead us up from this place," nothing was said to Moses, as to whether God consented or not. Therefore he says: "But you have not shown me who it is that goes with me." Wishing for God to lead him, he says, "You said, 'I know you.'" To which God says: "I myself will go before you," that is to say, "I and my Son are one. For he is the Angel of the great counsel, of whom I have already spoken to you, through whom I will go before you, and you will be able to see me."
You have found favor with me, etc. [XXXIII, 17.] He who pursues an irreproachable manner of life, he is pleasing and acceptable to God. Wherefore God addresses Abraham: "Take care to please me, and be blameless." In this manner Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. The Angel also speaks to the holy Virgin thus: "You have found favor with God." If there be any grace in us which is pleasing to the Lord, the Lord compensates it with his own grace, which he bestows upon those who perform works of virtue. Wherefore John says: "And grace for grace."
Elsewhere it is said: "For the Lord will give grace and glory," concerning which Paul discoursing, says: "I have labored more abundantly, yet not I, but the grace which was with me." And again: "But by the grace of God I am what I am." Concerning the same grace it is read in the Gospel: "Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ." For being the Only-Begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth, he distributes the same to his companions. Hence it happens that Paul, always desiring this, says: "Grace to you and peace from God the Father and Jesus Christ."
Moses, therefore, attained the divine grace, C since he previously possessed that which follows an honest purpose of soul, concerning which it is written: "Grace and friendship are considered qualities of a free condition. Keep these for yourself, lest your reputation be stained by any disgrace."
A And I know you above all, etc. God is said to know something in two ways: either by that knowledge whereby He knows all existing things. And this knowledge is indeed substantial, and admits of neither greater nor lesser degree. For since that knowledge is akin to substance, it follows that by it He knows all things with equal knowledge. Thus Job says: "You who know the mind of men, why have you set me as your intercessor?" (Job 11:11). In the election of Matthias, the apostles pray: "O Lord, who knowest the hearts of all" (Acts 1:24). Christ addresses the Jews in this manner: "You are they who justify yourselves before men; but God knows your hearts" (Luke 16:15).
B The other knowledge, with which God is endowed, is that by which what knowledge perceives and what is perceived by knowledge are joined together. Let that testimony of Scripture be applied here, so that the matter may be clearer: "The Lord knows who are His" (2 Tim. 2:19). Those, therefore, who have known Him are in that way known by Him. For it says: "But now having known God, or rather being known by God" (Gal. 4:9). A similar reason applies to the contrary, if you wish to argue from the opposite. For it is written: "If anyone is ignorant, he will be ignored" (1 Cor. 14:38). Since God knows His own in various ways, according to the disposition and habit of those by whom He Himself is known, it happens that He also joins Himself to them in a various way, according to the proportion of the knowledge by which they are joined to God. For just as other gifts of the Holy Spirit are given according to the analogy of faith, so too is that divine knowledge. Therefore, since He has known God more abundantly than other mortals, it follows that he is also known by God more abundantly than others. There exist others also to whom Sacred Scripture assigns perfection. But if you look at perfection, no difference is seen. Those who make progress in religion little by little differ among themselves.
Perhaps he means that Moses was known by God more than any mortal who lived in that age? Certainly, as I think, it would be better if that passage were interpreted universally of everyone who possesses the same holiness as Moses, so that he too is a servant of God. Why then did God, through Ezekiel, threaten His horrendous judgments—the sword, evil beasts, pestilence, and famine—saying they would come upon all of Israel, when they did not reach Noah, Job, and Daniel, nor their sons and daughters? For by what reason would those evil judgments have redounded upon them, when Job and Noah had been removed from the number of the living a long time before those judgments arrived? If that account holds to the truth, was it not possible that these men would be found at the time of those judgments restored in their bodies? God forbid! The passage is to be understood thus: whoever is pious and has been received into intimate familiarity with God—not insofar as he is merely a man, but insofar as he emulates their piety and virtue—is to be believed to bear the name of Daniel or of Noah or of Job. For example: If anyone is perfect among the men of his own age before God, he is reckoned to be Noah. Whoever bears adverse circumstances patiently in this life, on account of his fortitude, is esteemed as Job. Whoever has progressed so much in divine wisdom that he can refute and confound vain superstitions, and ascend to higher things, you shall judge him to be Daniel. If anyone has shone with the virtues with which Moses was endowed—who, I say, Moses "chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God" (Heb. 11:25), etc.—let him be Moses to you, and to him will belong that divine oracle: "I know you above all." This, says Moses, will be the most certain and infallible sign to me that you will be the leader of our journey, if I see your face, that is, if I behold you not by the aid of the senses, but by the intellect. For just as the eye, unless illuminated by that external light, does not perceive objects placed before our eyes: so the mind, if it has been illuminated by divine knowledge, is able to grasp God and other things which the intellect pursues. For that reason it is said: "The pure in heart shall see God" (Matt. 5:8). Just as external light is not shown by another, but represents itself and natural objects. Thus it is said: "God was seen by the Patriarchs," and it is not written: "The Patriarchs saw God." In the Gospel, He says of the one who keeps the commandments and loves Christ: "And I will love him, and I will manifest myself to him" (John 14:21). In the proverbs of Solomon it is held: "God is manifest to those who believe in Him."
"I will go before you, and lead you into rest," etc. [14.] These words are to be referred to what Moses had spoken above: "You have not signified to me whether you will be present." But He renders us tranquil and gladdens us with rest by putting an end to the journey. This happens when He instructs our souls with perfect virtue and certain knowledge. Moreover, virtue and that true knowledge of the Divinity are called places, to which he strives in pie-
-Aty. This mountain peak must be believed to be the place which is mentioned here of God. Whosoever emerges into this place hears Him saying to himself: "Stay here with me." The Saviour speaks of those who have received incredible increases from the doctrine of the Gospel and have attained perfection: "There are some standing here who shall not taste of death."
"If You Yourself do not go with us, do not lead me from this place," etc. [Exodus XXXIII, 15.] When God is with the perfect, angels accompany the imperfect and those hastening toward perfection. Since this did not escape Moses, he demands the presence of God. For it is the lot of little ones to be protected and defended by angels. Hence the Saviour says: "Do not offend one of these little ones who believe in me; for their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven." That statement is not inconsistent with this: "The angel of the Lord shall encamp round about those who fear Him, and He shall deliver them." God addresses Jeremiah in this way: "To all to whom I shall send you, you shall go; and whatever I command you, you shall speak. You shall not be afraid of their face, because I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord." He confirms Joshua, son of Nun, in this manner: "Be strong and act manfully. As I was with Moses, so will I be with you." The Saviour addresses the disciples thus: "Behold, I am with you all days, even unto the consummation of the world." Therefore, says Moses, with You leading, we shall be greatly praised. For if he who is joined to an earthly king through intimate and highest familiarity is held in honour, why should we not be adorned with immense glory if we have You, God, as our leader?
"And this word which you have spoken, I will do for you," etc. [Exodus XXXIII, 17.] Just as He heard with great kindness and affably the other words spoken piously before God; among the number of these words was that which he used in interceding for the sin of the people, which they had committed by forming and fashioning a calf, to which they were paying divine honours. That he indeed interceded for the people, he himself bears sufficient witness with these words: "I prayed before the Lord forty days and as many nights for all your sins, which you have committed." Often in the vast wilderness, when they were despising divine promises or were unbelieving, he did not hesitate to offer himself as an intercessor for the intractable people. Even in Egypt he poured out prayers to the Lord for the people, that they might not be involved in the Egyptian plagues.
"I will pass by before you with My glory, and I will call in the name of the Lord, and I will be merciful to whom I will be merciful," etc. [Exodus XXXIII, 19.] Moses was filled with great eagerness, hearing God say: "And this word which you have spoken, I will do." Therefore, he now longs to know and learn thoroughly the glory of God. But what is that notable glory? Doubtless the only-begotten Son of God, concerning whom it was proclaimed: "And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed." Or understand the glory of God as the angelic host, by which God walks surrounded. He was the brother of Philip who questioned Christ with such words: "Show us the Father, and it is enough for us." Moses indeed had seen Him in the bush and on Mount Sinai, but not exactly; rather, under a certain veil. Now he desires to behold the living character of His nature, presuming certain human things about God, and inquiring into those things which his intellect could not grasp. To this petition God responds: "I will pass by before you with My glory. For you were created long after My glory, which is from eternity. For there exist before the ages, and My glory exists before everything that was created, the Son, I say, My only-begotten. When, therefore, I have passed by, bearing My glory, you shall follow as it befits a servant to follow a master." Or interpret this present passage thus: You are a creature, and therefore you are considered inferior to My only-begotten Son. Therefore, I will go before and I will call in the name of the Lord, inviting you to Me, and consequently all who are worthy, that they may be subjected to the power and dominion of the Lord.
"For I will be merciful to whom I will be merciful." For the mercy of God is felt everywhere. "For the earth is full of Your mercy." And this is always felt. For it is sung: "For His mercy endures for ever." Why then, it is asked, do you now make mention of a certain particular mercy? Moreover, the mercy of God is said to be in many and various ways. For he implores the remedy of mercy who, repenting of sins with confession, breaks forth into these words: "Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your great mercy, and according to the multitude of Your tender mercies blot out my iniquity." There is the mercy according to which Paul says: "I obtained mercy, because I did it in ignorance." And elsewhere, it is applied to those who show mercy: "For blessed are the merciful, he says, for they themselves shall obtain mercy." And again, to those who perceive their own weakness, and who stretch out their hope toward the God who is able to bring the things which are being striven for to their end, toward the accomplishment of necessary things: "For it is not of him that wills, nor of him that runs, but of God who shows mercy." For such a one says...
"Have mercy on me, O God, for my soul has trusted in You." And another says by the Prophet, "Have mercy on us, O Lord, for we have trusted in You." A And again, regarding those who desire God and bring His commandments into action—for He shows mercy unto thousands who love Him with their whole heart and perform His commandments—or for those who have a correct knowledge of Him, according to the passage, "Extend Thy mercy to those who know Thee, and Thy justice to those who are upright in heart." And to each of those who perform these things, He says, "With eternal mercy I will show mercy to you." Those who are praying likewise say, "Let Thy mercies speedily prevent us, O Lord, for we have become very poor." And, "But You, O Lord, do not remove Your mercies far from me." Beyond all these, He distills mercy even upon the unworthy through His great love for mankind, "Making His sun to rise upon the just and the unjust." And the earth is full of this mercy. But of that which depends upon us is the word, "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy."
"Non poteris videre faciem meam. Non enim videbit homo faciem meam et vivet." [20.] Although you may receive from Me very many things for which you asked, I saying, "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy," yet you will not obtain this which you have demanded, that you should see My face. For everyone who attempts to know impossible things will die: because, being a man, he has set himself to investigate and search out things that struggle against human intellect. "For no man has seen God, nor can see Him." Isaiah descried His face veiled. "The abyss is as a garment with which He is clothed." And that it cannot be grasped by human intellect is proven by the darkness. For if those who were striving to ascend into heaven were forced to desist from their work, with the deed left undone, how much more will he labor in vain who shall attempt to discern God with rash daring? For it is not man who beholds God, but he who exceeds this carnal life and lives the life of angels according to the faith of the little ones, whose angels always behold the face of the Father who is in heaven. For when this mortal life is cast off, those who are pure in heart will see God. And in this age, perhaps, those who do not walk according to the flesh know Him in part according to the proportion, as they say, "The light of Thy countenance, O Lord, has been signified upon us—Show us Thy face, and we shall be saved."
C The face of the bodiless God is either the character of His substance, who says, "He who has seen Me, has seen the Father," or it is His theology, which teaches of this remarkable workmanship of His and declares His providence. For theology is twofold. The first theology is concerned with the essence of God. This essence is called the invisible face, seen by no one among mortals. But the second theology teaches us that we can see the face of God in another way. Therefore Moses prays for the people, saying, "May He lift up His face upon you, and may He be pleased to show His face upon you, and give you peace." D Cain became a stranger to this face, no longer regarding Him as Creator, nor as one who extends His providence over His works.
A The "place" by Him, which is called a rock, is the correct apprehension regarding theology. For thus did the Savior also name the confession of Peter. Consistent with this is also the saying, "He lifted me up on a rock" (Ps. XXVI, 6); and, "You have set my feet upon a rock" (Ps. XXXIX, 3)—meaning, upon the unmoved word of God, which is a spiritual rock. But the place is not to be understood according to the category of quantity, for God is not a body.
For the "place" has many meanings. Sometimes it signifies quantity, as in, "It came to pass, when He was in a certain place praying" (Luke XI, 1); and, "No man shall move from his place on the Sabbath day" (Exod. XVI, 29). Sometimes it means a pure soul, which has become a temple of God, as in the saying, "His place was made in peace" (Ps. LXXV, 2). For the place is in peace, not peace in the place. For God dwells and walks in a soul that is untroubled, in the one that possesses the peace which surpasses all understanding; whereas in a troubled and confused soul, the one who impels and instigates the children of disobedience has his dwelling. Therefore it is not without reason commanded: "Do not let the sun go down upon your wrath, nor give place to the devil" (Ephes. IV, 26, 27). For the Son, with the Father, makes His abode in those who are passionless, who keep His word, which drives away the passions of the soul.
B The "place" also signifies a certain order and rank, as is clear from the election of Matthias and Joseph, when the holy and divine disciples said, "Show whom You have chosen from these two, to take the place of this ministry and apostleship, from which Judas fell" (Acts I, 24, 25). For they call it a "place," which Paul called a "rank," saying, "They who have served well gain a good rank for themselves" (I Tim. III, 13).
C The "place" also signifies the presence of God, as Jacob indicated, saying at the vision of the ladder that rose from earth to heaven: "How terrible is this place! And I did not know it" (Gen. XXVIII, 17). This is also indicated by what relates to Moses, and those who ascended with him, when they saw the place where the God of Israel had stood: "And there was under His feet as it were a work of sapphire brick, and as the appearance of the heaven's firmament in purity" (Exod. XXIV, 10). For he calls it a "place" where they received an intellectual perception of God’s presence, with His feet firmly placed upon the sapphire brick—that is, practical virtue—and upon the appearance of the heaven's firmament—that is, wisdom. For the contemplation of intelligible things is compared to the purity and serenity of heaven.
D The one who has reached this place is fed, partaking of the bread of truth and the fruit of the tree of life, and drinks from the fountain of life, and from the wine which Wisdom has tempered in her own mixing bowl (Prov. IX, 2). In this manner, those with Moses were delighted by the Lord, having been seen in the place of God, and having eaten and drunk. The "place" also signifies the logical sequence of a certain matter, as is said: "Do not avenge yourselves, beloved; but give place to wrath. For we know Him who said: Vengeance is Mine." For it blocks the [avenue of God's]...
which He brings upon the unjust. He who avenges himself interrupts the series or concatenation of Providence. Not unlike this is what the Holy Scripture pronounces concerning Esau: "He found no place for repentance." For he did not seek the blessing in the manner he ought to have, although he appeared to desire it with tears rising. For he was not saddened because he was deemed unworthy of it through having brought it upon himself; but he stirred up sadness because he had been negligent and had not prepared and equipped himself decently to acquire the blessing. In external disciplines, among the dialecticians, the "locus" (or place) is called a generic proposition to which the arguments (epicheiremata) of particular propositions are directed, as is known to dialecticians. Since "place" has so many meanings, it now seems that the appropriate degree suitable for each person is being signified under this name. Indeed, there is a certain degree of even supreme perfection.
B This is a certain status, which on account of its firmness and solidity is named a solid rock, providing to men the knowledge of God insofar as it is permitted for man to know God. Furthermore, the rock is Christ, and this rock is a place before God. For the Word was with God, and that Word was God. Closely related to this is also that: "With You is the fountain of life; in Your light we shall see light." He who stands in this place beholds the Father. For, "He who has seen me," He says, "has seen the Father." But if we understand the Father to be the "place," when it is said by the Son: "Behold, a place with me," etc.: for just as the Son manifests the Father to us, so the Father revealed the Son to Peter and Paul. For Peter is pronounced blessed because he learned of the Son through the Father’s revelation. Paul says: "Because it pleased God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb, to reveal His Son in me."
C "When my glory shall pass by, I will place you in the cleft of the rock, and cover you with my hand, etc." (Exodus 33:22.) For when the glory of God has passed before the entire creation, it deservedly passes now according to the tenor of this saying: "Glorify me with that glory which I had with You before the world was." The cleft of the rock is mentioned because we are unable, as long as we dwell in this world, to arrive at full perfection. But meanwhile, we draw from it, just as the evangelist teaches: "Of His fullness we have all received," knowing and prophesying in part. Therefore, let it suffice for those who cannot go all the way around the rock, if the opportunity to stand is given in the cleft of the rock. Let God alone be exalted with praises, who placed the worthy in the cleft of the rock; who placed lights in the firmament of heaven; who placed Adam in paradise that he might cultivate this divine [pattern]. Moses is placed in the cleft of the rock, so that he may see those things that are after God, by which are mystically declared the "hinder parts" of the rock, that is, of the only-begotten Son.
D There are many rocks falsely so named, as is every one of those who dares to declare: "I am Christ." In the third book of Kings, rocks are mentioned in the plural number, which are not free from vice. For Elijah, standing on the mountain, saw "a great and violent wind, dissolving the mountains and shattering the rocks." Indeed, the Divine Spirit shatters every height that raises itself and rises up against the knowledge of God. For He shall destroy the wisdom of the falsely named wise and make the prudence of the prudent void. Nahum says: "His fury melts the powers," namely those with whom there is a perpetual struggle for the saints; "and the rocks are broken by Him," namely the deceitful and fraudulent sophists who approach the true rock—which is the only-begotten Son—in a fraudulent and deceptive spirit, and seem to have clefts in which the proud and arrogant devil is discovered to dwell, to whom the following prophecy pertains: "The pride of your heart makes you arrogant, you, I say, who dwell in the clefts of the rocks"; but those in which the devil stands, the rocks reach down into the deep. Therefore the work...
A we have is God showing His wisdom to us and corrupting the wisdom of this world, which the great Paul does not recognize. It is that wisdom, I say, which Paul declares is hidden in a mystery. If even those who possess the remaining rocks approach this wisdom, they are overcome and as it were devoured, like the rods of the magicians of Egypt which the rod of Aaron swallowed—that rod which was carried as the scepter of truth, according to that oracle: "Consumed were those that clung to the rock B," namely their powerful ones, just as the rods of the Egyptian enchanters were consumed by the rod of Aaron. This, indeed, was the scepter of truth. By this rod, its effector and a sign of its power, He protects as if in a hidden rock him who is truly consecrated to religion and piety, so that he may be preserved unharmed and uninjured, with no one able to snatch away him whom the divine power protects. Moreover, a hand is placed upon the theologian until He who precedes the ages passes by, not appearing by local circumscription, but by intellect as surpassing all creatures. But when the hand is withdrawn, Moses beholds the "back" of God, since to see His face is numbered among the impossibilities C. For when you cannot see the essence of God, which precedes eternity, you can nevertheless in some way contemplate God from the magnitude and beauty of created things. For His invisible things are understood from the creation of the world, and are perceived through the works. The oracle also agrees with this: "Lift up your eyes and see, who has shown all these things? He who brings out their array by number, He will call them all by their name." Moreover, we know unknown craftsmen by their works. But if the Son of God spoke those words to Moses, it must be known that the eternal essence or divine nature of the Son is called the face of God. But understand the "back" as the incarnation or human nature of the Son.
"Hew for yourself two stone tablets like the former," etc. [XXXIV, 1.] I have thought it worth the labor to repeat this a little higher up, since it is worthy of inquiry what the reason might be, when Scripture so often testifies that Moses saw God, especially in these words: "He spoke with Moses face to face, just as one speaks with his friend," etc., that now he asks that God appear to him as one who, having shown Himself to be seen so often, has not yet appeared to and been seen by Moses. God now indeed yields, and now refuses, as one who asks for impossibilities. Therefore let him correct his prayers and desire more prudently. Furthermore, He mentions the hinder part of a figure. But every figure is finite or has an end. Whatever is finite or has an end is considered a body. Every body is composite. Whatever is composite is liable to corruption and dissolution. Moreover, corruption is the destruction of a composite body. Do you see to what absurdities one leads God, if one accepts the present passage according to the letter? If even a part is held to be impossible to perceive according to the letter, much less will the whole be capable of being grasped. For the whole is composed of parts. What then shall we pronounce regarding the place, the rock, the cleft, and the rest? Just as heavy bodies naturally move downwards if nothing obstructs them, so the soul, liberated from all the passions that savor of earthly things, has a free movement towards the highest. For such is the nature of the supreme good, that it draws to itself and in wondrous ways attracts everything to itself. Therefore, the soul, raised aloft to the supreme good, no longer contemplates the back of God, but His face, and for this sublime flight it is somewhat encouraged by those things which it had previously been taught by God, just as Moses, proposing no boundary or end for himself, as he ascends in mind to the heavenly dwelling. But once standing on the ladder which God raised, as Jacob advises, always surpassing the next step, he does not cease to ascend to the summit or peak, perceiving that with one step surpassed he has always surpassed another. Therefore, he is stirred with greater desire to ascend the next step, like one who had perceived the great fruits of this labor while proceeding through the others. From this, Moses, when he had been both the achiever and witness of so many and such great miracles, now seeks to see the face of God, not as if he could see Him, but to declare himself the most daring lover of the supreme good that is always appearing. He shows that he desires to receive the image of this from the archetype of the supreme good itself. The heavenly voice gives what he had asked for. He yields indeed that he will perform the things asked, yet he does not promise satiety and rest to the desire. For He would not have shown Himself to be seen if the sight of Himself could satisfy the desire of the one seeing. For he truly sees God whom no satiety of seeing God as it were captures; but the more he sees, the more and more he desires to look. Yet do not think that the face of God, if it were to be seen, is a cause of death; God forbid. For what reason allows that the face, which is the author of life, should bring death? Because, however, the Divine provides life to all, and is situated outside all knowledge, he who thinks God is what he has attained by knowledge, he, receding from Him who is truly life, is devoid of life. How could that which lacks life dispense life? Thus Moses' soul is filled; yet the desire for divine fruition remains insatiable. At the same time Moses is taught that the Divine is infinite. For whatever is finite, if you grasp it either by sense or by thought, you always consider an end as well. But the end of that which is finite is its boundary and limit. But that which bounds and contains a thing is greater than the thing it bounds and contains, and is subjected to another genus. Therefore, if it pleases to follow the literal sense, these absurdities also will be predicated of God. If the Divine is spoken of as naturally beautiful, certainly that which is subjected to another genus is not considered beautiful. By what reasoning, therefore, will that which is deformed and ugly contain and encompass that whose most evident beauty is conspicuous? According to this argument, the ugly would dominate the beautiful and contain it, which indeed the calculation of all would judge absurd. Therefore, the Divine is not to be placed among those things which are bounded and contained by others. No one
when running toward the Divine Name, is sated; and this is truly to enjoy the sight of God, if no one is ever seized by satiety in seeing. It behooves him who turns the eyes of his mind toward God to be set aflame always with a greater desire for seeing. Therefore, God is not to be believed to be circumscribed by quantity, by A showing a place. Rather, when God perceived that Moses was striving to obtain from the knowledge already acquired yet other knowledge, He endeavored to lead him from that finite circumscription to the infinite. For He says to him, whose zeal for learning and knowing is always increasing, that there is a place with Him, in which, for one performing the course of divine vision, satiety will never occur; but the more he progresses, the greater will be the ardor for progressing that follows. But that course is in another sense called a state. Wherefore He says: "I will place thee upon B the rock." For the more solidly one perseveres in the good itself, the more strongly he proceeds on the journey of virtue he has begun, if, that is, one has drawn his feet from the deep mire, according to the prophecy of David, and has placed them upon the rock. But the rock is Christ. Such a one, as if relying on feathers and wings by persevering constantly in the highest good, is greatly aided toward a journey that tends on high. Paul calls the receptacle of the rock, which is named in this place a "cleft," a house not made by hands, eternal in the heavens, which is reserved for those who, supported by good hope, put off this earthly dwelling. For in truth, he who has finished his course in this broad and spacious stadium, which Scripture called "a place," and has kept the faith—that is, has solidly placed his feet upon this rock—he, I say, will be crowned with a crown of justice by the Lord, who proposed that contest for us. The gift which is bestowed upon those who rightly finish their course is called by various names, namely, the cleft of the rock, the tabernacle of paradise, the mansion with the Father, the patriarch’s bosom, the land of the living, waters of rest and tranquility, the supernal Jerusalem, the kingdom of heaven, the prize of our calling, the crown of graces, the crown of pleasure, the crown of beauty, the tower of strength, the conviviality of joy, the council of God, the throne of judgment, the illustrious place, the hidden tabernacle. Into all these C Moses has entered, having attained his desire in the rock Christ, in whom all the treasures of good things are stored up. For he who perseveres constantly in the good, remains in Christ, who contains every good. Here he is fortified and most diligently defended by the hand of God, that is, by the only-begotten Word, through whom all things were made: who is also the place and the course of those who run: the constant recognize Him as the rock: those who rest confess Him as the house. Then he will hear the One calling, and will be after the Caller. For he will follow God, as the law commands. Not dissonant from this is what is said: "In those things which succeed the breast (or, which are behind the breast), He will overshadow thee." For the back succeeds the breast. To this point also leads the following oracle: "My soul hath cleaved after thee, and thy right hand hath laid hold of me." It is not, therefore, said inappropriately that the hand of God has been placed upon him who, standing on the rock, awaited the divine voice and desired to follow God as his guide. In this manner Christ, clarifying His own law, says: "If any man will come D after me," nor does He say: "If any man wants to go before me." To one beseeching Him regarding eternal life, He says: "Come here, and follow me." Moses is thus taught that to see God is nothing else than to follow God. For the passing of God shows Moses the way in which he must journey. In this way, one may safely make the journey, even if ignorant of the way, if only he follows Him who points out the path—namely, God. For he who walks a transverse path, or runs counter to God, who presents Himself as the guide of the journey: he, I say, prepares a new and unusual kind of progress. The command: "Thy face shall not be seen by thee," etc., is of One warning him, lest he wish to oppose himself to the divine countenance, or presume to complete his course in opposition. For the good does not oppose the good, but follows placidly. To oppose oneself to the highest good is not of virtue, but of vice. He who opposes himself will not live; for no one shall see the face of God and live. "And I will call in the name of the Lord," etc.—the Son, that is, in the name of the Father.
Sculp tibi duas tabulas lapideas, quemadmodum priores.
"Sculp tibi duas tabulas lapideas quemadmodum priores, &c., usque ad hunc locum: Nemo conspicietur in omni monte, &c." [3.] The law is cut into stone tablets so that it may remain perpetually, and that that Scripture might not suffer any abolition. For ancient custom obtained that mysteries be inscribed on statues. From this principle the hieroglyphic art took its origin.They say that the transgressor angels before the flood revealed certain secrets to women with whom they had had the habit of fornication; and that these might be known to that sex, they were inscribed on rocks. And all these were utilized to that end, that women might be on their guard and flee the impending inundation of the whole world, as to whom this was foretold by letters inscribed on rocks. Wherefore God, lest He should appear to change anything from the customary practice, inscribed the law on stone tablets by the power of the Holy Spirit, whom Matthew, when he had named Him the Spirit of God, was also called the finger of God by Luke. Paul looked to this, saying: "Who hath made us fit ministers of the new testament, not in the letter, but in the Spirit. For the letter killeth, but the spirit quickeneth." Then he adds: "If the ministration of death, engraven with letters upon stones, was glorious: how much more shall the ministration of the spirit be in glory?" And elsewhere the Apostle argues in this manner: "Manifest that ye are…"
the epistle of Christ, ministered by us, and written not with ink, but with the spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart. Since, therefore, God had first prepared the tables of the heart by His own Spirit, He also imprinted and engraved His laws by that same Spirit. But these having been corrupted, each man prepares for himself other tables, concerning which He now charges Moses, through repentance. For after childhood, instruction is infused into us by God in a certain natural way, by which we discern good from evil, namely, that the former is to be pursued and the latter to be avoided. This is what is called by the peculiar name of natural law. But we are so corrupted by that primordial transgression that we confuse the choice of good and the avoidance of evil, and choose the one for the other. Although the former tables are broken, it was nevertheless not fitting that the natural law inscribed upon us should be abolished and extinguished. Therefore, we are commanded through the works of repentance to polish the second tables, taking them into our hands—that is, being fortified by good works—in order to ascend the mountain to which we are called. And when we have arrived there, God Himself will inscribe upon those tables what He had previously engraved upon the former ones. The prophet also demonstrates to us the second giving of the law, saying: "I will establish a new testament with them, not according to the testament that I established with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand, to lead them out of the land of Egypt. Because they continued not B in my testament, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. But this is the testament that I will establish for the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord, giving my laws into their mind, and in their hearts I will write them." The law that preceded the corruption of the tables and that which followed it differ in their condition. The law that preceded the corruption of the tables had judgment and the ability to discern good from evil. But the law that accompanied sin differs from the former only in condition, while being the same—just as a memory extinguished by oblivion is the same as the one that follows oblivion; just as virtue which has intervened after sin differs from the virtue that repentance produces; just as former health differs from that health which is recovered once the sickness has been dispelled. But that one may receive the second law, let him prepare himself in the morning time, taking the beginning of the spiritual day, which the Sun of Justice brings forth, so that we may say: "The night is passed, and the day is at hand." Then, ascending, let him occupy the solid and immovable place upon the mountain. He who is not so disposed will not scale that mountain, nor rest upon it. But that mountain, under a certain type, offers a prefiguration of the spiritual mountain, concerning which the prophet prophesies: "The mountain of the Lord shall be apparent in the last days." And what is that mountain? Namely, the Son of God. It is permitted to ascend into this mountain by constantly making progress, and, having attained perfection, to stand upon the summit. For it is read in this manner: "Who shall ascend into the mountain of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place?" For by the expression "who," he signifies that such men as ascend this mountain are found only rarely. That the matter is indeed so, he has sufficiently declared by the following response: "The innocent of hands," etc. For he who aspires to the journey into this mountain must approach it endowed with practical and speculative virtues. He who takes up the labor of announcing the Gospel is bid to betake himself into this mountain, insofar as the prophet says: "Get thee up into the high mountain, thou that bringest good tidings to Jerusalem." Not to everyone is it given to ascend hither.
Wherefore He willed that no one should ascend that sublime place along with Moses. For if anyone had accompanied Moses without the will of God, he would surely have brought upon himself the greatest evils while approaching what was beyond his strength. For if Oza, who did not derive C his origin from the priestly lineage, sustained the danger of his life because he had touched the ark, which he opined was about to slip, how much more would he have incurred the peril of his life who, before the progress of virtue, attempted to touch such great and such things? D He commanded that no one should go up with Moses, lest he suffer harm, daring to attempt things beyond his strength. For if Oza, not being of the priestly line, was in danger for having touched the ark to help it, how much more [is he in danger] who touches such things before he has made progress? This same contemplation [appears] also in the Gospels, when Jesus, having taken Peter and James and John, led them up into a high mountain, and was transfigured before them.
This place does not differ from the Evangelical history, in which it is narrated that Christ ascended into the mountain, having taken with Him Peter, James, and John, and was there transfigured.
Nor is it said inaptly to Moses: "Stand here with me." For he who has made progress in the business of religion in the way that Moses did will stand before no other than God. To which fact that oracle of Scripture bears witness: "Be prompt and ready to hear the preceptor God." In His presence, you shall stand no otherwise than satellites are present to a king, and servants to a head of a household. To this I think that statement should be referred: "I will always be with thee." And also this: "The Lord of hosts liveth, in whose sight I have stood today." But these words were Elijah's. Whoever Moses may be, he will be able to ascend the mountain. And not he alone, but also everyone who has been endowed with the virtues which sacred Scripture attributes to him. We can interpret the tables which Moses was commanded to shape in another way. Death was not destroyed from the beginning, when man was formed and created by divine hands, and when the seeds of the divine will were cast and scattered into our minds. Death came only then, when the sound of sin, which Scripture calls the voice of the serpent, was poured into our ears. But the voice which idolaters now utter is that of those who, moved by drunkenness, cry out; this voice falls to the earth. But the true legislator, whose type Moses was, from