but is hardened, indomitable, unyielding. And if anyone has drawn strength from the devil, or from this dragon, he has a heart that is indomitable and not exercised. But if anyone is gold, following the word which as it were melts gold: he yields A in this way, until he becomes a golden leaf and receives the marks of the letters of God, in Christ Jesus; to whom be glory forever, amen.
CAP. XLII. V. 10. *And the Lord gave twice as much, as many as were before to Job for a doubling.* The noble athlete, and the one who endured every temptation, the most valiant Job, obtains the rewards of his patience, as the Scripture says: *All things double compared to the former ones.* But the Lord Jesus Christ B gives rewards that are not double, but a hundredfold. For He says: *Whoever shall have left father or mother, house, brothers, sisters for my sake, or for the sake of the Gospel, as it is written in Mark, shall receive a hundredfold, and shall inherit eternal life.* He would not have received double the former things, had he not displayed a doubled virtue.
ORIGEN’S EXCERPTS ON THE PSALMS
(From the Gallandian Library.)C PSAL. IX. V. 8. *He prepared His throne in judgment.* V. 9. *And He Himself shall judge the world in justice. He shall judge the peoples in uprightness.*
One must therefore fear such a judge, who turns away from blameworthy actions and impious thoughts. Understand the world to be the Church, a world inhabited by both the Father and the Son, according to the saying: *I and my Father will come, and we will make our abode with him*; but understand "peoples" as those remaining outside the Church.
V. 12. *Sing to the Lord, who dwells in Zion.*
And otherwise: in every soul that is Zion and a watchtower, God dwells. He seeks out the blood of the nations that slew them, and remembers them, raising them up. Therefore, the phrase, *Their memorial has perished with a sound, it shall be referred to the swords,* is appropriate. Yet He remembers those for whom He became a refuge.
V. 33. *Arise, O Lord my God; let Your hand be exalted; do not forget Your poor to the end.*
Afflicted by these impious D words, the Prophet,
A again prays, saying this; seeking that experience might show that God has not yet forgotten the poor. And he also recalled the blasphemy of the impious, saying:
V. 38. *You have heard the desire of the poor, O Lord; Your ear has hearkened to the preparation of their heart.* For they desired that the arm of the sinner be broken, and that they be delivered from his tyranny: which also came to pass. Furthermore, the desire of a good thought is prayer, which the Knower of hearts, seeing, fulfilled. For they had a heart ready for salvation, and to obtain the promised kingdom.
PSALM XIII
V. 2. *The Lord looked down from heaven upon the sons of men, to see if there is any one who understands, or who seeks God.* Whatever can be said corporally of the incorporeal God must be understood in a manner befitting God. For instance, He is said to dwell in the heavens, using the divine powers that are in heaven as a temple. For they are called by the same name as the places in which they are, just as humans are also called "earth." As it is in the text: *Let all the earth worship You* [Ps. LXV, 4], and: *All the earth cries out with joy.* Yet He also dwells in the heavens while He is in men who bear the image of the heavenly [I Cor. XV, 49]. But He also exists in every creature by reason of creation and providence. This is clearly apparent from these most beautiful passages: *Our Father, who art in heaven* [Matt. VI, 9]. *God in heaven above* [Deut. IV, 39]. Moreover, in many places of divine instruction, the designation "heaven" signifies the intellectual essence, in which one ought most especially to seek God. For *the heaven of heavens belongs to the Lord* [Ps. CXIII, 16]. From this, by condescension, B He looks upon those who are of a lower condition, *to see if there is any one who is wise, seeking God*—that is, so that, finding Him, he might be made a participant in His goods. Now it happens that when vices prevail along with impiety, it is said: *There is no mercy, nor truth, nor knowledge of God upon the earth* [Osee IV, 1], and the things that follow. When men had become so corrupted, how was it not necessary for the good Savior to look down, so that, having found some argument of understanding, He might multiply and increase it, and make Himself manifest to those who seek Him? For He manifests Himself to those who are not unbelieving toward Him.
V. 3. *They have all turned aside; they have together become useless; there is no one who does good, there is not even one.* He prophesies the transformation of the nations C into gentleness and piety. Therefore he also asks: When the Lord comes, will they not cease from their bestial life and come to know the Lord? For Isaiah also says: *Those to whom it had not been announced concerning Him shall see; and those who had not heard shall understand* [Isai. LII, 15].
V. 5, 6. *There they feared with fear, where there was no fear; for God is in the generation of the righteous.* For there will be a time, he says, when those aforementioned shall fear the Lord, among whom there was no fear before. There D
in that future generation, of which he also speaks afterwards.
PSALM XV
V. 1. Stelographia Davidi. The others inscribed it "of David," but likewise translated it as "stelographia" [inscription on a pillar], because it contains a prophecy worthy of eternal memory. For just as the greatest athletes who have competed in the stadiums are deemed worthy of a stele, or pillar, and trophies are erected to commemorate the deeds of those who have fought bravely and successfully in wars; no otherwise was the great trophy of the Savior, which He raised up having overthrown him who held the empire of death, ennobled by ancient prophetic Scriptures as if by stela. Wherefore also Peter, making mention of those things which are contained in it, added: "Men and brothers, it is permitted to speak with boldness to you concerning the patriarch David, that he both died and was buried, and his monument exists among us until this day. Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn to him with an oath, that of the fruit of his loins according to the flesh He would raise up the Christ to sit upon his throne; foreseeing this, he spoke concerning the resurrection of Christ, that neither was He left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption. This Jesus God raised up, of which we all are witnesses."
PSALM XVI
V. 4. For the words of thy lips, I have kept hard paths. The Savior gives us a lesson also through these words, that we should not think highly of ourselves, seeing that we are in need of the help from God. The paths of the Lord are the observances of the commandments; or rather, the operations according to virtue, which are made level and smooth from the fact that they are constantly trodden by those who hasten to arrive at their end, which is blessedness, and the bestowal of the promises. Let us therefore run according to them, our steps not swerving, if the Lord should strengthen them in His paths. He who attains this petition says: "I ran without iniquity and made straight"; and that: "I ran the way of thy commandments, when thou didst enlarge my heart."
PSALM XVII
V. 6. The sorrows of Hades encompassed me: the snares of death prevented me. These things will also apply to the Savior, since they possess a great kinship with the words: "Now is my soul troubled," and, "My soul is sorrowful even unto death." V. 8. And the earth was shaken and became trembling. And the foundations of the mountains were troubled, and were shaken, because God was angry with them. He clearly shows the descent of God through the things aforementioned, both the death and the sorrows of Hades. From the time of His descent, according to Aquila, the earth was moved and trembled. For every report, both Greek and barbarian, was filled with the fame concerning Him. For by "earth" he means those who are on the earth. "Mountains" are the opposing powers, which by the error of idols were destroying men,
erected against the knowledge of God. The foundations, which are profound thoughts, when they perceive the power of the Lord, are troubled and indignant. At which, God being angered, smoke ascends as from a brand; when they are extinguished and the fire ceases, by which they were burning men. But this fire He extinguished with His own fire. For God is called a consuming fire by Moses. And in the Psalms: *Fire shall go before him, and shall consume his enemies round about.* And again: *God shall come manifestly, our God, and shall not keep silence. Fire shall be kindled before him, and round about him a mighty tempest.* Therefore the Savior said: *I have come to cast fire upon the earth, and what will I, if it be already kindled?* B He did this by bowing and descending, not only one heaven, but all, as many as there are; the word "bowing" demonstrating the humiliation of His loftiness and the emptying of His divinity. And the hidden and secret reason of His providence He declares by "darkness and mist." Then He was taken up over the cherubim, although He had not descended with them. Whom, when the divine powers beheld ascending with a body, gathering together, they attended His return, saying: *Lift up your gates, O princes, and be lifted up, ye eternal gates, and the King of glory shall enter.* Which things indeed were done then, when, as it is related in the Acts of the Apostles, while they were looking on, He was raised up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.
V. 12. *And he made darkness his secret place: his tabernacle round about him.* C Who can see him who is in the tabernacle, unless he has been inside? So neither can one see God, unless one enters within the veil of incomprehensibility. For Moses entered into the darkness, where God was. For by attending to the ministry concerning God and His providence, he understood that God was contained within these things. For by opening it a little, he understood the One whose image it is from that which was to the image; and from the workmanship and providence, the Creator and Provider.
PSAL. XXII. V. 3. *For his name's sake.* V. 4. *For though I should walk in the midst of the shadow of death, I will not fear evil, for thou art with me.*
From this point he turns his prayer to God. He therefore who sits in the shadow of death is fixed in it, D hardened in transgressions, and in need of the light that arises from mercy. But he who walks, passes through; with whom also the Lord walks. Concerning "sitting" it is said: *To them that sit in the region and shadow of death, light has arisen.*
V. 4. *Thy rod and thy staff, these have comforted me.* Both signify scourges, according to the passage: *If thy sons forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments...*
nor let my commandments keep them; I will visit their iniquities with a rod, and their sins with stripes. But my mercy I will not A take away from them." For the divine mercy is not taken away from him who is scourged because of his sins. For it does not accept the sinner unless it has scourged him; it scourges the son whom it accepts. Concerning those whom it does not scourge, it is said: "But as for me, my feet were almost gone; well-nigh were my steps poured out. For there is no back-turning in their death, and security in their scourge. Therefore pride holds them fast; they are clothed with their own iniquity and ungodliness." If, then, someone is a sinning sheep, he is struck with a rod; but if he is a man, with a staff, according to Solomon: "He that spares the staff hates his own son." These things further call upon the one being beaten; for he is persuaded that it scourges every son whom it accepts.
PSALM XXIII
V. 2. And upon the rivers he hath prepared it. Aliter: before the coming of Christ, God was known only in Judaea; but after the coming, "the earth is the Lord's." But neither was there fullness before him in the whole earth; rather, it was full for the most part of iniquities. But after him, many of the Gentiles who have believed can say: "Of his fullness have we all received." Wherefore they can even be called the fullness of Christ. But not those who are empty of the evangelical way of living. Nay, rather, the sinner dwells in the desert. But he inhabits the world who inhabits the Church filled with the holy Trinity, and it is the Lord's. Not so he who is born of the devil, and has become a part of him. C V. 3. Who shall ascend into the mount of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place? Or you may also interpret the mount of the Lord as the perfect good, and the Word of God himself. For rare is he who can ascend to his summit by progress. For he who is perfected, being no longer able to advance further, stands firm, and is called the holy place of God. For, walking behind the Lord, he ascends; oblivious to the things that are behind, but reaching out D toward the things that are before, setting for himself as a goal to stand with God in his holy place; to which it is fitting that he who brings good tidings to Sion should ascend and stand, and to whom, when Moses had arrived, God said: "But stand thou here with me." Moreover, "He hath set my feet upon a rock," as if upon another sanctuary, the prophets say. Now the rock was Christ. But who shall be made partaker of these promises, has been said more fully in the fourteenth psalm.V. 6. *This is the generation of them that seek the Lord, that seek the face of the God of Jacob.* A
It is indeed said: *No man shall see my face, and live.* For in truth, no one who is a man, and has not put off everything human entirely and been changed into an angel and God, will see it, which does not happen here. But concerning the angels of the little ones who are in the Church, the Savior says: *They always behold the face of my Father who is in heaven.*
V. 9. *Lift up your gates, O ye princes, and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting gates, and the King of glory shall enter in.* V. 10. *Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory.*
They called the Lord "of hosts" as the leader of armies, which is called *Sabaoth* in Hebrew, a word which the Septuagint interprets in the Scriptures as "Lord of hosts" or even "Omnipotent." What is said here, therefore, reveals the Savior to be omnipotent. Thus says the Lord Omnipotent: *Behind glory he sent me unto thee.* For since the Father is omnipotent, He sent an omnipotent Son. John also says in the Apocalypse: *These things says the faithful and true witness, who was, and who is, and who is coming,* speaking incontestably of the Savior. B
Some say these things were said not of higher gates, but of the same ones, in a twofold sense.
PSALM XXVII
V. 1. *Unto thee, O Lord, will I cry; O my God, be not silent to me.*
If a person asks for earthly things from God, he uses a low voice; but if for heavenly things, he cries and shouts aloud. Wherefore in the Scriptures the saints have cried unto God. And one cries when he has entered into his "inner chamber" and shut the door. But God is not silent to the saints. He used to speak, then, to Moses, and Aaron, and Joshua the son of Nun. He spoke also through the prophets, when His people existed. But the things which God speaks are not external, but holy things, which ascend into our heart, according to the saying: *Blessed is the man whose help is from thee, O Lord; in his heart he hath determined to ascend.* We have also another hearing and a divine sense, according to Solomon, C listening to the word of God and united to it. But to whom God is silent, he is likened to those who go down into a pit. For we know of no saint who dug a pit; rather, he who was in need of water would dig a well. Solomon also commands us to drink from wells. But God threatens those who drink from pits through the prophet, saying: *They have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and they have hewed them out broken cisterns [pits].* Furthermore, those who anxiously busy themselves with the cold things of material reality go down into a pit, D where also the enemy of mankind, the dragon—who is also called cold—dwells. For of all living creatures upon the earth, the dragon is the coldest. Therefore, every sin is cold; but divine [things, as it seems, are warm].
is cold; but divine things, as it seems, are hot. *He who makes his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire.* And, *I have come to cast fire upon the earth*, and, *fervent in spirit*. That sinners are by pits, it says in Exodus: *God smote from the face of Pharaoh, who sits upon the throne, even unto the firstborn of the captive woman, who was in the pit.* Thus, those who descend into the pit are sinners and captives. But the good God calls these also, and gives forgiveness. *For the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for which cause he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind.* V. 2. *Hear, O Lord, the voice of my supplication, when I pray to thee.* B To those to whom something is still lacking, this is supplication. But when, recognizing the majesty of God, I ask something of God, then I pray (make a request). When I become more and more a friend, then I give thanks to God. For even Paul, proceeding from lesser to greater things, says: *I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made.* V. 2. *In the lifting up of my hands to thy holy temple.* Hands raised for religious actions are stored up in heaven; through which one conquers the intellectual Amalek: as Moses, when he lifted up his hands, the people conquered; but when he let them down, Amalec [conquered]. Let us not, therefore, lower our hands, because we will be conquered. C V. 5. *Because they have not understood the works of the Lord, and the works of his hands.* For no one is blameless who has not considered the works of the Lord. *For the firmament declares the work of his hands.* For it grants, in proportion, to behold the Creator of this. V. 7. *And my flesh has re-flourished.* But what flesh has re-flourished? *All flesh shall see the salvation of God.*
PSALM XXXVI
V. 1. *Do not irritate regarding those who do evil, neither envy those who work iniquity.* To envy and to irritate differ. For "to irritate" (*exstimulare*) is said of a provoking and moving to jealousy, such as that: *They have provoked me to jealousy with that which is not God*; that is, they have moved in me zeal, and have provoked me as it were to anger by their idol-worship. D But "to envy" (*zelare*) is to desire to possess for oneself what one deems a neighbor possesses as a good. Therefore, it says this: Do not irritate another who is doing evil, so that he may rise up against you. Or, Do not do such things, that he might accept an evil zeal against you, seeing that he is laying snares for you. For instance: If the maidens were singing the hymn according to the intent of David, *David has struck in his ten thousands*; he himself was the one inciting those who were doing evil, namely Saul. And do not, in turn, imitate or exalt those...A of this kind, seeing them prospering. For they bloom for a little while, then they wither. *For all flesh is grass*. What then do they have that is worth the zeal of those who, having bloomed for a little while, are thrust into the oven tomorrow, as the Savior says? For one would not say that the passing prosperity of those doing evil is in any way worthy of being envied by those who desire to live worthily. One should rather consider in what end the choosing to live wickedly will issue. Do not, therefore, he says, envy people of this sort, nor be provoked into imitating those who love sins, even if they appear to have the delights of this present life. Flee, therefore, such inclinations of soul, considering what things are to come; for things will not be perpetual in these matters. Therefore he adds: *For like the grass they shall quickly wither, and like the green herbs they shall quickly fall*. B
V. 3. *Hope in the Lord, and do good; and dwell upon the land, and thou shalt be fed on its wealth*.
This means: love to be approved and righteous; thirst for the possession of sacred charisms; love what is honored among the saints and stored up with God as if in a treasury. And *do good*; as if He were saying to the field: Produce this fruit. Thus to you, the hearer of divine teachings, the Word says: Give to the field; do good, which is one of the fruits of the Spirit. The name of goodness in this place signifies every mode of virtue. And *dwell upon the land*, applying yourself to the care and cultivation of the soul: *For whatever a man may sow, that he shall also reap*. Perhaps he calls the divinely inspired Scripture the land, in which are the riches of the saints, that is to say, the promises. He also admonishes us to pursue the divine sayings continually, with love for the good things that are stored away in them for the saints. Or he has placed C *dwell* instead of *thou shalt dwell*; and he calls that land the one clearly promised to the meek; since, having been in it, you shall be fed, he says, on its wealth. Now the wealth of the city above is the abundant bounty of divine gifts. Perhaps he likens this temporary life to a tabernacle; and he wishes us to use it as a tabernacle for the journey, ruling over it—not being ruled by it—and using it for what is useful, not for what is merely pleasurable. For in this way we shall be fed by the good Shepherd, if we gather the fruits of such riches of divine dogmas, so as to say: *The Lord shepherds me, and there is nothing I shall lack*.
V. 4. *Delight thyself in the Lord, and He shall give thee the petitions of thy heart*.
It is the custom of Scripture to introduce two men; and almost everything that the inferior D has, the superior one also has. For there is a certain food also of the inner man, concerning which it is said: *Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word proceeding through the mouth of God*. There is also a certain drink: for we drink from the spiritual rock that follows us. And a garment: whence the sinner has put on a curse like a garment.
A Just so, the righteous man puts on the Lord Jesus, and the bowels of mercy, and the whole armor of God. In the same way, he who merely hears his hortatory words is nourished; but he who has given himself over to the interpretation of the law, the explanation of the prophets, the solution of evangelical parables, and the exposition of the apostolic discourses, finds his delight in the Lord; and he eats not out of necessity, nor merely for nourishment. He teaches us, therefore, to find our delight in the Lord. For God, desiring from the beginning that we should take spiritual delight, planted the paradise of delight, and bestowed the torrent of delight. But no one is able to take delight both in the flesh and in the spirit. For if he has taken delight in the flesh, like that rich man, he shall be deprived of the delight with Abraham; but if he has eaten the bread of affliction, like that poor man, he takes delight there and finds rest.
B Another way. The Lord is righteousness, truth, wisdom, sanctification. If, therefore, you also delight yourself in the speculations of wisdom and in the actions of righteousness, that saying is fulfilled: "Delight yourself in the Lord." Delights, then, signify having the indwelling God the Word, who is the bread of life, who makes all things alive; and having him within ourselves, we shall receive all our petitions—not simply, but the petitions of the heart. You will understand what is being said if you use prosopopoeia for each of the members of the body, and see how they each make requests according to their nature. So, if the eye had a voice, it would say to you: "I ask for light, I ask to see colors suitable to me." The hearing: "I ask for a melodious, sweet voice." The taste: "I ask for sweet things; I flee from the bitter." The touch: "I ask to touch smooth, tender, pleasant things; not fire, not rough things, not those that prick." Just as, therefore, for each of the organs of sense there is a request and a flight that is appropriate—the eye asking for light, the sense of smell for fragrance, the hearing for melody, and so on for the rest—so too does the heart [await] the thoughts which we shall receive from the Lord, if we have nothing foreign to his delight in our hearts. Then we shall be able to reveal our way to him. For the God of all looks upon the holy manner of life of those who worship him; but he turns away from the ways of those who have chosen not to live rightly. Whence he adds:
C V. 5. "Reveal your way to the Lord, and hope in him, and he will act." V. 6. "And he will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your judgment as the noonday." (64) Walk, he says, in the way that is manifest and pleasing to him, that is, showing your manner of life to God naked and unveiled; and "hope in him, and he himself will act." In the coming age he will make it manifest, and will display it, so to speak, in plain view for all, not allowing the beauty of your upright life to go hidden. For your righteousness will be clear to all, shining forth like the light of noonday. D
A For it says: *Then the righteous shall shine as the sun*.
V. 7. *Be subject to the Lord, and pray to him*. In this place, he calls the withdrawal from evils "subjection." For no one who is sinning is subject to the Lord. You might say: "Granted that I have already been made subject; what shall I do regarding my earlier deeds?" Pray to him, saying: *Do not remember our ancient iniquities*. Thus, it is not fitting to pray for sins before one is subject to the Lord, that is, before one has departed from sin. For for one who is still persisting in sins to ask for the remission of sins is an altogether irrational thing.
V. 7. *Do not be provoked at one who prospers in his way, at a man who commits transgression*. Do not imitate, he says, a happiness that arises from transgression, nor be provoked to wickedness, even if you see evil prospering and faring well, since one must consider that this age belongs to those who have no other hope. Let them be fortunate in it, and let them have what are considered goods. But we look toward the life of another age; and our hope is set beyond this present age. It is not possible to have good things in this age and in that one as well. For if anyone has them here, he will hear hereafter, when he is punished: *You received your good things in your life*. C It is necessary, however, that the phrase *at a man who commits transgression* be added. For, he says, the imitation of such men is to be rejected, and it is very profitable that we withdraw far from those who are to be envied. For they proceed prosperously, and are thus considered to have prosperity in their affairs, not because they make gains of wealth through divine judgment, but out of greed, and at times by snatching the possessions of others. Therefore, he names this "prosperity" as a progress toward the worse. But since many who live in righteousness, when they see themselves in afflictions, while the sinner is for a time prosperously doing well in all things, they become indignant and depart from righteousness—this being the height of folly—for this reason, the Word, teaching D patience...
says also that the fruit of righteousness must be awaited from God.
A V. 8. *Cease from anger, and forsake wrath.* It is a useful piece of advice, and most congruent for those who are subject to God. For it is necessary, he says, that we should be gentle, and very steady, and have good order in our minds, and that we should always cherish the success that comes from long-suffering, and depart from the waves of anger. For of the passions, some do not fall upon the many, and even those whom they do befall may cast them off as they progress. For this abominable passion, anger, burns and disturbs even those who seem to be prudent—not some, indeed, and not others; but I dare to say, all men whatsoever, except the perfect man, if such a one can anywhere be found who is perfect.
V. 9. *But those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the earth.* Since we are accustomed in a way always to rise up against the wicked, driving them toward a better life through the fear of punishment, and desiring that they be compelled by the gifts of God to live well and honestly, the psalmist, having shown the ruinous end of those who act wickedly, adds: *Those who wait for the Lord*—that is, those who through fortitude and patience live a praiseworthy life—*shall inherit the earth*, which is not a portion of this earth that is subject to the curse, from which he who works it eats in sorrows all the days of his life, but that earth which has been prepared for the saints. For their inheritance is that most beautiful city of the saints, the holy one above, whose distributor is God. C And just as the Savior is wisdom, the Word, peace, and justice, so is He also patience. For it is written: *And now, what is my patience? Is it not the Lord?* From whom it is necessary to draw and receive all things which Christ is said to be according to the Scriptures. For just as by participation in Him we become just, and wise, and peaceable, so also by participation in Him we become patient. Keep quiet, therefore, waiting and expecting God, not at all perturbed by present things.
V. 11. *But the meek shall inherit the earth.* Let those from the sect of Valentinus and certain others, imagining that the Savior says things not spoken of in the ancient Scriptures, be refuted from this point, hearing: *Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth*; which had been spoken also before through David by the same Spirit. D With exceeding wisdom, David opposes the punishments of the impious with the rewards of the saints. Through these things, he provokes them toward the desire for spiritual nobility, through which it might become possible to achieve every manner of virtue. Therefore he says: *But the meek shall inherit the earth*, meaning the one above. For if there is in the heavens, according to Paul, a Jerusalem and Mount Sion, it is consequent that we should conceive of an earth there also, which they shall inherit.
A those who have conquered the destructive passion, anger, which destroys even the wise. For they are hindered from acting according to virtue. By contrast, meekness and anger are diametrically opposed to one another. For where there is anger, there is no meekness; and where there is meekness, there is no anger whatsoever.
V. 12. *The sinner shall watch the righteous, and shall gnash upon him with his teeth.* V. 13. *But the Lord shall laugh at him, for He foresees that his day shall come.*
From this passage, we learn that just as by nature darkness and light are opposed to each other, so too is the sinner to the righteous. If, therefore, you ever see the righteous being hated, do not fear to say of the one who hates him that he is a sinner. For those who mind earthly things, and have bound their own minds to the turmoil of this present life, are always in some way raging against those who lead a pious and chosen life; they consider an enemy the one who pursues justice with love.
V. 14. *The sinners have drawn the sword: they have bent their bow, to cast down the poor and needy, to slay the upright in heart.*
Just as there is a certain armor of God, so there is a certain armor of the devil, which his soldier puts on: the breastplate of injustice, the helmet of destruction, the shield of unbelief, the sword of the evil spirit, which the sinner draws, whose feet run to injustice. B There is a certain preparation of the Gospel, and there is also a footwear most ready for sin. Here, therefore, "they have drawn the sword," because they have sin at hand, and are ready to commit it: they hide in the sheath of sin the sword of the evil spirit. The arrow of the righteous is Jesus Christ. "Thou hast set me as a chosen arrow." The speech of sinners is an arrow; it has the poison of sin: it wounds him who is not armed with the shield of faith. They know that they cannot cast down the rich man who is rich in wisdom and in good works. For this reason, they do not even attack him at all. But their entire plot is against the poor man, because the price of the redemption of a man’s soul is his own riches; but the poor man does not withstand threats. C It is good, therefore, not to have the sword of sin; secondly, if one has it, not to draw it, but to make it quiet. For while it is at rest, it not only contracts rust and is blunted, but at length it vanishes altogether. And we have no need of fire, where the work of each one is tested: though it does not touch Peter, but he hears: *If thou pass through the fire, the flame shall not burn thee*; but the lake of fire does indeed touch sinners, just as the Red Sea overwhelmed the Egyptians, but not the Hebrews. However, just as the Savior is a chosen arrow, and the holy ones of God are arrows like the Savior, wounding with the chosen arrow, so that the one wounded may say, "I am wounded with love"; D so the Antichrist is the arrow of the evil one. And all sinners are arrows of the devil, with which
A he makes use against the just. Behold the woman, and they have laid snares for you. Is it not a fiery dart, having fire in its mouth, so that it may speak and burn you, in the hand, in the whole body, in the whole soul? And just as God sets the bow in the cloud, that it might calm the storm, and no flood occur; so on the contrary, the evil one uses a bow, that he might cause the serenity to cease from the soul, and extinguish peace, and stir up war, and create a storm. Perhaps the poor and needy are the brothers of the upright in heart, the poor in spirit, whom the demons seek to overthrow. If you see someone scandalized and subject to sin, take heed that this one has been slaughtered, and his blood flows, which God requires. For his vital faculty has perished: yet God requires it from brother and beast; from the believer who causes the scandal, that is to say, and from the one alien to the faith, and from the hand of the scout B.
(72) But these things may perhaps have been spoken too curiously. The Psalmist, however, illustrates everything already said, namely: *The sinner considers the just man*. For just as if on a tablet he clearly depicts him as wrathful, and brings him in as if arrayed in battle, and shows him as killing, drawing the sword, and already shooting with the bow, and makes his injustice evident. For the goal proposed to the sinner is not to take vengeance on any one of those who have injured him, or offended him in some way, and have given him reasonable excuses for war; but he strives to strike down the poor man, that is, the gentle and moderate man, and him who is humble in heart, whom the Savior also called poor in spirit, and says is worthy of the kingdom of heaven. What reason then have sinners against the upright in heart, and the poor in spirit? None at all. For they have injured them in nothing by directing their own ways toward justice. C But he sharpens against them, I think, what might be called a completely vain and indefensible envy, kindled in them by diabolical depravity.
V. 15. *Let their sword enter into their own hearts; and their bows be broken.* Just as the peace of the just man returns to him; so may the sword of the ungodly enter into his heart, if he guards himself, he who is upright in heart.
V. 16. *Better is a little to the just man than the great riches of sinners.* This expression has, from the letter itself, something useful for the simpler-minded; but it also has something said more secretively for the sake of those who know how to understand Scripture more profoundly. What is said more simply is this: Both the just and the unjust seek the requirements of life. But those seek only so much as they have need of, just as justice allows; and they either do not provide for themselves, or they acquire without injustice, coloring what they earn with the brilliance of justice. But the others are entirely intent on gain, that they may possess many things, D not asking if they will acquire them rightly. Since there are two things proposed, the little one and...
A with justice, and the large one with injustice: *Better is a little for the righteous than the great wealth of sinners* (Ps. XXXVI, 16). Let us also see what is derived more remotely from this. It is better to be a simple layman, unable to open his mouth, than to become rich in eloquent speech and learning in wickedness and infidelity.
V. 17. *For the arms of the sinners shall be broken: but the Lord upholdeth the righteous.*
If you see the vigor and power of the impious man broken, so that he cannot stretch forth his hand for a good work (for it is broken), you will see fulfilled that which is said: *The arms of the sinners shall be broken.* And the one who breaks them is the devil. Every man, however, is weak, and as far as he himself is concerned, he falls and needs the one who sustains those who fall B and raises up those who are cast down.
V. 21. *The sinner borroweth, and will not pay; but the righteous showeth mercy and giveth.*
In a more sublime interpretation: When Paul, or any other of the instructors of sacred things, teaches, the hearers borrow the approved silver at the mouth of Paul. And the righteous man indeed renders the interest, and says: "You gave me a mina; behold, I have made ten minas" (Lk. xix, 16). "You gave me five talents; behold, I have ten" (Mt. xxv, 20). But the sinner spends everything. It is not permitted to lend one's own, that is, to teach as the heretics do; but [to lend] the approved silver of God, as the one who says: *Or do you seek proof of Christ speaking in me?* (II Cor. xiii, 3). Indeed, the principal must be returned with interest in the form of conduct and C action. Otherwise, it is better not to lend at all, especially things that are from the Lord's treasury, rather than that the king's riches should be lost by us.
V. 22. *For they that bless him shall inherit the earth; and they that curse him shall utterly perish.*
It is similar to that which was said to Abraham: *Those who bless you I will bless, and those who curse you I will curse* (Gen. xii, 3). Therefore, if God shows mercy and gives, those who for this reason glorify Him, that is to say, bless Him, will be heirs of the land promised to the saints, and they will receive the land good and vast, which has no account of a center or a point. There is danger, however, while we curse the righteous man, lest we suffer final destruction. For the Lord says to the righteous man: *I will be an enemy to your enemies, and I will stand against your adversaries* (Ex. xxiii, 22). And just as He says, *You fed this one, you fed me* (cf. Mt. xxv, 37, 40); so it was consistent to say: D You insulted this one, you insulted me. But they curse God who have not known Him, and even against His glory they repeatedly utter blasphemous words, to such a degree that they do not even bear to give thanks to Him for the benefits with which they have been heaped. Therefore, the nations bless Christ, for which reason they inherit the kingdom; but the Jews, blaspheming Him, perish forever.
A V. 23. *The steps of a man are directed by the Lord, and he shall greatly desire his way.*
As if he were His own child, he says, God takes hold of the hand and leads him to the straight path, not allowing him to walk crookedly, nor to make the tracks of his life winding; but [leads him] to proceed straight in every good work, teaching and directing them, according to that word: *You have held my right hand, and in your counsel you have guided me.* When, however, the steps of a man are directed by the Lord, then he shall desire his way. B (77) The expression is ambiguous. For either the Lord desires the way of the one whose steps are being directed, and accepts the journey he makes according to the law, not desiring the way of the impious or those walking crookedly; or he himself, whose steps are directed by the Lord, desires the way of the Lord, tasting, while his steps are being directed, the sweetness of the way in which he is being directed by the Lord. It is perhaps better to understand, however, that the Lord will desire the way of the man—that is, He will make it desirable and will accept it. For just as He has the ways of the lawless as undesired, so He makes the ways of those who do good desirable. And that which pleases God is altogether excellent and full of every praise. For God would not desire what was not such. But those from the heretical sects are indeed in steps, yet they are not directed by the Lord, but twisted by the evil one; they turn aside to the right and left, not content with simple faith, but thinking more deeply, though not more truly. Their way the Lord does not desire, since their steps are not the steps of men, but of a wild beast or a serpent or a beast of burden. C
V. 24. *When he falls, he shall not be dashed down, because the Lord supports his hand.*
Those who wrestle in the contests sometimes fall at first, but they win in the three turns. Regarding these things one might say, according to what pertains to bodily matters: He has fallen, but he was not dashed down, for he conquered after he fell. If you see a man overcome, and after he is overcome he does not surrender himself to licentiousness for the working of all impurity, but rather rises up, being reminded of the Scripture: *Shall he who has fallen, not rise? Or he who turns away, shall he not turn back?* say that, when such a man has fallen, he is not dashed down. But if after falling he collapses in spirit, then he is dashed down. It is better, therefore, for the athlete to be entirely exempt from falling, and so—if I may use the example—to be unseizable and unrestrained. But if he has fallen, let him rise. For those who have fallen are mourned, and those who after sinning have grown insensitive and delivered themselves over to all sin. D *Be crowned among men, in the beardless.* Have you fallen as a child? Contend as a beardless youth, and win in that age. In the womb, Jacob tripped up Esau; from childhood Daniel prophesied, and…
and reproved the elders. Are you unable to become such a one? Then become an athlete in sequence, like the righteous man who, even if he falls while wrestling or running, is not shattered, because the Lord supports his hand. The phrasing is ambiguous: for it is uncertain whether it is his own [hand], or that of the one wrestling and already about to be shattered, so that he does not fall entirely upon his face and lie prostrate on the ground.
Ver. 25. *I have been young, and also have grown old; and I have not seen the righteous forsaken.*
We consider age differently according to the inner man: child, youth, old man. Thus, before Abraham, those who were longer-lived than him were not called elders; but he was the first to be called elder on account of his virtue, and because his inner man had emptied out what belonged to a child. Hear Jeremiah: *Do not say that I am a youth.* Imagine something similar regarding David: "I was young," he says, with respect to my inner man. But having changed from a youthful and unstable disposition, according to which, being a youth who was acting youthfully, I was young, I arrived at old age, having a life without stain and hoary wisdom. And having progressed in this way, *I have not seen the righteous forsaken.* If you understand this corporally, it is false. But there are two abandonments: one is corporal, which harms us not at all; the other is of the soul, which is destructive. Therefore, just as we grow rich in righteous works, so much the more are we helped so as not to be forsaken until the end. For this reason, he did not say, "one who is being forsaken," but "forsaken." For even the righteous are forsaken for a time, like Job, so that the righteous man might be revealed. B
PSALM XLI
Ver. 10. *I will say to God: You are my helper. Why have you forgotten me? And why do I go about with a sad countenance, while the enemy afflicts me?*
Ver. 11. *While my bones were being shattered, my enemies reproached me, when they said to me daily: Where is your God?*
We do not all see how God shows mercy. Indeed, often regarding the things that come from His mercy, because they are painful, not having pleasure in them, we do not even figure them to be mercy. Therefore we say: *Why have you forgotten me?* But he who perceives that everything God brings, He brings for our benefit, will say nothing of the sort, knowing that God does this while striving for his repentance and benefit. But as we were saying, the repentant people inquire of God why He has abandoned them so afflicted and overwhelmed by sadness. What is the cause of such an abandonment? For it does not seem to be an ordinary one. He, therefore, who says, *Why have you forgotten me?* seems to be confident, as though he has done nothing because of which God would forget him. But that which is said about God, *Where is?* greatly saddens the righteous man, as it is indicative of place. For it is the height of folly to think that God is in a place. For place consists in bulk; but the Divine is free from bulk. These words of prayer also fit the people in Babylon. For it says: *Always,*
having obtained your providence, and now being stripped of it, I lament, not bearing that my enemies, amid the lashes and the bonds and the crushing of my bones, should say: "Where is your God?" assuming that I suffer these things because of my weakness. But more morally: When our enemies the demons, because of sin, crush our bones—that is, the faculties of the soul—then they willfully slander God to us as if He were weak, so that, turning us away from the hope placed in Him, they may take us as captives and slaves. And this they do every day, that is, continuously. What, then, must be done? Not to fall into despair, but to hope in the mercy of God, just as we are taught in what follows. B
PSALM L
V. 7. Behold, I was conceived in iniquities. Not in the womb alone, but because the works of iniquity took hold of me, those of murder, and those of the alien bed which I unlawfully despoiled.V. 8. Behold, for you have loved truth. The sense here is: You, He says, O Lord, being true and loving truth, wishing us to live in truth, will cleanse us from original sin; and You will so cleanse us that we shall be made whiter than snow; our cleansing, however, shall take place through hyssop; but the power of the Holy Spirit is compared to hyssop, warming and wiping away all the filth that is in us: for behold, I have renounced Satan. — *You have loved.* Wisdom is indeed the Son of the Father; but the uncertain and hidden things of the Word are the Word incarnate; and neglecting all these, I slipped in the slippery path and fell. But thus, He says, You judge: some You punish, others You crown, because You love truth; but when You love truth, seeing the weakness of nature, You grant pardon to those who seek remedies: for he who has been trained in the contemplation of truth, when he has known its magnitude, will have a perfect love for it; for those who have not been exercised in falsehoods, having become more perceptive, behold the admirable beauty of truth, such as Moses and Daniel were; for after they had been tested by sophistical words, ascending to the true wisdom itself, they received testimony from God that they were perfect sages; God having revealed to them the uncertain and hidden things of His wisdom, so that nothing remained obscure or covered in darkness for them. David also encounters this excellent faculty... C in a lowly condition: You have not only placed me upon the throne of the world, but have also honored me with the prophetic office, and have revealed the things that are soon to come, and have made clear to me things unknown to others—namely, the Incarnation of Your Only-begotten, and the salvation of the world from thence. D
SUPPLEMENT TO THE EXEGETICAL WORKS OF ORIGEN. PSALM LXXVII.
V. 30. Adhuc exsistente esca in ore eorum. V. 31. Ira Dei ascendit in illos, et occidit in pluribus eorum; et electos Israel impedivit.
A When the Hebrews saw the quail, they did not believe the divine promises, although God had promised to nourish them to satiety for up to a month. But, fearing that it might fly away or fail again, they "prepared for themselves," he says, "provisions around the camp." And the meat was still in their teeth before it failed; and the Lord was angered against the people. And the Lord struck the people with a very great blow. This great blow was the death of many, according to what is said here: "He slew in many," that is, in many people. But oh, the thanklessness! Before the meat which was in their teeth could be consumed, they were faithless, having forgotten the power of God. Therefore, while they were indeed sated in their desire as a demonstration of the divine providence toward them, it turned out for them, on account of their unbelief and gluttony, into a choleraic disease, by which many perished; the example of which was sufficient for good fruit, both for them and for those who look toward them.
B That phrase, "among the many," Aquila and Symmachus rendered as "among the fat and the more obese," thus designating the wealthier and stronger men of the people. For it is probable that they ate more insatiably for this reason. But according to the Septuagint, "He slew among the many," that is, many—whom David also called "elect," as being warriors. C These, moreover, were six hundred thousand, five hundred, and fifty, from twenty years of age and upward, excluding those of lesser age, the women, and the whole tribe of Levi. All of these God nourished for a long time to satiety; for he says: "Until a month of days you shall eat, until it comes out from your nostrils." Seeing the people desiring this, and wishing to cleanse them from their craving, He saw that they would not be cleansed by a doctrinal discourse, but only by the craving itself being turned into satiety. For there is a satiety in all things, not only of sleep, but also of food. Therefore, He sent them the quail for thirty days; but they, indulging too much in the satiety, perished by a choleraic affliction.
D I find that the people ate quail twice. Once, immediately when they went out from the land of Egypt; and the second time, as it is written in Numbers, when they spoke ill of the bread of God and called it empty—at which time also anger ascended against them, as it was perhaps lying dormant before they sinned. For since, after having often experienced the divine power, they had not believed that the most benevolent God could supply food to them, He both granted this and taught that He was capable of doing both things: both to bestow good things and to exact vengeance. One must therefore avoid gluttony, greed, and ravenousness: that is, the immoderate use of food, the fury of the gullet, and intemperance of eating.
so that we do not bury the mind A B.
It is by no means tedious to contemplate these histories also in anagogical fashion. God will indeed deliver us too, always, from the land of Egypt and from the iron furnace—that of sin, namely—that he might bring us through many exercises, through many miracles, through heavenly bread, and through water from the rock (and the rock is Christ), unto the holy promise. It is a great thing, therefore, for me, if, pondering the sea of this life and the waves that are in life, and the bitter and salty swell of worldly affairs, I may—having been benefited by God—see the spiritual Egyptians and the intelligible Pharaoh drowned; while I myself, placed in the light of day, am sheltered by the light cloud and by the illumination of fire, if ever dark and difficult matters befall one, while the world is shrouded in darkness and all things are filled with ignorance. C But I, regarding the spiritual hosts of wickedness, am again in the light, because of Christ the true light; and because of the cloud, which did not have its standing from certain vapors according to common nature—with the air being deepened by vapors through a misty composition and compressed in itself by winds—but was something more excellent and sublime than human comprehension; so much so that, with solar rays fiercely shimmering, it acted as a kind of wall, overshadowing whatever was beneath it, and with a fine dew it tempered the burning heats of the air. By night, too, the fire became a guide from evening until dawn, carrying a torch of immense brightness with its own light for the Israelites. If in the wilderness of this life, where much ignorance of things prevails, he divides his firmest word—called a rock—and abundantly waters me even to satiety, so that the flowing water may be compared to an abyss, together with the rivers of the spiritual valley.
D I, however, provoke the Most High in the waterless land if, after instruction, I sin again, forgetting the words that nourished me and the water from the rock, which is Christ. Christ is likened to a rock because he can neither be broken nor shaken. For the divine and most sublime nature is established in its own goods. Against this Christ the synagogue spoke, as if in the person of Moses, accusing him before Pilate and crying out, "Away with him, crucify him." And then they offended with a double blow, just as Moses struck the rock twice. For they killed the Author of life, and then they wished to persuade people that he remained among the dead. But the rock gave forth the stream abundantly, and watered the whole world. For Christ flooded the inhabited earth with holy and divine streams. He who gushes forth the divine stream for those who thirst, and pours out water from his side—the iron having opened this vein—changed also the bitterness of Marra, that is, of the avenging law, into sweetness by the acceptance
A of the wood of the cross and of the mystery upon it. For the letter and the law kill, but the Spirit and the spiritual worship of the Gospel give life. Whose dispensation occurs as in light and in day, with the Sun of justice our Lord arising, who turns us toward unending life.
God, having great care for man, also opens heaven to him and offers him celestial food, and He Himself leads him by the hand, becoming a light to the traveling, and guiding him into paths which human nature of itself does not know. Yet, He sends down the quail in the evening, but the manna at the first dawn, the example obliquely intimating to us that the lover of earthly things does not reside in the intelligible light; this is signified by the quail, which God reaches out to those desiring it, not drawing them Himself into concupiscence, but not yet bestowing the power to struggle bravely against the passions. But the manna was a shadow of the teachings and gifts through Christ, which come from on high and from heaven, and have nothing earthly mixed in, but rather lack all carnal abomination. And thus, the food of spirits is the right and unadulterated knowledge of these things, the administration of which occurs as if in light and day, with the rising of the Sun of justice our Lord, who fosters us unto eternal life.
For whoever eats the divine manna will be superior to every corruption and will pass over death. But He says, B "Let it be gathered by those who dwell in the same tent, and you shall not leave any of it until the morning." For it is necessary for us, who are of the same faith and possess the same dwelling, namely the Church, to be filled with our divine words, and not to keep the shadow after the manifestation of the truth has appeared. C For "those of you who are justified by the law," He says, "have fallen from grace." But having arrived through faith at the sabbatism understood in Christ, that is, at rest and cessation from sin, we do not reject as useless the instruction of the law which has been gathered through so many precepts, leading us by the hand to Christ. For we encounter the shadows given through Moses, so that we may seek the truth within them, bringing forth new and old things from the treasury. Or if you prefer, whatever we gather here in the preparation, these things we will find and be nourished by when we keep the Sabbath there.
Long ago, indeed, God gave bread from heaven to His people, which without any labor worked for every pleasure; for it was tempered to whatever one wished. Such is the nature of the Word that feeds the soul, adapting itself to the capacity of the one who is fed. If the law feeds an infant, it becomes milk; if a soul is failing, it becomes herbs; if a perfect man, it is solid food. Yet the manna does not come to us while we are sitting, but while we are striving outside the camp; that is to say, the body, in which the soul is enclosed as in a prison. For the soul must no longer be in the flesh, but in the spirit. But no one, bearing the image of the earthly man, can eat the celestial bread; for the natural man does not receive.
C It is concerning this food that you too were taught to pray. If, therefore, I partake of the supersubstantial bread, which is not excreted, which is not separated, but which grows into the essence of the soul, whenever I dispute concerning God, concerning Christ, concerning His divinity, concerning His indwelling in human body and soul, I am eating the bread of angels, namely manna. Finding this and marveling, I say in wonder: "Man? What is this?" And this utterance will become the name for the bread. Pray that God may send us sustenance unto satiety, not only that we may taste it, but that we may be filled with the words of life and be strengthened in them. But this is the primary food.
(88) When the Hebrews were once eating manna, they said: "Our eyes are toward nothing but the manna." For we remembered that we sat by the pots of flesh in Egypt. And we pity those men, as having sinned at that time, not seeing that these same sins occur in us also. Instead of the spiritual Scripture, we desire to eat the malodorous leeks, and the onions that dim the eyes of the soul, and the garlic—all representing sins that fill one with a foul odor—and to be glutted with the stench of pleasures. D And desiring the dissolute nature of the world and of bodily things, we crave melons; and preferring what does not grow into the essence of the soul, we wish to consume cucumbers. And because we reject the bread from heaven, which the prophets and righteous men—who are called clouds because their mind is carried on high—proclaim, and because we refuse to be irrigated by these clouds with spiritual rains, God will send us others: meat like earth, until it comes out of our nostrils and until it fills us with disease and infirmity, as we seek after the foul and tearful sin.
For those who enjoy worldly things are sick in their soul; for this reason they are also in cholera and disease, and in all evils because of their double-mindedness. But may it be granted to us to fast a fast that is acceptable, not nourishing the disposition of the flesh, nor becoming in a waterless place—in deprivation of all spiritual waters—because we do nothing that sweetens the goodness of the Most High. Now, those things which we practice or contemplate according to virtue and wisdom sweeten it. May we not tempt Him in our hearts—that is, not from the surface, but from the depths of the governing mind, doubting the divine power—nor let us seek food for our souls. I do not mean those souls that are according to the image, which are nourished by the bread of life, but those that turn into flesh because they are attached to material affections, longing not for wholesome and healthy nourishment, but for what is pleasurable and productive of disease. But may a table be prepared for us, upon which Wisdom sets her own offerings and pours her own wine into a mixing bowl.
15. C Nor let wrath ascend against us; that is, the spirit of him who possesses the power of seduction, who, like a precursor or a scout, rises from the darkness in which he had hidden himself into the soul through contemplation; nor let it be kindled D as fire from the fiery darts of the enemy. But may the windows of heaven be opened to us, and the virtues of intellectual and spiritual things be spread abroad… wickedness of Hades and of death, which do not prevail, according to Peter, against those who ascend to the gates of the daughter of Zion. And may the man who is in the secret place of the heart, who is according to the image of God, become a fellow-guest of the angels, partaking of the true manna and food from heaven, and not from the cursed earth, which he who sins eats in sorrows. Let those who hear these things take wings, let them be lifted on high, let them no longer be in the flesh; let them be in the Spirit; For they that are in the flesh cannot please God 16. But we must return to the history.
V. 44. And He turned their rivers into blood, and their rain-water D that they might not drink.
I know according to the allegorical sense many rivers of Egypt that are contrary to Christ, the true river, whose streams gladden the Church. But all the currents that are alien to salvation, which God, when He wishes to convert some so that they may go forth and drink from the rock—and the rock was Christ—causes to be turned into blood. For when I condemn the strange water and mindset, with God showing me that they are blood, I drink no more, so that I may not become a partaker of the rain-water of blood. Such would also be those who speak few things, yet nonetheless pernicious ones. But according to history, the Egyptians do not have water from heaven, nor does rain occur in Egypt. Historically, therefore, since the entire nature of the waters throughout Egypt was turned into blood at the command of Moses, so that even the fish in the water, changed into a fleshy consistency, perished, there was no blood for the Hebrews drawing water. Whence also magic had an opportunity, regarding the water found among the Hebrews, to simulate blood-like water. But in a spiritual sense, it is possible to see the same thing happening even now. For among those who are divided by contrary opinions, some have the drinkable and pellucid stream of faith, which they draw from divine documents; but to those who, by reason of a reprobate opinion, carry Egypt about with them, the water turns into a corrupting blood: and often the sorcery of deceit attempts to make the drink of the Israelites also into blood by the defilement of falsehood, that is, our discourse, and to show us that it is not such as it is. But the drink shall not become entirely useless, even if at first sight it turns red in appearance through error. For the Israelite drinks the true water, not at all turning toward the appearance of deceit.