exordium, “The festival is called 'of the Purification'.” Item, on the holy apostles Peter and Paul, the beginning of which is, “Good is the dew of the spring.” On the holy martyr Procopius, etc. In addition to this, Photius makes mention in codex 51 of Hesychius, presbyter of Constantinople, who wrote four sermons or books regarding the bronze serpent in a thick volume, written in a dramatic style, and which is filled with dialogues; a genre of speech which is somewhat more frequent among the Greeks, both ancient and recent; though more weighty authors among them use it sparingly or never [(n)].
III. [(Ex GALLAND. Vet. Patrum Biblioth. t. XI, p. VII.)] Hesychius, presbyter of Jerusalem, as the *Menologium Graecorum* [(o)] has it, “having studied all Scripture to the highest degree, he enriched his knowledge toward God;” having commented upon all Scripture, he attained it perfectly and was rich in divine knowledge. And with a few words interposed: “He drew from the fountains of knowledge and wisdom; whence he both interpreted and clarified all Scripture, and set forth profit for many. Hence, having become famous and admirable to all, and having served God in every way, he flew to him rejoicing.” That is: He drew from the fountains of knowledge and wisdom, whence he explained all Scripture with clear interpretations, which he also published for the benefit of many. Wherefore, having become most famous and admirable among all, after he had served God in all things, he flew to Him joyfully. To the same intent concerning the sacred erudition of Hesychius is Theophanes to be received, when he says under the year vi of Theodosius the Younger, of Christ 414 [(p)]: “In the same year Hesychius, presbyter of Jerusalem, flourished in the doctrine of the sacred Letters.” Furthermore, the same author refers the final day of Hesychius to the year xxiv of Theodosius the Younger, of Christ 433, in which he also writes that Valentinian took Eudoxia as his wife [(q)]: “In the same year Hesychius, presbyter of Jerusalem, died.” In that very year, Hesychius, presbyter of Jerusalem, departed from the living. Socrates, however, reports that the nuptials of Valentinian with Eudoxia were celebrated under the consuls Isidorus and Senator [(r)], namely, in the year of Christ 436. I would wish for you to consult Valesius regarding this passage of Socrates, whose opinion Pagius seems to have accepted less correctly [(s)]. Moreover, the distinguished Mazochius [(t)] discourses at greater length, as usual, upon Hesychius in a scholarly fashion.
IV. [(Ex COTELERII Eccles. Græc. Monum. tom. III, 521.)] Hesychius, presbyter of Jerusalem, a man powerful in doctrine and eloquence, a Father of the fifth century of the Church, wrote many things, exegetical, homiletical, moral, and ascetical, as well as an Ecclesiastical History, which is cited in the 5th Collation of the fifth synod, Pelagius II, epist. 7, n. 13; and toward the end in the Edict of Justinian on the orthodox faith. Many of his works have been published, including those in the *Catenae*, and many remain unpublished, which are mentioned among others by Ussher in his *Hypotheses on the sacred books*, and by Possinus in his *Commentary on the twelve prophets*. We ourselves have also collected not a few of them from various manuscripts, and we would promise to bring them to light, had not the hope of a longer life now failed. Wherefore we are compelled to hand over the lamp to those who are willing. Moreover, you hold a fragment of the Hesychian evangelical harmony in vol. i of the *Auctarium Combefisianum*, col. 773, and another further down.
HESYCHII HIEROSOLYMITANI PRESBYTERI COMMENTARIUS IN LEVITICUM.
(Bibliotheca Vet. Patrun. Lugdun., tom. XII, p. 52.)AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
To the venerable deacon Eutychianus, a sinner and servant of Christ, Isychius, presbyter, greeting in Christ. You have induced the reed to act as a trumpet for the spirit, and you have ordered it to cultivate the fat and deep earth, drawing many plows, and a mattock, which can barely endure the sand. But why this? If any of those who are accustomed to ask such things should ask you, you yourself will perhaps remain silent, since the investigation is too difficult and hard. But you will show your teacher Paul, interpreting for yourself that which you were asked: *That the exceeding greatness of the power may be of God and not of us* [*]. But what this may be, he himself interpreted again more plainly: *And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of human wisdom, but in demonstration*.A But on that account he obtained a certain small grace, so that those things which are impossible with men, might appear possible with God, when unskilled men serve His wisdom. As for what the argument of this book, of which we speak in this place, may be, it is necessary to inquire into the writer himself: for wishing to instruct those reading briefly in those things which he decided to ordain, he called this book *Leviticus*, as we perceive: inventing a name which at one and the same time might manifest the whole argument of this book: because the tribe of Levi was allotted the ministry of the sacred tabernacle, in which it was fitting that sacrifices, and the first-fruits of produce, and the oblations of first-borns be offered according to the law, and that all purifications whatsoever which the law commands to be exhibited for those unclean for any cause soever, be performed: this present book contains these things, and other things joined to such learning as this. For whether you speak of festivals, or differences of foods—which of them are clean, and which it is proper to call unclean—or the prohibition of illicit marriages, or of those having a blemish in the sacrifices, then the sanctification of the altar, both these and whatever else is written B in the present law pertain to the Levites. But so that we might not count up each thing superfluously, we shall make an exordium. Above all things, the discourse testifies to those who are about to read these things, that it is necessary for the interpretation to be drawn to anagogy, and for the hearing to be transferred from humble things to higher ones, and to search for spiritual understanding in the letter. For this does not contradict the law; rather, it defends and confirms the law even more—because we have undertaken not to fight against it, but rather to fight for it against those who resist. This, however, is manifest from the fact that enemies of the law accuse it most of all as being in many things helpful to nothing and useless: but we show the greatest utility of this through the anagogy of the intelligible. For let no one—neither one of our own, nor an alien—presume to criticize the interpretations of anagogy, nor the consideration of intellects, nor the explanation of the letter. For our own [side] has many open testimonies of such an exposition, and they are distinct: as, for instance, the parables of Christ, C in which, explaining the field as the world, the husbandman as Himself, the good seed as the just, the tares as the wicked, the reapers as the angels, and the enemy who sowed the tares upon the wheat as the devil, He called each of the aforementioned by these names. What then is incongruous, if someone, even now, explaining the present business of the law, should say that the ox is the man who works justice; the sheep, one simple and innocent; the dove or the turtle-dove, those living more sublimely and free for contemplation? But not even a Jew will be able to contradict an interpretation of the law of this kind: did not the prophet Ezekiel call Jerusalem a lioness, and its whelp Jehoahaz, who was led into Egypt? And again another whelp, Jehoiakim, whom Nebuchadnezzar led in chains, or, as the Seventy rendered, in a cage, to Babylon? But because the eagle with great wings is understood, what of the earrings…
and the forehead ornaments, the hyacinth and the fine linen, and other things with which God clothed Jerusalem, according to what this very prophet says? And what of the clay, in which he depicted the city? What of the iron pan? What of the bread which he ate, at God's command, made of wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentils, and millet, and vetches? Because it was necessary that not only those things which were spoken in parables, but also those things which are according to history be led to a more sublime understanding through allegory, Paul, writing to the Galatians without any delay, openly says: Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not read the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman. But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through the promise; which things are spoken by allegory. And saying this, he immediately displayed the allegory, for he says: These are the two testaments, one indeed from Mount Sinai, bearing children into bondage, which is Hagar, and the rest which follow. But now it is necessary that these things also be drawn in this same manner to allegory, just as the rest of the Scriptures: and not in the way that those things—while having great power from themselves—nevertheless receive greater utility through the interpretation of contention; so too the present sanction is, to me, small and minimal; and as must be believed, and not kept silent, this letter is useless or perhaps even harmful if it is stripped of its spiritual intelligence—many things arising from the letter itself, and various reproofs, as we shall find in what follows—unless one, fleeing to a more sublime interpretation, inquires how they might find satisfaction in it instead of the letter. Because of this, even the good law, or commands, and the not good, through the prophet Ezekiel God called it, saying: I cast them out of the land of Egypt and led them into the desert, and gave them my precepts, and made my judgments known unto them, which if a man do, he shall live in them. Behold, good and very good, inasmuch as they bestow life: recording [this], see what he adds again concerning these commandments: And I offered them, he says, statutes that were not good, and judgments in which they shall not live. But how can these be good and not good? Or how do they now bestow, and now not bestow, life? Or surely, who keeps them in the way in which they were described by the legislator, namely, in the spirit? For God is Spirit, and those who adore him must adore in spirit and in truth: He himself lives in them. But he who receives it carnally does not rightly judge the divine commandments as good: for he neither understands, nor uses them well. Hence those things which are good, rightly and not good, come into being, and one does not live in them: for firstly, they are ignorant of the life which is hidden in them, and secondly, the legislator did not wish them to be kept merely on the surface, save for a certain time, so that he might hold fast the stubborn neck of the Jews, who were in need of a heavier yoke. Therefore, the prophets call them a stiff-necked people. Isaiah, moreover, called the people of the Jews not only stiff-necked, but a heifer goading [the master]. Now if she who is goading thus receives the yoke, she is in no way tamed. And again: Ephraim is a heifer taught to love to tread corn, [I will pass] over the beauty of her neck, signifying through the neck obedience, upon which he placed the yoke of the law, so that the humbled people might willingly receive the evangelical yoke, as being light and sweet. But it is now time that we set forth the very letter of the law.
BOOK FIRST.
CHAPTER FIRST.
Vers. 1, 2. ‹And Moses called, and the Lord spoke to him from the tabernacle of the testimony, saying: Speak to the children of Israel, and you shall say to them: The man who among you shall offer a victim to the Lord out of the cattle, that is, offering victims from oxen and sheep.› That God does not love sacrifices, and what he commanded the Jews concerning sacrifices, Isaiah demonstrates, saying: To what purpose do you offer me the multitude of your victims? says the Lord; I am full of burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fatlings; and I would not have the blood of bullocks, and of lambs, and of he-goats. When you come to appear before me, who requires these things at your hands? Therefore, in a way, he renounced this which he had commanded concerning sacrifices. Amos says similar things: Did you offer victims and sacrifices to me in the desert for forty years, O house of Israel? And yet they had offered them frequently: but because they displeased him exceedingly, he considered them as if they were not offered. Jeremias the prophet also says the same: Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Add your burnt offerings to your victims, and eat the flesh: for I spoke not to your fathers, and I commanded them not in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning the word of burnt offering and sacrifice. But you will say: He himself commanded these things of which we speak, who also denies them; and why does he deny what he had commanded? Why? Because those who received them transgressed the intention of the giver. For when the law was subtle, and very sublime, and when it was therefore hidden on the surface of the letter, so that those searching it might discern it when they had first amended their own senses—for they were of a thicker and hard heart, and not yet able to understand the law of God.A Since however the lawgiver uses the greatest precision of words, he now also begins from this very point. The beginning in the LXX edition starts from that part of the speech which is a conjunction, which we are accustomed to place in the middle of an order of words, so that it may conjoin following things to preceding ones; for he truly joined the beginning of this book to the end of the previous one, which is called Exodus, in which Moses erected the tabernacle, to which the present things are rightly conjoined, since the work of one and the same God is contained in both. But the book of Numbers also, because nothing is called a medium between it and Leviticus, has a similar preamble itself; for it says: "And the Lord spoke to Moses in the desert of Sinai, in the tabernacle of the covenant, on the first day of the second month, in the second year." Therefore, the people of the Jews did nothing after the history of the Book of Leviticus, but before the history of Numbers: for they had not changed place, because they had not yet dedicated the tabernacle, nor had much time passed. B In the first month of the second year, indeed, at the beginning of the same month, they began to act. But in Exodus and Genesis, because much time had passed, the death of Joseph, and the exodus of the sons of Israel, it did not begin in the same way in those books. For it does not place the beginning of a conjunction, but one opportune for the dispensation of those things which are written there. For he says thus: "These are the names of the sons of Israel, who entered into Egypt with Jacob, each with their households." But without doubt someone will object, why are the books of the law divided, when they were not divided, as was said above, in time? But this is so that the size of the book would not cause disdain for the readers; for merchants willingly divide the sea and the paths, thinking themselves in a way to divide the labor. Furthermore, according to the LXX, it is written not that Moses was called, but rather called back, just as when the same, according to the LXX, commanded Bezalel to make the tabernacle according to the figure which was shown on the mountain. For he says: "And Moses said to the sons of Israel: Behold, God has called back by name Bezalel the son of Uri from the tribe of Judah, and filled him with the spirit of wisdom." Therefore, also now the Lord commanded Moses to describe the image of other intelligible and rational sacrifices, and most openly this which is called a calling-back, implies a certain dispensation of words, or of things looking toward higher matters. But from where does the Lord speak to him? From the tabernacle of testimony, clearly. C First indeed from heaven, because God is affirmed to dwell in it itself. Then we understand the tabernacle of testimony to be the present writing: since it was as it were a tabernacle, when the things which were said were images or figures of the following mysteries, on account of which it was called the tabernacle of testimony. But of these words, the tabernacle of testimony is of future things, providing them unquestionable faith. But what does he say, or to whom did he command it? To the sons of Israel, clearly, from whom he commanded him to offer from oxen or from sheep those who offer voluntary gifts: from either animal or beast, designating a man like unto it, who has nothing of sharpness, neither toward virtue, nor toward malice, but is led by another: such are oxen and sheep; for they are animals too accustomed to the hand, and easily following those who lead them in this way. And therefore these gifts cannot be of all, but only of the Jews: for even if they do not perform something of virtue, it suffices for them in no way to do wickedly. Regarding whom David was saying: "Thou shalt save men and beasts, O Lord"; keeping the first order for men, then granting salvation also to the rest. But that the lawgiver called this man, of whom the discourse is now, he says: "A man from among you," do not wonder at this; for it is possible for the same both to be called a man, and to do those things which are of beasts. D But David the prophet demonstrates this same thing by saying: "And man, when he was in honor, was compared to senseless beasts, and became like to them." But because we have learned of a certain intelligible Israel, and one worshipping the intelligible circumcision, just as Paul says: "For he is not a Jew who is one in the manifest, nor is that which is in the flesh a circumcision, but he who is one in secret, and which is circumcised in heart, in spirit, not in the letter, whose praise is not from men, but from God," let us fit to him the aforementioned sanction of the law spiritually.
VERS. 3. If his holocaust be an oblation, and of the herd, a male without blemish, he shall offer it at the door of the tabernacle of the testimony, to appease the Lord for himself.
Because God wishes for sacrifices from us for our own salvation, not having need of them himself, Paul sufficiently reminds us; for he says: "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercy of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing to God; your rational service." Therefore the pleasing sacrifice to God is the mortification of our bodies: for we gain in it both that we abstain from sin, and that we acquire virtues. But because some mortify their bodies most fully, others however in part, according to the condition of their manner of life and the mode of life in which they live, since these indeed are wise as perfect ones, others as children, that which is an absolute renunciation of the world, and a most full denial of pleasures, is called a holocaust: for one offers his whole self to God through the intelligible fire of the spirit, no longer earthly, but spiritual, and in a way a celestial effect. If therefore this one should be a worker of the justice of the law, which is according to the letter, the ox is rightly named, because the animal itself bears the yoke of earthly works, and the yoke is also the law. For thus Peter, when he was preaching in Jerusalem, called it, saying: "Why do you tempt the Lord, to impose a yoke upon the necks of the disciples, which neither we, nor our fathers..."
A were able to bear?" Paul is also a witness in speaking about this animal; for, remembering the mandate of the Law, he says: "You shall not muzzle the ox that is treading out the grain." See how this is interpreted: "Is it for oxen that God is concerned? Or does He say this for our sake, because he who plows ought to plow in hope, and he who threshes in the hope of gathering the fruits?" He wills that the gift, or offering, be male and immaculate: male, so that the worker of the commandments may in no way be effeminated or softened; immaculate, or pure, so that justice may in no way mingle with iniquity, nor hypocrisy stain virtue. But He ordered the gift to be offered at the door of the tabernacle of testimony, or, according to the Septuagint, at the tabernacle of testimony. Now, the tabernacle of testimony is understood in this place not only as heaven—since our conversation ought to be there—but also as our conscience; for in it dwell the thoughts which are to bear testimony for us or against us. "To appease the Lord" for himself. According to the Septuagint, however, it says this is also "acceptable." But why? It is evidently for him who is offering and praying in the sight of the Lord. For if it is truly acceptable to us, and our heart, judging rightly and adhering to no passion, proves the gift to be worthy of being received, then we are able to pray in the sight of the Lord—that is, we can obtain remission in the sight of the Lord; for God inclines toward the heart, according to what John the Theologian taught us, writing: "And before Him B we shall persuade our hearts: for if our heart reproaches us, God is greater than our heart, and knows everything. Beloved, if our heart does not reproach us, we have confidence toward God."
VERS. 4. "And he shall lay his hands upon the head of the victim, and it will be acceptable, and will be effective in his atonement."
That which we call the victim is called *karpos* in Greek, by which a specifically intelligible burnt offering is signified, because every commandment bears fruit, which is made a burnt offering through a spiritual conversation. Therefore, He also orders him who will offer to place his hand upon the head of the victim, so that the head of the victim may be understood in this place as the beginning of the aforementioned conversation. Now, he who offers it is himself accepted as the cause of such a promise for himself, insofar as he comes to this of his own accord: for he is offering a gift, and every gift is voluntary. Therefore, if he has transgressed his promise, let him accuse himself when he pays the penalties. But it will be acceptable to him, and effective for atonement, when he has proclaimed and confessed it, and made manifest the laying on of hands, because he offered this sacrifice of his own will, and not compelled by necessity, nor forced.
VERS. 5-9. "And he shall slaughter the calf before the Lord, and the sons of Aaron the priest shall offer the blood, pouring it around the circuit of the altar, which is before the door of the tabernacle. And having flayed the skin of the victim, they shall cut the members into pieces, and they shall place them upon the altar into the fire, the pile of wood having been prepared beforehand, and arranging above it the members which have been slaughtered, namely the head, and all things that adhere to the liver, with the intestines and the feet washed in water: and the priest shall burn them all upon the altar as a burnt offering, and a sweet odor to the Lord."
The Law is very laborious, and for this reason, it has a necessary spiritual consideration, so that the legislator may not appear to have used this subtlety of the rational victim superfluously. Therefore, observe first of all that He ordered the calf to be slaughtered before the Lord; so that we may not only offer our own conscience and our own conversation to God, but also mortify the body as is pleasing to Him, not intending toward an inferior glory, but toward things above—for this is what "before the Lord" means. But who are those who offer this blood? The sons of Aaron the priest; they C themselves do the slaughtering. Indeed, he who is to offer the oblation remains unnamed and not expressly designated. But they are called sons of Aaron because they immolate what has been offered and offer the blood: for to bring the oblation—that is, to promise—is for anyone; but to fulfill the promises, which the slaughtering of the ox itself and the shedding of the blood teaches, is not for just anyone, but for those who are truly sons of Aaron, as they have within themselves the dignity of the priesthood. For Aaron is interpreted as "ark" or "mountain." Therefore, whoever has built for himself the temple of God and an exalted temple with virtues, this man is truly called a son of Aaron, but also a priest. For if a priest is acknowledged by anointing, we too are certainly called anointed on account of the mystical chrism which is in us. Therefore, we too are priests if we have kept the dignity of the anointing, of which John also said: "And you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things." But Peter also called us priests, for he says: "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of acquisition." These pour the blood around the circuit of the altar, which is before the door of the tabernacle. There is no doubt that by the blood, the soul is understood here; since the legislator himself says a little later: "You shall not eat the blood in your dwellings, because the soul of the flesh is in the blood." We ought, therefore, not to spare our soul, whence the Lord says: "He who has lost his soul for my sake, will find it." This is to pour out the blood. But he pours it in the circuit of the altar, that is, into the body of the Only-begotten: for this is truly called the altar; just as all sacrifice is placed upon the altar D by the ministering priests, so the priests work every virtue of the soul in the body of the Lord—that is, in imitation of Him. Meaning this altar, Moses said: "You shall make an altar of earth for me." For from our earth, that is, from the mixture or mass, has the Lord's body been made.
A And again He says: "But if you make for me a stone altar, you shall not build it of hewn stones: for if you lift your tool upon it, it will be polluted." For neither is Christ’s flesh hewn nor fashioned by the hand of man, of which Daniel said: "A stone was cut out of the mountain without hands," because His conception and birth proceeded without the congress of man and woman. It is well added: "And what is before the door of the tabernacle of witness, in the circuit," so that in all things we might imitate Him. By the door of the tabernacle, we understand the teaching of the apostles as the door. For through it, an entry is made for us into the heavenly tabernacle, in which Scripture testifies that God dwells; which Isaiah manifests, saying: "Look down from heaven, and behold from the holy house of your glory." That the door is the teaching of the apostles, Paul shows most clearly, saying: "For a great and evident door is opened, and there are many adversaries," calling the teaching which leads to the knowledge of God the door, which those who teach diverse things oppose in every way. But it is no wonder if, when the Lord is called the door, the teaching of the apostles, which He Himself imparts, is called the same. In this way, priests ought to minister. With the skin of the sacrificial animal stripped away, [it is necessary] to cut the limbs into pieces, and indeed to strip off the skin, so that we may be despoiled of riches and other worldly things by which we are covered. For which reason the devil said concerning Job: "Skin for skin, and all that a man has, will he give for his life." To cut them up, moreover, signifies that our conversation may be approved through parts and portions; because even Christ, as Paul says, "according to the operation in the measure of every member, makes increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in charity." Then therefore B the sons of Aaron the priest (who these are, we have already said above), shall set fire upon the altar, as being those most fully able to kindle the ministration of the spirit. And how shall we have a fire that is never extinguished? By preparing a pile of wood—namely, the meditations and teachings of the Holy Scriptures. By these, the spirit of God is nourished and is continually kindled, so that it cannot be extinguished by the whirlwinds of adverse powers. Therefore Paul also said: "Quench not the Spirit; despise not prophesyings." Nor is it to be wondered at if we have taught that the wood signifies the doctrines of the Holy Scriptures, since we have read in the Epistle to the Corinthians of "wood, hay, stubble," signifying evil actions or doctrines. But some wood is indeed fruitful; for Jeremiah said of him who trusts in God: "And he shall be as a tree which is transplanted by the waters, and sends forth its roots unto moisture." That by fruitful trees the meditation of the Holy Scriptures is rightly understood, David openly demonstrates to us; for of him who meditates in the law of the Lord day and night, he says: "He shall be like a tree which is planted by the streams of waters, which shall yield its fruit in its season." But C "all the trees of the woods shall exult before the face of the Lord, because He comes." For those who meditate on the Divine Scriptures rejoice when they have recognized that He has come, who was prophesied in them and through them. To these He ordered to be added the cuttings of the limbs, the head, and all that adheres to the liver—or, as the Septuagint has it, the head and the fat. We, however, understand by the cuttings the soul and the body; for, as they belong to one animal, they oppose one another according to the operations of the passions; for the Apostle says: "The flesh lusts against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh. These are contrary to one another." Therefore, when Abraham offered a sacrifice to God, he divided the cow, the goat, and the ram, and placed the divisions opposite to one another. The head of every rational animal is called the mind, for which reason Isaiah said: "The whole head is faint, and the whole heart is grieving; from the sole of the foot even to the crown, there is no soundness in it." For these are said to suffer together too much, and our rational part, as dwelling in both, is fostered by the salvation of each. But it dwells in both—namely, in the heart and in the brain—because it is not fitting that the sober mind be divided, but that it be kept by the peace of God, as the Apostle says: "And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, shall keep your hearts and your minds," and that it should collect itself into one movement of body and soul. But the fat is not separated from the divisions without cause; for it ought to be considered that, as it is in them, it ought to be offered with them. But because the fat is said to be the most greasy and rather gross part of every animal, and from it our appetites for desires arise and are stirred—which is manifest from the fact that it lies above the kidneys and the loins, which are considered to be the organs or instruments of seeds and unions—He ordered it to be removed from the divisions, for it could not otherwise be offered alone. It is ordered to be removed, however, so that we may learn to use our desires not corporally nor animally, but spiritually, so that we may desire only spiritual things and extend all our appetite toward them, since "the animal man perceives not the things that are of the Spirit; for they are foolishness unto him." Therefore, Paul seems to call him "animal" who does not think much of carnal things (and therefore is not called "carnal"), but whose soul is occupied with vain desires and D questions—for example, in the measures of the heavens and the numbers of the stars and those who philosophize on such things, who seem to exert great effort regarding the soul externally. Because of this, James called their wisdom "animal, devilish, earthly," not descending from the things above, from which the spirit descends; to which the things of the spirit are foolishness; for they cannot understand them, because they do not examine them spiritually. Therefore, the intelligible fat, that is, our every desire or ap-
-A petite, he bids to be kept free from the spirit, and therefore not offered with divisions, but by itself. However, he also bids that the divisions, the head, and the fat be placed upon the logs to which the fire is subject, and which are upon the altar, so that we may adapt our whole man to the spiritual scriptures which have been spoken of concerning the intelligible altar of the Body of the Lord, living according to his imitation or moving about in it.
As for the intestines and feet washed with water, which the Seventy render: "They shall wash with water what is in the belly and the feet," by what is in the belly they signify the hidden and latent thoughts in the belly of the soul, because the belly of the soul is the heart. Whence also Jeremiah said: *"I am pained in my belly, my belly,"* to which he himself adds: *"And the senses of my heart are troubled."* But the feet signify actions, because the prophets were accustomed to call the present life a journey, so that David might say: *"Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord,"* that is, those who work in the law of the Lord. He desires, therefore, that we wash away both our actions and our thoughts with water, whether of baptism or of weeping, because we are held accountable in judgment even for our thoughts. For if he who is angry with his brother without cause is liable to hell, and anger is a movement of the soul, should not this also be subject to judgment for the action? But when he had said so much, he concluded his legislation in a brief point; for he says: *"And the priest shall burn them upon the altar for a burnt offering, and a sweet odor to the Lord."* Therefore, when our sacrifice becomes a whole burnt offering, then a sweet odor is kindled for the Lord: and when we have offered all things upon the intelligible altar, having become imitators of Christ according to our capability, and adapting our life or conduct to his imitation. For we have shown this to be the higher altar.
VERSES 10-13. *"But if the oblation is from the cattle, of sheep or of goats for a burnt offering, he shall offer a male of a year old without blemish, and shall sacrifice it at the side of the altar which faces the north before the Lord. And the sons of Aaron shall pour its blood upon the altar round about, and they shall divide the members, the head, and all that remains attached to the liver, and they shall set them upon the logs on which the fire is to be placed; but the intestines and the feet shall be washed with water, and the priest shall burn all that is offered upon the altar for a burnt offering and a most sweet odor to the Lord."*
He also says the same things now with few changes. But he who investigates the words of the Law subtly should understand that he commanded the Israelite to offer burnt offerings not only of oxen, but also of sheep. Therefore, not only he who performs the commands of the Law—for we have said that this is the ox, as being a laborer—but also anyone simple and without malice, to whom the sheep is compared, as Jeremiah says: *"I as a meek lamb, who is carried to be a victim, and I have not known."* Therefore, he too can offer himself as a holocaust to God.
B Verumtamen, when he had made mention of the sheep, he added another animal, that is, of the goats; for he says thus: "Of the sheep and of the goats." But how great a difference there is between goats and sheep, the Lord Jesus taught us most clearly while he was narrating the consummation of the age: for when he had placed the sheep on the right hand, he subjoined to them the blessing of the just, but the goats on the left, against whom he pronounced that terrible sentence of sinners. Since, therefore, it is permitted to offer not only of the sheep but also of the goats, and the oblation is called one of cattle, so also it is possible for him who is from among the sinners to devote himself to simplicity and, having become as it were a sheep, to offer his conduct as a burnt offering to God: for since nothing hinders any sinner from attaining justification, as the Jews did not think, hear what he said through the prophecy of Ezekiel. For when he had inveighed against the unjust in many things, and had said, "Let him die the death, his blood shall be upon him," he added this also: "But if he has begotten a son who, seeing all the sins of his father which he did, has not done the like to them, has not eaten upon the mountains, and has not lifted his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, and has not defiled his neighbor's wife, and other things similar to these, to which he added this end, this man shall not die for the iniquity of his father, but shall live in life. And you say: Why shall the son not bear the iniquity of his father?" Thus the Jews thought it necessary for the son, as if by hereditary right, to succeed to the father's sin. But for what reason did he command that sheep and goats be killed at the side of the altar that faces the north, before the Lord, when he had not commanded it so of oxen, but had decreed them to be sacrificed before the Lord? For the words themselves seem to have a certain contrariety and difference: because, although both be a sacrifice of a Holocaust, to them he distributes different places. It is not, therefore, to be ignored that, as far as the surface of the letter is concerned, the legislator signified the same place in both cases. For the altar of the holocaust, set before the tabernacle, was at the side of the door, so that the entrance would not be obstructed to those ministering in the holy places, just as it is said of the same in Exodus: *"And he set the veil of the door of the tabernacle of the testimony, and the altar of the holocaust he set at the door of the tabernacle of testimony."* Whatever, therefore, were offered for sacrifice stood at the side of the altar from the north, and thus the sacrifice was celebrated before the Lord, that is, in the sight of the holy things: for he calls the Holy of Holies the face of the Lord, because in them dwelt the glory of God. Whence he did not command the priest to enter into it frequently, except once a year. These things being thus, it was necessary for the difference of the words to be stated, just as it was necessary for contemplation. For because we have said the altar is Christ, and the sacrifice of the sheep is the simplicity of those who are studying, not absolutely, however, those also who are performing justice, it is offered not directly [in front] of the intelligible altar, but from the side. For it is directly in front, because
the path is clear, but from the side, because [it is attained] by turning away from evil. Why? Because just as in a royal hall, for example, it is indeed better to enter through the straight door, but when this is not easy, it is good also to enter through that which is at the side: so it is indeed better to be offered to God through the perfection of the commandments, yet it is good also if someone offers himself by abstinence from evils; for to God, in whatever way, it is good to be offered. But he necessarily added "at the side of the altar toward the north"; for this part is almost always misty: for those who surrender themselves wholly to innocence are possessed by mist, that is, by ignorance, for which reason it is also called a whole burnt offering, even without the operation of justice. A
VERS. 14-17. *But if the offering of a whole burnt offering to the Lord shall be of birds, of turtledoves and of pigeon chicks, the priest shall offer it at the altar, and having twisted back the head to the neck, and having broken it at the place of the wound, he shall cause the blood to flow over the edge of the altar. But the pouch of the throat and the feathers he shall throw away beside the altar toward the eastern region, in the place where the ashes are wont to be poured out, and he shall break its wings, and shall not cut it, nor shall he divide it with iron; and he shall burn it upon the altar with wood laid under it: it is a whole burnt offering and an offering of most sweet odor to the Lord.* B
Wonderful is the subtlety of the legal words, not only because it describes the differences in ways of life, but also because it signifies how certain ways of life are according to the law, while others are above the law. For those of oxen and sheep are according to the law, even though they are called voluntary. Why according to the law? Because even though it gave the power to offer the gift to the one offering, most rightly—for God established man with free will—yet what kind of thing is offered is no longer a matter of will, lest perhaps evil things be offered: it is necessary, therefore, that either an ox or a sheep be offered, that is, either to perform justice or to abstain from evils. For he said in the beginning of the book: *The man who shall offer an offering to the Lord from the cattle, that is, from oxen and sheep, shall offer victims.* But in this offering it is not so; for the difference of the birds is not enumerated in the aforementioned offering, just as if it were more perfect and greater, and surpassing the possibility of many. For birds are those men who are free for contemplation, not mingling themselves with earthly affairs at all: which if necessity happens to require, they soon fly back to things sublime, and are aided by that evangelical testimony which the Lord says: *Consider the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap, and your heavenly Father feeds them.* Of the same the Lord said: *The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed, which when it is sown, is less than all herbs; but when it has grown, it becomes a greater tree, so that the birds of the air come and dwell in its branches.* The man who is free for contemplation, therefore, and perfect in the consideration of higher things—for this is what the aforementioned things have taught—if he offers his way of life, or his life, as an offering, he should offer his gift from turtledoves or from pigeons, that is, in spiritual knowledge and gentleness, for it has need of this, so that the consideration of the law, occupied with vain things, does not exceed [the mark]. C And he did not take the turtledove and the pigeon without reason, but for the signification of the aforementioned [matters] the legislator assumed them; for the turtledove, because it has knowledge, so that by its example the people of the Jews might be reproached, Jeremiah proves; for he says: *The turtledove and the swallow and the stork have kept the time of their coming; but my people have not known the judgment of the Lord.* But the dove is clean and simple, and a herald of the presence of the Holy Spirit, such as those ought to be who have zeal for contemplating the Scriptures. For which reason the Lord also wishes the apostles to be simple, like the dove; for he says: *Blessed are the clean of heart, for they themselves shall see God.* But they must also be at leisure to meditate, whence Hezekiah says: *I will meditate as the dove.* One priest shall offer this offering, not many; for the contemplative life is not of the many, that is, that they should offer themselves with their whole mind, and think of nothing human thereafter, but should continuously contemplate celestial things, and relish those things that are above, where Christ is, as the Apostle says, *sitting at the right hand of God*, namely, of the Father; because, however, this is very rare, the Lord himself, speaking to the prophet Ezekiel, taught: *Search Jerusalem, and see: if you shall find a man therein at all standing before my face, I will be propitious to him.* And yet there were the sons of Jonadab, neither drinking wine, nor having houses, nor planting fields. But he seeks something absolutely more sublime, whence some offer the offering to the tabernacle of the testimony; but this is offered at the altar, the power of which you have learned in the preceding parts, that is, because it signifies the Lord’s body. But let us see what things are subjoined to these. D
*And having twisted back the head to the neck, and having broken it at the place of the wound.* Breaking it, clearly, from the skin that lies over the neck, not separating it much from the body, so that neither should he dissipate it, nor should he be again tied to it, which is signified by the broken place of the wound, or, as the Septuagint gives, the refraction of the head. For it is the same speech that Samuel used to Saul, when giving him the shoulder, according to the Septuagint he said: *Eat, for it was set aside for you as a testimony from the people.* Break, that is, crush by parts and consume. And therefore also now he did not command that the bird be killed, but that it be broken or crushed, showing how through parts and gently he should divide the true head, that is, the mind, from the skin, that is, from the flesh; whence he does not pour out the blood, but shall cause it to flow, or according to the Septuagint, drain it, so that by parts and perfectly he should despise the meditation or life of present things, as one who has offered his whole soul to God. For this is what it signifies: *And the blood drained around the base of the altar*, which is Christ: but the base of Christ is the Gospel, in which we have learned that we must especially despise the present life, as offering our whole soul to God. The pouch...
of the throat and the feathers he ordered to be cast away, that is to say, that one should be free from both inflation and the searching after superfluous things, and thus be cleansed: for those who A possess a richer knowledge are especially liable to fall prey to these passions, as Paul testifies: "Knowledge puffeth up." And again: "If any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know." Again, he himself says: "But the body is of Christ: let no man beguile you, wishing in humility and religion of angels, which he hath not seen, walking in vain, puffed up by the sense of his flesh." For Theodotion similarly translated it as a "bladder": *Aquila* calls it *sitlon*, that is, a vessel for food, because in birds the bladder is a vessel suited for inflation and admitting what is superfluous. He does not, therefore, allow it to be inflated, and for that reason ordered the bladder to be removed. Nor [does he allow us] to seek after things greater or higher than our reach. "Seek not the things that are too high for thee," he says, "and search not into things above thee." Whence he also separated the feathers from the victim, and cast them beside the altar on the eastern side, in the place where ashes are wont to be poured out. To the east, indeed, because that seems to be the place for the investigation of sublime things. But "beside the altar," because it possesses an investigation that is not necessary, but superfluous and harmful. He orders it, however, into the place of ashes, on account of the nature [of man], of which Abraham says: "I am dust and ashes." Therefore, through the place of ashes, the lawgiver refutes the aforementioned inflation, as it is something worthy of ash; but that which is worthy of ash remains down on the earth, and cannot ascend into heaven. Then he says: "And he shall break the wings thereof, and shall not cut it, nor divide it with iron." He gives a necessary command for both: breaking them, indeed, because it behooves him who desires that a sacrifice be made to God to crush and afflict his own members. But he shall not cut it, nor divide it with iron, nor make the bird like an ox or a sheep by divisions. For Abraham also guarded this in his sacrifice, when at God's command he offered a heifer of three years, and likewise a goat, and a ram of three years, and a turtledove and a pigeon; for he says: "And he took all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid the two pieces of each one against the other; but the birds he divided not." He guarded this prudently, and now gives it into the law according to the understanding of the precept. For a man who adheres to contemplation, and has nothing earthly, but is already wholly celestial, does not have a body in opposition to his soul: for his body and soul are indeed entire, but also his spirit, according to what Paul said: "May be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord." And for that reason, the division of members among them is superfluous, for it is offered entire upon the intelligible altar, and upon the wood D to which the fire is subjected: for the sacrifice is not rendered acceptable in any other way than by the meditation of the spiritual law, and then the holocaust and oblation of most sweet odor is found by the Lord, who always smells our sacrifice, and the life or conversation of each one of us, provided it is offered according to the law that has been given by Him.
C H A P T E R I I .
A VERS. 1-3. "When any one shall offer an oblation of sacrifice to the Lord, his offering shall be of fine flour, and he shall pour oil upon it, and put frankincense, and shall bring it to the sons of Aaron the priest. And one of them shall take a handful of the fine flour and of the oil, and all the frankincense, and shall put a memorial upon the altar for a most sweet odor to the Lord. And what is left of the sacrifice shall be Aaron's and his sons', a holy of holies from the offerings of the Lord."
Because he calls the soul the whole man, it is manifest from this point that he says: "His offering shall be of fine flour": wishing to signify, in the case of the whole soul, that which was to be done, he then also commands fine flour to be offered. But how could the soul by itself bring an offering, which it had need to supplicate, and for which it certainly possessed the necessary ministry of the body? But to ears that have been accustomed to the divine Scriptures, the discourse asserts nothing novel here. For elsewhere, too, he has called the soul the man himself, but [has called] the character simply "the whole man"; just as when, enumerating the number of those who went down into Egypt, he says: "All the souls that came with Jacob into Egypt, and that came out of his thigh, besides his sons' wives, seventy." But Luke also, when he was describing the voyage of Paul as he was going to Rome, says: "And we were in the ship all the souls, two hundred seventy-six." It is to be considered, however, C lest perhaps in this place he might have called a Gentile man a "soul": for because he said above to the sons of Israel concerning those things which are sacrifices in blood: "Speak," he says, "to the sons of Israel: If any man of you offer a victim to the Lord, of the cattle, that is, of oxen and sheep, he shall offer victims"; here, in ordering that what is outside the blood—the sacrifice of fine flour—is necessary, he did not say, "Any man among you," but, "When a soul shall offer an oblation," naming a Gentile soul, because they were animal-like at first, and those who could not have understood those things which are of the spirit; nevertheless, they are called to the offering, the just God pitying them, and saving them through condescension. Concerning which Solomon also says in Proverbs: "The just man regardeth the souls of his beasts." Therefore, his offering, who is in need of the riches which are of the virtues, shall be fine flour. For shortly after, when he arranges sacrifices for sins, he commanded that he who has neither sheep nor goat should offer turtledoves and young pigeons; but he who has not even these, he instructs to offer fine flour. For he is no longer saved through works, as being poor in virtues, but through the knowledge of God alone: which in the Law is named "fine flour," but in the Gospel "meal"; for the Lord says: "The kingdom of heaven is like to leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, until the whole was leavened," signifying the Church, which leavens the mystery of theology in the Word of the Trinity. This fine flour is spoken of according to the law, whence they also offer three tenths of fine flour.
A For the expiation of leprosy, that is, for the remission of sin, God commanded Moses. Therefore, so that the knowledge—which is still cruder and not yet full in the divine law—is necessarily called fine flour, but in the Gospels, it is called wheat flour, as having understandings that are more subtle and sublime than the law, Moses hints at this (for both wheat flour and fine flour, for the aforementioned reasons, could be called divine knowledge) when he describes the appearance of God to Abraham at the oak of Mamre, signifying the mystery of the Trinity, as he says to Sarah: "Hurry and mix three measures of fine flour" (Gen. xviii, 6). Although the knowledge of God is the beginning of the salvation of the nations, we nonetheless have the task of pouring oil upon the fine flour and placing frankincense upon it, so that we may mix the grace of God with alms and prayer: for these things can bring down to us from heaven the knowledge of God. A witness to this is Cornelius, to whom an angel descending from heaven said: "Cornelius, your prayers and your alms have ascended to the Lord, and now send men to Joppe, and fetch to you Simon, who is surnamed Peter" (Act. x, 4, 5). For he was about to deliver the true knowledge to Cornelius. But how prayer is accepted in frankincense, you will know if you seek and examine its power. For as physicians are accustomed to use it against internal passions and to heal the wounds of eye diseases, and if anyone receives its smoke while burning it, it checks the tears that come from infirmity: in this same way, prayer also accomplishes much, for it heals the greatest passions of the soul, and it heals the wounds of the eyes of the intellect, absolving them from ignorance and saving those who shed tears from that which is truly a sickness, that is, from sin. "Is any man sick among you," says James, "let him call in the priests, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer of faith shall save the sick man, and the Lord shall raise him up, and if he be in sins, they shall be forgiven him" (Jac. v, 14, 15). After these things, he orders B him to take the fine flour with the palm of his hand, that is, to grasp the knowledge of God by faith; for by the palm of the hand he signifies faith here, and he openly shows that that knowledge, or cognition of God, is acceptable to the Lord, which faith can grasp; and just as he who wishes to grasp more with the palm of his hand achieves nothing, for it all runs down and falls and he labors uselessly, so faith is the measure of the knowledge of God. For it behooves one to believe, as Paul says, "that he who comes to God must believe that He exists" (Hebr. xi, 6). And again: "Without faith it is impossible to please God" (ibid.). And to speak briefly, "everything that is not from faith is sin," as the same Paul wrote to the Romans (Rom. xiv, 23). Therefore, there cannot be glorification in infidelity. Consider, however, that since he orders the fine flour to be taken with the oil, he most clearly wishes us to perform almsgiving. "Give alms," says the Lord, "and behold all things are clean unto you" (Luc. xi, 41). But he orders all the frankincense to be taken in the palm of the hand: all of it—why? because it is always necessary to pray and to give thanks without ceasing, as Paul says (I Thess. v, 17). But who is it that takes it in the palm of the hand? According to the LXX, it is not said in such a way as to signify the one offering absolutely. For if he had spoken of the priest, clearly this would have been ordained just as it was in the sacrifice for sin, which itself was also made from fine flour. For there he wants that which is offered to God in the palm of the priest to be a memorial: ordaining something else further than what is now said, as we shall show a little later. But here it is not so; but once it is taken, according to what has been said, concerning that which the priest was offering (and you have learned that this is Jesus), he would offer the memorial of the sacrifice on the heavenly altar. The memorial of the knowledge of God, moreover, is perfect knowledge, of which we shall always be mindful when we have become capable of it; which is never destroyed, which does not destroy the one that is now, as if it were contrary, but shows it to be a very small part because of its own fullness, according to what is said: "We know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away" (I Cor. xiii, 9). And how it shall be done away, he clearly manifests, adding: "We see now through a glass in an enigma, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know even as I am known" (ibid., 12). The legislator necessarily called this sacrifice a "sweet-smelling odor" to the Lord. The odor in the Lord is His cognition or knowledge; and lest you doubt this, you have in this matter also the most truthful witness, Paul: "Thanks be to God," he says, "who always makes us to triumph in Christ Jesus, and manifests the odor of his knowledge by us in every place" (II Cor. ii, 14). Behold, in the meantime, you have known the odor of knowledge. But listen also to the "good odor" in the following: "Because we are a good odor of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish" (ibid., 15). Then the legislator says: "And that which is left of the sacrifice shall be Aaron and his sons, a holy of holies of the oblations of the Lord." The remainder, he says, is of that perfect knowledge or cognition which is hidden and stored up in Christ in the heavens. "For in Him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Coless. ii, 3). It is a "holy of holies" of the oblations of the Lord, for the knowledge which is left is partitive, yet it surpasses all other things and leads to perfection. Therefore, it shall be for Aaron and his sons. Aaron, however, is interpreted as "ark" or "mountainous," that is, sensing high things about God; because also the ark, as one having in itself the law of God and the oracles, can offer the aforementioned sacrifice.
VERS. 4. "And when you shall offer a sacrifice cooked in the oven of fine flour, namely loaves without leaven, sprinkled with oil, and unleavened cakes anointed with oil."
The intention of the legislator is admirable, advancing subtly through all things: for since he made mention above of the knowledge or cognition of God, lest by chance you might think that the mystery of the Dominical dispensation is outside of it, see how he explains it through enigmas, wishing to introduce the mystery of His birth, His cross, and His resurrection.
A His narrative concerns the cooked sacrifice, and calls it the incarnation of Christ, for He was incarnate to this end, that He might be sacrificed. On account of this, John the Baptist called Him the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Therefore, the sacrifice in this place, so that it might announce His birth, is rightly said to be cooked in an oven, that is, in the womb of the Mother of God, for that is necessarily called an oven because an oven receives both bread and fire from above, just as the Mother of God received into her womb the Bread of life, namely the Word of God, and the fire of the presence of the Spirit. For the Spirit, He says, shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee. When God disposed the covenant of the seed to Abraham, He commended this oven to Moses; for He says that when the sun was going down (here signifying the end of the world), a flame was made, and behold, an oven appeared B and smoking, and it passed through the midst of the divisions; on that day the Lord made a covenant with Abraham. For when the celestial fire, namely the Spirit, came into the oven of the womb of the Mother of God, so that He might kindle all parts of the world, then God disposed the covenant for Abraham, that is, for the nations, for Abraham is called the father of nations. If, therefore, you offer the gift of the incarnation of the Only-Begotten, which took place in the womb of the Virgin, it is not otherwise acceptable to God unless it is cooked from fine flour, that is, it is done according to the knowledge or recognition of God. For whence, from elsewhere, did we take the discourse on this matter, if not from the apostles and the prophets? Accept, therefore, the words of the apostles as the loaves, and those of the prophets as the cakes; for as the loaves are more suitable than the cakes for nourishment, so too are the words of the apostles more suitable than the words of the prophets; both, however, are unleavened, because they do not have leaven from other doctrine, for example, of secular wisdom, which is appropriate for heretics to approach. For since these strive to join external things to internal ones, and to subject the latter to the former—things which by no means can be leavened—they fell away from the unleavened discourses; but behold, the loaves of the apostles are made in oil, and the cakes of the prophets are made in oil: for it is written with concord both by the former and by the latter that Christ has come having pity on us; but the apostles do so more plainly; for Paul says, "For as you in times past did not believe God, yet have now obtained mercy through their disobedience, even so have these also now not believed in your mercy, that they also may obtain mercy. For God has concluded all in unbelief, that He might have mercy upon all." He calls the mystery of Christ's advent "mercy" everywhere, on account of which the loaves are said to be sprinkled with oil. But the prophets are not so, but rather as if in an enigma; for David says, "Mercy and truth have met together." And again, "Show us, O Lord, Thy mercy, and grant us Thy salvation." Therefore, the cakes are said not to be sprinkled, but smeared with oil. But guard also that subtlety of words, how, when He wishes that we should have mercy, He speaks of Him who C offers: "He pours oil upon it"; but this one, because he was to be sacrificed, signifies the piety of the Incarnate One. He does not say, "He pours out oil," but sets forth the loaves sprinkled with oil, for by these words He signified the Lord’s nativity; by the following, however, he signifies the passion.
VERS. 5, 6. If your oblation be from a frying pan of fine flour sprinkled with oil, and without leaven, you shall divide it into pieces, and pour oil upon it.
The sacrifice from the frying pan calls the passion of the Only-Begotten a dispensation: judging the cross to be assimilated to a frying pan because a frying pan is so strong that, when placed upon the fire, it itself is not consumed, nor does it sustain any corruption or diminution, but the foods placed upon it, as soon as they have touched the fire, even if they were harder, it renders them fit for eating after a short interval. So too the cross of Christ was so strong that it subjected every creature to the Crucified; however, His flesh, which was unfit for eating before the passion (for who desired to eat the flesh of God?), it rendered fit for food after the passion; for if He had not been crucified, we would by no means eat the sacrifice of His body. But now we eat the food, taking the memory of His passion. The Lord, signifying this frying pan to Ezekiel, says: "And you, take to yourself an iron frying pan, and you shall place it as an iron wall between you and the city." He called it iron on account of the aforementioned strength. But between you and the city, He says, that is Jerusalem: because they themselves, having offended at the cross of the Lord and having inflicted the passions, are especially separated from His D knowledge. Therefore, the mystery of the passion is sprinkled with oil, because, having pity on us, He sustained death for our sake. Which also, that it be without leaven, that is, pure from external doctrine, He wills. But he says:
"You shall divide them into pieces." So that we may divide the discourse into His passions, which proceeded part by part, such as blows, buffets, spittle, and the piercing of the side.
"You shall pour oil upon it." But just as He, having mercy on us, delivered Himself up for us to the passion, so it behooves us also to have mercy on our neighbors, receiving the Dominical passion as an example of this piety, whence He says: "You shall pour oil upon it," so that we also may emulate the bowels of the mercy of the Lord; for He says: "Be you merciful, as your Father also is merciful." For because he had proposed this chapter concerning the Dominical passion, the designation itself of the words demonstrates it. For that which he added according to the Seventy, "It is a sacrifice to the Lord," adding here this important point, which he never inscribed in the holocausts, nor in other things which he commanded above: here, however, he added: because the passion of the Only-Begotten is a sacrifice offered to God the Father, Christ offering Himself, as Paul says: for he says: "For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies to the purifying..."
of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the Holy Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God?"
VERS. 7-10. "But if the sacrifice be from the gridiron, it shall equally be sprinkled with oil with fine flour, which he who offers shall deliver to the hands of the priest; who, when he has offered it, shall take a memorial from the sacrifice, and shall burn it upon the altar for a sweet-smelling savor to the Lord. But whatever is left shall be for Aaron and his sons, it is holy of holies from the offerings of the Lord."
A The Lawgiver, desiring to teach us the mysteries aforementioned in some measure, recapitulates the reason for these sacrifices in these words: "What you shall offer to the Lord, whether from the oven, or from the frying-pan, or from the gridiron," that is, of the nativity of the Lord, and of the Passion, and of the death; for in these the discourse of His whole dispensation is completed: in these also the reason of His resurrection is contained, because He who descended is the same who ascended above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.
"Shall deliver to the hands of the priest." To Christ Himself, of course, who, after He approached the altar which is in the heavens, approached also by His flesh through the ascension; for He is never separated from His divinity.
"Shall take a memorial from the sacrifice." The abundance of knowledge, or cognition, as we have already taught above, which He shall burn upon the altar with Himself, guarding it for the world to come.
"But whatever is left." That is, as much as He has commanded us to know and to examine.
"Shall be for Aaron and his sons." That is, and to those who are able to think and perceive sublime things concerning God, He has delivered them, whom we have said are the sons of Aaron.
"Holy of holies from the offerings of the Lord." The Lawgiver, further confirming this same thing, wrote it; for all good knowledge is holy, but the Holy of Holies is that which can discourse of the knowledge of God as it is fitting.
VERS. 11, 12. "Every oblation which is offered to the Lord shall be made without leaven, nor shall any leaven and honey be burned in the sacrifice to the Lord. You shall offer their firstfruits only and gifts, but they shall not be placed upon the altar for a sweet-smelling savor."
He wishes one to argue similarly concerning the resurrection, the mystery of which He has not called a gridiron in vain, but through the gridiron He has signified death. And as we have received the Lord’s cross above in the frying-pan, so in the gridiron let us receive the death, but also the burial. For what the difference is between the gridiron B and the frying-pan, no one is entirely ignorant: because the frying-pan is placed over a fire now glowing and kindled, but the gridiron is placed upon burning coals that have been long ignited. Just as the Lord’s death was not the beginning of any passion, but was the subsistence of the passions which had already been wrought in Him. And the gift of this, therefore, is perfected from fine flour, that is, from the knowledge or science of God, which is from the Lord’s death; for it is fitting that Christ be called God even in death, yet none the less to preach Him as immortal who died for the sake of mortal flesh. Yet the gift shall be made in oil. For it is fitting that one disputing of the Lord’s death and resurrection should also add the reason of God’s mercy, which is the oil. For, having mercy on the human race, He both endured death and dispensed the resurrection from the dead. But if we have said that the fire which is over the oven is the Holy Spirit, and therefore the womb of the Mother of God signified the oven, but in the frying-pan and in the gridiron we have interpreted the passion and death again by fire, do not by any means distrust these things, for they are able to satisfy you, those things which are spoken of both. Because in the oven, indeed, the fire is sent from above, for from heaven is the ministration of the Spirit, of which the Lord was speaking: "I have come to send fire upon the earth." And John concerning the Lord: "He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire." But in the frying-pan and the gridiron the fire is taken from below, because the preparation of the passion proceeds from men who lie in their minds among the lowest things. But that fire is taken for passion, hear Jeremiah saying: "And it became as a burning fire, even raging in my bones." And again David: "The Lord will trouble them in His wrath, and fire shall devour them," C speaking of the death which He was about to bring upon sinners. But there is nothing to wonder at, for by spiritual tradition we understand those coals to be the loaves which are the cause of light and perdition. For Isaiah said that one of the Cherubim was sent, and took a coal from the altar, and cleansed his mouth. Also Ezekiel said the Cherub took from the same coals which were in the midst of the Cherubim.
He wants the doctrine of God to have no communion with external knowledge. For the Lord Himself clearly taught what leaven calls alien doctrine, saying to His disciples: "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees." But as they were ignorant of what was being said, He added: "Do you not yet understand, nor know that I did not speak to you concerning bread?" And then they knew that He had spoken of the doctrine of the Scribes and Pharisees. But that the learning of the pagans is understood as honey, because of the sweetness of words and the charm of eloquence, Solomon teaches in the Proverbs, saying: "Look not upon a harlot woman; for the lips of a harlot are as a dropping honeycomb, and her throat is smoother than oil, but her end is bitter as wormwood." But what is the "end"? When, namely, you begin to discern between true wisdom and the feigned, and him who uses a false name. For although in the Song of Songs it says of the Church: "Honey and milk are under thy tongue," it does not contradict the present, but even greatly consents. For it did not say "in thy tongue," but "under thy tongue," to show that the wisdom of the pagans, and the letter of the Jews, is subjected to the tongue of the Church, that is, to her doctrine. Therefore, of these D and to the man who was clothed in linen, he had dispersed the fire. But the Lawgiver, wishing to teach us the mysteries aforementioned in some measure, recapitulates the reason for the same sacrifices in these words, "What you shall offer to the Lord, whether from the oven, or from the frying-pan, or from the gridiron," that is, of the nativity of the Lord, and of the passion, and of the death; for in these the discourse of His whole dispensation is completed: in these also the reason of His resurrection is contained, because He who descended is the same who ascended above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.
"Shall deliver to the hands of the priest." To Christ Himself, of course, who, after He approached the altar which is in the heavens, approached also by His flesh through the ascension; for He is never separated from His divinity.
"Shall take a memorial from the sacrifice." The abundance of knowledge, or cognition, as we have already taught above, which He shall burn upon the altar with Himself, guarding it for the world to come.
"But whatever is left." That is, as much as He has commanded us to know and to examine.
"Shall be for Aaron and his sons." That is, and to those who are able to think and perceive sublime things concerning God, He has delivered them, whom we have said are the sons of Aaron.
"Holy of holies from the offerings of the Lord." The Lawgiver, further confirming this same thing, wrote it; for all good knowledge is holy, but the Holy of Holies is that which can discourse of the knowledge of God as it is fitting.
Non adolebitur in sacrificium quod est in holocaustum, primitias tantum eorum offeretis. A For he commanded the first fruits of that knowledge to be offered in part, but not to use it fully; but just as when Paul was preaching at Athens, saying: *As certain even of your own poets have said: For we are also his offspring* [Act. XVII, 28], finding an external word apt for the occasion of the knowledge of God, he did not indeed reject it, yet did not add to it, nor did he multiply testimonies beyond that. Why? Because *it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching*, as Paul himself says, *to save them that believe*, that your faith might not be in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God [I Cor. 1, 21]. On which account the Legislator says: *But upon the altar they shall not be placed for a sweet savour.* And whereas it might be said "they are not placed," he said "they shall not be placed," showing that even if we were to attempt to obtain knowledge of the divinity from external things, such a sacrifice does not ascend to the altar of God, nor does it become an odor of sweetness to the Lord; but such a sacrifice is relegated to inferior things, and, as having its subsistence from the earth, it is pressed down to the earth.
VERS. 13. *Whatsoever thou shalt offer of sacrifice, thou shalt season it with salt, neither shalt thou take away the salt of the covenant of thy God from thy sacrifice. In all thy oblation thou shalt offer salt.*
You see that when speaking of God he does not want us to use too much exterior wisdom, but the apostolic, of which Paul says: *We speak wisdom among the perfect, yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought; but we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory* [I Cor. II, 6, 7]. And from where is it certain, you say, that he spoke of the apostolic wisdom by salt? Clearly, the Lord shows us this, saying to the apostles: *You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt shall lose its savor, it shall be good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men* [Matth. V, 13]. And for this reason he called the apostolic wisdom salt, because just as every food fit for nourishment is in every way seasoned with salt, so every discourse useful for edifying has in every way necessary the seasoning of apostolic wisdom. For this reason he commanded that salt not be absent from sacrifices, but that in every offering salt be offered: so that whatsoever you shall teach, whatsoever you shall correct, and in whatsoever virtue you shall have lived, you may work toward apostolic emulation and imitation, and be mindful of Paul saying: *Be ye followers of me, as I also am of Christ* [I Cor. IV, 16]. And again: *Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone* [Ephes. II, 19]. But in that he did not speak of salt simply, but of that intelligible salt, the legislator implies: *thou shalt not take away*, he says, *the salt of the covenant of thy God.* But if the covenant or testament is rational, then certainly the salt is rational as well. Therefore the legislator wishes to admonish us of the evangelical and apostolic covenant.
VERS. 16. *But if thou offer a present of the firstfruits of thy corn to the Lord, of the ears yet green shall you parch it with fire: and you shall break it in the manner of corn, and so thou shalt offer thy firstfruits to the Lord, pouring oil upon it, and putting on incense, because it is the oblation of the Lord, of which the priest shall burn for a memorial of the gift, part of the corn broken and of the oil, and all the frankincense.*
He commands not only those who have spent much time in the same knowledge to offer the knowledge or science of God, but also those beginning it, as was Paul; for as soon as he was called, he preached. Therefore, let us understand what is now being said. B The beginner in God is he who has newly begun to believe, and who has hitherto offered to Him no fruit of divine knowledge. If, therefore, we offer to Him a sacrifice of the word of God, beginning his knowledge anew, we offer as it were green things, as one newly learning and newly perceiving: since we have not yet begun to set forth its mysteries subtly so as to offer flour or fine flour, it is necessary that we offer green and scorched and broken things, or, as the LXX say, that we offer fresh fried [ripe] and broken things. For just as when we wish to make moist fruits, which cannot yet be ground so as to become flour or fine flour, fit for eating, we break them with fire, and in the breaking we separate their husks: so whoever does not yet possess solid knowledge, nor subtle and lofty theology (for we are not yet fit to discern it), not having perfect knowledge of the spiritual Scriptures, we have need to break it in the fire of the spirit, that is, to borrow for ourselves its operation and subministration, that we may separate from it the husks of the letter. For from that we shall possess sufficient and very swift knowledge of God, for which reason the intelligible priest also receives it. Moreover, we must pour on oil and put on incense: for by alms and prayer the divine knowledge within us is perfected. Concerning these people, and also concerning the memorial which is placed upon the altar as the priest receives it, we have explained more subtly in the preceding. It is not, therefore, necessary to confuse the exposition now. For since "fried ripe," according to the LXX, are "broken [things]," the rest of the translators of the Hebrews explain it for this reason: they rendered "made ripe, fried," or "softened, fried in fire."
C D
CHAPTER III
VERS. 1-5. *And if his oblation be a sacrifice of peace offerings, and he will offer of the herd, whether male or female, he shall offer them without blemish before the Lord, and he shall lay his hand upon the head of his victim, which shall be sacrificed in the entry of the tabernacle: and the sons of Aaron the priest shall pour the blood round about.*
A We have sufficiently discussed the sacrifices of holocausts. But what those who wish to be saved must offer to God from their own sacrifice is necessary to inquire into and consider. For they offer from the peace offering for an oblation to the Lord, the fat that covereth the inwards, and all the fat that is inside. Or, as the Septuagint says, the fat that covereth the belly, and all the fat that is in the belly, signifying the heart by the belly: and he made mention of it for a second time in the aforementioned edition, because it has two operations, as physicians say. For through one part it draws in nourishment, which they call the upper belly, and through the other it discerns purgings, which they call the lower belly. The kidneys are indeed the instruments of the carnal seeds, yet they have a communion with the belly and the thighs: and for this reason he commands the first fat, which is above the belly, and the two kidneys, and again the fat which is above them, that is, above the thighs, since they are near the kidneys, to be offered, because the kidneys are situated between the middle of the thigh and the belly. In the liver, moreover—that is, in the hepar—he said that pleasure, or concupiscence, is established. Whence, according to the Septuagint, it is said that the lobe of the liver is to be offered with the kidneys, since the liver ministers the force of its operation in the kidneys. But what does he signify by these things, or what did he decree, who even now has opened his mouth in parables to those who wish to be saved? That it behooves those who wish to be saved to offer to God as a victim—that is, as first-fruits and holocausts—the intelligible fat, namely, desire, which in Greek they call *epithumia*, which first indeed covers the upper belly, then the lower: so that we may offer desire to God both in thinking and in fulfilling; for it must first be proposed, and afterwards completed. For which reason also Paul said: *He that desireth the episcopate, desireth a good work*. For the lawgiver speaks now of that belly of which Jeremiah says: *My belly, my belly is in pain*: he does not use the double naming in vain, but to signify the double power of its operation. And lest we think that physical necessity should be accused, he added: *And the senses of my heart are troubled*. Therefore the belly of the soul is the heart, in which we first propose certain actions, and afterwards we endeavor D to fulfill them. To propose, then, is to desire in a certain way; to hasten, however, to accomplish, is perhaps properly called digestion. Both of these are desires—which he called fat—which we must offer to God, so that we may propose nothing perverse, nor fulfill it. Well, however, does he speak of the fat that covereth the belly above the upper belly, which is appetite—because the greatest part of desire is concerned with appetite and with purpose. To the lower belly, moreover, he adjoined the two kidneys; for we have said that the kidneys have a communion with the heart: whence David says: *Test my reins and my heart*. For hear the Lord B C correctly; the prophet David sang: *Show me, O Lord, thy ways, and teach me thy paths*. Since God has sanctioned different ways of life for men through the law, and has arranged virtues in the manner of a ladder, so that it might be permitted to some to attain all, and to others only some, so that, however, everyone might be lifted up from the earth: this is what the distinction of sacrifices signified. For one person will offer a holocaust from us, wishing to offer his whole self to God, and as Paul said: *I am crucified with Christ*. Another will offer a sacrifice of peace, or a saving offering, who desires salvation, even if he cannot live in a highly sublime way: for even if someone is not able to attain to virginity, yet lives in chaste matrimony, he receives pardon from the Lord, who said: *All men take not this word*, when he was explaining to the apostles about virginity. But nonetheless, they are necessarily ordered among those who are saved. This same thing is true regarding the contempt of worldly things, and justice, and food with thanksgiving, because he is great who can achieve great things, and he is little—though not of the least—who can at least achieve moderate things. Therefore, to prove that there are two kinds of life for the justification of men, he set forth two definitions of voluntary sacrifices; for he says in the book of Exodus: *You shall make an altar of earth to me, and you shall immolate upon it your holocausts and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen. In every place where the name of my name shall be, I will come to thee, and will bless thee*. And he indeed commanded the holocaust of peace offerings, but he adds: *And peace offerings*, of the second order and virtue. Whosoever therefore thinks it sufficient for himself to be saved, he indeed will offer of the oxen (and we have said that those who are occupied with the things that are of the law are oxen); whether male or female, let him offer one without blemish. Indeed, he did not command him who offers a holocaust to offer a female, not in any way depriving the female of this kind of life, but showing that to be wise in a perfect way is properly the task of men. Even though this woman might be wise, she will be called a man, as being strong, of whom Solomon said: *Who shall find a valiant woman?*—demonstrating that fortitude, that is, perfection, is found with difficulty in women. The sacrifice of peace, however, is similarly for men and women, for women also must live in a manner, as is fitting for salvation. But for what reason are they commanded to lay their hands upon the head of the victim, and to immolate it at the entry of the tabernacle, and to pour the blood around the altar, in the sacri-
- fice it should be offered to God; but it must also be cleansed from evil anger and from such pleasure. For it is right that the motion of anger and the first fruits of pleasure, and the whole of marriage itself, should be offered by the extremity of the liver and the kidneys; and rightly can one offer his conduct to the heavenly altar, and upon the holocausts, and upon the wood which is upon the fire. For he lives according to the commandments of the spirit, and the sacrifice becomes of a most sweet savor to the Lord. For it pleases Him to perfect the fruit, not only the hundredfold, but also the sixtyfold and the thirtyfold.
Vers. 6-17. «If indeed his oblation be of the sheep, and a sacrifice of peace offerings, whether male or female, he shall offer them without blemish. If he shall offer a lamb before the Lord, he shall put his hand upon the head of his victim, which shall be immolated in the vestibule of the tabernacle of testimony: and the sons of Aaron shall pour its blood around the altar, and they shall offer from the sacrifice of peace offerings a sacrifice to the Lord, the fat and the whole tail with the kidneys, and the fat which covers the belly, and all the vital parts, and both of the kidneys with the fat which is near the flanks, and the net of the liver with the kidneys. And the priest shall burn them upon the altar for the food of the fire and of the oblation of the Lord. If his oblation be a goat, and he shall offer it before the Lord, he shall put his hand upon its head, and shall immolate it in the entry of the tabernacle of testimony: and the sons of Aaron shall pour its blood around the altar, and they shall take from it into the food of the Lord’s fire the fat, which covers the belly, and which covers all the vital parts, the two kidneys with the net which is upon them about the vital parts, and the suet of the liver with the kidneys. And the priest shall burn them upon the altar for the food of the fire, and of most sweet odor. All fat shall be the Lord’s by a perpetual right in your generations and in all your habitations, and you shall not eat fat nor blood at all.» A
Which ox he is to offer, and which sheep again, or which goat the legislator commanded, we have already explained in those things which were said concerning the holocausts. For we said that the sacrifices were compared to the conduct of those who offer them, and that the differences in the sacrifices were emblematic of the differences in conduct: therefore we showed that B the ox is the worker of the legal commandments, while we described the sheep as the simple, and the goats as those who were indeed simple but had been engaged in sins, yet had afterward been converted. But there he also mixed the sacrifice of the goats with the sheep, for he says: «That if the oblation be from the cattle, from the sheep or from the goats he shall offer a male of one year without blemish.» The Septuagint, however, read thus: «If his gift be from the sheep, from the lambs and the kids for a holocaust, he shall offer a male without blemish,» because the Old Testament reckoned the sheep to be a kind of genus comprising lambs C and kids. You will find, however, even in the prophet Amos that goats are called sheep; for he says: «I am not a prophet, nor am I a son of a prophet, but an [greek term omitted]; I am a gatherer of sycamores. And he took... D
Therefore, since the law calls some of them lambs and others goats, by the former, indeed, simple ones only and those who have sinned in nothing are signified; but by the goats, those who are simple, yet who have sinned and have been converted. It has been rightly handed down that the sacrifice of these is in some way one and the same in the whole burnt offerings. But when someone desires to be wise in perfect things, even if he has been a sinner, from the time he has chosen a perfect life, it is fitting for him to conduct himself just as one who has not sinned before. In the sacrifice of peace offerings, however, although he had observed the same thing in the sacrifice of sheep, as well as of goats and oxen, he observed this one thing more in the sheep—that not only the fat, and the reticulum of the liver, or according to the Septuagint the flap of the liver, but also the kidneys and the tail. Or, the same, according to the Septuagint, ordered the unblemished loin with the kidneys to be offered. For since the simple man omitted many things that he ought to have done, he must offer his own strength to God, so that he does not use his strength as a simple man for evil, but rather for good, and makes it manifest that he has omitted nothing of those things which he can know and perform. You learn that by the loin, which is used most in Holy Scripture for virtue, from those things in which Rehoboam B sent [the young men who stood around] against the people, that he might demonstrate himself strong and terrible: He will say to them: «My little finger is thicker than my father's loins.» But God, also wishing to arm the Israelites for virtue, commanded Moses as follows: «Thus shall ye eat it: you shall gird your loins, having sandals on your feet, holding staves in your hands, and you shall eat in haste.» Paul also, when he was declaring war against principalities and powers, said: «Stand, having your loins girt about with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness.» And the Lord too said to the apostles: «Let your loins be girded.» But even if we call the loin a cooperator of sexual intermingling—for the kidneys also lie in them, whence too Paul, writing to the Hebrews about Levi, says: «For he was yet in the loins of his father when Melchisedech met him.» Rightly are the simple restored, as those who, because of their simplicity, could easily be drawn to pleasure, so that they might offer to God not only the kidneys, and the fat which is upon them, but also the loin, which is in the kidneys. But what he adds in the same translation: C «Without blemish, entire;» understand it thus: Symmachus, explaining it, proposed «entire» for «unblemished,» but Aquila «perfect.» For even for this reason he added, with the kidneys, that entire and perfect one, according to what we have said, wishing it to be offered, lest one part of him be offered to God, and another, however, to the adversary. For it suffices for this man that he does not do what is of virtue, for when he works evil, he will not have pardon. Whence the Lord commands them to be simple as doves, because doves, in a certain way, have D simplicity, although they are clean from all malice. But he who offers a sacrifice from the oxen, as an operator of legal mandates, has no need to offer the loin, because he has obtained this in the correction of good actions. But he who immolates from the goats, although he is of a simple kind, nevertheless, because he is understood as being from the converted sinners, cannot offer an unblemished loin; for he had long since stained it with sin. It is manifest, therefore, that this man, as one who had not been in sins, can offer an unblemished loin. But he who had been, this one now does not offer the loin in sacrifices; since indeed it is ascribed to the goats, of which A he did not sanction the loin to be offered, and this was why in the sacrifice of peace offerings he distinguished the goats from the lambs. There are other common things, of which we have no need to speak, for it has been sufficiently discussed in the oblation of oxen. But this must be known, how where he says:
Offering of the priests, and the prohibition of eating fat or blood
«The priest shall burn them upon the altar, for the food of the fire, and a sweet odor.» When the Septuagint had published: «The priest shall offer it at the altar, outside the odor of sweetness,» the other interpreters, in the sacrifice of whole burnt offerings, published «whole burnt offerings» for «the entrails»; but others published «oblation.» In this sacrifice of peace offerings, however, one [has published] «bread,» others «grain,» demonstrating without doubt that, although it may not be an oblation of perfect philosophy—for this is the B sacrifice of the whole burnt offering—nevertheless it is sufficient even to feed these in matters that are for salvation, and to give strength to the one offering. For the prophet David says that this nourishment provides bread, when he says: «For bread strengthens the heart of man.»
«Every fat of the Lord shall be your perpetual right in your generations, and in all your dwellings; ye shall not eat fat nor blood at all.» We have said that the fat bears the figure of the desire or concupiscence that is in us, but the blood bears the figure of the soul. Since, therefore, he commanded the fat to be offered to the Lord for an eternal sign, it is manifest that he wishes our desire or concupiscence to be consecrated to God. And this for an eternal sign, so that we may not divide it between God and the world. C For which reason he also added:
«In your generations,» that is, through individual ages; but by these generations are understood the changes of ages, which Jeremiah shows when he was writing to the Jewish people in Babylon, saying the number of seventy years in seven generations: who would not have said this, if he did not signify therefrom the turns of succeeding ages; for he says: «Entering into Babylon, you shall be there for many years, and a long time, even to seven generations.»
«In all your dwellings,» that is, in every conversation, whether we may lead this social life or attain to the solitary one; whence David was saying: «Who makes those of one mind to dwell in a house.» Fat
and he commanded that blood should not be eaten at all. A Observe, that he said the sins were of the soul; for this reason [he adds] the suet, because he does not want us to have any desire or concupiscence of our own, that is, fleshly. On account of which James was saying: *Every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.* Moreover, concerning blood, that it should not run either to one's own death or to that of one's neighbor—for indeed this is characteristic of cruel beasts. Therefore he said: *You shall not eat any blood*, commanding us not only to spare our neighbors, but also ourselves, for even to Noah he clearly commanded such things again: *Flesh with the blood thereof shall you not eat, for the blood of your lives will I require*, signifying that by abstinence from blood, he wishes to keep man from homicides. But before God, he neither forbade it to be offered, nor did he despise the soul, but he commanded it altogether, whence he also ordered the blood to be poured out around the base of the altar.
CHAPTER IV.
VERSES 1-12. *And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to the children of Israel: If a soul shall sin through ignorance, and do anything concerning any of the commandments of the Lord, which he commanded not to be done, if the priest that is anointed shall sin, making the people to offend, he shall offer for his sin a bullock without blemish to the Lord, and he shall lead it to the door of the tabernacle of the testimony before the Lord, and shall put his hand upon its head, and shall immolate it to the Lord. He shall also take of the blood of the bullock, bringing it into the tabernacle of the testimony: and when he has dipped his finger in the blood, he shall sprinkle it seven times before the Lord against the veil of the sanctuary, and shall put of the same blood upon the horns of the altar of sweet incense before the Lord, which is in the tabernacle of the testimony. And all the remaining blood he shall pour out at the base of the altar of holocausts at the entrance of the tabernacle. And he shall offer the suet of the bullock for sin, as well that which covers the vital parts, as all things that are within, the two kidneys, and the net which is upon them by the flanks, and the suet of the liver with the kidneys, as it is removed from the bullock of the peace offering, and he shall burn them upon the altar of holocausts. But the skin and all the flesh with the head and feet and bowels and dung, and the rest of the body, he shall carry forth outside the camp into a clean place, where the ashes are wont to be poured out, and he shall burn them upon a pile of wood, which shall be consumed in the place where the ashes are poured out.*
The legislator omitted nothing that was necessary, indeed designating the differences between ways of life, and showing us the paths in the offering of sacrifices by which it is fitting for us to live. After this, he necessarily explains the sacrifice of Christ, through which the remission of sins and redemption has been granted to us. This you will know if you examine the words of the legislator and compare the very things of the sacrifice of the Only-begotten with the color of this image. Before other things, therefore, B consider this first: that he said the sins were of the soul; for some accuse the body as if it were the cause of sin, but it is not so; for if the soul be healthy, the luxuries of the flesh will harm it nothing: which if the soul rules according to the proper manner, it retreats and ceases. But if you say: "Yet he said it sins against its will," nevertheless it is not forced by the flesh, but by ignorance of the good, which it suffers from negligence and the imitation of those who are worse, by which it even judges to be sweet those things which are harmful. But see also this, how he mixes the priest into many things; for he says:
*If a soul shall sin, and do anything concerning any of the commandments of the Lord, which he commanded not to be done, if the priest that is anointed shall sin.* If indeed the priest who is anointed has sinned, he says he is similar to other priests offering for sins, because Christ also presented Himself as similar to us; for of Him indeed Paul says: *Wherefore he ought to have been made like unto his brethren in all things, that he might be a merciful and faithful priest in things that are to God, to reconcile the sins of the people.* B He explains too much of this law in the Lord. But now the subsequent matters must be examined. For behold, the legislator called the sin of the priest himself the sin of the people; because the sensible priest, who, sinning himself, or not punishing those who sin, lures those who are unrefined to similar things. But the intelligible [Priest] neither committed sin himself, nor neglected us even by a little, who, along with the natural law, gave us also the written one, and not without witness, as Paul says, he left himself. Nevertheless, because this figure must be adapted in Christ, according to what is possible, so that the color of the image may be fulfilled in all things, this which has been said, we ought to accept according to what is worthy of Christ the intelligible priest. For if he had used the long-suffering of God, not willing to destroy the sinner, he would have seemed to give license to those who sin, on account of which Isaiah says: *Why have you made us to err, O Lord, from your ways? You have hardened our heart, that we should not fear you?* Habakkuk also complains in some way of similar things: *Why do you not look upon the unjust, and hold your peace when the wicked devours one more just than himself? And you will make the man as the fishes of the sea, and as the creeping thing that has no prince.* This also Paul writes to the Romans; for he says Christ was made to us a propitiation through faith in his blood, for the showing of his justice. But whose justice? He adds: *Through the redemption of former sins in the forbearance of God.* The legislator clearly seems to signify that priest to whom it is said: *You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchisedech*, he who was anointed by the Father, to whom David was saying: *Your throne, O God, is for ever and ever; the scepter of your kingdom is a right scepter. You have loved justice, and hated iniquity, therefore God, your God, has anointed you.* Since, however, the legislator has here now signified that Priest himself, it is manifest from the fact that in the whole crowd of the children of Israel, and the prince,
and in every one of the people who recognizes his own sin, he commanded an offering; but here it is not so, but he says: If the priest who is anointed shall have sinned, causing the people to offend. And first he makes him subject to the sin of the people, because Christ shall bear the sins of the people. Then he does not say as he does of the others: And afterward he shall have understood his sin. For since he was God, and all-knowing, how could he be ignorant of the sins which he took upon himself from us? Here, therefore, for our sins he fittingly offered A a sacrifice, of which Paul writes to the Hebrews: So also Christ, once offered to exhaust the sins of many, shall appear the second time without sin to those who await him for salvation, yet he shall offer himself for his sin. The Septuagint, however, add: that he has sinned. Moreover, his sin—just as he who once took it upon himself—is called our sin, whence also Paul said: We entreat on behalf of Christ to be reconciled to God, and he who knew not sin, made him sin for us.
For the innocent calf. He offers his flesh to the Lord, namely to the Father; innocent, indeed, because he did not commit sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth. And it is a calf because on the cross he winnowed our intelligible enemies. But because the Septuagint use the word "calf" for "of the oxen," we understand the same to be said of the oxen, because according to the flesh he was of the fathers, who were glorious from the justice of the law. Where, then, does he offer the calf, that is, his flesh?
At the door of the tabernacle of testimony before the Lord. At the door, indeed, so that we may understand that the sacrifice of Christ was accomplished according to the doctrines and traditions of the apostles. For we showed above that these are the doors of the tabernacle of testimony, insofar as they offer an entrance to heaven, which tabernacle is taught and proven to be the tabernacle of testimony. For Isaiah has a most manifest proof of the testimony, saying: Who stretches out the heavens as nothing, and expands them like a tabernacle to dwell in.
But before the Lord, because the mystery of the cross was consummated while the Father looked on, to such an extent that even to the Father who was looking on, the Lord said: Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. And he commanded him to lay his hand upon the head of the calf, and to slaughter the calf; for no one offered him, nor could he be immolated, unless he himself had delivered himself up to suffering. For which reason he not only said: I have power to lay down my life, and I have power to take it up again; but also, anticipating himself, he immolated himself at the supper of the apostles, which those who perceive the power of the mysteries know. The Septuagint called this priest not only anointed or smeared, but also consummated by hands: for he was consummated by hands first at the mystical supper, taking and breaking the bread, then through the B cross, when he was affixed to the wood. Then receiving the dignity of the priesthood, or rather, since he always had it, he then consummated by his work that which was for us, the sacrifice. Here he himself, drawing from the blood of the calf, brings it into the tabernacle of testimony. But because the calf must represent the flesh of the Lord, he himself, explaining the parable of the prodigal son, taught that when the father had killed the fatted calf for him, and had given him the first robe and the ring, he meant by the calf the sacrifice of the Only-begotten, by the robe baptism, by the ring the sealing pledge of the Spirit. For that he brought some of the blood into the tabernacle of testimony, Paul also teaches to the Hebrews, saying: Christ being present as High Priest of the good things to come, through a greater and more perfect tabernacle not made by hand, that is, not of this creation, nor through the blood of goats and calves, but through his own blood, he entered once into the holy places, having found eternal redemption. And again: For Christ did not enter into the holy places made by hand, the form of the true ones, but into heaven itself, to appear before the face of God for us. C Here, therefore, let us understand the tabernacle of testimony to be heaven, since the prophets testified that God dwells in it: He who dwells in the heavens, he says, shall deride them. And no one has ascended into heaven unless he who has descended from heaven, the Only-begotten, he said of himself to men. There he introduced his blood, because bearing the scars of his passion, he rose from the dead, whence he also offered his body to be felt by Thomas, and thus ascended into the heavens. The following verses prove it:
Whoever shall dip his finger in the blood, shall sprinkle from it seven times before the Lord, against the veil of the sanctuary. He calls the flesh of the Lord by many names, because it also fulfilled many operations. Whence the Lord himself, at one time calling himself a sacrifice, at another a shepherd, then again the vine, the bread of life, and the grain of wheat, conveniently varying his terms in dispensational words, named his own appellations. And now, therefore, he called his flesh the veil; for we cannot doubt this, with Paul saying for the explanation of this mystery: Having, brethren, confidence in the entrance of the holy places in the blood of Christ, which he inaugurated for us, a new and living way through the veil, that is, his flesh, and a great priest, let us enter into the house of God, with a pure heart, in the satisfaction of faith. Therefore it was also called the veil of the sanctuary, for it bore the figure of the flesh of the holy of holies. Because, therefore, the finger of God is said to be his power, whence those who gave way to the miracles of Moses said: It is the finger of God. And David sang to him: For I shall behold the heavens, the works of thy fingers. And the Lord himself again said to the Jews: But if I by the finger of God cast out demons, therefore the kingdom of God has come upon you. Fittingly he dips his finger into the blood, that it may be shown that the passions of the Lord's flesh were done by the power of the divinity; for how could such things happen then, that is, the withdrawal of the sun, the earthquake, the splitting of rocks and such things? Here, therefore, by the power of the divinity D
A receiving his passion, he sprinkled his own flesh; he sprinkled it, however, seven times, because he did this for the remission of sins and for the bestowing upon us of the Holy Spirit. For the aforesaid number is wont to signify both, so that Peter might say to the Lord: "If my brother sins against me, how often shall I forgive him? Up to seven times?" But the Lord would answer: "I do not say to you seven times, but up to seventy times seven," and he multiplies the number because of the operations of the Spirit; for the prophet Isaiah enumerated seven, saying: "And the Spirit of the Lord will rest upon him." Then, dividing his gifts, he says: "The spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and fortitude, the spirit of knowledge and piety, and the spirit of the fear of the Lord will fill him." That it behooves us to receive the blood in his passion, the words of Pilate and the Jews prove; for when he was being handed over to the cross, he himself cries out: "I am innocent of the blood of this just man." But they say: "His blood be upon us and upon our children." Peter also makes mention of this sprinkling in his Catholic Epistle, calling himself an apostle according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, in obedience and the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. If, however, you say that his passion indeed occurred before he ascended into the heavens, but the lawgiver speaks after the entry of the priest into the tabernacle of testimony, which we said signifies heaven, "If you dip your finger into the blood and sprinkle it," truly know that he who was crucified below in the flesh exists in heaven in his divinity; and for this reason, when the chief priests were judging him and about to crucify him, he said: "I tell you, hereafter you will see the Son of man sitting at the right hand of God." For what he said, "hereafter," was to show that at the time when the calf was sacrificed in the lower realms, at that same time the Pontiff himself was offering the sacrifice for himself in heaven. To these also correspond the following: "And he shall put some of the same blood upon the horns of the altar of the most pleasing incense to the Lord, which is in the tabernacle of testimony." This signifies the seat of the Cherubim, for that they are an altar, Isaiah manifested by the vision of the Seraphim; for he says: "And one of the Seraphim flew to me, and in his hand was a coal which he had taken with tongs from the altar." And incense, as the Seventy say, is of composition, the composition of all things as in the incense of virtues, which are the intelligible incense. For where is it fitting for virtues to be, if not composed in the seat of God? In which, although their conversation is on earth, they nevertheless descend from heaven. Whence also Paul said of those who were occupied in virtues: "But our conversation is in heaven." James however says: "But the wisdom that is from above is first of all chaste," calling wisdom one of the general virtues: for after this, fortitude, and justice, and chastity are much more ordered with it, which, while they are four, as I think, and excellent, are fittingly named horns of the aforesaid altar because they are types of other virtues. And Isaiah also says: "I will be mindful of the mercies of the Lord, remembering his virtues."
B The Lord anoints them with his own blood, providing them with greater and more perfect power so that they may be able to prevail against the forces of the adversaries. He commanded that all the remaining blood of the calf be poured around the base of the altar of holocausts, which is in the tabernacle of testimony. Let us understand the altar of holocausts, again, as the body of Christ: for just as he himself is both priest and sacrifice, so is he the altar. But if in many names one thing is signified, for we have said that he should also be understood as the veil, there is nothing that can hinder this; for since there are many operations in him, there are fittingly also many names. Nor is it right to reject the interpretation as false from these, for it is the custom of divine Scripture to insinuate one thing by many names, which Zechariah demonstrates; for he says: "And I answered, and said to him: What are these two olive trees at the right of the candlestick, and at its left? And I answered a second time and said to him: What are the two branches of the olive trees which are beside the two golden beaks, in which are the gold-pouring funnels? And he answered me saying: Do you not know what these are? And I said: I do not know, Lord. And he said: These are the two sons of the oil of splendor, who stand before the Ruler of all the earth." Zechariah indeed inquires about two things, about the oils, and about those pouring oil into the candlestick. But to whom the angel answered, he returned one interpretation to two interrogations. But because the intelligible C altar is the body of the Lord, even the blessed Paul understands, know that by his own saying; for he says: "We have an altar, from which those who serve the tabernacle have no power to eat," meaning clearly the body of Christ, for it is not right for the Jews to eat of it. This altar is necessarily at the entrance of the tabernacle of testimony, that is, at the entrance of the heavens, because through it we have entry into the heavens. But now let us discuss the remaining parts of this sacrifice. For whatever he commanded in the sacrifice of the peace offerings, or the salutary, the same he commanded to be done also in this, that the two kidneys be offered, and the reticulum which is upon them, and the fat of the liver, which the Seventy translate as the lobe of the liver, and that they be burned upon the altar of holocausts. Dividing the sacrifice into two, insofar as it is permitted to all to imitate the sacrifice of Christ, that is, as much to those who are of a lower conversation, for whom we said the sacrifice of peace offerings is convenient, as to the wiser ones, to whom it suffices to imitate what follows.
The skin, however, and all the flesh with the head, and the feet, and the intestines, and the dung, and the rest of the body he shall carry outside the camp. This he commanded so that you do not divide Christ, as some divide, saying: "He who is from Mary suffered, but he who is from God the Father did not suffer." For to us there is one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things; for according to what Paul said: While as a man he suffered, yet he performs miracles in his passions as God, but he is nowhere divided.
A For this reason, His flesh, that is, His humanity, both that which appeared and that which remained hidden—the man of whom Paul says: *And if our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed*—is called flesh in the Lord, for all His humanity [is called such], because *the Word became flesh*. Therefore, He commanded that His flesh be burned—along with the head and the feet, or with the head and the extremities (that is, the feet), as other interpreters have set forth—so that through these words we might understand Him who suffered for us to be from the beginning and until the end, of whom Paul says: *Because in Him all things were created, that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, or dominations, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him and in Him. And He is before all, and by Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the Church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things He may hold the primacy.* Moreover, [it is burned] with the intestines and the dung; or as the Septuagint says, *with the belly and the dung*, so that—because the inner belly of the mind bears a figure, as we showed in the sacrifices of other holocausts—we may not be ignorant that He who suffered for us possessed our mind, a fact which some heretics deny. Now, the dung signifies the sins of the human race, which He took upon Himself in the Crucifixion: for these are, strictly speaking, called the dung of the Lord. For although dung is filthy, it does not defile the one who carries it, nor is it of our nature, even though it is in us—just as our sins, which the Lord carried, were foreign to Him and in no way defiled Him, for He remained without sin. Therefore, the legislator orders the whole bullock, that is, the whole Christ, to be cast outside the camp in a very clean place, where ashes are accustomed to be poured, most clearly striving to signify the place of Christ's sacrifice; for He suffered *outside the camp*, as Paul testifies, saying: *Therefore Jesus, that He might sanctify the people, suffered without the gate.* B And what is the clean place of ashes? It is Golgotha, of course, which is so clean that by it He cleansed the whole world. And it is rightly called the place of ashes, because in it the sins of the human race were extinguished, whence it is called a clean place.
The legislator changed nothing in these things that could be outside the aforementioned sacrifice, which is of the chief priest; for he commanded it to be offered by both the crowds of Israel and by the priest, for he mentioned the bullock in both cases. Likewise, he commands the blood to be offered in the tabernacle of the testimony, but the bullock itself to be burned outside the camp: and by these things that have been said, it is most clearly shown that the sins of the people and of the priest were the same. For why else would the same sacrifice be offered for them? But that which was changed concerning the sacrifice pertains all the more to this firmness, that there is one sacrifice: for regarding the priest, he did not say: *If he shall know his sin*; for the Lord was not about to be ignorant of the sin, to take away which He became incarnate. But regarding the crowd, that is, regarding the synagogue or the people, attend to what he says: *And if all the multitude of Israel shall be ignorant, and through ignorance do that which is against the commandment of the Lord, and afterwards shall understand their sin.* Therefore, from the beginning they were indeed ignorant of their sin, but afterwards they came to know it. And the very words of the Lord show this, for He says: *If I had not come, and spoken to them, they would not have sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin*, as those learning through His teaching what they did not know before; when, therefore, they knew their sin, then they turned themselves to the sacrifice of the Only-Begotten. C Then, in the sacrifice of the priest we said he laid his hand upon the head of the bullock, but here he says the elders do this deed. For both were truly happening in the sacrifice of Christ, that is, because the elders of the people were imminent for the completion of that [sacrifice], and the Scribes, and Caiaphas the chief priest, and they were saying: *It is expedient for you that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not*; and because it could in no way be fulfilled if the Lord had not delivered Himself up to the passion, so much so that He Himself said: *And they shall burn them upon the heap of wood.* We have already said that the wood in the fire represents the Holy Scriptures. Whatever things were done in the Lord during the time of the passion were done to fulfill the things the prophets had said, which the Lord manifests when He was seized by the Jews, saying: *You are come out, as it were to a robber, with swords and clubs to apprehend me. I sat daily with you, teaching in the temple, and you laid not hands on me. But this is done, that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.* And again: *Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said: I thirst.* But although the figure of the Lord's passion appears in individual details, yet the legislator seems to figure this mystery more plainly in what follows. D
Peter: Put up thy sword into the scabbard, the chalice which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it? For he was hastening to dispense the remission of our sins, which is necessarily considered as being in these things which are of the sacrifice of the Synagogue; for he says: So shall he do with this bullock, as he did before, and the priest praying for them, the Lord will be merciful. A For Christ was made our propitiation in his blood, as it was written to the Romans by the blessed Paul. Through whom sins have been forgiven to such a degree that they themselves also deserved remission, who sinned in him: for of them he had said: Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. But what did the legislator say at the end of the sacrifice? The conclusion of the law itself is sufficient for us, to manifest these things. He shall carry forth this bullock outside the camp, and shall burn it, just as the former bullock, because it is for the sin of the multitude. You see how nothing is changed in the second sacrifice, except this, that it is the first which is prescribed: and why? Because it is for the sin, he says, of the multitude. Therefore this is manifest and indubitable, since he understood the same sin of the people and the priest, and therefore he ordained the same sacrifice in both, not even dividing them in words, which he would not have done if what was then going on had not been a figure.
Vers. 22-31. ‹ If a prince shall sin and do one of many things through ignorance, which is prohibited by the law of the Lord, and afterwards shall understand his sin, he shall offer a victim to the Lord, a buck-goat from the goats, B immaculate, and shall place his hand upon its head. And when he shall have sacrificed it in the place where the holocaust is accustomed to be slain before the Lord, because it is for sin, the priest shall dip his finger in the blood of the victim for sin, touching the horns of the altar of holocaust, and pouring the rest at the base thereof. But he shall burn the fat above, as is accustomed to be done in peace offerings, and he shall pray for him and for his sin, and it shall be forgiven him. But if an anima of the people of the land shall sin through ignorance, that he may do anything of those things which are prohibited by the law of the Lord, and shall offend, and shall have known his sin, he shall offer an immaculate she-goat, and shall place his hand upon the head of the victim which is for sin, and he shall sacrifice it in the place of the holocaust. And the priest shall take of the blood on his finger, and touching the horns of the altar, he shall pour the rest at the base thereof. But taking away all the fat, as is accustomed to be taken away from peace offerings, he shall burn it upon the altar into an odor of sweetness to the Lord, and he shall pray for him, and it shall be forgiven him. ›
Just as in voluntary sacrifices he ordered differences in the conversations and conditions of life of those offering, so again for sins he commands sacrifices to be equal to the sins, the magnitude of which is placed not only from the action of the sin, but from the person of the sinners: and most correctly, because the Lord also said to the apostles: The servant knowing the will of his Lord, and not preparing himself, nor doing according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few. But what did he subjoin? To whom much is given, much will be required of him: and to whom much is entrusted, much will be demanded of him. Understand this to be him, who by the legislator is called a prince, whom he also indicating thus in the book of Exodus, said: Thou shalt not speak ill of the gods, and the prince of thy people thou shalt not curse. But also David, designating the priests, and Scribes, and Pharisees, and ancients of the people, says: The kings of the earth stood up, and princes met together against the Lord, and against his Christ. And yet only Herod the king, and Pilate the governor were present, but also kings and princes, as we have said, he called to the interpretation of the law the priests and Scribes and Pharisees, on account of the knowledge and sublimity which they seemed to have. C Here, therefore, if he shall have sinned, he shall offer a buck-goat. But if any one of the people, he says however an idiot, or a commoner, not him who is distinguished by lot to meditate on the law, for even he certainly would be called a prince, whom for a lesser sin it is prescribed to offer a she-goat, just as that one a buck-goat, this one a female, that one a male. For both are in need of penance, and that one indeed a greater, who offers the male, a lesser however who offers the female: for since it is of one genus, yet what is less is placed in the female, since the male is considered the head of every genus. As therefore the offering of a she-goat signifies a sacrifice for sin, so the buck-goat and the she-goat, since this is of the feminine genus, the buck-goat of the masculine, they interpret the force of the sacrifice; for the legislator does not intend this in vain, but because the buck-goat and the she-goat. But the Septuagint in Greek edit this thus, that they say *chimaron* and *chimairan* ought to be offered, which the Latins from the same edition have interpreted as a male kid from the goats, and a female kid from the goats; *chimaros* however and *chimaira* are the offspring of goats, which are *cheimerinoi*, that is, which are born about the time of winter, for since goats bring forth twice per year, some offspring are generated in the time of winter, some however in the summer. When therefore these things are so, through winter he teaches the sadness of penance, for in sadness the buck-goat generates offspring with weeping, but yet his offspring are D not reprobated from the sacrifice. Whence I think the kids, that is *chimaron*, he commanded the penitents to offer, as being those who are fluctuating, and as those who are struggling while rising from sins by the diversities of the waves, they shall be mercifully saved in every way. For if they remain in penance, and do not despair, as if abandoning the rudders of the ship of the soul in a storm, they shall be liberated; if however they shall have despaired, just as some governors, or cowardly sailors, they immediately perish; for the Lord also said: Pray that your flight be not in winter or on the Sabbath; calling winter the time of penance, but understanding by the Sabbath the rest of the soul, and the cessation of virtues: for to rest indeed
A from evil has the Sabbath been given; but the Jewish race has used this to a contrary end. It is grievous, however, in a time when penance is necessary, and far more grievous when one is free from all works, for any man to be tempted or to suffer persecution: wherefore he even counted him who suffers persecution on the Sabbath as the greater. Since, therefore, we have learned the power of the he-goats or she-goats, or kids, and the mode of the distinction of the sacrifices, let us now see what is done in each sacrifice, for they have things in common, since the end and general effect of penance is the remission of sins, which the legislator has clearly stated, B saying:
"But if a soul shall have sinned through ignorance from the people of the land, so as to do anything of those things which are forbidden by the law of the Lord." He does not say that because one has transgressed in some one thing, he is guilty of the whole law, just as the blessed James says: "Whoever shall have kept the whole law, but shall have offended in one point, he will be constituted guilty of all." But even this which is said, "through ignorance," or, as the Septuagint has it, "unwittingly," indicates the yoke of diabolical servitude that attacks sinners, which they themselves, C inclining toward evil, have brought upon themselves, as Isaiah says: "Woe to them who draw sins as a long rope, and iniquity as the cord of a heifer's yoke," by which some are dragged captive and against their will. But if they return to a sound mind, they are immediately relaxed from this rest or yoke. And how or when this happens, the legislator shows, that is, when the one who sinned has acknowledged his sin: for one cannot otherwise do penance unless he acknowledges his sin. For then the prince shall offer a he-goat [hircus], or *chimaros*, but he who is of the rank and file shall offer a she-goat [capra], or *chimaira*; but both must be without blemish, for penance must be stainless. And what is its blemish? Manifestly, if one sympathizes with the sin, or is a friend to the penitent for whom he is performing penance: for it behooves him to depart from the same sin with a perfect and most diligent purpose.
Then he shall lay his hand upon the head of the victim, manifesting the D sin by himself, and offering his own confession. But he, according to the Septuagint, does not slay it himself, but others do; for he has need of the help of others for prayer, so that his penance may be accepted. Whence he did not command the priests by all means [to slay it]; for he says: "They shall slay it in the place where holocausts are slain." But he did not add by whom they are to be slain; for it is permitted in the sacrifice of penance to use the assistance of others, as James testifies, saying: "Pray for one another, that you may be saved." But let us use much more the help of the just, for he himself added, "The constant prayer of a just man avails much." But where are they to slay it? According to the Septuagint, "in the sight of the Lord." Wherefore the legislator explains, saying: "It is for sin." For it is necessary to confess in the sight of the Lord for sin, as David said: "I have made my sin known to you, and my injustices I have not covered. I said: I will declare my injustice against myself to the Lord, and you have forgiven the iniquity of my heart." Therefore the legislator here added:
"And the priest shall take and put some of the blood of the sin-offering with his finger upon the horns of the altar of holocausts." Which Jerome rendered in a similar sense, saying: "And the priest shall take of the blood, touching with his finger the horns of the altar." He called it the blood of the sin-offering, which is offered for sins. The priest Christ will offer the first-fruits of this upon the horns of the altar of holocausts, that is to say, upon His cross; for if the altar of holocausts is the body of the Lord, its horns will undoubtedly be the cross, of which Habakkuk said: "Horns are in his hands." He will offer upon His cross the necessary first-fruits of His blood, which is offered for sin: because the work of the cross and its effect is the perfect remission of our sins. But what he says: "The rest of the blood he shall pour out at the base of it," he attributes all penance to the evangelical preaching, which we have said is the base of the altar. But rightly he attributes all penance to the apostolic preaching: because all its intention is this, that every man who is penitent may be saved by correcting himself, for which reason also the Lord provides in the Gospel that first doctoral voice: "Do penance, for the kingdom of heaven will draw near"; for He also said that He came for this, saying: "I did not come to call the just, but sinners to penance." After these things, what does the priest do? "All the fat, however, taking away, as it is wont to be taken away from the victims of peace-offerings." So that every desire of the penitent may look upward, that is, may reach for heaven; for then he will be able to be counted, to him who offers penance, in the sacrifice of peace-offerings. But what the end of these things which have been said might be, he added:
"And the priest shall pray for him, and it shall be forgiven him." For we are not fit to forgive sins to ourselves, but Christ performs the propitiation for us. Whence also by His voice, priests were ordained into the Church, as though they were taking up His office, to whom in the person of the apostles He said: "Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven, and whose you shall retain, they are retained." And again: "Whatever you shall bind upon earth shall be bound also in heaven, and whatever you shall loose upon earth shall be loosed also in heaven."
VERS. 32-35. But if he shall offer from the cattle a victim for sin, that is to say, a spotless sheep, he shall put his hand upon its head, and shall immolate it in the place where victims of holocausts are wont to be slain, and the priest shall take of its blood with his finger, and touching the horns of the altar of holocausts, he shall pour the rest at its base, also taking away all the fat, just as the fat of the ram that is immolated for
the peace-offerings is burnt upon the altar as a sweet odor to the Lord, and the priest shall pray for him and for his sin, and it shall be forgiven him.
The lawgiver, now following himself, has joined the offering of a sheep to that of the goat or she-goat—which we have already spoken of as being for those of the people who are not occupied with the meditation of the Law—because among the people and the unlearned it is possible for some also to be simple, for whom the sacrifice of a sheep is fitting, which is demonstrated both in holocausts and in the sacrifices of peace-offerings. The lawgiver, therefore, clearly wishing to approve that not only the prince, that is, one of more sublime knowledge, nor only the person of the people, but also the simple man among the commoners, if he should happen to fall into sin, ought to perform penance for the redemption of his sins, has introduced the sacrifice of a sheep. And he commanded that not a ram, but a sheep—that is, a female—be offered, because he assigned the sacrifice of females to the commoners. By this he clearly testifies to those who receive the Law that whoever has attained office and is more sublime than others in knowledge should not only show simplicity, since it behooves him also to be "prudent as a serpent," as the Lord says. But the one who is not such, that is, he who does not abound in knowledge and therefore lives among the people, even though he is simple, if it should happen that he sins, not even to him will the sin be forgiven unless he has washed away the sin through the offering of penance. Since, therefore, these things are so, the rest stand in no need of exposition: for since it is a sacrifice for sin, he has commanded it to be made here with both the goat and the sheep. Whence it is not necessary, as we hasten forward to what follows, to tarry long on these present matters.
CAPUT V.
VERS. 1-13. "If a soul shall sin, and hear the voice of one swearing, and be a witness, whether he saw it or is conscious of it, unless he shall tell it, he shall bear his iniquity. The soul that shall have touched anything unclean, whether it be that which is killed by a beast, or that which is dead of itself, or any other reptile, and shall have forgotten its uncleanness, it is guilty and commits an offense. And if it shall have touched anything of the uncleanness of man, according to all the impurity by which it is accustomed to be defiled, and having known it afterwards shall have forgotten it, it shall be subject to the offense. The soul that shall have sworn, and uttered with its lips, either that it might do evil or good, and shall have confirmed the same with an oath and word, and having forgotten it shall have realized its sin afterwards, let it do penance for the sin, and offer a lamb from the flock, or a goat, and the priest shall pray for him and for his sin. But if he shall not be able to offer a beast, let him offer two turtledoves or two young pigeons to the Lord, one for sin, and the other for a holocaust, and he shall give them to the priest. Who, first offering the one for sin, shall twist back its head to its wings, so that it may hang by the neck and not be completely torn off, and he shall sprinkle of its blood upon the wall of the altar. Whatever shall remain, he shall cause to drip at the foundations of it, because it is for sin; but the other he shall burn as a holocaust, as is wont to be done; and the priest shall pray for him and for his sin, and it shall be forgiven him. But if his hand shall not be able to offer two turtledoves or two young pigeons, he shall offer for sin fine flour, the tenth part of an ephi; he shall not put oil into it, nor shall he impose any of the frankincense, because it is for sin, and he shall deliver it to the priest, who, taking a full handful of the whole, shall burn it upon the altar as a memorial of him who offered, praying for him and making atonement. But the remaining part he himself shall have as a gift."
Is the lawgiver repeating the same things? For when in the preceding passages he had said that if a person from the people of the land shall have sinned through ignorance, so as to do any of those things which are prohibited by the law of the Lord and shall offend, commanding generally concerning every sin and ordering what ought to be offered, he now also seems to sanction the same things in other words. Why, therefore, did he explain some things for sin above and not all? For it was necessary that he should either explain everything item by item, or nothing at all, since a general demonstration of sin was sufficient for him. But the words of the lawgiver are not so, as some who read negligently think. For when he said, "If a person from the people of the land shall have sinned through ignorance, so as to do any of the things which are prohibited by the law of the Lord and shall offend," he showed the sensible Israel, who, knowing the commands of God, ought not to have transgressed any part of the Law. But he who has transgressed ought to have fulfilled those things which pertain to penance. But in the present passage, saying "If a soul shall have sinned," he has in no way added "from the people of the land," and most rightly so. For he speaks of sins from which it is necessary, according to what James says, even for those who are from the Gentiles to abstain, that is, from things sacrificed to idols, and things strangled, and blood, and fornication. For in these you will find the following things enumerated. Then, above, the sin of each one as one who transgresses by himself, and what one has committed by himself, is designated. Here, however, he demonstrates him who has communicated in the sins of others, for he hints at this by the touching of what is unclean, or dead, or caught by beasts, not through enigmas, but explaining openly what some despise, that is, the sending of another into error, which is not to argue against error, but to offer consent. Now, therefore, he shows that even for this we have an offering, namely, that which pertains to the absolution of penance, necessary.
"If a soul shall sin, and hear the voice of one swearing, and be a witness, that either he saw it, or is conscious of it," that is, if anyone is stealing or acting with deceit, and another gives an oath for them, and seeing some theft or deceit which he committed, or otherwise is conscious that he provides a false oath, if he does not betray it, he shall bear the iniquity. And rightly. For he to whom it was permitted to argue against the sin, and who covered it, has without doubt become his helper. But he who has acted as an helper has drawn the sin into himself. Nor, moreover, does he only...
A provide connivance, but he is polluted in every way by the fact that such things are pleasing to him. If this sense is intended in the present translation as well, it follows.
But if he touches any of the uncleanness of man, according to all the impurity by which he is wont to be polluted, he shall be unclean in all his cleanliness whatsoever he has touched. He speaks, according to the letter, of those who suffer a flux of seed, and the menstruous, and certain others, of whom the legislator himself speaks more subtly a little later, in whom we have reserved the exposition of these: putting them down now only as a commemoration, that not every uncleanness of man pollutes one who touches it, and therefore he said: "According to all the impurity by which he is wont to be polluted,"—but according to the LXX, "by all his uncleanness, by which he shall be polluted having touched it." What these things are, when the legislator has spoken of them, we shall say: "Anima quae juraverit et protulerit labiis suis" (The soul that shall swear and utter with his lips). That is, promising openly—which the LXX say, "separating with the lips"—so that he might either wish to do something evil, or good, in which there is sin, when he who has promised well lies, or he who has threatened evil speaks the truth. Which Herod also suffered, who, because he swore to Herodias, beheaded John the Baptist, and having forgotten it, afterwards understood his transgression. All these things, clearly, which have been spoken of, let every man, when he has perceived and recognized them, confess the sin which he has done, and offer a lamb from the flock or a kid, because he speaks in this place of someone who is of the people—that is, of the common folk—among whom it is possible that some simple person might be found, a lamb from the flock, as being B fitting for a simple person, just as we have said above in this, regarding that which is now the subject of our discourse, that he has rightly ordained a sacrifice or penance to be offered, adding the end.
And the priest shall pray for him, and for his sin. He uses accustomed words, recalling to our memory those things which he commanded above to be performed in the prayer for sins, which we have no need to say again, as they have been said once. We shall only add this, that if any prince sins in these things, he should offer a goat from the flock, an offering and penance worthy of himself. For by the fact that he commanded the multitude—and among them, those of whom he has just spoken—to offer sacrifice, it is manifest that he wished the same also for the prince. But to say it otherwise, he who excelled in knowledge ought neither to have sinned himself, nor to communicate in the sins of another. For he is not found to be promoting or provoking his subjects to virtue, but to iniquity, emulating one another. On account of which that matter, as something which ought not even to happen, he left undiscussed. But it must also be noted that an offense is sometimes a special iniquity, which is presumed against God alone, such as that which is committed against the saints, or that which is committed in an oath; C sometimes, however, every
sin which reaches the knowledge of the mind, the lawgiver designates as an offense; and for this reason, throughout, the knowledge of sin, whether placed before or introduced subsequently in every way, is called an offense, to show that every sin, once it is recognized, is committed against God Himself. And that is why it is called an offense, that is to say, A *plēmmelia*, for not without reason does the lawgiver frequently use this expression. For just as the lawgiver, in the opening of the book, by designating the different lives of men through burnt offerings and peace sacrifices, did not propose them in vain, but desiring to open many paths and gates; so too in this way, he did not sanction one species, but many for the offerings for sin, so that he might propose more modes of penance; because neither can all men fulfill all modes, nor does every mode of penance suit every sin. For when penance demands sackcloth, and fasting, and tears, and continuous prayer, and vigils, and other similar things: how, for example, will one who is weak by reason of age, or otherwise infirm in body, be able to perform such penance? Is he therefore repelled from penance because of infirmity or a similar age? By no means, for he has another mode to obtain the remission of sins. But what this might be, the following things demonstrate; for he says:
*But if he shall not be able to offer a head of cattle.* What the LXX have interpreted as: *But if his hands shall not be strong enough for a sheep*, wishing through a sheep that a goat or a she-goat be understood, as if it were a common genus of goats and sheep, as we have said, he has set it forth here more clearly, for he put "cattle" so that it might comprehend all these. Whence some other interpreters have also edited in this place, for sheep, some "pastural ones," others "from the flock," wishing through this to signify also goats. If, therefore, he cannot offer cattle here, he shall offer for his sin, for which he has sinned, two turtledoves, or two young pigeons to the Lord. Wherefore it is overly necessary for us to remember that we said above that a contemplative life, and one residing in meditation, and a pure and simple one, is signified by the young of doves and turtledoves. Therefore, he who cannot be free for continuous affliction and misery, so that he may eat his bread with ash, and temper his drink with weeping, and perform other things similar to these while doing penance, by reason, for example, of infirmity or any other necessity, he can perform penance in another way, as by offering himself to contemplate God, and to the scrutiny of His law, and consecrating his whole mind to heavenly conversation, restraining himself most fully from earthly things; for through this, both the remission of sins and justification are procured for him. Whence there are offered of these, one indeed for sin, that is, for the cleansing of sin; but the other in a burnt offering, as if crucifying himself, he is sacrificed, delivering his conversation or life most fully to God. He shall offer these to the priest, to Christ, indeed. For then is both acceptable, B and, through Him, they are offered. He who first offers for sin. For this reason he shall first offer for sin, because no one can become a burnt offering unless he has first been made free from sin. But what is this mode of freedom? C The priest shall twist back its head to its wings, so that it may hang by the neck and not be completely severed. Through the neck, which the LXX have interpreted as the "vertebra," the whole body is understood, because the firmness, health, and subsistence of the whole body is in the neck. Therefore, because the head is wont to be accepted for the mind in divine Scripture, for the reason that the mind holds the principality in man, whence also David was saying to God: *You crumbled the heads of the dragons under the waters*, clearly meaning the mind; while by the water of baptism providing remission, the mind of the devil is crushed: through this, therefore, that which is said by the LXX: *And the priest shall burst its head*, but the present translation: *He shall twist back its head and wings*, he wants us not to serve or feel compassion for the body, but to be broken off or twisted back, so that the law of sin, which through the custom of sinning dwells in the members of the body, may not equally resist the law of the mind, nor lead man captive, as Paul says. But because we must not altogether oppose the body, nor esteem it a creature of the devil, as some think, but subject it to the mind, for this reason he did not command the head to be separated from the neck, for indeed both are of one and the same creature. But let us see the following:
*And he shall sprinkle of its blood upon the wall of the altar.* But whatever of it remains, he shall cause to trickle to its foundations, because it is for sin. The wall of the altar is understood as the body of Christ, of which Christ Himself was saying: *Destroy this temple, and in three days I will build it up.* But its foundation, or, according to what the LXX have interpreted, the base. For the base is the Gospel. Therefore, according to the intention of the sacrifice of Christ and the evangelical doctrine, he commands also this sacrifice to be offered for sins: for this reason he added, because it is for sin. For surely nothing can deliver from sins just as the imitation of Christ and the obedience of evangelical preaching can, to which if any one is obedient, he shall burn the other as a holocaust, as it is wont to be done, that is, in the way it is necessary for a holocaust to be done. Which the LXX clearly set forth according to this, that is, *he shall do as it ought*. For it is necessary that he who renounces father and mother, and brothers, and all secular things, be made a holocaust, if only he wishes to be an acceptable and intelligible D holocaust. If you do these things, he who cannot perform penance in the aforementioned ways, that is, by vigils, and sackcloth, and other similar afflictions, the intelligible priest will pray for him, and for his sin, and it will be forgiven him. Therefore, God is truly admirable as the lawgiver of this, who, as He is merciful, grants pardon to the weakness of the human race, and finds a mode through which those who are infirm can attain no lesser things. But because it is not easy for everyone to...
attain the approach to penance, behold, now the legislator hints at it; for he says: A *“But if he cannot provide two turtledoves or two young pigeons.”* But because he is unable to do this in any way, nor can he provide a kid or a sheep; why then can he not—or, as the Septuagint says, *“does he not find”*? It is because, having made ill use of the riches of penance, he did not expend them as he ought. What, then, shall he do so that despair does not become for him a cause of perdition?
*“He shall offer for his sin fine flour, the tenth part of an epha: he shall not put oil upon it, nor shall he put any frankincense thereon, because it is for sin.”* This, therefore, is the kind of penance granted to him which he mentioned. However, he ought to be anxious and fearful, lest his penance be not accepted, seeing that it has been frequently abused; on that account, he does not pour oil over it, as one doubting whether he is worthy of mercy and compassion. Nor does he place any frankincense upon it, as one who does not know whether his prayer is of a sweet odor, seeing that he has frequently violated it. Whence the prophet Joel said to the people of the Jews: *“Turn to the Lord your God, for he is kind and merciful, patient and of great mercy, and repentant of the evil. Who knows if he will turn and forgive, and leave behind him a blessing? A sacrifice and a libation to the Lord our God.”* And how could there be doubt concerning the merciful and patient One, of great compassion, if one turns and repents, and if He accepts a sacrifice or libation for sins, unless he is speaking to an evil people who love sin? For when he has acted often, he has never persevered in pure penance: therefore, He neither wishes to cause them despair, nor again for those who are repenting to presume too much, and hence He has used doubtful words: and for this reason, presumption ought not to be easily given to them, lest when C presumption is given, it might make them more negligent toward other sins again, as if the former ones were relaxed, for the legislator implies that some are weak and inconstant in virtues.
*“But he shall deliver it to the priest.”* But He, inasmuch as He is the pious Christ: for it is He who is understood even now by the signification of the priest.
*“Taking a full handful, he shall burn it upon the altar for a memorial of him who offered.”* He who offered this kind of offering is acceptable, likened to an *epha*. An *epha* is a measure of three *seahs*, that is, reaching three *modii*. Therefore, it is Christ who offers the sacrifice, and He Himself is the sacrifice which is offered. For the *epha*, being a measure of three *modii*, evidently hints at the Trinity, which is one measure, because there is one Godhead in it. But it has three measures, that is, three perfect persons, and as many subsistences, so that it may be manifest that we do not sin, calling the part of it the flesh of the Lord, because of the inseparable union of the incarnate Word with it. But why is it a part of the Trinity? Because His glory and virtue are indivisible, so that Paul might say of Christ: *“In him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.”* But also John: *“He who denies,”* he says, *“the Son, has not the Father: he who confesses Jesus, has the Father.”* Therefore, the *epha* here is the incarnate God, the Word, as having in Himself the fullness of the Trinity. But its tenth part is the flesh: first, that the sublimity of His divinity might be shown, in as much as it pertains to humanity, for which reason it is called a part; secondly, because for this reason the God-Word was incarnate as a complete human, and He who would fulfill the law. For the tenth signifies both, because the number ten is also perfect. But there are ten commandments of the law, whence also the tithe: the law appointed the tenth part, which is the chief part, to the priest—that is, to Christ—inasmuch as He possesses the firstfruits of our mass. Therefore, whoever, frequently transgressing, violates penance, and wishes to do penance again, let him do so in the hope of Christ, who, when asked by Peter: *“If my brother sins against me, how often shall I forgive him, even to seven times?”* said: *“I do not say to you even to seven times, but to seventy times seven.”* This word, therefore, offers hope of penance to those to whom it seems impossible. On account of which, he who gathers from the offering fills his hand for a memorial of him who offered, and burns it upon the altar, that is, mindful of His word, which He said to the apostles for the salvation of those who came to Him: *“They shall not perish forever, and no one shall snatch them from my hand.”* He saves him who comes to Him who has often failed in penance. Offering for him a handful for a memorial, that is, the word according to which He promised that those who have been made under His hand even once shall not perish. Concerning this handful, therefore, the woman who bore the figure of the Church, he himself introduced D saying: *“Rejoice with me, for I have found the drachma which I had lost.”* For by many who made ill use of penance the path of hoping for penance had been lost, but it was found according to the aforementioned node. Therefore, you shall offer this memorial upon the altar, His body, which took upon itself every sin, even that which seemed impossible to be saved. On account of which it is added: *“Because it is for sin.”* Showing that it belongs to Christ alone to take upon Himself the sins of all. Therefore, those who have transgressed penance by often sinning, but finally have repented, although they have no hope of penance from the fact that they have frequently transgressed, Christ nevertheless, even so, to pray,
A that is, to receive penance, on account of His word, which the subsequent words make manifest, when He says: *Praying for him and expiating*. Or, as the LXX have published: *And the priest shall pray for him, and for his sin which he sinned, and it shall be forgiven him.* So that from this you may understand that He signifies a multitude of sins committed. Wherefore, even from one of these, as one often sinning, and often repenting of the same matter, and nevertheless repeating the sin, the priest rightly dismisses and prays for the penance in those things in which he has transgressed. For the priest is merciful and faithful to God who prays for the sins of the people. But let us also recognize what the end of this sanction is, it follows: *The remaining part he himself shall have in the gift.* Which they have published: *But what shall remain, let it be the priest’s, just as the sacrifice of fine flour; but this is the sacrifice of fine flour.* For He commanded the tenth of an ephi of fine flour to be offered. But because He knows that fine flour is theology, and this offering is not so much of theology as of penance, by comparison He shows that this is something else outside that: whence there, indeed, what remained, He assigned to Aaron and his sons. But I said that his sons are those who are able to understand sublime and divine things. They indeed are fed from the leftovers of wisdom, the whole and sum of which Christ has in the heavens, with whom the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden, as the Apostle says. But now, not to Aaron and his sons, but to the priest, the remainder is reserved; namely to Christ, just as the sacrifice of fine flour is in the gift. Therefore, because we have said that fine flour is theology, this present sacrifice is divided into two things, that is, into the remission of sins for the one doing penance, and into theology for Christ. For it is God’s alone to forgive, even those things for which remission seems impossible. And rightly is this sacrifice found in Him in many ways for theology. B But do not marvel at that, because in some persons, or in sins, we said that the approach to penance is difficult; for Paul says: *For if we sin willfully after having received the knowledge of the truth, there is no longer left a sacrifice for sin;* we put this which we have said as "difficult" for "impossible," for the same man says in the subsequent verses: *For it is impossible for those who were once illumined, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, and have fallen away, to be renewed again to penance, crucifying to themselves the Son of God, and holding Him up to contempt,* meaning those who have done penance frequently, and have transgressed in injuring Christ, who granted it, which the subsequent words manifest: *For the earth, he says, which drinks the rain that comes often upon it, and brings forth plants suitable for those by whom it is cultivated, has received a blessing from the Lord. But bringing forth thorns and thistles, it is rejected and close to a curse, whose end is in burning.* He did not say C once, twice, or three times, but often in the same things in which he had repented after transgressing, that his penance is close to a curse and rejected, and its end is in burning unless he should return to his senses. But not wishing to cause desperation to his hearers—for there were undoubtedly some among them who were negligent and using penance luxuriously—wherefore he was not writing these things to others, but to them. Since, therefore, there were some such, he added: *But we are confident of better things concerning you, brothers, and things that are nearer to salvation, even though we speak in this way:* at once both to strike fear into those who used penance luxuriously, and to promise good hope again, if they turned away from luxury. Because of which the legislator added neither oil to the offering itself, nor incense, striking fear into those offering, and yet he called the priest who receives this—that is, to receive penance—the one who receives it.
Vers. 14-16
*The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: If a soul, transgressing the ceremonies through error, in those things which are sanctified to the Lord shall have sinned, he shall offer for his fault a ram without blemish from the flock, which can be bought for two shekels, according to the weight of the sanctuary, and what he brought of damage, he shall restore, and the fifth part he shall add over and above to the priest, who shall pray for him by offering the ram, and it shall be forgiven him.*It is indeed good to abstain from all sin, especially, however, from that which is committed against holy things, because God is injured through it. But how much this is, and how terrible, the present offering demonstrates, as the legislator set it forth. For you see that although He had commanded so many sacrifices to be celebrated, nowhere in the beginning of this book of the Lord speaking to Moses did He make mention of a ram sacrifice, except only in this place, wishing to show the necessity and usefulness of this sacrifice. You see also that He commanded not a buck, nor a goat, nor a sheep, nor a pair of turtledoves, but a ram to be offered, teaching by the offering what kind of sin this is. For in the figure of the Savior the ram is understood. But you recognize this in this way, when God withheld Abraham from sacrificing his only-begotten: for it behooved both that Isaac live on account of the succession promised from him, and that the figure of the sacrifice of the Savior be fulfilled, on account of which, with Isaac assumed into sacrifice, the patriarch saw the ram held in the Sabech tree by its horns. But the Sabech tree is the Cross, the wood of remission, in which the ram, bearing the figure from its horns, was held D caught by its horns, or, as the LXX, in the tree of Sabech, which was the cross of Christ. He demanded not only that it be without blemish, but also what its price might be, or that it could be bought for two shekels, or, according to the LXX, fifty shekels of silver, by the shekel of the sanctuary. For unless one can acquire for himself the sacrifice of the Lord through the Holy Spirit, he cannot. For if *no one can say "Lord Jesus Christ" except in the Holy Spirit,* much more can no one attain His sacrifice without the operation of the Spirit. Whence not simply-
A has it been said, "of fifty shekels." This number indeed reveals the advent of the Holy Spirit, from the fact that on the day of Pentecost, that is, the fiftieth day, He came to the apostles. But also by the "weight of the sanctuary," or according to the Seventy, "the holy shekel," he shows, by that which he called "holy," the power and operation of the Holy Spirit. And why a shekel? Because a shekel is of twenty obols, and this number twenty is not subject to sins. Whence those who went out of Egypt, when they were twenty years of age, did not receive the punishment of the people's sin; for the spiritual man is clean from all sin. And not only did He command that a ram be offered, but also that a fifth part be added. If, perhaps, anyone has illicitly abused a holy vessel, food, or such an ointment, he called this a sin committed in holy things; he shall therefore return it, and in addition B will he deliver the fifth part, that is, the fifth part of its value, to the priest. This signifies that, since we have five senses, if we have sinned through one sense—for instance, if we have occupied the eye with adultery in a holy time and place, or the tongue in detraction, or the ears with evil speech, or the sense of smell with the perception of harlotrous perfumes, or the hand with profane and unjust touch—first of all we must abstain entirely from that sin, and offer penitence for it through the ram; that is, we ask that Christ Himself may become the liberation from the sin committed in these things: then we offer to the priest, that is, to Christ, the fifth part, which is one of the aforementioned senses through which the sin was committed, so that we may by no means occupy that sense for evil action again, but consecrate it to God. For thus will He intercede for our sin. How the ram of sin is offered through the priest is written in another part of the book, where He declared that the sacrifice for sin is equal to the sacrifice for a trespass. However, it must be added here that the legislator is wont to use "trespass" in two ways: sometimes calling "trespass" the sin which has reached knowledge and is no longer unknown to the one sinning, and sometimes that which is committed against God Himself,, as by false swearing, or even in holy things. He does not call this "trespass" without cause, but so that you may know that a sin is likewise extended toward God, which is committed in knowledge, and in false swearing, and in holy things.
VERS. 17-19. "If a soul shall have sinned through ignorance, and shall have done one of those things which are prohibited by the law of the Lord, and, being guilty of sin, shall have understood its iniquity, and shall offer a spotless ram from the flock to the priest, according to the measure and estimation of the sin, who shall pray for him because he did it unknowingly, and it shall be forgiven him, because he trespassed in ignorance against the Lord."
The present passage contains a question worthy of no small consideration, because he previously commanded that for the sins for which [he now says] a goat should be offered, an ewe should be offered; for he says: [C ] "If any one of the people of the land shall have sinned through ignorance, so as to do any of those things which are prohibited by the law of the Lord and shall have offended, and shall have known his sin, he shall offer a spotless goat. Now, as if he had forgotten those things which He had commanded: "If a soul," he says, "shall have sinned through ignorance, and shall have done one of those things which are prohibited by the law of the Lord: and, being guilty of sin, shall have understood his iniquity, he shall offer to the priest a spotless ram from the flock." And it seems that there is a great difference between this sacrifice and that which He previously commanded; but He has neither forgotten the former things nor commanded things contrary to them. For since we have said that by the name "soul" the Gentile is signified, and here perhaps he could have transgressed the commands of the law while ignorant (on which account he rightly said, "through ignorance"), the intelligible ram, Christ D indeed, takes away his sin in the sacrifice offered for him. But this also is shown, and in these things it is evidently demonstrated, that in each sin we have performed penitence for its remission, since we are not sufficient of ourselves to obtain pardon without the sacrifice of Christ. Therefore, if anyone is outside the faith of Christ, a Jew perhaps or a pagan, even if he show that he repents of his sins through his way of life and conduct, he shall not merit remission, because he is not able to offer the ram, that is, the sacrifice of Christ. Wherefore, desiring to decree in a general way regarding all, He did not say: "If a soul of the people," but, "If a soul shall have sinned simply, and shall have done one of those things which are prohibited by the law of the Lord." Therefore, this which is said is rightly accepted both of the ignorant and of the one having knowledge, and indeed of every sin. But because He commands a ram to be offered for a trespass, it is most manifest that here the legislator has placed "trespass" for "intellectual sin." On account of which, saying "through ignorance," he added: "And, being guilty of sin, shall have understood his iniquity." But he who has understood the sin, he it is who has retained it in himself, and is defiled by it, or burdened, as long as prayer is not made for him through the said sacrifice. The intellect of sin, in those who have knowledge, indeed, but who are darkened by the love of lusts, must necessarily come about when they come to their senses in their thought; but for those lacking knowledge, through proper instruction, which intellect, when it comes with either of these, moves man to this, that he needs sacrifice and D penitence. For he who understands the pollution, and does not purify himself through penitence, it is manifest that he is abominable and defiled. For on account of this thing the Lord was saying to the Jews: "If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin: but now they have no excuse for their sin." This is more plainly approved from what follows. For what does he say: "The priest shall pray for him because he did it unknowingly, and it shall be forgiven him, because he trespassed in ignorance against the Lord." Which the Seventy say: "And it shall be forgiven him, for he committed a trespass before the Lord." And how the same one himself now…
A can be examined through the very words. But let us see how the law itself now begins.
And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying. He points out the primary commandment from that which is in it, just as he explains in the case of a sin against holy things that God speaks specially to Moses, knowing, and to trespass a trespass before the Lord is mentioned—who is a just judge, and does nothing against justice? For he does not judge us concerning the action alone, as when we decline into sin, or through lust, or through avarice, or through vainglory, which we suffer from the ignorance of that true pleasure, and of the highest gain, and of that not false glory. But the love of lying causes this ignorance. From which someone, being blinded in mind, is also blinded and darkened in knowledge, which being blinded, is found in nothing to differ from ignorance. Whence also David said: "They knew not, neither did they understand; they walk on in darkness."
But when they have returned to their senses, and the darkened mind has been restored, then we feel the sin, and it is necessary that it be reckoned to us as a trespass, until we are cleansed through repentance, but the trespass is that which is against the Lord, for he doubles the trespass according to the LXX saying: "For he has committed a trespass before the Lord." And for what cause is this? Since we said that a trespass is the understanding or knowledge of sin, and every man indeed possesses by natural law the knowledge of sin, but this man, as we said, has darkened it with the love of lusts. Another, however, is naturally slower, and has need of another’s teaching. Thus, therefore, either to him returning to his senses, or to one learning from another the trespass, that is, the knowledge of sin, the perpetration of the trespass before the Lord is reckoned as twofold through knowledge; for then God makes his knowledge liable, and demands a sacrifice for sin through ignorance, and repentance.
CHAPTER VI.
VERS. 1-7. *The Lord spake unto Moses, saying: If a soul shall sin, and having despised God, shall deny to his neighbor that which was committed to his faith, or shall have extorted something by force, or shall have committed a calumny: or shall have found a thing that was lost, and lying over it, shall have sworn, and shall have done any other of the many things in which men are accustomed to sin having been convicted of the trespass, he shall restore everything which he wished to obtain by fraud, whole, and over and above the fifth part to the Lord to whom he had brought the damage; but for his sin he shall offer a spotless ram from the flock, and shall give it to the priest according to the estimation and measure of the trespass, who shall pray for him before the Lord, and it shall be forgiven him for every single thing which he did when he sinned.*
You see that the Spirit of God hands down that in the same order [is] the sin which is in holy things and that which is committed by swearing an oath; but it is evident from the fact that in both He commanded the same sacrifice of a ram to be offered. For why did He command a ram to be offered a little before in every sin? We have said it, not conjecturing from ourselves, but following the intention of the legislator. But why did He think the sin which is by swearing an oath and that which is in holy things to be joined? Because in every way both pertain to God, and he who transgresses an oath not only harms his neighbor, but also does injury to God Himself, whom he made a mediator; but to teach you B C *Locutus est ergo*. "If a soul shall have sinned, and having despised God, shall have denied to his neighbor that which was entrusted to his faith, or shall have extorted something by force, or shall have committed a calumny, or shall have found a thing that was lost, and lying over it, shall have sworn." Which words the LXX render thus: "If a soul shall have sinned, and shall have transgressed the commandments of the Lord, and shall have lied to his neighbor, in a deposit or concerning a partnership, or by rapine shall have harmed the neighbor, and shall have found what was lost, and shall have lied concerning it, and shall have sworn unjustly." But he did not say in vain: "If he shall lie." For divine Scripture is not wont to repeat the same words, which also seems to omit many things for the sake of brevity. Here, therefore, it compares a lie to the transgression of an oath: and for this reason, he indeed commemorated it above without an oath, but here he joined an oath with a lie; for he says: "And he lies concerning it, and shall have sworn unjustly." For even the other interpreters, Aquila and Theodotion, and Symmachus, where they said (the LXX): "If he has harmed his neighbor in anything," these: "If he has calumniated something." Observing which, let us abstain with all our strength from deceit, since God is injured by deceit, who is truth. But he also mixed force or rapine with the denied deposit, or as the Septuagint also say: "with a partnership," judging every unjust gain to be force or rapine. But it is manifest from those things which the LXX subjoin: "It shall be when he shall have sinned and repented, and shall have restored the rapine which he snatched, or the injustice which he wrought unjustly, or the deposit which was deposited with him, or the lost thing which he found, that each one of the aforementioned sins is similar to those which are enumerated." For it is committed on account of avarice. But He commanded the principal sum itself, and the fifth part, to be added to each of them; but here He commanded not to the priest, but to him who suffered the injustice, the fifth part to be given, having the same meaning in different words. For since with him who suffered prejudice in rapine or in a deposit, the sin is also acted unjustly against God Himself through deceit D or perjury, he rightly commands the fifth part of these to be given to God, toward whom the injury tends. But the fifth part is the tongue. For we have said that this also is the fifth part, when it is one of the five senses. This, therefore, is offered to God, so that he may no longer sin, because through it each one of the aforementioned [sins] is committed. Therefore He ordains the same thing in different words, and sometimes indeed in the person of the priest, but sometimes He has figured God in the person of him who suffered the injustice. Or because by the same reason our priest is believed to be Christ, and to suffer injustice among us for us, according to the law, namely, of our compassion, at the end of this sanction He commands the ram to be im-
- maculated and offered to the priest, who may pray and obtain remission. A sufficient exposition of these things is found in what has been said regarding the offenses of the saints. But let us, repenting of both sins, and indeed of all sin, guard ourselves. For if we should happen to be caught in any one of them, or to fall into them, we have examples of deprecation and offering, things that it is good for the supplicant to use. For these things happened to them as a figure: but they are written for our correction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. In Christ Jesus our Lord. To Him be glory with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and unto the ages of ages. Amen. A
BOOK TWO
B CAP. VI SECOND PART. VERSES 8-12. *The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Command Aaron and his sons. This is the law of the burnt offering: it shall be burned on the altar all night until morning: and the fire shall be upon the same altar. The priest shall be vested in a tunic, and in linen breeches: and he shall take up the ashes which the devouring fire hath burned, and put them beside the altar. He shall be stripped of his former garments, and being clothed with others, he shall carry them forth outside the camp, and in a most clean place, he shall cause them to be consumed even to ashes. And the fire on the altar shall always burn, which the priest shall nourish, laying on wood in the morning every day, and having laid on the burnt offering, he shall burn thereon the fat of the peace offerings. This is the perpetual fire, which shall never go out on the altar.*
Since we have sufficiently shown in the preceding pages the legislator's method, and the foundation of the exposition of the legal words has been laid—outside of which no one of those building in the Spirit can place another, for Christ is He who lies for us like the cornerstone of the building throughout the entire exposition of the law; through His grace and doctrine, therefore, because He is also the architect, we may build upon it gold, silver, and precious stones—C
*The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Command Aaron and his sons. This is the law of the burnt offering.* Here the law speaks of the perpetual sacrifice, which He commanded the priests to offer daily in the book of Exodus; for He says thus: *This is that which thou shalt do on the altar: two lambs of a year old every day continually*; and a little later: *A perpetual oblation throughout your generations.* He says, moreover: *One lamb thou shalt offer in the morning, and the other in the evening.* Through these things, therefore, we understand that for those who are of the rank of the people, it is given according to their will, if they wish to offer a burnt offering, for which reason that sacrifice is called their gift, as being a voluntary offering. For not every man demands the most perfect wisdom, yet the priest must in every way be perfectly wise. For the perpetual sacrifice, that is, the continuous burnt offering, is commanded to be offered twice in the day, in the morning and in the evening, so that beginning from perfect wisdom, he may finish in the same, and dispose his whole life toward perfection.
But because the legislator at the beginning of this book of Leviticus has explained how the burnt offering is divided part by part, how its blood is poured out, and how it is placed upon the altar, now, since those things have been sufficiently stated, he speaks only of the holocaust itself. Consequently, he therefore added: D *The fire on the altar shall always burn, which the priest shall nourish.* For it is fitting that he who owes a burnt offering, that is, the work of perfect wisdom, should always kindle the fire of the Holy Spirit, and not allow it to be extinguished. It is extinguished, however, by the negligence of those to whom it has been given; for which reason Paul also says: *Quench not the Spirit*, as if it were placed in our power to quench It or to kindle It. Moreover, He commanded the fire to burn all night, not because it was not kindled during the day, but so that the burnt offering might be made twice every day: for because the daylight fire was manifest, He added the nocturnal one. Therefore, because night is the darkness of this life, that is, the ignorance that possesses many, of which Paul was saying: *The night is passed, but the day shall approach*, He commanded us, who have become the burnt offering of God, to kindle the fire even in the night, so that when others transgress the law, and are of the earth, we may be spiritual, remembering David who says: *It is time to act, O Lord, they have dissipated thy law*; for when others transgress the law, we ought to be raised up most of all to obedience to the law. He added, moreover: *The priest shall be vested in a tunic, and in linen breeches.* The priest here who offers the burnt offering is understood to be anyone who is perfectly wise, because the priesthood is an example of perfection, for which reason the faithful people are called a royal priesthood, as receiving the perfect law of the Gospel. Therefore, he who wishes to offer a burnt offering should be clothed in the tunic, that is, justice, and in the breeches, that is, chastity. But because through the breeches it is fitting that chastity be understood, they prove the members, of which the breeches themselves are the covering.
We have called the tunic justice, because for every perfect man, justice is the primary garment, whence Paul said: *Stand, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of justice.* Regarding the linen and the tunic...
He means to say that it ought not be of wool, because a linen garment is fitting and adheres more softly to the body, whereas that which is made of wool is rough. By this He teaches that souls are humble and cling closely to justice and chastity. At the same time, He teaches that, just as linen is easily obtained by anyone, so the virtues are easy and capable of being quickly acquired by those who desire them. A And clothed in these, He commands that the ashes of the holocaust, which the fire consumed from the altar, be taken away. What does He teach by this, if not that, just as a sacrificial victim is taken away—that is to say, the sacrifice of the holocaust which has been completed—so that another may be offered in its place, we should do the same? Indeed, we must set aside, one by one, the virtues that we perform through the cooperation of the Spirit, in order that we may perform others again, and not be content with those that preceded, but add others to them, just as someone who is running, leaving behind what has been traversed, strives to run the rest because, clearly, he will not otherwise be able to attain B the prize. For this reason, when He had commanded the holocaust consumed by fire to be removed from the altar, He ordered it to be placed beside the altar; and we have already said that Christ is the altar of the holocaust. Let us therefore remove from Him the virtues that were completed by our past work, while we still have time to perform them, lest He impute to us that we are negligent of those that preceded, if we do not build others upon them. Ezekiel proves this when he says: *If I shall say to the just that he shall surely live, and he, trusting in his justice, shall do iniquity, all his justices shall be forgotten, and in his iniquity which he hath wrought, in the same he shall die.* But He imputes it if we amplify and confirm the past with the future; C whence He commands the holocaust to be placed beside the altar, for Christ, the just judge, preserves for us whatever good we have done, provided we have not ruined it through wicked actions. For this reason, He commanded that one be stripped of his garments and clothed in others, and that the ashes be carried outside the camp into a most clean place, not clothing us in garments of another kind than those He mentioned before. For He did not order us to be clothed in wool instead of a linen garment, but this signifies many things—namely, that what has been done and corrected before is not imputed when it is time to perform other things. And for that reason, putting off the former garment, He wishes us to be clothed in another like it. But to be carried outside the camp into a most clean place means to send it ahead D to the future judgment; for that which is outside the camp is of the present age, and the place is clean because the judgment of the future age is pure from all corruption. But what is it that He added? *And the fire on the altar shall always burn, which the priest shall nourish, laying wood on it every morning, every day.* Just as, therefore, the matter of the fire is wood, and He commands it to be arranged in the morning, so the matter of the support of the spirit for us is the testimonies of the divine law and the meditation of the sacred oracles, which we said above are the wood. Therefore, we must arrange these in the morning in the light, that is, in vigilance and sobriety of soul, not only for us by day, but also by night, that is, in the intelligible night, of which Paul was speaking: *Therefore, let us not sleep, as others do; but let us watch, and be sober. For they that sleep, sleep in the night; and they that are drunken, are drunk in the night.* Let the fire of the support of the Spirit be sufficient, in which it is fitting to arrange the intelligible host and the fat of the peace offerings, which the Seventy termed "salutary." Because we have said that by the fat desire is signified in the peace-offering, or in the salutary sacrifice, so that he who has become entirely spiritual to the Spirit, having nothing material, nothing miserable, nor earthly, may offer or vow the desire of salvation, and which the legislator, calling us [to it], says: *This is that perpetual fire which shall never go out of the altar.* For *God is a Spirit, and they that adore him, must adore him in spirit and in truth.* Whence also the intelligible altar, which is the body of Christ, has the inextinguishable fire of the support of the Spirit.
VERS. 14-18. *This is the law of the sacrifice and the libations, which the sons of Aaron shall offer before the Lord, and before the altar. The priest shall take a handful of the fine flour, which has been sprinkled with oil, and all the frankincense that is placed upon the fine flour, and shall burn it upon the altar for a memorial of most sweet odor to the Lord: but the remaining part of the fine flour Aaron shall eat with his sons without leaven, and shall eat it in the holy place of the tabernacle. It shall not be leavened, because a part of it is offered as an incense to the Lord. It shall be most holy, as that which is offered for sin and for trespass. Only the males of the lineage of Aaron shall eat it, a statute and everlasting in your generations concerning the sacrifices of the Lord. Everyone that shall touch them shall be sanctified.*
We remember that the blessed Paul said: *To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not wearisome, but to you necessary.* The legislator seems to have the same intention in the present place, reiterating what he had once exposed, so that by the multiple repetition of the commandment he might recall it to the memory of the reader. But inasmuch as by the repetition of the law he might make the reading more necessary, he interposes something further, for the sake of which this commandment would be necessary and altogether inexcusable. Just as, therefore, in the preceding, he repeated the sacrifices concerning the holocausts, mixing in with them assiduity—for it is of the fire that is on the altar that it should always burn and never fail—so now, when he had brought the sacrifice of fine flour to the middle, through which we demonstrated at the beginning of this book that theology is signified, he added that it is fitting that it should be eaten only in a holy place, by males, and not everywhere, nor by all: concerning which see what sort of things he even now commands. *This is the law of the sacrifice and the libations, which the sons of Aaron shall offer before the Lord, and before the altar.* This, therefore, which is now the subject of current discourse, the sons of Aaron, that is, those who are sublime in wisdom, alone ought to offer before the Lord, that is, according to what the will of God is, not super-
- A fluous in divine discourse, but whatever Christ has revealed to us; for understand this, what He says "before the altar," because the altar has been demonstrated to be the humanity of the Only-begotten. Therefore, let us base our theology on those things which the Lord, having become incarnate, has delivered to us, that we may think of the Father in Him, and Him in the Father, and may know concerning the Holy Spirit that He is of the Son, and proceeds from the Father. For these things are sufficient for us for a theology that helps and saves. But any man seeking things higher or deeper falls away from the intention of the truth, and sins. Hence even now the legislator has added:
"The priest shall take a handful of the fine flour mingled with oil, and all the incense which is put upon the flour, and shall burn it on the altar for a memorial of a most sweet odor to the Lord." By alms and prayer—for these are figured by the oil and the incense, by which theology is necessarily sought—both indeed having the necessary aid, so that those who speak about God do not fall away from the truth. In memory of this, the priest Christ, who is intelligible, takes a handful, because the sum of knowledge remains with Him; which is indeed for a memorial, because it will be a B memory that will remain forever. For not as our knowledge, which exists now, is destroyed by progress: for when that which is perfect is come, as Paul says, that which is in part is destroyed. Thus it will be also with that which is with Christ, which He has reserved for us for the future age, that we might then be made more perfect. For that, being consummate, remains in memory always without oblivion. But as the sum of all wisdom is taken by a handful, because God commanded through Moses in the book of Exodus that the handful be offered for the children of Israel by individual heads: thus the legislator suggests that the sum of cognition and of perfect knowledge is with Christ. But understand what he adds to these things.
"But the remaining part of the fine flour Aaron shall eat with his sons." So that we do not cease entirely from theology, for the reason that the sum of knowledge is reserved for the future; but that which has been left to us by Him, that is, delivered, He commands us to eat this knowledge, and to put it into operation, about which there is also a commandment for us, and which is sufficient for us, and according to our strength. But we must observe where and how it is fitting to put this into operation. It follows:
"Without leaven, and he shall eat it in the place of the sanctuary of the tabernacle." It is not to be cooked with the leaven of God, nor according to Jewish doctrine, nor according to Gentile leaven: because He does not want us to speak the Word, but that it be pure from all mixture, and without any leaven. But He commanded it to be eaten in the atrium of the tabernacle of testimony, that is, to work in the Church. For the tabernacle of testimony is heaven, in which Scripture testifies that God dwells. But the atrium of the tabernacle of testimony, that is of heaven, is the Church, not only as an entrance and a vestibule of the heavens, but also as the house of God. There, therefore, that is, in C it, one ought by all means to speak about divinity, or to practice theology: "For in the churches," He says, "bless the Lord." But if anyone has a church in his house (for Paul indeed says: "Salute Nymphas, and his domestic church": and one has a domestic church when he has sanctified himself to God and has desisted from secular business), he is able to speak about God or to practice theology even at home. Such are those to whom a portion of the sacrifices of the Lord, that is, to speak about God, or theology, is given concerning gifts and oblations. D Concerning which he added: "It shall be the holy of holies, because they possess the contemplation of the Holy of holies." He added also: "As for sin and guilt." Meaning that sacrifice for sin and guilt. For discourse about God is held mainly for the rescue and cleansing of the soul, when by oil and incense—namely, alms and prayer—the sacrifice of the Word of God, that is, of theology, is joined, according to what the legislator commanded to be offered, not commanding this in vain, but because sins are cleansed by alms and faith: just as Solomon said in Proverbs. "The males," he says, "of the stock of Aaron alone shall eat it, it is a lawful and perpetual thing in your generations of the sacrifices of the Lord." Therefore, it is not for everyone to dispute about God, but for such as have nothing feminine, nothing unstable in their thoughts; which He commanded to be strictly and eternally kept in their generations, that is, in perpetuity, so that at all times we may attend, in no way presuming to dispute about God, so long as we are drifting away through certain deviations, or other secular phantasies, and have fallen from the dignity of males, lest it be said to us also: "But to the sinner God has said, Why do you declare my justices and take my covenant into your mouth?" But the following words conclude this law:
"Everyone who shall touch them shall be sanctified." But he who presumes to do this fittingly shall be justly sanctified: for every commemoration of God provides sanctification, which Paul attests, saying: "Because every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be rejected that is received with thanksgiving." But it is sanctified through the Word of God and prayer. But when he says that he who touches it is sanctified, he clearly shows that in disputing about God, that is, in theology, it suffices for us even just to touch, as with fire he who wants to be warmed, for if he sends his hand inside, he is burned because of that which could have warmed him. Thus also he who presumes to dispute more deeply or more highly about God, because he wants to show something more glorious, falls into blasphemy, while he cannot comprehend the height of divine dogmas.
VERS. 19-25. "And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: This is the oblation of Aaron and his sons, which they ought to offer to the Lord in the day of their anointing. They shall offer the tenth part of an ephah of fine flour in a perpetual sacrifice, half of it in the morning, and half of it in the evening."
…which is fried in the pan, sprinkled with oil. A The priest, who has by right succeeded his father, shall offer it warm to the Lord for a most sweet savor, and it shall be entirely consumed upon the altar. For every sacrifice of the priests shall be consumed by fire, and no one shall eat of it.
Every sacrifice which is referred to the person of the priest bears the figure of the sacrifice of the Only-begotten, as is demonstrated by the present law; for it says: B And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: This is the offering of Aaron and his sons, which they ought to offer to the Lord on the day of his anointing. This gift, indeed, belongs to many priests, for it speaks of Aaron and his sons; but it is offered by one anointed individual, because the image, firmness, and subsistence of all priesthood is the sacrifice of Christ: for it is by the offering of Him alone that it is complete in its entirety. And when was this done? On the day of his anointing, that is, at the time when he was incarnated: for anointing in the person of the Only-begotten is called incarnation. Of which Peter says: *Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power* (Acts 10:38). How and when these things were done, Gabriel said to Mary: *The Holy Spirit*, he says, *shall come upon you, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow you* (Luke 1:35). Hence David said: *Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your companions* (Ps. 44:8). Clearly interpreting what this oil of sanctification was, since it was not like this oil with which all priests, kings, and prophets were anointed. For which reason he says: *Above your companions*, that is, superior to your companions. His companions are those who have become so either on account of the flesh, or on account of the communion of the Holy Spirit. Hence Paul says: *We have become partakers of Christ, if yet we retain the beginning of his substance firm unto the end* (Hebr. 3:14). C Which offering, therefore, did the legislator command to be offered when the priest had been anointed, that is to say, after the incarnation of the Word?
They shall offer a tenth part of an ephi of fine flour for a perpetual sacrifice, half of it in the morning, and half of it in the evening, which is fried in the pan, sprinkled with oil. But that the tenth part of an ephi of fine flour is the humanity of the Only-begotten was shown above, when we rightly said that the ephi, as a measure taking three measures, is the Trinity. But if the ephi is the flesh of the Lord, so that the supereminence of his divinity is demonstrated, and the inseparability of the Lord’s flesh along with it, this is nonetheless for a perpetual sacrifice, because as Paul says: *For by one oblation he has perfected for ever them that are sanctified* (Hebr. 10:14). Hence he is also able to save forever, coming *by himself to God*.
Half of it in the morning, and half of it in the evening. The Passion began in the morning, from the time when they struck him with blows in the atrium of Caiaphas as they bound him, and it was prolonged until the evening; for since darkness intervened and occurred from the sixth hour until the ninth, it is necessarily said that the sacrifice is divided between morning and evening.
D Hæc autem in sartagine oleo conspersa frigetur. The pan is to be understood as the cross of the Lord, being strong and unharmed by the fire of human sins, which also rendered the Lord's flesh, placed upon it, edible for men. For had it not been placed upon the cross, we would in no way have perceived the body of Christ mystically. This is sprinkled with oil, for because he who is impassible felt compassion for us, he endured the passion of the flesh. Moreover, he added "sprinkled," which the LXX rendered thus: *He shall offer his offering in morsels, a sacrifice of good odor to the Lord*, calling the sprinkled offering "morsels." And by "morsels" they are understood to mean the sacrifice which proceeds in multiple ways on account of the sufferings occurring part by part; but by "sprinkled," that which is gathered into one, whence Symmachus edited it as "dilated"; but certain select copies have "complex," that is, connected, because the passions of the Lord cohere together. Whence the legislator says that these same "breakings" proceed also from the parts, or fractions, according to the aforementioned edition of the LXX, understanding the sufferings part by part: *But all this sacrifice is of a most sweet odor to the Lord.* For it provided salvation for the human race, and to God, as the Creator of nature, there is nothing sweeter than this. For a greater explanation, that it signifies the sacrifice of the Only-begotten, consider what he added, "The priest who has by right succeeded his father." Which the Septuagint rendered thus: *The priest anointed for him of his sons shall do these things*; because Christ is truly Jesus, as Paul proves, saying: *To us there is one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things* (I Cor. 8:6). For since he is through Aaron, not in his place, but in his stead—the priesthood having been translated into himself—it is manifest from the fact that he himself, receiving the priesthood, caused the ministry of that former priesthood to cease. But also as to what they edited, "of his sons," it is justly believed to be of his sons, inasmuch as he descended from the loins of Jacob, with the most blessed Mother of God also descending from the same tribe; and the aforementioned Septuagint add: *It is a perpetual law to the Lord.* Which again is rightly understood as the priesthood of Christ, because it was said to him: *You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchisedech* (Ps. 109:4). And at the same time, we must attend to what follows for the conclusion of this law: *And it shall be entirely consumed upon the altar. For every sacrifice of the priests shall be consumed by fire: and no one shall eat of it.*
What, therefore, do we testify by these things? Unless that it should not be said of the Lord: that he who was born of a woman suffered, but he who descended from heaven did not suffer. For to us there is one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, whom those who crucified him did not recognize, of what dignity and power he was: *For if they had known it, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory* (I Cor. 2:8). Therefore, the passion is of the Incarnate Word himself, which took place in the flesh, for which reason it shall be entirely consumed upon the altar. It is therefore his, who himself—
A emptied himself, and took the form of a servant, and was found in habit as a man; and humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, even to death on a cross. Thus, therefore, you understand also this which is said: "For every sacrifice of the priests shall be consumed with fire, and no one shall eat of it." For this also has the same virtue and intention, whence "every sacrifice shall be consumed with fire," as the LXX said: "It shall be a holocaust"; Aquila rendered it, "It shall be whole." Therefore, no one shall eat of it, that is, it shall not be divided, because it is for teeth to divide and distribute foods, since they cannot be eaten otherwise. But Christ’s sacrifice is shown to be indivisible, and for that reason it cannot be eaten.
VERS. 24. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to Aaron and his sons, this is the law of the host for sin: In the place where the holocaust is offered, it shall be immolated before the Lord, it is Holy of Holies. The priest who offers it shall eat it in a holy place, in the atrium of the tabernacle. Whatever shall touch its flesh, shall be sanctified. If a garment be sprinkled with its blood, it shall be washed in a holy place, and the earthen vessel in which it was cooked shall be broken. But if it be a brazen vessel, it shall be scoured and washed with water. Every male of the priestly race shall eat of its flesh, because it is Holy of Holies. For the host which is killed for sin, whose blood is brought into the tabernacle of testimony to make atonement in the sanctuary, shall not be eaten, but shall be burnt with fire.
B That we might not repeat these sacrifices in vain, we said above what is also demonstrated in the present. For which reason, even Theodotion for "offering," rendered it "expiating," that is, cleansing, and by the ministry of his priesthood, making perfect him who is cleansed. And learn how Christ eats it from the place in which he shall eat it: "In a holy place, in the atrium of the tabernacle." Or as the LXX rendered it, "In the atrium of the tabernacle of testimony." Now the atrium of the tabernacle of testimony is the Church; for she, before heaven, is the atrium of the tabernacle of testimony, where Christ works the salvation of the penitent, which salvation of his is also called food: "For my food," he says, "is to do the will of my Father," and his will is that the sinner be converted and saved. He furthermore says:
"Whatever shall touch its flesh, shall be sanctified." And by the flesh of penance, we understand fasting, vigils, sackcloth garment, prayer with tears, almsgiving; for penance consists of these, and he who touches them shall be rightly sanctified.
"And if a garment be sprinkled with its blood, it shall be washed in a holy place." The blood of penance is properly Baptism, for just as the blood is the life of all flesh, so also is the gift of baptism to penance. For everyone who does penance, if he has not received baptism, his penance is useless and without any profit, dead and inanimate: because no one puts off the old man of sin except through the washing of regeneration. But if you say, and how shall men who were once baptized do penance? Know that the virtue of the preceding baptism works also in the penance which is subsequently performed. This, therefore, is the intention of the legislator, because whoever eats the flesh of the aforementioned sacrifice, although it be the offering of another, is sanctified. By this, however, it is shown that even he who has no need of penance, if he performs any of these things, doing penance, is sanctified. Similarly, even if some very small child has been baptized, who perhaps has not yet sinned, he is cleansed. And what need is there for cleansing for him? There is need for him, since no one is clean from filth; for although his life on earth is but one day old, he retains the filth which he drew from the succession and generation of Adam: and therefore he did not say that he who is sprinkled with the blood of penance is washed as if he were unclean, for he says:
"If a garment be sprinkled with its blood." That is, the flesh; it is itself the garment of the inner man, which, if it be sprinkled, D it shall be washed there in a holy place; it is this same thing which is sprinkled, it shall be washed, not because it is stained by the sprinkling: for if it were so, he would surely have said or added that; but he called that which is effected by the sprinkling itself a washing, performed in a holy place, in the house of mystery. If, therefore, anyone is washed by a strong spirit, as are, for example, the sprinklings of the pagans, he is not washed, because he has not received the sprinkling nor the washing in a holy place.
A This legislator, therefore, wishing to introduce the teaching of baptism, spoke. For the discourse on baptism is clearly close to the rationale of penance, since John, beginning to preach penance, brought in baptism in his preaching, in order that the mystery of penance might have substance in baptism. But let us proceed to what follows. *But the earthen vessel in which it was cooked shall be broken. And if it is a bronze vessel, it shall be scoured and washed with water.* Paul shows what the earthen vessel is and where it lies when he says: *In a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and earthen, some indeed unto honor, but some unto dishonor.* Clearly, those which are earthen are unto dishonor. By the "great house," as it is the house of God, he understood the Church, in which the golden and silver vessels are the just, and the earthen are the sinners. Indeed, Isaiah also said of Jerusalem: *Their destruction shall come, and it shall be broken as the potter's pitcher is broken, with an exceeding mighty destruction, and there shall not be found in its fragments a shard in which a little fire might be carried from the burning, or a little water drawn from a ditch.*
Therefore, because the vessels in which the meat of the sacrifice is cooked are in the Temple, and we have shown from the aforementioned apostolic words that there are infirm vessels in the Temple of God, whoever is an earthen vessel in the Temple—that is, someone infirm and filthy, and who has made a habit of sinning so that, as a lover of sins, he is called a vessel of dishonor—when the sacrifice is cooked, through which the remission of sins is dispensed, for that reason it is broken or crushed, because, being weak, he received beneficial things in a bad way. For, seeing sins forgiven, he thinks it is always lawful to sin, and from that by which he is helped, another injury and crushing of another infirmity is found. But whoever is strong like bronze, and has no rust of sin, this one shall not be crushed or broken by the cooking of penance, but is scoured or wiped clean, that is, washed away. And how is he washed away? *Washed with water:* for seeing another doing penance, he is moved to compunction, and is cleansed, washed by the water of tears. But why is it said that the penance of another is cooked in the vessels which are established in the Temple? Because those who are doing penance have the prayer of the people necessary for their aid, to which James bears witness, saying: *Confess your sins one to another, and pray one for another, that you may be saved.*
B *Every male of the priestly line shall eat of its meat, because it is Holy of holies.* That is to say, this pertains to the action of penance, for it requires a strong sense and a manly intention, having nothing feminine or wavering in the performance of penance. Note, however, that while he said the one who offers the sacrifice is the priest who eats, he said *all males of the priests* shall eat the meat of the sacrifice, that is, every male of the priestly kindred, which seems to be contradictory in some way unless it is solved by a competent exposition. Wherefore, you understand Christ as the priest offering the whole sacrifice and also eating. He Himself offers our penance, and He Himself eats, because He has the salvation of sinners as His food. But every male of the priests shall eat the meat of the sacrifice which pertains to penance, properly exhibiting every fortitude, to whom it is rightly said: *Act manfully, and be strengthened, and wait for the Lord.* And this is how these things are. But one must look at what term he introduces afterwards.
For the host which is slain for sin, whose blood is brought into the tabernacle of testimony to make atonement in the sanctuary, shall not be eaten, but shall be burned by fire. And whose blood is offered for sin in the tabernacle of testimony to expiate or to pray? The calf of the congregation or Synagogue, that is, the calf for the sin of the pontiff, for he spoke of this most fully above. Because, therefore, we have shown that those sacrifices pertain to Christ by many proofs, he rightly commanded that they not be eaten, but burned with fire. For neither does Christ, through those things by which each one achieves the remission of sins for himself—by fasting, for example, or vigils or other similar conversation, whence these are called the penance of our flesh—nor does He perform the remission of the common sin (that is, of the human race, which the people signify, and of the person of the High Priest, who, because he presides over the people, makes the sins of the people his own) by these things, but by the authority and power of His own divinity. For the passions of Christ, C through which remission is procured for us, are not of any pure human, but are of the incarnate God. On account of which it is not to be eaten by humans, but is consumed by fire, because it is the prerogative of God alone to offer remission to all His creature, which is signified by fire. For our God is a consuming fire.
CHAPTER VII
VERS. 1-7. *This also is the law of the host for guilt, it is Holy of holies; therefore, where the holocaust is immolated, there shall also the victim for guilt be slain; its blood shall be poured out round about the altar. They shall offer from it the tail, and the fat that covers the vital parts, the two kidneys, and the fat which is by the flanks, and the inner lobe of the liver with the kidneys, and the priest shall burn them upon the altar: it is a burnt offering of the Lord for guilt. Every male of the priestly line shall eat of this meat in the holy place, because it is Holy of holies. And as the host is offered for sin, so it is also for guilt; the law of both hosts shall be one, it shall belong to the priest who offers it.*
Sometimes he calls a recognized sin a "guilt," but sometimes that which, in its own [nature]
A is committed against God, just as that which is perpetrated against holy things, as we have shown above. Of these the present passage speaks again. It is manifest, however, from the fact that for this, as the LXX specifically say, he commanded a ram to be offered. But we shall find by subtly discussing in what way it has communion with the sacrifices for other sins, and in what way, on the other hand, it differs.
This also is the law of the host for a transgression. In which the LXX specifically, as was said above, expressed it, saying: "This is the law of the ram for penance; it is a holy of holies. In the place where they immolate the holocausts, they shall slaughter the ram of penance before God, and they shall pour its blood at the base of the altar in circuit." These things, therefore, are common with the sacrifice which is offered for that other sin. Wherefore, since they were interpreted there, they are rightly omitted here. But as to what he added to these:
"He shall offer from it the tail, and the fat which covers the vital organs, the two kidneys, and the fat which is beside the flanks, and the net of the liver with the kidneys, and the priest shall burn them upon the altar; it is an incense of the Lord for a transgression." Which the LXX render thus: "And he shall take away all its fat, the loin, and all the fat that covers the inwards, and all the fat that is in the inwards, and the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, which is in the thighs, and the lobes of the liver with the kidneys, and the priest shall offer them to the altar as a host to the Lord." These things in no way pertain to the sacrifices for other sins; hence, we must discuss them. But it is necessary to consider this first, because a transgression is referred to God: yet whatever is referred to God has difficult pardon, such that he said to the sons of Eli: "If a man sins against a man, he shall pray for him: but if he sin against God, who shall pray for him?"* Necessarily, therefore, we have said that the ram, bearing the figure of the Lord of whom it was said, "Behold the Lamb of God, behold him who taketh away the sin of the world,"* is taken in the sacrifice, in which alone it exists to relax sins committed against Him. But it must be asked why not every ram is for a holocaust, as is the calf which was offered for the people and for the priest, for it also is proven to bear the figure of the sacrifice of the Only-Begotten. But there, indeed, because a general remission was dispensed, and B forgiveness was accomplished for the whole human race, the entire sacrifice of Christ is necessarily offered; here, however, it is that which is done for them for whom sacrifice and remission is procured. Whatever, therefore, can save him, the legislator has commanded to be received into the sacrifice of Christ. But as to what these are, Paul says, "Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see God."* Which even now the legislator indicated through the aforementioned oblation: for the thoughts of the inner man are the intelligible interior things, by which, having peace, we shall have peace with all men. Moreover, that he commanded the fatness of the kidneys, and the lobes, and the liver, and the thighs to be offered signifies the sanctification which is ordained for us unto salvation. Note, however, that whatever he commanded to be done in the sacrifice of peace-offerings, these he commanded to be done in this sacrifice. He commands the fat to be offered. For Christ desires to save even him who has grave sins. With the fat, according to the LXX, he shall offer the loin. For He not only wills this, but is able. The loin, moreover, as a strong member, signifies virtue.
"The two kidneys, and the fat which is beside the flanks." He wishes, indeed, maximally for the inner man of the penitent to be cleansed; he wishes him also to have chastity. For which reason he commanded not only the fat of the kidneys, but also of the flanks or thighs to be removed, because these are thought to be the ministers of commixtion and seed. With these, also, the net of the liver, or, as the LXX say, the lobe of the liver with the kidneys he commanded to be removed, and to be offered with the others on the altar as a host to the Lord. For he wishes him who performs penance to have no concupiscence of his own, but to offer it all to God. Because they say that concupiscences, or desires, are moved and nourished in the liver, the first fruits of which, being offered through the lobe, are made to be accomplished in sanctification, and all are corrected. Saying these things, he added:
"It is for a transgression." Showing that he did not say that this sacrifice differs from the other sacrifices which are for sins without cause, but because it is for a transgression—that is, his sin extends toward God. Whence it was necessary to receive even a part of Christ's sacrifice, which was offered for the whole human race, in the one person as well. Yet he did not receive the rest, because they befit only the oblation which was offered for all. For the sacrifice of the Only-Begotten provided not only the things that were foretold, but also the resurrection of the dead, and the condemnation of the devil, the liberation from the curse, the restoration of paradise, each one of which exceeds the virtue of the penitent. For the supplement of which, as he is not sufficient for himself by reason of the magnitude of the sin by which he sinned, he comprehends a part of the Lord's sacrifice. The rest, however, is reserved for that sacrifice which is for all. Yet he also is made a participant in that for whom the sacrifice is now made, since he himself is one from the whole mass. But after he said certain things C of the sacrifice for a transgression, he subjoined the common things which it has with sins.
"Every male of the priestly line shall eat of these meats in a holy place, because it is a holy of holies. As the host is offered for sin, so also for a transgression. The law of both hosts shall be one." Therefore, we have no need to explain or add anything else here, because we have heard that these are common sacrifices for a sin and for a transgression. But we have sufficiently explained about those things which are for sin in the aforesaid. But he also added for confirmation to this law:
A regarding the priest who shall offer it, it shall pertain. Christ, however, has been made our propitiation. Therefore, in Him every sacrifice of repentance is administered and carried out, and everything that each person attains through repentance is referred to Him; for repentance itself belongs to Him, and it was for this, that He might save us, that He came; which is evident from that which He said: "I came not to call the just, but sinners to repentance."
VERS. 8-10. *The priest who shall offer the victim of the holocaust shall have its skin, and every sacrifice of fine flour that is cooked in the oven, and whatever is prepared on the gridiron, or in the pan, shall be the priest's, by whom it is offered: whether they be sprinkled with oil, or dry, they shall be divided by equal measure unto all the sons of Aaron.*
The legislator does not mean anything just as it is said now by these things; for these are things in which it is worthy for us, as we examine them, to be struck with wonder. B For he himself has shown us patience, saying first: "In your patience you shall possess your souls." Then: "In the world you shall have distress, but have confidence, I have overcome the world." And we have patience in passions not only in His doctrines, but also in regard to Him, as Paul says: "Think diligently upon him who endured such opposition from sinners against himself, that you be not wearied, fainting in your minds." For which reason David says: "And now what is my patience? Is it not the Lord, and my substance is before thee?" But that he is describing an intelligible holocaust here, the text itself shows, for it says:
*The priest who shall offer the victim of the holocaust.* Not of oxen, or sheep, or other similar things, but of a man. For where sacrifices are considered not by those who offer, but by those which are offered, he necessarily makes mention of animals. Here, however, because he wished to introduce more openly the person of the Lord, he placed the priest offering the holocaust of a man. For the only one who offers our intelligible holocausts is Christ, to the imitation of whose host and manner of life those who offer strive. After these things he said:
*Every sacrifice that is cooked in the oven and whatever is prepared on the gridiron, or in the pan, shall be the priest's by whom it shall be offered.* It must be remembered that we said these sacrifices serve the theology of the dispensation of the Only-Begotten, and that indeed which is from the oven, we said, signifies the birth of the Virgin; but that which is from the gridiron signifies the resurrection from death, giving the reason in all things, and adding the proof which was fitting. Because, therefore, these things are next to the theology of the incarnation, it is necessarily that of the priest offering it, namely of Christ, who was born and suffered and rose again. But surely what is brought forward seems new to you:
*The priest who shall offer the victim of the holocaust shall have its skin.* What can be understood by the skin is clearly shown by this which was said to God by the devil regarding Job. For when Job, whom he had accused as being abundant in all things, lost all the substance of this life, or all things that were around him, he remained in his impiety, hearing from God: "Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth: a man simple and upright, and fearing God, and departing from evil
or a pair of turtledoves, or young pigeons to offer in sacrifice. Now, even though this signifies the sacrifice of the Savior, yet because it was prescribed not for the sake of theology, but for the sake of the utility of the person offering, he deputed this to the sons of Aaron. For it was necessary that, while the oblation was the same, the cause was not the same—for the one is offered because of theology, while the other is offered for sins on account of the poverty of the petitioner—that the sacrifice should have some difference, so that it might be shown what is offered for theology and the glory that is in Christ, and what for the sole utility of the offerer.
VERS. 11-15. *This is the law of the sacrifice of peace offerings, which is offered to the Lord. If the oblation be for thanksgiving, they shall offer unleavened loaves tempered with oil, and unleavened wafers B anointed with oil, and cakes cooked, and fine flour tempered with the mixture of oil.* Also leavened bread with the sacrifice of thanksgiving, which is immolated for peace offerings, of which one shall be offered as first-fruits to the Lord, and it shall be for the priest who shall pour out the blood of the sacrifice, whose flesh shall be eaten on the same day, nor shall anything remain of it until morning.
Just as he reiterated the sacrifices of holocausts and of sin, so too did he repeat these that are offered for peace offerings, or for salvation, saying it a second time so that through repetition he might insert the memory of them into those meditating on the law. He introduces, moreover, things that he had not mentioned before, so that the reading might become necessary for us and not despicable. He foresaw that it should be divided not without reason, but most reasonably, for we find these things in the searched-out words of the legislator.
C *This is the law of the sacrifice of peace offerings, which is offered to the Lord, if it be offered for thanksgiving or for praise.* You see that while the active life alone is indeed rational, it is also an active life, granting power from the things that transition us toward peace, or toward salvation, to choose from either as we wish; for because the sacrifice of thanksgiving, or according to the LXX, of praise, is a certain rational sacrifice; hear David, after he forbade the sacrifices that were according to the law, saying: *Sacrifice to God a sacrifice of praise, and pay thy vows to the Most High.* Hear also Paul writing to the Hebrews for himself, saying: *Thus let us offer a sacrifice of praise always to God, the fruit of lips confessing to his name.* But how does he command it to be offered?
He shall offer loaves without leaven, tempered with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil, and cakes cooked, and fine flour tempered with the mixture of oil. Which the LXX render thus: *And fine flour tempered with oil, in cakes of unleavened bread, he shall offer gifts upon the altar of salutary praise.* By loaves without leaven, or unleavened bread tempered with oil, understand the apostolic books; by wafers anointed with oil, understand the prophetic ones, because while the latter are indeed very rich, the former, though they also are rich, nonetheless announce the mercy of God not with such overabundance, due to the disobedience of the Jews, who mix threats. Whence also the wafers are said to be not tempered with oil, but only anointed. But the cooked fine flour and the cakes are said to be tempered with the mixture of oil, or as the LXX say: *And fine flour tempered with oil for cakes of unleavened bread:* by fine flour tempered in oil, we understand theology along with almsgiving, whence it is called fine flour on account of its subtlety. However, he commanded these to be made into unleavened cakes of the sacrifice of peace offerings, or salutary offerings, in the apostolic Scriptures, of course. For it is most necessary for him who desires to be saved to follow apostolic doctrine.
*Also leavened loaves with the sacrifice of thanksgiving, which is immolated for peace offerings, of which one shall be offered as first-fruits to the Lord: and it shall be for the priest who shall pour out the blood of the sacrifice.* But the LXX say: *And he shall offer of all his gifts a praise to God, it shall be for the priest who pours out the blood of that salutary offering.* By these things showing that, however much a man has acted and lived, run, and reached, or attained, he can neither obtain nor reach salvation without the help of the Lord. On account of which Paul also was saying: *It is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.* And he commanded the first-fruits to be offered to the priest himself who pours out the blood of the salutary offering, that is, to him who ministers and performs the sacrifice for Christ through his aid. But pay attention to how he concluded the present sanction of the law:
*Whose flesh shall be eaten on the same day, nor shall anything remain of it until morning.* Or as the LXX: *And the flesh of the sacrifice of salutary praise shall be eaten on the day he offers it, and in whatever day he gives it, it shall be eaten, they shall not leave of it until morning.* Here he calls the future age "morning," as it is all light and succeeds the night of the present age. Indeed, Paul says of it: *The night is far spent, the day is at hand.* But David says: *In the morning I will stand before thee and I will see, for thou art not a God that wills iniquity.* He does not wish, therefore, for the flesh of the salutary sacrifice to be left until morning, so that we might not leave behind our imperfect life, through which we must be saved: for we know that there is no work in that age, and in our memory, we recall the five virgins, who, D because they wished to buy oil when the Bridegroom called them to come to the wedding, were excluded from the wedding; that we should not leave unconsumed, that is, unworked, anything that contributes to salvation in that intelligible morning. For Solomon says this to us also in Proverbs: *Say not, Go, and return, and tomorrow I will give: when thou canst do it presently;* for thou knowest not what the coming day may bring forth: lest, he says, thou be brought down, where thou art able to perform neither mercy nor any other virtue.
VERS. 16-20. *If by vow, or of his own accord, any one shall offer a sacrifice, it shall be eaten in like manner on the same day. But even if anything shall remain until the next day, it is lawful to be eaten. What...*
however, A the third day shall find, the fire shall consume. If any one shall eat of the flesh of the sacrifice of peace offerings on the third day, the oblation shall be void, nor shall it profit the one who offers it; rather, whatever soul shall have contaminated itself with such food shall be guilty of prevarication. The flesh which shall have touched anything unclean shall not be eaten, but shall be consumed by fire; he who is clean shall eat of it. The polluted soul that shall have eaten of the flesh of the sacrifice of peace offerings which was offered to the Lord shall perish from its people.
This law, at first sight, seems contrary to what precedes, but when examined, it is not so; indeed, it is found to be very much in accordance with them. One must, however, in examining it, understand that the law, having a shadow of good things to come, has rightly used many and different questions to figure the mysteries which are designated. B
If anyone shall offer a sacrifice by vow or spontaneously, it shall be eaten likewise on the same day. Even if anything shall remain until the next day, it is lawful to eat it; but whatever the third day shall find, the fire shall consume. Every sacrifice of peace offerings, or health-bringing sacrifice, is indeed spontaneous, whence the legislator inscribed it among the gifts in the upper part of this book; but the sacrifice of thanksgiving, or of praise, although it is a species of that oblation which has now been spoken of, nevertheless, because it is a certain reasonable thing, for that reason there is no mention of a voluntary offering in the law: for since we are, without doubt, rational, we owe, in a way, a primary reasonable sacrifice to the Creator. Therefore, the law was silent concerning the voluntary in this case, not excepting it from voluntary acts—for it shows it was not offered for sins, nor from a promise. It is only silent, as we have said, about the voluntary or spontaneous so that, while this word is hushed, we who are rational may understand that we owe rational sacrifices to God, and may adhere to Him with all our zeal. But since it says that there, on the day it is offered, it is eaten, but here, on whatever day it is offered, and on the next day: this is not contradictory; for this "next day" of which we speak is most clearly a declaration of the present age, as James testifies, saying: "Behold, now you who say: Today and tomorrow we will go into that city, and we will trade, and make gain." And you will by no means find it anywhere in Scripture that "tomorrow" is likened to the future age, but indeed the present age is called "today," as David says: "Today, if you shall hear his voice, do not harden your hearts, as in the provocation." And again Paul: "But exhort yourselves every day, while it is called today." It is also called "tomorrow," not, however, wholly at variance with "today": but because the spaces of the present age are not the same, as is shown in Proverbs: "Do not say to your friend: Go, and come tomorrow." For it does not describe the future age, but the time subsequent to the present life. On account of which it said: "For you do not know what the day to come may bring forth," that is, lest perhaps you might die in it, or be hindered by some cause. C
Both of these things happen in the present age, not in the future. Hence, he by no means doubled the day, saying only one day in the sacrifice of thanksgiving or praise. Or perhaps from this it is manifest that, for those who have defined a rational life for themselves and an exercise of quiet—like Mary, who chose the better part and sat at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ—life is simple, swift, and ready for passage. But for those who have chosen the active life, it is not so, but laborious, such as was Martha’s, who was troubled about many things. Whence also a double time is computed for her on account of her labors; nevertheless the legislator, even if he uses different words on account of the opulence of the Spirit, and so that he might render, as we have often said, the enigmas of intelligence, yet he does not depart from the strict subtlety, but said there: "They shall not leave any of it until the morning." Not saying "until the morrow," because "the morrow" does not signify the future age. But here, "whatever the third day shall find, the fire shall consume," indicating by the third day the future age, for in it is the general resurrection of the dead: which the resurrection of the Lord, which occurred on the third day and came to pass in the morning, designates. On account of which we also said that the morning signifies the future age.
Therefore, what remains of the sacrifice of peace offerings or health-offerings shall be consumed by fire. For whatever we have left over that pertains to our salvation is ineffective; and that which is ineffective, and this which is badly worked, and made of wood, or hay, or stubble, shall be consumed by this fire, but we shall suffer loss. But what did he add to these? "If anyone shall eat of the flesh of the victim of peace offerings on the third day, the oblation shall be void, nor shall it profit the one who offers it; rather, whatever soul shall have contaminated itself with such food shall be guilty of prevarication." D Nor did he add this to the present sanction in vain, but because some, after the end of this life and the resurrection of the dead, have presumed to describe another life such as the present one by introducing a certain millennium, in which, as they say, a sensible Jerusalem will be built, and its temple, and that the Holy of Holies which was once in it will be restored, and sacrifices will be offered, and marriages, and the procreation of children, and certain delights with sensible justice, and that our conversation will be far other than that which is now of the just when we have risen from the dead: desiring therefore to remove this presumption from our mind, "If anyone," he says, "shall eat of the flesh of the peace offerings on the third day," that is, if anyone proposes to himself in his thought that after the resurrection of the dead he is to lead the remnants of this life, and in a certain manner eats the aforesaid in his mind, using fantasy for food; and hoping to eat at that time when it is impossible to eat, that is, to labor: his oblation is not accepted, nor will it be credited to him. For he who estimates falsely concerning the future age does harm to himself, making his oblation abominable and polluted.
A
Rather, whatever soul has defiled itself with such food will be guilty of transgression. It shows that he who does not value the good things of Christ’s retribution lives in a state of loss and subjects himself to sin; for the retributions of God are not corruptible, nor does He again establish what He has once destroyed; furthermore, He does not wish virtues to be polluted by a false intention; whence He also said: B
*Flesh that has touched anything unclean shall not be eaten, but shall be consumed by fire.* By "flesh" he means virtues, of which the salutary sacrifice consists: for example, chastity, almsgiving, justice. If these should touch anything unclean—when, perhaps, through pride justice and chastity are turned toward vainglory, and almsgiving is turned toward injustice—they shall be burned by the fire of the future judgment. This is what Isaiah demonstrates, saying: *He who sacrifices a bull is as he who kills a man; he who slaughters a sheep, as he who brain-splatters a dog* (Isa. LXVI, 3), and the rest. The correct conclusion of the present commandment is: *Whoever is clean shall eat of it. The polluted soul that has eaten of the flesh of the sacrifice of peace offerings which were offered to the Lord, shall perish from its people.* Here he openly destroys irony and hypocrisy, for these are the pollutions of the soul, so that the inner man of these people might be called a wolf, when the Lord says: *Beware of those who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves* (Matt. VII, 15). C Those who eat of the flesh of the peace or salutary offering which has been offered to the Lord—those who act not with the intention of virtue, but fraudulently—while possessing virtues from God, perish from their people, so that they are no longer called sheep, but wolves, and it may be manifest that they have been expelled from the flock. Whoever is outside the flock is reckoned among the part of the beasts: *And he who has touched the uncleanness of man or beast, or of any thing that can pollute, and has eaten of such flesh, shall perish from its people.* It does not therefore desire that a man be merely clean and lack action if he performs a salutary or peace offering and desires to be a partaker of it, but also that he abstain from the conjunction of another's evil, whether his thoughts or his deeds be wicked. For since man is rational and intellectual, he rightly understood the uncleanness of man, which is that which is in counsels and thoughts, as malice, which the Lord also makes manifest, saying: *Do you not yet understand, that everything which enters into the mouth, goes into the belly, and is cast out into the draught? But the things which proceed out of the mouth, come from the heart, and they pollute the man. For from the heart proceed evil thoughts, homicides, adulteries, thefts, false testimonies, blasphemies* (Matt. XV, 17-19). He does not call those things which are in action—thefts, or adulteries, or fornications—that which proceeds from the heart (for how would these proceed from the heart?), D but those things which are in thoughts and counsels, because they are the greatest pollutions. The Lord made mention of the thoughts of man, and thus added: *But these are the things which pollute a man.* Therefore, those who are occupied with unclean and earthly actions, and look toward the earth just as beasts do, are unclean beasts. Whence also fornicators are called *neighing horses* (Jer. V, 8).
*Or of any thing that can pollute.* Whoever keeps omens and divinations and purifications, or days and times, and much more sorcerers and poisoners, are abominable before the Lord. Everyone who does these things—for perhaps someone communicates in their evil counsels or actions—this person too, as one touching forbidden uncleanness, cannot eat or perform the things that pertain to the salutary or peace offering. For when he has endeavored to do the things that pertain to salvation, and has communicated with those performing evil things and things that pertain to perdition, he shall perish from his people—that is, from those who are being saved. For to communicate in the sins of others is deadly: whence David also said: *And from the sins of others spare thy servant* (Ps. XVIII, 14). And Paul instructed Timothy: *Lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be partaker of other men's sins: keep thyself pure* (1 Tim. V, 22).
VERS. 23-25. *And the Lord spoke unto Moses saying: Speak to the children of Israel. You shall not eat the fat of the ox, and the sheep, and the goat: the fat of a carcass that has died of itself, and that which was caught by a beast, you shall have for various uses. If anyone eats the fat which ought to be offered as incense to the Lord, he shall perish from his people.*
The wisdom of the Lawgiver is to be admired: how he introduces useful things to his subjects through enigmas and parables, cautiously storing the pearl of the commandment as if in a purse of the letter. For why did he charge that the fat of bulls, and sheep, and goats should not be eaten? For he said that their meat was clean and edible, yet forbade the fat of them—neither that of him who performs the commandment, as the ox; nor of the simple one, which is the sheep; nor of those who do penance for sins, for by the goat those sacrifices which are for sins are signified, since he commanded that a goat or a kid be sacrificed in these—does he allow us to eat the desire of these? For he orders it to be referred to God and offered to God, so that it may not be according to human intention, but that the desire of each thing which anyone attains from the aforementioned may be offered to God alone. Similarly, the desire of sins, which is signified by carcasses and those captured by beasts: by carcasses, indeed, as those who have chosen for themselves the death of sin through certain impurities and pride. This Paul proves concerning widows, saying: *For she that lives in pleasure is dead while she lives* (1 Tim. V, 6). Through those things which were captured by beasts, are understood those who, while they neglect...
their own caution and custody, have been taken captive, being grasped by intelligible beasts. A That we may not do this, Peter again says: *Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.* Of these he does not allow the fat to be eaten, for it is harmful for us to use the desires of these things. But neither does He command them to be offered to God, for the desire of sinners shall perish. But what does He command? *You shall have it for various uses.* We ought, therefore, to transfer it to virtue, so that we may convert the desire of these things to chastity, or to alms, or to justice, or to any other species of good work, resolving and deriving it into another mode. For this is what *you shall have it for various uses* means. Because even fat, if it is necessary for any utility of some work being performed, is thinned out and resolved. If anyone eats the fat which ought to be offered in incense to the Lord, he shall perish from his people. He perishes rightly, as he compels or in another way persuades him who has offered himself to God, not to have his desire toward the supernal eye, but toward pleasing himself.
VERS. 26, 27. *You shall not take the blood of any animal in food, as well from birds, as from cattle. Every soul that shall eat blood, shall perish from his peoples.*
That by blood he wishes soul to be understood, it has been sufficiently demonstrated above. He wishes, therefore, for us to attain the virtue of mutual love; and that it is not for the just, whose conversation in this place he signifies because of their higher flight, nor for sinners, to whom the appellation of cattle is appropriate because they look toward inferior things, to eat blood—that is, to perform nothing that brings death to them. But what the LXX says, that this is not to be done in every dwelling, by *dwellings* he implies different conversations. For which reason it is necessary to abstain from malice against one’s neighbor—the one who is so sublimely wise, or the one who is moderately so, or the one who has no study of wisdom at all—and, to speak briefly, just as one is to abstain from that which is against the sinner, and the sinner from that which can be against the just, one must abstain from malice, so that he lays no snares for him, knowing that he sins in blood, and the legislator judges him to be an eater of blood, and that soul shall perish from its people, because he had the intention of destroying his neighbor. Moreover, understand also this: that the law makes mention of this in the sanction which pertains to prohibited foods and the touching of the unclean, insinuating it to the soul: because it is the custom for the people, especially from the Gentiles—whose animal significance we have manifested as man—to be defiled by all forbidden actions, from which He commands him to withdraw.
VERS. 28-34. *The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to the children of Israel: He that offereth a victim of peace-offerings to the Lord, let him offer with it also the sacrifice, that is, its libations, and he shall hold with his hands the fat of the victim, and the breast. And when he shall have consecrated both to the Lord, he shall deliver them to the priest, who shall burn the fat upon the altar; but the breast shall be for Aaron and his sons, and the right shoulder also shall fall to the priest from the peace-offering victims. He who shall have offered the blood and the fat of the sons of Aaron, he himself shall also have the right shoulder for his portion: for the breast of elevation and the shoulder of separation I have taken from the children of Israel, from their peace-offering victims, and I have given them to Aaron the priest, and to his sons by a perpetual law, from all the people of Israel.*
Truly, he who meditates on the law of God night and day is a tree planted near the running waters, that he may bring forth fruit in due season, irrigated by the meditation of the law, which, so that it may not cause loathing and the reader may not fail, varies the sanction, commanding differently concerning the same things. But this is of Divine wisdom, which performs this in every discipline also. For behold, you will find medicine in the time of disease, preferring many remedies, and much more so in this that provides progress and health to the soul. For which reason, let us investigate the virtue of this sanction.
*The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to the children of Israel.* In which place the LXX put forth: *And to the children of Israel you shall say.* Hence we have not said in vain above that what was then spoken pertained especially to the people of the Gentiles; for the legislator, mindful of this matter, did not say now according to the LXX edition, *Speak to the children of Israel*, but, *And to the children of Israel*; showing by this that He speaks not only to them, but also to those who are from the Gentiles, for this law is common to them according to the spirit. But what does He say? *He that offereth a victim of peace-offerings to the Lord, let him offer with it also the sacrifice, that is, its libations.* But according to the LXX: *He who offers a peace-offering to the Lord shall offer his gift to the Lord from his peace-offering.* And what interpretation this has, what follows clearly manifests. *He shall hold with his hands the fat of the victim.* Or as the LXX: *His hands shall offer the entrails to the Lord*, that is, it is necessary for each person himself to perform those things which pertain to peace, or salvation, since no one can be saved by the study of another—perchance of a friend or kinsman. Just as this iniquity of the iniquitous shall be upon him, so also the justice of the just shall be upon him. How is it necessary that the victim be celebrated before? *He shall hold with his hands the fat of the victim and the breast.* Or according to the LXX: *He shall offer the fat which is upon the breast, and the lobe of the liver, and shall offer them so that they may be placed in the sight of the Lord.* He calls faith and confidence the *breast*, because these are joined to fortitude. But animal fortitude is accustomed to designate the perfect, for even the Lord speaks thus to Job. *Wilt thou give strength to the horse, or clothe his neck with neighing?* But according to the LXX He adds: *You have clothed him with every kind of armor, and the glory of his breast is boldness. Which*
A presumes and dares, comes from fortitude and confidence; but seeing that when there was a command concerning the health-giving sacrifice, he made mention of the belly, the kidneys, the loin, the flank, the liver, the fat, and the thighs, yet omitted the breast and even the shoulder: he wishes to vary, as has been said, the legislation, and to reserve for himself the time to give precepts frequently about these same things. For behold, now he explains what he did not say before.
*He shall hold in his hands the fat of the host, and the breast.* Or as the LXX has it: *Commanding the fat upon the breast and the flank of the liver to be offered.* By the flank and the kidneys, he brings us back once again to the memory of the other things already mentioned. By the breast, however, he designates the faith and confidence, which he wishes someone who desires to be saved to offer to the Lord, because *without faith it is impossible to please God.*
What, however, does he add to these? *He shall deliver it to the priest, who shall burn the fat upon the altar.* For we have rightly said that He wants all our desire to become a whole burnt offering.
*It is a perpetual law among the children of Israel.* For there is no time when God does not especially accept the offering of faith and action from those who are saved. Paul indeed says that all who excelled in virtues, such as Abel, Enoch, and Noah, and whomever he counted with them, were perfected through faith.
*This is the anointing of Aaron and his sons in the ceremonies of the Lord, on the day when Moses offered them that they might perform the priesthood, and what the Lord commanded to be given to them by the children of Israel by a perpetual religion in their generations.*
Ea- B -ter [the things that have been said] seem in a certain way to pertain to the anointing of the priests, but the legislator did not propose to discuss this in the present passage: for what fellowship have the aforementioned sacrifices with the anointing of priests? But he merely wishes to show the dignity of those things spoken of above by him, and what progress they afford to those who keep them. For in saying: *This is the anointing of Aaron and his sons in the ceremonies of the Lord,* he referred this to the preceding, so that you might know that he who guards whatever the law said above attains to the dignity of the priesthood, and by studying these things you may have the power to be called a royal priesthood, a holy nation: otherwise by no means.
C *For this is the anointing in the ceremonies of the Lord.* Namely, from the observances that are described in the aforementioned sacrifices. For which reason he added:
*And the breast shall be for Aaron and his sons. The right shoulder also from the peace offerings falls to the priesthood as first-fruits.* The right shoulder is good actions. Therefore, he who wishes to be saved must offer both faith and actions. But since he assigned the breast to the sons of Aaron, who are exalted in their life, and the right shoulder to the priest, who holds the image of Christ—by reason of which only the priest can perform this sacrifice—the legislator clearly shows that it is offered: because while to believe and to propose good things is ours, or to begin them; yet to perfect them by works, and to bring to an end those things which have been begun, this is of divine grace. For which reason Paul said: *It is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.* For it is His alone to direct actions. Wherefore he is also called the arm of God; for Isaiah says: *Lord, who has believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?* So that he who is therefore the true arm, rightly receives our shoulder, or, as the LXX say, our arm. Then, expanding our intention, the legislator added: *He who offers the blood and the fat of the sons of Aaron, he shall have the right shoulder for his portion.* For Christ is He who offers the intelligible blood of the peace offerings, and the fat, that is, the souls and the desires of the health-giving (sacrifices); D who is indeed of the sons of Aaron, not by kinship, but by His own dignity, a singular priest and in all things pre-eminent: into his portion the right shoulder, or the right arm, that is, every good action and the fruit of the work, passes. Recapitulating however the things that have been said, he added:
*For the breast of elevation (or according to the LXX, of proposition) and the shoulder of separation I have taken from the children of Israel, from their peace offerings.* Because he wants faith and action as a special offering from the peace or health-giving sacrifices. For which reason he said:
*On the day in which Moses offered them, that they might perform the priesthood, and what the Lord commanded to be given to them by the children of Israel.* Therefore, in these He gave us anointing, and in these God called us, on the day He offered them. When, however, is this? On the day He anointed them, so that they might perform the priesthood, that is, the day on which He anointed them from the children of Israel, by the anointing, namely, which has now been spoken of. For those who live or conduct themselves more sublimely are rightly superior to all the people. Whence also the legislator added most opportunely: *By a perpetual religion in your generations.* Insofar as you might know that this religion is unshaken before God, so that neither by dignity, nor by wisdom, nor by the kinship of the righteous, nor can anyone [excel] unless he has attained those things which are commanded in the things above. For thus someone also becomes a priest according to the kinship of Christ, the true priest, who demonstrated an immaculate and perfect life. But that he understood the anointing through those things which were clearly spoken of above, the things which follow confirm.
Verses 37, 38. *This is the law of the holocaust and of the sacrifice for sin and for guilt, and for consecration, and of the victims of peace offerings, which the Lord established to Moses on Mount Sinai, when He commanded the children of Israel that they should offer their oblations to the Lord in the desert of Sinai.*
A You see different ways of life that unite men to God, whether through the perfect honor of wisdom, which is signified by the holocaust, or through a moderate righteousness that is suitable and pertains to the working out of salvation. For the Law understood that these peace offerings, whether they are performed as holocausts or as oblation, are rightly useful in that they exhibit priestly dignity; and for this reason, on the day when He commanded the law of anointing to Moses on Mount Sinai, He also subjoined those things which concern the sacrifices, and at the same time enumerated and commemorated them all. For the Seventy added: "And of the consummation," although we do not find that expressed in the preceding terms of the legislator, even in the edition of the Septuagint itself. But because such a sacrifice is not for sin, nor for a holocaust, nor for a trespass, nor is it a sacrificial offering of salvation, so that we might not be ignorant of the species or the name of this sacrifice, in this place He called it "the sacrifice of consummation," wishing for you to understand that which He had omitted naming. But what is more perfect than theology? We have said that the sacrifice offered with oil and incense signifies it. But where did He say these things were established? In the desert of Sinai. Now "Sinai" is interpreted as "bramble" or "trial." A trial is like a bramble, since it is a rough shrub and one that is difficult to grasp with the hand; it is signified by this, because just as for those who struggle in the contest, the crown is in the sweat and the labor, so the crown of a good life is perfected in trials and tribulations, as Paul also said: "All who wish to live in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." B Especially if they offer their oblations to the Lord, or, as the Septuagint rendered it, "in the sight of the Lord." It is manifest that whoever has attained to a pure righteousness, and that which is pleasing to God, this person suffers trials and tribulations. For the intelligible enemies do not rest, nor are trials lacking to the just person, because piety is an abomination to sinners. But James has sufficiently explained to us the end of trials and tribulations: "Blessed is the man who suffers temptation, because when he has been proved, he shall receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love Him."
CHAPTER VIII.
VERSES 1-3. "And the Lord spoke to Moses saying: Take Aaron with his sons, their vestments and the oil of anointing, the calf for sin, two rams, a basket with unleavened loaves, and thou shalt gather all the congregation to the door of the tabernacle of the testimony." C What the force of the aforementioned is, is shown openly and opportunely in those things which follow, when the legislator shall subjoin those things which are done in them. But what these things which are now said signify, the preceding discourse will impart to you, because the anointing is common and not common to Christ and those who are His: common, indeed, because they also are partakers of the same anointing, for which reason we also, by the participation of Christ, are called Christians; but not common, because D it excels in a certain inestimable sublimity, God to men, and the grace in which we communicate to Him; which David, signifying to the Lord, said: "Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever; a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity; therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows." But who are His partakers? We, of course, of whom it has been said: "For we have become partakers of Christ, if yet we retain the beginning of His substance firm unto the end." You see, however, how He is anointed especially with the oil of exultation, that is, the Spirit, above us, His partakers, as the Psalmist says; for He is anointed substantially, but we by His operation and grace. For this reason, the sons of Aaron are indeed anointed together with Aaron, but not such things are done in them as are done in the anointing of Aaron, as the things that follow manifest. But in this also the mind must be fixed in the present, that we do not receive these things in vain concerning Christ: for the legislator, knowing that these mysteries befit the Church, commanded the whole congregation, or synagogue, to be called together—that is, what the Greeks call
ἐκκλησία
—to the door of the tabernacle of the testimony. Which synagogue cannot otherwise have communion with this law unless it come to the Church, by which the truth of these figures is preserved.VERSES 4-9. "Moses did as the Lord had commanded, and all the crowd having been gathered before the doors, he said: This is the speech which the Lord hath commanded to be done. And immediately he offered Aaron and his sons, and when he had washed them, he vested the high priest in a linen tunic, girding him with a belt, and clothing him in a hyacinthine tunic, and placed the humeral over him, which, tightening with a girdle, he fitted to the rational, in which was doctrine and truth. He also covered his head with a tiara, and upon it against his forehead he placed a golden plate, consecrated in sanctification, as the Lord had commanded him."
That these things of which the discourse is are a shadow, and are figures of those things which are done in the Church, those things which are now proposed most openly testify. Moses did as the Lord had commanded, and all the crowd having been gathered before the doors, he said. Which, in the Greek language, is more expressively translated in the Septuagint, that is,
ἐκκλησιάσας τὴν Συναγωγήν
. And why does he not say "he collected the Congregation or Synagogue," but "called together," that isἐκκλησιάζειν
, "every crowd," that is, the Synagogue or Congregation? Because without doubt he hints at something through these things, calling that Synagogue, because this name was of old the proper name for the gathered people. To call together, that isἐκκλησιάζειν
, He commanded, so that we might recognize the Church to be in the near future, the virtue of whose sanction is found to be this. It becomes more manifest from the fact that the Law of God, who led out Israel, who called Abraham, who did all the things which are written through the prophet Moses, commanded the things which are mystically done in the Church many generations before. But even when he...had said above A regarding the LXX: *Call an assembly to the doors of the tabernacle of the testimony*, he says here: *He called the assembly, not to the doors, but to the door of the tabernacle of the testimony*: clearly warning our ears that the doctrines of the apostles, which the preceding discourse explained to be the doors of the tabernacle of the testimony, and the doctrine of Christ, are infused by His own tongue, and are from those things which He Himself taught. As therefore, among many doors and one door, this is the only difference—that those are many, while this is one—so the discourses and doctrines of the apostles differ in nothing from the doctrine of Christ, except that the Lord’s word is one, of which Paul says: *For the word of God is living, and effectual, and sharper than any two-edged sword* [Hebr. iv, 12]. And Peter with the rest of the apostles says: *It is not reasonable that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables* [Act. vi, 2]. For it is divided into many and different tongues. Which, even if they be doors because of their multitude, lead the listener to the one entrance of life, that is, the door of Christ.
And all the crowd having been gathered before the doors, he says: *This is the word which the Lord commanded to be done*. What is that word, of which naturally David said: *The Lord will give the word to those who evangelize with great power* [Ps. lxvii, 12]? But also Peter more plainly says: *This is the word which has been announced to you*. For the present word is evangelical, because the mysteries announced by Him are also evangelical, in which there also resides the grace of baptism. For the legislator is accustomed, as often as he describes the enigmas of ecclesiastical mysteries, to use such discourses. For even when he wrote about the manna, which bears the figure of the bread which descended from heaven, he also places a word about it similar to those present, saying: *This is the bread which the Lord gave you to eat*, and straightway added: *This is the word which the Lord spoke* [Exod. xvi, 15, 16]. But what is it even that he now explains that God commands?
And immediately he offered Aaron and his sons, and when he had washed them. For when He who is truly the priest, Christ, is offered to the Father—for Daniel also remembers His oblation, when he says: *And behold one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and he came even to the Ancient of days, and was offered in his sight* [Dan. vii, 13]—He is offered certainly for our sake, and with us, and on our behalf. Therefore even now he says that He was offered with his sons, namely with those who think on higher things, and who imitate Him, as far as it is permitted to men, as Paul says: *Be followers of me, as I also am of Christ* [1 Cor. iv, 16 / Phil. iii, 17]. But the oblation itself is celebrated through baptism, which he says: *And when he had washed them*. You are certain, however, that Christ was baptized in the river Jordan to sanctify the waters of our baptism. But these things are indeed common to Aaron with his sons, that is, to Christ with us; the sequels, however, are not so. For they excel us, and are higher than we are, and are competent only to the first and true priest.
And he clothed the pontiff with a linen undergarment, girding B him with a belt, and clothing him with a tunic. Which the LXX have translated: *And he put the tunic upon him, and girded him with a girdle, and clothed him with the undergarment* [hypodytis]. Here he manifests the incarnation of the Only-begotten, who, because He was incarnate as our whole man, is said to be clothed with a tunic and an undergarment. For our condition is twofold: and one part in us is of the dust; the other is heavenly; but yet each is one. For Moses says: *God formed man of the slime of the earth* [Gen. ii, 7]; therefore this is earthly. *And he breathed into his face the spirit of life*; most clearly this is heavenly. *And man became a living soul*; for each is one animal. If indeed he should turn himself to corporeal things, and carnal pleasures, the whole man will be called earthly, as if the heavenly were extinguished and closed up; but if we occupy ourselves only with the progress of the soul, and grant it to exercise primacy, and to rule the body, it is rightly called heavenly, as the earthly being neglected. When Adam fell by disobedience, he doubtlessly became earthly, and therefore he heard: *Earth thou art, and into earth thou shalt go* [Gen. iii, 19]; that is, you have loved the corruption of the body, you have the punishment similar to your sin. Christ, however, is clothed indeed with the earthly, that is, with that old man who is of the earth, whom He also at the same time affixed to the cross, for Paul says: *That our old man is crucified together with him, that the body of sin may be destroyed* [Rom. vi, 6]. But He is also clothed with the heavenly, which He Himself breathed. But because He did nothing earthly here, nor anything near to corruption, He is doubtlessly called heavenly; this Paul explaining says: *The first man was of the earth, earthly: the second from heaven, heavenly* [1 Cor. xv, 47], which must be accepted in two ways. For our first man, that is the body, was formed from the earth, because of which he was called earthly: but the soul is from heaven, for it is the breathing of God. Again, the first disobedient man Adam is earthly from the earth, because he consigned himself to the works of dust; the second new man is Christ, who is from heaven, not only because He descended from heaven, but because He preserved the dignity of the heavenly, while He did no earthly thing, nor [anything] near to corruption. Therefore he calls the tunic the earthly C here; for the tunic was made from linen, which is from the earth; for he says: *And he made them linen tunics*; but the undergarment [he calls] heavenly, because the undergarment is priestly, and at the same time it is hyacinthine. But this color is of the sky, and what truly is the color of the sky, this is the heavenly action, namely and subsistence, because of which it is also called heavenly. But the undergarment has many other things signifying the heavenly man, which the legislator explained in the construction of the tabernacle, when he was expounding the pontifical stole. About which we shall speak when God has willed it, so that we may also reach the dispensation which is there. Now, however, those things that seem necessary to what is in our hands have been encompassed, so that it might be proven that Christ took upon Himself both our man, and is manifest D
A as both hidden, and earthly, and heavenly—that is, a perfect body and a perfect soul, and in all things integral; for he saved both, as the creator of both. Consider also this: just as the hypodytis (which we have said is the heavenly man) the other interpreters have called the epandytis—because it is he whom we desire, according to what Paul says, to be "clothed upon"—for he speaks thus: "For while we are in this tabernacle, we groan, being burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed, but clothed upon, that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life." But because this super-garment of our condition was ancient, and now, as one we once had, we are about to receive it back, he explained in what follows. And He who makes us for this very thing is God, who gave us the pledge of the Spirit. The LXX, however, call that hypodytis as one who is interior, or hidden. But yet, because he is brought down second in the order of creation, since the first is the tunic, which is of the earth, they name him the second. And yet the hypodytis is an interior garment, but from the fact that it did not place him first, it preserved the order of creation. But in that he said "hypodytis," he shows that he is our interior man. To these the legislator added:
And from above he placed the humeral, which, drawing it together with a girdle, he fitted to the rational. The LXX, however, have published: "And he placed upon him the epomis, and girded him according to the approach of the epomis, and bound him to it." The super-humeral is the sweet yoke of Christ, that is, the evangelical life, which, as He Himself demonstrating it, he carried rightly upon his shoulders, of which He says: "Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am meek, and humble of heart, and you will find rest for your souls; for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." Hence also the Law in Exodus says thus concerning the super-humeral: "And you shall make the super-humeral of gold and hyacinth, and scarlet twice dyed, and fine linen twisted, work of the embroiderer." Or, as the LXX, work varied with the epomis, adhering one to another, sometimes calling it one epomis, sometimes two, because the Lord also made a reminder of the yoke and the burden, dividing one into two, as if He were dividing the epomis, which is not in vain, but because it behooves the evangelical man not to pass over the commandment of the Law which said: "You shall not kill, you shall not commit adultery," and if there is any other, D and to exhibit toward it a double operation, that is, that not only should he be abstained from murder, but also from the anger which causes murder, and not only from adultery, but from the desire from which adultery is born. Thus one epomis and two cohering ones find one another, because it restrains from anger, and renders one cautious toward not committing murder. It was necessary, however, to conjoin the epomis to the hypodytis, for it is the portion of the heavenly man to bear the yoke which Christ spoke of. But what is the girdle with which he girdled the tunic and the hypodytis? Learn the work itself: He says in the construction of the tabernacle: "And you shall make a cydaris of fine linen, and a girdle, varied work." For because the cydaris is a garment of the head, but the work of the girdle or zone is in a certain way to strengthen and bind him who is girded: the legislator proposed to show by this that Christ, while recapitulating or restoring the whole creature, at the same time also strengthens our mass, the firstfruits of which He took in the mystery of the dispensation. Of Whom Paul says: "Who has made known to us the mystery of His will, according to the dispensation of the fulness of times, to restore all things in Christ, which are in heaven and which are on earth." In Him also David says: "The Lord has reigned, the Lord has put on beauty, He has put on strength, and He has girded Himself." He also makes manifest Himself, in what manner Christ B strengthened our mass, with the word of the dispensation surrounding the firstfruits, which He also called strength, because through it we also are made strong. But who is this mode of dispensation? John says: "The Word was made flesh." And therefore Moses says the cydaris and the girdle are fine linen, work of the embroiderer; for fine linen, since it is from the earth, demonstrates the flesh, which is from our earth; the work of the embroiderer, the Word of the Lord, who is the craftsman and varier of the whole creature. He has fashioned the flesh taken from us for Himself: varying in it the mysteries, in a certain way, and the miracles of creation. After this he subjoined according to the LXX: "And he placed upon it the rational." And how: Some have "antigrapha," but both look to the same thing, "upon him":
That which, binding with a girdle, he fitted to the rational in which was doctrine and truth. The LXX, however, published: "And he placed upon it the logion of manifestation and truth." But this, expounding the priestly stole elsewhere, he called the rational of judgment: for according to the rational of Christ, that is, doctrine, the preaching of the future judgment is governed. Manifestation, therefore, that is, revelation, and with it has truth, as one manifesting to men the unknown truth of the mysteries. And he commanded the rational to be made of four squares, that is, from the four general virtues, and from the twelve partial and, in a certain way, special stones. But what are these? Certainly those of which Paul was writing: "For it behooves a bishop to be irreprehensible, as the steward of God." But how irreprehensible, that is, clean from accusation, and free from every complaint, he shows by those things which follow: "Not proud, not irascible, not vinolent, not a striker, not greedy of filthy lucre: but given to hospitality, gentle, sober, just, holy, continent, embracing him who is according to the doctrine, a faithful word." For these things are indeed fitting for each one to attain, but especially for the priest, since he bears the figure of Christ, who carried the aforementioned twelve stones upon His own breast. He also covered his head with the cydaris. Or, according to
LXX; And he put, he says, the mitre upon his head. But since we are not ignorant of the operation of the mitre or cydaris, and have learned that the Father is the head of Christ, let us hear what follows.
And upon it, against the forehead, he placed the golden plate, consecrated in sanctity, just as the Lord had commanded him. He makes mention of these things which the Lord commanded Moses not without cause, but wishing to remind us of those things which were said about the plate in the construction of the tabernacle: for its utility and virtue are openly set forth there, when it says: *You shall make a plate of purest gold, in which you shall engrave with the work of a lapidary: Holy to the Lord.* Or as the LXX has it: *And you shall make a golden plate, and you shall form upon it the formation of a sign, the holiness of the Lord.* B But what this formation, or what this sign is, it says no longer; but it also says in another place: *They also made the plate of sacred veneration of purest gold, and wrote upon it with the work of a lapidary: Holy to the Lord.* According to the LXX, however: *And he made a golden plate, a drawing of pure gold, a redemption of the holy, and he inscribed letters shaped with signs: Holiness to the Lord.* But yet it does not say what the letters themselves were, nor can we see or hear them. The formation, therefore, of which Paul speaks—*Who, being the splendor of his glory and the image of his substance*—also signifies that sign. For because much was said in this sanction regarding the incarnation of the Only-Begotten, so that not all things might be thought humble concerning Him, the lawgiver, wishing to lift us up to the substance of the incarnate Word, of whom John was saying: *In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God,* mentioned the mitre, or cydaris, upon the head for the sake of the Father. Through the plate and the engraving, or the formation of the sanctification of the incarnate Word of God, who also became our priest, it is manifest that he set forth the dignity which He has in the beginning, which He has together with the Father. On account of which he places it both upon the cydaris or mitre and against the face of the mitre or cydaris, and says: *And you shall bind it with a hyacinthine ribbon.* Or according to the LXX: *And you shall place it upon a twisted hyacinth: understanding the twisted hyacinth as the humanity of Christ, for the reason that it is inseparably joined to divinity.*
*And it shall be upon the tiara, looming over the forehead of the high priest.* Or as the LXX: *And it shall be upon the mitre against the front of the mitre.* It shall be upon the mitre, for the Father is in the Son, and the Son in the Father. And before the face of the mitre. For he who sees the Son is said to see the Father as well: just as Christ answers Philip in John, who was questioning Him about the Father. Therefore, every sanction is now evidently explained as a mystery of the Only-Begotten.
VERS. 10-11. *He also took the oil of anointing, with which he anointed the tabernacle with all its furnishings. And when he had sanctified the altar by sprinkling it seven times, he anointed it, and all its vessels. The laver also with its base he sanctified with oil.*
*I have multiplied visions, and in the hands of the prophets I have been made like,* therefore he said in the prophets before, so that he who wished to know His mysteries might recognize that we were to comprehend the salvation of men not through one image, nor through one certain sign, but through many, because He also works many things, especially through the flesh dispensed by Him. And just as He is called not only pastor, but also sheep, and priest, and door: pastor, indeed, as one who converts or brings back the wandering man; but sheep, as one who was made a sacrifice for us; but priest, as one who offered Himself; but door, as one who shows us the way of knowledge; so his many prophets bring a likeness, and to each individual certain things are entrusted, so that they might signify the operation of our dispensation. From this, because He Himself was the one who was anointing them, He was Himself the one who was being anointed, anointing with the word of divinity, according to which all things are common to Him with the Father and the Spirit, by whom He is said to be anointed (for David called the Father anointing when he said: *Therefore God, your God, has anointed you*; Isaiah, however, referred the anointing of the Son to the Spirit, saying: *The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me.* But what the Father and the Spirit do, this same thing the Son also does); therefore, by reason of divinity He is Himself the one anointing, and He is Himself the one who is anointed by the dispensation of humanity. Similarly, He offers and is offered: whence also Daniel sees Him as one offered, but does not see who offered Him, because He Himself was the one who was offering Himself. Therefore, so that the truth of the figures may be saved, Moses indeed anoints and offers, bearing the image of Christ Himself, of whom He was saying to the Jews: *The Lord will raise up for you a prophet from among your brothers, like me.* Which the Lord, referring to Himself, was saying: *If you believed Moses, you would also believe me, for he wrote of me.* Aaron, however, again, as a figure of the true priest, is anointed, and the image of that mystery is exposed. Moses therefore sprinkles the altar, namely the Lord's body, seven times: because the anointing of the Lord is the whole fullness of the Spirit, which is designated in seven operations, just as Isaiah said. He anoints also all its vessels, as much the apostles, as those who live in them to such an extent similarly, that they are rightly named the houses and vessels of Christ. Thus also the Lord, choosing Paul, said to Ananias: *Go, for this man is a vessel of election to me, to carry my name before the nations, and kings, and the sons of Israel.* He sanctifies also the luter, or the laver, namely baptism with its base, through which we understand penance. This is placed under baptism, because we correct and bolster with penance the grace of it, which we often make to totter by our own falsehood.
*And he sanctified the tabernacle with all its furnishing.* For by our sanctification, a heavenly one also—
that is, the created order—has been sanctified; although it was holy before, it attained greater sanctification through the Lord’s flesh, which He took from us. But let it not seem ridiculous what is said, that the created order, which in us has been made partaker of the supernal sanctification, is sanctified after having been granted to us in Christ, the knowledge which Paul manifests by saying: *That it might be made known to the princes and powers in the heavenly places through the Church of the manifold wisdom of God, according to the disposition of the ages, which He made in Christ Jesus our Lord* (Eph. III, 9, 10). Therefore, through the Church, the higher creation has been made a partaker of greater knowledge, insofar as its sanctification has been rightly called such.
A VERS. 12. *And pouring upon the head of Aaron, he anointed him, and consecrated, or sanctified, him.* Although Christ’s head, according to Paul’s word, is understood as His divinity, it is not in vain, nor out of order, that the lawgiver wrote now of the priest’s head being anointed in this mystery: that we may know that, just as the head cannot be divided from the feet, so neither is Christ’s divinity divided from His humanity after the union. But whether we speak of Him being anointed, or begotten, or suffering, or rising, or being assumed, we do not divide the incarnate Word, nor do we say that the man was anointed while the God was not, but that He is God and man at once. For David affirms this without any doubt when he says: *Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever; the scepter of thy kingdom is a scepter of uprightness. Thou hast loved justice, and hated iniquity: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee* (Ps. XLIV, 7, 8). You see that He who is anointed is called God, because it is manifest that whatever belongs to His flesh, He claimeth for Himself, seeing that He is incarnate. For what was His anointing, if not the very incarnation itself? In this manner, the head of the intelligible priest was anointed, and he himself was sanctified.
VERS. 13. *He also clothed his sons who were presented with linen tunics, and girded them with a belt, and placed miters upon them, as the Lord had commanded.* Tunics were placed upon the sons of Aaron, similar to Aaron's, and belts or girdles similar to his, and *cydares* or miters. For they put on Him, they are girded by Him, they carry Him on their head, whence Paul also says: *Stand, having your loins girt about with truth; and truth is Christ* (Eph. VI, 14); and they are clothed with the breastplate of justice, and He Himself is made for us wisdom and justice from God. But Paul also commanded that we be clothed with the helmet of salvation: for Christ is our salvation, as Simeon testified: *Now thou dost dismiss thy servant, O Lord, according to thy word in peace, because my eyes have seen thy salvation* (Luc. II, 29, 30). For whoever are clothed with Christ are, through Him, clothed with the Father.
VERS. 14-17. *He also offered the calf for sin, and when Aaron and his sons had placed their hands upon its head, he slaughtered it, drawing the blood...*
B and with his dipped finger, he touched the horns of the altar all around. Having thus expiated and sanctified it, he poured the rest of the blood at its foundations. The fat also that was upon the vital parts, and the caul of the liver, and the two kidneys with their suet, he burned upon the altar, while the calf, with its skin, and flesh, and dung, he burned outside the camp, as the Lord had commanded.
Whatever the virtue of this aforementioned sanction may be, and how each of its chapters is received into the sacrifice of the Only-Begotten, the preceding discourse contains. The calf is offered for the sin of the priest, but also for the congregation of the people. Understanding these, we shall fully understand those things which have now been said. Yet we say these things now, which are the only ones regarding the sanction that remained unchanged: for there, Aaron had to lay hands upon the calf, and here, he did not record this of his sons in vain, but rather wrote that they too were anointed. When we, moreover, are anointed and brought to be baptized, we are made companions of the Lord’s passion, of which baptism bears the image, as these words of Paul also teach: *For whosoever are baptized in Christ, are baptized in his death; we are buried together with him therefore by baptism into his death* (Rom. VI, 3, 4). Necessarily, the sons of Aaron place their hands upon the sacrifice, since they are communicants with him.
C VERS. 18-21. *He offered also a ram for a holocaust, upon whose head when Aaron and his sons had placed their hands, he slaughtered it, and poured its blood around the altar, and cutting the ram itself into pieces, he burned its head, and limbs, and fat with fire, having first washed the intestines and the feet, and burned the whole ram together upon the altar, because it was a holocaust of most sweet odor to the Lord, as the Lord had commanded.*
Not one sin only, but many things have been bestowed upon us from the sacrifice of the Only-Begotten: that is, the remission of the entire human race; life in perfect philosophy; and a singular introduction to the mysteries of the New Testament—the sacrifices for which show, through the figures and examples of the person assigned to the high priest, the shadow of heavenly things, through the things done on earth. This Paul makes manifest by saying of the Lord: *For if he were on earth, he would not be a priest, seeing that there would be those who offer gifts according to the law that serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things* (Hebr. VIII, 4). He speaks, however, of those who were then offering sacrifices in the temple of Jerusalem. But because he depicted one and the same man, sitting, running, and again standing, wishing to explain different operations, he is rightly compelled to divide various figures for each of His works. Therefore the law commanded the priest, bearing in many things the image of the Lord, now to sacrifice a calf for sins, and to burn it outside the tabernacle: for thus the sacrifice of the Lord was also performed for the washing away of the sins of our nature. Now, however, he returns to the sacrifice...
and commands another to be performed as a burnt offering of a ram. For a life of crucifixion to the world and renunciation of the world, which is a burnt offering, has Christ as its firstfruits, teacher, and example, on account of which he said: He who does not take up his cross and follow me, is not worthy of me; that is, he who does not thus renounce the world, just as it has been handed down to me—for this is what it means to follow him—is not worthy of me. But for what reason is the holocaust divided? A His feet and intestines, or according to the LXX, the stomach, are washed. The interpretation of the holocaust, which was made at the beginning of the book, sufficiently explained this; yet what it changes regarding the sacrifice is necessarily stated, because there it spoke of the parts of the offerings being made, signifying thereby that body and soul ought to be offered; but in us these divisions—inasmuch as they are mutually contrary—are named, as Paul says; in Christ, however, there are no divisions, for he was incarnate as a man clean from sin, and he is not divided in the works of the flesh, to which the spirit is opposed, for which reason the law made no mention of divisions in his sacrifice.
But for the fact that the priest offers a calf for sin, but a ram for a holocaust, the law signifies this absolutely: that because a perfect life is known through the oblation of a holocaust, a ram must necessarily be offered in sacrifice; for this creature is accustomed to lead the sheep going into pastures, and to their going out and coming in from the sheepfolds, just as Christ is the guide of a perfect life, from whom indeed it took its beginning, and for this reason he commanded them to enter and go out through himself. B He also offered the second ram unto the consecration of the priests. The LXX, however, put: "Moses offered the ram of explanation." Rightly is the sacrifice of what has been celebrated in us called the sacrifice of explanation; for it has perfected us when we were previously infirm, and it has led us forth from the imperfect nourishment of milk, that is, from that which is in the law, of which Paul says: For everyone who is partaker of milk is unskilled in the word of justice, for he is a babe. And again: The law brought nothing to perfection, but the bringing in of a better hope, which was given, has established us in this hope. Nevertheless, this sacrifice hints at that which is called the "better hope," through which we always draw near to serve God. Why, however, is this second ram now called a ram? Because, clearly, the Lord, after having first dined with his apostles, having figured the sheep, later offered his own sacrifice, and for the second time he killed himself, as it were, like a sheep, which the following things demonstrate.
And Aaron and his sons laid their hands upon its head. When Moses had sacrificed it. It is necessary that Moses, together with Aaron and his sons, lay hands upon the head of the ram, because Christ celebrated the common supper of the Paschal festival with his disciples. C For when he sent some of his disciples to the preparation of the house in which he was about to celebrate the Pasch, he said thus: Say to the master of the house that the master says: Where is the guest chamber, where I may eat the pasch with my disciples? But Moses celebrates this sacrifice because he himself bears the figure of Christ more than others do. At that time, however, Christ celebrated his sacrifice most of all, whence it also begins; for see the following.
VERS. 22-29. And he offered the second ram, unto the consecration of the priests, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands upon its head. When Moses had sacrificed it, taking of the blood, he touched the extremity of Aaron's right ear and the thumb of his right hand, and similarly of his right foot, and he offered also the sons of Aaron. And when he had touched the blood of the sacrificed ram to the tip of the right ear of each, and to the thumbs of the right hand and foot, he poured the rest upon the altar round about. D But the fat and the tail, and all the fat that covers the intestines, and the membrane of the liver, and the two kidneys with their fats, and the right shoulder he separated. Taking also from the basket of unleavened bread, which was before the Lord, a cake without leaven, and a loaf tempered with oil, and a wafer, he put them upon the fats, and the right shoulder, delivering all together to Aaron and his sons. Who, after they had lifted them up before the Lord, receiving them again from their hands, he burned them upon the altar of holocaust, because it was an oblation of consecration, into an odor of sweetness of the sacrifice of the Lord. He also took the breast, lifting it up before the Lord, from the ram of consecration as his part, just as the Lord commanded him.
When Moses had sacrificed it, taking of the blood, he touched the extremity of Aaron's right ear and the thumb of his right hand, and similarly of his right foot, and he offered also the sons of Aaron. And when he had touched the blood of the sacrificed ram to the tip of the right ear of each, and to the thumbs of the right hand and foot, he poured the rest upon the altar round about. What is the effect of this sacrifice? The anointing of the ears and hands and feet demonstrates this: for our obedience, good action, and conduct is celebrated. Hence also our ears are anointed, that, lacking the disobedience of Adam, we may obtain the obedience of the Only-begotten. After these the extremities of the hands and feet are anointed, because not only the hands, but also the feet are accepted for action, which is proven by that which David says: My foot has stood in the right way. And again: He set my feet upon a rock. But because we have certain actions that are good, and others that are bad, and the figure of evils
[LATIN COLUMN]
883 HESYCHII PRESBYTERI 884 left represents [the past], the right is rightly anointed. For those things which are anointed are strengthened, while those which are not anointed are destroyed and scattered—a fact clearly demonstrated by the angel who destroyed Egypt, because wherever the anointing of the immolated victim was found, he did not strike. Yet, the high priest and, after him, his sons were anointed according to the Law, because the Lord Himself was the first to receive the intelligible blood at the mystical supper, and then gave the cup to the Apostles. But see here: the legislator, after the anointing of Aaron and his sons, adds: *And of the blood he poured the rest about the bottom of the altar.* We find that Christ also did this; for by drinking it Himself and giving it to the Apostles to drink, He then poured the intelligible blood upon the altar, namely, His own body. For the body of Christ is the Church and all its people, which we find Mark specifically stating: *And taking, he gave thanks and gave to them: and they all drank of it. And he said to them: This is my blood of the new testament, which shall be shed for many.* To these things correspond what follows: *And the fat, and the tail, and all the fat that covereth the entrails, and the caul of the liver, and the two kidneys with their fat, and the right shoulder, he separated.* For the tail, the Septuagint placed the loin, and for the entrails, the stomach, and for the caul of the liver, the appendage of the liver. But whose figure these things bear in the salutary or peace-offering sacrifice has been discussed point by point. It is not without purpose that he now mentions them in the ram of the sacrifice of perfection, but because the mystical Pasch of Christ and the participation in them brings about the salvation of men, for whom the virtue of our mystery prepares the things that follow to be built up by the teachers. A His faithful ones are waters; they shall see the king in his beauty. But the Apostles explain the mystery of Christ more fully, whence neither the unleavened cake nor the pancake, but cakes of doctrine, as being more nourishing, are spoken of. For those which the Septuagint here called cakes of oil, the same Septuagint, in the festival of Tabernacles, interpreting the basket of perfection—which was taken for the anointing of the priest—the legislator called "collyridam," signifying by the collyrida the utterance of the Law. And that the collyridae are inferior to the loaves, there is no doubt. Whence the sermons of the Apostles are preferred to the sermons of the prophets and the Law, because they received greater grace, just as Paul might say: *God hath set some in the church first apostles, secondly prophets.* Then they, after the evangelical tradition, introduce the mysteries of Christ, and they introduce them using the testimonies of the Law and the Prophets. For which reason the collyrida and the pancakes are both subjected to them and conjoined. But let us consider what he adds to these. C *And taking out of the basket of unleavened bread, that was set before the Lord, a loaf without leaven, and a cake tempered with oil, and a wafer.* For the basket of unleavened bread, the Septuagint provided "the basket of perfection." By the basket of perfection, we understand the tongue of the Lord; for it alone introduced the primary and perfect doctrine. For which reason He said: *I am not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill it*; as He Himself fulfills what was lacking in the law. And he called it a basket well, both because of the context of the words, since He spoke many things in parables so that the Jews would not understand everything, and because it was, in a way, a dish and table of all doctrine. Since, therefore, the mystery was rational, and those things which are done subsist by reason, he rightly proposes the mystical bread from the basket of perfection, that is, from His own tongue. But how does He propose the bread? Without leaven, and a cake tempered with oil, that is, apostolic, legal, and prophetic doctrine. For the Law, the Prophets, and the Apostles make mention of Him—the Law, indeed, saying: *This is the bread which the Lord hath given you to eat.* The Prophets, however: *Bread shall be given him, and his waters are faithful.* B He laid them upon the fat and the right shoulder, delivering all at once to Aaron and his sons. The Law testifies to this: that every desire and every good action must be offered to the mystery, if you wish to receive it according to the intention of God and the Law. But also following the aforementioned order, it says: *Delivering all together to Aaron and his sons.* For Christ first initiated His own mysteries, and then delivered them to us who have been made His sons through the laver of regeneration. *And they lifted them up before the Lord.* For He lifted up the very mystery which He delivered to us, along with His own flesh, into the heavens. And by saying "he lifted them up before the Lord," he explained the manner in which He offered them to those who were to be in the future. And again, having been received from their hands, he burned them upon the altar of holocaust, for it was an oblation of consecration for an odor of sweetness of the sacrifice of the Lord. The altar of holocaust is called the body of Christ, but also the "odor of sweetness," for it is openly said of Christ in the Song of Songs: *Thy name is as ointment poured out, therefore young maidens have loved thee.* D Of the sacrifice of the Lord. That is, of the sacrifice and the holocaust. As the Lord commanded. For He Himself commanded: *As often as you shall eat this, do show the death of the Lord in yourselves.* He took also the breast, lifting it up before the Lord from the ram of consecration. Or according to the Septuagint: Of the perfection, unto his part, as the Lord had commanded him. Just as in the sacrifice of the peace-offering, or the salutary one, the breast is offered, so here too, that is to say, understood for Moses, that is for Christ, the breast of the ram of consecration, or of perfection, is separated, because by the breast, faith and confidence are signified, as we have said before. But since it is His own sacrifice...
it is necessary that the faith which is in it be also reckoned to him. Taking therefore the ointment and the blood which was on the altar, he sprinkled it upon Aaron and his garments, and upon his sons and their garments. A And when he had sanctified them in their vesture, [this shows] that the blood of the Only-Begotten and the anointing of the Spirit are of one operation and power. And the lawgiver has most correctly anointed with the oil of anointing and the blood of the altar—that is, of the Lord’s body—hear John saying: There are three that bear witness, and the three are one, the Spirit, the blood, and the water. For they have one effect of sanctification. Many and rightly has the law separated Aaron’s garment from the stoles of the sons of Aaron. For even if we, who have been adopted by Him, have a garment in imitation of the Lord, yet we have learned from what precedes how much the pontiff’s garment differs, or what it is, and how manifold. For He said that that tunic has an ephod and a rational, whence it is correctly and now called in the plural. But that which belongs to the sons of Aaron, even if the tunic is uniform, yet it is also itself. But because one tunic, or stole, possesses many virtues—for the tunic or stole of Christ, by which those who are anointed by Him are clothed, is known to possess adoption, to possess incorruption, and rest in the heavens, and other such things—for this reason B it is called a tunic or stole, although it is one for all. For whoever of us have been baptized in Christ, have put on Christ. But yet, because of the abundance of the gifts which are from it, it is called in the plural and most correctly so, on account of the truth which is figured in it. One who figures it in form is compelled, without sharp distinction, to pass over the way which is in it. For behold, when the tunic or stole of the sons of Aaron is uniform, yet he called them many, and not one tunic. But if we have known Aaron to be sanctified in an intelligible manner by the sprinkling of blood and oil, let us not wonder at what has been said; for Christ Himself, for our sanctification, offered His passion for us, by the sprinkling of His own blood, of course. Whence he said that the sons of Aaron and their tunics or stoles were sanctified with Aaron, because whatever things happen in us are necessarily reduced to Him, as being the head of the whole body. For proof of the things that have been said, let us take the words of the Lord; for when He was about to be crucified for us, He said this under the form of prayer, to teach the obedience of the apostles: As the Father hath sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world, and for them I sanctify myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth. Therefore, He openly called the sacrifice that He offered for us C sanctification, from which sanctification also profits for us. VERS. 31-36. And when he had sanctified them in their vesture, he commanded them, saying: Boil the flesh before the door of the tabernacle, and there eat it. And the loaves of consecration also eat, which are placed in the basket as the Lord commanded me, saying: Aaron and his sons shall eat them. Whatever however shall remain of the flesh and the loaves, let the fire consume. And from the door of the tabernacle you shall not go out for seven days, until the day in which the time of your consecration shall be completed. For in seven days the consecration is finished, just as it was done in the presence, so that the rite of the sacrifice might be completed. Day and night you shall remain in the tabernacle, observing the watches of the Lord, lest you die; for so it is commanded me. And Aaron and his sons did all things which the Lord commanded by the hand of Moses. The legislator has now provided for the primary matters, and has distinguished the mysteries, and figuratively, through those things which he has now contemplated, has handed down that these should be performed within the Church and in no way allowed for the uses and ears of the profane. Whence, because the tabernacle of the testimony of God is heaven, but the atrium of this tabernacle is the Church—because it is placed before the entrance of heaven and holds the image of the celestial Jerusalem, just as we said before—He commanded that the flesh of the sacrifice be boiled within. He says: D “Aaron and his sons shall eat them.” Whatsoever however remains of the flesh and of the loaves, the fire consumes. And from the door of the tabernacle you shall not go out for seven days until the day on which the time of your consecration is completed. For in seven days the consecration is ended, just as was done in the present case, that the rite of the sacrifice might be fulfilled. Day and night you shall remain in the tabernacle, keeping the watches of the Lord, lest you die; for so it has been commanded for me. And Aaron and his sons did all that the Lord commanded through the hand of Moses. The legislator has now provided for the primary matters, and has distinguished the mysteries, and figuratively, through those things which he has now contemplated, has handed down that these should be performed within the Church and in no wise given the opportunity for the uses and ears of the profane. Whence, because the tabernacle of the testimony of God is heaven, the atrium of such a tabernacle is the Church—because it is placed before the entrance of heaven and holds the image of the celestial Jerusalem, just as we said before—He commanded that it be boiled within in the flesh of the sacrifice. He says: C And He commanded them, saying: Boil the flesh before the door of the tabernacle, and eat them there. And, as the LXX add, in the holy place. The holy place is the altar, for there the Holy of Holies rests. But what did He add? And there eat them. Also the loaves of consecration, or, as the LXX translate, and the loaves which are in the basket of completion, eat, as the Lord commanded me. Aaron and his sons shall eat them. How, therefore, could the wisdom of the Spirit not be wonderful in these things? For he has left no doubt concerning an intellect of this kind: for therefore commanding the flesh to be eaten with the loaves, that we might understand that that mystery is spoken of by Him, which is simultaneously bread and flesh, just as the body of Christ is the bread of life, which descends from heaven. For which reason, through the ravens to Elijah according to the LXX edition, who brought flesh in the morning and bread in the evening from above, He was prefiguring this mystery by the will of the Lord: that it is necessary that it be cooked and eaten within in the Church, in the holy place, that is, at the altar: but elsewhere, in no wise. For which reason Paul was commanding the Corinthians: When you come together therefore into one place, it is not now to eat the Lord's supper. For every one taketh before his own supper to eat. And one indeed is hungry, and another is drunk. Have you not houses to eat and to drink in? Or despise ye the church of God? And this for the reason that the mystical supper should be celebrated there absolutely. Aaron and his sons correctly eat that; for unless Christ, being invited by the mouth of the priests, Himself come and has sanctified the supper, the things which are done in no wise become the Lord’s sacrifice. But this, that what is left over of the flesh and of the loaves, He commanded to be burned in the fire. Which we now see also to happen sensibly in the Church, and whatever happens to remain is handed over to the fire.
Whatever is not entirely saved in one, two, or many days; for as it appears, the legislator did not command this, but he orders what remains to be burned. He did not mention the days, so that whatever remains, for whatever reason it may emerge unconsumed, whether time be the cause or anything else, the work of fire and consumption may have its place. Therefore, from this which is done sensibly, a signification of a certain intelligible thing comes to those who understand: that when we are deficient in the eating of the sacrifice, and are unable to eat it entirely—perhaps because the mind is flagging or failing—whether it is fitting that what is seen should be understood as the Body of the Lord, into which not even angels can gaze, it should not be left abandoned, but it is necessary that it also be handed over to the fire of the Spirit, that He may eat what are, because of our infirmity, inaccessible to us. A But how does He eat? When we have pondered that those things which seem impossible to us are possible to the power of the Spirit. Hence the legislator also seems subsequently to argue. For he says thus: "From the door of the tabernacle you shall not go out for seven days." Why seven? Because the fiftieth day is completed by the septenary number multiplied by itself and having one added to it. Hence the following verses illustrate that this festival of weeks is mentioned by Moses; for he says, according to the LXX: "Until the day of the completion of fifty days," speaking of Pentecost; for it completes the number seven multiplied by itself. And for the sake of what thing these days of completion are spoken of, the following verses show.
For the consecration, or consumption, is finished in seven days, just as has been done in the present instance: because He did not consecrate them once only with blood and bread; B for thus we know the consecration or completion was performed in the preceding events. Luke hands down similar things; for he says of the Lord and the disciples: "To whom He also presented Himself alive after His death by many proofs, appearing to them for forty days, and speaking of the kingdom of God, and eating together, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father." You see how He was consecrating, or perfecting them, appearing to them, and teaching them about the kingdom of God, and eating with them. And when He says not to depart from Jerusalem, it does not mean He commanded them not to proceed to the door of the tabernacle or go out, that is, He does not permit them to preach until they receive the promise of the Spirit, which was fulfilled on the fiftieth day. But not to go out from the door of the tabernacle of witness is to abstain from the word of doctrine, and not to preach, evidently because Christ insinuated Himself as the Door, inasmuch as He is the beginning of every divine word and knowledge. C But He Himself taught us to enter His door and to go out, so that we may understand that we act in Him, when He warned us against certain ones teaching alien things and leading into error before His presence, saying: "All who have come before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them." And after these things He added: "I am the door; if anyone enters through me, he will go in and go out, and find pasture." He calls the entrance through Himself and the exit the progress of divine Scriptures. But that which is most especially called the completion of those days, Luke clearly hands down through the Spirit: "And when the days of Pentecost were being fulfilled, they were all together in one place: and suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a violent wind coming, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting: and there appeared to them cloven tongues, as of fire, and it sat upon each of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit." Not in vain, therefore, is it called the day of the completion of the days and D the consummation of Pentecost, but it has the completion of the seven days, and bearing the fullness of the Spirit, it fills them with the perfection with which He was pouring out the Spirit. But if it be said that Christ was perfecting them for forty days with the apostles, yet the seven days of perfection according to the law describe, as we have said, the integral Pentecost. One must know that He was not separated from the apostles even in the days between the Ascension and Pentecost: for how did He say to them: "Behold I am with you all days"? And again: "I will not leave you orphans, I will come to you." Therefore the legislator added:
As has been done in the present instance, that the rite of the sacrifice might be completed. Or, as the LXX says: "On this day the Lord commanded it to be done, that you may give for yourselves." On which day He also handed down the mystery of the Supper; on the same day He insinuated the supplication, or propitiation, that is, the remission of sins, saying: "This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many, for the remission of sins." By the very words also He predicts what things are written in the Gospel, from which you can understand, as you are able, those things which follow.
"You shall remain day and night in the tabernacle." Or, as the LXX: "At the door of the tabernacle of testimony you shall sit for seven days, day and night." But the Lord says to the apostles: "But you shall sit in the city until you are clothed with power from on high," thus plainly you shall sit, He says. And He Himself commanded the disciples to remain for a week of days, doing nothing and not preaching. Hence we find the apostles not teaching at all before the aforementioned days were fulfilled; but with the days fulfilled, Peter immediately begins preaching, when there were also added about three thousand souls: thus they also kept this command in every particular, and especially in them are completed those things which are said in what follows.
"Keeping the watches of the Lord, that you may not die. For so the Lord commanded me." And they did...
all things, which the Lord spoke through the hand of Moses. If it is asked why he joins Aaron with his sons, an entirely necessary cause will be found, and one opportune for the consideration of the matter. For he commanded those who were previously mentioned not to go out from the door of the tabernacle of witness, that is, not to handle the evangelical preaching prematurely. When, therefore, Christ appeared to the apostles, He did not go out of His own door, since He Himself was both the one to be preached and the one who spoke in the apostles. Therefore, Aaron was said to be consecrated or perfected with his sons. But who the consecrator or perfecter is, the legislator has by no means subordinated; for he says, *The consecration is finished in seven days*, or according to the Septuagint, *He has perfected your hands*, just as He did. It is manifest, however, that He Himself was the one who was consecrating or perfecting the sons, who was also said to be perfected or consecrated in them, as in His own members.
CHAPTER IX.
VERS. 1-4. *But on the eighth day Moses called Aaron and his sons, and the elders of Israel, and said to Aaron: Take for yourself a calf for sin, and a ram for a holocaust, both without blemish, and offer them before the Lord. And you shall speak to the sons of Israel: Take a goat for sin, and a calf, and a yearling lamb without blemish, for a holocaust, and a bull, and a ram for peace, and sacrifice them before the Lord in the sacrifice of individuals, offering fine flour tempered with oil, for today the Lord will appear to you.*
Just as sometimes the image of a certain animal, or perhaps a tree, is painted, or written, or expressed in bronze, and the expression is not indeed open at the beginning of the work, or the writing, or the bronze, but in the process of the work it is perfected by participatory augmentation, so too whatever the legislator now explains in a figure become clearer and plainer by the addition of those things which he sanctions part by part. Since, therefore, it is proper that the day of consummation, or consecration, should be understood as Pentecost, we have shown that, and because until that day preaching was prohibited by the Lord's command, for that reason He commanded the sons of Aaron not to go out from the door of the tabernacle of witness. It must be considered what things the law commanded to be consummated even on this day. For he calls the eighth day Pentecost, because the day of Pentecost falls on that day on which the Savior rose, which is believed to be the eighth: because it bears the figure of the firstfruits of the future, but also of the consummation of the present age, which revolves in seven days. The circle of Pentecost, however, is under the aforementioned number; therefore, it rightly falls within the present age. The day of Pentecost signifies both the consummation and the resurrection: for it was fitting that on the same day on which Christ rose, the rite should also arrive. Therefore, he then says to call Aaron, and his sons, and the elders of Israel, assembling in a certain manner the spectacle of the Church through them, in which the intelligible Aaron, that is, Christ, is believed to be the priest: but his sons, who are of sublime conversation, are therefore ministers and co-workers of the priesthood. The elders of Israel are the order of presbyters, for of these the corpus of the Church is composed. But Aaron indeed received there a calf for sin, and a ram for a holocaust, both without blemish, and offered them before the Lord. For then Christ began to make His sacrifice known, from whence the Spirit, arriving, collected the Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the firstfruits of all nations, to the upper room of the apostles. But the order of the elders of Israel also received, whom we have said to be presbyters, as it holds the lot and figure of teachers, and is useful for teaching us and can perfect the life of those who are gathered in the Church. But what are these things which it received?
*A goat for sin.* For repentance, clearly, a sacrifice.
*And a calf and a yearling lamb for a holocaust, without blemish.* A perfect and consummated life, or conversation, which is signified by the victims, that is, by the holocausts.
*And a bull and a ram for peace.* But for a salutary sacrifice: a moderate conversation, which nonetheless can save those who offer, as we have said above. But he commanded all things to be done *before the Lord*: for every work of virtue must be carried out, as it were, with God watching, and must not be corrupted, nor vitiated, when we mix our will with Him.
*A sacrifice of fine flour tempered with oil.* Theology with almsgiving, for these previously discussed sacrifices have been made known to us subtly. But what has he now subordinated to these?
*For today the Lord will appear to you.* This is the conclusion and proof that all those things were said regarding Pentecost: for in it the Lord appeared to them, the Spirit, clearly, of whom Paul said: *But the Lord is the Spirit*. And how He will appear in them, Luke said: *There appeared to them cloven tongues, as it were of fire, and they sat upon every one of them*.
VERS. 5. *They took therefore all things that Moses had commanded to the door of the tabernacle, when all the multitude stood there.*
He has openly exposed the Church here. *To the door of the tabernacle.* Or, as the LXX has it, *before the tabernacle of witness*, that is, of heaven. For if the Church is the multitude of the firstborn angels, who are written in the heavens before the tabernacle of witness, that is, before the face of heaven—for so also Aquila translated *before the face*—this that is said, according to the LXX, is *before the Lord*. If, therefore, it is so, because it adapts itself to that conversation, it is rightly understood as before the tabernacle. But here *all the multitude*, or
A that is, the congregation which is gathered from everywhere and from all things—for every contrite soul, and every sinner, and everyone having need of necessary mercy, and everyone turning himself away from error, is gathered into this Church—not only those who are from the streets and lanes, but also those who are bidden to come from the highways and hedges, so that they might fill it as they enter the royal feast, is called.
VERS. 6. *Moses said: This is the word which the Lord commanded, do it, and his glory shall appear unto you.*
That the glory of the Lord is the Spirit, he manifestly shows by what Paul wrote to the Corinthians: *But we all beholding the glory of the Lord with open face, are transformed into the same image from glory into glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord.* Therefore, that the glory of the Lord might be seen, that is, that the arrival of the Spirit might be celebrated, this is the word, he says, which the Lord commanded: to perform, namely, the mystical rite concerning which the Lord had commanded: *Do this in my commemoration.* The Lawgiver calls it a "word" out of custom, because the dispensation of this mystery consists in something more than a word, especially as the Dominical word transfers the things which appear into something else, which is greater and intelligible. Whence, when the manna presented an image of the bread of life which descended from heaven: *This is the bread*, he says, *which the Lord hath given you to eat*, this is the word which the Lord established. What therefore does the Lawgiver signify by these things which have been said, if not that, without doubt, the Spirit arrives for those who perform the holy mystery and celebrate the Dominical supper? Although we do not have this exposed more plainly, since the divine Scripture has omitted much for the sake of brevity, which it is right to gather from other sources. For there was the day which is called the Lord's Day [Dominicus], on which it was necessary for the apostles to perform the mystical and sacred rites in all ways. For we also, following their tradition, set aside the Lord's Day for divine assemblies. Moreover, we find that Christ also, after his resurrection from the dead, was similarly manifested through the mystical supper and the breaking of bread: which Luke indeed openly hands down, but the evangelist John also relates more fully.
VERS. 7. *And the Lord said to Aaron: Approach the altar and sacrifice for your sin, offering a holocaust, and pray for yourself and for the people, and when you have killed the victim of the people, pray for it, as the Lord commanded.*
Where our translation has it more plainly, "for you and for the people," the LXX editions have "for yourself and for your house." Recognize, however, who are the house of the intelligible priest, as Paul says; for he says: *But Christ as the Son in his own house; which house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the glory of hope unto the end.* Therefore, those who have progressed and are more perfect are justly called his house: for whom he prays, and for all the people, as one who has become our expiation. B But for himself, why, when he does not need propitiation, but rather provides propitiation himself? But because, taking our sin upon himself, he prays even for himself: for evidently this belongs to man and to God, that is, as of a man receiving propitiation, and as of God providing it for himself. For another man cannot provide propitiation for himself.
VERS. 8-14. *And immediately Aaron approaching the altar, sacrificed the calf for his own sin, whose blood his sons offered to him. In which dipping his finger, he touched the horns of the altar, and poured the rest at the base thereof. And the fat and the kidneys, and the caul of the liver, which are for sin, he burnt upon the altar, as the Lord had commanded Moses. Moreover, the flesh and the skin thereof he burnt with fire without the camp. He sacrificed also the victim of the holocaust. And his sons offered him the blood thereof: which he poured upon the circuit of the altar. They offered also the victim itself cut into pieces, with the head and the individual members. All which he burnt with fire upon the altar, the intestines and feet having been first washed with water.*
And for the sake of what these sacrifices are also performed in this place, we have said above. It is not, therefore, necessary to tell again the virtue of those things which are performed in this sacrifice, for we once discussed them in order and, leaving nothing out, showed what comparison they bear. And just as in the sacrifice of the Lord, which, since it is one, provides us not only with the remission of sins, but also makes us complete and consummated in a life of philosophy, it is necessary to consider both the calf which is for sin, and this ram which is sacrificed as a holocaust: whence we behold both offered in the person of the priest: let us, therefore, move on now to the subsequent matters.
VERS. 13-21. *And offering for the sin of the people, he killed the goat, and the altar being expiated, he made the holocaust, adding in the sacrifice the libations which are offered at the same time, and burning them upon the altar, without the ceremonies of the morning holocaust. He sacrificed also the ox and the ram, the peace-offerings of the people. And his sons offered him the blood, which he poured upon the altar round about: the fat also of the ox, and D the tail of the ram, and the kidneys with their fat, and the caul of the liver, they placed upon the breasts. And when the fats were burnt upon the altar, Aaron separated their breasts and the right shoulders, lifting them up before the Lord, as Moses had commanded him.*
May those things which have been said have their figure, and how the goat for sin signifies the sacrifice of repentance, but the holocausts signify the manner of life of the Crucified: but the theology [signifies] the things that are similar: and how the salutary or peace-bringing sacrifice signifies the life that can save us, even those who are moderately wise [know]: the preceding discussion of the sacrifices shows the anointing of the priest. Therefore, he who does not know of this sanction
A even Paul understood. He says, "I desire that men pray in every place, lifting up pure hands." By stretching forth, or rather lifting up, his hands, he blessed them: for by the lifting of hands, through prayer, priests bless the people. But from what source they provide this blessing, the following context shows.
VERS. 23. "And Moses and Aaron went into the tabernacle of the testimony, and afterwards came out and blessed the people."
Why do they first enter the tabernacle of the testimony, and afterwards provide the blessing? Unless it be so that we do not remain ignorant that priests bring forth the blessing from an intelligible tabernacle—that is, from heaven—saying as Paul: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ." For the Lord Himself, handing this to us, looked toward heaven when He blessed the five loaves and again the seven. But why does not Aaron alone, but also Moses, bless the synagogue or the people? B Unless it be that we might learn that priests do not provide the blessing by their own power, but because they bear the figure of Christ; they are able, on account of Him who is in them, to provide the fullness of the blessing. Whence also Moses, inasmuch as the image of the Lord has been entrusted to him for blessing, is rightly understood. But the law also signifies through these things that have been said: that not only he who has obtained the priesthood, but also every just man who has Christ in himself, C and who by his good conversation bears the figure of his Lord, as Moses did, is fit to bestow a blessing. When the disciples of the Lord were doing these things, the Spirit came, for which reason let us hear the following.
VERS. 24. "And the glory of the Lord appeared to all the multitude. And behold, a fire came out from the Lord, and devoured the holocaust, and the fat which was upon the altar. Which when the multitudes had seen, they praised the Lord, falling upon their faces."
Do you think the legislator’s present words need any interpretation? For they themselves accord with the words that are written about the coming of the Spirit in the Acts of the Apostles.
For he says, the "glory of the Lord appeared to all the multitude." D How, might someone ask? Certainly, such as Ezekiel described it being seen above the Cherubim, or such as Micah or Isaiah: one of whom saw the Seraphim in circuit, while the other saw the heavenly host. But the glory that appeared to all and everywhere to the spiritual was by no means one and the same; rather, it provided different visions to those seeing it, as they were incomprehensible. Yet the present one was similar to that, because the intelligible fire came forth from the Lord on the day of Pentecost, because of which he says: "And the glory of the Lord appeared, and fire came forth from God." Therefore it appeared in the form of fire, just as Luke also explains: "And there was a sound from heaven of a spiritual
A vehement [rushing] wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting, and there appeared to them cloven tongues, as of fire." The legislator also makes mention of all the people, which Luke likewise explains in this way: "And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. Now when this was noiſed abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded." For since they not only came together but were terrified, he himself demonstrates this as well, saying: "For they were amazed and wondered," but they also fell on their faces; even if they did not endure this sensibly, yet they endured it intelligibly: for they did not understand what had happened, but one said to another, "These men are full of new wine," which was the natural reaction of those casting the face of their mind onto the earth. But what did the fire that went forth do? It devoured all the holocausts that were upon the altar, and the fat which was from the peace offerings, and which had been laid upon the altar for the sin offering. The discourse therefore delivers to us that it is necessary to place the aforesaid sacrifices and their expositions upon the intelligible altar of the body of Christ, so that our imitation may hasten toward it, and then they become the nourishment of the intelligible fire, which is the Spirit, of whom it has been said: "Our God is a consuming fire." Hence, even now, instead of "devour," Symmachus has edited "consume."
CHAPTER X
VERS. 1. B And Nadab and Abiu, the sons of Aaron, taking their censers, set fire and incense upon them, offering before the Lord strange fire, which was not commanded them. Here he has placed those who teach strange things, who blaspheme against the very Spirit of God—who inspire the Scripture from Him of which Paul says, "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable"—and who interpret it otherwise, as being necessarily punished by the intelligible fire: who are called sons of Aaron, as having the habit of teachers and feigning to teach spiritual things. Whence also their tongues are called fire: for we have heard that the Spirit arrived in the form of fiery tongues. Moreover, they superimpose upon the censers, or the fires of the tongues, the dogmas of the Law and the prophets, concerning which the Church said to Christ in the Canticle of Canticles: "The scent of thy perfumes is above all aromatics." But they offer strange fire, for they do not interpret according to the intention or the virtue of the Spirit. From these fire goes forth from the Lord, not in the absolute sense, as before. For by that former [fire] the Lord consumes the sacrifices, and it is called the glory of the Lord, but this fire is penal. For the Church has both: this one indeed for the illumination of the just and the perfection of the offerings, but that other for the punishment of the wicked, which these priests who blaspheme indicate C as being from the ministration of the Spirit, which rests in them, while they are burning [incense]. For which reason also Paul [delivered] Hymenaeus and Alexander, that they might be taught as others, he punishes. These die before the Lord, with Him present, and with Him condemning them to this death, lest by their imitation they provide for others a cause of death. In which the legislator also wonders too much why they sustain death from that through which they ought to have enjoyed life—that is, before the Lord—which, wrongly interpreting the divine Scriptures, they suffer: in that very matter from which they ought to have earned a blessing, they subject themselves to a curse. Yet see what he added.
VERS. 3. And Moses said to Aaron: This is that which the Lord spoke. I will be sanctified in them that approach me, and I will be glorified in the sight of all the people. Hearing which, Aaron held his peace, or as the LXX edit, "and Aaron was struck with compunction."
And where entirely do we find that God said these things? Namely, when He was saying to Moses: "Going down, testify to the people, lest perhaps they approach to God, and a multitude of them fall: and let the priests who approach to the Lord God be sanctified, lest perhaps the Lord depart from them." These things, therefore, although they differ in words from those that have been said, yet they hold the same intention immutably. For He commanded the people not to approach God, and to know—not as if He were grudging them the vision, but as sparing them as imperfect and less capable of such great contemplation. However, He commands the priests approaching to be sanctified, that they might become worthy to see and contemplate God: because no one can seek true knowledge from God without sanctification. D For which reason Paul says: "Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see God." Calling the sight of Him His knowledge, which is His contemplation, whence He commanded the priests to be sanctified. See how He threatens in the following verses.
"Lest perhaps the Lord depart from them." That is, lest that which is the knowledge of God flee from them, for for them it becomes a destruction, a departure of knowledge. But now let us address the words which were said by Moses as if from the person of God. "And I will be sanctified in them that approach me." He calls His sanctification the cleansing of the profane or of the wicked, because the body holds us: and the cleansing of the body is the rejection of filth. This, therefore, as a good and pious One, He works in those who approach Him, according to the multitude of their knowledge, or according to some divine ministry, so that through them He may strike fear, and may be glorified in the sight of all the people, that is, praised and manifested: for both words of glorification manifest both what this praise of God is, and what the manifestation is. David says: "For the Lord is just and hath loved justice: his countenance hath beheld equity."
In these Aaron held his peace. Or as the LXX, "Aaron was struck with compunction." The Church, namely, seeing that the Church is the body of the intelligible Aaron, whence He Himself said: "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?" Likewise, concerning those who receive them, He said to the disciples: "He that receiveth you, receiveth me."
A Misael and Elisaphan, the sons of Oziel, the uncle of Aaron, and said to them: "Go, carry your brethren away from the presence of the sanctuary, and bring them outside the camp." And immediately they went and carried them as they lay, dressed in their linen tunics, and threw them outside, as had been commanded them.
By those who carried them out, and those who were lifted up, or cast out, understand this: but who were they who carried them? Misael and Elisaphan, or Misaddai and Elisaphan, of whom one, Misaddai, is interpreted as "the handling of God," but Elisaphan is interpreted as "the vision of my God." Whoever, therefore, knows how to handle God, and moreover to contemplate Him, and indeed to handle the flesh of Christ, while contemplating His divinity with the eyes of the mind—just as Thomas, handling the flesh with his hand and contemplating the divinity by faith, said: "My Lord and my God." 8* This man can take away the fire of strange doctrine and cast it out with the tunics from the face of the holy ones, because the persons of the holy ones are the priests; but the tunics of the priests are the conduct and life which are assumed in the priestly habit. Therefore, when they are expelled from the priestly portion, which falls to them by lot—and not only from the fellowship of the priests, but also from that of the people—whence it says:
"Outside the tabernacle." For the tabernacle of God is the people of the Church; but the sons of the uncle of Aaron, or of the brother of Aaron, those who are able to do these things, are reasonably so named. For if the intelligible father Aaron is David, and through him the whole body of the prophets is believed to be represented—for the prophecies make him manifest and in a certain way bring him forth to those who are ignorant—the true brother, and, so to speak, the brother of prophecy, is the Gospel; for all things which were done in the Gospels were foretold by the prophets. For this reason, one must be aided by prophetic discourse toward perfect knowledge, since the brother helps the brother, as the firm city that Peter prescribes; for he says: "We have a firmer prophetic word, to which you do well to pay attention, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts," 85 that is, until the evangelical knowledge shines within you. The sons of the brother of the father Aaron are correctly and most aptly called those who have learned evangelical conduct, and these are necessarily placed to rebuke and repel those who teach other things, as they possess perfect knowledge. Concerning whom John said: "Everyone who goes forward and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ, does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine, he has both the Son and the Father. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house, nor say to him, 'Hail!'" 86 Therefore, it is the duty of those who have been taught the evangelical doctrine to expel and cast away from the face of the holy ones and of the tabernacle those who preach adulterated and strange doctrine.
VERS. 6, 7. "Moses spoke to Aaron and to Eleazar and to Ithamar, his sons: Do not uncover your heads and do not tear your garments, lest you die, and lest wrath come upon all the congregation. Your brethren, and all the house of the children of Israel, let them mourn the fire which the Lord has kindled. But you shall not go out from the doors of the tabernacle, lest you die, for the oil of the holy anointing is upon you. And they did all things according to the commandment of Moses."
We do not ignore what the tiaras of the priests signify, namely, that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of Christ is God; necessarily, the meaning of the tiara is in a certain way at once the humanity and divinity of the Only-begotten; for we have demonstrated this above through the composition of the tiara. Therefore, he enjoins what priests and teachers must guard: that is, that they neither deny nor contradict the divinity of Christ nor His humanity, because God is from God, and the Word is from the Father. For this is what not removing the tiara from the head means, namely, not to uncover [the head] with the intelligible tiara. But let them neither renounce nor blaspheme the dispensation. For those who blaspheme the dispensation of Christ break the priestly stole; because all men indeed who have believed in Christ—but much more the priests—are those who have put on Christ: for "as many as have been baptized in Christ, have put on Christ," B doing these things as priests, they shall neither die, nor bring wrath upon the congregation. For the vices of those in charge are a stumbling block to those who are subject, and much more do the disciples of teachers become an occasion for the wrath of God. For which reason he also wills that the whole house of Israel, namely the whole Church, should mourn the fire by which they were burned; for the loss of one member is the misfortune of the Church, and of everyone, how much more so the loss of teachers and priests? So that Paul might write to the Corinthians concerning him who had committed fornication: "And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned." 87 If, when one among the people has committed fornication, he commands the whole Church to mourn, much more [should they mourn] when priests and teachers are found acting impiously or blaspheming. With these things being thus, it must be asked why, when by the preceding sanction he had commanded them not to go out from the tabernacle of the testimony for seven days alone, once these are completed—for these things are done on the eighth day—Moses again commanded them not to go out from the door of the tabernacle. He does not therefore enact things contrary to himself, but it is manifest that he commanded them to guard a different egress from the door of the tabernacle of the testimony here. For he added: "Lest you die." And yet he did not write this in the earlier commands. Therefore, by the addition of the threat, he signified that he had ordained something else; for because some priests perished by offering the fire of strange doctrine, he commanded others not to go out [from] the door of knowledge, namely of Christ and His tradition, through the things that were said, that is, not to transgress the preaching which He Himself commanded, but to follow the Lord's command in all things: for thus each one will not die. This he commands the priests, to whom, as masters and preachers of the word, the ministry is entrusted by the gift of the Spirit.
A For the oil of the holy anointing is upon you. The power of this anointing, John the evangelist demonstrates to us, saying: "And the anointing which you have received of him, let it abide in you. And you have no need that any man teach you, but as his anointing teaches you of all things, and it is true, and is no lie." This Moses commanded through the Spirit, and the Church observes it. Therefore, the legislator consequently added: "Who did according to the commandment of Moses."
VERS. 8-11. "And the Lord spoke unto Aaron, saying: Do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou, nor thy sons, when ye go into the tabernacle of the testimony, lest ye die, because it is an everlasting commandment throughout your generations; and that ye may have discernment to distinguish between holy and profane, and between unclean and clean, and that ye may teach the children of Israel all my statutes, which the Lord has spoken unto them by the hand of Moses."
You find this law being observed in the Churches even now: for he did not command us to abstain from wine in every way, but [only] when we ascend to the tabernacle of the testimony or to the altar, that is, when we touch any ministry of celestial doctrine. For the altar is a figure of the ministry; B the tabernacle of the testimony, however, [is a figure] of the handling of heavenly things, whence Paul also wrote to Timothy: "Use a little wine for thy stomach's sake, and thine often infirmities." But he who uses it in moderation, specifically at the time of ministry and doctrine, abstains from all drunkenness and inebriation. In like manner also, as these priests who study the law observe it, for which reason he handed down this commandment not only to Aaron, but also to his sons, who have reached more sublime things. Similar things to these Paul also wrote to the Ephesians: "Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Holy Spirit." For drunkenness renders the mind dull, and turns its sobriety for the worse, so that what is done is not understood—which Isaiah testifies to, saying: "Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow drunkenness, and [continue] to drink until late in the evening, so that ye may be inflamed with wine. The harp, and the lyre, and the timbrel, and the pipe, and wine are in your feasts, but ye regard not the work of the Lord, neither consider the operations of his hands." C But those who see not the works of the Lord, how can they distinguish between holy and profane, or clean and unclean, or how can they exhort and illuminate the people from the Scriptures? Whence, desiring to show this commandment to be more sublime, he says that the Lord himself spoke it. But take note how this is not alien to the manifestation of those things that were done at Pentecost. For what he commanded here not to be done, some suspected had been done when the grace of the Spirit arrived, and they said: "These men are full of new wine." But Peter denied it as forbidden, saying: "For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day."
But [as for what follows]: D VERS. 12-15. "And Moses spoke unto Aaron, and unto Eleazar, and unto Ithamar, his sons who were left: Take the sacrifice that remaineth of the oblation of the Lord, and eat it without leaven beside the altar, because it is most holy. And ye shall eat it in the holy place, which is given to thee and to thy sons of the oblations of the Lord, as it is commanded me. And the wave-breast, and the heave-shoulder, shalt thou eat in a clean place, thou and thy sons, and thy daughters with thee. For to thee and to thy children they are set aside from the peace-offerings of the children of Israel, because the shoulder, and the breast, and the fat which are burned upon the altar, have been elevated before the Lord and pertain to thee and to thy sons by a perpetual law, as the Lord commanded."
That the breast signifies the confidence and faith of those who offer, and the shoulder the action and correction of the conversation promised by them, has been sufficiently demonstrated to us in those things which were discussed part by part concerning the peace-offering, or the sacrifice of salvation. But for what reason he assigned what was said to Aaron and his sons—for there the legislator expounded also their distinction, what those who are the sons of Aaron possess, and what Aaron himself has as something special—as for the sacrifice that remained of the oblation, or from the holocausts of the Lord, he said this, concerning what remains of the fine flour. Aquila therefore clearly brought out, saying: "A gift which is the remainder of the grain." The interpretation of this is: also this which the legislator added, for he says: "And eat it without leaven beside the altar." Everywhere this signifies that the sacrifice of fine flour being without leaven pertains, in regard to external doctrine, to the theology of doctrine, meanwhile also showing that there is a certain participation in theology among us: for its fullness is in the heavens. For which reason he commanded that which remained—that is, that which is over—to be eaten, so that he might show that it is the highest thing with him, and that it is reserved. And it behooves it to be eaten beside the altar, that is, [beside] the body of Christ, for from it all theology is ministered to us.
"But that which remained of the fine flour shall be for Aaron and his sons." But those things which are of the peace-offerings or the sacrifices of salvation belong to Aaron and his sons; or, according to the LXX, to his house, that is, to the whole people. For to study theology is not for everyone, but for the sublime, and those who approach the Lord, and those who follow Christ. But to attain those things which pertain to peace, or to salvation, belongs to the whole congregation, which is named the intelligible house of the priest. This is the Church, of which Paul also said: "In a great [house...]"
A there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and earthenware." For this reason, it is not given to everyone to grasp theology. VERS. 16-18. "In the midst of these, Moses sought the goat which had been offered for sin, and he found it burned. And being angry with Eleazar and Ithamar, the sons of Aaron who had remained, he said: Why have you not eaten the sin offering in the holy place, which is called the holy of holies, and has been given to you that you might bear the iniquity of the multitude, and pray for it in the sight of the Lord: especially since its blood was not brought within the Holy, and you ought to have eaten it in the sanctuary, as it was commanded to me."
Since every sin is blotted out through penance, and since those who have committed the aforementioned sin of strange doctrine and blasphemy have not been saved, the legislator explains the cause of this, which came to them without mercy, namely death. Hence Moses introduces the goat for sin, that is, the offering of penance: because *searching he sought*, just as the LXX edition says, which means *he sought very diligently*. And being angry, he said to those of the sons of Aaron who were left, that they did not eat that which was for sin in the holy place, that is, for the fact that they did not perform the penance in the Church for the sin that had been committed, B as priests: for it is for them both to eat of those things which are for sin, and to offer the prayer which is for the penance of the congregation, and to acquire the precept. Why? Because Christ established them in His own place in the Church. He Himself, however, offered the blood of His own oblation, which was offered for our blood into the Holy, that is, within into the heavenly habitation, in the sight of His Father. And in the holy place, which we call the Church, He commanded that this sacrifice be eaten for the remission and propitiation of sins. For which reason Moses says: "As it was commanded to me." That is, as I have ordered and commanded: for we have said that Moses also portrays the person of Christ. C He inquires, however, not out of ignorance, for as he added the cause in the preceding verses, when he said that Moses sought diligently for the goat for sin, he immediately added: "And this was burned": or he found it burned. Showing that because the sin of strange doctrine is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit—for which reason Stephen calls the teachers of the Jews "transgressors of the law and disobedient," but also "stiff-necked" and "uncircumcised in heart,"—and as he said to those who were interpreting the law and the prophets wrongly: "You always resist the Holy Spirit"—it was necessary for them that the offering for penance be taken away by the intelligible fire, that is, of the spirit, and therefore the goat is said to be burned for sin. Because those who know and sin voluntarily, even if they say they repent, do not repent purely, for by blasphemy their heart has been blinded. For which reason Paul also said: "For if we sin willfully after having received the knowledge of the truth, there is no longer a sacrifice left for sin." D The Lord, however, says: "Every sin is forgiven to men, but blasphemy against the Spirit is not forgiven." Peter showed this by the very deed; for since Ananias and Sapphira lied to the Holy Spirit, he said to them: "Why has Satan blinded your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit? You have not lied to men, but to God." For He did not give them time for penance, knowing that, having a heart blinded in transgression and possessing blasphemy of the spirit, they would not be able to repent. For He immediately condemned them with a penal death. Those things which follow, therefore, can better build up and explain what has now been said.
VERS. 19, 20. "Aaron answered: The victim for sin was offered today as a holocaust before the Lord; but what you see has happened to me. How could I have eaten it, or how could I please the Lord in ceremonies with a grieving mind? When Moses heard this, he accepted the satisfaction."
That "today" must be understood as a certain time, Paul has openly handed down to us: for when he had said, "Today if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts, as in the provocation," and interpreting it himself, that it must be understood of the present time by usurpation, but properly of the time that is after the coming of the Lord—see what he added. "Since therefore it remains for some to enter into it, and those to whom it was announced before did not enter because of unbelief, He again defines a certain day, saying 'today' in David, after such a long time, as it was said above: 'Today if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.' For if Jesus had given them rest, He would never speak of another." By this day, therefore, after those things which have been predicted, it is shown that he openly signifies the time after the coming of the Savior, in which the rest of the intelligible Sabbath has been proclaimed to men. It seems, then, that Aaron speaks this in the person of the Church, as he bears the figure not only of Christ but also of the Church, so that because today they offered what was for their sin, and their holocausts—that is, because after the coming of the Savior they were deputed to minister, and offer for penance, and to manifest a philosophical life—they were reproved for teaching other things, and such things happened to them by the Church, so that the death coming from the blasphemy of the priests and masters might be avoided, he could not rightly eat today for sin, nor did the penance obtain prayer, because it was displeasing to the Lord Christ. But he added "today," so that he might show that if they had sinned this way before the remission of the Savior, perhaps it might be forgiven, as if the knowledge had not yet been poured forth, whence the Lord also says: "If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin: but now they have no excuse for their sin," that is, no satisfaction. When the intelligible Moses had heard these things, it pleased him, because he found the Church keeping his doctrine. Which we also knowing, let us indeed abstain from every other doctrine, and blas-
blasphemy. Let us glorify only the living true God, and the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, now and always, and for ever and ever. Amen.
THIRD BOOK
A PREFACE.
Just as God did not fill creation with variety in vain, but that from the difference of its condition we might conjecture the discipline of the Artificer and who He is. For those who gaze at the heavens understand from the variety of the stars their greatest Artificer and Creator, God. But those who consider the earth also recognize Him from the different state of its position, that is, from animals, plants, and seeds, and all its diversity. But even those who cast their eyes toward the immense expanse of the waters, from the movement of the spirits arising from different directions, as well as from the size of islands and whales, and the distance of the fish, and the nation of innumerable kinds, sense that God is the Maker of this visible creation also: Thus also He adorns the Law with all precepts, bringing forward man, and instructing him, now in the offering of sacrifices, now in the abstinence from foods, now also in the healing of bodily diseases, and sometimes even in certain contracts, such as those who always wish to be with God ought to have. Therefore let us now come to the very words of the Law.
B
CHAPTER XI.
VERS. 1–8. *The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: Say to the children of Israel: These are the animals which you may eat from all the living things of the earth. Everything that has a divided hoof, and chews the cud among the cattle, you shall eat: but whatsoever chews the cud, and has a hoof, but does not divide it, as the camel, and the rest, you shall not eat, you shall count them among the unclean. The hare also, because it chews the cud, but does not divide the hoof, is unclean. The rabbit also, for it too chews the cud, but does not divide the hoof: and the swine which, though it divides the hoof, does not chew the cud: you shall not eat of their flesh, nor touch their carcasses, because they are unclean to you.*
These things which are currently under discussion seem to have the greatest contradiction to the very divine oracles, for why did He say to Noah: *Everything that moves and lives shall be food for you: and as with green herbs, I have given you all things*: how does He now forbid the eating of some of those things which were previously granted? How also, when He was making the beasts of the earth according to their kind, and cattle, and reptiles, was it said: *And God saw that they were good*, and again: *And God saw all that He had made, and they were very good*? If, however, there is nothing that is not good, especially “good” and “very good,” C it can in no way be that something is unclean. But now, as if He had forgotten the judgment He had brought forth concerning them, He said that some animals were clean and some unclean. Therefore some will be good, and some not good. But it is not so, for although He wished to chasten the gluttony [ *γαστριμαργίαν* ] of the Jews for a little while, yet the true consideration of the Law is manifest, and the spiritual exposition of the precepts. And what sort of study of the Law those who give themselves to it ought to have, the Legislator has the intention of the instructor. For if *man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God*, just as bread is the nourishment of the body, so also the Law of God is the nourishment of the soul, as the virtue and subsistence of the rational for the rational. And just as in what was said above, from those things which are immolated, He figures those who offer—signifying the simple by the sheep, the worker of commandments by the calf, and the penitent by the kid—so also now He signifies by the animals those who feed upon them; for He says thus:
*The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron saying: Say to the children of Israel: These are the animals which you may eat among all the living things of the earth.* The law is common; this commandment pertains to all, and the justification belongs to the whole people. For He commanded to speak to the children of Israel, that is to say, to all the people. But what did He command to be spoken?
*These are the animals which you may eat among all the living things of the earth.* He would by no means have said “of the living things of the earth” if He did not have the intention of distinguishing them from heavenly animals: for there He taught that the face of the lion, and of the calf, and of the eagle, as also of man, exists, while Ezekiel delivers the Cherubim as animals. Therefore we do not need custody or other circumspection in heavenly animals, so that we may know which are clean. For all things are similarly clean and holy, as are holy to God, and He sanctifies those who are in His circumference. But not all animals of the earth are clean; not on account of their nature, but on account of our excess, and because we have depraved nature through iniquity. But how we may know their cleanliness or uncleanness is to be intuited from those things which follow.
*Everything that has a divided hoof, and chews the cud among the cattle, you shall eat.* The greatest virtue is believed to be in the hooves of animals, which also have a kinship with teeth. For it belongs to the hooves to rend, and what is apt for eating is done through the teeth, which Daniel tells us both when —
A putting forward the kingdom, he says: I was looking in the vision of the night, and behold a fourth beast, terrible, and wondrous, and exceedingly strong; it had great iron teeth, devouring and breaking in pieces, and trampled the rest with its feet. But the Septuagint says more specifically: Their claws were bronze. Since, therefore, it is so, he figuratively demonstrates who those are who have devoted themselves to the meditation of the law, whether they are clean or unclean: for he commanded them to ruminate, and to divide the hoof. But those animals divide the hoof which divide the nail down to the very lower skin. Therefore, he eats clean animals who not only meditates upon the law, but also ruminates, that is, reconsiders, and brings it forth by action and works. For the eructation of the words of God, and the rumination of the commandments, is also execution: on account of which hear David saying: My heart has poured forth a good word, I speak my works to the king. B To the announcement of the works which he has achieved, he undoubtedly understood this pouring forth of good things, and rumination. But we have the task of not only ruminating, but also dividing the hoof of the law, and distinguishing the letter from the spirit, and of understanding some things according to history alone, some things according to contemplation, and some things truly according to both, maintaining the division in them. For whoever is such, he is perfect and fulfilled, and therefore he is rightly called clean. But whoever lacks one of these things which have been said, he is manifestly unclean, just as the letter of the law itself teaches, for it says:
You shall not eat that, it shall be counted among the unclean. Whatever ruminates, and has a hoof, but does not divide it as the camel, and the rest, you shall not eat, and it shall be reckoned among the unclean. Under the camel, the Jew, through pride, is rightly understood, that is, the Scribes and Pharisees, to whom the Lord was saying: Straining out a gnat, but swallowing a camel. Isaiah also said: For thus the Lord said to me: Go, and set a watchman, and whatsoever he may see, let him announce it. And he saw a chariot of two horsemen, a rider upon an ass, and a rider upon a camel. By the ass, [he signifies] the nations; by the camel, the Jewish conversation. The camel also represents the letter of the law, and their heavy yoke, inasmuch as it is accustomed to carry burdens: whence the servant of Abraham led ten camels carrying of the goods of his lord for the dispensation of Rebekah. These ten C camels signified the precepts of the law, which do not carry all the goods of God, but nevertheless some of all the goods, on account of this, that the law has a participatory justification. Therefore, the Scribes and Pharisees eat what ruminates, because they glory in the meditation of the legal letter, and in the observance of the Sabbath, and of purification, and of sacrifices, and other similar things. But they do not divide the hoof of those things which are eaten by them, nor do they discern the letter from the spirit, and therefore their knowledge is unclean. Such are those who eat the hare and the chirogryllus [rock badger]: for they also ruminate, but do not divide the hoof. But in the popular multitude, the race of the Jews is accepted as both: for these animals are said to be weak, by the testimony of David and Solomon, confirming the weaknesses of both animals. Solomon indeed says of them: The little hare, a feeble people, has placed its bed in the rock. But David: The rock is a refuge for the hedgehogs, or chirogrylli, one of which is swift and timid, with weakness, that is the hare: but the other, though weak, is yet rapacious and beast-like, and they call it mortal, that is the chirogryllus, which exists in every common populace, but especially in the Jewish people, of whom David said: Their feet are swift to shed blood. But how timid and D infirm the children of the Jews are, the divine voice shows when it says: Woe to the trembling hearts, and to the slack hands. But how great was the injustice and ferocity among them, hear Isaiah saying: How has the faithful city become a harlot full of judgment? Justice dwelt in it, but now murderers. After these, he says the pig is unclean, because it divides the hoof and does not ruminate. Who then are those who imitate [these things], and for that reason are said to eat it, receive from Peter the expositor and master: namely him who has the knowledge of divine things, but does not use them well, and pollutes it with incongruous actions and delivers himself to an unclean life. The pig, he himself also called [by this name], saying: It had been better for them not to have known the way of justice, than after they have known it, to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them: for the thing of the true proverb has happened to them, The dog returned to his own vomit, and the sow washed in the wallowing of the mud. Because, therefore, we have shown that he who gives attention to the law ought to ruminate, he who is such, inasmuch as he has a sordid life, and does not fulfill the law, is rightly said not to ruminate on the things which are of the law. Whence also he vomits as indigestible food the meditation of the law, and it is in no way arriving at effect. Therefore, even if he divides the hoof, and knows how to divide the letter, he is nevertheless unclean from the spirit. But what has he added to these things which have been said?
Of the Clean and Unclean Animals regarding the Contemplation of Virtue or Vice
You shall not eat of their flesh, nor shall you touch their carcasses, because they are unclean to you. Nor the camel, nor the hare, nor the chirogryllus, nor the pig, between [the clean and] the unclean, designating what the law from these things which have been said has made manifest. Therefore, then, he placed these four in number, because there are four general virtues, but the signification of the aforementioned animals lacks virtues, for it is contrary to the four virtues. For the camel, assumed regarding the pride of the Scribes and Pharisees, is contrary to wisdom: for it is the property of fools to be proud. But because the Scribes and Pharisees were possessed by both this disease, hear the Lord saying to them: O fools and blind, what is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold? And again
A do not rejoice because the demons are subject to you, but rejoice and exult, because your names are written in heaven. 20 But the words of this sanction also prove these things, for they say: "These are the things that are produced in the waters, and to eat is permitted." Through these are understood those who have been saved from the Gentiles, inasmuch as they have regeneration in the water of baptism, of whom Isaiah also said: "Behold, the Gentiles are as a bucket of foolishness." 21 Or, as the LXX have it: "As many waters, many Gentiles." Whence also those things which follow are appropriate to them. "Everything that has fins and scales, as well in the sea as in the rivers and ponds, you shall eat." He commands the same also to those who are from the Gentiles, in other words, regarding the meditation of the Law. For he wishes them to have in the meditation of the Law fins, and a life that is sublime and heavenly, but an exposition of the Law similar to this, on account of which he wishes them to have not a fin, but fins. But because the ignorance of divine Scripture had taken hold of the Gentiles, for they had not received the Law, nor the prophets, nor was there any other more subtle divine knowledge in them, so that they might not labor under this persistent and perpetual disease, he wishes them to have scales, which might easily be taken away. But because scales signify a temporal ignorance, and one from which it is easy to be freed, they show those things which are described concerning Paul in the Acts of the Apostles; for when he was persecuting the Church with Jewish zeal, and was ignorant of Him whom he was persecuting, he easily lacked zeal B on account of ignorance: after he recognized whom he was persecuting, having been called by Christ, and after it was evangelized to him by Ananias, scales fell from his eyes, and he immediately saw. 22 Therefore, in the manner of scales, instant temporal ignorances lay upon him. Whence the legislator most consequently added: "Whatever, however, has not fins or scales of those which move and live in the waters, it shall be abominable and execrable to you." For there are certain kinds of fish having a shell instead of skin, the scales of which cannot be removed. Such are they who endure neither to put off the scales of ignorance by the word of God, nor to receive the knife of the Spirit. Although these be found in the sea of baptism, although in the rivers of repentance, C they are abominable in all things that move and live in the waters. And although they have obtained life in baptism, they have nevertheless corrupted their calling and regeneration while they do not have fins and scales—namely, a sublime life and the knowledge of divine things, which is heavenly—but they hold the heart blind in ignorance: and for that reason, they are not numbered among those who have scales. Observe, moreover, with what subtlety of words the legislator uses, namely, signifying the greatest and most admirable mysteries through them; for he has joined scales to fins, because just as in fish, to which there are scales, to these there are in every way also fins, so [to those] to whom ignorance is D
temporal, and that which, because of it, is easily lost, to these [also] sublime knowledge and a heavenly life are added. Therefore, one ought not to eat the meat of those who are not such, nor even touch their carcasses, nor have any communion with them at all—as Paul testifies, saying: "If he who is called a brother is a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner, with such a one, no, not to eat." A An adulterer, or one who is covetous, or an alcoholic, or a detractor, has no wings, having, as it were, a filthy and unclean life. Moreover, an idolater is not counted among those who have scales; for he appears to have an ignorance of divine things that is hard, and like pottery, and incurable—otherwise, he would not have served idols after being joined to God.
VERS. 13-19. "These are they which you shall not eat of the birds, and which are to be avoided by you: the eagle, and the griffon, and the osprey, and the kite, and the vulture, after his kind: and every raven, after his kind, in its likeness: the ostrich, and the owl, and the gull, and the hawk after his kind, the heron, and the cormorant, and the ibis, the swan, and the pelican, and the porphyrio, the stork, and the charadrius after his kind, the hoopoe also, and the bat." B
Nor did the Legislator leave the life of those who are devoted to contemplation undiscussed in this matter; but just as in the offering of sacrifices He assigned them their own proper section of the law, so also in the examination of foods He gave them their own proper limits, which He sets forth, making them more terrifying; and—not as in the case of the beasts and the fish—He even charges them regarding these. For there He says: "These are the animals which you ought to eat from all the living things of the earth." And again: "These are what are brought forth in the waters, and it is lawful to eat." But here: "These are they which you shall not eat of the birds, and which are to be avoided by you." Verily, it is worthy of abomination, and must be numbered among the things that are to be most strictly avoided, for anyone who is devoted to contemplation to willingly possess such stains as the Legislator signifies through these enumerated birds; for He says: "The eagle, and the griffon, and the osprey, and the kite, and the vulture after his kind." He signifies by the aforesaid those who are rapacious and who wickedly seek after another's food and rejoice in unjust gains. For since some are found in the Churches—among those who are thought to give themselves to contemplation—who do not apply themselves to it as they should, but are puffed up in vain, hear Paul saying: "If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to that doctrine which is according to godliness, he is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof arise envies, contentions, blasphemies, evil C suspicions, perverse disputings of men of corrupt mind, and who are destitute of the truth, supposing gain to be godliness." Such, therefore, are signified by those animals now numbered, which seek their living from rapine. Now some of these invade other birds and are fed by their hunting; others, entering into houses, plunder whatever they find, not even sparing the provisions of the owners—to whom are similar certain [people] who penetrate houses and lead captive silly women laden with sins, whom Paul rebukes. The vulture delights in fights and wars, on account of the corpses of the battles, to such an extent that it even follows the army. Therefore, one who applies himself to contemplation ought not to feed and be nourished on the misfortunes of others. Animals of the raven kind are devoid of affection, which is manifest from the fact that the raven, sent forth by Noah, transgressed during its first flight, to which Judas was similar concerning his Master and Lord. The ostrich is indeed a bird, but it cannot fly, and occupies its whole life around the earth, such as are certain [people] who serve God and involve themselves in the business of the world. Now the owl—for which the Septuagint said *glaux*—they assert is sharp of sight in the night, but when the sun appears, it enjoys the utility of its eyes much less. Such are those who glory in the contemplation and knowledge of the Law, but are not able to grasp the light of evangelical conversation. The gull is an animal living in both, that is, in water and on land; which, just as a bird, indeed flies, but as a water-creature, swims. To whom are not wrongly compared those who at the same time honor circumcision D and baptism, to whom Paul says: "If you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing." The hawk is among the rapacious birds, but it has something else [about it] because of which it was put by the Legislator, for it is tamed and cooperates in rapacity. Whom they imitate who appear to be gentle and tranquil in their feelings, but are [actually] with the powerful, and the covetous, and the rapacious. The night-heron is an animal that creeps and operates only in the night: just as [certain] peoples, intelligible by their works of darkness, which are fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, and the like. The ibis and the porphyrio and whom the Septuagint names the pelican, and the swan, and the stork, and the charadrius, are said to be of long neck, and to draw their food from the height of the earth and the waters: which animals one ought to imitate, not pulling food from lower things, but from heavenly things. For he indeed is devoted to contemplation who strives in his mind toward higher things, and expects not only intelligible, but also sensible food from God: whence the Lord says: "Take no thought for your life, what you shall eat, nor for your body, what you shall put on: for your heavenly Father knows that you have need of all these things." The hoopoe is a mournful animal and one that loves grief: but the sadness of the world works death. Therefore, he who loves God ought always to rejoice, to pray without ceasing, and in everything to give thanks: because joy is the fruit of the Spirit. The bat...
flies around the earth, in such a way that it uses its wings for its feet: which is unworthy of those who apply themselves to contemplation; for those whose flight is around the earth, their contemplation is also, without doubt, occupied with earthly things. Do not, therefore, be incredulous nor doubt that the Lawgiver has set forth even these animals, which are now enumerated, for the manifestation and figure of those from whom those who are intent upon contemplation ought to abstain. But you will say: How is it that the eating of these animals is forbidden, but not their imitation, when the prophet David compares himself to the pelican and the night-heron, saying: "I am become like a pelican in the wilderness, I am become like a night-heron in the house"? And through the eagle, Moses signifies God himself, saying to Israel: "How I have borne you upon the wings of eagles"? For the prophets call Christ a lion, but on the other hand, Peter calls the devil a lion; yet Christ is not a lion in the sense in which the devil is so called. Far be it from us, far be this impiety; but because B the animal is at once royal, and also rapacious and fierce, and bears both a praiseworthy dignity and a blameworthy action, what it has that is praiseworthy is accepted in the kingdom of Christ, while what is blameworthy—that is, rapacity and fierceness—is taken for the devil. Reflecting on this also in the eagle, we find without any doubt that, on account of the height of its flight, Moses took its figure for God; but because it is rapacious, he said we must abstain from its food. The prophet David, however, mourning a man established in sin, compared him to a night-heron, as one living in the night. Through the pelican, however, as an animal loving solitude, he figured him who is perhaps desolate of friends or kin, and deprived of the society of others like him.
VERS. 20-22. "All fowls that creep, going upon all four, shall be an abomination unto you. But whatsoever walketh upon four feet, but hath legs above its feet, with which it leapeth upon the earth, you shall eat, as is the bruchus after his kind, the attacus, and the ophiomachus, and the locust, every one according to his kind."
It behooves those who profess the contemplative life to be clean from every sin and sordid action. Therefore, whoever acts like the winged creatures—promising to attain the contemplation of heavenly things, which leads to the heavens—but is compared to crawling things, because they consume the earth and devote themselves to desires, even if they walk upon four feet, that is, even if they feign the evangelical preaching which said: "I came not to call the just, but sinners to repentance," and: "They that are whole need not the physician; but they that are sick," from whom a thief was saved, and an adulteress justified, C and they who owed more are said to love the one who forgives more; yet, because they do not embrace a social life according to truth, but rather abuse the compassion of preaching for their own pleasures, they are unclean and abominable, as those who in such conversation and in such knowledge enter upon a certain base and unclean life. But those who have higher legs, so that they leap from the earth by means of them, are for that reason placed among the clean, because, although they are in the flesh, they do not war according to the flesh, but leap away from sordid actions and secular men, and mingle with them so that they might teach and instruct them: so that they sometimes dwell even with adulterers and with publicans, and yet are not defiled by their unclean actions: for they leap away from them, and fly off, and although they avoid the society of their sin, they generally dwell among sinners, that they might set them free, like the Lord, who "did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth," yet ate and drank with sinners, justifying them by doctrine and instruction, and provoking them to emulation of himself, imitating none of their ways, nor being polluted by them. For which reason they said in the Canticle of Canticles: "Behold he cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping over the hills." Therefore, we ought to have legs higher than our feet—not such as the feet of the Jews have, who limp in the footsteps of both, that is, in the Law and the prophets; but such as the creatures have that are called Cherubim, of whom it is said: "And their legs were straight, and their feet were winged," straight and unswervingly, in the evangelical feet, of which it is said: "Your feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace." This person, although he walks upon the earth, although he holds company with sinners for the sake of a certain dispensation and assistance, fulfilling that apostolic saying: "If any of them that believe not, invite you, and you are willing to go, eat of anything that is set before you, asking no question for conscience sake," yet he remains a winged creature and is clean, knowing how to spring up and leap from the earth, and not to adhere to secular actions. Moreover, the Lawgiver rightly brought forth the names of such animals, naming the bruchus, and the locust, the attacus, and the ophiomachus. The prophet Nahum explains sufficiently of what operation or virtue these are, saying: "The bruchus is come forth, and hath flown away: thy guards are like the locusts of locusts, which have trusted in the hedges in the day of cold." Or as the Septuagint says: "It hath appeared like the attacus mixed with you, like the locust which transcends matter, in the day of cold." From which you see that, even if we are mixed with sinners, and even in the "day of ice or frost," that is, in the1 abundance of sin—"for because iniquity hath abounded, the charity of many shall grow cold"—we leap over matter, that is, the thorny exacerbation of sins, not made like unto them, but subjecting them to us, so that they become obedient to doctrine, and are openly saved.
A For if we become participants in the sins of others, we remain unclean even until evening, that is, until we perform penance. For David speaks of this evening: "At evening weeping shall tarry, and joy in the morning" (Ps. XXIX, 6). Therefore, the Lawgiver also commanded that garments be washed, openly demonstrating that we are unclean until we wash our actions clean with tears.
VERS. 27, 28. "Whatever walks upon its hands, of all the animals that go upon all fours, it shall be unclean. He who touches their carcasses shall be unclean until evening. And he who carries the carcasses of this kind shall wash his garments, and he shall be unclean until evening, because all these are unclean to you."
The law does not pass over any sin in silence, but whatever actions are prohibited by the evangelical testament, it has covered them first with enigmas, so that, declaring the consonance of both dispensations, you may confess God, who has spoken in them, and fearing, may depart from all that they have forbidden. Therefore, he who migrates to the evangelical conversation walks on his hands. He walks on his hands, he who for the sake of profit and the gaining of base lucre, places his hands quickly, that he may take something from it. He is conveniently counted among and compared to all these beasts. Whether you speak of an adulterer, or a miser, or a murderer, or a slanderer, or a blasphemer, in all of these he is included, insofar as he communicates in the sins of all through the unjust imposition of hands. B The carcasses of this man are those upon whom he has laid his hands, for in them he suffers the death of sin. Therefore, he who touches them, and he who has lifted them up, is rightly defiled; he who touches them, that is, he who converses with them, says: because they have by no means fittingly snatched a dignity, which those who once peddled it in every way were justified by, if after these things they do not persist in their ancient iniquities. But also he who carries them, as if carrying false witness, by acknowledging and teaching that someone is worthy, who is unworthy.
"He shall be unclean until evening." Which we have called penance above. "And washing his garments, he shall be purified."
VERS. 29-31. "This also shall be reputed among the polluted things, of those that move upon the earth: the weasel, and the mouse, and the crocodile, each according to its kind, the *mygale* and the chameleon, and the newt, and the lizard, and the mole; all these are unclean. He who touches their carcasses shall be unclean until evening."
Neither now does the legislator, accusing God’s creation, command that these animals be held as unclean; for how, in another place of Divine Scripture, will you find them to be praised? For Solomon indeed says in Proverbs: "There are four things that are the least of the earth, and these are wiser than the wise" (Prov. XXX, 24). Among which he counted the hare, or according to the Septuagint, the hedgehog C and the newt: D
quorum, one above with the camel and the hare, as the law accused them, has been mentioned. Yet their nature is not unclean, nor is every action; for how could such things be praised? But there are certain actions regarding them that are suited to irrational animals and that demand no judgment, which are neither suited to us nor properly our own: and therefore, when they occur through us, they make us unclean. Truly, to creep upon the earth is not for men, to whom it is granted that they should walk upright and look toward heaven: for to creep upon the earth is to perform sordid and earthly deeds. Which the legislator indicated through the differentiation of the animals which are now enumerated; for he says thus: A *Everything that creeps upon the earth shall be abominable, and shall not be taken as food.* Therefore, he has now enumerated the species of reptiles, not because some are clean and others unclean, but so that through these we might learn to reject reptiles consequently, by inferring every kind of reptile from their life. For the weasel is a deceitful animal, and one very given to thievery. The mouse, because of the gluttony of its belly, undergoes many dangers daily. The crocodile is of hard skin, and malicious, and feeds on mud. The shrew-mouse (*mygale*) is a composite animal, not by nature, but by the condition of its life suited to being mocked—that is, so that it may plot and snatch and fill its belly: for which reason it received a composite name from both animals, from which it has these vices. The chameleon in evil becomes wretched, and out of infirmity feigns itself to be tame, when it is an untamable animal. The stellio, that is, the *ascalabotes*, is indeed very small, or most miserable, yet it is venomous. The lizard dwells in tombs. The mole is a blind animal which is generated from the earth: for they say it is created from earth and rain at once in corrupted mud, when it first receives the rain. These, therefore, are unclean of all things that creep upon the earth, not because others are not; for which reason they have a greater pollution, or malice.
*Whoever shall have touched their carcasses, shall be unclean until evening.* Well then does the very letter prove the legislator’s intention. For if the animals mentioned here were B unclean by nature, it would be necessary that he who touched them while they were alive should also be unclean; but now, he who has touched their carcasses is alone unclean. Moreover, their carcasses are the aforementioned actions, that is: deceit, theft, duplicity or irony, and occupation with other things, as well as haste regarding earthly matters: from which the eyes of the mind are blinded. Since, therefore, in these souls a death happens, they are rightly named carcasses; and he who touches them—that is, he who is polluted in them, just as Paul also says: *It is good for a man not to touch a woman*, is without doubt unclean. For nothing so pollutes a man as sin. Until evening, coming upon him, concerning which David said: *Weeping shall remain at evening*; but he speaks of intelligible penance: let us wash through purification.
VERS. 32, 33. *And upon whatsoever anything of their carcasses shall fall, it shall be polluted, as well a wooden vessel and garment, as skin and sackcloth: and in whatsoever any work is done, they shall be washed with water and shall be polluted until evening, and thus afterwards shall they be cleansed. But the earthen vessel into which anything of these shall fall, shall be polluted, and therefore it must be broken.*
C The legislator is still making use of an admirable division; for since we sin sometimes out of negligence, and sometimes from the work and pursuit of evil things, just as those of whom Solomon said in the Proverbs: *To whom woe? To whom father’s woe? To whom strifes? To whom babbling? To whom wounds without cause? To whom redness of eyes? Is it not to those who tarry over wine and busy themselves with draining cups?* He rightly placed these among those who touch carcasses. But they who sin through the ensuing negligence of the soul and on account of the stupor and loss of virtues—just as David, rising at midday from his bed and walking on the roof and seeing Uriah’s wife washing herself, was captivated by the woman who was too beautiful, and who committed adultery and homicide at once—they are said to fall into these carcasses. For they did not hasten to sin, but fell into them, and in a way receive the sin falling upon them. But because they received it entirely and did not resist, therefore they are rightly unclean, as much the wooden vessel and garment, as the skin and sackcloth: that is, whether it has some light and moderate border—for such are wooden vessels—or one sufficient for dyeing, such as a garment is; or a patient one, which the skin signifies, or that which is of those who endure, for this, sackcloth or a sack signifies. But entirely, a vessel is that in which a work of virtue can be done; for thus you may understand in whatsoever work is done. *They shall be polluted until evening.* That is, until D the time of penance. *But it shall be washed with the water of the bath*, or of tears, *and shall be cleansed. But the earthen vessel*, he who is entirely earthly, that is, besmeared with the mud of the age. Into this, if a carcass should fall—sin which is unto death—and penetrate within him, and rule over him, just as David said: *And he put on cursing like a garment, and it entered like water into his inward parts*, he who says that it not only enters the curse, but also rules in him into whom it has entered: he commanded that it necessarily be crushed. For its uncleanness, unlike the others, cannot easily be purged, by much labor, indeed, and contrition...
and, in a certain sense, the reformation of a crushed and humbled mind, as David says, if it wishes to be cleansed. Whence also the blessed Paul A delivered him who had committed fornication with his father’s wife to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, to the extent that by such contrition he might save his spirit.
Vers. 34. And every food which you eat, if water has been poured over it, shall be unclean; and every liquid which is drunk from any vessel shall be unclean.
We understand food and drink in any vessel to be good works. For he said, "The food which you eat, and the liquid which is drunk," because what is prohibited is the food and drink of evil works, that is, the participation in them. If, therefore, in any of the good works which are in every vessel—that is, in every man, whether prince or plebeian, whether wise or ignorant—any of the aforementioned "carrion" falls into them, it shall necessarily B be unclean. For even if one did not begin the good work from the start with an evil intention—as these people do who feign piety for the sake of profit or gain—if afterward pride, deceit, or hypocrisy, or anything similar, which is called "carrion" (insofar as it brings death in some way to the participant) falls into his conduct, he too shall be unclean; since an evil intention entering into a good work pollutes it. But what is it that he added to the law concerning food?A contemplation of the spirit, which we know if we have examined the interpretation of the words according to their virtue. For what harm do ovens or tripod-cooking pots do if carrion falls into them? But if ovens and tripod-pots are harmed, how much more so are the collections of water in which these falling animals happen to rot? But what do you think the ovens or the tripod-pots signify? Truly, they signify teachers, in whom are cooked the foods of sacred doctrine, with the fire of the operation of the Spirit placed beneath them. It is not surprising, however, that they are called ovens and tripods by metaphor, because we know that divine Scripture uses such names in many places. For David called Moab—that is, the Gentiles—a "washing-pot," for he said: "Moab is the pot of my hope" (Ps. LIX, 10), because of the waters of baptism which are heated in them. But Ezekiel also calls Jerusalem a "pot," but full of "flesh," or, as the Septuagint has it, "venom" (Ezech. XI, 7), signifying men within it who teach and live wickedly. According to this reasoning, therefore, ovens and tripod-pots, in which foods—namely the people's doctrines—are cooked, can be referred to. If, therefore, carrion falls into these, that is, if the action of mortal sin supervenes, they become unclean and are destroyed: "Because those who teach not to steal, steal, and those who preach not to commit adultery, commit adultery" (Rom. II, 21); for the doctrine itself is good, it is not unclean. Nor do we despise the divine utterances C because some have perhaps become unclean preachers from them, and because of this, fountains—that is, those with a wealth of doctrine—and cisterns or lakes, which are tongues speaking mediocre things and holding borrowed doctrine. But the legislator also said that collections of waters—those who gather from everywhere such an abundance of words—are clean. But what consequence was there in speaking of ovens and tripods, to then subjoin: "If water has been poured over it"? He shows that he was inquiring about actions that are after baptism; his discourse is about the faithful and the baptized; he does not make mention of that action concerning the infidel. The blessed Paul proves this by saying: "I wrote to you in my Epistle not to associate with the fornicators—not, of course, with the fornicators of this world, or the greedy, or the rapacious, or those who serve idols, otherwise you would have had to depart from this world. But now I have written to you, if anyone named a brother is a fornicator, or unclean, or greedy, or an idolater, or a slanderer, or a drunkard, or rapacious, not even to take food with such a one. For what is it to me to judge those who are outside?" (I Cor. V, 9-12). To such an extent he has no discourse concerning the action or conversation of those who are outside.
Vers. 35, 36. And whatever of such carrion falls upon it, shall be unclean. Whether ovens or tripod-pots, they shall be destroyed and shall be unclean. But fountains, and cisterns, and every collection of waters, shall be clean. But whoever touches their carrion, shall be unclean.
These things of which the legislator now treats seem in some way strange: for the sake of what thing does he say that ovens and tripod-pots are so unclean that he commanded their cleansing; but he wrote that fountains and cisterns, and other collections of waters, are clean? Or perhaps because these are not accustomed to be polluted? For if collections of waters wash away our pollutions, how can they themselves be polluted? Therefore, you will altogether find one coherent D with the letter of the law, regarding the contemplation of the spirit: what we know if we have examined the interpretation of the words according to their virtue. For what harm do ovens or tripod-pots do if carrion falls into them in this way? But if ovens and tripods are harmed, how much more so are the collections of water in which these falling animals happen to rot? But except for the fountains of water? But because by that he signified teachers, he necessarily subjoined fountains and cisterns and collections of waters, which, as has been shown, are accepted as doctrine. On account of which the Lord said to the Samaritan woman: "Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will not thirst again, but it will become in him a fountain of water springing up into eternal life" (Jean. IV, 13, 14). But the law well subjoined: "Whoever touches their carrion, shall be unclean." Where the Septuagint version says: "But whoever touches any uncleanness of their souls' carrion, shall be unclean." And they added "of the souls," lest perhaps you think it is spoken of creeping things or beasts: for he who touches their carrion does not touch the uncleanness of the soul, but of the body. Therefore, it is to be understood concerning teachers who have become unclean by some unclean and evil action. For when their doctrines are according to the law of God, we ought to pay attention to them, but by no means to communicate in their works, nor to handle them, or to touch them at all, remembering the words of God, which He said to the people or disciples for the confirmation of these things: "Upon the chair..."of Moses have sat the Scribes and the Pharisees. All things whatsoever they say to you, observe and do; but according to their works do not." A VERSES 37, 38. "If it fall upon the seed, it does not defile it. But if any one shall have poured water upon the seed, and it shall have been touched by carcasses, it shall be immediately defiled."
The legislator leaves nothing undiscussed, but examines all things in what follows, desiring to prove the spiritual perfection of the law, even if it seemed imperfect when they looked only at the letter. Here, therefore, he explains the difference in those who are infidels, who are not yet baptized, and he calls both "seed," inasmuch as they have received the preaching of the kingdom. Concerning whom, the Lord, proposing the parable of the seed, said: "The good seed are the children of the kingdom," but the seed which is not yet sown—whence the Septuagint rendered: "Sowable seed which shall be sown," that is, what is not yet sown, but is to be sown—he rightly called those who are not yet baptized, but are to be baptized; if any of the aforesaid carcasses fall upon these, because they have not yet received the safeguard of the mysteries, nor have they acquired the entire knowledge of God, which could remove them from sins coming from negligence, they are said to be clean, and as such are worthy of pardon. But those upon whom water has been poured, namely that of baptism, these necessarily become unclean if one of those things which are carcasses falls upon them: for it was fitting that, by the participation in such gifts, they should pertain to their protection. The Spirit of God therefore terrifies those who have once received baptism, so that they may not, by sinning from negligence, become unclean. B
VERSES 39, 40. "If an animal shall have died, which it is permitted for you to eat, he who shall have touched its carcass, shall be unclean until evening. And he who shall have eaten any of it, and carried it, shall wash his garments, and shall be unclean until evening."
In the same way that sinners persisting in sins are to be abhorred, but not those who turn away and repent: so must we strive with all study for the just, knowing that we are sanctified by them. But if they have died with the grave death of sin, we ought not to touch their life, nor be partakers of their conversation, knowing that if anyone touches them, he will be unclean, even until he himself repents. But also he who has eaten of their carcasses, that is, he who has defended them as if an advocate of their sins, or an abettor, and on that account taking their sins upon himself, has the necessity to wash his garments, namely his actions, C because even he, until the evening—that is, until he repents—will be unclean.
VERSES 41-45. "Everything that creeps upon the earth shall be abominable, and shall not be taken as food. Whatever four-footed thing walks upon the breast, and has many feet, or is drawn upon the ground, shall not be eaten, for it is an abomination. Do not defile your souls, nor touch any of them, lest you be unclean."
The legislator has already explained these things above. Now, however, he repeats them for this reason, that by frequent meditation he might move the hearer to keep the law. Wherefore these things must be summarized by us also, because he has added something new to the present sanction, adding to them the necessary action of meditation. Therefore, those things that creep upon the earth are they who mind earthly things; and those who feed upon filthy actions walk similarly upon their breast or upon their belly, applying themselves to gluttony. D Those who walk upon four feet upon the earth, who, by the preaching of the evangelical books—in that the salvation of sinners is preached in them—abuse this for a luxurious life: not understanding that the preaching provokes sinners, not that they may remain sinners, but that they may cease from sins. But to those who walk on four (feet), he added that they also have many feet, showing that even if they desire to confirm this not only from the evangelical books, but from other Scriptures and from various doctrines, as it seems to them, they will still be unclean. And to be brief, we ought to decline and flee from everything that creeps upon the earth, that is, those who mind earthly things, knowing that their association defiles, and likewise he who acts and joins the one acting is unclean.
VERSES 44, 45. "For I am the Lord your God. Be holy, because I am holy. Do not defile your souls with any reptile that moves upon the earth. I am the Lord who led you out of the land of Egypt, that I might be your God. You shall be holy, because I am holy."
He entirely prohibits us from being associates of those who mind earthly things: not if some are powerful, not if they feign justice or wisdom, nor if by chance they are clothed with priesthood or any dignity whatsoever. Whence he made mention of all the creeping things that move upon the earth, not simply rejecting that which is creeping, but creeping upon the earth; for while it is good to be humbled, it is not good to be turned toward earthly wisdom, nor is such humility useful to souls, from which, wishing to deliver us, he says: "I am the Lord your God." That is, to whose image you were made, that you might mind heavenly things, imitating Him who dwells in the heavens: on account of which he added: "You shall be holy, because I am holy." Who would not add this, and would not double within us the sanctification, unless we were participants in Him and made consorts of His sanctification, having it as our work to guard it through philosophy and holy conversation: whence he says: "Do not defile your souls." First, indeed, because it was given to the soul to be in the image of God: and above all he wishes sanctification to be in it, inasmuch as it holds the sovereignty over every animal. Next
he shows A that the pollution which he hates does not come from dead bodies or unclean foods, as some think, but is that which results for the soul from evil actions. Furthermore, in saying that our souls should not be polluted by all the creeping things that move upon the earth, he added, in a completely fitting manner: "I am the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that I might be your God." Through Egypt, he points out the evils of Egypt and all the works of darkness. For "Egypt" is interpreted as "darkening." If any person truly wishes to be free of these, and to have as his own God Him who truly is God, he must not only guard against idolatry, but if he desires to adhere truly to Him, because He is holy, he himself must also strive for holiness, without which no one will see God.
VERS. 46, 47. "This is the law of the living creatures and of the birds, and of every living soul which moves in the water and creeps on the earth, that you may know the differences between the clean and the unclean, and may know what you ought to eat or what you must reject."
On this occasion, the legislator uses a recapitulation in his usual manner, so that those who read may know the things of which the law has already spoken and may easily examine them. But what he now adds is admirable and full of every benefit, and should be noted: he said that the law has been published regarding the enumerated animals, not only so that one might separate between clean and unclean, but so that the children of Israel might know and recognize B between those which quicken us—those which are eaten—and the others. Therefore, foods do not make us clean or pollute us, but we pollute them, if indeed we quicken those things which are eaten. And just as every food is good, and nothing is to be rejected which is received with thanksgiving, for it is sanctified by the word of God, as Paul says, and by prayer: so we "quicken" those things which are eaten—namely, those things that nourish the soul, that is, good actions—if we use them well. But if we use them badly, we do not quicken, but we mortify. For he who gives alms out of iniquity mortifies its virtue, or power. And those who abstain from foods, yet through their tongue disparage their brothers—of whom David says: "Who devour my people as a morsel of bread"—these mortify their abstinence. For this reason, it belongs to blessedness to know how to distinguish between these vivifying C animals that are eaten and those that are not eaten, that is, between those who do good things well and those who perform evil actions. For these are the animals which are not eaten; and he distinguishes this not only by knowing, but by confirming that knowledge with works. This is what few in this age strive for, since many defile it through deceits, and many adulterate it through hypocrisy, so that some even begin to doubt, even in true goods, what should be eaten and what should not be eaten. For which reason he says: "This is the law." Not only of discerning, but of knowing for the children of Israel. Moreover, those things of which there is doubt are recognized, and we repress their doubt by teaching, when we teach the consistency of the law’s doctrine.
Chapter XII.
VERS. 1-5. "The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to the children of Israel, and you shall say to them: If a woman having received seed shall bring forth a male, she shall be unclean seven days, according to the days of the separation of her menstrual flow. On the eighth day the infant shall be circumcised. But she shall remain thirty days in the blood of her purification. She shall touch no holy thing, nor shall she enter the sanctuary, until the days of her purification be fulfilled. But if she shall bring forth a female, she shall be unclean two weeks, according to the rite of the menstrual flow. And she shall remain sixty-six days in the blood of her purification."
The intention of the legislator is manifest, signifying the ancient excess of the human race, and for this reason he desires to bring this to us from all these things, that we might avoid secular affairs and the actions of the flesh, as we are not well able to finish off holiness, without which no one will see God. For the world indeed is good in itself: to see the rise of the sun, the moon, and the stars that crown the heaven, the earth stretched out, the sea diffused, so that from all these the wisdom of the Maker might be gathered and deduced. Similarly, the body is good, and very good, as it collaborates with us in virtues. For it has an instrument to glorify God: the tongue, and other senses that are within us, through which, looking out upon the creature of the world and all its comfort, we deduce through these things, looking at something else, even those things which are invisible and which have been made. But because we have used both the age and the flesh badly at the same time, so that the Lord said concerning the world: "The world is set in malignity"; and Paul: "I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind"; and again: "But I am carnal, sold under sin"; and again: "Now the works of the flesh are manifest: which are fornication, adultery, uncleanness, and suchlike," the law strives to deliver us from these, and it does not cease to write many riddles concerning this matter, just as it now communicates both general and special things. Observe with what words the Lord spoke to Moses, so that he might minister the same words to the children of Israel. He did this, however, not in vain, but openly demonstrating that He indeed spoke to Moses, as one suitable for understanding the virtue of the law: but Moses spoke to the people, because they could not grasp everything, nor receive the spiritual commandment, nor, while God was speaking, hear the law narrating higher things. For from this it is that, with God Himself giving the law, they said to Moses: "Speak thou to us, and we will hear: let not the Lord speak to us, lest perhaps we die." But that they might receive it humbly and according to human capacity—namely, with a man passing it on—so that one might ascend little by little to the spirit. Through the letter, therefore...
A the woman who receives the seed is she who conceives from the seed of a man. It says that for seven days she is unclean; and why? Evidently because the sower is unclean, being an heir of Adam, who, by his transgression, became unclean and, having thus been united with Eve, made the whole human race unclean. But this is read openly in Holy Scripture, that after he went out of paradise, Adam knew his wife, and in this way the human race began to be brought forth. Why, then, did He command that the woman be unclean for seven days? Because Adam, through whose seed she received the uncleanness, polluted our life with his race. The number of seven days signifies that through which the times revolve. On account of which his rest is the seventh day, that is, the intelligible Sabbath is hoped for. But how did he pollute our life? By bringing upon it a curse and transferring that beatitude which we had obtained from the beginning to misery. Which is manifest from those things which God says to Adam: Cursed is the earth in thy works; thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee. Therefore, even now the legislator said: *According to the days of the separation of the menstruation*, or as the Septuagint has it: *According to the days of menstrual purification she shall be unclean*. But what this is, other interpreters have explained more plainly: Symmachus saying, *according to the days of separation, of affliction*; Aquila, *of separation, of misery*; Theodotion, *of separation, of her pain*. But misery, and affliction, and pain began at that time, after Adam, being separated from paradise, obtained our current life, because we have been condemned to eat bread by the sweat of our brow. To this B meaning he added a clearer and more indubitable proof when he says: *On the eighth day the infant shall be circumcised*. For the eighth day, since it succeeds the seventh day, which is an image of the present life, bears the figure of the future age, in which we circumcise the flesh of the foreskin, laying aside all the works of the flesh: for then we shall not only be unable to sin, but shall neither eat, nor drink, nor marry. We shall be, without a doubt, as the Lord says, from corruptible beings made incorruptible, like the angels: and we are made clean by all means, having been made from unclean. *It is sown, therefore*, says Paul, *in corruption*; if, therefore, a natural body is sown in corruption, a spiritual body arises; therefore, this is the manner for which He commands the infant to be circumcised on the eighth day. Moreover, He shows that the uncircumcised perishes from his people because, before circumcision, he has flesh that is abominable and unclean, for the reasons, evidently, which we mentioned above. But he is cleansed through circumcision, which bears the image of the resurrection of the dead. But that, too, must be greatly inquired into: why the law, commanding that he be circumcised, is silent about his own uncleanness, but says that the mother is unclean until the day on which the infant is circumcised—for He commands that he be circumcised on the C eighth day. D Or perhaps because Eve existed as the cause of disobedience, and transgression or disobedience contracted uncleanness and filth for us, for this reason the legislator turned this, which is more, onto the woman. But it must also be asked why, for the sake of this matter, He commanded the woman to remain in the blood of her purification, not in sordid blood, but in clean blood, that is, that of her purification, as is shown in the things that follow. She does not touch any holy thing, and does not enter into the sanctuary until the days of her purification are fulfilled. If, therefore, she remains for thirty-three days in clean blood, and touches no holy thing and does not enter into the sanctuary, from where shall we find the reason for this, unless from a searching of the days? For He handed down thirty-three days so that, with the seven added, they might all become forty. Therefore, the legislator signifies something else by this. Since, then, the male infant is said to be formed in forty days, these two things are proven by what has been said: that is, that the substance of the human race itself is clean, as created by God: *For all things that God made were very good*, and man much more so. For which reason He said that the woman sits in clean blood, or that of her purification. But because she was harmed by the succession of Adam, who transgressed, necessarily she who received the seed and conceived does not touch any holy thing and does not enter into the sanctuary until the days of her purification are fulfilled: that is, until the forty days are fulfilled, in which the child is formed. For the image of God itself is the cleansing of our nature, even though it had been soiled. Therefore, we would in no way have been commanded to enter into the sanctuary, nor to touch any holy thing, had not the image of God, once given to our race, provided us access to holy things. For the sake of saving which, the Lord Himself also became incarnate, wishing to save His own image. But in forty days He lifted it up to heaven, according to which He, molding it as man, gives it into the womb, and then our nature enters into the true sanctuary. But these things are proven openly by those things which are decreed concerning the female sex. For because they are said to be formed in the womb on the eightieth day, He commanded the same number for the completion of the days of purification of those who receive seed, for He says thus: *If she has borne a female, she shall be unclean for two weeks: according to the rite of menstrual flux*. And when it is fitting to say fourteen, He does not say it thus, but *for two weeks: according to the rite of menstrual flux*. For which reason He transmits us to that meaning, that is, that we should understand human life to be in the seven days: but the flux of the menstruation to be its affliction, and pain, and misery. He said, however, *for two weeks* rightly, because the female sex is punished twofold: because
it also involves Adam in the curse, in the sweat of his face eating his bread. It also has the earth itself, germinating thorns and thistles, which, since it arose from the earth, returns to the earth. It has also a special punishment: "In sorrow you shall bring forth children, and your turning shall be to your husband, and he shall rule over you." And therefore, he says, for two weeks she shall be unclean, according to the rite of menstrual flow. But sixty-six days she shall sit in clean blood, that is, in purification, touching nothing holy, until the eighty days are completed. For fourteen, added to sixty-six, make eighty, in which the female is formed. Therefore, without any doubt, the legislator shows that our race, made unclean by the curse, would never enter into holy things, except through the image of God, which it once received, and therefore women receiving seed, in the days of the formation of the children about to be born, are forbidden from holy things. But if you say: Why are mothers who are with child not forbidden from holy things more during the days of formation? You ask this in vain: for it is uncertain to her who is pregnant whether she is about to bear a male or a female: and from where could it be manifest how many days it was necessary to forbid her from holy things? Therefore, the cause is manifest for which the legislator disposed these things in them.
VERS. 6-8. "And when the days of her purification are fulfilled, for a son, or for a daughter, she shall bring a lamb of the first year for a holocaust, and a young pigeon, or a turtledove for sin, to the door of the tabernacle of the testimony, and shall deliver it to the priest, who shall offer it before the Lord, and pray for her, and so she shall be cleansed from the flow of her blood. This is the law for her that bears a male or a female. But if her hand finds not, and she cannot offer a lamb, she shall take two turtledoves or two young pigeons, one for a holocaust, and the other for sin, and the priest shall pray for her, and so she shall be cleansed."
Here the legislator disclosed his whole intention, that natural motions do not make for pollution: but sin, of which David said: "For behold I was conceived in iniquities, and in sins did my mother conceive me." He does not blame his mother, but he calls nature, our mother, signifying that the uncleanness of the sin of Adam and Eve has descended into our whole race. And therefore when the days of her purification were completed, A according to the aforesaid mode, he commands a sacrifice for sin to be offered. Because he also commanded a yearling lamb to be immolated as a holocaust then, he evidently shows it, and approves it to the observer, because the image of God bestows perfection upon our race. For the days of purification show the formation, but the sacrifice of the holocaust shows the perfection. For it is manifest that the holocaust proclaims an entire and perfect way of life. But he also assigned a spotless yearling lamb to the sacrifice, signifying perfection from both. For what is a lamb, or anything else of that kind in a sacrifice, if perhaps B by not finding a dove, or a turtledove to offer, and why is the sacrifice led to the door of the tabernacle of the testimony, to the priest, and how is it offered before the Lord, and how is propitiation obtained and performed through the priest, has been said in many sacrifices which are offered for sins. But here, meanwhile, be amazed at the legislator's wisdom, because it could happen that those studying the law might say: With what prayer had one bearing an infant need, if she herself did not sin? For she did not procreate from fornication, but from marriage. Wishing to interpret the necessity of this C prayer, he added: "And he shall cleanse her from the flow of her blood." Calling the flow of blood, disobedience: from whence uncleanness, and its punishment has flowed into the whole human race, which also we might lay aside, offering for ourselves the sacrifices that have been spoken of: two turtledoves or two young pigeons, meditation and contemplation of the law, and science, or knowledge: for it is demonstrated that the aforesaid animals have the figure of these. But because negligence of the law introduced uncleanness to men, meditation and science, through which correction manifestly comes, will be able to cleanse and liberate us from the punishment D long ago brought upon us, in Christ Jesus our Lord, through whom and with whom is glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, world without end. Amen.
BOOK FOURTH
PREFACE
Many think that importunity is practiced at festivals, but they do not know that they envy the summit, or the chapter of the festival, and they drag the festivals to worse things: for they strive to celebrate feasts not with spirit, but with body: whence not negligently to speak of them, but from work they hasten. Those also suffer this, who closed the doors on the day of weddings to singers or cithara players, who, leaving aside applause and the song of organs, and nuptial lamps, send forth wedding carriages, and who, calling themselves friends of the bridegroom, with sacred races, and trumpets, deprive the festivals of reverence,A but also the healthy in the fervor of illness, and through the severe comprehension of the passion, he shows it. But it is now time to proceed to the words of the law, for these things themselves plainly show us the reasons for each. Nevertheless, we entreat the hearers beforehand that he who desires to learn should not despise the words of the unlearned, such as I am. For we do not say things of our own making, lest we be accused as deceivers, since we are those to whom small things are ministered from our own; but it belongs to God, who inspires where He wills, and who, to children or lazy men and the exceedingly ignorant, often reveals things greater than to the prophets. Which is manifest from the fact that that people, praising Jesus sitting upon an ass, sent forth a voice which should be noted more than any prophetic trumpet. But you who serve the mysteries know that the Law was given to the Churches for a mystical ministry, for which reason it is not proper that the ears of the profane should be burdened with words, the part of which the prophets, not grasping everything, believed: in which I myself am exceedingly amazed, and I consider it a great miracle that has happened: because what the prophetic voice, which had been preached many generations before, had hidden, the unlearned people manifested, and it is itself the remaining inspired and believed chapter, so that something might be said by us, which indeed may profit the ears of our hearers, but which has not yet been said by those before us, if God grants, that it may be willingly received: "For in Him we live, and move, and have our being"; as Paul instructed us also to say, and so much the more do we need this, to the extent that we are ignorant, so that our tongue may be governed from heaven. Such is the letter of the law of the leper, which was spoken by God Himself to Moses, which He desired should be displayed to Him, and at the wedding of the bride, as one to whom it was necessary to show favor, when he was received at home. But Christ is not so: for being the Word, He weaves festivals with discourse. And some indeed offered calves, or oxen, or sheep, rams, he-goats, and she-goats, turtledoves, or pigeons: but those who did not have these offered cakes, and flatbreads, and fine flour for a sacrifice at the sanctuary. But He, as was right, varied the victims according to the doctrine. And now, indeed, like a calf putting forth new horns and hooves, airing the Word through theology, He sacrificed adversaries, but now for the pigeon He explained the mediatory doctrine, and for a pair of turtledoves He indicated the laws of the contemplation of the soul and of chastity. And the ram itself was at the sacrifice, crowning the just with praises, and the he-goats, sinners coming from error. With these, therefore, let us also adorn the feast, since He himself in the sacrifice has offered the knife, namely the tongue, to the present subject, contributing such and so great things. But this is the leprosy which Moses the lawgiver proposed, bringing forth many of its species, explaining the manifold variety of this passion, and not only the leprosy that is in man, but also that which is in wood and in stones, and in the weave, and in the warp, and in skins in which it can work, but also in an entire house, and similarly approaching garments, when he had kept this in no other sickness, so that even the lazier might understand that the lawgiver perceives something more sublime, and more divine, and better than the aspect which the letter reveals. B But also when he has reserved discretion for the priest: he did not keep silent about this, but describes in order the things C necessary for this, so that he might establish both the manner in which he who wishes to judge concerning these things ought to act, and at the same time to preserve him in judgment without enmity or suspicion of favoritism, one who could easily fall into an estimation of this kind, and to retain this one through enmity, but to release another from the passion for the sake of favor, and to give occasion for suspicion of friendship, unless he had perchance brought forth a plain law concerning them, as to who ought to be separated from the tabernacle, as those who were held by the disease. And again, those who were cleansed from the passion, to be received, who even at the very beginning were not to be counted among the lepers, as those about whom suspicion was held in vain, when it happens that there is doubt concerning it, the law also having been laid down. And one must be exceedingly amazed at the way he casts out from the tabernacle him who has leprosy in a part of his body and subjects him to punishment, but calls him who suffers in his whole body clean, and as if he had suffered nothing at all, he commands him to be mixed with all—[he who] shows prejudice, for in a certain way he seems to persuade those who are partially leprous not to pray, so that they might be freed from the pressing passion, but rather that the passion should graze and abound through the whole body, for that indeed requires much discussion, and compels the judging priest to the strictness of the law. But this [second case] protects them as blameless, and blessed from the multitude of D dangers.
CHAPTER XIII.
VERS. 1-17. The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: The man in whose flesh and skin a different color shall have arisen, or a pustule, or something as if shining, that is, a plague of leprosy, shall be brought to Aaron the priest, or to anyone of his sons. And when he has seen the leprosy in the skin, and the hairs turned to a white color, and the very appearance of the leprosy lower than the skin and the remaining flesh, it is a plague of leprosy, and at his judgment he shall be separated. But if there shall be a shining whiteness in the skin, and not lower than the remaining flesh, and the hairs are of their pristine color, the priest shall shut him up for seven days, and shall consider on the seventh day. And if indeed the leprosy has not grown further, and has not passed in the skin beyond its former bounds, he shall again shut him up for seven other days, and on the seventh day he shall contemplate whether the leprosy has become darker, and has not grown in the skin, he shall cleanse him: because it is a scab, and the man shall wash his garments, and he shall be clean. But if, after he has been seen by the priest and returned to cleanliness, the leprosy has grown again, he shall be brought to him, and shall be condemned for uncleanness. If a plague of leprosy shall be in a man, he shall be brought to the priest, and he shall see him. And when the color shall be white in the skin, and has changed the appearance of the hairs, and the raw flesh also shall have appeared, it shall be judged as most ancient leprosy, and unclean to the skin. The priest shall contaminate him, and shall not shut him up.
A for many, but also entirely in need of interpretation: which the reading has not brought forward to us in its entirety, but rather, as the hearing receives it, it considers how much they contain, and gathers the rest of the truth, and collects the mind into itself. For there are not small things to be learned, but those whose knowledge is to be expected from God, who envies no one the knowledge of these things, and who neither lacks that which is asked for. For James states this, who is called the Lord’s brother, that it is the characteristic of the one who upbraids, because of which, to those who are confident in Him, and at the same time in us, He will indeed grant grace in those things which are to be said. Let us begin the interpretation. For the discourse shows, in part, the leprous Jewish people, as being in part a transgressor of the law, because of which the priest expels him as unclean; but as leprous in the whole body, the Gentile, who transgresses the whole law. Nevertheless, the priest judges him clean, because he was not subject to the yoke of the law. But it is necessary, as I think, first to run through the exposition of the letter. For thus we shall discover the spiritual understanding, which offers itself of its own accord when the letter fails regarding the causes, and is unable to exert its sense to the end, as we recognize in the present case. But let us first attend to who it is that brings the law, and to whom he brings it.
*The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron.* When God speaks, the faithful hearing is twofold. As the prophet David says: *God has spoken once, I have heard these two things* (Ps. LXII, 12), namely, the letter and the spirit. Therefore the spirit speaks as to a more sublime Moses: but the letter as to a subject, Aaron; for Moses was sublime, and therefore worthy of the spirit: but Aaron was subject, and apt for the hearing of the people, who were in need of the letter, as God Himself says concerning Aaron to Moses: *He shall speak to the people, and he shall be your mouth, but you shall be to him in those things which pertain to God* (Ex. IV, 16). Therefore, what was sublime in the law was spoken to Moses; for he himself possessed those things which pertained to God, that is, those things which are of the spirit. But what was subject and more humble, this was to Aaron, for he was the mouth of Moses to the people, receiving the law according to the letter, which we also promised to explain first.
The species of leprosy, therefore, is either too much or moderately obscure, and in some way overshadowed, and for the time being hidden under the skin, with the passion not yet effervescing, on account of which it also requires excessive deliberation. Another species is very clear, so that it is simple and open knowledge. Of these, the Septuagint, according to whom almost this whole sense is explained according to the letter, rightly called the first species "the cicatrix of a sign," that is, a cicatrix signifying a passion. They divided this into two parts, that is, into that which is too doubtful, and that which is less doubtful. Of which they called one a *telaugē* and the other an *augasma*. A *telaugē*, indeed, because it is seen from afar: an *augasma*, however, because it is too obscure, and has a small insinuation of the passion, and this is doubtful, so that by the discussion of the next B C D
A seven days, and again another seven days, it might need examination, just as those who examine precious stones have need of it. In this matter, it often commands the priest to observe and not to trust in the appearances that occur or present themselves upon the first inspection. But even if the appearance of the scar does not yet seem lower than the skin, nor has a hair in the place been turned white by the passion, nonetheless, he shall be separated for seven days for further consideration, and again for another seven days: for perhaps as the passion effervesces over time, the disease becomes more manifest. However, if the scar remains obscure and no change has taken place in the skin, he has spoken of a sign, but not of a manifest leprosy, and since he did not provide the interpretation of this sign, he keeps it for those who receive the law according to the spirit, and who can reveal and add to the contemplative interpretations of the spirit that which is less B or more hidden. Nevertheless, they have shown that it is not altogether evil: for how could the priest have been "cleansed," that is, about to declare someone to have an unclean thing, if he had no need of this—if he had been entirely free of it? Wherefore he called it an obscure sign, nor did it again, if it were bad, become a sign of a certain passion that is among the clean after judgment. But if a sign falling upon the little skin—that is, if it has spread out and proceeded more widely in the little skin than it was before, and the hair has not been changed—for he does not blame this here—the priest declares him polluted, judging the passion to be leprosy, though his own knowledge is doubtful, as the scar is obscure. But if it is white, and sends forth hair similar to the skin, the priest pollutes him and commands that the unclean person be cast out, even if a part of the scar is healthy and has living flesh, that is, flesh not established under the passion of leprosy. But for what reason is this? Because, he says, the leprosy is inveterate. C This is to be wondered at, and it brings excessive ignorance or rather reproach upon the legal letter; for whence should the passion be deemed curable—that is, from the living body and living flesh—from thence he despairs of it all the more, and God calls it an inveterate leprosy, that is, not curable, or one remaining for a long time, and as it were in a place where the passion is growing old. Concerning this matter, you will find again that what follows is more obscure: because he wishes it to be judged by the priest that he who is leprous in his whole body, and covered from feet to head with the disease, is held to be clean of leprosy. But if at any time living flesh is seen in him, the priest revokes his judgment and pollutes him. But if it has changed to white and the whole skin has been transferred to the passion of leprosy, the priest, to whom it is commanded to judge, cleanses him. But if these things have been rightly said—although no one says this—what satisfaction shall we find for this other reproach? Because the leper pays penalties for a passion not of his own will, but one which he sustains against his will, D and although he was worthy of help on account of his infirmity, he lacks it and is subjected to harm. For if he could have resisted, the infirmity would never have prevailed over him: and he who blames nature, whose necessity he thinks the oncoming ailment to be, and not of his own intention or will. For what could he do, so as not to fall into this disease? But someone says that this passion is a retribution or punishment for sin: and he puts forward first Miriam, then Uzziah: of whom the former spoke against her brother; but the latter, while he was king, presumed to offer incense in the holy place—for it was permitted only to the priests to do this—and for that reason, God not delaying their punishment, they were made lepers. Therefore, it was necessary that the law openly state this to excuse the legislator, against those who think he decrees unjustly concerning lepers, and not only this concerning lepers, but also that this will be judged likewise concerning those who have wounded eyes or hearing, or remaining senses, and other infirm persons and paralytics. Which is manifest from the fact that the disciples, seeing the man blind from birth, asked the Lord, saying: Rabbi, who has sinned, this man or his parents, that he should be born blind? But do not ask me for Christ’s answer—since you know it—but consider how many have questions concerning the passions that happen to us. But the Lord Himself also said: Thy sins are forgiven thee, wishing to raise up the paralytic. Just as, therefore, they were odious to God, it was necessary that these also be expelled from the tabernacle, and it would be thought a slight injustice if others simultaneously suffered injustice. But if you say that because in these passions sins are altogether punished, for he also prohibits him who suffers from an emission of seed from the tabernacle, and her who suffers from an issue of blood—you say what is true indeed, but this is not so much an act of satisfaction as it is another accusation by the writer, who condemns the necessities of nature, which he ought to have defended, so that he might not injure the Creator in natural accusations. For which reason, contemplation of the law and interpretation of the spiritual defect are necessary for us, and it is fitting to prefer the eye of the mind to the eye of the flesh, that we may use the latter for the understanding of those things which are ordained, and the former for reading. Therefore, let the letter of the Law again be set forth. The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: A man in whose flesh and skin there shall arise a different color, or a pustule, or something as it were shining, that is, the plague of leprosy, he shall be brought to Aaron the priest, or any one of his sons. Who, when he sees the leprosy in the skin, and the hairs changed to a white color, and the very appearance of the leprosy lower than the skin and the rest of the flesh, it is the plague of leprosy, and according to his judgment he shall be separated. Simply, or generally, the divine Scripture calls him a man who keeps the image of God and the dignity of our nature. Wherefore hear the Wise Man, saying in Proverbs: "Great is a man, and precious is a merciful man." But a certain man, by sin...
A he describes as a poorly formed coin, which the Lord expresses in parables, saying: *A certain rich man’s field brought forth abundant fruits, and he pondered within himself, saying: What shall I do, because I have nowhere to gather my fruits? And he said: This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and will build greater; and there will I gather all things that are grown to me, and my goods, and I will say to my soul: Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years, take thy rest, eat, drink, make good cheer.* And again: *A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among robbers, who also stripped him, and having wounded him went away, leaving him half dead.* In both, however, He takes on the person of the sinner. But that the history contained in Job will be of no harm to our [argument] is clear: because, saying according to the Septuagint: *A certain man was in the land of Ausitis, whose name was Job,* he immediately added to it. For by the addition of the name, he did not at all leave off [meaning] him who was being described. B Leather, or skin, by name, sometimes signifies everyone’s flesh, but sometimes his kin. For which reason in the book of Job, from the person of the devil who deceives, regarding those things that happened to that very strong man then, when he destroyed with other substance his sons and daughters, piling a house upon them which served as a tomb, it is said: *Skin for skin, and all that a man hath he will give for his soul*: that is, he lost the skin of his kin through his sons, but yet it suffices for him that the skin of his flesh is safe, and is not at all corrupted. On account of which he added: *Otherwise put forth thy hand, and touch his bone and his flesh, and then thou shalt see that he blesseth thee to thy face.* But what our edition has: *A man in whose flesh and skin there shall have arisen a different color, or a pustule, or as it were something shining, that is, the plague of leprosy,* the Septuagint translated: *If to any man there be a scar of signification appearing in the skin of his body.* A scar of signification signifies sin, making manifest by the things that are apparent what is occult and the hidden vice of the soul. And then this scar he called *tēlaugē*, that one *augasma*: because sin on the one hand announces itself openly, and without any judgment, from the movements themselves of the soul. These things, however, have necessary [features], beyond the fact that one sees the light of the sinner, and the consideration of the judge as to what it is, whether true or false. If, therefore, to a sinner, as the aforementioned Septuagint editions say, a scar of signification occurs in the skin of the body, that is, sin in the flesh, which signifies that the soul also suffers along with the body: and this is *tēlaugēs*, or *augasma*, that is to say, either too manifest, or needing the discernment of one who is looking: thus it will be held as a spot of leprosy. But we understand leprosy to be the transgression of the law: because, just as a leper, while he may be entirely healthy, having been made leprous in some part, is in no way helped by the health of the body that has not become leprous, but is removed from the tabernacle as unclean; so too he who, by some C part, transgresses the law, receives no benefit from the observance of the other parts: *For he who keeps the whole law, but commits sin in one, has become guilty of all.*
He is brought to Aaron the priest, or to any one of his sons. Now the sons of the priest are his kin according to the spirit, from whom they also have the dignity of the priesthood. These, moreover, are they in whom philosophy is perfect and full, so that they might both discern sublime things and judge the hidden motions of the soul. But how do they judge?
They see the leprosy in the skin, and its hair, if it has been turned to white, and the very species of the leprosy is lower than the skin and the remaining flesh. By the hairs, however, he signifies the thoughts with which the soul is adorned, and the mind is covered when it itself produces the same thoughts: for indeed the head also generates hairs, and is adorned by them, and covered. Therefore the hairs of our head are said to be numbered, that is, the thoughts of the mind. For the head itself is said to be the principal part of the soul. But why are they numbered? He is undoubtedly about to say that it is because by them the judge is about to judge a man, that is, by them accusing him or defending him, as Paul says, *In the time when our hidden things shall be judged.* Therefore we understand that the iron should not enter into the head of the Nazarene, while it is inflicted upon others without fault: because for those for whom hair is superfluous, it is not only of no harm, but it is a gain, to be shorn: but for those for whom it is not superfluous, the removal of the hairs is a loss, on account of the despoiling of natural beauty. Thus, to whomever intrusive thoughts are superfluous, they are well rid of them by a changing of counsels, or by all incoming phantasies, after the manner of shearing. In the Nazarene, however, they are not [superfluous], for he is entirely holy. On account of this, iron does not ascend upon his head, since he uses good counsel, and possesses the necessary, and not superfluous, hairs of thoughts, from which he does not lapse, since he does not handle worse things, nor does he commute them. If, therefore, he has changed the hair in this [case] which is now under discussion, turning his thought into an impudent condition, and one that is manifest to sin, and the very species of the leprosy is lower than the flesh and the remaining skin—for he considers this, and if he shall have seen that excessive weakness has appeared, and natural virtue has failed, which is the species of leprosy D lower than the skin or the remaining flesh—the priest rightly judges him to be separated and unclean, inasmuch as he is languishing of his own intention and will. For this man who changes his hair intimates too strongly that he is infirm, and therefore lower than himself; whence he rightly does not deserve pardon. For to be conquered by Abraham, and by another greater one, is bearable, so that some habit, or power, may be displayed: or a good [thing], which we received from God, so that we might work [it]. Regarding which habits Paul seems to me to intimate something, saying: *To everyone as the Lord hath distributed, to every one as God hath called*; but when someone becomes worse from himself, it is unbearable.
A
VERS. 4-8. *If the shining brightness be in the skin, and not lower than the other flesh, and the hair be of the former color, the priest shall shut him up seven days, and he shall see and reflect on the seventh day. And if the leprosy has not grown further, and has not passed in the skin beyond its former bounds, he shall again shut him up seven other days, and on the seventh day he shall contemplate it. If the leprosy be more obscure, and it has not grown in the skin, he shall make him clean, because it is a scab, and the man shall wash his garments, and he shall be clean. But if after he has been seen by the priest and restored to cleanliness, the leprosy has grown again, he shall be brought to him, and he shall be condemned for uncleanness.*
Behold the great mercy of the Lawgiver, worthy of God, for he himself was the giver of the law, who uses the guidance of the letter for this kind of contemplation of the law. But what does this letter mean?
If the shining brightness be in the skin, and not lower than the other flesh, and the hair be of the former color, the priest judges him clean and free from all suspicion. Although it is manifest that the sin had come under suspicion, yet the mind that has sinned—which is signified beyond doubt by the appearance according to the tradition of the Septuagint—has not become lower than the other flesh, that is, it has not become weaker in itself, nor from the state it had obtained; nor has it, through the occurring sin, changed its heart, and become a perpetrator of sins; for this is what it means: that the brightness does not appear lower than the rest of the flesh, and the hairs are of the former color: but even if it has a more obscure appearance, as the Septuagint renders it—which we have said means the mind—it is still obscure and doubtful because of the sin once committed, yet the priest does not command him to be cut off, but, as one sinning, he removes him from the tabernacle for seven days, and for seven more, for the sake of probation and amendment, restoring him to cleanliness. After this, if the one inspecting finds the spot more obscure, but not growing in the skin: for if the sin had grown, it would have increased and passed into the rest of the flesh, and spread upon the skin, and would have shown him to be unclean, as one who proceeds to the worse; but he who has not grown, but the appearance or species remained similarly obscure—for what is more obscure than iniquity? Because of it the eyes are blinded, so that we are not allowed to perceive clearly either God or that which is expedient. Or if you call the more obscure appearance a suspicion of sin, which is doubtful and uncertain to some, that is, whether it is or is not, this requires a priest: as one who knows how to restore to cleanliness. B But he, declaring it to be simpler and brief, washes the clothes with water, that is to say, with baptism or penance: for the water of penance is the effective tear, which no one sins by calling the remnants of grace of baptism. Therefore, since this is how it is, the Septuagint gave the meaning of the passion for this reason: because it brought forth in part what is hidden, and did not permit it to be hidden in any way, but appointed the priest in the place of a physician to have one who possesses this, that the medicine ought to be applied. For even if he applied it, you on your part, knowing that it calls such a sin a sign, do not hide the evil from the true priest, even if it is doubtful and covered to others, but show it and come forward. For during the days in which the priest separates you from the tabernacle of the saints, he will receive you again, washing the garments of your former flesh as the Lawgiver says. But see and guard yourself, obtaining pardon, and do not pollute yourself after once washing the tunic of the flesh. For if even after these things a sign of the passion should appear in the skin, or, according to our edition, should grow, and he should again fall from the better part to sin, and be changed, the priest will see it, and immediately finding him drifting toward worse things, will condemn him to uncleanness. The Septuagint follows, saying: *Because it is leprosy.* For clearly the soul of such a one, declining to profane pleasures, becomes leprous. Therefore even Paul, because the passion was a sign, for it was manifest and not hidden, removed him who had committed fornication in Corinth from the tabernacle of the saints, and commanded him to be delivered to Satan for the destruction of the flesh. And when he had looked a second time upon the passion, and had seen that it had not grown, but that he who had suffered had washed the garment of the flesh through the tears of repentance, he commanded him to be received immediately. In these apostolic words you understand these things, for he wrote to the Corinthians concerning him who had committed fornication: *It is absolutely heard that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not even among the Gentiles, that one should have his father’s wife.* Behold, you have heard the sign. For the passion was manifest, so that it reached the hearing of Paul, on account of which he commanded him to be cast out of the tabernacle. For so he says that he who is of such a kind should be delivered to Satan for the destruction of the flesh. And again: *Take away the evil from among you.* But because he saw that the garment of the flesh had been cleansed by power, he commanded him to be received again. And how is this certain? *I beseech you,* he says, *that you would confirm your love towards him, lest perhaps he be swallowed up by overmuch sorrow.* Since he is such: therefore it was manifest that he had repented, and that he was vehemently afflicted as one caught in sin, meanwhile, lest he should suffer anything from excessive sorrow, or should perish in despair while sinning, Paul hastens and commands that he who had now been restored to cleanliness should be received. C That the priest separates him who is received not once, but twice, from the tabernacle for seven days, it behooves the studious to seek and know: for since this is commanded to be done in the Law for this reason, that he might show that he ought not to be inspected negligently, but studiously, and with the double probation transacted, a more strict judgment should be brought to bear on him: for the sin was manifest to the priest. But since he suspected his mind was consenting to the passion, yet did not know it manifestly, he necessarily inspected him again. For it is invisible, and difficult to inspect. This the Lord did not once with Peter’s mind after his denial, but D
A a second and third time, just as he was, he interrogated him, not as if ignorant—for Peter himself manifestly proves this in his responses, which he referred openly to one who knew and was ignorant of nothing—but he was searching out the disposition of his mind. He was saying, indeed: "Simon Jona, do you love me?" He wished to teach us how we should search and how we should judge, namely, through frequent investigation.
He did not place the seven days in vain, but honored the number necessary for the present intention, for in it every bond and every obligation from the law ceased. For in seven years the servitude of the Hebrews was relaxed. By the Jubilee, moreover, which consisted of seven weeks, the remission of debts was granted to the Jews, and every land was freed from the debt of its possessor and returned to its former lord. We also know that the Babylonian captivity of the people was restored in the seventieth year for Jerusalem. Therefore, Peter inquires of the Lord, saying: "If my brother sins against me, how often do I forgive him, until seven times?" But He answered: "I do not say to you until seven times, but until seventy times seven." And, rebuking the pettiness of the inquiry, He said: "I do not say to you seven times," and He added: "But until seventy times seven." Therefore, even so, He does not cease from that same number, but multiplying it, He multiplies the remission along with it.
If, however, anyone asks again for what reason He placed this number in the aforementioned chapters, we will point out a brief reason: for time does not allow for delays while we are urged toward other necessary things. The septenary number, therefore, is believed to hold the fullness of the entire present life, which revolves like a wheel in seven days; when this is completed, rightly does every bond and every sin of the age cease, as well as every servitude. For this reason, the seventh is called "rest" in the divine Scriptures, just as Paul also says concerning Moses: "For He said in a certain place on the seventh day: Thus God also rested from all His works." And a little later he added: "For he who has entered into His rest, he himself also has rested from his works, as God did from His." But Ecclesiastes also says: "Give portions to seven, and also to eight," instructing that there is a providence for the present age and for the future, so that we may live in the present age as those expecting the future. D And these things, indeed, are as they are, but the following must be discussed with greater study.
VERS. 9-11. "If the plague of leprosy is in a man, he shall be brought to the priest, and he shall see him. And when the bright heat is in the skin, and has changed the appearance of the hair, that same living flesh shall also appear; it shall be judged a most long-standing leprosy, and ingrown in the skin. And therefore the priest shall defile him, and shall not shut him up, because it is clearly uncleanness."
Does it not seem to you that the legislator is, as it were, superfluous, repeating the same things in this same book, B and did not distinguish in the middle, so that he appears to exercise his memory with frequent meditation on the Law? For regarding those things which he explained above clearly and sufficiently, it appears that the legislator adds these things again: but it is not so, for although it is close in words, it has a much different and distinct intention. For here, he speaks not about any simple sin, but about the manifest transgression of the legal letter, because of which he called the plague of leprosy the very passion itself. We are not ignorant, however, that we have said that leprosy is a prevarication of the Law, because it harms even when it is particular, just as leprosy does, even if it covers a small part of the body. But what law did he consider his own? Not that which is about envy and adultery, rapacity and avarice, and about honoring parents, for that law was similar also for the Gentiles; but that which decreed concerning sacrifices and purifications: "You shall not touch, you shall not taste, you shall not handle that which commands the flesh to be circumcised." For these were his own, having no communion with the Gentiles. If, therefore, the plague of this leprosy has arisen in a man, and the priest seeing him, perceives a white color in his skin—a manifest prevarication, and one open to that letter which he has done by will and by study (for we have said above that this is the appearance of the hair being changed into white, that is, the mind being openly transferred into some prevarication)—the species itself has living flesh, as one who, clearly, even if he transgresses in something, nevertheless defends the Law in other things. C How fruitlessly he would call it healthy flesh, unless the blessed Paul also seemed to call it thus, for he says: "You impose justifications of the flesh until the time of correction."
"It shall be judged a most long-standing leprosy." For it grows old in sin, and is corrupted, because it has a continuous struggle in itself, and strife, while in some things it despises the Law, in others it defends it. For this reason, the priest defiles him and does not shut him up. Or, as the LXX has it, "he separates him," because it is clear uncleanness. For how is he not abominable and unclean who dishonors the Law, which he confirms by keeping it in part? Because these things become clearer and excessively manifest in what follows, let us proceed to those very things now, order compelling us.
VERS. 12-17. "But if the leprosy blooming goes forth in the skin, and covers all the skin from head to foot, and whatever falls under the aspect of the eyes, the priest shall consider him, and shall judge him as having the most clean leprosy, for the reason that it has all been turned into whiteness. And for that reason the man shall be clean. When, however, living flesh has appeared in him, then he shall be defiled by the judgment of the priest, and shall be reputed among the unclean. For living flesh, if it is sprinkled by leprosy, is unclean. But if it has again turned into whiteness and covered the whole man, the priest shall consider him and decree him to be clean."
We have no need of many words in the exposition of the present passage; things that follow correspond to things that came before, and things that came before correspond to things that follow for the sake of interpretation. For which reason James said: “No scripture of prophecy is made by private interpretation”; for each thing is explained most of all by what follows it. We have learned that leprosy in the skin is the transgression of the legal letter. But he well said “in the skin,” because the transgression of circumcision, or of the purifications which are sanctioned by the Law, do not bring harm to the soul; for the letter of the Law indeed coerces the outward man. If, therefore, that same leprosy covers the entire skin, from head to foot, and whatever falls under the sight of the priest’s eyes, he decrees him clean. For if anyone departs from the keeping of the entire letter of the Law—and does not practice the works of circumcision, nor the distinction of foods, nor the keeping of the Sabbaths, nor the pollutions, or sacrifices, or any other such things—but departs from all the legal elements, and from head to foot, that is, from the first to the last of these commandments, has run to better and more perfect things, and has done this in the sight of the priest, that is, Christ, so that He, seeing the transgression of the imperfect, may accept him, He will judge him to be most clean from leprosy, for the reason that everything has turned into whiteness; he has, that is, transferred himself to clarity, to the evangelical conversation, just as you have just heard: “Let your light shine before men.” And again: “As in the day, let us walk honestly.” For which reason they are called children of light, not of night nor of darkness. B
“But if living flesh shall appear in it.” This refers to the Jewish commandment, for these sayings are considered living not because of those receiving them, but because of those giving them, and even more because of those receiving them. If they are kept according to that mode in which they were given, it is necessary that he who neither practices these things, nor is polluted by those from which he has departed, should be clean. But let us bring forth the proof of both. That these living Jewish commandments are indeed called legal, let us hear Stephen speaking to the Jews about Moses: “This is he who was in the Church in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, who received living words to give to us.” Behold, he called the justifications of the Law “living words.” But what did he add? “To whom our fathers would not be obedient.” And indeed they were obedient as far as the face of the apparent letter is concerned, but he said they did not obey—not obeying in mind nor in intention, but in the mere letters of the Giver of the Law. But that one who departs from the servitude of the Law, and afterwards performs something of the Law, is subjected to priestly reproach and is accounted among the unclean, Paul teaches, instructing the Galatians: “Behold, I, Paul, tell you: If you are circumcised, Christ profits you nothing.” And again: “You observe days, and months, and years, I fear lest perhaps I have labored in vain among you.” And again: “You who are justified by the Law, you have fallen from grace.” Concerning the Jewish traditions he also says: “For if the things which I have destroyed, these same things I build up again, I constitute myself a transgressor.”
“But if the color is healthy.” This is, living; but he is called healthy according to the estimation of the Jews and the legal comprehension, though not according to the truth. C
“It has receded, and has been changed into white.” That is, into the ecclesiastical conversation; he will come to the priest, Christ, and He will decree him clean, granting pardon for his first infancy, for the same reason that the whole leper is made clean according to the Law from the multitude of what is thought to be uncleanness. So also the people from the nations, in the multitude and perfection of the legal letter, are made clean from transgression through the Law itself, which seeks not the letter, but the spiritual intelligence of the commandment.
VERS. 18-23. “The flesh and skin in which an ulcer has been born, and healed, and in the place of the ulcer a white, or reddish-white scar has appeared, will be brought to the priest. Who, when he has seen the place of the leprosy lower than the remaining flesh, and the hairs turned into whiteness, will contaminate him: for the plague of leprosy has arisen in the ulcer. But if the hair is of its original color, and the scar is somewhat obscure, and the neighboring flesh is not lower, he shall shut him up for seven days, and if indeed it has grown, he shall adjudge him leprous. But if it has stood in its place, it is the scar of an ulcer, and the man will be clean.”
Blessed is the continual meditation and conversation upon the Law, and the having always in one’s hands the treasure from which the riches of the knowledge of God proceed. Wherefore let us also with all zeal inquire into those things which are now hidden in the letter. An ulcer born and healed is sin cured by penance. For what so wounds the soul and fills it with spots as sin? Whence also David said: “My scars have rotted and deteriorated, from the face of my foolishness.” But what, on the other hand, heals the wound of the soul? In what way must penance be performed? The place of this wound is the deed and the counsel concerning which the sin was committed, just as for David the place of the ulcer was the desire of the flesh; for because of this he admitted both the adultery in Bathsheba and the crime of homicide in Uriah; but for Ahab, the greed through which he cut down Naboth’s vineyard; for Judas, indeed, avarice, for this gave the counsel of betrayal; for Paul, indeed, zeal through ignorance, by which, overcome, he persecuted Jesus. D
“In the place of the ulcer a white scar.” That is, bright, and so manifest that it is seen even from afar, that is, the presumption of sinning which arises from sin: according to which that man is called an adulterer because he was once an adulterer, and this one a persecutor because of the persecution, and another a thief because of the robbery, even if he had already departed from such an action. Is it not so?
A and by this name do we call Rahab the harlot after many generations, and her who offered the ointment to the Lord, since both have restrained themselves from fornication? But why, when he had spoken of a white ulcer, did he say that this same ulcer could become white or red? Indeed, he called it white, which comes from the wound of legal transgression, calling the Law white. For it had not been warmed by the Sun of justice, and therefore it was not red. Therefore, that which comes from evangelical transgression is more evidently called red. Yet both are in Christ, in whom it is said by the Church in the Song of Songs: *My kinsman is white and ruddy*. For the Law is his, the Gospel is his; he himself first ceremonially circumcised, and offering for purification, later lived evangelically and forbade Jewish baptisms, the keeping of the Sabbath, and temporal purifications. Yet what, you ask, is the transgression of the Law? It pertains indeed to Christ himself, and to his mystery, that is, the eating of things sacrificed to idols, of blood, and of that which is strangled. For although these are legal precepts, the Apostles nevertheless commanded the Church to keep them, which James shows, saying: *It has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these, that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what is strangled, and from fornication*. Evangelical, however, is that which, even if it were not according to the Law, [the Lord said]: *Whoever shall say to his brother, "You fool," shall be liable to the judgment. And whoever looks upon a woman to desire her has already committed adultery with her in his heart*. If, therefore, upon the healing of the white, and the sin being cured by penance, a white or red ulcer appears in the place of the ulcer—that is, in the region of the sin—a certain sect of the aforementioned evangelical or legal sin having been found in the sinner, this necessarily comes to the judgment of the priest.
If he sees the place of the leprosy lower than the rest of the flesh—that is, the mind become lower than itself, and the soul manifestly changed to malice, for this is what it means for the hairs to turn white—the priest shall pronounce him unclean. For once he has been placed in the habit of sin, and the evil grazing of the soul has settled over the ulcer, the legislator called this leprosy from a wound, and a flowering passion.
But if the hair is of its original color, and the scar is somewhat obscure—that is, the vision of the penitent—he commanded him to be shut up for seven days: for because he came under such suspicion, he wished to define the time for suspicion. And if it has indeed grown, and evil vanity has been multiplied, he shall judge him to have leprosy. He calls leprosy the uncleanness of the soul, which has grown or flowered, being multiplied by subsequent actions. If, however, it has not been multiplied, but has stood in its place—for he is found to have sinned no further in this, except only for this sin which all have known, and for which he also performed penance—the priest judges him clean. For since he has suffered the scar of the wound, B he shows that he is not currently suffering. But let us use these examples for the subtle testing of the aforementioned matters. Pilate sinned against the Lord, finding no cause of death in Him, and yet condemning Him; but the ulcer of this sin was healed when he had washed his hands and said: *I am innocent of the blood of this just man*. But he did not persevere, since he afterwards scourged Christ. Therefore, he had a greater and worse scar of sin. And the priest, namely Christ, rightly declared him unclean when He said to him: *Therefore he who delivered me to you has the greater sin*. For while He called Judas the crueler one, He did not leave this one immune from sin. Paul also sinned, but when the ulcer had been healed by his calling, he so healed the scar of sin that he himself is called by the one who persecuted, for he says: *I am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God*; and he did not subsequently enlarge that [wound]. Wherefore, the heavenly priest, seeing him, will judge him clean, when Ananias hesitating, and unwilling to approach him, as one who was a persecutor and unclean, He said: *Go, for he is a chosen vessel of mine, to carry my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the sons of Israel*.
VERS. 24-28. *The flesh and skin, which fire has seared, and having a white or red scar, the priest shall consider. And behold, if it has turned into whiteness, and its place is lower than the remaining skin, he shall pronounce him unclean, because the plague of leprosy has arisen in the scar. But if the color of the hairs has not been changed, nor is the plague lower than the remaining flesh, and the species of leprosy itself is somewhat obscure, he shall shut him up for seven days, and on the seventh day he shall observe. If the leprosy has grown in the skin, he shall pronounce him unclean: but if the whiteness has stood in its place, not being sufficiently bright, it is the plague of a burning, and therefore he shall be cleansed, because it is the scar of a burning.*
To some, the legislator seems to be speaking of the same things, but it is not so: for in one respect he says the same things, but in another respect he differs, since he surely proposes another passion, yet he brings in the same judgment of the passion. Earlier, however, he spoke of some ulcer arising which is generated and progresses from an illness of the body; for Holy Scripture is accustomed to call these ulcers. But those things which are from iron, or stones, or any other blows, he calls plagues and wounds. On account of which he says of Lazarus: *The dogs came and licked his sores*. For those wounds were of clean flesh, corrupted by hunger and disease. But of him who went down into Jericho and fell among thieves, he says: *Striking him with stripes (plagas), they went away*: then after a little while, he commanded the Samaritan to bind up those stripes (plagas), like wounds; the divine Spirit himself through the Scriptures shows a manifest difference between an ulcer, and a wound, or a plague. What then is truly an ulcer of a neglected body?
A and our own, unless it be the pleasure of the body, and drunkenness, and gluttony? These arise when the body luxuriates and leaps beyond itself. But fire, which is a greater envy, is a fire that lies hidden and gradually consumes the one who harbors it, on account of which Isaiah says: "Zeal shall seize an uninstructed people, and now fire shall consume the adversaries." He called the envy of the ignorant "zeal," not so that they might imitate virtues, but so that they might impede them and destroy the one who is working. If, therefore, a burning should happen to any man, that is to say, a sinner, out of envy, and he has been healed by penance, the priest inspects the scar, lest perhaps after penance he should relapse into the passion. And if he finds that he has returned, he shall declare him unclean, judging him rightly so. For the earth, often drinking the rain coming upon it, and bringing forth herbs useful to those by whom it is cultivated, shall receive a blessing from the Lord; but bringing forth thorns and thistles, it is rejected and near to a curse, whose end is in burning, as Paul says. But if the envy is not found to have returned to its iniquity, nor that a hidden ulcer has spread from a later act to the prior sin, the priest judges him clean, inasmuch as he has been once cleansed through penance. He discerns, moreover, by watching the hair, whether it changes to white, and if the place is deeper than the skin. All of which we have interpreted most fully above, and for this reason brevity must be employed regarding these things, that we may hasten to what is to come.
A It is necessary, and without it man cannot exist, as he cannot exist without a head. Because of this, David also, wishing to show the love of brotherhood, the highest of all commandments, compared it to an ointment descending from the head onto the beard: for thus he says: "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is as the ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron’s beard." When, therefore, it happens that anyone errs concerning the Divinity, he has the mark of leprosy on his beard and on his head; let the priest inspect this man, and if he sees a place deeper than the remaining flesh, and a more miserable presumption born of blasphemy. But how this may be, that is:
B "Vers. 29-34. A man or woman in whose head or beard leprosy germinates, the priest shall see them: and if indeed the place is deeper than the surrounding flesh and the hair is yellow and thinner than usual, he shall declare them unclean, because it is the leprosy of the head and of the beard. But if he sees the place of the spot to be equal to the neighboring flesh, and the hair black, he shall shut them up for seven days, and on the seventh day he shall watch. If the spot has not grown, and the hair is of its own color, and the place of the lesion is equal to the remaining flesh, the man shall be shaved except for the place of the spot, and he shall be shut up for seven other days. If on the seventh day it is seen that the lesion has stood in its place, and is not deeper than the remaining flesh, he shall declare him clean, and his garments having been washed, he shall be clean."
The Law has given this commandment not regarding any matters whatsoever, but regarding necessary ones. For it did not pertain to him only concerning actions, but also concerning future divine dogmas. Therefore, he speaks entirely competently, first indeed exercising diligent care concerning the strictness of life, and then of those things that pertain to dogma. But he sets forth the Law, no longer specifically to any one man, but what does he say? "A man or woman." Distinguishing more plainly what ought to be understood by "man." But why did he need this explanation in this place? So that, obviously, excuse would not be made for a woman, since she is thought to be frail, when she sins in dogma. Therefore, he calls this sin leprosy in the head and in the beard, because these are the more precious parts of our body, and from this he shows that it does not arise concerning just any impiety of dogmas, but concerning those that are very C necessary, and without which no one can subsist without a head.
"If the hair is yellow and thinner than usual." That is, even if it is not excessive, yet it tends the mind even a little bit toward blasphemy. For this shows the hair to be thin, and not flourishing, but turning yellow.
"The priest shall declare them unclean." Why? Because it is the leprosy of the hair and of the beard. Or as the Seventy render it, "it is a wound." For the one wounded and bruised by the devil has arrived at such great impiety, because it often happens that someone speaks impious things against his own will.
"If he sees the place of the spot equal to the neighboring flesh, and the hair black." That this may not flourish, which is the wound inflicted upon the soul by diabolical operation, that is, the impiety of dogmas.
"The priest shall shut them up for seven days." Not as much for punishment as for the sake of strict examination, for the time is indeed for all, but more strictly for these, whose tongue fails regarding the Divinity, it must be watched. Then how does he judge after the seclusion? The strictness which he maintains against those who act impiously in dogmas is to be admired. If the spot has not grown, that is, the impiety, and the hair is of its own color, that is, nor is there yellow hair in it—since it cannot be known on account of [the person's] negotiation whether he acted impiously of his own accord or unwillingly—then he orders the man to be shaved except for the place of the spot. He commands, therefore, that such words be openly shaved and chastised, if perhaps from them it can be grasped whether through subreption, as often happens, or malevolently he has spoken impious things about God. But he does not command the old wound to be shaved, because the word in which one commits an offense, when the one who has sinned has once denied it, can no longer be judged. D For who, indeed, is to prove the sinner guilty, him who denies that he carried out with his will what he confessed with his tongue? When, however, judging about him in this way, he has not grasped that the spot has grown, nor has he seen the impiety dilated in him: since [the one] blaspheming completely pollutes the stole of baptism, he rightly commands him to wash his garments through penance, and then he shall be clean: because all impiety is cleansed through clean penance. Nevertheless, if this man, having been cleansed in the aforesaid way, has spoken impious things again, the priest shall not inspect him for yellow hair; it is not sought, he says, with what mind he spoke impious things, but because he has relapsed into those things for which he did penance, he rightly counts him unclean.
A If the hair is not black—that is, if he does not appear to be mourning for his impiety; for one who mourns is such not only in habit, but also in mind and thoughts: for indeed, to remain black is characteristic of those who mourn. But since it is the interior man that ought to mourn for the sinner, whom thoughts cover, he rightly signified his repentance by the black hair. For this reason the Church of God, diligently serving, is adorned in the mournful robe of repentance; and therefore she calls herself beautiful, because she is black, as it is written: “I am black, but beautiful, O daughters of Jerusalem”;17 that is, because I am clothed in the robe of mourning while repenting. Thus, therefore, the priest cleanses him who practices repentance, as often as he perceives this occurring in him. But having spoken sufficiently concerning those impieties that are committed against God, both out of will and out of ignorance, he turns his speech to other, more moderate wounds.
VERS. 38, 39. “A man or a woman in whose skin a whiteness appears, the priest shall look upon them: if he perceives a dim whiteness shining in the skin, let him know that it is not leprosy, but a spot of white color, and the man is clean.”
We too, like David, studious in the knowledge of the law, may say with him: “He has not done thus for every nation, nor has he manifested his judgments to them.”18 Since he had previously used the greatest severity regarding divine dogmas and their transgressors, now that he has finished speaking of them, he has rightly laid aside the austerity of that severity and speaks of those things which are according to the Jewish law; and those faults which are within it, he called a dim and shining whiteness; just as, therefore, we said that a white scar is the transgression of the legal letter, so let us understand his ignorance to be called a dim and shining whiteness. He does not possess ignorance of all things that it says, nor of those things which are common to natural law or evangelical precepts. For it is granted to no one to be ignorant of “You shall not kill,” “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not steal”: but [of] the ignorance of certain partial and small commandments, such as when one ought to purify a menstruating woman, C when a male is to be offered for a woman who has given birth, or when one is for her who has borne a female. For this reason he called those [things] a dim whiteness, as [being] small scars, having a small ignorance of the precepts; he who is such, therefore, does not have need of being purified; for they do not pertain to the justification of the Jews, but they were given so that their yoke might be aggravated. For which reason God also said through the prophet: “I gave them precepts not good, and judgments in which they shall not live.”19
VERS. 40-43. “A man whose hair falls from his head, he is bald and clean. And if the hair has fallen from the front, he is forehead-bald and clean. But if in the baldness, or in the forehead-baldness, a white or reddish color has arisen, and the priest sees this, he shall defile him: it is undoubtedly leprosy, which has arisen in the baldness.”
B We must remember that we have understood hair as thoughts: for they are appointed to adorn and cover the head, just as thoughts [cover] the mind. But we should not bring disorderly thoughts into the public view, because even the disarray of hair offers filth instead of adornment. Furthermore, just as some hairs fall out but others grow again, and they never cease to grow, so too in these [matters] do other thoughts grow again in place of those that have fallen. Therefore, he calls the bald man a simple man, not one who is entirely unwise or irrational. For who is the man who does not have hair, even if but a little, upon his head? He describes this man, therefore, who carries few thoughts on account of his simplicity, and he rightly decreed him to be clean: for thus it has been instilled in him by the lot of nature, whence the Lord also compares him to the dove. But why did the legislator bring his person into doubt at all? Because it is better to have prudence along with innocence, which is manifest from those things which the Lord was saying: “Be wise as serpents, and simple as doves.”20 But although this is praiseworthy, that other state is not to be accused. For just as he esteems him clean who is entirely simple, so also him who is so in part, especially him who is [simple] out of simplicity; for this is to be understood in the falling hair, that is, thinning at the forehead, which he also called the forehead-bald. This one, however, is worse than the former: for it is indeed better to hide virtues, yet if someone reveals the glory of them, the fault is tolerable, and close to pardon. For which reason he shall be clean, because according to the face, the divine Scripture says that virtues are revealed, and that one is adorned by them before men. Attend to Paul saying: “See the things that are according to the face. If anyone seems to himself to be of Christ, let him think this again within himself, that just as he is of Christ, so are we.”21 He says this, [meaning] if no sin is committed out of the simplicity of the simple [man]. But if a white or reddish spot has been made in his baldness, or in his forehead-baldness, it is leprosy. Why? Because no one is so simple that he does not know that he ought not to put his hand into a fire, nor cast himself into the height of a precipice, nor abuse a sword in vital parts. But if he knows these things, how does he not know further that it is a wicked thing to kill, [a wicked thing] to steal, [a wicked thing] to eat what is offered to idols, and [a wicked thing] to desire another man’s wife? If, therefore, the priest finds him having a white D or reddish spot in his baldness or in his forehead-baldness—that is, in that simplicity which belongs either entirely or in part to him—to have been a transgressor of the evangelical or the legal norm, he shall condemn him, or shall contaminate him. Why? Because the leprosy has undoubtedly arisen in the baldness. Or, as the LXX says, “because his spot is on his head”; that is, because he has sinned in valid and necessary things, in which no one who sins deserves pardon. For the natural law, toward which the necessary [things] of the law tend, and...
much more so the evangelical precepts, and they are by no means foreign to simple souls. A
Vers. 44-46. *“Whoever therefore shall have been stained with leprosy, and separated at the discretion of the priest, shall have torn garments, his head bare, his mouth covered with a garment, contaminated and filthy; he shall cry out all the time that he is a leper, and filthy, he shall dwell alone outside the camp.”*
That which is the interpretation of the letter according to the surface seems to many to be entirely ridiculous. For what profit is it to tear one’s garments, or to have a bare head, or a covered mouth? For even he who is a leper in body does not breathe forth an odor of shame, so that he might rightly cover his mouth for the sake of this thing. But because the legislator understood the leper to be someone who is unclean according to the aforementioned sins, he necessarily commanded his garments to be loosened, so that through this it might be known that he has loosened the virtues and powers of the soul: which were able to guard it against the heat and frost of sin. He also commanded him to have a bare head, as one not having the helmet of salvation, which Paul commanded to be taken up B among the intelligible arms. He did not command the mouth to be covered in vain either, but because, since sin is of an evil odor and sends forth every foul exhalation, it possesses one much more so when that sin is through the tongue: at the same time, he also prohibits such a person from doctoral dignity. For how could he who is himself guilty restrain the fall of guilt? How could he who steals command not to steal? He who commits adultery, command not to commit adultery? Whence also David said: *“But to the sinner God said: Why dost thou declare my justices, and take my testament by thy mouth? Thou indeed hast hated discipline, and hast cast my words behind thee.”* And this would not occur always at every time that he is a leper, that is, on all the days in which the stain might be upon him. What then does this signify through these things? That even if he has sinned once, even if he has not added to his sinning, he is nevertheless called unclean until he repents: because without repentance the leprosy of sin is not completely cleansed, and therefore the intelligible stain of leprosy remains in him. Furthermore, the true leper, that is the sinner, dwells alone and separated, as much so that he might be confounded as that no one might be harmed by the contagion of his company. Whence the Lord to Peter, concerning him who had sinned, and for the sake of the Church so that he might be converted and amended, when he refused to obey: *“Let him be to thee,”* he says, *“as the heathen and publican.”* He shall indeed dwell outside the camp. For the mandates of the Law are too consonant with the evangelical ones according to the spirit, whence John, separating the intelligible leper from the intelligible tabernacle, writes in his catholic Epistles: *“Whoever comes to you, and brings not this doctrine, receive him not into the house, and say not to him, Hail.”* C
VERS. 47-59. *“A woolen or linen garment, that shall have leprosy in the warp and into the woof, or certainly a skin, or whatever is woven from skin, if a white or reddish stain shall be, it shall be reputed infected with leprosy, and shall be shown to the priest. Who considering, shall shut it up for seven days, and on the seventh day looking again, if he shall discover that the leprosy has grown, it is a persistent leprosy, he shall judge the garment polluted, and everything in which it shall have been found, and therefore it shall be burned with flames. But if he shall see it has not grown, he shall command, and they shall wash that in which the leprosy is. And shutting it up for seven other days, and when he shall see the facial appearance indeed not returned to its former state, yet the leprosy not having grown, he shall judge it unclean, and shall burn it with fire, forasmuch as the leprosy is infused in the surface of the garment, or throughout it. But if the place of the leprosy shall be darker after the garment has been washed, he shall cut it out, and divide it from the usual part. But if it shall appear again in these places, which were formerly unstained, it is a volatile and wandering leprosy, and it ought to be burned with fire. If it shall have ceased, he shall wash those things which are pure a second time, and they shall be clean. This is the law of the leprosy of a woolen and linen garment, of the warp and of the woof and of every pellicular chattel, how they ought to be cleansed or contaminated.”*
Some perhaps estimate the legislator as indecorous and too abject, because he speaks of the warp and the woof, which is commonly called the trama, leaving aside whatever things can compose the souls of those hearing the Law toward better things. For what, they say, will a soiled warp, or a woof, or trama being made leprous, or a pellicular vessel having a stain, harm our life? Whence it is not for us to intend only toward the letter, but toward the fruit of the spirit: which, just as under a leaf, so under the letter of the legal vine is guarded. For our legislator takes such care, that not only does he make them cautious of that leprosy, which happens from those sins which have already been said, but also of this which frequently is accustomed to occur around the virtues, while someone uses them badly. Therefore there are other garments of the soul, and other garments are of the body, which neither soiled nor stripped bring sadness, just as Joseph was to be stripped of garments when the Egyptian woman reached for him, or just as John the Baptist was clad in camel’s hair. But those things which are of the soul ought to be clearer, concerning which Solomon said: D *“At all times let thy garments be white.”* Therefore David says: *“All the glory of the king’s daughter is from within, in golden borders clothed about with variety.”* Asserting the ornament of the soul within, in golden borders, which are clearly the virtues. But of these garments some are woolen, some linen: the woolen, precious and great, and greatly warming the soul; the linen, however, vile and little warming. A woolen garment is the virginity of the soul; the linen, conjugal chastity. The woolen, abstinence from gain or from possessing; the linen, liberality of things. The woolen, the philosophy of the desert; the linen, honesty or modesty in the city. The woolen, to strive for the truth until death; the linen, not to speak false things. Whence also Solomon, asserting the Church to be clothed in double garments by signification, said: *“She sought la-”*
- wool and linen, and has worked by the counsel of her hands.” 27 And again: “She made for herself garments of tapestry; fine linen and purple are her clothing.” 28 For the Church has woolen and linen garments, fine linen and purple—those who are adorned in marriage and in virginity; and all other things which we have just mentioned conversely, we have said before, signify woolen and linen garments. But because the legislator made mention of the warp and the woof from which garments are woven, let us now explain the subtlety of this. For he desires us to examine not only virtues, but the things of which they consist. Therefore these two procure for us true virtue: our intention, and the divine nod or grace; and the woof indeed signifies our intention, but the warp signifies the nod of God. And rightly, because the warp in a garment is firmer, just as the nod or grace of God remains in us indestructible and immutable, supporting the woof of our intention so that the garment of good action may be perfected. B By skins, from which something might be made, he refers to tribulations for piety and faith, and tribulations for virtue. Why? Because just as a skin is dead, from which a vessel can be made—yet perhaps from it a leather bottle, or a jar, or a bed-covering, or the skin of a tabernacle, or something else useful is fashioned—so also tribulations and temptations mortify a man in the world; for they humble him and show him to be greatly reduced to nothing. Yet a good and useful vessel is made from them: patience and probation, which in every way obtains a crown from the Lord; for James says: “Blessed is the man who suffers temptation, for when he has been proved, he shall receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love Him.” 29 Paul also says: “Tribulation works patience, and patience probation, and probation hope, and hope does not confound.” 30 You see what great and useful vessels are made from the skin of tribulations and temptations. For because it is not incongruous that tribulations and temptations be called skins, hear Job saying concerning his tribulations and temptations: “My skin, when the flesh is consumed, has cleaved to my bone, and only my lips have been left about my teeth. Have pity on me, have pity on me, at least you, my friends, because the hand of the Lord has touched me.” 31 C He forbids, therefore, even in perfect virtue—which is the garment, whether it be great or mediocre (for we have mentioned this difference of woolen and linen things)—that a spot be found: white or red, or as the LXX has it, greenish or flaming. He calls "greenish" pride, and "flaming" vainglory; for this was the fall of the angels, because Christ commanded that virtues be everywhere free from vainglory, and orders neither to fast nor to show mercy for the sake of pleasing men; for He affirmed that those who do so lose their reward. For how can those who wish to be praised by men expect to be praised by the Lord? D “Greenish” pride is understood because it flourishes for a little while, like green things, so that David might say: “I have seen the impious one over-elevated and exalted above the cedars of Lebanon, and I passed by, and behold, he was not.” 32 And again concerning the same: “As hay, so shall they fall, and as the green herbs of the field they shall quickly fall.” 33 But also the people of the Moabites, who was subject to such pride that, while all other nations feared Israel, he would not grant a path for passing through, but used arms and hired Balaam to curse—this "green field" was also called by Balaam, although he did not know what he was saying: for he said to the elders of Midian: “So shall this people destroy all those who dwell in our borders, just as an ox is accustomed to graze the herbs down to the root.” 34 Therefore it is clearly proven that he forbids pride or vainglory to cling to virtue. Nor does he want the leprosy which has been mentioned to occur in the warp or the woof—that is, that we should neither intend virtues with pride or vainglory, nor pray that such grace from God happen to us. Nor does the legislator desire us to suffer temptations with any of these. But if such a thing perchance happens to occur, as it does to men, he wants the priest to inspect these, and neither to repel virtue nor the intention of virtue, nor patience in temptations; but he commands him to declare it unclean immediately, from the suspicion of pride or vainglory, and not again to receive it as clean, but to separate them for seven days and to discern the affliction over time. And indeed, if it has grown, all the aforesaid things are unclean in which this has occurred, because the leprosy is persistent, for which reason he also orders it to be burned with flames. Therefore, it signifies the flame of Gehenna and makes a memory of the future time; for he did not say: "It is destroyed in fire," but "It shall be destroyed in fire." C If, however, after the seclusion he sees that it has not grown, he shall command them to wash that in which the leprosy is. That is, he commands him to purge those things through penance. Then, after the washing, he commands it to be shut away again for seven days, so that he may know whether he finds the spot of pride or vainglory remaining; although it has not grown, yet it is unchanged from this, because it does not move toward penance, it is unclean, and it shall be burned in the fire. For the affliction has been strengthened, and therefore through virtue man neither wants to correct the evil nor to intend correctly. If the place of the leprosy should be obscure—that is, the leprosy is uncertain and doubtful—after the garment has been washed through penance, he commands that the affliction be cut away from the garment of virtue and the other things which have been mentioned. How, therefore, does he cut away pride? Evidently by humbling himself greatly, and similarly by removing vainglory from himself in all ways: that is, that he should not be delighted or rejoice in honors, by which the passion of pride is nourished, nor in praises, by which vainglory grows; and thus...
he will be able to be clean. But if it appears further in these places which were previously immaculate—that is, in a garment, or in the woof, or in the warp, or in skin, that is, in virtue, or in the temptations themselves—he continues to sustain the same passion for which he was washed or repented, and remains unclean in it, he is considered as such, and the fire of Gehenna receives him.
Because the leprosy is volatile and vague—that is, because it wishes to be washed again, once it has been diluted from the stain (that is, once he has been cleansed from the suspicion), so that he may then be named clean. Whence the legislator most openly hints to you to understand this, when he wishes him to repent of the same sin with frequent tears. For frequent commemoration permits neither the wound itself nor anything else to prevail. Because, therefore, the legislator prescribed purifications also for the stains occurring in virtues, through which he might cleanse the leper, acknowledge this. Therefore, intending this, you will find that the legislator had a care for that leprosy which is inflicted upon our souls by sins.
CHAPTER XIV
VERS. 1-9. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: This is the rite of the leper when he is to be cleansed: He is brought to the priest, who A having gone forth out of the camps, when he finds the leprosy to have been cleansed, will command him who is being purified to offer for himself two living birds, such as it is permitted to eat, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop: and he will command one of the birds to be sacrificed in an earthen vessel, over living waters: but the other, living, with the cedar wood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop, he will dip in the blood of the sacrificed bird. He who will sprinkle him who is to be cleansed, seven times, so that he may rightly be purged, and will let the living bird go, that it may fly into the field. And when the man has washed his clothes, he will shave off all the hair of his body and will be washed with water. And the purified one enters the camps, so indeed that he remains outside his tabernacle for seven days, and on the seventh day he will shave off the hairs of his head and his beard and his eyebrows and the hairs of his whole body, his clothes and body being washed again.
Because it does not behoove us to think that the legislator says anything negligibly, you ought to note above all that now, when he enacts laws regarding purifications, he speaks to Moses alone, not also to Aaron as before: because Moses bears, according to many who have been mentioned, the image of Christ in peculiar ways. But the cleansing of leprosy belongs to Christ alone. For which reason he does not speak concerning leprosy of one kind, which occurs in a wound, for example, or in a burn, or otherwise, but says: "This is the rite of the leper." By this wishing to embrace every kind of leprosy, because Christ also has cleansed every kind of sin. Therefore, the present matter is very similar to his mystery, from which we learn: that he did not command the leper B to go to the priest, but he commanded the priest to go to him, and thus he who is to be cleansed is brought. Just as Christ also came to us, and to those who had need of being cleansed and washed by him. And he commanded the priest to go out extra castra, to behold him who was to be cleansed: just as Christ visited us extra castra, through the passion of the cross, and the dispensation that was then accomplished. But he did not do this before he saw that the stain of leprosy was being healed in him, that is, before he saw that we had been set free from terror. When, therefore, not only the Jewish people believed in him, but pagans also came up desiring to see him, the disciples reporting this, he said: "The hour has come that the Son of man should be glorified." When he saw that the human race was prepared for liberation, and salvation through the cross—for this he also called his glory—what then did he undertake? Evidently the two living birds which it is permitted to eat. For Christ possessed these, namely divinity and humanity, because Christ’s humanity is also clean, and living. Clean, indeed, as one that had no personal sin; living, as one not born from the uncleanness of man, and therefore not subject to the curse of death.
"He shall take," he says, "also cedar wood." That is, the cross. But it is signified by cedar because the cedar is strong among woods: for it is asserted that the ark was made of cedar woods: because Moses made mention of incorruptible woods in its construction.
"He shall take also scarlet." What the LXX translate as *coccina*, altogether, namely the passion: for it is called *coccina* on account of its blood-like dye. Whence the soldiers clothed him in a scarlet cloak when he was being led to the passion. But why did they say *tortum* (twisted/spun)? Because of the passibility and impassibility connected together, on account of which the passion is in a certain manner in him. But hyssop, of good odor, is the grace of the Spirit, the co-worker of our cleansing, C whence David says: "You shall sprinkle me, lord, with hyssop, and I shall be cleansed." Concerning the birds, therefore, which we said are Christ, he commanded this one to be sacrificed, or killed—that is, that which was passible, and which could be killed—and to be killed in an earthen vessel, over those who are living in us—that is, for our sake, inasmuch as we are an earthen vessel, made, namely, from clay. The Only-Begotten according to the flesh is killed over living waters, that is, of baptism. For his death figures our baptism, which Paul shows, saying: "Whoever of us have been baptized in Christ, we have been baptized in his death." In this the living bird, and the cedar wood, and the twisted scarlet, and the hyssop are dipped: for all these are comprehended in the power of baptism, which we have said is the figure and signification of the Lord's passion. But the living bird, in which we necessarily receive the divinity of the Only-Begotten, in the blood of this one which has been killed
and dipped in water—that is, in the grace of baptism, A because we are baptized not into the passion of a man, but into the passion of God and man—is then sent forth to fly away into the field. Therefore, the impassible divinity was inseparable from the flesh that suffered; whence it is also baptized that it might be separated in the blood, so that the impassible, alive, might fly away into the field: that is, it is sent forth to the breadth of contemplation, being dismissed by our intellect, as it were; for under this contemplation it is held, staying only by its own will, since it could be held by no other. Moreover, he who is cleansed washes his garments—that is, his actions—and whatever virtues he possessed, because he had polluted these also with sin; he washes them, however, through penitence, and shaves his hair—that is, he puts aside every thought, because he held them all to be unclean. And having been washed by the water of penitence or baptism, he will then necessarily be cleansed. For even if he called him clean above—for He says: "When he shall have been seen to be cleansed, he shall offer two birds," but he was speaking of one who was apt for cleansing; for how does one who is already clean have need to be cleansed still?—he will then enter into the camp, that he may participate in our assembly and, as a partner in the intelligible contracts and another communion which is held with the faithful, he may acquire fruits. And because those who are not yet cleansed, the sinners, are prohibited from this, hear the Apostle saying: "If he who is named a brother be an adulterer, or covetous, B or a detractor, or a drunkard, or an extortioner, with such a one not even to take food." Nevertheless, he remains seven days outside his tabernacle, still separated from the communion of the saints, on account of a more subtle guarding and a gradual progress toward better things; for the tabernacle of each one of us is the attainment of the mysteries, sheltering us from frost and heat, the tabernacle in which he dines with God, as children with a father, or a bride with a bridegroom, or whatever else is said that pertains more to the closeness of kinship.
C And on the seventh day he shall shave the hair of his head and his beard, and his eyebrows and the hair of his entire body. But here He commands not only the head, but the beard, and the eyebrows, and simply all the hair which is on the entire body, and through this, the hair of the hidden parts as well. He wishes, therefore, that no old thought should remain to him, not only those which provide ornament to man, as a rational being who discusses many things about divine matters—for these He signifies through the head, on account of ornament and multitude—but not even those which constitute a man as contemplative, thinking about sublime and more divine things. D For this is signified by the eyebrows, which are situated in higher places and around the sense organs that remain for those who are contemplative. But not even those which contain discretion, which are rightly signified by the beard, because the beard primarily distinguishes between the male and female gender. And how is it that these—
And he shall wash his body again with water. Truly, this second washing is not for us a second baptism. For there is one Lord, one faith, one baptism. And how shall one be washed a second time, if not absolutely through tears? For this may be performed not once, nor twice, but a third time and frequently: for even David said: "My tears have been my bread day and night." These suffice, then, to satisfy one who intends it, because the law commands spiritual things for spiritual men, and it desires that we truly fear leprosy,
that is, sin.
On account of which it commands his many cleansings, whereas it had commanded none of these for others which are performed about the body. A more subtle proof of these, however, will be from what follows.Vers. 10-20. "He shall take two lambs without blemish, and a yearling ewe without spot, and three tenths of fine flour for a sacrifice, which shall be mingled with oil, and a sextary of oil apart. And when the priest purifying the man shall have stationed him and all these things before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of testimony, he shall take the lamb and offer it for a trespass offering, and the sextary of oil." And all these things having been offered before the Lord, he shall immolate the lamb where a host for sin and a holocaust is accustomed to be immolated—that is, in a holy place. For as the host for sin, so also for the trespass offering pertains to the priest: it is holy of holies. And the priest, taking of the blood of the host which has been immolated for the trespass offering, shall place it upon the extremity of the right ear of him who is being cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand and foot. And from the sextary of oil he shall put some into his left hand; and he shall dip his right finger in it, and shall sprinkle it seven times before the Lord. But as for what remains of the oil, he shall pour it from his left hand upon the extremity of the right ear of him who is being cleansed, and upon the thumb of the right hand and foot, and upon the blood which was poured out for the trespass offering, and upon his head. And he shall pray for him before the Lord, and shall make a sacrifice for sin. Then he shall immolate the holocaust, and shall place it upon the altar with its libations, and man shall be duly cleansed.
We know that the law is spiritual; which is why Paul says, so that, judging spiritually, we may not be harmed by the fruits of the law, which are hidden in the letter. For after the first day on which the priest goes outside the camp, he commands that for the cleansing of the leper a sacrifice be made: behold, now again on the eighth day, other sacrifices are ordered to be made for him. The eighth day, therefore, bears the same force as the first, because all the present time is cut up into weeks. After which is the eighth,
bearing A the same force as we have said, or altogether renewing it. And this is that in which the Savior rose again, into which we shall enter the camp. For after seven days, he commanded the one who was cleansed of leprosy, namely on the eighth day, to enter the camp: but what kind of camp? Certainly that which the patriarch Jacob saw, when, meeting the angels, he called the place the camp of God 42. To this the cleansed leper, as one formerly justified, comes at the time of the resurrection. In whose image, as we have said, the lawgiver accepted the eighth day. Now, the things that are commanded to be done on the eighth day bear the image of the mystery that pertains to us. For he commanded two unblemished yearling lambs to be taken, and one unblemished yearling ewe, of which he commanded one to be sacrificed for sin, and the other for a burnt offering. All these things bear the image of the Savior’s sacrifice. For He Himself, for our sins and transgressions, was a sacrificial victim for a burnt offering. But he commanded that a sacrifice be offered from both kinds, that he might show that Christ, having been slain for us, will save both male and female. Nor did he command a little lamb in both without reason, but through this sacrifice he prefigured the perfect, whose sacrifice, as has been said, these things bear the image of; for the yearling animals are perfect in the aforementioned animals, so that they are also fit for begetting offspring. But because it is necessary that he who is being cleansed be marked also by the faith of the whole Trinity upon the sacrifice of the Only-Begotten, three tenths of fine flour—that is, the Trinity of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, having perfection in each person—are to be taken. For the number ten is perfect, because of which the Lord also said: The kingdom of heaven is like leaven which a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until the whole was leavened 43. But he commands that this be mixed with oil for a sacrifice: and he calls the sacrifice that of the Only-Begotten, which is mixed with oil, because it has been enacted on account of our compassion. But how do we say that three tenths are offered in it? Or is it because, even if it was through the passion of the Only-Begotten, it was nevertheless a mystery B of the whole Trinity, this which was acted out through that sacrifice. For baptism is also performed in the name of the Father, and of the Only-Begotten Son Himself, and of the Holy Spirit, in which we are baptized in the death of Christ, and the whole mystery itself is sanctified in him. But he also commanded that a sextarius of oil be taken, because each of the things that have been aforementioned is understood and acted upon by faith. Which is justly called a sextarius, because just as a sextarius is a measure, or if we say *kotyle* according to the Septuagint, the same measure does not hold more or less for anyone. For that which is more is poured out, and that which is less is not accepted, because that which is diminished can no longer be called a sextarius or a *kotyle*. Thus also is faith given to the measure of our mind, which does not take more or less than what has been distributed to each one by God 44—an explicit knowledge: whatever therefore is less or more tends toward unbelief. But why did he mention a sextarius of oil, or a *kotyle*? Because, he says, God, having pitied the human race when He saw it weakened toward the fulfilling of the works of the law, wished to save man no longer by works, but by grace. Grace, however, is offered out of mercy and compassion, and is grasped by faith alone, not by works, as Paul says 45. For grace is no longer grace [45a]. Having received these, therefore, he is brought to the door of the tabernacle of the witness, that is, to the entry of the knowledge of God. But the priest, taking one lamb, immolates it for the sin. And yet, if this sanctification were concerning a bodily passion, as it seems to some, what necessity was there to immolate a lamb for sin? But because it shadows forth the mysteries C on account of the infirmity of the Jews, and hides the spiritual meaning in the letter, so also it gives certain occasions of contemplation through the letter, and words that signify the mind of the Spirit. Whence also now, when he had commanded one lamb to be immolated for sin, he does not say what kind, because He Himself is without doubt as much for the sin as that of the one whose ears were being held by the leprosy. Why therefore does he do it thus, unless perhaps to provide guard for the hearing, and to render him cautious? Because he himself was seduced by the dragon, as sin deceived. But by the actions he signifies the hand, and by the foot he wished to comprehend and anticipate all our movements and ways. For these being guarded, by the blood of the intelligible lamb, and the faith which is in Him, which is given to us through His mercy and compassion, the intelligible leprosy will by no means be able to penetrate man, although he also wants the priest to put the oil of the sextarius, or *kotyle*, which we say is faith, into his D hand, so that the priest’s faith, through which we also progress, may be shown in works. For it does not exert its power otherwise, unless the hand has been taken, that is, confirmed by action and signed by works. But he sends the oil into the left hand, and dips the right finger into the oil as Paul says: By the armor of justice on the right and on the left, having lived through glory and ignominy, through infamy and good fame, and things of such a kind 46. Then he shall sprinkle seven times before the Lord. For such a priest presumes before God, when to cleanse those who suffer necessity, and to forgive them their sins. Because this number has been demonstrated to be the remission of sins. But after he has poured upon the extremities of the right ears, and upon the thumbs of the hand, and of the right foot, according to what we said above, he pours the rest of the oil upon the head of him who has been called so that he might be cleansed: by means of the head offering sanctification to the whole body, and making him who has been cleansed into the Christ of the Lord through this anointing. Then, he says, the sacrifice for sin is offered: but how, he does not say, for from these things which were said concerning the transgressions,
A one may also conjecture those which are for sin: for they are near and common, as being in common matter. After this he immolates the burnt offering, and places it on the altar, as much for the order of sacrifices as for him who proceeds a little in the progress of the law. For he placed the sacrifice of sin and transgression first, and then the burnt offering. Therefore, the sacrifice of Christ first cleanses us from transgressions and sins, and then our burnt offering is accomplished. And therefore, saying first concerning the transgression, he then subjoined these things, because he was speaking both of these and those regarding Christ, and to one sacrifice, which from the victim provides us with sanctification, which makes us ascend to the altar. For when, through the cleansing of the spirit, we have become spiritual, sanctifying our whole body and soul, then we are made worthy for the ascent of the altar: then we receive the most perfect cleansing, after we have no other necessary [cleansing]. For you have now heard the progress of cleansings, of which one indeed frees us from the pollution of leprosy, another introduces us into the camp of God; but this one can lead to the very altar, as being fully cleansed, and raise us up. But when we are called to the following, it is necessary that we pass to them with all zeal.
VERS. 21-32. *But if he is poor, and his hand cannot find what is said, he shall take a lamb for a transgression as an offering, that the priest may pray for him, and a tenth part of fine flour mingled with oil for a sacrifice, and a sextarius of oil, and two turtledoves or two young pigeons, of which one may be for sin, and the other for a burnt offering, and he shall offer them on the eighth day of his purification to the priest at the door of the tabernacle of the testimony before the Lord.* Who, receiving the lamb for the transgression, and the sextarius of oil, shall lift them up together; and having immolated the lamb, he shall put of its blood upon the tip of the right ear of him who is being cleansed, and upon the thumbs of his hand and right foot. The part of the oil he shall put into his own left hand, into which dipping the finger of his right hand, he shall sprinkle seven times before the Lord. And he shall touch the tip of the right ear of him who is cleansed, and the thumbs of the hand, and of the right foot in the place of the blood which was poured out for the transgression. The rest B of the oil, which is in the left hand, he shall put upon the head of the cleansed one, so that he may be reconciled before the Lord. And he shall offer the turtledove, or the young pigeon, one for the transgression, and the other for the burnt offering with its drink offerings. This is the sacrifice of the leper who cannot have everything for his own cleansing.
The legislator uses admirable condescension toward those who receive the law. For behold, he gives indulgence to poverty, and commands that moderate sacrifices be for the poor, lest perhaps he should be astonished, while greater things than his strength allows are commanded. But because we do not find any of those things that were said to be easily within the means of the poor—for he who does not have bread, whence shall he have a lamb? and he who lacks money, whence shall he buy a dove or a turtledove?—it is manifest that he intends C some contemplation, and leads to the hidden treasures of knowledge him who wishes to enter. For while it was permitted for him to curtail the number of sacrifices because of the poverty of the offerer, omitting this, he searches out certain cheap and not high-priced things for him, which he does as much in indulgence for poverty as for the gain of the sacrifices, wishing to give us to understand from what leprosy signifies wickedness, and then the cleansing of this is penance. But this has necessary works, which by virtues and the effort of action are able to blot out sins, for which reason John the Baptist was saying to the people of the Jews: *Bring forth fruit worthy of penance* (Matth. III, 8). For he considered, as a subtle legislator, those who cannot show all, which pertains to the strict reason of penance, for penance has need of intent prayer, almsgiving, vigils, sackcloth, fasting; and finally also those things which David says: *My tears have been my bread day and night* (Psal. XLI, 4). And: *I will wash my bed every night; with my tears I will water my couch* (Psal. VI, 7). But also: *I did eat ashes like bread, and mingled my drink with weeping* (Psal. CI, 10). For there are some who perhaps cannot do all these things because of old age, or because of excessive bodily weakness, or other necessity, as we have interpreted in another business of the present book: he excuses them, because they have the will indeed, but their hand does not find it. For they cannot, and insofar as giving pardon, he seeks out another way of penance for them, other kinds of sacrifices, and before all things he mentions the lamb—for it is necessary that everyone doing penance migrate to kindness before all things and study this, because this is also easy for anyone to attain than the fact that he has abstained from evil things.
*A tenth part of fine flour mingled with oil.* That is to attain the theology of Christ, who suffered to be tempered for us by oil or mercy in the flesh. And a *sextarius*, or according to the LXX, one *cotyla* of oil; but this, we have demonstrated in the previous [pages], is most clearly faith. But what did the legislator command to be offered with these?
*Two turtledoves, or two young pigeons.* But these are easily found by anyone, that is, the continuous meditation of the law, which is not only D from reading—lest perhaps you should say this also is difficult for some—but is also accomplished from the contemplation which is in the soul and mind. Both of which are food in place of sackcloth and fasting and tears and ashes and the like, if we do those things for the humbling of the flesh and the restraining of the soul from earthly works. And this meditation of the law also does this, and this continuous study and strict contemplation of divine commands and benefits, and the searching out of these necessary sacrifices for them, which David also sets forth saying: *Blessed is the man who hath not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, and hath not stood in the way of sinners, and hath not sat in the chair of pestilence* (Psal. I, 1). Which manifests
A the sacrifice of the Lamb as wanting every blemish, and therefore signifying innocence. But his will was in the law of the Lord: that is, [the will] of him who possesses a pure understanding through the contemplation of innocent thoughts, such as Paul mentions: *Having not the law, and the works of the law written in their hearts* (Rom. II, 14-15); demonstrating through disciplined and chaste thoughts, such as is, in a certain manner, the offering of the turtle-dove. Whence the Spirit of God Himself testified through the prophet Jeremy that knowledge is in the animal: *The turtle, and the swallow, and the stork, have kept the time of their coming; but my people have not known the judgment of the Lord* (Jerem. VIII, 7). But what did David add to the aforementioned? *And in his law shall he meditate day and night* (Psal. I, 2). To this we compare the dove, which the prophet Isaias says has as it were the power of meditating, for he says: *As the young of the swallow, so will I cry; I will meditate as a dove* (Isa. XXXVIII, 14). The Legislator therefore found a way by which He might be able to cleanse even the weak thing to offer to God. And for this reason, He did not alter the subsequent parts of this law, showing that, even if anyone’s hand does not find that which the intention of penance requires according to the primary reason, indulgence is granted to him, as to one suffering from infirmity: nevertheless, He prescribed what could perform for him the same cleansing and the same offering to God. After these things, He passes to another dispensation, coherent with the same subject matter.
B Whoever desires to be helped should not meditate carelessly on holy spiritual things, for it is necessary for him to keep a close watch on those things in which enemies and the ignorant stumble. For behold, some in the recently read law censure this, because, according to what the Seventy assert, Moses introduced God saying: *I will put the spot of leprosy in your houses, in the land of your possession.* Do you think, they ask, that God induces evils? To whom we answer, Yes: but those things which afflict for the sake of instruction, or as a penalty established for help, are neither foul nor evil, such as famine, earthquakes, a chasm in the earth, a tempest of the sea, war, and similar things, even as He Himself says through the prophet: *I am the Lord, and there is no other, forming light, and creating darkness, making peace, and creating evil* (Isa. XLV, 6-7). To which another prophet says things similar: *For evils have descended from the Lord to the gate of Jerusalem, tumult, the chariots of consternation, to the inhabitant of Lachis* (Mich. I, 12-13). But also the prophet Amos says: *Shall there be evil in a city, which the Lord hath not done?* (Amos III, 6). These things indeed God brings in, not to harm, but to greatly help man: for the afflicted is humbled, and he who is humbled runs to Him who is able to raise him up, and says with David: *It is good for me that thou hast humbled me, that I might learn thy justifications* (Psal. CXVIII, 71), and he hastens to the physician, who might deliver him from the wound. And these things are indeed so. But let us recur to the contemplation that impends, lest perhaps some of those who err concerning exterior wisdom strive to censure the Legislator as if He were decreeing concerning wood, stones, and senseless walls, by whom, because they are evil, even good things are judged as evil. For now the Legislator’s intention is to decree concerning true houses, namely, those damaged, that is, what are the passions in them that are curable and easy to cleanse, and what are those that are incurable and bring about complete destruction. But we shall learn the mode of these when we arrive at the things that have been said. Our possession is the earth, which we possess, the inheritance of the nations. For it is our possession, even if it was then of our enemies: for in this God acquired us, and those who sometime were not a people, He now has as the people of God, for which reason it will rightly be called a possession. Of this land the Lord was speaking: *But he that is sown into good ground, is he that heareth the word and understandeth* (Matth. XIII, 23). For our houses are the Churches, of which Paul was speaking: *If I tarry, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God* (I Tim. III, 15). In these, according to the Seventy, God promises to put the spot of leprosy. This, the very words of the Legislator manifest; for when He had said: *And I will put the spot of leprosy in the houses of the land of your possession. And he whose the house is shall come,* He immediately added: *Reporting to the priest, and he shall say: As it were a spot of leprosy seems to me to be in my house.* This, however, belongs to a sense of the passion, which is not of any house, and is of such a kind as it befits God to bestow. For if it befits a physician not to grant a sick person certain deadly things,
C VERS. 35-47. *The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: When you shall have entered into the land of Chanaan, which I will give you in possession: if there be the plague of leprosy in the houses, he whose the house is shall go, telling the priest, and shall say: As it were a plague of leprosy seems to me to be in my house. But he shall command that they carry away all things out of the house before he enters it, that he may see whether it be leprosy, lest all things that are in the house become unclean. And he shall enter afterwards, to consider the house of the leprosy. And when he shall see in the walls thereof as it were little valleys, deformed with whiteness or redness, and lower than the surface, he shall go out of the door of the house, and immediately shut it up seven days. And returning on the seventh day, he shall consider it: if he shall find that the leprosy has grown, he shall command the stones to be taken out, in which the leprosy is, and to be cast outside the city, into an unclean place, but the house itself to be scraped on the inside round about, and the dust of the scraping to be scattered outside the city, in an unclean place, and other stones to be put in the place of those that were taken away, and the house to be plastered with other mortar. But if after the stones have been taken out, and the dust cleared away, and other earth plastered, the priest entering shall see the leprosy has returned, and the walls sprinkled with spots, the leprosy is persistent, and the house unclean which they shall immediately destroy: and they shall cast its stones and wood, and all the dust outside the town, in an unclean place. He who shall have entered the house when it is shut shall be unclean until evening. And he who shall have slept in it, and shall have eaten anything, shall wash his garments.* D
A
It is fitting that God should not allow the sinner to be detained for long in the disease of insensibility, lest by sinning he fall into the depths of hell for eternity, as David said in his prayer: "Turn not thy face away from me, and I shall be like to them that go down into the pit." This gift of sensibility is given to the Church, but it is not given to the synagogue of the Jews, which is manifest from the fact that God himself says through the prophet Hosea: "For they themselves consorted with harlots, and sacrificed with the effeminate; and the people that understandeth not shall be beaten." And again: "God hath given them the spirit of insensibility, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear." We have also heard another prophet saying: "They have closed their eyes that they might not see, and have hardened their ears that they might not hear," inasmuch as they are punished by a just judge for their own sin. The Church, however, is not so; but as often as she sins, God makes her feel the sin. Hence, also, him who committed fornication in Corinth, Paul delivered to Satan, that, being afflicted by him, he might feel his sin; "I have delivered," he says, "such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh," stating things similar to the present words of the legislator. And here indeed, according to the Septuagint, "I will put a spot of leprosy," he says, not as if God is inflicting leprosy, but as exercising and arguing. But he says: "I delivered such a one to Satan," although he had received him long ago through illicit fornication, yet so that he might be punished by a greater power, for he says: "For the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved," he might perceive the sense of sin and become more amended: at the same time, also, that he might be manifested to others, so that they should by no means imitate him. C But this house is a land of possession, that is, the Church of the inheritance of the Gentiles. "When you shall have entered," Moses and Aaron [say], "into the land of the Chanaanites. Which is this? Which I shall give you in possession." Because, therefore, seven nations in number, that is, the Chanaanites, Pherezites, Gergesites, Amorrhites, Gebusites, Cethites, and Haradites, possessed the land promised to Abraham. These seven bore the image of the unclean spirits, of whom the Lord says in the Gospels: "When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he taketh with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and he dwelleth in the man, and the last state of that man is made worse than the first." But these spirits possessed the true land promised to Abraham himself, that is, the inheritance of the Gentiles, for concerning them it is said: "For I have made thee a father of many nations." When Moses and Aaron, that is, the Law and the Prophets—for these bear the figure of them, because Aaron is called a prophet of Moses, who bears the figure of the Law—shall have entered among the Gentiles, then through them God expels the aforementioned spirits, which are the Chanaanites, who possess the tyranny over the Gentiles: but He himself concedes the possession of the Law and the Prophets and of those preaching these things to the Gentiles, whom He purchased with His own blood, both through the oblation of regeneration and the renewal of the Holy Spirit, which He poured out abundantly A upon us, delivering us from those things by which we were formerly enslaved, so that they who are from the nations might be able to say the canticle of Isaiah: "O Lord our God, other lords besides thee have had dominion over us, only in thee let us record thy name." Whatever, however, is His possession is also, without doubt, that of His servants and ministers. Therefore, when the prophets and the Law shall have entered into the inheritance of the Gentiles, serving the evangelical preaching, then those things which are now spoken of concerning intelligible houses will be able to appear.
"He whose the house is shall go, telling the priest, and shall say: It seemeth to me that there is as it were the plague of leprosy in my house." For what are the domestic churches, so that he should say this? "He whose the house is shall go." Let us hear Paul saying: "Salute Prisca and Aquila, and their domestic church." He, therefore, who is over this, if he perceives an intelligible leprosy, that is, if he has understood some sense of an evil and impious doctrine: fearing lest this which he has studied for justice should become for him a judgment, he comes to the priest, who is able to discern, for he himself is not absolutely a priest, which is manifest from those things which Paul wrote again to the Colossians: "Salute Nymphas, and her domestic church." For many, because of zeal and piety, forming domestic churches, were receiving in them teachers of divine things, and ministers, and also those coming together for their communion and exultation. He, therefore, who is of this kind will go to him who bears the figure of the true priesthood, such as were Peter, or Paul, or Timothy, and the others who guarded their doctrine and virtues, remaining irreprehensible. "For a bishop must be irreprehensible," so that for this reason he may be able to judge the sins of others. And he shall say: "It seemeth to me that there is as it were the plague of leprosy in the house," that is, a sense of impious doctrine appears in my domestic Church. But the priest shall command that they take away all things from the house; or as the Septuagint say, "And the priest shall command to clear the house, and it shall not flourish in all the house"; that is: He shall command all the people who were gathered in it to depart. This is the roof of the house, or the structure, according to what we have frequently shown. But he commands them to depart, that is, to show by deed that they are strangers to the evil which has appeared in the Church, and that they do not communicate in the punishment which is to be inflicted upon the impious. On account of which also Moses, when he was about to lead Dathan and Abiron to be punished and discerned, commanded the rest of the multitude to depart, so that they should not be made partakers of the punishment: for this is what he says: "Lest all things that are in the house be made unclean." And the same priest shall enter afterwards, that is, to consider the leprosy of the house. And when he shall see in its walls as it were little valleys, deformed by pallor or redness. The walls of the house are rightly called those who contain it, that is, the orders
of ministers and doctors of sacred things, whose duty it is to support the stability of the Church and, in a way, to hold together the people gathered within them. As for the pallor, or as the LXX has it, A the greenish and reddish macula, whatever it may be, the interpretation of the preceding sanction sufficiently shows it. For it has demonstrated it to be vainglory and pride. It is especially from these things that the walls of the Church and the body of the sacred ministers and teachers break forth into evil and wicked and impious doctrines. If, therefore, he shall perceive the appearance of the walls having little valleys or ditches—that is, if he shall perceive the lower opinions of the sacred ministers or teachers, and the prevailing, in a way, comprehension of sin—he shall go out to the door of the house and shall immediately shut it up for seven days. By inflicting a moderate rebuke upon the Church, through which he receives the penance of forgiveness, it is purified. The number seven, therefore, signifies the forgiveness of sin.
When he shall return on the seventh day and consider it, if he finds that the leprosy has spread, he shall order the stones in which the leprosy is to be torn out and thrown outside the city into an unclean place. And this is because he does not find a diffused stain or exuberant impiety—that is, he forgives those who have sinned, as if they were penitents, and as if they had sinned out of weakness. But the dogmas and writings in which the mark of leprosy—that is, of impiety—is intelligible are rightly cast not only outside the house but outside the city, casting them out not only from one Church but from the universal one. For the universal Church is Jerusalem, the city of the living God, which contains the Church of the firstborn C who are enrolled in heaven. For this reason, they also cast them into an unclean place, namely, among the conventicles of heretics; for this is an unclean place, because it receives all the dogmas of impiety. And what after these things? "But the house itself he shall scrape inside around about, and the dust of the scraping shall be scattered outside the city in an unclean place." They scrape the house who study to understand and discern ecclesiastical books with subtlety, so that they themselves, diligently searching out every malice and the teachers sitting in base books, shaking them out in the rose-garden of judgment, do not allow any remnants of impiety to remain in it; but even what they have scraped off, these they rightly deport to the aforementioned unclean place, just as things found unclean in unclean places, and other stones are set in place of those that had been removed, and the house is plastered with other mortar. That the stones should be understood as the dogmas and writings of those who explain the divine law, regarding D which, when they are of sacred doctrine, it is not improperly said: "The holy stones are rolled upon the ground." And again: "Whoever shall build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones." But Moses the legislator himself, according to the LXX, signifies by dust that which is susceptible to interpretation and doctrine. When, therefore, he was delivering Deuteronomy to the children of Israel, he said these things to us: "And it shall be on whatever day you shall have crossed the Jordan into the land which the Lord your God will give you, you shall set up great stones, and you shall plaster them with dust, and you shall write upon the stones all the words of this law." Then, passing on the force of the stones, he more openly added: "And you shall write upon the stones all this law most aptly." The stone does not explain the law, but the dogmas and writings of those who explain it and the susceptible interpretation clarify it: of which he signified the one by stones, but the other by dust. Hence also the Lord commanded the apostles that against those who would not receive their word and doctrine, they should even shake off the dust of their feet: "Whoever shall not receive you, nor hear you, departing thence shake off the dust from your feet, in testimony to them." Mark reports that the Lord gave this command in these words, because the divine Scripture understands "feet" as the evangelical books, since the teachers traverse their journey in them, whence it says: "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good tidings of peace." He rightly took the dust under their feet as the interpretation of the evangelical books, because of their excessive subtlety. Therefore, saying that the stones are to be scraped away and other dust to be brought in, that dogmas and doctrine purged from every evil are brought in instead of those evils, and the Church is plastered without any doubt: for this is what our consideration of the law evidently shows us. Did not Paul also, seeing the leprosy of dogmas in the teachers of Antioch, report it to James, as a great priest? Because, erasing the noted dogmas of base teachers, removing the stones in their place, and adding the most upright letters of the Hierosolymitan church and the dust—that is, his own doctrine—he anointed and cured the Church of what had happened. But he did not sanction that it should be left unexamined in the following parts: for because iniquity quickly returns to those who are affected by the disease of base dogmas, and therefore he says:
"But if after the stones are torn out and the dust removed, and other earth plastered on, the priest entering shall see that the leprosy has turned back and the walls are sprinkled with spots, it is a lingering leprosy, and the house is unclean." If, indeed, after the evil dogmas have been ejected and others of sound doctrine introduced, the doctrine of impiety is again found to be sprinkled—that is, diffused or exuberant—then the priest does not know from distant hearsay, but by his own inspection, that the passion of impiety is permanent, and it makes unclean the other Church of ministers and teachers in which it has been sprinkled or diffused. Impiety is rightly discerned, as the following will show: for it says: "Which they shall immediately destroy, and its stones and timber,"
A and all the dust, and shall cast them out of the city into an unclean place. That is, they condemn not only the dogmas themselves, but also those in whom they are found, and those from whose speech the impious church had been composed, and they destroy the whole Church itself. "For I have hated the congregation of the wicked," he says, "and I will not sit with the ungodly," as David said. Therefore, he is also cast out from that city which is established in the heavens, that is, the living and true city, and is reckoned with the unclean heretics.
"Whosoever shall enter into this house when it is shut." That is, which is subject to many punishments. "Whosoever shall enter." He who communicates with it in any conventicle whatever will be unclean until he performs penance. And much more so he who sleeps in it; for he is not received otherwise than by washing his intelligible garment with tears. By sleeping in it, however, we understand resting in its words, and not turning aside into its counsels for the sake of any custom. B And also he who eats in it. That is, the mystical food, which is similar to the Law, and has obtained the same effect of the law, because he presumed to partake of the mysteries of that Church which the priest has destroyed, finding it acting impiously, and holding evil doctrines—that is, wood, hay, and stubble. Hence he cast out not only its stones, for they were not precious, but also the wood, inasmuch as it was joined to the hay and stubble.
VERS. 48-53. "But if the priest shall enter into the house, and see that the leprosy hath not grown after the house was plastered again, he shall purify it." And in its purification he takes two birds, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop. And when one bird has been immolated in an earthen vessel over living water, he takes the cedar wood and the hyssop, and the scarlet, and the living bird, and shall dip all in the blood of the bird that was sacrificed, and in the living waters, and shall sprinkle the house seven times, and shall purify it, both in the blood of the bird and in the living waters, and in the living bird, and the cedar wood, and the hyssop, and the scarlet. And when he has let the bird fly into the field freely, he shall pray for the house, and it shall be rightfully cleansed. C He commands that these sacrifices be taken for the house that is to be cleansed, which figure the mystery of Him and His passion, inasmuch as, through these things, He can sufficiently heal the tongues of sinners through the theologies which are of these things, and cleanse all their sins.
VERS. 54-57. "This is the law of all leprosy and of the stroke of leprosy, of garments and houses, of a scar and of eruptions, of a bright spot," and regarding various species that have changed color, "that it may be known at what time a thing is clean or unclean." "This is the law of all leprosy": because he has explained the sanction of leprosy more broadly, he deemed it necessary to reiterate its chapters, and first of all he explains the genus comprehensively, and after these, the species in parts; when he said:
The image of which these sacrifices, regarding which the legislator speaks, bear, we shall explain subtly through the following: when he commands these to be taken also in every leper. But this is said necessarily, because it D appears manifest that the legislator reproves that iniquity in the Church of those who teach which is in dogma, and into the dispensation of Him who was incarnate for us, it is committed. And therefore he commands that these sacrifices be taken for the house being cleansed, which figure the mystery of Him and His passion, inasmuch as, through these things, He can sufficiently heal the tongues of sinners through the theologies which are of these things, and cleanse all their sins.
"This is the law of all leprosy," shows the genus comprehensively. The species, however, are very clear, which he added subsequently, rightly placing the stroke first, for it is not just any sin: we said that this is worse than all. There is, moreover, the impiety of dogmas, which happens to some of the people, regarding which the legislator also said: "A man or a woman, in whom there shall be a plague of leprosy." If, however, he had only made mention of the priests, he would not have named the woman at all. After this, he placed the leprosy which is in the virtues; for these are the garments of the soul, that is, those things which are in the teachers and priests of the churches. For these have been shown to be the houses and walls of the land of possession. Then he makes mention of the scar and the eruptions, describing the true leprosy, which in sins—whether by doubts or by deeds proved—he has subjected to all: "That it may be known at what time a thing is clean or unclean." Showing that the delinquent is unclean then when he has sinned knowingly; when, however, he is ignorant, he merits pardon on account of ignorance, just as the blind man stumbling, so that the Lord said of the Jews: "If you were blind, you should not have sin; but now you say, We see, your sin remaineth." But let us use the eyes of knowledge for those things which are expedient, so that through them we may avoid sins, and seek after cleanliness. Let us know the day in which we shall be cleansed, and let us meet it knowingly, and let us keep the whole law of leprosy. For in this way, clean, we shall dwell in the Lord’s tabernacles, in Christ Jesus, through whom and with whom is glory to the Father, with the Holy Spirit, for ever and ever. Amen.
BOOK FIFTH
PREFACE
Those who apply themselves to the meditation of the Law, to what end, how much they ascend, and what blessedness of spirit they carry, the prophet David clearly explains. For he says of him who has the will in the law of the Lord, and who is a meditator in it day and night: "As"
a tree that is planted by the streams of water, which will give its fruit in its season, and its leaf will not fall." But what must we believe must be done so that someone may be found to be a tree of life? Unless it is what the Lord said: "Search the Scriptures, because in them you think you have eternal life. And they are they that give testimony of me." But also in that place of the prophetic psalmody: "Blessed is the man whom thou shalt instruct, O Lord, and shalt teach him out of thy law, that thou mayest give him rest from the evil days." For we know that the doctrine of the holy Scriptures provides us both with the liberation from sins, and relief from those things which terrify us in the evil day. But we also reap no small progress of soul from it, for which reason Paul also writes to Timothy: "Meditate upon these things, that thy progress may be manifest to all. Take heed to thyself and to doctrine, be earnest in them. For in doing this, thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee." With all these things mentioned, we should foster the zeal for our own salvation as well as that of others who are skilled; and therefore no labor, nor sweat, should keep either those who expound them, or the unlearned who read them, from the searching of the sacred Scriptures, especially since there is great utility under the spirit of this law: for they pluck pearls from them who, by frequent meditation, work and dig them out. But let us follow in order the things that follow in this book of Leviticus, super-edifying the foundation which Christ, as a certain wise architect, has already placed through our tongue: just as a certain wise instructor by a vile instrument polishes the cornerstone, so that he may show the magnitude of the house, and that he may perform great things with vile instruments.
CHAPTER XV
Verses 1-3. <And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: Speak to the children of Israel, and you shall say to them: A man who suffers a flux of semen will be unclean, and then he will be judged to be subject to this vice, when at any moment it has adhered to his flesh, and the foul humor has collected.> And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: Speak to the children of Israel, and you shall say to them. Rightly did He speak to Moses and Aaron, but He orders the command to be passed on to the children of Israel, that is, to the whole people: because whatever things are sanctioned or written through divine doctrine, they first of all need the princes of the people, because to them the divine doctrine is especially entrusted, and it is demonstrated to them, as it ought to be studied in a certain way by the ministers, or by those to whom it has been entirely entrusted. But because its effect concerns the people who listen, see His command in the second order being passed on to the children of Israel, which the legislator guarded well and appropriately, and after this He said: A man who suffers a flux of semen will be unclean. But the Septuagint say thus: "Unto man, unto man to whom it has happened, etc." For as often as He doubles this, from whence the command is given, He desires to show the intention of the law according to the Septuagint; and how much solicitude the legislator has, that nothing of his might pass over entirely: just as when He says: "Man, man of the children of Israel, and of the strangers, and who are joined to them, who shall do a holocaust, or sacrifice, and shall not bring it to the door of the tabernacle of the testimony to offer it to the Lord, that man shall be exterminated from among his people." And other similar things, for the preservation of which the legislator took the greatest care. But here, according to the aforesaid meditation, He did not say "man, man," but "to man, to man," doubling indeed, just as He also did where the person is concerned. But it is called thus by the giver of the law for the sake of strength, because it is the custom for this word to imply a double meaning. This is what Solomon shows, saying: "But a faithful man who shall find?" But also Paul: "Until we all meet into a perfect man, unto the measure of the age of the fullness of Christ." Therefore, the doubling of the title, as far as it pertains to him, He made manifest regarding the command. But that He said "to man," and not simply to a human being, He demonstrated that He was implying the person of the teacher: for in this He necessarily demonstrates the form of a perfect man. But if there has arisen for him a flux of semen, he will be unclean. But in what way, hear the following: Indeed, every prophet of God is admirable, insofar as to him are entrusted spiritual things. But Moses is more admirable, as to him greater things are entrusted, He ordered the height of such great wisdom: for because the people who received the law from Him were infirm, and could not hear more perfect dogmas, wishing to condescend to the infirmity of the people, as well as not to injure their dignity, He found a way of the law through which he both hid the sublime things, and could not have brought them forward directly because of the infirmity of the hearers. For behold, even now, when through the law He had set forth many species of sins of lepers, He added him who suffers a flux of semen. Through which other species of sin He again sets forth, and him who suffers from a flux of doctrine, from which his body subsists, that is, from which salvation exists within himself, as is said, having impurity, and then he will be judged to be subject to these impurities. That is, this is the proof of his impurity; but the judgment of his impurity, in this place He called that law, which proves his impurity. And who is this who suffers a flux of semen? By semen is understood doctrine, as Paul says: "If we have sown unto you spiritual things." But also the Lord says: "Every one that heareth the word, and understandeth it not, there cometh the wicked one, and snatcheth away that which was sown in his heart." But because the Septuagint say: "To man..."
A ...body, from which the body of the people consists, is impure in itself, as it is said, having impurity, namely the word which he utters, which is filthy, unchaste, and unclean. Wherefore those things which follow are also very appropriate to it.
Verses 4, 5. "Every bed on which he lieth shall be unclean, and wheresoever he sitteth. Whoever toucheth his bed, shall wash his clothes, and himself being washed with water, he shall be unclean until the evening."
If there shall be a flow of seed from his body, from which his body consists, it must be set apart, a body which he renders here in a twofold sense; that is, this one truly from which the seed flows, but another, which subsists through the flow of the seed. Since therefore a certain body was to have been generated from the seed proceeding inordinately, and could subsist, the first body, from which is his flow, who suffers the flow of seed, is necessarily understood in every way. But he says another subsists through the flow, that is, this which ought to have been generated from it, and to subsist, although it is not generated, because of which he is also impure. He calls his body also that second thing, because in truth the body of him who generates is that which is generated from him. This is B however a note of the law in the beginning, because just as the literal command understood the body of him who pours out the seed, and therefore says: "Flowing seed from his body"; but secondly this which is generated from it, rightly adding "from the flow by which his body consists": so the spiritual contemplation reasonably understood the body of the teacher, the word itself which is entrusted to him, and the doctrinal dignity. For Paul calls the doctrinal word the body of Christ, speaking thus of those who mangle the doctrinal word: "But the body of Christ. Let no man beguile you, desiring in humility and religion of angels, walking in the things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by the sense of his flesh, and not holding the head, from which all the body, by joints and bands, being supplied, groweth unto the increase of God." Openly asserting the Lord's body to be the doctrinal word; which is rightly called the body of the teachers: if indeed in place of Christ there are priests and teachers in the churches. Whence again by their second body, which consists of their flow, we understand the hearing people, who are generated from his doctrine, who having received it, C corrupts it, or by transgressing, of whom Paul said: "If we, or an angel from heaven, preach a gospel to you besides that which you have received, let him be anathema." He is rightly impure who suffers this from a filthy conversation, and an unchaste life, or from ambition for primacy; and therefore seeks out a wicked doctrine which might delight those whom Paul said had itching ears, and would not endure sound doctrine. Or when he himself is unchaste, and according to his own passions or concupiscences flows with doctrine: and by grace of the word, when he is a lover of adultery, he rejects that which is the command concerning chastity: or if he is a glutton and a drunkard, the law of fasts: this one therefore, because he is counted by the name of teacher, and does not teach sound things, but corrupts the doctrine which he utters, cannot beget children to God, whence he is also said to suffer a flow of seed. Most reasonably therefore he added: "All the days of the flow of his body, in which his body consists in a flow, is his impurity." For as long as he teaches thus, and corrupts the doctrinal [matter], D and is quieted. Which Paul makes manifest from those things which he wrote to the Corinthians, praising them that they provided themselves obedient to Titus: "We were comforted in the joy of Titus, because his spirit was refreshed by you all." Therefore of those who teach unchaste things, and contradict the procreation of children, and reject lawful marriages, so that through this they might introduce fornication, because of which they are also said to be sufferers of a flow of seed, as if corrupting the genital seed and the law of marriages, of whom Paul was saying: "That in the last times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to spirits of error, and doctrines of A devils in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared..."
A prohibiting marriage and abstaining from foods, which God created for participation; both the bedding and the vessel flow according to the aforesaid manner. Whoever is so unclean that the legislator did not even prescribe their purification: for he knows that they are so affected by disease that they can by no means perform penance: for they are not infected by ignorance in such doctrine, but by a depraved habit, and are corrupted in shameless ways, or are dissolute in their words: wherefore also they have so willingly clung to it. If, however, anyone has touched his bed—that is, if he has been a participant, and has partaken of his doctrine, and has not remained in the dogmas of him who teaches depraved and sordid things—he exists as a disciple of his iniquitous words. But as for the disciples of him who are indeed his vessels and his bedding, he who hears them is himself also unclean. Yet he washes his garments through penance, as we have often said; and he, being washed with the water of tears or of baptism, shall be unclean until evening, until the time of his penance is fulfilled. For evening in many ways bears the figure of this, and especially because, at the consummation of the ages—that is, at the setting of the present age—Christ has preached penance to us.
VERS. 7, 8. "Whoever touches his flesh shall wash his clothes, and he, being washed with water, shall be unclean until evening. If a man of this sort has cast his saliva upon one who is clean, he shall wash his clothes, and he, being washed with water, shall be unclean until evening."
That is, he who becomes a participant of the doctrine of one who teaches profane things is unclean until he washes himself through penance, that which the legislator has prescribed; whether anyone voluntarily becomes a participant of a depraved doctrine—for this is to touch the flesh, or the flux of the one suffering the issue—or whether one who teaches initiates himself in some way through the deed, and introduces the discourse of his doctrine, this is to cast saliva. Wherefore Aquila, if he has spit upon:
VERS. 9. "The saddle upon which he has sat shall be unclean until evening."
As the bedding in which he who suffers the issue of seed rests, and the vessel upon which he sits, [signify] too much—that is, those very strongly adhering to the disciplines [which] are difficult to change or soften. So also here in the saddle, or as the LXX have edited, in the ass's saddle, [he intends] the disciple who is more negligent, but yet possesses a heart more amenable to changing itself: for the legislator understood the soft saddles of an ass. But he also, because he can be shaken out by good masters, or be washed and spew out the evil discipleship; because such is that which the LXX call *epitagma*, that is, a covering; and he, obviously, shall be unclean until he turns himself to penance.
VERS. 10. "Everyone who has touched anything that shall be under him shall be unclean until evening. And he who has carried any of these things shall wash his clothes, and he, being washed with water, shall be unclean until evening."
D Generally, it has been ordained that it is not permitted to touch the fruit of the lips of those who have become subject to those teaching profane things, who have in a certain way subjected themselves, by their words and incongruous doctrines laying their souls underneath like vessels, into which the poison of impiety may distill. And [the text says] "he shall have touched anything," [and] he shall be unclean, whether he has received it by his own sin, or [if] he has imposed [it upon others]—which some are accustomed to do—pretending to speak or act rightly, while they confirm the efforts of those who teach or do depraved things; and thus it is convicted how they conduct themselves toward depraved things. Nevertheless, they themselves, according to the aforesaid manner, have [the need for] necessary penance.
VERS. 11. "Everyone whom he who is such has touched, not having first washed his hands, shall wash his clothes, and, being washed with water, shall be unclean until evening."
The legislator has necessarily used these words so that there might not be total despair for us regarding association with one who teaches depraved things, but only [for] that [association] which exists until he looks toward penance; and therefore they are unclean, whomever he who suffers the issue of seed has touched—that is, those with whom he has been commingled. But as for not having washed his hands with water, [this means] he has not yet washed away his own life through penance: for to wash the hands manifests the deposition of a certain filth and stain. Wherefore David was saying: "I will wash my hands among the innocent, and I will go around thy altar, O Lord." For [one who is] teaching shameful and depraved things is full of filth. For from the deception of life and a sordid conscience, he has arrived at a doctrine of this sort. He, therefore, who has mingled himself in teaching evil things to some, not yet looking toward penance, even he is unclean and has need of penance. Let him, therefore, wash his clothes—that is, his actions, which we put on like a stole, according to our differing opinions and sects. Whoever, therefore, endures those who suffer [these] evils, and from association with those who teach such things are turned toward evil actions, [let them] even on this account wash their body with water, that they may also purify their own temple from the sympathy with those words, and then it will be certain that they shall be cleansed. For even if he has been unclean until evening—which is until the time of penance—as has been aforesaid, he who teaches profane things will without doubt be clean after penance.
VERS. 12. "And any earthen vessel which he who suffers the issue of seed has touched, shall be broken. But the wooden vessel shall be washed with water, and shall be clean."
In the above parts of this law, in which he said [he] who suffers the issue of seed, we have said that to touch just any men [are] those with whom he, teaching depraved things, has mingled himself, and has taken into a certain society of himself; for this is openly to touch. Whence also Paul, because of the society of women to be avoided: "It is good," he says, "for a man not to touch a woman. But because of fornications, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband." These, therefore, have become his vessels, who have received the doctrine from him, even if only a small part; for he did not remain quiet with them—that is, he did not empty his entire doctrine into them—yet he touched them, handing over a certain part. They remain [as follows]
therefore earthen, that is to say, fragile and earthly, inclining toward mud, because they are corrupted even by a few words, and therefore they are necessarily broken. If, however, they are wooden, because wooden vessels are stronger than earthen and clay ones, and last longer, they are cleansed by being washed in water. For neither has it settled in them, nor have they received all of his evil doctrine, as we said, and therefore they are not so weakened that they cannot be healed through repentance. Therefore the intention of the legislator is to show who are the ones who perform repentance, or that salvation is offered to those who do not repent.
VERS. 13. "If he that suffers such an issue be cleansed, he shall number to himself seven days for his cleansing, and having washed his clothes and his whole body, he shall be clean in living waters."
His cleansing is that he who suffers this issue of seed should not suffer that same corruption of seed any further. If, therefore, anyone teaching filthy, depraved, and wicked things ceases, as one who has ceased from such impurity, he is rightly called clean. But for the filthy words which he poured forth before, he must needs number seven days for that total cleansing which is accomplished through the coming and the ministration of the Spirit, whose sevenfold gift Isaiah set forth for us when he said: "The spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and fortitude, the spirit of knowledge and piety, the spirit of the fear of the Lord." All of these are needed by those who wish to procure for themselves a perfect cleansing from the malice that is in speech or in works; but they also wash their clothes and body with living water. What the power of the clothes and the body truly is, has been sufficiently demonstrated above. But they wash with living water, namely, the one of which the Spirit said: "He that believeth in me, as the Scripture saith, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." And again: "Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him, it shall become in him a fountain of water springing up into life everlasting." Therefore, the cleansing of the one who teaches wrongly comes about through good and legitimate doctrine. For this is living water, because it bestows life upon the one who approaches it.
"And he shall bring the offering to the door of the tabernacle of the testimony." Namely, to the doctrines of the apostles; for we showed earlier in [the discussion of] sacrifices that these are the B entrance, or the true tabernacle of the testimony—that is, the dwelling place of Christ and the conversation—so that one may perfect his tongue according to the apostolic intention in the future. Just as, however, he who has sinned and has weakened the priestly habit in himself and rendered it ineffective is ordered to give it to a priest and yield the ministry of the priesthood to another, what does the priest do when he takes two turtledoves or two young pigeons?
VERS. 14. "And on the eighth day he shall take two turtledoves or two young pigeons, and he shall come before the Lord to the door of the tabernacle of the testimony: and he shall give them to the priest, who shall make one for sin, and the other for a holocaust, and he shall pray for him before the Lord, that he may be cleansed from the issue of his seed."
He who shall count to himself seven days, that is, the operations of the Spirit, is ordered on the eighth day—that is, in the grace of Christ, which shone or appeared on the eighth day of the resurrection—to offer sacrifice. And what is this sacrifice? That is, two turtledoves or two young pigeons. This sacrifice is worthy of teachers; for these animals are from among the birds. And indeed the turtledove is an animal that is, as it were, contemplative; but the pigeon, on account of the frequency of its breeding and its simplicity C of the Holy Spirit, designates the image; for it behooves the teacher to apply himself to spiritual meditation. For which reason He commanded him to take this sacrifice for himself, just as a priest and master, which is nowhere found to be said in another sacrifice unless it be again that of some priest and master.
He makes one for sin and one for a holocaust. This is so that the former may profit the sacrifice for his ablution of those things in which he sinned by teaching contrary to the law; but the latter [is] for living wisely in the future; for this is the sign of the holocaust.
And thus the priest shall pray for him before the Lord, that he may be cleansed from the issue of his seed. For no one can otherwise perform a cleansing before the Lord—that is, according to the will and law of God—unless he is penitent regarding those things in which he has sinned, and is satisfying [God] through the sacrifices of prayers, and afterward by living rightly and being perfectly wise. Therefore, whoever performs the cleansing of his sins in any other way is not prayed for before the Lord; for God does not accept his cleansing, nor do those who offer prayers for him. Wherefore, whether one has slipped into incongruous doctrine or into an evil life, or both, let him hasten to pour out his prayers together, according to what was said, before the Lord, who has the power to forgive sins.
VERS. 16. "The man from whom the seed of copulation goes out shall wash his whole body with water, and he shall be unclean until evening. And the garment and the skin which he had shall be washed with water, and it shall be unclean until evening. The woman with whom he has lain shall be washed with water, and shall be unclean until evening."
That the human race needs the regeneration of baptism, the Lord himself shows, saying: "Unless a man be born again of water and the Spirit, he shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." The filth of which, indeed, was transfused into us from Adam’s disobedience, whence David also asserted that he was born in iniquities and conceived in sins, not accusing his mother, but pointing to the sin which runs down from the race. And now the legislator commands him from whom the seed of copulation goes out—that is, he who pours out seed for the begetting of children—but also the woman who receives it, to wash the body for this reason: because she received the seed, through which this whole temple of ours, that is, the complete man, is described as consisting of soul and body. Just as
when it says: *Jacob went down into Egypt with seventy-five souls*, so it is accustomed to call the whole body the man again. This is shown by the book of Genesis saying that Joseph distributed grain to his brothers through their bodies. Since, however, the filth brought about through the disobedience of Adam made even his seed filthy, and the body is necessarily filthy because it proceeds from seed in which there is impurity until evening, that is, the end of the age: because at the end of the ages Christ, coming, revealed the water by which our race might be cleansed: and since we remained unclean until then, it is proved by the fact that even those who have not yet sinned, that is, [those] constituted in an infirm age, have need of the seal of baptism, B lest by sudden death intervening they pass on as filthy, bearing in themselves the filth that descended from Adam, and therefore not being able to enter the kingdom of heaven. The grace [of the law] commanded that the garment and the skin which they have when they cohabit, are evidently unclean and must be washed: for it extends the law and manifests how much the human body is rendered filthy on account of one disobedience, so that even inanimate things are polluted by them. Then through these it makes manifest the women who, for the sake of lust, are joined to men for a certain temporal use, such as garments are wont to provide for men, just as the abuse of skins which, when they have grown old, are wont to be thrown away. For even their custom is rejected as friendship grows old, and it is changed in the manner of garments or skins, for they do not always live with those with whom they cohabit inordinately. Therefore, understanding the words of the Mosaic law in this way, we derive great help from them, and we rest from the question of the law. Nor can we complain of it as punishing superfluously and demanding a penalty for those things which are not in our will: for the flux of seed does not happen from our will, but it happens also from infirmity. Again, that a man should cling to a woman, and a woman to a man, requires natural communion and the definition of God which says: *A man shall leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and they shall be two in one flesh* C (Gen. ii, 24). For even if these words are Adam’s, nevertheless he spoke them by the divine Spirit. Whence also Christ, when he was saying that wives should not be dismissed by the Pharisee, making memory of these things which we have now said, referred them to God, as having been spoken by Him; for He says: *He who from the beginning made male and female made them, and said: For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife* (Matt. xix, 4, 5). Therefore, He does not demand a penalty for those things which happen contrary to the will, nor [does He treat] as if they were filthy those who are joined according to His law, but it is in those who suffer a flux of seed that He censures the corrupt teachers, who are ungrateful for the procreation of children. But here, Adam’s disobedience, as the human race has been rendered filthy by it, and the seed from which it accuses the race. Yet it is not wonderful if women—who dwell with men not for the grace of children, but by reason of the baseness of their use—we have said that the garment and the skin are to be understood as being of the legislators: for you find the use of a garment accepted in divine Scripture even in some evil [sense] and contrary to the law, just as David says: *And he clothed himself with cursing like as with a garment* (Ps. cix, 18). And again: *Let those be clothed who reproach me with reverence* (Ps. cix, 29). But when skin signifies something good, then it is not the skin itself simply, but the legislator sets forth the skin D that is fit for the work, and indicates through it that which has been made as work from it, or that which is to be done from it. Now, however, because He has not said this, nor was the skin assumed in sacrifice, as when the holocaust is flayed into a bed of seed, that is, through legal coitus from which the seed is made, it pollutes the skin, or He said it to be poured out: it was necessary, therefore, to understand by the woman the skin with which one abuses. However, you should observe one thing everywhere: that the legislator was drawing the race of the Jews toward sanctification and chastity—for some of them served their lust too much—commanding these things against those who shed seed in any way whatsoever, and those who touch these, for the sake of cleansing, so that at least in this way they might be rendered chaste, and might abstain from luxurious cohabitations from the disgust of the labor of frequent purifications. For the law has this intention according to the letter, and in the following [verses], even though it signifies something else according to the spirit, as I myself am about to expound, for I do not pass over the spiritual understanding—which is here—itself. Therefore, as we understood him who suffers a flux of seed to be him who corrupts doctrine, so we understand by him from whom the seed of coitus goes forth, him who follows the doctrine pertaining to the Jews. For just as he who sheds natural and healthy seed is nevertheless unclean on account of the filth of Adam, so also their healthy [doctrine], on account of the law which is thought to be doctrine, is under guilt and is reprehensible, because it teaches the letter, which brings a curse to its disciples; for it is not possible for anyone to be perfectly corrected through it. Whence it subjects its disciples to the Mosaic curse: and [it subjects] the Jews themselves, who are taken as a figure of the cohabiting women, inasmuch as they always cling to and rest in the teachers of their institutions. This, moreover, works even in those who are in the foreskin, A when they receive the seed of their doctrines, which we say to be the garment and the skin, as receiving their doctrines temporally and transitorily, not so that they themselves might procreate any legal righteousness: for how is this possible for those remaining in the foreskin? But [they receive them] so that through their discourses they themselves also might be considered as being polluted by the curse of the law.
VERS. 19-23. *The woman who, when the month returns, suffers a flux of blood, shall be separated for seven days. Everyone who touches her shall be unclean until*
evening. And everything on which she lies or sits during the days of her separation shall be unclean. He who touches her bed shall wash his clothes, and he himself, bathed in water, shall be unclean until evening. Everything on which she has sat, whoever touches it, shall wash his clothes, and, bathed in water, he shall be unclean until evening.* A
The intention of the legislator is to lead man away from fleshly lust, and at the same time to restrain both men and women from the cause of shameful intercourse. For this is not done for the sake of the procreation of children, especially that which is now being spoken of, as they affirm. He finds a method, therefore, by which, during various intervals, he might separate men from the woman: for in the monthly courses they suffer a flux of blood. But he commanded them to be unclean for seven days, and that even those who touch her by simple contact are unclean until evening. Yet he who sleeps with them is not unclean for one day, but he is said to be unclean for seven days. Therefore, because he commanded this, it is to be understood that women are held back from men and men from women by necessity. And yet this is useful for the Israelite according to the letter; but this is the most true aid of spiritual consideration, which is included within. For the flux of blood, of which he makes mention as a person, and of the strength of piety, in the woman now the legislator has intimated, is idolatry. Its corruption, or perdition of the human race, is the shedding of the blood of idolatry. On account of which he said it was of her body, for not from us was idolatry invented, but by demons B in the body, namely, it was inflicted upon our nature, and human nature was affected. But the times of ignorance, in which idolatry prevailed, of which Paul said: *God indeed having overlooked the times of this ignorance, now declares that all men everywhere should repent* 14. What did he say: *Shall be separated for seven days*? Which others interpret: *In the separation of her iniquity*. But others have expressed it as *misery*, so that the number of seven days might signify the times. The Spirit signifies until the completion of the times, in which completion the evangelical preaching comes, in these brought apart from God through idolatry in the separation of iniquity, and it was necessary to arrive at the evangelical communion with God, which is accepted on the eighth day: which is a banner, and a beginning, and in a way [the sign] of the future century, on account of which the eighth [day] preceded the resurrection of the Savior. C Not only does the soul, which serves idols, become a participant, and he who touches it, that is, he who sleeps with it or sits on it, as he who is a participant of its doctrine and tradition or who has intercourse with it, becomes unclean, and has the work of purification, and is not otherwise cleansed, unless he is washed in water. What is it then to be washed in water, as we have said in the preceding? It is that one must abstain from all the malice of idolatry, and not hold communion with those who serve idols, nor with those things or vessels which they use—that is, in nothing to have communion with them, as Paul prohibited even reclining in an idol’s temple. But these things indeed do little harm, and have no pollution. But he says this about that which the law calls unclean:
VERS. 24. *But if a man lies with her, at the time of her menstrual blood, he shall be unclean seven days.*
This is, if anyone shares in the action of a soul serving idols, perhaps sacrificing D and himself [with] idols, or pouring libations, or doing anything next to idol service: this is to sleep with one suffering from a flux of blood, to be polluted by a manifold sin. On account of which he commanded him to be unclean for seven days, just as he made his whole life and his whole conversation to become filthy by serving idols.
VERS. 25-27. *The woman who suffers for many days a flux of blood, not at the time of menstruation, or who after menstruation does not cease to flow with blood, how long she is subject to the flux, she shall be unclean, as if in the time of menstruation. Every bedding on which she sleeps, and the vessel on which she sits, shall be unclean. Whoever touches her, shall wash his clothes, and himself bathed in water, shall be unclean until evening.*
A But even after knowledge began, and the light of piety shone forth through the evangelical teaching, when the unclean self flows out, and teaches certain things close to the error of idols, that person is unclean, just as those people were in the times when the madness of idols prevailed, teaching whatever belonged to their error: for they were unclean even then, but much more so now, because their uncleanness is already laid bare and the error convicted. And because they were unwilling to offer their eyes to the light of true understanding, for this reason it said: "She who suffers from an issue of blood, not in the time of her menstruation, or she who does not cease to flow blood after her menstruation, as long as she is subject to this passion, she shall be unclean." For even if she does not teach complete idolatry, yet if she teaches auguries and divinations or purifications or the arts of sorcery, this person is nonetheless unclean, just as those were who, in the times when it flourished, fully delivered and taught idolatry. And whoever offers their discipleship to these by their work is understood in the person of these.
"The bed on which she shall have slept, and the vessel on which she shall have sat." That is, those who studiously accept these doctrines, just as the aforementioned discourse has shown, shall be unclean, just as those who teach them. For the legislator, demonstrating this regarding the bed and the vessel—according to the LXX, "it shall be unclean according to the days of her issue"—desired those who learn such things through their work to be compared to the teachers. And these things are so true, and the law of God so calls him unclean who touches even a little of these things, because they speak or act in ways pertaining to idols, that it removes from the company of the faithful even those who eat with them or have shared in the table and drink of the mysteries, as if it were truly unclean. Whence also Paul was writing to the Corinthians: "You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons B. Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?" And again: "I do not want you to be partners with demons." But why he introduced the person of a woman, we know well. For we have said that because those who fell into the error of idolatry squandered the manliness of their thoughts and the fortitude of divine knowledge, and effeminated their souls, it correctly insinuated the figure of a woman in those who perform and teach whatever is devoted to the worship of idols. For we understand the one in the Gospels who suffers from an issue of blood—who spent all her substance, or her life, on physicians, that is, on those among them who were philosophers—to bear the image of this. Yet she was not healed by them, nor did she depart from the Egypt of her error, because, professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. For when they appeared to be estranged by the cult and madness of idols, they nevertheless measured the earth, the air, and the heavens, the origins and ends of which it belongs to God alone to know. Therefore, she, touching the hem of Jesus from behind, was liberated from the issue. But we say that his hem is his faith; for what reason did Moses make the hem on the garments, if not that God ought to be understood in the things before, and we understand behind as humanity; we say that the nations, which were established in the blood-flow, touched the purpose of idols. But if we have exposed as an issue of blood not only those who are unoccupied in shedding the blood of idolatry, but also those who teach the things that pertain to the doctrine of the pagans, it is not to be wondered at: for it is a custom among outsiders to call flowing eloquence, C and that which pours itself out most liberally and easily into doctrine, a "flow" or "rhetoric."
VERS. 28-31. "If her blood stands still and she ceases to flow, she shall count for herself seven days of her purification, and on the eighth day she shall offer for herself to the priest two turtledoves, or two young pigeons at the door of the tabernacle of testimony. And he shall make one a sin offering, and the other a burnt offering, and shall pray for her before the Lord, and for the issue of her uncleanness. You shall therefore teach the sons of Israel, that they may beware of uncleanness, and not die in their filth, when they have defiled my tabernacle that is among them."
What the power of this sacrifice is, and what it is in those who suffer from an issue of seed, we have said insofar as it was necessary: for the law prescribed similar things there too. For just as the legislator prescribed that the one suffering from the issue of seed take turtledoves or pigeons for a sacrifice to himself there, because he held the place and person of a master, so also now, regarding this woman who flows with an issue of blood, we said she figures those who teach things pertaining to the error of idolatry. Wherefore, he who teaches eloquence, and participates in eloquence, is able to take for himself what contributes to purification: for exterior wisdom is most easily subjected to interior wisdom and takes useful things from it, and things profitable to itself. For the one suffering from an issue of blood, the figure of which has been shown to be held by those D who are sprinkled with the blood of idolatry, took the medicine for herself, having touched the hem of the Lord's garment, and before she could even extend her hand, she merited to be liberated from the passion. Therefore, the things that are lacking for the interpretation, these we shall speak of in order in what follows.
VERS. 31. "You shall therefore teach the sons of Israel, that they may beware of uncleanness, and not die in their filth, when they have defiled my tabernacle that is among them."
Although every sin is an uncleanness of the soul, yet idolatry and the things that pertain to it are the greatest. The legislator desires that the God-fearing sons of Israel should beware even of these, so that they may not die the cruelest death of impiety: for the wicked defile the tabernacle of God, which is in them, and yet it is their body, by which the issue of blood or seed is defiled. But because the discourse hints at impiety, which is accustomed to defile the whole human being: therefore, he says, you shall make the sons of Israel cautious, or as the LXX has it, "fearful" of their uncleanness: which he did not decree regarding lepers, nor regarding those who had touched corpses. But also of the tabernacle of God, which
is our whole being, in which God is believed to dwell: primarily indeed through the image which He bestowed upon us, then through the first fruits which He assumed from us. For the Word was made flesh, which is said to dwell in other men through that fortification, as John proves, saying: *The Word was made flesh, and dwelt in us.* A
VERS. 32, 33. *This is the law of him that has an issue of seed, and that is defiled by coition, and that is separated by the days of menstruation, or that flows with blood, and of the man that sleeps with her.*
Whatever things belonging to the same ordinance cohere with one another, and whose utility in effect serves one intention, the legislator is accustomed to connect together, so that he may manifest to the one who applies himself to the meditation of the law how these things ought to be understood, and which things have an affinity with others according to the similitude of the intellect. For the one suffering an issue of seed is proved to be one who corrupts the seed of the teachers, and one who acts as an admonition against shameful and corrupting things: and he from whom the seed of coition goes forth. He is defiled, who teaches Jewish precepts, in which he himself, teaching evil things as if they were good and transgressing the intention of the law, is defiled, while he brings forward those things that pertain to the letter at an improper time, and in a certain manner uses things for the clean as if they were for the unclean, of whom it is said: *All things are clean to the clean, but to them that are defiled and to unbelievers, nothing is clean, but both their mind and conscience are defiled.* B But those suffering a flux of blood in their menstruations are shown to be those who tend toward impiety, in that time of doctrine in which the human race, detained in the worship of idols in their menstruations, in the separation of malice—for they were not separated from evil—to show that the law speaks the same things concerning those who teach perverse things. He added according to the LXX: *a flux of seed suffering male and female.* Yet in the preceding ordinance he speaks only of the male suffering an issue of seed; but he did not make mention of the female suffering an issue of seed according to the letter at all, but through the woman who flows with a flux of blood, he understood him who pours forth the doctrine of idolatry. Therefore he now called her one suffering an issue of seed, so that we might learn that the law deems him who corrupts good doctrine, bringing it forward basely and evilly, the same as he who teaches impiety, for the words of both are full of corruption. With these he joined the man sleeping with a menstruous woman. But he says this of one from the faithful people who has been mixed with idolatry: as we said above. Whence he did not say "male" simply, but by a more perfect term, as one possessing the name of "faithful." If he has become a prevaricator, he denies this title and demonstrates that it is false in himself; for having obtained the warfare of God, he has delivered himself to idols, clearly while sleeping and mingling himself with error, first indeed as something foul, then as one in whom it is present to sit and dwell far from God. And C furthermore, he is ranked among the unclean, and the manifest penalty of this is also established. It is also manifest how those who are cleansed can be freed from penalties. But the legislator, building upon these things, as if upon a solid foundation, has placed the sanction which follows.
CHAPTER XVI.
VERS. 1. *And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: After the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they were offering strange fire and died.*
Behold, even now the Spirit of God makes one body of the law, and reduces those things which cohere with one another into one; and since He had long ago manifested those things which pertain to doctrine—which is against the law—and had exposed its certain manifold and different modes, now He refutes it by one law, and has submitted in a certain way a common precept against it, and has made the cause of the disease itself manifest, that is, whence it happens and whence it arises. For you heard when we were inquiring into the death of the sons of Aaron, those who were consumed by divine fire, because, when we were making the word of legal tradition and history there, we said that "strange fire" was doctrine alien to God, and that for that reason, they who offered that fire were consumed by the divine fire, that is, of the Spirit: because they who teach things which are evil and iniquitous openly contradict the divine fire and act against the Holy Spirit. Therefore, whether someone teaches things which cohere with idolatry, or corrupts the divine mandates by expounding them, introducing nefarious words into them, or uses Jewish doctrine in such a way that he is defiled by it—that is, brings forward the letter of the law itself against the time and the intention of the law—he will offer strange fire to God, and therefore they are said to die, having from the law the swift penalty of transgression. But when these shall have died, that is, when they shall have been separated and in a certain manner have failed, then the sanction which follows will take hold. And D therefore, after the death of the sons of Aaron, who offered strange fire, it is said that God spoke to Moses the things which follow:
VERS. 2. *And He commanded him, saying: Speak to Aaron thy brother, that he enter not at all times into the sanctuary, which is within the veil, before the propitiatory wherewith the ark is covered, lest he die, for I will appear in a cloud over the oracle.*
How much God spares our salvation can be considered and learned from the many things which are said in the law: concerning which, neglecting nothing, let us fix the eyes of our mind upon each point. For what does it profit a man if he gain the whole world, but suffer the detriment of his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Since, therefore, the sum or head of our salvation is the doctrine of the Word, it is accustomed to show us the good paths if it be good; but if it be evil, it is accustomed to point out the evil paths with its finger. Rightly does the legislator exhibit the greatest diligence so that not only in base words, or in Jewish fables, or in any phantom of idolatry
should teachers not overstep, nor fall into impiety on the pretext of theology, which is a habit of heretics to suffer. For those who discuss the substance of God—as much of the Father toward the Son, as of the Son toward the Holy Spirit—introduce a difference and other such things that exceed our knowledge, things which are hidden: things that are, to us, as too high and sublime, and which they, wishing to inquire into not from divine dogmas but from their own cogitations, have been cut off from the body of ecclesiastical moderation. That we might not suffer this, the law warns us with these present words; for it says thus:
*And the Lord said to Moses: Speak to Aaron thy brother.* That is, that priests should command these things to one another, and each of the teachers should ordain such things to his neighbor as God now commanded Moses to speak to Aaron, which are these: A *Let him not at all times enter into the sanctuary which is within the veil before the mercy-seat: by which the ark is covered.* He has set forth a common mandate for all, and a common law here, first indeed suitable for priests, then to everyone who wishes to discuss divine mysteries. Wherefore, according to the Seventy, He commanded impersonally, saying: *Let them not enter at all times into the sanctuary within the veil.* He did not add [a subject], manifestly wishing to prohibit all from this, because the veil is understood as the body of the Savior, just as Paul evidently says: *Having confidence in the entering into the holies, which he hath initiated for us a new and living way through the veil, that is to say, his flesh.* For He is the true and intelligible mercy-seat, inasmuch as He Himself provides for us the propitiation of sins; for the same Paul says: *All have sinned, and need the glory of God, being justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God hath proposed to be a propitiatory, through faith in his blood.* But what we have [as] *before the mercy-seat*, the Seventy rendered: *before the face of the mercy-seat.* Now to this mercy-seat, His face was His divinity. Wherefore, when Moses, desiring to see God, said: *If I have found grace in thy sight, show me thyself.* And He answered: *Thou canst not see my face; for no man hath seen my face and lived:* because no one can comprehend the substance of God, He said this. But what of His [substance] could be seen, He openly added, saying: *Behold there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon the rock,* that is, the Church, and the confession which is in it, saying with faith: *And when my glory shall pass,* signifying the transit of Christ to men: *and I will set thee in a hole of the rock,* that is, in the law, as through a narrow hole, we pass through it to the confession of Christ and the faith, whence also the law is said by Paul to be our pedagogue to Christ. *And I will cover thee with my right hand,* namely, with the signs and miracles which He performed with them, *until I pass, and I will take away my hand, and thou shalt see my back parts.*
B When, therefore, God took away the protecting hand from the Jewish people—in whose figure He now accepted Moses as the prince of the people—and stripped him of His own power, in such wise that they paid tribute to the Romans, and lived under their laws and princes, then they saw the back parts of God, that is, the incarnation of God. But His back parts, because He was incarnate in the last times. *Thou shalt not see my face,* He says, namely the substance of the Divinity. He openly therefore forbade the teachers, and prohibited the priests, and whosoever it is permitted to speak of God, to inquire into the substance of God, and to discuss the divinity of Christ, and to enter into the interior of the intelligible veil. For Christ has for a veil His flesh, the covering of His divinity, just as this which was the sensible veil was the covering of the Holy of Holies. And not only the veil, but also the ark of the testimony He called the Lord’s flesh, necessarily calling it by many names, because many were the operations from it; for concerning this David prophesied in the Psalms: *Arise, O Lord, into thy resting place: thou and the ark of thy holiness.* This ark is called the intelligible testimony, as it contains the salutary compassion, of which Paul said: *I testify before God, and Christ Jesus, who has given testimony under Pontius Pilate, a good confession.* Again, we also say the Gospel is the testimony, as much because it adheres to the intelligible ark—that is, the flesh—of Christ, as because from it we have the testimony of the passion. For of this also Paul was writing to Timothy: *A testimony in his own times, whereunto I am appointed a preacher and an apostle.* This ark, therefore, is the mercy-seat, because in His flesh Christ provided for us propitiation. To which He does not command the teachers to enter at all times, so that they might not, of course, curiously inquire how the Word became flesh: how He who was in the form of God was made in the form of a servant, how He emptied Himself, and remained in the heavens. For the faith of these things brings salvation, but investigation brings danger. Whoever believes this, therefore, shall not die. *For in the cloud,* He says, *I will appear over the oracle or the mercy-seat;* the cloud he again calls the Lord’s flesh and the evangelical Word. For He calls it by many names, nor is it a tautology, but He aptly imposes and distributes names according to the operations of the things which are signified. For sometimes He calls the veil the flesh, signifying that this is the covering of the divinity of Christ; but sometimes the ark, the man, namely, whom the Lord Himself, explaining to the Jews, said: *Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.* Which, the Jews being ignorant, and saying: *Six and forty years was this temple in building, and wilt thou raise it up in three days?* The Evangelist explained, saying: *But he spoke of the temple of his body.* But sometimes indeed the cloud, because the cloud is a body, yet clean and subsistent-
A that is, the clouds subsist by the winds. On account of which, showing his subtlety and lightness along with his purity, Isaiah said: *Behold, the Lord ascends upon a light cloud, and he will enter Egypt, and the idols of Egypt will be moved* (Isa. XIX, 1). Similarly, we not incongruously call the evangelical word a cloud, because it is the custom of divine Scripture to call the doctrine of the Holy Spirit a cloud. Whence he also said, taking away the vineyard of the Jews as being unfruitful: *I will command the clouds, that they rain no rain upon it* (Isa. V, 6). Then, explaining what the vineyard is, he adds: *For the vineyard of Sabaoth is the house of Israel, and the house of Judah, a new planting* (Isa. V, 7). In this cloud, therefore, God is insinuated as much in the Lord’s flesh as in the evangelical preaching, and let us—who wish to search into something about God—seek nothing more B than what the evangelical discourse transmits to us, and what we perceive from the Lord’s flesh: for the legislator did not signify the flesh of the Lord and the Gospel by one name in vain, but because there is an occasion and subsistence in the Gospel and the Lord’s flesh. Yet this iteration also now confirms that Holy Scripture not only marks divine names with different names, as if they were different operations, but also shows a difference in the names—often even a contrary one: for sometimes, indeed, it calls by the name of fire the evil and fiery arrows (those which are the organs, and operations, of concupiscences or of other wickedness), assimilating the devil to fire because he corrupts those who join themselves to him and in a certain way cast themselves into him. But sometimes, in the form of fire—as elsewhere, so also in the bush—he insinuates God, because he is the light of those who approach him at each time, and vital heat, and purification. Do not, therefore, think that superfluous or new things are introduced through the exposition when he uses the same names in different causes, or accepts different names for the same things. But pay attention only to whether the interpreter has accepted the meanings of the names in the adjacent exposition not properly and according to time. But now, let us see what follows. *But thus let Aaron enter into the sanctuary.*
VERS. 3, 4. *He shall offer the calf for sin, and a ram for a burnt offering. He shall be clothed with a linen tunic, and with linen breeches he shall cover his nakedness. He shall be girded with a linen girdle, and he shall place a linen miter upon his head. For these are holy garments, with all of which he shall be clothed after he has been washed.*
Admirably, even now, the legislator makes use of those things which can help—and which are useful—to those who read the law and to those who search out the treasure hidden in it. For when he had said that it is not permitted at every hour—that is, not continuously—that is, without intermission—to enter into the Holy of Holies, lest perhaps we presume or approach things which are divine without fear and circumspection—he did not entirely forbid greater research, C but [he taught] how he commands us to use it when we have perfected or completed ourselves; [and] now he delivered that Aaron should not enter the sanctuary unless he has done these things. Here he shows not only that he commanded [him] not to enter frequently, but not at all to enter into the higher divine contemplation, which he also called the sanctuary (inasmuch as it is of God, who is the Holy of Holies, and who sanctifies him who uses these things well), but that he who is indeed Aaron—that is, having a high preservation, and who has progressed so far, ascending to the sanctification of God, that he can respond like the divine ark (for this is what Aaron is interpreted to mean)—entering here, shall offer the calf for sin, namely, he enters in the sacrifice of Christ. D Because he [Christ] was not only immolated for our sins, but also provides for us a perfect life, yet the legislator added—that is, he sought—the absolution of sins, which the sacrifice of God requires as a perfection of virtues, and he set it down.
*And a ram for a burnt offering.* But the Septuagint edited it: *of a calf.* From those oxen which are workers of justice, according to the flesh, he was made: for example, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David (for the law knows oxen as those who work justice, as Paul handed down to us, interpreting that command: *Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn* (1 Cor. IX, 9); then he added: *Doth God take care for oxen?* (1 Cor. IX, 9) or does he certainly speak for our sakes? *For he that ploweth should plow in hope; and he that thresheth, in hope to receive fruit* (1 Cor. IX, 10)). But because the calf—rightly, on account of the sacrifice and virtue—is so called, the evangelical parable explains (Luke XV, 11 seqq.), in which the father, to the returning prodigal son, giving the first robe of baptism and the ring—that is, the seal of the spirit—immolated the calf for him, the sacrifice of the Only-begotten; he himself is also the ram for a burnt offering. For this explained the history which is about Isaac, when, for the ram according to the LXX, in the thicket of Sabech—that is, in the thicket of pardon, through which we absolutely understand the cross, in which the pardon of our sins was accomplished—seeing him entangled by his horns, Abraham immolated him, and completed the image of Christ’s sacrifice. Whence even about him the Lord said: *Abraham rejoiced that he might see my day, and he saw it, and was glad* (John VIII, 56). Because, therefore, a ram is of the genus of sheep, yet is the chief and leader of the flock, it rightly signifies Christ, who is from our mass, but [is] chief and excellent beyond us, and is the leader of the human race and king. In this—that is, in Christ—he wishes us to enter into the holy places: for Christ is the beginning of speaking about God, and his passion. Which, if it had not been increased, and had not freed us as much from the error of the pagans as from the shadow of the law and the darkness, we would have been able to speak of the divinity of the Father not at all: *For no one knows the Father, except the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him* (Luc. X, 22). But because he wishes those who are about to speak of God, and to behold God as much as is possible for men, [to do so], it is necessary that they be armed with all virtues.
A Attend also to how he approved this; for the virtues are four in general: justice, chastity, fortitude, and wisdom; therefore he says: *He shall be clothed in a linen tunic.* This is justice, for this is properly the garment of man—the tunic which the Seventy render as "sanctified," because it is sanctified by God who loves justice, and is mainly clothed with it. Whence David said of Him: *The Lord is just, and has loved justice* (Ps. X, 8). By the drawers is signified chastity, which is manifest from the fact that they do not permit the more unseemly parts of our flesh to be seen. Since, therefore, the beauty of the whole body is chastity, the legislator necessarily says: *With linen drawers he shall cover his nakedness.* Yet upon the thighs, and the members near to them, there are only the drawers. But he wishes to show that the chastity here signifies the whole body, guarding the flesh of our body. By the belt, he understands fortitude, from which God, raising up Job, who was oppressed by passions and dangers, said: *Gird thy loins like a man* (Job XXXVIII, 3). By the cydaris, because it is a garment of the head, wisdom is meant in all ways: for we do not ignore that the organ of wisdom is in the head, which is also called the brain, and whence the head is more honorable than the whole body. But he commanded this linen garment for this reason, that he might show the facility of the virtues, and their rapid acquisition, or that it is fitting and pleasing to one who obtains it, just as those things which are linen are to the body upon which they are placed. B *Unless a stain has been made upon them.* Because even when they are sublime, their manner of life can be on earth. Individual parts of which come from flax, which indeed has a high stalk, but rises much from the earth, and can easily be acquired by the poor, and to him who is clothed in it, it is acceptable and pleasing, as we said above. It also cools one who is burning, but warms one who is in the cold—which is a property of virtue, which cools indeed in the heat of desires, but warms in the cold of temptations, and raises one up to zeal [heaven], and does not permit one to feel persecutors. But that you may not also lose the capital of salvation, which is baptism, nor think that virtues suffice for you without the gift of baptism, he added: *For these are the holy garments, with which, when he has been washed, he shall be clothed.* The whole body is washed through the water of baptism, because it washes our whole being and renews man. Therefore, it is necessary to be baptized first, and to be regenerated by water and the Spirit, and thus be clothed in the aforementioned virtues, and through them, in Christ: for the context of the legal words signifies this itself. For after the legislator said that he should not enter the sanctuary at all times, unless he has done these things first: *a calf for sin,* he added, *and a ram for a holocaust. He shall be clothed in a linen tunic, and the rest.* He did not only call Christ the intelligible and true ram, D wishing to receive us, and to clothe us, on account of which he also introduced the grace of baptism: because through it we are most especially clothed in Christ. But when we have obtained these things, we shall enter into the Holy of Holies, not scrutinizing or debating the substance of God—for this is prohibited—but giving ourselves to study the dogmas of wisdom concerning the things that are of the dispensation of Christ and His sacrifice for us, and the goods which we enjoy through them: for those things which follow make this most manifest: VERS. 5, 6. He shall receive from the whole multitude of the children of Israel two he-goats for sin, and one ram for a holocaust. And when he has offered the calf, and prayed for himself and for his house. Many here is the intention, necessary both for the one speaking and the one hearing, that they should not depart from what is right, because the mysteries which the law now expounds are very great, and some stumble in them, ignorant of the virtue of these words. But these things, in which they stumble, will be spoken of more subtly in what follows. But because the things of which the legislator spoke refer evidently in the present to Christ Himself, the kinds of sacrifices manifest this, and their effects, but also those from whom the sacrifices are received. For he commanded that the sacrifices be received from the synagogue, or the whole multitude of the children of Israel: because Christ, who was sacrificed for us, was from the children of Israel according to the flesh, so that Paul might say: *Of whom is Christ according to the flesh, who is God over all, blessed for ever. Amen* (Rom. IX, 5). Then he orders some of the sacrifices to be offered for sins, and others as a holocaust, figuring, as it was proper to do, the virtue of the sacrifice of Christ, who is offered for our sins; hear therefore Paul saying: *Christ was offered once to exhaust the sins of many, and will appear the second time without sin to those who wait for him* (Hebr. IX, 28). But because the sacrifice of the Only-Begotten was made for the holocaust, and for perfection indeed, and for the progress of life and of virtues, how is it possible to doubt, with Paul openly saying: *Therefore brethren, you also have been mortified to the law by the body of Christ, that you may belong to another who has risen from the dead, that we may bear fruit to God* (Rom. VII, 4). And again he said of Him: *Whence he can also save for ever, those who come to God by him* (Hebr. VII, 25). Thus, perfection and our all-embracing salvation was made by the Son through His sacrifice. But the legislator properly accepted in the effects of the sacrifices those things which will be sacrificed: for since he had said that he-goats are to be offered for sin, because divine Scripture is accustomed to accept this animal into the genus of sins, we are by no means unmindful that, when these signified the reason of repentance for the sacrifices, taking the occasion from this legal code, we have expounded: the kid, which is called *chimarus* in Greek, is rightly sacrificed by him who performs repentance.
A An Aries, moreover, as one providing leadership for the flock, is rightly assigned for a whole burnt offering—that is, it is accepted for the virtue and perfection of life, for whose part is it to teach perfection if not that of the leaders? With things thus standing, you may by all means ask: If the law commanded goats to be offered for sin, why does it also command a calf to be offered? This can be solved and explained by one short reason: because the sacrifice of the Only-Begotten is not for one kind, but is for sinners as much as for the just. And for that reason, goats are commanded to be offered for a certain kind of sinners, but a calf is offered for the just, because an ox—since it is an animal suited for labor—is taken to represent the person of the just according to the law.
Hence he says, *He shall pray for himself and for his house.* By the house of God he designates the just, for he dwells and walks in them. He himself is their God, and they are his people. He will make intercession also for it, that is, for the house of his own flesh; for although he did not commit sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth, nonetheless he was clothed with Adam, who would have need of propitiation because of the curse that was once superinduced upon the human race. Hear, therefore, Paul writing such things to the Hebrews about Christ: *Who has no need daily, as those priests, to offer up sacrifice first for his own sins, and then for the people: for this he did once, in offering himself.* B
VERS. 6-10. *And when he has offered the calf, and prayed for himself and for his house, he shall make two goats stand before the Lord, at the door of the tabernacle of the testimony; and he shall cast lots upon both, one for the Lord, and the other for the scapegoat: whose lot shall come out, he shall offer him to the Lord for sin; but whose lot shall be for the scapegoat, he shall set him alive before the Lord, that he may pour out prayers over him and send him into the wilderness. These things having been duly celebrated, he shall offer the calf, and praying for himself and for his house.*
The blind are wont to stumble in the light, and the unfaithful to be scandalized at the law of God—which Peter, knowing, said both of the epistles of Paul, that vessel of election, and of all divine Scripture: *In which are certain things hard to be understood, which the unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, to their own destruction.* They suffer this now also, who understand the law of God according to their own will and not its true intention, and who form a harmful and pestilential idol-worship from these things that were said by the legislator; they think in vain. For they say: The law commanded the lot to be cast upon two goats, one for the Lord, and the other it commanded to be separated for emission. Now they call the scapegoat the devil, so that from this C they may provide an occasion for worshipping the evil one, to such a degree are they deaf and in such a degree are they blind of mind. How, therefore, does it make sense—it is not credible—that God himself should command a sacrifice to be offered to the devil, who through Moses, and his brother, and others, commanded the entire city that converts to idols to be destroyed, and cries out: *Thou shalt have no other gods before me.* And through David he says: *There shall be no new god in thee, neither shalt thou adore a strange god.* Therefore, he who commanded these things, because they were about to equal his glory, and priesthood, and worship, and to divide it with him, orders this: that when two goats were offered, he commanded one to be applied to himself, but the other to his adversary, whom they think is called the scapegoat. But they have not known, nor have they understood; they walk in darkness. For the legislator called the goat that is sent into the desert the *emissary* (or scapegoat). We, however, shall demonstrate, from those things which pertain to the tradition of the legal letter, how it would have been improbable for the legislator to command this, and then let us exercise the intention of the sanction from a consideration of the Spirit.
He commanded two goats to be set before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of the testimony, but not that they should be taken away from God—for *before the Lord* means this—lest things that were being sent to the devil be placed at the door of God; but he commanded not only the lot to be cast, one for the Lord and one for purification. But if he had accepted the scapegoat into the person of some malignant one, he would by no means have cast a lot for it together with that which was God’s, because you will not find that any good thing has a lot with any evil thing in the divine Scriptures. But as often as the lot was cast, they cast lots of equals with equals, just as they divided the tribes of Israel; for when it was necessary to choose another for the apostolate in place of Judas, the lots were cast over two men equal in virtues and in doctrine—namely, Matthias and Joseph the Just—so that Peter, in addressing the people, said: *Thou, Lord, who knowest the hearts of all, show whether of these two thou hast chosen, to take the place of this ministry and apostleship.* And not only did he command them to be set before the Lord before the lot was cast upon the two goats, but also that the one upon whom the lot of emission fell, after the same lot had fallen upon him and it was manifest, should be set before the Lord and that prayers should be poured out over him. How, therefore, D can the one who is set before the face of God, and in a certain way consecrated to him, himself be sent back to the devil? Or in what way can he perform the propitiation of sins, this which is transmitted to the wicked? For if his intention were even to make the just into sinners, how could he provide propitiation for sinners? Or how could he himself be a sinner, of whom David says: *Set thou a sinner over him, and may the devil stand at his right hand*, be able to seek out the propitiation of sins? For this belongs solely to God, to whom David said: *And be propitious to my sin, for it is abundant.* Since these things are thus, and this understanding has been shown to be everywhere incongruous, let us not be ignorant that the legislator was undoubtedly speaking primarily of the sacrifice of Christ. Whence I deem the tare of evil understanding—
A which the enemies of truth wish to scatter, envying the glory of the mystery, and viewing its clear testimony from the Law: for since He who became incarnate for our sake was God and man, Christ Jesus, guarding an impassible divinity, He offered only His humanity to sufferings; yet the effect of His passion, that is, our propitiation, was not only of the flesh that suffered, but much more of the impassible divinity, as Paul testifies, saying: *Who, when He was the brightness of His glory, and the figure of His substance, and upholding all things by the word of His power* (Hebr. 1, 3). Showing, moreover, that all these things are said of the divinity of the Only-Begotten, he added: *Making purgation of sins, He sitteth on the right hand of the majesty on high* (Hebr. 1, 3), joining to the God, the Word, those things which were properly of His flesh. If, therefore, these things are aptly stated, for this reason two goats are taken and placed before the Lord, at the door of the tabernacle of witness, so that these things might be performed in them after the image of Christ. For He is the true door, which leads to the door of the tabernacle of witness, which is in heaven. And Aaron casts the lot upon both goats, one, indeed, so that by the virtue and signification of the lots we may understand the division of the dispensation of the divinity and humanity of Christ. The lots, however, are common both to this one and to that, so that the one might suffer, while the other might comfort the sufferer, and through the passions that were worked in it, they might moderate the passions contrary to us, just as they might manifest His own impassibility. B Then he says, one lot to the Lord, and the other to the scapegoat—to none other but Christ, as we said above. If an lot or goat were given to some hostile and evil one, it would not be cast with God, nor would it be led to the door of the tabernacle of witness, nor would prayers be poured out over it, nor would propitiation be performed in it. Therefore, the scapegoat is so called, inasmuch as it is sent away and not sacrificed. But for the sake of what matter is it not sacrificed, which is appointed for the *confirmed*, as Aquila renders it? But who is the *confirmed* or *strong*, hear Job saying: *I know that thou art powerful, and no thought is hidden from thee* (Job 13, 3). And hear David: *The Lord is a firmament to them that fear Him* (Ps. 24, 14). Therefore, one lot, indeed, is of the sacrificed flesh of Christ, which, since it is united to the Word of God, is rightly named Lord. For which reason Paul says: *For if they had known, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory* (1 Cor. 2, 8). But by *confirmed* is the Deity understood. He will subject the lot. This lot is understood thus: for, obtaining all these things, it also rightly confirmed its own flesh by passion. For this reason Aaron shall offer the goat, upon which the lot for the Lord has come, and shall offer it for sin. For the intelligible Aaron is He who presides over our priesthood, of whom Paul says: *So Christ also did not glorify Himself, that He might be made a priest* (Hebr. 5, 5). He shall offer His own flesh to the Father, and in it He shall offer for sin, of which Paul wrote to the Hebrews: *This man one sacrifice for sins offering, for ever sitteth on the right hand of God* (Hebr. 10, 12).
C *But the goat upon which the lot of emission has come, he shall set alive before the Lord, that he may pour out prayers over it.* For since we have said that the lot of the scapegoat figuratively refers to the divinity of Christ, he shall set this one alive, guarding it as impassible, so that through it he may intercede. For no one can forgive sins, except God alone. He sends him away into the wilderness, and, as the LXX say, *the goat shall carry upon himself their names, into a solitary, or inaccessible, land.* Let us not, however, think that the *desert*, and *solitary*, or *inaccessible* land ought to be accepted as meaning some evil, nor on account of this let those who draw the Law toward impiety disturb the ears of the pious. For he calls it deserted of evil, and solitary, or inaccessible, which cannot be walked by intelligible enemies, in which God dwells, and appears, which David manifests saying: *O God, my God, to thee do I watch from the dawn. My soul hath thirsted for thee, how manifoldly thy flesh for thee. In the desert, and in the inaccessible, and in the waterless, so in the holy have I appeared to thee, that I might see thy power, and thy glory* (Ps. 62, 1-3). Therefore, the desert and the inaccessible is holy, and the habitation of the Holy of Holies, where the divinity is said to have gone during the time of the passion, not migrating from place to place, but refraining its own power from the humanity, so that it might give place to the passion, remaining in a place worthy of itself, namely, in the bosom of the Father. To which no one approaches, except Himself and the Holy Spirit, and because He is in the Father, and the Holy Spirit, as we have learned from the evangelical scriptures, therefore understand "to go away" as "to refrain." For so God is said to go away, who is present everywhere, when He refrains His own operation. It also carries our iniquities, because it is the property of fire to consume stubble, and for the divinity to destroy sin, whence God is also called a consuming fire (Deut. 4, 24).
D Vers. 11-13. *And Aaron shall offer the calf for sin, and praying for himself, and for his house, he shall sacrifice it. And taking the censer, which he shall have filled with coals of the altar, and taking up with his hand the composite incense into incense, he shall enter beyond the veil into the holy places, so that with the aromatics placed upon the fire, their cloud and vapor may cover the oracle, which is over the witness, and he may not die.*
Because we have said that many things are performed through the sacrifice of the Savior, there are of necessity many exquisite differences in the Law. Primarily, therefore, through that, absolution was obtained for Israel itself, for which reason He was saying: *I was not sent but to the sheep that are lost of the house of Israel* (Matt. 15, 24). But not only was it the liberation of Israel, but also the correction of the Gentiles had been in the sacrifice of Christ. This, however, Paul explaining openly, was writing to the Ephesians: *That he might make the two in himself into one new man, making peace, and might reconcile both in one body to God, by the cross killing the enmities in himself; and coming he evangelized peace to you who were far off, and peace to them that were near* (Ephes. 2, 15-17). Calling the Gentiles "far off," because they were far from all divine knowledge, according to Israel whom the prophets...
A proclaimed as being near, by the law that was doing this. Then, connecting this, Paul said: "For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father." Therefore, the intelligible Aaron sacrifices the calf, that is, his own flesh, whose victim, when it is accepted for the liberation of the Jewish people, the sacrifice of the calf is necessarily assumed; for he himself possessed the legal justification, especially so that he might openly preach: "I came not to destroy the law, but to fulfill it." Furthermore, Paul said of him: "God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law." This calf is aptly understood on account of the yoke of the commandments.
Praying for himself. Namely, for human nature; for he bore the figure of this in himself.
But also for his house. Properly, he came to liberate the people who lived under the law, who were his house on account of kinship. For which reason Cleophas said: "But we were hoping that he was the one who would redeem Israel."
And he shall immolate it. For he himself immolated his own flesh; he himself became the high priest of his own sacrifice in Sion, when he gave the cup of the blood of the new testament.
Therefore, he was speaking of that intelligible altar, which the things that follow clarify; for he says: "That we may receive mercy, and find grace in seasonable aid." For we receive both of these from the altar without any doubt. But what did the legislator subjoin in these things which follow?
And taking in his hand the composite incense (or, as the LXX has it: "And he shall fill his hands with incense of fine composition") he shall enter within the veil into the holy places. He speaks now of the prayer of which David said: "Let my prayer be directed as incense in thy sight." Therefore, when we pray for temporal things, this is, in a way, coarse and not subtle. But when we ask for spiritual things—that is, divine knowledge, the kingdom of heaven, the remission of sins—it is something subtle, as being spiritual and intelligible, which the intelligible priest offers for us. Moreover, it is manifest from the fact that Christ, praying for his disciples, asked for sanctification for them and unity with himself, and freedom B in the world, and other such things. He shall enter into the holy places; or, according to the LXX: "and he shall offer within the veil," namely, of his own flesh. But to whom does he offer? To the Father, clearly, because this indeed was presented to the sight of all, but he himself was invisible.
Having taken the censer, which he had filled with the coals of the altar. By the censer, he speaks here of the Lord’s tongue, for the Spirit was within it. He takes, therefore, the censer full of coals, because to his sacrifice he immediately added the doctrinal words, which were divine and heavenly, of which David said: "Coals were kindled by him." John wrote this in the supper held after Judas had gone out, in which he explains how the Father is in him, and how he himself, while being in the Father, sends the gift of the Spirit; how the Father is the vine-dresser, he himself the vine, and the apostles the branches; how the prince of this world is judged, and other miracles, which are the coals of fire, as they warm us to piety, since they are generally spiritual. But also the altar, which according to the LXX is "before the Lord." We showed in the very introductions of this book that this is the six Cherubim. For the prophet Ezekiel demonstrated that the coals of the intelligible fire were established there; he proposes the Lord himself, who was clothed with the garment and had his loins girt, saying: "Enter into the midst of the wheels under the Cherubim, and fill thy hands from the midst of the Cherubim." Since, therefore, the intelligible altar, on which are the coals of fire, must be understood as the seat of the Cherubim, hear Isaiah saying: "And one of the Seraphim came to me, and in his hand was a coal, which he had taken with a pair of tongs from the altar, and he touched C my mouth." What else then is the altar in heaven, but the Cherubim? But just as the high priest, who is also king, has both a seat and an altar, in this sense Paul said to the Hebrews: "For we have not a high priest who cannot have compassion on our infirmities, but one tempted in all things like as we are, without sin."
That, having placed the aromatics upon the fire, the cloud of them and the vapor may cover the oracle which is over the testimony, and he may not die. Understand in a twofold way what is said here. Because Aaron therefore bears the figure of Christ himself, on account of the dignity of the priesthood, he also bears the figure of the body of the priests. Christ indeed places the aromatics upon the fire, that is, prayer upon doctrine, and the vapor of them covers the cloud, that is, the virtue of prayer. The oracle which is over the testimony; that is, his flesh, from which the propitiation of sins was acquired for us, and this is in the salutary passion. We showed a little earlier that this is the testimony. And he shall not die the death of corruption, for neither did his flesh see corruption, because it was covered by the vapor of the aromatics by the virtue of that very prayer, concerning which David says, imploring the Father for Christ: "For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, nor wilt thou give thy holy one to see corruption." Moreover, every priest, speaking of Christ, places aromatics into the fire, the prayer of spiritual doctrine, and the virtue of prayer covers the oracle which is over the testimony. But it does not permit him to inquire about the passions of the Lord’s flesh beyond those things which are above the power of the inquirer; and they do not die for those things which have been defined for immoderate inquisitors, who D seek those things which it is not right for men to seek.
VERS. 14. He shall take also of the blood of the calf and shall sprinkle with his finger seven times against the propitiatory to the east.
Or as the LXX has it, "He shall sprinkle with his finger upon the propitiatory to the east; before the face of the propitiatory he shall sprinkle seven times with his finger." A That the sacrifice of the Only-begotten—of His flesh, through the power of His divinity and by the good pleasure of the Father—is performed for the remission of our sins, and for our salvation, and at the same time for the gift of the ministry of the Spirit, is plainly manifested from these things which the Lawgiver now says. For the "finger" signifies the power of the divinity; whence David said: *For I will behold the heavens, the works of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast founded.* We receive, therefore, both as belonging to the power of the divinity, and the blood of the calf itself is sprinkled toward the east upon the propitiatory. For our propitiation, and at the same time our illumination, the saving passion was accomplished: whence that very passion is called the propitiatory, as we have frequently shown. It is also called "the Rising" (Oriens); for the prophet Zechariah says concerning Him: *Behold the man, whose name is the Rising, and under him he shall rise.* And Zechariah the priest, the father of John, also says: *In which he hath visited us, the Rising from on high, to enlighten them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.* B But he shall also sprinkle seven times against the propitiatory, that is, in the sight of the Father, so that the human race might receive from the Lord's blood both the remission of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the number seven signifies both, because there are seven gifts of the Spirit, and the same number signifies the remission of sins. For when Peter asked Christ, *If my brother shall trespass against me, how often shall I forgive him? till seven times?* Christ said: *I say not to thee, till seven times, but till seventy times seven*, multiplying the number seven.
VERS. 15. *And when he shall have slain the goat for the sin of the people, let him bring the blood of it within the veil, as it is commanded of the blood of the calf, that he may sprinkle it over against the oracle, and cleanse the sanctuary from the uncleanness of the children of Israel and from their prevarications and all their sins.*
The Lawgiver is to be admired; he is sufficient for the figure of the mystery, and is in no way to be reproved for necessarily dividing the manifold prefiguration into many forms. For because Christ arose from the Jews according to the flesh, who lived under the yoke of the law, He is rightly named the sacrifice of the calf. For the calf is compared to the legal yoke, and to the work pertaining to Him, and to justice, being accustomed to draw the yoke and thus to work the land. C But because, according to His incarnation, He was made from the common mass of men, for that reason He is again called a goat. This animal therefore wears a rough covering of hair: "rough," as being full of sin, is the whole race of living things, because nothing is rougher than sin. Whence the Lawgiver, wishing to prove this openly, says: *And when he shall have slain the goat for the sin of the people.* Here he understands the whole human race, which once was not a people, but now is a people, from which Jesus took for us the firstfruits. Therefore, to demonstrate that Christ is principally of the Jews—on account of Abraham—but yet that He takes the firstfruits of all our nature, which is in sin, for which reason He is called Adam, the law took both the calf and the goat as a figure of His sacrifice. But since there is one sacrifice, whether it be named a calf or a goat, and the effect is one in both—for the absolution of sins is wrought by it—those things which are done in the goat and the calf are necessarily common. For you see that, even in slaying the goat, he brings the blood inside the veil, that is, before the Lord, the Father, which is to say, toward the Father. D Again, therefore, he brings this inside the veil, which is to be understood, namely, the visible flesh of the Lord, as one who brings His invisible blood inside the veil, just as it is commanded. And he shall sprinkle of the blood of the calf with his finger seven times against the propitiatory toward the east. Or as the LXX has it, "upon the propitiatory, before the face of the propitiatory." Then what follows?
VERS. 16. *And he shall cleanse the sanctuary from the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and from their prevarications, and all their sins.*
He seems indeed to be speaking of the tabernacle, but he does not speak of that which is subject to the senses. For what could the wood of the tabernacle have done for expiation or propitiation? Or what the skins or other things of which the tabernacle of the Jews, which was subject to the senses, was made? But he speaks of the generality, or the whole species of men. For our mass was holy from the beginning, so that the Spirit of God dwelt in it. This is demonstrated by the fact that God threatened in His anger to take it away when those who descended from Seth, being righteous and called the sons of God, began to desire those who were born from it in succession to its descendants, who were also called the daughters of men, and were made of one race with the wicked and unjust; for he said thus: *The sons of God seeing the daughters of men, that they were fair, took to themselves wives of all which they chose:* and the Lord God said: *My spirit shall not remain in man for ever, because he is flesh.* Therefore, if the Spirit of God dwelt in man before he began to follow all the passions of the flesh, the mass of men was deservedly holy; for the Holy of Holies would not otherwise take the firstfruits from it. But because it has been defiled, He has cleansed it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel. For, in the first place, the sensible law was given to them because they had transgressed, and He established them as guilty of the curse and subject to death, so that for that reason they might have a necessary expiation; and for them, in the first place, the sacrifice of the Only-begotten is immolated: yet it is immolated also for all men, so that Caiaphas might say: *It is expedient that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not.* And what had been said was conf-
Airmed by the evangelist John, who added: *Now this he said not of himself, but being the high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for the nation, and not only for the nation, but to gather together in one the children of God that were dispersed.* These are, of course, the Gentiles; for the Lord was speaking of them when He said: *I have other sheep also, which are not of this fold; them also I must bring.* But the children of God are, much more so, the Israelites, since "Israel" is interpreted as "seeing God." And in accordance with the rationale for the sensible Israel, Jesus was immolated—that is, He offered a sacrifice for all of mankind, for the expiation of our impurities. What impurities? Those, he says, caused by their transgressions and all their sins. For the impurity of the soul is not the defilement of the dead, nor the eating of swine’s flesh, nor anything of that sort; rather, it is harming one's neighbor and sinning against God, or against the commandments of God.
Just as this rite ordains the tent of witness which is fixed among them, in the midst of the lot of their dwelling, "Let there be no man in the tent when the high priest enters into the sanctuary to pray for himself and for his house and for the whole assembly of Israel." What the law previously called "holy," behold, it now calls the "tent of witness," which is fixed among them, in the midst of the lot of their dwelling, or, according to the Septuagint, "built among them, in the midst of their impurities." Indeed, by the same reasoning, our mass (our human nature) can be called both "holy" and the "tent of witness." For if we have called the tent of witness the heavens, the heavenly man—of whom Paul says, *As we have borne the image of the earthly, let us bear also the image of the heavenly*—is rightly named the holy place. Again: *If our earthly house of this habitation be dissolved, we have an edifice from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in heaven.* Therefore, it is rightly named holy because it is built within us. For the Lord God first formed man from the dust of the ground, and then breathed into his face the breath of life. He is, therefore, our heavenly man, who is in the midst of our impurities, who is also assailed by the passions of the flesh, according to what Paul said: *For I see another law in my members, fighting against the law of my mind, and captivating me in the law of sin, which is in my members.* Wherefore the Law quite consistently subjoined:
D VERSE 17. *Let there be no man in the tent of witness, when the high priest enters to pray for himself, and for his house, and for the whole assembly of Israel.*
When Christ enters into the holy place, that is, when He was becoming incarnate and taking the heavenly man and the first-fruits from us, there was no man in the intelligible tent of witness—neither Gentile nor circumcised, neither Levite nor priest—because all had gone astray, they were together become unprofitable, there is none that doeth good; but at that time no one was pursuing a heavenly conversation, nor was there any wisdom worthy of a heavenly man, until He prayed in the sanctuary of His own flesh through the cross; and He went out from it by the law of common death, emitting the spirit and leaving the flesh in the sepulcher, which is called His departure. But this sacrifice which has now been set forth did not benefit the generality of all men. *Let no man be in the tent,* he says, *when the High Priest enters the sanctuary to pray.* And yet, in the sacrifice which is according to the letter, only the people of the Jews would be present. And yet not every man would be excluded from the tent at the time of the sacrifice, according to what is now said; but it signifies that the whole human race is now mindful of earthly things and is in sin, and therefore is not rightly found in the intelligible tent of witness.
VERS. 18, 19. *But when he shall go out to the altar which is before the Lord, let him pray for himself and pour the blood taken from the calf and the goat upon the horns thereof round about, and sprinkling with his finger seven times, let him expiate and sanctify it from the impurities of the children of Israel.*
What the blood of the calf and of the goat would be has been sufficiently explained in what has been said. For he takes the blood of both together, showing that one is joined to the other, and places it—or pours it—upon the horns of the altar. But what does he do? He does whatever the order of the mystery requires and the coherence of the figure desires, which the Lawgiver wrote with all subtlety. Afterwards, our going out to the altar, which is before the Lord, he calls the altar of incense, which we have shown to be the seat of the Cherubim, for while ascending with the flesh, He lifted up our captivity in Him, at the same time raising us up and making us sit at the right hand in the heavenly places. And he pours the taken blood upon the horns thereof round about, and sprinkling with his finger seven times, he expiates and sanctifies it from the impurities of the children of Israel. Because by His own passion He sanctified not only the horns of His altar which is in heaven—that is to say, the principal and general virtues: wisdom, fortitude, justice, and temperance—which horns are rightly those of the Cherubim, for this heavenly animal bears their figures, and in the person of the man and the lion and the calf and the eagle it bears them: wisdom in the person of the lion, justice in the person of the calf, temperance in the person of the eagle—of which we have long since explained more fully in the interpretation of the prophet Ezekiel.
*Let him expiate and sanctify it from the impurities of the children of Israel.* For by the sacrifice of Christ even heavenly things are expiated, just as Paul would say: since he wished to show the difference between legal sacrifices and the sacrifice of the only-begotten: *It is necessary, therefore, that the patterns of heavenly things should be cleansed with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.* But the Lawgiver shows for the sake of what need heavenly things had need of expiation, saying:
and it shall make atonement A and sanctify it from the impurities of the children of Israel. As far as the powers of heaven are concerned, there was no need of any expiation, because they dwell in continual sanctification; but because a thick smoke of our sins ascends to heaven, of which David said: *The smoke ascended in his wrath, and fire from his face kindled*, so that God said to Jonah: *Go to Nineveh, the great city, and preach in it the preaching that I speak to you, for its wickedness has ascended before me*. And again to Abraham regarding Sodom: *I will go down and see whether they have accomplished the cry that has come to me, or not*. It rightly sanctifies against our impurities and makes atonement over our choirs, so that it may take away from them the surrounding abominable odor and the false boast which we have deposited against them. Therefore, he does not sprinkle it simply, but seven times, so that you may understand the forgiveness of our sins, for this the number seven figures. The heavenly places are cleansed from the abominable odor and the boasting which we have deposited, for this is the reason why, in the first place, enmity arose from us against those things which are in the heavens.
VERS. 20. *After he has cleansed the sanctuary, and the tabernacle, and the altar.*
Or, as the LXX has it: *And he shall define, praying, the sanctuary, and the tabernacle of testimony, and the altar, and shall have purged it for the priests*. According to their edition, the Law correctly made special mention of the priests, so that in all things the figure of the sacrifice of the Only-begotten might be preserved. For since the choir of the Apostles obtained its priesthood from Christ—who was also a part of the human race, for whom the Lord offered B himself—yet it is special, just as the ointment, and he called it the supreme sacrifice of the Lord: which the Lord demonstrates, saying to the Father: *I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth*. And again to them: *No one has greater love than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends; you are my friends, if you do what I command you*. But observe also the order of the legal figure, how it leads to the truth itself; according to the LXX, he says: *He shall define, praying, the sanctuary, and the tabernacle of testimony, and the altar*; that is, he shall end and terminate the deprecation that was enacted through the cross; for every race of men, and that which was intelligible upon the altar, after he had been assumed into heaven and sat at the right hand of the Father. And yet, he does not make atonement concerning the priests, for he sends them cleansing through the intelligible fire and through the fiery tongues of the Spirit, on account of which he said to them: *But you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit, not many days from now*.
VERS. 21. *Then he shall offer the living goat, and having placed both hands upon its head, he shall confess all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, and their sins.* Which, blaming its head, [he] sends it away by the man stationed [for it] into the desert. And when the goat has carried all their iniquities into a solitary land, and it has been dismissed into the desert. C
We have need to repeat these same things even now, on account of those who stumble in the light. For it is proven that those things which are now being sanctified in this living goat are not directed toward any wicked or malicious being, but toward God Himself. First, because the priest places both hands upon the head of the goat. The laying on of hands in sacrifice ministered a blessing, or the remission of sins, or the coming of the Holy Spirit, or intelligible expiations. How, therefore, was the priest to perform these things mentioned here upon this one, in whom is the lot of the enemy and of him who wars against God, as those who are of his party say? Or how did he redeem in him the iniquities, and injustices, and sins of the children of Israel? For the enemy does not allow one to confess sins, but rather suggests that we should hide the wounds of the soul, so that we may not find a physician who might be able to apply a remedy and provide salvation. Therefore, as soon as David was rebuked by Nathan, he exclaimed: *I have sinned against the Lord*, and immediately the prophet subjoined: *And the Lord has taken away your sin, nevertheless you shall not die, because you have made the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme*. Whence also the lawgiver said that the goat should be sent into the wilderness through a man made ready. "Made ready," that is, approaching, or going to. And he does not even say the dignity of this man, whether he was a Levite, or a priest, or someone from the people, who would do this act. Therefore, by the goat he signifies that Christ is present with all: for just as he was immolated through the flesh in the first, so now he is said to be living because of his divinity. But because he is one, and impassible, and [yet] passible, the priest necessarily places his hands upon the living [goat] also, so that by the laying on of hands it might be shown that the living Word of God, impassible and immortal, received this sacrifice by taking it upon himself in the flesh for our sake. Rightly, therefore, in him the priest shall pronounce the iniquities, and injustices, and sins. This is he of whom the prophet Isaiah was saying: *Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?* Calling the Son the arm of the Lord, consubstantial with the Father, of whom also he subjoined the things that follow: *He himself carried our weaknesses, and he himself bore our sorrows. But he was wounded for our iniquities, he was bruised for our transgressions. The discipline of our peace was upon him, and by his stripe we are healed*. Thus he openly carried our sins, and injustices, and iniquities upon himself. And D therefore, according to the LXX, he says: *He shall place them upon the head of the living goat*; for this is the figure, because Christ also permitted a crown of thorns to be placed upon his head, because sins are accustomed to be received in thorns. On account of which Adam is also told that the earth will bring forth thorns, since he himself also sprouted sins from disobedience. But Solomon also says: *Thorns are born in the hand*
A of the drunken, signifying that his actions are full of sins. Thus, therefore, receiving the words of the Law, you will not be ignorant of its intention and power; but you will also find the prepared man, by whose hand the living goat is sent into the wilderness. For Christ himself has been made the whole of his own sacrifice—both priest, and sacrifice, and knife, and altar. He himself is also the prepared man, prepared for us for passion, so that he himself says through Isaiah: *But I did not contradict, I did not go back. I gave my back to the strikers, and my cheeks to them that plucked them. I did not turn away my face from them that rebuked and spat upon me* B. To whom David also speaks, signifying the mystery of his incarnation, through which he has obtained our kingdom: *The Lord hath reigned, he is clothed with beauty: the Lord is clothed with strength, and hath girded himself. For he hath established the world, which shall not be moved. Thy throne is prepared from of old*. Christ, therefore, the intelligible Aaron, while sacrificing himself even now through the goat, is himself through the prepared man, or in the hand of the prepared man, that is, through his own proper virtue—for being man he is shown to be prepared. And he sends the living goat into the wilderness, or into the pathless and desert land, his own immortal and impassible divinity, to places pathless to us, and deserted of all malice; according to what John says: *Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he came from God, and goeth to God*.
VERS. 32. *And the priest that shall be anointed, and whose hands shall be consecrated, shall do the office of the priesthood in his father's stead.* C
Or, as the LXX: *He shall make atonement,* it says, *the priest, whatsoever he shall anoint, and whosoever shall have been perfected to consecrate his hands to his father.* In order to show Christ without any doubt, for Christ had priests—the princes of the Jewish priests—according to the flesh, for they themselves were also sons of Abraham, just as Christ was. The Law shows that since the priests of the Jews could not, as Paul says, make those who come to them perfect—for it was impossible with the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins—Christ himself, rightly anointed into the priesthood and perfecting his hands through the cross, atones for us. Concerning whom the Law rightly says in another place: *The priest whom they shall anoint and whose hands they shall have consecrated, to minister in the priesthood after his father.* For first his Father anointed him, according to what David says: *Therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee.* D And he anointed him saying: *Thou art a Priest forever, according to the order of Melchisedech.* Afterward he was anointed by the men who performed the service of his passion and sacrifice: for it shows the sacrifice of the cross, and the lamb, and the priest, and our liberator. Wherefore, for his plainer demonstration, and for a more subtle manifestation of the figure:
VERS. 34. *Once, he says, in the year shall he do this.*
CHAPTER XVII
Vers. 4-7. *And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to Aaron and his sons, and to all the children of Israel, and thou shalt say to them: This is the word which the Lord hath commanded, saying: Any man whosoever of the house of Israel, if he shall kill an ox, or a goat, in the camp, or out of the camp, and offer not at the door of the tabernacle an oblation to the Lord, he shall be guilty of blood; as if he had shed blood, so shall he perish from the midst of his people. Therefore the children of Israel ought to bring their sacrifices which they kill in the field, that they may be sanctified to the Lord before the door of the tabernacle of the testimony, and they shall offer them as peace-victims to the Lord. And the priest shall pour the blood upon the altar of the Lord, at the door of the tabernacle of the testimony, and shall burn the fat for a sweet savor to the Lord. And they shall no more offer their sacrifices to demons, with whom they have committed fornication. It shall be an everlasting ordinance unto them, and to their posterity.*
Since it concerned the lawgiver little regarding the figures, but rather that he was thinking of them on account of the truth prefigured in them, which he wishes to cease afterward when it has been dispensed in its own times, the present sanction openly demonstrates this, which he commanded not simply to Moses, but to Aaron and his sons, and to all the children of Israel: but openly manifesting that this precept of the Law does not wish any great man, nor any more perfect one, nor an imperfect one to be ignorant of what it is expedient for them to know, that is, that the law of the letter is temporal, so that, when the time is fulfilled, we may no longer occupy ourselves with it in vain and to no purpose. But what is the end of the times? The total destruction of that very place in which he commanded sacrifices to be offered, commanding with a threat that he who completes the sacrifice of God inside the camp, or outside, yet outside the tabernacle of the testimony, shall perish from the people. So that when the tabernacle of the testimony, and the temple which was made according to its image, shall have been destroyed, it may be known that all things which the Law commanded to be done there have an end; even those things do not please God, for he would not otherwise have destroyed the place in which it ought by all means to have been performed according to the Law. Which you will also say, when such just actions, that is, not to kill, not to commit adultery, not to steal, not to give false testimony, to honor father and mother, to love one's neighbor,
to make the servants free, to fast frequently, or to pray, does not circumscribe it to a place, because they are always useful and common with the evangelical conversation. A And he teaches what the sin of fornication is, so that idol worship, fornication, and flight to demons would be called fornication. These things, however, which are of themselves superfluous, but are of exquisite grace for a certain cause, he concludes by means of a place, so that they may know that they are temporal: for all things which serve by place are also ordered to serve by time. Therefore, sacrifices were assigned to a place, as were the purifications of the dead, of those suffering from an issue of seed, and of lepers, and of menstruating women: because these also have their effect through sacrifices: similarly, unleavened bread, and the figurative Passover, the feast of Tabernacles, Pentecost, and indeed the new moons and Sabbaths: for it was necessary in every way that sacrifices be offered in these. But that these had figures of the mysteries to be fulfilled by the Lord, we have sufficiently shown above.
B When the people who received the law were therefore a child, and longing for things that are imperfect, because they were about to adhere to shadows and to be concerned with places, just as a child is delighted by certain places, the legislator found a way through which he might of necessity remove them from the figures when the time for the passing away of these things arrived, by circumscribing them to the place which he was about to destroy, and ordaining that nothing of those things which were stated be done outside this place, but that he who would attempt it be as one shedding blood. Therefore, whoever even now attempts to perform the figures of the place that has been destroyed sheds blood, that is, they pollute the common conversation, they sin in common, just as those who shed blood, and likewise they shed the blood of him who is led into error by them: for they become the cause of destruction for him. But because it was possible to interrogate them, or to think, and for what cause these things were sanctioned, if they are local, we say that it is for a time, because they could not openly know the cause of the figures, nor did they desire to learn them revealed, because they had for objects of veneration the very things that were being sanctioned. For which reason the legislator wrote another more true cause for them than this: C And if the legislator seems to say the same things, nevertheless he makes the people, to whom the law is imposed by him, cautious; for by saying the same things frequently, he shows that this commandment is necessary and excessively useful. However, lest he say the same thing again in vain, but (having) above indeed submitted to punishment him who kills merely so that he might offer some sacrifice, though not in every way also one who does the rest of the sacrifice, he says: "Whoever shall kill a bull, or sheep, whether in the camp or outside the camp, and shall not offer it to the door of the tabernacle of testimony to be offered to the Lord." There, one is understood to be prohibited from what he attempted; here, however, it is not so, but: "Whoever shall offer a holocaust or victim, and shall not bring it to the door of the tabernacle of testimony, so that it may be offered to the Lord." By calling it a consummated or perfect sacrifice, to the extent that it became a holocaust, he nevertheless ordains the same punishment for this as well. For he who made a beginning of handling this, and is prohibited, differs in no way from him who completed it. But the punishment of both is destruction from the people, so that the latter can no longer dwell among the people, nor boast of circumcision, nor adorn himself with the ancestry of Abraham, nor be called an Israelite, but be constituted among those having the foreskin and the foreigners, that is, for anyone to be dispersed from his people. Therefore, whoever now transgresses the mandates or terms of the law, acting outside the temple in whatever the law does not wish to be done with the temple destroyed, are no longer Israelites, nor do they justly usurp for themselves the title of Jews. But it is also necessary to note this above all, that he commanded not only those who are of the sons of Israel to observe these things, but with them also the proselytes or strangers who wander among them, that is, the Gentiles—for these are not joined to them, but are with them, because we are with them, inasmuch as we possess their law and the prophets and the inheritance promised to them. We, however, do not adhere D to them, but to God: furthermore, according to the LXX, a man is mentioned, and although it was permitted to say "man" simply, he duplicates it, so that he might show that as much as he who is in circumcision, so he who is in uncircumcision adheres to God, he ought to observe this commandment.
VERS. 8, 9. ‹ And you shall say to them: A man of the sons of Israel, and of the strangers who wander among you, who shall offer a holocaust or victim, and shall not bring it to the door of the tabernacle of testimony, so that it may be offered to the Lord, he shall perish from his people. › And they shall no longer sacrifice their victims to demons with whom they have fornicated. Or, as the LXX: *[They shall no longer sacrifice their sacrifices to useless things]*: when it had been commanded to them by God: "You shall not make for yourself an idol, nor any likeness of those things which are in heaven above, or in the earth below, or whatever is in the waters beneath the earth." They made a molten calf and offered sacrifice to the calf, wishing to take sacrifices for the sake of gluttony. Their law, as a pedagogue, commanded them to offer sacrifices of them, so that occupied in these they might abstain themselves from every sacrifice of idolatry: and he sanctions these things, which the law, prohibiting them from the sacrifices of idols, could also teach them at the same time about
The figures of future mysteries
. But he rightly called serving idols "fornication": teaching us openly that God betrothed our souls to Himself for salvation, and therefore departure from Him is called fornication. Moreover, he terrifies those who fornicate in the flesh, and teaches what the sin of fornication is, so that idol worship, fornication, and flight to demons would be called fornication.VERS. 10-12. ‹ Any man of the house of Israel, and of the strangers who wander among you, if he eats blood, I will set my face against his soul, and I will destroy it from his people. Because the soul of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you, so that upon the altar you may make expiation in it for your souls, and the blood may be for a propitiation of the soul, therefore I said to the sons of Israel: No soul of yours shall eat blood. ›
› A Since "The soul of all flesh is in its blood," we should not understand the soul to be the substance of the blood, but rather that it has a kinship with the flesh through the blood; and when this is drained or grows cold, it is then separated from the flesh, the Creator so disposing our nature. Since, therefore, Christ gave His own blood for the expiation of our souls, that we should abstain from every murder and from every other iniquity that is akin to murder—for the law is common and extends against all.
The LXX here translate, "Man, man." How this ought to be understood, we have said above. Therefore, it is necessary to guard the letter of this commandment and in no way to eat blood. For you will find that the apostles also laid this down when a question arose in the Church at Antioch concerning certain Jewish observances. Those who had set forth the Law brought it to them, and they resolved this question and defined it: "It has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than that you should abstain from things sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication." Therefore, let us understand by blood, properly, murder; but by all blood, every fraternal hatred, because he who hates his brother is a murderer, just as John wrote. He says, therefore, "all blood," the injustice of the deceitful. "The Lord will abhor the bloody and deceitful man," and whatever harms the lives of neighbors through any snares whatsoever, so that they are equated with the murder of blood. And for this reason, one must abstain from all blood, knowing that over the soul that eats such blood—of whom David said, "Who devour my people as food for bread"—God, namely Christ, hardens His face. For He is the image of the Father, as he who has seen the Son has seen the Father. He is also judge, and B it is necessary for the punishing of those who are workers of evils that He be set as one who will destroy, which David demonstrates, saying: "The face of the Lord is against those who do evil, that He may cut off the memory of them from the earth." He destroys the soul consuming blood from His people—that is, from the common race of men; for separating this soul as merciless and impious, He condemns it with the wicked demons and casts it into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels.
Then, showing how much we ought to sympathize and be merciful, loving one another for the sake of Him who showed such piety toward us as to shed His own blood for our propitiation and to give it for our souls, He says: "Because the soul of all flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you, that upon the altar you may make expiation in it for your souls," signifying the mystical blood of Christ; therefore, His blood shall be for the propitiation of the soul. The blood upon the altar for the expiation of our souls, expiating for the soul, is this which the Crucified One shed for us, and provided as an expiation, or propitiation, for the human race, offering the firstfruits, on account of which He rightly says: C "And the blood shall be for the propitiation of the soul." For its soul, first indeed, which was fashioned by Him, and then because He received it as consubstantial with our soul when He was incarnate, so that He might Himself render for us the death that we owed. Since, however:
D Verses 13, 14. ‹ Any man of the sons of Israel, and of the strangers who dwell among you, who by hunting and fowling shall catch a beast or a bird which is lawful to eat, let him pour out its blood and cover it with earth: for the soul of all flesh is in the blood. Therefore I said to the sons of Israel: You shall not eat the blood of any flesh, for the soul of the flesh is in the blood. And whoever eats it shall perish. ›
God has great care that we do not harm one another in any way. Therefore, Jesus commanded that if one strikes us on the cheek, we should yield, and not contend with him in judgment; and likewise, concerning him who takes away our cloak, that we should not be provoked to harm our neighbor even due to contention, but rather that we should correct him who acts unjustly toward us through our own patience. Therefore, nothing restricts our life more than injustice, and avarice, and mutual hatred. Aiming at this, the legislator did not recapitulate the blood commandment in vain, but because he saw that some are wont, as if ignorant, to harm people through certain frauds and machinations and various deceits, and even to destroy them through such artifices. For see what He commands.
"If by hunting and fowling one catches a beast or a bird which is lawful to eat, let him pour out its blood and cover it with earth." That hunting is wont to be received by divine Scripture as injustice—not just any injustice, but that which tends toward blood and harms the very life of the victim through deceit and fraud—hear David saying: "They will lie in wait for the soul of the just, and condemn innocent blood." And again: "Our soul has been snatched like a sparrow from the snare of the hunters." If anyone, therefore, catches a hunt—that is, if he sees him who, out of infirmity or simplicity, is exposed to the hunt—we say this is the thing that is caught. For which reason He said: "Beast or bird, which are lawful to eat." By the beast, signifying some lowly man who is carnal and occupied only with grazing, and devoid of the complications of affairs. By the bird, however, him who removes himself from earthly things. For such men are consumed by the violent and the greedy in worldly causes, namely, by that inappropriate and wicked feast, of which Paul prohibited, saying: If you bite one another...
A Or, as those who were previously just are rightly named among those things that it is permitted to eat, that is, among the clean. Nevertheless, if anyone, like one who lies below and is buried in penitence, sheds blood—that is, the sin which he has committed—and sheds it by approaching the operation and confession, just as David says: I will pour out my prayer in his sight, let the earth cover it. For the earth covers the sins of those who confess, inasmuch as they remain below and are mortified by repentance. And those whose cry is forbidden to ascend to the heavens, just as the cry of the inhabitants of Sodom ascended—for they did not wish to perform penance, so that God might say concerning them to Abraham: I will go down and see whether they have fulfilled with their works the cry that comes to me, or if it is not so, that I may know. But even Job, whether by the devil, or by those who were reproachfully casting iniquity upon him, not escaping the notice of the Lord, that is, not being despised by Him, praying cried out: Earth, do not hide my blood, nor let my cry find a place in you wherein to lie hidden. B That is, let it not be restrained in a place, but let it ascend to God. For which reason he added: Behold now my witness is in heaven, and my confidant is on high. According to this intention, therefore, the legislator, establishing the things that have been said, added: For the soul of all flesh is in the blood. Then he adds: Whence I said to the children of Israel. That is, say: You shall not eat of the blood of any flesh, because the soul of the flesh is in the blood, protesting that one should abstain from every iniquity. Protesting, however, not to declare the sins of brothers which were committed against the will, but to hand them over to the earth of him who was captured—that is, having seen blood—covering it with forgiveness and compassion. For he who eats blood, and he who defames the soul of his neighbor, is rightly considered a sinner, because the death of the soul is sin to those who wish to be called children of Israel, and to be called the firstborn of God, and to escape the punishment subjoined; for he says: And whosoever shall eat of it, shall perish. And neither priesthood, nor faith, nor sanctification, nor any other virtue or dignity can provide a defense for such a one, for he threatens destruction to all who eat blood.
C VERS. 15, 16. The soul that eats of that which died of itself, or that which was taken by a beast, whether native or foreigner, shall wash his clothes and himself in water, and shall be unclean until the evening, and in this order shall become clean. But if he does not wash his garments and his body, he shall bear his iniquity.
That which dies of itself is a sinner, inasmuch as he sustains the cruel death of sin, but that which is taken by beasts is, not only simply, but a very great sinner, to such an extent that evil demons work in him, just as was Judas, who, with the devil entering into his heart, betrayed Christ, as we have said before, when the legislator was pointing out the sacrifices of pollution. But there, he who touched things that died of themselves, or those taken by beasts—that is, he who communicated or was a participant with those who were mentioned before—he says: he who eats, namely, who made the whole of that man's sin his own, and fulfilled his own malicious intention out of the evil that the other committed, just as were Annas and Caiaphas, D who did not simply become participants of the betrayal of Judas, for they, purchasing the betrayal, gave them money, and, being hungry of old, or desiring the death of the Lord, in order to feed and nourish their own intention and to satisfy their desire, prevailed through Judas: such are said to eat of things that died of themselves and were taken by beasts. They have need to wash their clothes and body; but he washes his garment and his body who cleanses his whole self, that is, his interior and exterior man, because the body is within the garments, just as the interior man is within the exterior man. But how does he wash? By baptism, or by an abundance of tears, which imitate the waters of baptism. But he who does not do this shall bear his iniquity, namely, the retribution of his injustice. For so you will find the divine Scripture, especially in the matter of sins, to be threatening, whence Ezekiel brought in God saying: My eye shall not spare over you, and I will not pity, but I will put your ways upon you, and your abominations shall be in the midst of you. But and Isaiah says: Priests, speak to the heart of Jerusalem, and comfort her, for her malice is fulfilled, her iniquity is remitted. She has received from the hand of the Lord double for all her sins.
CHAPTER XVIII.
VERS. 1–5. And the Lord said to Moses: Speak to the children of Israel, and you shall say to them: I am the Lord your God. According to the custom of the land of Egypt, in which you dwelt, you shall not do. According to the manner of the region of Chanaan, to which I am about to bring you, you shall not act, nor shall you walk in their statutes. You shall do my judgments, and you shall keep my precepts, and you shall walk in them. I am the Lord your God. Keep my laws and my judgments: which if a man does, he shall live in them.
Because he ordained many and diverse things for them, lest he who was receiving the law should fail in the multitude of things that were being ordained, he shows the intention simply, and not as tearing it into many parts: so that one, knowing what is to be corrected and to what end the intellect of the law tends, may not fail through multiplicity. Just as those who sail the sea, when they extend their eyes to the end of the voyage, and to the limit of the course, and to the harbor, easily traverse the length of the deep without failure. Commanding, therefore, the things which are now said, he says, I am the Lord your God, so that, by learning the Creator and Lord who commanded,
and with the highest zeal, we should keep the things which are commanded by Him. Thus, therefore, He explained the intention of the whole injunction. What, however, is this? That we should abstain from all iniquity and perform those things which are of virtue. "According to the custom of the land of Egypt," and according to the manner of the land of Chanaan, to do nothing: so He commanded that one abstain from all iniquity. The Septuagint, however, translated "customs" as "studies": because divine Scripture is accustomed to call the pursuits of evil men "studies": as for instance Ezekiel saying, after the iniquities which He showed the elders of Israel doing in the temple: "And the Lord said to me: Seest thou, son of man? And again: Turning, thou shalt see greater studies than these." Therefore, He commanded that one should abstain not only from fornication, and avarice, and pride, but also from the rejections of divinations and auguries and witchcrafts; but even more so, and from other similar things, so that Moses in Deuteronomy might say: "When thou shalt have entered the land which the Lord thy God shall give to thee, beware lest thou desire to imitate the abominations of those nations, nor let there be found among you anyone who consults and observes dreams and auguries, nor be a sorcerer, nor an enchanter, nor consult the pythons, nor diviners, nor seek the truth from the dead. For the Lord will abominate all these things. All who do these things, the Lord shall destroy them from among you for these abominations." A From these things, therefore, it behooves us first to abstain, and thus God says to us: "You shall do my judgments, and my precepts you shall keep, and you shall walk in them," that is, be moved and conversant in them, and at no time be empty of their correction. Then again He subjoined:
"I am the Lord your God. Keep my laws and my judgments, which if a man shall do, he shall live in them." B Abstaining ourselves first from the abominations which have been mentioned, because there is no participation of justice with iniquity, nor communion of light with darkness, nor does it please Him that he who is studious of any gentile evil or observance should be able to boast of the knowledge of God’s law, then at length let us use the judgments of God and His precepts. And what kind of judgments and what kind of precepts are those which, if a man shall do, he shall live in them—so that you may know that you do not give to God, obeying His law and fulfilling His judgments and precepts, but to yourself: for you shall live in them, giving effort to the virtues through which eternal life is afforded to men. But it is worthy to be sought and discussed why, in one place of the Law, He twice said to do His judgments and keep His precepts? Or why He says twice, "I am the Lord God"? Do you think it is by repeating the same? By no means: for all divine Scripture is brief; yet especially here the legislator, as one who was about to say many things, was solicitous regarding brevity: because there are two testaments, the Old and the New, whence He Himself also said through Jeremiah: "I will give to you a new testament, not according to the testament which I gave to your fathers, in the day that I took their hand, to lead them out of the land of Egypt," A correctly making mention in the second place of the judgments, so as to show those which He was about to sanction later. Concerning which He now added: "Which doing, a man shall live in them." For in them, true life is perfected in those who believe in Christ, of whom the Lord was speaking in the Gospel: "This is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son, and believes in him, may have eternal life." Very reasonably, therefore, in the second place, He says: "I am the Lord your God." Bearing witness that the Lord Himself sanctioned both the former judgments, or precepts, and the later ones, which whoever shall do, shall live in them. For to the former judgments and precepts, see what He added: "I am the Lord." B
Vers. 6-17. "Every man shall not approach his near kin, to uncover her nakedness. I am the Lord. The nakedness of thy father, and the nakedness of thy mother, thou shalt not uncover: she is thy mother, thou shalt not uncover her nakedness. The nakedness of thy father’s wife thou shalt not uncover, for it is thy father’s nakedness. The nakedness of thy sister from father or from mother, who is born at home or abroad, thou shalt not uncover. The nakedness of the daughter of thy son, or the granddaughter of thy daughter, thou shalt not uncover, because it is thy nakedness. The nakedness of the daughter of thy father’s wife, whom she bore to thy father, and she is thy sister, thou shalt not uncover. The nakedness of thy father’s sister thou shalt not uncover, for she is the flesh of thy father. The nakedness of thy father’s brother thou shalt not uncover, nor shalt thou approach his wife, who is joined to thee by affinity. The nakedness of thy daughter-in-law thou shalt not uncover, because she is thy son’s wife, nor shalt thou uncover her ignominy. The nakedness of thy brother’s wife thou shalt not uncover, because it is thy brother’s nakedness. The nakedness of thy wife, and of her daughter, thou shalt not uncover. Thou shalt not take the daughter of her son, and the daughter of her daughter, so as to uncover her ignominy, because it is her flesh." C
That those things which are sanctioned are not to be neglected is manifest from the fact that He again said: "I am the Lord." But Moses does this, or rather the Spirit which was speaking in him, so that those things which were being said would not be despised, by those who say that they are of Moses. But these things which are commanded are not his, but God’s, since the greatest effort has been expended so that their letter might be preserved, and the spiritual understanding. Whence our translation says: "Every man shall not approach his near kin, to uncover her nakedness." The Septuagint render: "Man, man shall not approach any domestic of his own flesh, to uncover nakedness." Therefore, saying "man, man" a second time, so that just as man is twofold, so should those things which are sanctioned be understood to be twofold, and that it is necessary to guard both their outer face and their inner face and inner contemplation, D so that the great and righteous law may compose the outer and inner man. But those things which are of the law that is outside...
forbids those near in blood from being mixed in nuptial intercourse, because this view also held sway among the Gentiles, whose land Jesus received as an inheritance. But Israel was a slave to carnal pleasures, such that they desired the Moabite women, and offered sacrifices to the idol Beelphegor, which was worshipped by them, and Osee accused them, saying of them: *All adulterers, as an oven heated.* And again God said to them thus: *I will not punish your daughters when they have committed fornication, and your spouses when they have committed adultery*, because they themselves were consorting with harlots and sacrificing with the effeminate. But Jeremiah also says to all Jerusalem: *A harlot’s face has become yours.* Whence it was commanded them to take many wives, that through this at least they might abstain from the fornications and adulteries of strange women. Therefore, he now extends the discourse at length, and sets forth the generations in order, commanding from what [consanguinity] they ought to contain themselves from the commixture of coitus. In order to show that the commandment is necessary, he enumerates the kinships themselves, manifesting in the enumeration the cause of the sanction, which he strives for: that generations be not confounded, nor inheritances perish, nor brother and father become the same, and the wife of the same be also [his] mother. For both of these things would happen if a father and son had had the same wife, and from her had procreated children. For he who is born from the son has both his own father as his begetter, as well as a brother, inasmuch as he was born from her who also bore [the father], and was at once his wife and mother. These and other similar things result from the nefarious commixture of kin. Because of which, wishing to avert [us] from such conjunction and coitus, he says: A *The nakedness of thy father or mother thou shalt not uncover*, and the same in the subsequent [verses] regarding a stepmother, and sister, and daughter-in-law, and all others, calling the revelation of nakedness their conjunction. From this discourse, everyone doing such actions ought to be put to confusion and averted, or even held in hatred.
Similarly, that also is to be noted which is opportune: that in saying, *Any man shall not approach his near of kin to uncover her nakedness*, he added: *I am the Lord.* And what need was there for this to be added, when he had once, and at the beginning of the present sanction, said: *I am the Lord your God?* But he openly manifests this, that he who decreed these things is the very one who is conjoined to us in flesh and has become a partaker of our nature. Whence it is unjust that we should injure the magnitude of his kinship. But since these things are so, it is to be understood that it is sanctioned spiritually: for he does not wish us to uncover any sins whatever, which may have been entrusted to us by kin or friends, nor to betray their shameful actions, lest we suffer perhaps what Cham did, who, seeing his father’s B nakedness, did not cover it, but going forth, made it known to his brethren. Therefore, in the case of father and mother, and sister, and whomsoever else he has enumerated, since it is fitting to accept them with carnal [kinship], and [Paul] says of them: *An elder rebuke not, but entreat him as a father, young men as brethren, aged women as mothers, young women as sisters.* Then, desiring that we, who are faithful, should seek out kinship with all who are of the same faith, he says again thus: *We being many are one body in Christ, and everyone members one of another.* Whence he also called it impious to reveal the shame of any of those aforesaid, because the prevarication of spiritual kinship tends toward the Lord, since we have kinship with him by spiritual bonds. Nevertheless, it does not behoove him who diligently meditates upon the utterances of the law—because according to the Septuagint the legislator has set forth in the present [text] the number of ten degrees of kinship, the number of which represents all the commandments of the law—to pass this by, showing that whoever uncovers the shame, whether of carnal, spiritual, or blood kin, is found to be a transgressor of the whole law. Why? Because that which violates charity—which is the fulfillment of the law—is foreign. This is what Paul says: *Thou shalt not commit adultery: Thou shalt not kill: Thou shalt not steal: Thou shalt not covet. And if there be any other commandment, it is summed up in this word: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. The love of your neighbor works no evil. Fullness therefore of the law is love.* But the understanding will be plainer if we search the letter itself.
*Any man shall not approach his near of kin to uncover her nakedness.* So that we may not approach kin, presuming upon the law of kinship, and by this tempting them, and then knowing their shameful actions, betray them. C Whence he also added, most opportunely: *I am the Lord.* That is, manifesting the sins of men, whatever they may have confessed; and while praying, spreading them out, covering and dissipating them, so that not even a trace of them may be found. Since, therefore, we have learned much fruit of those things which are now sanctioned, let us pass on to those things which follow.
*The nakedness of thy wife and her daughter thou shalt not uncover, and her son’s daughter, and her daughter’s daughter thou shalt not take, to uncover her ignominy, because she is his flesh, and such coitus is incest.* The legislator therefore set forth this necessary commandment: for he who is mixed with a mother and a daughter, and generates children from both, he himself confounds the generations. For the children who are generated from the mother [of the wife] are the brothers of those who are generated from the wife’s daughter, at the same time as these come to be. And fathers likewise, and grandfathers, when [the father] has become a generator of children from the mother and her granddaughter, who are born from both. But let us not understand the shame of mother, and daughter, and granddaughter, and the evil desire, and the action generated from desire which proceeds to another action more wicked and greater. For James says: *Concupiscence when it hath conceived, bringeth forth sin; but sin, when it is consummated, begetteth death*: which is the grandchild of desire, that to thee… D
A showeth forth the very history and divine Scripture itself. David, therefore, coveted the wife of Uriah: behold, concupiscence is the mother of sin. He who coveted committed adultery; the daughter followed the mother. Having committed adultery, he killed: the most wicked and deadly concupiscence which preceded is the grandparent. Therefore, he wishes none of these things to be revealed, for it is not fitting for the sins of neighbors to be brought forth, but rather that they be admonished and recalled to their memory, when the Apostle says: *Brethren, if a man be overtaken in any fault, you, who are spiritual, instruct such a one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted*. You see that it was not in vain that the legislator said: *They are thy flesh*, showing that it is in a way related and familiar to us to sin, on account of which we ought to have compassion on one another when we sin. For Paul, dispensing this which has now been said, added: *Bear ye one another's burdens, and so you shall fulfill the law of Christ*. He, therefore, bore our sins. But he who bears the burden of a neighbor and takes upon himself the sins of his brother, does not expose or reveal them, but rather restrains them, and heals them with medicinal words, and, as if it were his own infirmity, exhausts them with kind exhortations. Whence the prophet Isaiah, saying of the Savior: *Surely he hath borne our sins*, added: *And he hath prayed for the transgressors*. We ought, therefore, to grieve and groan for those who have proceeded to wicked work and thought, but not to manifest these things.
VERS. 18. *Thou shalt not take the sister of thy wife to her vexation, neither shalt thou uncover her nakedness, while she is yet living.*
VERS. 19-23. *Thou shalt not approach unto a woman that hath an unclean issue, neither shalt thou uncover her filthiness. Thou shalt not lie with thy neighbor's wife, nor be defiled with the seed of copulation. Thou shalt not give of thy seed to be consecrated to the idol Moloch,* or, according to the Septuagint, *To serve the prince*. *Neither shalt thou defile the name of thy God. I am the Lord. Thou shalt not lie with mankind with womanly copulation, because it is an abomination. Thou shalt not lie with any beast, nor be defiled with it. A woman shall not lie down to a beast, nor shall she be mingled with it, because it is a crime.*
These things are well joined together in the style of interpretation. The present intention of the legislator is to restrain him who receives the Law from lusts, and nefarious copulations, and from fornication, as much sensible as intelligible. Therefore, he did not command that he be joined in an unholy manner to her who is in her menstruation, on account of the pollution of copulation, nor yet to the wife of a neighbor: for this intercourse is adultery, not marriage. Whence, when he had said: B *Thou shalt not lie with thy neighbor's wife*, he added: *Nor shalt thou be defiled with the seed of copulation*. Explaining this, that it is no longer marriage; for he who was copulating had not polluted her; because marriage is honorable and the bed unstained: but he strives with the greatest zeal to remove us from sensible and from intelligible fornication, on account of which he added: *Thou shalt not give of thy seed to serve Moloch*, or, as the Septuagint, *the Prince*. To which prince, our translation and the other interpreters have shown. For to Moloch Himself, in place of "prince," they have consonantly rendered it. That this was an idol, Stephen also, in his preaching, and especially Amos, prophesying before him, demonstrated; for he says: *And you have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch, and the image of your idols, the star of your god which you made to yourselves*. But let us understand "seed" not only as relatives, but as our every action and doctrine, so that we may not give our action to serve idols, because the root of all evils is covetousness, which is the service of idols. But neither let us teach such things as pertain to the impiety of the error of idols. For thus you understand that it is not fitting to go in to the woman who is established in menstruation, for the uncovering of her nakedness, so that we do not mix ourselves in the error of the pagans. For we showed above that she who is established in menstruation bears the figure of this, when we were speaking of those in menstruation and those suffering a flux of blood— C *You do not covet well, but they would exclude you.*
But that the Church does not envy the Synagogue, but rather suffers envy from the Synagogue, is manifest from this: that not the second wife is the rival of the first, but the first is the rival of the second, as it is wont to happen from the husband’s D desire; whence Leah also envied Rachel. But see what kind of things the legislator subjoined: And when he had said: *Give me of thy son's mandrakes*, she answered: *Is it a small matter to thee that thou hast taken my husband?* Openly, however, these are the words of one who envies.
These things are rightly commanded, because the Lord God hath called us in peace. For He who wishes us to have peace with all, saying also through Paul: *If it be possible, as much as is in you, have peace with all men*, much more wishes us to be placable toward our neighbors, which it subverts if someone is joined to a wife and her sister at the same time, so that the sisters dwell together, and envy is excited between those dwelling together, from which contention and quarreling is generated. After this, the law enjoins that it is not fitting in Judaic conversation to receive ecclesiastical [rules], nor at the same time to celebrate the pasch, which is in a figure, with that which is intelligible, nor, while celebrating the festival of unleavened bread, to take the supper of Christ's bread, which is the true unleavened bread, nor to preach both circumcision and baptism at the same time. Remember, therefore, Him who said: *Behold I, Paul, tell you, that if you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing*. But also if by chance someone has used Judaic conversation, let him mortify it by neglecting it, that is, let him render it viler and ineffectual, and then let him be joined to her who is of the Church, who is his sister, who has the same law and reads the same prophets, but she is a rival, not that she herself envies, but that she suffers the envy of the other, because her riches have devolved to us through her, in such a way that Paul might say to the Galatians who were from the Gentiles concerning those who are from the circumcision:
A with women, the manner of speech was necessary for interpretation. But let us not reveal its foulness, so that we might not speak of it nor bring their evil actions into the middle, not as though sparing them, but on account of those who are listening, because it harms the listeners. On account of this Paul says: "For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret."
But let us also avoid the wife of one’s neighbor, so that one is not defiled by her, namely a Gentile and idolater, who is called our neighbor because of nature and kinship. On account of this also, the Lord, when asked by the Scribe: "And who is my neighbor?" called him who had gone down from Jerusalem to Jericho and had fallen among robbers, namely demons, and was healed neither by the priest nor by the Levite, but by the Samaritan, his neighbor. Therefore, you shall not lie with the wife of such a man, so that you are not stained by such a commingling of seed, so that we do not commune with the wisdom of the pagans to that extent, nor do we persist in it to such a degree that we seek out any pollution from it in dogma, nor shall we defile the name of our God, which we understand as commonly applying to all things that have been said. For one defiles the name of God not only by the immorality of fornication and by using certain actions of idols, but also if someone, from the error of the pagans and that which is called philosophy among them, introduces [such things] into the divine dogmas of the Church. Some, suffering from this, have fallen into the lot of the heretics and have become outside the Church, inasmuch as they defile the name of God, that is, they insult and in a certain way pollute it; for it is not proper to induce things that belong to the dead over the living, but the mandate of Paul, written by the Spirit, must be guarded: "What participation has justice with iniquity? Or what fellowship has Christ with Belial?" For the Legislator himself, also signifying this in the things that have been said, subjoined in a certain way: "I am the Lord." I who have glory incommunicable to all, how much more so to demons, who are the destroyers of souls, and their idols?
B He makes the sanction even more terrible by the very words, from the fact that, as you see, he placed it in the middle of those things of which he is now speaking. For having discussed the preceding points, he proposes again: that one must not lie with a male in male intercourse, nor must one lie with a beast, mandating this necessarily in both cases, as both are contrary to nature. But furthermore, because it belongs to beasts to be mingled with a man in foul intercourse, that is something to be avoided and opposed. But Paul also demonstrated this, teaching that for these things the penalty and the wrath of God and the destruction of those who commit them are brought about. But also the other interpreters, for "abominable," Symmachus rendered "ineffable," and Aquila rendered "defiled," saying that this is unendurable, whether in action or in word or in conversation, and not lawful. But let us, beyond these things, understand by the "male who acts in a masculine way" the man of whom David was speaking: "Blessed is the man who has not walked in the counsel of the impious"; and again: "Let your hand be upon the man of your right hand." C This one must not be made effeminate, nor should he be dissolved from the firmness he has in virtue; for this is understandingly [taken] as being mingled with a man in womanly intercourse. But just as it was not proper for another to become effeminate, so neither is it proper to rest in nefarious pleasures; which are rightly called quadrupeds, as tending toward the earth, and not having the actions that befit a man: for quadrupeds tend toward the earth and lack the use of hands, which are taken for actions worthy of humans, because it is properly the task of humans to labor with their hands.
It is not therefore proper to lie with those by whom someone is defiled. For he who dwells in delights or pleasures, so as to lie with them, is said to shed seed on this account, because he is driven by them, or because he takes delight in them, and by frequent use sows them, in a certain way, or is sown by some seed from them, which the enemy sows into the world while we are sleeping and negligent, defiling greatly, so that someone who is like this, as one who defiles, must be expelled from the sacred tabernacle, D and be an alien to the Lord’s threshing floor, he who through evil seed has been made into tares.
But not only the man, but also the woman, necessarily guards the law: that one certainly whom Solomon praises: "A good woman shall be blessed," he praises the fear of God. "A strong woman," he says, "who shall find?" In the same way as the male, when he has guarded his own things and has conducted himself in a way worthy of himself, signifies a soul established in virtues: so also the woman, when she has not mingled herself in any womanly [adulteries], since she too received a great dignity before she transgressed against her Creator, so that she might be called a helper of man. On account of this, it is wicked for her, who is such, to be prostituted to lust. "To lie" or "to succumb," Symmachus rendered.
VERS. 24-26. "Do not be defiled in all the things with which the nations are contaminated, which I will cast out before your face, and by which the earth is defiled, whose crimes I will visit, so that it may vomit out its inhabitants. Keep my lawful ordinances and judgments."
That one is defiled in no small way in the aforementioned sins, the indignation and the penalty which is defined in them demonstrates; for in none of them is it proper to be defiled, for he who has been defiled in one is also defiled in all. Because the law, wishing to show that these things are joined to one another to their own mutual detriment, gathered into one all of these things, which are so grave that they destroyed entire nations and defiled the earth, and caused the defiled [earth] to be rejected, and would vomit out and renounce those who committed such things in it, not because it was able to cast them out, or vomit them out, or, as Theodotion rendered, "reject" them, because it naturally groans over the very same guilty ones in their transgressions, just as Paul says: "For the creation itself groans and travails until now." But God avenges its groaning as much as His own law and creation, as being His own, which He demonstrates from these things which He has now said: "Whose crimes I will visit," and this openly shows that
A the earth received from God the power to vomit forth those who act unjustly upon it. Whence He even brought forth hornets for the destruction of those dwelling there, whom He also taught us through the Book of Deuteronomy to drive out before the face of the children of Israel, against the Amorites and the remaining nations. And this indeed the law teaches us according to the letter. But joined to these things, and not contrary to them, if we understand by spiritual perception the nations polluted in these things to be demons; for the nations here are so called on account of their multitude: for when they are overly wicked, and delight in all malice, but especially in fornication, and nefarious fornication, and even more do they delight in idolatry: because in these the body and soul is stained and the whole man, who is called earth, is polluted thereby. But God visits the earth, that is to say, the human race, and its wickedness, or, as the Septuagint has it, its injustice which is in it, that is, that which is committed by it and against itself: by it indeed those who are sinners among men, and if they are drawn into the same by demons, because the latter, taking occasion from our negligence, inflict insult upon our nature. But God visiting through the advent of the Savior, of whom Zacharias was speaking, prophesying the birth of the Lord at the doors: "The orient from on high has visited us." Our nature, that is, those who have received it by lot, or those in whom the evil one is the prince, the Psalmist prefiguring, sang: "He sits in ambush with the rich in secret, that he may slay the innocent," so that they themselves being cast out said: "If Thou cast us out, send us into the herd of swine." For which reason we ought to keep the whole law promulgated through Moses and the precepts of the evangelical conversation, as those who have received such a visitation from Him.
VERS. 20-29. ‹ And he shall not do any of these admonitions, as well the native as the sojourner who dwells among them. For all these execrations the inhabitants of the land who were before you have done, and have polluted it. Beware therefore lest it vomit you out also in like manner, when you have done the same things as it vomited out the nation that was before you. Every soul that shall do any of these abominations shall perish from the midst of its people. ›
B they are bound to do, and by no means to do those things which the ancients—who polluted our earth—practiced. These, therefore, are anterior to us in condition, because they are invisible creatures. They polluted the human race, suggesting to it disobedience to Adam, and other evils after him, such as falsehood, homicide, and whatever things are like to these, so that the Lord said concerning the devil: "He is a liar from the beginning, and a murderer." But they suggested these things to those who had a slippery mind and one leaning toward evil: for neither to Abel, nor Seth, nor Enoch, nor Noah, nor to other just men could they suggest, or rather, they did suggest, but did not prevail; but they were mocked by them, and retreated. For the enemy is not ignorant of the thoughts of the just, as Paul says: "For we are not ignorant of his cogitations." But knowing them, they guard themselves from them. But the intelligible earth of ours, visited by God, vomited forth those others. Because of this, he who sins such sins is not worthy of pardon now, because, after those who seduce us are destroyed, and after the earth has vomited them out, we imitate the things pertaining to them, and we suffer what the Lord said: "The last state of that man becomes worse than the first." For those who after the evangelical preaching have passed into the impieties and crimes, or rather abominations, mentioned, on account of their excessive aversion from God, have been rightly called evil; the earth abhors and will vomit them forth: for they will no longer be numbered in the portion of men, but in the order of demons; for their souls will be destroyed. C This, moreover, happens in Gehenna, where the place and lot of the demons is greatest, which the Lord manifests saying: "Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire, which was prepared for the devil and his angels."
He reiterates and establishes the law, and confirms the threat. Again adding these things, He wills to terrify by commanding, and to lift us up to avoid the things He has forbidden, that we may not be subjected to the punishment which He has threatened. For what is this destruction of the soul? That is, which death here forestalls in sin; yet it is completed hereafter in Gehenna. For the Lord says: "Fear Him who can destroy both body and soul in Gehenna." For which cause, the native, that is, he who has been nurtured in the law by his fathers, and has been taught the scriptures from infancy, as well as the proselyte, and he who is joined to us, that is, he who has been added to us from the outside, who are within, [are commanded] to withdraw from abominations.
D VERS. 50. ‹ Keep my commandments, do not do the things which those who were before you have done, and do not be polluted in them. I am the Lord your God. ›
Truly in two or three witnesses every word stands. This, therefore, the legislator wishing to confirm, has commanded concerning the same things a third time. Keep, He says, my commandments, do not do the things which those who were before you have done. That He may show that the commandments are not of any man whatsoever, but of God Himself. And how it ought to be kept, He has shown not by word, but by deed, having become incarnate through His conversation. In order that we may not do all the things which those who were before us have done, He has necessarily added this, that we might know that He does not grant pardon to those who sin. Because some others preceding have committed similar sins to those who followed: first, because not even to them was pardon given, but they were condemned to punishments; secondly, because the punishment of those preceding was sufficient to correct those who followed; furthermore, because with God testifying of the same things often through the law, and the Prophets, and the Gospels, it behooved even the most stubborn to be turned to obedience.
A And see with what words he confirmed the present sanction. "Do not be polluted by them, for I am the Lord your God," wishing to cleanse you all from pollution. For because we are invested with His image, and because it is polluted by any of those things that are forbidden, by evil and nefarious action, it is necessarily angered; but when kept pure, it is so pleasing that He even dwells in us, as Paul manifests both; he therefore says thus: "Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in you? Whoever therefore violates the temple of God, God will destroy him; for the temple of God is holy, which you are." Keeping, therefore, the completed sanctification, we have in us the whole fullness of the Trinity dwelling, if however we are the temple of God, namely the Father, and Christ's body and members, and the Holy Spirit dwells in us, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom is glory, honor, and dominion, for ever and ever. Amen.
BOOK SIXTH
B PRÆFATIO.
What great goods we acquire by transferring the mind to the meditation and interpretation of the law, what need is there to say? For we not only attain virtues, but we also renounce evils through the study of this, and we acquire the love of God, learning the beauty of His wisdom, and at the same time we free the eye of the soul from worldly smoke, and cease to endure the empire of human corruption, and we move beyond men, living more sublimely in this flesh which is from earthly matter, or rather we are made more human. For the rational and contemplative is proper to man, whence he is also said to be created in the image of God. These things come to us through study and occupation regarding the Word of God. On account of which let us traverse the following of the book of Leviticus, conferring much assistance upon those who read. For the commands are of God, adumbrated in many things on account of the infirmity of the people of the Jews in the letter: but they provide perfection to one gazing according to the letter, and those things which were spoken through Moses are found consonant, if they are interpreted, with the Gospel.
CHAPTER XIX.
VERS. 1-4. *The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, and you shall say to them: Be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy. Let everyone fear his father and his mother. Keep my Sabbaths. I am the Lord your God. Do not turn to idols, nor make for yourselves molten gods, I am the Lord.*
C He rightly placed sanctification first, because it is the foundation of every virtue. And because the legislator shows that it is necessary to follow this in all ways, he conveniently says: *Be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.* That is, if it pleases you to please God, or if you wish Him to be present with you, or more so to be with Him (for the presence and conjunction of God removes all snares from you), you attain sanctification; and the holy does not allow itself to be joined to the profane. Therefore Paul said: "Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in you? Whoever therefore violates the temple of the Lord, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which you are."
Building commandments upon this foundation, outside of which no one can lay another: "Everyone," he says, "let him fear his father and his mother." By sanctification indeed commanding a pure mind toward the Creator, but by the honor to be paid to father and mother, the kindness of nature, which the Lord gave as a due to be owed by children to parents, not only honor but also fear. Then wishing to recapitulate the commandments of the law, that is, *You shall not kill; Do not steal: You shall not commit adultery: You shall not perjure yourself: You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain: You shall not covet the neighbor's wife*: and to briefly command continence from evil; *Keep my Sabbaths*, he D added reasonably, because the true Sabbath is to perform no work of corruption: for Moses commanded that also no servile work be done on the Sabbath: openly commanding him who wishes to celebrate the Sabbath according to the law of the spirit to beware of the works of the flesh, which are fornication, uncleanness, and things similar to these. But neither is it right to be ignorant of the cause of the Sabbath, for thus we shall know the virtue of the law which is concerning it. When, therefore, did God give the commandment of the Sabbath? Do you think under Noah, when he commanded not to eat blood? By no means, but under Abraham, whom he held as a faithful friend, whom he tested, and never hid a good commandment from him. But not even then, when he led the Jewish people out of the land of Egypt, and they murmured in their hunger, saying: "Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat over the pots of meats, and were eating bread to satiety!" God indeed sent them manna, but teaching us that it behooved us not to [take] more than our daily food, he commanded that no more than a Gomor be gathered for each head: but this measure among
the Jews was what could nourish each individual man. Wishing then to teach them about intelligible rest and the end of the world—because at that time it is impossible to seek food, or to work, or to be occupied with anything corporal—He commanded Moses to tell them such things: "To-day is the Sabbath unto the Lord; ye shall not find it in the field: six days ye shall gather it, but on the seventh day is the Sabbath, there shall be none in it." Not "a Sabbath," but "Sabbaths," because intelligible rest possesses vacation and alienation A from all carnal things, not just from one. Whence you will nowhere find the name of Sabbaths earlier in divine Scripture, so that it may be manifest that the Sabbath commands a vacation from all carnal and secular things. Whence the Law, prohibiting every work that acts against any soul, added: "Keep my Sabbaths." By this, clearly showing that He desires us to be free from corporal things and to work at things pertaining to the help of the soul and progress. For the true Sabbath is to do nothing material, nothing that depresses man to the earth and draws him to carnal corruption. But with this, what else does God now command?
VERS. 4. Do not turn to idols, nor shall you make molten gods for yourselves. I am the Lord.
Not to be converted to idols is not to yield to those things which the law of idols—which is manifold and profane—demands. But neither let us make molten gods for ourselves, not only in the forms of animals, but neither in treasures of possessions, nor in masses of gold or silver: for those who gather these things make them their own gods, constituted so much under their dominion that they fear if even the slightest thing happens to them. But why do we have need of these? We who possess, for all riches, Him who says: "I am the Lord"? That is to say, He who nourishes the birds, who clothes the lilies of the field, who made things from nothing, and nourished the things made, and is able to restore all these things again to need.
VERS. 5-8. Si immolaveritis hostiam pacificorum Domino, ut sit acceptabilis, eo die quo fuerit immolata, comedetis eam, et die altero. Quidquid autem residuum fuerit in diem tertium, igne comburetis. Si quis post biduum comederit ex ea, profanus erit, et impietatis reus, portabitque iniquitatem suam, quia sanctum Domini polluit, et peribit anima illa de populo suo.
Everything, so to speak, Moses commanded the chapters of the Law to the people twice and thrice, promulgating the memory of them to his hearers by frequent tradition. Yet much more the mandates which are more necessary, as is the present mandate; because of which, when proposing it before, when commanding concerning sacrifices—as we also fully discussed this in the first book of this interpretation of Leviticus—behold now he recapitulates it, so that we may briefly recapitulate what we have now said at length. For by commanding the salutary [peace] sacrifice to be immolated, He rightly implies it B as that in which we work those things which pertain to salvation.
For the rest, in order that He may be appeasable, it is necessary to sacrifice, by all means attaining those things which are acceptable to God, concerning which Paul spoke, when he showed, writing to Timothy, in what manner it behooved one to attain a remote and quiet life in all piety and purity: "This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour: Who will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth." But if you say: "For what reason did the legislator say 'your acceptable things,' according to the Septuagint?" Know that he designates the conscience, through which everyone can know what things are acceptable to God, on account of which John said: "Dearly beloved, if our heart do not reprehend us, we have confidence towards God." Moreover, to eat of the sacrifice on the day it is immolated, and on the other, is to work, in the present life, whatever pertains to salvation. But the divine Scripture is accustomed to take "to-day" and "to-morrow" in the present age, of which we may produce James as a witness, writing: "Go to now, you that say: To-day or to-morrow we will go into such a city." But the third day, because on it our Lord rose from the dead, bears the figure of the future age and the resurrection of the dead, in which it is no longer permitted to work, but those who have worked now, come there to the retribution. Therefore, he who lives thus here, as if he were about to work there some things of the present, and for that reason attempts to eat the sacrifice of peace, or [what] is called salutary, on the third day—[which is] prohibited by the legislator—leaving behind unfinished virtue, C as if he were about to work there, and his sacrifice is not most rightly accepted, nor is his life corrected. But he who works such virtue for himself will bear his own iniquity, first indeed working imperfectly, then even bringing calumny upon the divine law, and disseminating an impious and alien dogma—the soul of this man perishes from his people. But he will not be ordered among the people who are saved, because he left behind an imperfect life, which could have saved him if he had completed it.
VERS. 9, 10. When you reap the harvests of your land, you shall not reap to the very surface of the ground, nor shall you gather the remaining ears, nor shall you collect the clusters and fallen grains in your vineyard, but you shall leave them to be plucked by the poor and the stranger. I am the Lord your God.
The legislator wishes that we love one another, and desires that we be lovers of the poor, and always study to give alms—now indeed giving to the needy, now however not demanding what is owed to us, but even conceding to them to gather whatever remnants of all the goods which were given to us by God they may find, and to imitate Him who gave, [being] not only merciful, but also one who is and is called of great mercy. And therefore, while reaping or altogether pruning the vine, He did not command one to repeat the very reaping and vintage at the same time: but neither did He sanction to reap or to vintage entirely, but D to leave...
A certain portions in every way to the poor and to the proselyte from the harvest and the vintage, and to compensate God, who makes the fruits themselves arise, with active acts of thanksgiving, and in no way to be ungrateful toward His dispensation: for it pleased Him to give riches to some, but to others to be nourished without labor from the remnants of the abundance of others, so that the dispensation of them who are rich, and the patience of the poor, might be tested. And because He neither hates them nor has repelled them from His providence, as some foolishly think, making mention of the poor and the proselyte, He immediately added: I am the Lord your God. Manifesting first Him who makes rich: then Him who for our sake was made poor, and who was made a proselyte in His own land, for in His own things He lived as it were among strangers, nor having a place in the land of the Inn. For He would not take upon Himself the person of the poor and the proselyte, if He were averse to them. Whence through David He said: Because of the misery of the needy and the groaning of the poor, now will I arise, saith the Lord. But after we have found this utility of the letter, let us consider the interior understanding in it. For since the field is the world, as Christ interpreting the parable of the tares has delivered to us, and the harvest is the evangelical doctrine, just as again the Lord said to the disciples: The harvest indeed is great, but the laborers are few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that He may send forth laborers into His harvest. Which explaining in deed, He called together the twelve disciples from among them, and to them He immediately entrusted the doctrinal word. B Openly through these things that are now said, the Lawgiver commanded the teachers of the Jews, not to grasp at the interpretation of the whole Law, but to yield entirely to the poor and to the proselyte, the teachers of the nations, for these are the poor, because they were commanded to be poor in spirit, and to them it was said: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven: but as for the proselytes, in that they now bring themselves under the lineage of Abraham, and approach to God by way of faith. Therefore, what is read: Thou shalt not kill: Thou shalt not commit adultery, let the teachers of the Jews teach. But whatever things require necessary contemplation and interpretation, such as those things that concern purifications, sacrifices, and other similar things, let them cede these to the teachers and to the Church. And whatever falls from their harvest. That is, whatever they perceive them to be disregarding, which they are clearly ignorant of. For how can they speak of the figurative mysteries of the Law, since Christ, after He arrived, has delivered its truth? But the vine itself was called the people of the Jews, which God demonstrates through Isaiah saying: For the vineyard of the Lord of Sabaoth is the house of Israel. This vine did not bring forth fruit, in which point the Lord, rebuking it through the prophecy of Isaiah, said: What more could I have done to my vineyard that I have not done to it? C Yet formerly it had very few grapes, the just men of various times, for whom the master of the house also possessed the care of the whole vine until a certain time. But Isaiah also demonstrates this, saying: As if a grain were found in a cluster, and it be said: Destroy it not, for it is a blessing; so will I do for my servants' sake, that I may not destroy the whole. These grapes, therefore, the Jews cannot gather for themselves, and store up in their own riches, because they have not in the least envied their life, but they leave them to the poor and to the proselyte. For the prophets are with us, and as many just men as there were among the Jewish people, so much so that their memories are honored by us every year: which does not happen among them, so that by experiment the truthful divine eloquence may be known. VERS. 12. ‹You shall not steal: You shall not lie: Neither shall everyone deceive his neighbor: You shall not perjure in my name: You shall not defile the name of your God. I am the Lord. › The Lawgiver shows us the ends of good conversation, and at the same time delivers the sins, and what relationship they have toward one another. For things that we deem small are the greatest: since in lying, we are accustomed to sin daily, so to speak—either in place or in intent, and likewise in the prevarication of an oath. But these things are so small that he joins them to theft; and rightly so, because theft for the most part works falsehood. On account of which the prophet Zechariah demonstrated the sickle which he beheld, of twenty cubits in length and ten cubits in width, sharpened against thieves and against perjurers, for he says: It shall enter into the house of the thief, and D of the perjurer. But falsehood also cooperates with all sins, for Tamar would by no means have corrupted Amnon, if she had not anticipated the corruption by deceiving David with a lie: but neither would Jezebel have killed the Israelite Naboth, if she had not composed a false accusation against him before the elders: He blessed God and the king. And these things, indeed, with all subtlety, as it is God who ordains, let us guard: but with these, and with theft, let us abstain from ourselves not only from that which one can sin in money, but from every other thing which is to act maliciously toward neighbors, and to work evil for them, and to plot against them death, or flight, or servitude, or other things similar, deceitful and nefarious. Whence also Joseph, the injustice done to him by his brothers, called it a theft, to the chief cupbearer, saying: Remember me, when it shall be well with thee, that thou mayest suggest to Pharaoh concerning me, and bring me out of this prison, because I was stolen by theft from the land of the Hebrews. Let us avoid, moreover, even lying, in which some sin under the appearance of truth, performing slander against a neighbor more by the mind than by the tongue, just as those who spoke concerning the Lord.
A He said, "I can destroy this temple, and in three days raise it up." The Lord had indeed spoken these things when the Jews said to Him: "What sign do you show us that you do these things?" Yet He Himself said to them: "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." But He did not say this with that intention according to which those who bore testimony against Him said it; for He spoke of the temple of His body. But they asserted these things as if they were spoken regarding the temple of the Jews, whence the Spirit called them false witnesses. Moreover, for perjury the Septuagint say: "You shall not take my name in vain." But an oath is in injustice not only when it is violated, but also when it is unjustly kept, just as that oath was which Herod swore to the daughter of Herodias, and beheaded John the Baptist; for it was necessary for him not to make this oath, yet, having sworn, not to keep it, because God wishes such vows neither to have a beginning, nor those who make them to arrive at the end; B whence, saying: "You shall not take my name in vain," He added: "And you shall not profane the name of the Lord your God," which Jerome’s translation set forth. "You shall not pollute the name of your God." But how does one profane it? I say: that is, by doing evil, because one cannot transgress an oath. Yet God, through whom it was sworn, wishes only for goods; for even if He has permitted certain terrible things, yet if they have repented, He does not delay in changing His sentence, and His word does not contradict, so that He might bestow upon us some piety, on account of which He added: "I am the Lord." What kind of Lord? He of whom the prophecy of Jonah speaks, when the Ninevites fasted and prayed, and God repented of the evil which He had spoken, that He would do to them, and did it not. Truly many other things of this kind the prophets have said.
VERSES 13, 14. ‹You shall not slander your neighbor, nor oppress him by force. The wages of a hireling shall not remain with you until morning. You shall not curse the deaf, nor place a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall fear your God, because I am the Lord.›
You see how the law gradually cultivates the mind of him who receives the law, and joins things that seem small to great things, so that, by the fear of punishments defined for major sins, we might also abstain from lesser ones. For just as they are joined in the commandment, so too are they joined in the punishment; because whoever keeps the whole law, but offends in one point, has become guilty of all. But C it is not without purpose that He joined the force of slander; for what difference is there to him who lacks his own goods, whether he lacks them by force, or perhaps by weapons, or by any power whatsoever, or by the circumvention of trials, or by fraud, or by any other similar way? But also, he who has worked for the whole day in order to receive wages, from which he might live with children, and wife, and parents waiting for those same wages, and did not receive them, but was put off, does he not suffer slander and force? Not only in food, but even through this, in life? For he leads his life on daily food. Therefore, even if he receives them the next day, because he remained fasting on the past day, in which he sustained the labor, he endured force and suffered slander. And what is substance to others, this is wages to the laborers: therefore, rightly, the deprivation of these is also called force. But also, he who curses the deaf harms him greatly, and he who places a stumbling block before the blind, in which they might stumble with their feet. Truly, he who is deaf, while he is cursed, is harmed, not only because he is slandered, but because he cannot even correct or guard against these things in which he is slandered. But not even the blind can protect himself from the stumbling block that is placed before him. But to this one and to that one, death comes from both: to the blind, while he is crushed by the stumbling block; to the deaf, however, a curse, as if he had slandered a prince, or had done some other thing which might bring danger upon him, D not correcting himself in the least; and this which seems to be small, which is often committed by many who play, passes over to death: whence David said most aptly that he who has not sat in the chair of pestilence, that is, of those who mock. But let us proceed to execute these same things again. For the law prohibited not only the slander and force of money, but also every other, and much more that which is in spiritual things, so that we might not snatch away the glory of another, nor draw to ourselves what has been corrected by another’s labor, on account of which Paul also said: "For we do not boast in another’s rule, in those things which are prepared." And again, he says it was given to him to evangelize not where Christ was named, so that he might not build upon another’s foundation. But to interpret one thing for another is a different matter. For he did not wish to prejudice where another has preached, so that he might not snatch away the wages of others. For regarding these wages the legislator says: "The wages of the hireling shall not remain with you until morning." He is mandating not only to those already preaching, but also to those still learning, not to neglect, nor to allow the doctor’s word to be idle; for the hireling of God is he who preaches His word. But his wage is the recompense of preaching, with Paul existing as a truthful witness of this matter, who says: "What is my reward then? That, when I preach the Gospel, I may make the Gospel of Christ without charge." But the Septuagint say: "The wages of your hireling shall not sleep with you, until morning." For because the negligent are said to sleep, the Lord demonstrates this, giving a command to the disciples: "Watch, because you do not know at what hour your Lord is to come." But even when he said the enemy was sowing tares while men were sleeping, that is, the negligent; for morning is the future age, because it succeeds the night of the present life, and inextinguishable light dwells in it. Therefore, the word of the doctors ought not to be idle amongst us throughout all this time, to which the morning of the future time succeeds, because even in this, avarice and injustice are exercised by the doctors, the wages...
A of which are owed to them from the progress of the disciples. But by the deaf and the blind, the law signifies those who are held by the sickness of disobedience and ignorance, to which Isaiah said: "Hear, you deaf, and look, you blind, to see." These are not to be cursed, but admonished, if indeed we wish them to be converted. Whence also Paul commanded that the one who teaches should do so in meekness toward those who contradict, the doctors of the Church. Nor should we be moved to offense when they speak false things, or act in such ways; for Paul, forbidding and correcting this, wrote: "If anyone has seen him who has knowledge reclining in an idol's temple, will not his conscience, being weak, be built up to eat things offered to idols?" Provided that we can be helped by both the letter and the spirit of the law.
VERS. 15. "You shall not do what is unjust, nor shall you judge unjustly. You shall not consider the person of the poor, nor honor the countenance of the mighty. Judge your neighbor justly. You shall not be an accuser and a whisperer among the people. You shall not stand against the blood of your neighbor. I am the Lord."
VERS. 16. "You shall not be an accuser and a whisperer among the people." Or, as the Septuagint editions have it: "You shall not walk in deceit among your people. You shall not stand against the blood of your neighbor." He has joined blood to deceit, namely homicide, just as David is accustomed: "The Lord will abhor the man of blood and deceit." And again: "Men of blood and deceit shall not halve their days." For deceit is a hidden sword, a sharpened blade, lying in wait such that David again said: "Like a sharpened razor you have fashioned deceit." But let us flee from it swiftly, trembling at it because of the proximity of sin to which it deserves to be joined. Nor should we stand against the blood of our neighbor, but we should flee all snares and the assembly which is formed for any iniquity whatsoever. Because some are singularly weak, and not able to do harm by themselves, they are accustomed to mingle with a multitude, and it is necessary that, when many come together at once, malice is found to be more powerful. For here one lends a hand, another a tongue, another provides consent to what is being done, C another gives a sign, and it is consummated in the insanity of malice. But with these things we also consider this, that not only when we judge concerning money or other similar things should we keep equity for the poor and the powerful. But everywhere in every judgment, which is understood to take place not only before a tribunal, but in every conversation, and friendly council, and especially in spiritual doctrine. Let us remember James saying: "If a man with a gold ring, in fine clothing, enters into your assembly, and there enters also a poor man in sordid clothing, and you pay attention to him who is dressed in fine clothing, and say: Sit here well; but say to the poor man: Stand there, or sit under my footstool, do you not judge among yourselves, and become judges of iniquitous thoughts?" And when he had said some other things concerning this, and desiring at an opportune time to call to our memory the commandment of the law, he added: "But if you show partiality, you work sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors." Therefore, we ought to judge our neighbor justly, and not call one and the same action good in a rich man but bad in a poor man, and rebuke the latter while allowing the former to sin. But neither should we walk deceitfully among our own, that is, among the people, nor vex the common people under the guise of piety, nor stand against the blood of our neighbor, that is, not be associated with those who sin against the souls of our brothers, and with the judgment of the wicked. And
D not just any justice, but the supreme and perfect, the law especially insists be studied in the present case, proceeding in a straight path and order, so that it may first be seen to legislate for the poor, then for the powerful, and then for those having principalities and authorities, that through this it may show that persons ought not be accepted. For it is not theft, nor to make a false accusation, nor to swear unjustly, although this sometimes happens to the rich or powerful, but yet these are in a way the own sins of the poor. For through poverty they seem to be compelled to steal, and to accuse falsely, and to transgress oaths, so that that wise man in Proverbs said: "Give me neither riches nor poverty, lest perhaps, being satisfied, I may be enticed to deny, or, compelled by need, I may steal and perjure the name of my God." But to oppress by power, and to deprive of wages, and to mock the deaf or the blind, because some of these are of power, while others are in a way prodigal of life and of delights, sins generating insult, the law is said to be sanctioned especially for the persons of the rich and the powerful. But to accept a person in judgment, those who preside over magistrates or the tribunals of judges, whom, even while judging, it is not fitting to accept the persons of the poor. For no one is more merciful than God, who is called merciful and compassionate over all; however, at the time of judgment, He does not at all wish to be called so anymore, but just, as witnessed by David who says, "God is a just judge, strong and long-suffering." Nor indeed is it fitting to admire the person of the powerful in judgment, because no one is more powerful than God; and the judgment is His own, for He Himself takes up the person of the one who is accused as we judge. A witness to which fact is the same Moses in Deuteronomy, saying thus: "You shall not look at the person in judgment; you shall judge according to the small and the lesser. You shall not distinguish the person of man, A because it is the judgment of God." Therefore, if you wish to be mindful of the gift of God: you give, however, if you have betaken yourself to the side of justice, for it has it there: "Because the Lord is just and has loved justice, His countenance sees equity"; for which reason even now He has commanded to judge the neighbor justly. For it is necessary for us to know that in that in which we have judged, in the same we shall be judged. To these he added.
A Since all the justice of the commandments must be considered, yet attend to that subtlety above all, for it says: VERSE 17. *Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart*, He added, *in thine heart*.
Because we are frequently compelled to be clothed in the person of those who hate the individuals who sin. Wherefore Paul commanded the Thessalonians: *If any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed*. While this is done, it affords a presumption of hatred. For of whose others, if not of those who hate and oppose, is it: *Thou shalt not have company?* But he did not command this aversion to be held in the heart; for he says: *Have no company with him, that he may be ashamed*, and, being ashamed, may in every way amend. But he who was amending him with whom he did not have company, could in no wise hate him in his heart, which, confirming this also, he added: *And do not count him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother*. But while fulfilling all justice, and in each species of life, as it were, laying down a law, he adds a confirmation to the commandments, which if we keep, no one can harm our riches, no one can steal our treasure. And this is the confirmation:
And *thou shalt love thy friend*, or, as the Septuagint says, *thy neighbor as thyself*. Having in a little the whole law, and through this one commandment, it is easy to keep all things. For charity, says Paul, *worketh no ill to its neighbor*. Therefore, charity is the fullness of the law. But it also makes our whole life to be in good things. For if I love my neighbor as myself, and perhaps I have no children, or riches, or beauty, or worldly glory, or power, but I see my neighbor having them, I rejoice, and I rejoice none the less as if I myself had these things: for in him I also have them. But the same also in spiritual things, in which we must especially keep the love that pertains to neighbors, and not to envy those performing justice, nor to be stung when others are glorified according to Christ, when they are enriched in the word of doctrine, when they abound in divine gifts. But Christ is to be imitated, who so loved us that He granted the apostles to perform greater signs than He Himself did. Whence also now D saying: *Thou shalt love thy friend*, or *thy neighbor as thyself*, He added: *I am the Lord: keep My laws*. Truly, when God has loved us, as He Himself says, know it; for He says: *Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends*. Wherefore He called the commandment of love His primary law: adding here what you will not find added in other commandments.
VERSE 19. *Thou shalt not cause thy cattle to gender with a different kind of animal. Thy field, or, as the Septuagint, thy vineyard, thou shalt not sow with different seed. Thou shalt not put upon thee a garment mingled of two.* B These things in a way seem ridiculous to the letter, whence we do not find them kept thus by the prophets and spiritual men, as the children of the Jews living infirmly and imperfectly, who love milk, and do not take solid food. For consider what He said to Sadoc the priest, and Nathan the prophet, and to Benaia: *Set my son Salomon upon my mule*. For by saying, *mine*, He showed that even He Himself was seated upon a mule. But if the law forbade cattle to be joined with animals of another kind, that is, for an ass to be joined with a horse, and this was an abomination, it was fitting that both those things which were done, and those things which were born from them, be without doubt abominable. But if He also does not wish a garment to be made of two, how does that wise man in Proverbs say these things concerning the strong woman: *She seeketh wool and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands*, and again: *She maketh herself coverings of linen and purple*? For garments are not useful, but He said her clothing, or useful thing, was a garment, let us understand one is made of wool and linen, but another again is made of byssus and purple. But what this may be, Paul openly writes to the Corinthians: *Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of devils. Ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's table and of the table of devils*; and again: *Whosoever of you are justified by the law, ye are fallen from grace*. For neither should the faithful be joined to Jewish seductions, nor to the error of the Gentiles. Therefore, let us not permit cattle, that is, popular men, to be joined with animals of a different kind, C that is, not to follow circumcision, and baptism. For circumcision is of another yoke, heavy and unbearable, of which Peter said: *Why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?* But the baptism of Christ is of another, and of a light yoke: which Christ imposed upon us, thus saying: *Take my yoke upon you*. And again: *For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light*. But neither must we sow our field, or the vineyard entrusted to us, with diverse seed, so that we do not teach the Church things contrary to divine doctrines, as the heretics who are wise in perverse things, while Christ blesses marriage by His presence, and says: *Not that which entereth into the mouth defileth a man*, they, prohibiting marriage, and ordering to abstain from meats which God created for them, prepare for themselves impiety and death. In which things, necessarily according to the Septuagint, He added: *I am the Lord your God, wishing you to be kept from every malice of this kind, and who through the Gospel said to those who take the law poorly, and according to their own will: Judge not according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment*.
*Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart, but thou shalt publicly rebuke him, that thou mayest not bear sin because of him. Thou shalt not seek*
vengeance, nor be mindful of the injuries of thy citizens. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. I am the Lord. Keep my laws. Christ rightly said to the Jews: *Do not think that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill*. For if you search these words, you will find how much the evangelical dogmas are in harmony with these precepts of the Law, inasmuch as the same God speaks both. A For He who now commanded that a brother must be reproved if he sins, commanded this through the Gospels: *But if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more... and if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church*. And here, when He said: *Thou shalt not hate thy brother*, He added: *Thou shalt not have sin upon him*. But there, He also shows what the sin is, for He says: *If you will not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive you your sins*. Here, you shall not seek vengeance, but through Paul: *Not revenging yourselves, my dearly beloved, but give place unto wrath*. Now He said through the book of the Law: *Neither shalt thou be mindful of the injuries of thy citizens*. But through the Gospel: *Whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment*. Wherefore Paul called those who have their conscience seared. And he wears an abominable garment, woven of two, who says he adores Christ and adores demons, who, asserting himself to be a soldier of the Sun of righteousness, B also propitiates this visible one, and the one who was given to the service of the creature, or the remaining stars, or something of this sort, as the Manichaeans and many other heretics do. Whence, for "reprobate and abominable," Theodotion edited "Satan," thus finding it in the Hebrew and preserving it as he found it, so that by the name of Satan the legislator's intent is made clearer. For He does not want us, since we are God’s, to be mixed up in diabolical business, nor to occupy ourselves simultaneously with prayers and incantations, nor to be clothed simultaneously in the phylacteries of the Church of God and of holy men, or conversely of wicked sorcerers, and to carry about the things of demons alongside the holy Spirit, in whom, Paul says, we are sealed. For He departs, as if having suffered an insult, and the unclean spirit will obtain [him], and he will suffer such things as Saul endured: *But the spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit of God troubled him*. Not because God sent evil, but because He permitted him to obtain [him] who chose him. C
VERS. 20-22. *If a man lie with a woman in copulation of seed, and she is an ancilla, and yet not redeemed by price, nor given liberty, both shall be beaten, and they shall not die, because she was not free. But for his trespass he shall offer to the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of testimony a ram, and the priest shall pray for him, and for his trespass before the Lord, and he shall be propitiated for him, and the sin shall be forgiven.*
The legislator intends to show by what has now been said how much difference there is between liberty and servitude; for he asserts that in the case of one who is free and betrothed, adultery is the sin of him who has committed fornication with her, and he sanctioned that he should be subject to the penalty of death. But in the case of the nubile ancilla, which the Septuagint has edited, "custody to a man"—that is, betrothed—releasing from the penalty, he commands the one who sinned against her to offer a sacrifice, wishing to show from this sensible servitude an intelligible one. For he did not command that the sin of fornication be admitted with just any ancilla, much less betrothed ones, but he calls the Synagogue of the Jews an "ancilla betrothed" or "custody to a man," which was kept for the law, nor could it be betrothed to Christ before the letter of the law died. Hence Paul also said: D *Therefore, my brethren, you also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that you may belong to another, who is risen again from the dead*. But he taught that the Synagogue of the Jews is an ancilla by saying these things: *For Abraham had two sons: the one by a bondwoman, and the other by a freewoman*. Then, explaining whom he wished to be understood as the ancilla, he added: *Which things are said by an allegory. For these are the two testaments. The one from mount Sina, engendering unto bondage, which is Agar: for Sina is a mountain in Arabia, which hath affinity to that Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children*. If, therefore, anyone sleeps with her in copulation of seed, that is, anyone who has become a participant of this doctrine, to such an extent that he is joined to her, and has intercourse with her, through the conduct of the law, because those who are joined to her by conjugal society are found to be one (now that "seed" should be taken for the doctrinal word, we have often demonstrated before in this book of Leviticus); whoever, therefore, before this was liberated by the advent of Christ, had done this, rightly did not die: for even if he practiced the law according to the letter, and not according to the spirit, as the Synagogue of the Jews teaches, it is rightly called an ancilla, because it was ignorant of the legislator's intention. But a servant, as Christ said, *knows not what his lord doth*, and on that account was said to sin, and had need of remission, because he was not studying to perform the dominical precept according to the dominical will. Nevertheless, because it had not yet been liberated, the contemplation of the law was secret. Whence also the conduct of the letter seemed to have time, and they are not said to be subject to death, and he promised them a visitation. For what our translation has: *Both shall be beaten*, the Septuagint says: *There shall be a visitation for them, and they shall not die*. He promised them a visitation, that is, liberty from the servitude of the law. For it is the custom of divine Scripture for liberty to be called a visitation: for we find that God calls the liberation from the Egyptian servitude a visitation, when He was saying to Moses: *Gather together the ancients of the children of Israel, and thou shalt say to them: The Lord God of your fathers hath appeared to me, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God...*
of Jacob, saying: Visiting I have visited you, and have seen all that has happened to you in Egypt, and I said: I will deliver you from the oppression of the Egyptians. A Openly, therefore, through the present law, He permitted Himself to be visited through the liberation of Christ, concerning which Zechariah clearly said in his Canticle: Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, because He hath visited and hath wrought the redemption of His people. For he speaks of the liberation which Christ bestowed in His sacrifice and evangelical conversation, first to the Jew, and after this to the Greek, according to what the Apostle said. Indeed, he says of the Gospel which was given by the Lord: It is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth, to the Jew first and to the Greek. Not according to any respect of persons, but because the Jews first needed this salvation and liberation, inasmuch as they were also leading others astray. In the case of him who sleeps—that is, he who mingles, so that he becomes a participant in their seed and doctrine—to such an one remission is granted through sacrifice; but through the sacrifice of Christ, for signifying this, He commanded a ram to be offered for sin, and the priest to supplicate through its oblation. But who is He who has supplicated for all the world, and who is the ram that is offered for sin, and why is it led to sacrifice before the B door of the tabernacle of testimony, but also what properly ought to be understood by the sin of transgression—those who search through the things that were once decreed and explained concerning sacrifices will find Christ figured in them as in an image: who, immolated through the cross, forgave not only all other sins but also this which the people of the Jews committed, and he who was mixed with them from the Gentiles, who also is said to sleep with them, by receiving the law not according to the intention of the legislator. Now, He mentions these things not inappropriately in this place, but rather at a most opportune time, when it was not proper for beasts of burden to be yoked to beasts of a different kind—that is, it was not permitted for those who have been made under the yoke of Christ to take up the Judaic yoke. Confirming this, He subjoined in the presence, through which He shows that even before the coming of Christ, whoever among the outsiders was mingled with them had need of the sacrifice of the intelligible ram for his own propitiation, comparing it in his mind and describing the truth to himself through figures. For thus he was able not only not to be condemned by the servitude of the Judaic letter coming upon him, but even to be liberated from it and from the death of infidelity C by receiving the law spiritually and referring its sacrifices to Christ.
VERS. 23-25. When you shall have entered into the land, and shall have planted in it trees of fruit, you shall take away their uncircumcision. The fruits which they bring forth shall be unclean to you, and you shall not eat of them. In the fourth year, all their fruit shall be sanctified to the praiseworthy Lord. But in the fifth year you shall not eat the fruits, gathering the fruits which they produce. I am the Lord your God.
The legislator remains in the same intention he had before, decreeing similar things in other preceding words, showing indeed that they have no good fruit among the people of the Jews before the presence of the Lord. For why did He say that for three years the fruit of every tree was not edible? But not in any way clean, and that it required purification in the fourth year. And what was this purification? Not a sprinkling, not a sacrifice, not anything else of this kind, such as the law commanded in another place according to the letter. Therefore, He calls him to the contemplation of the spirit necessarily, who desires not only to meditate on the law, but also to receive some benefit from it. Therefore, God gives the land, which it befits Him to give—that is, the divine Scripture, which bears the fruits of virtues, which has that life, and cultivates or works, which David promises to cultivate and work; for where is man more pleasing to God than in the commandments D and in good works? For he says: I will please the Lord in the land of the living. Of whom He Himself says: But they that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth. For they shall possess the Scripture, which is full of the spirit of God, and the good things that are from it, those who wait upon the Lord, who promises the retribution of the commandments which are contained in it. The children of the Jews, indeed, were commanded to enter this land, and the former ones received it. For the first ones received the sacred letters, for which reason they were also commanded to plant the tree which can be eaten—that is, the commandments which we have spoken of—these ones indeed meditating on them, but those also preaching them. For because the meditation of the law and the preaching are likened to the planting of trees for that progress which comes through the fathers, hear David saying: And in His law he shall meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree which is planted near the running waters. For Paul wrote concerning the preaching which he preached to the Corinthians: I have planted, Apollo watered, but God gave the increase. But the commandments were indeed very good, for which reason he also called it an edible tree. But they did not work in the way they ought as those using the law according to the letter. Therefore, their fruit—namely, the operation of the law—was unclean for three years. He says, however, three years, from the time of the law until the time of David, and from David until the transmigration of Babylon, and from the transmigration of Babylon until the coming of the Lord: for thus Matthew also distinguished. Because, therefore, in this fourth year, He commended all the fruit of the law itself as holy and praiseworthy to the Lord, yet He did not say that it was even then edible to the Jews, He proved without any doubt that the fruit of the whole law is in the coming of the Lord: for the time of this, according to the order of the times mentioned above, will rightly be called the fourth year, holy to the praiseworthy God. Because Christ made it fruitful, teaching us how we ought also to bear fruit. Rightly, therefore, was it holy, as being perfected by the Holy of holies. But also praiseworthy, for all things which Christ works are of good report and glorious, so that even by the ungrateful
A Judæans they were glorified. For when they saw the paralytic carrying his pallet on his shoulders, they glorified God, who had given such power to men. Whence the law did not call this fruit simply, but a laudable one to the Lord. For it was not yet edible for the people, for this man had not yet attained to the conversation of Christ according to the spirit: but in the fifth year, in the apostolic generation—for from thence the Jewish people themselves, that is, those who believed from among them, and all the Gentiles, had the edible fruit of the law, namely, the operation. And according to the Septuagint, the addition of the fruits of the law was for the people, that is, gain and advantage. For things that are performed without gain are performed uselessly. Well, therefore, does the law make the memory of the B addition agree with the word which the Lord said in the Gospel: for it was He who said both these things and those. To every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance. But whoever, as is proper, holds the Old Testament, to him the New also is added, and through this the edible fruit of the Old Testament is also found for him.
VERS. 26-28. « Ye shall not eat with the blood, ye shall not practice augury, nor shall ye observe dreams, nor shall ye shear your hair in a circle, nor shall ye shave your beard, and ye shall not make incisions on your flesh for the dead, nor shall ye make stigmas upon you. I am the Lord. »
He desires the faithful to be clean from all leaven of malice, and therefore He now forbids serving the letter of the law, and demonstrates the Jewish doctrine to be useless. Now, however, He turns His discourse again to the error of the Gentiles, for not all things which are now forbidden are practiced; since they are not only ridiculous, but also harmful to those who practice them—things which Ecclesiastes especially shows; for he says: He that observeth the wind does not sow, and he that considers the clouds does not reap. Augury, therefore, is called not only the voice or flight of any bird, which either forbids a certain action or urges it to be hastened more studiously, but it also consists in the use of signs from those speaking, from passers-by, from those met on the way, and from certain stumbling blocks encountered on a journey, and other such things. For the observation of augury is said to be from birds, but also from other signs. Auspicy is to consider birds passing by, and because of them to go out into the road deserted by people, or to scrutinize the flight of birds or what their voices might be, so that from them they might know what things are to come. To do this is to accuse God, because those things which He hiddenly ordains for man—whom He created according to His image as the prince of all animals—someone learns from them, things which cannot be learned from spiritual men, nor even from God, who reveals to them, as those who have been led astray into the aforesaid error imagine. Furthermore, one must not shear the hair in a circle, that is, not shave the aspect of the head in a round, just as Symmachus also issued, whom C just as these people are also accustomed to do, who study to have barbaric hair, on account of which the Septuagint called them *siseē*, perhaps on account of the magnitude of the curling hair. But one ought not to do this, but to be content with natural ornaments, to seek nothing, unless perhaps we accuse the Creator of having lacked something for the perfection of the animal. But neither should one nourish ringlets in honor of demons, stronger than other hairs, and vow this: for pagans study this, to offer the head of children to demons. Whence concerning this it is especially necessary to think the legislator commands. But neither should one shave the beard, or according to the Septuagint to corrupt the appearance of the beard: nor to make incisions in the body for the sake of those who have died, since even this the pagans are accustomed to do. Thus it is necessary to be afflicted for the dead, so that one neither damages the face nor corrupts the body, from which Paul, prohibiting us, says: I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, that ye may not mourn, even as others who have no hope. For to do any of those things D which have been said is not to have the hope of the resurrection of the dead, because as if they were corrupt, they dissipate and destroy themselves. He forbids stigmas to be made in the body, the legislator everywhere taking care of decency, and not conceding to abuse the flesh in any of these; which things indeed themselves do harm, and render the whole animal foul. For to eat upon the mountains—which the Septuagint placed in the beginning of the present law, instead of what our edition has, Ye shall not eat with the blood—He forbade on account of those who are accustomed to the festivals of idols. For this even Hosea, accusing the people of the Jews, said: The spirit of fornications has deceived them, and they have committed fornication from their God. Upon the tops of the mountains they sacrificed, and upon the hills they sacrificed. But let us see beyond these things, what He bids us to beware of: according to spiritual contemplation, not to eat upon the mountains is not to be nourished by proud thoughts, of which Isaiah says: Every mountain and hill shall be humbled. Not to practice augury, nor to practice auspicy, that not intending toward demons we may live according to their will, nor deliver our heart to wounds, which snatch the seed of piety from us, as the Lord said in the evangelical parables. Let us not shear the hair: or as the Septuagint *siseē* concerning the hairs of the head, let us not do. For our hairs are taken for thoughts, on account of which the Lord said: But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. For to Him, as Judge, and scrutinizer of hearts, all our thoughts are numbered. It is not proper, therefore, for anyone to agitate them, or to shake them, but neither to offer them to the devil, which some do, offering a lock from sensible hairs, as we said above. Furthermore, it is not proper, as we have said before, to shave the beard, or according to the Septuagint to corrupt the appearance of the beard, because the beard is a sign of our perfection. Virtues
designate our true perfection, which it is not fitting to destroy, while those who act falsely, but under a false and fictitious guise, do so. Nor is it good to make cuts upon the soul, as is done on the body: for there are pleasures which cut into the body to the harm of the soul, and corrupt it. But also stigmas, that is, the dogmas of bad doctrine, because they adhere and are imprinted upon the soul through certain flatteries, or syllogisms, or any other method of those who teach, we must understand. The Law therefore commands us to abstain even from these, because once they are impressed or immersed, just as is usual with stigmas, they are difficult to abolish. A
VERS. 29. "Do not prostitute your daughter, lest the land be contaminated, and filled with sin."
For if the fathers, whom it behooves to correct their children, urge us toward fornication, enticing us or living basely, so that they themselves may be enticed to evil in imitation of their parents, the land is filled with sin—or according to the Septuagint, with fornication—and it proceeds to every species of impiety, because they have for their pedagogues in evil those who ought to have been their educators. But let us not prostitute our own soul, which is our only begotten daughter, so that – as David said: "Deliver my unique one from the lions," and "From the hand of the dog my unique one" – we do not prostitute it by teaching it to depart from God, lest, the soul committing fornication, the body also commit fornication. For this [earth] is called "earth," inasmuch as it was born from the earth, and will return to the earth. B
"And let it be filled with sin," or as the Septuagint has it, "with adultery." For with a drunken rider, the horse is carried headlong. When the soul departs from God, every iniquity prevails in the body.
VERS. 30. "Keep my Sabbaths, and revere my sanctuary. I am the Lord."
Just as there is one special Sabbath, namely the seventh day, so every other legitimate rest is called a Sabbath, if it is a general abstinence from evil; for the Lawgiver truly strives for this Sabbath, and commanded us to withdraw from evil in every single matter. Supporting this, he added: "Revere my sanctuary." Or as the Septuagint has it, "You shall fear my holy things": because just as those who approach them in the way they ought, sanctify themselves, so those who presumptuously approach them iniquitously, and do not first purge themselves of the filth of malice, and thus approach the clean, corrupt or destroy them, like Nadab, and Abihu, and the sons of Eli. Whence Paul also, concerning those who receive mystical things incautiously, added: "For this cause many among you are weak and sickly, and many sleep." Whence the Lawgiver now added: "I am the Lord," that is, holy, and dwelling in the holy, and necessarily demanding the vengeance of holy things. C
VERS. 31. "Do not turn to magicians, nor inquire anything from soothsayers, so that you may be defiled by them."
The Septuagint, however, reads: "Do not follow ventriloquists, and do not join yourselves with sorcerers, that you may be defiled by them. I am the Lord your God." The greatest species of diabolical error and fraud is the seeking out of ventriloquists. Whence also Paul, finding a girl having the spirit of Python, although it might preach great things concerning him and Silas, and say: "These men are servants of the most high God, who announce to you the way of truth," yet rebuking the evil spirit, he cast it out. It is also very bad to adhere to sorcerers, because they cite the names of demons who are our enemies and who are pestilential. Who, even if for a short time, in order to lead into error, they seem to accomplish something which is base and small regarding bodily health—such as even unskilled physicians can perform—yet they do not perform this as doers of good, neither as those well-disposed to men, but rather wishing to reduce them to servitude and to separate them from God. D
But neither let us follow ventriloquists, that is, false prophets, who in the name of God teach things alien to God, and prophesy; who are justly called ventriloquists, as if from the intelligible belly of their heart they bring forth certain fables, that is, false doctrines and prophecies, concerning whom the Lord said through Ezekiel: "Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit." These, and sorcerers, are rightly called such, as those who enter houses with a certain flattery and fraud, and lead away captive women burdened with sins, as Paul says; therefore he commanded not to be defiled by them. For their speeches defile those who obey them. Whence he also added: "I am the Lord your God." By evangelical doctrine saying: "Beware of those who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves."
VERS. 32. "Rise up before a gray head, and honor the person of the old man, and fear the Lord your God. I am the Lord."
It is indeed good to honor him who has already reached gray hairs, for age without doubt has something more toward prudence; but the honor which we bestow upon our elders, we will not also earn from our juniors, and from this a good order preserving our life in honesty is conferred upon us. But understand the "gray-headed," the truly old, to be he of whom Moses says: "Ask your father, and he will tell you; your elders, and they will tell you." But also Paul: "Let presbyters be held worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in word and doctrine." But also when Daniel was a boy, and the judges and presbyters were accusing the people, he was arguing for Susanna, and other presbyters were saying: "Come, sit in our midst, and announce to us, because God has given you the honor of old age": so that it might be shown that the dignity of the presbyterate is of wisdom rather than of age.
VERS. 33, 34. "If a stranger dwells in your land, and has lived among you, do not reproach him, but let him be among you as a native, and you shall love him."
A For you were also strangers in the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.
We have said above that the land given to us by God is the cultivation of virtues and its good doctrine. But if any stranger should come to this, that is, wishing to be converted to our faith and to be inscribed as a citizen of that land, of whom Paul says: "You have approached Mount Sion, and the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and the company of many thousands of angels, and the Church of the firstborn who are enrolled in the heavens" 61 — let us not afflict him, that is, let us not place a heavy yoke upon him, so that we might impose more difficult commandments upon one newly born and newly believing, lest we sin like the Pharisees and Scribes, whom the Lord accused, saying: "They bind heavy and unbearable burdens, and place them upon the shoulders of men, but they themselves are unwilling to move them with their finger" 62. Therefore, let us not afflict him who approaches the faith by doing this and demanding certain legalities from him. Let him be to us like a native who has been nurtured in the faith and has grown in piety. Hence, Peter also, clearly ordaining this, said to those who wished to circumcise the believers from the Gentiles: "Why do you tempt God to place a yoke upon the necks of the disciples, which neither our fathers, nor we, have been able to carry? But by the grace of Jesus Christ we believe to be saved, just as they" 63. In this, therefore, let us love every stranger, or as the LXX say, proselyte, as ourselves, so that we may command them only those things by which we ourselves, if we observe them, believe we will be saved. For even if we have been in the pious faith for a longer time than those who now approach the faith, nevertheless we too are from unbelievers, either we ourselves having first been unbelievers, or having been born of such fathers, and we were all strangers in the land of Egypt, that is, in diabolical error and the doctrine of darkness. For Egypt is interpreted as darkness or obscurity. Therefore, he added much with regard to time: "I am the Lord your God, who led you out of the land of Egypt. Keep all my commandments, and all my judgments, and do them." The Septuagint, however, state: "All my law, and all my commandments: I am the Lord." They duplicate "I am the Lord" so that you might know that he who led us out of the sensible land of Egypt, then giving the law, he himself has now saved us from the intelligible Egypt by preaching the Gospel. Hence, after he said according to the Septuagint: "Keep all my law," it ought to have sufficed, for the law embraces all things, but he added: "And all my commandments"; not judgments, or justifications, or testimonies, which are accustomed to be called such by the Law of Moses, but Ego Dominus Deus vester (I am the Lord your God). That is, who also received you from error, of which Paul said: "God has shut up all in unbelief, so that he may have mercy on all" 64.
VERS. 35-37. "Do not do anything unfair in judgment, in rule, in weight, in measure. Let there be a just balance and equal weights. A just bushel and an equal sextarius. I am the Lord your God, who led you out of the land of Egypt. Keep all my commandments, and all my judgments, and do them. I am the Lord."
This sanction is also similar to the preceding ones, when after the profit of the letter we have also scrutinized its spirit. Therefore, in the preceding he commanded that one ought not to be unjust in judgment, but now he commands neither to act unjustly in measures, nor in weight, nor in balances: lest perchance we use these very things, which are as it were boundaries of justice, for injustice. For in place of the boundaries of justice, for those selling and buying, B or contracting in any other way, C measures and weights are given, just as the laws judge; whence he added regarding not doing an unjust judgment, and also regarding not changing the scales and weights, and having a just sextarius or bushel, that is, regarding every measure of wine or oil. He commanded us to abstain from every injustice which is committed against a neighbor, both in greater and in lesser matters, because what is unjust is everywhere abominable; but what is just is always pleasing to God. Furthermore, what is the possession of a field and a house to the rich man, that is the measure of wine, and wheat, and the weight of bread to the poor man, and other things from which he leads his daily life. But let us not even do an injustice in the judgment of the mind, nor corrupt his measures and scales—which justice is naturally implanted in us—by judging in another way our own and our neighbor's sins, for the Lord says: "In what judgment you judge, you shall be judged: and in what measure you measure, it shall be measured to you" 65. Expounding this himself, as it ought to be understood, he added: "But why do you see the splinter in your brother's eye, but do not see the log that is in your own eye?" 66. But let us not harm anything in divine weights, and scales, and measures, but let us safeguard just scales, and measures, and weights, that is, the laws of divine Scripture, in no way imposing upon them our own scale or weight: and let us not suffer what the Pharisees did, of whom the Lord spoke in the Gospels: "Why do you transgress the commandments of God, for the sake of your traditions?" 67 For the law, calling back to our memory him who spoke these things, added: D demonstrating the commandments of the Gospel, which the Lord commanded by his authority.
CHAPTER XX
VERS. 1-5. "And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak these things to the sons of Israel: Any man of the sons of Israel, and of the strangers who dwell in Israel, if anyone gives of his offspring to the idol Moloch, he shall be put to death. The people of the land shall stone him, and I will set my face against him, and cut him off from the midst of his people, because he gave of his offspring to Moloch, and has defiled my sanctuary, and..."A polluted my holy name. But if the people of the land, by neglecting this, and as if holding in low regard my authority, shall dismiss the man who gave of his seed to Moloch, and shall not wish to kill him, I will set my face against that man, and his kindred, and will cut off both him and all who have consented with him, to fornicate with Moloch, from the midst of his people.
We have frequently said in the preceding pages, for the sake of the memory of those who read, the reason why the law sometimes gives commands twice or thrice regarding the same matters. Hence, also, by recapitulating, it inserts certain new commandments for them, so that the repetition of the laws may not seem superfluous, and so that, by the investigation of new things, we may also study the earlier things more diligently. For this reason, while prohibiting certain actions in what has gone before, it kept silent about their punishments, so that, by seeking what these are or what kind they may be, we might search out those things which it ordains further down; for in these it has inserted the punishments which it had then passed over. Long ago, therefore, in prohibiting [the giving of] his seed to Moloch, or, according to the Septuagint, to the Ruler, it [spoke]. Now this was the name of a certain idol or demon, just as Stephen introduced Amos saying: *And you have received the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your God Remphan, the figures which you have made to adore them.* Now, therefore, protesting this very thing again, you have heard with what words it began the origins of this law.
*And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak these things to the children of Israel.* As the Septuagint has edited it, *and speak to the children of Israel*. This word was not spoken as if there were others to whom it had ordained the preceding things, but showing that it has extended this personal commandment B against all, because the sin against which it brought forth the present threatening is so much more detestable to others that, while other sins affect only those who commit them as guilty of punishment, this one makes even those who have neglected the sinner, and his judge, but also his avenger—not only the princes of the people, but the whole Synagogue and the people—guilty. For he says, *The people of the land shall stone him*. And not content with these, he added: *And I will set my face against him, and cut him off from the midst of his people*. By this he rouses and provokes everyone against him who has committed such things; but also, by threatening terror if they are negligent and do not with zeal execute the prescribed punishment with their own hands, [he shows that] to such a degree is God angry that He Himself openly wreaks the predicted sentence against him.
But why? *Because he gave of his seed to Moloch, to defile my sanctuary, and to pollute my holy name*. For whosoever shall have given a son or kinsman, or disciple, or friend, or whosoever of his seed, or kindred, or doctrine, to the prince of this age, who now works in the children of unbelief, vowing and consecrating him to the demons—the one, indeed, to the sacred rites of demons, the other [a man] mixed with virile and womanly life, for both were C a custom among pagans—and to those who were falling into their error, of whom God says through Hosea: *Because they were corrupted with harlots, and were sacrificing with the effeminate, they defiled the holy things of God*. How? Because he polluted His holy name. For just as a man, perceiving the image of the Holy One, and of Him who rests in the holy, is rightly called holy and sanctified to Him whose image he has, so he who gave the image, and through this [gave] Him who sanctified it, who also breathed into him the spirit of life by His grace, contaminates and pollutes His name, because he is corrupted by an evil spirit and one adverse to God, and he reduces the Lord's image to the service of demons, and permits the royal pearl to be polluted by swine.
The same applies to whoever, of his own kindred and doctrine, offers [someone] to avarice, and accustoms to avarice—by works or words—him who in any way is his disciple or kinsman, making him a servant of demons, devoted to idols, or a consecrated soldier of this malignant prince of the age: *For the root of all evils is avarice*; which is the service of idols. But we say this same thing also against those who teach adultery, suggesting nefarious actions, persuadingness to turpitude, polluting the holy things of God, that is, the bodies signed for God, whose flesh is the temple of God, and the habitation of the Holy Spirit. Whence also they are rightly said to pollute the holy name, or, according to the Septuagint, [the name] of the sanctified, because from one, or two, or perhaps more abominations, the name of all the holy ones of God—those who have believed in Him, and of the faithful—is most manifestly made abominable and contaminated among men, [when] others D who are outside cast such things [against them], [believing] that they indulge in such things as they may have seen some [of them] doing. Therefore, he commanded that those who thus teach evil and abominable things by works or words are to be punished not by the hands of one, but of all: as an enemy and adversary of all, and of the glory of all, as has been foretold, they are guilty.
*But if the people of the land, by neglecting this, and as if holding in low regard my authority, shall dismiss the man who gave of his seed to Moloch, and shall not wish to kill him*. That is, if those who have been nurtured in knowledge neglect him who teaches such things: for this is the true and straight land, of which David says: *Thy good Spirit shall lead me into the right land*. Because it is most evil not to execute such a sin. What is that which follows? *And against his kindred*. Those who study like things, who are kinsmen on account of the similarity of action and doctrine. *And I will cut him off and all who have consented with him, to fornicate with Moloch, from the midst of his people*. He has not only threatened to punish those who say or do this, and who are therefore rightly named kinsmen, but also those who consent with him, that is, those agreeing or concurring, or communicating in their unfruitful works, as Paul said. For it is evil to permit or even to consent to those who are outside,
to fornicate from God and to cleave to an intelligible leader, A but much more so from the midst of the people. For this is to entrust the whole flock to wolves, and to deliver all the sheep to wild beasts, if we allow them to be snatched from the midst of the people by enemies, or if we stretch out a hand to the robber. For whoever consents and remains silent, to accuse him whom it is necessary to refute, or to admonish, or to rebuke, this person shall not escape the divine judgment. But God sets His face against him, that of which David spoke: *But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil, to root out the memory of them from the earth.* Not only, therefore, are they held liable who do such things, but also those who consent to the doers, just as Paul reprimanding the Romans wrote, under a penalty, which has now been spoken of by the Lawgiver.
VERS. 6-8. *The soul that shall turn aside to wizards and to soothsayers, and shall commit fornication with them, I will set my face against it, and will destroy it out of the midst of its people. Sanctify yourselves, and be holy, for I am the Lord your God. Keep my precepts, and do them; I am the Lord who sanctifies you.*
It is no trifling sin to turn aside to wizards, or as the LXX [render it], ventriloquists or sorcerers; for in both cases one departs from God; whether you speak of sensible pythonic spirits and enchanters, or intelligible ones—that is, those who falsely prophesy in the name of God, deceivers and flatterers—who by their bewitching words corrupt the hearing of many, so that they turn their hearing away from the truth and are converted to fables and error; and for this reason the Judge has threatened to set His face against them and to destroy them from His people. But He added: *Sanctify yourselves, and be holy.* Showing that as many as followed them are defiled and abominable and unclean, inasmuch as they have consented to abominable words and perverse dogmas. Furthermore He added: *Keep my precepts and do them.* Manifesting also by this that they teach a transgression of the commandments of God, whether they teach the law [incorrectly] or feign to interpret divine mandates, and for this reason He turns away from them and their followers. But He also added a brief conclusion in words, saying:
*I the Lord, who sanctify you.* That is, why are you corrupted with those who speak other things against my law or my doctrine? For I am the Lord who sanctifies you, and no man, not even if he says he is a prophet, nor if he promises any kind of knowledge, unless perhaps he says what is mine, and has received it from me, and my Spirit has worked in him.
VERS. 9. *He that curseth his father and his mother, let him die the death. He that curseth his father and mother, his blood shall be upon him.*
Or as the LXX [render it], he is liable, so that this name refers to God Himself. For Malachi said: *Have not all one God? hath not one Father created you?* And again: *Lord, you are our Father, and we are clay, and you are our creator, and we all are the work of your hands.* Rightly, therefore, is anyone who disparages his father, but also his mother, punished with death. For he is ungrateful to nature and blasphemes his benefactors, through whom we perceived that we are from God, and through whom as intermediaries we were generated, and he injures the instruments of the Creator—not to mention the labors which they suffer in our generation; for he shows that very rightly and reasonably He prescribed such a penalty against him who is of this sort, that is, death; he adds: C *He hath cursed his father and his mother; his blood shall be upon him.* Or as the LXX, he is liable to satisfaction, making mention of the magnitude of the penalty and a recapitulation of the sin. If then these things [are so] in him who cursed his sensible parents, much more so in him who blasphemes Christ, for He Himself spiritually regenerated us. Therefore, he who injures His mystery and the grace of baptism, not obeying the Lord’s voice: *Unless a man be born again of water and of the Spirit, he shall not enter into the kingdom of God,* this man shall die a most wretched death, alienated from the kingdom of God, and sustaining the loss of eternal life; he who is for this reason liable, since the Lord preached, and preached nothing harsh, nor heavy, nor anything that would require time or matter or craft or learning, but only purity of heart and faith, and he willfully rejected this gift.
VERS. 10. *If any man commits adultery with another’s wife, and brings about adultery with his neighbor’s wife, he shall be put to death, both the adulterer and the adulteress.*
Nor was the law harsh against him, but rather it was far too just. For when it was permitted to have one’s own wife, he corrupts another’s; when it was permitted to marry in chastity, and in sanctification to be joined to one’s own wife according to the law, he is joined in immodesty and corruption to another’s wife, and dissipates the successions of children, and makes the woman’s offspring doubtful as to whom it belongs. But also after He said, *hath committed adultery with another’s wife*, He added: *And hath committed adultery with his neighbor’s wife.* As though the former were one person, and the latter another—which those who receive the law according to the letter alone can in no way find; but they will find it who run to the moral understanding and spiritual contemplation. Therefore, as much as sensible adultery is evil, by so much is the intelligible worse. For the former does injury to the flesh, but the latter to the spirit; and the latter does injury to man, but the former to God Himself—concerning whom Hosea said: *All of them are adulterers like an oven heated by the baker in his heart.* Accusing the intelligible adultery: for this was being committed by the whole people of the Jews, corrupting the law and the dogmas of the law. Whoever, therefore, commits adultery with that husband, of whom Paul says: *I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ*, does violence to the woman, namely the Church, of whom the same [Paul] says:
Men, love your wives, as Christ also loved the Church (Coloss. III, 19). And again: *For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and they shall be two in one flesh. This is a great sacrament; but I speak in Christ and in the Church* (Ephes. V, 31-32). Now, he who commits adultery with wicked words, disseminating in her his own doctrine and not Christ’s, for the sake of, as Paul says, filthy lucre (Tit. 1, 11), let both the adulterer and the adulteress be put to death. That is, he who over-sows the word of another, and the Church which suffers such things to be sown. For this, as we have said, we understand as the wife. First indeed of the true spouse, Christ, and then also of his spouse, to whom the Church is entrusted by Christ—the priest, or perhaps the doctor. For as many as by emulating Christ, and for their own hatred, corrupt the word among those who are shipwrecked, like Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom Paul delivered to Satan (1 Tim. 1, 20), that they might learn not to blaspheme, their adultery is reckoned against the person of Christ. But whoever, out of emulation of men who have been granted the task of governing churches, does such a thing as to undermine their doctrine—which Paul said Alexander the coppersmith had done, for he says: *Alexander the coppersmith hath done me much evil; the Lord will reward him according to his works: whom do thou also avoid, for he hath greatly withstood our words* (2 Tim. IV, 14-15)—this adultery is reckoned against one’s neighbor, namely the priest or leader, on account of whose emulation one proceeds to such injustice. But the punishment for this too is death, because, although not specifically struggling against Christ, yet struggling against a human being, he has corrupted the work of Christ and scattered the flock; for which reason he is made a companion of his punishment, whoever allows himself to be corrupted by him.
Vers. 11-12. *If any man lie with his stepmother, and uncover the shame of his father, let them both be put to death, let their blood be upon them. If any one lie with his daughter-in-law, both shall die, because they have committed a wicked deed: let their blood be upon them.*
These things were said above in this book of Leviticus by the Lawgiver, but there it is said: *Thou shalt not uncover the shame of thy father and mother, nor of thy sister, and daughter-in-law, and the rest in order* (Levit. XVIII, 6 seqq.). When we expounded these things, we explained that the law enjoins not only the aversion of D shameful and nefarious commingling of relatives, but also that we should not uncover what we have known, nor defame the sins of those who are carnal, spiritual, or related. Here, however, God, if one lies [with them], adds: undoubtedly bringing to the fore him who, while he knows that his neighbor has performed the same evil action, nevertheless performs it himself, and, not blushing at the society of sin, thus even exists as a traitor, for whom the Lawgiver has rightly defined the punishment of death. But he well united the stepmother and the daughter-in-law, because while the one is done by a son against his father, the other is done by a father against his son. Similarly, the [1046 ] wickedness is to uncover the son of one’s father, or to defame a sin, when they themselves have lapsed into similar offenses. Of whom Paul said: *For thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself, for thou dost the same things which thou judgest* (Rom. II, 1).
A Vers. 13. *If any one lie with a male as with a woman, both have committed an abomination, let them be put to death: let their blood be upon them.*
Because this sin is an injury to nature, he shows both its novelty and the magnitude of the crime. Therefore not in vain does the law decree for it the punishment of death. We, however, shrink from even hearing of such things. But let us beware also of him who is strong in soul, and is therefore called a male, for a man is everywhere in divine Scripture named as perfect in virtues, whence Paul also says: *Until we all meet into a perfect man, unto the measure of the age of the fulness of Christ* (Ephes. IV, 13). Let us therefore be wary of becoming effeminate by incongruous words or actions, and dissolving the virtue of this soul, while we also dissolve ourselves along with him, as you can see. For the punishment for both is death.
VERS. 14. *If any man take to wife the mother and her daughter, he hath committed a crime: he shall be burnt alive with them, and so great a wickedness shall not remain in the midst of you.*
Most rightly has he threatened such a savage punishment for this crime, for those who are born of the mother, and those who are born of the daughter—since the father is one—are uncertain whether they ought to be called brothers or uncles. For since the father is one, it forces them to be considered brothers. But since there is one mother from two parents, and another is the daughter, necessity compels these uncles, who are born of the mother, to be called [uncles] by those who are born of the daughter; and this indeed is kept strictly according to the letter, and such uncertain intermingling and confusion of lineage is avoided. Because the mother of every sin is concupiscence, it is necessary that this also be guarded against, so that if there be any concupiscence of sin in us, we may stop at this and not connect action to it. But he who does connect it is kindled in fire—and not only he himself, but the desire for sin, and furthermore the action itself. By what fire? The one of which Christ said: *I am come to cast fire on the earth, and what will I, but that it be kindled?* (Luc. XII, 49), that is, the administration of the Spirit, which will remove the sinners themselves from the midst, and their sins. For if by the Spirit, says Paul, you mortify the deeds of the flesh, you shall live (Rom. VIII, 13).
VERS. 15, 16. *If any one lie with any beast or cattle, let him be put to death: the cattle also shall be killed. The woman also that lieth under a beast, shall be killed together with it: let their blood be upon them.*
The Lawgiver uses excessive severity against the people of the Jews, because they were so wicked and given to lust that they were led to exterior concupiscence even[...].
A when they were straying, and therefore, by making mention of intercourse between a man and a woman with quadrupeds, He demonstrated that the punishment for such things is death. But perhaps you will judge this law to be superfluous for the faithful; for, you say, they have no need to be judged by such a rule. Yet it is not superfluous, but can greatly aid us in spiritual contemplation: if we understand the quadrupeds to denote wicked pleasures, which look downward to the earth, since they lack all truly human action—and are therefore called quadrupeds because, unlike men, they do not have hands, and thus lack our highest kinship. Whoever, therefore, man or woman, leans so far toward alien pleasures that he is not even seized by them through sloth, but actually clings firmly to them and has intercourse with them, so that he has a long-standing and persistent commingling with them, such a one is guilty of death. For this is the end of wicked lusts, and those who perform them, being punished, are rightly said themselves to die. For they do not possess a subsistence of their own, because there is no substance of sin in sinners, and they operate in them, yet when they are destroyed, they themselves perish at the same time.
VERS. 17. ‹ Whoever shall take his own sister, the daughter of his father, or the daughter of his mother, and shall see her nakedness, and she shall behold the ignominy of her brother, it is an abominable thing: they shall be cut off in the sight of the people, because they have uncovered their nakedness one to another, and they shall bear their iniquity. ›
It was thought by many that this was tolerable, to be joined with sisters who were daughters of a father or daughters of a mother, because even Abraham said of Sarah: She is my sister by my father, and not by my mother. This is not entirely the case, as history is thought to hold: for in recounting those who were born of Terah the father of Abraham, Moses never made mention of Sarah; and if Abraham did marry his sister, it was before he had come to know God. It is evil, therefore, to be associated in the bond of marriage with sisters, and for this reason the law prohibited it. Since, then, these things are so, let us by no means depart from the previously mentioned contemplation. Understand the nakedness of a sister by a father or a mother in truth to mean one who sees B and receives that shameful action from the father or mother, that is, in which the father or mother has sinned; he not only sees, but also receives it through a similar and equal action: and he is wicked, not only scrutinizing what he ought not, but building upon it and joining himself to the wickedness already perpetrated by the parents. This sister of his is called "wickedness of wickedness." And as one who has defamed her and scattered her—for children often spread the hidden sins of their parents when they do similar things. Whence He commanded that such a one as this be destroyed in the sight of the people, or, as the LXX have it, in the sight of the children of his race, that is, in the sight of those who contemplate similar things: for these are rightly called the children of his race. Why, however, in the C sight of these? That the punishment of one may serve as a lesson in modesty for the rest. But once the sinner is destroyed, the sin also perishes, just as we have said once before in the preceding passages.
VERS. 18. ‹ If anyone shall lie with a woman in her menstrual flux, and shall uncover her nakedness, and she shall open the fountain of her blood, both shall be cut off from the midst of their people. ›
The Lawgiver did not command in vain that one should abstain from a menstruating woman, but by persuading man toward the modesty of chastity and the diligence which brings forth sanctification, He did not want him to continue to be joined with women in the manner of swine, nor to be given over to common corruption, but in compelled abstinence to make use of it for continence. D But just as He commanded them to be destroyed from His people, when He had previously indicated the purification for one who had slept with a menstruating woman, for He said: If a man shall lie with her in the time of menstrual blood, he shall be unclean for seven days. Then, narrating the sacrifices of purification through these things, He added: This is the law of him who suffers a flow of seed, and who is defiled, and of her who suffers a flow of blood in her menstrues, and of him who suffers a flow of seed, in their flow, male and female. And if a man shall sleep with a menstruating woman, He wants him to be purified in this way, and not to be punished as are others. Therefore let us contemplate in the menstruating woman the wisdom of the Gentiles; for it is far from God, but it speaks and teaches also of the flight of birds, the motion of the stars, and the measures of heaven. With this, then, it is most evil to sleep, that is, to take delight in it and to have intercourse for a long time, but also to uncover and make public her nakedness by transmitting the tales and errors that are within it—an exponent of the fountain of all error: because by publicizing these things, he also uncovers the flow of her blood, that is, those things which belong to the sacrifices of idols, which he introduces; wherefore He did not simply say, they shall be killed, but added: From the midst of their people. Or, according to the LXX: of their race. Because he who transmits the wisdom of the Gentiles, which is perverted by our error, and its knowledge, and its piety, it is no longer just that he be called a man, but he is depicted as having deprived himself of the image of God, ignoring the Creator; and therefore he is cut off from the midst of the people or from his race, so that he is no longer called wise, but lacks what he had had under a false name, as Paul witnesses, who says: The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God.
VERS. 19. ‹ Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy mother's sister, nor of thy father's sister: he that doeth this, hath uncovered the ignominy of his own flesh; they shall both bear their iniquity. ›
He does not command that we should not be joined with the sisters of those who gave us birth, both because of the generations, so that they may not be confused, and so that we might preserve proper reverence for our parents, abstaining from their sisters on their account: which you should likewise understand according to the spirit, so that not only...
may the sins of parents be buried in silence and consigned to oblivion, but also those sins of their associates, and thus their brothers are said to be theirs. Let us, however, be silent about their sins, because when they are laid bare, not even their parents can be hidden, whence it says: *He has uncovered the shame of his own flesh.* But those who do this, to what punishments are they subjected? They shall both bear, he says, their iniquity. The LXX, however, add: *they shall die without children.* Because those who do not bear one another’s burdens, but defame and disseminate the sins of their kin—both according to the flesh and according to the spirit—shall die without virtues, which is the worst kind of barrenness. For children do not help us in the time of judgment, but virtues do, for the sake of which we are evidently crowned, and by the lack of which it is most wretched for the soul to be sick. But to be adorned with a generation of children of this kind is a beatitude. And this is what is meant by saying with Isaiah: *By your face, Lord, we have conceived, and as if in labor, we have brought forth the spirit of salvation; we have not wrought justice on the earth.* And you understand these things, and those that follow: A
VERS. 20, 21. *Whoever shall lie with the wife of his father’s brother or of his mother’s brother, and shall uncover the shame of his kinship, both shall bear their sin, they shall die without children. Whoever shall take the wife of his brother, has done an illicit thing; he has uncovered the shame of his brother, they shall be without children.*
He shows, therefore, that the lawgiver permits nature to be joined by the Creator primarily for the sake of children, inasmuch as He has now prohibited those things that are as if abominable and incongruous. For it is truly incongruous, and akin to the life of beasts, for brothers, kinsmen, and neighbors to mingle with the wives of their brothers; and this in another part of the law, that is, in the book of Deuteronomy, He not only commanded but even compelled, saying: *When brothers dwell together, and one of them has died without children, the wife of the deceased shall not marry another, but his brother shall take her and raise up seed for his brother.* And similar things. But when there is no brother, or father’s brother, or anyone in the manner of his paternal kinship, He commands that the wife of the one who died without children be taken, just as Boaz took Ruth according to the law of kinship. Thus, for the sake of lust, He flees from the commingling of kinsmen and prohibits such society. When, however, it is necessary to relieve [someone] from tribulations or accidents, He commands and wills it: and He commands that nuptials be not in the pollution of corruption, but for the succession of the race among men, on account of which He also commands that he who mingles in this [illicit] way die without children; for He says, *they shall be without children:* because he confuses the law of the procreation of children by using it evilly. What, then, is it to die without children? For it is most necessary to inquire into this by this law: whether He commanded that the children of those who married the wives of their brothers or uncles be killed, and how it is that He says: *Fathers shall not die for their children, nor children for their fathers?* But He in no way commanded them to die, but says they shall be without children B according to the edition of the LXX interpreters alone, so that the succession of children may not be reckoned to them, nor that they may leave their inheritance to children. But Symmachus also shows this, publishing it more plainly, but so does Theodotion, who—instead of what was said, *they shall die without children*—both published: *they shall be without children.* Whence it also has a spiritual interpretation and similar resolution to the foregoing.
VERS. 22. *Keep my laws and judgments, and do them, lest the land also vomit you out into which you are about to enter and to dwell.*
It is not sufficient for us to keep some portion of the law, nor to perform one mandate or another for the correction of life, but we have need to keep all the precepts and judgments, whatever the legislator, commanded by God, has written. For He calls these precepts, or those about which he himself, being in doubt, inquired of God and learned by His judgment, just as in the case of the sons of the son of the Israelitish woman who spoke blasphemy: for He calls the laws that were thus put forward, judgments. By these, however, He has briefly signified this whole law, from which one ought not to transgress, so that the prevaricator may not be cast out, that is, tossed out. For this is to vomit out, which Symmachus, and similarly Theodotion, published as *to cast out.* But from where is it to be vomited? From the land, evidently, into which God promises that we shall be introduced: but what this may be, learn from what follows. C
VERS. 23, 24. *Do not walk in the customs of the nations which I am about to cast out before you. For all these things they have done, and I have abhorred them. But to you I say, possess their land, which I will give to you as an inheritance: a land flowing with milk and honey. I am the Lord your God, who have separated you from the other peoples.*
Not only to the Jews were these things said, who believe that they are separated from all nations on account of circumcision and the law of Moses, but also to all who approach to serve God: for these are notably not allowed to walk in the customs of the nations: but the customs of the nations, of which? *Which I am about to cast out*, He says, *before you*, which the rest of the interpreters published as *which I cast out from your face.* The LXX, however, *from you*, that is, the demons. For these He expelled from the face of the faithful D who were overwhelming them, previously when they persisted in impiety, and not one dominated one, but many dominated one. Which Mary Magdalene proves, from whom He cast out seven demons, and he who was bound with chains; for he says to Him: *My name is Legion, because we are many.* These things, therefore, which the law prohibited, were committed by others, either by themselves acting [in that way], or by working in men: on account of whom God abhorred them, and introduced us into their inheritance, into a land flowing with milk and honey. He did not say *having*, so that you might take what was said as concerning this sensible land, but *flowing*. What, then, is the land that flows with milk and honey? He speaks, therefore, of the delights of the future age, and the goods
that God bestows upon us after the resurrection of the dead; which He called milk and honey, because there is nothing sweeter or more delightful in the foods we now use. But also, without their labor, there is a food that needs no operation or preparation: for there the good things of the future age will be without any labor or pain, needing no effort, no apparatus, no industry. And that He gives these to us, the words of the Legislator that follow clearly show. "I am the Lord your God, who have separated you from other peoples." But Christ did this; for He Himself in the Gospels distinguishes those who believe in Him from all peoples, not only from those who are intelligible but also from those who are sensible; for He says: "Do not think, saying: What shall we eat? or what shall we drink? or wherewith shall we be clothed? For all these things the nations seek." A Therefore, He clearly wishes us to be separated from the nations, by following a more sublime way of life. VERS. 25, 26. "Separate therefore also you the clean beast from the unclean, and the clean bird from the unclean. Do not defile your souls with beast, and with birds, and with all things that move on the earth, and which I have shown you to be polluted. You shall be holy to me, because I the Lord am holy, and I have separated you from peoples, that you should be mine." Cattle, or beasts, because the Law understands by them the common people; but birds, those who contemplate, who are free for the sublimity of knowledge; this has been shown by us openly, and with the proofs of the Scriptures with which it was proper, when we were speaking concerning sacrifices and the foods of quadrupeds and birds, because every common worldly person is judged by many on account of their simplicity, and similarly too those who seem to be handing themselves over and busying themselves with divine knowledge. Which is not so; for the common person ought to be wise in what is good, but in evil, as Paul says, simple. For he who is such is clean; but he who is not such is unclean. But he also who is free for contemplating divine things has need of a clean heart, and a clean conscience, and faith unfeigned. But those who do not have these things are turned into vain talk, not understanding B either what they are saying or about what they affirm, as it is written to Timothy. Necessarily, therefore, He commanded that the clean of both these and those be separated, and the unclean, so that we might abstain from the latter and be intermingled with the former. But the Legislator shows much of His wisdom even now, thus distinguishing concerning quadrupeds and birds, but not so concerning the reptiles of the earth, for all things that move on the earth are unclean. He who savors earthly things, whose god is the belly, who is fed by the poison of pleasures constituted in the dust. Indeed, of them, as you see, He speaks indistinctly, saying: "And with all things that move on the earth, and which I have shown you to be polluted." Therefore all who are attached to earthly C actions, even if they feign the habit of the faithful, are separated as unclean, and are distinguished among the unclean, from whose evils He desires us to abstain in every way, on account of which He added: "You shall be holy to me, because I the Lord am holy." Who have become for you a form of conversation, by which I have so turned away from earthly things that I did not even have where to lay my head, who also commanded my disciples: "Do not possess gold, nor silver, nor money in your belts, nor scrip for your journey, nor two coats, nor shoes, nor a staff." So far, therefore, from those things that creep on the earth does He strive that they should neither savor nor do anything. VERS. 27. "A man, or woman, in whom there shall be a Pythonic, or divining spirit, let them die: they shall stone them. Their blood be upon them." This very thing, to be Pythonic, or divine, or, as the Septuagint says, an enchanter, is of too great iniquity: for whoever is such is both corrupt himself, and without doubt corrupts others in his iniquity. Whence He commanded him to be overwhelmed with stones, because we do no sensible thing, but we concern ourselves with fables from the heart, as if with superfluous and vain sermons, or certain as it were enchanting blandishments, in incongruous sermons of doctrines, so that we might seduce the ears of the common, or simple people, for the feeding of our bellies, and desiring to satisfy our other pleasures with such exquisitenesses. For clearly the Apostle Paul, the chosen vessel, writing to the Romans, set forth the intelligible Pythonics and wicked enchanters: "Now I beseech you, brethren, to mark them who make dissensions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which you have learned, and avoid them." D But who these are, he explained in what follows: "For they that are such serve not our Lord Christ, but their own belly; and by pleasing speeches and good blessings, seduce the hearts of the innocent." Therefore the Legislator well said to them: "Their blood be upon them." Because by force they corrupt the people. CAPUT XXI. VERS. 1-4. "And the Lord said to Moses: Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and you shall say to them, Let not a priest be defiled in the dead of his citizens, except only in his blood relations or those near to him; that is, over father, and mother, and son, and daughter, brother also and sister, who is a virgin, who has not been married to a man: but neither shall he be defiled in the prince of his people." The Septuagint, however, "He shall not be defiled suddenly among his people, to his own profanation." The letter indeed commanded the priests to flee from pollutions of the dead, but this is not the intention of the law, nor did the Legislator propose this, but he understood something greater, and that which would be said quite necessarily concerning priests: for because it is for them to oversee, when they neglect the people
it is said, according to what is written in Hosea: The sins of my people they shall eat, and they will lift up their souls unto their iniquity. Not indeed that all things, whatsoever the people sin, ought to be imputed to them, but that division made by Ezechiel the prophet should be noted: Son of man, I have given thee a watchman unto the house of Israel, and thou shalt hear the word from my mouth, and thou shalt announce it to them from me: if, while I say to the wicked, Thou shalt surely die, thou doest not announce it to him, nor hast spoken that he turn from his wicked way, and live, the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but I will require his blood from thy hand. But if thou hast announced it to the wicked, and he has not been converted from his impiety, and his wicked way, he indeed shall die in his iniquity, but thou hast delivered thy soul. And this the Legislator has set forth more openly, but also more subtly in the present passage: B
“In the dead,” he says, “they shall not be contaminated among their citizens.” In whom? In the sinners, clearly, who are filled with pollution, and who according to certain modes of pollution become the authors of it for others, but most of all for priests and teachers, when they have neglected them. However, in these, he says, he is not contaminated in the deaths of his citizens, that is, when they have been found to have omitted nothing that was expedient for them, but have themselves done what pertained to themselves, and preached the law of God: but those others, not wishing to obey, have brought death upon themselves by their disobedience. Therefore, it is not in these that those who preside are contaminated, but in their near kin and neighbor, in father and in mother, in sons and daughters, in brother and in a sister who is a virgin, who has not been married to a man. For it behooves a priest to show diligence, that the people may not sin, but especially his own house and kinsmen; on account of which Paul says: Command these things, that they may be blameless. But if any one does not have care for his own, and especially for those of his own household, he has denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel. And again: But if any one knows not how to preside over his own house, how will he have care for the Church of God? In a son, and daughter, and brother, and a sister who is a virgin, namely when they are sinning, the priest is necessarily contaminated: inasmuch as he ought daily, and even at every hour, to instruct them in those things which pertain to salvation, and to watch over them, that they do not sin in such ways as are worthy of death. And this same thing is to be understood in the case of a father and mother. For the priestly dignity makes the son a teacher of his father and mother. By saying indeed "a sister who is not married to a man," he shows by this, that if related priests have separated themselves, and have in a certain manner become a household apart, separating themselves, they suffer no pollution in these sinners. But as long as they adhere to them, while they observe the law of closeness and kinship, they are rightly made partakers of their contamination, because they cannot even be ignorant of their sins, as they are cohabitants, a fact which begets for them the cause of contamination. Whence, therefore, saying that they would be contaminated in these, he added subsequently, according to the Septuagint, "he is not defiled suddenly in his people, for his own profanation." C What does he show by this, except that the priest is indeed defiled in a sinning people, but not suddenly? But the transgressions which attach to outsiders do not immediately contaminate a priest, but only when they themselves have persisted in sins, and the priests have neglected to cure them. Moreover, if any one of the people sins suddenly, he makes the priest worthy of pardon, as one who is ignorant; but by committing a sin prepared over a long time, he has left him no room for pardon: for it behooved the priest not to be ignorant, if he had indeed diligently presided over the people, and were solicitous how this one, and how that one was faring, whether they were standing or wavering, so that he might bolster those who stumble. For those who fall suddenly, make those who preside over them guiltless, just as a storm coming upon helmsmen unexpectedly. And therefore he did not say that the priest is suddenly defiled in the people for his own profanation. And not in vain did he add "profanation," but by that word hinting: that when a priest is defiled, according to the aforementioned cause, that is to say of the people's sin, being negligent and not doing what it behooved a priest by all means to do, he is found to be a profane person, that is, stripped of his priestly dignity, one among many: for these are called profane who are not sanctified, and very rightly so, because they have not read the things which belong to the priest.
VERS. 5. You shall not shave your head, nor your beard, nor shall you make incisions in your flesh.
That the priests should be overcome even by the sorrow which is wont to follow death, the law rightly ordains, inasmuch as they both have the hope of the future life themselves and teach the people. But besides these things, he clearly commands them not only to watch over their own sins and to have sound minds, but also to watch over the sins of others, in those things which have now been said: but learn how. The head and beard is the sign of our wisdom and perfection: on account of which our head is called Christ, in whom we have to know all the greatest and most perfect things, with Paul as witness, who says: Until we all meet into a perfect man, unto the measure of the age of the fullness of Christ. And rightly does the beard signify perfection D of wisdom, and the other understanding, because a beard grows for those who have reached youthful age, already able to know what is useful. Since therefore the Lord, and Paul as well, calls dead men sinners, when he says: And when we were dead in our sins, he has brought us to life with Christ. It does not behoove a priest to shave his head or beard over a corpse, that is, over a sinner. Nor indeed does it behoove him to corrupt the thoughts, which are like hairs, the adornment of the head, and are the very adornment of our wisdom—when however they are ordered and sober—when another is sinning, but to keep them intact, that he may be able to exhort, to beseech, to argue, to rebuke.
A according to what Paul wrote to Timothy: "Argue, rebuke, entreat in all patience and doctrine." But as to how this is to be done, he added: "But you, watch, labor in all things, do the work of an evangelist." Therefore, the priest who does not exhort and argue with the sinner does not watch; and he who does not watch is rightly said, according to the virtue of the aforementioned, to shave the head and beard. Yet it is not becoming for a priest to make incisions in his flesh for the dead, that is, not to be scandalized by a sinner, nor to offend by someone sinning, nor to take from this a carnal wisdom, unto the illicit nature of a similar iniquity. For the incision is the wisdom of the flesh: concerning which, regarding the Jews who live carnally and mind earthly things, Paul says: "Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision."
VER. 6. *They shall be holy to their God, and shall not pollute his name. For the incense of the Lord and the bread of their God they offer; and therefore they shall be holy.*
How priests pollute the name of God, the prophet Malachi explained: "You priests, who pollute my name, and have said: In what do we pollute you? You offer upon my altar polluted bread." And adding things similar to these, he subjoined: "Because if you offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not an evil? And if you offer the lame and the sick, is it not an evil?" And again: "Great is my name among the Gentiles, says the Lord, but you have polluted it in that you say, The table of the Lord is defiled." Therefore, in the sin of the sacrifices of God, priests pollute the name. Whence, when the legislator had said: *They shall not pollute his name*, he did not add in vain, *For the incense of the Lord, and the bread of their God, they offer*. Or as the LXX has it, *Because they themselves offer the sacrifices of God*; which you may think the legislator and the prophet ordered not only regarding irrational beasts, but also regarding rational ones. For that priest pollutes and shows the Lord’s table to be polluted who does not command those who are polluted by the iniquity of sin to abstain from it, but indiscriminately permits terrible things and holy things to be touched; of whom Paul says: "He who does not discern the body, eats and drinks judgment to himself." Moreover, he offers one who is lame to the altar who promotes an infidel to the ministry; for thus Elias the Thesbite called the infidels, when he said to the Jews: "How long do you halt between two sides?" He promotes the blind and deaf who brings forward one laboring under the disease of disobedience or of ignorance of God; of whom Isaiah introduced his God saying: "Deaf, hear, and blind, look to see. Who is blind, but my servant? And who is deaf, but he to whom I have sent my messengers?" When, therefore, a priest has proposed that such men as these should offer at the altar and receive the mystical ministry, does he not pollute the name of his God? For it will not be for him without curse and detraction, insofar as he commands the wicked to minister to God. But he himself shall be holy, keeping himself from these; which Paul shows, saying: "Lay hands quickly on no man, B nor be a partaker in other men's sins: keep thyself pure." Therefore, the cause of chastity and sanctification for the priest is in none of the aforementioned matters to be mingled.
VERS. 7-8. *A harlot and a vile prostitute they shall not take as wife, nor her who is repudiated by her husband, because he is consecrated to his God, and shall offer the loaves of proposition. C Be holy therefore, because I the Lord, who sanctify you, am holy.*
The present sanction is marvelous in the LXX translation, because, while bringing forward the same commandment in the person of many and again in the middle, it called them; and it is from this, beyond doubt, manifest that he gave commands concerning the multitude of priests, yet he brought the sanctification of all into one, for they say: *A harlot and a profane woman they shall not take*, and a little later, *He shall be holy*, and again, *I will sanctify him*, as if he speaks of those who have taken up the office of one—that is, of him who ministers according to the order of Melchisedech—for the words of the text themselves signify that without difficulty, as even others of the interpreters have shown, besides our translation. Indeed, what the LXX said, *The gifts of the Lord your God he shall offer*, they rendered: *Because the bread of your God he himself shall offer*. But you are in no way unaware that Melchisedech possessed the offering and the priesthood in bread. On account of which he also met Abraham bearing bread and wine, which were the signs of his priesthood: for he bore the image of Christ, of whom David showed the Father saying in prophecy: "You are a Priest forever, according to the order of Melchisedech." And the legislator shows here that his dignity does not only make a memory of the bread: but also the subsequent words, if we attend to their order more subtly, D clearly imply this, that the sanctification of priests tends toward Christ, not only because they received from him the law and mode of priesthood, but because he himself is the mediator before the Father of the sacrifices and the offerings that are offered by them. And therefore it says:
*For the incense of the Lord and the bread of their God they offer.* Or according to the LXX: *The gifts of the Lord your God he shall offer.* But why did he add: *Be holy therefore, because I the Lord, who sanctify you, am holy?* He did not say, *Who sanctify you* [singular], lest you perchance think that he who offers the gifts to the Father as mediator is being sanctified, but *sanctifying you* [plural], namely those who have been constituted as priests of the Church in his image. What need was there, therefore, for the words to be connected in such a way, or what consequence does the utterance of such words have in the translation of the LXX: *He shall be holy, because I the Lord, who sanctify you, am holy?* For above, testimony of sanctification is provided to him, just as those mentioned before rendered it, saying: *Because he is holy to the Lord his God.* How then does he again infer, *And you shall sanctify him?* For he shall offer the gifts of the Lord your God. Therefore, through the things that have been said, it shows these three things, that is, that Christ
is both God and is holy, possessing sanctification from himself, but we also are sanctified; concerning whom Paul said: "For both he who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one." But he indeed is one Son alone from God, and is the very nature of God, whereas we are sanctified by grace; on account of which he indeed sanctifies, while we are sanctified. But according to the fact that it pleased him to become incarnate, and not only to become a sacrifice, but also to be a high priest, according to this he is said to have a Father, and a Lord, and a God, just as he himself said to Mary Magdalene: "Go to my brethren and say to them: I ascend to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God," and therefore he says: "For he is holy to the Lord his God." He is holy as God, but to the Lord his God, he is as man. B On account of which also "thou shalt sanctify him," for he himself shall offer the gifts of the Lord your God. But also because in his figure those who are constituted priests by him exercise their ministry, it is said that he is sanctified in them and by them, and therefore when he had once said, "He is holy," he added nevertheless, "Thou shalt sanctify him," and again, "He shall be holy." But how can we sanctify him? Whence or from whom we have sanctification, showing this, he added: "For I the Lord who sanctify them am holy." If, therefore, we priests guard the sanctification given to us by God, we sanctify him who is holy according to nature through our own sanctification, but only in us, because he willed to be sanctified in those who are partakers and participants of his glory; he used this transposition, speaking as it were figuratively and typically. However, he does not wish those who are sanctified by him to take as a wife a harlot or a vile prostitute, clearly aiming against the Synagogue of the Jews; which, because it is a harlot, hear the Lord saying in Isaiah: "How has the faithful city Sion, full of judgment, become a harlot? Justice dwelt in her, but now murderers." But also in Hosea: "And I will remove her fornications from her midst, and her adulteries from between her breasts." Moreover, David also proclaims the profanation of this; for he says to God concerning it: "Thou hast profaned his holiness on the earth, thou hast destroyed all his hedges." The sanctification of the Jews, their Synagogue, C was without doubt; for in it was also the sacrifice of the tabernacle, in which their legal rites were performed. It is also that which was repudiated by God, as if by her husband, who by choice had been made her husband. But because he later found her culpable, for that reason he repudiated her, because she is utterly cast out. Hear the voice which Hosea uttered: "Judge your mother, judge, because she is not my wife, and I am not her husband." But hear also what the prophet Isaiah handed down: "Thus saith the Lord: What is this bill of divorce of your mother, with which I have dismissed her?" But where is the repudiation and the sending away? It is manifest that it was a wife of whom he was saying these things. He does not wish, therefore, the priest to take her as a wife, so that he does not behave according to the letter of those things which pertain to her: that is, that he should not perform either the sacrifices of irrational animals, or bodily purifications, in which he believes the intelligible things are contained.
VERS. 9. "If the daughter of a priest be caught in harlotry, and shall have profaned the name of her father, she shall be burned with fire." D It is indeed a grave matter for any man at all that his daughter should commit fornication, but especially for a priest, because according to what Paul said: "It behooves priests to have their children subject with all chastity," so that it may not be said of him what follows: "If a man does not know how to rule his own house, how shall he have care for the Church of God?" Therefore the Synagogue of the Jews is found in the prophets to be called not only the wife, but also the daughter of God. But since she defiled both, she appeared unworthy of the gifts, and on account of this she became alien; so that God might say through Isaiah: "The daughter of Sion shall be left as a booth in a vineyard, and as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, and as a city that is laid waste." She herself is profaned and adulterated. Of this you will find the Lord saying through the prophecy in Hosea: "I will not have mercy on her children, because they are children of fornication, because their mother has played the harlot"; for she has also been burned with fire. This the temple manifests, and this city of Jerusalem of old, still showing the remnants of the conflagration. Therefore true and irrefragable is the spiritual contemplation of the law: for it was not only kindled, but according to what the law says, it is utterly burned up.
VERS. 10-12. "The high priest, that is, the priest greatest among his brethren, upon whose head the oil of unction has been poured, and whose hands have been consecrated in the priesthood, and who has been clothed with the holy vestments, shall not uncover his head, his garments he shall not rend, and to every dead person he shall not enter at all. Upon his father also, or upon his mother he shall not be defiled, nor shall he go out from the sanctuary, lest he defile the sanctuary of the Lord, because the oil of the holy unction of his God is upon him. I the Lord." Who is the great priest among his brethren, if not surely he of whom David said: "Great is the Lord, and great is his power, and of his wisdom there is no number." For who can consider his power, who can number his wisdom or comprehend it? Because, when he is God, on account of the dispensation of the mysteries performed for us, he has become also a priest. Rightly therefore is this great priest called such, as one who offered himself for us as a victim and oblation. On account of which he permitted himself to call his servants brethren, that is, the holy ones, who always do his will. For he says: "Whoever shall do the will of my Father, he is my brother, and sister, and mother." Upon his head the oil of unction was poured, of which he said: "Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever, a scepter of justice is the scepter of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved justice and hated iniquity, therefore God hath anointed thee"
with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. A Applying to this law its concordance, he says not only that each makes mention of the anointing, but that just as David does, he testifies that he excels his fellows in the anointing itself. For what he said, "above thy fellows," is understood without any doubt as "above those who share with thee." Thus the legislator also called him the greatest among his brethren, that is, the superior. However, that which in the present case it is most necessary to observe—when according to the LXX edition, he should have added, "upon whose head the oil of anointing has been poured," he does not say so, but rather, "the greatest among his brethren, who poured it upon his head." For it is the flesh of Christ that received the anointing, communicating to itself the united divinity. And from this flesh we have been made his brethren and kinsmen. Rightly did he say "the pontiff," that is, the high priest among his brethren, upon whose head the oil of the anointing was poured, so that it may be openly found what is to be understood: the greatest among his brethren, that is, of his own flesh. For it is this which received the oil of the anointing of this priest, and that his hands were consecrated, or, as the LXX have it, *perfected* (consummatas), through the nailing to the cross, is manifest. For just as those who are priests according to the Law were perfecting or consecrating their hands in the blood of a calf and a ram, so too did he consecrate or perfect his hands with his own blood. Concerning whom Paul says: "Whereas he was the Son, he learned obedience by the things which he suffered, and being consummated, he became, to all that obey him, the cause of eternal salvation, called by God a high priest according to the order of Melchisedech." And again: "It became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, who had brought many children into glory, to perfect the author of their salvation, by his passion." He is also clothed with those garments B of which David sang in the Psalms: "The Lord hath reigned, he is clothed with beauty; the Lord is clothed with strength, and hath girded himself with power." He did not uncover his head, nor did he tear his garments. He did not uncover his head because he is not separated from his Father, who is called his head, even when sustaining the passions of the flesh. Nor did he tear his garments, that is, his flesh: for from the time the Word was made flesh, he remains entirely in his flesh, and he never separated himself from it, neither when it was crucified, nor when it was buried, nor when it suffered anything else that pertains to our nature.
He shall not enter unto any dead person. He shall not be defiled at all, even for his own father and mother. But the LXX say: "He shall not enter unto any dead soul." How does a soul die, when it was created immortal? Hear the prophet saying: "The soul that sinneth, the same shall die," that is, by the death of impiety; for this is the death of the soul, which the Gentiles have most profoundly suffered, who had neither the Law of God nor any knowledge of him. C Therefore, he shall not enter unto any dead soul, or unto any dead person; for even though he will bear the sins of all, he nevertheless remains undefiled, and is not polluted by the sins of the Gentiles. For it is said of them, according to the LXX, "unto any dead soul," because impiety and idolatry have been poured forth against them all.
Nor shall he be defiled for father or mother. For the people, that is to say, the Jews, from whom he is according to the flesh, and therefore he is called his father and mother: D he shall not be contaminated, nor shall he go out from the holy places. Even though he chose to condescend to sinners, he nevertheless remains holy, and rests in the holy ones, and is surrounded by the holy angels who are in heaven. But neither shall he pollute the sanctuary of the Lord, because the oil of the holy anointing of his God is upon him. Therefore, even if you see him conversing with publicans and with harlots, saying to sinners: "I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance," he will not be contaminated by any of these, for he does not become a participant in their evil actions.
Wherefore he does not pollute the sanctuary of God—that is, the Holy Spirit, for of him it is said: "For the oil of the holy anointing of his God is upon him." Concordant also with the words of Isaiah concerning Christ: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me." But the pollution of the Spirit, that is, injury and grief, is the pollution of every sin, because of which Paul also, teaching abstinence from sins, said: "Grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby you are sealed unto the day of redemption." Thus from the high priest you will understand not only what precedes, but also what follows. For the legislator does not mean that he who is the first priest is someone impatient and ungentle, so that he might not approach any dead person, but he wishes to persuade us that such great sanctification, with which the pontiff is said to be clothed, would be sullied by the sight of the dead.
VERS. 13-15. "I the Lord, he shall take a virgin to wife; a widow, and one that is divorced, and one that is defiled, and a harlot, he shall not take; but a maid of his own people, lest he make the seed of his lineage common to his people, because I am the Lord who sanctify him." Showing most clearly that he himself is the legislator and the fulfiller of this sanction. "I the Lord" he added necessarily; but what kind he is, he taught in the following words. "He shall take a virgin to wife of his own people." Or, as the LXX have it, "of his own lineage," because it is certain to everyone that Christ's lineage, on account of his flesh, is the entire human race; yet he took this virgin wife, that is, the Church of those believing in him, of whom Paul said: "I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ." "A widow, and one that is divorced, and one that is defiled, and a harlot, he shall not take." We know the Synagogue of the Jews is called a widow in the prophets, to whom he said: "Rejoice and be glad over thy tender children, be multiplied..."
A in your city, as the eagle." But also concerning the people of the Jews, or the traitor Judas, the common iniquity of them is described; it says: "Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow." However, we understand "the repudiated one" and "the widow" according to what was said a little while ago. For she is repudiated from the society of God, committing fornication with idols, because of which he does not permit her to be taken in marriage, so that you may understand that he has forbidden that manner of life which is in shadows and figures, and in no way wishes those who look to him to join themselves to her through a good life and faith. When he had once said: "He shall take a virgin of his people, or of his own race," he was not content, but added: "He shall not take a widow, or a harlot, or a repudiated woman." According to the Seventy, however: "He shall take a virgin of his own race," so that you may understand the first concerning the entire body of the Church, but this second one concerning every individual soul. For as the society of the faithful is the bride of God, so is the soul of each one, and it is the Church. Why, however, he does not wish her who is betrothed to him to become a participant in the Jewish manner of life, he himself adds: "Lest he debase the stock of his race." Commonly: "of his people." But the Seventy: "And he shall not profane the seed among his people." Therefore, it is a profanation of the faithful; for these are the seed and the people of our priest, joined to Jewish customs. And that is why Paul said: "You have been made void of Christ, you who are justified in the law, you have fallen from grace." To these he adds: "I am the Lord who sanctifies him." That is, because of this, there is no need for the figures of the law, nor sacrifices, nor purifications, because I, the Lord, am made for all of them both sacrifice and purification; and whatever else you might say pertains to other sanctification. But he who, when he mentioned the widow, and the harlot, and the repudiated woman, said "these he shall not take," we say that the legislator has said this also concerning the conventicles of heretics: for they are widowed of the knowledge of God, for which reason they have also been expelled from the communion of the pious, but they also commit fornication with inconsistent and nefarious dogmas. Therefore, he rightly set the widow first, the repudiated woman second, and added the harlot third; the Lord brings none of these into society with himself, so that they may not pollute the seed of the faithful, because "evil communications corrupt good manners."
VERS. 16-23. "And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to Aaron: Whosoever of thy seed throughout their families hath a blemish, he shall not offer bread to his God, nor approach to his ministry. If he be blind, if he be lame, or if he have a small or large or crooked nose, if he have a broken foot or hand, if he be hunchbacked, if he have bleary eyes, or if he have a white spot in his eye, if he have a continuous scab, or an impetigo on his body, or if he be a hernia sufferer. Everyone that hath a blemish of the seed of Aaron the priest, shall not approach to offer B gifts to the Lord, nor bread to his God, yet he shall eat of the bread which is offered in the sanctuary, provided that he does not enter within the veil, nor approach the altar, because he has a blemish, and he must not defile my sanctuary; I am the Lord who sanctifies you."
If we wish to accept this sanction according to the letter, how will the intention of the legislator appear to be just? For blemishes do not happen to men by their own will. How, therefore, is it not incongruous that a priest should be repelled from his office for things that do not happen voluntarily? But what if someone, knowing this very precept of the law, out of envy for a priest, should damage his limb—a hand, or a foot, or an eye, or something else—or if, fighting against foreign nations and armed for the holy things of God—for Moses commanded in Deuteronomy that priests should lead in wars—he received a wound from which any of the aforementioned blemishes resulted, do you think he was worthy to be removed from the priesthood because of this? For bodily blemishes are not so abominable to God, since David said that the Lord "gives sight to the blind." If he did not choose beauty, nor a robust body, nor what appears to be well-formed, so that he said to Samuel concerning the elder son of Jesse, because he thought his appearance was pleasing to God: "Look not on his countenance, nor on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him." And yet, he who was being anointed was a king, not a priest; but for a king, appearance and magnitude of body were necessary. But what did he add to these? "Nor do I judge according to the intuition of man. Man looks at the things that are apparent, but God beholds the heart; for he scrutinizes the heart, to see if it has a blemish, and he judges those who are immaculate in soul to be chosen: but those who have a blemish in their soul, he rejects." For if it is evil to be lame in one's feet, or to have infirm eyes, and they separate one from God, why did he permit Isaac, why did he permit Jacob to grow dim and lose the safety of sight? For indeed, Isaac did not recognize Jacob, as Esau was feigning a person. But concerning Jacob it was said: "The eyes of Israel were dimmed from extreme old age, and he could not see clearly." Therefore, even now the legislator ordains thus C without distinction concerning the blemish, saying: "A man of thy seed who hath a blemish." And although he had not distinguished the place, he immediately added: "He shall not offer the bread to his God, nor shall he approach to the ministry of his God." But the Seventy say: "In whom there shall be a blemish, he shall not approach." You see that in saying "in whom," he does not say "in the body," but in us, properly speaking, this is said to be that which is in our soul. Therefore, he calls him "lame" who corrupts the way of God, who partially subverts divine mandates and the law, concerning whom he says in the Psalms: "Foreign children have lied to me, foreign children have grown old, and they have limped from their paths." For just as the one foot of a lame man appears healthy, while the other limps, so also with this man, one thing meanwhile appears healthy, for he boasts that he serves God. But the other thing is infirm, while he corrupts D
the law of the commandments by his transgression of purpose. A He is blind who suffers from the disease of total ignorance of God and cannot look upon the light of truth. On account of which the Lord said concerning the Jews: *If the blind lead the blind, both fall into the ditch*. It is proper to the nose to smell. If it is healthy, one smells well; but if it is pierced or truncated, one does not smell well, as is the case with certain people who are pleased by evil things, for the reason that they have an evil sense of smell for their thoughts. For since the divine Scripture is accustomed to take "to smell" as meaning what is pleasing, hear David saying to Saul: *If the Lord stirs you up against me, let the sacrifice be smelled*. And again, when Noah sacrificed, it says: *And the Lord God smelled the odor of sweetness*. But the holy Scripture accepts both in the sense of pleasing.
An incised ear cuts off hearing at disobedience. Moreover, those have a bruising of the hand and a bruising of the foot, concerning whom David sang: *Let not the foot of pride come to me, and let the hand of the sinner not move me*; that is to say, of one who plunders or who flies. Therefore, the legislator signifies by this the proud and the avaricious. A hump is one bearing the heavy weight of sins, and not seeing this because the collection of humps is behind, which is not seen by them at all. Concerning these, it is said in the parable which the king of Israel used against the king of Syria: *What does a humped man do, as if he were straight?* B
A blear-eyed person, and one having a white spot on the eye. We say those who have damaged eyes and infirm vision have the knowledge of God, but a corrupted one, such as are certain people who are puffed up; concerning whom Paul said: *If anyone teaches otherwise, and does not acquiesce to the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to that doctrine which is according to godliness, he is proud, knowing nothing, but languishing about questions and contentions of words*. Or those are understood who reject knowledge by their life.
But the cataract, which Aquila published, is rightly accepted as a tumor, because it is not manifest to all, but only to skilled physicians; C for this affliction is not known by all, but only by those who know how to discern things that pertain to the soul. For just as a cataract covers the vision of the pupil, so arrogance and elation, surrounding the soul, make its knowledge dark. But a white spot is accepted as being in the life and in the depravity of conduct, because this affliction is openly present to all eyes, just as the depravity of life cannot be hidden, which subverts the knowledge of God, even if those who live depravedly boast that they have it. For Paul said of these: *They profess that they know God, but in their deeds they deny Him*. But that we do not compare in vain even those who suffer these things regarding knowledge to the blear-eyed, you will find by conjecturing from here the life of those who suffer from a cataract or a white spot. Their eyes indeed appear open, but as long as they are infirm, they are like the blind: but when they have been saved, purged from the aforementioned passion, they are able to use their eyes just as the healthy do. Thus also these D who have knowledge wounded by a certain tumor or depravity of life, do not differ from those who suffer the infirmity of ignorance, until they cleanse that tumor or depravity of life. For it is permitted for them then to use the healthy and pure eye of knowledge. A detractor has a scab: for just as the worst scab is destructive, so a detractor is easily provoked. A fornicator has impetigo, for the open stains are the impetigo of the body. For just as the fornication of the soul, and as the witness of one body, according to the LXX, is the teacher who speaks and does not act: for such a one is not able to create children. Therefore, whosoever has one of the aforementioned stains cannot offer gifts to God or sacrifices, because a priest ought to be immaculate and in his soul: just as Moses commanded him to be clean of twelve stains, for you will find them enumerated thus according to the LXX, so also Paul commanded him who is about to receive the priesthood to preserve twelve, saying: *A bishop must be irreprehensible, as the steward of God*. But who is irreprehensible, if not the unpolluted? Then he shows in the subsequent [verses] from whence it is gathered that he is irreprehensible, by lacking what stains or passions. Not proud, not irascible, not a drunkard, not a striker, not greedy for filthy lucre, but hospitable, benign, chaste, just, holy, continent, embracing him who is according to doctrine, the faithful word. Therefore, he himself also wishes the priest to guard twelve, and why he imposes so much upon him, he said in the preceding: *For a bishop must be irreprehensible, as the steward of God*. But he who stewards the things of God has need to excel in virtues those of whom he is the steward: for how will he be able to steward them, how to arrange them? But since the legislator commanded [those] to eat of the holy things [who have] any one of the aforementioned stains, he did not, however, command him to approach within the veil and the altar, that is to say the body of Christ, to minister. Thus perhaps you will find this also to be guarded in the Churches, if any one of the priests has been approved, yet had a stain of the soul at one time, and has ceased from it, he is not prohibited indeed from communicating in the holy things, but it is not permitted for him, being such a one, to minister, nor to approach to the veil and the altar, that is, to the body of the Lord, in order to perform His ministry. For Paul, writing to the Hebrews, taught of this veil and altar. *We have an altar, whereof they have no power to eat who serve the tabernacle*, that is to say the Lord's body. For it is not permitted to the Jews to use this on account of their incredulity and servitude to the letter. But learn from him himself that this very thing is also called a veil: *Having therefore confidence in the entering into the holies, by the veil*, that is, his flesh. To this alone he who has a stain of the soul does not enter. For what reason? Because he has a stain, and ought not to contami-
-Anate my sanctuary; for to offer such persons for ministry is a defilement of holy things and an injury, seeing that the people take offense, and those who know their stains are scandalized. For this reason, Paul also wills that a priest have a good testimony from those who are without. The Law, however, has confirmed those things which were spoken, from the fact that it said: I am the Lord who sanctifies you. Who am I? He who commands and orders. Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. For in whom there is even one of the aforesaid stains, he is not perfect.
VERS. 24. And Moses spoke to Aaron and his sons, and to all Israel, all things that had been commanded to him.
What are these things which he spoke? They are evidently the things which were previously stated, which God indeed spoke to Moses, but Moses delivered to Aaron, his sons, and the people, just as those things which have now been read show: for the Law does not distinguish these things in vain, but in order to commend the dignity of Moses, and to show openly that while God spoke few things to others, He spoke all things to him on account of his righteousness and the image of Christ which he bore. Similarly, He teaches us to have such a mind regarding whatever the greater and more perfect ones have said, knowing that they continually enjoy supernal operation.
CHAPTER XXII.
CVERS. 1-3. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to Aaron, and to his sons, that they take heed of the things which are consecrated of the children of Israel, and do not contaminate the name of the things sanctified to me, which they offer. I am the Lord. Say to them, and to their posterity: Every man who shall approach from your stock, to the things that are consecrated, and which the children of Israel have offered to the Lord, in whom there is impurity, shall perish before the Lord. I am the Lord.
For whatever the dignity of the priesthood may be, it is given to it by lot that it should be a mediator between God and men. And by this, our race is reconciled to the Creator; the nexus and absolution of our sins consists in the tongue of the priests. Malachias, however, shows of what great dignity the priest is, and what ought to be expected from him. For, he says, the lips of the priest store up knowledge, and they seek the law from his mouth, because he is the angel of the Lord of hosts. For this reason, along with those things which were pre-ordained concerning priests, he also commanded these things.
Take heed of the things which are consecrated of the children of Israel, and do not contaminate the name of the things sanctified to me, which they offer. But if they contaminate the name of the things sanctified—or, according to the LXX, the holy name of God—firstly, this itself brings it about that they blaspheme the One who chose them as such, and then that they offend the people in holy things, D and force them to think that the ministry of God, and justice, and judgment, are superfluous. But how greatly God is angered if the priest or his sons—that is, his disciples—have sinned in the holy places, the things which befell Heli and his sons show. Therefore he added: I am the Lord, say to them. I am the Lord, who, that is to say, am angered and take vengeance. But what did he say?
Say to them and to their posterity: Every man who shall approach from your stock to the things that are consecrated, and which the children of Israel have offered to the Lord, in whom there is impurity, shall perish before the Lord. I am the Lord. Making mention, first of all, of the priestly seed, he openly signified that he commands the present sanction to be guarded not only by the priest, but by every minister of the holy things, even if he has the smallest and most insignificant lot among them. However, by saying "from your stock," he shows that this commandment must always be guarded: that he who has an impurity of soul within himself—for the LXX so reads—should not only abstain from ministry and mystical office, but should not even touch the things that have been offered, nor take from them; for the clean ought to approach clean things. If anyone does not approach in this way, he shall perish before the Lord, and God always turns away from him and repels him from every participation and communion of the Spirit. But this "aversion" is properly understood here as that which the LXX say, "to perish before the Lord," as witnessed by David, who says: Do not turn your face away from me, and do not take your holy Spirit from me. In these things there is the true loss, or rather extermination, of the soul, that is, the one about which the Lord was speaking in the Gospels: Fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Therefore, not in vain did he add: I am the Lord. But he shows that he who says these things is the one who alone can destroy the soul.
VERS. 4-8. A man of the seed of Aaron, who shall be a leper, or suffering a flux of seed, shall not eat of the things that are sanctified to me, until he is healed. He who shall touch anything unclean made by a dead body, and from which seed goes out as in coitus, and he who touches a reptile, and whatever is unclean whose touch is sordid, shall be unclean until evening, and shall not eat of the things that are sanctified. But when he has washed his flesh with water, and the sun has set, then being cleansed he shall eat of the sanctified things, because it is his food. They shall not eat that which has died or been caught by a beast, nor be polluted by them. I am the Lord.
The meaning of what the leper, what the one suffering a flux of seed, and what the one suffering a flux of seed through a dream and that which pollutes him, and the one who by touching an unclean reptile is polluted—all these have been told to us in the order above, in those things which pertain to these matters. But the intention of the present law is truly admirable, and worthy of all observance by the faithful. For to eat holy things while polluted until they are cleansed,
He does not wish; but neither does He wish to forbid them entirely from it through abstinence. Therefore, He enumerated that whoever is polluted by any one of these is to be unclean until evening, saying: *He shall not eat of what is sanctified, but when he has washed his body with water, and the sun has set.* Evening and the setting of the sun are repentance; the water with which he washes it, he calls tears, concerning which David said: *I will wash my bed every night; I will water my couch with my tears* (Ps. vi, 6). By the same evening, He has signified to us repentance and the joy coming from it: *At evening weeping shall tarry, and at the morning gladness* (Ps. xxix, 6). When, therefore, one has been washed by the tears of repentance, then he shall eat of the holy things, because that bread is His, concerning which the Lord said in the Gospels: *And the bread which I will give is my flesh* (John vi, 52). And now, making mention of this bread, and distinguishing who ought to eat of it, He added:
*And from whomsoever seed shall go forth, as in coition, and who touches any reptile and whatever is unclean, whose touch is filthy.* That He may manifest to you also the understanding of this, He consequently added according to the LXX: *Or upon a man, in whom he has defiled him, according to all his uncleanness.* At whatever hour He has passed on uncleanness or pollution outside the soul. But so that you may receive intelligibly what He Himself set forth according to the letter because of the hardness of the Jews, He therefore subjoins these things, from which He may give to you the significance of the contemplative spirit. A Moreover, it is most useful and profitable for you to understand this of the commandment of this law, that He wishes that not only priests, but also all those who minister, should not presume to the perception of the Holy things without fear, and to look at the distinction handed down by the law, which commands those who are penitent indeed to approach the holy things, but forbids it before repentance. But those who are from the seed of Aaron the priest—since you have learned that Christ is our priest and that Aaron bears the figure of Him—you will understand without any doubt to be those who have the adoption of baptism, and are correctly called seed, and His kin, and everything you would name regarding His conjunction. Whence they are also called *a chosen race, and a royal priesthood, and a holy nation* (1 Pet. ii, 9), on account of their kinship with Him. To whom, therefore, He says the things that follow:
VERS. 9. *They shall keep my commandments, that they may not subject themselves to sin, and die in the sanctuary when they have polluted it. I am the Lord who sanctifies them.*
*They shall not eat a carcass and that which is caught by a beast, nor shall they be polluted by them. I am the Lord.* So that when you hear what is said: *I am the Lord,* you may understand Him saying this: *I am the bread which descended from heaven* (John vi, 51). Through the prohibition of the carcass and that which is caught by a beast, He commanded that it is not fitting to be partakers of the table, and the table of demons; for in these are truly carcasses and things caught by beasts. For because the aforementioned bread is at once holy and the nourisher of our intelligible substance, He commands that neither should the polluted receive it, nor again, does He wish those who have been cleansed to be forbidden. For Paul also clearly commanded both: *For whoever shall eat the bread and drink the cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord* (1 Cor. xi, 27). Lo, this one is polluted and unclean. For you understand this man as eating in every way unworthily, forbidden from the participation of the holy things. But what did He add to these? *But let a man prove himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of the cup* (1 Cor. xi, 28). But whoever proves himself, if he is conscious of sin to himself, and feels that he has the pollution of the soul, he surely repents. And after repentance, he is able to eat of the bread, and to drink again of the holy and unpolluted cup. But what we have frequently said concerning this sanction is necessary to be said even now, for it is profitable to those who hear, that is, because the Lawgiver does not abhor those who are lepers and suffer from a flux of seed—sensible [diseases]—nor do they sustain this passion voluntarily, but B against their will; but [He abhors] those who have a leprous soul, or suffer a flux of seed. Therefore, saying:
*A leper, and he who suffers a flux of seed, shall not eat, until he is healed.* How it ought to be understood, he adds, interpreting: *Whoever has touched anything unclean upon a dead body, or according to the LXX, every uncleanness of the soul; but the uncleannesses of the soul are sins, of which some are leprous, some are those who suffer a flux of seed, as has been said by us in those things which have been said about the leprous, and those suffering from a flux of seed, and it has been approved. And again saying:*
*And from whomsoever seed goes forth, as in coition, and whoever touches any reptile and whatever is unclean, whose touch is filthy.* That He may manifest to you also the understanding of this, He consequently added according to the LXX: *Or upon a man, in whom he has defiled him, according to all his uncleanness.* At whatever hour He has passed on uncleanness or pollution outside the soul. But so that you may receive intelligibly what He Himself set forth according to the letter because of the hardness of the Jews, He therefore subjoins these things, from which He may give to you the significance of the contemplative spirit. Moreover, it is most useful and profitable for you to understand this of the commandment of this law, that He wishes that not only priests, but all who minister, should not presume to the perception of the Holy things without fear, and to look at the distinction handed down by the law, which commands those who are penitent indeed to approach the holy things, but forbids it before repentance. But those who are from the seed of Aaron the priest—since you have learned that Christ is our priest and that Aaron bears the figure of Him—you will understand without any doubt to be those who have the adoption of baptism, and are correctly called seed, and His kin, and everything you would name regarding His conjunction. Whence they are also called *a chosen race, and a royal priesthood, and a holy nation*, on account of their kinship with Him. To whom, therefore, He says the things that follow:
VERS. 9. *They shall keep my commandments, that they may not subject themselves to sin, and die in the sanctuary when they have polluted it. I am the Lord who sanctifies them.*
Ergo, the commandments of the Lord, that is, the Law, having a strict guard and an intransgressible C obedience as necessary, as they are caused for the sake of sanctification and justification and salvation for those who fulfill them, so they are [caused] for sin and death for those who transgress them: which is in every Law, and in every commandment, but much more however in the perception of the Holy things. For whoever has approached them when he ought not, takes to himself judgment and death. For Paul also wrote concerning such Corinthians: *For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the body of the Lord. Therefore among you many are infirm and weak, and many sleep* (1 Cor. xi, 29, 30), that is, they die. Therefore, according to this word, the Lawgiver has sanctioned:
*They shall keep my commandments, that they may not subject themselves to sin and die through them.* And what is the cause which brings death? When they have polluted it. For it is an injury to the sanctuary and a pollution for any filthy person to approach clean things. Whence, when He had called some from the ways and the hedges to the wedding, which are mentioned in the evangelical parable, finding someone clothed in a filthy garment, He expels him reclining at the marriage supper, and commands him to be cast into the darkness D (Matt. xxii, 11, 12).
A Furthermore, all those who were invited were sinners, and for that reason it was said that they should be gathered from the roads and the hedges: but when they had first been changed, and by repentance had stripped themselves of their sin, then they ate of the supper. But this man, still clothed in the filthy garment of sin, not having been stripped nor changed, presumed to enter into the holy and clean place. Much, therefore, has been added to the Law according to this time: *I am the Lord who sanctifies them.* That is, I, who receive only those sinners who have been changed into the communion of the Saints, but I turn away when they remain polluted and unrighteous.
VERS. 10. *Every alien shall not eat of the sanctified things. A tenant of the priest, and a hireling, shall not eat of them.*
Because He prohibited aliens, that is, the impious and the infidels, from the participation of divine things, He shows that if even they are changed from their error and come to Christ, He permits what is holy. For no one is an alien by nature, but by their own will some have brought upon themselves alienation from God. Therefore, as many of these as the intelligible priest possesses as bought, that is, as many as He has purchased through evangelical doctrine and grace. For this is the acquisition of the Lord and the refined silver: *Silver examined by fire, purified of the earth,* B but He has redeemed those who wish to serve Him. But by no other, as Peter said, *You have been bought with a price; do not become the servants of men.*
But also *those born in his house.* That is, those who are nourished in His faith, and in the intelligible house, namely the Church of Christ, are educated through the faith of their parents. These shall eat of His mystical and life-giving breads.
VERS. 12. *If a priest’s daughter has been married to any of the people, she shall not eat of those things which have been sanctified from the first-fruits. But if she has become a widow or has been put away without children and has returned to the house of her father, as she was a girl, she shall be fed with the food of her father. Every alien shall not have the power of eating of them.*
This commandment is necessary, lest by chance we think that a spiritual table should be added for all who are infidels and impious: nor, because it is called the mystery of the bread of life of the Lord, should we think that for that reason it is necessary for those who are still aliens from the faith to partake of it. Therefore, aliens are all those who do not accept the Law of God, nor are made participants of the evangelical grace. For these can understand nothing close to the affinity of God, nor anything related to His knowledge concerning Him: whence also aliens, as those who are seduced by demons and embrace their kinship, are rightly called those, for whom David sang: *Snatch me and deliver me from the hand of the sons of the alien, whose mouth has spoken vanity* (Ps. cxliii, 11). But those who speak vanity, especially the sons of the pagans, who have, according to what James says, earthly, animal, and devilish wisdom. With these we address the alien, who understand those things which are alien from the dignity of the mystery concerning Him: just as they approach common food, so they approach the divine, and carnally examine divine and celestial things: rightly, therefore, is such a one also prohibited by these. A tenant of the priest is he who does not enter simply into his hall, nor offers the reverence or diligence worthy of him. C For just as a tenant performs only his own business, and expects to move out each day, and it does not concern him if some people plunder or steal the rights of the house, so are those who, in the divine hall, minister on account of their own interests, perhaps for the sake of glory or the acquisition of money, or some other thing of this kind, but now exhibit diligence, lest any of them corrupt the order, lest any use the divine halls evilly and unfairly. We also say the same regarding a hireling, of whom the Lord says: *The hireling, and he who is not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep, and the wolf scatters them, because he is a hireling, and it does not concern him about the sheep* (John x, 12, 13). These He rightly prohibits from the perception of the saints: for they are not worthy to participate in them, those who perform things either lazily, or for the sake of some advantage.
What our translation contains: *If a priest’s daughter has been married to any of the people,* the LXX edit: *And if the priest’s daughter has been married to an alien man.* It is not enough for us to be nourished in the faith of Christ, but also to remain and grow in it, and to be mixed with none of the aliens, that is, of a dogma other than that of God, or of another law, or action. Nor should we, who are of faithful fathers, for that reason already presume upon holy things, unless we remain faithful. Therefore, the daughter of the intelligible priest, that is, every soul regenerated by Him through baptism, if she has been joined to an alien man, who pertains to aliens, for example, Jews, pagans, or heretics, acting and embracing their society, she shall not eat of the first-fruits of the sanctified, that is, of the mystical body. D But if that priest’s daughter, having been made such through the regeneration which has been mentioned, has been married to an alien, doing something heretical, or Jewish, or Gentile, and has become a widow, or has been put aside, leaving error fundamentally, and in a way burying it, and absolving herself from wicked intermingling, and has returned to her paternal house, that is, the Church, and according to her youth, in which she was fervent, was nourished with the holy dogmas of the faith, growing young in virtues, and called a woman (virago) by them, of whom the Spirit of God said to Christ in the Canticles: *Thy name is as oil poured out; therefore the young maidens have loved thee* (Cant. i, 2): she may eat of the breads of her father, that is, of Christ. For if each of us has the Church as a mother, and Christ as a father, every alien...
A from Christ and his laws and his glory has no power to eat of them. For his law is: You shall not give what is holy to the dogs, nor throw your pearls before swine.
VERS. 14-16. *He who eats of the sanctified things through ignorance shall add the fifth part to that which he eats and shall give it to the priest in the sanctuary, and they shall not defile the sanctified things of the sons of Israel which they offer to the Lord, lest perhaps they bear the iniquity of their guilt when they eat the sanctified things. I the Lord, who sanctify them.*
The holy of holies is properly the mysteries of Christ, for it is his body, concerning which Gabriel said to the Virgin: *The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you, therefore that which is born of you shall be called holy, the Son of God.* But also Isaiah: *Holy is the Lord*, and he dwells on high, that is, in the bosom of the Father. For from this he prohibited not only aliens and sojourners and hirelings from the sacrifice, but he also did not allow them to receive it through ignorance. Yet he receives through ignorance who is ignorant of its power and dignity, who does not know that this body and blood is true in reality, but receives the mysteries, not knowing the power of the mysteries. To whom Solomon says, or rather the Spirit which is in him: *When you sit to eat with a prince, observe diligently what is set before you.* B Openly he also compels and urges him who is ignorant to add the fifth part: for this added fifth makes us understand divine and mystical things intelligibly. But what is the fifth? The words of the legislator themselves can teach you, for he says: *He shall add a fifth part with that which he eats.* And how can one add a fifth to that which he has already eaten and consumed? For it is not something else or from somewhere else: but he orders the fifth to be added from it and with it, or as the LXX says, *upon it*. Therefore, the fifth upon it is the word which has been proclaimed by Christ himself, upon the Lord’s mystery. For he himself frees us from ignorance and removes from us the added, carnal, and earthly notions of the holy things, and ordains that they be accepted divinely and spiritually, which is properly called the fifth: because the divine Spirit who is in us, and the word which he has handed down, compose the senses in those who are in us, and not only produces our taste for the mystery, but also hearing, and sight, and touch, and smell, so that we may not suspect anything in them that is of a lesser reason C and near to a weak mind, namely, of those things which are truly heavenly. Whoever, therefore, eats of the sanctified things through ignorance, being ignorant of their power, as we have said: *He shall add his fifth [part] upon it, and shall give it to the priest in the sanctuary.* For the sanctification of the mystical sacrifice, and the translation—or transformation—from sensible to intelligible things, must be given to him who is the true priest, namely Christ; that is, to him it must be surrendered and imputed as a miracle, because through his power, and the word brought forth by him, the things which are seen are as much sanctified as they exceed the entire sense of the flesh. Rightly, therefore, he added: *And they shall not defile the sanctified things of the sons of Israel, which they offer to the Lord, lest perhaps they bear the iniquity of their guilt when they eat the sanctified things.*
For those who impute the sanctification of his own mysteries to Christ, and by adding to themselves the fifth D which has been declared—namely, his word, which leads our senses to more sublime things—do not contaminate the holy of holies, being such as it behooves one who understands to think of them, but neither do they bring upon themselves the iniquity of guilt in eating the holy of holies; for they do not approach as if to common food, but as to a mystical, and terrible, and heavenly one, and he who approaches them rashly does not sin simply, but is said to bear the iniquity of his guilt. Moreover, a fault is properly called by the legislator a sin which is committed against God, and we have previously shown those things which pertain to this in the sacrifices which are offered for faults. Whence even now, when he had said: *Lest perhaps they bear the iniquity of their guilt*, he rightly added: *I the Lord, who sanctify them.* Showing that the fault—that is, the impiety against God—is what is called the improper perception of holy things. For he aims toward God, who sanctifies them, [so that] those who take them in the way they ought, [take them] for the sake of sanctification, and he has not proposed his mystery for the sake of contamination. But one ought to admire the legislator exceedingly, because he has used strictness everywhere, and signifying the Lord’s ministry, according to the translation of the LXX alone, he called it the Holy of holies, because it is the sacrifice of the Holy of holies. But by adding Israel, he signified the faithful people through this, that is, him who sees God through this mystical sacrifice. And therefore he is properly called Israel. Whatever they consecrate to the Lord—that is, whatever they offer of themselves into the Lord’s [possession] when they offer sacrifice—becomes the Holy of holies; for the body of Christ is fashioned from them, which, because it is the firstfruits of our mass, rightly consists of our firstfruits.
VERS. 17-21. *The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to Aaron, and to his sons, and to all the sons of Israel, and you shall say to them: A man of the house of Israel, and of the sojourners who dwell among you, who shall offer his offering, whether paying vows or offering voluntarily, whatever that may be which he shall offer for a holocaust of the Lord, let it be offered by you, a male without blemish from the oxen, and from the sheep, and from the goats: if it shall have a blemish, you shall not offer it, nor shall it be acceptable. A man who shall offer a victim of peace offerings to the Lord, whether paying vows or offering voluntarily, as much from the oxen as from the sheep, he shall offer [it] without blemish, that it may be acceptable. Every blemish shall not be in it.*
Not only that priests [must be] clean from pollution,
but also we learn. Nevertheless, if one offers to God a lamb, or an ox, or a goat, or something of this sort, as for example, that the firstfruits be given to the priests, or that the poor be fed from it, or that some ministry toward the holy ones be performed, or the construction of a divine temple, or any other work that pertains to God himself, and for that reason it is called a holocaust, let this offering also be free from pollution. But the Law has been silent concerning what this pollution is, giving us to understand that we must B truly understand and avoid it. Yet this pollution consists in offering from rapine, and injustice, or other avarice; for it is abominable before God and not acceptable to Him, so much so that He sharply rebuked the Jews through the prophet concerning this: "Who build Sion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity." For so the letter of this sanction and the spirit are preserved. If indeed you have heard from us, when we were once explaining, that when the Law says: "Man, O man," it is necessary to consider the spirit and the letter of the commandment.
VERS. 22-25. "If it is blind, or broken, or having a scar, or a pustule or scab, or lichen, you shall not offer them to the Lord, nor shall you burn any of them upon the altar of the Lord. An ox, and a sheep, with ears and tail amputated, one can offer voluntarily, but a vow cannot be fulfilled from these. Every animal that is either crushed, or shorn, or cut, or has had its testicles removed, you shall not offer to the Lord, and in your land you shall not do this at all. From the hand of a foreigner you shall not offer loaves to the Lord your God, and whatever else they might wish to give, because they are all corrupt and stained, you shall not receive them."
But He also gave instructions regarding the offerings that are presented by the people: so that you may know, you who are faithful to God, and who have been made an offering to Him through the holocaust of an intelligible sacrifice, that it is necessary for your conduct to be clean from every pollution, and that you should strive to be undefiled even as the priests, because Christ also commanded the things that the apostles were to do. He ordered them to hand all these things down to the nations they were teaching, for He says: "Go, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to keep all things that I have commanded you." Whether, therefore, anyone has promised a holocaust to God according to a confession, or according to his entire condition—that is to say, a perfect life, which is the true holocaust—his offering must be clean from pollution; for it is not accepted otherwise. But he shall offer by confession, as the LXX say, he who, being situated in any necessity, and stung by it, promises a certain kind of conduct to God by a vow. However, according to the edition of the aforementioned, we find it called choice, where we say "voluntarily." For He proposes both this offering, whether it be that which is out of necessity, or that which is done voluntarily, saying: "I will pay to You my vows which my lips have defined, and which my mouth spoke in my tribulation." And again: "Do the voluntary things of my mouth, O Lord." The first of these, indeed, we understand as the aforementioned vow, or confession, without any doubt. But the choice, or spontaneous offering, [we understand as] that which was stated in the second place.
It is necessary, however, whether the one performing the commandment is the one offering the holocaust—for this one is offering from the herds—or if it is a simple one, because this one is from the sheep, or if it is for sinners, for this one is from the goats, that what he offers be male: that is, to offer or to be offered with a manly, strong, and stable mind, and with a powerful and unshaken faith, so that the one offering may be such as he whom Solomon was speaking of in Proverbs: "A faithful man it is a labor to find." It is the same if anyone offers a sacrifice of peace-offerings, that is, not that life which is perfect in philosophy, such as that which is in non-possession, or in virginity, of which the Lord was speaking: "Not all receive it," but a mediocre one, which provides us with salvation in every way, even if it does not attain to those things which reach the measure of the prophets and apostles. "For star differs from star in glory," according to what Paul was saying. But even here it is necessary that he offer a male without blemish: let both the sons of Israel, and the foreigners, and those who have now come to the faith, and have been added to us from external error, likewise observe this. For from the moment someone has promised a perfect and consummate life to God, he can no longer pretend that he has been in error for a long time, because virtue does not need time to be learned; for as soon as we have aspired to it, just as we use... C
Here the legislator seems to hint at another thing, worthy of much consideration. He is not speaking of those things which are offered to the altar, but of those who are allotted the mystical and holy office. By the previous sanction, therefore, He commands that the offering of the people be clean from pollution, which is understood as necessary in the conduct of everyone. Now He enumerates those who ought not be offered to the altar, and first He speaks of the blind among them. For he who has ignorance of God, how will he minister to God, neither knowing His dignity, to whose ministry he is called, nor being able to explain it to others? Whence he will also be negligent concerning them: being ignorant of divine things, by which he ministers the virtue: such were certain of the Jews, of whom God was saying in Isaiah: "See, because all have not known, all are dumb dogs, not able to bark." In the second place, He placed the broken or crushed, whose hands and feet—that is, their actions and their paths toward God—are broken or crushed, not even he is worthy to minister to the altar: to whom that which the Psalter says is applicable: "Destruction and unhappiness are in their ways." But neither he who has an "incised" tongue, according to the LXX, that is, if anyone through a sordid life has lost the confidence to teach, to whom David says: "But to the sinner God said: Why do you declare my justifications?" D
my righteousness? Similarly, according to the Septuagint, the word "ant" A refers to him who is occupied with earthly and secular works, and who devotes himself entirely to this sort of thinking—that is, he who eats and drinks and thinks on similar things, and who hoards; for this is the life of ants, always gathering for themselves things that pertain to the belly, just as Solomon also says in the Proverbs: "Go to the ant, O sluggard, and consider her ways." For because he was inciting the slug-gard to work, he therefore sent him to the industrious ant, not that he should do such things as an ant does, but that he might emulate the ant, transferring the work to greater things, that is, to the practice of virtues. Whence the Septuagint have issued: "And make yourself wiser than she." Thus, therefore, man, when he applies himself to divine things, becomes wiser than he who works at earthly things. He who has a papule or scab is understood to be a backbiter, because his disease is the worst and his wound the harshest; for it can hardly be mitigated by any medicine. He who has skin eruptions is a fornicator, for he defiles his own body, on account of which Paul said: "But he who commits fornication, sins against his own body." The Spirit of the Legislator therefore wills that none of these be set over the ministry of the altar. Therefore he says: "You shall not offer these to the Lord, nor shall you burn any of them upon the altar of the Lord." Or, according to the Septuagint: "They shall not offer these to the Lord, and it shall not be given upon the altar, from them, unto the Lord." However, he does not add the "sacrifice of peace offerings," as above; you should understand in every way that this is said of those who minister at the mysteries. These also have the work of being a holocaust, leading a perfect and consumed life. But what did he add to these?
B An ox and a sheep with ear and tail amputated, one may offer voluntarily; but a vow cannot be fulfilled from these. "Every animal that is either crushed, or shorn, or with testicles cut away and removed, you shall not offer to the Lord." Therefore, the Legislator used much discipline, as was becoming to him, for the distinction of this discourse, which it is necessary to preserve also in the things mentioned above. He has an amputated ear who languishes with the disease of disobedience, who takes pleasure in backbiting, who delights in shameful hearings, who turns away from good discourses. He has an amputated tail who thinks of the last things, because the tail is the extremity of the body. There- C fore, those who properly have an amputated tail are those who attach importance to things that are last, abject, base, and minimal, who treasure up nothing for themselves in future ages, who provide nothing for the future, who say: "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die." He has crushed testicles who, with malice gradually growing, crushes his offspring in the virtues and the signs by which a man may be recognized. Who is also rightly reproved, because he has harmed himself in such things, of whom David said: "When all my bones are broken, they who afflict me reproached me." Shorn testicles belong to him who has yielded to the tribulations and troubles brought upon him, and has lost the fortitude of his soul; for it is not necessary to suffer this, nor by any means to yield to the impending and afflicting enemy. Whence David says: "Why am I sad, while the enemy afflicts me?" It is necessary, he says, for me to rejoice and exult, inasmuch as I am called to the contest in which I may emerge victor; for he also subjoined the manner of victory: "Hope in the Lord, for I will confess to him, the salvation of my countenance, and my God." With testicles cut and removed is he who by one wicked action and impiety of mind—cutting like a knife and taking away, as a hand too savage and predatory—cuts himself off and takes himself away from the conjunction of God, which is in the virtues, just as we have said, being deprived of offspring and the signs of manly knowledge, to the loss of which he has subjected himself. For there is one who is crushed little by little, and another who suddenly, by one evil action, deprives himself of the offspring of virtues, just as Simon, thinking to purchase the gift of God with money, became alien from His lot. But if anyone possesses one of these stains, whether those now mentioned or those we listed long ago, he is either a doer of the commandments, and therefore a calf, or simple, and from this is called a sheep, according as the Septuagint issue it, instead of what our translation has: "It can be offered voluntarily." You shall slay them for yourself; that we may not by any means turn away from them, nor count them in the part of the enemy, but instruct and exhort them: "Does not he who falls rise again, or does not he who turns away return?" However, they are said to be slain who are mortified to sin through admonition, so that they may live unto justice. Yet these slaughters, although it is permitted to us to associate with them, we should not offer them to God by vow, that is, we should not ordain them to His mystical ministry. Therefore, if those having any of the aforesaid stains have done penance for it, and have been slain by the mortification of sin, we do indeed receive them D and hold them as members of the common body: because Christ came into this world to save sinners; but it is not permitted to offer them to the altar. With this distinction, as I think, Paul also, writing to the Corinthians, used: "I wrote to you in an epistle, not to mingle with fornicators; not indeed with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or with extortioners, or with those who serve idols; for you ought to have gone out of this world. But now I have written to you not to mingle. If he who is named a brother is either a fornicator, or serving idols, or a covetous person, or a backbiter, or a drunkard, or an extortioner, with such a one not even to eat." Calling them brothers there, those who minister at the altar, because especially those who have been allotted the dignity of teaching, and to whom it is credited to preside over peoples. For if they have anything of this sort, it is necessary in every way to turn away from their association: because those who preside have a need to abound in virtues over the people,
and they themselves, most of all, to be without spot. For how can they cleanse others from pollutions, concerning which the legislator has commanded: "And in your land you shall not do this at all, and from the hand of the stranger you shall not offer loaves to the Lord your God, and whatever else they may wish to give, because all things are corrupt and spotted, you shall not accept them."
Nor, therefore, should we in our land pursue such spots. Our land is good conduct, which has been directed by divine Scriptures, which we have received from God to cultivate. But let us not be intermediaries for strangers—that is, for one who is taught and added from without—who offers such gifts to God: because there is corruption in them, but we serve an incorrupt God. They have a spot, but we minister in the Church, to whom it is said by the A spouse: "You are all beautiful, my neighbor, and there is no spot in you." Concerning which Paul said: "That he might present to himself a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing." For which reason let nothing having a spot be offered by us to God.
VERS. 26-28. "And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: The ox, the sheep, and the goat, when they shall have been born, shall be seven days under the udder of their mother. But on the eighth day, and thereafter, they shall be able to be offered to the Lord; but that ox or that sheep shall not be sacrificed on one day with its young."
The mother of every animal is surely nature; the whole race of men, of sinners and of the just, is under this for seven days, but from the eighth day on it is no longer so. For even if one is a worker of the commandments—whether simple or a sinner, or born of a sinner—for seven days, that is, the whole present age, he must endure whatever nature desires, just as Paul presumed to say concerning the Savior, showing that, since he was made of our nature according to the flesh without sin, he suffered all things that were of nature. "For since children have partaken in blood and flesh, he likewise participated in the same." But when we shall have departed from the present life, and shall have been established in the good day of the resurrection of the dead, from then and thereafter we shall no longer survive under the mother, as it is called; for we shall not be subject to natural necessities here.
But on the eighth day it will be possible to offer. Which the LXX render thus: "But do you offer gifts to the Lord, that is, perfect and whole, those who in this life have prepared their offering." It must be known, however, that because our life is mutable, and B receives many mutations and wills, the offering accepted on the eighth day is in the future age, that is to say; for which reason Solomon said: "Before death do not praise any man." But when these things are so, we understand the mother again as the Church and the grace which is in her, concerning which Solomon says in the Proverbs: "Hear, my son, the discipline of your father, and do not forsake the law of your mother."
When, therefore, someone shall have been generated by the grace of the Gospel, according to what Paul says: "For in Christ Jesus through the Gospel I have begotten you," subject to the intelligible mother, the Church, or grace for seven days—that is, the whole present life, which revolves in seven days—he will be obedient to her laws and sanctions. For thus on the eighth day, in the time of the resurrection, there will be a gift and a sacrifice to the Lord: because such a one has received not only the souls, but also the bodies as a holy and pleasing sacrifice. But you, learn also because of that which follows: "Or that ox, or that sheep, shall not be sacrificed on one day with its young."
Here, by these very names, he again shows something else. For it is not proper for those who celebrate the evangelical Pascha, which the Church has handed down to us, to perform the legal Pascha, which the legislator signifies by saying "ox" and "sheep," because Moses commanded these things to be offered on the day of the Pascha, which it is handed down to the Jews to sacrifice; for he says: "And you shall sacrifice the Pascha to the Lord your God, sheep and oxen," as the book of Deuteronomy can show. But the young of these—of this Pascha, or of the Old Testament and of that tradition which is in figures—he said "its young"; therefore, the Lord's Pascha, because of the newness of time, and because, preceding the figure for the confirmation of the truth, it signifies him in a much longer time just as one who is bearing is said to correctly give birth.
It is not, therefore, proper for us, having and consuming the true mystery in our hands, to follow the figures; those things which were spoken beforehand demonstrate this: for it is not of the same time; but one thing pertains to the figure, and another to the truth, which he who sanctioned both commanded. For which reason Christ also first celebrated the Pascha of the figures; but after the supper, he handed down the intelligible one; and, as the time was narrowing, he changed the hour for the day, or rather even the day, for thus at the evening of the fourteenth day the supper of the Jewish paschal feast is celebrated: but after this Christ handed down his own supper: he handed down, therefore, after the evening of the fourteenth day. But the time which is after the evening is in every way the beginning of the next day; for it was necessary for this to be done for the showing of the time, because when the Old has its end, then the New begins. Or perhaps the law signifies those young of whom Isaiah said: "A child is born to us, a son is given to us." For these things which follow are said into Christ. Here, therefore, is the young [child], or according to the LXX, the son, not on the same day in which the calf and sheep of the Jewish feast were being slaughtered. For celebrating the Pascha on the fourteenth day, they crucified Jesus on the following day. C
VERS. 29-32. "If you shall sacrifice a victim for a thanksgiving to the Lord that it may be acceptable, on the same day you shall eat it, nothing shall result in the morning of the next day. I am the Lord. Guard my commandments, and do them. I am the Lord. Do not pollute my holy name that I may be sanctified in the midst of the children of Israel. I am the Lord who sanctifies you and who led you out…
of the land of Egypt to be a God to you. I am the Lord. A It is not satisfying for one, while starting the New Testament, to serve the old, and to live according to the letter while the evangelical preaching is current; for it is an injury to Him who ordained both, if through times distinguished by Him we do not obey, so it is without any excuse for anyone to think, or even to contemplate, that it is permitted to perform in the future time any of those things which for us are now prescribed to be performed. If, therefore, you offer a victim for the thanksgiving of the Lord, promising Him an evangelical preservation—for this is a victim of thanksgiving to the Lord, because it performs whatever pertains to His praise and glory—this is what the Lord demonstrates to the apostles, saying: "Let your light shine before B men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven." It is offered to the Lord so that He may be appeasable, which the LXX rendered: "You shall offer them in a way acceptable to you," that is, let us act to worthily accept the aforementioned way of life, performing it, and not leaving it diminished, on account of which He also added: "On the same day you shall eat it; there shall not remain anything until the morning of the next day." For in this time, in which we promise the sacrifice that has been spoken of, we ought to eat it, that is, to act and to complete it. But to leave nothing of them until the morning, so that we may not keep any remainder of our conduct uncorrected, nor anything of the virtues unconsumed, and inoperative in the future age, when now it is not permitted to act. Which is rightly called morning, that is, because this present life is called a mist/nebula on account of that which is in it now. "I am the Lord: keep my commands and do them. I am the Lord," who here indeed establish the law, but there judge; who have given C intelligible talents to my servants in the present age for acting, and in the future I shall settle accounts with them, and shall demand the operation of the talents. "I am the Lord: do not pollute my holy name." For there is pollution of the Creator, and blasphemy, if we remain in the same order, or act, when He shall raise us up. For what does this world change, if we are to be in the same sorrows and labors? "That I may be sanctified in the midst of the children of Israel." He did not say "I am sanctified," but "That I may be sanctified," showing the future time in which He is sanctified in the midst of the men of the children of Israel. For not all who are of Israel are themselves Israel, but whoever preserves the kinship of Israel by the society of His virtues, who, as Paul says, keep peace and holiness, without which no one shall see God. But those who keep them shall see, on account of which He says: "That I may be sanctified in the midst of them. I am the Lord who sanctifies you, and led you out of the land of Egypt, to be a God unto you." But also with a good end to the matter of the usage, making a clearer understanding of it. D For He did not mention the exit from Egypt in vain, and he demonstrating this, because just as those who went out from Egypt no longer can do those things which the Egyptians did, so also when God casts us out of the present life, we can no longer do those things which are in it. For Egypt is intelligible, the present world; because Egypt is interpreted as "darkening." But the present things are filled with darkness, and according to what we have said, a mist or gloom, to such an extent that John said of the Lord: "The light shines in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it." On account of which the Lord God clearly leads us out from this intelligible Egypt, so that He may be our God, not because He is not now, but because not all of us confess Him, nor do we know Him. But then we shall confess, then all shall be subjected, "Then God will be all in all," just as Paul wrote.
CHAPTER XXIII
VERSES 1-3. "The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to the children of Israel, and you shall say to them: These are the feasts of the Lord, which you shall call holy. You shall do work for six days: the seventh day, because it is the Sabbath rest, shall be called holy; you shall not do any work in it. It is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your habitations." If you attend subtly to these things which are said in the present words of the lawgiver, you will find him placing the intention of the spirit not only in the contemplation of the law, but also in the letter itself: for saying: "These are the feasts of the Lord which you shall call holy. These are my festivals," he immediately added: "Six days you shall do work." It is necessary indeed to say this, but to state what follows: "The seventh day, because it is the Sabbath rest, shall be called holy." But connecting with the feasts, "Six days you shall do work," he shows that the first feasts, or festival according to the law, is to work, but to work good things, for on account of this he says: "Six days you shall do work." Because all things that God established in six days are very good. The second festival, however, after these preceding works, is the rest of the seventh day, which festival no one who has not worked good works, and those worthy of God, will be able to celebrate. For it is not in vain, for it was God who was speaking, who speaks nothing in vain, who first says: "Six days you shall do work," and after this: "The seventh day, which is the Sabbath rest, shall be called holy." But for this demonstration, so that if anyone does and attains good things in imitation of God, this is to work in the six days: here he rests in the intelligible Sabbath, of which Paul was saying: "Let us fear, lest perhaps, a promise being left of entering into his rest, any of you should be thought to be wanting." For he lacks that rest now who does not work. Which is also called holy...
and it is said, "because it is called," of whom Paul says: "We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them
A that are the called." For we celebrate the Passover, fleeing the servitude of sin: because Christ, who suffered for us, has freed us from sin and its servitude: not that He commanded that no servile work be done on the first day, but on other days commanded that servile works be performed; see then what He added:
B "But you shall offer a sacrifice in fire unto the Lord." Or as the Septuagint says: "You shall offer burnt offerings unto the Lord for seven days. And the seventh day shall be more celebrated and holy, and you shall do no servile work therein." Therefore, by commanding burnt offerings to be offered for seven days, He commanded [the people] to abstain from all servile works on them as well. For how can anyone, once worthy of the devil, or doing servile things, offer a burnt offering to God? Furthermore, He named not only the first, but also the seventh day, so that in the first and in the seventh He might embrace the whole of human life. For the former has the beginning, and the latter the end, in which all things are comprised. And it seems that He also commands this: that he who is initiated, or is being initiated into the mystery, should do no servile work; for it behooves him to do those things which are of liberty, because the Lord has freed us through Him who was signified to Him [the Lord]. But if after this he does anything that pertains to servitude, sinning as a man, he should at least take care of that liberty which is at the end, and intend how our end may be made good, just as the seventh day, which is the time in which we pass through, has no servile work. For in that state in which God finds us, in that same He promises to judge. On account of which David also, "At the end, do not destroy," prescribes many of the Psalms.
C ...and a goat for a sin offering, and two yearling lambs as peace offerings. And when the priest has lifted them up with the loaves of the firstfruits before the Lord, they shall pass into his use. And you shall call this day most celebrated and most holy; you shall do no servile work in it. It shall be a perpetual statute in all your dwellings, and throughout your generations."
Because the people of the Jews are far from the present law, the words themselves, when discussed, can teach us. They are rebuked, however, for neither fulfilling them according to the letter, nor for being able to understand the spirit that is in them. On the day after the first day of unleavened bread, He commanded to offer a sheaf, and to sacrifice a lamb over it. From the day, however, on which this is done, He commanded seven weeks to be counted, and the day following the last week, so to celebrate the feast of Pentecost in those things which He has now spoken. But some are found to celebrate the feast of Pentecost in this way: calculating from the first day of unleavened bread—not from the day on which the sheaf is [offered], which is the day after the first day of unleavened bread—they proclaim that Pentecost is thus celebrated for themselves. On account of which the Lord, rebuking them for not fulfilling the law according to the letter, said: "And none of you keeps the law." The Church, however, does as is now shown. D "And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to the children of Israel, and you shall say to them: When you have entered into the land which I will give you, and have reaped the crops of your land, you shall bring the sheaves of the grain, the firstfruits of your harvest, to the priest. Who shall lift up the sheaf before the Lord, that it may be acceptable for you."
We have frequently taught that the land given by God is the evangelical doctrine and conduct. For the land itself is so called because of the fruits of virtues that spring from it. By God Himself it was given; for He did not use a mediator for this, but announced it with His own mouth. When, therefore, they have entered and reaped its crops, they are those who have received the saving word. For they are both harvesters and understandable crops, to whom the Lord said: "The harvest indeed is great, but the laborers are few; pray to the Lord of the harvest that He may send laborers into His harvest," to whom, when he also believed the mystery of the word, then the harvest was so mature that the Lord said: "Lift up your eyes and see the regions, for they are white already to harvest." But the sheaf of firstfruits is the understandable priest, Christ, offering His own body. For since the chapter or sum of the harvest—namely, the saving word and divine preaching—was the resurrection of the dead, so that Paul cried out: "Men and brethren, I am called in question this day concerning the hope and resurrection of the dead," it was necessary that the satisfaction should follow the preaching, for it did follow. For the true sheaf, and the true firstfruits of our harvest, is now the understandable priest, Christ, offering His own body from the dead, of whom Paul was saying: "Now—"
to be raised from the dead, of whom Paul said: "But now Christ is risen from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep" (1 Cor. xv, 20). But when was this done? "On the second day shall the priest offer it." That the first day is that of the Lord’s passion, what we have said before has shown, on which the Lord dispensed His sacrifice not without reason. But because that was called the first day of unleavened bread, and the first of the Paschal festival, the second day of the passion was the resurrection: for the sake of this matter, when he could have said, "On the second day of unleavened bread the priest shall offer this," he did not say so, so as not to lead our thought to the subsequent day, but to "the day after the first." He says this of the resurrection, because just as the day after follows the present day, so the resurrection succeeded the Lord’s passion. But you, attend to what follows, and guard the precision of the words. For he shows the priest offering the first sheaf, but after this he says: "And on the same day on which the sheaf is consecrated, a lamb without blemish of the first year shall be offered as a whole burnt offering to the Lord."
Wishing us, on the day on which we celebrate the Lord’s resurrection and celebrate the intelligible offering of the sheaf, not to forget the Lord’s sacrifice, from which the offering of the sheaf is ours: but [to] yield an unblemished lamb of the first year as a whole burnt offering to the Lord. Immolating the intelligible lamb of the Lord’s tradition mystically, and offering it—for as a sacrifice, he made a memorial of the [lamb] yielding itself. For not otherwise, but through meditation upon Him and His virtue, those things B which are performed in that sacrifice are transferred from sensible things to intelligible ones. And what is this sacrifice? Two tenths of fine flour mixed with oil. For it is necessary to know how to temper perfect humanity and perfect divinity, that is, for them to come together in the oil, that is, through the compassion which He has toward us: for thus the sacrifice is found to be a sweet-smelling savor to the Lord, when we are wise concerning those things that are worthy of Him. But in what things the sacrifice consists, and by whom it is performed, and how the offering of the intelligible lamb is celebrated, that which follows shows. For not in blood, nor through irrational animals, does God receive the sacrifice from us, according to what the following demonstrates, for it says:
"Also a libation of wine, a fourth part of a hin, with bread and parched grain." Because it was perhaps going to be doubtful from what things the mystery of the sacrifice, which is through Christ, which we spoke of above, is celebrated: you have here the offering of the intelligible Melchisedec, which is perfected in bread and wine, in which a fourth part of a hin is offered in the books of wine, so that by a fourth part the Evangelical tradition, which is in four books, might be signified: but by the libation, the Lord’s word, when He says: "This is my blood which is shed for you" (Mark xiv, 24); for without diminution it seemed good to the legislator to signify the mystery of Christ, on account of which he also added:
"And you shall not eat parched grain or porridge from the harvest, until the day that you offer [it] from it to your God. It is a perpetual precept in your generations and in all your dwelling places." Or according to the Septuagint: "And you shall not eat parched corn, until that very day in which you shall offer gifts to your God. An eternal ordinance in your generations." We shall begin a new conversation before the day arrives, before the aforementioned good things are offered to God, from which the new creature, which is in Christ, and the new conversation are announced to us, of which Paul says: "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; old things have passed away, behold, all things have become new from God, who has reconciled us to Himself" (2 Cor. v, 17). For the oblation of the present gifts, which we have shown to be the mystery of the Only-Begotten, has reconciled us to God, and has provided for us food of new parched grain and porridge, or as the Septuagint says, of parched corn. For not only the new, but also the parched corn, are Christ’s precepts, or as "soft": for thus other interpreters have rendered "parched corn." Therefore it is soft evangelical preaching. "Take," He says, "my yoke, for it is sweet" (Matt. xi, 30); or as "rubbed and cleansed by the hands": for "parched corn" also interprets this, because Christ’s dogmas demand action and correction, which the hands signify. "It is a perpetual precept in your generations and all your dwelling places." For neither place nor time changes Christ’s mystery, through which the whole world has flourished, and the habitation of the whole earth, concordantly, guards those things that pertain to Him. But saying these things, and describing the resurrection, according to the mode in which it was fitting, the legislator turns his discourse to the Pentecost which we celebrate, saying:
C "And you shall count from the day after the Sabbath, on which you offered the sheaf of firstfruits, seven full weeks until the other day of the completion of the seventh week, that is, fifty days, and so you shall offer a new sacrifice to the Lord." That neither the time nor the number of this Pentecost is kept by the Jewish people, has been sufficiently shown in the foregoing; but by us it is kept with contemplation and with the letter. Wishing, therefore, more plainly to demonstrate his intention, the legislator commanded fifty days to be counted from the day after the Sabbath, without doubt wishing the Lord’s day to be understood: for this is indeed the day after the Sabbath. For on it the resurrection took place, by which seven weeks are counted, until the other day of the completion of the week. Again on the Lord’s Day, we celebrate the festival of Pentecost, in which we have merited the coming of the Holy Spirit. Not in vain observing the coming of the seven weeks, but so that we might know that God commanded us to do nothing old, nothing secular, and nothing near to old corruption, who desire to receive Him. And He commanded a new sacrifice to be offered to the Lord at that time, for the coming Spirit renewed our whole life, which confirmed the tradition of Christ, and stabilized the conversation...
A that renovated us, by liberating us from the corruption of the old through the resurrection of Christ and the advent of the Holy Spirit. Moreover, the offering itself manifests the species of the sacrifice which he commanded to be made.
And thus you shall offer a new sacrifice to the Lord from all your dwellings. Two loaves of firstfruits from two tenths of fine flour, which you shall bake as firstfruits to the Lord, and you shall offer with the loaves seven immaculate lambs, one year old, one calf from the herd, and two rams. By saying "a new sacrifice," he excludes the sacrifices of the Law as being old, and introduces the Evangelical ones in their stead. Then, adding "from your dwellings," he signified the Church, and adapted to it the things that were said to be offered. For he did not say, "From all dwellings," but, "From all your dwellings"; that he might absolutely point to some principal dwelling, of whom David says: Blessed are they that dwell in thy house. And again: One thing have I asked of the Lord, this will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. And the two firstfruit loaves [represent] the Law and the Gospel; for loaves are the food of faithful souls, and they are also, [as] the LXX has it, "separated": because in all wisdom they are chief: but from that which is exterior, they are clearly separated and divided. They are therefore from two tenths of fine flour, from the doctrine which hands down the perfect divinity of God and his perfect humanity, and they cannot be baked otherwise than by such a doctrine. But the firstfruits of these are the Lord's. For the Lord is the first, who fulfilled the Law, and after this taught the Gospel: Hear, for it was said to the ancients: Thou shalt not kill. But I say to you: Everyone who is angry with his brother without cause shall be liable to judgment. For here he joined the Law to the Gospel, on account of which its firstfruits are so called. Which Luke also confirms, showing us the true firstfruits, writing: The former treatise I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and to teach.
He commanded them to offer seven immaculate lambs, one year old, signifying the gifts which are of the Spirit, of which Solomon D was speaking in the Proverbs: Wisdom hath built herself a house, she hath hewn out seven pillars. But Isaiah has handed it down more plainly: And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him. Nor was he silent about what gifts or what number they were, for he added: The spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and fortitude, the spirit of knowledge and piety, and the spirit of the fear of the Lord shall fill him. He calls these lambs gifts, for a demonstration that the Holy Spirit is one in Christ, of whom it was said: Behold the Lamb of God, behold who taketh away the sins of the world. Therefore no one [1088 A] can say that Jesus is Lord, except in the Holy Spirit.
Therefore, it is not without reason that the present offering contains a calf from the herd with the seven lambs, but it evidently signifies Him who was made from the herd of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and David according to the flesh. To this he joined two immaculate rams, [representing] the excellence of the commandments and the virtues, which, like sheep, it is necessary to follow. For in these, inasmuch as they winnow away the intelligible enemy, they have protection and safety. What are these? If thou wilt be perfect, go, sell all that thou hast, and give to the poor, and come, follow me. For it is the greatest commandment to sell what one has and give to the poor: but the greatest [thing] is to follow Christ, so that, with a disregard for possessing anything, we may study to do all things according to the will of God. For these commandments, being established on account of an immaculate and perfect life, are called rams, because rams are more excellent than the whole flock. Their sacrifice and libation is, clearly, knowledge and correction: it is an odor of sweetness to the Lord, he of whom Paul was saying: But thanks be to God, who always makes us triumph in Christ Jesus, and manifests the odor of his knowledge through us, because we are the good odor of Christ.
However, he did not establish the Pentecost offering only for these. He also speaks of the rest, because perfection especially befits the Spirit, for whom the aforementioned festival is. What then does he say? You shall also make a goat for sin. Introducing a discourse on penitence. And two yearling lambs, as pacific sacrifices. C Signifying those commandments of Paul, Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no one shall see God. Which, because they were expressed by the apostolic tongue, he commanded them to be offered with the firstfruit loaves, which we have said are the doctrine of Christ. In the following he again says: And when the priest shall have lifted them up with the firstfruit loaves before the Lord. But according to the LXX it is thus: And the priest shall separate them by a separation with the firstfruit loaves before the Lord, with the two lambs, signifying to which Lord, he says. And they shall be for the use of his priest offering them, namely, Christ. For He is our priest, He is our Lord. As with the firstfruit loaves, so too the lambs of the commandments were His; He was the one who spoke, He offered all things that were said. For the peace about which Paul commands, the Lord first announced to the disciples, and holiness, as the Holy of Holies, He guarded above all, for He was the one of whom Gabriel said to the Virgin: Therefore, because that which shall be born of thee is holy, it shall be called the Son of God. Yet if you wish to comprehend the excellence of this day, of which the discourse is, look to the confirmation of the things that have been said about it.
And you shall call this day most famous and most holy; you shall do no servile work on it. For the Law...
A also calls other days holy, but concerning this one, it says first, and you shall call this day most famous, and after this, and most holy, so that in it you might recognize what is common with others and what it has as its own. For in it, the calling of the nations began not only to be preached but also to work, when the Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and those who dwell in Mesopotamia, Judaea, and Pamphylia, and all the rest of the nations that Luke enumerated, began to hear the apostles speaking the great things of God in their own languages, and preaching. Therefore, let us do no servile work on that day—that is, which pertains to servitude—but let us observe an eternal, legitimate rest in all our dwellings and generations, doing no servile work in the time in which the Spirit has come to us, for where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty, as Paul wrote.
VERS. 22. After you have reaped the harvest of your land, you shall not reap it down to the ground, nor shall you gather the remaining ears, but you shall leave them for the poor and the strangers. I am the Lord your God. B
That the things commanded by the Law at present are full of piety is manifest. For which reason, they ought to be kept according to the letter, but contemplation possesses a greater gain from them. Note this in them: although it had previously commanded things similar to these, it did not sanction them in the same way; rather, the very change of words demonstrates this transformation. For there it says: You shall not complete your reaping, but here: You shall not reap it down to the ground, so that we may understand the actual difference from the permutation of the words. We have frequently shown that the earth of the believers is that which was foretold by the Law of God; its harvest flourished after the resurrection of the Savior from the dead and the coming of the Holy Spirit. And the word of preaching does not pass on every piece of knowledge that we shall have when we arrive at God Himself; rather, there are things it leaves behind, such as those which cannot now be revealed to us. And for this reason, He inserted this Law into the aforementioned feasts, and says: After you have reaped the harvest of your land, you shall not reap it down to the ground. In that which He says: You shall not reap it down to the ground, He signified those things that are lacking for our full and perfect knowledge, for which reason He also added: Nor shall you gather the remaining ears. So that we might not contend, nor attempt in vain those things which escape our knowledge. Therefore, we cannot even gather those things that are said to fall from the reaping; rather, let us leave them to Christ, whom the legislator, by signifying, added: You shall leave them for the poor and the strangers. Or according to the LXX: You shall leave them for the poor and the proselyte. And who is this? Hear what follows: I am the Lord your God.
A poor man is also spoken of here, because He became poor for us when He was rich, that through His poverty we might become rich; and a stranger also, because although He came into His own, His own received Him not. Therefore, leave these things to Him; but He alone knows what remains for us, for which reason we cannot even collect those things which are separated so that He might collect them, as Paul witnesses, saying: O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How incomprehensible are His judgments and unsearchable His ways.
VERS. 24, 25. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to the children of Israel: In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a Sabbath, a memorial with the sounding of trumpets, and it shall be called holy. You shall do no servile work on it, and you shall offer a holocaust to the Lord.
That the number seven bears an evident and indubitable figure of consummation, whether for each of us or in general, many other things show, but that most of all, because God rested on the seventh day from His works, giving us a way to conjecture our own rest from it, of which Paul says: For he that has entered into his rest, the same also has rested from his works, as God did from His. But the beginning of the consummation of times is the coming of the Lord, for which reason John the evangelist called it the last hour, for he says: Little children, it is the last hour. But also James: Behold the judge stands before the door. This time, as the beginning of the consummation, the Law rightly called the first C of the seventh month. It is also a rest for us; because He has refreshed us from the evil works of the flesh, and freed us from the heavy yoke: For come, He says, all you that labor and are burdened, and I will refresh you. And again: Learn of me, because I am meek and humble of heart, and you shall find rest to your souls. This is also the memorial of trumpets: for it preaches the Savior's resurrection, which is a memorial of the common resurrection of the dead, which is brought to pass in the sound of great and terrible trumpets: At the commandment of the Lord, in the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God, as Paul taught. This time shall be called holy to the Lord, because it possesses the calling which is in sanctification, from which the adoption that pertains to Him is effected for those who are called: You shall do no servile work on it, and you shall offer a holocaust to the Lord. D
For it is no longer the time to perform servile works, because the past time is sufficient for the will of the Gentiles, in which servile works were performed, and we ought, just as we exhibited our members as instruments of iniquity to iniquity, so to exhibit our members as instruments of justice unto sanctification. For this is again a holocaust.
VERS. 27–32. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: The tenth day of this seventh month shall be most famous, the day of atonements, and it shall be called...
A holy, and you shall afflict your souls in it, and offer a holocaust to the Lord. You shall do no servile work in the time of this day, because it is a day of propitiation, so that the Lord your God may be propitious unto you. Every soul that shall not be afflicted in this day, shall perish from among its people. And every soul that shall do any work, I will destroy that soul out of his people. You shall do no work, therefore, in it. It shall be an everlasting ordinance unto you in all your generations and your dwelling places; and it is a Sabbath of rest; you shall afflict your souls. From the ninth day of the seventh month, from evening until evening, you shall celebrate your Sabbaths.
Rightly did Paul write to the Corinthians concerning the Jews: *All these things happened to them in figure. But they have been written for our correction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come* (1 Cor. x, 11). For the mystery of the Savior, which was enacted at the end of the age, and the extent and weight of what was dispensed through Him, the Lawgiver clearly signified by what was present. What, then, does the grace of Christ, and His preaching, suggest to us, or what does it ordain? Surely the hope of the resurrection of the dead, a life with modesty, and humility, and abstinence from foods, and that which is in the contempt of present things, and the contempt of possessing, and other virtues; practicing these, we use this earth as strangers, inasmuch as we do not place our tabernacles here for a long time, but for a very short one; because each of the things that were said have been foretold to us in this fullness of time through the evangelical conversation. The seventh month—for this number B has been accustomed to signify the consummation of times—he has necessarily preserved in all the figures. Dividing them, he signified the hope of the resurrection of the dead through the new moons of the seventh month mentioned above, in which he also placed the memorial of trumpets, because it is by the trumpet of God that we expect the dead to rise again. But that life which consists in humility and abstinence from food, he signifies through the tenth of the month, of which he now speaks (for he will be found saying, after a little while, that the feast begins from the fifteenth, showing that we use this life in the transition of the age and expect an exit from it). But let us examine the things that pertain to the present.
He shows both of these things: that this is a time granted to us by God for propitiation, in which the Lord coming wipes away our sins, and that it is a time in which we must do nothing of earthly things. Then, drawing out the Law and providing an appeal to Christ, who said: *Learn of me, because I am meek, and humble of heart, and you shall find rest to your souls* (Matt. xi, 29), he says: *Every soul that shall not be afflicted in this day, shall perish from among its people*. Nor does one follow Christ, who ordained these things, and who humbled Himself so much that Paul might say of Him: *He humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, even to the death of the cross* (Phil. ii, 8). C But also: *And every soul that shall do any work, I will destroy that soul out of my people*. Therefore you shall do no work in it. It shall be an everlasting ordinance unto you in all your generations and your dwelling places. He said this as though it were a precept for the Jewish people; yet it is not so: for the Law is common to all, because the Lord said to all: *Labor not for the meat which perisheth* (Joan. vi, 27), wishing us to perform no earthly work. Wisely and well, therefore, wishing to extend the observation of rest to a greater contemplation, he added: *It is a Sabbath of rest*. Or as the LXX: *It shall be a Sabbath of Sabbaths unto you*. So that through this we may understand an intelligible Sabbath, which exceeded the infirmity of the Jews, just as the Holy of Holies; for which reason there were not even Sabbaths for them. And also the Song of songs; for they do not understand the virtue of the things written there. And let us understand that everything which receives an anagoge according to the Law exceeds the measurements of the Jews. But now see what words he has used: *And you shall afflict your souls. From the ninth day of the seventh month from evening until evening you shall celebrate your Sabbaths*. He recapitulates, therefore, the word of humility, because Christ frequently taught it, while he constituted that as the crown, and the basis and substance of the virtues, for the apostles. For being asked D who was greater in the kingdom of heaven, He answered: *Whosoever shall humble himself as this little child, he is the greater in the kingdom of heaven* (Matt. xviii, 4). But what he said: *From evening until evening*, is openly the wish of one who desires that there be constant study of rest from superfluous and vain things. Whence the Lord does not even allow a cause to be spoken; for He commanded one not to contend about a tunic, nor about a garment (Matt. v, 40), but not even to think about what is to be eaten, or what is to be drunk, or what is to be worn; but He Himself teaching, and announcing the Sabbath of Sabbaths, in which everything ceases, only those things which are of God are shown, and only those things are offered which are useful and profitable to the soul.
A Verses 33-36. ‹ And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to the children of Israel: From the fifteenth day of this seventh month, shall be the feast of tabernacles seven days to the Lord. The first day shall be called most celebrated and most holy. You shall do no servile work, and seven days you shall offer holocausts to the Lord. The eighth day also shall be most celebrated and most holy, and you shall offer a holocaust to the Lord. For it is a convocation and a gathering. You shall do no servile work therein. ›
Here, to employ the wisdom of the age and to know its transitoriness and temporal nature, he says, is not only to signify the legislator, but also that one must have an eye toward the future age. Therefore, both by the number and by the tabernacles, you will find this undoubtedly prefigured. He commanded the feast to B begin on the fifteenth day. Here, the number is compounded of seven and eight, of which one figures the present age, and the other the future. Hence, even in commanding the feast to be completed in seven days, he mentioned other days again as "most celebrated and most holy," and he did not count it with the seven, but placed it following and apart from the others, just as the future age indeed follows the present, yet is something other than this. Therefore, he called the feast of Tabernacles a seven-day feast. For whoever uses the present world as a tabernacle can have the feast in it and rejoice on account of the expectation of the future; and whoever knows that if the earthly house of this habitation is dissolved, a building not made with hands awaits him in the heavens. He called the first of the seven days most celebrated and most holy. For he who knows how to use the present as a tabernacle, the first day—that is, the beginning and foundation—starts from the sanctification of the calling; therefore, he most consistently says: "You shall do no servile work." Because those who attend to what is in the world as a tabernacle and as transitory things do not serve under the age. But he also commanded holocausts to be offered for seven days, showing that it is necessary to follow a perfect manner of life through all time. When, therefore, we pass through the present life in this way, then we have the most celebrated and most holy eighth day—namely, the future age—calling us into the goods prepared for the saints, by Him who also called us in this manner of life: for the LXX have editorially stated: "The eighth day shall be a holy convocation." Then, therefore, we offer to the Lord the holocausts which we have prepared here. For it is a convocation and a gathering. Or as the LXX: "Departure," because here is the out-going, there is the habitation, as Paul says: "I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ." We shall do no servile work, because we shall be at that time as the angels of God. But note also this, how he speaks of the first and the eighth in the same way, because both are of one virtue in a certain manner, namely, the day of resurrection, which is the substance of the future age, C and its beginning and foundation. The first, indeed, is the beginning of conduct in Christ and the commencement of future things. But the eighth is as one who succeeds the present age, which the seventh number is said to signify. But even if someone lives here as in a tabernacle, and as one passing through the world, he, although not yet in reality, yet by the virtue of the thing, already holds the future age: doing that which pertains neither to matter nor to the restlessness that is proper to this world, on account of which the Lord also said to the apostles, as they were choosing such an inheritance of life: "The kingdom of God is within you." But that second point according to the LXX is also to be noted, that he called the first a holy convocation without addition or distinction. But concerning the eighth, calling it a holy convocation, he added, "it shall be for you," that by the word "for you" he might signify what was to come from it, and by the word "for you" he might show its distinction: for indeed the first is a convocation and holy for all, because the Lord has called all here, without distinction, to sanctification, and to living well, and to the course of the inheritance of future goods; for indeed he proclaimed without any distinction: "Come to me, all you that labor and are burdened, and I will refresh you." But in the future, the calling to the inheritance of goods is not for all, but for those who have accepted the present calling, and who, knowing that the figure of this world passes away, have kept the feast of the tabernacles. Therefore, he said "for you," crying out to those who have lived in this way. That these things are so, he shows himself again: for he who here said, "Come to me, all you that labor and are burdened, and I will refresh you"—namely, into the rest of the future—so again he says certain things about the future: "Come, you blessed of my Father, possess you the kingdom prepared for you," withdrawing this which he had said, "all": because many are indeed called, but few are chosen.
Verses 37, 38. ‹ These are the feasts of the Lord, which you shall call most celebrated and most holy, and you shall offer in them offerings to the Lord, holocausts and libations, according to the rite of every day, except the Sabbaths of the Lord, and your gifts, and those things which you shall offer by vow, or which you shall give of your own accord to the Lord. ›
D Behold those apostolic words: "Always rejoice, pray without ceasing, in all things give thanks." These seem to be consonant with the present words of the Mosaic sanction. For behold the legislator, explaining certain principal feasts, which he also named most celebrated and holy, mingled with them daily libations and sacrifices. And these are the feasts of the Lord whom you shall call most celebrated and most holy. And when it was necessary to say this or that, he did not say so, but added: "And you shall offer in them offerings to the Lord, holocausts and libations, according to the rite of every day." And he himself calls us to rejoice, and to keep the feast, and without intermis-
intermission to pray. This, then, is the daily libation and sacrifice, or holocaust, which we are able to offer at that time when we have exhibited our bodies as a living host to God, and have mortified our members which are upon the earth, and have been made ready to go to the Lord, saying with Paul: *For I am already being poured out, and the time of my dissolution is at hand.* A For this reason he added: *Excepting the Sabbaths of the Lord, and your gifts, and what you shall offer by vow, or what you offer of your own free will to the Lord.* He openly teaches that concerning the turning away from evils—this is the Sabbath—and concerning other acts of justice which we promise to God according to time, sometimes as a fast, sometimes as an offering of possessions, or when dangers befall us, or which we promise voluntarily: for this reason we are debtors to God in the matter of vows and of the daily service of voluntary offerings and the perpetual sacrifice, since the action is just, that we should offer our whole life to Him, saying as Paul also said: *But 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.* For which reason it is necessary that we also offer our life to Him, because He also offered Himself for us.
VER. 39-44. *So on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you shall have gathered all the fruits of your land, you shall celebrate the feasts of the Lord seven days. On the first day and on the eighth day there shall be a Sabbath, that is, a rest. And you shall take to you on the first day the fruits of the fairest tree, and branches of palm trees, and bows of the tree of thick foliage, and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, and you shall celebrate his solemnity seven days in the year. It shall be an everlasting ordinance in your generations. In the seventh month shall you keep the feast, and you shall dwell in tabernacles seven days. Everyone that is of the generation of Israel shall dwell in tabernacles, that your posterity may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in tabernacles, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God. And Moses spoke concerning the solemnities of the Lord to the children of Israel.*
Not on the seventh day, since he had intended the festival to be kept with the number of seven days, but on the eighth; firstly, because it is not permitted for them who hold the law according to the letter to celebrate the feast, for it is set apart for a new people, who know how to receive the law according to the spirit, and to honor the eighth, which we have said signifies the resurrection of the dead. Secondly, because the first and the eighth possess one virtue; because the eighth itself is also the first, because it is the beginning of the future age. Then, the first day, which is the beginning of the preaching that has been accomplished, contains at the end of the ages rest. For it causes us to rest, when it frees us from the labors of sins, through the gift of baptism, of which the flood of waters B that came upon the creature through Noah bore the figure, and it was rightly said concerning this: *This shall make us rest from all our works, and from the remains of our hands, and from the earth which the Lord God has cursed.* And at the same time the first day, that is, the beginning of the preaching, promises a later rest, which the eighth possesses, that is, the resurrection of the dead and the kingdom of the future age, of which David poured out: *Arise, O Lord, into thy rest.* For because the beginning of evangelical preaching possesses both rests, hear what Christ first preached to the human race: *Do penance, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.* Through penance, preaching rest from the labors of life which is in sins, and hope for the future rest in the kingdom of heaven. But the first indeed has rest from the labors of sins. From him, however, who is called to be built up upon this rest, He will exact the work of virtues. For which reason the Lord says: *Learn of me, because I am meek, and humble of heart, and you shall find rest to your souls.* He subjoins: *For my yoke is sweet, and my burden light:* commanding this working of virtues which is with rest. This legislator, however, when he had proclaimed the festival of seven days, called its first day rest: but he is silent about the following days, so that through this he may signify that it is necessary to apply oneself to virtues. Then he transfers the rest to the eighth day, C showing that for those who are faithful and serving the law of God, the true rest is of the future age. What, therefore, must we work in this whole life, and from whence must we begin the working?
The legislator commands us to be concerned with the future age, and to adapt the present life to that. For this reason when he was completing the word on the festivals, he now repeats the festival of tabernacles, because the sum of the whole law is to not desire present things, nor to cling to earthly ones, but to know that we are sojourners and pilgrims in it, as all our fathers were.
*So on the fifteenth day of the seventh month.* We have said that the seventh month is the completion or fullness of times. The fifteenth, however, as consisting of seven and eight, signifies the evangelical preaching, which consists of the present life and the future, composing the one, preparing the other. When we shall have gathered all the fruits of the land, D ceasing from works, namely, from earthly ones, we celebrate the feast for seven days, that is, we give our whole life to be celebrated in divine festivity: *But on the first day rest, and on the eighth day rest.*
*And you shall take to you on the first day the fruits of the fairest tree, and branches of palm trees, and boughs of the tree of thick foliage, and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, and you shall celebrate his solemnity seven days.* That it is necessary to apply oneself to virtues throughout the whole life, which he signified in the fruits and branches of the aforementioned trees, the number itself of seven days without any
dubiety confirms. And because we must indeed begin from that very calling from which the aforementioned intelligible rest of Christ is foretold, which is the first day of the feast, it is manifest: which day he called above "of rest." Now, however, he commanded to take on it the fruits of a most beautiful tree, namely those which David sang in the first Psalm: *And he shall be like a tree that is planted by the streams of waters, that shall give its fruit in its season* [Ps. 1, 3]. For he calls that "beautiful" which is timely and opportune, that is, which is in season, and is performed at the opportune times of virtue, so that in no way, fleeing from the time of justice, do we incline toward compassion. For he says: *Neither shalt thou yield in judgment to the poor* [Exod. 23, 3]. For justice and compassion, and whatever you might name, have their own opportune time, just as Paul says: *Art thou bound unto a wife? seek not absolution. Art thou loosed from a wife? seek not a wife* [1 Cor. 7, 27]. And Solomon says: *All things have a time: a time to keep silence, and a time to speak, a time of war, and a time of peace* [Eccl. 3, 1 seq.]; and many things like these. Whence Saul also was condemned, because he spared Agag out of time, and felt compassion at a time when he ought not to have done so [1 Reg. 15, 8]: nor ought he to have spared him, when God had ordered all Amalek to be destroyed. If, therefore, you have taken the fruits of the tree, of which Joel says: *Fear not, ye beasts of the field, for the beautiful things of the desert have sprung up, for the tree hath brought forth its fruit* [Joel 2, 22]. But also the Canticle of Canticles: *I sat down under his shadow, whom I desired, namely Christ; and his fruit was sweet to my palate* [Cant. 2, 3]. Take what is most beautiful, for all things that God made are also good in their season. But Paul also says: *Let all things be done honestly, and in order* [1 Cor. 14, 40]; signifying that virtues must be adapted to the time. Therefore, the fruit of the most beautiful tree is principally Christ, the fruit of that tree of which it was said in Isaiah: B *There shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a flower shall ascend out of his root* [Isa. 11, 1], namely of the Virgin Mother of God. According to the LXX: *He is the beautiful fruit.* For he himself dispenses all things in an opportune time. But if something is according to his law and zeal, which has been corrected in word or in deed, this also is rightly called a beautiful fruit. But to take also the branches of palms, that is, the offshoots of the youth of justice: *The just shall flourish like the palm tree* [Ps. 91, 13], David said. But because there is nothing in the palm, just as there is nothing in those who live justly, that can be rejected: C "Take also willows." According to the LXX, *kládous*, branches, that is, of continence and chaste marriage. For the willow signifies continence, because it bears no fruit: just as neither those who are continent, who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven, bear any sensible fruit; to whom God says through Isaiah the prophet: *Let not the eunuch say: Behold I am a dry tree: for I will give to them in my house, and within my walls a place and a name better than sons and daughters, I will give them an everlasting name* [Isa. 56, 4, 5]. We say, however, that the willow bears the figure of prayer and also of penance. Thus, therefore, let us also understand that which was said by David: *Upon the rivers of Babylon, there we sat and wept, when we remembered thee, O Sion. On the willows in the midst thereof we hung up our instruments* [Ps. 136, 1, 2]. For the tears of prayer and penance, of which Isaiah says: *As willows by the running waters* [Isa. 15, 44], have a continence of necessary intercourse at the time in which they are offered: which Paul demonstrates, saying: *Defraud not one another, except, perhaps, by consent, for a time, that you may give yourselves unto prayer, because marriage ought to be chaste* [1 Cor. 7, 5]. He says again: *Yet she shall be saved through childbearing, if she continue in faith, and love, and sanctification, with sobriety* [1 Tim. 2, 15]. And again: *Marriage honorable, and the bed undefiled* [Hebr. 13, 4]. But to take these from the torrent, namely from the present life—for the torrent is rightly named because of its passage, or course, but also because of the winter, which it has of diverse temptations and tribulations, so that David might say of Christ, that he himself also tasted of the world and its tribulations, as having become similar to us: *He shall drink of the torrent in the way: therefore shall he lift up the head* [Ps. 109, 7]. For he lifted it up hanging upon the cross. And he is crucified because he chose to drink once from our torrent. He, therefore, who does these things, for seven days, that is, for the whole time, can rejoice. But let him rejoice before the Lord, not with the joy of the impious and sinners. For *there is no rejoicing, saith the Lord, to the wicked* [Isa. 57, 21], seeing they have their festive joy in pleasures and corruptions, but let them rejoice in the Lord. But what is it to rejoice before the Lord? It is to believe in him, and to suffer for him. For Peter demonstrates from what source this joy consists. He wrote, therefore: *In faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time, in which you shall rejoice, if now you must be for a little time made sorrowful in divers temptations* [1 Petr. 1, 6]. Thus the seventh month bears the figure of the last times. D There is festivity and joy through faith, which is in Christ, and for his passions. But how we ought to complete and conclude this festivity, these words of the legislator show. *Take also branches of thick-leaved trees.* All the fruits of virtues, but especially mercy: for it must be continuous and permanent. Which Ecclesiastes commending, says: *Let not oil be wanting upon thy head* [Eccl. 9, 8]. And in Proverbs: *Say not: Go, and return, and tomorrow I will give to thee, when thou canst give presently* [Prov. 3, 28]. And: *You shall celebrate the feast thereof seven days in the year. It shall be an everlasting ordinance in your generations. In the seventh month shall you keep the feast, and shall dwell*
in your tabernacles seven days. For so we use the present age as a tabernacle; for Hezekiah called it so, saying: "My generation is at an end, and is rolled away from me, as a shepherd's tent." We do not, therefore, ignore its passage or its course by gathering riches or building great houses; but as Paul says: "Let us be intent, for the time is short, so that those who buy may be as though they possessed not, and those who possess, as though they possessed not, and those who use this world, as though they used it not. For the fashion of this world passes away." A Every one who is of the race of Israel shall dwell in tabernacles, that your descendants may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in tabernacles when I brought them out of the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God. You see that these are figures for the people of the Jews, and images of greater mysteries have been given; and for this reason they were commanded to dwell in tabernacles and to celebrate the feast of tabernacles, that they might not forget the deliverance from Egypt. But this is so according to the letter; spiritually, however, we remember that we have been delivered from the intelligible Egypt, that is, from the servitude of the intelligible Pharaoh, which is according to the corruption of the bricks of the present age, from which, if anyone wishes to be fully free, let him dwell in tabernacles, imitating his God who says: "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head." But everyone B who is of the race of Israel, whether according to the LXX a native, that is, truly noble, a true Israelite, an heir of Abraham, who has left behind his country and family and paternal houses, and dwells in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, co-heirs of the promise. But because the Lawgiver does not wish the true Israelite to dwell in tabernacles for only seven days, but by this number signifies the whole life, the sons of Jonadab, son of Rechab, and those things which are written about them through the prophecy of Jeremiah, teach this. For they have it thus: "And we obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, in all that he commanded us, so that we would not drink wine, all our days, we and our wives, and that we would not build houses to dwell in, and we had no vineyard, nor field, nor seed, but we dwelt in tabernacles, and we obeyed and did according to all that Jonadab our father commanded us." Thus, the just who were able to understand the spiritual fruit like a nut hidden among the leaves of the letter, sought after the heavenly rest, and a life not divided, and without any vexation. Moses spoke these feasts to the sons of Israel, in which we rejoice, celebrating feasts in the law of God, and doing what has been ordained by Him according to His intention, and instead of the matter which vexes man, let us choose the good part: the love of the Father, the grace of the Son, the communion of the Holy Spirit. To Him be glory forever and ever. Amen.
BOOK SEVENTH
CHAPTER XXIV
VERS. 1-4. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Command the children of Israel that they bring to you the purest and clearest oil of olives for the lamps to be prepared continually outside the veil of the testimony, in the tabernacle of the covenant. And Aaron shall set them from evening until morning before the Lord, with constant worship and rite in your generations. Upon the purest lampstand they shall be set always in the sight of the Lord.
The law of the Spirit is full, even now, of good things, manifold and varied, for it does not cease to seek out those things which are for the correction of those who are pleasing to God and which procure for us eternal life. Therefore, one can learn the figure of this—what has now been set forth by the law, the lampstand, the lamps, and the oil—from the very words themselves, recalling to mind first that which Paul wrote to the Hebrews: "For there was a tabernacle made the first, wherein were the lampstands, and the table, and the setting forth of the loaves." C Then, explaining how such things as these are to be understood, he himself says again to the Hebrews that the law has a shadow. Therefore, through the shadow, let us seek the body: we say, therefore, that the lampstand is the evangelical manner of life, in which Christ commands one to let his virtues shine as a lamp: "For no one," he says, "lighting a lamp, puts it under a bushel, but on a lampstand, so that it may shine to all who are in the house." The oil for these lamps is almsgiving, because both fasting, and virginity, and prayer, and justice, and every good action is irrigated by the mercy of love for the poor, and they are kept inextinguishable. This is manifested by the lamps of the five foolish virgins, who, because they had less oil of love for the poor, were excluded by the bridegroom. But the oil must be of the purest olives, so that we may not serve the love of the poor out of injustice, nor out of rapacity, nor for ostentation. And it is of olives, if it is from good works, and from justice.
A For it is right that alms be brought about by money or possessions; for these are rightly called shady and fruitful olives. But it is most luminous that we not perform alms for the sake of human glory. It is necessary, therefore, that this lamp always be kindled, outside the veil—that is, the veil of the body of Christ; for this, as has been demonstrated by many preceding things, is the intelligible veil. But in the tabernacle of the covenant, or as the LXX say, "of the testimony"—that is, in heaven, where it is manifest that God dwells—both things were spoken by the lawgiver. For if whatever we do for the poor, he counts as having been done for himself—he who was made poor for our sake—then the lamp of alms is rightly kindled before the Lord's body, but also in heaven; for there they entrust their merciful treasures.
For which reason, Aaron—or, according to the LXX, he and his sons—shall kindle it. For Christ, who is the true priest, took on compassion for the poor. And those who wish to gain his adoption follow him. And Aaron—or, as the LXX say, Aaron and his sons—shall set them up from evening until morning. B That is, without ceasing, because Solomon also said: "Let not oil fail from your head," showing that it is necessary to kindle the lamp of alms continuously, and this very thing before the Lord, just as the Lord himself said: "But when you do alms, let not your left hand know what your right hand does, so that your alms may be in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you."
Let us keep this law with perpetual worship and rite in our generations upon the most pure candlestick. That is, the evangelical way of life, according to what we have already said. For this is clean of all irony and hypocrisy, insofar as we kindle the lamps of alms before the Lord, and not before men. But let us kindle them "until morning"—that is, in the present age. For when the morning of the future age has dawned, there is no longer time for the operation of alms, which Solomon openly signifies by saying: "Do not say to your friend, 'Go, and return, and tomorrow I will give,' when you are able to give immediately, for you do not know what the coming day may bring forth." That is, make haste, and do not delay, lest you be led into places where you have no time to act, but where it is necessary that an account be rendered of those things which we did here. Furthermore, for these, the time is salutary for the legislator's understanding: C a pure candlestick indeed, because it had no sin, and guile was not found in his mouth. But it is a candlestick because he himself is the true light, which enlightens every man coming into this world. Upon this is the lamp kindled: the Holy Spirit, for he is igneous in substance and operation, whence he descended upon the disciples in the likeness of fiery tongues. Hence, we ought to offer the purest oil—that is, a clean life—knowing that it is not for everyone to kindle it, but for the intelligible Aaron alone, and his sons; for Christ himself is full of the Spirit, saying: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me." Upon whom he descended from heaven in the likeness of a dove. "But I have come to cast fire upon the earth, and I wish that it be kindled." When he signified the fire of this lamp, he was speaking. For he himself also handed it down to his sons, when, breathing upon the apostles, he said: "Receive the Holy Spirit." But this lamp is not kindled otherwise than through a clean life and a most luminous, or clear, way of life. But whoever is not such, the spirit in him will be extinguished. For not without cause did Paul testify, "Do not extinguish the Spirit," clearly showing that it is in us to kindle his operation and to extinguish it, by being either zealous for those things by which it is kindled, or negligent.
Therefore, he speaks most orderly: since he mentions a lamp, D not lamps—because he speaks of the Holy Spirit himself—he says this so that the lamp may always burn, showing both its eternity, because it is kindled spontaneously and by its own authority. But because he made mention of "lamps," he speaks of the operations of the Spirit. But the LXX say: "They shall kindle the lamps before the Lord until morning," showing this: that we have the need to kindle the operations of the spiritual fire, supplying them with the matter from which it wishes to be kindled. But what he said, "until morning," that is, until the world to come, then we no longer have work to kindle or light them. For we shall all be spiritual, who have acquired this dignity for ourselves in this age.
VERSES 5-9
"You shall also take fine flour, and bake of it twelve loaves, which each shall have two tenths. Six of them you shall set in order upon the most pure table before the Lord, and you shall place upon them the purest incense, so that the bread may be for a memorial of the Lord's offering. Every Sabbath they shall be changed before the Lord, received from the sons of Israel by an everlasting covenant, and they shall be Aaron's and his sons', so that they may eat them in the holy place, because it is the holy of holies from the sacrifice of the Lord by perpetual law."He calls us to the contemplation of the commandment by the very number of the loaves, but also by their arrangement: and because he does not command that they themselves—as are those things which are of the frying pan, and the gridiron, and the oven—be made a holocaust, but that they be set on the table in order, and that it is lawful only for the priests to eat them, not for the Levites, in such a way, however, that they are eaten by them also in the holy place. But also because they are called the holy of holies, understand what is being said. For the Lord will give you understanding. Call to mind the mystical table, of which it is commanded that no one presume to partake, except the intelligible Aaron—that is, Christ—for he himself first initiated it; but also his sons, who have been made Christians by him and have been clothed in him; yet they are commanded to eat it in the holy place. There is truly also a holy of holies, so that they may have a chief and inestimable sanctification. Those loaves are of two tenths, for they are of God and of man,
and both are perfect in each; they are placed, six apart, A His own table, and His eternal testament. A mystical table is indeed placed here, and is also placed in the future age. The six loaves are a single placement, because it is a perfect number, just as the mystery itself is perfect, and it makes perfect those who enjoy it. Moreover, in six days this visible creation was made, and on the sixth day man was produced, 19 for whose sake Christ prepared the mystical table. Nevertheless, all twelve loaves are correct together, because the apostles, who were twelve in number, first ate the Lord’s Supper. Upon them is placed the most lucid incense, or, as the Septuagint has it, also salt. But the incense—that is, the thanksgiving, which is the offering that holds primacy in the Lord’s Supper—signifies B not only because it is offered to God, but because, as physicians say, it also heals many ailments of the eyes. For salt signifies the doctrine of the apostles, to whom it is said: "You are the salt of the earth." 20 And rightly, in many places of the mystical table, the apostles themselves and their doctrine are placed, because just as the Lord did to them, so they handed down to us the communion of the divine Supper; their table is clean, that is, the altar, of which David sang: "You have prepared a table before me, against those who trouble me." 21 This is clean, first of all as a cleansing agent, and then as having nothing of falsehood nor of infection, such as are found in the mysteries of the pagans; having, moreover, this, that it is not permitted for one to become a participant of it who does not approach with a clean sense, nor is adorned in a white garment—he who is not clothed in such is cast out from those who are invited to this supper 22 always. But He also commands it to be placed on the day of the Sabbaths, first indeed because it has a place also in the intelligible rest which is the true Sabbath, C and this is the table of the Lord, even if His supper is new, as one may conjecture from those things which were spoken by the Lord concerning the cup of eternal life. But because these things, which the legislator has now set forth, are not without purpose, we receive them at the table of the Only-Begotten, and we do not speak arrogantly, or seek scurrilously that which does not pertain to the intention of the Law, but rather we conjecture very strongly and truly; the very words can satisfy the hearer, in which He seems here to have spoken appropriately, for He says: "That the bread may be for a memorial of the oblation of the Lord." Who, or in whose commemoration? But there is no doubt that Paul wrote what he said the Lord handed down regarding the mystery: "As often as you do these things, do them in my memory," 23 and then it is added again: "On each Sabbath they shall be changed before the Lord, received from the sons of Israel by an everlasting covenant." Or as the Septuagint has it: "an everlasting testament"—undoubtedly calling it the testament of which the Lord makes mention when handing down the mystery. But let us, D speaking with as much truth and as much dignity as it may possess, approach with the greatest fear and love. For He says that it is clean... and Aaron alone, and his sons, were to be partakers of this food, and He commands them to eat not everywhere, but in the holy place. May the holy place for us be, first indeed, the court of God, and then our own bodies when they are clean from pollutions, so that these words of Paul may be suitable for us: "For the temple of God is holy, which you are." 24 Moreover, elevating His glory and carrying the dignity of the mystery to the sublime, He adds: "It is a holy of holies from the sacrifice of the Lord by perpetual right." Therefore, prayer is holy, the reading of divine Scripture and the hearing of its interpretation are holy, and holy are, to speak briefly, all things which are said and done in the Churches of God according to His law. But the holy of holies from the sacrifice of the Lord—that is, from all things which are offered and done for His glory—is the table which Christ proposes from His own sacrifice. For He did not simply say that it is a holy of holies: but added, according to the Septuagint, that not only does he who has satisfaction from Him have it, but he also has his subsistence, not negligently, but by His own blood: which was shed for us, as He shows and constitutes.
VERS. 10-14. "And behold, the son of an Israelite woman, whom she had borne of an Egyptian man, went out among the sons of Israel, and he strove in the camp with an Israelite man. And when he had blasphemed the name of the Lord, and cursed Him, he was brought to Moses. Now his mother was called Salomith, daughter of Dabri, of the tribe of Dan. And they sent him into custody, until they might know what the Lord had commanded. And He spoke to Moses, saying: Lead the blasphemer out of the camp, and let all who heard him put their hands upon his head, and let the whole people stone him."
The legislator hands down to us even now admirable things, in which it is worthy to say: "How sweet are your words to my throat, O Lord, more than honey and the honeycomb to my mouth!" 25 For He hands down things that are necessary, and exceedingly useful, in living images, and in animated signs, and in those which work by a certain mode of self-movement. For it is exterior wisdom of which Paul says: "That God has made foolish the wisdom of this world." 26 And again: "The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God." 27 For He calls that which is regarding the courses of the stars, and the measures of the heaven, and the investigation of other things incomprehensible to us, which were studied among the Egyptians, and were there in a certain manner a beginning, and from which he received a reward, which even Moses, nurtured in the royal halls of Pharaoh, did not know. But the book of Kings says: "The wisdom of Solomon surpassed the wisdom of all the people of the East, and of the Egyptians." 28 Now, as for the Israelite woman, that is to say the divine Scripture, of which it is said in the Proverbs: "A prudent woman is blessed, let her herself praise the fear of the Lord," 29 because, leaving behind superfluous questions, she has clung to divine fear. It is not right, therefore, for the Israelite woman, and the wisdom of spiritual Scripture, to join with exterior wisdom, so that she might both be subjected, and that he who is born from them…
A should, as being taught from both, be recognized not only as the son of the Israelite woman, but also as the son of the Egyptian, since he understands what is Egyptian, and wishes to join himself to exterior wisdom, and to attain the doctrines that are there. If at any time this happens, and someone of this kind is found among the sons of the intelligible Israel, and in the camp—which is the Church, which Jacob, seeing in a vision, called "the camp of God"—and he who is the offspring of the Israelite woman and the Israelite [man] contends, being great and worldly and one who has given himself entirely to the wisdom of God, and who says, like Paul: "We speak wisdom among those who are perfect, but not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, who are coming to nothing." They contend, however, regarding words or doctrines, and the son of the Israelite woman blasphemes the Name: for this happens when he who has been wounded by exterior wisdom makes mention of Christ. For I have seen that the legislator, following [this] too much in subtlety, says: "And he blasphemed the Name." But as to what he omits—for it was not yet known when this was ordained, as He who was born of the Virgin and incarnate of the Holy Spirit had not yet been born, of whom Gabriel said: "And they shall call his name Jesus, for he himself shall save his people from their sins"—Paul, however, showing how great this name is, says: "And God gave him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth." When, therefore, he who trusts in wisdom and aims at exterior things—which he calls small, great, and greatest; and [inquires into] degrees, which is impossible in the divinity—blasphemes the name of Christ, he blasphemes the Son, whom he calls inferior to the Father. He is necessarily cast out of the camp and led away from the sight of the Church. But those who heard, they shall lay their hands upon his head, indicating through the head that Christ is truly the head, but God is the head of Christ, because he who blasphemed the Son, also blasphemed the Father in Him.
B And let the whole people stone him. They who kill and destroy him who blasphemed. But note also these words of this sanction opportunely, as to how they brought him to Moses. He, however, does not act of his own authority, nor does he pronounce sentence against him, but he sent him into prison, that he might be judged by the commandment of the Lord. For the Mosaic Law indeed hates anyone who blasphemes the Son—which is manifest from the fact that it frequently insinuates the mystery of the Trinity (not indeed openly, nor does it speak as plainly thereof as the Gospel)—and on account of this, it reserved him for the judgment of the Lord’s commandments. Whose commandments? Those, namely, which say: "He who does not believe in the Son is already judged." And again: "If you do not believe that I am, you shall die in your sins." And many other such things are said in the evangelical precepts.
VERS. 15-16. "And you shall speak to the sons of Israel: Any man who curses his God, shall bear his sin; and he who blasphemes the name of the Lord, let him die the death. All the multitude shall stone him, whether he be a citizen or a stranger. He who blasphemes the name of the Lord, let him die the death."
A new point here, and one that may disturb the ears of many, according to the edition of the Septuagint: it mandates: "Man, whoever shall curse God, shall receive sin; but he who names the name of the Lord, let him die the death." And in blaspheming God, to name the name of the Lord is graver: for the former only receives sin, but the latter also suffers the penalty of death. For what difference is there between the Lord and God? Is it not the very same who said: "Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord is one"? And again: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart." How therefore does he who has cursed God receive sin, but he who has named the name of the Lord shall die the death? Or for what reason is he who names the name of the Lord submitted to a penalty at all? For you will find Isaiah exulting in this and saying: "O Lord, beside thee we know no other, we mention thy name." How then is he who names the name of the Lord brought under a curse and the penalty of death? If indeed the legislator now speaks of some hidden name, which we do not know, which is not made manifest in Sacred Scripture, how can anyone name it, which he has not learned, and cannot bring to light? See, however, what God has manifested to us through Moses: "And when the Lord had descended in a cloud, Moses stood with him, calling upon the name of the Lord," who, passing before him, said: "The Ruler, the Lord God, merciful and gracious." But He would not have manifested this to us if He had not wanted us to name it. But the legislator now demonstrates something else through this presence: for he wants that blasphemy, which one commits knowingly, to be under the maximum penalty, and not to be venial. And he says this openly, which the Lord says in the Gospels: "Every sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men. But he who speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, nor in the future." Calling the blasphemy of the Spirit that which is committed in the knowledge of God, because knowledge is a gift especially of the Spirit, so that Paul could say: "To one, indeed, is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge." D For this reason, you now understand him to curse God who blasphemes without knowledge. Whence Symmachus did not write "to blaspheme" him, as the son of the Israelite woman, but "to detract." For he said: "A man who shall detract from his God." And by this it is shown most clearly, that it is because of extreme ignorance that he says those things about God which he holds about man, in which detraction has a place. Nevertheless, even so he receives sin, because, while he ought to have had knowledge, he did not have it. But to name the name of the Lord in cursing, he calls him who blasphemes in knowledge. But those men properly name the Lord who [have] his knowledge.
they have acquired through the Spirit. For no one can say, "Lord Jesus," as Paul says, except in the Holy Spirit. Since, therefore, they are blaspheming while knowing, they are rightly without excuse, whether they possess knowledge from the Fathers and on that account are called citizens, or have recently learned it and therefore are strangers. When, therefore, they name the name of the Lord, they die justly: that is, when they name Him and blaspheme. You see, therefore, that even that man A of the Israelite woman named the name, and blasphemed, and brought punishment upon himself. But in this sanction, that which seems doubtful, Aquila explained more plainly, for he says:
When a man blasphemes his God, and receives iniquity upon himself, and names the name of the Lord, let him die the death. He did not say "naming," but "naming the name," to show that the one of whom the discourse now is, both blasphemes and names at once, a man who blasphemes and names the name of the Lord, namely the Spirit; and Paul says therefore, "The Lord is the Spirit." The lawgiver commands this man to be put to death, and he is the one who blasphemes while knowing, as we said once before.
VERS. 17-22. *He who strikes and kills a man, let him die the death. He who strikes an animal, let him render a replacement, that is, soul for soul. He who has inflicted a blemish upon any of his fellow citizens, as he has done, let it be done to him: he shall restore fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth.* Whatever blemish he has inflicted, he is compelled to sustain. He who strikes a beast shall render another. He who strikes a man shall be punished. *Let there be a just judgment among you, whether a stranger or a citizen has sinned. For I am the Lord your God.*
We find the lawgiver using many sequential terms here, if we fix our mind upon the intention of those things which are written: because no glory of God suffers diminution from anyone's blasphemy, nor does he command, for his own sake, those who blaspheme while being under such punishment and torments. But because we are harmed by such words, and by diminishing the divine fame—which is pernicious to men—by being ignorant of the dignity of the Creator and common benefactor, He rightly added in the present text:
*He who strikes and kills a man, or according to the LXX, He who strikes the soul of a man, let him die the death.* And who strikes the soul of a man, unless it be he who entices him to impiety? He who drags him into blasphemous discourses, in which he dies the worst death of sin, which is the true death of the soul? On account of which he commands that this man, who is such, must die the death. Here, however, calling the soul of a man animal, he mostly speaks of the man, that is, he who cannot understand the things that are of the spirit, of whom Paul says: *But the animal man does not perceive the things that are of the Spirit.* For it is foolishness to him and he cannot understand, because it is spiritually examined. He who B strikes him, dies the death.
But even if he strikes an animal, namely him who lives in the manner of a beast, of whom David says: *Man when he was in honor, did not understand; he is compared to senseless beasts, and became like unto them,* he shall render a replacement, that is, soul for soul. For he who has caused a sinner, or a common person, and one not having subtle discernment about God, to err, is by no means worthy of pardon. But if he did not strike him in such a way as to lead him perfectly to impiety, and make him wander entirely from God, but has altogether said or done something to him, he has inflicted the blemish of sin according to this, and has sustained the punishment; for it says:
*He who has inflicted a blemish upon any of his fellow citizens, as he did, so let it be done to him: Fracture for fracture, or as the LXX, crushing for crushing, eye for eye, tooth for tooth.* For whether he crushed the virtue which a citizen possessed, or that neighbor of his by teaching evil or persuading, or scandalizing, or detracting, and slandering; or his eye, namely his knowledge, by doing any one of the aforementioned things he blinded him; or his tooth, the power of words: for Scripture is accustomed to take "teeth" for words, as David shows, saying: *The sons of men, their teeth are weapons and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword.* And about Christ, the patriarch Jacob was saying in the blessings: *His eyes are more beautiful than wine, and his teeth whiter than milk.* For the evangelical words of Christ are clear and open, above the legal milk. Necessarily, therefore, he who has done some harm by the things that have been said, also sustains the similar blemish himself, in the future judgment, that is. For if he injured another's virtue, or crushed it, his own will be crushed: if he obscured knowledge, his knowledge will be held for naught; if he harmed via doctoral words, the judge will render his discourses fruitless and useless to him. On account of which he did not say, "You shall do thus to him," but, "It shall be done to him," hinting at the future judgment, in which the judge will render to each one according to his works. But if anyone even strikes a man perfect in faith, and consummated: for this is properly of a man, on account of which David said: *Thou shalt save men and beasts, O Lord:* calling them men who do the things which are perfect, and beasts, the imperfect and the ignorant:—if he strikes him with a mortal blow, which drags him to impiety, this man shall die the death. For even if he who was being struck was capable of repelling the wound, this does not provide any satisfaction to the striker, and he will be under punishment all the more, because he killed even him who was able to resist him.
*Let there be a just judgment among you,* he says, *whether a stranger or a citizen has sinned, for I am the Lord your God.* And he does not now exempt those who are taught by them, who previously and from their parents knew the holy Scriptures. But he defines a common punishment against both, and adds: For I am the Lord your God, who said, *Whoever shall scandalize one of these little ones who believe in me, it is expedient for him that a mill-stone...*
hung to his neck, and thus he be cast into the depths of the sea.* Nor did He distinguish these words, but by saying "Whoever," He subjected all to the penalty, on account of which Paul also said: *But he who troubles you will bear his judgment, whoever he is,* that is, whether small or great, whether having much knowledge or little, whether he has now learned or before, whether a citizen of the faith or a stranger. Since, however, these things are so, a sanction of the letter was necessary for the Jews, nor did they desire to hear: *If anyone strikes you on the right cheek, offer him the other,* because since they were malevolent, everyone was going to exact this upon his neighbor, and not act himself. Rightly, therefore, "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" was said to them, so that by fear of mutual punishment they might abstain from excesses and murders.
Vers. 23. *And Moses spoke to the sons of Israel, and they took him who had blasphemed outside the camp and stoned him with stones, and the sons of Israel did as the Lord commanded Moses.*
Therefore, it is not in vain for you that we show that he who strikes the life of a man, or of cattle, or a man, whom He also ordered to die on this account, is, according to the contemplation of the Law, the one who strikes another by teaching blasphemy, or by inciting, or by doing some other such thing. For behold, the order of the sanction proves this and demonstrates without any doubt, because regarding those who curse God or blaspheme, in prescribing, He joined to them him who had struck the life of a man, or of an animal, or the man himself: and not only like them, but for this one He also introduced the penalty of death, but explaining that those things which were said have one intention, He again added, regarding the one who blasphemed, the penalty which all the multitude obeying the Law was exacting. For we have heard how it was that he who blasphemed was led out of the camp, and He commanded that he be oppressed with stones. Therefore, he added the work to the indignation, and shows you the Law confirmed by experience itself, so that you too might fear and flee from blaspheming God, thus fearing the magnitude of the sin, which He commanded not only the princes, but the whole multitude to punish. For the battle against blasphemers ought to be common to all, because they attempt to detract from our common benefactor, the common source of our life from whom we all have both being and well-being—harming nothing of His glory, yet desiring to separate and expel us from Him.
CHAPTER XXV
Vers. 1-7. *And the Lord spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, saying: Speak to the sons of Israel and you shall say to them: When you have entered the land which I will give you, you shall celebrate a Sabbath to the Lord. Six years you shall sow your field, and for six years you shall prune your vineyard, and you shall gather its fruits. But the seventh year will be a Sabbath of the rest of the Lord for the land. Its field you shall not sow, and your vineyard you shall not prune. Whatever the soil produces of its own accord, you shall not reap, and the grapes of your first fruits you shall not gather as a vintage. For it is a year of rest for the land. But they shall be for food for you: for you and your servant, and your handmaid and your hireling, and the stranger who dwells among you. For your beasts and cattle, all things that are born will provide food.*
The land which it is fitting for God to give us, and which it is expedient for us to receive, from which we can seek true life—that is, a good way of life which is according to His Law and the commandments which He has given us, of which David says: *Teach me your will, for you are my God, your good Spirit shall lead me into the right land.* If we have entered this, we can sow our field for six years, and plant a vineyard, and gather the fruits which are born from it, that is, as long as we are in this life and in this visible creation: which the number of six days rightly signifies, because in six days all things that appear were established. But in the seventh year, there shall be a Sabbath, and rest for the land. For when our intelligible Sabbath shall come, which is the rest of the present age, of which Paul says: *Therefore there remains a Sabbath-keeping for the people of God*: which the seventh day signifies, because on the seventh day God rested from all His works, namely, from the visible ones: then there is no time for operation, and therefore we cannot then sow the field of the Law, nor plant the evangelical vineyard. For the field is rightly understood by us as the Law, because the elder son, who is envious of the younger people, who bears the image of the people of the Jews, is said to return from the field, namely, from the operation of the Law. But the vineyard is, without any doubt, the evangelical preaching: for Christ gave it the occasion and the matter, who said: *I am the vine, you are the branches, my Father is the husbandman.* Therefore, neither can we practice the legal, or the evangelical commandments after the exit from this life, or the passing, but we can neither reap those things which are born of their own accord, that is, neither whatever the natural law suggests to men for operation—for this is what is born of its own accord, because it suggests outside the meditation of books and every doctoral hearing, and exhorts what is useful, and provides thoughts assisting us in soul. But neither do we have need then to harvest the grapes of first fruits, or as the LXX call it, the grape of sanctification, and which is the grape of sanctification: those who are imbued with the mystery of Christ know, who perceived prophecy from the experience of Christ: *He shall wash his robe in wine, and his cloak in the blood of the grape,* the mystery of this sanctification which we will not harvest; for there we will see the Lord's mystery then, but with greater glory, needing no sensible thing as we do now. Whence the legislator indeed commemorated the grape, but Christ promised that He drinks this with us in the kingdom, but new. This, therefore, is the Sabbath, that is, the rest of the age, in which we rest in the aforementioned land, for when
A it shall be a jubilee for all the inhabitants of your land. He Himself is the jubilee. “Man shall return to his possession, and everyone shall return to their original family.” That which is the jubilee, even the fiftieth year, you shall not sow, nor shall you reap what grows of its own accord in the field, and you shall not gather the first fruits of the vintage, because of the sanctification of the jubilee, but you shall eat the offerings immediately. In the year of the jubilee, all shall return to their possessions.
Here the Jews must be questioned: if the legislator, honoring the seventh day as they themselves say, commanded that one rest from the labors of the field and other such things on it, for what reason did He command them to cease from labors in the fiftieth year? For if the weeks of weeks are gathered to forty-nine years, it was not appropriate to rest in the fiftieth, unless it signified something, and the Law was explaining mysteries for which the time had not yet come to be openly declared because of the infirmity of the hearers. What, however, are these things? Hear: A certain twofold consummation is brought in by God of all visible things—one indeed of each of us, but the other, a common one of the human race and of those things which constitute this conversation, which now is. But neither when each of us has been perfected will there be time for us to work, nor when all [have been perfected]. And the One giving the law — for He was God — very knowingly hinted to us in these and the preceding words, in the former indeed suggesting the end of each individual, but in these, the consummation of the whole human race and of the visible world.
“And they shall be for food for you, for you, and for your servant, and your maidservant, and your hireling, and the stranger who dwells with you, and for your cattle, and for your beasts.” For whatever we have worked here, we shall receive the fruit of these things there, and that of the Psalm will be adapted to us: “Blessed are all who fear the Lord. You shall eat the labors of your fruits. Blessed are you, and it shall be well with you.” He describes, therefore, the blessedness of the future age, finding a certain blessed food. For he says, “Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of heaven.” But it is much more blessed to have servants and maidservants and hirelings, strangers, cattle, and beasts, or according to the LXX, animals. B For these roles are types of those who offer us discipleship in the holy conversation of God. Servants and maidservants are those who have subjected themselves to us for discipleship, or have been bought by us from exterior service. Our hirelings, however, are those who have been invited by us, but are not so much in subjection as to be called servants and maidservants. Strangers, or as the LXX has it, sojourners, are those adjacent to us: for they did not say “sojourners,” but “to a sojourner adjacent to you”: as many as in this life are like sojourners through philosophy, but they are not adjacent to exterior things, but to us who have entered into the good land and possess it, and what pertains to it. And even if we should help some ignorant person, or a common person—for these are the cattle—furthermore, if we should help some of the infidels or the impious, whom we correctly call beasts, or according to the LXX are named beasts, making them tame, we cause them to leave the woods and come to our land; and they are called beasts of the field, of whom David said: “Between the mountains the waters shall pass; all the beasts of the field shall drink of them.” And these, who will eat the fruits of the good land, which has been handed down to us by God for our conversation, as we have said, in an intelligible Sabbath, in the rest of the future age, taking the delights of the fruits of the aforementioned land, on account of which Ecclesiastes said: “Prepare your works for your departure,” because after the departure it is not permitted to touch any work. But Christ says: “Work not for the food which perishes, but for that which remains to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you.” Of this, indeed, the work is here, but the fruit is in the future. For woe if anyone has gone from here with empty hands, C there where there is no longer time for storing up, not for working, but these things are brought forward, these are enjoyed, which we have worked here: upon which the legislator, building further, added the following:
Vers. 8-10. “You shall also count for yourself seven weeks of years, that is, seven times, which together make forty-nine years, and you shall sound the trumpet, in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, in the time of propitiation, in all your land, and you shall sanctify the fiftieth year, and you shall call it a remission….” D Or as the LXX: “Seven weeks of years, therefore, you shall count for yourself. But they translated ‘Sabbaths’ [instead of ‘weeks’] for ‘rest’.” And what is this? For He says seven weeks of years, seven times. And there are seven weeks of years, forty-nine years, because in a week of days the entire human age is divided, when this itself has been multiplied in itself, and the whole orbit of the age has been completed, the time for which the Creator defined, turning itself for a long time, it arrives at the end. And therefore that end of those weeks of years is rightly called the forty-ninth year. But it is also necessary for the following, the fiftieth, as this legislator says, to succeed, in which the resurrection of the dead takes place. For after the end, the resurrection follows. How, and in what manner it comes to pass, Paul says. Similarly, the legislator also added to the present words, for he says: “And sounding the trumpet, in the seventh month, in all your land.” Signifying that trumpet of which Paul writes to the Corinthians, saying: “That the Lord Himself at the command, in the voice of the Archangel, in the trumpet of God will descend from heaven, and the dead who are in Christ will rise incorrupt.” For it is fitting that the trumpet raising the dead should precede them. Whence in the forty-ninth year, in which we have said the common consummation occurs, he commanded the trumpet to be sounded. In the month, however…
A the tenth of the month, at the time of propitiation, it correctly commands that the trumpet be sounded throughout your entire land, manifesting B through the propitiation, that because of his goodness and mercy toward the whole human race, he dispenses the mystery of the communion of resurrection, bestowing mercy upon Adam, who through disobedience was commanded to return to the earth: for if he had not been a merciful propitiator, he would not have freed him from earthly corruption. Now, in that he said "all the land," it is because the resurrection will be of the entire human race. By the seventh month, moreover, and the tenth day, you shall understand him who did these things, namely Christ. For in the seventh month the age of the world came: of which we call the first month that which was in paradise; the second, up to the flood; the third, up to Abraham; the fourth, up to the time when the descent into Egypt took place; the fifth, up to the captivity in Babylon; the sixth, up to the coming of Christ; the seventh, the coming of the Lord himself; for although not all these ages have a certain difference between themselves, yet they have the signs of the times, just as months exist. But he added the tenth day because the tenth is indeed a perfect number, and Christ accomplished our propitiation through the cross and passion. Whence he also commanded the lamb which Moses directed to be immolated to be perfect, and commanded it to be set apart on the tenth day, bearing the image of him, of whom our discourse now treats. But what did he add to these?
C "And you shall hallow the fiftieth year, and you shall proclaim remission to all the inhabitants of your land." The Septuagint, however, add: "It shall be a year of remission to you." This meaning shall be hallowed, that is, expect this in holiness, and think holy thoughts concerning it. But also correct your holiness in it, remembering him who said: "Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord." But let us also announce remission to all who are on earth, since the sentence was pronounced against us because of Adam. This is the meaning, for the resurrection of the dead is a sign of the victory of Christ, through which he conquers the enemy, subjecting all things to himself, and destroying death, just as Paul says: "He must reign until he puts all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy shall be destroyed, death." But this meaning is realized through the preaching of the Gospel; for Christ, arriving, signified and preached it.
Then man shall return to his possession, and everyone shall go back to his former family, or, as the Septuagint say, to his own native land. For our possession is the acquisition of the future age, because we do not possess it for a time, but forever, and not this one now, but that one; but it is always the same, firm, and a possession which cannot be taken away, concerning which the Lord said: "Lay up for yourselves D treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust corrupt, nor do thieves dig through and steal." But we also return to our former family, or as the Septuagint have it, we shall walk to our native land. For clearly a certain native land or family is loved by those loving hospitality, over which Abraham presides; clearly a camp over which Joseph is prince; clearly one of the zealous, over which Elias holds the primacy, the inheritance of which we attain when the remission of those things which are here, and the victory of sanctification against death, shall have been accomplished.
In the fiftieth year which comes after the week of weeks: that is, after the common end, as was once shown. Then they cannot be sown, nor can the things that grow of themselves in the field be reaped, nor can the first-fruits of the vintage be gathered. For it is not a time in which we may acquire any holiness through work, which we have not acquired in this life in the future age, but to enjoy those things which we had worked here, and therefore he adds: "But you shall eat the offerings immediately." Or as the Septuagint say, "You shall eat from the fields, which grow in it," that is, things that are ready, not those which are then sown, nor those which are cultivated, but things already sown and already worked. For that is the time of which David says: "For you render to every man according to his works." But what did he say at the end of the present sanction: "In the year of jubilee, or according to the Septuagint, in the year of the sign of remission, all shall return to their possessions."
Clearly the law testifies to us through what has now been said, that even if we leave from here until the year of remission, which is one of sanctification, that is, until the common consummation and the resurrection of the dead, which Christ brings about, when he rises entire against the enemy and the trophy of death, no one can return to his possession, that is, to his inheritance, on account of which Paul also says: "We who are alive shall not prevent those who have fallen asleep." For the just, who are called the living, do not precede the dead, but the judgment of all shall be common, and all shall be sent together to their appropriate places. But they shall go back well, he says, because we walk to God, from whom we also came, when we were not before. But when we shall have come to him, then we begin to be. But we began to be indeed commonly from the time Adam was created: but specially, each one is from the time he was formed in the maternal womb, for it says: "Who forms the spirit of man in him." Yet we come from God by reason of his workmanship and condition, on account of which Paul also said: "I am constrained by two things, having a desire to be dissolved, and to be with Christ." May this, which comes to each of us with confidence, that is, that we may find and possess a good possession, and one which is numbered among the families of the just, come to pass. For then we shall find our possessions, as we have said.
A For this reason, in the beginning of this law, the legislator said: "You shall count for yourself seven weeks," or "you shall count for yourself a rest of years." It is not because we can grasp that day and hour by number, but just as those who are counting wait for the end of the number, so we too ought to look not only to our own private consummation, but also to the common one, in which, leaving behind earthly correction, we are transferred to those heavenly possessions which are without labor. But [we look] also to the rest of the world to come, which the fiftieth year is said to signify, whence Solomon also said in Proverbs: "Give portions to seven, and also to eight," 67 so that we might intend ourselves toward that consummation which the number seven signifies, and toward the rest of the world to come: for the eighth day signifies that. For which reason the resurrection of Christ also took place after the seventh day of the Sabbath, on the eighth, from which the universal resurrection of the dead had its substance.
VERS. 14-17. "When you sell anything to your fellow-citizen, or buy from him, do not annoy your brother, but according to the number of years of the jubilee you shall buy from him, and according to the calculation of the fruits he shall sell to you. The more years that remain after the jubilee, the more the price increases. And the less time you count, the less the purchase will cost. For he sells you the time of the fruits. Do not afflict your fellow-countrymen, but let everyone fear his own God. For I am the Lord your God."
That there is a certain sale whose contract proceeds without money, Isaiah clearly taught us, therefore he says: "All you who thirst, come to the waters, and you who have no money, make haste and eat." 68 On account of which Peter spoke thus, condemning Simon: "Your money be with you to destruction, because you have thought that the gift of God could be possessed with money." 69 Good and truly blessed is that which is spiritual, yet it is not the case that its possession can be obtained with money. Such a sale and spiritual possession the law proposes now as well, for it says:
B When you sell anything to your fellow-citizen, or buy from him? That is, if you either give or receive some doctrine, that is, if you either teach or have been taught, for this is the good possession which transmits to the possession of the future world. But he has well combined, "when you sell anything to your fellow-citizen, or buy from him." For riches and possession are interchangeably both, disciples and teachers: which Paul demonstrates, writing to the Corinthians: "That we are your glory, just as you are ours, in the day of Christ Jesus." 70 Let not a man, therefore, annoy his brother, that is, that we should not impose upon disciples beyond their ability, but [only] what is possible for them, that is, virginity to him to whom it is possible, clearly to him of whom Paul says: "He who has stood firm in his heart, not having necessity, but has power of his own will, and has judged in his heart to keep his own virgin, he acts well." 71 He acts well. Conjugium [marriage] to him who does not grasp the word of virginity, for he said the same: "And he who gives his virgin in marriage does well, and he who does not give, does better." And again: "If anyone thinks that he is acting shamefully toward his virgin, because she is over-age, and it is necessary for it to be done, let him do what he wills, he does not sin if he marries." 72 And again: "It is better to marry than to be burned." 73 The same is true regarding every virtue; God himself demands it of us according to our ability, and he wishes us to minister to one another; for he was rebuking the Pharisees, as those who were enjoining heavy things upon them, for he says: "They bind heavy and unbearable burdens, and lay them on the shoulders of men." 74 Much more consequently, therefore, the legislator added:
C But according to the number of the years of the jubilee you shall buy from him. Or as the Septuagint [has it], "according to the number of years after the sign you shall possess from your neighbor": understanding the sign, as has already been said, as the Dominical advent, and the evangelical preaching which was announced pertaining to him, which signified to us the future victory against death and the rest of the world to come. From which sign, therefore, it comes about that no one bears a hard yoke, nor carries a heavy burden, but according to the number of the years, that is, according to his own virtue, because the years show the age of a man, from which it is manifest what each one can do according to the body. Further explaining this, he added: "According to the calculation of the fruits he shall sell to you." According to what virtue he has to work and to bear fruit, the disciple should render fruit to the master.
The more years that remain after the jubilee, the more the price increases, and the less time you count, the less the purchase will cost. For he sells you the time of the fruits. If he can do many things, you will demand much fruit; if, however, few, then little: for here one is required to bear thirty, another sixty, but another one hundred-fold fruit. Nor is this [done] negligently by the legislator, but it is studied from the works, for he says again: "Do not afflict your fellow-countrymen, but let everyone fear his own God, for I am the Lord your God." Let not a man afflict his fellow-countryman, that is, let him not impose a heavy burden upon him, and beyond his virtue, but let everyone fear his own God, who says: "Take my yoke upon you, for it is sweet, and my burden, for it is light." 75 D I am the Lord your God. That is, I who commanded the apostles regarding virginity, and said, "Not all grasp this, but he who is able to grasp it, let him grasp it." 76 Thus he exacts [it] of each one according to his own virtue, and this indeed is the gain of the contemplation of the spirit. But the letter also has no small instruction: for it is to sympathize with one's neighbor, both in sensory contacts, and in no way wishing to be a burden or onerous to anyone, nor to negotiate concerning the needs of the poor, nor to study or hasten to [possess] their possessions.
A To seek to acquire for oneself, to join house to house, to add field to field, but rather to distribute to those who have needs, and gradually to receive back from the fruits that are gathered from the fields of what they have given. For to give that which is owed, and not even to receive back that which was given as a loan—this is the life of perfection, which not all grasp; but those who do grasp it are blessed.
VERS. 18-20. *Do the precepts of me, and keep my judgments, and fulfill them, that you may be able to dwell in the land without any fear, and the ground may bring forth for you its fruits, which you may eat until you are satisfied, dreading no one's attack.*
The Spirit of God uses the caution and perfection of the Law most directly for our ears, so that we may not, upon learning that we are required—according to the number of years, that is, according to the virtue of our fruits of intelligible possessions, namely, virtues—fall back and lean toward delights, and this very condescension become harmful to us. "Do my precepts and keep my judgments," He says, "and fulfill them." For He by no means wants us to be idle, even if we are weak, from the practice of the Law, but without a doubt to work, even if according to virtue; yet our conscience convicts us of our own virtue, as Paul says: *of thoughts accusing or also defending one another.* Let us therefore first keep all the justices of God, all His judgments, and afterwards let us perform them. Let us keep them without corrupting their intention, but keeping them strictly and immutably: just as if someone wishes to practice almsgiving, he should not act to the detriment of his neighbor, nor, if he is poor, should he himself rob the wealth of the rich so that he may provide for the poor. For God wishes almsgiving to be offered from justice. We say this also about every single command, that we should first keep its intention and end, and thus progress into their performance. For then we shall dwell in the intelligible land—namely, in the divine Law of the spiritual Scripture and of good behavior, which God has commanded us to possess and cultivate—when we have not transgressed its intention, then it brings forth its fruits, which we may eat until we are satisfied, and we dread no one's attack. For he who keeps the intention of the Law, and who performs it, he shall gather its fruits and shall eat them to satisfaction, and he dwells in it without fear, because he does not transgress the intention of the Lawgiver, nor is he conscious of acting against the Law within the Law of God. But if you say, "What shall we eat in the seventh year, if we do not sow, nor gather our crops?"
VERS. 21, 22. *I will give my blessing to you in the sixth year, and it will produce the fruit of three years; and you shall sow in the eighth year, and you shall eat the old crops until the new year, until the new ones are born, you shall eat the old ones.*
Whence it is fitting that we first be helped—that is, by the utility of the letter, this must be understood, and such gain must be sought. For the two years of vacating the land B by commanding, He does not wish those who were commanded by the Law to be troubled as to what they should eat, or from where they should eat, but says: *I will give my blessing to you.* Which, because *man lives not by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God*: how then do some accuse the commandment of Christ as if it were impossible and laborious, whereby He said: *Do not be anxious about tomorrow?* For behold, the Law commands similar things, and regarding three whole years it commands those who strive for the virtue of the Lawgiver not to be anxious. Furthermore, by the three years, we necessarily understand the consummation of each one of us and the common retribution that is after the resurrection. In each of these we eat what we have accomplished here, for which reason He says: *But if you say: What shall we eat in the seventh year?* That is, in the consummation of each of us. For it is manifest that even in the common [consummation], in which the resurrection occurs, and in the retribution, we have the same food. Hear what God gives you as a response concerning these things through the Law. *I will give my blessing to you in the sixth year, and it will produce the fruit of three years.* The blessing of the Father is the Son, for He himself destroyed the curse brought upon Adam, for which reason it is fitting that we be blessed in Him: the Psalmist David taught, *The blessing of the Lord be upon you, we have blessed you in the name of the Lord.* He calls the Son "the name of the Lord" clearly, because just as a name manifests each person who is not seen, so too Christ, appearing, made the Father known C in Himself, although He is invisible. He came in the sixth year, as much in perfection—for the number six signifies this—as that in the final time the reformation might again occur, in the number of whose days man was formed. Wherefore, just as the sixth day of creation, so the sixth year is rightly called the year of reformation. That, however, it is called the sixth day there, but the sixth year here, is for this reason: because many spans of time have run between our formation and our reformation. Therefore, not in vain did the Lawgiver make mention of the sixth year, for in this Christ, coming, gave us to gain fruits, by which we might be nourished in the consummation of each of our own lives and in the common resurrection and retribution, granting the human race to bring forth virtues abundantly, so that just as those who were hired for the eleventh hour might receive the reward of the denarius along with those who were hired in the morning. However, there is no contradiction to these things in what follows, for He says: *And you shall sow in the eighth year.* That which they call the fiftieth, about which He decreed in the previous [passage]. Since the jubilee, and the fiftieth year: *You shall not sow, nor reap.* How then does He command him to sow here? Do you think the Lawgiver says things contrary to Himself? But let us understand the seed differently here, so that neither the letter is contrary D
A You shall not sow, therefore, nor reap on the fiftieth day. Nor should they sow the seed of the seventh week, from which the harvest was to come in the fiftieth year. For this sowing, even if it occurred in the preceding and fortieth year, in which it was especially necessary—as in the seventh week—to abstain from sowing, is nevertheless called the sowing of the fiftieth, because it was sown on its account, and for this reason is forbidden. For neither in the seventh week, which we have said is an example of general consummation, did the law command to sow at all or to work. As, therefore, the letter compelled us not to intend towards itself, but towards the intention of the Lawgiver, so that what seemed to be a contradiction of the laws might be resolved, so also will it grant us to judge, regarding the contemplation consonant with the intention, of a spiritual interpretation. For they sow in the eighth year, the future age: not whoever sows then (for this is not right, but also impossible, as we once said), nor indeed those who do so in the seventh, for you have known that this too is forbidden. But as many as in the sixth, in which Christ, coming, gave us the good seed, whoever sends the seed here beforehand, from which the harvest of promises will flourish for us, that is, the harvest of retribution, of which David says: "But those who come shall come with exultation, carrying their sheaves." And Paul likewise: "He who sows in blessings will also reap from blessings. He who sows in the flesh will reap corruption from the flesh; but he who sows in the spirit will reap eternal life from the spirit." Hence, we must sow in the eighth year, that is, in the future age: for thus do the things which follow agree with us. "And you shall eat the old fruits, up to the ninth year. Until the new are born, you shall eat the old." But the Septuagint says: "You shall eat the old of the old": not simply old things, but the old of the old, because, as we have said, not only as soon as we depart from here, which is the seventh year, but also in the resurrection of the dead, which is the eighth year, and furthermore in the retribution, which we accept as the ninth year, since although there is one future age, it is divided into the aforementioned orders, we eat whatever we have performed, and on this account they are called the old of the old, for such great things of the age, which surpass counting, are considered.
VERS. 25-28. B "If your brother, having become impoverished, sells his small possession, and his kinsman wishes to, he can redeem what he had sold; but if he does not have a next of kin, and he himself is able to find the price for redemption, the fruits shall be computed from the time in which he sold, and what remains he shall return to the buyer, and thus he shall receive his possession. But if his hand does not find the means to return the price, the buyer shall have what he had bought, up to the year of the jubilee; for in it every sale returns to the Lord and to the original possessor."
C The Lawgiver now sets forth for us varied, but not arbitrary, rather truly great wisdom, if one intends to understand it fully: for he teaches in order both what our substance and possession is, and how we alienate a part of it, and how we receive it back again. Therefore, the possession of every single man is a good way of life, which we have obtained from God, of which Paul said: "Each one, in whatever calling he was called, brother, let him remain in that same before God"; here, however, one has virginity, another chaste marriage, another the life of justice, here silence and the removal of disputes, here priesthood, there the patronage of the poor: one has one thing, another another, each according to his own virtue. But when, through laziness, our thoughts have been weakened, then we give away a part of our own possession, because of which the Septuagint rendered: "If he has become poor"; Aquila: "If he has fallen away"; Symmachus: "If he has been humbled." How this shall be able to be saved for us even after the falling away, you will learn by discussing the words themselves part by part.
"If your brother, having become impoverished, sells his small possession, and his kinsman wishes to, he can redeem what he had sold." The law has understood our brother to be a believer. For it did not say simply, according to the Septuagint, "your brother," but added: "And he who is with you": hinting indeed at those of whom John the Evangelist wrote: "For if they had been of us, they would surely have remained with us." There are, therefore, certain false brothers, clinging to wicked heresies, and carrying the name of piety in vain, of whom Paul says: "Perils among false brothers." But who these are, he himself warns elsewhere: "Avoid a heretical man after the first and second admonition." But also John: "If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into the house, nor say 'Ave' to him." But to correct them, whom it is not lawful for us to associate with in any way, he says for their lack of contradiction: "If your brother, having become impoverished," or according to the Septuagint: "If your brother who is with you has arrived at poverty." He has understood "our brother, and he who is with us" to be the believer, in whose thought, when sin enters, he slips into poverty, and is truly poor, since he has lost spiritual riches, having become such as he of whom David spoke, when he was setting forth the man who was established in the thoughts of sins: "I am needy, and in labors from my youth; but being exalted, I have been humbled and troubled." D When, therefore, this man who is such sells a part of his own good possession, which had fallen to him by lot, accepting the thought of sin—for he sells his mind to the adversary, just as God was saying to the Jews: "Behold, you have been sold for your sins"—his relative and kinsman will come, according to the spirit, a relation and a fellow-believer, and showing the law of kinship by his works, he will liberate the sale of his brother, fulfilling that which Paul was writing: "Brothers, if..."
a man be overtaken in any fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ" A. For if we bear one another's burdens with exhortations, admonitions, and opportune counsels, we are able to liberate a brother from poverty, and redeem the possession which he himself, by negligence—when he ought not to have—sold, and which in a certain way becomes a common possession. But if there should be no one near or related to him—for perhaps he does not show compassion toward another at an opportune time so that he might also preserve for himself the right of spiritual affinity—or perhaps he is ashamed to suggest to those who are related according to the spirit what has happened: he has ignored that which is said in Proverbs: "A brother is tested in misfortunes" 78, because he who conceals his own passion, and taking no remedy for his mind immediately, must save himself and redeem his own substance; and therefore he says:
"But if he have not a near kinsman, and be able to find the price to redeem it, the fruits shall be reckoned from the time that he sold it, and he shall restore that which is over to the buyer, and so shall he receive his possession." Who, therefore, among us is competent, or able, by sloth or wickedness, to liberate a sold mind, so that it might not entirely perish from the one who alienated it, unless by a good life and a repelling action, wheresoever we may have been found sinning in our mind? Therefore, one must consider how much time we have sold the aforementioned minds to him who is accustomed to buy them with thoughts and to reduce them into servitude, pleasing him and consenting to him, and let that which remains be restored to him—or according to the Septuagint, "what he has over." For they did not say "what remains," but "what he has over," so that we may overcome with a stronger contract and liberate our mind. And if, for example, a desire for avarice has invaded our thought, let us recover our mind so that we may despise even those monies and possessions which are from just means. If it has suggested the captivity of gluttony, let us recover the intention of strict fasting and the abstinence of all foods. For we can recover our possession from the greater enemy, whom we have conquered. But if this has not been done, learn what happens:
"And if he have not found his hand to restore the price." For it is necessary, as we have said, when no spiritual kinsman preceding has admonished one how we might repel evil thoughts without injury, to follow the thought and action by which we might be able to liberate whatever we have been found to have alienated badly. "The buyer shall have what he bought until the year of the jubilee." For in it every sale returns to the Lord and to the original possessor. If, therefore, neither through brotherly teaching nor through any virtue of our own B we have amended our thoughts, and have received back that which was alienated from our possession, he shall rule over it who possessed it through our negligence. For sin is brought forth even to the work, and we do not receive our intelligible possession otherwise than in the time of the jubilee, or, as the Septuagint says, of the remission. Because the year is perfect, which has all hours in itself, and the circuit of all ways. But a sin that has been acted out, and remaining for a long time, cannot be corrected or the mind liberated—in which he who has wickedly acquired our things has ruled—otherwise than through perfect penitence, in which also fasting, and prayer, and haircloth, and alms, and tears are performed. Through these a full remission is sought for us. But if we have said that "the man" the legislator spoke of was he who captured our minds, do not marvel, because Paul also called him "the man of sin, and the son of perdition" 89. Isaiah, however, called him an Egyptian man, and not God, in his prophecy 90. But the Lord also clearly concedes that the devil is called a man, for the reason that he walks among men and has leisure for their snares. When, therefore, He was explaining the parable of the tares, He said: "But the servants of the householder coming, said to him: Sir, didst thou not sow good seed in thy field, whence then hath it tares? And He said to them: An enemy man hath done this" 91. Then, interpreting the parable, and explaining who the enemy was, He says thus: "But the enemy who sowed them is the devil." Since he who gives up his own mind to the devil through sin has celebrated a contract of his own wicked and pernicious sale. Paul also, writing this to the Romans, has interpreted it: "For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin" 92. C But note most especially that he did not say this was a brother, nor a kinsman to whom he sold, nor did he say "neighbor," as in the preceding sanction, in which he said: "When you sell anything to your citizen, or buy from him, do not sadden your brother," adding nothing of the sort here, it is shown openly that he is speaking of someone alien to us, who wickedly acquires our things. And this is indeed the spiritual contemplation. But manifest to all is the exposition of the letter alone, and the easy tradition, because God proposes to the Jews the law of sufficiency and not of rejoicing in avarice through such a command, and therefore He wishes possessions to revert through the cycle to those who once had them; and He neither forbade selling—so as not to distress the poor, nor to make the needy—who could not live otherwise, nor escape by any necessity, unless perhaps he had sold. But neither does He command those who have acquired to possess forever, but He has defined a time within which the law might restore the possession to the ancient owners. But that the law of contemplation and of spiritual help—and not according to the letter of the command, and that which is in the surface of the exposition—has a greater care, the following things manifest. D
VERS. 29-34. "He that shall sell a house within the walls of a city..."
shall have the liberty of redeeming it until one year be expired. If it be not redeemed, and the circle of the year be passed, the buyer shall possess it, and his posterity for ever, and it shall not be redeemed even in the jubilee. But if the house be in a village which has no walls, it shall be sold under the law of fields. If it have not been redeemed before, in the jubilee it shall return to the Lord. The houses of the Levites which are in cities can always be redeemed. If they have not been redeemed, in the jubilee they shall return to their masters, because the houses of the Levite cities are as possessions among the children of Israel. But their suburbs shall not be sold, because it is a perpetual possession." B If the legislator had this one intention, that possessions should not pass from some to others, it was indeed useful, because, as we have said, the law cares for sufficiency; for the sake of what thing, do you think, when they have not been redeemed within a year, as he says, are they ordered to be the buyer’s own? But it is not done simply, but rather observing a subtle division. For whatever is within the walls of fortified cities, it was permitted to be redeemed only within a year: but whatever is in those that are not walled, he always permitted the liberty of freeing them. And the houses of the Levites, whether they are in walled or non-walled cities, he commanded to be always redeemed. But he prohibited everyone from selling fields. This distinction, however, is now ineffective on the surface of the letter as it presents itself: because the law did indeed exist when it had help from the letter, yet not always, nor in every respect, for which reason spiritual contemplation is necessary for it. The utility, however, coming to one who attends to this is perpetual, and it proceeds from every mandate of the law: therefore the letter hardens, that compelled by necessity, we might recur to spiritual contemplation. Whence also Paul was saying: "For before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto that faith which was to be revealed" ⁹³. For the confinement of the letter persuades the spirit to love freedom. C Now, therefore, let us discuss the virtue of the present sanction; proposing the possession of one certain person in the preceding [sections], he says therefore: "If thy brother be impoverished, and sell his little possession, and his kinsman will, he may redeem what he had sold: but if he have no kinsman, and himself can find the price to redeem it, the fruits shall be computed from the time when he sold it, and he shall restore the remainder to the buyer, and so shall receive his possession again: but if his hand find not the means to restore the price, the buyer shall have what he bought until the year of the jubilee." He has undoubtedly set forth the special manner of life of each one. But here he speaks no longer of a special manner of life, but of the whole Synagogue, or the Church. In which [matters] the Synagogue of the Jews, in that it remains even until now serving the acquiring enemy and adversary; but the Church, of the nations, in a way receives freedom. D But let us understand these [matters] of the Synagogue of the Jews, which is indeed married in this: for God established it through Moses so that it might even be inhabited, although it itself did not keep it, by those in whom it had dwelt. For which reason, also, the Lord was saying to the Jews: "My house shall be called the house of prayer; but you have made it a den of thieves" ⁹⁴. Yet it was a walled city in Jerusalem: for it had this law as a wall; someone sells: yet here it refers not to the seller, nor to the kinsman, nor to the neighbor, as he called them above, for there was not one person selling this, but the whole people of the Jews living evilly, who was worthy to be called neither brother nor kinsman, whence when God even called the people of Sodom and Gomorrah through the prophecy of Isaiah. "Hear," he says, "the word of the Lord, ye princes of Sodom, give ear to the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah" ⁹⁵. Elsewhere, however, the Prophet was saying to them again: "Who is the seller to whom I have sold you? Behold you are sold in your iniquities" ⁹⁶. But it was permitted to them to redeem this sale in the year in which Christ preached the redemption of sins to the whole human race, especially to the people of the Jews. Which year the legislator now indeed implies, Isaiah overtly exhibited: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me, he hath sent me to preach to the meek, to heal the contrite of heart, to preach forgiveness to the captives, and the opening to them that are shut, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance to our Lord" ⁹⁷. Whence the Septuagint issued [the text]: "It will be a daily redemption," because through its individual days, which is called of the year, it was permitted to them to have that which they sold to the devil, [now] being redeemed, sold to God. For the enemy could no longer rule over them, inasmuch as they had been sold to God once, because it was permitted to them not once, nor twice, but daily to redeem their own captivity. Hear the Lord saying: "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children, as the hen doth gather her chickens under her wings, and thou wouldest not" ⁹⁸? For in that he said, "how often," he manifested that it was permitted to them daily to perform their own redemption, if they had absolutely willed it; but because they were not willing, the legislator set forth things similar to these which Christ said, for from him was the Spirit ministered to him. If it be not redeemed before the year is expired, the house which is in the city that has walls shall be confirmed to the true buyer and his posterity for ever, and it shall not be redeemed in the jubilee. For he who bought it, the enemy, has lorded it over the Synagogue of the Jews: and his posterity for ever, namely, in every present...
A time. This is called by his posterity or generations, as the Septuagint put it, because he has power over the present time against those who are joined to him, and it will not be able to be redeemed even in the jubilee, or as the Septuagint say, in the remission, by which remission, unless indeed that which the Lord crucified said to them: Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. But they renewed the sin, having become malicious after the granted remission, and since the past sin was not enough, they added other worse things, which they presumed to do around the sepulcher, and after the resurrection, and after the ascension into heaven against Christ himself, and against the choir of the apostles. Confirming therefore those things which are now said by us, the Lord, and showing that the houses of the Jews and the temple of Jerusalem have become entirely the adversary's, and can no longer have a portion with the Lord, because they did not receive the evangelized redemption, saying: How often would I have gathered your children together, as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, and you would not? He adds: Behold, your house shall be left to you desolate. As therefore the Spirit predicted those things which concern the Judaic Synagogues, so understand what He says to the Church of the Gentiles. But if a house shall be in a village which has no walls, it shall be sold by the right B of fields. If it shall not have been redeemed before the jubilee, it shall return to the Lord. Therefore, that the houses which are in the village signify the Church of the Gentiles, Isaiah the prophet demonstrates to us: Rejoice, O barren, you who do not bear, break forth in praise and cry aloud, you who did not travail, for many are the children of the desolate, more than of her who has a husband, says the Lord. For who is the barren and desolate and non-bearing, if not the Church of the Gentiles? Which did not have Patriarchs, did not have the law, did not have prophets, whence also she is rightly named without a wall. Whence therefore what He added further about this prophecy: For the Lord said: Enlarge the place of your tent, and of your curtains. Therefore, those which are in the villages, or as the Septuagint say, in the courtyards, the houses of the nations, the Churches, are understood. Which is shown even more plainly in the later parts of the same prophecy: Go, do not spare, extend your ropes, and make your tent-pegs strong, extend still more to the right and left, and your seed will inherit the nations, and will inhabit the desolate cities. Behold, he has called them desolate cities, those namely without a wall, those which belong to the Gentiles. For they did not have the wall of the law, and they were desolate, an error of sorrows, whose houses are in the villages, which the Septuagint called in the courtyards, which we have said are the Churches: They shall be sold by the right of fields. Or according to the Septuagint: They shall be valued according to the field of the earth. Of which field? Surely of the one of which the Lord says: The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field, which a man finding hid it, and for joy he goes and sells all that he had, and buys that field. He calls the field the Gospel, in which the treasure A of Christ is the mystery; therefore, one should understand that these fields are valued by right, or are still valued as a field, because they are near to Him, not to the law. Wherefore they are always able to be redeemed, or according to the Septuagint they will be liberated in all things. From when therefore the Lord came, until his second advent, through the apostles the Gentiles are redeemed, and escape through the remission which He himself called for the whole human race through the cross. For the cross is true remission. Whence also the ram which was offered instead of Isaac in holocaust, bearing his figure, according to what the Septuagint edit, was found bound in the thicket of Sabech. Now Sabech is interpreted as remission, because it prefigured this which was then done, the cross, which was the thicket of remission. Therefore as Abraham in a figure seeing the day of the cross, Christ said: Abraham rejoiced to see my day; and he saw it, and was glad. Therefore, what was contrary to the things predicted about the Judaic house, see how the legislator, foreseeing, resolves, for indeed after the year in which Christ present in the flesh was liberating the human race, the Synagogues of the Jews were integrally liberated through the apostolic doctrine, now indeed three thousand, now however five thousand, and again many more than were stated, so that no one might think the legislator to have been ignorant of this, see how spiritual wisdom has demonstrated this: B The houses of the Levites, who are in the cities, can always be redeemed, if they shall not have been redeemed, in the jubilee they will return to the lords, because the houses of the cities of the Levites are as possessions among the children of Israel. Not without cause would anyone say the apostles are called Levites, but because it is said of the Levites: In their land you shall possess nothing, nor shall you have a portion among them. I am your portion and inheritance in the midst of the children of Israel. This, however, was properly fulfilled in the apostles, who said confidently to the Lord: Behold we have left all things, and have followed you; what then shall be for us? Therefore, the houses of these, which are in the cities, or according to the Septuagint, the houses of the cities, their possessions, as many as followed them in faith and conversation, are rightly understood as the Judaic congregations, because they were ordered by Christ first to go to the sheep which had been of the aforementioned house of Israel. Therefore, those belonged to their lot, and possession, and they were always able to be redeemed, and the history of the Acts of the apostles demonstrated this: for many Judaic congregations were liberated by the apostles from error. Nor was it permitted only to the apostles to perform this redemption, but also to their disciples. But nevertheless, it had to be done according to their doctrine, so that it might be imputed to those who provided the beginning by their deed, who laid down the dogmas, how those who were in circumcision could be saved and liberated. And therefore according to the Septuagint C it says: And whoever shall redeem from the Levites, that is, receiving from them the manner of liberating. For they are not liberated by the Levites, as...
but from Him, and [you shall take] no more than what you have given. Fear your God, that your brother may live with you. You shall not give him your money for usury, nor shall you exact a superabundance of fruits. I am the Lord your God, who led you out of the land of Egypt, that I might give you the land of Canaan and be your God.
Whoever therefore teaches such things to them, and redeems certain houses, even if they be in Jewish cities, the sale has gone out according to the Septuagint, that is, they shall be liberated in the remission of the faith of the Cross, and the forgiveness granted through it. Which our edition holds: If they are not redeemed, in the Jubilee they shall return to their masters. But why it was said, follows. Because the houses of the cities of the Levites are for possessions among the sons of Israel. That is, because of the kinship of the apostles, for the possession of the intelligible Levites, the apostles, was in the midst of the sons of Israel, as we have known, because Peter and John received the lot of the apostolate in the preaching of those who were of the circumcision. But also in another way the possession of the apostles was in the midst of the sons of Israel. For they themselves also held circumcision, and had always lived according to the law of Israel. On account of which their city houses were also [theirs]; for through them they had been liberated, and whoever have been saved, have been saved through them. And although they were unworthy because of the blasphemy which they committed against the Cross, and which they again presumed after the resurrection, nevertheless by the honor of the apostles, who both believed before the Cross, and remained in the Cross, or even after the Cross, they were received in faith. And because this is true, learn from Isaiah saying: Unless the Lord of hosts had left us a seed, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been similar to Gomorrah. For if the seed of the apostles had not been left, B nothing would prevent the whole Jewish people from perishing in the manner of Gomorrah and Sodom. But for the sake of the apostles, not all perished. Of whom consider, in these few words, what their virtues and possessions were.
The suburbs of them, however, do not come [for sale], because the possession is everlasting. Of whom? Of the apostles, evidently; these are called Levites: their suburbs, or fields, are not sold, that is, their conversations, and virtues, and doctrines. For these they cultivated in place of fields, so that Paul might say of them: Who planteth a vineyard and eateth not of the fruit thereof? And again: The laborer is worthy of his hire. And again: Doth God take care for oxen? Or doth he say it indeed for our sake? For he that plougheth, should plough in hope; and he that soweth, in hope to receive fruit. And again: If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great matter if we reap your carnal things? These doctrines, therefore, were separate from the cities of those who were established C through them, and were saved through them: and they could not be sold, because it was said to them: Freely you have received, freely give. Whence also he deprived Simon, wishing to buy the gift of the Spirit, of his portion or lot.
VERSE 35-36. If your brother has been weakened, and infirm in hand, and you receive him as a stranger and a sojourner, and he shall live with you, do not take usury from him, nor anything more than what you have given. Fear your God. I am the Lord your God: whose yoke is sweet, who does not demand of man in all ways that he not sin, but demands virtues according to the possibility. Therefore, regarding the one sanctioning virginity, he says: Not all receive [it]. But also regarding... D
In the present law there are two things which one ought to admire in the legislator, that is, wisdom and piety. Wisdom, indeed, because it explains what is sublime through those things that are seen to be humble. Piety, however, which is in the observance of the letter and of spiritual contemplation. For the letter demands the assistance of the poor, and that one should not close one's bowels to him seeking a loan, nor trade upon his poverty by exacting superabundance, and taking usury, and catching profit from piety. But the Spirit anagogically demonstrates how it is necessary to treat those who have become poor through that poverty concerning which David cried out: Anticipate us quickly with thy mercy, for we have become poor. Thus, therefore, we apply ourselves according to the order of these things which have been said.
If your brother has been weakened, and is infirm in hand, and you receive him as a stranger and a sojourner; and he shall live with you. He calls the brother of anyone here equal in dignity and conversation. If this one has become weakened in the operation of virtues: for this is what it means to be infirm in hand, on account of which Aquila [says]: If thy brother shall fail, he says, and his hands shall decline with thee, [you must assist him]. According to the sense of the Septuagint Interpreters, he wishes us [to treat him] as a proselyte and a sojourner. But our proselyte or stranger is he who has now arrived at the end. But our sojourner [is he] who does not yet have his own house, but needs our admonition and diligent instruction, so that he may be protected, and not wander here and there without a house. Thus, therefore, we assist the infirm brother: so that he may live with us, and by no means die while estranged from the conversation of God, living with us, that is, through us and through our doctrine, comforted as if by some good food. It is necessary, however, as with one who is infirm, to condescend and heal, which are according to his virtue, because of which he added: Do not take usury from him, nor anything more than you have given. Lest perhaps when he has been made infirm, and diminished from the prior rule, we exact the operation of virtues more abundantly from him, but rather let us provoke him, and support his hand as one infirm, and exact only the head of the law and divine commandments, that is, so that he may not sin. Therefore, very necessarily he added: Fear your God. I am the Lord your God: whose yoke is sweet, who does not demand of man in all ways that he not sin, but demands virtues according to possibility. Therefore, concerning the one sanctioning virginity, he says: Not all receive it.
A
He says, "So let your brother live with you. Do not give your money to him for interest, and do not demand an abundance of fruits." But imitate Paul, saying: "I have become weak to the weak." Do not demand of them anything concerning the measure of virtue beyond their own strength. If, however, you say that perhaps they are able, but are feigning to be weak, this is no longer your affair, but His who knows what we can truly do. It was He who said to the one who hid the talent: "You ought to have given my money to the bankers, and I, coming, would have certainly exacted it with interest." B And he was not condemned because he did not accept interest, but because he did not give the money; for the head of the household reserved the exaction of interest for himself. But since he wishes us to avoid sin on both counts—both in giving and in exacting—not taking away from one another, not stealing, not killing, nor committing any such sin, he provides through Paul, saying: "If any brother is called a fornicator, or an idolater, or covetous, or a slanderer, or a drunkard, or a rapacious person, do not even eat with such as these." He did not say, "If someone has not sold his substance," nor, "If someone has not promised virginity," nor, "If he has not been of sublime conversation." But these are much lower commands than those of all the perfect ones. See, then, what conclusion he adds to the command:
"I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that I might give you the land of Canaan, and that I might be your God." And what need was there for the legislator to recall this in the present place? But he wishes in every way to demonstrate that, just as he led the people out of the land of Egypt and out from among the people of the sinner, and introduced them into the land of Canaan, which belonged to another people—again, a sinful one—but led them out from there so they would not be held subject to the lordship of the Egyptians if they continued to inhabit the land, and introduced them into the land of the Canaanites, because once the nations were driven out, they were no longer to be reduced to their servitude, but also the land was cleansed and lacked evil inhabitants: so God does not allow us to be reduced under the dominion of sinners, nor indeed to embrace their society as long as they are sinners; but when their land has been cleansed, he commands us to be with them, and to dwell together, and to give them our money and our fruits—that is, the divine doctrines we have received. Now by money is understood doctrine, because of which Paul also said: "He who builds upon this foundation," [mentioning] gold, silver, precious stones, signifying through these good doctrine. But this same thing is also [signified by] fruit, or, as the Septuagint calls it, food; for you will find Paul explaining both of these in return; for, reproving the Corinthians who were joining themselves to other doctrine and despising his own, he wrote: "You are already satisfied, you have already become rich, you reign apart from us." Therefore D [by] food, or, according to the Septuagint, by doctrine: in the holy Scriptures these things are understood as money, insofar as it makes men rich; but fruits, or food, [are understood] as that which nourishes. God does not command their abundance to be exacted, but only those things which are according to virtue, so that He may be our God. Because He Himself also receives repentant sinners to Himself and imposes upon them a moderate yoke.
Vers. 39-43. "If your brother, compelled by necessity, sells himself to you, do not oppress him with the servitude of slaves, but he shall be as a hired man and a colonist. He shall work with you until the year of the jubilee, and afterwards he shall go out with his children, and shall return to his kin, and to the possession of his fathers: for they are my servants, and I led them out of the land of Egypt; they shall not come under the condition of slaves. Do not afflict him through power, but fear your God."
The letter itself is full of much piety, but the spiritual meaning even more so. For as much as the freedom of the soul is better than the freedom of the body, so much does spiritual contemplation grant clearer things to those who are able to perceive its fruits than the letter. Therefore, because the letter by no means wishes us to abuse those things which happen to our brothers—that is, to our fellow believers—but [even] if one of them has been sold to us, having been humiliated by some necessity, we should by no means exact from him the servitude of a slave. For whom we have once held as a brother through the adoption of Christ, how shall we henceforth have him as a slave? Whence also Paul, writing regarding Onesimus to Philemon, said: "For perhaps he departed for a time, that you might receive him forever, no longer as a slave, but as a beloved brother, especially to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord?" And again: "But those who have faithful masters, let them not despise them, because they are brothers." Furthermore, the Spirit also commands something else: when we discover one of the brothers—equal to us in vocation and conversation—having been sold and yet humbled in virtues, that is, weakened, and we have converted him—correcting and exhorting him—we are by no means to abuse him, but to approach him modestly and humbly, on account of which pay attention to the words themselves.
Vers. 39, 40. "If your brother, compelled by poverty, sells himself to you, do not oppress him with the servitude of slaves, but he shall be as a hired man and a colonist."
Because the poverty of the soul is a weakness of the virtues to be attained, it is manifest from those things which Samson [said to] Delilah, and he himself speaks to her: "You did not want to say where the greatest strength is." And when it was troublesome to him, and for many days she persistently clung to him, not granting him space for rest, then opening the truth of the thing, he said to her: "Iron has never come upon my head, because I am a Nazarene, that is, consecrated to God, from my mother's womb. If my head is shaved, my strength will depart from me, and I shall fall, and I shall be like other men." After these things, the history adds: "Also, she made him sleep upon her knees and in her bosom..."
A And she called a barber, and he shaved his seven locks, and he began to cast him away from herself, and to repel him. For immediately strength departed from him, and she said: "The Philistines are upon you." And, waking from sleep, he said in his mind: "I will go out as I did before, and shake myself," not knowing that the Lord had departed from him. But in the Septuagint edition, when it says here: "If your brother has been humbled," it does not say "by you," but "with you": for even if he was with us, we were not made the cause of his humiliation. He himself, however, through negligence, humbled himself and was sold, yet not by that sale of which Elijah spoke to Ahab. For he said to him: "Have you found me your enemy?" He answered: "I have found you, because you have sold yourself to do evil in the sight of the Lord." For he, like an impious man who had fallen into the depth of evils, despised, and having been sold to an enemy, he did not wish to change the sale, nor to be sold—that is, to be subjected—to the prophet, who by reaching out his hand could have liberated him from heavy servitude. If, therefore, your brother, being a believer and one who worships God, has been humbled and sold, receiving your teaching and exhortation as the redemption and price of his soul, and considering you his master, he should not serve you with the servitude of a slave, but should be subjected, indeed, yet with that liberty of which Paul speaks: "With the liberty with which Christ has liberated us." You will find, however, elsewhere that the same writer says: "You have been bought with a price; do not become the slaves of men," on account of which the legislator says: C "He shall be as a hireling and a sojourner." Or, as the Septuagint says, "a guest": because each of these is indeed subject to the man whose house he inhabits, and works in the field because of poverty, having neither his own house nor field: yet for this reason the dignity of liberty is not taken away, just as it happens to him who has been converted from sin through our agency, if he was before the sin our brother according to the equality of grace and the honor of his conversation. For although he now does not have his own house of justice or his own field of virtue—though he had them at one time, wherefore it was not said, "he shall be a hireling, or a colonus, or a guest," but "he shall be as a hireling, and colonus, or a guest with you"—for he has need to dwell and work in our affairs, that is, to follow our exhortations, rules of life, and examples which he has received from us: there is hope, however, that he may return to his own dignity when he has performed complete and perfect penance. For the legislator, manifesting this, subjoined: D "He shall work with you until the year of jubilee." Because through perfect penance, as one cleansed, and therefore perfect, he is able to work with him, and afterwards he shall go out: as the Septuagint says, into remission with his children. For not only is he made free himself, but also the virtues which were generated by him before he was brought under the sale of sin. Therefore he shall return to the fellowship of his fathers, receiving the lot and portion of grace, which from the beginning he had received by lot from God, who is properly our Father, of whom Paul says: "But because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying: Abba, Father." Why, however, God, when decreeing these things, acts with such piety, He Himself has demonstrated with the words of the law. A VERS. 42. "For they are my servants, and I led them out of the land of Egypt." As then, those who have once become His servants, and through Him have lacked the intelligible servitude of Egypt, He does not wish them to lose this dignity, nor because someone has stumbled into poverty does He desire on that account to lose his ancient dignity forever, and therefore He says: B "He shall not come by the condition of servants." Saying similar things to Paul: "You have been bought with a price, do not become the slaves of men." But He also added this: VERS. 43. "Do not afflict him with power, but fear your God." For it behooves us to moderate the yoke of those who are turning, and to fear our God, who said: "In what judgment you judge, you shall be judged, and in what measure you have measured, it shall be measured to you." VERS. 44-46. "Let a manservant and a maidservant be for you from the nations that are round about you, and from the sojourners who dwell among you, or who have been born of these in your land, these you shall have as servants, and you shall transmit them by hereditary right to your descendants, and you shall possess them forever. But your brothers, the sons of Israel, do not oppress with power." C The variety and multiplicity of spiritual wisdom cannot be praised worthily. Wherefore, after we are unable to admire it worthily, because we do not grasp it, omitting this, let us offer the ears of our mind more strictly to these things which have just been said, and let us note every word intently: for in the difference of words, we shall also find a difference of understandings. Therefore He wishes us to know what remains between these whom we have saved for God from among the infidels, and those who, when they were believers, and similar to us in the invocation and conversation of dignity, have afterwards for a time been corrected when they were infirm in the operation of virtues. On account of which He commanded that they work with us indeed until the year of remission, that is, of penance, but not afterwards. But this man, because He says neither that he who has been humbled from sin, and therefore sold to us, nor even that his brother, but speaks of those whom we have acquired into discipleship from among the infidels or of another faith: He rightly commanded that they are not our servants—for they are also Christ’s, just as we are His servants. But yet He commanded them to remain under our possession, as taught by us, as the words of the legislator themselves show. "Let a manservant and a maidservant be for you from the nations that are round about you, and from the sojourners who dwell among you."
A Nations which are round about us, which have not yet believed, have nonetheless the hope of faith and of salvation, because the Gospel was sent to them, just as Paul was saying to the Jews in Antioch: "Behold, we turn to the nations: for so the Lord commanded us." From these, let menservants and maidservants be sought for us, that is, those who are taught through the Word. Whence they also call those who have taught them "lords," which the jailer at Philippi demonstrates, who said to Paul and Silas: "Lords, what must I do to be saved?" But we must also seek concerning the newcomers, or, as the Septuagint has it, the "sons of sojourners," who are traveling among us. He calls those "sojourners" here who are Jews, who dwell in our light but do not wish to accommodate the eyes of their mind to it, hiding his lamp under a bushel. For this reason, the Septuagint did not simply put "sojourners," but "sons of sojourners, who are among you," which is written more clearly by Theodotion and Symmachus: "From the sons of the sojourners who dwell among you." Concerning whom David said: "They will dwell and hide." B For when there are those among us who have the Law itself and the prophets, which we also have, yet they dwell there not understanding the Law and the prophets as we do—for they, seeking to establish their own righteousness, are not subject to the righteousness of God—they hide this, and dwell therein rightly, as those who exclude themselves from the free and confident dwelling. Whence the Lord, hinting that they dwell there on account of their infidelity, was saying: "The servant does not abide in the house for ever," which is the hallmark of those who "dwell."
But the legislator says, according to the Septuagint: "And of their kindred, whoever they might be in your land, they shall be for you a possession." For the kinsmen of the Jews, on account of their infidelity, are heretics, because they do not think fully as they [the Jews] do, and although they preach the same mysteries to us, yet they do not do so in the same right, perfect, and integral dogmas concerning God: whence they are indeed in our land, but are sojourners.
C And wishing now to let the legislator know what remains between those whom we have gained from outside, and our brethren who are equal to us, who perhaps are corrected by being humbled, he wrote these things according to the common reasoning of the aforementioned. "But you shall not afflict your brethren, the sons of Israel, by force." Not that he commanded us to reduce others whom we have gained from the outside into slavery, or to crush them with labors: for nowhere in this decree does he seem to have said this; but [it is] because we cannot use equal power over them and over these others. For it is one thing to have brought infidels to the faith, and another thing for believers who have lapsed to be admonished by us.
D VERS. 47-49. "If the hand of a newcomer and a sojourner shall grow strong among you, and your brother is impoverished and sells himself to him, or to anyone of his stock, he may be redeemed after he is sold. He who wishes among his brothers shall buy him, and his uncle, or his cousin, or his kinsman, or an affine."
For the Law shows that it pertains to itself, according to the letter, concerning the freedom of the native-born Israelites; therefore, it does not allow the one who, among them, fares worse on account of poverty or any other necessity, to serve proselytes or sojourners—who were indeed born outside of them—but commands that he be redeemed by one of his own kin. See how this should be kept also according to the spiritual anagogy, for it says: "If the hand of a newcomer and a sojourner (or, as the Septuagint says, 'sojourner') shall grow strong among you, and your brother is impoverished and sells himself to him or to anyone of his stock." That is, if someone who is newly joined to our faith from the nations, or from the Jews, or altogether from heretics, is famous in virtues, so that he is powerful in arguing and exhorting those who sin—and it is his hand that grows strong, or, as the Septuagint has it, "finds," because through his action he can find [the way to] the way of life and the exhortation of others. Then your brother, who has long been learned in the Word, but because he is equal to you according to the lot of his way of life—for this is what an "impoverished brother" means, that is, one not finding one who exhorts and gives counsel—sells himself to a newcomer, or a foreigner, or a sojourner, that is, to him who has newly believed from the nations, or from the Jews, or, as we have said, from the heretics; he is sold to him, while the doctrinal Word hangs upon him [the newcomer] on account of his way of life: since it is unfitting that he who was long ago known in clear knowledge and way of life should act under one who has newly come to the faith. For the state of being a disciple is not a small thing, but one of much time, and a not inconsiderable course of life is necessary for perfection. He is rightly redeemed by one who wishes from his brothers, that is, someone of similar honor and similar knowledge and way of life redeems him through his own teaching, and...
keeps in mind the voice of Paul: "If anyone does not take care of his own, and especially those of his family, he has denied the faith, and is worse than an unbeliever," and he who ought to show good to all, but especially to the household of faith. B These then are our kinsmen through the flesh of Christ, because we are of his flesh and of his bones, as that same Paul wrote again to the Ephesians. Therefore, it is so much better for one who is lesser in action or knowledge to be admonished by the ancients and those of the same faith, because Apollos the Alexandrian was a learned teacher and famous, but yet he had lesser knowledge, and that which was the highest, he had blameworthy, not knowing the baptism of Christ. Whence Priscilla and Aquila received him, and more subtly explained the way to him, as Luke says, that is, those things which pertained to doctrine and knowledge; thinking it incongruous if a teacher were to be corrected by others and not by those who had progressed in knowledge, such as they were. But even though these things are admirable, yet more admirable things follow.
C So much for our liberty, and integrity, and glory, and with confidence the Holy Spirit says that everyone of us, established under the servitude of sin, should be redeemed by virtues and corrections, if, for example, we wish to gain haircloth and ashes, and tears, and the confession which is in these, and whatever years with these contain the jubilee, or remission, for he has set forth the present for such a trial. But if he himself is able, he shall redeem himself, having calculated only the years from the time of his sale until the year of the jubilee. For if, having become poor through sin, he who was formerly rich in virtues and corrections has rightly liberated himself, while it suffices for his own exhortation. Nevertheless, let not him here fully trust in himself, as one who, once infirm and needing exhortation and counsel, calculates with himself, that is, weighs and debates with himself. For so also Theodotion: *He shall consult with him who acquired him.* But Aquila: *He shall calculate with him who possessed him.* With him who has consulted, how he ought to acquire true liberty for himself, he has calculated, moreover, from the year in which he sold himself, until the year of the jubilee, or remission, from which, evidently, he having sinned needed counsel and doctrine, until he performs full and total penance, in which, receiving remission, he becomes equal to him who has not sinned at all. But what will he consult? By what virtues and corrections he might be able to apprehend and proceed toward that remission which is through diligent penance. For just as he who has restored money to the redeemer, had no need to await the year of remission, which was the fiftieth, which was called the jubilee, so he who seeks for the purging of the sin equal or peer virtues, precedes penance, redeeming himself with good actions: which Zacchaeus demonstrates, who, when he had taken many things from many, did not need sackcloth, and ashes, and tears, and prayer. For this is for us the year of remission, as having all things which may bring forth for us remission. But he did not need it, because the sins indeed were pecuniary: he however promised to return those things which had been snatched away fourfold, and to distribute half of his own to the poor. On account of which Christ said to him: *Today salvation has come to this house.* D But it is admirable what follows. *And the money with which he had been sold, according to the number of the years, and the calculation of a hireling.*
VERS. 50-55. *If, however, he himself is able, he shall redeem himself, having calculated only the years from the time of his sale until the year of the jubilee, and the money with which he had been sold, according to the number of the years and the calculation of a hireling. If many years remain until the jubilee, according to these he shall return the price. If few, he shall settle the account with him according to the price, and the number of years, and shall return to the buyer what is left of the years, the wages for the time he served beforehand being imputed. He shall not afflict him violently in your sight. But if he cannot be redeemed by these things, in the jubilee year he shall go out with his children. For the children of Israel are my servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.*
Or according to the Septuagint: *The money of his sale in the year shall be with him as the days of a hireling.* Therefore, the legislator has not made mention of "the day" in vain, but hinting at that which the Lord openly showed in the Gospels; when He explained the parable of the laborers who were hired for the vineyard: when He had said that some were hired in the morning, others at the third hour, others at the sixth, others at the ninth, others truly at the eleventh hour, and that wages were given to those who, about
A the eleventh hour were hired, just as to those who had worked for the whole day, He ordered; so likewise, concerning one of these, it shall be for him who is redeemed by the money of his own sale: for it is permitted to him, both for a short time and for a long time, to perform his redemption, on account of which the legislator also reasonably added:
"But if there shall be more years that remain until the jubilee, according to these he shall pay back the price: if they are few, he shall settle the account with him according to the number of the years, and he shall return to the buyer what is left of the years, for which he served by wages imputed."
First, therefore, He ordered that the price be returned according to these things, that is, according to the things in which he has sinned, that he wishes to redeem himself, so that if perchance he has sinned through gluttony, he may correct it through fasting: but if through verbosity, let him strive for silence. If through the incautiousness of the eye he has fallen into the desire for women, let him act so as not to see women, nor at all to meet them. Then, if he wishes to prepare a quick redemption for himself, let him attend to the money of his own acquisition, namely the word of doctrine, which caused him to understand his own sin and to be subject to the one admonishing him. And if he sees that it is much less than the year of remission, and for correction, namely of the penance defined for him, let him perform virtues the more, and let him earn a laborious penance. But if he has performed even this with little effort, if not through virtues, then through tears and sighs and the like, it is necessary for him to perform remedies for them. Confirming, however, that which was said, according to the Septuagint, he adds: "Because a hireling from year to year is with him, you shall not afflict him in labor in your sight." Looking to that hireling, of whom here indeed for one hour, but another perhaps for three, someone else received somewhat more of the price of his work. For he who hired him was not unjust, but as a just man, he looked not only to the time of those working, but also to the works; so you shall measure for him who wishes to redeem himself through good actions and perfections, so that from year to year he may be with him, of his own redemption: money in a moment, or through many years, or through few, a virtue of working similar to the redemption.
"And you shall not afflict him in labor in your sight." What, however, is this? That him who through virtue rejects sin, you should not superimpose upon him the weight of a strict penance. For once he has redeemed himself by good works. Therefore, he added, most rightly, the things that follow.
"But if he could not be redeemed through these, in the jubilee year he will go out with his children." But he who has not redeemed himself by virtues equal to his sin, in the year of the jubilee, or of remission, that is, in the perfect and strict penance, as we have frequently said, He ordered him also to be redeemed, but also [by those] good works which he did before he had sinned, which are the children of each one of us. If, however, you wish to know what perfect penance is, attend to the Ninevites, who A preached a fast, and were clothed in sackcloth from the greatest even to their uncle, and they cried out to God intently, and with their whole soul, and every one of them turned from his evil way, and from the injustice that was in their hands. For so God accepted their penance, as the prophet subjoined: "God had mercy upon the evil which He had spoken that He would do to them, and He did not do it." And what is the cause that makes penance blot out sins, and makes the redemption for the penitent to be gained clean, so that he has no need of another now admonishing him, nor to act under the yoke of another's doctrine?
"For the children of Israel are My servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt." How, however, did He lead them out? By sighing, namely, as the book of Exodus demonstrated to us: "For a long time the king of Egypt died, and the children of Israel, groaning because of the works, cried out, and their clamor ascended to God." Therefore, He who then accepted the sighing of the people, and delivered them from Egyptian servitude, He also now delivers each one sighing in penance, and will redeem them from the intelligible Egypt. He says to us: "I am the Lord your God, who did those things, and commanded these."
CHAPTER XXVI.
VERS. 1, 2. "You shall not make for yourselves an idol, and a graven thing, nor shall you raise up titles, nor shall you place a marked stone in your land, that you may adore it, for I am the Lord your God. Keep My Sabbaths, and fear My sanctuary. I am the Lord."
Not only does the law command us how we may have freedom while sinning, nor be in need of the doctrine or exhortation of others, so that that prophetic word might be fulfilled for us: "And each shall not teach his brother, saying, Know the Lord: because all shall know Me, from the lesser even to the greater of them, because I will be propitious to their iniquities and of their sins I will now no longer remember." How, however, was this, if we do not abstain not only from the open cult of idols, which the letter of the law prohibits, but also from the occult? Concerning which Paul said: "The root of all evils is avarice," which is the servitude of idols: just as even now the spirit of the law commands us abstinence. And we shall not make for ourselves an idol, and a graven thing, or, as the Septuagint [says], a handmade thing, we D building and possessing some fields, nor figuring a graven thing in them, in a way wearing down our mind with the love of them. Nor let us raise up titles for ourselves, or a statue in these, wishing through it to extend our memory into future generations: but let us not raise up a marked stone, for example, a heap of gold, or of silver, or of stones, which seem to be precious stones, even these are equal from the earth to white stones, although the eyes of the avaricious are seduced in these as those of pagans in idols: on account of which it is also called a marked stone. But let us suffer nothing such, nor let any marked...
[†] A become wealth, that we may live according to their intent, according to the understanding of the Seventy translators; and that we do not do whatever they prescribe, and become servants to their desires, and adore and worship them in the keeping of them. But let us keep the Sabbaths, applying ourselves to abstinence from every other evil and to rest, and acting so that we may be devoid of the works of the present world, and may rest from them. For this is the intelligible and true Sabbath, which is not of the ungrateful people, but of God Himself, just as he said in Isaiah: *Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who holds fast to it, keeping the Sabbath so as not to profane it.* Hence he wished to distinguish it from those of which he said at the beginning of the prophecy: *Your new moons and your Sabbaths and other feasts I do not bear.* But as for the Sabbath that is God’s, or how it is that one cannot profane it, he adds: *Cease to act perversely.* Therefore, to abstain from evils is the fulfillment of the Sabbath. But let us also fear His sanctuary, applying ourselves to sanctity, that is, to chastity and purity: for this is the chapter, or summation, of an imperfect and finished life. For which reason he also placed this last, when God says to us: *I am the Lord your God, who am indeed holy, but who also rest in the holy ones, destroying and dispersing all who have polluted my tabernacle and violated my temple with the pollutions of pleasures:* which Paul confirms, saying: *If anyone shall violate the temple of God, God will destroy him.* Therefore, let us fear His sanctuary, so that we neither pollute our own body, nor approach rashly—without a subtle judgment of ourselves—unto the body of Christ, in which all the fullness of the Godhead dwells; but let us first test ourselves, remembering Him who said: *Whoever shall eat the bread or drink the cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. Let a man test himself, and so let him eat of the bread, and drink of the cup.* What probation does he speak of? It means that he who participates in the holy things should do so with a clean heart, and conscience, and with repentance for those things in which he previously failed, for the washing away of his sins.
VERS. 3-13. *If you walk in my precepts, and keep my commandments and do them, I will give you rain in its seasons: and the earth shall bring forth its fruit, and the trees shall be filled with fruit, and the threshing of the harvests shall reach the vintage, and the vintage shall reach the sowing: and you shall eat your bread in saturation, and you shall dwell in your land without fear. I will give peace in your borders: you shall sleep, and there shall be none to make you afraid. I will take away evil beasts, and the sword shall not pass through your borders. You shall pursue your enemies, and they shall fall before you. Five of yours shall pursue a hundred aliens, and a hundred of you ten thousand. Your enemies shall fall by the sword before you. I will have respect* B towards you, and I will make you grow, and you shall be multiplied, and I will confirm my covenant with you. *You shall eat the oldest of the old, and cast away the old because of the new coming in. I will set my tabernacle in your midst, and my soul shall not cast you out. I will walk among you and I will be your God, and you shall be my people. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of the Egyptians, that you should not serve them, and who have broken the chains of your necks, that you might walk erect.*
This the people of the Jews received in a sensible way, as having little hope of the future, and not being sufficiently intent upon intelligible goods. For they were entirely intent upon the belly and carnal rest, so that in the present life they would choose those things that pertained to pleasure—even if they were exceedingly despised and minimal—rather than those for which they labored little but which were much greater, and therefore sought the Egyptian melons, leeks, and onions, since they were at hand to satiate them and were present without labor. But we, if we are intent upon the commandments of God, saying as David did: *Make known to me the way of your justifications.* And again: *Lead me in the path of your commandments; and we shall have kept his commandments,* corrupting none of them, nor acting according to our own intent, but according to His, and towards the things that are His: for this is what it is, properly, to keep His commandments; let us intelligibly await each one of those things which have been predicted. But because we find that these were fulfilled for the Jews in every way according to the letter—for many of God’s prophets, keeping His C commandments and walking in His precepts, were placed in much affliction, and ate their bread not with satiety but with need, just as Ezekiel, to whom this was commanded by God himself—even Paul, describing those who were justified in the Law and the prophets, said: *They wandered about in sheepskins, in goat skins, being needy, afflicted, of whom the world was not worthy.* But one must rather intend this in those things that have been said, that for those who keep the commandments of God, the Law has placed thirty blessings in the present. For you will find them by that number, discerning each blessing from another by conjunction—in the second edition of the Seventy—because the Lord, existing for so many years, of whom Paul says, *That we all may meet in the perfect man, into the measure of the age of the fullness of Christ,* came to baptism: in order that He might announce and show the perfection of the gift, through the age that He was passing through when baptized: and so, having become perfect according to time, He began to preach the Gospel: in which there is the fullness of life, and of the gift, and of conduct, and of retribution. Which he signified here; for he says: *And I will give you rain in its seasons.* But the Word of God speaks, as the grace descending from heaven, of which Moses said thus: *Attend, O heaven, and I will speak, and let the earth hear the words from my mouth* D, let it await [the rain].
A Since this is not just any good to be received in its time, it is a manifest demonstration of God’s goodness, just as it is a mark of aversion not to receive it. Wherefore God, being angry at the people of the Jews, threatened them through the prophet Isaiah, saying: *And I will leave my vineyard, and it shall not be pruned, nor dug, and there shall come up in it, as in an uncultivated field, thorns; and I will command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it*. For what does it profit us to receive rain in its time?
And the earth shall bring forth its fruit. That is, our body; for the fruits of this gift are chastity, sobriety, and abstinence. And the trees shall be filled with fruits. Or, as the Septuagint has it: *The trees of the field shall give their fruit*. Now, the trees of the field are the motions of the soul, inasmuch as they are higher than the intelligible motions of our earth, namely the flesh. The fruits of these, therefore, are truth, justice, gentleness, compassion, and the like; wherefore, B following this up, he adds:
And you shall sleep, he says. The Holy Scripture has placed this too in the form of a retribution. For "sleeping," as a form of rest, is called the death of the saints, but it is not so for the wicked, of which Ecclesiastes is witness: *The fullness of the rich man does not suffer him to sleep*. Wherefore, he now adds accordingly:
And there shall be none to terrify. For he who has lived in this manner, as was said above, shall have no one to terrify him at the time of death, which is a slumber for us, on account of the hope of the resurrection of the dead. He shall have no one to terrify him, being conscious of nothing for which he might be terrified.
I will take away evil beasts. Namely, the demons. For they are beasts in their similar malice: first, as those who lie in wait, and then as those who possess an unbearable and deadly venom. You shall pursue your enemies. For they cannot stand before the face of those who live according to the law. And they shall fall before you. Through what death? That which is, in any case, through prayer and fasting. For in this way our intelligible enemies, the demons, are killed, so that they can never again revive against us. Whence also the Lord, when the apostles asked why they could not cast out the deaf and dumb demon, answered: *This kind is not cast out, but by prayer and fasting*.
They shall pursue five of you for a hundred of the aliens. Or as the Septuagint: *They shall drive out fifty for a hundred and fifty*. We say this is the spiritual man, C because the Spirit descends from heaven on the day of Pentecost. Therefore, what that spiritual man is like, Paul said: *But the spiritual man judges all things, and he himself is judged by no one*: that is, he who has perfect knowledge for the subtle discernment of what must be done, he is able to overcome and conquer even a powerful demon—for example, one who is among a hundred, and who is called a legion because of the multitude of evil spirits obedient to him and cooperating with him.
And a hundred of you for ten thousand. For he who possesses not only subtle knowledge, but also a perfect and consummated life, he is in a way doubly spiritual, and therefore is to be honored with the number of a hundred, as one bearing a double fruit in the spirit, both perfect and one and greater—Christ does not say [this], but often implying the good earth, He said: *It brings forth fruit thirtyfold, sixtyfold, and a hundredfold*. This man, therefore, can subdue thousands of enemies, that is to say, all contrary virtues, as one who possesses the perfection of virtues. But how, he adds. Through the word of God, as it were; for he says:
And your enemies shall fall in your sight by the sword. Meaning that [sword] which Paul explained when writing thus. For when he had previously spoken of thousands of enemies, that is: *Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against D the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spirits...*
of wickedness in the high places* A, he adds: *Therefore take up the armor of God* A; detailing which individually, he says: *And the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God* A.
I will look upon you. For what is better than to be looked upon by God, whose regard is salvation, but whose aversion is death? *And I will make you grow, and you shall be multiplied.* He indeed increases us when He makes the small good things we do appear as the greatest. But He multiplies the few by making them grow into many. Was He not increasing and magnifying our virtues when He said: *As long as you did it to one of these least, you did it to me* A? And multiplying again, He caused Paul to write: *You shall not kill; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not covet; and if there is any other commandment* A, it is restored by this word: *You shall love your neighbor as yourself* A, making this one commandment effect many commandments, so that by attaining it, we might be made rich. Therefore, what follows is very opportune.
A *I am the Lord your God, who led you out of the land of Egypt, so that you would not serve them.* If you wish to understand, discuss these words of Exodus according to the order of the Gospel. For the Lord said to Moses: *I have seen the affliction of my people in Egypt, I have heard their cry because of the hardness of those who oversee the works: and knowing their pain, I came down to deliver them from the hands of the Egyptians, and to lead them from that land into a good and spacious land, which flows with milk and honey* A. And who is it that leads into the land of promise? God Himself, who shows this to Moses: *Behold I send my Angel who will go before you and guard you on the way, and lead you to the place I have prepared* A. Calling the Son an Angel, because He announced to us the will of the Father, of whom Isaiah says: *A boy is born to us, a son is given to us, whose principality is upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Angel of great counsel, wonderful, counselor, God strong* A. For how, when God has promised by the things said above to lead the people into the land, could an Angel do this, and not He Himself who promised? But who it is, and who descended—He Himself shows us while saying these things to Nicodemus: *No one has ascended into heaven, but he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man who is in heaven* A. And yet He had not yet ascended into heaven with His flesh, for He had not yet been taken up, but He speaks of His former descent and ascent, concerning which, as we have said, He spoke to Moses: *I have seen the affliction of my people, and I have descended to deliver them from the hands of the Egyptians.* He, therefore, gave us both this and what follows.
*I will establish my covenant with you.* These are indeed the aforementioned, but He establishes it through the retributions which the following things manifest: *You shall eat the oldest of the old.* Or as the Septuagint says, *the old of the old*, that is, those things which were promised to you through the Law and the Prophets, and which He promised through the patriarchs in their blessings. *And you shall cast away the old because of the new that come upon you.* What are the new? The Gospels, clearly; for although those things which were promised through the patriarchs, the Law, and the Prophets are greatest, yet those promised through the Gospel are greater, on account of which, by comparison with these, those are judged superfluous to us. Behold, therefore, the chapter which confirms the whole blessing, He introduces, that is, those things which have been accomplished and fulfilled through evangelical grace.
*I will set my tabernacle in the midst of you.* Or as the Septuagint says: *I will establish my testament with you.* What is this, in which He promised new things, of which the prophet Jeremiah makes memory in this way: *And I will establish for you a new testament, not according to the testament which I established with your fathers* B. For these are connected, and what follows is most of all so.
*And my soul shall not abhor you. I will walk among you, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people.* These things also are openly written by the aforementioned prophet, just as the Septuagint edition contains. This is your God; no other shall be reckoned equal to Him. Afterwards, He was seen on earth, and conversed with men, which He would not have done if He were averse to us. He did not, therefore, abhor us, but even wished to walk within us through the flesh, and to become our God, when He was before, but unknown: because we were joined to error. From the time, however, that He bought us with His own blood C, He became our God, and made us His people. And who is it that did these things? If not He *who broke the chains of your necks*. Both of sin and of the letter of the Law: *That you might walk upright*. That is, with confidence, because He gave us to perform virtues without any hesitation.
VERS. 14-17. *But if you do not listen to me, and do not do my commandments, if you despise my laws, and contemn my judgments, so as not to do those things which have been established by me, and you make my covenant void, I also will do these things to you. I will visit you quickly in want and burning, which shall consume your eyes and waste your souls. You shall sow seed in vain, which shall be devoured by enemies. I will set my face against you, and you shall fall before your enemies, and you shall be subjected to those who hate you. You shall flee when no one is pursuing you.*
The Law has sufficiently told above what good things await those who obey God's commandments. But what it threatened would come to those who transgress, the things now sanctioned D show. When we discuss each of these literally, we find the people of the Jews suffered some of these according to the letter, but all of them according to the spirit.
*But if you do not listen to me, and do not do my commandments, if you despise my laws, and contemn my judgments, so as not to do those things which have been established by me, and you make my covenant void.*
A Who are they who do not hearken to the commandment of God, and who contemn his judgments? None other than those who are intent upon the traditions of the elders, and transgressing the intention of the lawgiver, were expounding the law according to what seemed good to them, saying, as the Lord says: "Whosoever shall say to father or mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; and shall not honor his father and his mother"—that is, whosoever shall say to his parents, "What I have is a vow to God, for I have offered these to Him as a gift and an offering"—is not bound to honor those who begat him. Who are they who do not perform all his commandments? None other than those who tithe annise and cummin, and mint, but leave undone judgment, and mercy, and faith; even though God says to them through the prophet: "I will show thee, O man, what the Lord requires of thee, surely to do justice, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God." For which reason the Lord, addressing them as those who did not fulfill all the precepts of the law, but were leaving behind those that were heavy and performing those that were minimal, said: "These ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone." But they also transgress the commandments of God properly speaking, and are most disobedient to them, because they preserve their outward appearance, but not the intention of God. Therefore, Aquila, Theodotion, and Symmachus are found to have edited this more plainly. For the former says: "If you have rejected my statutes"; but the others say: "If you have refused my subtleties," that is, the way of the field. However, they transgress the dogmas of God, and the subtlety which was in the spiritual understanding of the commandments, because it is in concord with the New Testament, wishing by this to weaken the evangelical grace, which is what the Scripture rebukes, saying: "And bring my covenant to naught." What, then, did He threaten for this? For the punishment is too similar to their prevarication. "I will also do these things unto you." How? "I will visit you quickly in want." For the Lord made them needy enough through His word, so much so that they said one to another: "This is a hard saying; who can hear it?" Therefore, just as they were willfully transgressing the understanding of the law, so that they might bring the evangelical testament to naught—which had its beginning from there—so He likewise spoke obscure words to them, and made the comprehension of His dogmas difficult. But now, recognize what follows.
"In vain shall you sow, and it shall be devoured by your enemies." For in vain do they bring forth the seeds of the prophets and the law to them, and plant therein the doctoral discourses, not having a fertile earth for the fruit of intelligible dogmas: whence they do not enjoy even their food, but their adversaries who believe in Christ—whom they themselves made their enemies through infidelity and envy—devour them.
B And with heat that shall consume your eyes. Or, according to the Septuagint: "I will set over you scabies and a royal disease consuming your eyes." Now scabies is a disease of the body, but it is manifest, running on the surface of the skin and its hide. But the royal disease, that is, *jaundice* [ἐκτερός], comes indeed from an inflammation. It is, however, manifest, running on the surface of the flesh and skin, and settling much more upon the eyes. Neither of these diseases can be hidden. Such were the diseases of the Jewish souls, manifest and evil, and by no means hidden any longer. For, imitating the words and miracles of the Lord, they were no longer able to keep their diseases hidden, but were crying out openly and preaching: "What do we, for this man does many signs? If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him: and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation." Therefore, it was not because He taught things contrary to the law or the prophets—for He taught things most consonant with them—but for the sake of their own love of self and their own business that they did not obey His words. Struck by this disease, therefore, they were wasting their own eyes and consuming their souls, being not only inflamed with fury and corrupted by envy, but as those who are once infirm in mind and lacking sound thoughts for the discernment of deeds and words, they were wasting their interior eyes through His words and miracles, and consuming their soul, so that they cried out to Him: "How long dost thou hold us in suspense? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly." Which were indeed those who were subject to the consumption of their soul’s infidelity. John also says these things about them: "Therefore they could not believe." As Isaiah again says: "Blind the heart of this people, and make their ears heavy, lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart." You see that the way they acted, so Christ dealt with them. For because they studied to make His pact or covenant void, He rightly blinded their eyes and heart, and gave them the heat or jaundice which consumes their eyes and consumes their souls. But what did He add to them?
"And I will set my face against you." According to that prophetic voice: "The face of the Lord is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth." "And you shall fall before your enemies." For the Gentiles, whom they judge to be their enemies, they shall fall before them, offending in their salvation. Whence Symmachus says, "you shall offend before your enemies," instead of "you shall fall." But what else did He add? "You shall be pursued, C as those who hate you, and you shall flee when no one pursues you."
In what respect this seems to be a contradiction is seen. For if they suffer persecution from their enemies, how do they flee when no one is pursuing? But, "you shall be pursued," the Lawgiver did not accept in the sense of expelling, but because they would be imminent by running, hastening to their salvation. Whence, "you shall be pursued, they shall reduce you into servitude," Symmachus [says]; "They instruct from you," Theodotion edited. Paul also demonstrates such a persecution to us: "But I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended." The Gentiles, therefore, as David says of the Jews, say: "Do not those that hate thee…?"
…?" A to you? Nevertheless, their salvation presses on, and it hastens and prays, for it knows that the "assumption of them," as Paul says, "is life from the dead," and the "fullness of them" is "the salvation of the world." But they flee while no one pursues them. For we do not envy their salvation just as they envy ours; whence we do not persecute them, nor, when they turn away from us, do we turn away, but we fulfill what the prophet Isaiah said: "Say to those who hate you, You are our brothers, and to those who abhor you, that the name of the Lord may be glorified and seen in their joy, and they shall be ashamed."
VERS. 18-26. "But if you will not yet for all this hearken unto me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins. And I will break the pride of your power; and I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass: and your strength shall be spent in vain: for your land shall not yield her increase, neither shall the trees of the land yield their fruits. If you walk contrary unto me, and will not hearken unto me; I will bring seven times more plagues upon you according to your sins. And I will send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children, and destroy your cattle, and make you few in number; and your high ways shall be desolate. And if you will not be reformed by me by these things, but will walk contrary unto me; then will I also walk contrary unto you, and will punish you yet seven times for your sins. And I will bring a sword upon you, that shall avenge the quarrel of my covenant: and when you are gathered together within your cities, I will send the pestilence among you; and you shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy. And when I have broken the staff of your bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall deliver you your bread again by weight: and you shall eat, and not be satisfied."
The legislator has not used such distinctions in vain, for now indeed he says: "But if you will not yet for all this hearken unto me." Then, enumerating certain corrections, he adds: "If you walk contrary unto me." And again, explaining other plagues, he adds: "And if you will not be reformed by me by these things, but will walk contrary unto me." But, as we have said, he used these distinctions because Christ frequently wished to receive the Jewish people, yet they would not obey, so that He cried out to them: "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and you would not?" Therefore, let us especially attend to these things which have been said, because when He threatened seven corrections, He subjoined them thus: for He threatened the crushing of the hardness of pride, and the giving of heaven as iron and the earth as brass, and that their labor would be spent in vain, and that the earth would not bring forth germ, nor the trees yield fruits. These are, however, six, not seven: yet you will find the same thing as you run through the remaining corrections. Therefore, by this it is manifest that the septenary number B is indeed the figure of the entire present life, and it is a sign which is turned through the number seven. And because He threatened to bring seven corrections or vengeances or plagues upon them—a total punishment and complete vengeance, inasmuch as these are not venial sins nor worthy of penance—He meant that the prophetic utterance might find its end in them: "What do you imagine against the Lord? He will make an utter end: affliction shall not rise up the second time," for as thorns are folded together one upon another, so their conviviality of those drinking together shall be consumed as stubble fully dry. "There is one come out of thee, that imagineth evil against the Lord, a wicked counsellor." And from whom has the thought against the Lord gone forth, imagining evil and things contrary to His precepts, if not from the people of the Jews, of whom Isaiah was saying: "Woe to them, for they devise evil, saying against themselves: Let us beset the just, because he is not for our turn." Therefore they shall eat the fruit of their own labors. Understand, then, the order which the legislator uses for the threat.
"But if you will not yet for all this hearken unto me, I will add to your corrections sevenfold for your sins." The Seventy, however, published: "If even to this you will not hearken unto me"—even to this which the preceding things showed, where He spoke of poverty and heat. How these ought to be understood, we have explained in the preceding pages. If, therefore, they are disobedient even to this point, so that they are not amended even by these things which have been said, He said that they would be punished seven times, that is, that a perfect correction should occur in their sins. But against whom? He does not say, so that we may understand their sins from the aforesaid by this very fact, that they were not amended. And what does He add? "And I will crush the hardness of your pride." They did not wish to accept that liberty of Christ, saying: "We are Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man." He crushed this hardness of their pride, making them serve the nations. "I will make your heaven as iron." They have therefore obtained no visitation from it at all. "And your earth as brass." For the earth of the divine Scripture, which they possess, is unfruitful to them; since it is not understood by them in the way it ought to be, He says it is of brass. For the demonstration of which thing He added: "Your strength shall be spent in vain." For the labor which they show in the divine Scriptures, hanging upon the tradition of the letter, is spent in vain, for they cannot fully use the Law according to the letter, the place being taken away in which the letter concluded all divine worship of the Law. For it is too consistent that which follows: "The earth shall not yield her germ, nor shall the trees yield fruits." For neither does their exterior man, who is called earth, bear fruit, because they live in gluttony, and of them it is said: "Whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame." Neither do their minds, which are as it were the trees of the field, though indeed grafted onto the body; but yet [in that]
A they offer higher fruits to God than that which germinates in us, marvel at how opportunely he adds: "If you walk contrary to me." For they do not walk toward God with a right heart. They pervert his way, overturning the senses of the law and the prophets, so that they may cultivate their own disobedience and prevarication through this. On account of which he infers: "Even if you do not desire to hear me, I will add to your plagues up to sevenfold on account of your sins." No longer corrections, but plagues, exposing now a punishment stronger than the preceding, and equal to their iniquities, than this.
He adds: "And when you have fled to the cities, I will send a pestilence into your midst." The intelligible cities are the prophets. It is manifest from whom God said to Jeremiah: "For I have indeed given you today a fortified city." Therefore, just as one who flees into walled cities, if he is a friend, is saved, but if he is an enemy, he is more easily destroyed when surrounded within their confines: so in the prophetic books, and in their testimonies, those who are friends of the faith, fleeing to the fortification, find salvation, but enemies and infidels perish quickly, taken captive. For this reason, when the Jews flee to the prophets, declining the spiritual sword which is in learned men, he says that he sends a pestilence into the midst of them. For there they die, even with no one arguing against them, not being able to withstand all the prophecies concerning Christ which are so manifest.
"And I will send forth upon you the evil beasts of the field, which will consume you and your cattle, and reduce all things to paucity, and your ways shall become desolate." For because they have repelled themselves from the way of God, rightly B are the beasts of the field, the demons, sent in against them, permitted to dominate those who consume them. For whatever they appear to do of justice, God does not impute to himself, which Paul demonstrates, saying: "Seeking to constitute their own justice, they are not subject to the justice of God." And again, "Israel, however, following the law of justice, did not arrive at the law of justice." It is necessary, therefore, that the demons should eat them, who consume their cattle, that is, men similar to cattle, the wicked and ignorant folk, since there is no intellect in them, they have not become accustomed to think of anything worthy of the service of God, but like beasts of burden are led by the bridle according to the foolish traditions of their leaders, on account of which they are food for the demons, and are reduced to paucity, both in multitude and in dignity. And their ways become desolate, which have neither the water of life, nor reception, or intelligible hospitality, nor bringing forth for themselves, or as it were leading by the hand, or keeping watch.
"But if you will not, even so, receive discipline, but walk contrary to me, I also will walk contrary to you." I will use contrary punishment, just as your prevarication is contrary to the law: for when you seem to meditate upon it, you do not preserve its intention, so I also will superinduce upon you a contrary punishment, not correcting you with those things with which I lashed you before, when I brought lethal serpents and fire, and chasms of the earth, and similar things upon you, but others. What these are, we shall know by reading the following.
"And I will strike you seven times for your sins." I will first correct, then I will strike. For punishment, as it advances against the disobedient, becomes stronger. "And I will bring upon you the sword that avenges my covenant." We have frequently said that the sword is the spirit, because it is the word of God. This word, on the tongues of the teachers of the Church, vindicates the judgment of the covenant, or of the evangelical testament. For it convicts those who transgress the new, and they are not able to keep the old, and the Gospel is vindicated, when those who transgress the grace of the Gospel are shown to be enemies of the law. But also C the legislator's and you shall be handed over to the hands of his enemies. Namely, the intelligible ones. "After I have broken the staff of your bread." For the doctorial bread, which is most salutary, grows scarce among them: but how? Hear what follows: "So that ten women shall bake bread in one oven, and shall return it to you by weight, and you shall eat, and shall not be satisfied." The Jews have nothing that makes their doctrine have the strength to nourish, except the ten commandments, because they flee the true exposition of the prophets, as it is consonant with the dispensation of our Savior. But the rest of the law they do not want to receive intelligibly, nor take up spiritually: but according to the letter alone, which cannot stand. First, because the place is destroyed, in which were the sacrifices, and cleansings, and oblations, and the rest that pertain to the service of the letter, then there were many things in them, more worthy of laughter than of study, such as those things that are regarding the leprosy of walls, of beams, of garments, not to plow with an ox and an ass, and similar things, which are contained in legal traditions. But the letter of the ten commandments is clear, worthy to be kept and performed. Nor is the commandment of the Sabbath contrary, because even if it is inserted into the ten commandments, it is nevertheless not of them. If, therefore, we place the special commandment: "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land D of Egypt, from the house of servitude," we shall find the perfect number of the ten commandments. From there he openly signifies the intelligible rest, in which it is not permitted for us to perform any work of this world. These things, therefore, alone the Jews perform for their people, in one legal oven, that is to say, and they return the aforementioned bread by weight, that is, to a sensible harshness. Neither, therefore, do they dilate their doctrine as the Gospel, nor do they show the doctrine of adultery to be kept, nor that of looking at a woman, nor of homicide, nor of anger. Whence they are not satisfied by the bread of the Jews who are nourished by them, a certain narrow doctrine,
A nor possessing any abundance of spiritual bounty, they take it.
VERS. 27-45. "But if you will not for all this hearken unto me, but walk contrary unto me; then I will walk contrary unto you also in fury; and I will chastise you seven times for your sins, so that you shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters. And I will destroy your high places, and cut down your images. You shall fall among the ruins of your idols, and my soul shall abhor you, so that I will make your cities a desolation, and bring your sanctuaries unto desolation, and I will not smell the savour of your sweet odours. And I will turn the land into desolation: and your enemies which dwell therein shall be astonished at it. And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you: and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste. Then shall the land enjoy her sabbaths, as long as it lieth desolate, and you be in your enemies' land; even then shall the land rest, and enjoy her sabbaths. As long as it lieth desolate it shall rest; because it did not rest in your sabbaths, when you dwelt upon it. And upon them that are left alive of you I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies; and the sound of a shaken leaf shall chase them; and they shall flee, as fleeing from a sword; and they shall fall when none pursueth. And they shall fall one upon another, as it were before a sword, when none pursueth: and you shall have no power to stand before your enemies. And you shall perish among the heathen, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up. And they that are left of you shall pine away in their iniquity in your enemies' lands; and also in the iniquities of their fathers shall they pine away with them, until they confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, with their trespass which they trespassed against me, and that also they have walked contrary unto me. And that I also have walked contrary unto them, and have brought them into the land of their enemies; if then their uncircumcised hearts be humbled, and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity: then will I remember my covenant with Jacob, and also my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham will I remember; and I will remember the land. The land also shall be left of them, and shall enjoy her sabbaths, while she lieth desolate without them: and they shall accept of the punishment of their iniquity: because, even because they despised my judgments, and because their soul abhorred my statutes. And yet for all that, when they be in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly, and to break my covenant with them: for I am the Lord their God. But I will for their sakes remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the heathen, that I might be their God: I am the Lord."
That he was not only a legislator, but also a prophet, Moses himself demonstrated, prophesying specifically of Christ in these words: "The Lord will raise up unto you a Prophet from the midst of you, of your brethren, like unto me." A Well indeed did he preserve the image of Christ for himself, for besides other things in which he bore his likeness, just as the Lord spoke of the end of the world, so too did this man write down in the present law the things that were to happen to the people of the Jews. For many had indeed experienced captivities and had suffered many scourges, but the things he now speaks of in parts pertain to that captivity which, because of the iniquity committed against Christ, befell them from the Romans who laid them waste. But if you wish to know more subtly those things that happened to them, you may learn from the history of Josephus, in which he described how they even ate their own children, and bore the rest of the present threats, of which very many are still visible today for us to behold. Their land is desert, their cities plundered by enemies, the province desolate, and they themselves travel as strangers among their heathen enemies, in continual fear. Nevertheless, just as they suffered this not only according to the letter, but also according to the spiritual consideration—for sinning doubly, in the transgression of the Law and in the blasphemy of the Legislator, they rightly suffer double penalties—learn it in this way. They walked with Christ, contrariwise subverting his miracles and detracting from his doctrine; for when they were plotting out of envy, as if against one acting against God, they falsely claimed him to be a teacher of divine love. But He Himself also used this against them, on the contrary: for because it was a judgment, and the captivity was the punishment for the iniquity committed therein, which they endured—a punishment which, however, He did not cause the Romans to inflict for this reason (for they were not yet claiming His glory), but rather because they were resisting their empire, although they had long been their subjects, obedient to their tributes, and laws, and magistrates—but C God, exercising fury on the contrary against them, brought upon them wrath so that He might be avenged through the Roman empire, as if they had been His own preachers, and He chastised them with seven plagues, according to their sins, multiplying their punishments. And He was not avenged in only one way, because they themselves did not sin in only one way, but they shall even eat the flesh of their sons and daughters—that is, their disciples, whom they take as sons to themselves, devouring them with crafty words and subverting their souls to the same doctrine. But He also brought their high places to a desert and broke their images. For their high places were their princes and leaders, whom they, in looking towards them as placed on high, or as the Septuagint calls them, "statues," ought to have shaped their own lives. But because they had nothing sound, nor strong, but everything weak, and corruptible forms of virtue, and masks D of imitation, which in time are corrupted and rot, whence also according to the Septuagint they were called "wooden works made by hand," He laid them waste, rebuking one hypocrisy in their presence, and with them also the common people who looked to them. And He placed their corpses among the ruins of their idols, that is, the members of the people, and heaping actions upon the actions of their idols, the Pharisees and Scribes, whom they used as idols, abandoning God and attending to the seductions of idols; for this reason He says: "My soul shall abhor you." Which one? That which He set before us, so that we might from the servitude of sins
A redeem them. Therefore, He will abhor the Jews and will turn away from them forever, because as far as it concerned them, they rendered His work of no effect, refusing the gift granted through it. On account of this, He has reduced their cities to solitude and has made their sanctuaries desolate; for they find no fruit from the prophetic books, nor are they able to pursue any holiness. It neither receives their sweetest odor, nor accepts their prayer, and it scatters their land, and the entire Old Testament—not because He has totally despoiled it, but because He has made it desolate and impassable for them. Moreover, He made the Gentiles dwell in it, concerning which He says: "Your enemies shall be amazed over it, when they dwell in it." For the Gentiles are indeed the enemies of the Jews, because they chose to have enmities with God, and with those whom Paul calls the enemies of the cross of Christ. They dwell, however, in the land of the Jews, in the Old Testament, and those who dwell there are amazed at Him who spoke such things in the Law and the prophets. He who founded the beginnings of life there, furthermore says: "But I will scatter you among the nations." Not only with this sensible dispersion, but also with an intelligible one. Learn, however, what this is. "And I will unsheathe the sword after you, and your land shall be deserted and your cities ruined." For the word of God, which is the sword of the spirit, running everywhere among the nations and surrounding the whole earth, consumes the children of the Jews B and separates them from the holy things of God, showing that they have no communion with them, whence the land and the cities are found to be deserted, with them expelled from their own habitation.
"Then the land shall enjoy its Sabbaths for all the days of its desolation, when you are in the land of your enemies; then it shall rest and keep its Sabbaths in the days of its desolation, because it did not rest in your Sabbaths when you dwelt in it." We have often shown that the land is the intelligible Scripture of God, and the way of life that is in them: but the Old Testament is for the Jews, and the New for the Gentiles who are the enemies of the Jews. Since, therefore, the Sabbath signifies a cessation for the Jews, the Legislator now most evidently hints at this. Because they will now find nothing from the Law and the prophets, which they themselves wish to perform, but almost the whole surface of the letter has been destroyed. For which reason they have become in the land of their enemies, that is, in the Evangelical Testament; they have become so, however, even if not willingly, yet out of necessity. For since they are unwilling, He has caused sacrifices, and the purifications of unleavened bread, and the festivities of tabernacles, and the rest to cease, and as they suffer hardship, they depart into its meditation. And He has accepted this cessation in place of the Sabbath, and to them, the sacred Scripture will be pleasing C even more than the cessation of the former Sabbaths. Why? Because "praise is not beautiful in the mouth of a sinner." But He says: "And who of you shall remain, I will strike terror into their hearts, in the lands of their enemies; it shall terrify them" D the sound of a flying leaf. For as many of them as are left, still studying the Holy Scripture, tremble in the land of their enemies, in the New Testament, as we said: for they fear out of foolishness, and with a heart blinded by its confusion, and it is fulfilled: "There they trembled with fear, where there was no fear."
"The sound of a flying leaf will terrify them." Calling the letter of the Law a leaf: for its sound pursues them, and strikes our fear into them, because, for example, they hear that the Sabbath day is to be kept, but they see that we consider nothing of that same commandment contemptible, nor earthly, nor do we learn cessation from the cultivation of the land, but from evil action: they are offended at us, and flee from being mingled with us. But the leaf is rightly understood as the letter of the Law, because just as the fruit of trees is covered by leaves, so the spirit is hidden under the letter of the Law. On account of which we, of whom it is said: "If vintagers had entered into you, they would at least have left a grape for you," strip off the leaf of the letter, so that we may find the fruit of the spirit. But they who are ignorant of these things have us as enemies, and flee from us as one who flees from the sword.
"And they shall fall, with no one pursuing." For we do not pursue them, but they suffer persecution from the hardness of their own heart. For see what He added. "And they shall fall one upon another, as if fleeing from wars." For when we speak with them, and bring forward the testimonies of the Law and the prophets against them concerning Christ and the Evangelical mysteries, being hard-pressed, these say one thing, and those another, and each one falls upon his brother. For when they all say that they are weak, they are not able to stand on account of this in alternating words, and they are disturbed as if fleeing from wars, with no one pursuing. But we do not pursue them, nor do we dispute with them to harm them, but to help and win them over. What then, do they suffer from this? "None of you will dare to resist your enemies, you will perish among the nations, and the hostile land will consume you." For the Evangelical Testament establishes them, crushing the whole substance of their error. Whence they are not able to resist their enemies, who can be saved through faith, but they even perish among the nations, stumbling at the cornerstone, and not even willing to look at the letter of the Law, inasmuch as they have no confidence in it.
"And even if some of them shall remain, they will languish in their iniquities, in the land of their enemies." For whoever of them remains converted, remaining in the study of the Law, these, because of their own sins, which in the land of their enemies, that is, in the Evangelical Testament, according to what we said, they perish due to the transgression of it: for these are in every way the sins which are committed in it. "And because of their own sins, and because of the sins of their fathers." Because they have transgressed and have despised Me: for they ascribe the things that have now happened to them to the sins of their fathers. On account of which they shall also languish in them, for them.
A He caused those things to be abandoned by the Jews, because they interpreted them maliciously and did not meditate upon them well, but rather treated them with injury; saying one thing—and not doing it—and then interpreting them with contempt, and, as far as it was in them, hiding the best spiritual understanding. Whence he consequently added: *And He shall be pleased with His Sabbaths.* That is, while it remains desolate from them. For the Law of God rejoices in the desolation of the Jews, which they have brought upon themselves. On account of which he also said that He would suffer that solitude for them.
B They themselves, indeed, will make request for their sins, for the reason that they added [to them] My judgments and despised My laws. Double, he says, are the good things cast out from the people of the Jews that have proceeded from the Holy Scriptures; for neither are they injured, nor do they indeed read them as they did before, since they are dispersed and lack all boldness. But they themselves have also become conscious of their own sins and of the transgression of the divine law. It is also to be wondered at that to the conclusion and height of the whole sanction he added: And it is to be understood that He who spoke in Moses is the very same who also spoke in Paul and in all the apostles.
C *Yet even when they were in a hostile land, I did not utterly cast them away, nor did I despise them, so that they should be consumed, and I should make My covenant with them void. For I am the Lord their God, and I will remember my former covenant, when I led them out of the land of Egypt, in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God. I am the Lord.* If you wish to know these things in detail, read Paul, as to how God did not despise them in the hostile land—that is, in the Evangelical testament—nor did He consume them so as to make His former covenant void. For He did not bring that to a total void, but He also left the hope of salvation, not for all, however, but for a remnant, as Paul says, bringing forth the testimony of the prophet Isaiah: *If the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved.* I say then, *hath God cast away His people? God forbid!* He will also remember His former covenant, when He led the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt. And in what will He remember it? That He might be their God in the sight of the nations. For a manifest demonstration of which, these Apostolic words of wisdom are sufficient for you: *For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved.* Rightly, therefore, at the conclusion of the whole word, the Lord said: *I am the Lord.* Who wish for the salvation of all, and therefore, even after so many iniquities, is about to save the remnants of the Jews.
VERS. 45. *These are the precepts, and judgments, and laws, which the Lord gave between Himself and the children, in mount Sinai, by the hand of Moses.*
Do not attend idly to what has been said. For the legislator added a conclusion to his words, by which he manifested without any doubt that he wishes the letter of the law to be firm until a certain time, and he stopped the mouths of the Jews who attempt to use this law even now, when they do not have the time, since He who asked for the letter of the law for the Jews as if for the infirm, in place of milk, and commanded Moses to minister to it, has Himself arrived and introduced judgments more perfectly. Therefore, according to what we have said once, he spoke properly, in that these things were said at God’s judgment concerning certain points which the ignorant had asked about. But those precepts which the legislator sanctioned not in this way, but by himself, with no one asking—he then, wishing to summarize the entire dispensation of the sanction, added: *And the laws which the Lord gave between Himself and the children of Israel.* On account of which the other interpreters, except for the LXX, published the laws, wishing to demonstrate by this word the affairs of the distinction of the law. A And what is it that he said, *between*? Unless it is because, without doubt, until He comes of whom Isaiah says: *He will come and save us: then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall hear* (Isa. XXXV, 4, 5), and whatever things are contained in that prophecy: then in no way any longer according to the surface of the letter, but as He Himself shall have explained it, it is necessary for the law to be kept, having been translated to Evangelical grace and to a more perfect conversation; not so that it leads to vanity, but so that it is drawn toward a prudent interpretation and a spiritual sense. Why also did he signify the place? For he says: *In mount Sinai*, unless it is to ensure that we do not, when David says: *God of gods shall be seen in Sion* (Ps. LXXXIII, 8), and Malachi: *Suddenly the Lord shall come into His temple, whom you seek* (Malach. III, 1), and again David: *Out of Sion the beauty of His excellence, God shall come manifest, our God, and He shall not be silent* (Ps. XLIX, 3), think that this dispensation of His occurred at the time of the Law? This is why he made mention here of both the place and the ministering Moses, so that from this we might learn that the prophets promised us another coming of His, which took place neither in Sinai nor through a mediator, but openly.
CHAPTER XXVII
VERS. 1-8. *And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to the children of Israel, and you shall say to them: The man who shall make a vow, and shall promise his soul to God, shall give the price under valuation. If it is a male, from the twentieth to the sixtieth year, he shall give fifty silver shekels according to the measure of the sanctuary: if a woman, thirty. But from the fifth year to the twentieth, the male shall give twenty shekels, the female ten. From one month to the fifth year, for the male shall be given five shekels, for the female three. A man of sixty and above, the male shall give fifteen shekels, the female ten. If he is poor and cannot pay the valuation, he shall stand before the* B priest, and as much as he shall estimate and see that he has the power to pay, so much shall he give.
These words of the legislator are also full of prudence, preserved for a most opportune time; for he previously commanded what things ought to be done and what not, and now he also explains the dignity of those performing them, in whole or in part, through these things that are said. And he runs through clearly and perfectly what is a perfect life, what is still established in progress, what has the beginning of the knowledge of God, what is true, and what are the works of virtues. But he also, having considered the infirm, yet not receding from it, explained it by assigning different ages. He says then: *A man who shall make a vow and shall promise his soul to God.* That is, whoever shall promise his soul to God, and shall wish to offer all his life to Him. On account of which Aquila and Theodotion, for what was said *shall make a vow*, published *if he shall surpass*; Symmachus, however, published *if he shall vow*. For it is truly admirable and very close to blessedness that anyone should offer his whole self to God, or to offer his soul to the Lord, or as the LXX have it, *the honor of his soul to the Lord*, that is, that he should offer to God the honor of the soul which he received from Him, regarding which David, hinting at the snares of demons, said: *But indeed they have thought to repel my honor* (Ps. LXII, 5).
*The price of the male from the twentieth year even to the sixtieth year shall be fifty silver shekels, according to the measure of the sanctuary.* Or as the LXX, *silver didrachmas*. Fifty didrachmas or shekels are a thousand obols: for in Exodus he himself said that a shekel or didrachma is twenty obols. For he says thus concerning the children of Israel: *According to the number they shall give, each one a price for their souls to the Lord* (Exod. XXX, 12), and *they shall give half a shekel, according to the measure of the temple*, or as the LXX, *didrachmas*, "because a holy didrachma is twenty obols." Therefore, he wished us to remember the shekels or didrachmas according to the measure of the temple, or according to the measure of the sanctuary, wishing to transfer us to that text of the Law in which he says that a holy didrachma or shekel is twenty obols. But when it was proposed to command one shekel or drachma to be offered, he did not command it so, but half of a shekel or didrachma. By this, demonstrating that that which is properly holy in the Law is not what is understood according to the letter alone, but also according to the spirit, and the offering of this is owed. Whence, even according to the LXX, he joined the didrachmas themselves to himself, but commanded half to be offered: so that you may say that, condescending as to the infirm—to those who were receiving the Law—he commanded an imperfect oblation (for a half is indeed imperfect) to be offered, which is the holy didrachma in twice ten obols, that is, in C D twenty. For the Law has the command for twice ten, requiring them to be doubled, that is, to be kept according to the letter and according to the spirit. For those who were poor in mind, however, it sufficed, and so...
at least sensually to offer the fulfillment and action of the ten commandments, through which the Israelite could even free his own soul from the servitude of sins. If, therefore, anyone is from his twentieth year, that is, he is adult, strong, A vigorous, and sufficient to perform all virtues and subject the intelligible enemies to all his actions and works—for from twenty years and upwards, see what Israel was saying regarding this age.
"Every male from twenty years and upwards." It has testified in the aforementioned words to all those who walk in virtue, especially to those who act at that time, as one who is able at this age to run and to carry weapons, and who has much fervor and heat in acting. The price of this, that is, his manner of life and conduct—the recompense which he offers to God for himself and promises—is fifty shekels, or drachmas. For the number fifty signifies the spiritual life, because the coming of the Holy Spirit happened on the fiftieth day. But in the fiftieth year, the release of every debt and the restitution of the land occurs, and many other good things are arranged for the Jews in the law. Yet he says fifty shekels, or didrachmas, so that he might again double the fifty and say one hundred drachmas, signaling that perfect fruit, saying that this good land is bearing fruit, expounding on the parable of seeds, in thirty, and sixty, and one hundred; for this number no man can transcend. And the hundred drachmas, again decupled—for an obol has ten drachmas, as we have said—complete the millennial number, in which there is not just any kind of perfection, but that of the celestial, that is, the incorporeal ones, whose dwelling is allotted above us, which is of those exceeding corruption and attaining to incorruption, on account of which the Spirit of God said in the Canticles: "The vineyard belonged to the Peaceful; in it were those who have peoples. He delivered it to keepers, that a man might bring a thousand silver pieces for its fruit" (Cant. VIII, 11). What man (for not all can offer this fruit), learn from what follows: "A thousand for you, O Peaceful, and two hundred for those who guard its fruits" (ibid.). A thousand for you, O Peaceful, that is, Solomon; but Solomon is the intelligible Christ, because Solomon is interpreted as "Peaceful." Christ, therefore, gave peace to the human race. To Him, especially, pertains perfection, and to those who follow His manner of life and perform the angelic course, to whom the millenary number, as being perfect, is ascribed: "Thousands of thousands ministered to Him," says Daniel (Dan. VII, 10), as he was setting forth the celestial powers standing before God. But David also says: "He was mindful of His covenant forever" (Psal. CIV, 8), of the word which He commanded to a thousand generations, showing the perfection of the divine law and of those who received the law through a thousand generations. From twenty years, moreover, up to sixty years—for within these times, age and B perfect intellect, and strength, and the procreation of children are found, so that from sensible things we might ponder the intelligible. Therefore, he who has a mature and perfect intellect, and the strength to do what he has understood, is able to offer to God other children, by his own association or by imparting doctrine. The price of this soul is fifty drachmas, which is the perfect fruit and a crown of perfection, which will also have martyrdom, and disregard for things, and all that perfection which the Lord was speaking of: "You shall be perfect, as your Father in heaven is perfect" (Matth. V, 48). But this is when it is male, that is, when it is always strong—for this is what he calls "male" here. The valuation for the female, however, will be thirty shekels, or didrachmas—so that there are sixty drachmas—a sixty-fold fruit, indeed being great itself, but less than the centenary, on account of which he also introduced the female, which is less than the male. Therefore, women, too, when they have reached the maximum measure and have been perfected to perfection, can be called strong, inasmuch as they have overcome their own infirmity and resumed the intention of strength, on account of which also the Spirit of God said in Proverbs: "A strong woman, who shall find?" (Prov. XXXI, 10). Who, then, lacks a disregard for things? But he speaks of another perfection which the law orders to correct concerning the continence of all things in him who lives according to it. The valuation of this is thirty shekels, or didrachmas, that is, a sixty-fold fruit, which Paul also, prefiguring it, said: "Let a widow be chosen who is not less than sixty years old" (1 Tim. V, 9)—wishing to manifest through the age and number of years what virtues and actions the widow ought to exhibit who is chosen by God, who is written in the divine Books, and who is able to dwell in the number of the celestial Jerusalem. On account of which he also added, insinuating that care was not so much for her age or years, as for the virtues which are signified through these: "A wife of one husband: if she brought up children, if she received strangers, if she washed the feet of the saints, if she ministered to those who were in tribulation, if she followed every good work" (1 Tim. V, 10). This is indeed a perfect and in all respects consummated human being. But look also at him to whom this is lacking, but who nevertheless desires to progress toward that.
C From the fifth year up to the twentieth, a male shall give twenty shekels, or, as the LXX have it, didrachmas. Here he calls him who is not yet even perfect, yet who is already a sensible person and who has begun to make progress—for the sense is hinted at by the number of five years, which are so many in number. But the perfect one, who tends toward youth and to that which is more perfect, is from his fifth year and up to his twentieth year. For at twenty years old, he is calculated by the law as among the strong who are also capable of fighting, as the Book of Numbers shows. The price of this, therefore, is twenty didrachmas, that is, forty drachmas, or four hundred obols. D
A The progress of fasts and of prayer, which the number of forty drachmas signifies, because we have learned that Moses, and Elijah, and the Lord Himself fasted for as many days when He was tempted by the devil. Now, what the number four hundred signifies, or what manner of life it demonstrates, is shown by what is said in the Book of Kings, concerning the return of the ship that was sent by Solomon to Sophira; it says, indeed, according to the Seventy: *And it came to Sophira* (Sophira is interpreted as "good"), *and took from thence forty and twenty talents of gold, and brought them to king Solomon.* Therefore, what is thus good, just as the practicing and carrying forward of oneself through fasting and prayer to that life toward which Moses and Elijah, building upon fasting and prayer as virtues, were carried forward: so, the Lord, intending to insinuate Himself to the human race through preaching and signs, made fasting and prayer the beginning of His own life. Therefore, whoever is prudent and begins to make progress, yet not excessively but moderately, so that he cannot be burdened by the presumption of a life of fasting, his price is ten didrachmas, that is, twenty drachmas and two hundred obols. For the keeping of the ten commandments, which is doubled according to the letter and the spirit, is his way of life, among which fasting is not a precept. For the life pertaining to it is more sublime, which is fitting for legislators and prophets and all who have made progress, and yet his life does not yet have perfection: for it has need of gentleness and perfect charity, which is in the zeal of Christ, yet it leads to perfection. But because the keeping of the commandments according to the letter and the spirit is rightly thought to be ten didrachmas, which are two hundred obols, the discourse recalls to your memory what we recently brought forth from the Song of Songs: *A thousand to you, O peaceful one, and two hundred to those who guard its fruit.* To what vineyard? Concerning which he was saying in the preceding: *The vineyard was to the peaceful one in that which has peoples*, which the Jews did not guard, on account of which they brought forth thorns instead of grapes, but also all who pass by the way gather the vintage. However, those who guard the fruit are found in the two hundred, that is, the twenty drachmas of the doubled keeping of the commandments, as we said, according to the letter and the spirit.
From one month up to the fifth year, for a male, there shall be given five shekels, that is, five didrachmas; for a female, three. By one month, you should understand him who is now born in the faith, to whom Peter said: *As newborn infants, rational, without deceit, desire the milk, that you may grow in it unto salvation, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is sweet.* The price of this up to the age of five years, that is, his way of life and life, is five didrachmas of silver, that is, ten drachmas, but one hundred obols. Therefore, the life of the newborn is five B didrachmas, so that in the mysteries he may have a twofold sense, that is, that he may receive intelligibly those things which he perceives sensibly. If, also seeing, and tasting, and smelling, and touching, he conducts this to perfection, on account of which it also has the price of one hundred obols. Now the number, as it has been said, is perfect. Therefore, without doubt, it demonstrates one who is now made a participant in the mysteries, and has not yet proceeded to action, but is meanwhile tested in faith, as one who is still an infant and does not yet have the time for the manifestation of virtue. But if he who is less, who is such a one, is so disposed that he corresponds to the person of a woman—but he is less in that he is simpler and not very discreet—his price is three didrachmas, the faith of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, so that he may not transgress this, but believe with his heart, as Paul says, *but with the mouth let him confess.* For thus even for this one, these three become two drachmas, not only for him who confesses with the tongue, but also for him who believes with faith. But for this one also, such faith attains to a mediocre perfection: for three didrachmas are six drachmas; and six drachmas are sixty obols, and such a number carries a mediocre perfection. Therefore, the people of Israel had the number of six hundred thousand, which is sixty myriads. For the sensible Israel indeed had those who were moderately perfect, who, established in the law, practiced the Evangelical life to a certain extent. But there are those for whom there was a mediocre study of the law and the prophets, on account of which the myriads were similar, but they were neither a thousand thousands, nor myriads of myriads, so that perfection was always in them; for this is the state of the angels and of those living according to the Evangelical life. For even the angels themselves, when they have made progress, are brought to this.
Now the man of sixty years and upward shall give fifteen shekels, that is, didrachmas, but the woman shall give ten. And who is this who promises the greatest life—through virginity, for example—or through non-possession, and other virtues, and after these has become infirm? For you have known that he who is from twenty years up to sixty years the legislator preferred to all. Then now after all, he mentions him who is from sixty years and upward. By that which he said, *upward*, he doubtlessly designates the old age and infirmity of the soul of him who had proposed a greater life. Therefore, whoever promises and proposes a life for the sake of virginity, or the disdain of possession, and then is weakened in fulfilling the proposal, let him hear from Paul: *If anyone thinks that he appears shameful over his virgin, because she has been over-adult, he shows that he has been in some way weakened, and that his proposal [has been] led to old age*, and it is fitting that what he wishes, he should do; he does not sin if he marries. And again: *If you have married, you have not sinned. And if a virgin has married, she has not sinned. But such as these will have tribulation of the flesh. But I spare you, this…*
temporal figure of the world is passing away. But I want you to be free from anxiety. Therefore, its price will be fifteen didrachmae, which is thirty drachmae. For Christ has proposed three fructifications from the good earth: designating the life of virginity and non-possessiveness by the hundred, of continence by the sixty, and of chaste marriage by the thirty. But if one is weaker in this regard—for perhaps he has fallen into fornication, and on account of this is called a female—he is not to be rejected in this way, but possesses a price of ten didrachmae. For he offers to God the observance of the commandments of God, which we have shown to be twenty drachmae and two hundred obols, and in this he maintains his manner of life, justified through the observance of the commandments. But if you say: How so? The Lord was thirty years of age, while He alone was perfect, whereas we say that perfection is in the number one hundred, but after this in sixty, and thirdly in thirty; learn that while He alone was truly perfect, nevertheless, as the teacher of all and having become the first-fruits of the whole mass, He figures and proposes a temperate way of life from all things. For whether you desire virginity, He is a virgin from a virgin, and He taught virginity; or marriage, He both commanded to marry and blessed those who marry; or abstinence, He also taught this; and similarly the course of faith, whether it be of the perfect or the simple. B
Since, therefore, He hints at differences in the present, and was in some way distinguishing the life of men, and says that the price of one is fifty didrachmae, of another thirty, of another twenty, of another ten, of another five, of another three, of another fifteen, these things are gathered together to a small sum, being less than one hundred and fifty, but these things, divided into five, make a number close to thirty. See how the legislator did not ignore the temperament which Christ wrought in our life and conduct, nor did the Evangelist ignore the number that holds temperament. For this reason he says that He did not come to baptism at thirty full years; for he says: *And Jesus Himself was beginning about thirty years of age.* And why this? Because even he who strives after a life that is too perfect, and he who strives after one that is moderately perfect, and he who strives after a lesser life, does not come in perfect fashion to the measure, for he has in every way less, because perfection belongs to God alone; but he has less only to the extent that He grants pardon for that which is less: whence, compared to one hundred and fifty, seven are lacking, for the aforesaid number reaches to one hundred and forty-three; but through the number seven, pardon is manifestly signified. C
But if he is poor, and has not the means to pay the valuation, he shall stand before the priest, and as much as he shall estimate, and see that he is able to pay, so much shall he give. Now he speaks of him who has sinned much, and therefore Aquila has set forth for the poor man, if he has exceeded, what he has. If, therefore, he wishes to be offered to God, he shall stand before the priest, so that as much as he sees him able to pay, he may estimate it, imposing upon him a rule of life which is according to virtue, and prescribing the measure of philosophy which he has proven him able to bear. For example, if he is wealthy, that he may distribute money; if he is healthy, that he may be free for fasts, and prayers, and other good labors; but if he is both wealthy and healthy, he is commanded to do whatever riches and health suggest. But if he is neither, that he may weep in prayer: that we may speak briefly, whatever he sees him able to perform through the body, or through his substance, or through another state of health or capability. D
VERS. 9, 10. *And the animal that can be sacrificed to the Lord, if anyone shall vow it, shall be holy, and it cannot be changed, that is, neither better for worse, nor worse for better. But if he shall change it, both that which is changed, and that for which it is changed, shall be consecrated to the Lord.*
Since the legislator has set forth that those oblations which are offered from ourselves have certain degrees and differences: for behold, he sets forth here, through these things which have been said, that those who are in any way subject to us so that they are even referred to as our cattle—on account of the fact that they are exceedingly subject—are used by us just as we use cattle, whenever the oblation is holy. He commands, however, that we should not repent of those things which we offer to God. Therefore, if indeed we have offered from those cattle which it is the custom to offer to God—and it is the custom that those which are immaculate and clean be offered to Him—our gift is immediately sanctified, nor is it right that we should repent of it, just as if we had offered to God a son, or a disciple, or a servant, or another who is under our hand. Nor is it permitted to change evil to good, or good to evil. But he speaks here of evil, not as that which is wicked in every way and unclean; but if it is unclean, it is not of those things which it is customary to offer to God, but the legislator has called this an oblation of those things which can be sacrificed to the Lord. But he calls that "evil" here, which is "worse," for so indeed Symmachus has manifestly handed it down. He does not return better for worse, or worse for better, so that we might not, while offering this son or servant to the service and ministry of the Lord, desire to receive him back into our own service and usefulness, promising to offer perhaps a better, or a worse one. For it is not permitted, on account of which Anna also said concerning Samuel: *If looking thou wilt look on the affliction of thy handmaid, and wilt be mindful of me, and wilt give to thy handmaid a man child, I will give him before thy face to be given for all the days of his life.*
A And truly this work has need [of one] to make it understandable. Thus, that he may be able to govern himself, and not have need of another's pedagogue. But if he shall have changed it, both that which was changed and that for which it was changed, shall be consecrated to the Lord. So that we may sanctify both this one whom we previously offered and him whom we offer later, together with the first oblation, and that we may grant both to God. For this does not permit us to perform penance in those things which we offer, but it strikes the enemy who suggested to us to repent, while we, indeed, double our oblation, which he wished to intercept through repentance.
VERS. 11-13. *An unclean animal which cannot be sacrificed to the Lord, if anyone shall have vowed it, let it be brought before the priest. Who, judging whether it be good or bad, shall set a price: which if he who offers it wishes to give, he shall add the fifth part above the estimation.* B
The Jew must be asked, how can this command stand according to the letter? For if it is not permitted to be offered, nor will it be acceptable, how did the legislator write both as if opposing and resisting himself? But he hints in every way at something close to evangelical generosity, and at the condescension which grace knows. Thus, therefore, let us understand those things which have been said: it was not permitted to be offered to God from cattle which did not both cloven the hoof and chew the cud. For this law held those as unclean; the enigma of which, however, was this: not to cloven the hoof is not to distinguish the letter of the law and the spirit of the one who knows; not to chew the cud is his who did not have the study of meditation on the law continuously, and who calls it back to meditation with his tongue only, not also with his heart. If, therefore, someone offers to God such a son, or servant, or disciple, who is lesser in meditating on the Holy Scriptures, or in the division of contemplation—not from malice, but from infirmity—he is not yet even vowed to God, for the legislator does not make a memorial of him as if he were offered. But he brings him before the priest, and the priest sets his price, judging whether he is good or bad, so that by condescending to the imperfect, he may impose a moderate yoke on him, that is, one which is between good and bad conversation. But there is a turning away from evil, and a progress toward better things. For perhaps we say this is proper between the worse and the better: that which was said, "whether good or bad," Symmachus published: *The priest shall set the price, if in any way he can be a progressing gift of those which are offered to God.* C
*But if you wish to give that which he offers, he shall add above the estimation a fifth part.* And what is this? There are five in number the senses. The fifth part of these is our mind, for by it they are governed. Without this, therefore, they do not have much being, nor do they help. Therefore, the five virgins who were not received to the nuptials bear the figure of these. Five, therefore, did not have wisdom, whence they are absolutely named foolish. Therefore, if anyone wishes to redeem him who, for the aforesaid causes, is compared to unclean cattle, he truly has need of this work, and to make it understandable. So that he may be able to govern himself, and not have need of another's pedagogue. D
Not just any kind of question is stirred up here. For a little later toward the end of the book, the legislator says thus: *Everything that is consecrated to the Lord, whether man, or animal, or field, shall not be sold, nor can it be redeemed.* How does he there prohibit offered things from being redeemed, but here, after a house and field have been sanctified, he commands them to be redeemed? Or perhaps he knows another intention here, and another of the one who offers here. There, indeed, so that he may in no way again touch what he offered, but that he may utterly consecrate it to God, because of which he does not say, as here: *If he shall have consecrated his house, or the field of his possession*, but: *Everything that is consecrated to the Lord.* For of those things which were offered to God, it was not permitted that anything should ever return to human use, nor could the priest even use them. But the history of the Amalekites demonstrates this. For it was commanded to Saul that all the spoils of Amalek should be anathema; and because he yielded to the people to take certain things from the flocks and herds, he sustained a great curse and wrath; and it in no way sufficed for him for satisfaction, when Samuel was angry and inquired: *What is the voice of this flock in my ears, and the voice of the oxen which I hear*, when he answered other words to the prophet, those which were: *They are of Amalek, and the people have brought the better things of the flock and oxen, that they might be sacrificed to the Lord thy God, but the rest I have destroyed.* Therefore, it is one thing to sanctify to God—for it is permitted to him who has sanctified to use it in this way which the legislator now shows us—but it is another thing for it to be anathema, of which the use is prohibited. But the understanding of contemplation ought also to be received similar to this, but we will speak about the anathema when we shall have come to that part of the saints. But now, let us teach what it is to sanctify a house, what a field, the Spirit suggesting to me, saying in this first place: because it is one thing to be sanctified to God, another to be holy: one thing for something to be offered to Him, another not to have need of an oblation.
A For that which is sanctified and offered, inasmuch as it is offered, begins to be sanctified; therefore previously it was not holy. But that which begins to be sanctified has need of work, and progress, and growth in parts. But that which is long since holy and long since God’s has nothing less, but is perfect and in need of no addition. Therefore, while it is indeed a good thing to use the teachings of others for sanctification, it is better to progress to such a degree that one brings not only himself but also those who are his to sanctification—a thing which is not in the power of every man, but of the sensible man alone. And these are the things which the legislator intends to signify in this place. He therefore sanctifies a house to God who wishes his family, and his kinsfolk, and his house of understanding to live in holiness, so that it may be, and be called, a Church; just as many of the faithful used to have their houses as churches for the sake of sanctification, as we heard in the reading of Paul to the Romans: "Greet Prisca and Aquila, my helpers in Christ Jesus, who have laid down their necks for my life; to whom not only I give thanks, but also all the Churches of the Gentiles, and their domestic Church." Whoever therefore has this intention, but is not of himself capable of bringing to the work those things which he intends, the priest shall consider whether his house be good or evil; and as he shall estimate it, so it shall be. Why whether good or evil? So that, because a house consists of many persons, and of those who differ, in which many have need of condescension, not being able to do or to know the things which are perfect, he may not enjoin upon them anything grave, but, weighing the virtue of each one, may command them to decline from evil and to progress in virtues.
B Sanctification is properly ascribed to the house, not only as it begins to be sanctified, but also as it is intended to instruct: and thus the priest is found to be in a certain manner well-placed over his own house, and recovering it for himself; for Paul has elevated to the election and dignity of the episcopate him who knows how to preside over his own house. On account of which Aquila, for that which is said, "He who sanctified it shall redeem it," if the one sanctifying it should bring it to the end, published it. But what we learn from this is that if he who has sanctified the house claims for himself the principate and government, and wishes to acquire this for himself: yet to bring it to the end according to the law is to be preferred to others as a kinsman; he should do these things which the legislator has commanded in the present. With these things being thus, because the silver of the divine oracles is properly the exhortation of [the] teacher, hear David saying: "The oracles of the Lord are pure oracles, silver examined by fire, purified from the earth." And Jeremiah: "The refiner has refined in vain, its dross is not consumed." Of the Jews he says that the words of those who exhort them were of no profit to them. But hear also Paul saying: "If any man super-edifies upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones."
C But if one shall have vowed the field of his possession and consecrated it to the Lord, the price shall be estimated according to the measure of the seed. No one will doubt that the field is divine Scripture. Whose vine is properly Christ, and the husbandman is the Father, in whom the treasure is hidden, that is, the salutary preaching, which he who has found it, as the worker of the field, sells all that he has, as the Lord says in the Gospels, that he might buy that field. In this field the possession of each one is diverse, that is, the measure which he could obtain from it for his own wisdom. If therefore a man shall have consecrated this to the Lord, since it was not holy before, let him now begin to consecrate the governor of his own conduct; and since he is not qualified to govern himself, let him choose a priest. For the legislator has called that "consecrated" here which has been entrusted to the priest.
But if he who had vowed it shall wish to redeem it, he shall add the fifth part of the estimation above it, and he shall have the house. That is, if the master of the house, who wishes to sanctify it, since it had not been holy before, nor could it have been called a church—for it would indeed have been sanctified, which it is not so now, but takes the start of sanctification—if therefore he redeems his house, cleaning it absolutely, he was making the priests have the necessary exhortation of that which has need of sanctification. He redeems it, however, through good doctrine and through a rule of life, freeing them and washing away whatever hindered them from holiness. D What will he do? He shall give, or according to the Septuagint, "He shall add the fifth part of the estimation above it." For of the priest's doctrine, to whom he offered his house from the beginning that he might estimate it, that is, that he should impose a definition, to which he ought to stand, or walk, he himself shall add that which is of understanding. This, therefore, is the fifth, that is, that he should receive those things which are said, and super-edify upon the priest's sermons; for frequent commemoration makes men sensible and intelligent. And thus he shall have the house, not losing it by being sanctified to God, for it turns to his loss; but he shall have it, because to him [it is] "According to the measure of the seed the price shall be estimated." So that whatever is sown, that is, taught. For divine Scripture is accustomed to take the word of doctrine in [the sense of] seed. The priest shall indicate to him as much as he has been instructed regarding good, legitimate, and spiritual doctrine, and not as men who are seducers, pagans, for example, or Jews, or heretics teach. On account of which, after he said: "According to the measure of the seed," he added: "If a field is sown with thirty measures of barley, it shall be priced at fifty shekels of silver." Or as the Septuagint, "fifty didrachms of silver": in which understand the Old and New Testament. And by the measure or cor of barley, He marks the Old Testament: because the food of this seed is richer: but by the fifty didrachms, He hints at both that which is spiritual and that which is perfect at once: for perfect doctrine is also spiritual. But when this rule or definition is to him, whole and—
A complete, he learns when it should be lessened by means of condensation.
If, however, one immediately vows a field from the year beginning the Jubilee, it shall be estimated according to how much it is worth. But if it is after some time, the priest shall calculate the money according to the number of years that remain until the Jubilee, and it shall be deducted from the price. He makes mention of the two years of remission or the Jubilee, clearly insinuating baptism and repentance: for each is a year of remission, because it possesses perfect remission—one through the house of grace, the other for those who are occupied in prayer, fasting, and other works that perfect repentance. If, therefore, anyone wishes simultaneously to have the way of grace which he has chosen governed and brought forward by a priest, the priest must require of him that he hold fast to what he received when he was being taught, out of perfect and spiritual doctrine, in no way condescending to him—for he has no need of that, as one who has been renewed by a gift, but he makes him fully remain in the doctrine which he has received.
But if he has slipped from that gift which he received in his conduct—for this is what it means to consecrate the field for some time of the Jubilee or remission—the priest shall rightly estimate the silver for him for the remaining years, until the year of remission or Jubilee, so that he may define for him the remaining time for repentance, and it shall be deducted from the price. B For what he did less, and the injury he sustained, and that he has behaved worse, he diminishes by this gift, and has become weaker, and is therefore more abject, not being such as he was at the time he received the gift. Nevertheless, even here, one wishing to redeem his field will be able to do so, that is, to govern and teach himself, adding a fifth of the silver to its price, adding his own intellect to the priest's doctrine, so that, understanding and being learned, he becomes his own governor and teacher. For thus the intelligible field, which he consecrated by offering it to the priest, will be possessed by him and not by another; its conduct and the virtue which he pursues, whether in whole or in part, will be reckoned to no one but himself who acts. Attend to the legislator’s division: as he wishes to sanctify or consecrate a house or field, he first wishes him to make the consecration, and thus commands him to redeem what has been sanctified.
C Behold how the legislator clearly shows the loss of him who always has need of being governed by another and makes no progress, nor is he helped by the doctrine of others, but is always his own guide to doing what is useful of present things. For he who consecrated the field and later redeems it is one who has permitted his conduct to be governed by another. But after he who has been helped has acquired intellect, so that he might now be, as the Prophet says, "taught of God," and is able to settle for himself in the future what is expedient, this man, receiving his field back to himself, has acquired it. But he who makes no progress by another's governance, nor has acquired intellect, but always has need to be taught by another, is such as were certain of the Jews, whom God, reproaching through the prophetic voice, spoke of thus: "Who are chosen from the womb, taught from infancy even unto old age," and again, "Ephraim is like a senseless dove, not having a heart," and again, "Ephraim was mingled among the peoples." Ephraim has been made D a turncoat in your hidden places, and his hairs have turned gray, but he did not know it, because if he finds bad teachers, he does all things badly, as one who does not have discretion, and he cannot seek the reward of the virtue he has labored for, and therefore he is said not to redeem his own field. But when the Jubilee comes, that is, when the time of remission (which is the present life) passes, in which remission has its place, see what and how great a thing it is that he will suffer: the sanctified possession will belong to the Lord, and the conduct which he once achieved, even if another was the one who governed, will be holy to the Lord. But just as also the consecrated possession pertains to the law of the priests, so his possession and the profit will be imputed to him who governed continuously, even if he who was being governed by him had neglected or turned or changed himself to evil: as one who had nothing of good study from his own intellect, the one who governed: therefore, he will glory in him, just as in his own conduct, and therefore he says: "The possession, if consecrated, pertains to the law of the priests." And it does no harm to the priest that the field is sold to another, because the end of the doctrine and exhortation which was fitting,
And then, he says, he will possess it. This, he says, doubtlessly commanding, because we ought indeed to govern our conduct through the doctrine, rule, and law of the priests, when we have first sanctified it. But it is also necessary to progress, and to add our own intellect to their doctrine: for which reason Paul wrote to Timothy: "Understand what I say; for the Lord will give you intellect in all things." And then we shall properly possess those things which we have done near to sanctification. If, however, we have not looked upon this division, see what we shall suffer.
VERS. 20-21. "If, however, he should not wish to redeem, but it has been sold to any other, he who vowed cannot redeem it, because when the day of the Jubilee comes, it will be sanctified to the Lord, and the consecrated possession pertains to the law of the priests."
Behold the loss of him who always has need to be governed by another, and makes no progress, and is not helped by the doctrine of others, but shows the one who proposed, who ought to have exhorted, that he found him unable to redeem on his own, that is, to rule and govern himself; then he sold the field, setting another over it. But the reward and profit is for him who proposed: unless perhaps we say that not to Peter, nor to Paul, nor to the apostles, is it imputed that they governed those whom they led to life through their own disciples.
VERS. 22-26. "If the field is bought, and has not been sanctified to the Lord from the possession of his ancestors, the priest shall calculate the price according to the number of years until the Jubilee, and he who made the vow shall give it to the Lord. In the Jubilee, however, it shall return to the former"
to the Lord, who had sold him, and had held him in the lot of his possession. "Every valuation shall be weighed by the shekel of the sanctuary; the shekel has twenty obols." "Firstlings which belong to God, no one can sanctify; and if it be an ox or sheep, they are the Lord’s."
The letter and spirit of the law show the greatest justice. For the letter did not forbid those possessing another’s field to sanctify it to God, to offer it to the priests, that the field might be their revenue, because he did not offer what was specifically his own; for just as what was purchased was then his, so also he who held the possession of the vendor is rightly an alien to it. For it commanded the priest to calculate the price of the field up to the Jubilee, and thus to give a price for it; but in the Jubilee it was to return and be given back to the former lord, that is, to him who, on account of poverty, had sold his own property and alienated it for a certain time. From this, therefore, he passes to spiritual understanding.
If the field was purchased and not sanctified to the Lord from the possession of ancestors, the priest shall calculate it according to the number of years up to the Jubilee. He who possesses the field which he bought, and it is not of his own possession, is able for him who suffers intelligible poverty to exhort, to rebuke, and to move him to repentance; for he himself possesses that intelligible land which he owned, concerning which David sang: "Thy holy Spirit shall lead me into the land of uprightness," not permitting it to be corrupted entirely, but gaining the virtue or life of the brother, from which he fell through negligence. If, therefore, he has sanctified it to the Lord—that is, offered it to the priest, for you have heard that things which have fallen to the priests by lot are said to be sanctified to God in the present—how is it to be offered? It means that he who has offended must be cleansed and make his conversation holy. A
It is found, it is holy to the Lord: but David says well, "He shall render," or as the LXX has it, "he shall render, not, they shall render"; for even if, by the common counsel of the priest and of him who moved the sinner to repentance, the definition of what is valued is established, nevertheless he who caused the offending brother to be pricked to the heart shall exalt him; for he will obey him, but he himself is also bound to the amendment of him who does penance, as one who has once initiated his correction. But he who is not immediately cleansed when the penance is defined, but is so when he has performed it perfectly, therefore he says:
"But in the Jubilee it shall return to the former lord who had sold it." Therefore, the definition of repentance will be made soon on that holy day on which, by the priest and his exhorter, it is calculated how he who is about to perform repentance out of the divine Scripture must perform it. Then, however, the penitent will receive his possession, his field, and his conversation, when he has reached the year of the Jubilee, either of remission or of change, and fully performing those things which pertain to repentance; but also rendering entirely to the priest and every man who wishes to exhort himself or his neighbor or his house, and by this has acquired for himself sanctification, has sought out a glorious crown and an admirable firmness. B
"Every valuation shall be weighed by the shekel of the sanctuary: the shekel or didrachma has twenty obols." That every valuation or definition may be weighed by holy weights, that is, by those which are of the holy Scripture. For external weights, such as those of the philosophers, by which they weigh lives and conversations, are not holy, because they possess an imperfect knowledge. But neither are the weights of heretics holy, for their conscience is seared: but those are holy which are in divine Scripture, in which there are twenty obols, a shekel or didrachma, that is, the ten commandments understood according to the letter and according to the spirit, just as the evangelical grace insinuates, and who in it says: "Think not that I have come to destroy the law or the prophets; I have not come to destroy, but to fulfill." Whoever either makes the law void or rejects the Gospel, he does not have the didrachma, nor do we receive his doctrine as sanctifying. But heretics C and Jews, of whom some deny grace and others the law, let us treat equally.
"Firstlings which belong to God, no one can sanctify and vow; Whether it be an ox or sheep, they are the Lord’s." We said in what precedes that the flocks are those who are obedient to us, sons and servants. Their firstborn, that is, he who has been thus obedient and compliant to us, that he indeed provides for others a leadership of obedience and compliance, and therefore he is called a firstborn, but elsewhere the legislator says concerning him: "Every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord." For he opens the womb of begetting sons, who obeys according to God, and D
begins with pious subjection, such as, by way of example, A Timothy was to Paul, and therefore he wrote concerning him to the Corinthians: "Who is my son in the Lord, he shall bring you into remembrance of my ways which are in Christ Jesus." B Let no one sanctify such a one as this: not because he is unworthy of sanctification, but as one who has no need to be sanctified, for he is therefore already holy. For you have learned, as we were saying above, that it is one thing for something to be holy to God, and another thing to take the beginning of sanctification. For the former is better and higher, inasmuch as that which has been perfect for a long time does not need a better reason. Since, therefore, the son, who honors his father and mother so much that he becomes an example of such honor to others; while honoring them for the sake of piety, that is, for the sake of the obedience of the Law, and knowing that he offers this honor to God, who commanded that parents be honored, he has fulfilled the first commandment which is in the promise, according to what Paul said. But the servant, who is purely subject to his master, for the sake of the commandment which said: "Servants, be obedient to your carnal masters with fear and trembling, in the simplicity of your heart, as to the Lord, not serving to the eye, as pleasing men, but as servants of God," they show their obedience to God. And this is the same for the disciple also. If he refers to God C those things that pertain to this obedience and subjection toward his master for the honor of God—who says through holy Paul: "Obey your leaders and be subject to them, for they keep watch over your souls, obey and be subject"—then everyone of these is evidently called [clean], either pleasing to God through good simplicity, or through the diligent operation of the commandments; and he who ought to be named after this, either as sheep or as master, is both. For you have heard how the obedience and subjection of each one pertains to the Lord, when those who are subject to fathers or masters or teachers also have a good conduct, which makes them to be among clean animals and not among the unclean, about which he added the following.
VERS. 27. "But if it is an unclean animal, let him who offered it redeem it according to its valuation, and let him add the fifth part of the price. If he will not redeem it, let it be sold to another."
Because every sinner is unclean, it is manifest: for "every unrighteous man is unclean before the face of the Lord," says Solomon. For he is unrighteous, because the legislator commanded that he who chews the cud and divides the hoof should meditate on and discern the Law, and whoever lacks one of these has [neither]. Therefore, whoever is obedient, and vehemently subject to a father, D or a master, or a teacher, yet does not know how to meditate or distinguish the law as he ought, he is indeed a firstborn among the cattle, as a leader of obedience. But he is unclean, because he does not have that which the legislator commanded a clean person to have. If therefore his father, or master, or teacher wishes to redeem him, he shall be redeemed according to his valuation, and shall add the fifth part of the price: he shall add the fifth part, when he offers him doctrine with intellect, ruling him in wisdom, and not governing him foolishly. For it is of a senseless father, and master, and teacher to [require] the obedience that pertains to himself, to teach the son, or disciple, or servant, and not to dispose of his life so that he might act according to the knowledge of the law, but to allow him to be unlearned and unskilled in the law. Let him therefore add intellect to subjection and doctrine, for he himself alone in the present is insufficient, for which reason he said: "He shall add the fifth part of the price."
Because obedience has a price, hence he does not say: "The priest shall estimate him," as he said above, but because he has the price from of old, and has obtained the definition of doctrine and subjection, he commanded the fifth part to be added over him, so that because he possesses the obedience which the law greatly commands—according to the LXX, the wise son is subject to his father—he adds the fifth, and as we said, he adds the sense from which he is to be obedient, and correctly redeemed, he will be found clean. Then, according to the LXX, it will belong to him who possesses the servant, or son, or disciple, for he will have glory in him as Paul said: "For you are our glory in Christ Jesus." And again: "I rejoice therefore in you." And again: "For we now live, if you stand in the Lord." But if he who possesses the son, or servant, or disciple has not redeemed him—for it is his duty to redeem him and to make him sensible through prudent admonition, according to the method that has been said—he is alienated from his possession; for he will sell him, he says, to another, or as the LXX [says], if he has not liberated him, he will come according to his price, so that while the price belongs to him before God, [the duty is to] obey the master, and father, and teacher. But he who, when he ought to and could have exhorted him, has not exhorted him, suffers the loss of his possession, and cannot say: "Behold I and my children, whom God has given me."
VERS. 28, 29. "Everything that is consecrated to the Lord, whether it be man, or animal, or field, shall not be sold, nor shall it be able to be redeemed. Whatever shall have been once consecrated, shall be holy of holies to the Lord: and every consecration which is offered by man, shall not be redeemed, but shall die the death."
What the difference is between "to anathematize" and "to sanctify" according to the letter, we have shown through those things which were discussed above: where we said that this which has been anathematized, in no way is it permitted to revert to human use, for anyone, not even for the priest, according to the history of the Amalekites, which we brought forward in testimony of the matter: for so much was it not allowed to touch what was anathematized, that when they anathematized Jericho, because someone from the people, that is, Achan the son of Charmi, stole of the anathema, many of them fell in war, and God, being angry, said these things: "I will be no more with you until you destroy him who is guilty of this crime." Therefore from both.
C It has been demonstrated how all use and possession of that which is under anathema is forbidden. And not only this, but also that whatever was taken as spoils by right of war from those who were strictly enemies, with whom it was not proper to form a friendship, they made these things anathema—and not by their own impulse, but at God's command. For whatever the prophets command, it is manifest that they are the commands of God. Therefore, whatever we also, fighting against the intelligible enemies—that is, the demons—with whom it is not permitted to form friendships, and against whom we have perpetual and immutable enmities, on account of whom the Lord said: "I did not come to send peace upon the earth, but a sword" 57: on account of which "he will divide a man against his father and a daughter against her mother, and he will sever the compassion of kinship," and by putting aside fleshly compassion, we may more easily destroy the incorporeal enemies: whether it be man, or beast, or field for spoil, from the war which we have against them, and having achieved victory, we ought to consecrate these things to God. C But to consecrate them in such a way that we retain nothing in them of our own will, but whether anyone is of his own power—for this is truly "man," and we call him that who is in no way subject to us, but is our equal according to rank—or whether it is one who is subject to us and is therefore called "beast," having overcome and acquired them as intelligible enemies, or from the field of possession, that is, from that which we have been allotted in rank, having taken them as spoils and trophies while fighting against the intelligible enemies, we can neither sell these things nor have need to redeem them, because everything consecrated is most holy to the Lord.
How? Listen. No one can despoil an enemy before he has perfectly subjected him, just as the Lord said to the Jews: "How can anyone enter into the house of a strong man and despoil his vessels if he has not first bound the strong man, and then may his vessels be despoiled?" 58 But then we fully subdue the intelligible enemy, that is, the devil, and are able to bind him, and to despoil him, and to consecrate his spoils to God, when we have overcome all his engines, crushed every head, and turned away from every form of sin, having overcome all the desires of the world, and having attained all virtues: for then we have him bound, and we can despoil him. D And thus despoiling him, and defeating him with the aforementioned victory, whatever we have despoiled, we rightly offer to God. And we have the most holy, perfect and complete, needing neither our exhortation nor that of others, which has neither any addition nor work to be perfected. How? Because it has escaped all sin, has wrought all virtue, and is alienated from the world, and crucified to the world. Therefore it is added most consequentially:
And every consecration that is offered by man shall not be redeemed, but shall perish. By what death? By that of which Paul spoke: "But now I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me." 59 And again: "So also consider yourselves dead indeed to sin, but living to God in Christ Jesus." 60 Such, therefore, is he who progresses to the summit of virtue, and has touched the measures of perfection: for he is dead to the world, and alienated from present things, and has long since departed from the wisdom of the world: he is rightly the most holy to the Lord, because he has imitated the most holy according to his own capacity.
VERSES 30-33. All the tithes of the earth, whether of the crops or of the fruit of the trees, are the Lord's, and to Him they are sanctified. But if anyone wishes to redeem their tithes, they shall add the fifth part of them. Of all tithes, the oxen and sheep and goats which pass under the shepherd's rod, whatever reaches the tenth shall be sanctified to the Lord. It shall not be chosen nor the bad, nor shall it be exchanged for another. If anyone has exchanged it, both that which is changed and that for which it is changed shall be sanctified to the Lord, and shall not be redeemed.
You ask, perhaps, for what reason He commands the tithes of the fruits of the earth to be redeemed, but does not command this for oxen and sheep? This the Jew cannot answer, because he serves the letter alone, in which the Lawgiver inserts many things that invite questioning, so that, in their distress, they might run to the spirit and know that the letter is then good, when it has been used as an instrument and minister of the spirit. D Here He proposes the difference among the disciples of the Law, and just as among the firstborn, clean and unclean, some have acquired both the good meditation of the Law and knowledge through obedience, while others are those who have only obedience: so also here, some, working the commandments, have earthly wisdom, and therefore have need of redemption, while others have no need to be redeemed, nor even require change, just as the perfect and consummate are always. Therefore, the Law calls the harvest, which is from the seed, "crops" in the present, and similarly the fruits of the trees according to their season. The tenth part of the growth of these is owed to God according to the Law, yet both of these must be taken as pertaining to the fruitfulness of the Law. The Lord, indeed, in the parable of the evangelical seeds, explaining those who receive the word and do it, said that the good ground brings forth thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold. But David used to cry out: "The just shall flourish like the palm tree." 62 And again: "But I am like a fruitful olive tree in the house of the Lord." 63 Now, however, briefly describing the just man: It shall be, he says, "like a tree which is planted by the streams of waters, which will give its fruit in its season." 64 Therefore, the tithe of all this is holy. For the action and study of these is holy, because he who, performing the commandments of the Law, places his hope in the retribution of the present, savors of earthly things—such as were some of the Jews, to whom, as those clinging to the earth...
A, the Lord said: *You are from below, I am from above*. But Paul also said of them, who savor of earthly things: *But our conversation is in heaven*. A This he says now; for he did not simply say: *all the tithes of the land*: but, *all the tithes of the land*, he prefaced, and then added: *either of the fruits*, so that he might openly declare him who performs the commandments of the Law with the intention of expectation of earthly goods. Although his tithe is holy, that is, the performance of the commandment, nevertheless, there is no great assistance for them from such a work regarding the retribution, which ought not to be expected from God by those who long for earthly things.
Whence, if anyone wishes to acquire this tithe for himself, let him add a fifth, that is, intelligence, so that he may savor the things that are above, and attend to the things that are above, as Paul wrote. For he who thus performs the commandments of the Law will not lose his reward, because his tithe becomes holy. Therefore, of him who savors of earthly things, the tithe is indeed holy, but not to him, because he does not perform the commandment intelligibly, nor does he know what reward he should expect in it, or what retribution he should hope for in it.
*Boves autem et oves, et quæcunque sub numero sunt sub virga transeunt.* He speaks of those who are counted under the rod of the cross, by which, so that they may be numbered, the faith of God grants friendship. For whoever is faithful to God, he is found also His friend, which Abraham demonstrates, of whom it was said: *Abraham believed God, and it was reputed to him unto justice, and he was called the friend of God*. B For they who are held worthy of the number of the friends of God, although they be of immense multitude, and not only if they exceed the number, but also the measure, hear David saying: *But to me thy friends, O God, are made exceedingly honorable; exceedingly strengthened is their principality. I will number them, and they shall be multiplied above the sand*. These do not possess earthly wisdom, nor do they seek a corruptible retribution in what they do. For which reason, there is no special thing of theirs, but whatever commandment they may have performed, it is holy to God.
*And it shall not be redeemed.* For to whom is there nothing lacking, of what redemption does he have need? But if one must also understand the affinity as a redemption, as Aquila published, an affine is rightly not made; for no such person will claim for himself the governance, but even if he has been the fruit of another, or a disciple from whom he has reached this perfection, he himself shall be his own governor, he himself his own teacher. For besides other things which are said in the present, the legislator wishes to show that they who are taught by us, when they become perfect, no longer have need of our teaching: and for this reason he says that the firstborn of the unclean are to be redeemed, but of the clean, not at all.
Neither shall it be chosen between good and evil. That is, between what is worse and what is better. For the distinction between them is not easy, because even if they surpass one another, just as *star differeth from star in glory*, C but all are in heaven, as in truth they who follow heavenly things, and by Him alone who is capable of discerning the saints are they known: according to this reasoning it must be understood: *It shall not be chosen, either good or bad, nor shall it be changed for another.* For since there is no one among them who can be rejected, whom would you exchange with whom, or what would you rather choose, is not of our capacity to judge. Edifying upon these things, he added what follows:
*If any man shall change it, both that which was changed, and that for which it was changed, shall be sanctified to the Lord, and shall not be redeemed.* Since, therefore, the course of all is divine and sublime, and is near to the heavenly conversation, in vain would anyone reject this one, and introduce another instead of it, and declare it to God as if it were better: it is not yours to discern this, nor to call this one worse than that among the saints: which learn also from history. Paul and Barnabas once contended between themselves. For Barnabas said that Mark ought to be taken: but Paul said that he who once withdrew from Pamphylia, and who does not run with them in the work, ought not to be taken. Such a contention happened between them, that they departed from one another, and Barnabas, having taken Mark, sailed to Cyprus; Paul, however, choosing Silas, was delivered to the grace of God. You see how he changed the better, as he estimated, for the worse. But the very thing that was changed and that for which it was changed, has become holy. For Silas, as more fit than Mark, he chose for the ministry of preaching, yet Mark was not cast out. Barnabas, however, taking him, went away to Cyprus, and was preaching with him, and was so great, that he became one of the four evangelists. Therefore, Paul, retracting, and knowing that no one of the saints is to be rejected, nor can any of those who have perfectly progressed, call this one worse, nor that one better, himself again took Mark, and wrote to Timothy: *Take Mark, and bring him with thee: for he is profitable to me for the ministry*. D Therefore do not intend which among these is good or bad, nor should you exchange one for another.
Nor these, which are consecrated to God, nor these, of which there is now speech, have been shown to be perfect, insofar as they bear a divine and heavenly intention. For what end the Spirit has commanded to be of this book, this you must observe in what follows.
VERS. 34. *These are the commandments which the Lord commanded to Moses, to the children of Israel in Mount Sinai.*
And for the sake of what was it not to the children of Israel themselves, but to Moses for the children of Israel? Because the people were weaker, not being able to receive such a sanction of the Law, in which, as in mirrors, God shows the clear forms of His mysteries. You, therefore, if you do not wish to be of the common herd, but of the kind that Moses was, show yourself obedient, and possessing all the senses of the soul clean, and say to God: *Reveal my eyes, and I will consider the wondrous things of thy law*. Leave the matter of the flesh, and the spirit...