Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Moses reports the laws of the Lord to the people; the people accept them and bind themselves to them. Hence Moses ratifies the covenant between God and the people, by sprinkling the blood of the victims upon the people. Again, at verse 12, Moses is commanded to ascend the mountain, so that he may receive the tablets of the law from God; he ascends and remains on the mountain for forty days.
Vulgate Text: Exodus 24:1-18
1. To Moses also He said: Ascend to the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy elders of Israel, and you shall worship from afar. 2. And Moses alone shall ascend to the Lord, and they shall not approach; nor shall the people ascend with him. 3. Moses therefore came and told the people all the words of the Lord and the judgments. And all the people answered with one voice: All the words of the Lord, which He has spoken, we will do. 4. And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord, and rising early in the morning he built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel. 5. And he sent young men of the children of Israel, and they offered burnt offerings, and sacrificed peace offerings to the Lord, namely calves. 6. Then Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins; and the remaining half he poured upon the altar. 7. And taking up the book of the covenant, he read it in the hearing of the people; and they said: All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient. 8. And he took the blood and sprinkled it upon the people, and said: This is the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you concerning all these words. 9. And Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up, 10. and they saw the God of Israel, and under His feet as it were a work of sapphire stone, and as it were the sky when it is clear. 11. And upon those who had withdrawn far off from the children of Israel, He did not lay His hand; and they saw God, and they ate and drank. 12. And the Lord said to Moses: Ascend to Me on the mountain, and be there; and I will give you tablets of stone, and the law and commandments which I have written, that you may teach them. 13. Moses and Joshua his minister arose; and Moses ascending into the mountain of God, 14. said to the elders: Wait here until we return to you. You have Aaron and Hur with you: if any question shall arise, you shall refer it to them. 15. And when Moses had gone up, the cloud covered the mountain, 16. and the glory of the Lord dwelt upon Sinai, covering it with a cloud for six days; and on the seventh day He called him from the midst of the darkness. 17. And the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a burning fire upon the top of the mountain, in the sight of the children of Israel. 18. And Moses entered into the midst of the cloud and went up into the mountain; and he was there forty days and forty nights.
Verse 1: Ascend to the Lord
ASCEND TO THE LORD. — Moses had already ascended to the Lord on Sinai, and had heard the commandments of chapters 21, 22, and 23 from the angel acting in God's place; but he was ordered to descend, so that he might set forth these laws to the people. Although Scripture is silent about this here, in the Hebrew manner, it nevertheless implies it at verse 3, whence he is again commanded here to ascend, namely after he had received the response and consent of the people regarding the observance of God's law, and this for the purpose of receiving on Mount Sinai the tablets of the law, as a sign of the covenant between God and the people, and as its instrument and seal, so to speak: Scripture therefore passes over and is silent about many things here for the sake of brevity, which must be supplied from elsewhere by the interpreter.
YOU AND AARON, NADAB AND ABIHU. — These last two were the elder sons of Aaron, who later, employing a strange fire in the sacred rites and sacrifices, were burned up by God the avenger, Leviticus chapter 10, verse 1.
AND SEVENTY ELDERS OF ISRAEL. — Some think that these seventy were those among whom Moses distributed his burden and spirit of governance, and whom he set over the people, who accordingly also prophesied; of whom Eldad and Medad, even though absent, received the same spirit. But this is foreign to the sacred history: for those men were chosen at the graves of concupiscence long afterward, not at Sinai, as can be seen in Numbers chapter 11, verse 16. Nor were these seventy the decurions or chiliarchs all appointed by the counsel of Jethro, about whom see Exodus chapter 18; but from among these (if indeed they had already been appointed), or from other leading men of the people as well, they were summoned by Moses, so that by accompanying him on Sinai, they might honor the reception of the tablets of the law with their presence.
AND YOU SHALL WORSHIP FROM AFAR — God in the darkness, on the summit of Mount Sinai, through the angel showing Himself and speaking with Moses.
Verse 2: Moses Alone Shall Ascend to the Lord
AND MOSES ALONE SHALL ASCEND TO THE LORD, — to the darkness of the summit of Sinai. Alone, I say, Moses accompanied by his one servant Joshua: the seventy elders, however, together with Aaron, were ordered to remain below with the people to govern them.
Verse 3: Moses Told the People All the Words of the Lord
MOSES THEREFORE CAME AND TOLD THE PEOPLE ALL THE WORDS OF THE LORD. — Indeed it could not have happened without a miracle that the voice of Moses was heard and understood by all from so many hundreds of thousands of the people: the same thing is even more clearly evident in the repeated promulgation of the law, Deuteronomy chapter 1, and Deuteronomy chapter 29, verses 10 and 11. Now God willed that these commandments be set forth individually to the people, that is to all the Hebrews, before He entered into a covenant with them and confirmed it with tablets, in order to show how humanely He dealt with them, and that He did not wish to impose a law upon them unless they consented; and furthermore so that they might hold more firmly to what they had so freely embraced, and would have no excuse thereafter for refusing.
JUDGMENTS, — the judicial laws of chapters 21, 22, 23.
Verse 4: He Built an Altar and Twelve Pillars
HE BUILT AN ALTAR AT THE FOOT OF THE MOUNTAIN, AND TWELVE PILLARS FOR THE TWELVE TRIBES OF ISRAEL, — that is to say, Moses erected twelve rough stones as pillars and monuments, to signify that these sacrifices, by which the covenant between God and the people was being ratified, were offered for the twelve tribes. Whence some also plausibly think that the altar itself was constructed from these twelve stones. So Abulensis and Cajetan, although Andreas Masius on Joshua chapter 8, number 31, and others hold the contrary opinion.
Verse 5: He Sent Young Men and They Offered Burnt Offerings
AND HE SENT YOUNG MEN OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL, AND THEY OFFERED BURNT OFFERINGS. — The Chaldean renders: he sent the firstborn of the children of Israel: for these in the law of nature were the priests, since Aaron had not yet been ordained a priest. Therefore the firstborn sons of the princes of Israel offered these sacrifices: although St. Augustine, Question 20 on Leviticus, thinks these were the sons of Aaron, who were later made priests.
TWELVE CALVES. — Strike out the word "twelve" along with the Roman editions, the Hebrew, the Chaldean, and the Septuagint: for since there were many firstborn, nothing prevents us from saying that they offered many victims. The Apostle, Hebrews chapter 9, verse 19, adds that goats were also offered at that time.
Verse 6: Moses Took Half of the Blood
THEN MOSES TOOK HALF OF THE BLOOD AND PUT IT IN BASINS; AND THE REMAINING HALF HE POURED UPON THE ALTAR. — Note: The ancients used to ratify covenants with victims and blood. Whence Livy, book 1, speaking of the treaty struck between the Romans and the Albans: "When the terms of the treaty had been laid down," he says, "the fetial priest declared: The Roman people will not be the first to break faith; if they should break it first, by public counsel and evil intent, then on that day, Jupiter, strike the Roman people as I strike this pig today, and strike all the harder, the more powerful you are;" and Virgil, book 8 of the Aeneid, on Romulus and Tatius: "Armed, before Jove's altar, holding bowls, / They stood, and joined their pacts over a slaughtered sow."
Whence some think that the word foedus (covenant) is derived from foedus (foul), namely from the foul animal, that is the pig, which was slaughtered in a covenant, and that from this came the phrase by which we say to "strike," "cut," or "smite" a covenant. The same practice was received in use even much earlier among the faithful and worshipers of the true God. Hence Genesis chapter 15, verses 9, 10, 17, the Lord, as a sign and confirmation of the covenant entered into with Abraham, commanded that an ox, a ram, and a she-goat be sacrificed and divided through the middle; when this was done, a lamp signifying God passed through the midst of the divided parts, indicating that whoever broke the covenant would be similarly divided. See Jeremiah chapter 34, verse 18; whence berit, that is "covenant" in Hebrew, most derive by metathesis from batar, that is "to divide." Hence Cyril, book 10 Against Julian, near the end, teaches from Sophocles that among later peoples the custom was observed of going through the midst of a fire and holding iron in their hands while they made their oaths. The same was done in this covenant of God with Moses and the Jews: for the blood of the victims was divided, to signify that whoever violated the pact would in like manner pay for the broken faith of the covenant with blood: and since the pact was being struck between God and the people, it was necessary that both God and Israel should divide the blood and be sprinkled with it, and since God is incorporeal and cannot be sprinkled with blood, therefore the altar of sacrifices was stained with blood in His place.
In a similar way Christ the Lord ratified the new covenant and testament with Himself and with His own blood as a victim, and with the blood of the covenantal victim; especially because by this victim and blood He merited for us redemption, grace, an inheritance, and all the good things which He promised us in this covenant of His, Hebrews chapter 9, verse 15 and following; and He expressed this in the institution of the Eucharist, saying: "This is the blood of the new Testament." Whence you may hurl a powerful argument against the Sacramentarians in favor of the truth of the body of Christ: for if the old covenant was ratified with real blood, and this is what is understood when it says here in verse 8: "This is the blood of the covenant which God has made with you," then surely the new covenant also was ratified with real blood; and this is what is understood when therefore it is truly said: "This is the blood of the new Testament;" for this old covenant was the type of the new and true one, and it is certain that Christ was looking back to it in the words just cited.
You will say: Christ calls it the blood of the new Testament, not of the covenant, as Moses calls his own here; therefore this sprinkling of blood is dissimilar.
I respond: Christ calls it a testament, meaning a testamentary covenant, and so covenant and testament in Scripture are often the same thing, as I showed at 1 Corinthians chapter 11, 25. See also what was said on Hebrews chapter 9, 19.
Verse 7: Taking Up the Book of the Covenant
AND TAKING UP THE BOOK OF THE COVENANT, HE READ IT IN THE HEARING OF THE PEOPLE. — This "book" was a scroll which Moses had recently written on Sinai at God's dictation, about which see verse 4, which contained the aforesaid commandments of God, and all the words of the Lord from chapter 20 up to this chapter 24. Moses therefore read this book containing the commandments of God (for these were the conditions of the covenant to be entered into with God) to the people; the people then promised that they would observe them: and finally Moses, acting as a sort of herald, ratifying and confirming the covenant between God and the people, sprinkled the people with the blood of the victims.
Verse 8: He Sprinkled the Blood upon the People
AND HE TOOK THE BLOOD AND SPRINKLED IT UPON THE PEOPLE. — The blood sprinkled upon the people signified the blood of Christ sprinkled upon us. The Apostle, Hebrews chapter 9, verse 19, adds several things which Moses is silent about here; for he writes thus: "Taking the blood of calves and goats with water, and scarlet wool and hyssop, he sprinkled both the book itself and all the people." For Moses narrates these things briefly, which Paul, partly by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, partly from the custom of the legal rite which he had learned from Sacred Scripture and from actual practice was customarily employed in such purifications, supplied and expressed; for that water was customarily mixed with blood in sacred sprinklings is clear from Exodus chapter 12, verse 22. The same is clear regarding scarlet, that is scarlet wool, and hyssop, from Numbers chapter 19, verses 6 and 18. Again, that goats were also offered along with the calves is clear, because the goat, as aptly representing sin by its stench, was customarily offered for sin, as is clear from Leviticus chapter 9, verses 3 and 15. Whence it fittingly prefigured Christ, who took upon Himself our sins to be expiated.
Note: In the ancient purifications of the Hebrews, water was added to the blood lest the blood congeal, but rather become more liquid and spreadable, and thus suitable for sprinkling upon so great a multitude. Again, allegorically, this water and blood of the victims were a figure and type of the blood and water flowing from the side of Christ, and consequently were a type of Baptism and the Eucharist; for water represents Baptism, and blood represents the Eucharist.
Second, in the purifications, scarlet wool and hyssop were used, so that from them a sprinkler might be made; for they are very well suited to this both because of their density and because of the retentive power they possess: for they absorb moisture just like a sponge. Again, allegorically, the wool signified the whiteness and innocence of Christ, that is, the flesh of Christ, which is white in itself, but made scarlet on account of our sins, that is, reddened with the blood of the Passion.
Hyssop, however, was a type, first, of the charity and grace of Christ, for hyssop is hot by nature: whence it serves the mystery, and by its heat and fervor denotes the most ardent ardors of the Holy Spirit, with which the minds of the pious are set ablaze. Second, hyssop was a type of the humility and humanity of Christ, through which God healed our pride and other sins: for hyssop is a lowly herb, and, as Dioscorides teaches in book 3, chapter 28, it heals swelling of the lungs, which is a symbol of pride, as Rupert noted.
Verse 10: They Saw the God of Israel
AND THEY SAW THE GOD OF ISRAEL, — not through His essence, but through a shadow, that is, in some sensible form which the will of God chose and which human frailty could bear. Whence the Chaldean translates: and they saw the glory of the God of Israel. The Septuagint departs further, supplying another more remote noun, namely "place": "And they saw the place," they say, "where the God of Israel stood." And this in order to veil this vision of God, lest these elders be thought to have seen God in His essence and divine form.
You will ask, in what form God here — that is, the Angel acting in God's place — presented Himself to the elders to be seen? Abulensis answers that God appeared here in the form of a luminous cloud, within which the majesty of God seemed to be hidden, so that the unlearned Jews thought that the feet of God rested in the lower part of this cloud, and in the upper part toward heaven the rest of His body, and in this respect it is said here that under the feet of God, that is, under the lowest part of the cloud, in which the feet of God were believed to be, there was as it were a work of sapphire stone; for that God did not appear here in the form of a man, or of an animal, or of anything else, is clear from Deuteronomy chapter 4, verse 15, where it says: "You saw no likeness on the day when the Lord spoke to you at Horeb from the midst of the fire; lest perhaps, being deceived, you make for yourselves a carved likeness," etc.
Others, however, such as Lyra, Cajetan, and Prado on Ezekiel chapter 1, more correctly judge that God here showed Himself in human form, namely in the appearance of a magnificent prince and royal lawgiver; whence in the Hebrew, instead of "God," the tetragrammaton name of God is not used, but rather Elohim, which signifies God as a prince and judge; hence God was also seen here to have feet, and to have a sapphire footstool under His feet: for God wished by this appearance to demonstrate and impress upon the elders, and through them upon the people, both the majesty of the lawgiver and a sense of awe. Hieronymus Prado on Ezekiel chapter 1, and certain others, add that God appeared here to the elders as well as to Moses in human form, seated upon a chariot of Cherubim, which four living creatures, namely four Cherubim having the appearance of an ox, an eagle, a lion, and a man, attended: in which form God was seen by Ezekiel, chapter 1, and by St. John, Apocalypse chapter 4: so that according to the pattern and form of this vision, Moses fashioned the ark and the Cherubim as a sort of chariot of God's glory; for there is no doubt that God showed Moses the model of these things on Sinai, so that they might be fashioned according to it; for this is what is said in chapter 25, last verse: "Make it according to the pattern that was shown to you on the mountain." But I shall speak of this more fully at chapter 25, verse 18.
Allegorically, this human appearance of God as the old lawgiver signified the incarnation of the Word as the new lawgiver. So Lyra and others.
To the argument of Abulensis the response is that in Deuteronomy chapter 4, the discussion concerns not this secret and private vision which was made to Moses and the elders, but the public one, which was made to all the people when God promulgated the Decalogue to them from Sinai, chapter 19, 18, and chapter 20, 18: for the people were prone to idolatry; whence God did not wish to show Himself to them in any appearance of a man or animal, lest they fashion an idol of it: but this danger did not exist with Moses and the elders, since they were wise and chosen men. Whence it is established from chapter 25, last verse, that God in fact showed Moses the pattern of the ark, the Cherubim, and the entire tabernacle.
AND UNDER HIS FEET. — For God appeared here as a man and a magnificent prince. Note: In Scripture, human members are attributed to God, not because God truly has a body, as the Anthropomorphites held, but so that He may accommodate Himself to the imagination and senses of men, and may signify something mystical and spiritual that fittingly corresponds to them. Whence St. Augustine, epistle 111, which is about seeing God, says thus: "When we hear of wings in God, we understand protection; when hands, operation; when feet, presence; when eyes, vision; when face, the knowledge by which He makes Himself known." And in the same place he cites St. Jerome on Psalm 93 saying: "God is entirely eye, because He sees all things; entirely hand, because He works all things; entirely foot, because He is everywhere. Therefore see what he says: 'He who planted the ear, shall He not hear? Or He who formed the eyes, shall He not consider?' And he did not say: 'He who planted the ear; therefore He Himself does not have an ear: He who formed the eyes; therefore He Himself does not have eyes.' But what did he say? 'He who planted the ear, shall He not hear? He who formed the eyes, shall He not consider?' He took away the members, but gave the efficacies." He treats these matters at length in the book On the Essence of the Divinity, and St. Thomas, Part I, Question 3, article 1.
AND UNDER HIS FEET AS IT WERE A WORK OF SAPPHIRE STONE, AND AS IT WERE THE SKY WHEN IT IS CLEAR, — that is to say: Under the feet of God there appeared as it were a pavement made of sapphire. By this symbol was signified the most splendid and excellent majesty of God, which far surpasses all the brilliance and splendor of the sky and of gems, and treads it under His feet. For "sapphire is the gem of gems," says Abulensis; "whence among the gods of the Gentiles, sapphire was held in great reverence, because without it no oracles were given." And Pierius, Hieroglyphics 41: "Sapphire," he says, "was always held in great veneration among the ancients, since it is clear that through it sovereignty and the supreme priesthood were signified." Whence Aelian, book 14, chapter 34, teaches that among the Egyptians the supreme priest (who was also the supreme judge) customarily wore around his neck an image made of sapphire, which was called Truth.
Even now the Supreme Pontiff sends a sapphire to each newly created Cardinal. And Rueus, who asserts: "That sapphire once held the highest authority among men and favor among the gods, antiquity itself attests." For sapphire is most beautiful, because it shines with golden points like stars. Whence in Hebrew it is called sappir from "number," namely of stars; or, as St. Jerome says, from scaphir, that is, "beautiful." Furthermore, sapphire is effective "against melancholy, and quartan fever, and melancholic humors," according to Avicenna, Albert the Great, and Mattioli, book 5, chapter 66. Finally, sapphire, says Galen and Dioscorides, "taken as a drink, helps those stung by a scorpion, and is drunk against intestinal ulcerations, and binds broken membranes, and inhibits growths and pustules in the eyes." Sapphire therefore is a symbol of divine vigor and joy.
Anagogically, these things foreshadowed the solidity, purity, and loftiness of the heavenly kingdom, in which God is promised to us. So Rupert and St. Augustine, Question 102. For the color of sapphire is blue, sprinkled with golden little stars, so that it mirrors the appearance of the sky itself. Now the blue color which we behold in the sky is nothing other than the profundity of the highest light: this therefore aptly signifies the immensity of the divinity, as it were an ocean of incomprehensible light, in whose sight and contemplation the keen edge of the human mind seems to utterly vanish. Furthermore, it signifies the serenity and eternity of divine blessedness.
Allegorically, this sapphire footstool of God signified the most pure brightness of the Blessed Virgin, in whom, as upon a footstool, the Son of God deigned to sit, when He was conceived and born in her. So Rabbi Moses and Rabbi Haccados, cited in Galatinus, book 7, last chapter.
In the Hebrew and the Septuagint, instead of "stone" there is "brick"; for they have: and under His feet as it were a work of sapphire brick. But "brick" here is taken as "stone"; whence Vatablus, the Chaldean, R. David, and others here translate: as it were a work of sapphire stone. This brick, therefore, was a stone, that is a gem, as to its nature and splendor; but it was also a brick as to its square, or rather rectangular, shape; for it was here an image of the future mercy-seat.
Add this: this stone appeared to be a brick, as to its whiteness; for hence "brick" in Hebrew is called lebenah, that is "white," because it becomes white when baked in a furnace. Finally, by the brick, says R. Solomon, God signified that He was mindful of the affliction of the Hebrews in brick and Egyptian clay, and that He had now changed it into sapphire. Finally, from this passage the Hebrews hand down or conjecture that the stone tablets on which God inscribed the law were made of sapphire, as I shall discuss at chapter 31, last verse.
Verse 11: He Did Not Lay His Hand upon Them
AND UPON THOSE WHO HAD WITHDRAWN FAR OFF FROM THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL, HE DID NOT LAY HIS HAND; AND THEY SAW GOD, AND THEY ATE AND DRANK. — So read the Roman and all other editions, except the Complutensian, which erroneously reads: "and also upon those," etc., in the opposite sense. The meaning is: Upon the elders who had withdrawn from the common people and had ascended the mountain with Moses, God did not lay His hand, that is, God did not strike, did not harm the princes of Israel who had seen Him; for they ate and drank afterward, as if glad and exulting in this august and delightful vision of God — which was proof that they had not been killed or harmed by God, even though it is written: "No man shall see Me and live." Whence formerly there was a common belief and fear that whoever saw God would be struck dead by God; an example of this is in Manoah, Judges chapter 13, 22, and in the people after hearing the law, Deuteronomy chapter 5, verse 24. Rightly therefore Moses says here that these elders saw God, and yet were not killed or harmed. Whence the Chaldean translates: But upon the princes of the children of Israel there was no harm; for the Hebrew word atsile, meaning those who are separated and withdrawn, also means magnates and princes, who are separated from the common people by honor and rank. Now "to lay one's hand" upon someone means to strike or harm someone. Vatablus and the more recent commentators generally follow the Chaldean, as if Moses were saying: It was not permitted for the common people and those who were with the people to see God in any sensible image, lest they fashion an idol of it; but for the elders who were separated from the people, and, as the Septuagint translates, the chosen of the children of Israel, it was permitted to see God in this way: for they were prudent, faithful, steadfast men who feared God. Abulensis explains this differently, namely thus: The elders of the people saw the God of Israel, yet God Himself did not lay His hand upon those who were far off, that is, He did not hide Himself from the people who were far away, but rather manifested Himself to them, as also to the elders; for "to place the hand" sometimes among the Hebrews means to conceal, as is clear from Exodus chapter 33, verse 22. But this sense is more remote and obscure; the former therefore is the genuine one.
Verse 13: Moses Ascending into the Mountain of God
MOSES ASCENDING INTO THE MOUNTAIN OF GOD, — that is, into the higher parts of Mount Sinai: whence afterward he was called to the very summit to receive the tablets of the law on the seventh day. So Hugh.
AND JOSHUA HIS MINISTER. — See here how Moses was content with one minister. Therefore Moses, the prince, leader, lawgiver, and high priest of the people, lived a life of poverty in his governance, using only Joshua as his minister; he did not want a throng of servants, horses, and carriages. He also lived daily on the same food, indeed the same portion of food as the other Hebrews, namely one omer of manna, so as to give posterity and princes an example of modesty, frugality, and temperance, by which they should make themselves equal to the people as far as possible, and not burden them with taxes for their own luxury; nor should they ambitiously exalt themselves among them or strive to lord it over them proudly.
Verse 14: Wait Here until We Return
HE SAID TO THE ELDERS: WAIT HERE. — That is, here with the people; for "here" is to be taken broadly, and perhaps Moses was pointing with his finger to the very camps of the people, as if to say: It is enough, elders, that you have accompanied me this far and have worshiped the Lord; stay here, do not ascend with me, but return to the camps, so that you may preside over the people and keep them in order; for in the camps not long after, Aaron fashioned the golden calf for the people, and was therefore found and rebuked by Moses, who was descending from the mountain with Joshua alone.
IF ANY QUESTION SHALL ARISE, YOU SHALL REFER IT TO THEM. — In the Hebrew: a man of words, that is, of causes or disputes, who namely has some cause or dispute, he "shall come before them," that is, before Hur and Aaron so that they may decide the case: the people therefore from the camps to the elders, and these to Hur and Aaron, are here commanded to refer questions that arose in Moses' absence.
Verse 16: The Glory of the Lord Dwelt upon Sinai
AND THE GLORY OF THE LORD DWELT UPON SINAI. — "Glory," that is, the majesty of the Lord manifesting itself through wondrous appearances, namely darkness and fire.
COVERING IT WITH A CLOUD FOR SIX DAYS. — God willed that during these six days Moses be drawn away and purified from all earthly thought and care, and be elevated by hope and prayer to the contemplation of heavenly things, and thus be prepared for conversation with God, or rather with the angel.
Verse 17: Like a Burning Fire upon the Top of the Mountain
AND THE APPEARANCE OF THE GLORY OF THE LORD WAS LIKE A BURNING FIRE. — The word "like" here does not signify a resemblance, but the truth of the thing, just as in John chapter 1, verse 14: "We saw Him as the Only-begotten." And 1 Corinthians chapter 3, verse 15: "He shall be saved, yet so as through fire." And 1 Peter chapter 2, verse 13: "Whether to the king as excelling;" here therefore it was a true appearance of fire, and a true fire.
This vision was different from that of the elders in verse 10. For here all the people saw only the appearance of fire, as also in chapter 20, verse 18. The cloud therefore covered the entire mountain, but at its summit the appearance of fire, which was a sign of God, stood out, and this vision remained for the full 40 days during which Moses was on the mountain, so that the Israelites would not despair of his return.
Verse 18: Moses Entered the Midst of the Cloud
AND MOSES ENTERED INTO THE MIDST OF THE CLOUD AND WENT UP INTO THE MOUNTAIN. — Leaving Joshua on the mountain, Moses ascended higher to the summit of the mountain, to converse with the angel acting in God's place and to receive the tablets of the law.
Tropologically, whoever seeks God and desires to converse with Him should withdraw to the cloud, that is, to the secret place of the heart, should despise all things that are seen, should seek lofty things, and should transfer his mind to invisible things. So Gregory of Nyssa and Rupert.
So in the Lives of the Fathers, book 6, near the end, the elders say: "When Moses entered the cloud, he spoke with God; but when he came out of the cloud, he was with the people. So also the monk, when he is in his cell, speaks with God; but going out of his cell, he is with the demons." Again, in book 5, chapter 7, number 38, the elder says: "The cell of the monk is that Babylonian furnace where the three youths found the Son of God; but it is also the pillar of cloud from which God spoke to Moses." And golden is that saying of Blessed Nilus, who was a disciple of St. Chrysostom: "He who loves quiet remains impenetrable to the arrows of the enemy; but he who mingles with the multitude will receive frequent wounds."
AND HE WAS THERE FORTY DAYS. — It is added in Deuteronomy 9, 9, that during those forty days Moses ate nothing and drank nothing; for Moses lived then by the word and conversation of God, and was sustained by divine power together with Joshua. For the same number of days Joshua remained waiting for the return of Moses at that place of his (from which Moses had departed when summoned to the summit), devoted to contemplation, as it is reasonable to believe, following Moses' example; but whether Joshua, like Moses, lived without food and drink for forty days is uncertain. Abulensis judges that Joshua was nourished by manna falling there, and by the torrent which is said to descend from the mountain in Deuteronomy 9, 21.
Some think that Moses, beyond the six days mentioned in verse 16, spent an additional forty days on the mountain with God, so that in total he was there forty-six days. But it is more true that he was on the mountain for only forty days altogether, and this is gathered from Deuteronomy 9, 9, 11, and 18. The six days, therefore, mentioned in verse 16, are included within these forty.
Note: The number forty is frequent and sacred in Scripture through the fasting of Moses, Elijah, and Christ. Again, through the 42 encampments, or stations of the Hebrews in the desert; moreover through the 40 years of their wandering in the same, during which, continually lacking earthly food, they were fed with heavenly manna, until they came to the promised land: just as Christians during the 40 days of fasting strive toward the resurrection; and these days of fasting, on account of that ancient figure of the wandering and stations of the Hebrews in the desert, are also called "stations" by the Fathers, as by Cassian, Conferences 21, chapters 28 and 29, where he also calls Lent the annual tithe, because it is itself the tenth part of the year, and thus through it we pay, as it were, the tithes of the year to God. They are also so called by Hermas, who is also called the Shepherd, book 3, chapter 5: "What is a fast?" he says, "It is a station," because it is, as it were, a set day for fasting; and by Ambrose, sermon 25: "Fasts are called stations," he says, "because by standing and remaining in them, we repel the enemies who lie in ambush;" and by Tertullian, in the book On Prayer at the end, where he says: "The station is to be broken by receiving the body of the Lord (for formerly Christians used to assemble almost daily in the evening for prayer, as for a station, and in it, fasting, they celebrated the supper of Christ and communicated; for they fasted until evening, that is, until the Eucharistic supper). But if the term 'station' takes its name from military usage (for we too are soldiers of God), then surely no sadness or joy befalling the camp annuls the soldiers' stations; for joy will administer discipline more willingly, and sadness more carefully." So Tertullian; the same author, in the book On Fasting: "The stations of the fourth and sixth days of the week," he says, that is, fasts. See the note of Pammelius on Tertullian's book On Prayer, at the end.
So Simeon Stylites — who stood on a pillar day and night for eighty years, and spent twenty-eight complete Lenten seasons without any food or drink, so that he was rightly considered a prodigy of the world, and seemed to be not so much a man as an angel. But hear more, and these mere men: Lucian in the Philopatris bears witness that Christians were accustomed to observe the Lenten fast so strictly that they would go ten days without food. Gregory of Nazianzus writes to Hellenius that there were many monks in Pontus who abstained from food for a full twenty days and nights, imitating half the fast of Christ and Moses, and he testifies that one of these was under his authority. St. Augustine, epistle 86 to Casulanus, reports that he knew some who kept a perpetual fast beyond a week; and he adds: "That a certain person reached the very number of forty was assured to us by trustworthy brethren." St. Jerome, epistle 7 to Laeta, on the education of her daughter, forbidding the burdens of abstinence at a tender age: "In Lent, however," he says, "the sails of temperance must be spread, and the charioteer must give full rein to the horses that hasten." The same author, writing to Marcella about Asella: "When," he says, "she fed throughout the whole year on continuous fasting, remaining thus for two or three days at a time; then indeed in Lent she would spread the sails of her vessel, joining almost entire weeks with a cheerful countenance, and thus she reached her fiftieth year, so that her stomach did not ache, nor was she tortured by injury to her internal organs." The Emperor Justinian led a hard life during Lent: "He abstained from food for two days; though desiring food, he wanted wine, bread, and similar foodstuffs to be absent; he ate only cabbage and wild herbs macerated with salt and vinegar; his only drink was water, and he did not use even these to the point of satiety; but having briefly tasted the food he had requested, he soon set it aside, not having consumed enough for nature," says Procopius, book 1, On the Buildings of the Emperor Justinian; and thus armed with fasting he conquered the Persians, the Goths, the Vandals, and other barbarians.
The early monks would withdraw into the desert during Lent, devoted entirely to fasting and contemplation, as Zosimas narrates in the Life of St. Mary of Egypt. St. Francis, besides the paschal Lent, fasted two additional Lenten periods: one before the feast of the Assumption, in honor of the Blessed Virgin; another after that feast, in honor of the Holy Angels: whence at the end of this fast, as a reward, the sacred stigmata of Christ were imprinted upon him, he received. So says St. Bonaventure in his Life. The monks of Tabennesi spent Lent eating only foods not cooked by fire; Abbot Paul of Galatia with a measure of lentils and a small vessel of water; Adolius eating only after every five days; Macarius of Alexandria eating nothing except a few raw cabbage leaves on Sunday, never bending the knee, never reclining, always standing. So it is recorded in the Lives of the Fathers.
Symbolically, Bede says: Moses was with the Lord for forty days, so that by this number he might learn that only those can fulfill the Decalogue whom the truth of evangelical grace, to be described in four books (the Gospels), would assist; for four times ten makes forty. Again, by this number forty were signified the ten commandments, which during these forty days Moses received from God, to be proclaimed to the four regions of the world, that is, to all nations, in the time of the Gospel.