Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
God promises twenty-eight blessings to the Jews, if they keep His laws. Secondly, at verse 14, He threatens them with as many and more curses, if they do not keep them.
Vulgate Text: Leviticus 26:1-45
1. I am the Lord your God: You shall not make for yourselves an idol or a graven image, nor shall you erect pillars, nor shall you set up a notable stone in your land to worship it: for I am the Lord your God. 2. Keep My sabbaths, and reverence My Sanctuary. I am the Lord. 3. If you walk in My precepts, and keep My commandments, and do them; 4. I will give you rains in their seasons, and the earth shall bring forth its produce, and the trees shall be filled with fruit. 5. The threshing of the harvest shall overtake the vintage, and the vintage shall occupy the sowing time; and you shall eat your bread to the full, and shall dwell without fear in your land. 6. I will give peace in your borders: you shall sleep, and there shall be none to terrify you. I will remove evil beasts, and the sword shall not pass through your borders. 7. You shall pursue your enemies, and they shall fall before you; 8. five of you shall pursue a hundred strangers, and a hundred of you, ten thousand: your enemies shall fall by the sword in your sight. 9. I will look upon you, and make you increase; you shall be multiplied, and I will establish My covenant with you. 10. You shall eat the oldest of the old store, and shall cast out the old when the new comes upon you. 11. I will set My tabernacle in the midst of you, and My soul shall not reject you. 12. I will walk among you, and will be your God, and you shall be My people. 13. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of the Egyptians, that you should not serve them, and who broke the chains of your necks, that you might walk upright.
14. But if you will not hear Me, nor do all My commandments, 15. if you despise My laws, and contemn My judgments, so as not to do those things which I have established, and to bring My covenant to nothing: 16. I also will do these things to you: I will quickly visit you with poverty, and burning heat, which shall consume your eyes, and waste your lives. You shall sow your seed in vain, for it shall be devoured by enemies. 17. I will set My face against you, and you shall fall before your enemies, and shall be subjected to those who hate you; you shall flee, when no one pursues. 18. But if not even so you will obey Me, I will add sevenfold chastisements for your sins, 19. and I will break the pride of your hardness. And I will give you a heaven above like iron, and an earth of brass. 20. Your labor shall be consumed in vain; the earth shall not bring forth its produce, nor shall the trees yield their fruit. 21. If you walk contrary to Me, and will not hear Me, I will add plagues upon you sevenfold for your sins. 22. And I will send in upon you the beasts of the field, which shall consume you and your cattle, and shall reduce all things to fewness, and your ways shall become desolate. 23. But if not even so you will receive discipline, but walk contrary to Me: 24. I also will walk contrary to you, and will strike you seven times for your sins. 25. And I will bring upon you the sword that shall avenge My covenant. And when you shall flee into the cities, I will send pestilence in the midst of you, and you shall be delivered into the hands of enemies, 26. after I shall have broken the staff of your bread: so that ten women shall bake bread in one oven, and give it out by weight: and you shall eat, and shall not be filled. 27. But if not even by these things you will hear Me, but will walk against Me; 28. I also will walk against you in contrary fury, and I will chastise you with seven plagues for your sins, 29. so that you shall eat the flesh of your sons and your daughters. 30. I will destroy your high places, and break your idols. You shall fall among the ruins of your idols, and My soul shall abhor you, 31. insomuch that I will bring your cities into desolation, and will make your Sanctuaries desert, nor will I receive any more your sweet odors.
32. And I will destroy your land, and your enemies shall be astonished at it, when they shall be its inhabitants. 33. And I will scatter you among the Nations, and I will draw out the sword after you, and your land shall be desert, and your cities destroyed. 34. Then shall the land enjoy its sabbaths all the days of its desolation: when you shall be 35. in the land of the enemy, it shall rest, and shall repose in the sabbaths of its desolation, because it did not rest in your sabbaths when you dwelt in it. 36. And as for those of you who shall remain, I will give terror into their hearts in the regions of their enemies; the sound of a flying leaf shall terrify them, and they shall flee as from the sword; they shall fall, with no one pursuing, 37. and they shall fall each upon his brother, as if fleeing from war; none of you shall dare to resist the enemies. 38. You shall perish among the nations, and the land of your enemies shall consume you. 39. And if any of these shall remain, they shall waste away in their iniquities, in the land of their enemies, and they shall be afflicted for the sins of their fathers and their own: 40. until they confess their iniquities and those of their ancestors, by which they have transgressed against Me, and walked contrary to Me. 41. I therefore also will walk against them, and bring them into the land of their enemies, until their uncircumcised mind be ashamed: then shall they pray for their impieties. 42. And I will remember My covenant which I made with Jacob, and Isaac, and Abraham. I will remember also the land, 43. which, when it shall be left by them, shall enjoy its sabbaths, enduring solitude on their account. But they themselves shall pray for their sins, because they cast off My judgments, and despised My laws. 44. And yet even when they were in the land of their enemies, I did not utterly cast them off, nor so despise them that they should be consumed, and I should make void My covenant with them. For I am the Lord their God, 45. and I will remember My former covenant, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the Nations, that I might be their God. I am the Lord. These are the judgments and precepts and laws, which the Lord gave between Himself and the children of Israel on Mount Sinai by the hand of Moses.
Verse 1: You Shall Not Make for Yourselves an Idol
1. YOU SHALL NOT MAKE FOR YOURSELVES AN IDOL. -- For "idol," the Hebrew is אלילים elilim, that is, "little gods," about which I spoke at chapter 19, verse 4; and likewise by "graven image" understand a graven image not of a legitimate image, but of an idol.
NOR PILLARS, -- In Hebrew, nor a statue, that is, of some idol, or that you might worship that statue. So Radulphus.
NOR A NOTABLE STONE. -- In Hebrew, nor a stone of painting or engraving, that is, a painted or engraved stone, namely with the insignia of some idol. The Septuagint, and from them Tertullian, translate, nor a stone of a mark, that is, nor a prominent stone, which you might constantly gaze upon and observe as a mark, for the purpose of worshipping an idol upon it. The Chaldean translates, nor a stone of worship; for this will be the end and use of this stone: perhaps also the Chaldean for משכית maschit with caph, that is, of painting, read משחית maschit with chet, that is, of worship, from the root שחח, that is, he bowed himself down, and by bowing worshipped: whence there also follows: "That you may worship it;" in Hebrew it is, that you may worship toward it, or before it, or that you may bow yourselves to it. So also the Septuagint; Vatablus however and the Chaldean translate, that you may worship upon it, as if to say: So that leaning or reclining upon this stone, you may worship the idol placed upon it.
Verse 2: Reverence My Sanctuary
2. REVERENCE MY SANCTUARY. -- In Hebrew, fear and reverence my sanctuary, that is, hold and venerate my tabernacle and temple with reverence.
Verse 3: If You Walk in My Precepts
3. IF YOU WALK IN MY PRECEPTS, etc., I WILL GIVE YOU RAINS. -- Note: From this verse 3 to verse 43, God promises and assigns 29 (Hesychius counts 30) blessings and good things to come to those who keep the laws of God; for you will find that many in the Septuagint version, if you distinguish one from another by the conjunction, and count all the copulas "and," although in the Hebrew and in the Latin version there are only 28.
The first blessing therefore is: "I will give you rains in their seasons;" the second: "The earth shall bring forth its seed;" the third: "The trees shall be filled with fruit," and so on in order.
Plutarch reports in the Banquet of the Seven Sages that they asked among themselves: "What house is the best, what family the most blessed? The first, he says, Solon answered: That in which nothing has been unjustly acquired, and in which there is no room for distrust in preserving it, or for regret in spending it. The second, Bias said: That in which the master of his own accord behaves at home as the law compels him to behave abroad. The third Thales: That, he said, in which the most leisure is granted to the master. The fourth, Cleobulus: That in which there are more who love than who fear the master. The sixth, Pittacus: That in which neither superfluous things are sought, nor necessary things are lacking. The seventh, Chilon: That which is like a city in which a wise king rules."
These are true, but truer still is Moses here: "That family is the most blessed which hearkens to God, and therefore is blessed by Him on every side."
Verse 5: The Threshing Shall Overtake the Vintage
5. THE THRESHING OF THE HARVEST SHALL OVERTAKE THE VINTAGE, AND THE VINTAGE SHALL OCCUPY THE SOWING TIME, -- that is to say: So great will be your abundance of grain and wine, that before you have finished the threshing, the vintage will begin; the vintage in turn will be so great, that you will not finish it before the time for sowing arrives; indeed, it will also occupy the time for sowing: a similar expression is found in Amos 9:43.
Tropologically Radulphus says: Every good action, he says, is as much a harvest as a seed, because the joy which our mind conceives from labors already performed germinates the desire for new ones, so that as the seed of action is multiplied, the harvest of recompense is also multiplied. See him, as also Hesychius, who explains these temporal blessings spiritually, so that what follows: "You shall sleep, and there shall be none to terrify you," means: When you die (for the death of the Saints is only a sleep, on account of the hope of resurrection), neither demon nor conscience shall terrify you, because you will be conscious of nothing for which you should be terrified. Thus rain is the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and His grace.
Verse 6: The Sword Shall Not Pass Through Your Borders
6. THE SWORD (of the enemy) SHALL NOT PASS THROUGH YOUR BORDERS, -- you shall fear neither enemies nor wars.
Verse 8: Five of You Shall Pursue a Hundred
8. Five of you shall pursue a hundred. -- So Gideon with three hundred overthrew innumerable Midianites, Judges 7:22; the Maccabees did the same.
Verse 10: You Shall Eat the Oldest of the Old Store
10. YOU SHALL EAT THE OLDEST OF THE OLD STORE. -- In Hebrew, you shall eat old that has grown old, that is to say: I will multiply you, and at the same time multiply your provisions, to such a degree that you will not be able to consume them on account of their multitude and abundance, but will be compelled to keep them for a very long time, and even to cast them out, as the sweetness and abundance of new crops comes upon you.
Verse 12: I Will Walk Among You
12. I will walk among you. -- I will take such great care of you, as if I were walking among you on every side and all around, so that no opportunity would be given to enemies to invade or oppress you, since I walk about on every side protecting you and fighting for you, as a most powerful guardian and champion.
See the commentary on 2 Corinthians 6, at the end of the chapter.
Verse 13: I Broke the Chains of Your Necks
13. I BROKE THE CHAINS OF YOUR NECKS, -- I rescued you from Egyptian slavery, that you might be free.
Verses 14, 15, and 16: The Curses for Disobedience
14, 15 and 16. BUT IF YOU WILL NOT HEAR ME, AND BRING MY COVENANT TO NOTHING (if you do not keep the agreements of the pact, if namely you do not observe My laws, which you agreed and pledged to observe).
I WILL VISIT YOU QUICKLY WITH POVERTY AND BURNING HEAT -- The Septuagint translates: I will send upon you haste (trembling and flight), and want, and the scab, and jaundice; for the Hebrew word קדחת kaddachat means jaundice or the royal disease, which arises from inflammation, and especially attacks the eyes, says Hesychius. The Chaldean translates: I will visit you with disturbance, want, and burning heat that darken the eyes and cause the soul to expire; Vatablus: I will visit you with terror, wasting or consumption, and burning fever, which consume the eyes and cause the spirit to waste away.
Note: just as in verse 3 God promised twenty-nine blessings to those who keep His laws, so here He threatens those who do not keep them with as many and more and graver curses and evils.
For Cicero says admirably, in book 5 of On the Nature of the Gods: "As neither a house, he says, nor a commonwealth would seem to have been established by any plan or discipline, if in it there were no rewards for right deeds, nor punishments for sins: so surely there is no divine governance of the world over men, if in it there is no distinction between good and evil."
Socrates, when asked "what city could be rightly governed," answered: "That in which the good are invited by rewards, and the unjust pay penalties."
Lysander, when asked "what commonwealth he most approved," replied: "That in which suitable things are rendered to brave men and to cowardly ones alike." So Plutarch in the Laconian Apophthegms.
Xenophon in his Economics says that animals are brought to obedience by two things, namely by enticement, if the animal is of a nobler sort, like a horse; and by blows, if it is more stubborn or duller, like a donkey. Thus men who are hard and base must be driven to duty by punishments, the generous by rewards. "For there is nothing, says Livy, Decade 1, book 4, that men will not undertake, if great rewards are set before those who attempt great things."
Moreover these punishments are severe, just as the rewards are, both because they are proposed by God, and because they are enacted for the hard-hearted Jews. "For light punishments, as Dionysius of Halicarnassus says, book 2, cannot restrain the madness of youth and the ferocity of character, nor lead back to temperance those who despise honorable things."
Finally Theophrastus, when asked "what preserves human life," replied: "Beneficence, honor, and punishment."
And Lycurgus used to say that "a commonwealth is held together by two things, reward and punishment."
Solon said the same; for just as from the viper, the crocodile, and other most noxious beasts, physicians prepare remedies effective against poisons and diseases: so punishment of the guilty either deters or restrains many from crimes.
SHALL CONSUME YOUR SOULS, -- that is, your lives.
Verse 19: The Pride of Your Hardness
19. THE PRIDE OF YOUR HARDNESS, -- your proud stubbornness.
I Will Give You a Heaven Like Iron
I WILL GIVE YOU A HEAVEN ABOVE LIKE IRON, AND AN EARTH OF BRASS, -- that is to say: I will close heaven to you, that is, the clouds, so that it may be hard like iron, and deny its benefit to your lands, and not rain upon them. I will also make the earth brazen, so that it will no more receive seeds and heavenly influences than brass does; and thus it will yield you either no fruits at all, or few and scanty ones. St. Ambrose beautifully applies this thought in epistle 5 to Romulus.
Verse 21: If You Walk Contrary to Me
21. IF YOU WALK CONTRARY TO ME, -- if you are adverse and disobedient to Me; it is a catachresis; the Septuagint translates: If you walk against Me crookedly: the Chaldean: If you walk before Me in hardness. Vatablus translates: If you walk with Me by chance, that is, if you say that the evils which I send upon you happen by chance. For the Hebrew קרי keri, that is, encounter, signifies both what is adverse and what is accidental; whence the following words can also be translated: I also will walk with you by chance, as if to say: I will no longer care for you; I will deal with you in such a way that all your affairs will seem to happen by chance. If you think that I do not care for mortal things, I will not care for your affairs; I will leave you to the wheel of fortune, that you may be turned with it, and be the sport of lot and chance.
Verse 24: I Will Walk Against You as an Adversary
24. I ALSO WILL WALK AGAINST YOU AS AN ADVERSARY, -- as an enemy invading, punishing, and slaughtering you.
I WILL STRIKE YOU SEVEN TIMES, -- I will strike you with a full, complete, and manifold plague. For the number seven is a symbol of perfection and multitude.
Verse 26: After I Shall Have Broken the Staff of Your Bread
26. AFTER I SHALL HAVE BROKEN THE STAFF OF YOUR BREAD, -- that is to say: After I shall have sent famine upon you, which will compel you to surrender to the besieging enemy, as happened in both destructions of Jerusalem, namely that accomplished by the Babylonians and that by the Romans.
Note: bread is called a staff, because it is the support of life, and human life leans upon it as upon a staff. A similar expression is found in Psalm 104:16; Isaiah 3:1, where instead of "strength of bread," the Hebrew has "staff of bread."
AND THEY SHALL GIVE THEM OUT BY WEIGHT, -- that is to say: They will weigh out and distribute bread to you by weight, and you will not eat as much as you wish, or as much as hunger demands.
Verse 28: With Seven Plagues
28. With seven plagues, -- with many other plagues. For thus this expression is understood in verses 21, 24, and elsewhere.
Verse 30: I Will Destroy Your High Places
30. I WILL DESTROY YOUR HIGH PLACES. -- "High places" are the name given to the temples of idols, which the Jews built in elevated places, according to the rite of the Gentiles.
AND I WILL BREAK YOUR IDOLS. -- In Hebrew, for "idols" the word is חמנים hammonim, as if you were to say "solar images" or "images of the sun"; for the sun is called חמה chamma or hamma, from its heat; for חמם hamam means to be hot: whence the Punic Hammon is Jupiter Hammonius, to whom there was a famous temple in Africa, renowned for its image of the sun, as Macrobius attests, in book 1 of the Saturnalia, chapter 21. But here and elsewhere hammonim is taken by synecdoche for any image or idol whatsoever: nevertheless God here especially has regard to Jupiter Hammonius, whom the Jews had seen worshipped, and indeed had themselves worshipped in Egypt, and He forbids them to worship him or similar gods henceforth.
Verse 31: I Will Make Your Sanctuaries Desolate
31. I WILL MAKE YOUR SANCTUARIES DESOLATE, -- whether those which you dedicated to idols, or that which you dedicated to Me, namely My tabernacle or temple.
NOR WILL I RECEIVE ANY MORE YOUR SWEET ODOR, -- the sacrifice of offerings and the burning of your incense, formerly most sweet and most pleasing to Me, will no longer please Me.
Verse 34: Then Shall the Land Enjoy Its Sabbaths
34. THEN SHALL THE LAND ENJOY ITS SABBATHS, -- that is to say: Then your land shall enjoy its rest, when you who have vexed and contaminated it are expelled from it, and are carried away into the land of your enemies: for then the land will metaphorically rejoice in this rest, partly for itself and its liberation, partly for God its avenger, just as before it was grieved at being inhabited and polluted by such impious men, and therefore, as it were, vomited you out. See the commentary at chapter 18, verses 24 and 28.
Verse 35: It Shall Rest in the Sabbaths of Its Solitude
35. AND IT SHALL REST IN THE SABBATHS OF ITS SOLITUDE, BECAUSE IT DID NOT REST IN YOUR SABBATHS, -- that is to say: Because you took away from it the rest of the seventh year, out of greed and desire for crops, and thus transgressed My law: for this reason God will expel you from this land, and thus to the land, left as it were alone, He will restore its sabbath, that is, its rest due to it from My law.
Verse 36: The Sound of a Flying Leaf Shall Terrify Them
36. I WILL GIVE TERROR INTO THEIR HEARTS, etc., THE SOUND OF A FLYING LEAF SHALL TERRIFY THEM. -- This fear is both the companion and the punishment of a bad conscience, just as conversely a good conscience is fearless in all things. God struck this fear into the Jews under Titus, and often at other times; likewise into the Egyptians in the three days of darkness, as I noted at Exodus 10:23; likewise into Cain, Genesis 4:14.
"No punishment, says Isidore, in book 2 of the Soliloquies, is heavier than the punishment of conscience. If you wish never to be sad, live well. A secure mind bears sadness lightly. A good life always has joy, but the conscience of the guilty is always in punishment; never is the guilty mind at ease: for the mind of an evil conscience is driven round by its own goads." Lucan, book 1:
-- All the shades in Caesar;
All the swords that Pharsalia saw,
Or the avenging day shall see, with the senate urging,
Press upon him that night; the infernal monsters scourge him.
Alas, how much punishment does a guilty mind bestow upon the wretch!
Statius, book 3 of the Thebaid:
-- They keep watch upon the mind, and anxieties
Exact the punishment of crime committed; then fear,
The worst prophet in doubtful times, turns over many things.
Euripides in the Orestes:
O wretched Orestes, what disease destroys you? Orestes:
Conscience: for I am conscious to myself of evil deeds committed.
Menander:
For all mortals, conscience is God.
Pythagoras used to say that no one is so bold that a bad conscience does not make him the most timid; for it is stirred and shudders at every wind.
Plutarch, in his book On Tranquility of Mind: "A criminal conscience, like an ulcer in the body, leaves in the soul a repentance that constantly stabs and plucks."
Seneca, epistle 97: "The evils of crimes are scourged by conscience, which has the greatest amount of torments; because perpetual anxiety presses upon it and strikes it, since it cannot trust the guarantors of its security."
Isocrates used to say, "you should by no means hope, if you have done something shameful, that it will remain hidden. For even if you escape the notice of others, yet you yourself will be conscious of the evil."
Epictetus: "Parents hand us as children over to a tutor; but God hands us, now grown men, over to our inborn conscience as guardian."
Nero, after killing his mother, confessed that he was haunted by her apparition, by the lashes of the Furies, and by burning torches. So Dio in his account of Nero.
St. Basil, cited by Antonius in the Melissa, page 1, sermon 16: "As shadows follow bodies, so sins follow souls, and present manifest images of their crimes."
St. Chrysostom, homily 22, On the Repulse of Wickedness: "Just as those who inhabit prison, awaiting capital punishment and death, even if they enjoy pleasures in abundance, lead a life that is most troubled and anxious; so it is with those who are troubled by a wicked conscience." For conscience is a thousand witnesses. "This is the worm that shall not die," constantly gnawing the conscience, Isaiah 66:24.
On the contrary, a good conscience begets confidence and exultation.
Plutarch in his Moralia: "As nepenthes, the herb praised by Homer, added to cups, dispels all the sadness of the feast: so a good mind implanted in us abolishes all the anxiety of life."
Bias, when asked "what thing is free from fear," replied: "A good conscience."
Periander, when asked "what is the greatest thing in the mind," answered: "A good mind in a human body."
The same man, when asked "what is freedom," said: "An upright conscience."
Socrates, when asked "who live in tranquility," said: "Those who are conscious to themselves of no absurdity."
Finally Hugh of St. Victor, book 2 of On the Soul, chapter 6: "A tranquil conscience is one that is sweet to all, burdensome to none; using a friend for kindness, an enemy for patience, everyone for benevolence, those it can for beneficence: to which God imputes neither its own sins, because it did not commit them; nor others' sins, because it did not approve them; nor negligence, because it did not remain silent; nor pride, because it remained in unity."
And again: "A good conscience is the title-deed of religion, the temple of Solomon, a field of blessing, a garden of delights, a golden couch, the joy of angels, the ark of the covenant, the treasury of a king, the court of God, the dwelling-place of the Holy Spirit, a sealed and closed book, to be opened on the day of judgment."
Verse 39: They Shall Waste Away in Their Iniquities
39. THEY SHALL WASTE AWAY IN THEIR INIQUITIES, -- that is to say: On account of their sins they shall be gradually consumed by wasting, together with them. So the Hebrew. The Jews actually experienced these punishments in the Babylonian captivity and in the destruction brought upon them by the Romans, and specifically that of verse 29: "You shall eat the flesh of your sons and your daughters," as is clear from Jeremiah 19:9: "I will feed them, He says, with the flesh of their sons, and with the flesh of their daughters, and everyone shall eat the flesh of his friend in the siege."
Verse 41: Until Their Uncircumcised Mind Be Ashamed
41. UNTIL THEIR UNCIRCUMCISED MIND BE ASHAMED, -- In Hebrew, until their uncircumcised heart be humbled, that is, their wicked heart, luxuriating and full of vain, superfluous, and perverse thoughts. For by circumcision the Jews became holy and clean; but those having the foreskin and the uncircumcised were considered profane, Gentile, and unclean. Whence the name of foreskin and uncircumcised is transferred metaphorically to other things, and signifies unclean, unpolished, unfit, rough, hard, and intractable. Thus in chapter 19, verse 23, the first fruits of trees are called uncircumcised, that is, unclean and unfit for eating. Thus here the heart is called uncircumcised, that is, unclean, and not cut away from its crimes, not purged; but hardened by them and intractable. Thus in Exodus 6:13, Moses says that he is uncircumcised of lips, that is, unpolished and inelegant in speaking. Thus the ears of rebels are called uncircumcised, that is, hard and unfit for hearing, because they stop them up so as not to hear, Jeremiah 6:10, Acts 7:51.
Then They Shall Pray for Their Impieties
THEN THEY SHALL PRAY FOR THEIR IMPIETIES. -- The translator correctly renders "they shall pray," if you point the Hebrew differently and read ירצו iartsu in the active hiphil conjugation, not iirtsu in the qal, as the Hebrews now point and read: for iartsu means "they shall make pleasing," or "they shall cause to be pleased"; while iirtsu means "they shall be pleased"; whence the Chaldean, reading iartsu, translates, "then they shall make satisfaction for their iniquities"; for the preposition בעד bead, that is, "for," is understood in the Hebrew in the usual way. The Septuagint read iirtsu: for they translate tote eudokesousin tas hamartias auton, "then they shall be pleased with their sins," that is, the punishments which they shall suffer for their sins, they will accept placidly and humbly, as penitents. So Hesychius and Vatablus. The word eudokesousin could also be taken by antiphrasis and ironically, as if to say: Then their sins will displease them, then they will hold them in hatred and abomination.
Verse 43: The Land Shall Enjoy Its Sabbaths
43. THE LAND SHALL ENJOY ITS SABBATHS, -- that is: Then the land shall enjoy its rest; see what was said at verse 34.
Verse 44: I Did Not Utterly Reject Them
44. AND YET WHEN THEY WERE IN A HOSTILE LAND, I DID NOT UTTERLY REJECT THEM, NOR DID I SO DESPISE THEM. -- These past tenses are to be taken as futures in the prophetic manner: "when they were," that is, when they shall be; "I did not reject, nor did I despise," that is, I shall not reject, nor shall I despise. For throughout this entire chapter there is a continuous prophecy and threat regarding the future. So says Vatablus.
At this point the Jews exult wonderfully, promising themselves liberation from the long servitude by which they are oppressed. And because the first word of this period is אַף aph, that is, "yet," but aph in German means "ape": hence they call this period the golden ape, and whenever they read it in their synagogues, they exult and rejoice wonderfully. Hence Emperor Frederick III used to say that the Jews have in their Bibles an ape which they ought rightly to write in golden letters. Thus these wretched people nourish themselves on a vain and erroneous hope. For Moses speaks during the time of the endurance of the Law and of Judaism: but now the Law and Judaism have been abolished through Christ, and the republic and Synagogue of the Jews have been overthrown by the Romans.
Verse 45: I Will Remember My Former Covenant
45. I WILL REMEMBER MY FORMER COVENANT, -- because although that covenant entered into by God with the Hebrews is still recent, having been sanctioned the previous year at Sinai, yet to the future generations who sin, of whom I speak, it will be ancient.
These Are the Judgments, Precepts, and Laws
THESE ARE THE JUDGMENTS (the just threats and punishments which God will inflict by just judgment on those who violate His laws) AND PRECEPTS AND LAWS, -- that is, covenants, says the Chaldean. For the condition of the covenants entered into by the Jews with God consisted in the laws. Whence it follows: "Which the Lord gave between Himself and the children of Israel." And thus we shall here distinguish the laws from the precepts.
Secondly, this can be explained thus, as though this verse were an epilogue and general summary of Leviticus and of all the laws given both in Leviticus and by God. For the Hebrew reads thus: These are the statutes (that is, ceremonial precepts), and judgments (that is, judicial precepts), and laws or decrees (namely, moral and natural ones, such as those of the Decalogue), which the Lord gave between Himself and between the children of Israel, on Mount Sinai by the hand of Moses.
WHICH THE LORD GAVE BETWEEN HIMSELF AND THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL ON MOUNT SINAI, -- that is, while the Israelites were encamped at Mount Sinai, to ratify the covenant between Himself and between them; for these laws were not given to Moses on Mount Sinai itself (as the Decalogue was given on this mountain, Exodus 19 and 20), but in the tabernacle, as is clear from the beginning of this book. Therefore every law, or nearly every one, was given to Moses at Sinai, namely at the foot of Mount Sinai; for those enumerated here and there in Numbers and Deuteronomy are either explanations or additions to laws already heard, and were given at the same time as the laws already heard. Moreover, all these things were done and said at the beginning of the second year after the departure of the Hebrews from Egypt, as I said in the introduction.
By the Hand of Moses
BY THE HAND OF MOSES, -- through Moses.
From this chapter it is clear how truly the Psalmist said, Psalm 118: "You have commanded Your commandments to be kept exceedingly." In Hebrew מְאֹד meod, that is, "greatly," namely with the utmost diligence, zeal, and care. And this for six reasons: first, because God promises to those who keep them exceedingly great rewards here; second, because He threatens those who violate them with exceedingly bitter punishments; third, because God, who commands them, is to be worshipped, feared, and observed exceedingly; fourth, because He wills that all dangers and death itself be undergone, lest even one of His commandments be broken and a sin be committed; fifth, because He wills that all be observed, so that you violate not even one, even the least: here even a hair casts a shadow, as the saying goes; sixth, because throughout one's entire life, from childhood and the use of reason until death, He commands them to be kept. Truly, says St. Augustine, great, O Lord, is Your wisdom and love, who compel us to the love of You and to our own good; for unless we do this, You threaten us with hell; if we do it, You promise us immense and eternal crowns.