Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Moses reiterates and impresses the commandment to love God with the whole heart. Secondly, at verse 10, he exhorts them to always be mindful of God and of God's law in Canaan, promising, if they do this, the fertility and prosperity of the land.
Vulgate Text: Deuteronomy 6:1-25
1. These are the commandments, and ceremonies, and judgments which the Lord your God has commanded, that I should teach you, and that you should do them in the land to which you are crossing over to possess: 2. that you may fear the Lord your God, and keep all His commands and precepts which I command you, and your sons and grandsons, all the days of your life, that your days may be prolonged. 3. Hear, O Israel, and observe, that you may do what the Lord has commanded you, and it may be well with you, and you may be multiplied yet more, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you a land flowing with milk and honey. 4. Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord. 5. You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart, and with your whole soul, and with your whole strength. 6. And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart: 7. and you shall tell them to your children, and you shall meditate on them sitting in your house and walking on the road, sleeping and rising. 8. And you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be and shall move between your eyes, 9. and you shall write them on the doorposts and gates of your house. 10. And when the Lord your God shall have brought you into the land for which He swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and shall have given you great and excellent cities which you did not build, 11. houses full of all good things which you did not construct, cisterns which you did not dig, vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant, 12. and you shall have eaten and been satisfied: 13. take careful heed lest you forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall fear the Lord your God, and Him alone shall you serve, and you shall swear by His name. 14. You shall not go after the strange gods of all the nations that are around you: 15. because the Lord your God in the midst of you is a jealous God; lest the fury of the Lord your God be kindled against you, and He take you away from the face of the earth. 16. You shall not tempt the Lord your God, as you tempted Him in the place of temptation. 17. Keep the commandments of the Lord your God, and the testimonies and ceremonies which He has commanded you: 18. and do what is pleasing and good in the sight of the Lord, that it may be well with you, and going in you may possess the excellent land, about which the Lord swore to your fathers, 19. that He would destroy all your enemies before you, as He has spoken. 20. And when your son asks you tomorrow, saying: What do these testimonies, and ceremonies, and judgments mean, which the Lord our God has commanded us? 21. you shall say to him: We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand: 22. and He performed signs and wonders, terrible ones, in Egypt against Pharaoh and all his house, in our sight, 23. and He brought us out from there, so that, having led us in, He might give us the land about which He swore to our fathers. 24. And the Lord commanded us that we should do all these ordinances, and fear the Lord our God, that it might be well with us all the days of our life, as it is today. 25. And He will be merciful to us, if we keep and do all His commandments before the Lord our God, as He has commanded us.
Verse 4: The Lord Our God Is One Lord
Verse 4. HEAR, O ISRAEL: THE LORD OUR GOD IS ONE LORD. -- Hence God's name is echad, that is, "one," Isaiah LXVI, 17 in Hebrew. From echad, God was called by the Syrians Ahad, and from there by the Assyrians Adad; for, as Macrobius teaches, book 1 of the Saturnalia, chapter 23, Adad was the supreme god of the Assyrians; to whom they also assigned the goddess Atargatis as wife: by Adad they understood the sun (which, because it is alone and one in the world, is the cause and as it were the father of all living things, they believed to be a god), and by Atargatis the earth, since from these two all things are produced.
The reason why God is one is, first, because God is the simplest being, as well as the most absolute and perfect: therefore He is one. For if there were two gods, one would have some perfection that the other lacks, and consequently something of perfection would be lacking to each: therefore neither would be absolutely most perfect: therefore neither would be God. For God contains and embraces in Himself the perfections of all things. Hence Saint Thomas, Part 1, Question 11, article 4, teaches that God alone is fully and completely one, because in God alone there is full and supreme unity, namely simplicity, which is entirely free of all composition.
Secondly, if there were two gods, they would have two different wills; therefore they could will contrary things: from which war between them, and great disturbance in the governance of the world, would follow.
Thirdly, if there were two gods, one would limit and restrict the other's power and authority. But God is infinite and of unlimited power, who has an undivided authority; therefore He is one, not two. So Saint Cyprian, in his book On the Vanity of Idols: "He is One," he says, "the Lord of all; for that supreme height cannot have a partner, since it alone holds the power of all things."
Fourthly, God is the monarch of the world: for monarchy is the best government; hence Homer does not want many to rule, but: "Let one be king, let there be one king." So Saint Cyprian in the cited place, and he proves it by examples: "The Romans," he says, "could not contain the twins (Romulus and Remus) in one kingdom, whom one womb contained. Pompey and Caesar were related by marriage, yet they did not maintain the bond of kinship in a rival power." And further: "There is one king among bees, and one leader in flocks, and one ruler in herds; much more is there one ruler of the world, who commands all things by His word, dispenses by reason, and completes by power. He cannot be seen: He is brighter than sight; nor grasped: He is purer than touch; nor estimated: He is greater than sense; and therefore we worthily esteem Him when we call Him inestimable."
Fifthly, just as from unity all numbers arise, and from the center all lines that are drawn to the circumference: so from God all created things arise; therefore they must converge, be united, and terminate in one principle, namely God, as in their center.
Sixthly, there must be one ruler of the world who arranges and joins all things, however varied, fittingly and harmoniously with each other; otherwise all things would not come together in one order unless they were arranged by one. This is God.
"One God therefore, one faith, one baptism": which axiom belongs not only to the faithful, but also to unfaithful philosophers, orators, poets, and others. So Saint Thomas and the Scholastics, Part 1, Question 11, article 3.
Note: In the Hebrew, the mystery of the Trinity and the Incarnation is hinted at. For it reads thus: "Hear, O Israel, God, our God, God is one." The same is hinted at by Isaiah, chapter VI, verse 3, where the Seraphim cry: "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts," which the ancient Rabbis, such as Rabbi Simeon son of Yohai, explain thus: "Holy, this is the Father; holy, this is the Son; holy, this is the Holy Spirit," as Galatinus testifies, book 2, chapter 1. And he adds that they decreed that at least twice a day, namely at sunrise and sunset, both those words of Isaiah and these words of Moses should be recited daily by every Jew, namely so that they might profess the Trinity of Persons together with the unity of the divine essence. For the name "God," repeated three times, just as "Holy" in Isaiah, signifies the three Persons; and the addition of "our" in the second place signifies that the Word assumed our flesh, and was given to us, and was born for us as Emmanuel. For this reason David also said in Psalm LXVI: "May God bless us, our God, may God bless us."
From the Hebrews the Egyptians received this mystery, among whom this oracle of Serapis to King Thule is found in Suidas: "First God, then the Word, and the Spirit with them. And these are congenital, and converge into one."
Verse 5: You Shall Love the Lord Your God
Verse 5. YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD. -- The Hebrew, Chaldean, and Septuagint have "and you shall love." Jansenius and others place emphasis on the "and," as if to say: Because our God is one, as preceded, therefore you shall place all your hope and love in one God, not in many. But "and" in Hebrew often is redundant; and so our translator here omitted it.
This is the most eminent commandment of the most eminent virtue, namely charity; for just as among metals gold stands out, among elements fire, among the heavens the empyrean heaven, among planets the sun, among angels the Seraphim: so among the virtues, charity, or love of God and neighbor, stands out and excels. For it is the most radiant gold, with which we purchase heavenly goods; it is a celestial fire that inflames the souls of all around it; it is the empyrean heaven, in which God and the Blessed dwell; it is the sun that illuminates, fecundates, and vivifies all things; it is a seraphic virtue that made Saint Francis and others burning with charity into ardent Seraphim.
First, charity is like a queen, ruling and governing the other virtues. Secondly, it is like a mother, nourishing, refreshing, strengthening, and sustaining the other virtues, says Lawrence Justinian. Thirdly, charity makes us friends and children of God, and His heirs and co-heirs of Christ; hence Saint John says, 1 Epistle, chapter 4: "Everyone who loves is born of God." Fourthly, charity alone divides the sheep from the goats: "What divides between the children of the eternal kingdom, and the children of eternal perdition," says Saint Augustine, book 15 On the Trinity, chapter 18. Fifthly, charity is like the form and soul of the virtues, and gives them the power of merit; hence Saint Augustine says: "Charity alone leads to God." Sixthly, charity is the bond of perfection, Colossians III, 14, which binds us most tightly to Christ and to our neighbors. Seventhly, charity is an inextinguishable fire that conquers and overcomes all things, even things hard as iron. For "love is strong as death, jealousy is hard as hell." "What is more violent than love? Love triumphs over God," says Saint Bernard, Sermon 64 on the Song of Songs. Eighthly, charity, like an eagle, gazes at the sun, that is, God, with unflinching eyes; and flies to Him on two fiery wings, namely the love of God and neighbor, says Saint Augustine on Psalm 121. Hence the same Augustine on 1 John IV, 7: "Once," he says, "a brief commandment is given to you: Love, and do what you will."
With Your Whole Heart, Soul, and Strength
WITH YOUR WHOLE HEART, AND WITH YOUR WHOLE SOUL, AND WITH YOUR WHOLE STRENGTH. -- Note: For "with your whole strength," in Hebrew it is bechol modecha, that is, "with your whole exceedingly," which the Chaldean refers to external goods and translates "with all your substance"; but our translator and the Septuagint better render it, "with all your power," that is, "with your whole strength"; which Saint Luke, chapter X, verse 27, translates: "with all your might and with all your mind." Saint Matthew, chapter XXII, verse 37, renders it: "with your whole mind."
You ask whether and how these three are distinguished. First, Rabanus says: To the rational soul, which consists of memory, understanding, and love, faith in the Most Holy Trinity is commended in these words, as though to love with the whole heart is to love with the whole memory, which is attributed to the Father; with the whole soul is with the whole understanding, which is given to the Son; with the whole strength is with the whole will, which is attributed to the Holy Spirit.
Again, Saint Augustine, book 1 of On Christian Doctrine, chapter 22, takes "heart" as thoughts, "soul" as life, and "mind" or "power" as the intellect, as though God here commands that all these things be directed toward Him who bestowed them on us. Hear Saint Augustine: "When He says: Love with your whole heart, with your whole soul, with your whole mind, He left no part of our life that ought to be free, as it were making room to enjoy something else; but whatever else comes to mind to be loved should be drawn where the whole impetus of love rushes."
Secondly, Saint Bernard, Sermon 20 on the Song of Songs: "It seems to me," he says, "that the love of the heart pertains to the zeal of affection, the love of the soul to the industry or judgment of reason, and the love of strength can be referred to the constancy or vigor of the soul, as if to say: Love the Lord your God with the total and full affection of your heart; love with the full vigilance and circumspection of reason; love also with all your strength, so that you do not fear even to die for love of Him. For love is strong as death, jealousy is hard as hell."
Thirdly, more simply, these three can be taken according to the Hebrew idiom as signifying one and the same thing; for this triple repetition is made only for greater emphasis and insistence. The meaning, therefore, is: Love God with your entire will, and with all its affection and effort.
From what has been said, it is clear that this commandment can be literally fulfilled in this life. For we can love God with our whole possibility, or as much as is possible for us given the state and weakness of this life; and because otherwise it would be commanded to us in vain. That King Josiah and similar people fulfilled this commandment is clear from 4 Kings XXIII, 25.
By this commandment, therefore, a total and supreme love of God is required from man, not extensively or intensively, but only comparatively, finally, and appreciatively. First, comparatively, so that you give your whole heart and affection to God in such a way that you give no part of it to the devil or to sin. Secondly, finally, so that in general you have God as the end of all your actions, and prefer Him as the highest good and ultimate end to all things, so that you would rather lose all things, indeed even your own life, than God and God's grace. Thirdly, appreciatively, so that you apply your whole heart, that is, your will, to obeying His law in all things, and to conforming yourself in all things to His holy will.
Why God Must Be Loved with the Whole Heart
Why must God be loved with the whole heart? The first reason is because God is the Creator, Giver, and Preserver of the heart itself and of all natural and supernatural goods; therefore it is fitting that all these return to Him, and as it were flow back through love. For the love of God is the supreme worship and honor of God. Hence Saint Augustine: "This is worshipped by man: what he loves. Hence because God is found greater and better than all things, He must be loved more than all things." Hence Saint Bernard, Epistle 353, to one who asked "what God requires of us," replied: "Our heart can accomplish nothing more worthy than to restore itself to Him by whom it was made, and this the Lord seeks from us, saying: Son, give Me your heart."
The second reason is that God created the heart, or mind, in His own image and likeness: hence He gave it a certain infinite capacity, which can be filled and satisfied by no created thing, but by God alone: "The heart is small," says Hugh, book 3 On the Soul, "and it desires great things; it could hardly suffice for the refreshment of a single kite, and yet the whole world does not suffice for it." And this is what Saint Augustine says: "You have made us, Lord, for Yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in You." God, therefore, is the center of our heart and love.
The third reason is that God, as He is the principle, so He is the end of man and of all creatures; therefore all must pursue and love Him as such with their whole heart and affection.
The fourth reason is that God is the supreme, immense, and uncreated good, which is the font of all good, and which contains in itself all goods, both created and possible, in the most eminent and perfect degree; therefore He is supremely lovable; therefore He must be loved with the whole heart: for all other goods compared to God are vain and nothing, smoke and shadow. "Every abundance that is not my God is poverty," says Saint Augustine. Rightly therefore the Blessed Jacopone, drunk with the love of God, wept continually, and when asked the reason, gave this: "Because Love (God) is not loved." Rightly the Blessed Magdalene, as a doe wounded by the arrows of Christ's love, used to say: "I sought Him whom my soul loves through the streets and squares; I found Him, I held Him, and I will not let Him go."
Tropologically, Saint Bernard says: "Love God with your whole heart, that is, sweetly, lest you be enticed away; with your whole soul, that is, prudently, lest you be deceived; with your whole strength, that is, bravely, lest, overcome, you be turned from the love of the Lord."
Fix this commandment of love in your soul, therefore, and you will easily overcome all hardships, all temptations, all labors, and you will lead a life most sweet as well as most holy; for, as Peter of Ravenna says: "It belongs to a gentle warfare to win victory over all vices by love alone." "For who," says Paul, "shall separate us from the love of God? Tribulation, distress? I am certain that neither death nor life," etc. God gave Himself wholly to you; give, indeed restore, yourself wholly to God. "Late have I loved You, beauty so old and so new, late have I loved You; let me know You, my knower, let me know You," says Saint Augustine, book 10 of the Confessions.
Jesus, the heart's delight.
Jesus, sweetness of hearts,
Living fountain, light of minds,
Honey, nectar, melody for ears,
Exceeding every joy
And every desire.
Verse 7: You Shall Tell Them to Your Children
Verse 7. AND YOU SHALL TELL (Hebrew: "and you shall sharpen," that is, as Vatablus and others say, you shall repeat, revolve, reiterate these My commandments) TO YOUR CHILDREN. -- Secondly, "you shall sharpen," that is, sharply, that is, precisely, distinctly, clearly, and openly you shall set before and explain them to your children: just as an obscure matter or question is sharpened by a teacher when it is clearly treated in parts, explained, sifted, and discussed by him. It is a metaphor drawn from a sword, which, when being sharpened, is repeatedly pressed against the whetstone. It therefore signifies that God's commandments must be frequently and continually revolved, explained, and impressed upon the children, so that they too may be sharpened and incited to know and carry them out.
The Hebrews relate that in Jerusalem there was formerly so great a zeal for the divine law that they had more than four hundred public schools and synagogues, in which the law of God was taught.
AND YOU SHALL MEDITATE. -- In Hebrew, "you shall speak with them," as a servant speaks familiarly with his master, to seek his mind.
SLEEPING. -- In Hebrew, "when lying down," when you go to bed: for one who is sleeping cannot meditate. This is the holy and useful practice of pious Christians: that when they go to bed, they pray and think of something pious, and fall asleep in that thought, and so, among other things, they ward off the devil's temptations and foul phantasms. Saint Bernard declares in his book On the Solitary Life: "Going to sleep, always carry something with you in your memory or thought, in which you may peacefully fall asleep, which it may sometimes be pleasant even to dream of, which, catching you when you awake, may restore you to the state of yesterday's intention. So for you, the night will be illuminated as the day."
Hence Saint Jerome on Psalm 100 says: "For the Saints, sleep itself is also prayer."
AND RISING. -- Hence the practice has grown up among good Christians, says Abulensis, that as soon as they rise from bed, they immediately begin with the praises of God, or meditate on something pious and holy; for it is incredible how much morning meditation benefits the soul. Daily experience clearly teaches us that it is the pillar and foundation of our entire Society, and that all the zeal, efficacy, and fruit of all our actions throughout the day flows and proceeds from it. Whoever therefore reads this, I implore you by your own salvation and that of others to experience and practice this very thing, especially if you are a theologian or an ecclesiastic; and learn and accustom yourself to meditate daily on something about the brevity of life, about your death, judgment, eternity, about the life and passion of Christ or the Saints, and from this conceive effective resolutions.
The first-fruits, therefore, of thoughts and actions, as well as of the day, must be given to God; and this, first, because they are as it were owed to God, as the first cause, the author of nature and grace, and the giver of all goods. Secondly, because it is fitting that all the day's actions take their beginning from God (hence that saying of Aratus and Theocritus: "from Zeus we begin," which Virgil renders, "from Jupiter is the beginning"). Hence Saint Bernard, On the Solitary Life, commands the same: "So that, when we rise to the praises of God, the whole course of our work may be formed and vivified in His praises." And Saint Ephrem: "If you set prayer before your work, and rising from bed, begin the first movements of your day from prayer, no entrance for sin into the soul will lie open." And Solomon, Proverbs VIII, 17: "Those who watch for Me in the morning will find Me: with Me are riches and glory."
Thirdly, because the angels, the sun, the birds, and other creatures do the same. Hear Saint Basil, Epistle 1 to Gregory Nazianzen: "What is more blessed than for man on earth to imitate the harmony of the angels? To go immediately at the beginning of the day to prayers? To venerate the Creator in hymns and canticles?" And Saint Ambrose on Psalm 118: "It is a grievous thing if the ray of the rising sun finds you idle in bed, and the bright light strikes eyes still weighed down with drowsy torpor. Go out therefore to meet the sunrise."
Fourthly, because the wise and holy have done the same. The Therapeutae, in Philo's book On the Contemplative Life, "used to pray twice daily, morning and evening: at sunrise asking for a truly happy day, and that their minds might be filled with heavenly light." The Essenes, says Josephus, "before sunrise spoke nothing profane; but they offered to God certain ancestral prayers." Thus the early Christians used to hold assemblies before dawn to sing to Christ and God, as Pliny testifies to Trajan.
The meaning of all these is, as if Moses says: Frequently, for your own good, O Israelite, you shall think, speak, and meditate on the commandments of God, and especially on that first and greatest one which immediately preceded, namely: "You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart" -- both at home and abroad, both morning and evening. Hence some derive the Hebrew word thora, that is, "law," from thur, that is, "to explore," or "to survey all around," because the whole law must be constantly and diligently explored, and guarded on every side, lest one offend in any point. For since all the commandments of the law are connected, and converge in this commandment of the love of God as in a center, hence "he who offends in one is guilty of all," James II, 10.
Verse 8: You Shall Bind Them as a Sign on Your Hand
Verse 8. AND YOU SHALL BIND THEM AS A SIGN ON YOUR HAND, AND THEY SHALL BE AND SHALL MOVE BETWEEN YOUR EYES. -- For "shall move," in Hebrew it is totaphot, which Pagninus and Vatablus translate "frontlets"; others translate "spectacles" (for through God's commandments we see what is good, what God wills); others "memorials" or "remembrances." Moreover, some derive totaphot from taphaph, that is, "to clap, to strike together," because the totaphot or frontlets, by striking against the forehead, like little bells sounding, would remind the Hebrews to keep the law and the commandments of God. Hence they were called phylacteries, as it were, "preservers of the law." The Jews formerly took all these things literally, as they sound, as is clear from Matthew chapter XXIII, 5; hence even now they inscribe Hebrew sentences of their law on their walls at home, and when they pray, they hang before themselves a little scroll containing these words: "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one God."
But it is better to take them metaphorically or parabolically, as if to say: You shall have so continual a remembrance of the commandments and love of God, as if they were inscribed on frontlets, arm-bands, and doorposts, and were perpetually placed before your eyes and observed. So Abulensis. With a similar metaphor God says to Zion, Isaiah chapter XLIX, 16: "I have inscribed you on My hands;" which He explains when He adds: "Your walls are always before My eyes." Piously and truly Saint Augustine in his Soliloquies, chapter 18: "At every moment, O Lord, You bind me to You, since at every moment You bestow Your great benefits on me. Just as there is no hour or instant in my whole life in which I do not use Your benefit: so there ought to be no moment in which I do not have You before my eyes in my memory, and love You with all my strength."
Verse 14: You Shall Not Go After Strange Gods
Verse 14. YOU SHALL NOT GO AFTER STRANGE GODS -- you shall not follow the worship of strange gods.
Verse 16: You Shall Not Tempt the Lord
Verse 16. AS YOU TEMPTED IN THE PLACE OF TEMPTATION -- which from this was called in Hebrew, Massah and Meribah, Exodus chapter XVII, verse 7.
Verse 17. TESTIMONIES -- that is, laws, which testify what God wills to be done by us.
Verse 20. TOMORROW -- at a future time.
Verse 25: He Will Be Merciful to Us
Verse 25. AND HE WILL BE MERCIFUL TO US. -- In Hebrew, "and justice will be ours." But "justice" here and elsewhere is taken for "mercy," the reasons for which I gave at 2 Corinthians chapter IX, verse 9.