Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
He renews the feast of Passover and of unleavened bread, and verse 10, the feast of Pentecost, and verse 13, the feast of Tabernacles, and commands, verse 16, that at these every male appear before the Lord in the tabernacle. Finally, verse 18, he commands judges to be appointed in each city.
Vulgate Text: Deuteronomy 16:1-22
1. Observe the month of new fruits, and the beginning of spring, to keep the Passover for the Lord your God: because in this month the Lord your God brought you out of Egypt by night. 2. And you shall sacrifice the Passover to the Lord your God, of sheep and of oxen, in the place which the Lord your God shall choose, that His name may dwell there. 3. You shall not eat leavened bread with it: for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, bread of affliction, because you came out of Egypt in fear; that you may remember the day of your departure from Egypt all the days of your life. 4. No leaven shall be seen in all your borders for seven days, and none of the flesh of what was sacrificed in the evening on the first day shall remain until morning. 5. You may not sacrifice the Passover in any of your cities which the Lord your God will give you; 6. but in the place which the Lord your God shall choose, that His name may dwell there: you shall sacrifice the Passover in the evening at the setting of the sun, when you came out of Egypt. 7. And you shall cook and eat in the place which the Lord your God shall choose, and rising in the morning you shall go to your tents. 8. For six days you shall eat unleavened bread; and on the seventh day, because it is the assembly of the Lord your God, you shall do no work. 9. You shall count seven weeks from the day you put the sickle to the grain, 10. and you shall celebrate the feast of weeks to the Lord your God, a voluntary offering of your hand, which you shall offer according to the blessing of the Lord your God; 11. and you shall feast before the Lord your God, you, your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, and the Levite who is within your gates, the stranger and the orphan and the widow who dwell with you, in the place which the Lord your God shall choose, that His name may dwell there; 12. and you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and you shall keep and do what is commanded. 13. You shall also celebrate the feast of Tabernacles for seven days, when you have gathered your produce from the threshing floor and the winepress: 14. and you shall feast on your festival, you, your son and daughter, your male servant and female servant, the Levite also and the stranger, the orphan and the widow who are within your gates. 15. For seven days you shall celebrate feasts to the Lord your God, in the place which the Lord shall choose; and the Lord your God will bless you in all your produce and in every work of your hands, and you shall be in joy. 16. Three times a year every male of yours shall appear in the presence of the Lord your God, in the place which He shall choose: at the feast of unleavened bread, at the feast of weeks, and at the feast of Tabernacles. He shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed; 17. but each one shall offer according to what he has, according to the blessing of the Lord his God which He has given him. 18. You shall appoint judges and magistrates in all your gates, which the Lord your God shall give you, in each of your tribes; that they may judge the people with just judgment, 19. and not turn to either side. You shall not show partiality, nor accept bribes: because bribes blind the eyes of the wise and change the words of the just. 20. You shall justly pursue what is just, that you may live and possess the land which the Lord your God shall give you. 21. You shall not plant a grove or any tree near the altar of the Lord your God. 22. Nor shall you make or set up a statue: which the Lord your God hates.
Verse 1: The Month of New Fruits
1. OBSERVE THE MONTH OF NEW FRUITS -- namely Nisan, that is, March, in which in the promised land the ears of barley begin to turn yellow: for they were offered at the Passover, namely on the second day of unleavened bread, as is evident from Leviticus II, 14, and Leviticus XXIII, 10.
Verse 2: The Passover Sacrifice
2. AND YOU SHALL SACRIFICE THE PASSOVER TO THE LORD, etc., OF SHEEP AND OF OXEN. -- "The Passover," that is, the paschal victims, which are commanded to be offered from sheep and oxen at the Passover solemnity, Numbers XXVIII, 19; for the paschal lamb could not be changed for an ox.
Therefore some Hebrews wrongly take "Phase" here to mean the paschal lamb, and think that a calf could have been substituted for the lamb, and add the reason that in large families a lamb would not have sufficed for everyone. But I respond: The lamb was not meant to satisfy everyone, but so that each person might eat some part of it, in memory of the liberation from Egypt; besides the lamb they ate other foods with which they satisfied themselves. So St. Augustine here, Question XXIV. See what was said on Exodus chapter XII, verses 5 and 11.
THAT HIS NAME MAY DWELL THERE -- that God may be worshipped there and invoked by His name.
Verse 3: Bread of Affliction
3. YOU SHALL NOT EAT LEAVENED BREAD WITH IT (with it, namely the Passover). -- For during all seven paschal days they ate unleavened bread with the lamb, and with other sacrifices and foods, including ordinary ones.
YOU SHALL EAT BREAD OF AFFLICTION. -- In Hebrew: you shall eat unleavened bread, bread of affliction, that is, a sign and memorial of the Egyptian affliction, and also of your haste and fear in leaving Egypt, as follows. Secondly, "bread of affliction," that is, afflicting bread, because unleavened bread is tasteless and heavy on the stomach. Cajetan translates it as bread of poverty, and it can be so translated: for it belongs to the poor to lack the convenience of leavening bread, and to use bread baked under ashes, which is unleavened, and is quickly made and baked.
In Fear and Haste
BECAUSE YOU CAME OUT OF EGYPT IN FEAR (the Chaldean and Septuagint read: in haste) -- that is, because you came out of Egypt with such trepidation and haste that you did not have time to leaven bread: in memory of this you shall eat unleavened bread at the Passover.
Verse 6: The Evening Sacrifice
6. YOU SHALL SACRIFICE THE PASSOVER (properly so called, namely the paschal lamb) IN THE EVENING, WHEN YOU CAME OUT -- when you prepared for the departure; for "came out" signifies an act that was beginning. See what was said on Exodus XII, 42. Secondly, the word "when" could refer to the feast of Passover: for in Hebrew it reads, at the appointed time (namely of the Passover), when you came out. So Vatablus.
Verse 7: You Shall Go to Your Tents
7. YOU SHALL GO TO YOUR TENTS -- to your houses, to your dwelling.
Verse 8: Six Days of Unleavened Bread
8. FOR SIX DAYS YOU SHALL EAT UNLEAVENED BREAD. -- Hence some Jews thought that by the law of God unleavened bread was commanded for only six days; but that it was commanded for seven days is clear from verse 4 here, and Exodus chapter XII, 19. I say therefore: The meaning is: For six days you shall eat unleavened bread, but you will not rest from work; but on the seventh day, besides eating unleavened bread, you shall also rest from work, because it is the feast of the assembly. So Lyranus.
The Feast of the Assembly
BECAUSE IT IS THE ASSEMBLY -- because it is the feast of the gathering, in which the people is collected and united in the temple, about to give thanks to God before returning home. See what was said on Leviticus XXIII, 36.
Verse 18: Judges and Magistrates
18. YOU SHALL APPOINT JUDGES AND MAGISTRATES IN ALL YOUR GATES. -- "Magistrates," that is, officials, namely wise men, who as teachers and magistrates preside over the administration of justice, as follows: judges and magistrates are therefore the same, because judges ought to be teachers. So the Hebrew, the Chaldean, and Vatablus. Hence Plato judged that states would be happy if philosophers ruled them, or if those who rule them practiced philosophy.
Note, "in the gates," that is, in the cities; it is a synecdoche, as also in the following chapter, verse 2. So the Septuagint and the Chaldean. He names the gates because judgments were customarily held in the gates of cities, so that outsiders might more freely come there, as to an open and public place, to plead their case.
Verse 19: Bribes Blind the Eyes of the Wise
19. YOU SHALL NOT SHOW PARTIALITY, NOR ACCEPT BRIBES: BECAUSE BRIBES BLIND THE EYES OF THE WISE AND CHANGE THE WORDS OF THE JUST. -- Let counselors and judges hear this. For these are the two evils of bribes: first, they blind the mind; secondly, they alter the tongue and the sentence to be pronounced; for first, they incline the affections; secondly, the affections incline and cloud the reason and judgment; thirdly, reason inclines the sentence in favor of the one who gave the bribes. See what was said on Exodus XXIII, 8.
Verse 20: Do Not Plant a Grove
20. YOU SHALL NOT PLANT A GROVE OR ANY TREE NEAR THE ALTAR -- lest you seem to imitate the sacred groves of the Gentiles and their idols, especially of Priapus: for the rites of Priapus were performed in groves, so that his obscenities might be concealed by them: hence in these groves they practiced every kind of shameful act. Note "every," that is, any; for the collective "every" among the Hebrews is often taken for the distributive "any."
Tropologically, St. Gregory, in the Preface to Job, letter to Leander, at the end: "I ask, he says, that in reading through the words of this work, you not seek in them the leaves of words; because through sacred eloquence the fruitless levity of loquacity is studiously restrained by its interpreters, since it is forbidden to plant a grove in the temple of God." So also Philo.
Verse 21: Nor Set Up a Statue
21. NOR SHALL YOU MAKE OR SET UP A STATUE -- namely, of the kind the Gentiles set up for their gods or idols.