Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
The Midianites oppress the Hebrews who have again fallen into idolatry; wherefore repenting they call upon God, who through an Angel designates Gideon as their liberator. Whence the Angel, verse 18, sacrifices to God. Then Gideon, verse 23, by God's command overthrows the altar of Baal, and is therefore called Jerubbaal, that is, avenger of Baal: thence, verse 34, he summons soldiers by trumpet call, and seeking a sign of victory from God receives dew on the fleece alone, and then dryness on the fleece alone. The fifth Judge of Israel therefore was Gideon, whose deeds are here narrated.
Vulgate Text: Judges 6:1-40
1. Now the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, who delivered them into the hand of Midian for seven years, 2. and they were greatly oppressed by them. And they made for themselves caves and dens in the mountains, and the most fortified places for resistance. 3. And when Israel had sown, Midian and Amalek, and the rest of the Eastern nations would come up: 4. and pitching their tents among them, as they were in the fields, they laid waste everything up to the entrance of Gaza: and they left nothing at all pertaining to life in Israel, neither sheep, nor oxen, nor donkeys. 5. For they and all their flocks came with their tents, and like locusts they filled everything, an innumerable multitude of men and camels, devastating whatever they touched. 6. And Israel was greatly humbled in the sight of Midian. 7. And they cried to the Lord, seeking help against the Midianites. 8. And He sent to them a prophet, and said: Thus says the Lord God of Israel: I made you come up from Egypt, and brought you out of the house of bondage, 9. and I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians, and of all enemies who afflicted you, and I cast them out at your coming, and gave you their land, 10. and I said: I am the Lord your God, do not fear the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell, and you would not hear My voice. 11. And the Angel of the Lord came, and sat under the oak that was in Ophrah, and belonged to Joash the father of the family of Ezri. And when Gideon his son was threshing and cleaning grain in the winepress, to flee from Midian, 12. the Angel of the Lord appeared to him, and said: The Lord is with you, most valiant of men. 13. And Gideon said to him: I beseech you, my lord, if the Lord is with us, why have all these things befallen us? Where are His wonders, which our fathers told us of, saying: The Lord brought us out of Egypt? But now the Lord has forsaken us, and delivered us into the hand of Midian. 14. And the Lord looked upon him, and said: Go in this your strength, and you shall deliver Israel from the hand of Midian; know that I have sent you. 15. And he answered and said: I beseech you, my lord, with what shall I deliver Israel? Behold, my family is the lowest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house. 16. And the Lord said to him: I will be with you, and you shall strike Midian as one man. 17. And he said: If I have found grace before you, give me a sign that it is You who speaks to me. 18. Do not depart from here until I return to you, bringing a sacrifice, and offering it to you. And He answered: I will await your coming. 19. So Gideon went in and cooked a young goat, and from a measure of flour made unleavened bread: and placing the meat in a basket, and putting the broth of the meat in a pot, he brought everything under the oak, and offered it to him. 20. And the Angel of the Lord said to him: Take the meat and the unleavened bread, and place them upon that rock, and pour the broth over them. And when he had done so, 21. the Angel of the Lord extended the tip of the staff that He held in His hand, and touched the meat and the unleavened bread, and fire rose up from the rock, and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread: and the Angel of the Lord vanished from his sight. 22. And Gideon seeing that it was the Angel of the Lord, said: Alas, my Lord God, for I have seen the Angel of the Lord face to face. 23. And the Lord said to him: Peace be with you; do not fear, you shall not die. 24. So Gideon built an altar there to the Lord, and called it: The Lord's peace, to this present day. And while he was still in Ophrah, which belongs to the family of Ezri, 25. that night the Lord said to him: Take the bull of your father, and another bull of seven years, and you shall destroy the altar of Baal, which is your father's: and cut down the grove that is around the altar: 26. and you shall build an altar to the Lord your God on the top of this rock, upon which you placed the sacrifice before: and you shall take the second bull, and offer a holocaust upon a pile of the wood that you shall cut down from the grove. 27. So Gideon, taking ten men of his servants, did as the Lord had commanded him. But fearing his father's household, and the men of that city, he would not do it by day, but accomplished everything by night. 28. And when the men of the town rose in the morning, they saw the altar of Baal destroyed, and the grove cut down, and the other bull placed upon the altar that had then been built. 29. And they said to one another: Who has done this? And when they sought the author of the deed, it was said: Gideon the son of Joash did all these things. 30. And they said to Joash: Bring out your son here, that he may die; because he has destroyed the altar of Baal, and has cut down the grove. 31. To whom he answered: Are you the avengers of Baal, that you fight for him? Let whoever is his adversary die before tomorrow's light comes: If he is a god, let him vindicate himself against the one who has demolished his altar. 32. From that day Gideon was called Jerubbaal, because Joash had said: Let Baal vindicate himself against the one who demolished his altar. 33. Therefore all Midian, and Amalek, and the Eastern peoples gathered together: and crossing the Jordan, they encamped in the valley of Jezreel. 34. But the Spirit of the Lord clothed Gideon, who sounding the trumpet summoned the house of Abiezer to follow him. 35. And he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh, who also followed him: and other messengers to Asher and Zebulun and Naphtali, who came to meet him. 36. And Gideon said to God: If You will save Israel by my hand, as You have spoken, 37. I will place this fleece of wool on the threshing floor: if there be dew on the fleece alone, and dryness on all the ground, I shall know that by my hand, as You have spoken, You will deliver Israel. 38. And so it was. And rising by night, wringing out the fleece, he filled a basin with dew. 39. And he said again to God: Let not Your anger be kindled against me, if I try once more, seeking a sign in the fleece. I pray that the fleece alone may be dry, and all the ground wet with dew. 40. And God did that night as he had asked; and there was dryness on the fleece alone, and dew on all the ground.
Verse 1: The Midianites oppress Israel
1. Now the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, that is, they made idols and practiced idolatry. For this is called evil par excellence, because it is the greatest crime, and that in the sight of the Lord, because it sets against the God who sees and is indignant another god, one that is created, and often made and fashioned from stone, gold, silver, or bronze — which is the greatest injury, contempt, and offense against God. He (angered, and justly avenging so great a crime and so great an injury against Himself) delivered them into the hand of Midian for seven years.
Midian was a son of Abraham by Keturah, Gen. 25:2, from whom his descendants were called Midianites, and their region Midian. Now there were two regions of Midian: one near the Red Sea to the East, to which Moses fled and tended the flocks of Jethro, and married his daughter Zipporah, Exodus 2; the other near Moab, around the Arnon and Areopolis, whose male inhabitants were all slain and cut off by Moses, Numbers chapter 31, verse 7, because they had provoked the Hebrews to fornication and the worship of Baal-peor, Numbers chapter 25. But many at that time, fearing this disaster, had already fled to neighboring peoples, who afterwards returned to Midian: and other neighbors, entering Midian emptied of inhabitants by this slaughter, occupied it, and were likewise called Midianites. These therefore invaded Judea, and were slain by Gideon. Moreover, Midian abounds in camels, sheep, and goats. Pseudo-Philo asserts that the Israelites were delivered to the Midianites under Gideon because, incited by a certain Midianite sorcerer named Aod, they had consulted the gods of the Midianites.
In Hebrew, Midian means the same as litigation, contention, says Pagninus, because
although the Midianites were brothers of the Hebrews, just as were the Ishmaelites or Saracens, and the Idumeans descendants of Esau, inasmuch as they were descended from the same father Abraham and Jacob respectively, nevertheless they were their perpetual enemies. Again, Midian in Hebrew is the same as Middin, that is, from judgment, says Pagninus, because by the just judgment of God they invaded the Hebrews to punish their crimes. But Origen interprets Midian as outside of judgment, because the Midianites unjustly, as far as concerns their own part, though justly on God's part, plundered the Hebrews; for the Hebrews had done them no injury. Whence
Tropologically, the Midianites are the Turks, heretics, tyrants, and other impious people who unjustly afflict the pious, but with God permitting it either for the punishment of sins, or for the testing of patience.
Verse 3: Midian and Amalek devastate the crops
3. And when Israel had sown (had planted wheat, barley, oats, peas, beans, etc.), Midian and Amalek (that is, a people that licks, in Hebrew) would come up, and the rest of the Eastern nations. In Hebrew, sons of the East, descended from Abraham and Keturah, dwelling to the East, who are therefore called sons of the East, Genesis chapter 25, verse 6. Such can also be called the Ishmaelites, Moabites, Ammonites, etc.
Verse 4: They laid waste everything
4. And pitching their tents among them (the children of Israel), as they were in the fields they laid waste everything, feeding their camels, oxen, and sheep on them, and not allowing the crops to grow into grain and harvest and ripen; wherefore they cut down all grain and all provisions, so that the Israelites would perish from famine.
Tropologically, the Midianite is the devil and his followers, who disturb, choke, and carry off the good seeds of virtue sown in the minds of men either by God, or by a preacher or someone similar, lest they grow into good works.
Verse 5: Like locusts
5. Like locusts. For these by their innumerable abundance, as well as by their voracious appetite for eating and gnawing, cut down and devour all sprouts from the very root, so that no crop can grow and be born. Whence this was the great eighth plague of Egypt, Exodus chapter 10.
Verse 6: Israel was greatly humbled
6. And Israel was humbled. In Hebrew, it was made thin; the Septuagint has, impoverished and reduced to beggary.
Verse 7: They cried to the Lord
7. And (that is, for this reason, namely because famine compelled them) they cried to the Lord. Indeed, famine teaches men who have forgotten God to remember Him; nay, to cry out to Him that He may lift it. Thus often Superiors who have rebellious subjects, by taking away their food, humble them and bring them back to obedience and duty. For whoever feeds another acquires the right to command him as he wishes. For men are animal-like, and like animals are led by food. For the barking belly will submit to anything to satisfy itself.
Verse 8: God sent a prophet
8. And He sent to them a prophet. St. Augustine suspects this was the same Angel who shortly after, in verse 11, appeared to Gideon. But others commonly hold that he was a man endowed by God with the spirit of prophecy, and sent to the Hebrews in the manner of the other prophets. Who this was is unknown, because Scripture does not name him. The Rabbis guess that he was Phinehas the High Priest, but recklessly; for he had long since departed this life. For if he had lived at that time, he would have been two hundred years old, which age in that era was unusual and unprecedented.
Moreover, God wishing to hear the cry of the Hebrews, and to deliver them from the Midianites through Gideon, sent beforehand this prophet, who would sharply rebuke their ingratitude, idols, and crimes, so that they might return to their senses and henceforth serve God alone. Let the Prelate imitate God, who has decided to pardon offenses to his subjects, by first drenching them with the vinegar of correction and piercing their conscience, lest they return to their vomit.
Verse 10: Do not fear the gods of the Amorites
10. Do not fear the gods of the Amorites, that is, do not worship them, do not reverence them. For fear in Scripture signifies all worship of God, both because "fear first made gods in the world;" and because God is especially worshiped with awe and reverence, according to that saying: "If I am the Lord, where is My fear?" Malachi 1:6. For the Lord demands fear from a servant, and wishes to be feared and worshiped by him.
Verse 11: The Angel of the Lord under the oak
11. And the Angel of the Lord came, and sat under the oak that was in Ophrah, a city so called, which was the homeland of Gideon, to whom this Angel was being sent. Ophrah is therefore different from Ephrathah; for the latter was in the tribe of Manasseh, from which Gideon came, as is clear from verse 15. Again, Ephrathah in Hebrew is written with Aleph, but Ophrah with Ayin. Moreover, Ephrathah in Hebrew means the same as increase, while Ophrah means the same as dusty, or a young doe, or a deer.
Moreover, this Angel fittingly sat under an oak, as if about to add strength to Gideon for fighting against Midian. For the robust oak is a symbol of strength. Whence greeting him He said: "The Lord is with you, most valiant of men." Thus Deborah sat under a palm, because by her oracles she was weaving the palm of victory for Barak and the Hebrews against Sisera.
And it belonged (the oak under which the Angel was dwelling) to Joash the father of the family of Ezri, from which Gideon came. For Joash was the father, that is, the chief, or first and head of the family of Ezri, from which Gideon was descended. Such persons are elsewhere called heads of houses, that is, of families. The Hebrew is אבי עזרי abi ezri, which Vatablus and others take as a proper name, and translate as 'to Joash descended from Abiezer': for the family of Abiezer was renowned, as is clear from verse 34. Moreover, Abiezer in Hebrew means the same as father of help; from this family sprang Gideon, who was destined by God to be the help of Israel, to deliver them from the Midianites.
And when Gideon his son (the son of Joash) was threshing and cleaning grain in the winepress, to flee from Midian. "He was threshing," namely with a flail, as the Belgians and others by beating the crops shake out the grains from the ears. Otherwise in Palestine (as is still done in Italy) oxen would thresh the crops by trampling them with their hooves, thus shaking out the grains; whence that saying: "You shall not muzzle the ox that treads out the grain," Deuteronomy 25:4. But Gideon here threshed with a flail, because he did it secretly and hastily, lest he be seized by the approaching Midianites; and for the same reason he did it in the winepress, where grapes are usually pressed and wine extracted from them; for this winepress was in a flat place, and perhaps in a barn, as Vatablus holds, where crops are usually beaten and threshed.
Tropologically, St. Gregory, Book 3, Moralia 17: "What is it, he says, to beat grain with a rod, except by the uprightness of judgment to separate the grains of virtue from the chaff of vices? But to those doing this the Angel appears: because the more earnestly men purge themselves from exterior things, the more the Lord reveals interior things."
Allegorically, St. Augustine, Sermon 108 On the Seasons: "The winepress, he says, where he was threshing the harvest, bore the type of the continual tribulations of the Church. The harvest that was being beaten signified the Christian people, whom Christ coming separated with the rod of discipline or the staff of His cross from the chaff, that is, from all sins. For the Angel who came to him is also taken as a type of the Lord Savior. It is manifest that the tree under which He stood, and the staff which He held, signified the Cross. The rock upon which Gideon offered his holocaust was Christ. For thus the Apostle says: And the rock was Christ. The young goat that was offered designated the human race subject to sins. The fact that the Angel touched the rock with His staff and fire came forth and consumed that young goat means this: the Cross touched Christ, and from the rock that was Christ, the fire of charity came forth, which consumed the sins of the human race. For of Him the true Gideon, Christ, said in the Gospel: I have come to cast fire upon the earth; and what do I will but that it be kindled?"
And St. Ambrose, in the preface to Book 1 On the Holy Spirit: "Not without reason, he says, did he place the fleece not in a field, or in a meadow, but on the threshing floor, where there is a harvest of wheat (for the harvest is great, but the laborers are few), because through faith in the Lord there was to be a fruitful harvest of virtues."
Verse 12: The Lord is with you, most valiant of men
And he (the Angel) said: The Lord be with you, most valiant of men. In Hebrew גבור החיל gibbor hechail, that is, strong in might or in valor; the Septuagint has, powerful in strength; the Chaldean, man of virtue; Vatablus, most valiant man: for gibbor signifies a strong, powerful, robust man, such as giants were: while chail signifies strength, industry, valor, force. Whence Serarius suspects that instead of 'of men' we should read 'of strength,' but nothing compels this: for the word 'of men' corresponds to the Hebrew gibbor; and gibbor signifies both strong and man; for men are strong. Whence Gabriel is called, as it were, the strong one of God, or man of God. Add: he who is strongest in strength is the most valiant of men.
Moreover, Gideon was strong not only in body, but more so in spirit, with which he nobly undertook so great a war. Again, he was strong not only with natural, but also with supernatural fortitude, which God was here bestowing upon him, and would thereafter bestow upon him for undertaking so arduous a task. For when God assigns a certain name to someone, He at the same time bestows upon him the thing and endowment signified by the name. Thus when the Blessed Virgin was greeted by Gabriel, God's messenger, as "full of grace," then at the same time God bestowed upon her a new abundance and fullness of grace: for the greeting of God (and of His saints, as St. Paul, says Chrysostom) is efficacious, and for God to say is to do. Thus God, changing Simon's name and calling him Kepha (Cephas), that is, Peter, bestowed upon him the rock-like fortitude by which he would be the foundation of the Church. The same must be said of John and James, when He called them Boanerges, that is, sons of thunder, and of Abram, when He called him Abraham, that is, father of many nations, etc.
Gideon is therefore called most valiant of men, says Serarius, because he excelled in bodily strength and was outstanding in mental vigor. Secondly, because on account of God's presence and help he would thereafter be far more powerful in those same bodily and mental strengths, and would accomplish great things for the salvation of his people, and both present and future fortitude of both body and mind was proposed to him, so that with great confidence and eagerness he might undertake the defense of the Israelite people, and not despise himself too much, or consider himself unequal to this burden and task. For thus Jacob too was confirmed by a marvelous and prolonged wrestling, when he was about to come into the sight of the fierce and angry Esau, Genesis 32.
Moreover, the Septuagint translates in the nominative δυνατός τῇ ἰσχύι, as the Complutensian has, that is, powerful in strength, or ἰσχυρὸς τῶν δυνάμεων, that is, strong of virtues, as the Roman edition has. Whence St. Augustine here, Question 32, considers this to be an epithet not of Gideon but of God, as if to say: The Lord is with you, O Gideon, the Lord, I say, who is strong of virtues. But our Vulgate, the Chaldean, and others better translate it in the vocative, so that Gideon is greeted by the Angel and called most valiant of men. For the Angel gives the reason for this title in verse 14, when he says: "Go in this your strength, and you shall deliver Israel from the hand of Midian."
Verse 14: Go in this your strength
14. And the Lord looked upon him, namely the Angel, the envoy of the Lord, representing His person. "He looked" with kind but piercing eyes, raising the timid Gideon to confidence and promising him His help with a gentle countenance and nod, and thereby urging him to undertake the office of Judge and Leader against the Midianites, which He Himself was offering him. Fittingly, 'He looked' corresponds to 'I beseech.' In Hebrew בי bi, that is, 'upon me,' namely, I beseech You to look upon me, that is, to be favorable to me and mine, which Gideon had said in the preceding verse: therefore by looking upon him the Angel satisfied his petition and desires.
Go in this your strength. In Hebrew בכחך becochacha, that is, in the strength that I formerly bestowed upon you, and have now increased, and will hereafter further augment and amplify. Whence Abulensis explains thus: "Go in your strength," that is, "in the strength of the help that I have already promised you." Hear Theodoret, Question 12: "Gideon was mindful of the wonders of God, and held a firm conviction about God, etc. And he merited to hear from the Angel: Go forth in the strength of this faith, and you shall conquer."
Verse 16: I will be with you
16. I will be with you, and you shall strike Midian as one man, as if to say: Do not fear, O Gideon, the many thousands of Midianites; for I will so strengthen you, and make you so much more powerful than them, that you will cut them all down as easily as if they were all but one man, or as easily as one man is struck down, so easily will you by My help strike down all the camps of Midian. For thus one Angel, fighting for Hezekiah, slew in one night in the camp of Sennacherib 185,000 Assyrians, 4 Kings 19:35. So powerful is God, indeed even one Angel of God.
Verse 17: Give me a sign
17. Give me a sign that it is You who speaks to me. Gideon did not sin by asking for a sign, because he did not know whether the one who spoke with him was a human prophet, or an Angel of God or of the devil, for Satan transfigures himself into an angel of light. So says Abulensis. He says therefore: "Give me a sign that You are," namely, such a one in whom, when promising divine help and so remarkable a victory over Midian, I can and should place my faith. Gideon saw the Angel like a most handsome young man, most elegant in countenance, attire, and manner, and he felt a wonderful consolation, eagerness, and joy from His presence and speech: but he was not yet certain who He was, or whence He came. He therefore asks that this very thing be declared and confirmed to him by a sign.
Now the Angel gave this sign to Gideon who was asking for it in verse 21; when touching the bread and meat with His staff, He immediately drew fire from them, by which He offered them to God as a sacrifice, and having done this He vanished. Although some think that what Gideon asked for as a sign was what he next adds: "Do not depart from here until I return to you;" which the Septuagint favors, but more plainly we shall say that Gideon asked for two things: first, the sign already mentioned; second, that the Angel would not depart before he had brought Him some gift as a mark of honor.
Verse 18: Do not depart until I return with a sacrifice
18. Do not depart from here until I return to you, bearing a sacrifice and offering it to you. You may ask whether Gideon truly offered a sacrifice here? St. Augustine affirms this, Question 31. He wished, Augustine says, to offer a sacrifice in the Angel's presence as one to be aided by His holy presence. Likewise Theodoret, Question 12, and Abulensis, Question 16. They prove it, first, because our Vulgate clearly states this, saying: Bearing a sacrifice and offering it to you; second, because the Septuagint translates ἐξοίσω θυσίαν, καὶ θύσω ἐνώπιόν σου, that is, I will bring a sacrifice, and I will sacrifice before you; so also Vatablus; third, because Gideon asked this sign from the Angel, that He might show Himself to be sent by God through fire miraculously produced, by which He would burn and sacrifice the bread and meat brought by Gideon; by which method Elijah demonstrated himself to be a true Prophet of God against the priests of Baal, by drawing fire from heaven that would set ablaze his ox, and as it were offer it as a holocaust to God, 3 Kings 18. And Manoah, the father of Samson, at the Angel's command, chapter 13:16, offered a holocaust.
Therefore it was not Gideon, who was not a priest, who offered the sacrifice, but he brought the material of the sacrifice to the Angel without fire, so that He might consummate it with miraculous fire, and thus sacrifice it, and by this sign show that He was sent by God to whom the sacrifice was offered. Whence, for what our Vulgate translates as 'offering to you,' the Hebrew has 'I will set down' or 'place before you,' so that namely You may set them on fire, and through heavenly fire offer and consume them as a sacrifice to God.
Now Gideon cooked the meat of the sacrifice because he wanted at the same time to bring a meal either to the Angel appearing in human form as if to a man, or to a Prophet (for he did not know whether He was a Prophet or an Angel, but doubted about it, and suspected Him to be one or the other), so that part would serve as food if He were a Prophet, and the other part as a sacrifice to God. But the Angel, to show that He was an Angel and did not eat food, and that the miracle might be more evident, burned everything, even the broth itself, to God, and by burning it sacrificed it. For the Angel was not bound by the laws of sacrifice laid down in Leviticus, which do not permit cooked meat to be sacrificed. So says Abulensis.
This opinion is probable, and the Septuagint favors it, which seems to locate this sign of Gideon in this sacrifice by the Angel.
But the contrary is more true, namely that Gideon brought bread and meat to the Angel not for sacrifice, but for a meal; so that the Angel appearing in human form might eat them as a man; for Gideon did not know that He was an Angel, but was uncertain whether He was a man or an Angel.
This is proved first, because there was no priest here to sacrifice. For Gideon was not from the priestly tribe, namely from Levi, but from Manasseh. Angels also do not usually sacrifice. And Gideon did not know that the one who appeared was an Angel.
Secondly, because according to the law a young goat could not be sacrificed except for the sin of a ruler, Leviticus 4:2.
Thirdly, Gideon cooked the bread and meat: therefore for a meal. For to a sacrifice raw meat had to be brought, indeed a living animal, which was slaughtered by the priest, cooked and burned in honor of God.
Fourthly, it was not lawful to sacrifice outside the tabernacle: therefore not on Gideon's threshing floor either.
Fifthly, because the Angel here appeared in the likeness of a traveler, and therefore carried a staff or traveler's walking-stick in His hand, and now as if weary from the journey and seeking shade and rest, He was sitting under the oak. It seems therefore that Gideon wished to show Him the duty of hospitality, and brought bread and meat to refresh Him. For thus did Abraham act, when angels as strangers from the road turned aside to him, preparing a meal, Genesis chapter 18, and Manoah, chapter 13, verse 15.
Sixthly, because for 'sacrifice,' the Hebrew has מנחה minchah, that is, a gift or present, as the Chaldean translates. Thus Ehud offered the king a minchah, that is, a gift, chapter 3:15. I admit that minchah specifically also means a gift that is offered to God from grain or bread, namely a grain offering, Leviticus 2. But minchah never means a flesh sacrifice; yet Gideon here brought meat.
To the first argument therefore I respond: For 'sacrifice,' the Hebrew has minchah, that is, a gift. Our Vulgate nevertheless translates it as 'sacrifice,' because the Angel shortly after did not wish to keep Gideon's gift for Himself, but turned it into a sacrifice, which He offered to God: and because feasts are often called θυσία (thysia), that is, sacrifice and victims, by catachresis, as is clear from Proverbs 9:2; 1 Samuel 25; in the Septuagint, Matthew 22:4. For θυσία is derived from θύω, that is, I kill; whence the French word tuer. I say the same to the second objection. I add that instead of θύσω, that is, I will kill, in the Septuagint it seems we should read θήσω with an eta, that is, I will place; for thus St. Augustine reads, Question 35.
To the third the answer is clear from what has been said. Add that Gideon did not know whether the one who appeared was a priest who could sacrifice. Finally, it is clear that Gideon was not thinking of a sacrifice, from the fact that he did not erect an altar, did not bring wood and fire with which a victim would be burned; whence he makes no mention of sacrifice to the Angel; much less did he foresee that the Angel would draw fire with His staff, by which the meat he had brought would be sacrificed. So say Theodoret, Procopius, Cajetan, Arias, Serarius. Hear Procopius: "He calls it a sacrifice which was destined for a meal. For a victim was not cooked according to the law. Moreover, he places it under the oak in imitation of Abraham, thinking that this one would consume the dishes."
Verse 19. Unleavened bread, not because it was the Paschal season, when the Jews were only permitted to eat unleavened bread, but because Gideon was in haste and feared that the Angel might depart because of the delay; wherefore since he did not have time to leaven the flour, he hastily baked unleavened bread from the unleavened dough.
Verse 20. Place them upon that rock. The Angel therefore appointed that rock as an altar, upon which He intended to sacrifice all these things to God through fire. This rock was a type of Christ, 1 Corinthians 10:4, who is at the same time the altar, the priest, and the victim, whom we offer to God in the Eucharist.
Pseudo-Philo recounts another sign, namely that the Angel commanded Gideon to pour water upon the rock, and that Gideon asked the Angel for this sign, and said: "Let half be blood and half fire; and Gideon poured water upon the rock, and it happened, when he had poured it, that half became flame, and the other half blood, and the two were mixed, that is, fire and blood, and the blood did not extinguish the fire, nor did the fire burn up the blood." Philo adds that through Gideon one hundred and twenty thousand Midianites were slain, and the rest fled. But this Philo is of suspect reliability.
Verse 21: Fire rose from the rock
21. He extended the tip of the staff, etc., and touched the meat and unleavened bread, and fire rose up from the rock, and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. Behold, this is the sign that the Angel displayed to Gideon who was asking for it, which showed first that He was an Angel sent by God; second, that He did not eat food; third, that He was sacrificing to God through fire all these things brought by Gideon and offered to Him.
He produced fire from the forceful striking of the rock with the staff, which was armed, it seems, with an iron tip; just as by striking flint against iron we draw fire from it, or by applying actives to passives in another similar manner, in the way in which from the secret causes of nature He knew fire was to be produced. The Angel therefore here performed the office of priest, and Gideon that of minister. So say Theodoret, Abulensis, Lyra, Dionysius, and others.
Mystically, the flesh of the young goat is sin, the broth is the allurements of desires. Therefore, that the Angel extended the staff and touched the rock, from which fire came forth, shows that the flesh of Christ, filled with the heavenly spirit and divine fire, would burn away all the sins of men. So says St. Ambrose, in the preface to Book 1 On the Holy Spirit, whom hear: "Already then therefore it was declared in mystery that the Lord Jesus, crucified in His flesh, would abolish the sins of the whole world, and not only the offenses of deeds, but also the desires of souls; for the flesh of the young goat refers to the guilt of deeds, the broth to the allurements of desires, as it is written: 'the people lusted with an evil desire, and they said: Who will feed us with meat?' Therefore, that the Angel extended the staff and touched the rock, from which fire came forth, shows that the flesh of the Lord, filled with the divine spirit, would burn away all the sins of the human condition. Whence the Lord also says: 'I have come to cast fire upon the earth.'"
The same words are found verbatim in St. Augustine, Sermon 108 On the Seasons. Therefore they were copied from one to the other. Hear also St. Gregory, Book 3, Moralia 17: "The Angel commands the young goat to be killed, that is, every appetite of our flesh to be immolated, and the meat to be placed upon the rock, and the broth of the meat to be poured over it. Whom else does the rock signify, except Him of whom Paul says: 'And the rock was Christ'? Therefore we place meat upon the rock when we crucify our body in imitation of Christ. He also pours the broth of meat upon it who in the following of Christ empties himself even of carnal delights. For it is as if liquid broth from flesh is poured upon the rock, when the mind is emptied of the flow of carnal thoughts. Yet the Angel soon touches this with His staff, because the power of divine help never deserts our intention. And fire comes out from the rock and consumes the broth and meat, because the spirit breathed from the Redeemer sets our heart aflame with so great a fire of compunction that it burns away everything illicit in it, both of deed and of thought."
And the Angel of the Lord vanished from his sight. Ascending into heaven, says Cajetan, whence He had come. Whence the Chaldean translates: He ascended from the region of his eyes. Thence also Gideon recognized that this was an Angel of God. Whence it follows:
Verse 22: I have seen the Angel of the Lord face to face
22. And Gideon seeing that it was the Angel of the Lord, said: Alas, my Lord God (I must die), for I have seen the Angel of the Lord face to face. 23. And the Lord (the Angel, envoy of God) said to him: Peace be with you, do not fear, you shall not die. From this saying of Gideon, and from that of Manoah in chapter 13, verse 22: "We shall die, because we have seen God," it is clear that the common opinion of the people at that time was that whoever had seen God or an Angel would die. Whence the Jews derive this rule: "Whoever has clearly seen an Angel, death will immediately follow him."
This opinion seems to have arisen from the fact that Angels are most subtle spirits and familiar with God; therefore when they appear to men, they seem to want to draw them from the flesh to the spirit with themselves toward God, and subsequently to summon them before God the Judge. Add that Angels sometimes appear to those about to die, to conduct them to another life. Whence Jacob, seeing the Angel and marveling that he did not die, said: "I have seen the Lord face to face, and my life has been preserved," Genesis 32:30. For so great is the light, glory, and majesty of Angels that it seems to strike a man lifeless. This opinion was increased by that oracle of God to Moses, Exodus 33:20: "No man shall see Me and live," says St. Augustine here, Question 54. Likewise from the punishment of others who were slain by Angels for their crimes, as by them were killed the firstborn of the Egyptians, Exodus 12, and the Sodomites, Genesis 19, Er and Onan, Genesis 38. Thus even now concerning spirits and their apparitions many people imagine and recount many things that are vain and fabulous.
But that this fear of theirs was vain is clear from the visions of Angels granted to Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Joshua, Gideon, and others. For these saw Angels, and yet did not die. Whence the Angel here says to Gideon: "Do not fear, you shall not die." For although this Angel had already vanished from Gideon's sight, nevertheless He formed this voice in the air near Gideon's ears, to take away from him the fear of death, says Abulensis.
24. So Gideon built an altar there to the Lord, and called it: The Lord's peace. Because the Angel had said to him: "Peace be with you, do not fear, you shall not die." He therefore erected this altar not for sacrificing (for it was forbidden to erect one outside the tabernacle or temple, Leviticus 17:4), but as a memorial of the safety and peace granted to him by the Angel he had seen, and of the salvation and liberation of Israel from the Midianites promised to him by the same. Whence he called it: "The Lord's peace." The Reubenites built a similar altar, Joshua 22:10. So says Abulensis, unless you prefer with Cajetan, Lyra, Arias, and Serarius to hold that this altar is the same as the one that Gideon built by God's command in verse 26; and that too is probable.
Verse 25: Take the bull and destroy the altar of Baal
25. The Lord said to him: Take the bull of your father, and another bull of seven years, and destroy the altar of Baal, etc. In Chaldean, the bull that had been fattened for seven years. Whence Arias and the Rabbis, and indeed even Theodoret, think that this bull had been dedicated to God either by the city or by Gideon's father for sacrifice from the beginning of the persecution of the Midianites, so that when it ceased it would be offered in sacrifice to God, and therefore it had been fattened for as many years as the persecution had lasted, and would have been fattened longer if the persecution had lasted longer.
Verse 26: Build an altar to the Lord on the rock
26. And you shall build an altar to the Lord your God on the top of this rock, upon which you before placed the sacrifice (the victim of bread and meat): and you shall take the second bull, and offer a holocaust. Whence Arias thinks both bulls were immolated and that by 'the second' the first is understood. However, it is possible, says Serarius, that of the two only one could have been immolated here at dawn, as it seems to Abulensis, Question 40, or for some other reason, and that this one was immolated first because it was the fattest at seven years old and most suitable for ending the servitude, and therefore either the other having already been completely burned, or still to be burned afterwards, only this one was found placed upon the altar and still burning by the Ephrathites, verse 28.
Here therefore God made Gideon a priest, though he was not from the priestly tribe, namely Levi, but from Manasseh, and commanded him to sacrifice to Himself, so that he might be a type of Christ, who was a priest.
Allegorically, St. Ambrose, in the preface to Book 1 On the Holy Spirit: "St. Gideon, he says, killed the calf that his father had assigned to idols, and himself immolated another calf of seven years to God. By this deed he most clearly revealed that after the coming of the Lord all sacrifices of paganism were to be abolished, and only the sacrifice of the Lord's Passion for the redemption of the people was to be offered to God. For that calf was in type Christ, in whom the fullness of the seven spiritual virtues dwelt, as Isaiah said. This calf Abraham also offered, when he saw the day of the Lord and rejoiced. This is He who was now offered in the type of a young goat, now of a sheep, now of a calf. Of a young goat, because sacrifice is made for sins; of a sheep, because it is a voluntary victim; of a calf, because it is an unblemished victim. Therefore St. Gideon foresaw the mystery."
Augustine has the same, Sermon 108 On the Seasons, but the phrasing is more suggestive of the style of St. Ambrose.
Verse 31: Are you the avengers of Baal?
31. Are you the avengers of Baal, that you fight for him? Let whoever is his adversary die before tomorrow's light comes. If he is a god, let him vindicate himself against the one who has demolished his altar. The Hebrew is more expressive: Will you plead for Baal? Will you preserve him? By an apparent argument Joash the father delivers his son Gideon, the overthrower of Baal's altar, from death, as if to say: If Baal is a god, he certainly feels this injury inflicted upon him in the destruction of his altar; therefore if he himself is an omnipotent and implacable avenger, let him preserve himself and his worship, and let him vindicate himself against the one who overturned his altar before tomorrow, so that it may appear to all that he is a god, to be feared and worshiped by all.
Verse 32: Gideon called Jerubbaal
32. From that day Gideon was called Jerubbaal, because Joash had said: Let Baal vindicate himself against the one who demolished his altar. Gideon, in Hebrew, means the same as 'cutter down of iniquity' and 'of idol,' likewise 'cutter down of grief'; for grief accompanies iniquity, as a lictor accompanies the accused. He was also called Jerubbaal, as if ירוב בעל iaruv baal, that is, one who contends, disputes, and fights with Baal. Whence for 'let him vindicate himself against him,' the Hebrew is ירב בו iarev bo, that is, let him litigate with him, let him bring suit against him, let him prosecute and fight with him, and if he is more powerful, let him vindicate himself against him and chastise and punish him, as if to say: Why do you litigate with my son Gideon because he overturned the altar of Baal? Let Baal himself, if he is a god, litigate with him. For if he is a god, he is powerful and just enough to punish this injury of his; therefore he has no need of you as prosecutors and litigants. This is an argument plausible in appearance and ad hominem.
For the citizens and inhabitants of Ophrah, worshipers of Baal, held this opinion and feeling about their Baal; but in reality he is in himself weak and powerless. For in a similar way one might say to heretical iconoclasts: If God and the Saints take offense at the breaking of their images, let Him vindicate Himself against us and punish us. But it is not permissible to say this, nor does it suffice as an excuse for the deed: both because God often dissimulates the avenging of injury to Himself in this life, and defers it to the next life, that it may be sharper and eternal; and because He has appointed kings and magistrates to judge and avenge injuries done to Himself; therefore they are obliged by their office to do the same.
Moreover, by crasis Gideon was called Arbel instead of Jerubbaal, as is clear from Hosea 10:14. See what was said there.
Tropologically: Do you wish to be a Gideon, that is, a cutter down of iniquity? Cut down from your heart and from your neighbors all harmful desires; for these are the idols and altars of Baal that each one paints and fashions in his mind, which if he cuts down, he will easily overcome the Midianites, that is, the demons.
Otherwise the name Gideon (I do not know from what Hebrew root) is interpreted and explained by St. Gregory, Book 30, Moralia 17: "Gideon, he says, is interpreted as 'going around in the womb.' For our Lord by the power of His majesty encompasses all things; and yet by the grace of His dispensation He came taking on humility within the womb of the Virgin. Who then is 'going around in the womb,' except Almighty God redeeming us by His dispensation, encompassing all things by His divinity, and taking on humanity within the womb? In which womb He was both incarnated and not enclosed, because He was both within the womb through the substance of weakness, and beyond the world through the power of His majesty. Midian however is interpreted as 'of judgment.' For that His enemies should be repelled and destroyed was not from the vice of the one repelling, but from the judgment of the one judging justly."
Verse 34: The Spirit of the Lord clothed Gideon
34. And the Spirit of the Lord clothed Gideon. The Septuagint has: and the Spirit of the Lord strengthened Gideon; the Chaldean: and the Spirit of fortitude from before the Lord clothed Gideon, as if to say: Gideon received from God a fullness and abundance of spirit and fortitude, for mustering battle against the innumerable Midianites. For this is what the word 'to clothe' signifies, as is clear from Job 7:6: "My flesh is clothed with corruption," that is, it is full of corruption, and entirely as if rotten and putrid. And chapter 8, verse 22: "Those who hate you shall be clothed (that is, filled) with shame." Psalm 34:26: "Let those who speak proudly against me be clothed (filled) with confusion and shame." Psalm 109: "He clothed himself with cursing as with a garment," by which one is encompassed and girded on every side: "Let it be to him like the garment with which he is covered, and like the belt with which he is always girded. Let those who slander me be clothed with shame, and let them be covered as with a double cloak of their confusion." 1 Corinthians chapter 15: "this corruptible must put on incorruption." Ephesians 6: "Put on" Jesus Christ, so that filled with His spirit, you may be encompassed by Him on every side, and may represent Him to those who behold you, so that whoever sees and hears you may think that he sees and hears Christ Himself in you.
Verse 36: The sign of the fleece
36. And Gideon said to God: If You will save Israel by my hand as You have spoken. 37. I will place this fleece of wool on the threshing floor: if there be dew on the fleece alone, and dryness on all the ground, I shall know that by my hand, as You have spoken, You will deliver Israel. Gideon had already had certain proofs that an Angel of God had appeared to him, through the fire miraculously drawn by Him from the rock, and that God willed that he undertake battle against Midian; why then does he ask anew for a sign of this matter, namely dew on the fleece?
St. Thomas, II-II, Question 97, article 2, reply to 3; Abulensis here, and some others hold that Gideon sinned by unfaithfulness, either mortally or at least venially, because he doubted God's promises and from weakness of faith asked Him for a new sign.
More mildly and better, Origen, homily 8; St. Ambrose in the passage cited, Isidore, Lyra, Cajetan, Arias, Serarius, and others assert that he did not sin, because the Apostle, Hebrews 11, numbers Gideon among the saints of the Old Testament and commends him for his outstanding faith; and because God here so readily complied with both of Gideon's requests.
It seems therefore that Gideon, out of great trust in God, and with a spirit exulting with joy (for the Spirit of the Lord had already clothed him), asked for these two signs for the glory of God, not so much to strengthen his own faith and hope as that of his fellow soldiers, whom he was summoning to himself and to this battle of his by God's command; so that he might confirm them gradually gathering to him by these divine signs, and kindle in them a sure hope of victory; whence he asked for this sign when the army had already been assembled. So say Cajetan, Salian, and Suarez.
Again, it seems that Gideon, moved and prompted by God, asked for these signs, for the significance of the mystery which
was prefigured in these things concerning Christ, about which more shortly. For a similar reason Moses asked God for a sign of his mission to Pharaoh, Exodus 3, and Hezekiah for a sign of his healing from illness, Isaiah 38:22. So says Suarez, volume 1 On Religion, Book 1 On Irreligion, chapter 2, and Lessius, Book 2 On the Cardinal Virtues, chapter 45, doubt 1; Suarez offers a third excuse for Gideon, and prefers it above the others, as does Serarius, namely that Gideon asked for this sign to remove from his mind every motion of doubt, even involuntary: for although he firmly believed God promising victory, yet he felt in so arduous a matter certain movements of doubt and temptations of diffidence, which in order to remove, and to solidify and increase his faith completely, he asked for this sign. Dionysius the Carthusian offers a fourth explanation, namely that he indeed believed God promising victory, but feared that this promise might be conditional — that is, if the Hebrews served God with their whole heart — not absolute: wherefore he asks for this sign, by which God would declare this promise to be absolute; Gideon therefore asked for a double sign, or rather one and the same reversed.
For first he asked that the dew be only on the fleece of the sheep, and on all the rest of the ground there be dryness; but afterward he asked that the fleece alone be dry, and all the rest of the ground be dewy and moist.
But why did Gideon ask for this sign rather than any other? Literally, Arias holds that by the fleece he indicated his own lowliness and abjectness, and his unfitness for conducting this war; whence he asked for dew, that is, grace, mercy, spirit, and strength from God to be poured into him for this purpose. For in Hebrew גזה gizza, that is, fleece, alludes to גזז gazaz (for the letter zayin borders on daleth, and therefore borders on the daleth that is in the name Gideon), that is, to shear, to cut down, to cut off, as if to say: I, O Lord, am like a fleece shorn from the sheep, and cut off from all strength and force; therefore fill it with the dew of Your grace and fortitude, so that strengthened by it I may dare to undertake so great a battle and bring it to a successful conclusion.
On the contrary, in the latter sign Arias thinks that the dew on the ground was a symbol of sweat and anxiety, as if Gideon wished to learn whether, without great labor and great slaughter of his own men, there would be a great destruction and slaughter of the Midianite enemy, as if he prayed: Let there be to the fleece, that is, to me, O Lord, dryness, rest, and spaciousness (for the Hebrew חרב chorev, that is, dryness, alludes to this by metathesis, common in symbols, so that chorev is the same as rochev, that is, broadening and expansion): but to all the hostile remainder of the ground, namely the Midianites, let there be worry, anxiety, terror, agitation, dejection. And to this alludes the Hebrew טל tal, that is, dew, which alludes to טלל til and טלל talal, that is, to cast down, to overthrow. Arias therefore holds that Gideon understood by the fleece himself and his men, by the surrounding ground the Midianites, and in the first sign by the dew, victory; but in the latter, sweat, tears, and calamity were portended.
But it seems harsh that the same dew should here signify two contrary things, namely victory and calamity. Therefore more fittingly, both for the literal sense and the mystical, we shall say that the dew in both cases signifies the same thing, namely God's grace and mercy, help, and victory; so that Gideon in the first sign asked for the dew of divine help and fortitude for himself, represented by the fleece, for overcoming the Midianites, while the rest of Judea was deprived of it, dry, afflicted, and barren; in the latter he asked that the same dew of fortitude requested for himself in the first sign be also poured into the rest of the Jews, his countrymen, especially his fellow soldiers, so that they might courageously offer themselves as companions to Gideon for so arduous a fight with the Midianites.
Moreover, he asked for this sign in a fleece, first, because as a shepherd of sheep he had a fleece ready at hand; second, because a fleece was a fitting symbol of this victory. For a fleece is wool plucked and shorn from sheep. For in ancient times they used to pluck the wool from sheep, and this plucking was later succeeded by shearing. Thus, as Varro says in Book 2 On Agriculture, chapter 11: "Some call fleeces 'vellumina,' from whose word one may observe that the plucking of wool was invented before shearing. Those who still pluck today keep the sheep fasting for three days beforehand, because when languid they retain the roots of the wool less firmly." The same author, Book 4 On the Latin Language: "He says that the reasons why 'vellae' exist are several, among which is that the Palatine shepherds were accustomed to pluck wool from sheep before shearing was invented; whence they are called fleeces." Isidore agrees with Varro, Book 19 of the Etymologies, chapter 27: "Wool (lana), he says, is named from 'laniendo,' that is, plucking. Hence also 'vellus' (fleece) is so called, because formerly wools were plucked, not shorn."
By the symbol of the fleece therefore Gideon tacitly indicated that the Midianites had shorn all the crops and produce of Judea, just as this fleece had been shorn from the sheep, and that therefore he was asking that in turn he himself might in a similar way, by God's help, shear and scrape the Midianites from Israel. Hence the name Gideon in Hebrew signifies a cutter, an exciser, a shearer, and alludes to גזה gizza, that is, a fleece shorn from a sheep.
You may ask secondly, what does the dew on the fleece mystically signify; and then on the ground?
I respond: allegorically, the dew on the fleece is Christ in the Virgin. For the dew signifies that the descent and incarnation of the Word into the Virgin would be, like dew, secret, tranquil, chaste, sweet, spiritual, fruitful, without corruption of virginity, and without the pain of childbirth. For the fleece is both the womb of the Virgin and the humanity of Christ conceived in the Virgin's womb, into which the divinity insinuated itself like heavenly dew. Whence St. Ambrose, St. Ephrem, St. Sophronius, Proclus, and others call and invoke the Blessed Virgin as "Gideon's Fleece."
Hear St. Ambrose, Sermon 9: "Mary, he says, is rightly compared to a fleece, who so conceived the Lord that with her whole body she drank Him in, nor did she suffer any tearing of her body, but was soft in obedience, firm in holiness." And St. Jerome in the Epitaph of Paula: "The shepherds keeping watch by night merited to hear: Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will, and while they were tending their sheep, they found the Lamb of God with pure and most clean fleece, which in the dryness of all the earth was drenched with heavenly dew." Hence St. Bernard, Sermon 2 on the Missus est: "What, he says, does Gideon's fleece signify — which was indeed shorn from flesh, but without wound to the flesh is placed on the threshing floor, and now the wool, now the threshing floor is drenched with dew — except the flesh assumed from the flesh of the Virgin without detriment to virginity? Into which, when the heavens were distilling, the whole fullness of the divinity poured itself; so that from this fullness we have all received, since without it we are truly nothing other than dry earth." to this deed of Gideon the prophetic saying also seems to correspond beautifully enough, where it is read: 'He shall descend like rain upon the fleece.'"
The same, Sermon on the Nativity of Mary: "Behold, O man, the counsel of God, recognize the counsel of wisdom, the counsel of piety. About to water the threshing floor with heavenly dew, He first poured it all into the fleece; about to redeem the human race, He conferred the whole price upon Mary."
And St. Irenaeus, Book 3, chapter 19: "Wherefore, he says, the dew of God is necessary for us, lest we be burned (by the fire of temptation and concupiscence) and become unfruitful." This dew of the divine Word we receive specially through sermons, readings, prayers, and God's inspirations, but really through the Eucharist, in which we eat and unite to ourselves the very flesh of Christ, the spotless Lamb, and are clothed with it as with the purest fleece, and from it we draw out all the dew of heavenly grace, and especially we put on His humility and gentleness (of which the soft woolen fleece is the symbol).
Mystically: The dew of faith and God's grace first rained down on Gideon's fleece, that is, on the Jews, Gideon's fellow tribesmen, until Christ: but when He was preaching, this dew dried up among the Jews because of their unbelief in Christ, and was diverted to the rest of the ground, that is, to all the nations, who eagerly received the faith and grace of Christ. So say Origen, Theodoret, Procopius, Rupert here, and St. Augustine, Sermon 108 On the Seasons; St. Ambrose, in the book On Widows, and in the preface to Book 1 On the Holy Spirit, and Chrysostom on Psalm 71, at those words: "He shall descend like rain upon the fleece, and like showers falling gently upon the earth."
Signified here therefore is the election of the Gentiles, and the rejection of the Jews, who had previously been watered with the dew of the divine law and election: "Hence it is that now the whole world is moist with the dew of faith," says St. Ambrose. Hear St. Jerome to Paulinus: "After the fleece was dried, the whole world was drenched with heavenly dew, and many coming from the East and West reclined in the bosom of Abraham, God ceased to be known only in Judea and His name great only in Israel, but into all the earth went forth the sound of the Apostles, and their words to the ends of the world."
More fully, St. Augustine, in the book On the Unity of the Church, chapter 5: "I do not see, he says, what else is figured and foretold here, except that we should understand the threshing floor as the world, the place of the fleece as the people of Israel. For among that people this gift was in the fleece, that is, in a veil, and as it were in the cloud of secrecy, because it had not yet been revealed. But now we see the world being nourished by the revealed dew through the Gospel of our Lord, which was then prefigured in that covering; while that nation, having lost the priesthood it had, because it does not understand Christ in the Scriptures, has remained as in a dry fleece."
Finally, the Church in the second antiphon of First Vespers of the Circumcision sings thus: "When You were born ineffably from the Virgin, then the Scriptures were fulfilled; like rain upon the fleece You descended, to save the human race."
Finally, Blessed Peter Chrysologus, Sermon 3 On the Annunciation: "The heavenly shower, he says, poured itself with a gentle descent into the virginal fleece, and the whole wave of the divinity hid itself in the absorbent fleece of our flesh; until, pressed out through the gibbet of the Cross, it poured itself forth upon all lands as a rain of salvation," etc.
I said more on this subject in my commentary on Isaiah 45:8, at those words: "Drop down dew, O heavens, from above," where I reviewed nine analogies between dew and Christ.
Moreover, the first sign was fulfilled in the conception by the Virgin; for then she alone conceived the heavenly dew, that is, the divine Word, in her womb, the rest of the ground, that is, the other women, remaining dry and devoid of this dew; the latter sign was fulfilled in her giving birth, for then giving birth to Christ she poured forth this dew upon the earth, and she herself remained as it were empty and as it were dry.
Symbolically, St. Ambrose, in the book On Widows, after the beginning, taking the fleece as the humanity of Christ, which received the dew of divine life in the Incarnation: "This fleece, he says, dried out in death when the blood was pressed out like dew, by the same through His grace watered the whole world." The same, in the preface to Book 1 On the Holy Spirit: "Therefore, he says, the Lord has now come, the rain has come. The Lord came bringing heavenly drops with Him, and therefore we now drink who before were thirsting, and we drink that divine spirit with an interior draught. Therefore St. Gideon foresaw this, that even the nations and peoples would drink the true and spiritual dew through the reception of faith, and therefore he explored more carefully."
Tropologically, Father Berthonius, and from him Serarius: "Ecclesiastics, he says, who like the fleece are joined to the Lord, and should be soft, humble, and kind, used to be drenched with the dew of divine grace above others, while the threshing floor, that is, the secular people, compared to them were undevout, dry, and hard; but truly today we see the contrary: the threshing floor is more dewy than the fleece, the secular are more devout than the religious, the laity than the clergy, subjects than Prelates, as is well known."
Mimetically, the miracle of the fleece defended from surrounding moisture was renewed in St. Bernard, who while writing his first letter to his nephew Robert in the open air, although it was raining all around, nevertheless did not wet the paper, says Baronius, volume 12, in the year of Christ 1125.
Verse 38: Wringing out the fleece
38. Wringing out the fleece he filled a basin with dew, so that he might know for certain that the fleece was dewy, indeed swollen with dew; for he had asked that this sign be given to him by God. Mystically, how our mind ought to be a basin, first filling itself with the dew and water of grace and virtue before pouring it out to others, not a channel that sends out all the water it receives, retaining nothing for itself, is beautifully taught by St. Bernard, Sermon 18 on the Song of Songs: "Learn, he says, you too to pour out only from fullness, nor wish to be more generous than God. The basin imitates the fountain: the fountain does not flow into a stream or extend into a lake until it is satisfied with its own waters, etc. Fill first, and then take care to pour out. Kind and prudent charity overflows, it does not flow away." Whence St. Ambrose, in the preface to Book 1 On the Holy Spirit: "Water, he says, is the dew of heavenly grace. May this water come, Lord Jesus, into my soul, into my flesh, so that by the moisture of this rain the valleys of our
minds and the fields of our inmost heart may grow green. May Your drops come to me, dripping grace and immortality. Wash away the steps of my mind, lest I sin again. Cleanse the heel of my soul, that I may be able to abolish the curse, that I may not feel the bite of the serpent in my inner foot, but as You Yourself commanded those who follow You, that I may be able to tread upon serpents and scorpions with uninjured step."
Secondly, the same miracle of the dew and the fleece was as it were renewed in St. Arnulph, bishop of Metz, from whom the whole lineage of the family of Pepin and Charlemagne, as well as their nobility and sanctity, descended as from a source. For in the year of Christ 485, seeking pardon for his sins from God, he threw a ring into the Moselle, saying: "Then I shall consider myself freed from the bonds of my sins, when I recover this ring which I am throwing away;" and after some time, finding this ring in a fish brought to him by a fisherman, he recognized that his sins had been forgiven, and gave thanks to God. Thus narrates Paul the Deacon in his Life, and he professes to have received this from the mouth of Charlemagne himself, adding: "Nor did this venerable father act unlike that Gideon who asked a sign from the Lord, for the latter wished to receive an indication through a fleece placed on the threshing floor, whether he could have victory over his enemies in war: the former, throwing a ring into the deepest gulf of a river, wished to learn whether he had already gained victory over his enemies. Strong indeed were those whom Gideon had conquered, but those whom Arnulph had overcome were stronger."
Finally, from this fleece of Gideon arose the history or fable of the Argonauts, who are said by Eusebius, Genebrardus, and others in their Chronicles to have flourished sixty years after Gideon under the judge Ibzan. For these were 54 heroes who sailed in the ship called Argo to Colchis to carry off the Golden Fleece; their leaders and foremost members were Jason, Castor, Pollux, Hercules, Orpheus, about whom Virgil says, Eclogue 4:
"Then there will be another Tiphys, and another Argo to carry chosen heroes."
See Diodorus, Book 5, chapter 3, and Hyginus, Fable 15.
Again, looking to both these fleeces, namely of Gideon and of Jason, Philip surnamed the Good, Duke of Burgundy, father of Charles the Bold, in the year of the Lord 1430, on the third day before the Ides of January, instituted the most celebrated order of the knights of the Golden Fleece, consisting of the noblest and bravest heroes, who would raise up the fallen dignity of the Christian faith, and like new Gideons cast down and cut away the altars of Baal, that is, the Turkish Mosques, says Serarius, and the conventicles of heretics. So says Pontus Heuterus, Book 4; Burgundius William of Menin, Book 1 On the Golden Fleece, chapters 1 and 2; Hadrian Barlandus, Alvaro Gomez, Jacobus Meyerus, and others who wrote on Belgian and Burgundian affairs.
Recently the Superior of a certain ancient and numerous Order, exhorting his members to the original fervor of virtue, wittily began thus: "First, conscience flourished in us; from conscience curtailed there followed science; thence both cut off, we have become mere beings, that is, stumps and stones. We must therefore return to our former conscience, to fill it first with the spirit and holiness of our fathers." This defect is common to created things, that they gradually degenerate, wither, fail, and growing old return to their nothingness from which they came: therefore ecclesiastical and religious men must frequently renew themselves, to recall, preserve, and increase the original spirit of their vocation that is fleeing, as we see them doing.
Indeed in this age, when Luther, like a new Midianite, nay the leader of the Midianites, deformed the Church of God with his heresy, gluttony, and luxury, and like Zeeb, that is, a wolf, seized and tore apart the sheep and lambs of Christ, God also set against him St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus, like a new Gideon, and through the grace of Christ, to the great joy of all, we see all the Orders of the Church reforming themselves with great zeal, and striving with mighty strides of spirit toward the original vigor and rigor of their institute. To God be praise and glory.
Let us all press on vigorously upon the road we have begun, so that each one may strive to imbue the withering fleece of his religious order with the dew of divine wisdom and grace, that we may emulate the life of the Angels to which we are called, and be heavenly men and earthly Angels; that we may burn with love with the Seraphim, shine with the knowledge of divine things with the Cherubim, being made spiritual judge all things with the Thrones, master ourselves with the Dominations, strongly resist the disordered movements of our passions and the suggestions of evil spirits with the Virtues, govern the kingdom of the soul in justice and peace with the Powers, duly provide for our subjects with the Principalities; if we have great things, share them with our neighbors with the Archangels; impart lesser helps to the needy with the Angels.