Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
THIRD PART OF THE BOOK OF WISDOM, IN WHICH HE REVIEWS EXAMPLES OF WISDOM AND ITS FRUITS FROM THE HISTORY OF THE FATHERS, BY WHICH HE CONFIRMS THE EXCELLENCE AND GIFTS OF WISDOM HITHERTO REVIEWED.
Synopsis of the Chapter
He commemorates the salvation which Adam, Noah, Abraham, Lot, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, and the Hebrews crossing the Red Sea, with the Egyptians drowned in it, obtained through wisdom.
Vulgate Text: Wisdom 10:1-21
1. She preserved him who was first formed by God, the father of the world, when he had been created alone, 2. and brought him out from his sin, and gave him the power of governing all things. 3. But when the unjust man departed from her in his anger, he perished through the anger of fraternal homicide. 4. On account of whom, when water was destroying the earth, wisdom healed it again, governing the just man by contemptible wood. 5. She also, when the nations had joined together in the agreement of wickedness, knew the just man, and preserved him blameless before God, and kept him strong in his mercy toward his son. 6. She delivered the just man fleeing from the perishing ungodly, when fire descended upon the Pentapolis: 7. as a testimony of whose wickedness the desolate land still smokes, and trees bearing fruit at uncertain times, and as a memorial of an unbelieving soul, a pillar of salt still stands. 8. For those who passed by wisdom not only fell into this, that they did not know what was good, but also left to men a memorial of their folly, so that in the things in which they sinned, they could not even be hidden. 9. But wisdom delivered from sorrows those who observe her. 10. She guided the just man who was fleeing from the wrath of his brother through right paths, and showed him the kingdom of God, and gave him the knowledge of holy things: she enriched him in his labors, and completed his labors. 11. In the fraud of those who circumvented him she assisted him, and made him honorable. 12. She guarded him from his enemies, and protected him from seducers, and gave him a fierce struggle that he might overcome, and know that wisdom is more powerful than all things. 13. She did not abandon the just man when he was sold, but delivered him from sinners: and she descended with him into the pit, 14. and in chains she did not leave him, until she brought him the scepter of the kingdom, and power against those who oppressed him: and she showed those who had defamed him to be liars, and gave him eternal glory. 15. She delivered the just people, and the blameless seed, from the nations that oppressed them. 16. She entered into the soul of the servant of God, and stood against terrible kings in wonders and signs. 17. And she rendered to the just the reward of their labors, and guided them on a wonderful way: and she was to them for a shelter by day, and for the light of stars by night. 18. She brought them over through the Red Sea, and carried them through the great water. 19. But she drowned their enemies in the sea, and brought them out from the depth of the abyss. Therefore the just took the spoils of the ungodly. 20. And they sang to Your holy name, O Lord, and praised Your victorious hand together: 21. because wisdom opened the mouth of the mute, and made the tongues of infants eloquent.
created and formed, so that he might be the father of all men of the entire world, she preserved him, lest by some accident he should be injured or perish, especially lest he be killed by wild beasts, serpents, poisonous herbs, thunderbolts and storms, or by demons, and thus the entire stock of mankind be extinguished, but that he might live vigorous and remain healthy to the age of 930 years; and thus propagate the human race through many sons and daughters, and grandsons and granddaughters. Adam is called the 'first-formed,' because his body was shaped and formed by God from clay, just as vessels and images are shaped and formed by a potter from clay and chalk; and then God breathed and infused a soul into this formed body, and thus man was made into a living soul, that is, a living creature, and a rational man: see what was said on Genesis I and II.
Whence men murmur against God their maker and creator, because He did not form others like themselves, nor fashion them in another better manner and condition, to give them another lot, state, and rank, Isaiah rebukes them, chapter XLV, verse 16: 'Perverse,' he says, 'is this thought of yours: as if the clay should think against the potter, and the work should say to its maker: You did not make me: and the thing formed should say to its fashioner: You do not understand.' Alluding to which, St. Paul in Romans IX, 20: 'O man,' he says, 'who are you to answer back to God? Does the thing formed say to the one who fashioned it: Why have you made me thus? Does not the potter have power over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel indeed for honor, and another for dishonor?' And clearly and at length Jeremiah, chapter XVIII, verse 6: 'The Lord says: Behold, as the clay is in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel;' and verse 11: 'Behold, I am fashioning evil against you.' God therefore is the fashioner, or potter, of our body, condition, and lot; the clay is earth and mud; the thing fashioned or formed is our body: see what was said in the passages already cited. Plato and the philosophers learned the same from Moses; whence Aristophanes says: some thing joined by hand, that is, the formed thing, or the fashioning of clay, is man; and Lucian in his Prometheus says that Minerva, who is the goddess of wisdom, fashioned man by filling clay with spirit, and animated her formed things, that is, her images made of clay; and Cicero in Pro Murena says of Cato the Younger: 'Nature herself fashioned you for uprightness, gravity, temperance, greatness of soul, justice, and in short for all the virtues, a great and exalted man.'
BY GOD (with the angels, however, concurring in preparing the material, as I said in Genesis I and II: the phrase 'by God' is now absent in the Greek) FATHER OF THE WORLD — that is, father of all earth-born, that is of all men, who, formed from the earth, are destined to be inhabitants and lords of the earth, and therefore on their account the earth and this entire material world was produced by God; finally, both Adam and every man descended from him is an image of the world, indeed a microcosm, that is, a small world. Moreover, the heretical Paternians, says St. Augustine, in his book On Heresies in LI, believed the lower parts of the human body were made not by God, but by the devil, and granting license for all shameful deeds from those parts, they lived most impurely: for some call these the Venustians; but this is a venereal heresy. Literally, therefore, the father of the world was Adam, from whom all earth-born are descended; mystically it is Christ, by whom all earth-born are redeemed and regenerated: again, such fathers are the apostles and apostolic men, who converted the world to Christ.
From one example learn about all: Among these, in the Pentapolis of Italy and in the city of Fano (so called from an ancient temple of Fortune), St. Paternian was preeminent, in the year of the Lord 300, under the Emperor Diocletian. Born of his father Ovinius Paternus, a Roman consul, fleeing the cruelty of Diocletian, under the guidance of the angel Raphael, like another Tobias, he withdrew into a remote forest, and there with many ascetics practiced the monastic life; and emulating his guide, he lived most purely like an angel, and having been made an abbot, he spread a wonderful fragrance of virtues throughout that whole coast of Italy; and among other deeds of fortitude, when the devil in the form of a girl approached to tempt him to sin, placing his hand in a burning fire, as if hurling a thunderbolt at the devil, he put him to flight and drove him away. Moreover, when he was suffering want with his monks, a patrician of Senigallia, warned by an angel, sent beasts of burden laden with food to them, which, though the place was unknown, were led straight to him under the guidance of an angel. He shone with very many miracles, restoring the ability to walk to the lame, sight to the blind, freedom to the possessed, and health to the sick. Made Bishop of Fano, by word and by example, and especially by his immense charity toward all, as a father of all, he strove to console each one, to exhort, to instruct, and to lead them to salvation: for he was outstanding in faith, magnanimous in hope, burning with charity, full of wisdom, generous in almsgiving, gentle in humility, severe in justice, singular in holiness; hence it came about that all addressed him as 'You are our father,' according to that saying of Elisha to Elijah, 2 Kings 2:12: 'My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and its horseman.' In which labors and duties of piety, when he had spent 42 years most holily, having been taught by an angel the time and manner of his death, leaving behind a great longing for himself in all, he departed gloriously to God on the 13th of November, his body exhaling a sweet fragrance. Wherefore, preserving from heaven his paternal affection for his people of Fano, he very often dispersed the factions of the citizens, removed enmities, restored peace, prevented slaughter, drove away plague and famine; indeed he even routed enemies, and particularly when the people of Urbino besieged Fano in the year of the Lord 1317, appearing in his pontifical vestments and with an august countenance, he added courage to the citizens and struck the enemy with terror, putting them to flight; just as St. James often defended Spain, St. Ambrose defended Milan when besieged by the Emperor Conrad, St. Benedict defended Nursia, and Saints Faustinus and Jovita defended Brescia from enemy attack.
His sacred body, when his tomb was opened in the year of the Lord 1551, under Pope Julius III, after one thousand two hundred years, was found intact, with a cheerful and angelic countenance, just as if it had recently been committed to burial, spreading a wonderful fragrance everywhere, by whose scent many sick were restored to health: wherefore the people of Fano placed this epigram as suppliants beneath his image:
O Father, O guardian, who snatched from our shores, Seen to depart unwillingly, you return in the morning.
For when the people of Fossombrone had carried off his sacred body by a pious theft, and had transported it by cart all night toward Fossombrone, nevertheless in the morning it was found in the same place from which it had been taken. The Emperor Justinian enlarged and adorned his church, to which when a farmer was hastening in his customary devotion, he crossed the river Arzilla dry-footed. These things I received from the public records of the Fanenses, and saw them expressed in a great image, printed and approved in Rome. The basilica of the Saint was endowed with very ample estates and privileges by Zacharias and other supreme pontiffs, and having been destroyed by the Emperor Frederick, it was restored by Pope Innocent IV. Rightly, therefore, St. Paternian can be called the spiritual and heavenly father of Italy, indeed of the whole world.
WHEN HE WAS ALONE: — For Adam was first formed by God alone, then from his rib Eve was fashioned, so that from her he might beget sons and propagate the human race, and she was therefore called the mother of the living; especially because from her was to be born the Blessed Virgin, who was to bear Christ, the Author of life: for Christ was born from a woman, namely from the Blessed Virgin, a daughter of Eve, without the work of man, by the power of the Holy Spirit.
SHE PRESERVED — Adam, the guardian of paradise, both as to his body, lest by some accident he should be harmed or die, as I said; and as to his soul, lest he sin in the state of innocence, before he was deceived by his wife, and, after having been deceived by her and having sinned, and having lost his original innocence and justice, she preserved him so that he would not utterly perish and be damned, but suggested to him grace and repentance, by which he might rise from sin and be saved. Whence follows:
2. AND SHE BROUGHT HIM OUT FROM HIS SIN. — The Complutensians read exeilato, that is, she removed, she lifted out; others, exeteine, that is, she extended or extracted, freed, or vindicated him from his sin and fall; the Syriac, 'she freed him from the fall of his soul'; the Arabic, 'and she recovered him from his seduction.' Hence it is clear that Adam repented of his sin of disobedience, by which he ate the fruit forbidden by God, and therefore it was forgiven him; indeed the ancients, from the common tradition and consensus of the Church, transmit that Adam was saved: therefore it is rash to deny it, and I confess that this passage of Wisdom teaches all these things. St. Augustine, letter 99 to Evodius, where he says thus: 'Concerning the first man, that is, concerning the father of the human race, whom Christ, when He descended into hell, freed from there, nearly the entire Church has agreed; and it must be believed that she did not believe this in vain, from wherever this tradition comes, even if the express authority of the canonical Scriptures is not adduced here.' The same is transmitted by St. Irenaeus, book III, chapter 34; Epiphanius, heresy 46; St. Hilary on Psalm 119, and in Canon VIII on Matthew; St. Jerome on Psalm 98, and on Matthew chapter 20; Nazianzen, oration on St. Cyprian; St. Athanasius, sermon On the Cross; St. Basil, Exhortation to Baptism; Origen, on chapter 5 to the Romans; St. Thomas, book IV Against the Gentiles, chapters 52 and 53; Hugh of St. Victor on Genesis chapter 2, who proves it from those words of God, Genesis III, 15: 'I will place enmity between you and the woman,' etc.; and all the rest with the single exception of Rupert on Genesis chapter 3, verse 15, with whom the ancient heretics agree, such as Tatian, Saturninus, Severus, Marcion, Valentinus, who said that Adam was damned, as testified by St. Epiphanius, heresy 46, and others. St. Augustine adds, book II, On the Merits of Sinners, chapter 34 (and it is cited in De Poenitentia, dist. 1, chapter 83, 'As the first men'), whom St. Anselm follows, book Cur Deus Homo, chapter 16, that concerning both parents, that is, Eve as well as Adam, this is rightly believed. Irenaeus, book III, chapter 37, and Tertullian, book On Repentance, at the end, prove the same from the fact that they confessed their sin, and that they clothed themselves with loincloths and fig leaves, as with sackcloth and hairshirt as a sign of repentance. And St. Ambrose asserts that Adam after his fault was immediately expelled from paradise, separated from delights, and to do penance was clothed in a garment of skin, not of silk. St. Chrysostom proves the same from the singular love with which God Himself came to the fallen man and raised him up. St. Gregory, book VI, letter 31 to Eulogius, writes that Adam's soul died in sin not from the substance of living, but from the quality of living; yet afterwards through repentance it returned to life. Leo IX, chapter 'Hi duo,' De Consecratione dist. 1, gives the reason why the Gloria in Excelsis and Alleluia are interrupted in Septuagesima: because, he says, the first man sinned; and why they are repeated at Easter: Because when Christ rose, that fallen first-formed man rose again. St. Epiphanius also, heresy 46: 'He was struck,' he says, 'with no ordinary chastisement, and was driven into exile opposite paradise, that he might be mindful of the good life recalled through repentance.' Indeed it is also the opinion of the Hebrews that in his very long exile Adam consoled himself with Psalm 92: 'The Lord reigns, He is clothed with majesty,' etc., composed by himself.
Finally, it is the common opinion of the Fathers that Adam was buried on Mount Calvary, so that he who had been the first author of sin might be the first to be saved by feeling the power of the blood of Christ crucified in the same place: thus think St. Athanasius, Origen, Basil, Chrysostom, Epiphanius, Tertullian, Cyprian, Augustine, Ambrose, Jerome, and others whom our Pererius cites, book VII on Genesis, chapter
Moreover, as to what Rupert objects, that Adam is contrasted with Christ in Romans V and elsewhere, because Adam was the author of sin, death, and damnation, while Christ was the author of grace, life, and eternal happiness, this is true with regard to Adam's beginnings when he sinned, not with regard to what followed, and especially the end of his life, when through the grace of Christ promised to him and to be born from him, he as a penitent obtained pardon and salvation: for it was fitting that God, who had created him, should not allow His own work, namely the first-formed man, to perish, but should raise him from his fall, renew him, and as it were re-create him. It was also fitting that Christ, who had redeemed the human race, should redeem and save the head and patriarch of the human race, and therefore His own father as well, 'so that, when man is saved,' says St. Irenaeus, book III, chapter 34, 'it should be necessary to save him who was first formed as man;' whence that Adam was brought out by Christ descending into limbo, and rose with Christ, is taught by Origen, tract. 35 on Matthew; St. Athanasius, oration On the Passion; St. Augustine, Question 161 on Genesis; St. Macarius, homily 11: see Bellarmine, book III, On the Loss of Grace and the State of Sin, last chapter, and Pererius, book VII on Genesis. It is narrated in the history of Christ's Passion, under the name of Nicodemus, that Christ in hell, that is in limbo, held the hand of Adam and said: 'Peace to you with all your sons, my just ones;' and that Adam responded, clasping Christ's knees with tears and a great voice (yet he had not yet received his body back, indeed it is not yet certain whether he did receive it): 'I will exalt You, O Lord, because You have lifted me up, and You have not let my enemies rejoice over me. O Lord my God, I cried to You, and You healed me: You brought my soul out of hell, You saved me from those going down into the pit,' Psalm 29:1 and following. However, this book of Nicodemus is apocryphal. The Complutensians and the Regii, as well as Hugh, Lyranus, and Dionysius here add, 'and he brought him out of the slime of the earth;' but the Greeks and Romans delete this. Francis Lucas plausibly suspects in his Notes here that these words crept in this way: Someone, he says, substituted for those words, 'And he brought him out from his sin,' the words, 'and he brought him out of the slime of the earth;' for the letters of 'delicto' and 'de limo' are similar, and in some books one reads only, 'and he brought him out of the slime of the earth.' Afterwards another person carried both into the text, namely what I have already said, and that, 'and he brought him out from his sin.'
AND HE GAVE HIM THE POWER OF GOVERNING (Syriac and Arabic, of holding) ALL THINGS, — namely by his dominion and authority: for the Greek is kratēsai pantōn, that is, of ruling over all, just as a king ruling over all governs all things by his judgment: for God gave Adam power over all animals and other earthly things, according to Genesis I, 28: 'Have dominion over the fish of the sea, and the birds of heaven, and all living things that move upon the earth;' which power, given originally to Adam, was restored and renewed to man after sin, when God after the flood said to Noah and his sons, Genesis IX, 2: 'Let the fear and dread of you be upon all the animals of the earth, and upon all the birds of heaven, with all things that move upon the earth: all the fish of the sea are delivered into your hand.'
Tropologically, God gave Adam the strength and powers of ruling, that is, of overcoming all the perils, adversities, and temptations of life, which after sin assailed him from every side and virtually besieged him; for to overcome those things, God supplied him with grace and fortitude, wherefore Rupert wrongly says, in the passage already cited, that the author of this book erred, in that he attributes to Adam the power of governing all things, which belongs to Christ alone, and therefore that this book is apocryphal: for it is now established by the decree of the Council of Trent that this book is Canonical.
3. WHEN THE UNJUST MAN DEPARTED FROM HER IN HIS ANGER, HE PERISHED THROUGH THE ANGER OF FRATERNAL HOMICIDE (some wrongly read 'of fraternity'; and others, 'fraternity'). — In Greek it is, 'departing from her (wisdom) the unjust man (Cain), by fratricidal rages,' that is, by fratricidal frenzies, indignations, and furies: because, namely, the anger and fury of Cain destroyed two, namely Abel by murder, and Cain himself by his crime, says Nannius: for when Cain pierced Abel's body, he stabbed his own soul; whence Philo, in his book That the Worse Plots Against the Better: 'Cain,' he says, 'rose up against Abel his brother, and killed him; at first glance this indicates that Abel was killed; but if you consider the matter more carefully, it was Cain himself by himself; therefore it should be read thus: Cain rose up, and killed himself,' etc.: thus he speaks in his customary symbolic, not literal, manner. For Cain immediately after the murder of Abel began to wander here and there with constant trembling and fear, as if driven by furies, and was abominable and execrable to all, as the Hebrews relate; whence it seems that Cain persevered in his crime impenitent, and fell from one sin into another, and therefore perished and was damned. Paul of Burgos, Dionysius, and Oleaster on Genesis chapter IV add that Cain was drowned in the flood in the time of Noah; but this is improba-
-ble, for then Cain would have had to live more than one thousand six hundred years: for that many years flowed from Adam and Cain until the flood. Yet it is true that the descendants of Cain, imitating their father's homicide, all perished in the flood, and therefore Cain likewise perished in it, because in it his entire lineage perished and was extinguished; indeed Cain by his crime destroyed the whole world by flood, as will be said in verse 4. The meaning, therefore, is, as if to say: Cain, departing from wisdom through anger stirred up by envy against his brother Abel (because, namely, the Lord looked upon Abel and his offerings, but upon Cain and his offerings He did not look), by the fury with which he killed his brother, he himself also perished, since he violated the laws of fraternal charity, and was the first to inflict upon his brother death, which sin had introduced into the world, before nature itself did. And so, deprived of wisdom, he killed his brother,
he fell into the most grievous abyss of fratricide. He shows the necessity and dignity of wisdom from the contrary, namely from the damages of foolishness: for the ungodly, deprived of wisdom as of their light and guide, fell into the most grievous crimes; an example of which is Cain, the firstborn of Adam, who through supreme folly killed his brother Abel for no other reason than that God was pleased with his innocence and sacrifice, and, as John says in 1 John III, 12: 'Because his works were evil, and his brother's just;' whence Paul, Hebrews XI, 4: 'By faith,' he says, 'Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained testimony that he was just, God testifying to his gifts, and through it, though dead, he still speaks.' This history of the fratricide of Cain is recounted in Genesis IV. Just as Romulus, the founder of Rome, by killing Remus, was a fratricide: so also the first son of Adam, and the first founder in the world of the city of Enoch, by killing Abel, became a fratricide.
Cantacuzenus adds that Cain was punished by a similar death, for he was killed accidentally by his grandson Lamech while hunting, when Tubalcain, the son of Lamech who was nearly blind, pointed out Cain hiding under the plants as if he were a wild beast, and therefore Tubalcain himself was also killed by his indignant father Lamech; but these things have little probability, as I showed on Genesis IV, 23: see concerning the wicked life of Cain, Josephus, Antiquities I, chapter 3; and concerning his unhappy death, St. Ambrose, book II On Cain, chapters 9 and 10, and St. Augustine, sermon 104 On the Times.
4. ON ACCOUNT OF WHOM (Cain), WHEN WATER WAS DESTROYING THE EARTH, WISDOM HEALED IT AGAIN, GOVERNING THE JUST MAN BY CONTEMPTIBLE WOOD. — In Greek, 'on account of whom wisdom again saved the earth flooded by the deluge, when she had governed the just man with a small piece of wood'; Origen in his commentary on John, tome XX, 'governing the just man by worthless wood'; others, 'the just man being governed by worthless wood': for the Greek is eutelous, that is, simple, worthless, slight wood, which could not by itself resist so great a flood and the force and mass of the waters, and therefore was contemptible, as our translator renders it, especially because the men of that age despised the construction of the ark, and mocked Noah its builder as a madman: so St. Bonaventure and Lyranus. The Greek texts vary here, for some read di' hon, that is 'on account of whom,' namely Cain; others di' ho, that is 'on account of which,' namely the crime of parricide or fratricide of Cain. Both readings therefore come to the same thing. The meaning is, as if to say: The impious murderer, indeed fratricide Cain, by his example drove his descendants to the same crime and every other sin; whence it happened that God, detesting their so many and great crimes, drowned the impious race and the whole world in the flood; but wisdom then preserved the just and pious Noah in the ark, so that he might be the seedbed of future humanity, lest it entirely perish in the flood, but might be preserved and propagated through his sons and grandsons: see what was said on Genesis VI and following. Hence Origen in his commentary on John, tome XX, shortly after the beginning: 'But that,' he says,
the Book of Wisdom inscribed to Solomon teaches in these words, Wisdom X, 4: But departing from her (wisdom), the unjust man perished in his anger, with fratricidal spirits, through whom wisdom again saved the earth that had been flooded, governing the just man by worthless wood.' This is the third example, and it is twofold: for by antithesis he shows in two ways how great is the usefulness of wisdom, for the folly and impiety of Cain and his descendants the giants destroyed the world by bringing on the flood: wisdom and the justice of Noah saved and restored it through the ark; whence some, with Jansenius, understand that saying of Genesis IV, 15, spoken of Cain: 'He shall be punished sevenfold,' as follows: God will defer the punishment of Cain until the seventh generation, for then Cain's descendants will have filled up the measure of his sins, and when it is filled, God will bring the flood upon the whole world, to drown the wicked with their wickedness. Cain therefore was the leader, father, and prince of the wicked, on account of whom God sent the flood. Hear Josephus, Antiquities I, chapter 3: 'But so far was he from changing his life for the better by this chastisement, that he became even worse, indulging his pleasures even at the expense of others, and accumulating domestic wealth by violence and plunder, gathering from all sides associates in brigandage and wickedness, and becoming their teacher in a life of crime. Beyond this, he changed the simple manner of living that had existed up to then by inventing measures and weights, and corrupted the original sincerity and nobility that knew nothing of such arts into a new kind of cunning.' And shortly after: 'Even while Adam was still alive, Cain's offspring turned out most wicked, as each successor became worse, not only imitating the vices of the pious but even surpassing them.'
Note first, the word 'healed,' as if to say: Cain together with his descendants inflicted through the flood a nearly fatal and irreparable wound on the whole world and the entire human race; but wisdom applied a healing hand to this wound, and healed it by saving Noah through contemptible wood, that is, through the lowly and small construction of the ark, so that he might be the father of a new world and age, and might raise up the world, nearly destroyed and overwhelmed, from its ruins and ashes, like a revived phoenix. This is what Sirach, chapter 44, verse 17, recounts among the praises of Noah: 'Noah was found perfect, just, and in the time of wrath he became a reconciliation. The covenants of the world were placed with him, so that all flesh might not be destroyed by the flood:' and Paul, Hebrews XI, 7: 'By faith Noah, having received a warning about things not yet seen, in reverent fear built an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world, and was made heir of the justice which is by faith:' see what was said there. Moreover, St. Ambrose, book I of Offices, chapter 25, celebrates Noah with the four cardinal virtues: 'Noah,' he says, 'how wise, who constructed so great an ark! How just, who was reserved for the seed of all, alone from all, and of the past generation the sa-
-vior became, and the author of the future age, born for the world and for all rather than for himself! How brave, to conquer the flood! How temperate, to endure the flood! When to enter, with what moderation to live, when to send out the raven, when the dove, when to receive them returning, when to seize the opportunity to go out, to recognize!' Note second, the word 'governing'; for Noah was enclosed in the ark, covered on all sides, and depended entirely on God's providence and governance: therefore no one other than God could be the pilot and governor of the ark: hear St. Chrysostom, homily 21 on Genesis: 'Was it not,' he says, 'the work of heavenly grace that the ark was moved here and there, and was not submerged by so great a force of water, when there was no helmsman? For you cannot say that it was like a ship, so that its course could be directed by some skill (with sails or oars). The ark was closed and fortified on every side, and because of the command of the Creator, not only was the force of the waters unable to harm it, but rising above them, it made the inhabitants quite secure.' St. Augustine, book XV of The City of God, chapter 27, and St. Ambrose, book On the Ark and Noah, chapter 21, say similar things. St. Paulinus narrates a similar example of a shipwrecked old man, whose ship, tossed by waves to various shores, Christ guided with wonderful providence, in his letter to Macarius.
Tropologically, with similar care Christ governs any just and elect person, so that through so many storms of this life he may swim or sail safely to the harbor of salvation: therefore let the just man say with the Poet:
Through so many crises of affairs We press on toward heaven, where the fates may show us Quiet abodes.
Finally note the word 'again,' as if to say: Adam first destroyed the world when he sinned, and transmitted sin to all his descendants: for he deserved, together with all his descendants, to be destroyed and killed by God, but the goodness of divine wisdom brought him out from sin, and provided for his descendants with Christ the Savior; second, Cain together with his descendants destroyed the world by the flood, but again wisdom saved it, overcoming the flood through Noah, and restoring the world.
5. SHE ALSO, WHEN THE NATIONS HAD JOINED TOGETHER IN THE AGREEMENT OF WICKEDNESS (some read, 'of pride') (others read 'had raised themselves'; some, 'had confused themselves'), KNEW THE JUST MAN, AND PRESERVED HIM BLAMELESS BEFORE GOD, AND IN HIS MERCY TOWARD HIS SON KEPT HIM STRONG. — For 'knew,' that is, she knew, some read heuren, that is 'she found.' For 'blameless,' the Greek is amempton, that is 'without blame,' and that before God, who indeed was so upright in life and pure from crime, that not even God could note and censure any fault in him. For 'when the nations had joined together,' the Greek is ethnōn synchythentōn, that is, 'when the nations had confused themselves,' that is, had mixed together, had joined, had conspired, namely to build the tower of Babel, under the leadership and instigation of Nimrod, the first king and tyrant of the world, so that namely
from this very high tower they might defend themselves against the flood, should it ever return again, as Josephus holds; or rather, so that the proud Nimrod might establish there the citadel of his kingdom and tyranny, from which he could dominate over all and hold and restrain all those subject to him, says Hugh of St. Victor on Genesis, indeed from which he could ascend into heaven and defend himself against God, as St. Augustine indicates, book XVI of The City of God, chapter 4; whence the poets invented the story that the Titans, fighting with Jupiter, piled mountains upon mountains to climb into heaven, according to that verse of Virgil, Georgics I:
Thrice they attempted to pile Ossa upon Pelion: Thrice the Father hurled down the heaped mountains with His thunderbolt.
Then God 'knew (that is, recognized, loved, and preserved) the just man without blame,' so that he would not consent to the pride, atheism, and tyranny of Nimrod and the builders of the tower of Babel, but would persist faithful in the faith and worship of God; whence God chose him alone for Himself, while having rejected all the rest, He confused their languages, and so impeded the construction of Babel, and dispersed the builders throughout the whole world: they were punished in their tongue, because they sinned by their tongue: for, as St. Augustine says, book XVI of The City of God, chapter 4: 'Since the dominion of the one commanding is in the tongue, there was pride condemned, so that the man was not understood who gave commands, who had not wished to understand so as to obey God: thus that conspiracy was dissolved.'
You ask who this just man was? Some think it was Heber, for in his time the building of the tower of Babel took place; whence he named his son born at that time Peleg, that is 'division,' because then the languages of the builders of Babel were confused and divided by God; hence St. Augustine, book XI of The City of God, chapter 11, teaches that Heber was free from the impiety of these builders, and consequently from the confusion of languages, and therefore he, with the true faith and piety of God, retained the original language, which was therefore called Hebrew from Heber. But what follows: 'And in his mercy toward his son kept him strong,' clearly indicates Abraham, not Heber: therefore some think that the war of Abraham is noted here, which he waged against four kings of as many nations, and by defeating them he freed Lot, Genesis XIV, 14. Others more correctly refer it to the calling of Abraham, when, with all nations turning to idolatry, God called him out from Ur of the Chaldeans to Canaan, to serve Him alone there. This apostasy of the nations from God, and deflection to idols, began with the building of the tower of Babel, which took place around the hundredth year, or rather the hundred and seventieth year, after the flood, and afterward grew and spread day by day until Abraham, who was born in the year 292 after the flood: therefore he alludes here to the building of Babel, but through it designates the age of idolatry, which then began and lasted for many centuries, from which God called out Abraham and his descendants, and separated them for Himself as a faithful people, and His Church and synagogue: for he alludes to that passage, Genesis XVIII, 7
'I (am) the Lord, who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans;' see Judith V, 7. From which you may conclude that Abraham never worshiped idols, even though St. Chrysostom thinks so, but always the true God, as I showed at greater length in Genesis XI, 26. The Hebrews add in Seder Olam that the building of the tower of Babel took place in the last year of the life of Peleg, which was the three hundred and fortieth year after the flood (for Peleg lived 239 years, Genesis XI, 18), in which year Abraham, having been born in the year 292 after the flood, was already 48 years old: therefore they say that Abraham as well as Noah, who was still alive at that time, was present at the building of the tower of Babel: for Heber gave his son the name Peleg by a prophetic spirit, by which he foresaw that toward the end of his life the tower of Babel would be built, and therefore the languages would be divided: so the Hebrews. But it is more true that the tower of Babel was built in the hundredth year, as St. Augustine holds, or rather in the one hundred and seventieth year after the flood, for the reasons I adduced in Genesis X, 25: therefore this construction preceded the birth of Abraham by 122 years.
AND IN HIS MERCY TOWARD HIS SON KEPT HIM STRONG: — so it is to be read with the Roman and Greek editions, therefore the Complutensians less correctly read, 'and in his sons he preserved strong mercy'; others, 'and in his sons by mercy he kept him strong,' as if to say: First, after God had punished the impious builders of Babel with the confusion of languages, He chose Abraham for Himself, and preserved His grace and mercy firm and stable toward his descendants; so Lyranus, Hugh, Holcot, and Dionysius; but it is to be read with the Romans, 'in mercy toward his son'; in Greek, epi teknou splanchnois, that is 'in the bowels of his son,' which some explain thus, as if to say: God embraced Abraham with that affection with which a father usually regards his son; God, on account of His intimate and visceral love for Abraham, as for His own son, made him resist the sinners surrounding him on every side, and tempting him to share in their crime; whence Vatablus translates, 'and as one animated toward a son, she preserved him as he struggled.' Thus the Apostle says, Philippians I, 8: 'God is my witness how I long for you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ,' that is, that I love you with that affection with which Christ loves you 'in His bowels,' that is, intimately.
Second, and more properly, as if to say: God and the wisdom of God brought it about that Abraham bravely overcame the visceral love and compassion toward his son Isaac, when at God's command he was willing to sacrifice him, Genesis XXII, 10, see what was said there: for Abraham loved Isaac from his inmost bowels; whence his bowels were moved with the greatest compassion when he was commanded to slay him, but the fortitude of obedience and divine love conquered all human love and compassion, even for an only son, such as Isaac was. For Abraham needed great strength of soul to sacrifice his only son, born by miracle, and his entire hope of posterity: for God had promised Abraham that his posterity would be propagated through Isaac, and from him Christ would be born: therefore Abraham 'against hope' of nature 'in hope' of grace and the divine promise 'believed,' namely that from Isaac sacrificed by himself the offspring promised to him by God would be born; for he believed that God would raise Isaac from death, Romans IV, 18; Hebrews XI, 19. And this was a great fortitude of faith and obedience; hence Abraham is called by St. Ambrose 'the father of faith, the father of all believers, the prince of the family of nations and of the generation of the Lord, the father of election and pious confession.' Whence Philo, in his book On Abraham, extols his virtue and strength far above all the Gentiles, who offered themselves or their own to death out of love for parents or country, or devoted themselves, as did Codrus king of Athens, Menoeceus, Aristogiton, Iphigenia, Leonidas, Epaminondas, Junius Brutus, and the Decii; for these partly from desire of vain glory, partly unwillingly and under compulsion, did so to avoid greater evils; but Abraham, not compelled, but freely and spontaneously, out of love for God alone, to satisfy His will, was destined to slaughter, slay, and burn his Isaac with his own hand as an offering to God.
Wherefore Virgil truly sang of Brutus, the first consul of Rome, who condemned his sons to death because they had conspired with the Tarquins against the republic, in Aeneid VI:
Love of country prevailed, and the immense desire for praise: Unhappy man, however posterity may judge those deeds.
It was different in the case of Abraham, who conquered the love of his son by the strength of divine love; whence the wonderful harmony of his mercy and fortitude is worthy of being celebrated with great praises: for to slay his son without mercy would be tyrannical, indeed even bestial; to keep him unharmed without obedience would be impious and utterly unjust; but to join both, and to reconcile compassion toward his son with obedience toward God, was a singular mark of a brave and generous spirit. For which reason God, as if marveling at this fortitude of Abraham in obeying, promised him with an oath, Genesis XXII, 18: 'In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have done this thing, and have not spared your only-begotten son for My sake.'
Wherefore St. Ambrose, book II On Cain and Abel, chapter 1, writes thus about this fortitude of Abraham's offering: 'Whom (Isaac) his father offered in the manner of a sacrifice, swayed by no motion of human passion, offering to God a clean victim, free from fear and immune from bodily desire, since the very piety of the father yielded to the devotion of the one sacrificing,' as if to say: The devotion of Abraham toward God conquered his piety toward his son Isaac, so that he resolved to sacrifice him for God. The same author, book I of Offices, chapter 25: 'Notice,' he says, 'all four virtues here in one deed. It was of wisdom to believe God, and not to prefer the favor of his son to the command of the Creator; it was of justice to render back what he had received; it was of fortitude to restrain appetite by reason. The father was leading the victim, the son was asking questions, the fatherly affection was being tested, but was not overcome.
The son was repeating the name 'father,' piercing his father's bowels, but not diminishing his devotion. And there comes also a fourth virtue, temperance: the just man observed the measure of both piety and the order of execution. Finally, while he prepares what is necessary for the sacrifice, while he kindles the fire, while he binds his son, while he draws the sword, by this order of sacrificing he merited that his son be preserved.' And St. Augustine, sermon 73 On the Times: 'Joyfully,' he says, 'he girded himself, who neither feared the dread of the deed, nor did a degenerate spirit hesitate to fulfill what was commanded: that future hope of so many nations was ordered to be killed by a father's hand. The devoted father undertook the parricide with the same vow with which he had received his son: and it matters not whether he spends or loses, so long as he in some way returns what he had received. O most pious Lord, why do You command the one whom You know is dear to the father to be made a victim?' And after some words: 'See, brothers, Abraham strong in patience, constant in devotion, not wrestling with some wild beast, but fighting with nature. Devotion was saying: Strike! Piety was crying: Spare! The one was calling back, the other was urging forward. The son was lying there about to die, and the father raises his right hand about to strike.'
The Syriac translates somewhat differently, 'and Abraham preserved the son of mercies (that is, most merciful)': for God protects and guards the merciful; whence the Arabic, 'and He preserved him in his clemency, or piety toward his son,' as if to say: God preserved Abraham on account of his piety toward his son, whom he loved most tenderly, so that, while by God's command he was willing to sacrifice him, yet in act he did not sacrifice him, and thus preserved and guarded both the son for the father, and the father for God from death, when through the angel He stayed his hand and sword, and revoked the command to sacrifice his son.
Allegorically, 'in the bowels of his son,' that is, through the bowels of Christ, Abraham's son: for by His merits, by His visceral mercy, it was granted to Abraham that he should be willing to bravely sacrifice his Isaac, the antitype of Christ, to God: so says a Castro. This is the third example of wisdom displayed in Abraham; the fourth follows, displayed in Lot and the Pentapolitans.
6. SHE DELIVERED THE JUST MAN (Lot) FLEEING FROM THE PERISHING UNGODLY, WHEN FIRE DESCENDED UPON THE PENTAPOLIS. — He celebrates the deliverance of Lot, by which, while the Pentapolis was burning in conflagration by sulfurous and quasi-thunderous fire on account of its crimes, especially of lust against nature, he himself, chaste and just, was led out and freed from this conflagration by angels. That region was called the Pentapolis, because there were five cities in it, namely Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, and Zoar, although the last, Zoar, was spared by God, on account of the prayers of Lot who took refuge in it. Now the entire Pentapolis has been turned into the Salt or Dead Sea, which from the abundance of bitumen is called Lake Asphaltites: see what was said on Genesis XIX, 24; Pentapolis therefore in Greek means the same as five cities in Latin, or the region comprising five cities. Moreover, there were various Pentapolises in various parts of the world: the first of these was in Palestine, whose five cities, infamous for unspeakable lust, and therefore burned by heavenly fire, have already been named. The second was in Africa, of which Pliny speaks, book V, chapter 5, in which the bishops of five cities celebrated a council in the year of the Lord 411, namely Berenice, Arsinoe, Ptolemais, Apollonia, and Cyrene. Third, Ptolemy, book V, places another Pentapolis whose five cities he lists as Laodicea, Antioch, Amasea, Ptolemais, and Palmyra. Fourth, in the Council of Ephesus one finds Zenobius, bishop of the city of Barra in the Pentapolis. Fifth, the Pentapolis of Italy was in Umbria, namely in Gallia Senonia, or the Gallic territory on the Adriatic Sea, according to the witnesses Regino, Paul the Deacon, Nicephorus, and Sigonio, in the book On the Kingdom of Italy, whose five cities are Ancona, Senigallia, Fano, Pesaro, and Rimini. And because Fano was the center of the other four, hence in that city was the supreme tribunal of this Pentapolis, which was therefore called the City of Law (Urbs juris), for which some corruptly read 'Uris.' Its bishops, celebrated for holiness, and therefore patron saints, were St. Paternian in the year of the Lord 300, St. Eusebius in the year of the Lord 500, under Pope Symmachus, St. Fortunatus in the year of the Lord 392, St. Ursus in the year of the Lord 623, whose feast the Fanenses celebrate on May 15: when a farmer named Leo scorned this and, being warned, proudly protested: 'If he is the Bear (Ursus), I am the Lion (Leo) (or, as others more truly say, I am the dog),' the earth opening up, he was swallowed alive with his oxen and plow: the trace of the chasm exists to this day in the village called de Lellocchi.
WHEN FIRE DESCENDED, — so that the Pentapolitans, who had burned with lust, might burn with fire, and so that such wicked land might be burned, lest any evil seed remain in it that might sprout a perverse fruit; whence Origen in his commentary on John, tome XX, citing this passage, attributes the conflagration of Sodom more to goodness than to the wrath of God: 'But certainly,' he says, 'it was the office of a good God to destroy the land of Sodom, and by drying up whatever moisture was left in it, lest in the future the vine of Sodom should spring up, nor the shoot of Gomorrah, nor the grape of wrath, nor the cluster of bitterness, nor even the wine, the fury of dragons, and the incurable venom of asps. You will say something similar about the Egyptians, of whom it was said, Psalm 77:47: He destroyed their vineyards with hail, and their mulberry trees with frost: for it is the work of a good God to destroy the vineyards of the Egyptians, and the mulberry trees of the wicked.'
7. AS A TESTIMONY OF WHOSE WICKEDNESS THE DESOLATE LAND STILL SMOKES, AND TREES BEARING FRUIT AT UNCERTAIN TIMES, AND AS A MEMORIAL OF AN UNBELIEVING SOUL, A PILLAR OF SALT STILL STANDS. — He adduces three testimonies of the wickedness of the impious Pentapolitans, and equally of the divine vengeance against them, which have endured and endure to the present day, to testify to mortals the divine wrath against the wicked and to deter them from crimes. The first is the smoking desolate land, for this smoke of the judgment of God
produced by it, namely from the conflagration by which the Pentapolis burned, is an indication and symbol of the infernal fire by which the Sodomites and the other wicked burn. The meaning, therefore, is, as if to say: In vengeance and testimony of the crime of the Pentapolitans, 'there stands,' that is, there exists their land reduced to desolation, which still smokes, as if still preserving the remains of the fire rained from heaven by which it was burned: for it exhales continual smoke and sulfur, as Philo says in his book On Abraham: it exhales, I say, both the Dead Sea, or Lake Asphaltites, and the land adjacent and neighboring to it, as I will show presently; whence Burchardus, book I of his History, chapters 5 and 6: 'The Dead Sea,' he says, 'is always smoking and dark, like the mouth of hell, as I saw with my own eyes, because of the foul vapor smoking from it, which wherever the carrying wind reaches, makes everything barren.' The Pentapolis is therefore a shadow and image of hell. Behold it, sodomites, and in it gaze upon the punishment that awaits you. Learn purity, being warned, and to dread
the Thunderer.
The second is, trees bearing fruit at uncertain times: in Greek, atelestin hōrais karpophorounta phyta, that is, plants bearing fruits at imperfect seasons; hōra moreover designates the times of crops begun but never perfected; therefore the plants of the Pentapolis are always in such a condition as if there were never a certain and timely season for ripe fruits, that is, they bear fruits that never reach maturity. For the earth cursed by God does not have the power of ripening; whence some translate, 'plants bearing fruits with imperfect ripeness': for hōra signifies the timeliness of maturity, or the time destined by nature for ripening fruits, which in the Pentapolis is always imperfect, that is, untimely and unripe, and therefore always produces unripe, imperfect, and not yet fully formed fruits. Whence Origen, tome XX on John, has, 'and plants bearing untimely fruit'; so also our Vatablus translates, 'at uncertain time,' because there is no certain time at which fruits ripen in the Pentapolis, as happens in other regions, because they are always unripe. Fruits of uncertain time, therefore, are untimely and unripe: for fruits which do not ripen at the certain and naturally appointed time, for example in autumn, never ripen: for ripening requires heat, but temperate heat; winter lacks heat, summer lacks temperance: therefore winter cannot ripen fruits; summer indeed does not ripen them, but scorches them. Whence the Arabic says, 'and its plants will bear imperfect fruits in their seasons'; the Syriac, 'and the trees that are within those cities do not produce fruit.' Note that the Pentapolis, which was once most pleasant and most fertile, so that it was called the Paradise of God, after its crimes and the vengeance of God was turned, partly into Lake Asphaltites or the Dead Sea, partly into scorched earth, in which, as Josephus says, book V of The Jewish War, chapter 5: 'One can still see the remains of the divine fire, and the images of the five towns, and
ashes regrowing in the fruits, which in color indeed are similar to edible ones, but when plucked by the hands dissolve into smoke and ash.' Solinus, the Polyhistor, chapter 37, and Tacitus, book V of the Histories, transmit the same, as well as Tertullian in his Poem on Sodom and St. Augustine, City of God XXI, chapter 8. Finally, Jansenius clearly translates from the Greek, 'trees bearing fruit of imperfect or incomplete beauty and ripeness': for hōra here, he says, signifies not so much time as beauty and ripeness; whence hōraios, that is, beautiful or ripe.
The third is, 'as a memorial of an unbelieving (Greek apistousēs, that is, incredulous) soul, (Greek mnēmeion, is monument,) a pillar of salt still stands'; in Greek stēlē, that is a column of salt, or an image of salt, or a marker of salt, as stone markers are erected in memory of some person or thing. It designates the wife of Lot, who, fleeing with him from Sodom, and against the command of the angel looking back out of curiosity, to see Sodom burning, was turned on account of her unbelief and disobedience into a statue of salt, namely mineral salt, which resists the rains, and by its solidity is useful for buildings, as Pliny attests. She is called incredulous because she did not believe that it mattered at all for her safety and salvation whether she looked back or not. Now God had commanded through the angel that she not look back, both to exercise her obedience, and so that she might flee more quickly from Sodom, and so that all mercy, communion, and memory of the most impious Sodomites might be taken from her. Hence it is clear that this statue survived in the time of Solomon; indeed Josephus teaches that he himself saw it, Antiquities book I. Moreover, that it still exists between Engedi and the Dead Sea is attested by eyewitnesses Burchardus, Bredenbach, Saligniac, and from them Adrichomius in his Description of the Holy Land. Tertullian adds in his Poem on Sodom two rare and unheard-of things about this statue:
1. Indeed if any stranger mutilates the form, Immediately from itself it fills the wounds from its mass. 2. It is said that the sex, still living in another body, Is accustomed to shed its monthly blood in its customary cleansing.
That is, she suffers menstruation in the manner of women. Wisely St. Prosper, book I On Predictions and Promises, chapter 16: 'This statue of salt,' he says, 'seasoned the foolish by its example, that in the holy purpose toward which those advancing tend, they ought not to look back with harmful curiosity.' Rupert gives the same reason why she was turned into salt rather than into something else. And St. Augustine, sermon 29 On the Words of the Lord according to Luke: 'Nothing therefore,' he says, 'is so hostile to hope as looking back, that is, placing hope in those things which slip away and pass; but in those
things which have not yet been given, but will one day be given, which will never pass away, not to hope. But when the world swarms with temptations like the sulfurous rain of Sodom, the example of Lot's wife is to be feared: for she looked back, and where she looked, there she remained: she was turned into salt, so that she seasoned the wise by her example,' then comparing hope to an egg, from which one hopes for a chick that does not yet exist: 'Fear the scorpion in your egg,' he says; 'see, it strikes with its tail, which it has behind it; therefore let not the scorpion destroy your egg, this world destroy your hope, etc., so that you look back, that is, so that you place your hope in present things, and turn your soul away from what Christ has promised, and has not yet given, but, because He is faithful, will give.' I spoke more about the destruction of the Pentapolis on Genesis XIX, 24.
8. FOR THOSE WHO PASSED BY WISDOM NOT ONLY FELL INTO THIS, THAT THEY DID NOT KNOW WHAT WAS GOOD, BUT ALSO LEFT TO MEN A MEMORIAL OF THEIR FOLLY, SO THAT IN THE THINGS IN WHICH THEY SINNED, THEY COULD NOT EVEN BE HIDDEN, — that is, 'could not.' For 'passing by,' the Greek is parodeusantes, that is, departing from the right way, going astray, namely from wisdom. For 'fell,' the Greek is esphalesan, that is, they were harmed, they incurred damage, they fell into loss, 'so that they did not know good things,' Greek kala, that is, honorable things, and also the useful and pleasant things connected with honorable ones. The meaning is, as if to say: The impious Pentapolitans and others like them by their folly brought upon themselves a twofold loss: the first, that they did not know the true goods of virtue, and consequently of happiness and glory arising from it, and therefore fell into crimes and the most bitter vengeance of God; the second is public disgrace and infamy, namely that their crimes cannot be hidden, but have been set up as a public paradigm and example for the whole world, through monuments of vengeance, which God willed to remain and to be displayed to the whole world, so that by their example the rest might be wise, and fear God, and restrain themselves from offending Him.
9. BUT WISDOM DELIVERED FROM SORROWS (Greek, from labors, but labors after the fall of man are sorrowful, just as sorrows are laborious) THOSE WHO OBSERVE HER. — For 'who observe her,' the Greek is therapeuontas autēn, that is, those who religiously worship and venerate her; whence by St. Dionysius, On the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, religious and monks are called therapeutai, as it were religious worshipers of the one God, and wholly devoted to His service: for wisdom is sacred, being divine, indeed the same as God; therefore she demands for herself a sacred and divine worship. It is an antithesis, as if to say: Wisdom punished her deserters, for example the Sodomites, and delivered her worshipers, like Lot, from troubles and evils. Up to this point he has adduced examples of the Cainites, who by their crimes were the cause of the flood, and of the Pentapolitans, who by their lusts provoked fire from heaven upon themselves, which are examples of the vengeance that wisdom exercised upon her despisers. Henceforth, however, he brings forth examples of the good, who, obedient and devoted to wisdom, were freed from evils through her, and enriched with goods. The first of these is Jacob, of whom he adds:
10. SHE GUIDED THE JUST MAN FLEEING FROM THE WRATH (from anger, on account of anger) OF HIS BROTHER THROUGH RIGHT PATHS, AND SHOWED HIM THE KINGDOM OF GOD, AND GAVE HIM THE KNOWLEDGE OF HOLY THINGS: SHE ENRICHED HIM IN HIS LABORS, AND COMPLETED HIS LABORS, — as if to say: Wisdom guided Jacob fleeing the wrath of his brother, that is, when he was fleeing from his brother Esau, hostile and angry at him on account of having seized their father Isaac's blessing, and led him straight to peace and happiness: for she led him to the house of Laban his uncle, where he was enriched with wealth, wives, and offspring: therefore she brought it about that Jacob accomplished so great a journey, as far as it is from Canaan to Mesopotamia, where Laban lived, through so many perils, windings, difficulties, and snares which Esau was preparing for him, unharmed and secure: for by paths, as the Greek has, straight, that is, safe, secure, easy, unobstructed, she led him to his friends and relatives, according to what God had promised him in Genesis XXVIII, 15: 'And I will be your guardian wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land: and I will not leave you until I have fulfilled all that I have said.' The expression 'she guided through right paths' therefore signifies the singular and continuous care and providence of God, which led Jacob through all those difficult and dangerous ways, lest he stumble anywhere, be captured, etc., safe, vigorous, and happy to his own people; just as a mother guides an infant, and a tutor guides a student, safe and unharmed through muddy and rough paths. Wherefore St. Ambrose, book I of Offices, chapter 25, praises Jacob for all four cardinal virtues: 'What,' he says, 'was wiser than holy Jacob, who saw God face to face, and merited a blessing? What more just, who divided what he had acquired, by offering gifts, with his brother? What braver, who wrestled with God? What more modest, who so adjusted his modesty to places and times that he preferred to cover over the injury to his daughter by marriage rather than to avenge it, because, being situated among strangers, he judged that love should be consulted rather than hatreds collected.'
Tropologically, St. Bernard, in his sermon on these words of Wisdom: 'The Lord,' he says, 'guided the just man, and no other, because it is His to lead back from the way of iniquity to the way of truth, and to guide and lead through it. Through paths,' he says, 'straight: the ways of the Lord are straight ways, beautiful ways, full ways, level ways: straight without error, because they lead to life; beautiful without filth, because they teach purity; full with multitude, because the whole world is now within Christ's net; level without difficulty, because they grant sweetness: for His yoke is sweet, and His burden is light.'
AND SHE SHOWED HIM THE KINGDOM OF GOD. — When, namely, Jacob, as is said in Genesis XXVIII, 12, 'saw in a dream a ladder standing upon the earth, and its top touching heaven; and also angels ascending and descending by it, and the Lord leaning upon the ladder saying to him, etc.: In you and in your seed all the tribes of the earth shall be blessed, and I will be your guardian wherever you go.' By which vision it was signified that God cared for Jacob's affairs, and would by His singular providence lead him through angels to Mesopotamia, and from there bring him safely back to Canaan. He therefore calls heaven the kingdom of God, in which God was leaning upon the ladder; for God reigns in heaven, and governs all things subject to heaven through
angels. This ladder, therefore, was a symbol of God reigning and governing all things; whence again 'she showed him the kingdom,' that is, the government of God, as if to say: She showed him the manner of God's governing, by which God from heaven by His providence, through angels going and returning, governs and administers this world subject to Him; hence Jacob says, Genesis XXVIII, 17: 'How terrible is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and the gate of heaven;' whence he also called the place Bethel, that is, the house of God. Wherefore some think that then Jacob's predestination and election to heavenly glory was revealed to him by God. See what was said on Genesis XXVIII, 18. Hence the Arabic translates, 'He made him inherit the kingdom of God.'
Allegorically, St. Augustine, sermon 79 On the Times: 'The ladder,' he says, 'reaching to heaven, had the figure of the cross. The Lord leaning on the ladder represents Christ crucified. The angels ascending and descending by it are understood as the apostles and apostolic men, and all teachers of the Churches; ascending, when they preach perfect things to the perfect; descending, when they suggest to little ones and the unskilled simple things that they can understand.'
Tropologically, St. Bernard, in the passage already cited: 'And she showed him the kingdom of God': 'The kingdom,' he says, 'of God is granted, promised, shown, and received. It is granted in predestination, promised in calling, shown in justification, received in glorification; whence is that saying in Matthew XXV, 34: Come, blessed of My Father, receive the kingdom of God: for thus the Apostle says, Romans VIII, 30: Those whom He predestined, these He also called: and those whom He called, these He also justified: and those whom He justified, these He also glorified. In predestination there is grace, in calling there is power, in justification there is joy, in glorification there is glory.'
AND SHE GAVE HIM THE KNOWLEDGE (Greek gnōsin, that is, cognition) OF HOLY THINGS — in the neuter gender, that is, of sacred things; or of saints, namely of the mysteries of God: for Jacob in that vision of the ladder, as if illuminated by God in a rapture of the mind, came to know many divine mysteries, especially concerning God's providence which He has toward His own; whence then to him, that is, to his descendants, the possession of the land of Canaan was promised by God, the propagation of sons and grandsons, indeed Christ to be born from his seed, who would bless all nations, as is clear from Genesis XXVIII, 13: therefore Jacob, aroused by this revelation, was stirred to piety, holiness, and to loving and worshiping God with his whole heart; whence in the same place he erected an altar to God, and made a vow of tithes to Him, and by anointing with oil consecrated the place to God, and called it Bethel, that is, the house of God, where therefore his descendants worshiped God with great veneration; hence the Syriac translates, 'He gave him the knowledge of truth,' that is, of true justice, religion, and holiness.
Morally, learn that the knowledge of the saints is practical knowledge, by which one strives to serve and please God in all things: for this is the knowledge, not of worldly men, not of politicians, not even of philosophers, nor of theologians, but of the saints, which John the Baptist first taught, Luke I, 17, who was sent by God, 'to turn the hearts of fathers to their children, and the unbelieving to the prudence of the just, to prepare for the Lord a perfect people.' Hear St. Bernard in the passage already cited: 'The knowledge of the saints is to be crucified here temporally, and to be delighted for eternity; and in the contrary direction the knowledge of the wicked falls back. There is one knowledge of the world, which teaches vanity; and another knowledge of the flesh, which teaches pleasure. The former is like a father to us, the latter like a mother: for just as a mother always wishes rest for her son, and entirely shuts away all labor from her son, so the flesh, grown thick, fattened, and expanded, kicks back, and does not suffer itself to be touched even by the smallest fingers. And just as a father wants his son to run here and there, to learn from which source he may one day be magnified: so also the world wants a man to be entangled in many labors, so that he has something to be proud of, something to be puffed up about, and to become foolish from vanity unto the same.'
SHE ENRICHED HIM IN HIS LABORS. — In Greek, euporēsen auton en mochthois, that is, she enriched him in hardships, or through hardships, and the toilsome labors which Jacob endured for fourteen years, pasturing the flocks of Laban, in order to win Rachel as his wife; but through these labors he was greatly enriched both in sheep and in offspring, and obtained abundant increase of both honor and progeny: thus 'honesty' (honestas) in the Scriptures is often taken for wealth: for honestas is said to be, as it were, the state of honor, as the jurists say; and riches procure honor: for the rich are esteemed and honored by all.
AND SHE COMPLETED HIS LABORS. — In Greek, ēuxēsen, that is, she multiplied, that is, with manifold reward and fruit she compensated his labors, when she increased and multiplied the flocks of Jacob beyond the flocks of Laban with abundant breeding and increase: thus God heaped up the labors of Jacob, which in the first years seemed barren and empty of fruit, at a later time with great increases of sheep and wealth, Genesis XXX, 43, and XXXI, 9.
Tropologically and mystically, the Church in the Ecclesiastical Office applies these words to holy confessors and martyrs; whence St. Bonaventure considers that six notable benefits which God confers on the just and holy are noted here: the first is to justify, which the word 'just' denotes; the second, to guide in the progress of their way of life; the third, to show the kingdom in grace or in the secret of contemplation; the fourth, to give the knowledge of holy things, by instructing in the recognition of the divine will; the fifth, to honor in labors by enriching with merits; the sixth, to complete labors, by granting the reward with perseverance. St. Bernard adds in the passage already cited: 'And she completed,' he says, 'his labors, either here in perseverance, so that he may not abandon justice until the end; or there in glory, so that he may rejoice forever. Happy is each completion, when here the just man dies full
of days, and there he rises in the fullness of days: full in both places, both here with grace, and there with glory, because the Lord will give grace and glory, amen.'
Blessed therefore is he for whom God multiplies labors and sorrows: for thus He also multiplies their fruits and crowns.
11. IN THE FRAUD OF THOSE WHO CIRCUMVENTED HIM SHE ASSISTED HIM. — In Greek, en pleonexia katischyontōn auton parestē, that is, in the unjust and fraudulent covetousness (the Complutensians read, 'in superiority') of those prevailing or overpowering him, she stood by him: for pleonexia is the immoderate desire of having and acquiring more, covetousness, which cuts for itself a portion greater than is just, an improper desire for what belongs to another, and the vice of one who wants to have something preeminent in everything; so called from pleon echein, that is, from having more than right demands or permits, namely when someone, having defrauded others, usurps more for himself than is fair; whence Cicero calls it fraud and circumvention. Thus Laban here was a defrauder and circumventor of Jacob: for the meaning is, as if to say: When Jacob was being oppressed by Laban his father-in-law, and by his sons and servants, through avarice and fraud, wisdom and God stood by Jacob, and brought it about that this fraud turned to his good and enriched him; whence follows: 'And she made him honorable (Greek, eploutisen, that is, she enriched) him': the history is narrated in Genesis XXXI, 6 and following, see what was said there.
12. SHE GUARDED HIM FROM HIS ENEMIES, AND PROTECTED HIM FROM SEDUCERS (Greek, enedreuontōn, that is, from those lying in ambush), — namely from Laban his father-in-law, who pursued Jacob as he was fleeing with his wives and children, for God said to him in a dream: 'Beware of speaking anything harsh against Jacob'; also from Esau, who was plotting against him; and also from the Canaanites, from whom he was in great danger of being utterly destroyed with his entire family, when Simeon and Levi his sons, driven by fury because their sister Dinah had been violated by Shechem, most cruelly killed all the Shechemites, Genesis XXXIV, from which dangers wisdom protected him.
AND SHE GAVE HIM A FIERCE STRUGGLE THAT HE MIGHT OVERCOME, AND KNOW THAT WISDOM IS MORE POWERFUL THAN ALL THINGS. — The Syriac, 'and in a fierce struggle she justified him'; the Arabic, 'and she governed him when a fierce struggle assailed him, so that he might know that true worship (that is, piety and devotion) has become more powerful than all things'; in Greek, agōna ischyron ebrabeussen autō, that is, she gave him a hard contest to undergo and to conquer; Vatablus, 'she appointed a difficult struggle for him to undergo': where note the word ebrabeussen, as if to say: Wisdom and God, like an umpire, instituted and proposed to Jacob, as to a contender and fighter, a hard struggle and contest, together with worthy prizes and rewards for the contest and victory, when, that is, she exposed him to the avarice of Laban, and to the anger and persecution of Esau, and of the Canaanites, and other enemies; when she set against him an angel, with whom wrestling and overcoming, he received from him a blessing fruitful of all goods, and obtained a glorious name: for the angel who wrestled with him
allowing himself to be overcome by him, named him Israel, that is 'prevailing' or 'ruling over God,' Genesis XXXII, 28: see what was said there. God therefore sets before Jacob and all His other athletes, and especially the martyrs, a hard struggle and contest, to this end, that they may conquer and the victors be crowned, for which reason He Himself supplies them with the strength to conquer: for this is what 'that he might overcome' signifies, as if to say: Therefore God sets fierce and hard contests before His own, so that the harder the struggle, the more glorious may be their victory, and the more illustrious their crowns and trophies.
Hear St. Bernard, in his sermon On St. Martin, celebrating his well-known saying: 'Lord, if I am still necessary for Your people, I do not refuse labor, Your will be done': for marveling at it he exclaims: 'O truly most holy soul, O inestimable charity, O singular obedience! You have fought the good fight, you have finished the course, you have kept the faith, henceforth there remains for you the crown of justice, which the Lord, the just judge, will render to you today; and still you say: I do not refuse labor, Your will be done.' Then he compares him with Abraham: 'You plainly offered Isaac, that only one whom you love, as far as it was in you, you slaughtered him, you sacrificed your singular joy with pious devotion, ready to return again to dangers, to renew struggles, to undergo labor anew, to endure tribulation, to prolong temptation, then to be deferred still further from that great happiness, and the long-desired society of blessed spirits, and to be called back from the very entrance of glory into the miseries of this mortality: and lastly (which is the greatest thing) to be a pilgrim longer from your Christ, if only He Himself had willed it.' The same author, in his sermon On St. Clement, which follows next, says thus: 'To Blessed Clement He gave a fierce struggle, that he might overcome, and learn that wisdom is more powerful than all things. But what kind of struggle is yours, my brothers? Every day it is suggested to you in your hearts: Break your rule, murmur, detract, act more lazily, feign weakness, answer back to him who perhaps has spoken to you rather harshly, to satisfy your desire; nor is it said to anyone: Unless you do this, you will die; but at most, with difficulty and labor you resist your own spirit: and who could endure such things? For we are accustomed to hearing these things within, and to cheerfully responding to those who exhort us, either to the man outside, or to the Holy Spirit within. If therefore in such a struggle we are in danger, and scarcely resist, if sometimes we even succumb, what would we do in that so grave a struggle? If our weakness yields to fragile reeds, how would it resist weapons? You see how we are reduced to nothing, and like women or little children are accustomed to praise others who are fighting, while we ourselves cannot fight.' Consider what a fierce struggle St. Lawrence endured on the gridiron, St. Vincent on the rack, St. Sebastian at the target, St. Agnes at the pyre.
Mystically, the fierce struggle is that by which a man vanquishes vices, subjugates concupiscence, indeed overcomes his own passions and himself, and thus virtue itself,
indeed he as it were conquers even God, and binds Him to himself: great is this struggle, by which man overcomes the unconquerable God, yet he overcomes for this reason, because God Himself wills to be overcome, and to be possessed by the one who struggles and labors.
AND HE MIGHT KNOW THAT WISDOM IS MORE POWERFUL THAN ALL THINGS. — For 'wisdom,' the Greek is eusebeia, that is piety, religion, the worship of God, devotion, as the Arabic translates, as if to say: God gave Jacob a fierce struggle, so that he himself might learn from it that the worship and religion of God is stronger than all struggles, fights, and enemies: for this binds and obliges God to Himself, so that He may make the religious worshiper superior, victorious, and triumphant in every struggle. Hence it is clear what is understood by wisdom throughout this entire book, namely eusebeia, that is, the true worship of God, through the true duties of a faithful man who fears, loves, and worships God, who immediately embraces and executes with great ardor all things that God commands, or indicates will be pleasing to Him, as I said at the beginning of the book, and often elsewhere throughout the course of the work. Understand these things of created wisdom, which is attributed to man: for uncreated wisdom in God is His own immense wisdom and holiness, to be worshiped and venerated by us with the highest reverence and piety, which is the idea and architect of all things, both natural, moral, and supernatural, as I said in chapter VII.
13. SHE DID NOT ABANDON THE JUST MAN WHEN HE WAS SOLD, BUT DELIVERED HIM FROM SINNERS, AND DESCENDED WITH HIM INTO THE PIT. — He passes from Jacob the father to his son Joseph, whom wisdom guarded when sold by his brothers and raised to the princedom of Egypt: he calls his brothers sinners, who out of envy planned to kill him, but at the entreaties of Judah sold him to the Ishmaelites. In Greek it is, ap' hamartias, that is, from sin, namely of adultery, wisdom delivered Joseph: for enticed by his beauty, his mistress, the wife of Potiphar, was soliciting him to this; but wisdom gave him such chastity and constancy that he responded, Genesis XXXIX, 9: 'How then can I do this great evil, and sin against my God?' Hence St. Ambrose, in his book On Joseph, chapter 1: 'Rightly,' he says, 'Joseph is to be admired, who did this before the Gospel, so that when injured he spared, when pursued he forgave, when sold he did not repay the injury, but rendered grace in return for insult: which after the Gospel we have all learned, and cannot observe'; and in chapter 5: 'That master, who did not receive the torches of one who loved him, who did not feel the chains of one who enticed him, whom no fear of death terrified; who preferred to die free of crime, than to choose the partnership of criminal power: that free man, who thought it shameful not to return grace for grace'; and after some words: 'And so he cast off the garment, shook off the accusation, and leaving behind the clothing by which he was held, he fled, stripped indeed, but not naked, for he was better covered by the garment of modesty.' Our Lorinus suspects that the sin of pederasty is noted here, to which the brothers solicited Joseph on account of his outstanding beauty; whence he himself accused them before his father of the worst crime, Genesis XXXVII, 2: see what was said there. Truly St. Augustine, sermon 83 On the Times: 'Great,' he says, 'was plainly this man (Joseph), who when sold did not know how to be a slave, when loved did not return a shameful love, when asked did not consent, when seized he fled.'
AND SHE DESCENDED WITH HIM INTO THE PIT. — In Greek, 'into the cistern,' that is into the well, into which his brothers had thrown him, says Hugh: again 'into the pit,' that is into the prison, into which his master Potiphar cast him after his wife accused him of adultery; whence explaining further by way of epexegesis he adds: 'And in chains she did not abandon him'; so the interpreters generally. Thus Jeremiah was cast by the Jews into a pit, as into a prison, Jeremiah XXXVII, 15, and XXXVIII, 6 and following. Learn here not to fear prisons, crosses, or any hardships whatsoever for God, because God descends into them with you, undergoes and overcomes them with you, according to Psalm 90:15: 'I am with him in tribulation'; and Psalm 22:4: 'If I walk in the midst of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me'; and Psalm 45, verse 6: 'God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved'; where St. Augustine says: 'Let the sea rage,' he says, 'let the mountains be troubled, God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved.' See St. Bernard, letter 42, where among other things he says: 'Indeed, if it is necessary to enter hell itself, let a joyful conscience, penetrating the midst of the flames securely, sing, Psalm 22:4: And if I walk in the midst of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me.'
14. AND IN CHAINS SHE DID NOT LEAVE HIM, UNTIL SHE BROUGHT HIM THE SCEPTER OF THE KINGDOM, AND POWER AGAINST THOSE WHO OPPRESSED HIM: AND SHE SHOWED THOSE WHO HAD DEFAMED HIM TO BE LIARS, AND GAVE HIM ETERNAL GLORY. — See here the power and beneficence of wisdom, which turned Joseph's chains into scepters, his fetters into a robe of fine linen, his chains into a golden collar, his prison into a royal throne. For 'scepter,' the Greek has sceptra (plural), which word denotes the manifold and universal authority of Joseph in Egypt: for Pharaoh elevated him, so that he might be the governor and prince of all people, in all matters throughout his entire realm, and thus virtually the director and king of the king: therefore although he did not adorn him with the royal name, he nevertheless adorned him with royal dignity and power, for, as is said in Genesis XLI, 42: 'He took the ring from his hand, and gave it into his hand, and clothed him with a robe of fine linen, and placed a golden collar around his neck, and made him ride in his second chariot, with a herald crying out that all should bend the knee before him, and should know that he was set over the entire land of Egypt.'
Morally, learn from Joseph that labors and crosses are the certain way to glory and a kingdom; therefore while you are engaged in them and overcoming them, be certain of the victory, triumph, and glory which Christ adorns for you, who fights and conquers in you and for you. Hear St. Bernard, sermon 47 on the Song of Songs: 'You are both to me, Lord Jesus, both the mirror of suffering
and the reward of suffering (or, as he had said a little before: The model of the one fighting, and the glory of the one triumphing). You teach my hands for battle, by the example of Your virtue: You crown my head after victory with the presence of Your majesty: whether because I behold You fighting, or because I await You not only crowning, but also as the crown itself: in both You wonderfully attract me to Yourself; each is a most powerful cord for drawing.' And St. Ambrose, in his book On Joseph, chapter 5: 'Let not the innocent,' he says, 'be troubled when they are attacked with false charges, when justice is oppressed and they are thrown into prison. God visits His own even in prison, and therefore there is more help where there is more danger. But what wonder, if God visits those placed in prison, who remembered that He Himself was enclosed in prison in His own, as you have written in Matthew XXV, 43: I was in prison, and you did not come to Me.' And Philo, in his book On Joseph: 'Now the place,' he says, 'was not so much a prison as a school of discipline'; whence St. Cyprian, book IV, letter 1 to the Martyrs, from the old edition: 'O blessed prison,' he says, 'which your presence has illuminated! O darkness brighter than the sun itself, where temples of God have been established!' Indeed Seneca also, in his Consolation to Albina: 'Socrates,' he says, 'entered the prison, about to remove the disgrace from the place itself: for it could not seem to be a prison, in which Socrates was.'
AND POWER AGAINST THOSE WHO OPPRESSED HIM. — In Greek, kai exousian tyrannountōn autou, that is, and the power of those, that is, over those who were exercising it tyrannically against him: for tōn tyrannountōn signifies two things: first, those who dominated him; second, those who tyrannized him, that is who exercised tyranny over him, who tyrannically oppressed him: for Joseph, having been made prince of Egypt, was worshiped by his brothers, who had tyrannically sold him: likewise he had subject to himself his mistress and her husband Potiphar (if they were still alive) and his servants and officials, who had accused him of adultery and thrown him into prison.
AND SHE SHOWED THOSE WHO HAD DEFAMED HIM TO BE LIARS. — In Greek, tous mōmēsamenous auton, that is, those who had accused him, charged him, and falsely imputed adultery to him: for she showed their falsity and lying, first, through the outstanding chastity and holiness of Joseph, which shone forth so greatly in his face, gestures, and all his actions, that he appeared as a kind of earthly angel; second, through the gift of prophecy, on account of which he was elevated by Pharaoh to the princedom: for this gift is given only to the chaste; third, by other indications and signs, which Scripture does not mention, Potiphar recognized the lying accusation of his wife, and the innocence of Joseph. Perhaps even the wife herself, admiring the virtue of Joseph, or compelled by God, repenting of her deed, confessed her crime and her false accusation, as often happens elsewhere, God compelling false accusers, especially in the crime of fornication, to reveal and confess their falsehood, examples of which are commonly found in the Lives of the
Saints Marina, Eugenia, Irene of Portugal, etc.
AND SHE GAVE HIM ETERNAL GLORY (Greek, doxan, that is glory). — For Joseph obtained so great a name in Egypt and throughout the whole world that he was called the Savior of the world, Genesis XLI, 45: his virtue and glory still endure and will endure for all ages. Anagogically, Joseph obtained the glory of eternal happiness in heaven: so St. Bonaventure, who also tropologically notes in the six just men reviewed thus far, six types and modes of temptations from which wisdom rescues, according to that saying of Job V, 19: 'In six tribulations He will deliver you, and in the seventh evil will not touch you.' Adam or Eve were delivered from the devil: Noah from the kindling of sin, by which all flesh had been corrupted: Abraham from internal pride, of which the builders of the tower provided an example: Lot from an external wicked example, and the shameless solicitation of the Sodomites: Jacob from deceit and enmities: Joseph from the adversities of the world. Again he notes the threefold enemy — the devil, the flesh, the world — which the three enemies of Solomon foreshadowed, assailing us in various ways: for the devil attacked the first parents visibly, Abraham invisibly; the temptation of the flesh was set against Noah according to natural use, against Lot contrary to nature; the world acted with fraud against Jacob, with force and cruelty against Joseph. Up to this point he has recounted examples of wisdom from Genesis; what follows is drawn from Exodus.
15. SHE DELIVERED THE JUST PEOPLE, AND THE BLAMELESS SEED (Greek, amempton, that is irreproachable, unblemished) FROM THE NATIONS THAT OPPRESSED THEM. — Greek ethlibōn, that is, they were afflicting, tribulating, pressing, crushing, as if to say: Wisdom delivered Israel, namely the Hebrews, from Egypt under the leadership of Moses, when the Egyptians were oppressing them: read Exodus chapter I and following. He calls the Hebrews a just people, in Greek hosion, that is holy and unblemished, first, on account of God's calling and election, because God had selected the Hebrews from all nations for Himself as a people, that is, as a Synagogue and Church, to be worshiped by them through sacrifices and laws established by Him. Holy, therefore, that is faithful and dedicated to the worship of God; likewise holy, that is, the stock and posterity of the holy patriarchs: 'for if the first-fruits are holy, so is the mass: and if the root is holy, so are the branches,' says the Apostle, Romans XI, 16. Thus the Apostle at the beginning of his Epistles calls the Romans, Corinthians, Ephesians, etc., saints, because they were called to the faith, worship, and holiness of God; whence the Church is also called holy. Second, because among the ancient and first Hebrews there were many saints, such as Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, and the rest, who were being oppressed by Pharaoh: for oppression makes saints, and compels one to take refuge in God; whence we do not read that the Hebrews in Genesis and Exodus worshiped idols until the exodus from Egypt, when in Sinai, in the absence of Moses, they made and worshiped the golden calf, Exodus XXXII, 4. Thus the Church is called holy, because many in her are saints, even if more are sin-
-ners: for a thing is named from its better and more worthy part.
16. SHE ENTERED INTO THE SOUL OF THE SERVANT OF GOD (Moses) AND STOOD AGAINST TERRIBLE KINGS IN WONDERS AND SIGNS. — In Greek, 'she resisted terrible kings through miracles and signs.' He calls 'kings' the king Pharaoh, who, although he was one, yet by his pride, tyranny, deceit, and manifold fraud, was the equivalent of many: thus they sang of David killing the one Goliath, 1 Samuel XVIII, 7: 'Saul has struck a thousand, and David ten thousand'; and Nicetas on oration 40 of Nazianzen: 'Fight strenuously and bravely against the spiritual Goliath,' he says, 'and reduce his manifold forces and devices, as if certain thousands and myriads, to nothing.' This is a frequent figure of speech (enallage) among the Hebrews, especially among the poets. He notes the ten plagues inflicted on Pharaoh and Egypt by God through Moses, by which He compelled him to release the Hebrews: see what was said on Exodus VII and following. For God possessed the soul of Moses, and through him spoke, commanded, and performed all things so wonderful and portentous.
17. AND SHE RENDERED TO THE JUST (the Hebrews, the faithful worshipers of God) THE REWARD OF THEIR LABORS. — The Hebrews had served the Egyptians in works of agriculture and construction, but the Egyptians had defrauded them of their due wages; this therefore, at God's command, the Hebrews compensated for themselves, by despoiling the Egyptians, wherefore this spoil was not so much a plunder as a just and owed reward for their labors and injuries: for they borrowed golden and silver vessels, garments and other precious things from the Egyptians, which they never returned, but carried them with them when leaving Egypt: see what was said on Exodus chapter XII, 36.
AND SHE GUIDED THEM ON A WONDERFUL WAY, AND SHE WAS TO THEM FOR A SHELTER BY DAY, AND FOR THE LIGHT (Greek, eis phloga, that is, for a flame) OF STARS BY NIGHT. — The Syriac, 'and she led them through the terrible Red Sea, and made them walk through strong waters, and she was to them a tabernacle by day and for the light of stars by night'; the Arabic, 'and she brought them by a wonderful way, and she became to them a light by day, and by night for the brightness of the rising of the stars.' He notes the journey of the Hebrews through the desert to Canaan, which was indeed marvelous in many respects: for God fed all the Hebrews, whose number rose to three million, that is thirty hundred thousand persons, for 40 years in the arid and barren desert with heavenly food, namely manna, and gave them water gushing from the rock to drink, and preserved the clothing of all uncorrupted, indeed He caused their garments to grow with the children; He preserved them from every injury of weather and attack of enemies; He gave them a pillar of fire and cloud, which like a leader went before them on the march, the angel guiding it, namely St. Michael, who was formerly the guardian and protector of the Synagogue, and now of the Church. Whence wherever the pillar moved, the camp of the Hebrews intended to go there; and wherever the pillar stopped, there they too pitched their camp. Moreover, this pillar by day was dark as a cloud, to protect the Hebrews from the rays and heat of the sun; by night it was bright as light, so that in
it might provide them light. It was therefore to them 'for a shelter by day,' in Greek, 'for a covering during the day,' because this pillar, when they were on the march, during the day would expand itself, as Gregory of Nyssa says, and would spread from itself another cloud, as it were, which would overshadow the entire Hebrew camp, and cover them against the rays of the sun; but by night it contracted itself, and shone like a star, indeed like a cluster and multitude of stars. Whence it was to them 'for the light (that is, as the light and splendor) of stars,' or, as the Greek has it, 'for a flame of stars': therefore this flame blazed in the pillar, like the flaming light of the Evening Star, or like a flaming torch on a lighthouse, so that it could be seen from afar by the entire Hebrew camp, which would have been difficult with fire, for fire shines more dimly and faintly: see what was said on Exodus XIII, 21, and Numbers IX, 15 and following.
Mystically, wonderful is the way, manner, and plan of God, by which He leads His elect in the desert of this life, through so many misfortunes, snares, perils, enemies, hardships, labors, temptations, crosses, and martyrdoms to the land of the living promised to them in heaven. The guide of this journey is the pillar of fire and cloud, that is the Holy Spirit, who illuminates the saints in their doubts, as light; who in adversity and the heat of temptation overshadows, refreshes, and protects, as a cloud; who in lukewarmness and the cold of pusillanimity kindles and inflames, as fire and flame. Let each just and religious person consider the ways and paths by which throughout his entire life the wisdom and providence of God has guided, preserved, and promoted him on the way of justice, and he will recognize them as wonderful, and will marvel and be astonished, and will give immense thanks to God. The blessed do this in heaven, where they clearly see the very many perils to their salvation into which they fell, and from which by God's providence they escaped safe and unharmed, and therefore they sing perpetual praises to God.
18. SHE BROUGHT (Greek diebibassen, that is, she carried across, transmitted, conveyed) THEM OVER THROUGH THE RED SEA, AND CARRIED THEM THROUGH THE GREAT WATER. — He speaks of the crossing of the Hebrews through the Red Sea, not that they walked upon the waters of the sea, as St. Samuel of Morocco holds, in his book On the Coming of the Messiah, chapter 15, but that God through Moses, striking the Red Sea with his staff, divided it, so that they crossed through its dry bed unharmed: the history is narrated in Exodus chapter XIV. Whence Vatablus translates, 'He gave them passage through the Red Sea, and through very many waters He conveyed them.'
19. BUT SHE DROWNED THEIR ENEMIES IN THE SEA (when, after the Hebrews had crossed the sea dry-footed, God rolled the waters of the sea back into its bed, and overwhelmed and drowned the pursuing Egyptians with Pharaoh, Exodus XIV): AND FROM THE DEPTH OF THE ABYSS SHE BROUGHT THEM OUT. — Vatablus translates, 'but she overwhelmed their enemies with waves, and hurled the lowest springs of the deep upon them'; others better, 'from the depth of the abyss she caused them to boil up (that is, driven by the surge of the sea to ascend)': which Hugh, Lyranus, Dionysius, and others understand of the Hebrews, as if to say: God caused the Hebrews who had descended into the dry bed of the Red Sea as into an abyss, to ascend unharmed from there and brought them out: for in a similar manner Sirach, chapter 51, verse 7, says he was brought out by God 'from the depth of the belly of hell.' Better, Cantacuzenus, Jansenius, and others explain it of the Egyptians, as if to say: God cast up again to the surface Pharaoh and the Egyptians already drowned and suffocated in the Red Sea as in the most profound abyss and whirlpool, by the surge of the sea, and as it were disgorged them onto the shore, so that the Hebrews might seize their arms and spoils there, as I said on Exodus XIV, 31, and it follows here: for this is what the Greek word anabrasai signifies, that is, it boiled up, surged, by surging expelled, by surge and agitation ejected, disgorged: whence anabraseis are called estuaries, that is ditches or hollows filled with sea water from the flooding of the sea, through which people sail as through rivers in the Mediterranean to reach nearby places, especially towns. Josephus, Antiquities book II, last chapter, and Philo, in his book On the Life of Moses, testify that the same thing happened, namely that the Egyptians, drowned in the Red Sea, were ejected onto the shore by the force of winds and waves, so that the Hebrews might exult as victors over their slaughter, and plunder their spoils. This is what he adds:
THEREFORE THE JUST (the faithful Hebrews) TOOK THE SPOILS OF THE UNGODLY, — of the Egyptians already drowned in the Red Sea, and cast onto the shore by the force of the waves; whence Josephus, book II, last chapter, asserts that on the day after the drowning, when the tide and wind had driven the arms of the Egyptians onto the shore, Moses collected them and distributed them individually among the Hebrews. Here was fulfilled that saying of Proverbs XIII, 22: 'The substance of the sinner is laid up for the just.' From this passage St. Augustine, letter 48 to Boniface, proves that heretics can justly be punished by the deprivation of their goods, and that these can be transferred to faithful orthodox believers.
20. AND THEY SANG TO YOUR HOLY NAME, O LORD, AND PRAISED YOUR VICTORIOUS HAND TOGETHER. — In Greek it is hymnēsan, that is, they sang a hymn. For 'victorious,' the Greek is hyperaspiston, that is, exceedingly combative, that is, most warlike, most powerful, most bellicose. For 'together,' the Greek is homothymadon, that is, with one soul, with one mouth, by the common consent of all, with the unanimous voice and harmony of all; all singing together unanimously, men, women, and children: for they sang to God a eucharistic hymn, by which, in triumph, all unanimously praised God as the author of so great a victory over the drowned Pharaoh, all the men with Moses leading and singing first, and the women with Miriam, the sister of Moses, leading: 'Let us sing to the Lord, for He has been gloriously magnified: the horse and its rider He has cast into the sea,' etc., Exodus XV, 1 and following.
21. BECAUSE WISDOM OPENED THE MOUTH OF THE MUTE, AND MADE (Greek, thēke, that is, 'placed') THE TONGUES OF INFANTS ELOQUENT, — as if to say: Wisdom freed the spirits of the Hebrews, who previously, besieged by Pharaoh, seemed out of fear to be mute and infants without speech, and did not dare to open their mouths, and loosened their mouths, now that the Egyptians were drowned, so that they might now freely, eloquently, and eagerly sing a song of triumph to God. Again, nothing prevents, says our a Castro, the words 'mute' and 'infants' from being taken literally, and affirming that babbling children and those still infants sang congratulatory praises together with their parents and the other men and women, since God is most delighted by the speech of infants: for 'from the mouth of infants and sucklings He has perfected praise, because of His enemies and avengers,' Psalm VIII, 3. Thus also Dionysius the Carthusian thinks that perhaps some who were naturally mute then supernaturally received the use of speech and singing, and that in some infants the use of the tongue was anticipated.
Mystically, the Church in the Ecclesiastical Office applies this entire chapter to confessors and martyrs, and with an appropriate interpretation Dionysius the Carthusian explains it of them, and Hugo does so in an interpolated manner.