Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
He continues to compare, contrast, and set above the Hebrews, worshipers of God, over the Egyptians, idolaters: first, in verse 1, that in the dense darkness of the Egyptians, the Hebrews had the brightest light. Second, in verse 3, that the Hebrews received from God a pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night as a guide for their way, while the Egyptians were drowned without a guide in the Red Sea. Third, in verse 6, that when the firstborn of the Egyptians were slain by an angel, the Hebrews suffered nothing. Fourth, in verse 20, that when God had sent fire upon the people on account of the sedition of Korah, He allowed Himself to be appeased by the incense-offering and prayer of Aaron, and stopped the plague, whereas He was implacable toward the Egyptians, and wore them down with various plagues through Moses, and finally drowned Pharaoh with all his followers in the sea.
Vulgate Text: Wisdom 18:1-25
1. But for Your holy ones there was the greatest light, and they indeed heard their voice, but did not see their form. And because they themselves had not suffered the same things, they glorified You. 2. And those who had been harmed before, because they were not being harmed, gave thanks; and that there might be a distinction, they asked for a gift.
3. For which reason they had a fiery burning pillar as guide of their unknown way, and You provided a sun without harm for their good lodging. 4. Those indeed deserved to be deprived of light and to suffer the prison of darkness, who kept Your children imprisoned, through whom the incorruptible light of the law was beginning to be given to the world. 5. When they planned to kill the infants of the just, and when one child had been exposed and rescued, in retribution against them You took away a multitude of their children, and likewise destroyed them all in mighty water. 6. For that night was known beforehand by our fathers, so that truly knowing in which oaths they had believed, they might be of better courage. 7. And there was received by Your people the salvation indeed of the just, but the destruction of the unjust. 8. For as You struck the adversaries, so also by calling us You magnified us. 9. For in secret the just children of the good sacrificed, and disposed the law of justice in concord: that the just would similarly receive both good things and bad, already singing the praises of the fathers. 10. But the discordant voice of the enemies resounded, and the mournful lamentation of those weeping for children was heard. 11. And the servant was afflicted with a similar punishment as the master, and the commoner suffered the same things as the king. 12. Similarly therefore all had innumerable dead under one name of death. For the living did not suffice for burying: since in one moment the most noble offspring of theirs was destroyed. 13. For not believing about anything on account of sorceries, then indeed for the first time when there was the destruction of the firstborn, they pledged that it was the people of God. 14. For when quiet silence held all things, and the night in its course had reached the middle of its journey, 15. Your almighty word from heaven, from the royal throne, a fierce warrior, leapt into the midst of the land of destruction, 16. bearing as a sharp sword Your unfeigned command, and standing filled all things with death, and while standing on earth reached even to heaven. 17. Then immediately visions of evil dreams disturbed them, and unexpected terrors came upon them. 18. And one here, another there, thrown down half-dead, was showing the cause of the death by which he was dying. 19. For the visions that disturbed them forewarned these things, lest they perish not knowing why they were suffering evils. 20. But then the trial of death touched also the just, and a disturbance of the multitude was made in the desert: but Your wrath did not long endure. 21. For a blameless man hastening to pray for the peoples, bringing forth the shield of his ministry, prayer, and alleging supplication through incense, withstood the wrath, and put an end to the calamity, showing that he was Your servant. 22. And he conquered the tumults, not by bodily strength nor by power of arms, but by his word he subdued him who was tormenting them, recalling the oaths of the fathers and the covenant. 23. For when the dead had already fallen in heaps one upon another, he stood between, and cut short the assault, and divided the way that led to the living. 24. For in the robe reaching to the feet, which he wore, was the whole world: and the glories of the fathers were carved in four rows of stones, and Your majesty was carved on the diadem of his head. 25. And before these the destroyer yielded, and feared them: for the trial of wrath alone was sufficient.
1. 1. BUT FOR YOUR HOLY ONES THERE WAS THE GREATEST LIGHT, AND THEY INDEED HEARD THEIR VOICE, BUT DID NOT SEE THEIR FORM: AND BECAUSE THEY THEMSELVES HAD NOT SUFFERED THE SAME THINGS, THEY GLORIFIED YOU. — He calls the Hebrews holy, because they were called by God to the faithful worship of the holy God, and to holiness itself, and were as it were dedicated and consecrated to Him, according to Psalm CIII, 2: "Judea was made His sanctification, Israel His power." The light was greatest, not because it was greater than natural and miraculous, but greatest in comparison with the Egyptians, who were in dense darkness, and because God, having dispersed all mists and clouds, displayed the brightest rays of the sun to the Hebrews.
Moreover, for the Hebrews exulting on account of this disparity, this light was very great, just as when the same people, through Esther, chapter VIII, verse 16, were freed from death, "a new light seemed to rise for them, joy, honor, and dancing." See what was said at Exodus X, 23. Therefore the Hebrews, worshipers of God, were children of light, while the Egyptians, idolaters, were children of darkness.
AND THEY INDEED HEARD THEIR VOICE — some add "enemies," but the Roman and Greek editions delete this: for it is likely that it crept into the text from someone's commentary. For many refer these words to the Egyptians, meaning: The enemies of the Hebrews, namely the Egyptians, heard the voice of the Hebrews exulting in the light, a voice of jubilation, but on account of the darkness in which they were enveloped, they did not see their form.
their enemies, namely the Egyptians, but on account of the darkness in which they were enveloped, they did not see their form: therefore, because they themselves had not suffered the same things — namely the same darkness, specters, and terrors — that the Egyptians were suffering, they glorified You; in Greek, they blessed, that is, proclaimed blessed. So St. Bonaventure, Dionysius, Cantacuzenus, and others. Others, however, equally fittingly refer these words to the Hebrews, meaning: The Hebrews heard the mournful voice, groans, and sighs of the Egyptians in the darkness, but did not see their form on account of the density of the gloom. Therefore they proclaimed themselves blessed, and glorified You, O Lord, because they did not suffer the darkness that the Egyptians suffered. Both senses are true and fitting; the second, however, better corresponds to the Vulgate, which has "they glorified You": for the Hebrews exulting glorified God, while the Egyptians most miserably bewailed their miseries. The Vatican codex reads affirmatively: "because indeed they also," namely the Egyptians, "had suffered." But the Complutensian and Vulgate more forcefully read negatively: "because they themselves," namely the Hebrews, "had not suffered the same things" as the Egyptians. For "they glorified You," the Greek has ἐμακάριζον, that is, they blessed, that is, they proclaimed blessed both Israel and its leader, God. For the blessedness of God consists in this, that He Himself so abounds with the fullness of all good things, that He pours out the same upon creatures, especially humans and angels, and can receive nothing from them. This is signified by the Hebrew name of God, Shaddai, that is, sufficiency, abundance, plenty. This is what the Psalmist says, Psalm XV, 1: "I said to the Lord: You are my God, for You have no need of my goods." Hence "it is more blessed to give than to receive": for giving belongs to God who abounds, but receiving belongs to needy humans, Acts XX, 35. See what was said there.
2. 2. AND THOSE WHO HAD BEEN HARMED BEFORE, BECAUSE THEY WERE NOT BEING HARMED, GAVE THANKS: AND THAT THERE MIGHT BE A DISTINCTION, THEY ASKED FOR A GIFT. — Again some refer these words to the Hebrews, others to the Egyptians; for in Greek it reads: "and because though previously harmed they do not harm, they gave thanks," meaning: The Egyptians gave thanks to the Hebrews because they had not harmed them when they were placed in darkness, although they had previously been harmed and oppressed by them. Hence Vatablus translates: "but because though provoked by injury they did not harm, they gave thanks to them, and asked pardon for their hostilities." For the Hebrews could have repaid retaliation against the Egyptians bound as it were in darkness, and avenged their injuries, and vexed and tormented them, if they had wished. But the Vulgate requires this to be understood of the Hebrews, meaning: The Hebrews, who had previously been harmed by the Egyptians, seeing that they were not touched by the darkness and plagues of the Egyptians, nor harmed, and that they could no longer be harmed by the Egyptians themselves, gave thanks to God. And this is what the Greek signifies: "because they do not harm," that is, because the Egyptians could no longer harm the Hebrews. "And that there might be a distinction, they asked for a gift," meaning: The Hebrews asked God to continue and make perpetual this distinction of differing providence, namely the chastisement of the Egyptians and the salvation of the Hebrews — that the plagues which touched the Egyptians might not touch the Hebrews. This is what Moses says, Exodus XI, 7: "That you may know by what a great miracle the Lord divides the Egyptians from Israel."
Moreover, St. Bonaventure, Lyra, Hugh, and Dionysius read it thus: "that it might be a gift of distinction, they asked You, God" (Holcot: "You, Lord") "for the gift." In the Greek, for "distinction" there is διενεχθῆναι, that is, "of being different," which Vatablus and Nannius take as meaning "of being at odds," whence we commonly call the differences of one from another "dissensions." Hence he translates: "they begged favor or pardon for their hostilities," for χάρις signifies both "gift" and "favor." Or literally, as our author a Castro rightly says: "and because they had been hostile, or because they had conducted themselves in an unfriendly manner toward them, or had exercised differences, that is, contentions and hostilities against them, they begged favor" — namely, they asked that the Israelites not treat them as enemies, as they could. For they did not want the Israelites, whom they feared, to have enemies. They saw that they had the greatest power of vengeance; only the will was lacking, which resides in an offended and hostile mind. Therefore they asked this favor from them, that they not exercise hostilities against them — which the Vulgate expressed as "that there might be a distinction," that is, they asked that they would depart further and go away from them. For often afflicted by plagues and distressed by calamities on their account, they compelled them to leave. Hence Exodus X, 7: "The servants of Pharaoh said to him: How long shall we endure this scandal? Let the men go, to sacrifice to the Lord their God. Do you not see that Egypt has perished?" And chapter XII, verse 33: "The Egyptians urged the people to leave the land quickly, saying: We shall all die." So says a Castro, who by these words implies a third sense, in which "distinction" is taken as distance and departure: for the Egyptians asked that the Hebrews, on whose account they were afflicted with so many plagues by Moses, be dismissed by Pharaoh, and thus leave Egypt, and be distant and far from them, lest they suffer anything more from them. But the first sense is plainer and fuller.
3. 3. FOR WHICH REASON THEY HAD A FIERY BURNING PILLAR AS GUIDE OF THEIR UNKNOWN WAY, AND YOU PROVIDED A SUN WITHOUT HARM FOR THEIR GOOD LODGING. — Vatablus: "for You provided them a fiery pillar as guide of their unknown journey, and for their magnificent pilgrimage an innocent sun." For "for which reason," the Greek has ἀνθ᾽ ὧν, that is, "on account of which things," or "in return for which." First, Vatablus renders this as "for" or "because": He gives the reason, he says, why ample light was available to the holy ones — namely because this light was the most luminous pillar of fire, which by night illuminated the entire camp of the Hebrews. But that ample or greatest light spoken of in verse 1 occurred during the three days of darkness in Egypt, for it is set in contrast with them; whereas the pillar of fire was given to the Hebrews after the departure from Egypt. Therefore that greatest light cannot be the pillar of fire.
Second and genuinely, the phrase "for which reason" should be referred to what immediately preceded: "and that there might be a distinction, they asked for a gift," meaning: Because the Hebrews differed by their greatest light, and excelled the Egyptians placed in dense darkness, and asked that this distinction and preeminence be continued and perpetuated for them as a gift from God, for this reason God, hearing their prayers, continued for them this distinction of light and condition, by giving them a most luminous pillar of fire, which would provide the Hebrews the brightest light by night, when the Egyptians were enveloped in nocturnal darkness. And thus this pillar of fire is set in opposition to the darkness of Egypt by a kind of prolongation.
Third, our author a Castro, following the third explanation of the distinction given shortly before: Because the Egyptians, he says, demanded that the Israelites leave and withdraw far from them, constrained by the pressure of the plagues with which they were afflicted, therefore You, O Lord, led them out of Egypt, and provided Yourself as guide of the journey through the pillar of fire and cloud. Fourth, the same ἀνθ᾽ ὧν, meaning "for whom," he refers to the Hebrews: "for whom, O Lord, to lead and protect them You provided those aids of the journey" which are described in Exodus XIII, 21, in these words: "And the Lord went before them to show the way, by day in a pillar of cloud, and by night in a pillar of fire, that He might be the guide of their journey at both times. The pillar of cloud never failed by day, nor the pillar of fire by night before the people." Fifth, our Lorinus: "for which reason" — because, namely, the Hebrews though harmed were unwilling to avenge themselves or harm the Egyptians; or because, being grateful to God, they gave grateful thanks. The reward, he says, is written to have been this: either of the benignity of the Hebrews who did not avenge themselves on the Egyptians, whom darkness had oppressed, when they could have; or rather of a grateful spirit toward God: for a grateful spirit is accustomed to provoke the benefactor to bestow new benefits. Similar was chapter X, verse 20, when after the famine of Egypt he adds by antithesis: "In return for which You nourished Your people with the food of angels."
THEY HAD A FIERY BURNING PILLAR AS GUIDE. — For "fiery burning" the Greek has a single word, πυριφλεγῆ, that is, fire-burning, ignited, fire-flaming, because it had the appearance of flame, so as to dispel the cold of night with its heat, but so moderated that it did not burn the Hebrews. Moreover, "burning" is used by catachresis to mean the same as shining, gleaming like fire: thus we call camps "burning," that is, gleaming. And Virgil, Aeneid IV: "A burning (that is, shining) purple cloak." "They had": this word is not in the Greek, where "pillar" and the other accusatives depend upon and are governed by the verb "You provided," but in this verb "they had" is understood. Hence our translator expressed it for the sake of clarity.
A SUN WITHOUT HARM — that is, not harming, not burning. In Greek ἀβλαβῆ, that is, "harmless." He thus calls the pillar of fire by apposition, meaning: The pillar of fire, which as guide went before the Hebrews on their journey in the desert, shone by night with the brightest light over the entire camp of the Hebrews, so much so that it seemed to be a kind of nocturnal sun and the radiance of the sun — yet without scorching or harming the Hebrews. A sun, I say, of good lodging; in Greek, φιλοτίμου ξενιτείας, that is, of honorable pilgrimage, of magnificent and precious hospitality — because this pillar, like a heavenly star, magnificently shone before the Hebrews for their continual pilgrimage to the Promised Land, and indicated good lodgings, that is, convenient stopping places in the desert for 40 years. Moreover, by day it covered them like the roof of a lodging with its cloud against the heat of the sun: for the guide, ruler, charioteer, and mover of the pillar was an angel, who so tempered the fire of the pillar by night that it illuminated the Hebrews but did not burn them, and by day so expanded the cloud of the pillar that it covered the entire camp of the Hebrews, and protected them from the heat of the sun like a canopy from above. Hence it is called the pillar of cloud by day and fire by night, because by day it was opaque like a cloud, by night brilliant like fire. It itself, therefore, was like the sun of a magnificent pilgrimage, that is, the light and guide of the magnificent army of the Hebrews journeying to the Holy Land: for this army marched like a most orderly heavenly battle line, and like the entire Church of Israel fighting for God, and therefore unconquered — nothing could resist it without it subduing all things to itself. For God through the angel presiding over the pillar led it, governed it, covered it, and fought for it.
He alludes to the sun, which, as it gives signs of seasons and storms, so also of places and lodgings, whether comfortable or uncomfortable — indeed, it effectively produces those very things. For when the sun changes its color in its face, it changes also the fortunes of seasons and places, as Virgil says in Georgics I: "A dark blue sun announces rain, a fiery one east winds. If spots begin to mingle with the ruddy fire, Then you will see all things equally seething With wind and rain." And shortly after: "But if, when he brings back the day and hides the returned day, His bright disk is clear, in vain will you be frightened by storms. The sun will give you signs. Who would dare call the sun false? He often warns that blind tumults threaten, And that fraud and hidden wars are swelling. He too, pitying Rome when Caesar was slain, Covered his bright head with dark rust, And the impious age feared eternal night." And Claudian on Rufinus: "Sun, who hold the world in your flame-bearing reins, You turn the returning ages with inexhaustible motion; Scatter the day with a better mane." Hence lodgings are cheerful where the suns are bright; sad and gloomy where they are dark and cloudy: for the sun breathes joy and life into all places with its light.
Allegorically, in a similar way the star leading the Magi to Christ was for them and for the Gentiles the sun of a magnificent pilgrimage; hence Prudentius sings of it: "A star that surpasses the wheel of the sun in beauty and light."
Tropologically, such likewise is faith, and the illumination and calling of the Holy Spirit, by which He calls and impels this one to martyrdom, that one to religious life, another to the priesthood, etc. See what was said at Exodus XIII, and Numbers VI, 15 and following.
4. 4. THOSE INDEED DESERVED TO BE DEPRIVED OF LIGHT AND TO SUFFER THE PRISON OF DARKNESS, WHO KEPT YOUR CHILDREN IMPRISONED, THROUGH WHOM THE INCORRUPTIBLE LIGHT OF THE LAW WAS BEGINNING TO BE GIVEN TO THE WORLD. — For "was beginning to be given," the Greek has μέλλε δίδοσθαι, that is, "was about to be given." Vatablus: "was about to be produced." Others: "had to be given." Others: "through whom the most perfect light of the law was to be imparted to the world." For to the Hebrews was given by God the law and the true religion of God at Sinai, Exodus XIX, 20, which was then communicated by them to the whole world. The meaning is: The Egyptians were justly and fittingly punished with dense darkness, because they held captive the Israelites, through whom the light of the divine law was to be spread over the whole world, and thus they were at the same time trying to imprison, obscure, and extinguish the very light of the law, as it were. Therefore, for having extinguished — as far as they were able — a twofold light, first the external, by snatching it away from the Hebrews; second, the internal, by rejecting the knowledge of true religion, they were punished with a twofold darkness: material in the body, and spiritual in the mind. He calls the law "incorruptible" — first, because it is whole, just, pure, holy, immaculate, converting souls, Psalm XVIII, 8; second, because it is never corrupted or abolished, but always endures either in itself or in its antitype, which it represents: for the old ceremonial law endures in the mysteries and sacraments of the new law of Christ, which were signified and foreshadowed by the ceremonies of the old; third, because it leads its observers to incorruptible life and eternal happiness.
5. 5. WHEN THEY PLANNED TO KILL THE INFANTS OF THE JUST, AND WHEN ONE CHILD HAD BEEN EXPOSED AND RESCUED, IN RETRIBUTION AGAINST THEM YOU TOOK AWAY A MULTITUDE OF THEIR CHILDREN, AND LIKEWISE DESTROYED THEM ALL IN MIGHTY WATER. — In Greek: "when they had decreed to kill the infants of the holy ones, and one exposed child (Moses) had been preserved for their chastisement, You deprived them of a multitude of children, and by the force of waters destroyed them all together." For "in retribution," the Greek has εἰς ἔλεγχον, that is, "for correction, reproach, chastisement." The meaning is: When Pharaoh and the Egyptians had formed the plan to drown all the male infants of the Hebrews in the Nile, one of them, exposed by his mother, was preserved by God — namely Moses, who would chastise the tyranny of the Egyptians, and in turn deprive them of a multitude of their children by killing their firstborn, and then drown in the Red Sea all who were pursuing the Hebrews. For this was a fitting punishment of retaliation: that those who had afflicted Israel, God's firstborn people, should be punished in their own firstborn; and those who had drowned the infants of the Hebrews in the Nile should themselves likewise be drowned in the Red Sea. See what was said at Exodus I and II. So Cantacuzenus, Vatablus, Jansenius, and others. Therefore some older scholars, unskilled in the Greek language, wrongly take "retribution" as meaning the leading out of the Hebrews from Egypt.
6. 6. FOR THAT NIGHT WAS KNOWN BEFOREHAND BY OUR FATHERS, SO THAT TRULY (in Greek, ἀσφαλῶς, that is, securely and certainly) KNOWING IN WHICH OATHS THEY HAD BELIEVED, THEY MIGHT BE OF BETTER COURAGE — in Greek, ἐπευθυμήσωσι, that is, they might rejoice, be glad, become more spirited and confident. The meaning therefore is: That paschal night, on which all the firstborn of the Egyptians, both of humans and of animals, were killed by the destroying angel, was foreseen and foretold — both by Moses, Exodus IV, 22, and more clearly chapter XI, verse 5 — and as to the event, namely the slaughter of the Egyptians and the liberation of the Hebrews, although not as to the manner and time of the night, it was foreknown and promised by God with an oath to Abraham, Genesis XVIII, 14 and following; and to Isaac, Genesis XXVI, 3; and to Jacob, Genesis XXVIII, 13 and following. And this for this purpose: that the Hebrews, seeing these promises of God being fulfilled, might fully believe and trust in Him, and in His singular providence rest content, joyful and secure, not doubting that God would in a similar way fulfill His other promises to them in deed, and would actually give them the land of Canaan to possess, flowing with milk and honey — which was the goal of God's promises and the terminus of the Hebrews' wanderings.
7. 7. AND THERE WAS RECEIVED BY YOUR PEOPLE THE SALVATION INDEED OF THE JUST, BUT THE DESTRUCTION OF THE UNJUST. — In Greek: "There was received by your people the salvation indeed of the just, but the destruction of the enemies." He explains the phrase "they might be of better courage," or, as the Greek has it, "they might rejoice," meaning: Your people saw and with joy received the salvation of the just, that is, of their firstborn, whom You saved and kept unharmed from the destroying angel, and at the same time saw the destruction of the unjust, that is, of the firstborn of unfaithful Egypt, whom the same angel struck with death on the paschal night. Hence Vatablus translates: "and Your people both saw the salvation of the just, and the destruction of their enemies." For the joy of the Hebrews here was great and twofold, indeed threefold: first, that they saw themselves unharmed by the plague; second, that they saw their enemies the Egyptians being harmed and killed by the same plague; third, that they saw them being killed on their account, so that, struck and conquered by this plague, they would yield to Moses and God, and permit the Hebrews to depart freely from Egypt — as they did in fact permit. Thus in Scripture we frequently read that whenever God freed His people from enemies, He did so with the punishment and destruction of the enemies, so that by this means He might show His paternal love and care for His people, and double and triple their joy, and the grief of their enemies: for the punishment of the enemies arose from love for His friends and children, namely the Hebrews. This can be seen throughout the books of Judges, Kings, Maccabees, and other historical books.
Our Lorinus explains it somewhat differently, meaning: The people conceived a hope from those divine promises confirmed by oath, that they would indeed obtain salvation for themselves, while their adversaries would meet destruction; or they afterwards discovered in reality the truth of the promises, even though they had sometimes doubted.
8. 8. FOR AS YOU STRUCK THE ADVERSARIES, SO ALSO BY CALLING US YOU MAGNIFIED US. — He says and amplifies the same thing. For "calling," the Greek has προσκαλεσάμενος, that is, summoning, calling together, calling forth — namely God through Moses calling the Hebrews to His worship and love, Exodus XII. For "so" our translator read οὕτως; now they read αὐτῷ, that is, "by that." For "You struck," the Greek has ἐτιμωρήσω, that is, You chastised, punished, avenged the injury done to Your people, and therefore to You, by the Egyptians, meaning: As You chastised the Egyptians who were injurious to Your people, and therefore to Your honor, so conversely by the same chastisement, calling and summoning the Hebrews to Your worship, You magnified them, that is, distinguished them with great glory, when, having conquered the Egyptians, You gloriously led them armed out of Egypt through so many signs and wonders, and brought them triumphant into Canaan. Hence, reading from the Greek τούτω, and ὡς (that is, "as") taking it as "when," you may translate with Vatablus: "For when You avenged our enemies, then You adorned us who were called with glory"; and more expressively with our a Castro: "For when You punished the adversaries, by that very act You honored us who were called with glory" — that is, when You took vengeance on our enemies, by that very act You honored us with glory: for in that very vengeance both the love of God toward His own and the honor He has for them are seen. Therefore the chastisement and humiliation of enemies is the exaltation and glorification of friends: for God chastises the unfaithful in order to exalt and magnify His faithful.
9. 9. FOR IN SECRET THE JUST CHILDREN OF THE GOOD SACRIFICED, AND DISPOSED THE LAW OF JUSTICE IN CONCORD: THAT THE JUST WOULD SIMILARLY RECEIVE BOTH GOOD THINGS AND BAD, ALREADY SINGING THE PRAISES OF THE FATHERS. — In Greek: "For in secret the holy children of the good sacrificed, and disposed the law of divinity in concord: that the just, being equally sharers of both good things and dangers, were already singing the praises of the fathers." He explains the phrase "by calling, You magnified," meaning: When You called and summoned us to Your worship through Moses on the paschal night, in order to magnify and exalt us, we, obedient to Moses and to You, followed Your call and summons. For according to Your command and that of Moses, we secretly, that is, in hiding, out of fear of the Egyptians, for a happy departure from Egypt, slaughtered and sacrificed the paschal lamb to You — we, I say, who are the just, that is, Your faithful ones, and children of the good, that is, sons of the holy patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And then we disposed the law of justice — in Greek, "of divinity," that is, the divine law — in concord, that is, with one accord and unanimous consent we resolved to keep the law of God, to receive similarly both good and bad, so that equally and with the same lot we might endure both evils and goods for the law of God, and firmly and unanimously undergo all adversities, even exile and death for it. And therefore during the meal of the paschal lamb we sang the praises of the fathers, who most steadfastly endured every kind of persecution and hardship for God.
AND THE LAW OF JUSTICE (in Greek, θεοσεβείας, that is, of divinity). — One may ask: what is this law of divinity? First, some take it as the law sanctioned by God concerning the immolation of the paschal lamb: so the Gloss, St. Bonaventure, and Hugh. Second, others take it as the law prescribed by Moses for the Hebrews to prepare themselves for the departure from Egypt, and whatever other law was to be prescribed by God at Sinai, Exodus XIX: so Lyra. Third, more precisely our a Castro takes it as the law of legal justice, or civic concord, which the Wise Man subjoins — by which all the Hebrews before Moses and Aaron bound themselves to the worship of God, and for His sake to the sharing of all things in common; and in the departure, in the journey, and in the entrance to the Promised Land he calls it the law of divinity, because, obeying the command of God who commanded that they should all go out together, by unanimous consent they resolved to go forth both to death and to life, so that as one people they would similarly become sharers of the same goods and dangers. So also Jansenius and Vatablus. Cantacuzenus agrees, who asserts that the Hebrews on the paschal night during the sacrifice promised to keep the laws of God, or whatever God might command. And Osorius: The law of justice and divinity, he says, was that they should direct the duties of life toward the law of holiness, or toward the eternal principles of justice and holiness that are in the mind and will of God. For then the Hebrews, separating themselves from the idolatrous Egyptians, coming together as it were into one people of God and one Church Militant, in reality professed their desire to serve the true God, and in His religion and worship bound themselves as by a military oath — namely, that they would fight unanimously for the law of God even unto death. For this was the Old Testament, or covenant, entered into with God by the Hebrews, just as the New Testament, or covenant, is what Christ established with the apostles and the faithful, especially at the Last Supper, and ratified it with the sacrifice of His Body in the Eucharist.
THAT THE JUST WOULD SIMILARLY RECEIVE BOTH GOOD THINGS AND BAD. — Vatablus: "that the holy ones would be equal sharers of the same goods and dangers," just as companions in war promise and swear fidelity to one another, and that all goods and evils will be common to each — so that all undergo the same dangers and adversities even unto death. For in this holy covenant the Hebrews conspired together, and as it were swore together into the worship and obedience of the true God, and into a mutual fellowship, so that they would unanimously undergo all sorrows as well as joys; which was to be joined in a divine fellowship in the Church, and as it were to exchange tokens of alliance.
ALREADY SINGING THE PRAISES OF THE FATHERS. — Lyra less correctly reads "of the father of all," that is, God; and Bonaventure and Hugh read "patriotic praises." But the Greek and Roman texts have "praises of the fathers." In Greek it is πατράσιν ἤδη προαναμέλποντας ὕμνους, that is, "with the fathers already singing the praises beforehand," that is, the fathers beginning the hymns which the children would then continue, as happened after the crossing of the Red Sea, Exodus XV, 1. Vatablus, referring this clause to the following laments of the enemies and contrasting it with them by antithesis, translates thus: "and with the fathers already singing a hymn beforehand, the discordant outcry of the enemies rose up against it, and the miserable lamentation of children arose." And this will be more evident in the following verse, where for "resounded," the Greek has ἀντήχει, that is, from the other side, and as from another choir it sounded and responded.
Moreover, the praises of the fathers can be understood: first, as the praises by which the Hebrews praised their fathers, who had foretold this liberation of their descendants from Egypt, and indeed had merited it by their holiness. So Cantacuzenus.
from the same house on the following day people perished, and then through a revelation it was told to someone that the plague would not cease until an altar of St. Sebastian the martyr was placed in the Basilica of St. Peter in Chains. When this was done, the plague immediately ceased. So he relates. And there still stands intact that same altar, together with an image of that same holy martyr rendered in mosaic. But from this a devotion also spread to later generations, so that in times of plague, by way of a vow, the image of the same St. Sebastian would be customarily painted in various places, and altars erected and churches built in his memory.
The Complutensian and the Vulgate read προαναμέλποντας, that is, "singing beforehand," where the prefix "before" implies that the Hebrews began to sing these praises before the Egyptians began their lamentations over the slaughter of the firstborn. Hence Vatablus, referring this clause to the following lamentations and setting it against them by antithesis, translates: "and with the fathers already singing a hymn beforehand, the discordant outcry of the enemies was rising up, and the miserable lamentation of children was breaking forth." And this will be more evident in the following verse, where for "resounded," the Greek has ἀντήχει, that is, from the other side, and as from another choir it sounded and responded.
Moreover, the praises of the fathers can be understood: first, as the praises by which the Hebrews praised their fathers, who had foretold this liberation of their descendants from Egypt, and indeed had merited it by their holiness. So Cantacuzenus, meaning: The Hebrews celebrating the meal of the lamb, in order to leave Egypt once it was finished, having seen the slaughter of the firstborn of Egypt and themselves being immune from it, praised their fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to whom this departure had been promised by God. And so they proclaimed one another blessed, because they had had such fathers who were worthy of all praise. Hence congratulating one another about them and about their prophecy, which they now saw being fulfilled, they joyfully sang a thanksgiving hymn to God. Second, the praises of the fathers may be understood as hymns composed by the fathers for praising God, and handed down to posterity through the generations, so that they too, like the fathers, might praise God with them. Third, the praises of the fathers may be understood as hymns composed by Moses and Aaron, with which the Hebrews might praise God during the sacrifice and meal of the lamb, and give Him thanks. Such hymns and doxologies still exist among the Hebrews in the Passover ritual, and are sung by them in the celebration of the paschal lamb. Hence also Christ, Matthew XXVI, 30, after celebrating the Passover, "and when they had sung a hymn, went out with His disciples to the Mount of Olives."
Here he vividly depicts the last plague of the Egyptians, namely the slaughter of the firstborn, both of humans and of other animals, which clearly distinguished and separated the Hebrews from the Egyptians. For the destroying angel, passing over and leaping over the houses of the Hebrews, which he did not dare to touch out of reverence for them as God's people, leapt into the houses of the Egyptians and killed all their firstborn. And from this the feast of Passover was instituted and named: for Passover in Hebrew means the same as "passing over" or "leaping over" — namely, of the destroying angel. For the root פסח (pasach) means to pass over, or rather to leap over. A similar passing and striking of an angel occurred in Rome under Pope Agathon, in the year of the Lord 680, when Paul the Deacon, Book VI of the Deeds of the Lombards, chapter V, writes that in Rome a good angel and an evil angel were visibly seen by many going through the city by night, and as often as, at the command of the good angel, the evil angel struck the door of someone's house with a javelin which he appeared to carry in his hand, so many people from that same house would perish the following day.
10. 10. BUT THE DISCORDANT VOICE OF THE ENEMIES RESOUNDED, AND THE MOURNFUL LAMENTATION (in Greek κλαυθμός, that is, miserable) OF WEEPING CHILDREN WAS HEARD. — For "resounded," the Greek has ἀντήχει (whence the word "echo," that is, a reverberation and reflection of voice), that is, it sounded from the opposite side, and as from another choir responded antiphonally in antistrophe. For he presents here, as it were, two choirs responding to each other, but with discordant voice and tone, and therefore opposing each other: one of the Hebrews singing hymns of joy for their safety, the other of the Egyptians miserably bewailing the death of their firstborn. So Vatablus, whose version and words I have already cited. Hence for "discordant," the Greek has ἀσύμφωνος, that is, discordant, unmusical, dissonant, meaning: There were here voices not consonant but dissonant, not harmonious but clashing. Therefore they produced not a wonderful symphony and harmony, but a dissonance: for the lamentation of the Egyptians was answered by the exultation of the Hebrews. But the chorus of those exulting responds badly and discordantly to the chorus of those lamenting, according to Sirach XXII, 6: "Music in mourning is an untimely narration." For "was heard," the Greek has διεφέρετο, that is, it was carried and spread in every direction. For "of those weeping," the Greek has θρηνουμένων, which some translate actively, "of those weeping" — namely the firstborn who were weeping when they were being killed by the destroying angel. But the angel killed them suddenly, and did not give them time to weep (except for a few whom, as punishment for their parents, he left half-dead for a time — about whom see verse 18). Hence in Exodus XII, 29, it is reported that only the parents lamented the slaughter of their firstborn, not the firstborn themselves. Therefore our translator better renders it passively, "of those wept for" — whose death, namely, the parents bewailed.
11. 11. AND THE SERVANT WAS AFFLICTED WITH A SIMILAR PUNISHMENT AS THE MASTER, AND THE COMMONER SUFFERED THE SAME THINGS AS THE KING — meaning: This slaughter of the firstborn was universal and common to all. For the firstborn of the servant or commoner, that is, the plebeian, were killed by the angel just as those of the master or of king Pharaoh, as is clear from Exodus XII, 29. Therefore no one, not even the king, was immune from this plague.
12. 12. SIMILARLY THEREFORE ALL HAD INNUMERABLE DEAD UNDER ONE NAME OF DEATH. FOR THE LIVING DID NOT SUFFICE FOR BURYING: SINCE IN ONE MOMENT THE MOST NOBLE OFFSPRING OF THEIRS WAS DESTROYED. — For "similarly," the Greek has ὁμοθυμαδόν, that is, with one mind, with common consent, with common voice and lamentation. For as Philo relates in his book On the Life of Moses: "At first light, when each person saw his dearest ones taken away by an unexpected death — those with whom the previous day he had lived pleasantly until evening — they filled everything with the most grievous lamentation in a public mourning. For since no one was exempt from that calamity, there was one outcry of all, and one grief held the entire region as far as it extended. While it was confined within private walls, with each person ignorant of others' misfortunes, it still seemed private; but when some learned from others, the lamentation was redoubled, with the public grief pressing so heavily that no comforter could be found: for who would console another when he himself was in need of consolation?"
Under one name of death — that is, by the same kind of death, namely the same plague inflicted by the angel. For since the guilt of all the Egyptians was the same — namely the oppression of the Hebrews, and especially the killing of infants — therefore likewise the punishment of all was the same, and fitting to the crime: namely the slaughter of the firstborn. Thus "name" is taken for "kind" or "type" in Virgil, when he says: "I could run through all the names (that is, kinds) of punishments." And: "You have a thousand names, A thousand arts of harming." Again, "names" are called debts and their documents, says Budaeus; hence "to exact names" means to demand debts in Cicero. Therefore "under one name," that is, under one guilt and debt of death: for, as I said, all the Egyptians were guilty of death on account of the oppression of the Hebrews. Finally, properly "under one name," that is, for the same cause, namely for the same crime: for "name" is often used for "cause."
FOR THE LIVING DID NOT SUFFICE FOR BURYING — for there was no house in which there was not a dead person to be buried; indeed, in the same house there were often several firstborn — for example, the first sons of brothers, sisters, and maidservants, who were all killed by the angel. Moreover, the Egyptians in their burying, embalming, and other funeral pomp and ceremony were fastidious, lengthy, and elaborate beyond other nations, as is clear from Genesis L, 2. Furthermore, the angel killed the firstborn of animals as well as of humans, as is clear from Exodus XI, 5, and these had to be buried lest they infect the air with pestilence.
THE MORE DISTINGUISHED OFFSPRING OF THEIRS — that is, the more honored progeny: for such are the firstborn, who are preferred before the other children.
13. 13. FOR NOT BELIEVING ABOUT ANYTHING ON ACCOUNT OF SORCERIES, THEN INDEED FOR THE FIRST TIME WHEN THERE WAS THE DESTRUCTION OF THE FIRSTBORN, THEY PLEDGED THAT IT WAS THE PEOPLE OF GOD. — In Greek: "For they who believed nothing on account of sorceries, in the destruction of the firstborn confessed that the people was the son of God." Vatablus: "For when on account of magic tricks they refused to believe anything, after the slaughter of the firstborn they confessed that the people was the son of God (that is, most dear to God)." Some read "benefits," but one should read, with the Roman and Greek texts, "sorceries" — which are indeed the "benefits" of sorcerers and witches. The Greek has φαρμακείας, that is, enchantments, magical illusions, magical arts, by which the magicians had so deluded Pharaoh and the Egyptians that they would not believe Moses when he inflicted so many plagues through God, nor believe that the Hebrews were the people of God.
"They pledged" — in Greek, ὡμολόγησαν, that is, "they confessed" that it was the people of God. Meaning: When Pharaoh and the Egyptians had previously been unwilling to believe Moses and God, because they saw their magicians performing certain wonderful things by sorceries and enchantments similar to those that Moses performed, afterwards however, seeing so great, so universal, and so uniform a slaughter of the firstborn, they were so astonished and stricken that they confessed and openly declared that Israel was the people of God — and this so certainly and firmly that they dared to pledge for it and offer themselves as guarantors and sureties. Especially since on that same night when Israel departed from Egypt, all the temples of Egypt were overthrown either by lightning or by earthquakes, as the Hebrews relate, and from them St. Jerome, Epistle 127 to Fabiola. Therefore the Egyptians not only permitted the Hebrews to leave Egypt, but also urged and compelled them.
14, 15, and 16. FOR WHEN QUIET SILENCE HELD ALL THINGS, AND THE NIGHT IN ITS COURSE HAD REACHED THE MIDDLE OF ITS JOURNEY, YOUR ALMIGHTY WORD FROM HEAVEN, FROM THE ROYAL THRONE, A FIERCE WARRIOR, LEAPT INTO THE MIDST OF THE LAND OF DESTRUCTION, BEARING AS A SHARP SWORD YOUR UNFEIGNED COMMAND, AND STANDING FILLED ALL THINGS WITH DEATH, AND WHILE STANDING ON EARTH REACHED EVEN TO HEAVEN. — The Syriac: "For silence and quiet held all things, and in the middle of the night a stupor occurred; Your word, which can do all things, came from heaven from the throne of the wondrous kingdom; it overthrew warriors in the midst of destruction upon the earth. It brought a sharp sword by Your command, which does not regard persons, and fulfilled every command, and reached to heaven, and stood upon the earth."
The Arabic: "Because water seized all creatures in the silence of rest, and that night was made equal (or brought) to equilibrium; Your warlike word conquered, terrible, almighty from heaven to the midst of the enemies holding kingdoms, for their destruction, from earth girded by Your commanding precept, without pretense, with a terrifying sword." He continues to amplify the last plague of Egypt, namely the slaughter of all the firstborn, both among animals and among humans, which occurred on the paschal night — that is, the 14th moon, or the 14th day of the first month, which is called Nisan — around midnight, as is narrated in Exodus XII, 29. The meaning, therefore, is: In the middle of the paschal night, when the night was deep and consequently there was quiet and silence, when the Egyptians were sleeping soundly and securely, behold, suddenly from heaven Your word — that is, Your command, or Your edict, sentence, and mandate, severe and combative — leapt down upon Egypt, destined by You for destruction. A sharp sword, I say, bearing Your unfeigned but sincere command, which filled all things with the slaughter and death of all the firstborn, so that it seemed to extend itself from heaven into the entire land of Egypt. That this is the meaning is clear from the very words of Scripture, and from what precedes and follows.
Literally, therefore, he is speaking about the slaughter of the firstborn of Egypt inflicted by God through Moses, not about the birth of Christ. Nevertheless, the Church allegorically applies all these words in the ecclesiastical Office of the Nativity of Christ (and of Epiphany), which therefore took place immediately after midnight, on the 25th of December just beginning — this is the common understanding of the doctors and the Church. For this reason, the Church begins Mass immediately after midnight on the Feast of the Nativity of Christ, by decree of Pope St. Telesphorus in his Decretal Epistle, chapter II, which Pope Damasus also noted in the Life of Telesphorus. See Suarez, Part III, Question XXXV, toward the end. The same is sufficiently gathered from Luke II, 8: "Shepherds were in the same region keeping watch, and guarding the watches of the night over their flock." Indeed, Christ is born at night, because He had come to dispel and illuminate the night of unbelief and of the sins of the world with the holy splendor of His birth. Moreover, this allegory is fitting and appropriate: for just as God formerly by His word — that is, by His command, or by His Word, that is, through His avenging Wisdom, and through His Son — freed the Hebrews from Egypt by killing the firstborn of the Egyptians, and through this operation and vengeance is said to have descended from heaven into Egypt, so likewise in the Nativity of Christ, properly the Word of God descended to a hypostatic union with the flesh and humanity assumed by Him on earth, namely in the womb of the Blessed Virgin, in order to free humanity through His redemption, passion, cross, and grace, destroying and conquering sin, death, and the devil. So St. Anselm in the Elucidarium; Idacius, Against Varimadus; Peter of Blois, Sermon 6 On the Nativity of the Lord; indeed Tertullian, Book V Against Marcion, chapter IX, and St. Augustine on Psalm CIX: they prove the same from verse 3: "From the womb before the morning star (that is, before dawn) I begot You."
Add that the Incarnation of the Word, which was as it were the first birth of Christ, by which He properly descended from the royal seats of heaven into the womb of the Blessed Virgin, made man, occurred on the paschal night, namely March 23rd, on which day the Church celebrates the Feast of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin in memory of so great a mystery. For on the 25th of March, just as the world was once created by God, so after four thousand years it was on the same day recreated through the Incarnation of the Word, and 34 years later on the same day through His crucifixion and death. That these three mysteries occurred on March 25th, I showed in the Prooemium to the Acts of the Apostles, at the beginning of the Chronotaxis. For this reason the ancient rabbis in the books of the Kabbalah, which Estella cites in Exodus XVIII, 11, disputation 2, write thus: "On the same day (the 15th of Nisan, that is, at Passover) Israel is to be redeemed in the days of the Messiah, just as they were redeemed on the same day of which it is written: In the days of your departure I will show wonders" — which note, for refuting the Jews by the sayings of their own rabbis.
Hence the Church, in the blessing of the paschal candle, gives these praises to the paschal night by singing, partly literal, partly mystical: "For these are the paschal feasts, in which the true Lamb is slain, by whose blood the doorposts of the faithful are consecrated. This is the night in which You first made our fathers, the children of Israel, led out of Egypt, cross the Red Sea with dry feet. This therefore is the night which purged the darkness of sins by the illumination of the pillar. This is the night which today throughout the whole world restores to grace and unites to holiness those who believe in Christ, separated from the vices of the world and the darkness of sins. This is the night in which, the bonds of death being destroyed, Christ ascended victorious from hell. For it would have profited us nothing to have been born, unless it had profited us to have been redeemed." Whence, in wonder and exultation, it bursts forth exclaiming at these paradoxes: "O wondrous condescension of Your mercy toward us! O inestimable affection of charity! To redeem the servant, You delivered up the Son. O truly necessary sin of Adam, which was wiped out by the death of Christ. O happy fault, which merited so great and so excellent a Redeemer. O truly blessed night, which alone deserved to know the time and hour in which Christ rose from hell. This is the night of which it is written: And the night shall be illuminated as the day; and the night is my illumination in my delights. Therefore the sanctification of this night puts to flight wickedness, washes away faults, and restores innocence to the fallen and joy to the sorrowful, drives away hatreds, prepares concord, bows down empires, etc. O truly blessed night, which despoiled the Egyptians, enriched the Hebrews."
Anagogically, from this type of the slaughter of the firstborn of Egypt carried out in the middle of the paschal night, St. Chrysostom, Theophylact, and St. Jerome (who says this is an apostolic tradition) assert that Christ will come for judgment at the same time of midnight, for the greater terror of the reprobate, to destroy them and cast them down to the underworld. Others, however, think He will come at early morning. Now let us examine the individual words.
FOR WHEN QUIET SILENCE HELD ALL THINGS — (so the Roman and Greek; others read "they held": both are true, for quiet and silence by night occupies all things, and in turn is occupied by all things) — AND THE NIGHT IN ITS COURSE HAD REACHED THE MIDDLE OF ITS JOURNEY — in Greek: "and with the night halved in its own swiftness," that is, around midnight or shortly after the middle of the night. For then the slaughter of the firstborn of Egypt was carried out by the angel, Exodus XII, 29. The reason was that the slaughter might be all the more terrible insofar as it was unexpected, dark, and nocturnal — so that, stricken by this terror, the Egyptians might shake off their obstinacy and let the Hebrews go. Hence Peter of Blois calls this silence "conticinium" (the dead of night), which is the time of midnight after the cock's crowing.
The tropological reason was to represent the hidden power and efficacy of the divine majesty: for the hidden and unseen God's works should fittingly be hidden and obscure. Again, when God speaks, all creatures must be silent, according to Zephaniah I, 7: "Be silent before Him, all the earth"; Habakkuk II, 22: "Be silent before the Lord my God"; and Zechariah II, 13: "Let all flesh be silent before the Lord." Hence the Syriac translates: "In the middle of the night a stupor occurred." Morally, learn here that the works of God and of divine men do not display themselves, but are accomplished in quiet and silence. Thus the divine generation of Christ, by which He is begotten by the Father, is supremely hidden; and the human one, by which He was conceived and born of the Blessed Virgin, was most secret. Therefore Christ is compared to the waters "of Siloam that flow in silence," Isaiah VIII, 6 — where I said much about the fruit of silence, and more at Isaiah XXX, 15, on those words: "In hope and silence shall your strength be." Hence the silent are deep of heart. "The deepest rivers flow with the least sound," says Curtius. Conversely, the talkative are light of heart; indeed, Sirach XXI, 29: "In the mouth of fools is their heart, and in the heart of the wise is their mouth." See what was said there.
YOUR ALMIGHTY WORD FROM HEAVEN, FROM THE ROYAL THRONE, A FIERCE WARRIOR, LEAPT INTO THE MIDST OF THE LAND OF DESTRUCTION. — "Almighty word": the Greek λόγος signifies both "speech" and "word," that is, the command and sentence of God, meaning: A hard and severe sentence passed by God on His heavenly throne, through a warrior angel, was committed to execution at midnight and leapt down from heaven. So a Castro. Allegorically, this "word" is the incarnate Word Himself. "From heaven": the Complutensian adds "springing forth," but the Roman and Greek rightly delete this, for "leapt" follows immediately. "Fierce": ἀπότομος, that is, harsh, savage; the Arabic: terrible. "Warrior": in Greek πολεμιστής, that is, fighter; the Arabic: mighty in war — because, as the Syriac translates, He overthrew warriors (Pharaoh and the Egyptians) at midnight, according to Exodus XV, 3: "The Lord crushing wars," that is, enemy warriors; the Chaldean: "the Lord, conqueror of wars." "He leapt into the midst of the land of destruction" — namely into Egypt, doomed to destruction by God. The Greek has ὀλεθρίας, that is, of a deadly or destructive land, as Vatablus translates, and therefore doomed to destruction. The word "leapt" (or as Vatablus renders, "sprang down") denotes the speed, force, anger, impetus, and inevitable efficacy of the avenging God invading the Egyptians. Allegorically, Christ with a great leap of power and love sprang from heaven to earth, made man, according to Song of Songs II, 8: "Behold, he comes leaping upon the mountains, bounding over the hills." Commenting on which words, St. Bernard, Sermon 53 on the Song of Songs, says: "See what a great leap He took from the highest heaven to earth." For He leapt with a great bound in succession from heaven to the mire, from the mire to the cross, from the cross to the underworld; thence He leapt back to earth, and from earth to heaven.
BEARING AS A SHARP SWORD YOUR UNFEIGNED COMMAND — in Greek: "Your almighty word, etc., bearing a sharp sword (namely) Your unfeigned command." For ξίφος, since it is masculine, should be referred to λόγος, that is, "word," not to ξίφος meaning "sword," since it is neuter. Our translator seems to have read the neuter ξίφος, and therefore referred it to the sword; but the sense comes to the same thing, meaning: Your word, O Lord, was like a sharp sword, which bore Your unfeigned command — in Greek ἀνυπόκριτον, that is, not hypocritical, not simulated, not feigned, not merely threatening, but true, sincere, open, certain, and effective, and absolutely to be carried into execution (for the striking angel did not pretend he was unwilling to strike while actually striking, but what he did, he showed openly; nor did he merely threaten that he wished to kill, but actually killed) — and carried and brought it into Egypt. Moreover, "sword" in Scripture signifies any instrument and any manner of slaughter, that is, every disaster and carnage. For, as Varro says in Book IV of On the Latin Language, "sword" (gladius) is derived from "disaster" (clades), because it serves for the disaster of enemies, when it strikes, cuts, and kills them — for all bodily pain consists in cutting, or division of what is continuous. For the angel killing the firstborn of Egypt did not use a sword, nor did he need one, but by himself directly killed the firstborn of Egypt by suffocating, tearing, or otherwise injuring them. Hence it is called "sharp," because, as the Apostle says in Hebrews IV, 12, "the word of God is living and effective, and sharper than any two-edged sword."
AND STANDING — namely λόγος, that is, the word. For the Greek has στάς, masculine, which should be referred to λόγος, masculine, not to ξίφος, that is, sword, which is neuter. This standing signifies the irrevocable and immovable decisive command of God, just as the unfeigned command signifies the authority of the same, says St. Bonaventure.
IT FILLED ALL THINGS WITH DEATH (namely the slaughter of the firstborn of Egypt), AND WHILE STANDING ON EARTH REACHED EVEN TO HEAVEN — in Greek: "and it touched heaven indeed, but had descended, or rather was entering into the earth," meaning: Great, powerful, heavenly, and flowing from heaven, and therefore immense and inevitable was this slaughter and vengeance. Therefore, although it was carried out on earth, it drew its power from heaven — indeed, it began in heaven. For the Word of God commanded the angel in heaven to descend immediately to earth and strike the firstborn of the Egyptians; therefore He displayed His omnipotent power both in heaven and on earth.
Dionysius explains it differently, meaning: The angel, executor of the divine vengeance, extended his power up to the aerial heaven, that is, as far as the compass of his active power could reach. Our Lorinus also explains it differently, meaning: Scarcely had God spoken those words in heaven, scarcely had the sound of the divine command thundered in heaven, when it was actually accomplished. He willed at the same moment that He first spoke; immediately what He commanded was done — which we commonly say: "Said and done." And Scripture says of other divine works, Psalm CXLVIII, 5: "He spoke, and they were made; He commanded, and they were created." So also a Castro: He notes, he says, by this phrase the swiftness of the fulfilled Word of God — that the destroying angel was so swift in striking the firstborn and in fulfilling the commands of God, that before he had even left heaven, whence he was sent, he was already treading the earth with his foot and executing the command. Moreover, Vatablus translates: "and standing, he filled all things with death, partly touching heaven, partly standing on the ground" — by which words he implies that this angel, to show the full dominion of God his Lord over heaven and earth, was seen by some to place one foot on earth, the other in heaven (that is, in the air), just as the angel seen by St. John, Revelation X, 2 and 6: "He set his right foot upon the sea, and his left upon the earth, etc., and swore by Him who lives forever, that time shall be no more." This allegorically fits well the incarnate Word, who as God touches heaven and God, and as man is fixed to earth. Hence His type was Jacob's ladder, extended from earth to heaven, upon which God leaned: for Christ, like a ladder — as God He touches heaven, as man the earth. For in Himself He joined heaven to earth, the Word to flesh, God to man.
In a similar way, in the time of St. Gregory, as he himself reports in Dialogues, Book IV, chapter XXXVI, arrows falling from heaven inflicted a plague on Rome, which he calmed by Litanies and a public procession, carrying the image of the Blessed Virgin painted by St. Luke. For when he had reached the Mausoleum of Hadrian (which from that time was called the Castle of the Holy Angel) in the procession, an angel was seen, as a sign of the reconciled divine will, putting his unsheathed sword back into its scabbard, and by that sign the plague ceased — as Baronius reports from ancient records, Volume VIII, year of Christ 590. A similar thing happened to David offering sacrifice to calm the plague inflicted by the destroying angel on Israel because David had numbered the people, III Kings 16: for he saw God saying to the angel: "It is enough; stay your hand."
17, 18, and 19. THEN IMMEDIATELY VISIONS OF EVIL DREAMS DISTURBED THEM, AND UNEXPECTED TERRORS CAME UPON THEM. AND ONE HERE, ANOTHER THERE, THROWN DOWN HALF-DEAD, WAS SHOWING THE CAUSE OF THE DEATH BY WHICH HE WAS DYING. FOR THE VISIONS THAT DISTURBED THEM FOREWARNED THESE THINGS, LEST THEY PERISH NOT KNOWING WHY THEY WERE SUFFERING EVILS. — [He describes] specters in dreams, and thence terrors and anguish for the Egyptians, especially for certain firstborn whom he did not kill immediately but left half-dead, and to whom in dreams he revealed the cause of so great a death and slaughter of the firstborn, so that they might indicate the same to their parents — namely, that they were being killed because they themselves had oppressed the Hebrews and killed their male infants. For Israel was the firstborn people of God. Rightly therefore the Egyptians lost their firstborn, who shortly before had destroyed the firstborn people of God. Hear Moses, Exodus IV, 22: "Thus says the Lord (to you, O Pharaoh): My firstborn son is Israel. I said to you: Let My son go, that he may serve Me, and you would not let him go: behold, I will kill your firstborn son." This meaning is plainly signified by the phrase "he was showing the cause of death." For the visions that had disturbed them forewarned these things, lest not knowing why they were suffering evils, they should perish — lest they attribute this slaughter to chance, epidemic, plague, or some other natural cause, rather than to God the avenger on account of the affliction of Israel. And therefore they should allow him to depart freely from Egypt to Canaan — as, having learned the cause from their firstborn, they in fact allowed them to depart. For this is what God intended to extort from them by this plague. Moreover, Moses himself is silent about this in Exodus XII, but the Wise Man here supplies it, as he does many other things that he received either from the tradition of the elders or from divine revelation.
Hence learn morally that God, when He punishes and strikes someone, not infrequently discloses to them the cause and fault for which He punishes them — just as a judge, when he condemns a criminal to the gallows, specifies the theft or other crime committed by him, for which he condemns him, so that he and others may know what crime is being punished, and thenceforth avoid it. Thus Antiochus, afflicted with deadly diseases, confessed at God's indication that he was being punished for the disasters unjustly inflicted on the Hebrews, II Maccabees IX, 11. Thus the brothers of Joseph, at God's suggestion, recognized the cause of their affliction to be that they had previously afflicted Joseph, Genesis XLII, 21: "We deserve to suffer these things, because we sinned against our brother, seeing the anguish of his soul when he pleaded with us, and we did not listen: therefore this tribulation has come upon us." Thus Moses, at God's command, inflicting ten plagues on Pharaoh and Egypt (Exodus VII, VIII, and IX), revealed to him the cause — namely that he would not let the Hebrews go. Thus Samuel, threatening Saul from God with the loss of his kingdom and life, added the cause: that he had not obeyed God commanding him to destroy the Amalekites, I Samuel XV, 19 and following. Thus throughout the book of Judges, God assigns as the cause of the oppression of the Hebrews by the Philistines, Midianites, Moabites, etc., the worship of Baal, Ashtaroth, and idols. Therefore the Egyptians, seeing their firstborn killed — partly from Moses' prediction, partly from the revelation and confession of the firstborn as they were being killed — knew that they were being punished with this plague because they themselves had afflicted and killed the firstborn people of God, namely Israel.
Note the phrase "visions of evil dreams disturbed them": for Hippocrates in his book On Dreams teaches that "nocturnal dreams that correspond to the day's activities are good and signify health, because the soul persists in its daytime counsels, not overcome by any repletion, or evacuation, or other external influence. But when dreams are contrary to the day's activities, and a conflict arises about them — when this happens, it signifies a disturbance in the body; and if it is strong, the malady is severe; if light, it is weaker." Moreover, troubled daytime imaginations and fears generate troubled nocturnal dreams, according to Seneca in the Octavia: "Whatever the hostile vigor of the mind ponders, The swift and sacred and hidden sense Reports in sleep."
20. 20. BUT THEN THE TRIAL OF DEATH ALSO TOUCHED THE JUST, AND A DISTURBANCE OF THE MULTITUDE WAS MADE IN THE DESERT: BUT YOUR WRATH DID NOT LONG ENDURE. — For "then" our translator read τότε; now they read πότε, that is, "at some time." The Vatican codices omit both. "Then" — that is, in that ancient time of the departure of Israel from Egypt, though at a different time: for this trial occurred in the desert, long after the slaughter of the firstborn in Egypt. This is the third antithesis of the Hebrews and the Egyptians, and is at the same time a tacit anticipation of an objection, meaning: Someone will say: Just as Pharaoh and the Egyptians resisting Moses were crushed by God, so also the Hebrews — namely Korah, Dathan, and Abiram — and their associates and companions. Therefore the condition of both was equal, and the wrath of God toward both was equal. He responds by denying the consequence: for the wrath of God destroyed the Egyptians to obliterate them; but merely chastised the Hebrews to amend them. Hence by the slaughter of a few He established the life, obedience, and discipline of the rest. He fittingly transitions from Pharaoh and the slaughter of the firstborn of Egypt to Korah, Dathan, and Abiram — first, because just as Pharaoh resisted Moses, so Korah and his followers seditiously rebelled against him; second, because Korah, Dathan, and Abiram were firstborn, and therefore claimed that the pontificate, which Moses had conferred on his brother Aaron, was owed to them, since in the law of nature the firstborn had been priests; third, because they were slain by the destroying angel, just like the firstborn of the Egyptians. The story is narrated at length in Numbers XVI: when Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, aspiring to the pontificate, rebelled against Moses and Aaron, at Moses' invocation of God they were swallowed alive by the earth and descended to the underworld. Others likewise adhering to them, 250 in number, were consumed by heavenly fire. Therefore the entire people murmured against Moses and Aaron, saying: "You have killed the people of the Lord." For this reason God sent fire upon the people, which burned 14,700. And when the conflagration was spreading to consume more, Aaron, at Moses' command, placing himself between the dead and the living, praying and offering incense, stopped the plague and calmed the wrath of God. See what was said at Numbers XVI.
"The just" — thus he calls the faithful Hebrews, as worshipers of God and called to justice, as I said above. TRIAL OF DEATH — Therefore this trial was not a temptation to sin, but a punishment for sin — namely, an invasion of death, by which death invaded and seized Korah, Dathan, and Abiram and their companions at God's command, and was set to invade the rest of the Hebrews. For them, this trial was a threat and a mortal danger aimed at them by the punishing angel. Hence Nannius: "Trial," he says, in Greek πεῖρα, means the same as "danger of death": for thus we are said to be "tried" by fever, catarrh, kidney stone — that is, to be endangered, afflicted, tormented by fever, etc. — according to Horace: "When the side or kidneys are tried by acute disease," that is, endangered, tormented. Therefore there is a threefold tempter and temptation: the devil tempts man to entice him to sin; God tests, to prove the spirit, faith, and virtue of man; death tests, to kill and cause to perish — whence from "to perish" (perire) comes "peril" (periculum). "The trial of death," therefore, is the deadly plague sent by God upon Korah and his companions, and upon the murmuring Hebrews.
"Disturbance" — in Greek θραῦσις, that is, a breaking, shaking, shattering — by which name the Septuagint call this plague in Numbers XVI and Psalm CV, 36. Likewise, the plague sent upon the people on account of the worship of Baal-Peor is so called — which Phinehas, by zealously killing the leader and chief of the wickedness, calmed, Numbers XXV, 1.
21. 21. FOR A BLAMELESS MAN HASTENING TO PRAY FOR THE PEOPLES, BRINGING FORTH THE SHIELD OF HIS MINISTRY, PRAYER, AND ALLEGING SUPPLICATION THROUGH INCENSE, WITHSTOOD THE WRATH AND PUT AN END TO THE CALAMITY, SHOWING THAT HE WAS YOUR SERVANT. — He narrates the way in which the plague was restrained — namely that Aaron the high priest, at Moses' command, by praying and offering incense, withstood the wrath of God and stopped the plague of fire lest it consume more. "A blameless man": in Greek ἄμεμπτος, that is, irreproachable — because Aaron lived blamelessly and discharged the office of high priest in a holy manner. "To pray for the peoples": in Greek προμαχῆσαι, that is, "he fought in front," and so some Latin codices read. Moreover, the weapons of the high priest are not swords and cannons, but prayer and incense, as follows: for with these he fights for the people against the wrath and vengeance of God and overcomes it. "Bringing forth the shield of his ministry" (in Greek λειτουργίας, that is, of his liturgy, or his public and priestly service) — namely, prayer. For λαός means "public" and ἔργον means "work": hence λειτουργία and λειτουργός, that is, a public minister performing a public work — namely, a priest sacrificing for the whole people.
AND ALLEGING SUPPLICATION THROUGH INCENSE, HE WITHSTOOD THE WRATH AND PUT AN END TO THE CALAMITY, SHOWING THAT HE WAS YOUR SERVANT. — Some incorrectly read "binding" (alligans). "Alleging" (allegans), in Greek κράζων, that is, bringing, offering, presenting, and sending to God. The Greek reads: "and bringing the propitiation or appeasement of incense." Hence was derived the ancient blessing of the thurible, which is found in the old Roman rite. For it reads thus: "O Lord God, who, when a fierce fire was devastating the children of Israel murmuring in the desert on account of their rebellious audacity, deigned to hear Aaron the priest then praying, taking a thurible with fire from the altar and placing incense upon it before You, and to deliver them from the conflagration — bless, we beseech You, this thurible, and grant that whenever incense is burned in it, You may make it an offering of sweet odor for the prayers of Your people, and may it be a flight of demons, a repulsion of phantasms, and a cutting off of impure thoughts. Through the Lord," etc. "He withstood the wrath of God": in Greek ἀντέστη τῷ θυμῷ, that is, he stood against, contended, opposed himself to the wrath of God, and overcame and restrained it. Such, therefore, should a priest be, and of such virtue and merit, that he is able to interpose and oppose himself to the wrath of God raging against the people, and to restrain it. "He put an end to the calamity": in Greek τὴν ἀνάγκην ἀπέκοψε, that is, to the disaster and plague of fire.
Thus Noah, Sirach XLIV, 17: "In the time of wrath he became a reconciliation" — because by his holiness and prayer he stopped the flood sent upon the whole world. Thus St. Leo by his merits turned Attila, the scourge of God, away from Italy. St. Gregory by his litanies calmed a most fierce plague. St. Sylvester checked the unbelief and persecutions of ten emperors when he healed, converted, and baptized Constantine the Great. See how Moses withstood the wrath of God, who wished to destroy the Hebrews for worshiping the golden calf, Exodus XXXII, 10 and following. Conversely, God severely complains about false prophets through Ezekiel, chapter XIII, 5, saying: "You have not gone up against the adversary, nor set up a wall for the house of Israel, to stand in battle on the day of the Lord." See what was said there. St. Gregory Nazianzen, in Oration 1, excellently describes the dignity of the priest: "Who is it," he says, "who will stand with angels, glorify with archangels, transmit sacrifices to the altar on high, share in the priesthood with Christ, restore the creature, display the image, act as maker for the world above, and — to say what is greatest — be a god and make others gods?"
the people was stirring: Cantacuzenus adds that Aaron, having delivered a weighty speech to the people, quelled their tumult. Second, by "tumults" you may understand the plague of fire, which was disturbing the people — for Aaron repressed this by the force of his prayer. Third, by "tumults" you may understand the angel disturbing — that is, punishing and tormenting — the people through the fire sent by him. Hence the Greeks have ὀλοθρεύοντα, that is, "the destroyer." And he immediately describes him, adding "him who was tormenting them," meaning: Aaron by his λόγῳ, that is, by the word which he poured forth in prayer from the deepest affection of his heart to God, restrained the devastation of the angel and the plague of fire, by which he was tormenting — that is, his people — and punishing them. For the Greek has κολάζοντα, that is, "punishing." Thus Jacob, Genesis XXXII, 28, wrestling with the angel, moved and conquered him by tears and prayer, and thence was called Israel, that is, "one who prevails with God" — that is, with the angel, God's representative. It is also possible that Aaron, with the ardor of faith, boldly turned to the angel and the fire itself, and commanded him in the name of God to cease from the plague — just as St. Michael, contending with the devil about the body of Moses, commanded him to be silent, saying, as Jude says in his Epistle, verse 9: "May the Lord rebuke you." This angel was either good — for God is accustomed to execute His commands both of wrath and vengeance, and of grace and beneficence, through good angels, as is clear throughout Daniel, Zechariah, and Revelation, especially chapters V and XVI — or rather he was evil and a demon: first, because he is called destroyer, tormentor, exterminator, whom Aaron conquered and subjected to himself; second, because in the last verse he is said to have feared Aaron the priest; third, because God frequently uses demons as executioners to punish the wicked, rather than good angels, according to Psalm LXXVII, 49: "He sent upon them the fury of His anger, by evil angels."
Morally, learn here that the weapons of the priest are prayer and sacrifice, and that these are most powerful. Hence by these Moses conquered Amalek, Exodus XVII. Therefore Paul arms the Christian soldier with the full panoply, that is, with all armor from head to toe: "Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit (which is the word of God), praying at all times in the Spirit with all prayer and supplication; and watching therein with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints and for me, that speech may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, with confidence to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, so that therein I may dare to speak as I ought." Thus St. Ambrose, in his treatise On Not Surrendering the Basilicas, asserts that his and the priest's weapons against invading soldiers are prayers with tears. And St. Ephrem, in his Sermon on the Spiritual Panoply, calls prayer a bow, by which we shoot the fiery arrows of our desires toward God, with which we pierce our enemies. Hence Origen, Homily 11 on Exodus, where he applies to prayer what Balak said about the Hebrews, according to the Septuagint, chapter XXII, verse 4: "Now this assembly will lick up all who are around us, as a calf licks up the green things of the field" — so that "to lick up" denotes prayer formed by the tongue, by which, he says, as we received from our elders, it is indicated that the people of God fights not so much with hand and arms as with voice and tongue — that is, by pouring forth prayer to God. To this also pertains Psalm XIX, 8: "Some trust in chariots, and some in horses, but we will call upon the name of the Lord our God," meaning: Our cavalry, our scythed chariots, our weapons are the invocations of God and prayers, which we will hurl like fiery missiles against our enemies. Nothing so conquers demons and temptations as prayer. Hence St. Cyprian, Epistle 57: "Let us apply ourselves," he says, "to constant groaning and frequent supplications: for these are our heavenly weapons, which make us stand and persevere strongly; these are our spiritual defenses and divine darts that protect us." The Church herself is, as it were, an armory, to which the just hasten quickly when they wish to fight against vices and sins. Indeed, she is like a general workshop, in which the spiritual life finds whatever it needs to preserve, increase, and defend itself — so says our Lorinus. Therefore Cassian, Conferences IV, chapter 1: "The entire purpose of the monk," he says, "and the perfection of the heart, tends toward continual and uninterrupted perseverance in prayer, and as far as is granted to human frailty, strives toward immovable tranquility of mind and perpetual purity." Finally, prayer is the reason of the mouth (oris ratio), says St. Jerome, Epistle 139 to Cyprian — because reason manifests itself through the speech of the mouth, much more through prayer poured forth to God: for prayer was given to man by God in place of reason, because what reason obscured by sin does not attain, prayer poured forth to God obtains.
HE SUBDUED HIM WHO WAS TORMENTING THEM, RECALLING THE OATHS OF THE FATHERS AND THE COVENANT. — "Him who was tormenting them": in Greek τὸν κολάζοντα, that is, the one punishing, tormenting, chastising — namely, the fire, or rather the angel through the fire — "them," that is, the Hebrews. Or "himself," that is, his own people, whose plague Aaron the high priest felt with the deepest grief of heart through compassion, and claimed as his own, just as Paul says in II Corinthians XI, 29: "Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is scandalized, and I am not on fire?"
"Recalling the oaths of the fathers and the covenant" (in Greek διαθηκῶν, that is, pact), meaning: Aaron praying to God for pardon cited the pacts made by God with the fathers — Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob — in which God had promised to be their God and the God of their posterity, their protector, deliverer, provider, etc. He therefore bound God by His own pacts and oaths, by which he prevailed over Him and obtained pardon for the people.
23. 23. FOR WHEN THE DEAD HAD ALREADY FALLEN IN HEAPS ONE UPON ANOTHER, HE STOOD BETWEEN, AND CUT SHORT THE ASSAULT, AND DIVIDED THE WAY THAT LED TO THE LIVING. — In Greek: "For with the dead already lying in heaps one upon another, standing in the middle he cut off the wrath and interrupted the way to the living." The meaning is clear, that is: When the fire was raging against the murmuring people, Aaron stood between — that is, between the fire and the burned and the rest of the people still alive — he placed himself in the middle, and by praying restrained it from spreading further into the people. And thus "he divided (some incorrectly read 'dismissed') the way that led to the living," meaning: He blocked the way of the fire, so that it would not advance from the burned and dead to the living. He therefore placed himself in the middle between the living and the dead, to separate the living from the fire and the burned, and to preserve them unharmed and untouched. Hence St. Jerome on Ezekiel chapter XIII says that Aaron ran against the fire devouring the people of Israel, and stood in the middle, and set himself as a wall for the salvation of the people. Allegorically, Aaron here was an express type of Christ the Mediator. Hear St. Ambrose, in his epistle to Felix, Bishop of Como, which in the Roman edition is number 60: "Where Christ is," he says, "there is everything: there is His teaching, there is the forgiveness of sins, there is grace, there is the separation of the dead and the living. And Aaron indeed once stood in the midst of them, interposing himself so that death would not pass from the corpses of the dead to the ranks of the living. But this One, as the Word, always stands in each person — He whom we do not see within us — separating the rational virtues from the corpses of deadly passions and pestilent thoughts. He stands as one who came into this world to blunt the sting of death, to block its devourer, to give the living the eternity of grace, and to grant the dead resurrection," etc. Hence Christ on the cross hung in the middle between heaven and earth, and placed Himself as intermediary, so that as mediator He might reconcile earth to heaven — that is, humans to God and angels — and might receive in Himself the arrows of God's wrath hurled at humans, lest they reach humans, but He alone might atone for the crimes of all humans in His body. And conversely, on the cross, as on a bow, stretching out the arms of His body as well as His heart, He might shoot fiery arrows of prayer and love toward God, to wound His heart and move Him to bestow grace upon humanity.
24. 24. FOR IN THE ROBE REACHING TO THE FEET, WHICH HE WORE, WAS THE WHOLE WORLD: AND THE GLORIES OF THE FATHERS WERE CARVED IN FOUR ROWS OF STONES, AND YOUR MAJESTY WAS CARVED ON THE DIADEM OF HIS HEAD. — In Greek: "For in the full-length tunic of his garment was the whole world, and the glories of the fathers in the carving of four rows of stones, and your majesty on the diadem of his head." The Syriac: "because his garment is the whole people, and the honor of the fathers was engraved upon the four rows of stones which were upon his shoulders (or the glories of the fathers upon his neck) and the crown of your majesty upon his head." The Arabic: "because the whole world was upon the folds of his garments, and upon his neck were engraved gemstones." For "world," the Greek has κόσμος, that is, adornment and world or universe, which received its name from adornment. For the high priest represented in his vestment not the earth alone, but the whole world.
Vatablus translates less aptly: "since every kind of adornment was in the tunic with which he was clothed." For he gives the reason why Aaron the high priest placed himself between the living and the dead, and why God allowed Himself to be entreated by him to stop the plague of fire. The reason was that God had established Aaron as high priest, that is, as mediator and intercessor between Himself and the people, so that he might stop the wrath of God and reconcile the people to God. And to signify this to the visible people, He had commanded that in the robe — that is, in his pontifical vestment — symbols of all the elements and of the whole world be placed, so that he might remember that he was mediator between God and the world. Likewise He had commanded that in the breastplate he should wear twelve gems, and have the names of the twelve tribes of Israel individually engraved on them — so that by this sign he would be reminded that he bore all the tribes on his breast, that is, in his heart and care, and that he must constantly pray to God for them.
"Poderis" (robe reaching to the feet) — is a full-length garment hanging down to the feet and ankles. The high priest had a double one: one of linen, common to all priests; the other of hyacinth (blue-violet), proper to the high priest. The latter is meant here, and through it all the other pontifical vestments. It is a synecdoche: so St. Bonaventure, Hugh, Holcot, and Dionysius. It is called poderis from ἀπὸ τοῦ ποδὸς καὶ ἄρειν, meaning, fitted to the foot, because it extended down to the feet.
One may ask: how was the whole world represented in the robe, that is, the vestment of the high priest? The answer is: this robe was a tunic woven from hyacinth wool, that is, of violet color, so that the high priest, looking at his garment, might be reminded that his thoughts and life ought to be heavenly. Hence at its hem it had 72 bells, and the same number of pomegranates alternately inserted. Furthermore, upon this tunic was placed the ephod, to whose breast was attached the breastplate, in which were twelve gems inscribed with the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. Moreover, there were five principal vestments of the high priest: first, he was clothed with linen breeches; second, a linen tunic, which a sash girded; third, a hyacinth tunic with a similar sash; fourth, the ephod with the breastplate, the Urim and Thummim, that is, doctrine and truth; fifth, the tiara, to which was affixed a golden plate inscribed: "Holiness to the Lord (Jehova)." These represented the whole world. For first, the linen breeches represented the earth, from which linen grows. Second, the sash represented the ocean, which like a belt girds the earth. Third, the hyacinth tunic represented the air, in which are the pomegranates — that is, lightning — and the bells — that is, thunder. Fourth, the varied ephod represented the starry heaven: the two onyx stones on the ephod were the two hemispheres, or the sun and moon; the twelve gems on the breast were the twelve signs of the zodiac. Fifth, the tiara represented the empyrean heaven; the golden plate of the tiara having the tetragrammaton name inscribed represented God presiding over all things. And this firstly, so that by this vestment and adornment the high priest might show himself to be the minister of the Creator of the world, and might indicate that every creature is in need of God's mercy, and that he himself should pray for it both by his attire and vestment, and by voice and mind.
Second, so that, considering the image of the universe that he wore, he might lead a life not degenerate from nature, but just as the elements and other created things obey God in all things, so he too would obey — so Philo. Third, so that by performing sacred rites he might bring the whole world, which he as it were carried in his vestment, as an intercessor with himself before God. Almost all of these things St. Jerome draws from Josephus and Philo, and most briefly St. Thomas, I-II, Question CII, article 5, reply to 9, who also adds the tropology with equal brevity: The breeches, he says, signify chastity; the linen tunic signifies the purity and innocence of one's entire life; the sash, the moderation of discretion; the tiara, right intention — and these are common to all priests. But proper to the high priest were: first, the golden plate with the name of the Lord (Jehova), signifying the constant remembrance of God in contemplation, which the high priest ought to have; second, the ephod, that is, compassion, by which he should bear on his shoulders, as it were, the infirmities of the people; third, the hyacinth tunic, that is, heavenly conduct; fourth, the breastplate, that is, care and the bowels of charity toward his subjects.
Note here that the whole world is like a most holy temple, worthy of God, as Diogenes said, and Philo in On Monarchy II, and Lactantius in his book On the Wrath of God, chapter XIV. Hence also Baruch says, chapter III, 24: "O Israel, how great is the house of God!" — namely this world, in which man was established as the priest of a divine temple, to exercise the priesthood on behalf of all creatures. And therefore the high priest of the Hebrews represented the whole world in his vestment. The high priest, therefore, was like an ambassador of the whole world to God, according to Paul, II Corinthians V, 20: "For Christ therefore we are ambassadors, God as it were exhorting through us. We beseech you for Christ, be reconciled to God." Indeed, Philo in the cited passage asserts that the reason the high priest carried the image of the whole world in his vestments was so that he might know himself to be the mediator of the whole world before God, and that he ought to pray not only for his own and his friends, but for the whole human race, for all parts of nature, heaven and the elements, and give thanks and offer supplications to the Creator of all for all things. Furthermore, by his life, teaching, and virtues he should express in himself the order, adornment, and harmony of the universe, so as to be a microcosm, representing in his conduct the image of the greater world, just as he bears it in his vestments. "With this dress," says Philo, "the high priest represents the whole world with wondrous adornment, either to the mind or to the eyes. For it admonishes the high priest that, considering the image of the universe that he wears, he should lead a life not degenerate from nature; then, that by performing sacred rites he should bring the whole world as intercessor — for it is fitting that the priest of the Father should employ His son, this world, for prayers and vows."
The same Philo, in his book On Dreams, holds that the reason the high priest wears the likeness of heaven and the world in his vestment is so that the world may work together with the priest, and man may more efficaciously make his vows and sacred offerings together with this totality of things. See what was said at Exodus XXVIII, 4, where I explained these vestments at length — literally, allegorically, and tropologically.
Tropologically, the priest ought to clothe himself with a world of vestments, that is, a world of virtues, so that he may be an ornament to all, and thus be girt and crowned with their circle as with a crown, as I said shortly before. Hence the priest and religious, looking at his dark habit, his tonsure, and his sacred vestments, should feel himself admonished by them to display gravity, mourning, contempt of riches, desire for heavenly things, and every proper ordering of conduct. Hence our Alvarez de Paz, On the Spiritual Life, Book I, Part III, chapter XXVI: "In the vestment of Aaron," he says, "was the whole world, because a man consecrated to God through the religious state ought, as far as external conduct is concerned, to accommodate himself to all as far as possible, so as to draw all to Christ and invite them to the love of virtue. Thus he will be clothed in varied colors, that is, with a garment which, though one, supplies the need of many virtues and bears their diverse beauties. Thus, following the example of Paul, he has become all things to all — not by lying in action (as Anselm says), but by compassion in feeling: not by deceitfully performing the evils of others, but by providing the diligence of merciful medicine for all the evils of all, as if they were his own."
THE GLORIES OF THE FATHERS WERE CARVED IN FOUR ROWS OF STONES — in Greek: πατέρων δόξαι ἐπὶ τετραστίχων λίθων γλυφῆς, that is, the glories or honors of the fathers in the carving of four rows of stones. In the breastplate of judgment there were four rows of stones: in the first row, sardius, topaz, emerald; in the second, carbuncle, sapphire, jasper; in the third, ligure, agate, amethyst; in the fourth, chrysolite, onyx, beryl — all set in gold and bearing the names of the children of Israel, that is, of the twelve tribes. For "glories" (magnalia), the Greek has δόξαι, that is, glories, excellences, victories, trophies, insignia of nobility, the coats of arms of the fathers, in which the sons and descendants rightly gloried. Therefore sacred and hieroglyphic symbols of the Hebrews were engraved on each stone of the breastplate, but not letters of the names of the patriarchs or tribes, says our Jerome Prado at the beginning of the Commentary on Ezekiel: for the emblem of Judah was a lion, of Benjamin a wolf, of Dan a serpent, of Joseph an ox, etc. — which Jacob their father assigned to them as he blessed each one at death, Genesis XLIX, 5. But at Exodus XXVIII, 21, I showed that not emblems but the actual names of the tribes were engraved on the gems, and this for the purpose that the high priest, by his very attire and the names, might show himself to be the ambassador of the twelve tribes, that is, of the whole people, and as mediator intercede and plead before God for them. These names, therefore, are called δόξαι (glories), because they were magnificently engraved with magnificent gems on the vestment, namely on the breastplate of the high priest — which was their great glory, praise, and honor.
YOUR MAJESTY WAS CARVED ON THE DIADEM OF HIS HEAD. — Vatablus: "and Your majesty on the diadem of his head." The Syriac: "and the crown of majesty upon his head." For the tiara was round like a crown, meaning: The high priest wore on his head the tiara with its golden plate, on which was inscribed "Holiness to the Lord" (Jehova) — so that he might remember that he was the high priest of God and of divine majesty, and that he ought to represent His holiness by his life and word. Symbolically, this tiara with its plate represented the empyrean heaven, over which God presides, and from which He wisely and holily governs all things subject to Him. By this was also signified that the dignity and power of the high priest, as God's vicar on earth, surpasses every dignity of men, even of kings and emperors. See what was said at Exodus XXVIII, 4.
25. 25. AND BEFORE THESE THE DESTROYER YIELDED, AND FEARED THEM. — Not the fire, as Lyra holds: for πῦρ, that is, fire, is neuter, while ὁλοθρεύων, that is, "the destroyer," is masculine. Rather it was the angel sending the fire upon the murmuring Hebrews — whether he was good, or rather evil, as Hugh and Holcot hold. For this angel, reverencing the tetragrammaton — the ineffable name of God, namely Jehova, engraved on the golden plate — and reverencing such great majesty, power, prayer, and incense-offering of the high priest, yielded and ceased from the fire and plague. Therefore the destroyer reverenced the ineffable name of God, before which all nature prostrates itself; he yielded to the high priest praying and bringing the whole world as intercessor, and setting before the Lord the merits and glory of the fathers, that He might have mercy. So a Castro. Thus often in the Scriptures "fear" is taken for reverence, and "to fear" for "to revere": for truly reverence is nothing other than religious fear. Thus Alexander the Great, angered at the Jews, when Jaddus the high priest came out to meet him clothed in pontifical vestments, struck as by a heavenly weapon with such great majesty, and stricken with sacred awe, reverenced him and turned his anger into benevolence — as Josephus narrates in Antiquities, Book XI, chapter VIII. Attila did the same for Pope Leo, as the Life of St. Leo records; see Baronius, year of Christ 452. The Vatican codex and others read "they feared," as if there were several destroying angels.
FOR THE TRIAL OF WRATH ALONE WAS SUFFICIENT. — For "trial," the Greek does not have πειρασμός, that is, temptation, but πεῖρα, that is, experience — meaning: The experience of wrath was sufficient for correction. That is to say: It was enough for the Hebrews that they had experienced Your wrath, so that those who survived the plague and fire might correct themselves and repent of their murmuring. "Trial" here therefore means the same as test, experience, danger, attack, invasion: for πεῖρα signifies all of these. Meaning: It was enough for the Hebrews to have undergone danger and experienced the attack of divine wrath: for they immediately yielded and repented. Hence they did not wish to experience its force further, nor feel its dominion raging to total destruction any longer.
Therefore Lyra incorrectly explains it in the opposite sense, meaning: The trial of the people's sedition was sufficient to destroy them all with fire, unless Aaron had humbly interceded. And Hugh, meaning: The plague of fire was sufficient to destroy the Hebrews. And Holcot, meaning: The fear and dread struck into the people by the plague of fire was sufficient to efface the crime of murmuring. For all these explanations are beside the point here.