Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
The encomium of Simon the pontiff.
Vulgate Text: Ecclesiasticus 50:1-31
1. Simon the son of Onias, the great priest, who in his life propped up the house, and in his days strengthened the temple. 2. The height of the temple also was founded by him, the double building and the high walls of the temple. 3. In his days the wells of water flowed forth, and they were filled like the sea beyond measure. 4. He took care of his nation and delivered it from destruction. 5. He prevailed to enlarge the city, and gained glory in his conduct among the people: and he enlarged the entrance of the house and the court. 6. As the morning star in the midst of a cloud, and as the full moon shining in its days. 7. And as the sun shining forth, so did he shine in the temple of God. 8. As the rainbow gleaming amidst the clouds of glory, and as the flower of roses in the days of spring, and as lilies that are by the flowing waters, and as frankincense giving fragrance in the days of summer. 9. As a bright fire, and frankincense burning in the fire. 10. As a solid vessel of gold, adorned with every precious stone. 11. As a fruitful olive tree, and a cypress rising up on high, when he took the robe of glory, and was clothed with the completion of power. 12. In going up to the holy altar, he gave glory to the garment of holiness. 13. And in receiving the portions from the hands of the priests, he himself stood by the altar. And around him was a crown of brothers: as a planting of cedar on Mount Lebanon, 14. so around him they stood like branches of palms, and all the sons of Aaron in their glory. 15. And the offering of the Lord was in their hands, before the whole congregation of Israel: and performing the completion at the altar, to amplify the offering of the Most High King, 16. he stretched forth his hand for the libation, and poured out from the blood of the grape. 17. He poured out at the foot of the altar a divine fragrance to the Most High Prince. 18. Then the sons of Aaron shouted, they sounded with trumpets of beaten work, and they made a great noise to be heard as a memorial before God. 19. Then all the people together made haste and fell down upon the earth on their faces, to worship the Lord their God, and to offer their prayers to the Almighty God Most High. 20. And the singers lifted up their voices, and in the great house the sound was increased, full of sweetness. 21. And the people entreated the Lord Most High in prayer, until the honor of the Lord was accomplished, and they had completed their ministry. 22. Then coming down, he lifted up his hands over the whole congregation of the children of Israel, to give glory to God from his lips, and to glory in His name: 23. and he repeated his prayer, wishing to show the power of God. 24. And now pray to the God of all, who has done great things in all the earth, who has increased our days from our mother's womb, and has dealt with us according to His mercy: 25. may He grant us joyfulness of heart, and that there be peace in our days in Israel forever; 26. that Israel may believe that the mercy of God is with us, to deliver us in His days. 27. My soul hates two nations: and the third is not a nation that I should hate: 28. those who sit upon Mount Seir, and the Philistines, and the foolish people who dwell in Shechem. 29. Jesus the son of Sirach of Jerusalem wrote the doctrine of wisdom and discipline in this book, who renewed wisdom from his heart. 30. Blessed is he who dwells upon these good things: he who lays them up in his heart shall be wise forever. 31. For if he does these things, he shall be strong for all things: because the light of God is his guide.
1. SIMON THE SON OF ONIAS, THE GREAT PRIEST, WHO IN HIS LIFE PROPPED UP THE HOUSE, AND IN HIS DAYS STRENGTHENED THE TEMPLE.
The Syriac: The greatest of his brothers and the crown of his people, Simon the son of Nathaniah, the great priest, in whose days the house was built and the temple was strengthened, or the work of the temple grew, instead of temple. He reads with the Romans, Vatablus and others, for which the Complutensian reads the people. Vatablus: Add also that Simon, born of Onias, was the supreme pontiff, who restored (others say, repaired) the sacred shrine in his life and strengthened the temple in his age.
After the fathers and heroes whom Sacred Scripture celebrates, Sirach adds the praises of the distinguished pontiff Simon, who shortly after the last fathers praised in Sacred Scripture had lived in his age or century with great glory of virtue and the pontificate. He praises Simon first, for his care of the temple: for this properly belongs to him, since the proper concern of the pontiff of a temple, whose pontiff he is, is its care; second, for his care of the people; third, for his care of himself, namely that he took care to be composed in his conduct, and to be such as befits a pontiff, one who excels all others in every kind of honesty, dignity, and grace.
The question is asked: who is this Simon? Note from Josephus, book XI of Antiquities, near the end, and book XII, chapters II, III, IV, V, that this was the generation, succession, and series of Jewish pontiffs of that age, namely the century of Sirach. Jaddua (whom Alexander the Great, although hostile to the Jews because they had aided Darius, king of the Persians, his enemy, nevertheless revered and worshipped) begot Onias the first;
Onias the first begot Simon the second, surnamed the Miser, for he was of a petty and narrow spirit; Onias the second begot Simon the younger, or the second; Simon the second begot Onias the third, surnamed the Holy. Now Jaddua was immediately succeeded in the pontificate by his son Onias the first; Onias was succeeded by Simon the Just, as the elder son of Onias; Simon was succeeded by his brother Eleazar, who sent the seventy-two Interpreters of Sacred Scripture to Ptolemy Philadelphus, because Onias the second, son of Simon the Just, was a small child when his father died, and therefore incapable of the pontificate; Eleazar was succeeded by his uncle Manasseh; Manasseh by Onias the second, son of Simon the Just, now grown to adulthood; Onias the second was succeeded by his son Simon the younger, or the second; him by Onias the third, or the Holy; for this is that Onias who resisted Heliodorus when he demanded the treasures of the temple, and by his prayers delivered him from the scourging of Angels, II Maccabees III, 31. This likewise is that Onias whom Judas Maccabeus saw praying with outstretched hands for the people, II Maccabees chapter XV, verse 12. This Onias was finally driven out by his brother Jason (who had purchased the pontificate from Antiochus with a large sum of money), and was at last killed by another brother Menelaus, whom Antiochus had substituted for Jason in the pontificate. Therefore Judas Maccabeus and his brothers, seeing the pontificate profaned after Onias and sold to impious men, claimed it for themselves by arms and annexed it to their principate, which happened 124 years after Simon the Just. For Simon the Just discharged the pontificate and died, according to the calculation of our Salianus, in the year of the world 3765; but Judas Maccabeus entered the pontificate in the year of the world 3889, which was the year 147 of the Greeks, or the Seleucids, and before the birth of Christ it was the year 164.
With these premises established, many believe the Simon whom Sirach praises here to be the younger or the second. So Eusebius, in the Chronicle, at the 137th Olympiad; Sigonius, book VIII of On the Hebrew Republic, chapter II; Adrichomius, in the Description of Jerusalem; our Serarius, in his book on Maccabees, in the Catalogue of Pontiffs; Rabanus, Lyranus, Hugo, and Dionysius on this passage. These authors, if they wish to speak consistently, must say that this chapter and the following LI were written not by the elder Sirach, or grandfather, but by the younger, or grandson, who in the Prologue says he lived under Ptolemy Euergetes: for under him Simon the second flourished, whereas the elder Sirach flourished under Ptolemy Lagus or Philadelphus, and consequently before Simon the second. For Eusebius, in the Chronicle, relates that Simon the younger was made pontiff in the 45th year of Ptolemy Euergetes, when the elder Sirach was already deceased: for he could not have lived with or been contemporary with Euergetes. But this is hard to say, as well as novel, and no interpreter or doctor of note (that I know of) has dared to assert it, especially since the younger Sirach himself in the Prologue affirms that he only translated the book of the elder Sirach, or his grandfather, from Hebrew into Greek,
and that he did not compose a part of it. And who would dare to lay hands on the writings of another, especially a sacred writer? Therefore it is far more true, indeed certain, that the Simon meant here is the elder or the first, who was surnamed Priscus (the Ancient), not the younger or the second. So held Genebrardus, Salianus, Torniellus in the Chronology, and Jansenius, Palacius, and Emmanuel Sa on this passage.
This is proved first from the fact that Simon the elder was illustrious, and that these illustrious praises befit him, which cannot befit the younger, since nothing memorable is narrated about the younger by Josephus or anyone else. About the elder, however, Josephus writes thus, book XII of Antiquities, chapter II: "When Onias the pontiff died, his son Simon succeeded him, surnamed the Just, because he both worshipped God piously and treated his citizens with the highest benevolence. When he died, leaving behind a single small son (Onias the second), his brother Eleazar assumed the pontificate, to whom Ptolemy wrote in this manner." He adds the letters of Ptolemy Philadelphus, in which he asks Eleazar to send him the seventy-two Interpreters.
Second, from the connection and sequence, or logical consequence, of the discourse, it is sufficiently clear that this chapter is by the same author as all the preceding chapters up to this point. But those are by the elder Sirach; therefore this chapter too is by the elder, who preceded Simon the younger by many years in age. If the younger Sirach had appended this chapter to the preceding ones, which belong to the elder or the grandfather, he would certainly have indicated this by some heading, and would not have fraudulently passed off his own offspring as another's, like a cuckoo.
Third, if the younger Sirach had written these things about the younger Simon, he would certainly have mentioned Eleazar and the seventy-two Interpreters, who preceded Simon both in age, deeds, and glory; but the elder Sirach does not mention Eleazar, either because he died before him, or because he did not wish to praise a man still living, according to his own precept, chapter XI, 30: "Praise no man before his death."
Fourth, because that Simon whose praise is woven here was already deceased, as is evident from the fact that he says of him here: "Who in his life propped up the house, and in his days strengthened the temple." But Simon the younger lived at the same time as the younger Sirach, and perhaps outlived him. Therefore the elder Sirach wrote these things about the elder Simon, after the latter's death. From this passage it is gathered that the elder Sirach wrote these praises of the elder Simon, and consequently this book, which is commonly called Ecclesiasticus, at the beginning of the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphus, or certainly at the end of the reign of Ptolemy Lagus, who as his father immediately preceded Philadelphus. For he wrote these things after the death of the elder Simon: but the elder Simon died at the end of the reign of Lagus, namely four years before the reign of Philadelphus, as Eusebius teaches in the Chronicle. Therefore before that time these praises of his, and consequently Ecclesiasticus, could not have been written by the elder Sirach.
Allegorically, this Simon, both in name and in pontificate, wisdom, and virtue, represents Simon Peter, whom Christ first appointed Pontiff of His Church, so that he might present to all who would follow the model of a true Pontiff, which Sirach here describes: therefore all the things Sirach says about Simon Priscus, changing the surname, you may apply with far greater reason to Simon Peter.
Tropologically, this Simon is called "great priest," both because he was a pontiff, and because he excelled in the glory of his deeds. He alone among priests and pontiffs is praised here, because he excelled among them: so today there are many priests, but few who deserve praise. The author of the Opus Imperfectum, attributed to St. Chrysostom, in Homily 43 on Matthew, and cited in Distinction 40, canon XII, says admirably: "Many priests," he says, "and few priests: many in name, and few in deed. See therefore, brothers, how you sit upon the chair; because the chair does not make the priest, but the priest the chair; the place does not sanctify the man, but the man sanctifies the place. Not every priest is holy, but every holy person is a priest. He who sits well upon the chair receives honor from the chair: he who sits badly does injury to the chair. And therefore a bad priest acquires guilt from his priesthood, not dignity: for you sit in your own judgment. If indeed you live well and teach well, you instruct the people: if you teach well and live badly, you will be the condemner of yourself alone. For by living well and teaching well, you instruct the people how they ought to live: but by teaching well and living badly, you instruct God how He ought to condemn you."
WHO IN HIS LIFE PROPPED UP THE HOUSE, AND IN HIS DAYS STRENGTHENED THE TEMPLE. — For already 230 years had elapsed since the rebuilding of the temple carried out by Zerubbabel and Joshua the Priest, under the auspices of Darius Hystaspes, king of the Persians, I Ezra VI, during which many parts of the temple gaped with age, and others threatened ruin: therefore Simon, as pontiff, and thus overseer and guardian of the temple, restored its fabric. Moreover from what follows it is gathered that Simon principally restored the buildings surrounding the temple and supporting it. For which note that the summit of Mount Zion was narrow and confined for the magnificence and the magnificent temple that Solomon intended to erect upon it. Therefore Solomon filled the valleys adjacent to Mount Zion with heaped-up earth, and surrounded and secured them with walls. Hear Josephus, book VIII of Antiquities, chapter II: "Having filled up valleys," he says, "so deep that the eyes grew dizzy at the prospect, and having heaped up earth to four hundred cubits, he made it level with the summit of the mountain on which the temple was built, and in this way it came about that the area of the sanctuary was made level with the floor of the temple. He enclosed this with double porticoes, which columns of native rock supported, and polished cedar ceilings covered. And all the doors were made of silver." The same in book VI of The War, chapter VI: "At first," he says, "the temple barely sufficed for its area,
the flat area lying on the summit, because it was precipitous and sloping on every side. But when King Solomon, who had also built the temple, had enclosed its eastern part with a wall, a single portico was placed upon the embankment," etc. The substructures, therefore, or the enclosure and walls containing and surrounding this heaped-up earth, were restored, strengthened, and made higher and thicker by Simon. Moreover, the word "propped up" especially signifies buttresses, which we see everywhere supporting the walls of temples from the outside, added to the temple by Simon, enlarged and reinforced: likewise that he enlarged and reinforced the porticoes adjacent to the temple; for these both support and adorn the temple, just as we see in Rome the Vatican Basilica of St. Peter and others adorned and reinforced by porticoes erected before the entrance.
2. THE HEIGHT OF THE TEMPLE ALSO WAS FOUNDED BY HIM, THE DOUBLE BUILDING AND THE HIGH WALLS OF THE TEMPLE. — Some, taking "temple" literally, believe that Simon raised it to double the height it had been. For since Cyrus, I Ezra VI, 3, had permitted the Jews to build the temple only to sixty cubits in height, lest, if it were raised higher, the Jews might build for themselves a fortress to rebel against Cyrus; Simon doubled it, namely to one hundred twenty cubits in height. So our Sanchez, on Haggai chapter II, verse 18, number 35. Others very plausibly take "temple" here as meaning the porticoes and structures annexed to the temple and supporting it: for the Greek word peribolos (which our translator renders as "walls") signifies these, that is, an enclosure, rampart, fence, fortification, wall, portico, parapet of walls, and similar substructures. Hence the Syriac: A wall was set, and battlements, and the enclosure (peribolos) was constructed. Therefore our Salianus, in his Annals, at the year of the world 3763, explains it thus: Simon, he says, propped up the house and strengthened the temple, because he built the temple's substructures, by which the outermost part of the temple area was supported — substructures that had been destroyed by the fire of the Chaldeans, and overlooked by Zerubbabel, either because he was in haste or because he spared royal expenses lest he seem to abuse the king's generosity. Their height is called "double," as the Greek has it, because the temple at its highest part was only 120 cubits: but the substructure from the base of the mountain to its summit was 300 cubits (as Villalpando shows in his work on the temple's construction), that is, more than double the height. And because this building was extremely strong, it is called the high fortification of the temple's enclosure, which it supported at the very top. And lest anyone draw the word peribolos, which is in the Greek, to another meaning, there immediately follows: Taking care of his people from falling, for which the Latin Vulgate has in the same sense: He took care of his nation and delivered it from destruction, namely according to the law of the Lord, Deuteronomy XXII, 8: "When you build a new house, you shall make a wall around the roof, lest blood be shed in your house, and you be guilty when another slips and falls headlong." You will say: Our translator
takes these words as referring to the height not of the substructure or enclosure, but of the temple itself; for he says: The height of the temple was founded, and the high walls of the temple. I respond: "Temple" here is not taken precisely for the temple itself, but for the complex of all the buildings, porticoes, and courts belonging to the temple. "Double building" is therefore said because it was double the height and thickness of all the other walls of the temple: for the thickness at the bottom was 150 cubits, which gradually diminished to 50 cubits at the top. And by doing this, he also at the same time "enlarged the entrance of the house and the court," as Sirach says; because when these structures were raised on every side, the whole area all around was made more spacious. So says Salianus. But because neither Sirach nor Josephus nor anyone else of that era explains what this construction of Simon was like, we cannot define anything certain about it, especially since our Latin Vulgate does indeed assert that the temple was raised higher by Simon; but does not add, to double. For it says "double building," not double height. Hence with Hugo and Palacius the "double building" could be understood as a double floor, or a double story; or with Jansenius, a double enclosure, or a double wall surrounding the temple, as if to say: Simon raised a portico or wall attached to the temple, and built it with a double story to double the former height, and so erected high walls surrounding the temple, so that the whole temple was enclosed, fortified, and protected by them. The Greek texts corrected at Rome support this, reading thus: And by him the height of the double (namely of the construction, that is, fortification or building, as the Latin Vulgate translator appears to have read) high restoration of the temple's enclosure was founded: for they read "double" and "of the enclosure" in the genitive, for which the Complutensian reads "double" and "enclosure" in the nominative. Hence the Complutensian reads: And in him the double height was founded, a restoration; the high circuit of the temple; where you should refer "double" to "restoration" rather than to "height": and so the same sense emerges as our translator and the corrected Roman Greek expressed. The Zurich edition however reads and translates thus: By him a double height was founded, the lofty fortification surrounding the temple. But here too "double height" can be understood as a double story: and if you contend that this was likewise twice as high as the previous one, I will not disagree. But note that it was not in the temple itself, but in the peribolos, that is, in the fence, portico, or wall surrounding the temple, as the Zurich edition translates.
Mystically, Rabanus says: "The holy Doctors," he says, "lay the foundation of the temple's height when they place Christ's incarnation, passion, and resurrection in the faith of believers: so that the summit of the whole building, that is, the pattern of good works, may rise from there. Hence the double building makes the high walls of the temple, when by word and example they raise up very many from both Jews and Gentiles to the citadel of virtues by teaching and exhorting: for in the exposition of the Catholic Fathers we find that the walls of the house of God are understood as the two peoples; and rightly, because the structure rising from there grows into a holy temple in the Lord."
3. IN HIS DAYS THE WELLS OF WATER FLOWED FORTH (the Syriac: he dug a fountain; the Arabic: fountains were dug), AND THEY WERE FILLED LIKE THE SEA BEYOND MEASURE. — In Greek it is perimetron, that is, beyond measure; for which the Romans and others read trimetron, that is, triple, or of threefold measure. For "flowed forth" Rabanus, Palacius and others read "flowed again," as if to say: The wells that before Simon had dried up and ceased to flow, through Simon's work, when the aqueducts were restored, flowed again, that is, began again to flow. Hence the Greek is "they were diminished." For "like the sea" the Greek is "as of the sea": for which others read "as a pool or cistern." Hence the Roman translation reads: and the bronze like the perimeter of the sea, or, as others read, three-measured. The meaning is, says Palacius, as if to say: In the days of Simon the wells lacked water, but he himself, having repaired the channels, restored the waters; in this he expended bronze like the sea: so great were the expenses in repairing the channels and wells. "It is signified," says Jansenius, "that when in his days the wells of water had failed because the waters that used to flow into the city through aqueducts had dried up, through Simon's work they were again abundantly filled like the sea, so that he saw to it that the aqueducts were repaired and restored: just as was said above about Hezekiah, that he brought waters into the city," which is the easy and straightforward meaning of this passage. The Zurich edition: In his time the water reservoirs dried up, and the bronze part of the sea was about a third. Here he very forcedly calls the sea "bronze," that is, dry, in the way heaven is sometimes called bronze. But this interpretation has the disadvantage that these words have nothing to do with praising Simon. More tolerable is the other interpretation, which refers this passage to the bronze sea, because in the singular the word means "receptacle," to signify that the bronze sea in the restoration of the temple was made much smaller than it had formerly been by Solomon; but by Simon it was made beyond measure, that is, exceedingly large and capacious; or, as others have it, three times larger. Scaliger interprets it as a certain cistern that was reinforced by him with bronze plates to contain water, and wants to translate it: Under him a cistern was lined with bronze plates, whose circumference is like the sea, namely the Solomonic one. But this interpretation he devises for himself, changing three words in a single verse; by which method it is easy to lead any passages to whatever meaning one pleases. Torniellus refers these things to the temple's aqueducts, by which the blood of victims was flushed away, which Aristeas and Eusebius mention — add also Jerome and the Septuagint as cited by Villalpando. So Salianus, year of the world 3765, number 10.
Mystically, Rabanus by wells understands the depth of Sacred Scripture, which lies hidden as if enclosed in figures in the divine books, but through the mouth of holy preachers overflows like a sea to the fellowship of very many.
4. HE TOOK CARE OF HIS NATION AND DELIVERED IT FROM DESTRUCTION. — Rabanus reads: from ruin; the Syriac and Arabic: he delivered his people from enemies: the Greek has only: he who took care of his people against falling; Vatablus: he carefully guarded his people from ruin; which our Salianus, as I said at verse 1, explains as referring to the railing or fence that Simon made on the lofty porticoes of the temple, lest anyone walking carelessly on them should fall headlong and be dashed to the ground. But this interpretation is too narrow, especially since verse 4 here does not connect with verse 2, where those porticoes were discussed, but follows verse 3, where wells and waters were discussed. Therefore this seems to be a new and third praise of Simon, and one that is ample and proper to a Pontiff, namely that he exercised great care over the people, lest they fall into some evil or danger, whether spiritual or bodily: for a pontiff, just like a shepherd of sheep, ought to take care of his subjects and protect them from wolves, thieves, inclement weather, hunger, thirst, and every evil, especially lest some false prophet, heretic, or atheist infect them with the poison of his perfidy; lest some impudent person, robber, or other criminal rub off his crimes on them; lest good teachers and preachers who might properly and piously supply the people with the nourishment of God's word be lacking, etc. It seems moreover that Sirach notes here some particular evil threatening the Jews, which was repelled by Simon; although he does not explain it in detail. Perhaps it was this: that when Ptolemy Lagus, as Josephus testifies, XII Antiquities, chapters I and III, carried away many thousands of Jews captive to Egypt, Simon resisted him so that he would not carry off more, and ensured that those carried away would be provided with necessities, and especially that they would be strengthened in the faith, lest they be drawn into idolatry by the Egyptians. Or rather, as if to say: Ptolemy Philadelphus at first crushed the Jewish nation, but later, swayed by the authority and intercession of Simon the Pontiff, became kind and beneficent toward it, to such an extent that he requested the seventy-two Interpreters from Eleazar, Simon's brother. So Palacius.
5. HE PREVAILED TO ENLARGE THE CITY, AND GAINED GLORY IN HIS CONDUCT AMONG THE PEOPLE: AND HE ENLARGED THE ENTRANCE OF THE HOUSE AND THE COURT. — Our translator reads the Greek as "to enlarge," but others now read it as "to withstand a siege," which the Roman edition explains as to repel a siege. Hence others read: in a siege, that is, against a siege. Others differently. From this you may see that more trust should be placed in the Latin codices, as consistent and agreeing, than in the Greek ones, so varying and disagreeing — especially since about the same enlargement he adds: And he enlarged the entrance of the house and the court. Our Salianus, cited at verse 2, understands "city" as the temple, as if to say: Simon enlarged the side-chambers, porticoes, and other buildings and structures annexed to the temple: for the temple contained many buildings and was like a small city; hence it is called a city, Ezekiel XL, 2, as Richardus, Lyranus, and Villalpando explain. His reason is that there was no need for the enlargement of Jerusalem at that time, since the city was greatly reduced in citizens and left desolate. For Ptolemy Lagus had recently transported one hundred twenty thousand Jews to Egypt, and Seleucus, the first king of Asia and Syria after Alexander the Great (from whom the years of the Seleucids or Greeks are counted in the books of Maccabees) had built many cities in Asia and filled them with Jews, as Eusebius testifies in the Chronicle. But the city here is distinguished from the temple. For the temple was treated in verse 2, so it seems the word should be taken literally: nor could Jewish inhabitants have been lacking for the enlarged city, since they were spread throughout all Judea, indeed the whole world, and multiplied through polygamy like fish, as is said in Exodus II, 12, in the Hebrew; just as today we see them growing and multiplying remarkably in Rome and throughout Italy. I acknowledge, however, that this enlargement of Jerusalem was mainly done on Mount Zion, both because the temple was on it, and because the citadel built by David was on it, which protected and defended the remaining part of the city subject to it. Therefore Simon enlarged Jerusalem and Zion both in streets and houses, and in citizens and inhabitants. But especially he enlarged the entrance of the house of God, that is, of the temple and its court: for which reason "he gained glory in his conduct among the people," while among his nation, that is among the Jews, he conducted himself as a pontiff so beneficent and magnificent toward the temple, the city, and his citizens, lovingly and magnificently. So the Romans, Rabanus, the Gloss and others read and understand; although Jansenius and some others read: And in the entrance (Greek: in the going out from the veiled house, the house and court were enlarged). But the meaning comes to the same thing, as if to say: Just as he himself in many ways benefited his nation, so in turn he gained glory from it, since he conducted himself among them properly and fittingly; and whenever he happened to enter the temple or court, or to go out after completing his office, he was treated and decorated with great honor by the people. Hence the Zurich edition: How honorably he bore himself when he went about among the people, and when he came forth from the dwelling behind the veil (that is, from the temple: for this was covered with a veil, as is evident from Exodus XXVI, 31; Hebrews IX, 3) like the morning star among the clouds!
Moreover, he explains this glory through various comparisons to stars, the moon, the sun, the rainbow, lilies, fire, frankincense, the olive, etc., which he adds below.
6 and 7. AS THE MORNING STAR IN THE MIDST OF A CLOUD, AND AS THE FULL MOON SHINING IN ITS DAYS. AND AS THE SUN SHINING FORTH, SO DID HE SHINE IN THE TEMPLE OF GOD. — Vatablus: As the sun irradiating the temple of the Most High. He compares Simon the pontiff first to the morning star, that is, to Lucifer (the light-bearer), which, shining through the clouds and preceding and heralding the rising of the sun, is most welcome to men who after the long darkness of the night await the light of day. For in a similar way Simon, after the long calamities, errors, and vices of the Babylonian and Egyptian captivity under Ptolemy Lagus, shone like the morning star among the clouds, both gladdening the people with his majesty and beneficence, and going before them by word and example. From the morning star he gradually ascends to the full moon, and from there to the sun; for just as the moon surpasses the morning star, so the sun surpasses the moon in light and splendor. Second, therefore, he compares Simon to the full moon, which so illuminates the night that in it men can see, walk, and carry on their affairs as if it were day. Third, he compares the same Simon to the sun. For just as the sun by its splendor communicates light, warmth, joy, and life to all things: so Simon too illuminated the people with the light of heavenly doctrine and life, gladdened them, kindled them with divine love, and breathed divine life into them. See the many reasons and analogies why the wise and the Saints are compared to stars, the moon, and the sun, which I reviewed at Genesis I, 14 and 16; Isaiah XLV, 1; Daniel XII, 3; Revelation I, 20, and II, 28.
In a similar way God raised up St. Athanasius, St. Augustine, St. Jerome, St. Benedict, St. Bernard, St. Dominic, St. Francis, etc., as the morning stars, moons, and suns of their ages. Hence a religious man, as St. Bonaventure testifies, saw the soul of the dying St. Francis, under the appearance of a brilliantly shining star carried upward by a white cloud, borne over many waters in a straight path up to heaven; to signify that by its sublime candor of holiness, and by its abundance of heavenly wisdom and grace together, it had merited to enter the place of light and peace, where it rests and reigns with Christ without end.
Poets used a similar comparison to the rising and shining sun, such as Q. Catulus: I had stopped to greet the rising sun by chance, When suddenly from the left Roscius appears. Pardon me, O heavenly ones, if I may say: The mortal seemed more beautiful than the god. Allegorically, Simon the pontiff is Christ, says Hugo; so that by the sun you may understand the most brilliant deity of Christ; by the moon His body, of the deity
as if suffused with splendor, and on the cross indeed, although full in its days and thus bright with the rays of the same divinity, it nevertheless in a way suffered an eclipse as if by the interposition of death; and by the star, finally, His bright soul, which, always fixed in the firmament of the divinity through perpetual enjoyment, shone forth even on the cross. Add that the star in the midst of a cloud represents Christ the Pontiff on the cross, in the midst of those darknesses, or that same soul of His, radiant with the splendor of divinity and the beauty of graces, but surrounded as it were by the body darkened and clouded on the cross. The full moon in its days represents the same Christ shining in the midst of the death of His passion, and as it were returning the splendors received from on high, and reconciling us to God, as was foreshadowed of old in Moses on Mount Sinai, whose face was indeed horned with splendor, but covered with a veil so that the people could look upon him, which St. Bonaventure also applies to contemplative men. Finally, the sun also shining on the cross, and dispersing the clouds of our sins, of which those darknesses were the symbols, blinding the unbelieving and illuminating the believing — these things one may contemplate and meditate upon.
Hence Simon, in Hebrew means the same as hearing, answering, obeying; because Christ was obedient to the Father even unto the death of the cross; hence in turn He deserved to be heard and answered by Him for His reverence, Hebrews V. Rabanus says otherwise: Simon, he says, is interpreted as "put away grief," from the Hebrew sham, that is, "he placed," and on, that is, "grief"; or "hear sorrow," from shema, that is, "hear," and on, that is, "sorrow"; because Christ took our griefs from us and transferred them to Himself, according to Isaiah LIII, 4: "Truly He Himself bore our infirmities, and He Himself carried our sorrows."
Therefore Gregory IX, canonizing St. Francis, delivered an address to the people on the praises of the Saint, beginning his sermon thus: "As the morning star in the midst of a cloud, so did he shine in the temple of God," as St. Bonaventure testifies, in the Life of St. Francis, chapter XV, and Luca Wadding, in the Chronicle of the Friars Minor. Let the priest therefore remember, especially the pontiff, that he ought to be such in mind, word, and life as to be like the morning star, like the moon, indeed like the sun radiating in the temple of the Most High, and that like the sun he should dwell not on earth but in heaven with God and the angels, and be "like a God walking upon the earth, and a holy angel in the flesh." Hence the Syriac: How beautiful (splendid) he was in his going out from the temple, when he appeared from under the veil like the morning star among the clouds, and like the moon in the days of Nisan (the first month, or the paschal month, which corresponds partly to our March and partly to April), and like the sun shining upon the citadels, or courts, and great palaces.
Tropologically, Hugo says the same: He signifies, he says, the difference among doctors, or any of the faithful, to whom the Lord grants diverse graces, "dividing to each one as He wills," I Corinthians XII. For in some He shines like "the morning star," that is, in the way of penance for penitents, in the midst of a cloud, that is, of a clouded conscience. In others "like the full moon," that is, in those making progress, who indeed have full justice, but not perfect, because there is no standing still there. In others He shines "like the sun," that is, in the perfect, who both burn well and shine perfectly — they burn for themselves and shine for others. John V: "John was a lamp burning and shining." Ecclesiasticus XXVII, 12: "A holy man in wisdom remains like the sun." Christ was also the morning star in His nativity. Revelation II, 26: "He who overcomes and keeps My works until the end, I will give him the morning star." This is the star that led the Magi to Jesus in Bethlehem, Matthew II. Moreover, this star had six rays, as every other star also has, with which it illuminated the whole Church. The first is the ray of humility, which He sent forth in His birth: "For a little child is born to us," Isaiah IX; the second is the ray of lowliness, which He sent forth when He willed to be wrapped in poor swaddling clothes and laid in a manger, Luke II; the third is the ray of voluntary poverty; the fourth, of patience; the fifth, of obedience; the sixth, of wisdom, which shone forth in His preaching.
8. AS THE RAINBOW GLEAMING AMIDST THE CLOUDS OF GLORY, AND AS THE FLOWER OF ROSES IN THE DAYS OF SPRING, AND AS LILIES THAT ARE BY THE FLOWING WATERS, AND AS FRANKINCENSE GIVING FRAGRANCE IN THE DAYS OF SUMMER. — The Syriac: As the rainbow in the clouds, and as ears of grain in the field, and as the royal lily at springs of water, and as the trees of Lebanon in the days of fruit-gathering; Vatablus: As a rainbow gleaming in splendid clouds, as a flower of roses in springtime, and as lilies by flowing waters, as a frankincense-bearing branch in summertime. He calls the "clouds of glory" the splendid clouds, which the rainbow illuminates with its brilliance and to which it communicates its glory, that is, its radiance and beauty. Hence the Complutensian Greek reads thus (the Roman: in the clouds, or among the clouds and mists, as our translator renders), that is: as a rainbow illuminating clouds of glory, that is, clouds glorious and splendid with brightness. From the stars, moon, and sun he descends to the rainbow, and compares Simon to it; for the brilliance and three-colored beauty of the rainbow is admirable, as I showed at length in chapter XLIII, 12. From the rainbow he descends to the most fragrant and beautiful flowers, namely roses and lilies, which are "by the flowing waters," that is, which are situated by running waters, and by them are watered, nourished, and made to bloom; for lilies, being dry and warm, love and thirst for water. See what I said about lilies at Hosea, chapter XIV, verse 3. From flowers he passes to aromatics, namely frankincense; by "frankincense" here understand not the spice, but the tree that produces the aromatic frankincense; for the Greek reads: as a shoot or branch of frankincense, or frankincense-bearing, as Vatablus translates. He adds "in the days of summer"; for in summer, struck by the heat of the sun, this little frankincense-bearing tree exhales a sweeter vapor and fragrance than at any other time, since the sun draws it out, which happens especially around the rising of the Dog Star, as Pliny says, book XII, chapter XIV. These similitudes signify that Simon was, first, wonderfully handsome in himself and composed in conduct; second, venerable and lovable to the people; third, that he dispelled the vices of the people by the light of his teaching and by the fragrance and example of his holy life.
Note the words: as the flower of roses in the days of spring. For in spring the rose exhales a wonderful fragrance, because of the warmth of spring. Hence the rose makes spring pleasant, beautiful, fragrant, so that, as the Poet says, the most beautiful year turns; for the rose is the purple of spring. Allegorically, this flower is Christ, our Nazarene,
all in bloom, who, more beautiful than any flower in His patient suffering in spring, "bloomed with the color of His shed blood," says St. Ambrose, book On the Holy Spirit, chapter V. And so in that crown of thorns, spreading Himself out on the cross like a rose and drenching Himself with His own blood, He wonderfully shone and gleamed, and His type of old was the flame burning in the midst of the bush, Exodus III. Again He "bloomed"; because when He seemed to have withered on the cross, cut down, He blushed more elegantly, like a royal flower, and blooming green again for the eternity of His kingdom. Hear St. Ambrose, in the passage already cited, treating that verse about Christ, Isaiah XI, 1: And a flower shall rise from his root: "A flower," he says, "cut down preserves its fragrance, and crushed increases it, nor when plucked does it lose it: so too the Lord Jesus, the royal virgin flower, on that gibbet of the cross was neither withered by crushing nor vanished by plucking; but cut by that piercing of the lance, He bloomed more beautifully with the color of His shed blood, He who knew not how to die, dead yet exhales the gift of eternal life." Indeed the very thorns reddened with blood — no longer thorns, but sweetly blushing roses or carnation flowers — a Spanish poet most aptly described, says our Jacobus Pintus in On Christ Crucified, book IV, title IV, passage 1, number 15.
Tropologically, the rose signifies purity, modesty, charity, mortification (for the rose is hedged with thorns and is born among them), which wonderfully adorn the faithful, especially priests. See what I said about the rose and rose-like Saints at Acts, chapter XII, verse 13. To these add St. Elizabeth, queen of Portugal, who flourished in the year of our Lord 1300 (from whom all the kings of Portugal and the modern kings of Spain descend in direct genealogical succession, number 14), whom recently Urban VIII enrolled in the catalogue of saints on account of her extraordinary holiness. Since she was lavish in almsgiving and therefore accused before her husband King Denis of squandering the wealth of the kingdom, and one day when she met the king with her lap full of coins to be distributed to the poor, and the king asked: What are you carrying in your lap? she replied: "I am carrying roses," and opening her lap she showed the king roses; for God, to cover the queen's piety, had turned the coins into roses; but when the king departed the roses turned back into coins, which she distributed to the poor: so her Life relates. Fittingly, for the rose by its whiteness is a symbol of integrity, and equally of charity, and by its redness a symbol of beneficence, especially because the rose is medicinal and beneficial, and serves in many confections.
Therefore Rabanus says: "What," he says, "is expressed by the flowers of roses in the days of spring, if not the blood of the Martyrs in the verdure of the nascent Church? For then especially were holy preachers slaughtered for the doctrine of the Evangelical faith: and what by the lilies, if not the order of the chaste and virgins, who in the passing of this fleeting age have made themselves eunuchs for the love of God?"
9. AS A BRIGHT FIRE (when a flame gleams by night and rises on high, says Palacius) AND FRANKINCENSE BURNING IN THE FIRE. — The Greek joins fire with frankincense in this way: As fire and frankincense in a brazier. Here frankincense is taken as the spice, not the tree; hence the Syriac: As the fragrance of frankincense upon censers. For Simon is compared to a gleaming fire and to frankincense burning in it, which two things joined together refresh those standing by with their splendor, warmth, and fragrance; for in a similar way Simon the pontiff excelled in the splendor of wisdom, and in the ardor and sweetness of devotion most pleasing to God, like frankincense. So Rabanus: "In frankincense," he says, "pure prayer is expressed, which gives fragrance in the days of summer; because its scent is spread in the brightness of faith, and burns in the fire of love; for although the fragrance of frankincense smells good by itself, when placed on fire it gives off a stronger fragrance: so too pure prayer, although by itself pleasing to God, nevertheless if it perseveres in love with the fire of sufferings applied, it will give off a more pleasing fragrance before the eyes of God."
Roses especially signify modesty, lilies chastity, frankincense prayer, fire charity, which are the primary endowments and virtues of Simon, that is, of a priest, especially a Prelate and Pontiff, according to what is said of Onias III, Simon's great-grandson, in II Maccabees XV, 12, that Judas Maccabeus saw: "Onias, who had been the high priest, a good and kind man, modest in appearance, gentle in manners, gracious in speech, and one who had been exercised in virtues from his childhood, stretching forth his hands and praying for all the people of the Jews." For this reason the priest burns frankincense to God in the sacred rites and at the same time prays: "Let my prayer be set before You as incense, O Lord." For the priest ought to be a man of prayer, and so powerful and mighty in it that he intervenes as a mediator between God and the people, and as it were binds the hands of an angry God and reconciles Him with the people; just as Aaron, by offering incense, stopped the plague of fire raging among the people, Numbers XVI, 47. The recently departed Father Avila said admirably: Let the priest be like a second Moses resisting the wrath of God, and like a second Aaron stopping the plague of God. Let him therefore be strong in the gift of prayer, not from himself but from the breathing of the Holy Spirit; let him plead for the whole people with unutterable groaning, as Christ did on the cross, Hebrews V, 7. Let him therefore put on the groaning and ardor of Christ.
St. Gregory of Nyssa says admirably, in his treatise On the Goal of the Christian: "We must," he says, "devote ourselves more to prayer, since it is as it were a certain leader of the choir of virtues, and through its hidden and spiritual holiness and unspeakable affection it unites to God the one who perseveres in prayer; who, burning with desire, finds no satiation of prayer, indeed is always seized by an appetite for good things, according to what has been said: Those who eat me will still hunger; and those who drink me will still thirst; and elsewhere: You have put gladness in my heart, Psalm IV, 7. And the Lord, Luke XVII, 21: The kingdom of heaven is within you, called the kingdom the joy implanted from above in souls through the Spirit: which is the pledge of the everlasting joy that the souls of the Saints will then enjoy."
10. AS A SOLID VESSEL OF GOLD, ADORNED WITH EVERY PRECIOUS STONE. — The Syriac: As a necklace of gold, most finely wrought and adorned with precious stones; Vatablus: As a vessel solid with gold, decorated with every kind of glory. He alludes to the Breastplate of the pontiff, which was composed of gold and twelve precious gems, representing the same number of the pontiff's virtues, about which I said much at Exodus XXVIII, 17, and therefore I will not add more here. Mystically, Rabanus says: "In the gold," he says, "the splendor of wisdom is expressed; in the precious stones, the beauty of virtues: when therefore sacred virtues are mingled with the brilliance of wisdom, the vessel of the soul possessing these is shown to be most precious."
11. AS A FRUITFUL OLIVE TREE, AND A CYPRESS RISING UP ON HIGH, WHEN HE TOOK THE ROBE OF GLORY AND WAS CLOTHED WITH THE COMPLETION OF POWER. — The Syriac: As a beautiful olive tree with great branches, and as a tree of ointment laden (loaded; the Arabic: wrapped) with branches, in receiving the garments of holiness (holy garments), and in clothing himself with garments of glory. Here, after many other comparisons, he compares Simon to the olive and the cypress, just as he compared wisdom to the same in chapter XXIV, verses 17 and 19, to show that wisdom and the wise man, such as Simon was, embrace in themselves all the value and all the beauty of all things, that is, that he contains in himself everything that is precious and beautiful in the heavens as well as on earth, namely in trees, flowers, aromatics, gems, metals, etc. He therefore compares him here to the olive, both because the olive is a tree beautiful in its foliage and fruitful in its produce; for it bears olives from which oil is made, which is at once light, food, and medicine; for it gives light in a lamp, feeds the hungry, and heals wounds and diseases, as St. Bernard says, Sermon 45 on the Song of Songs, on the text: Your name is oil poured out. All these things Simon provided for the people, and every wise and holy person does. Hence for "fruitful olive" the Greek reads: sprouting forth fruits. Again he compares Simon, vested in his pontifical garments and walking gravely and handsomely in the temple, to the cypress, both because of his mental loftiness (for the cypress raises its top most high), and because of its beauty; for the cypress is so handsomely clothed with its fronds arranged in such fitting order that it has the appearance of a beautifully combed and groomed human head. Hence the Greek reads: As a beautiful or handsome olive, sprouting forth fruits, and as a cypress raised up to the clouds or as far as the clouds; the Zurich edition: As an elegant and fruitful olive, as a cypress towering to the very clouds, when he put on the glorious vestment and was clothed with all magnificence, and in the ascent of the altar he adorned the garment of holiness. Which our translator renders: When he took the robe of glory, that is, when he put on the pontifical vestments, which were glorious and magnificent, and indicators of divinity: for the pontiff represented the divine power and the very deity itself, in the name "YHWH" engraved on the golden plate, as well as in the Breastplate and all the rest of the ornamentation: "And to be clothed with the completion of power," that is, when he was clothed with that perfect and consummate ornamentation which was the sign, symbol, and proof of priestly and pontifical power, that is, of authority and prerogative. In Greek: When he clothed himself with the completion of glorying, that is, with the consummate beauty and glory of the pontifical vestments. So of Aaron's vestment he said at chapter XLV, verse 9: "He girded him with a belt of glory and crowned him with vessels of power." Palacius says otherwise: The completion of power, he says, is the name given to the plate on which the most consummate power, that is, the name of God "YHWH," was engraved. Rightly therefore the glorious pontiff Simon is compared to the cypress, because the cypress is an elegant, straight, tall, ever-green, and tapering tree, ending above in a point and cone, especially if it is a male (for of cypresses some are male, others female). Hence the Poet calls it cone-bearing and aerial. So Virgil: Aerial oaks or cone-bearing cypresses. And Martial, book II: Laurel groves, plane trees, and aerial cypresses. Conversely, because the cypress once cut never grows green again, it was considered funereal by the pagans and consecrated to the infernal gods, and hence called dark and mournful; because the dead, as if completely cut down, do not come back to life, and nothing more is to be hoped from the dead. So Pliny, book XVI, chapter XXII. Hence also Ovid, book III of the Tristia, elegy 13: Dark cypress, wreathed with funeral garlands, round me.
Mystically, Rabanus says: "In the olive," he says, "the light of faith and the affection of mercy are understood; in the cypress, the height of perfection and the most sweet fragrance of good will that the Saints possess." See what I said about the symbols of the olive and cypress at chapter XXIV, verses 17 and 19. And Palacius: Simon, he says, was like the olive, which in its oil represents charity toward neighbors; and the cypress, which by its tallness and straightness rising to heaven shows contemplation and charity directed toward God. The pontiff has a mirror in which he may see what he ought to be, namely as kind and pure as the morning star, the moon, and the sun are — so pure in themselves, so kind toward us; again, as the rainbow reminds God of His covenant not to destroy the earth by a flood, so let the Pontiff be so holy that he may remind God not to condemn sinners to the punishments of hell; third, as roses, lilies, and the Sabaean tree are so fragrant, so let the Pontiff be the good fragrance of Christ; fourth, as fire burns and purifies, so let the zeal of the Pontiff burn and drive away filth; fifth, as frankincense gives fragrance in the fire, so let him in persecution; sixth, let him be a golden vessel by charity, solid by humility, adorned with all gems, that is, with all virtues; seventh, let him be an olive by mercy, a cypress in the elevation of the mind.
Symbolically, note here that eminent Saints are compared to the olive because they excelled in the oil of piety and mercy. Hence some even after death exude oil, because in life they were more than others devoted to works of piety and charity, whose symbol is oil. Thus oil flows from the body of St. Nicholas, St. Catherine, St. Walburga. On this matter hear Philip, Bishop of Eichstatt, in the Life of St. Willibald, the first Bishop of Eichstatt, chapter XXXIV: "And therefore the flowing of sacred oil from the bodies of Saints represents and prefigures the fullness of overflowing mercy and the abundance of heartfelt piety, and the soothing quality of gentleness; for these Saints, who have the source of the emanation of sacred oil, were most merciful and most pious in life, and therefore, having obtained mercy, they become laudably known to men after death through signs of mercy and piety. Thus Blessed Walburga the virgin, as a fruitful olive in the house of the Lord, and as a beautiful olive in the fields of the Church, spread abroad her name through the oil poured forth. For by the rivulet of her sacred emanation, the knowledge of her holiness has been derived to the ends of the earth, illuminating the blind with the oil of mercy and piety, spiritually and bodily feeding the hungry with good things, by the affection of holy desire, and healing those wounded in body and ministering to the broken-hearted."
12. IN GOING UP TO THE HOLY ALTAR, HE GAVE GLORY TO THE GARMENT OF HOLINESS. — The Syriac: In his going out to receive praise with the beauty of the virtue of the sanctuary, that is, in clothing himself with those things that displayed honor and glory, whether garments or ornaments. Note the word "going up"; for the altar was elevated, and one had to ascend to it. Hence "altar is called as it were a high ara: ara, because victims burn on it," says St. Isidore, book XV of Origins, chapter IV. In Greek: He glorified the garment of the sanctuary. Which you may first translate with the Complutensian: He glorified the circuits of holiness, that is, he glorified the enclosure of the sanctuary, as if to say: The Pontiff, adorned with pontifical magnificence, decorated and glorified the entire circuit of the temple. Second, the Greek word signifies not only the enclosure but also the garment. Hence it is better translated with the Roman edition: In the ascent of the holy altar he gave glory by the garment of holiness; the Zurich edition: He adorned the garment of holiness; others: He glorified the most sacred garment, as if to say: Simon the pontiff by his gravity and holiness glorified the pontifical vestment and the priesthood itself, so much so that he honored and adorned the pontificate rather than being adorned by it.
Our translator seems to have meant the same when he translated: He gave glory to the garment of holiness, as if to say: He made the garment of holiness to be a glory, that is, he made it glorious, decorated and glorified it by the dignity and majesty of his person; for so kings and princes who are grave, adorned in conduct, and composed in all things, adorn their royal robes more than they are adorned by them. Well known is that saying of the Emperor Alexander Severus: "Imperial majesty consists in virtue, not in bodily adornment." And that of Alfonso, king of Aragon, in Panormitanus, book I of His Deeds: "I prefer to excel my subjects in conduct and authority rather than in diadem and purple." For those who are unworthy but decorated with purple are, as the saying goes, monkeys in purple, to whom that remark of St. Jerome from Cicero applies: "Caesar, by elevating the unworthy, did not honor them but disgraced the very ornaments." Nevertheless our Latin version could be taken simply thus, as if to say: Simon "gave glory to the garment of holiness," that is, Simon was splendid and glorious in the garment of holiness, both internal and external. Hence Vatablus translates: "He was distinguished in the garment of holiness." For the sanctity, gravity, and interior composure of Simon's conduct adorned that sacred arrangement and external ornamentation of the pontifical vestments, which was merely a certain sign and representation of interior holiness, as I said at Exodus XXVIII, 30. From this let priests learn to adorn themselves with those holy virtues and conduct that the Order and the habit themselves require and indicate, and to adorn the priesthood with them and commend it to the people, rather than be adorned and decorated by it. Hence Rabanus: "In the ascent of the altar," he says, "he will give glory to the garment of holiness who duly keeps the rights of his priesthood, so as to teach his subjects rightly and daily pour forth prayers to God on their behalf." So St. Paul, Ephesians III, 6, and II Corinthians IV, 6, says he illuminated the Gospel, because by his admirable teaching and life he made it brighter, more splendid, and more illustrious.
13 and 14. AND IN RECEIVING THE PORTIONS (he reads the Greek for "portions"; others now read "members") FROM THE HANDS OF THE PRIESTS, HE HIMSELF STOOD BY THE ALTAR (in Greek: by the hearth of the altar). AND AROUND HIM A CROWN OF BROTHERS: AS A PLANTING OF CEDAR (the Complutensian: of cedars) ON MOUNT LEBANON, SO AROUND HIM THEY STOOD LIKE BRANCHES OF PALMS, AND ALL THE SONS OF AARON IN THEIR GLORY. — So the Roman Bible punctuates these verses, although Jansenius and others punctuate differently. The meaning is, as if to say: When Simon the pontiff received the "portions," in Greek "members," that is, the limbs of the sacrificed animals to be offered and placed on the altar of holocausts, to be burned thereon to God, then he himself stood at the altar as priest and pontiff about to sacrifice to God for the whole people: "And around him," that is, surrounding, crowning, and adorning him was "a crown of brothers," namely of lesser pontiffs, priests, and Levites — as it were deacons — who all served him and adorned and honored him; just as a tall cedar on Lebanon has around itself plantings of smaller cedars, by which it is adorned and decorated; and just as a palm tree, raising its crown on high, is surrounded on all sides by branches sprouting from the same trunk, and is encircled as by a crown, branches which eventually insert themselves into the palm and merge with it into one tree — which is why the palm appears completely knotted on the outside: so likewise Simon, towering above the other ministers of God, was encircled by them all around in a ring, who together with him formed one clergy and one priesthood; but in such a way that from Simon they received all their dignity and glory.
Note: These sacrifices were performed daily by the lesser priests; on the more solemn feasts, however, especially the Feast of Expiation, the Pontiff performed them in person, entering and inspecting the Holy of Holies, Leviticus XVI; and then, surrounded by this crown of priests, he displayed the great magnificence of the pontificate, by which he stirred the people to devotion and reverence both toward himself and more toward God. In the antitype the Roman Pontiff does the same, who when he solemnly celebrates in the basilica of Saints Peter and Paul on the feast of Easter and of Sts. Peter and Paul, is surrounded on all sides by purple-clad Cardinals, mitred Bishops, priests, deacons, subdeacons, acolytes, and other ministers of the altar robed in sacred vestments, standing around and ministering in beautiful order, modesty, reverence, and piety. There stand also the ambassadors of Emperors, Kings, and Princes: and finally the whole people in such numbers that the basilica, although most capacious, can scarcely contain them. Finally, the array of persons, the majesty of the sacred rites, the harmony of the musicians, etc., represent the joys of heavenly paradise; in which the nine choirs of Angels jubilate to God in order, and all the companies of Patriarchs, Prophets, Apostles, Martyrs, Virgins, Religious, and Confessors.
So about St. Basil writes his intimate friend St. Gregory of Nazianzus, Oration 20, which is On the Praises of St. Basil, that when the Arian Emperor Valens, hostile to St. Basil, went to the church on the feast of Epiphany to cast him out, he saw St. Basil surrounded by his clergy, with such majesty and
piety performing the sacred rites, that he suffered vertigo and nearly fell into a faint. But hear St. Gregory narrating the event: "For when he had entered, and the singing of the psalms had resounded in his ears no differently than a certain thunderclap, and he saw the sea of the people, and all the order and harmony that reigned both in the sanctuary and near the sanctuary — more angelic than human — and the man himself standing erect before the people, as Scripture describes Samuel, not moving his body, his eyes, or his mind in any direction, as if nothing new had happened, but as it were fixed to God and to the altar; and those by whom he was surrounded, standing with a certain fear and reverence: these things, I say, as soon as he beheld them (for he had never seen anything like it), he was overcome by a human weakness, and was wholly filled with dizziness of the eyes and darkness. And this was still obscure and unknown to most. But when the gifts, which he himself had provided, were to be offered on the divine table, and no one, as the custom required, took them at the same time (because it was not sufficiently clear whether Basil would accept them); then indeed he manifestly betrayed his feelings: for he began to totter so much that, if one of the ministers of the sanctuary had not held him up by placing a hand under him as he swayed, he would certainly have fallen miserably and lamentably."
The emulator and follower of St. Basil was St. Ambrose, who accordingly, when the Emperor Theodosius after the Offertory stood within the chancel rails in the church, inquired through a deacon why he was lingering there; and when the emperor replied: To watch the sacred mysteries being performed; he sent the deacon again to inform him that he should recognize his proper place: for the spot where he was standing was designated for priests surrounding the Pontiff; and he added: "The purple makes an emperor, not at all a priest." Theodosius, reverencing the majesty of so great a bishop, obeyed; and removed himself outside the chancel rails to the place of the laity and the people.
Mystically, Rabanus says: "It is good," he says, "that he who is first in rank should be foremost in good works and in learned teaching. Then his brothers should surround him, that is, imitate him: for by brothers here we can understand priests, deacons, and other men of lower orders, who should follow the pious example of the good shepherd, and before the whole synagogue of Israel, that is, the multitude of believers, worthily perform the office of their order, so that thereby all may be moved to praise almighty God; for so the Truth Himself commanded in the Gospel, saying: So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven," Matthew V.
15, 16, and 17. AND THE OFFERING OF THE LORD WAS IN THEIR HANDS, BEFORE THE WHOLE CONGREGATION OF ISRAEL: AND PERFORMING THE COMPLETION AT THE ALTAR, TO AMPLIFY THE OFFERING OF THE MOST HIGH KING, HE STRETCHED FORTH HIS HAND FOR THE LIBATION, AND POURED OUT FROM THE BLOOD OF THE GRAPE. HE POURED OUT AT THE FOOT OF THE ALTAR A DIVINE FRAGRANCE TO THE MOST HIGH PRINCE. — The Syriac: With all the sons of Aaron, his brethren, surrounding him as equals in his own honor, holding the offerings in their hands before the whole people of Israel, until they completed (another codex has: he completed, namely Simon the Pontiff) ministering at the altar, and ministering in the joy of holiness; he reached his hand to the pitcher, and took its wine, and poured it upon the side of the altar as a fragrance of good pleasure. For "performing the completion," the Greek reads: completing the ministry and sacrificing; that is, performing the perfect and consummate function of the priesthood, or carrying out the final parts of the sacrifice, and completing the sacrifice: for the final part was the libation of the blood of the grape, that is, the pouring of wine on the pavement of the altar: for by this pouring the wine was consumed in honor of God, and therefore was considered to be offered and sacrificed to Him. Palacius explains it differently: for by "completion" he understands the holocaust; for since the whole was burned, it was therefore a perfect and consummate sacrifice. In the preceding verses he showed the beauty of the crown of priests surrounding the Pontiff; now he declares their work and ministry, as if to say: The priests surrounding the Pontiff hold the offering in their hands, which they hand to the Pontiff, so that he may offer it to God. Then the Pontiff, about to complete the sacrifice and put the finishing touch, to add greater glory to the offering of God Most High, stretches forth his hand to a bowl full of wine, which he pours out on the pavement of the altar, offering it as a libation, that is, sacrificing and offering it to God Most High, according to what is prescribed in Numbers XXVIII, 7: "He shall offer wine for a libation as a sweet fragrance;" in Greek: a fragrance of sweet savor, which words Sirach likewise uses here in the Greek. But our translator rendered it as "divine fragrance": both because it was most sweet and excellent, being the finest and most fragrant wine — for the best things belong to God and are therefore called divine; and because it was dedicated and consecrated to God; and finally because just as in the sacrificial victims, so also in the libation they added frankincense; which he calls "divine" because by common custom among all nations it is offered and burned to no one but God, as I said at Leviticus II, 2.
Hear about immolation and libation from St. Isidore, book VI of Origins, chapter XIX: "Immolation is so called because the victim is placed on the mass (moles) of the altar (others derive it from salted meal, that is, flour mixed with salt sprinkled on the head of the victim), whence also the slaughter follows the immolation. Now however immolation belongs to the bread and the cup: but the libation of the cup is merely an offering. Hence that verse: And he poured out from the blood of the grape. So also the Poet, Aeneid VII: Now, he says, pour libations from bowls to Jupiter. For to pour a libation properly means to pour out, and the word is taken from Liber (Bacchus), who discovered the use of wine in Greece." Sirach speaks of the magnificence of Simon's sacrifices as something recent, which he himself beheld with his own eyes, and the pleasant memory of which endures among all.
Allegorically, Rabanus says: "The completed offering is offered," he says, "to the Most High King, when the body of Christ is offered on the sacred altar to God, the ruler of all, where also the libation is made with the blood of the grape, when the blood of the Redeemer is presented in the chalice: which is to be poured out at the foot of the altar, that is, the whole thing is to be done in commemoration of our Redeemer; for He Himself is the foundation that bears the whole edifice of the Church. The fragrance of this offering is most sweet to the Most High Prince, because it is well-pleasing and most agreeable to God the Father Almighty." Finally, the blood of the grape most fittingly represents the blood of Christ: for this is wine not white but very red, which has the color of blood: and the people of Palestine have red wine, not white. See Delrio, adage 52.
18. THEN THE SONS OF AARON SHOUTED, THEY SOUNDED WITH BEATEN TRUMPETS, AND THEY MADE A GREAT NOISE TO BE HEARD AS A MEMORIAL BEFORE GOD. — The Syriac: A powerful voice to bless before the entire people. For God had commanded Moses, Numbers X, to make two hammered trumpets of silver, with which the sons of Aaron should sound at feasts during the time of sacrifice. For verse 10 says: "When you shall have a feast, and festival days and first days of months, you shall sound the trumpets over the holocausts and peace-offerings, that they may be for a memorial of your God"; so that by this jubilation you may testify that you remember God, to whom you jubilate, and in turn and even more so that God, moved by this your devotion and eagerness of spirit, may remember you, hear your prayers and vows, and be propitious and beneficent to you. This very thing Sirach calls: "As a memorial before the Lord," so that God, aroused by this jubilation of your trumpets, may be mindful of you and do good to you. Hence the Zurich edition translates: To make a great sound for the sake of commendation, by which they commend themselves to God: Vatablus: for the sake of celebration, by which they praise and celebrate God. Moreover, to these two trumpets David and Solomon added many others, and entrusted them to the priests for sounding at the time of immolation, while the Levites played cymbals, harps, and psalteries. For this is what is said in II Chronicles V, 12, at the dedication of Solomon's temple: "The Levites as well as the singers, etc., clothed in fine linen, sounded with cymbals and psalteries and harps, standing at the eastern side of the altar, and with them a hundred and twenty priests sounding trumpets. Therefore, when all together with trumpets and voices and cymbals and organs and various kinds of instruments played in concert, and raised their voice on high, the sound was heard from afar; so that when they began to praise the Lord and to say: Give thanks to the Lord for He is good, for His mercy endures forever, the house of God was filled with a cloud." So in the antitype, with far greater reason and right, in the sacrifice of the Mass at the time of the Offertory and the Consecration, singers and musicians sound forth with voices and organs. Hear St. Isidore, book I of On Ecclesiastical Offices, chapter XIV: "The Offertories," he says, "which are sung in honor of the sacrifices, the book of Ecclesiasticus is evidence that the ancients were accustomed to sing when victims were immolated. Then the sons of Aaron shouted, he says, with trumpets. Not otherwise now too, in the sound of the trumpet, that is, in the proclamation of the voice, we kindle by song, and at the same time proclaiming praises to the Lord with heart and deed, we jubilate, in that true sacrifice, by whose blood the world was saved."
Therefore not only singers, but also Angels surround the altar at that time with the greatest reverence, and jubilate to God with harmonious voice. Hear St. Chrysostom, book VI of On the Priesthood: "At that time Angels also sit by the priest, and the whole order of the heavenly powers raises up shouts, and the place near the altar is surrounded by choirs of Angels in honor of Him who is immolated." I reviewed more examples of Angels ministering at the sacrifice of the Mass at Numbers IV, 49; and St. Gregory, book IV of Dialogues, chapter LVIII: "Who of the faithful," he says, "can have any doubt that at the very hour of the immolation the heavens open at the voice of the priest, that in that mystery of Jesus Christ choirs of angels are present, that the lowest are united with the highest, that earthly things are joined to heavenly, and that one thing is made from visible and invisible."
Allegorically, Rabanus says: "The sons of Aaron," he says, "are the priests of Christ and ministers of the divine altar: they raise their voices with beaten trumpets, that is, they offer the preaching of doctrine perfected through suffering as a memorial before the Lord. And they are aptly called 'beaten' because the faithful, struck by various sufferings, with the Lord's generosity make progress, and grow so much the more as they have been struck by the repeated blows of a hard hammer. For the hammer is the devil, of whom the Prophet says: The hammer of the whole earth is broken," Jeremiah L.
19. THEN ALL THE PEOPLE TOGETHER MADE HASTE AND FELL DOWN UPON THE EARTH ON THEIR FACES, TO WORSHIP THE LORD THEIR GOD, AND TO OFFER THEIR PRAYERS TO THE ALMIGHTY GOD MOST HIGH. — The Syriac: and they raised their voice in confession (in praise and thanksgiving), and delighted together in prayer, as if to say: Stirred by the offering and unanimous trumpet blast of the priests, the people, following them as their leaders, likewise put on the spirit of devotion, and falling prostrate to the ground worshipped God, and offered Him their prayers and vows. Nebuchadnezzar commanded the same to be done at the dedication of the golden statue, Daniel III, 5 and 6. In a similar manner the whole Christian people of old used to join in with the priests, responding: Amen, as St. Paul testifies, I Corinthians XIV, 16. Hence St. Jerome, Preface to the Epistle to the Galatians, book II: "Like heavenly thunder," he says, "the Amen resounds." And Ausonius, in the Ephemeris: Harmonious songs celebrate him with the melodies of David. And the Amen strikes the air with answering voices. Indeed, in many places in Germany on the feast of Easter and the Nativity of Christ, the whole people in the church sing hymns to Christ being born and rising again, and jubilate with resounding voices, to testify to the joy and devotion of their souls.
20. AND THE SINGERS LIFTED UP THEIR VOICES, AND IN THE GREAT HOUSE THE SOUND WAS INCREASED, FULL OF SWEETNESS. — For "the singers lifted up their voices," the Greek reads: and the singers praised with their voices. Hence it is clear that the word "singers" in our text is not to be taken as a participle attributed to the whole people, but as a noun for the cantors, so that the meaning is: "And the singers;" that is, says Jansenius, the Levites, whose duty by David's institution it was to sing psalms and songs, with the people prostrate on the ground, "lifted up" God "with their voices," that is, they glorified Him and extolled His praise amply and magnificently: and so in that great building of the temple and its courts, the sound was increased, full of melody. First, then, the priests sounded the trumpet, next the people prostrated themselves on the ground, and the singers performed their office. While they were singing, he adds what the people did, saying: "And the people entreated," etc. For "in the great house" the Greek reads: in the very great house; for which some read: in the whole house, as if to say: Because the house of God was spacious and covered with a vault, the sweet harmony of the musicians was amplified therein; for vaulted ceilings, because they contain and reverberate sounds, amplify the sound and sometimes produce an echo. The Complutensian reads: in the great, or manifold sound. So also Vatablus: The singers, he says, with their voices offered praises, so that a sweet song was produced with abundant sound; others: And the singers of psalms praised with their voices, sweetening with the manifold sound of their melodies. So too today when on solemn feasts there are many and numerous choirs of musicians, a wonderfully sonorous and harmonious melody and most sweet concert is produced from the consonant modulation of so many voices.
21. AND THE PEOPLE ENTREATED THE LORD MOST HIGH IN PRAYER, UNTIL THE HONOR OF THE LORD WAS ACCOMPLISHED, AND THEY HAD COMPLETED THEIR MINISTRY. — These words belong to verse 19 and complete it; for they signify that the people continued to worship God as long as the priests and singers were celebrating God with sacrifices and psalms, as if to say: The people, assenting to the priests and Levites, and as it were joining in, continued to entreat and pray to God, until the honor — in Greek kosmos, that is, ornamentation — was completed; that is, the ornate psalmody, sacrifices, ceremonies, and worship of the Lord, namely until the priests and singers had completed their "ministry," in Greek liturgy, that is, the sacred ministry of sacrificing and singing. Hence Vatablus translates: Meanwhile the people supplicated the most high Lord and poured out prayers before the merciful One, until His worship was completed and the sacred ministries were performed. For it is the people's part to follow the priests and accompany them in the worship of God, so that both parties in turn perform their parts in worshipping God.
Note here: The worship of the sacred rites is called kosmos, that is, ornamentation: first, because in itself it was beautiful and becoming; second, because it adorned the Church and God Himself; third, kosmos signifies the elegance and ornamentation of the priestly vestments that the priests used until they completed the sacred rites, with which they honored both the sacred things and God, for whom they performed them. Note, second, the word "completed": From this let the laity learn not to depart from the church, nor to cease from prayer and praise of God, until the priests have finished their sacrifices, psalmodies, sermons, and teachings; for just as God requires a perfect sacrifice and praise from the priests, so also from the people.
22. THEN COMING DOWN, HE LIFTED UP HIS HANDS OVER THE WHOLE CONGREGATION OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL, TO GIVE GLORY TO GOD FROM HIS LIPS, AND TO GLORY IN HIS NAME. — The Complutensian Greek, for "to give glory to God," reads: to give the blessing of the Lord, namely to the people; for Sirach seems here to signify the blessing that the priest bestowed upon the people after the completed sacrifice, saying: "The Lord bless you and keep you," etc., Numbers VI, 24. And so Aaron blessed the people after celebrating his first offerings, Leviticus IX, 23. But the corrected Roman Greek, Vatablus, the Zurich edition and others read the word as "to the Lord" in the dative; hence they translate: To give blessing to the Lord, that is, to bless, praise, and glorify the Lord; which our translator clearly renders: To give glory to God. For the priest, in blessing the people, at the same time blessed God; because from God as the giver of all good, whose magnificence and beneficence he celebrated, he prayed for the people every grace and every good: by which prayer he certainly signified and professed that God is the fountain of all good, which is indeed to bless and praise God, and "to glory in His name," because he assigned the praise and glory of every good to God. Hence Vatablus translates: Then when he had descended, he stretched forth his hands to the whole assembly of the Israelites, offering praises to the Lord with his lips, and glorying in His name. He alludes to the act of Solomon, who at the dedication of his temple, after the sacrifices were completed, blessed both God and the people thus: "Blessed be the Lord who has given rest to His people Israel, etc. May the Lord our God be with you, etc. Let our heart also be perfect before the Lord our God," etc., III Kings VIII, 56. Jonathan and Nehemiah the priests did the same in the sacrifices they offered at the purification of the temple, at which God sent new fire from heaven upon the victims, II Maccabees I, 23: "And the priests," he says, "offered prayers while the sacrifice was being consumed, Jonathan beginning and the rest responding. And the prayer of Nehemiah was in this manner: 'Lord God, creator of all things, terrible and strong, just and merciful, who alone are the good king, alone excellent, alone just and almighty and eternal, who made the chosen fathers and sanctified them, accept the sacrifice for Your whole people Israel, and guard Your portion and sanctify it,'" etc. Where you plainly see that the priests blessed God as well as the people: God, by praising Him and congratulating Him on His attributes; the people, by praying and asking for good things for them from God. Therefore the priest did both, and both pertained to him by his office.
Hence Palacius: The blessing of Solomon, he says, III Kings VIII, was to exalt God and to show Him faithful in His promises, and he strove to obtain happy things for the people from God, at the same time praising the divine power that could do all that it willed. In the same manner Simon acted; for turning to the congregation, which stood attentive in the courts, he lifted up his hands to heaven, giving glory to God with his lips and exulting in His name, because he had received such great blessings from Him. Then turning back to the altar, he again poured out a prayer before the Lord for the happiness of Israel, showing that happiness depends on God. Therefore the Pontiff, in blessing the people, raised his hand upward; then he lowered it downward, and next moved it from left to right, tracing the form of the cross, says Jansenius, Palacius, and others. See what was said at chapter XXXVI, verse 19; the people, for their part, received the Pontiff's blessing on bended knees, just as we see happening now in Rome when the Pontiff solemnly blesses the people, especially on the feast of the Ascension of Christ, to imitate His blessing, about which I said more at Acts I, 9.
23. AND HE REPEATED HIS PRAYER, WISHING TO SHOW THE POWER OF GOD — supply: that he acknowledged and commended it, as if to say: Simon the Pontiff, out of devotion both his own and the people's, raising his hands a second time, blessed both God and the people, so that by this blessing, exulting, he might show and publicly celebrate the power of God: first, God's might, holiness, and magnificence; second, God's faithfulness and goodness, by which He continually bestowed so many blessings on Israel; third, this "power" can be understood as the efficacy of the blessing that the Pontiff gave the people, as if to say: Simon repeated his blessing to show that it would be efficacious and would truly be fulfilled; because in the name and by the command of God who promised to ratify it and actually carry it out, he bestowed it on the people, Numbers VI, 24. Hence the Greek for "power" reads "blessing," that is, beneficence, grace. For "he repeated" our translator reads the Greek in the singular; but the Complutensian and several others read it in the plural, meaning "they repeated," namely the Israelites. Again, for "to show" our translator reads one form; but the Complutensian and others read another meaning "to receive"; hence they explain this verse of the people, not the Pontiff, and translate thus: And they repeated the adoration, to receive the blessing from the Most High; the Zurich edition: Hence again prayers were repeated to receive the kindness of the Most High; Vatablus: to obtain grace from the Most High. These words signify, says Jansenius, that the people, who earlier during the sacrifice had once prostrated themselves on the ground, as was said in verse 19, when the sacrifice was completed and Simon the Pontiff was about to bless them, again prostrated themselves in adoration of God, to receive the blessing not so much from the Pontiff as from God Most High, as the Pontiff prayed for them, saying: "The Lord bless you." Hence in our version too, in the verb "he repeated" the noun "people" can be supplied, and the word "prayer" can be taken as "adoration," as the Greek has it, so that the meaning would be: And the people, while the priest blessed them, repeated their adoration, wishing to show the power of God, that is, to acknowledge it. But more aptly these words are referred to the Pontiff, as is evident from the conjunction "and," which connects these words directly to what precedes; and the preceding words pertain to Simon the Pontiff, not to the people. In addition, the corrected Greek reads in the singular in precisely the way our translator reads it; for it has: And he repeated in adoration, that is, he repeated the adoration, to show the blessing from the Most High, as if to say: Simon worshipped God to show that he blessed the people not in his own name and power, but in God's, whose help he implored by worshipping, so that God would make His blessing efficacious and bring it to effect. For to Simon pertains all this praise.
Morally, learn here that the blessing of Pontiffs as well as of Patriarchs was efficacious, and had great power; and this by the institution and promise of God, who through the Pontiff blessed the people, Numbers VI, 24; and therefore the people eagerly and reverently received it on bended knees. More efficacious is the blessing of Christian Pontiffs, inasmuch as it is given in the name, by the merits, and by the power of Christ, from whom all grace flows to men. See what was said at chapter III, 11, and Numbers VI.
24. AND NOW PRAY TO THE GOD OF ALL, WHO HAS DONE GREAT THINGS IN ALL THE EARTH, WHO HAS INCREASED OUR DAYS FROM OUR MOTHER'S WOMB, AND HAS DEALT WITH US ACCORDING TO HIS MERCY. — So the Roman and Greek texts. Therefore the common reading "And he prayed more" instead of "And now pray" is incorrect. For "pray" the Greek reads "bless"; for the first part of prayer ought to be the blessing of God, that is, praise and thanksgiving, so that by it, winning God's goodwill for ourselves, we may beg and earn new grace from Him, as I showed at I Timothy II, 2. Hence Vatablus translates: Now also give praises to the God of all things, to God magnificent in all things, who has given us to grow from the womb day by day, and has dealt with us according to His mercy. This is the conclusion of the chapter and of the whole book: for after recounting the blessing of Simon the Pontiff, he exhorts the people, following and imitating their Pontiff, to bless God in worship, that is, to praise Him and give Him thanks; and this for a triple reason and cause: the first is general, because God "has done great things in all the earth"; therefore by all the inhabitants of the earth He is to be praised and celebrated with thanksgiving; the second is particular, because God "has increased our days from our mother's womb," because God has preserved and prolonged the days and years of our life from birth up to now, so that some lived to 30, others to 60, others to 70 years, by God's gift, healthy, joyful, faithful, and fortunate: for under "life" understand all things not only necessary to life, but also useful and beneficial, both bodily and spiritual, which God provided for all, but especially for His faithful, namely the Jews, in that age with singular care and providence, as a most provident and beneficent father; for God from the womb through the whole of life, up to the last breath, bears special care and concern for His own. Hence David: "Upon You," he says, "I was cast from the womb," Psalm XXI, 11. And: "By You I have been supported from the womb; from my mother's belly You are my protector," Psalm LXX, 6. And: "You received me from my mother's womb," Psalm CXXXVIII, 13. And Isaiah, chapter XLIV, 2: "The Lord, etc., Your helper from the womb." And chapter XLVI, 3: "You who are carried from my womb, who are borne from my womb." And chapter XLIX, verse 5: "Forming me from the womb as His servant." And verse 1: "The Lord called me from the womb, from my mother's belly He remembered my name." And Jeremiah I, 5: "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you came forth from the womb I sanctified you." The third reason is that He "dealt with us" not according to justice, by which He could justly repay penalties and punishments for our sins, but "according to His mercy," so that He would overlook our sins and pardon the penitent; indeed He would not cease to bestow and repay His grace and all beneficence, both temporal and especially spiritual, both external and internal.
25 and 26. MAY HE GRANT US JOYFULNESS OF HEART, AND THAT THERE BE PEACE IN OUR DAYS IN ISRAEL FOREVER. THAT ISRAEL MAY BELIEVE THAT THE MERCY OF GOD IS WITH US, TO DELIVER US IN HIS DAYS. — For "joyfulness," as the Greek codices corrected at Rome also read, the Complutensian reads "peace"; the Zurich edition and others add: and gladness, or joyfulness. For "forever" the Greek reads: according to the days of the age. For "to believe" the Greek reads a word that the Complutensian translates: That he may make his mercy with fidelity; the Roman: Making his mercy faithful with us. Our translator better renders it: to believe; for the Greek word means the same as "I believe, I give credence," as Budaeus teaches from Galen, Alexander of Aphrodisias, and others in his Commentary on the Greek Language. Hence II Chronicles XX, 20, the Septuagint translates: Believe in the Lord your God, and you shall be safe, as our translator renders. For "in his days" the Greek reads a pronoun that with the Romans can be translated as either "his," namely of Simon the Pontiff, or "our," as if to say: May God deliver us from every evil throughout the whole time of the pontificate and life of Simon our Pontiff, illustrious before God and men. The Complutensian and Vatablus for "our" read "to us." Therefore the corrected Roman Greek reads thus: May He grant us joyfulness of heart, and that there be peace in our days in Israel according to the days of the age, making His mercy faithful with us; and in his (Simon's) days may He deliver us; Vatablus: May He fill us with gladness of soul and grant peace in our times, as in the ancient ages in Israel, that He may confirm the mercy He has toward us, and deliver us in our times; others: May He give us gladness of heart, and that peace be in our days in Israel according to the days of the age, that He may give proof of His mercy among us, and in His days redeem us.
Sirach imitates Simon the Pontiff; therefore, just as the latter concluded the sacrifices with a blessing, so Sirach too concludes his book with a similar blessing, praying for Israel "joyfulness of heart," that is, gladness of soul; because in it consists the happiness of life both present and future, according to what he said at chapter XXX, 23: "Joyfulness of heart is the life of man." Moreover, so that Israel may obtain this gladness, he wishes for Israel perpetual peace, to this end: that Israel, having experienced this continual beneficence of God toward itself, may more surely believe, that is, persuade itself that the mercy of God is perpetually with it, so that it may faithfully entrust and commit itself and all its things to Him, and therefore in any difficulty may have recourse to Him, and with sure confidence invoke Him, and obtain everything it asks of Him, so that He may deliver us from every evil in His days. The "His" can refer to God, as if to say: May God deliver us "in His days," that is, in His perpetual days, in which He cares for, protects, and governs Israel: or rather, you may refer "His" to Israel, as if to say: May God deliver Israel in its days, that is, as long as Israel shall be Israel, namely as long as Israel shall be the Church and people of God. So Palacius: As Simon, he says, prayed for happy things for the people, so the author prays: first, that God may give joyfulness of heart; thus he includes private happiness: for when I am glad at heart, I am happy; for Paul too says: "Rejoice" in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice; second, that He may give peace in our days, and forever: this is public happiness; for peace is the state of all goods; third, he specifically asks that Israel may believe that God's mercy is present with it; for if it believes this, as it ought, it will have deliverance from enemies, for all the days that God shall live. Which God provided, not extinguishing the Jewish nation until Christ, through whom better delivered, they are truly free for all eternity. I speak of spiritual Jews: "For it is not he who is outwardly a Jew; nor is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh: but he who is inwardly a Jew, and circumcision of the heart in the spirit," Romans II, 28. Hence the Syriac converts these three verses, namely 24, 25, 26, thus: And the people of the land praised God, who did wonders in the earth, who created men from their mother's womb and governs them according to His will, to give us knowledge of heart, and may there be peace among them, and may mercy abide with Simon and with his seed like the days of heaven, that is, perpetually, forever.
Dionysius the Carthusian takes the word "to believe with us" etc. somewhat differently, as if to say: May God give Israel peace, inasmuch as the children of Israel scattered here and there among the nations may perceive and believe that God is mercifully with them; and so may they hasten to return to the land of Israel, that He may "deliver them" (for so Dionysius, Jansenius, and others commonly read; but instead of "them" one should read with the Romans and Greeks, "us") from captivity and the servitude of the nations and from every evil. So also Lyranus.
27 and 28. MY SOUL HATES TWO NATIONS (the Syriac: In two nations my soul was grieved); AND THE THIRD IS NOT A NATION THAT I SHOULD HATE: THOSE WHO SIT UPON MOUNT SEIR, AND THE PHILISTINES, AND THE FOOLISH PEOPLE WHO DWELL IN SHECHEM. — Sirach inserts these words about the three nations hostile to Israel, out of love and zeal for Israel. For since he prayed for all good things for Israel and showed his extraordinary affection for it, praying that God might protect it from enemies, he now consequently shows his hatred for three hostile nations, because they were perpetually hostile to Israel; just as he celebrated Israel's faith and piety, so now he detests the infidelity, impiety, and hostility of three nations. The Greek instead of "on Mount Seir" reads "on the mountain of Samaria"; but wrongly: for then not three nations would be named here, but only two, since the Samaritans are the same as the Shechemites; for the capital of the Samaritans, after the city of Samaria was destroyed, was Shechem. See here again how the Latin Vulgate is more correct than and surpasses the Greek originals. For "hates" the Greek reads a word that the Complutensian translates: My soul was burdened; the Roman: My soul hated; Vatablus: My spirit was hostile; others: My soul was offended. The same word occurs in Psalm XCIV, 10, where it says: "For forty years I was offended with that generation"; in Greek the same word, in Hebrew aqot; which Aquila and Symmachus translate: I bore ill, I was offended, I was disgusted; the Chaldean: I spurned; St. Jerome: It displeased me; Vatablus: I quarreled, I contended, I endured with tedium. The meaning therefore is, as if to say: I, Sirach, just as I embrace the faithful and pious Israelites, my fellow citizens, with all the affection of my soul, so I utterly detest three unfaithful and impious nations, which are hateful to God and to His people, namely Israel, since they are neighbors to it and as it were hemming it in, and thus most hostile to it. The first nation is the Edomites, who dwell "on Mount Seir"; for their hatred of Israel began with Esau, their first father, who pursued his brother Jacob with deadly hatred for having snatched from him his birthright, and this paternal hatred his descendants not only imbibed but greatly increased. The second nation is the Philistines; for as is evident from the books of Judges and Kings, they afflicted and harassed Israel with perpetual wars and disasters. The third nation, which I supremely hate, is the Cutheans or Samaritans, most hostile to the Jews, whose capital was Shechem. Hence he says of them: "And the third is not a nation that I should hate"; which words are to be arranged thus, as if to say: "The third nation that I should hate," that is, that I rightly ought to hate, "is not a nation," that is, is not worthy of the name of a nation. Therefore the Syriac and Greek have only: My soul hates two nations, and the third which is not a nation, that is, does not deserve the name of a nation. Or perhaps: "The third is not a nation that I should hate," as if to say: The third, just as it is not a nation, so neither is it worthy of hatred: because it is vile and abject; partly because it was not one nation but an amalgam of many Assyrian peoples, namely Babylonians, Cutheans, Avathites, Evathites, Sepharvaimites, as is evident from IV Kings XVII, 24; it was therefore not so much a nation as a miscellaneous mob of many nations; partly because it was not the nation it boasted itself to be, namely the Jewish people, descended from Jacob and the Patriarchs; for that the Samaritans boasted this of themselves is evident from John IV, 20. Moreover, he calls this nation "foolish"; because together with the true God of the Israelites it worshipped the idols of the Assyrians, as is evident from IV Kings XVII, 24. Hence the Jews especially hated the Samaritans, so much so that they wanted to have no dealings with them, as is evident from John IV, 20. A recent occasion for even greater hatred had arisen, which he hints at with the word "Shechem." For which note that Manasseh, the brother of Jaddua the Pontiff, had taken as wife Nicato, the daughter of Sanballat the Cuthean, whom Darius the king of Persia had appointed governor of Samaria; and when Manasseh, because of this marriage with a foreigner, was about to be stripped of the priesthood at Jerusalem, he considered divorcing her. Sanballat therefore, lest he divorce her, promised him a new pontificate: so he built a temple like the one in Jerusalem on Mount Gerizim, at the foot of which lay Shechem, which was then the capital of Samaria (for Shechem had been made the capital of Samaria by Jeroboam, the first king of Israel, that is, of the ten tribes; and although later King Omri transferred it to the city of Samaria, nevertheless in the time of Alexander the Great Shechem was again raised to the capital of Samaria, as Josephus testifies, book XI of Antiquities. Moreover Shechem in the time of Christ was corruptly called "Sychar," later "Neapolis"), and there he appointed Manasseh his son-in-law as Pontiff. Therefore over this temple, which was schismatic and a rival of the Jerusalem temple, there was continual controversy and contention between the Jews and Samaritans, as is evident from John IV, 20. All this is clear from Josephus, book XI of Antiquities, chapters VII and VIII, and book XII, chapter I. This temple was finally destroyed after two hundred years by Hyrcanus the Pontiff, son of Simon the brother of Judas Maccabeus, as Josephus testifies, book XIII, chapter XVII. Therefore Sirach emphasizes here the hatred of the Shechemites; because their schism and contention flared up again in his time, on account of the schismatic temple recently erected on Gerizim near Shechem; for this was erected in the time of Jaddua the Pontiff, who was the grandfather of Simon the Just, who was contemporary with Sirach. Hence
Josephus, describing the time of Ptolemy Lagus, under whom Simon the Just and Sirach lived, in book XII of Antiquities, chapter II: "There were continual seditions between the descendants of those (Jews who migrated to Egypt under Ptolemy) and the Samaritans, who obstinately retained their ancestral customs, and they fought among themselves constantly, while the Jerusalemites affirmed that their temple was sacrosanct and that the sacrifices of the Jews should be sent nowhere else; while the Samaritans on the contrary maintained they should be sent to Mount Gerizim."
Mystically, Rabanus and from him Jansenius: Israel is the Church and the Christian people, whose three most bitter enemies are: first, the Edomites, that is, the Jews, who like the Edomites, descended from the faithful Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, persecute their spiritual children in faith, namely faithful Christians. Hence they are called "Edom" and Edomites, that is, red: because they are reddened with the blood of Christ, whom they killed, and of Christians; and "Seir," that is, hairy, because they are proud and stubborn, obstinately persisting in their perfidy; second, the Philistines, who are interpreted as "double ruin," says Rabanus. These represent the idolatrous nations, the Turks and Saracens, who have nothing in common with Christians, but persevering in their idolatry and wickedness persecute Christians most savagely; third, the Samaritans, who represent heretics. These fools dwell in Shechem, that is, in shoulders or labors; because daily writing perverse things and teaching wicked things, they foolishly waste their effort so as to drag themselves and others into error and hell. Therefore claiming to be wise, they have become fools, Romans I. They are not one nation, because they arose from various places and were cobbled together from various sects and heresies even contrary to each other; nevertheless they dare to claim the truth of religion for themselves alone against orthodox Catholics, lying that they are sons and disciples of the Apostles and follow their doctrine. Again, the Edomite, as a brother born before Jacob, or Israel, represents the world; the Philistine represents the devil; the Shechemite represents the flesh, says Palacius; for Shechem defiled Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, Genesis XXXIV. Moreover, these three enemies surround and kill the faithful and the Church, just as the Edomites from the south, the Philistines from the west, and the Shechemites from the north surrounded and besieged Israel and Judah.
29. JESUS THE SON OF SIRACH OF JERUSALEM WROTE THE DOCTRINE OF WISDOM AND DISCIPLINE IN THIS BOOK, WHO RENEWED WISDOM FROM HIS HEART. — The Syriac: All the proverbs of the wise and their riddles are written in this book. This verse and the following two seem to have been added to the elder Sirach, or grandfather, by the younger Sirach, or grandson, to show that the author of this book was Jesus the son of Sirach, his grandfather; for the ancients, such as Moses, Joshua, David, Samuel, etc., fleeing glory, did not prefix their names to their books. Hence their names were added at the end by others, so that the author of the book might be known. And for this reason, since so many books of St. Augustine, St. Jerome, St. Cyprian, etc., being uncertain and doubtful, as once being anonymous, there is so great a dispute among scholars. The same applies to the authors of the books of Joshua, Judges, Kings, Chronicles, Judith, Tobit, Esther, Maccabees, etc. Therefore Jesus the grandson added these words, to testify that this book was written by his grandfather. But nothing prevents these words from being said to have been written by the elder Jesus himself, or the grandfather; for in some other ancient books we read the author's name added at the end by the author himself. Hence the Greek texts corrected at Rome, instead of "he wrote," read in the first person "I wrote," as if the grandfather himself were speaking and saying: I, Jesus, wrote the doctrine of wisdom and discipline in this book. The first who prefixed his name to his work was Solomon; for he begins his proverbs thus: "The parables of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel." Some Greek texts, such as the Zurich edition, add to "Jesus the son of Sirach": Eleazar, or of Eleazar, as if this Jesus was the son of Sirach, who was the son of Eleazar, so that Jesus was the grandson of Eleazar. Hence some supposed that this Jesus was the grandson of Eleazar the Pontiff, who sent the seventy Interpreters to Ptolemy Philadelphus. But I refuted this in the prologue; for this Jesus was a contemporary of Simon the Pontiff, who preceded Eleazar in the pontificate and left him as his brother's heir and successor. For the praises of the fathers end with Simon, and he makes no mention of Eleazar the successor. Therefore he seems to have written this book shortly after Simon's death, at the beginning of the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphus; hence his grandson in the prologue acknowledges that he translated this book from Hebrew into Greek under Ptolemy Euergetes, who immediately succeeded Philadelphus in the kingdom of Egypt. Therefore others believe that Sirach, the father of Jesus, was called by another name, Eleazar; for the Jews had multiple names. But the word Eleazar, or of Eleazar, is deleted by the Greek codices corrected at Rome, as well as by all the Latin ones: therefore it plainly seems to have crept in and should be deleted.
Moreover, Jesus "renewed wisdom from his heart"; because the ancient wisdom of the elders, or ethics, now obsolete and nearly consigned to oblivion, he wrote down anew, and so published and spread it abroad as if new. In Greek it means: He rained down wisdom from the heart, that is, he distilled it; the Roman: He poured forth wisdom from the heart; Vatablus: He poured out the wisdom of his soul; others, more literally: Like rain he poured forth wisdom from his heart, according to that saying of Moses: "Let my doctrine gather as the rain, let my speech flow as the dew, as a shower upon the grass, and as drops upon the herbs," Deuteronomy XXXII, 2. See what was said there.
30. BLESSED IS HE WHO DWELLS UPON THESE GOOD THINGS: HE WHO LAYS THEM UP IN HIS HEART SHALL BE WISE FOREVER. — The Syriac: Blessed is the man who meditates on these things, and learns them, and grasps them, and does them. Note: So deeply implanted in nature is the desire for happiness that there is no one who does not wish to be happy. Hence St. Augustine, book XIII of On the Holy Trinity, chapter III: "A certain mime," he says, "when he had promised in the theater that on another day of games he would say what they all had in mind and what they all wanted, and when a greater crowd gathered on the appointed day, with all suspended in silence, is said to have declared: You want to buy cheap and sell dear, etc. Ennius too, when he says: All mortals desire to be praised, seems to have declared the wishes of all men, etc. As if he had said: You all want to be happy, you do not want to be miserable; he would have said something that no one would not recognize in his own will." For there he shows that some do not desire praise, nor wealth; but there is absolutely no one who does not desire to be happy. But many seek happiness where it is not, namely in honor, banquets, riches. Sirach therefore here, with his finger pointed to the springs, indicates that the place and seat of happiness is wisdom; so that we should seek it there, since we will not find it elsewhere. For wisdom alone, that is, virtue alone, makes one blessed.
31. FOR IF HE DOES THESE THINGS, HE SHALL BE STRONG FOR ALL THINGS: BECAUSE THE LIGHT OF GOD IS HIS GUIDE. — The Syriac: The height (eminence) of the fear of God is exalted above all things; look upon him, my son, and do not let him go. The meaning is, as if to say: Blessed is he who dwells constantly, by reading and meditating, among the good things, both the virtues and their rewards, which this book describes: therefore he who stores them in his heart will become wise. For if he puts these things into practice and action, he will become powerful and strong (for in the Greek the word means "he will be strong") for all things that need to be done, because the light of God is his guide. It is a metonymy; for "guide" (literally "footstep") is put for the walking that is done through footsteps, as if to say: Because he walks and plants the footsteps of his steps and actions in the light of the law and wisdom of God, according to that saying of Christ: "He who follows Me does not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life," John VIII, 12. Hence Vatablus translates: He who does these things will be strong for all things; because he plants his footstep in the light of the Lord, who imbues the pious with wisdom; because Jesus Sirach wrote these things not from his own brain, but from the illumination of divine light. He alludes to the pillar of fire and light, which as a guide of life went before the Hebrews in the desert and certainly led and brought them to the Promised Land; for wherever it went before, the Hebrews followed, and there they planted their footsteps, Exodus XIII, 21. For the same reason a lamp appeared to Abraham in the darkness, passing between the divided victims, Genesis XV, 17; for the passing lamp represented God, who held out a torch to the Hebrews as they wandered in the darkness of Egypt, so that they might go out safely: and so He invited the Hebrews to the exodus. Therefore for the Hebrew people at that time "the light of God" was "their guide"; because the people followed the footsteps of the light that went before them. The same thing tropologically God does for the just, while going before them He points out and shows the way to virtue, perfection, and blessedness. He does this through illuminations of divine and heavenly things, which He sends into the mind like flashes of lightning.
The Complutensian Greek, Vatablus and others add: And He gave wisdom to the pious. Blessed be the Lord forever. So be it, so be it. But the codices corrected at Rome omit these words; for the first part seems to be borrowed and taken from the end of chapter XLIII, and the latter from the end of Psalm LXXXVIII.
whose praises he elaborately wove together in this chapter 50. Hear Josephus, writing of the time of Ptolemy Lagus, under whom Simon the Just and Sirach lived, in book XII of Antiquities, chapter 2: "There were continual seditions among the descendants of those Jews who had migrated to Egypt under Ptolemy, and the Samaritans, who tenaciously retained their ancestral customs, and they fought perpetually among themselves, while the Jerusalemites affirmed that their temple was most sacred, and that the victims of the Jews should be sent nowhere else; the Samaritans, on the contrary, contended that they should be sent to Mount Gerizim."
Mystically, Rabanus and from him Jansenius explain: Israel is the Church and the Christian people, whose three most bitter enemies are: first, the Idumeans, that is, the Jews, who, just like the Idumeans, descended from the faithful Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, persecute their spiritual sons in the faith, namely the faithful Christians. Hence they are called "Edom" and Idumeans, that is, red: because they are reddened with the blood of Christ, whom they killed, and of Christians; and "Seir," that is, hairy, because they are proud and hard, obstinately persisting in their perfidy; second, there are the Philistines, who are interpreted as "double ruin," says Rabanus. These represent the idolatrous nations, the Turks and Saracens, who have nothing in common with Christians, but persevering in their idolatry and crimes, most cruelly persecute Christians; third, there are the Samaritans, who represent heretics. These foolish ones dwell in Shechem, that is, in shoulders or labors; because by daily writing perverse things and teaching wicked things, they foolishly consume their labor to drag themselves and others into error and hell. Therefore, saying they are wise, they have become fools, Romans 1. These are not one nation, because they arise from various places and are composed of various sects and heresies even contrary to each other; yet they dare to claim the truth of religion for themselves alone against the orthodox Catholics, falsely claiming to be sons and disciples of the Apostles and to follow their doctrine.
Again, the Idumean, as the elder brother of Jacob, or Israel, represents the world; the Philistine represents the devil; the Shechemite represents the flesh, says Palacius; for Shechem corrupted Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, Genesis 34. Moreover, these three enemies circumcise and kill the faithful and the Church, just as the Idumeans besieged and hemmed in Israel and Judah from the south, the Philistines from the west, and the Shechemites from the north.
29. "THE DOCTRINE OF WISDOM AND DISCIPLINE WAS WRITTEN IN THIS BOOK BY JESUS THE SON OF SIRACH OF JERUSALEM, WHO RENEWED WISDOM FROM HIS HEART."
The Syriac: All the proverbs of the wise and their enigmas are written in this book. This verse and the following two seem to have been added to the elder Sirach, or grandfather, by the younger Sirach, or grandson, to show that the author of this book was Jesus the son of Sirach, his grandfather; for the ancients, such as Moses, Joshua, David, Samuel, etc., fleeing glory, did not prefix their names to their books. Hence at the end, the name was added by others, so that the author of the book might be known. And for this reason, regarding so many books of St. Augustine, St. Jerome, St. Cyprian, etc., as if uncertain and doubtful, since they were formerly anonymous, there is so great a dispute among scholars. The same applies to the authors of the books of Joshua, Judges, Kings, Chronicles, Judith, Tobit, Esther, Maccabees, etc. Therefore Jesus the grandson added these things, to testify that this book was written by his grandfather. But nothing prevents these things from being said to have been written by Jesus the elder himself, or grandfather; for in some other books of the ancients we read that the name was added at the end by the author himself. Hence the Greek texts corrected at Rome, instead of 'he wrote,' read in the first person 'I wrote,' as if the grandfather himself were speaking and saying: I, Jesus, wrote the doctrine of wisdom and discipline in this book.
The first who prefixed his name to his work was Solomon; for he himself begins his proverbs thus: "The Proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel." Some Greek texts, such as the Tigurina, add to "Jesus son of Sirach": Eleazar, or of Eleazar, as if this Jesus were the son of Sirach, who was the son of Eleazar, so that Jesus was the grandson of Eleazar. Hence some have supposed that this Jesus was the grandson of Eleazar the High Priest, who sent the Seventy Interpreters to Ptolemy Philadelphus. But I refuted this in the prologue; for this Jesus was a contemporary of Simon the High Priest, who preceded Eleazar in the pontificate and left him as his heir and successor, as if his brother. For with Simon the eulogies of the fathers end, nor does he make any mention of Eleazar the successor. Therefore he seems to have written this book shortly after Simon's death, at the beginning of the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphus; hence also his grandson in the prologue confesses that he translated this book from Hebrew into Greek under Ptolemy Euergetes, who succeeded Philadelphus next in the kingdom of Egypt.
Therefore others think that Sirach, the father of Jesus, was called by another name Eleazar; for the Jews had multiple names. But the Greek codices corrected at Rome, as well as all the Latin ones, delete the word Eleazar or Eleazari: therefore it plainly seems to have crept in and ought to be deleted.
Moreover, Jesus "renewed wisdom from his heart;" because he wrote anew the ancient wisdom of the ancients, that is, the ethics already obsolete and nearly consigned to oblivion, and thus published and disseminated it as if new. In Greek it is: he rained down wisdom from his heart; the Roman edition: He poured forth wisdom from his heart; Vatablus: He poured out the wisdom of his soul; others more properly: He poured out wisdom like rain from his heart, according to that saying of Moses: "Let my doctrine gather as the rain, let my speech distill as the dew, as a shower upon the herb, and as drops upon the grass," Deuteronomy 32:2. See what was said there.
30. "BLESSED IS HE WHO OCCUPIES HIMSELF WITH THESE GOOD THINGS: HE WHO LAYS THEM UP IN HIS HEART SHALL BE WISE FOREVER."
The Syriac: Blessed is the man who shall meditate on these things, and shall learn them, and shall grasp them, and shall do them. Note: So deeply implanted in nature is the desire for blessedness that there is no one who does not wish to be blessed. Hence St. Augustine,
book XIII of On the Holy Trinity, chapter 3: "A certain mime, he says, having promised in the theater that at another show he would tell what they all had in mind and what they all wanted, and when on the appointed day a greater crowd had gathered, while all were suspended in silence, is reported to have said: You want to buy cheap and sell dear, etc. Ennius also, when he said: All mortals desire to be praised, seems to have declared the will of all men, etc. And if he had said: You all want to be happy, you do not want to be wretched; he would have said something that no one would not recognize in his own will." For there he shows that some do not desire praise, nor wealth; but there is absolutely no one who does not desire to be happy. But many seek happiness where it is not, namely in honor, banquets, and riches. Sirach therefore here, with finger pointed to the sources, indicates that the place and seat of happiness is wisdom; so that we may seek it there, not finding it elsewhere. For wisdom alone, that is, virtue alone, makes one blessed.
31. "FOR IF HE SHALL DO THESE THINGS, HE SHALL BE ABLE TO DO ALL THINGS: BECAUSE THE LIGHT OF GOD IS HIS GUIDE."
The Syriac: The height (eminence) of the fear of God is exalted above all things; see it, my son, and do not let it go. The meaning is, that is: Blessed will he be who occupies himself continually in reading and meditating on the good things, both the virtues and their rewards, which this book describes: therefore he who stores them up in his heart will become wise. For if he shall put these things into practice and action, he will become powerful and strong for all things that must be done (for the Greek is ischysei), because the light of God is his guide. It is a metonymy; for "footstep" is put for the step that is made through footsteps, that is: Because he walks and fixes the footsteps of his actions in the light of the law and wisdom of God, according to that saying of Christ: "He who follows Me does not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life," John 8:12. Hence Vatablus translates: He who shall do these things shall be strong for all things; because he places his footstep in the light of the Lord, who fills the pious with wisdom; because, namely, Jesus Sirach wrote these things not from his own brain, but from the illumination of divine light.
He alludes to the column of fire and light, which as a guide of life preceded the Hebrews in the desert, and certainly led and conducted them to the promised land; for wherever it went before, the Hebrews followed, and there they fixed their footsteps, Exodus 13:21. For the same reason, a lamp appeared to Abraham in the darkness, passing between the divided pieces of the victims, Genesis 15:17; for the passing lamp represented God, who held up a torch for the Hebrews wandering as it were in the darkness of Egypt, so that they might go out safely: and thus He invited the Hebrews to the exodus. Therefore for the Hebrew people at that time "the light of God" was "their guide;" because, namely, the people followed the footsteps of the light going before them. The same thing, tropologically, God does for the just, while He illumines and shows them the way to virtue, perfection, and blessedness. He does this through illuminations of divine and heavenly things, which He sends into the mind like flashes of lightning.
The Complutensian Greek, Vatablus, and others add: And He gave wisdom to the pious. Blessed be the Lord forever. So be it, so be it. But the codices corrected at Rome omit these things; for the former part seems borrowed and taken from the end of chapter 43, and the latter from the end of Psalm 88.