Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
He continues with threats of destruction, and teaches that the slaughter of men will be so great that seven women will seek marriage with one man. Then, at verse 2, he consoles the survivors, promising them Christ the Savior, through whom God will enlighten, lead, and protect them like the pillar of fire and cloud that was the guide of the Hebrews in the desert, and like the tabernacle that shelters its inhabitants as a shade from heat and rain.
Vulgate Text: Isaiah 4:1-6
1. And seven women shall take hold of one man in that day, saying: We will eat our own bread and wear our own garments; only let your name be called upon us, take away our reproach. 2. In that day the shoot of the Lord shall be in magnificence and glory, and the fruit of the earth shall be sublime, and an exultation for those who have been saved from Israel. 3. And it shall come to pass: Everyone who has been left in Zion and who remains in Jerusalem shall be called holy, everyone who has been written in the book of life in Jerusalem. 4. If the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and shall have cleansed the blood of Jerusalem from its midst, by the spirit of judgment and the spirit of burning. 5. And the Lord will create over every place of Mount Zion, and where He has been invoked, a cloud by day, and smoke and the brightness of a blazing fire by night: for over all glory there shall be a protection. 6. And there shall be a tabernacle for a shade by day from the heat, and for a security and hiding place from the storm and from the rain.
Verse 1: And seven women shall take hold
1. And seven women shall take hold. — These words belong to the preceding chapter, as if to say: In the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, which I have been treating from chapter 3 until now, so great will be the slaughter, famine, and wasting of men, that seven women will seek the marriage of one man.
Seventh: "The apostate angels taught women to paint their eyes with darkened outline, to stain their cheeks with a false blush, to change their hair with adulterated colors, and to assault all truth of face and head by the assault of their corruption."
Eighth: "Women lay hands on God when they strive to reshape and transfigure what He formed, not knowing that everything born is the work of God, and whatever is altered is the work of the devil."
Ninth: "Your Lord says: You cannot make one hair white or black; and you, to overcome the voice of your Lord, wish to be more powerful? With bold attempt and sacrilegious contempt you dye your hair," etc.
Tenth: "Do you not fear, I ask, you who are such, that when the day of resurrection comes, your Creator may not recognize you, and may remove and exclude you as you come for His rewards and promises? Rebuking with the severity of a censor and judge, He may say: This is not My work, nor is this Our image; you have polluted your skin with false cosmetics, you have changed your hair with adulterous color; your face has been conquered by falsehood; your figure has been corrupted; your countenance is foreign; you will not be able to see God, since your eyes are not those which God made, but those which the devil has infected."
Eleventh: "Overcome your clothing, you who are a virgin, who serve God: overcome gold, you who overcome the flesh and the world: seek not the ornaments of necklaces or garments, but of character."
Rightly therefore Blessed Nonnus the Bishop, seeing Pelagia drawing and enticing the eyes of the whole city to herself with such luxury and pomp of garments, wept abundantly: when asked the reason, he said: "Two things move me: one indeed is the perdition of this woman; the other, that I who profess the Christian name do not strive as much to please God by innocence of life as this woman desires to please base men." But by praying for her and preaching, he so pierced her heart that he made of her another Magdalene, namely Pelagia the penitent, whose life and admirable deeds were recorded by the faithful eyewitness James the Deacon of the same Nonnus: it is found in Surius, October 8.
And St. Bernard refused to see his sister who came to him more splendidly adorned: whereupon she herself, struck with compunction, by his direction laid aside all luxury of garments, and indeed with her husband's consent entered a monastery, as the author of the Life of St. Bernard relates, book I, chapter vi.
But hear the horrible example of Praetextata, which St. Jerome relates in his epistle to Laeta: "Praetextata, once a most noble woman, at the command of her husband Hymettius, who was the uncle of the virgin Eustochium, changed her dress and adornment, and combed her neglected hair in the worldly fashion, wishing to overcome both the virgin's resolution and her mother's desire. And behold, that same night she saw in her dreams that an angel had come to her, threatening punishments with a terrible voice and uttering these words: 'Have you dared to prefer a husband's command to Christ? Have you dared to touch the head of a virgin of God with your sacrilegious hands? Those hands shall wither now, so that in their torment they may feel what you have done: and at the end of the fifth month you shall be led to hell: but if you persist in your wickedness, you shall be deprived of both your husband and your children.' All things were fulfilled in order, and her death signified the wretch's too-late repentance."
Hear also the Gentiles. Lycurgus banished the art of face-painting from Sparta, and this first, because it corrupted the city with evil arts: hence so great was then the modesty of Spartan women that adultery was considered incredible. Second, so that anyone looking at the character of a girl would follow virtue in his choice when seeking a wife, and not be enticed by cosmetics. For the same reason he wished them to be taken without a dowry: likewise to be exercised in running, wrestling, discus and javelin throwing, so that they might be strong and bear strong children. Hence Gorgo, wife of Leonidas, to someone objecting: "You Spartan women alone rule your husbands," replied: "For we alone give birth to men." The witness is Plutarch in his Life of Lycurgus.
Diogenes to a certain young man who adorned himself excessively: "If indeed," he said, "for men, you are wretched; if for women, you are unjust."
Theophrastus: "A woman," he said, "ought neither to see others nor herself to be seen, especially one who has been elegantly adorned: for both are an incitement to dishonorable things."
Hyperides: "At home," he said, "before her husband let a wife adorn herself as she pleases: but the ornaments she puts on when going out of the house are meant not for her husband, but for others."
Crates: "That adorns a woman," he said, "which makes her more honorable; and such adornment is provided not by gold, not by emerald, not by scarlet; but by whatever bears the mark of gravity, moderation, and modesty."
Democritus: "Sparing speech," he said, "adorns a woman, and the very sparingness of her adornment is becoming to her." The witness is Stobaeus, sermon 32.
Hear also the poets. Terence:
You know the ways of women;
While they prepare, while they primp, a year passes.
Ovid: We are carried away by adornment; with gems and gold all is covered; The girl herself is the smallest part of herself.
Propertius:
What good is it to go through life with adorned hair,
And to sell yourself with foreign gifts,
And to lose the beauty of nature with a purchased face?
Naked love of beauty does not love artifice.
Plautus: By no means is she well adorned, if her character is bad, etc. It is more fitting for a courtesan to wear modesty than gold. Base morals besmear beautiful adornment worse than mud.
Hear kings and Emperors. The Emperor Aurelian,
when his wife asked to be allowed to use a single silk cloak, replied: "Far be it that threads should be weighed against gold;" for at that time a pound of gold was the price of a pound of silk.
Alfonso, King of Aragon, dressed like common people: when advised to walk in royal attire, he replied: "I prefer to surpass my subjects in character and authority, rather than in diadem and purple."
Aristotle, in his Preface to Alexander the Great, thus instructs him: "It is far more beautiful and more royal to display a cultivated and well-ordered mind than a well-dressed body."
Alexander Severus said: "Imperial majesty consists in virtue, not in bodily adornment." He likewise held that royal matrons ought to be content with a single gold-speckled cloak and a robe having no more than six ounces of gold, as Lampridius testifies. Such attire today would scarcely suffice for the wives of merchants.
Augustus Caesar, as Suetonius testifies, used to say: "Distinguished and soft clothing is the banner of pride and the nest of luxury." The same man, seeing at a public assembly many wearing Greek cloaks, said indignantly: "Behold, Romans, lords of the world and the nation of the toga." So greatly did he strive to renew the ancient customs and dress.
Dionysius, tyrant of Sicily, sent splendid garments as a gift to the daughters of Archidamus. Archidamus refused to accept them, saying: "I fear that in such dress my daughters may appear base to me." Finally, Caesar Augustus truly said: "The luxury of banquets and garments are the signs and harbingers of a sick and wasting republic." Let Belgium be witness, which has paid for this luxury with war and constant disasters for nearly fifty years; and what was formerly an earthly paradise of delights is now a valley of miseries.
On the contrary, the ancient simplicity and modesty of dress shines forth among the Germans, which preserves their commonwealths in peace and prosperity. I saw at Nuremberg noble and very wealthy matrons going about dressed in a simple cloak and boots, like the manly and heroic wives of the commanders of old. I saw at Wurzburg all the matrons, even the most noble, having cloaks or mantles not of silk or wool, but of wood. For all of them instead of a mantle wear a hotte (such as the charcoal-women wear at Liege), more or less beautiful according to the condition of the person; so that she who does not wear a hotte is not considered respectable. These hottes they put down before entering a church, and take them up again and fit them to their backs when leaving. I believe that in the vine-growing region all formerly carried grapes in hottes, as they still do, and therefore preserved the use of hottes.
1. AND SEVEN WOMEN SHALL TAKE HOLD. — These words pertain to the preceding chapter, as if to say: In the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, about which I have been speaking from chapter III up to this point, so great will be the slaughter, famine, and wasting of men that
Vulgate: 1. And seven women shall take hold of one man in that day, saying: We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let your name be called upon us, take away our reproach. 2. In that day the branch of the Lord shall be in magnificence and glory, and the fruit of the earth shall be high, and a great joy to them that shall have escaped of Israel. 3. And it shall come to pass: Every one that shall be left in Sion, and that shall remain in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, every one that is written in life in Jerusalem. 4. If the Lord shall wash away the filth of the daughters of Sion, and shall wash away the blood of Jerusalem out of the midst thereof, by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning. 5. And the Lord will create upon every place of Mount Sion, and where He is called upon, a cloud by day, and a smoke and a brightness of a flaming fire in the night: for over all the glory shall be a protection. 6. And there shall be a tabernacle for a shade in the daytime from the heat, and for a security, and covert from the whirlwind, and from rain.
on account of their scarcity, seven, that is, many women will scarcely be able to acquire one husband, and will compete for him. So say St. Jerome and Cyril.
Allegorically, St. Jerome says: "Seven women," that is, the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, "shall take hold of one man," namely Christ. But St. Cyril censures this allegory as being poorly suited to and consistent with the literal sense, especially in what follows. Second, more fittingly, St. Basil says: "Seven women," that is, the entire Synagogue, living on her own bread, that is, her own law, shall take hold of one man, namely Christ, asking Him to free her from the reproach of spiritual barrenness.
Tropologically, St. Cyril says: "The seven women are" many souls who have received Christ through faith, and who seek Him as the bread and garment of salvation; and from Him they ask for the offspring and fruit of virtues and good works.
ONLY LET YOUR NAME BE CALLED UPON US — as if to say: Do not plead poverty, or that you cannot support us; we ourselves will feed and clothe ourselves: only be our husband, and let us be called your wives, so that the reproach of barrenness may be taken from us, which was very great in the old law. Husbands are bound to give their wives food, clothing, and the conjugal debt: but we ask only one thing, namely the debt; the rest we shall provide by our own labor or money. Thus Roman women took the name of their husbands: for they were called Caia, Tullia, Cornelia, Lucia, Publia, from their husbands Caius, Tullius, Cornelius, Lucius, Publius, as Valerius testifies, book X. Thus among the Hebrews, Mary is called "of Cleophas," Mary "of James," "of Zebedee," etc., that is, wife: and in the Song of Songs the bride is called "Sulamitess," as if to say Salomonia, from her husband Solomon. So says Sanchez. Thus Martia, wishing to return to her husband Cato, says in Lucan, book II:
Give only the empty name Of marriage: let it be permitted to have written on the tomb, Cato's Martia.
So far the sad things; now follows the joyful prophecy. 2. IN THAT DAY THE BRANCH OF THE LORD SHALL BE IN MAGNIFICENCE. — Sanchez takes this as referring to the restoration of the people from the Babylonian captivity through Ezra and Zerubbabel, as if to say: The Lord will cause the Jewish people, parched and nearly rotten in a foreign land, to sprout and bud forth, and will cause them to return to their former fruitfulness and glory. But the Fathers and Interpreters generally take this as referring to Christ and the Church; hence for "branch" the Hebrew is צמח tsemach, and by this name Christ is called by Jeremiah, chapter XXIII, verse 5, and by Zechariah, chapter VI, verse 12, in the Hebrew. Again, Christ is called by Isaiah, chapter XI, the fruit and branch of the earth.
The sense therefore is, as if to say: Christ, the Son of the Virgin Mary, born on earth, will be glorious and exalted at the time when the Romans will devastate Judea; because through Him and His Apostles the Christian Church will be spread abroad; so that even princes and other leading men and distinguished persons will run with joy to the Church of Christ, and believe in Christ, especially the remnants of Israel and the Jews. So says St. Jerome.
He calls Christ the branch of Judea, because Judea, like a tree cut down, began through Christ to sprout again and re-flourish, about which more is said in chapter XI. He calls Him magnificent: for what is more glorious, what more sublime, than to restore sight to the blind, to cleanse lepers with a word, to recall the dead to life, and to perform other most renowned miracles in His own name and power, by which Christ displayed His divinity? What is more magnificent than to snatch the human race from the power of the devil, and to call and lead it to eternal blessedness? Than to make the proud humble, the unchaste chaste, the rich poor in spirit, virgins and children Martyrs, so that they mock fires and tyrants? Hear St. Bernard, sermon On Pentecost: "That branch which sprouted from the rod of Jesse with virginal freshness was in magnificence when He rose from the dead; because then, O Lord my God, You were magnified exceedingly, putting on confession and beauty, clothed with light as with a garment. But how great was the glory of His ascension, when, amid the Angels and holy souls, You were led to the Father, and, borne into heaven with the triumphant palm, enclosed the assumed humanity in the very identity of the divinity! Who could think, much less speak, how sublime is the fruit of the earth in sitting at the right hand of the Father — which dazzles the eyes of celestial natures, which angelic gaze trembles at and cannot reach? Let exultation come, then, O Lord Jesus, to those who have been saved from Israel, Your Apostles, whom You chose before the foundation of the world. Let Your good Spirit come, who may wash away filth and pour in virtues in the spirit of judgment and in the spirit of God's burning."
Again, just as Christ is called the branch, so the Church of Christ is called the branch, that is, sprouting and budding, and growing into a great tree, namely into the former magnificence and glory of the Synagogue: indeed far surpassing it; for as Christ grows, the Church grows; and vice versa.
And a great joy, as if to say: Great will be the rejoicing for those Israelites who receive Christ as their Messiah, and by Him will be justified and saved. For Christ brings His own an immense joy, from the peace and confidence of a just and holy conscience, and from the hope of salvation and eternal life, which He bestows upon them. Hence "the fruit of the Spirit is joy, peace," etc. (Galatians, chapter V). It is therefore the duty of a Christian, with St. Lawrence and other Martyrs, always to rejoice, even in crosses and torments: for these transfer them to blessed eternity.
TO THEM THAT SHALL HAVE ESCAPED OF ISRAEL. — The Hebrew לפליטת ישראל liphletat Israel, means "for the escape of Israel," that is, those who shall have escaped the common disaster and ruin of their nation, the remnants whom God preserved as survivors of the destruction; destruction, I say, both bodily and spiritual, namely the unbelief and reprobation of the Jews, as if to say: Those from among the Jews — some killed, some unbelieving and therefore rejected by God — who were preserved by God so that they might believe in Christ and be saved.
Verse 3: AND IT SHALL BE: EVERY ONE THAT SHALL BE LEFT IN SION, etc., SHALL BE CALLED ...
3. AND IT SHALL BE: EVERY ONE THAT SHALL BE LEFT IN SION, etc., SHALL BE CALLED HOLY. — Father Jerome Prado on Ezekiel XIII explains it thus, as if to say: Whoever of the Jews shall have survived the Babylonian captivity and returned from it, shall be holy, that is, rare and a wonder, and shall be written in the catalog of the living, namely the citizens of Jerusalem. But the Prophet speaks, as I have said, of the time of Christ and of the Emperor Titus, and alludes to the seed about which he said in chapter I, verse 9: "Unless the Lord of hosts had left us a seed." By Sion therefore and Jerusalem he means the spiritual one, namely the Church of Christ, which began in Jerusalem, according to Canon V and VI, as if you were to say: Whoever shall have been left as a survivor of the disaster and destruction of the Jews in Sion — not so much the carnal as the spiritual one — that is, whoever shall have passed from the Synagogue to the Church of Christ and been enrolled in it, namely every Christian, shall be called holy; everyone, I say, who is written in life, that is, in the foreknowledge and predestination of God, by which He has enrolled His own for eternal life: if, however, God shall first have washed away their filth and blood, that is, murders and other gross and grievous sins, as follows. All Christians are called "saints" by Paul and others, because they are called to holiness, and because they have been sanctified by baptism and the grace of Christ. "Holy" therefore, that is, Christian, shall he be called. And all these are written in the book of life, as future citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem: written, I say, incipiently, because they are ordained to eternal life, from which, however, many fall by their own negligence: hence only those are written completely in this book who have been foreseen by God as going to persevere in holiness and die in it. See Canon XIII on the Pauline Epistles.
Note: The saints and the elect are written in heaven, the impious and the reprobate in earth and hell. Jeremiah XVII, verse 13: "Those who depart from You shall be written in the earth." See the comments there. He alludes to the census of the people returning from Babylon: for each returning person was counted and written in the catalog, as citizens of Jerusalem; as is clear from I Ezra VIII, and Nehemiah VII, and Ezekiel XIII, verse 9, which says: "They shall not be in the council of my people, and they shall not be written in the register of the house of Israel." And from this the book of life, or of the heavenly Jerusalem, is taken analogically. For just as only the living were written in the catalog of Jerusalem, and the dead were deleted: so only the Blessed, who will live forever, are written in the book of the heavenly Jerusalem, which therefore is and is called the book of life. Thus Sixtus of Siena, book II, chapter II, under the word thous, testifies that the Gentiles used to mark those who had survived in battle with the letter theta or the sign of the cross: but those who had fallen, in the military roll or catalog, were noted with the death-bearing letter theta
(for this is the initial letter of the word θανατος, that is, death, and has in its shape as it were a javelin of death fixed in it) — as though they had been erased from life and from the book of the living. Judges used the same letter when condemning an accused person to death. Hence the Poet: O letter theta, all too unhappy beyond the others!
Verse 4: IF (that is, when) HE SHALL WASH AWAY, etc., BY THE SPIRIT OF JUDGMENT AND TH...
4. IF (that is, when) HE SHALL WASH AWAY, etc., BY THE SPIRIT OF JUDGMENT AND THE SPIRIT OF BURNING. — Sanchez says that "the spirit of judgment and burning" signifies the severe punishment by which God through the Babylonians judged, that is, punished, and as fire purified, that is, cleansed and expiated, the Jews from the dross of their sins, concerning which Malachi, chapter III, says: "For He is like a refining fire;" and Isaiah, chapter I: "I will smelt away your dross to purity."
Second and genuinely, the Holy Spirit is the spirit of judgment, because He makes us, first, see, judge, and condemn our sins; second, because He judges, that is, distinguishes the faithful from the unfaithful, the pious from the impious; third, because He illuminates the mind through faith, granting the remission of sins, and making us judge, that is, esteem, discern, and embrace pious, holy, and heavenly things above vain, foul, and earthly riches and pleasures. The same is called the spirit of burning, or, as Vatablus translates, of conflagration, that is, of charity, both divine and our own infused into us, by which He Himself sets us on fire, and burns away the vices and cancers of the flesh. Hence concerning this Spirit, John the Baptist says: "He who is to come after me will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire." So say Cyril and Chrysostom, in the homily On the Holy Spirit. Hence Christ says: "I came to cast fire upon the earth, and what do I desire except that it be kindled?" Lord Jesus, kindle and inflame this divine fire of charity in us, and burn away the coldness of our heart.
Third, for "the spirit of burning" others translate, "the spirit of casting out," as if to say: Christ will have the power of washing away sins with the spirit of judgment and of casting out, that is, so that He will also have the power of judging unbelievers, and will condemn and cast them out with the prince of this world. So says Vatablus.
Fourth, Pagninus translates, "by the spirit of cutting off": for Christ, granting us life, cuts off death itself, according to Hosea XIII: "I will be your death, O death!" Finally, H. Pintus translates, "by the spirit of pasture." For Christ says of Himself, John X: "I am the good shepherd," and of Him it is said in Psalm XXII: "The Lord rules (in Hebrew, feeds) me, and I shall want nothing: in the place of pasture there He has placed me." For the Hebrew word בער baer means first, burning and conflagration; second, feeding and pasture; third, cutting off; fourth, casting out and separation.
Finally, some explain by hypallage, "in the spirit of judgment and burning," that is, in the judgment, or uprightness and ardor of spirit; to which indeed the spirit of God impels, and the Holy Spirit, arousing and stimulating the soul.
Anagogically, St. Augustine, City of God X, chapter XXV, refers these words to the day of judgment and to purgatorial fire: for by that fire God judges, that is, punishes and expiates, the impurities of holy souls in the spirit of judgment and in the fire of burning, that is, a burning fire.
Verse 5: AND THE LORD WILL CREATE, etc., A CLOUD BY DAY, AND A SMOKE AND BRIGHTNESS OF...
5. AND THE LORD WILL CREATE, etc., A CLOUD BY DAY, AND A SMOKE AND BRIGHTNESS OF FIRE. — Sanchez explains it as if to say: On Mount Sion God will so lovingly embrace His people returning from Babylon, just as formerly, with a cloud by day and fire by night, He directed their journey from Egypt to Canaan. But this sense seems to others too thin and cold: for we do not read that God provided the Jews returning from Babylon a pillar of fire and cloud, or anything similarly splendid, as He provided for those coming from Egypt to Canaan. These therefore, being so majestic, pertain to the times of Christ. Hence,
Note: Isaiah clearly alludes to the pillar that went before the camp of the Hebrews in the desert, as guide of the way to the promised land; and which at night illuminated them like fire, and this he calls "smoke (that is, as the Chaldean renders it, darkness) and the brightness of a flaming fire in the night." For this cloud was smoky, that is, dark, having within it the brightness of fire like a torch by night: again, the flame of fire is nothing other than ignited smoke. By day, however, it was the same, but as a cloud, which overshadowed the camp and, going before, led them, and at the same time protected them from heat, about which I spoke at Exodus XIII, 21 and chapter XIV, 29, where this pillar interposed itself between the camp of the Hebrews, illuminating them, and the camp of the Egyptians, darkening them.
Second, by "cloud, smoke," that is, darkness and brightness, is symbolically signified the singular help, grace, and benefits of God; by day are signified prosperous things, by night adverse things, by Mount Sion the Church. The sense therefore is, as if to say: God will do spiritually for Christians through Christ what He formerly did bodily and typically for the Jews, and will go before them with every help and grace, direct, lead, and protect them from every assault of enemies and adversities; so that He may lead them safely and by the straight path through the desert of this life to the heavenly fatherland: for this is what the pillar leading the Hebrews through the desert to Canaan signified. For God, like a pillar of fire, shines forth and shows His people the way of salvation: the same, like a dark cloud, overshadows, cools, and protects them from the heat of temptation, as I explained at Exodus XIII. So say St. Jerome, Basil, Cyril, likewise Theodoret and Procopius, as cited by Leo of Castro.
Rightly therefore St. Ambrose says in a Sermon: "We have all things in Christ, and Christ is all things in us: if you desire to be healed of a wound, He is a physician; if you burn with fevers, He is a fountain; if you are burdened with iniquity, He is justice; if you need help, He is power; if you fear death, He is life; if you flee darkness, He is light; if you desire heaven, He is the way; if you seek food, He is nourishment." And St. Bernard, sermon 15 on the Song of Songs: "The name of Jesus," he says, "shines when preached, nourishes when meditated upon, soothes and anoints when invoked. What is it that so
restores the weakened senses, strengthens the virtues, enlivens good morals, cherishes chaste affections? Nothing so restrains the assault of anger, calms the swelling of pride, heals the wound of envy, checks the flow of luxury, extinguishes the flame of lust, moderates the thirst of avarice, and puts to flight the itch of all disgrace, as does this name of Jesus. And again: Lest you be drawn away by the glory of the world and the pleasures of the flesh, let Christ the wisdom of God be sweet to you instead; lest you be seduced by the spirit of falsehood and error, let Christ the truth shine for you; lest you be wearied by adversities, let Christ the power of God strengthen you."
Symbolically, this cloud shining in the night signifies the divine consolation by which Christ softens and soothes the darkness and calamities of the Saints. On the other hand, the cloud by day is the affliction by which God tempers and moderates the prosperity of the just and the glory of the world (lest they be captivated by it and grow insolent). And so God in the day of prosperity protects His own with the cloud of affliction, and in the night of affliction visits them with the fire of divine delight and joy. For excessive prosperity is as harmful as adversity. For our nature in this exile can bear neither great sorrow nor great joy: by the former we are struck down and fall into despair; by the latter we become proud and vain. Therefore it is fitting that grief be tempered with some spiritual delight, and delight with grief. Let us not therefore always seek joy, nor abhor sorrow. For both — namely joy in affliction and affliction in joy — are called a pillar, without which our building will collapse. Again, this light in the night, that is, inner consolation in affliction, is mixed with smoke that moves to tears, that is, compunction. For the Blessed in heaven will have pure joy, and light without smoke, and rest without labor. So says H. Pintus.
FOR OVER ALL THE GLORY SHALL BE A PROTECTION. 6. AND A TABERNACLE SHALL BE FOR A SHADE IN THE DAYTIME FROM THE HEAT. — He alludes to the Mosaic tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant, which was the glory of Israel, and upon which the pillar of cloud especially rested, and from there spread all around through all the camps, overshadowing and protecting them from the heat: now this Ark signified the Church and all the faithful, as I explained at Exodus XXV, 10, as if to say: "Over all the glory," that is, over the whole Church, or over every place in which there shall be glorious and holy men, that is, believers in Christ, there shall be divine protection and the grace of the Holy Spirit (of which that pillar of cloud was a type, as St. Ambrose and the ancients teach), by which, as by a tabernacle and shade, they shall be protected and hidden from the heat of burning and concupiscence, and from every rain and storm of temptations, persecutions, and adversities, and shall be safe and secure. So say St. Jerome and Cyril. And this is the genuine sense: for all these things pertain to the glory of Christ and the Church.
Note: The Ark is called the glory of Israel, first, because in the Ark were the tablets of the Law, which Moses had received from God, and alongside them the rod of Aaron and the urn with manna, which were the glory of Israel; second, because above the Ark were the Cherubim and the mercy seat as the throne of God, from which He gave answers to the High Priest wearing the Urim and Thummim; third, because the Ark led the Hebrews through the Jordan and through the desert for 40 years, and was the terror of enemies and the shield and victory of the Hebrews. Hence when the Ark was captured by the Philistines in the time of Eli, the wife of Phinehas said: "The glory has departed from Israel, because the Ark of God has been taken," and therefore, having given birth to a son, she called him Ichabod, that is, where is the glory? as if to say: We were Trojans, there was Ilium, and the great glory of the Teucrians, namely of the sons of Isaac and the Israelites (I Kings, chapter IV, verse 21).
Sanchez explains differently: for he thinks there is here an allusion to the betrothal and nuptials of the Synagogue; for this is called glory, as if to say: Over that glory, that is, over the bride so gloriously adorned, namely over the Synagogue of the Jews, there will be divine protection like the canopy that was formerly spread over the new bride at weddings; or like the garment with which the bridegroom about to enter into marriage formerly covered the bride: as Boaz, about to marry Ruth, covered her with his cloak (Ruth III); and in His tabernacle, that is, in the temple as in His bridal chamber, God will embrace this bride of His and protect her from every evil.
Morally, note that pious men are abandoned by the world but protected by God. Worldly and pleasure-seeking people do not grasp how sweet, secure, and tranquil is the life of those who practice true piety. This is what the Psalmist sings, Psalm XXX, 21: "You shall hide them in the secret of Your face from the disturbance of men;" and Psalm XXVI, 5: "For He has hidden me in His tabernacle: in the day of evils He has protected me in the secret place of His tabernacle." He alludes to a prince who receives into his own chamber the one he wishes to keep most safe, lest he be harmed by his pursuers. For God so interposes Himself for the just man that whoever wishes to harm him must first strike and wound God. Hence again the Psalmist says, Psalm XC, 1: "He who dwells in the help of the Most High shall abide in the protection of the God of heaven;" and Paul, Colossians III: "Your life is hidden with Christ in God." Therefore it is the same thing to be holy and to be hidden and protected by God.
Wherefore Pintus explains "for over all the glory shall be a protection" thus, as if to say: This divine protection, by which the Lord defends the just, surpasses all the glory of this world: for that glory is extinguished by the brief death of men and the oblivion of posterity. Hence Isaiah says, chapter XL, 6: "All flesh is grass, and all its glory is like the flower of the field." Hence also Euripides, as Plutarch reports, said that worldly glory lasts but one day and is immediately extinguished. For which statement he was reproached by Demetrius of Phaleron, who said he should not have said one day, but one instant of time. But divine protection and glory are eternal.