Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
In order to strengthen the Hebrews in the faith of Christ for the toleration of persecutions, the Apostle describes what faith is, how great are the goods which it most certainly promises, and how great and heroic things the ancient fathers and heroes either accomplished or endured, roused and animated by faith and the hope of heavenly glory.
Vulgate Text: Hebrews 11:1-40
1. Now faith is the substance of things to be hoped for, the evidence of things that appear not. 2. For by this the ancients obtained a testimony. 3. By faith we understand that the world was framed by the word of God: that from invisible things visible things might be made. 4. By faith Abel offered to God a sacrifice exceeding that of Cain, by which he obtained a testimony that he was just, God giving testimony to his gifts; and by it being dead he yet speaks. 5. By faith Enoch was translated, that he should not see death; and he was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had testimony that he had pleased God. 6. But without faith it is impossible to please God. For he that comes to God must believe that He is, and is a rewarder to them that seek Him. 7. By faith Noah, having received an answer concerning those things which as yet were not seen, moved with fear, framed the ark for the saving of his house, by which he condemned the world; and was instituted heir of the justice which is by faith. 8. By faith he that is called Abraham, obeyed to go out into a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. 9. By faith he abode in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in cottages, with Isaac and Jacob, the co-heirs of the same promise. 10. For he looked for a city that has foundations; whose builder and maker is God. 11. By faith also Sara herself, being barren, received strength to conceive seed, even past the time of age; because she believed that He was faithful who had promised. 12. For which cause there sprang even from one (and him as good as dead), as the stars of heaven in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable. 13. All these died according to faith, not having received the promises, but beholding them afar off, and saluting them, and confessing that they are pilgrims and strangers on the earth. 14. For they that say these things, signify that they seek a country. 15. And truly if they had been mindful of that from whence they came out, they had doubtless time to return: 16. but now they desire a better, that is to say, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared for them a city. 17. By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son; 18. (To whom it was said: In Isaac shall thy seed be called.) 19. Accounting that God is able to raise up even from the dead. Whereupon also he received him for a parable. 20. By faith also of things to come Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau. 21. By faith Jacob dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and adored the top of his rod. 22. By faith Joseph, when he was dying, made mention of the going out of the children of Israel; and gave commandment concerning his bones. 23. By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months by his parents; because they saw he was a comely babe, and they feared not the king's edict. 24. By faith Moses, when he was grown up, denied himself to be the son of Pharaoh's daughter, 25. Rather choosing to be afflicted with the people of God, than to have the pleasure of sin for a time, 26. Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasure of the Egyptians: for he looked unto the reward. 27. By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the fierceness of the king: for he endured as seeing Him that is invisible. 28. By faith he celebrated the pasch, and the shedding of the blood; that he, who destroyed the firstborn, might not touch them. 29. By faith they passed through the Red Sea, as by dry land: which the Egyptians attempting, were swallowed up. 30. By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, by the going round them seven days. 31. By faith Rahab the harlot perished not with the unbelievers, receiving the spies with peace. 32. And what shall I yet say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, Barac, Samson, Jephthe, David, Samuel, and the prophets: 33. Who by faith conquered kingdoms, wrought justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 34. Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, recovered strength from weakness, became valiant in battle, put to flight the armies of foreigners: 35. Women received their dead raised to life again. But others were racked, not accepting deliverance, that they might find a better resurrection. 36. And others had trial of mockeries and stripes, moreover also of bonds and prisons: 37. They were stoned, they were cut asunder, they were tempted, they were put to death by the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being in want, distressed, afflicted: 38. Of whom the world was not worthy; wandering in deserts, in mountains, and in dens, and in caves of the earth. 39. And all these, being approved by the testimony of faith, received not the promise; 40. God providing some better thing for us, that they should not be perfected without us.
Verse 1: Now Faith Is the Substance of Things to Be Hoped For, the Evidence of Things That Appear Not
The Apostle said at the end of the preceding chapter that the just man lives by faith, and that we are children of God, and that the Hebrews had endured the plundering of their goods and reproaches for the faith of Christ, because through faith they knew and hoped for a better substance and reward in heaven. Here he treats this same matter at length, that he may confirm the Hebrews in the faith of Christ, lest, broken by the vexations of the Jews, they should fall away from it. First therefore he defines or describes what faith is; secondly, he shows how great is its merit before God; thirdly, he narrates how great and heroic works the ancients and Saints accomplished through faith.
Where note that the Apostle is not here treating directly and ex professo of justifying faith, as Albertus Pighius wished (who from this contends to prove that for justification the faith of a mediator is not required, since the Apostle does not here require it in verse 6); but the Apostle is treating of the faith that sustains hope in tribulation and persecution, as is plain both from the end of the preceding chapter and the beginning of the following XII, and from the whole course of this chapter XI. Yet this faith which sustains hope is also justifying, because it merits and obtains the increase of grace and justice, as the Apostle taught in chapter X, verse 38. Wherefore the heretics wrongly distinguish faith into three: first, historical; second, of miracles; third, justifying. For there is one and the same faith which does and works these three things, as Bellarmine solidly teaches, book I On Justification, chaps. V and XI.
Substance. — That is, riches, some say, especially the heretics, as if the Apostle were referring to what he said in chapter X, verse 34: "Knowing that you have a better and enduring substance," that is, faith, they say, by which we believe and hope for the heavenly riches and goods. But there for "substance" the Greek is "hyparxis," that is, riches: here however it is "hypostasis," which word does not signify riches, but substance.
Secondly, others by "substance" understand a beginning and starting point. For substance is the beginning of all other things, properties, and accidents inhering in it.
Thirdly, Chemnitz says "substance" means certain expectation of promised mercy. For he himself, as also other Innovators, thinks that the special faith of theirs is here defined, by which one certainly believes that for Christ's sake his sins have been particularly forgiven him. But that the Apostle is not speaking of this special faith, nor by "things not seen and to be hoped for," of which faith is the substance, understands the remission of sins, but the glory and heavenly riches promised to those bravely acting and contending for faith and piety, and not merely to those nakedly believing, is plain from the examples which he adds, especially in verses 10, 13, 26, 35.
Note: Therefore for "substance," the Greek is "hypostasis," that is, substance which underlies the accidents and sustains them, as if to say: Just as substance sustains the accidents, so faith sustains our hope, so that there will be no future hope in us, if there is no faith to prop and sustain it: just as there will be no accidents, if the substance which sustains those accidents be taken away. Faith therefore is the "substance," that is, the basis and foundation, "of things to be hoped for." For so St. Dionysius, chap. VII On the Divine Names, says: "the divine faith is the stable and fixed foundation of those who have believed, fixing them in the truth, and the truth in them."
The Apostle calls "the substance of glory" the very matter, object, and foundation of glory, II Corinthians IV, 17. For this reason substance is sometimes called by the Hebrews "etsem," that is, bone, because like a bone it supports and sustains a thing. Thus in Genesis VII, 13, it is said "beetsem," that is, in the bone, this is in substance (our translator renders it, in the very moment): "in the very moment of that day Noah entered the ark"; and in Exodus XXIV, 10, for what we have: "And as the sky when it is clear," the Hebrew has "keetsem," that is, like the bone (substance) of the sky when it is pure. Hence bones are called by the Hebrews arguments and demonstrations, by which the truth of a matter is corroborated, confirmed, and supported. This is plain in Isaiah XLI, 21, where God, challenging the idols to judgment, thus says: "Bring forth your cause near, if you have anything by lot"; for "lot," the Hebrew is "atsumotechem," that is, your bones — that is, bring forth bony and strong arguments. Such a bone and bony substance, or stabilization, corroboration, and confirmation of the things hoped for, is faith.
Secondly and better, "hypostasis" here, as also in chapter III, verse 14, is the same as subsistence and existence, as if to say: Faith makes us hold as certain the future goods that do not yet subsist or exist, and to believe and hope for them as certainly future, just as if they already subsisted and we beheld them in our presence. For faith itself sets them, as it were, present and most certain, before the eyes of the mind, and thus by its own certainty gives a kind of subsistence to the things hoped for and future in the intellect and mind of the faithful. Whence, by way of explanation, the Apostle adds: "Faith is the argument of things not appearing," and verse 27: "By this faith," he says, "Moses endured as seeing Him who is invisible." So Chrysostom, Theophylact, Theodoret, and the Syriac, which translates: faith, he says, is "peiasa," that is, persuasion and certitude concerning those things which are in hope, just as if they already existed in act. For the Hebrew "amana," that is, faith, is derived from the root "aman," that is, He confirmed, supported, stabilized, made a thing firmly subsist. Again, for this reason substance is sometimes called by the Hebrews "maomad," that is, station or standing, because it makes hope stand and subsist. Whence Chrysostom: "Since," he says, "those things which are in hope are thought to be without substance, faith bestows substance upon them. The resurrection has not yet taken place, and is not yet in substance, but faith makes it subsist in our soul." And St. Thomas, also bringing forward a similitude, sets the matter more clearly before the eyes: "The things to be hoped for," he says, "are like a tree latent in the seed by virtue, and through faith they already in some way exist in us, as we now hold the tree somehow in the seed."
Therefore Paul says: When I exhort you, O Hebrews, to faith constant in adversities, I do not wish you to look to present goods, but to future ones; because it is the office of faith to set forth and exhibit future goods to the mind as most certain, and through them to sustain hope, patience, and all the virtues in afflicted matters. For it sets the future reward — and that an immense one — so certainly before the eyes of the mind, as if one already beheld and possessed it. For example, it is said to a Christian: Bear bravely exiles, plunderings, words and blows for Christ; buy hope at a price, give all your goods to the poor, and you will have a treasure in heaven. It is said to a martyr: Endure nobly for a moment of time the racks, fires, lions, gibbets, and crosses: the resurrection awaits you, and glorious flesh; happiness awaits you, opulence, immortal and eternal delights. These promises are nowhere yet beheld, nowhere subsist; the Christian or martyr does not see them: faith runs up, and by its certitude and wondrous power and efficacy, brings it about in the believer's soul that those things are seen; and though still placed afar off, no less nourishes, fosters, and strengthens the soul in adversities, as if they were beheld in person and held in the hands. Indeed it brings it about that the one hoping believes and hopes for them more certainly, though future, than for those things which he sees as present and actually existing before him. Wherefore St. Leo nobly says, sermon 2 On the Ascension: "This faith," he says, "increased by the ascension of the Lord and strengthened by the gift of the Holy Spirit, neither chains, nor prisons, nor exiles, nor famines, nor fire, nor mangling by beasts, nor the punishments devised by the cruelty of the persecutors have terrified. For this faith throughout the whole world, not only men but also women; and not only beardless boys, but also tender virgins, fought even to the shedding of blood. This faith has cast out demons, driven away sicknesses, raised the dead."
Of things to be hoped for. — The Greek "elpizomenon" can be translated either "of things to be hoped for," namely the things that are hoped, or "of those hoping," namely men who hope. In the latter way St. Augustine consistently translates and understands it, as if Paul said: Faith in the soul of the just believing and hoping man is, as it were, a basis which sustains him so that he may, as it were, look down upon earthly goods and hope for and expect heavenly ones. But the sense returns to the same, whether you translate "of things to be hoped for" or "of those hoping." "Rightly," says St. Bernard, sermon 1 on Psalm XC: "The Apostle defines faith as the substance of things to be hoped for, namely because no one can hope for what is not believed any more than he can paint upon emptiness. Therefore faith says: Great and unthinkable goods have been prepared by God for His faithful. Hope says: They are reserved for me. For the third, charity, says: Run, it tells me, to those things." Hence Clement of Alexandria acutely, in book I of the Paedagogus, chapter VI: "Truly," he says, "blood (that is, soul and life — for the ancients thought blood to be the substance of the soul), blood, I say, of faith is hope, in which it is contained, as faith is contained by the soul. But when hope departs, just as if blood had flowed out, the vital faculty of faith is dissolved." Learn here how sublime the thoughts of the faithful man and Christian ought to be; how he ought to think, hope, pursue, speak of, and pant after, not earthly, present and perishable things, but heavenly, future and eternal things.
Argument. — That is, assent, says St. Thomas, by which we cling to truth. But the Greek is "elenchos," that is, elenchus, demonstration, conviction, as St. Augustine translates and reads, book XIII On the Trinity, chapter 1, and Chrysostom here. Thus Aristotle wrote a book On Sophistical Elenchi, that is, on sophistical arguments by which sophists try to refute others. Hence the Syriac translates, "the revelation of those things which are not seen," as if the Apostle said: By faith we are convinced to believe those things which we do not see, which do not appear, just as if we beheld them in clear light; for faith shows and demonstrates them to us so certainly, as if they were seen at noon. For faith brings it about that we no more doubt concerning the future and most obscure mysteries removed from sense than if they were beheld by the eyes or comprehended by reason; nay, that they are persuaded to us much more and more certainly than those things which are persuaded by sense, reason, or demonstration. So that, for example, in the Venerable Sacrament we would rather deny what eyes and hands dictate to us — namely that the Eucharist is bread — than what the Word of Christ and faith propose and persuade us — namely that the Eucharist is the Body of Christ. In like manner, in the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity, the Incarnation, the Passion, and the Resurrection, we would rather assent to faith than to natural reason. "Wonderful!" says Chrysostom, "what kind of thing is this (faith) which produces such evidence of things, as exists when the things themselves are openly presented!" For "elenchos," that is, demonstration, exists only in things quite manifest. Note here that this demonstration and evidence of faith is not in the things themselves, but in God who attests them. For because God says and reveals that we are to rise again and to obtain heaven, therefore I believe it as most certain and most evident — not in itself, but in God who reveals and attests it. For it is evident that whatever God says and reveals is true and most certain. Such therefore is faith itself a demonstration, of the kind which the rhetoricians call a figure; or rather, like a nautical dioptra, or eye-glass, by which ships and towers most remote, which do not appear to others, appear and are beheld. For this glass strengthens the eye, and so compels, strengthens, and condenses the visual species that they extend themselves very far, and make a most remote thing, otherwise invisible, to be clearly seen. For what did the martyrs oppose, while they beheld so many tortures being prepared for them, but faith, and the dioptra and demonstration of faith, which represented at a distance to their mind so certainly and vividly the immense goods of the future and immortal life, that, strengthened and inflamed by their faith and hope, they gave and rushed themselves into fires, swords, and slaughters? Whence St. Augustine, tract 27 and 40 on John, vol. IX: "Faith," he says, "is to believe what you do not see, whose truth and reward is to see what you have believed." And St. Gregory, homily 26 on the Gospels: "Faith," he says, "has no merit, where human reason supplies experience."
Hence it is plain first, that faith is not confidence or hope, as the heretics maintain. For confidence is in the appetite and will; faith however is in the intellect: for it convinces the intellect, and to it exhibits and demonstrates the thing believed and hoped for.
It is plain secondly, that by this clause, "Faith is the elenchus and demonstration of things not appearing," faith is distinguished both from knowledge (scientia), which is of things apparent and evident in themselves; and from opinion, suspicion, and doubt: for these are uncertain and doubtful assents, but faith is a certain assent which fully subdues and convinces the intellect.
It is plain thirdly, although St. Jerome on Galatians V, Theodoret and Theophylact here, Damascene, book IV On the Faith, chapter XI, and others call this (which the Apostle here brings forward) a definition of faith; on the contrary Erasmus would have it be only an encomium of faith, just as it would be only an encomium of letters if I were to say: Letters are a solace in adversity, an ornament in prosperity. More truly however it is properly a description of faith, by the twofold property of faith, and that the principal one: the former of which is that faith is the basis and foundation of hope, and makes those things which are future subsist in the soul; the latter, that it makes the intellect assent to those things which it does not understand, and which it does not comprehend by its own light and reason.
Here note: The Apostle does not deny that faith has still other properties, or that it extends also to things apparent and existent, and likewise to things not hoped for; nay, in like manner he could have described faith thus: Faith is the substance of things both to be hoped for and to be feared; and is the argument both of things apparent and of things not apparent. For by faith we believe in hell, which we fear, not hope for, and in death which appears and is beheld by us daily. For the same thing — e.g. God, angels, death — can be known in various ways: namely first, by demonstration; secondly, by sense and experience; thirdly, by faith, because God has revealed them. Faith therefore sets hell, death, and judgment — which we do not hope for, but fear, as being certainly future — before the mind as if present, and represents them, because God who is the First Truth, which cannot deceive, has set forth these three to us to be discerned by faith. But the Apostle omitted these, because they were not to his purpose: for he intended only to set forth to the afflicted Hebrews the future heavenly glory, not yet apparent, that by faith, hope, and contemplation of it he might encourage them to constancy.
Verse 2: For by This the Ancients Obtained a Testimony
He proves his description of faith from the example of the holy Fathers, whose faith — approved and celebrated by God and men — was such a faith as he has described here. "In this" therefore, that is, through this faith, the Fathers "obtained a testimony," namely that they pleased God. For God did wonderful and stupendous things in response to their faith; and so by the very deed, as it were by His own testimony, God approved both them and their faith. That this is the sense is clear, because the Apostle so explains himself when he adds in verse 4: "By faith Abel offered a more excellent sacrifice, by which he obtained a testimony that he was just, God giving testimony to his gifts." And in verse 5: "By faith Enoch was translated: for before his translation he had a testimony that he had pleased God."
Secondly, "they obtained a testimony," that is, they were adorned and praised by the public testimony and commendation of God and men. For thus "testimony" by catachresis is often taken for praise, which follows from a good testimony. Hence, concluding these testimonies and witnesses of faith, the Apostle says in verse 39: "And all these, having obtained a testimony of faith," that is, were commended and praised.
The ancients. — Our ancient fathers, from whom we are descended, by whose authority and example it is fitting that we be greatly moved: for their faith, virtue, and glory is as it were hereditary to us.
Verse 3: By Faith We Understand That the Worlds Were Framed by the Word of God
He begins to prove that faith is "the evidence of things not apparent," with an argument drawn from the first creation of things. For neither sense nor reason, but faith alone teaches us creation. For the philosophers, establishing that axiom as a first principle of physics, "From nothing comes nothing," denied creation. Hence Aristotle taught that the world was coeternal with God. Plato judged that the world was indeed produced by God, but from matter which co-existed with God and was eternal and uncreated.
Were framed. — In Greek "katertisthai," that is, to have been aptly fitted together, arranged, joined and perfected with all its parts as if with limbs and members, so that each part of the world is aptly compacted and harmonized both with itself, and with the others, and with the whole world itself; and thus from the individual parts so rightly composed the world itself rises and stands as a whole, perfect and complete in all its numbers. Hence Ludovicus Molina, On the Work of the Six Days, disputation IV, notes that by the name "adaptation of the worlds" is to be understood not creation from nothing, but the arrangement, coordination, and composition of the worlds (namely the world and all worldly things) from the matter of earth and water which God in the beginning had created together with the empyrean heaven. The Syriac translates "dettakanu." Which can be translated in three ways: first, that they were ordered; secondly, that they were bound together; thirdly, that the worlds were established and fixed by the word of God, namely lest anyone with vain dread should fear that the heaven would fall, or that the earth, hanging in the air, should at some time slip downward.
Worlds. — That is, times and all temporal things, namely the world and all things that are in the world. It is a metonymy, as I said in chapter I, verse 2.
By the word of God. — That is, through the Son of God. Secondly and more simply, through the command of God, by which He said in Genesis I: Let there be light, let there be a firmament, let there be heaven and earth, and all things that are in them.
That the things that are seen might be made of things not visible. — That is, that from non-beings and non-existents there might be made beings and existents. It is a metalepsis: for those things which are not, and do not exist, are invisible. So Theophylact. In the Greek there is a metathesis of words, "mē ek phainomenon," in place of "ek mē phainomenon."
Secondly, Ludovicus Molina and Ribera here say, "from invisibles," that is, from the eternal reasons and ideas of things, which were from eternity invisible and hidden in the mind and Word of God, as in their art and exemplar, all things were created, that they might exist and become visible, and aptly correspond to their idea and likeness which they have in the divine mind. So St. Thomas, who for this cites that of Boethius, book III On Consolation:
Most beautiful Himself, bearing in His mind a beautiful world, and forming it in a like image.
Thus Aristotle, in book VII of the Metaphysics, chapter VII, says that from a house without matter (that is, from the idea of a house, which is in the mind of the architect) is made a house that has matter.
Thirdly, Cajetan says "from invisibles," that is, from the formless, unarranged, unadorned, empty mass and chaos which God created on the first day of the world, when, namely, besides heaven and earth He made nothing else but the abyss of waters which covered the earth and stretched to the empyrean heaven. From this chaos and abyss, therefore, God in the following days of the world formed the heavens, the elements, the stars, birds, fish, beasts of burden, and all the rest, that they might exist and become visible, that is, conspicuous, and beautifully composed, arranged, and adorned. For Paul seems by custom to allude to the Septuagint who, in Genesis I, in place of what we have, "The earth was empty and void," translate, the earth was invisible and unformed. Hence also the Wise One, Wisdom XI, 18, says that God made "the world from invisible matter." This sense is very apt, both because it best explains "were framed," and because the preposition "from" properly signifies not an exemplary cause, but a material or quasi-material one.
Verse 4: By Faith Abel Offered to God a Sacrifice Exceeding That of Cain
For "more excellent" in Greek is "pleiona," that is, greater, ampler, more outstanding, of more and greater value. So the Syriac, Chrysostom, Theophylact. Our interpreter, lest he say "greater," which is not said in Latin, said "most," as if to say: Faith, which was far greater and more ardent in Abel than in Cain, stirred Abel to offer greater and more outstanding sacrifices to God than Cain: for Cain offered only the fruits of the earth; but Abel offered the firstborn of his flock and their fat portions, Genesis IV, 4.
Note: The faith of Abel, by which he himself pleased God, and which the Apostle here commends, was not bare and idle, such as is that of the Innovators; but was alive, efficacious, and operating through acts of latreutic worship, sacrifice, devotion, and charity. So the faith of Noah, Abraham, Moses, and others was busy, and brought forth acts of obedience, pilgrimage, patience, fortitude, and the toleration of many labors, sorrows, and evils, as the Apostle subjoins.
By which he obtained a testimony that he was just. — This testimony is found in Genesis IV, verse 4, where it is said: "The Lord had respect to Abel and to his offerings: but to Cain and his offerings He had no respect." On which place St. Jerome in the Hebrew Questions: "Whence," he says, "could Cain have known that God had received his brother's gifts and rejected his own, unless that translation were true which Theodotion put? And the Lord set on fire upon Abel and upon his sacrifice; but upon Cain and his sacrifice He did not set on fire." Therefore by the fire sent forth by Himself, by which God burned up Abel's victims and not Cain's, He showed that Abel and his gifts were pleasing to Him, but did not approve Cain's, as the Hebrews, Chrysostom, Theophylact, and others hand down. For in this way God showed by the fire sent by Himself that the sacrifice of Moses and Aaron was pleasing to Him, Leviticus IX, 24; and likewise that of Elijah, but not that of the priests of Baal, III Kings XVIII; and of Gideon, Judges VI, 21; and of Manoah, Judges XIII, 20; and of David, I Paralipomenon XXI, 26; and of Solomon, II Paralipomenon VII, 1; in like manner God by fire approved and commended the sacrifice of Nehemiah, II Maccabees I, 32.
And by it, being dead, he yet speaks. — Because the faith, innocence, piety, martyrdom, and memory of Abel, though long ago slain, is still fresh and celebrated among all the faithful, and exhorts them to imitate him better than if Abel were to exhort them with a thousand tongues, so great is the force of example: as if to say, Cain indeed killed Abel, but did not take away his glory and memory, by which he lives and shall live forever in the mind and mouth of the faithful. So Chrysostom, Theodoret, Theophylact, Œcumenius.
Otherwise Galenus and Ribera say: Abel still speaks because he still seeks vengeance from God, that in the final judgment Cain may be fully punished when he rises, and all who followed his crime: as if Paul alluded to, indeed cited, that of Genesis IV: "The voice of your brother's blood cries out to Me from the earth." But the former sense seems more genuine and plainer, for he is treating of the faith of Abel, which obtained testimony and praise from God; and he says it still speaks, that is, by its testimony and divine praise summons all to imitate it.
Verse 5: By Faith Enoch Was Translated, That He Should Not See Death
Note: The common opinion of the Fathers is that Enoch and Elijah were translated to paradise, that in the time of Antichrist they may return and contend against him for Christ; and thus shall be killed by Antichrist in Jerusalem, but on the third day shall publicly rise again and ascend into heaven, as is said in the Apocalypse, chapter XI, verses 3 and 12. The same Ecclesiasticus teaches, XLIV, 16: "Enoch," he says, "pleased God, and was translated into paradise, that he might give to the Gentiles repentance." For although the "into paradise" is not in the Greek, it is nevertheless in all the Latin codices.
Wherefore some Jews wrongly think that Enoch died at Genesis V, 24; for in place of what we have "he did not appear," in Hebrew it is "veenennu," that is "and not he," that is, as they themselves understand it, he did not exist, did not live, but died. But this is foolishly said, for the "and not he" signifies that he no longer appeared on the earth, that he was not seen by men, but not that he died, for otherwise Moses would have said of Enoch as of Adam, Seth, Noah, and all the rest: "And he died." But this he does not say of him, but he says "veenennu," "and not he," namely, did he any longer appear on the earth. For so our Interpreter, the Chaldean, the Septuagint, and from them Paul translates: for there follows: "Because the Lord took him," or, as the Septuagint and from them Paul, "metetethē," that is, he was transposed (namely from earth into paradise) by the Lord. The Syriac translates "estanni," which signifies partly "translated," partly "changed into a better lot and state"; for "scana," both in Syriac and Hebrew, signifies "to change." Therefore it is not merely probable, as some have rashly said, but plainly certain by the common sense of Sacred Scripture, the Fathers, and the Church, that Elijah and Enoch did not die, but were taken alive into paradise, and will return at the end of the world. Hence Tertullian, in the book On the Resurrection of the Flesh, calls them "not yet discharged by resurrection, because not yet joined by death, but nevertheless candidates of eternity."
You will ask, how is Enoch said to be "translated by faith," that is, through faith, on account of faith? I answer: Enoch was translated on account of his outstanding innocence of life, by which he was leading on earth not so much a human as a heavenly life, so that he seemed to be more fit to be joined to God and the angels than to men. Moses insinuates this cause, Genesis V, 24, when he says: "And (Enoch) walked with God, and he was not found, because the Lord took him." Where he sufficiently signifies that God took Enoch because Enoch "walked with God," that is, in all things consented to God, complied with Him, and cleaved to Him as friend with friend, or rather as servant with master, continually and becomingly conversing and walking: for this is what this phrase signifies; whence Amos, chapter III, verse 3, says: "Shall two walk together, unless they have agreed?" Therefore to walk with God is the property of great and remarkably holy men, who are most dear, joined, and familiar with God, such as was Noah, of whom it is said Genesis chapter VI: "Noah was a just and perfect man, he walked with God," where the Chaldean translates: he walked in the fear of God; the Septuagint and from them Paul translate: he pleased God, namely as some courtiers are accustomed to please the king when they are in his delights. Hence also Enoch in Hebrew aptly signifies "dedicated" or "consecrated to God."
Yet Paul says that Enoch was translated "by faith," or through faith, because faith of future retribution stirred Enoch to exercise the splendid works of faith, by which he walked with God and pleased God, for which he merited to be taken up by God and transferred into paradise. The Apostle could in like manner have said: Enoch was translated by hope or charity or by his outstanding piety; but he preferred to attribute this to faith, both because he was treating of faith and inculcating it upon the Hebrews; and because faith is the first and leader and kindler of hope, charity, piety, and the other virtues.
Verse 6: But Without Faith It Is Impossible to Please God
He proves that Enoch was translated through faith, or on account of faith, by this reasoning: Enoch was translated because he pleased God; but he could not please God except through faith: therefore he was translated through faith.
For he that comes to God must believe that He is, and is a rewarder of them that seek Him. — He proves the minor of the syllogism already laid down, namely that Enoch could not please God except through faith; and he proves it thus: in order that anyone may come to God as he ought, and worship Him rightly, and so please Him, he must believe "that," that is, that "God is," and that "He is a rewarder of them that seek Him." For if anyone, atheist or politician, should think that God does not care for human affairs, does not punish the wicked nor reward the good, this man will neglect God, and will not care to come to God and worship Him: therefore in order that Enoch and any other may come to God and please Him, it is necessary that he have faith by which he believes in God as judge, avenger, and rewarder.
You will say: For anyone to come to God and worship Him, the natural knowledge of God suffices, by which the philosophers knew that God exists and is the avenger of good and evil: therefore there is no need of faith. I answer by denying the antecedent. For the natural knowledge of God only teaches that God is to be worshiped and loved as the author of nature and of natural goods, and that only those things are to be hoped for and asked from Him. But God wills to be loved and worshiped by men not only as the author of natural goods, but also of supernatural and eternal goods after this life; nor in any other way can we approach Him and His favor and friendship, please Him, and be acceptable. Hence God often denies natural goods in this life to the just and His friends, and confers them upon the wicked and His enemies, in order to teach men that those present things, as vile, transitory, and trifling, are not, but spiritual and eternal things, as worthy of God, are to be asked of God, and that God wills these things, not those, primarily and chiefly to be sought from Him. But for this faith is needed. For faith alone tells us that God is the author not only of nature, but also of grace and eternal glory; for these are supernatural goods, or things hoped for and not appearing, of which faith is the evidence, as the Apostle taught in verse 1.
Add: it is more truly (whatever some may say) that for the Christian, especially for one repenting and being justified, that God exists, that He is the avenger of good and evil, and the other natural attributes of God are to be believed by knowledge and faith not only natural, but also supernatural, as the more learned and solid Theologians teach.
Hence therefore Paul rightly concludes that for justification, namely that we may be friends of God and may please God, faith is required, or supernatural and divine knowledge.
Paul speaks of adults, such as was Enoch: for although it is probable that Enoch was in infancy purified from original sin, and justified, having pleased God through the Sacrament or sacrifice of the law of nature, instituted by God in that age for that purpose, and consequently that habitual faith was infused into him with grace, yet he could not because of infancy have actual faith and knowledge by which he actually believed God to exist and to be a rewarder; this therefore he had as an adult from the instruction of Adam, Seth, and his other forefathers. Therefore as an adult he actually believed God to exist and to be a rewarder, and by this act of faith and consideration of reward stirred himself to heroic acts of charity, chastity, patience, religion, by which he more pleased God, and merited the second justification, namely the increase of justice, and growing daily in these things he finally merited to be translated by God; therefore Paul's conclusion remains proved: "By faith Enoch was translated." For it is clear that Enoch did not merit to be translated by the habitual faith which he had in infancy. For other infants of that age had this, who nevertheless did not merit to be translated. Therefore the Apostle is speaking of actual faith, which the adult Enoch had, by whose impulse he wrought heroic works on account of which he merited above the rest to be translated.
Note: For justification and the friendship of God, by which we may please Him, not only these two — namely that God exists and that He is a rewarder — but several other things are to be believed, such as that God is triune and one, that Christ incarnate and crucified is the mediator of God and men, that Christ is the expiator of both original sin and any actual sin, that the soul is immortal: but the Apostle here recounts only these two already mentioned, not as if these alone suffice, but because these two are above all required to stir up hope, so that the Hebrews, and any other, may bravely undertake and endure the labors and contests of virtue, says Theodoret.
Note secondly the "rewarder": for from this we rightly conclude against the Innovators the merits of good works for which God will give a reward. This is what the "rewarder" signifies, and more clearly the Greek "misthapodotēs," that is, "giver of recompense." For reward includes an essential order and relation to merits, namely that every reward is a reward of merits, and all merits are merits of reward.
Verse 7: By Faith Noah, Having Received an Answer Concerning Those Things Which as Yet Were Not Seen
"Having received an answer" — in Greek "chrēmatistheis," that is, admonished by an oracle of God — concerning those things which as yet were not seen, namely concerning the future flood of the world, fearing, framed an ark for the saving of his house. For "fearing," in Greek is read "eulabētheis," that is, having reverenced God: for when other men had cast off reverence, fear, and faith of the divine power, and laughed at God's threats of a coming flood, Noah alone feared and reverenced God as judge and avenger, and surely believed God foretelling the flood, and therefore built the ark to escape it.
It could secondly be taken passively, "eulabētheis," that is, "reverenced": namely whom God reverenced. For thus Christ is said to have been heard by the Father on account of His reverence in chapter V, verse 6, as if to say: Noah on account of his justice was held in honor and esteem with God, so that God as it were reverenced him, and therefore willed to save him from the flood, indicating and prescribing for him an escape through the ark. Behold how greatly God values the saints.
By which (the ark) he condemned (Noah) the world. — As if to say: Noah by the very deed and outcome of events condemned the unbelief of the men of his age, who refused to believe in the coming flood and to do penance, and therefore mocked the building of his ark: these, I say, Noah condemned, when, while they were drowned by the flood, he alone with his family escaped the flood in the ark. So the Queen of the South is said in Matthew XII, 42, to be about to condemn the Jews, namely by her very deed and zeal, by which she so zealously came from the ends of the earth to Solomon, while the Jews neglected and despised Christ, whom they had at home.
You see here that the faith of Noah was for him the substance of things not only to be hoped for, but also to be feared, namely the flood, which to escape, he so laboriously over a hundred years, while all mocked, built the ark, as if to say: As Noah by faith sustained himself in fear, hope, constancy, and labor of building the ark for a hundred years, so you, O Hebrews, sustain yourselves by faith, that you may be brave, constant, and long-suffering in persecution. For as what Noah believed actually came to pass, namely that he himself escaping by the ark saw all the rest drowned by the flood, so for you, O Hebrews, that which you believe will actually come to pass, namely that you may see your unbelieving persecutors swallowed up by the flood of the fire of hell; but you, through faith and the Church, as it were an ark, to be delivered from it and sail forth, and arrive at the harbor of heaven and eternal salvation.
And heir of the justice which is by faith was appointed. — As if to say: And thus in Noah and his family there remained the justice of Adam, Enoch, Abel, and the other ancient fathers, which they had likewise acquired through faith, and Noah was made the entire heir of the justice and sanctity of the fathers, when the vices and all vicious men had been drowned by the flood. For Noah, although he was just, yet through the faith by which he believed God and obeyed Him in the construction of the ark, merited for himself an increase of justice; for his family he merited that in it alone, as it were by hereditary right and succession, the true faith of God, worship, religion, justice, and friendship might remain, and that from himself, as it were the heir of the whole new world and parent of a new age, Christ at last, the justifier of the world, promised to Adam his father in Genesis III, 15, might be born. So Theophylact, Anselm, Galenus, and others.
Verse 8: By Faith He Who Is Called Abraham Obeyed to Go Out Into a Place Which He Was to Receive for an Inheritance
For "who is called" in Greek is "kaloumenos," which the Syriac translates, "when he was called," namely by God. Better our Interpreter and Theodoret translate, "who is called," as if to say: that admirable Patriarch, whose name among you, O Hebrews, is most celebrated, who at first "Abram," that is "lofty father," but afterwards by the merit of faith and obedience was called and made "Abraham," as if "ab rab hamon," that is, "father of a great multitude," or of many nations, Genesis chapter XVII, verse 5, Romans chapter IV, verse 17. This Abraham, I say, "by faith," that is through faith, obeyed God, first, from Ur of the Chaldees; secondly, from Haran calling him forth into the land of Canaan, where God deigned to honor and accompany him with such wondrous favor, benevolence, and familiarity, as if to say: It is faith which advanced Abraham to the friendship of God; it is faith which made him as great as he became; faith fashioned and formed Abraham — what a man!
The question here is whether Abraham, when he was called by God to go out from Ur and Haran, knew that he had to go to Canaan; and whether God named Canaan to him, or whether He spoke only confusedly and in general: Go into the land which I shall (afterwards) show and point out to you. Pererius, on Genesis XII, 5, and Vasquez here think that Abraham did not distinctly hear nor know about Canaan, that he had to go there. For the Apostle here seems to signify this, and God in Genesis XII, 1: "Come," He says, "into the land which I shall show you"; and so the faith and obedience of Abraham is the more commended. This opinion is probable, yet the contrary seems truer, which Abulensis, Oleaster, and Ribera follow here, namely that God called forth Abraham from Ur and Haran into Canaan, and named and indicated it to him. It is proved because this is expressly said in Genesis XI, 31: "Terah took," he says, "Abram his son, and Lot, and Sarai, and led them out of Ur of the Chaldees, that they might go into the land of Canaan." And again Genesis XII, 5: "They went out," he says, "that they might go into the land of Canaan."
But since Moses narrates this departure historically, and says that they went out into Canaan, it seems plainly to be taken as it sounds. Add secondly, Terah (about whom it is uncertain and doubtful whether he was at that time a faithful and true worshipper of God) does not seem to have been of such faith and such spirit that he would go out from Ur, his fatherland and seat, with Lot and Sarah and his whole family, to follow his son Abraham who was called by God, unless he had known determinately whither he was being called, and where they were all going to fix their seat. Thirdly, because unless God had distinctly called Abraham into Canaan, Abraham would not have known toward what part he ought to go out, or whither he should head.
You will say: How then does the Apostle say that Abraham went out not knowing whither he was going? I answer: "whither," that is, into what determined region, field, or city. For although he knew that he was being called by God into Canaan, yet he did not know into what part of Canaan he was being called: for the region of Canaan was vast and divided among many kings. Hence God willed to lead Abraham out of Ur and Haran, as it were blind, so that through the midst of provinces and through Canaan he might wander always dependent on God, and at God's nod might change his stations again and again. This is clear from Genesis XII and following. From this is plain Abraham's great faith and obedience: for he did the same as if some Belgian duke or count were called from Belgium into Spain by a King saying: Leave Belgium and everything you have in Belgium: come with your household into Spain, to that province and city which, when you are here, I will show and give to you. The faith of that Belgian in the King would be great, if at his word he should give up certainties for uncertainties: for although he knew in general that he was being called into Spain, yet he would not know whether the region or city which he was about to receive in Spain would be greater, better, more convenient, healthier, more wealthy than his estates which he possesses in Belgium. So did Abraham. Add to this, that wandering and uncertain pilgrimage tends to hinder the procreation and education of children, to wear away wealth, to stain reputation, to dissolve friendships.
In the same way an answer is given to that passage in Genesis XII: "Go into the land (that is, into that portion of the land of Canaan) which I shall show you," in Hebrew "areecha," that is, which I shall make you see, which I shall show to your eyes.
Verse 9: By Faith He Abode in the Land of Promise, as in a Strange Country, Dwelling in Cottages
As if to say: They went out into a land then indeed unknown to them, which however afterwards, by God's pointing it out and showing it, they came to know was Canaan. In actual fact, therefore, they did go out toward Canaan, but only afterwards did they come to know that they were heading for Canaan and would fix their seat there.
For "he sojourned" the Greek is "parōkēse," that is, he dwelt — not as a citizen and inhabitant, but as a "paroikos," that is, a stranger and pilgrim: which our translator rightly renders, "demoratus est"; Erasmus does not translate well when he renders it "commigravit" (he migrated). For in that case the Greek would have to be "parōkise."
As in a foreign land. — Because, as follows, he was unwilling to build a house in it, nor did he possess fields in it, but always dwelt in cottages — Greek "en skēnais," that is, in tabernacles and tents — and this in order to signify that he was tending elsewhere, namely to his heavenly fatherland and dwelling. Great and heroic was the faith of Abraham: first, because he forsook fatherland, kindred, parents, family, house, and possessions, and followed God who called him. Secondly, because from a native he became a pilgrim. Thirdly, because he wandered into uncertainty, not knowing whither he was going or where he would settle. Fourthly, because, although he was in the land of promise — that is, promised to him by God — nevertheless even unto death he possessed nothing in it given to him by God, not even a foot's pace, as St. Stephen says (Acts VII, 5), but believed and hoped with certainty that it would be given to him, that is, to his posterity. Fifthly, because he wished to wander as a pilgrim his whole life long, believing and hoping for an eternal home in the heavens.
With Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise. — As if to say: Abraham's faith shines forth still more in this, that not only himself, but also Isaac, Jacob, and his other descendants in turn, who were heirs of the promise made to him by God concerning the possession of the land of Canaan, he willed and commanded to dwell in that same Canaan as pilgrims in cottages and tents, until God after 400 years should fulfill His promise and hand over that land to them to possess.
Verse 10: For He Looked for a City That Has Foundations, Whose Builder and Maker Is God
As if to say: Abraham, with his household, was a citizen not of Canaan, but of heaven; hence he was unwilling to have a house in Canaan, but always dwelt in a movable tabernacle, because he was striving toward, and constantly fixing his eyes upon, the heavenly city as his own homeland — immovable, firm, and eternal. So Anselm and others.
Note: the Apostle contrasts and prefers the heavenly city to Abraham's tabernacles and cottages, which have no foundations but rest upon poles and supports with which they are transferred from one place to another. But the heavenly city of the Blessed, that is, the empyrean heaven, has its own foundations most firm and likewise most precious — namely crystalline and gemlike — which St. John describes in Apocalypse XXI, 19. Secondly, the heavenly city has as its builder and maker not Moses, not Abraham, but God Himself, so that from this alone one may gather and measure how great is the beauty, magnificence, glory, riches and felicity of that city — as great, namely, as befits such a builder, that is, God: for God in this His city, as in a royal palace, displays His own majesty, riches, power, and all glory; just as a king in his palace displays and parades to his princes all his royal pomp, glory, delights and riches.
Add: God is not only the founder of this city, but also its material or object and spectacle, and its delights and riches; and so there the blessedness of God and all His goods will be our blessedness and goods: for we shall be blessed by the very vision and blessedness of God. Therefore our delights, riches and glory will not be human or angelic, but divine; and so they will be the very same delights, riches, and glory by which God enjoys, enriches Himself, and is blessed. Finally, this is the city "where the King is truth, the law is charity, the measure is eternity," says St. Augustine, Epistle 5 to Marcellinus.
Verse 11: By Faith Sarah Herself, Being Barren, Received Strength to Conceive Seed
So far the Apostle has brought forward manly examples of faith; now, in order to stir up the spirits of the Hebrews more, he adds a woman's example — and that of the mother of all believers, namely Sarah — so that the Hebrews may be ashamed to be conquered in faith by a woman, and to be more pusillanimous and fearful than she. So Chrysostom.
Paul notes two impediments to conception in Sarah: the first in nature, that she was barren; the second in age, that she was already plainly old and aged. Both were overcome by faith, by which she believed God who promised, beyond nature, the conception and birth of Isaac.
You will say: Sarah, in Genesis XVIII, 12, laughed at God's promise concerning Isaac who was to be born of her, as though this promise were ridiculous and impossible; therefore Sarah was unbelieving: how then does the Apostle here commend her for her faith? Lyranus answers that the Apostle attributes this conception of Sarah to the faith, not of Sarah, but of Abraham. But this contradicts the words of the Apostle, who says: "that from Sarah by faith she received conception, because she believed God" — namely Sarah herself who received the conception.
I say therefore that at first Sarah, as soon as she heard so great a promise, which was naturally impossible and unbelievable, laughed, as one unbelieving; but after she recognized that the angels promising the conception were envoys of God, and represented God — that is, almighty God, who cannot deceive — and that they were promising this conception to her on God's behalf, then she believed, as is sufficiently gathered from Genesis XVIII, 14 and 15. So Theodoret.
In the conception of seed. — In Greek, "eis katabolēn spermatos," that is, into the conception of seed; as if to say: For receiving, retaining, and forming the prolific seed, Sarah received strength from God by faith — she who by nature, as barren and aged, was unfit for this conception. So Chrysostom. Secondly, Theophylact translates the Greek "katabolēn" as "for the casting down of the seed," so that Sarah herself also might shed and supply her own seed for the conception of Isaac. Hence Erasmus translates: "for sowing." For physicians teach that in conception not only the man but also the woman sheds and gives her own seed for forming the offspring. Thirdly, from Jerome, Ribera takes "katabolēn spermatos" to mean, he says, "for laying the foundations" or the beginning of the seed — that is, of his posterity. The first sense is the plainest, and our translator expressed it clearly.
Verse 12: For Which Cause There Sprang Even From One, and Him as Good as Dead, as the Stars of Heaven in Multitude
As if to say: Because of this faith it came about that Sarah conceived by Abraham, and from one man, and him as good as dead, sprang innumerable offspring and descendants. He calls Abraham "as good as dead" because his body, on account of old age, was as good as dead, and the power of generating was dead in him. Under Sarah's faith the Apostle understands and presupposes Abraham's faith, as that of the husband and father of believers: for Abraham more than Sarah merited by his faith this posterity of seed, as is plain from Genesis XV, 6.
Note the hyperbole, by which Abraham's posterity is compared to the sand of the sea, which is innumerable: for it is certain that they exist in a definite and determined number, which can be counted and does not equal the number of the sand. Therefore by this hyperbole it is signified only that they will be very many and of greatest number. Hence Isaac, through whom all these were born from Abraham, in Hebrew signifies laughter and joy. But in Syriac he is called "isechok," that is, abundance and redundance (for the Syrians change the Hebrew "tsade" into "samech"), which is most evident in this abundance of his descendants.
Verse 13: All These Died According to Faith, Not Having Received the Promises
That is, by faith, with faith, retaining faith, and faithful unto death, they died, because, as they had lived in faith, so also they died in faith: for the goods promised by God they did not see while they lived, but they believed that after death they would receive them.
You will say: If all these died, then Enoch too died and was dead, and was not translated, as he said in verse 5.
St. Chrysostom, Theophylact, Œcumenius, and Ribera following them, answer that "all" is called "almost all": for one is excepted, namely Enoch, who from what has been said is established not to have died, but to have been translated. Thus in Genesis XLVI, 7, it is said that Jacob came into Egypt with all his offspring — "all," that is, almost all, for it is established that Joseph is excepted, who was already in Egypt and presiding there. For we customarily speak universally even when one or another is excepted, especially when it is established that he is excepted. Secondly, precisely "all these," namely Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, who lived after the Flood and received the promises both of the land of Canaan to be possessed and of eternal life in heaven, died: for that the Apostle properly speaks of these, is plain from verses 13 and 16, when he says: "And if indeed they had been mindful of that from which they went out," namely of Chaldaea (which was Abraham's fatherland, from which he went out at God's command into Canaan), "they had assuredly the time of returning," as if to say: If Abraham had repented of going out from his country, if he had thought of returning to it, they could easily have returned to it, lest he be forced to wander as a pilgrim forever in Canaan; but now, since he gave no thought to returning, it is plain that he thought of and sought another fatherland, namely the heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, saying: "I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob." As if these three were to be put on a level with all those of whom the Lord is God, says Theophylact. So, namely, God held these three most holy men in such price and love, in His heart and care.
It seems, therefore, that the Apostle from verse 8 onwards is setting out a distinct and second state and age of the world, namely that which was after the Flood, when there began as it were a new age of faith and of the Church in Abraham, who was the type, exemplar, and father of all believers and faithful, and who throughout his whole life with Isaac and Jacob wandered as a pilgrim in Canaan, because he looked toward the heavenly city. Rightly, therefore, just as for the Levites who had no portion in Canaan, so for Abraham too his portion and lot was God Himself: and consequently, when Paul says "all died," he does not mean Abel, Enoch and Noah, who were in the prior age and other, as it were, world, which was before the Flood; but only Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who were in this new and second age after the Flood. So St. Thomas, Lyranus, and Cajetan.
Not having received the promises, — both concerning the possession of the land of Canaan: for they did not obtain it except under Joshua, after four hundred years; and rather concerning the heavenly kingdom and glory to be possessed: for this they did not obtain except through and after the death of Christ Jesus. That the Apostle is speaking of the promise of heaven is clear from what follows, when he says: "But now they desire a better," that is, heavenly. From this passage the Fathers and Theologians gather that before Christ and the death of Christ, no soul, however holy and pure, entered heaven or attained to the vision and beatitude of God. Hence in chapter IX the Apostle taught that before Christ the way of the Saints had not yet been laid open, that is, that heaven had been inaccessible to mortals, as Ambrose, Chrysostom, Theophylact, and others say there. And in chapter X Paul plainly asserted the same, saying: "Having, therefore, brethren, confidence in entering the Holy Place by the blood of Christ, by a new and living way which He has consecrated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh."
But beholding them afar off and saluting them. — It is a metaphor from sailors, says Chrysostom, who, when they catch sight of the harbor from afar, with a joyful cry, as it were a sailor's chant, hail and salute it. So in Virgil: "Italy! Italy!" Achates first cries out. So these fathers, when through faith they obscurely saw — that is, believed in — the heavenly fatherland, frequently with longing called upon it and saluted it.
And confessing that they are pilgrims and strangers upon the earth. — Hence it is clear that this sense and this expression, "We are pilgrims in this life," was familiar to those ancient fathers, by which it wonderfully kindled in them contempt for worldly riches and things, and longing and zeal for heavenly ones. Thus Jacob, Genesis XLVII, 9: "The days," he says, "of the pilgrimage of my life are one hundred and thirty years, few and evil, and they have not reached the days of my fathers, in which they were pilgrims." And David, Psalm XXXVIII, 13: "I am a stranger with You and a pilgrim, as all my fathers were." And Solomon, I Paralipomenon XXIX, 15: "We are pilgrims before You, and strangers, as all our fathers were." Jeremiah too, speaking of Christ, chapter XIV, verse 8: "Why," he says, "will You be as a sojourner in the land, and as a wayfarer turning aside to lodge for a night?" You err therefore, Christian, if you think to have your home here, if you settle yourself here for rest, as in your homeland: you are here a pilgrim, you are wandering in a foreign land; your homeland and rest is in heaven; hasten thither, make haste thither. Thus the Apostles, as it were pilgrims throughout the world, "going forth went and wept casting their seeds."
St. Olympius the Abbot, as Sophronius narrates in the Spiritual Meadow, chapter XII, when asked by someone by what method he might rightly order his life, answered: "Everywhere reckon yourself a pilgrim, and wherever you sit, say: I am a pilgrim." Wherefore St. Peter rightly admonishes (1 Epistle, ch. II, v. 11), saying: "Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, to abstain from carnal desires, which war against the soul." For he who is a citizen of heaven and a stranger to earth ought to pass over and despise earthly things, and to desire and pursue heavenly things, as Chrysostom here beautifully teaches in his moral homily.
Gregory Nazianzen narrates a notable example concerning this matter regarding St. Basil, in his funeral Oration in praise of St. Basil: for when the prefect of the Emperor Valens threatened Basil with exile and ejection from his Bishopric, Basil answered: "I care for none of those things you have said. I am better than those who publish proscriptions and proscribe. I myself, proscribing myself for the hope of the heavenly kingdom, possessing nothing, am free from fear of exile; knowing that there is one fatherland of all, paradise (for we look upon the earth as it were the common exile of nature); but lacking a land of my own, I am confined to no place, for the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, I am a sojourner on the earth as all my fathers were." And when he was driven from his Bishopric into exile, he said immediately to his companion: Take this little bundle and come with me; having first offered to the prefect a few little books and the threadbare garment with which he was clothed, which were his only furnishings; and he added saying: Exile is nothing to me, since the house I live in is not my own.
In like manner did St. Gregory Thaumaturgus profess himself a pilgrim in this world, who, as Nyssen says in his Life, dying urgently begged his followers not to procure for him a special place of burial. For if I, while living, he says, did not wish to be called the lord of any place, but spent my life dwelling in others' lands as a tenant and pilgrim, neither after death will tenancy be a disgrace to me: but in the following age let the report go forth that Gregory while living was named after no place, and after death was a tenant of others' places, since he abstained from all earthly possession, so much so that he did not even endure to be buried in his own place: for he reckoned that possession alone precious and to be desired, which admits no trace of fraud or avarice. Listen also to a pagan. When Anaxagoras was dying at Lampsacus, and his friends asked whether he wished, if anything happened to him, to be carried back to Clazomenae, his fatherland, he said: "There is no need; for from everywhere the way to the underworld (for the faithful and holy man, to the upper realms) is just the same length." So Cicero, I Tusculan.
I have explained verse 15 at verse 13, and its sense will be sufficiently clear from verse 16.
Verse 16: But Now They Desire a Better, That Is, a Heavenly
"Now" here does not signify present time, but is an adversative and illative particle, as if to say: Abraham could have returned to his fatherland, namely Chaldaea, if he had wished: "but now," that is, but since we see that he did not wish to return, hence it follows that he sought another, better city, namely the heavenly one, and pursued it by wandering as a pilgrim in Canaan all his life long.
Verse 17: By Faith Abraham, When He Was Tried, Offered Isaac
As if to say: When God tried Abraham's obedience and piety, saying in Genesis XXII, 2: "Take your only-begotten son, whom you love, Isaac, and go into the land of vision (into Mount Moriah, as the Hebrew has it, on which Solomon afterwards built the temple), and there you will offer him as a holocaust," Abraham at once obeyed God's command by faith, and "offered," that is, began and attempted to offer his Isaac; but he was hindered by an angel from actually offering him: "offered" therefore signifies here an act begun, not completed, according to Canon 32.
Note: The Apostle attributes this offering of Abraham to his faith, because faith animated and stirred him to perform it: for otherwise Abraham would have said: You are promising and commanding impossibilities to me, O Lord; for You promise me innumerable seed through Isaac, and now You command this same one to be offered and slain: how then through him, if he be slain, can I hope for the seed which You promise? But faith came to his aid here and resolved this conflict; for Abraham believed God both as promising and as commanding, and persuaded himself with certainty that God would bring it about that this command should not nullify the promise; for, as the Apostle adds, "he reckoned that God is able to raise even from the dead," namely that God could raise Isaac, if he were killed, from death, and so Isaac, raised up, would propagate Abraham's stock. "When therefore God promises anything," says Chrysostom, Book I On Providence of God, "even if there be thousands of things which obstruct and intercept such a promise, it is by no means fitting to be disturbed or to doubt of the outcome. For God will bring His promises, though they appear most desperate, to a certain end and outcome."
When he was tried. — The Hebrews relate that the devil appeared to Abraham in angelic guise, and with most weighty words deterred him from immolating his son, as from an impious deed of unheard-of cruelty and contrary to the will of God. It is credible that, if ever, then most of all Abraham was tempted by the devil; but whether the devil appeared to him visibly is uncertain. More certainly, then, we shall refer this to God's testing: for Paul alludes to the words of Moses in Genesis, ch. XXII, v. 1: "God tested Abraham."
And he was offering his only-begotten. — For although Ishmael too had been born to Abraham, yet Isaac is called only-begotten, because he alone was the son of the promise, uniquely loved, and designated heir of Abraham. Ishmael therefore, as it were disinherited and already cast out of Abraham's house with his mother Hagar, is not reckoned as Abraham's son.
Who had received the promises. — "Who" refers not to Isaac but to Abraham, as is plain from the Greek article and from what follows, when he says: "To whom (namely Abraham) it was said," as if to say: Abraham, who had received from God the promises of a very great progeny to be propagated through Isaac, here at God's command, not lingering over these promises, confidently and generously offered this same Isaac to God, because by faith he believed that God would find a way — namely the raising up of Isaac — by which through him He would give and fulfill the promised progeny.
Verse 18: To Whom It Was Said: In Isaac Shall Thy Seed Be Called
"That" here is not causal, but expletive; and is redundant in Latin idiom, as elsewhere often: for so the Hebrews everywhere begin their discourse with "ki," that is, "that." The Apostle has said that Abraham received the promise of progeny through Isaac; here he proves and explains the same thing from this, that God said and promised to Abraham, Genesis XXI, 12: "In Isaac shall your seed be called," that is, from Isaac and not from Ishmael shall be raised up for you a posterity which is to be reckoned and called your posterity, namely so as to be the heir of My promises which I have promised to you and to your seed.
Verse 19: Accounting That God Is Able to Raise Up Even From the Dead
Note the "and from the dead," for which Beza wrongly translates "or from the dead"; for that "kai," that is "and," refers to the generation of Isaac, as if to say: Reckoning that God, who was able to generate him from sterile parents, could also raise the same one from the dead. For "reckoning" the Greek has "logisamenos," that is, when he had weighed with himself, considered, reasoned, and concluded by his reasoning. For Abraham reasoned thus: God commands the son Isaac to be offered and immolated by me, and yet through the same one He promises me a progeny; therefore He will either see to it that whatever I do toward offering him, He Himself will not let him be killed; or if he is killed, He will bring it about that he rises again: animated by this faith and hope, I will eagerly obey God in whatever He commands.
Whence he also received him as a parable. — "As a parable," that is, as a figure of Christ, says Chrysostom, Galenus, Vatablus. For just as a ram was substituted for Isaac in death, which Abraham offered, so with the divinity of Christ kept safe, His humanity was immolated on the cross. Hence Christ seems to allude to this in John VIII, 56: "Abraham your father rejoiced that he might see My day, he saw it, and was glad": he saw, namely, in type, that is, in the immolation of Isaac.
Secondly, Theophylact and Œcumenius say "as a parable" means "as an example"; as if God had said: If Abraham offered his son, I too ought to offer My only-begotten, namely Christ.
Thirdly, "as a parable," that is, as a type, namely of the death and resurrection of Christ and of Christians. For that the resurrection is here treated of, the word "whence" suggests, when he says: "Reckoning that God is able to raise even from the dead: whence he received him also as a parable," namely so that Isaac might be the parable and type of resurrection, just as the phoenix, which is said to be reborn by dying, is a type and hieroglyphic of resurrection. For Isaac seemed as it were to have risen from death, when, destined for certain death, with the father brandishing the sword over his neck, the angel restrained the sword and freed Isaac from death. So Theodoret.
Fourthly and best, "as a parable," that is, that Isaac might be a parable, a saying, a proverb, a memorable example and a prodigy of all ages, which throughout all ages men should remember and celebrate, so that when they wished to speak of a wondrous, memorable, paradoxical, and prodigious thing, they should narrate this example of Isaac's faith, hope, piety, and obedience — as if to say: By faith Abraham offered Isaac, believing that God either would deliver him from death or would raise him up; and by the merit of this so great faith he received him back unharmed and miraculously saved from death "as a parable," that is, as a rare and admirable example, which posterity in every age would narrate, set forth, and imitate: so that, when God through Himself or through His own commands us anything, however arduous and difficult, having the example of Isaac before our eyes, we may confidently and generously offer ourselves, and undertake the commanded thing, sure that God will be present, will unravel what is involved, will overcome arduous things, and will turn ignominy, infirmities, troubles, deaths, and all the evils we fear, into our good, praise, and glory, as He did with Isaac. So now we see this example and reward of Abraham's and Isaac's faith and obedience celebrated by all, and set before all, by which it may be said to every faithful and obedient man: Believe, obey like Isaac, do not doubt, the matter will turn out well, what happened to Isaac will happen to you. Hence the image of this deed was once everywhere set before all. A witness is Gregory of Nyssa, cited in the Second Council of Nicaea, Action IV, canon 1: "I have often," he says, "seen the depicted image of this (the immolation of Isaac), and could not pass by without tears, since it set the history of that event so effectively and to the life before my eyes."
Thus Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, and other prophets and holy men of admirable and portent-like life — such as was Simeon Stylites, Anthony, Athanasius, and very many others — have been given as a parable and example to the whole world: and so with them Abraham could have said that of Isaiah VIII, 18: "Behold, I and my child whom the Lord has given me, for a sign and a portent in Israel."
Thus the suffering Christ says in Psalm LXVIII, 12, that He was made to the Jews (not for good, but for evil) "a parable," that is, a tale and public derision. Thus the Prophets say that Jerusalem and other cities to be laid waste are handed over "as a parable," that is, as a tale and example to all.
"Parable" here could also be taken for "enigma" — as if to say: Abraham offering his son, from whom he was hoping for descendants, received him as a parable, that is, as an enigma and enigmatic comparison. For comparing God's promise concerning Isaac's descendants with his slaying and immolation, it was an enigma: "a man dying and begetting," namely Isaac. Just as the enigma of the phoenix is: "a bird dying and being reborn"; or, as the Poet sings:
I neither am, nor am not; I die, and at the same moment am reborn,
And I am to myself the author both of death and of returning origin.
For the Hebrew "maschal," which the Septuagint and our translator render as "parable," signifies any saying or matter that is illustrious and excellent, whether properly parabolic, or proverbial, or enigmatic. Thus it is said in Ezekiel XVII, 2: "Son of man, propose an enigma, and tell a parable: a great eagle," etc. Where the enigma or parable is called the eagle laying waste Lebanon, by which he understands Nebuchadnezzar laying waste Jerusalem. And in chapter XXIV, verse 3: "You shall say," he says, "by way of proverb a parable to the provoking house," namely that under the enigma and parable of a pot of meat set upon the fire, you may foretell the siege of Jerusalem. So in Numbers XXIV, 15, Balaam is said "to have taken up a parable," when by the star he enigmatically prefigured Christ, saying: "A star shall arise out of Jacob." Thus also Christ proposed His parables to the crowds obscurely, as enigmas, which afterwards He explained to His disciples: "To you," He says Himself in Luke VIII, 10, "it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God, but to the rest in parables, that seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand."
Verse 20: By Faith Also of Things to Come Isaac Blessed Jacob and Esau
He passes from Abraham to Isaac, who, foreseeing by God's revelation the future goods that would come to his sons Jacob and Esau, when dying invoked the same upon them; thus by faith he blessed them, saying in Genesis XXVII, 28: "May God give you of the dew of heaven and of the fatness of the earth, abundance of grain and wine, and may peoples serve you, and tribes adore you," etc. Hence it is clear that this blessing was not so much a prayer as a prediction concerning future things, which Isaac foreknew by faith from God's revelation. For those things, after many ages, befell not Jacob himself, but his descendants in Canaan. See here how faith is "the argument of things hoped for and to come."
Verse 21: By Faith Jacob, Dying, Blessed Each of the Sons of Joseph, and Adored the Top of His Staff
Namely when, in Genesis XLVIII, with hands crossed crosswise in the form of a cross, he placed his right hand upon Ephraim the younger, who was on his left, but his left hand he placed upon Manasseh, the elder son of Joseph, who was on his right, and thus preferred the younger to the elder, saying: "This one indeed (Manasseh) shall become a people, and shall be multiplied; but his younger brother (Ephraim) shall be greater than he, and his seed shall grow into nations," because by faith Jacob foresaw that from Ephraim there would arise not only Joshua, leader of the people, but also all the kings of Israel, that is, of the ten tribes; and thus that the tribe of Ephraim would surpass not only the tribe of Manasseh but all the others as well, in number, glory, kingdom, and rule.
And he adored (Jacob) the top of his staff. — Namely of Joseph his son, who was ruling in Egypt. You will say: How then in Genesis XLVII, 31, which the Apostle here cites, is it said that Jacob adored not the staff of Joseph but "turned to the head of his bed"? I answer: This diversity of version arises from the Hebrew word "matte," in which, if you substitute chirik and qamets and read "mitta," it will signify a small bed; but if you substitute patach and segol and read "matte," it will signify a staff. For all the Hebrews before the times of Christ — indeed even down to the times of St. Jerome — wrote only the consonants of words and names without any points or vowels, so that this word, written in Hebrew, could be read both as "mitta" and as "matte." Indeed the Holy Spirit used this breadth of the Hebrew language to signify many things by the same words. From this in fact arises the diversity of the versions of Aquila, Symmachus, Theodotion, Jerome, and others. The Holy Spirit therefore willed it to be read here both as "mitta," that is, the bed, as our translator reads and renders in Genesis, with Aquila and Symmachus; and as "matte," that is, the staff, as the Septuagint read and from them St. Paul here.
Francisco Ribera supposes that the word "matte" with the same points or vowels formerly signified both the bed and the staff. For the root "natah" signifies to recline: hence "mitta" is a reclining-place, whether it be a bed, or a staff upon which we lean by inclining ourselves. Ribera therefore judges that the same word "matte" could here be translated either way; for the later inventors of Hebrew points, in this name, on account of variety of meaning, substituted different points, when previously they had been the same, namely so that from "mitta" they made "matte," when it signifies a staff. But this does not seem very probable: for all the Hebrews and all lexicons teach the contrary, namely that "mitta" signifies the bed, not the staff, and that "matte" signifies the staff, not the bed. Nor truly did the later Hebrews, although they invented points, on that account change the vowels and pronunciation of the names, so as to make from "mitta" a "matte": for it cannot be shown that they did this in any other names. Add that St. Jerome in Traditiones in Genesin, noting the Septuagint, who read "matte" and rendered "staff," says that in Hebrew it is read very differently, namely, "and Jacob worshiped, turned toward the head of the bed." Therefore the same name as to consonants is twofold as to vowels, and is divided into two names, namely "mitta" and "matte"; and that it can here be read in either way is taught by both readings and versions, namely both the Septuagint's and St. Jerome's, both now approved and received by the Church. The Septuagint therefore, and from them St. Paul, so translates: "prosekynēsen epi to akron tēs rhabdou autou." Which St. Augustine, Question CLXII on Genesis, Diodorus, and Gennadius on Genesis XLVII translate: "Jacob worshiped upon the head, or top, of his staff," with "leaning upon" understood — as if to say: Jacob worshiped the Lord, leaning upon the top of his staff or walking-stick because of old age, not Joseph but the Lord.
But our Translator, with Chrysostom, Procopius, and Eucherius on Genesis XLVII, better translates thus: "Jacob worshiped the top of his staff"; for the Greek words plainly and absolutely signify this, since the prior version of St. Augustine has to understand and supply the "leaning" or "inclining upon."
Nor does the Greek "epi" and Hebrew "al," which properly signifies "upon," stand against this. For the Hebrew "al" and Greek "epi" sometimes only denote the thing to be worshiped in the accusative, of which they are signs, as in 1 Kings I, 10: "Hannah prayed to (in Hebrew al) the Lord," that is, prayed to the Lord; Genesis 47:14: "They shall adore Thee," in Hebrew "elaich tistachavu," that is, "to Thee they shall adore." Thus often in Scripture the saints are said to pray to the Lord, that is, to pray the Lord: for to the preposition "ad" corresponds the Hebrew "al," or "el," which two are often taken for the same thing. Thus therefore here too Jacob adored "al," or "el," that is, toward the staff, that is, he adored the staff of Joseph. Add that the Hebrew "al" and the Greek "epi" can properly be translated "toward" or "against." As if he said: Jacob adored toward, or against the top of his staff, because it was bowing and bending down toward him from the opposite side. So in Psalm 5:8 it says: "I will adore at the temple," that is, toward the temple, where in Hebrew "ad" is "el," for which here is "al."
The sense therefore is that Jacob adored, that is, showed reverence, and by bowing himself honored the staff, that is, the scepter and power and principate of Joseph. For the Hebrew "histachava" properly signifies to bow down and bend oneself downward, or to prostrate oneself before someone, for the sake of reverence, which the Latins, as Suetonius in his Augustus, call "to supplicate."
You will ask, why did Jacob adore the top of the staff, that is, the scepter, of Joseph?
I answer: The literal cause was that Jacob desired to be buried not in Egypt, but in Canaan, which had been promised to him and to his people, and he asked Joseph to take care of this very thing: Joseph agreed and promised his father that he would see to it. Jacob therefore, having obtained his wish, joyfully gave thanks to Joseph his most beloved son, and by bowing himself venerated the scepter, that is, the royal power of Joseph, given to him by God, and consequently he venerated and adored most especially God, the giver of this power: for Joseph was second after Pharaoh, and as it were another king of Egypt.
Secondly, Jacob did this prophetically. For because he foresaw that from Joseph would be born kings who would wield the scepter of Israel, that is, of the ten tribes in Samaria, hence he adored the scepter of Joseph, as if hinting and prophesying that from Joseph would be born kings whom the subjects would venerate and adore as kings. So Chrysostom and Theodoret.
Thirdly, Jacob did this allegorically, believing by faith that Christ would be born from the staff of Jesse and of Israel, namely from the Blessed Virgin, and consequently from himself: therefore the head of this staff, that is, Christ our Savior, of whom Joseph was a type, Jacob venerated. So Sedulius here and Procopius on Genesis XLVII; and this was the most powerful reason why Jacob made Joseph swear that he would bury him in Canaan: because in spirit Jacob foresaw that Christ would be born and would rise again in Canaan, and he believed and hoped that he himself would rise there with Christ on the day of the Pasch, together with the other holy Prophets and Patriarchs, according to what happened in Matthew 27:52. Hence Abulensis, on chapter 47 of Genesis: "It is believed by all Catholics," he says, "that among others who rose with Christ, the patriarch Jacob also rose again."
Rightly therefore from this adoration of Joseph's scepter the Fathers of the Second Council of Nicaea (in the letter of Pope Hadrian to Constantine and Irene, and in the book of Leontius) prove the adoration and cult of images, and they teach that this does not cling to the image, but is referred and passes through to its prototype. For just as Jacob, by bowing himself toward Joseph's scepter, did not adore the scepter itself, but the prince Joseph (whose symbol and image was the scepter): so when we venerate images, we venerate not images, but the Saints, of whom they are images. For if this were impious or superstitious, then Jacob would have been impious and superstitious, who adored the scepter of Joseph; which God forbid. For as the veneration of the scepter was the veneration of Joseph: so the veneration of the image is the veneration of the Saint, of whom it is the image. Add that Jacob, as I said, in this scepter adored not only Joseph who was present, but also Christ who was far absent and would be born after many ages, as represented in His own image.
Verse 22: By Faith Joseph, When Dying, Made Mention of the Going Out of the Children of Israel
As if to say: By faith Joseph, about to die, recalled to mind the departure and liberation of the Hebrews, his brothers and his sons, from Egypt, and their introduction into the land of Canaan, to possess it, just as God had revealed and promised to Abraham: and because he himself believed this very thing by faith, both while living and while dying, and was persuaded that it would certainly come to pass, for this reason he commanded that the Hebrews, when going out from Egypt into Canaan, should carry his bones with them, so that he might be buried among his own in Canaan, just as Jacob, and might rise with Christ.
Note here that the ancient Saints and Patriarchs at death, inspired by a singular divine power, prophesied wonderful things, and as it were uttered swan-songs.
Secondly, that they had great care for funeral and tomb: which although the Novatians spurn, yet the instinct of nature itself often teaches them the same, when in the death of their own they not only celebrate the funeral, but also pray well for the dead, and even ask for the prayers of their own for him. They feel therefore that prayers for the dead are pious, that it is pious to help the souls of those who have departed life with prayers, and consequently that some danger of some punishment hangs over those souls, and that there is a Purgatory. For no one prays for souls going to heaven, or to hell, in which there is no redemption.
Verse 23: By Faith Moses, When He Was Born, Was Hidden Three Months by His Parents
Because they saw he was a comely child, and they feared not the king's edict — Pharaoh's, who had ordered the infants of the Hebrews to be drowned. You will ask, how by faith, and not rather by the natural love of his parents, was Moses hidden.
I answer, this faith plainly suggests that some revelation had been made about Moses, to which the parents of Moses giving credence, hid him, not doubting that by this means the infant would certainly be safe. That this revelation was made through the elegance of Moses alone, Chrysostom, Theophylact, and Œcumenius hold; for through this, by the special instinct of the Holy Spirit, the parents had a presentiment of something divine about Moses. But Josephus, in book 2 of the Antiquities, chapter 5, hands down another and special revelation about Moses, where he narrates that Amram, the father of Moses, anxious about Moses who was about to be born, on account of the edict of the infanticide Pharaoh, earnestly prayed to God for the child, and that God stood by him, and promised that Moses would be born, who would not only be freed from drowning, but would become the liberator of the whole people from Egypt. Hence the report of this matter spread among the Hebrews of that time, as St. Stephen indicates, Acts 7:25, when he says: "He (Moses) thought that his brothers understood, that God would give them salvation by his hand," because Moses thought that those Hebrews, who saw the Egyptian slain by him, were conscious of the oracle and report already made known about himself as the future liberator; hence boldly before them he killed the Egyptian.
You will say: How then does Paul here say that Moses was hidden by his parents, "because they saw he was a comely child"?
I answer: He says this, because the parents in their revelation and faith concerning the infant Moses already born were confirmed when they saw that an elegance more than natural had been given to him by God. This infant was so beautiful, says Josephus, that he immediately drew the eyes of the beholders lightly to himself and held them fixed. This is clear from St. Stephen, Acts 7, where through this elegance he indicates that Moses was dear to God, and so that Moses was elegant, beautiful and pleasing not so much to men as to God, when he says in verse 2: "At the same time was Moses born, and he was acceptable to God." Where for "acceptable," the Greek word is the same, namely "asteios," which here the Latin interpreter translates "elegant"; the Syriac at Acts 7 has "rechim," that is "beloved"; here "scappir," that is "beautiful and pleasing" he translates. This elegance therefore, more than natural, given to Moses by God, signified that Moses was pleasing to God, and that he was in His heart and care, so that he might not only be saved from the waters, but might become the savior of the people: and so through this elegance of Moses, not so much human as divine, the parents were confirmed in their faith, and animated to hide him; nor did they doubt that by this means he would escape unharmed from the waters under God's protection, as in fact happened. So Chrysostom, Theophylact, Œcumenius.
Verse 24: By Faith Moses, When He Was Grown Up, Denied Himself to Be the Son of Pharaoh's Daughter
All from Josephus name this daughter of Pharaoh Thermuth: Philo in his Life of Moses adds that she was the only heir of Pharaoh, and although she had long been married, yet she was without offspring. She therefore, seeing the infant Moses so comely and exposed, snatched him up, raised him, adopted him to herself as a son, and indeed, as Philo says, by feminine art pretended that she was pregnant and had borne Moses, so that everywhere Moses might be thought her natural, not adopted, son. And therefore in order to remove this opinion from his Hebrews, Moses, now about to be their leader and liberator, denied himself to be the son of Pharaoh's daughter, as the Apostle says here. The same is confirmed by St. Stephen, Acts 7:22, where he teaches that Moses was raised in royal manner, "in all the wisdom of the Egyptians"; and more clearly Philo, who says that with great rewards teachers were summoned for Moses from Greece, who taught the liberal arts, and from Chaldaea astrologers, who taught the science of the stars, also the Assyrians, who taught their letters, since by the hope of all he was destined as the successor of the ancestral throne, and was called the younger king: but Moses applied himself most to subduing the affections of the soul, and followed not the customs of the Egyptians, but the ancestral institutions of his elders.
Denied. — In Greek "ērnēsato legesthai," that is, he refused to be called and named the son of Pharaoh's daughter; he refused, I say, both in words and in deeds: when, namely, from the court of Pharaoh he betook himself to his own Hebrews, joined himself to them, vindicated them by killing the Egyptian, and finally professed himself the leader of the Hebrews against Pharaoh and the Egyptians.
Note: Moses "denied this by faith": because by the faith with which he believed the oracle of God already mentioned, concerning the future liberation of the Hebrews from Egypt through himself, and again the faith of the kingdom of heaven and of the eternal reward, impelled him to leave the court and the luxuries of Egypt, that with the Hebrews he might undergo all the tyranny of Pharaoh and the hazard of fortune. Let those imitate Moses who, for the sake of their ancestral faith, are despoiled of their estates, lordships, and even kingdoms.
Verse 25: Rather Choosing to Be Afflicted With the People of God, Than to Have the Pleasure of Sin for a Time
In Greek it is "proskairon apolausin," that is, temporal, or short-time enjoyment. Note the word "of sin": for Moses would have sinned, not thinking of the liberation of the Hebrews, when he knew himself to have been chosen by God for it from the oracle already mentioned. Theodoret adds that the life that is spent with the impious is not without sin, especially when the impious afflict the pious, and seek in this praise, consent and help from others, as the Egyptians afflicting the Hebrews, in this matter sought favor and help from Moses, as the future heir and successor of the kingdom. As if to say: Moses preferred to be afflicted with the Hebrews than to live in the royal delights of impious Pharaoh, and there to give the reins to sin, and to applaud his ambition and tyranny. Let him then leave the court with Moses, whoever wishes to be pious.
Verse 26: Esteeming the Reproach of Christ Greater Riches Than the Treasure of the Egyptians
For "greater riches" St. Ambrose, in his book On Cain and Abel, chapter 4, reads "greater patrimony": for Moses, adopted as son and heir of the kingdom, exchanged this patrimony of the kingdom for the reproach of Christ.
You will ask, what here is called "the reproach of Christ"? The Greeks answer that this "reproach of Christ" is the reproaches which the Hebrews cast upon Moses. For these are called "of Christ" typically, or analogically, because just as Christ suffered reproaches from His Hebrews, whom He came to liberate: so the same Moses suffered from the same. So Theodoret, Chrysostom, Theophylact.
Secondly, Galenus thinks that "the reproach of Christ" is called any reproach which the faithful or the Church sustains from infidels or the impious; and is called "of Christ," because Christ was the leader of suffering and the head of the suffering Church; and because, as Vasquez says, Christ afterwards taught that for the cause of justice and religion this reproach must be borne; which in Galatians V is called the cross of Christ. Hence when Ishmael persecutes Isaac, Esau Jacob, Cain Abel, the Egyptians Moses, the city of the devil the city of God, the wicked persecute the good, it is always and is called "the reproach of Christ," as of the head mocked, vexed and afflicted in His members. For thus by the eternal law of God it is decreed, that in this world the wicked triumph, the pious bear the cross after Christ, and always struggle with adversities, by which God wishes to exercise them as His soldiers to merit the heavenly crown.
Thirdly and most aptly, Ribera takes and explains these words properly, namely that Moses, partly from the faith and tradition of Abraham and the other fathers knowing that Christ would suffer for the human race, partly by prophetic spirit foreseeing especially the injuries and reproaches to be inflicted on Him by the Jews, in order that he might become like the suffering Christ, preferred to suffer, be afflicted, and be visited with reproaches with the Hebrews, rather than to abound in honors and wealth in the court of Pharaoh: for this is properly and is called "the reproach of Christ." For if Jeremiah foresaw these reproaches of Christ, and adumbrated them in his own reproaches, why not also Moses? If Isaiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, David and the other Prophets were sent by God for this, that they might be types of Christ preaching and suffering, and they knew this very thing, namely that their own sufferings and reproaches were typically the sufferings and reproaches of Christ, because they represented them, why should not Moses, the lawgiver and prince of the Prophets, have known, done, and represented the same thing? For Moses, by so many reproaches and persecutions liberating the people from Pharaoh and Egypt, was the express type of Christ, by His own reproaches and cross liberating us from the tyranny of the devil and hell. Therefore "the reproach of Christ" is called not what the Egyptians inflicted on Moses, in hatred of Christ, since they knew nothing of Christ; but what Moses bore with brave and joyful spirit out of love, reverence, imitation, likeness of Christ, and to represent the reproaches of Christ. For thus an actor, who on the stage represents the suffering Christ, is said to act Christ, and the reproaches and passion of Christ. Such, as it were, actors were Moses and the Prophets.
Note here: This is the highest perfection of the faithful man, namely that by the example and imitation of Christ he should love, thirst for, and seek reproaches, mockeries, persecutions, calumnies, infamies; and so he should prefer them to any honor, fame, name and even royal glory, so that even if equal glory of God and equal virtue were in honor and in reproach, yet he should prefer to be afflicted with reproach rather than honor, that by this means he may be assimilated to Christ laden with injuries, losses and calumnies, and may bear the reproaches of Christ, saying with Paul: "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world."
For he looked unto the reward — of eternal glory in heaven, as if to say: Therefore Moses set aside the riches of Egypt for the miseries of his own people, because he reasoned thus with himself: If I give myself to the Egyptian delights and honors, I shall enjoy them only for twenty or thirty years, and soon I shall be condemned by an angry God to the eternal torments of hell; but if, having renounced these, I join myself to the afflicted people of God, with them I shall be pressed by brick and clay, I shall be afflicted only for twenty or thirty years, and soon by God, the most generous rewarder of all and especially heroic virtue, I shall be given eternal joys, riches and honors. Now it is better to be miserable here for a short time, than to be miserable for eternity; it is better to buy eternal happiness with a small misery, than with a small happiness and present pleasure to buy eternal misery. Therefore I resolve and decree to embrace the miserable lot of the Hebrews in preference to the happiness of the Egyptians, that I may obtain from God the reward of eternal glory and happiness. And this conclusion and hope impelled Moses bravely to undergo all hard and arduous things.
In the same way Blessed Thomas More the Martyr, formerly Chancellor of England, reasoned with himself, when his wife Aloisia, sent in by Henry VIII, King of England, into his prison, was tempting his spirit, that he might assent to the king's lust: she lamented, and recalled her wretched fortune and that of her husband and family, and on the other hand showed that great riches and honors were promised by the king, if he would subscribe to him; to whom More said: How long, O Aloisia, shall we enjoy these riches? She replied: Easily still for twenty years, my husband. Soon rebuking and indignant, More said: Go, O foolish merchantwoman, shall I for twenty years of moderate happiness sell eternal years of heavenly happiness? I am not so foolish; rather I prefer to suffer this prison for my whole life, the confiscation of goods, reproaches, and death itself, than to squander my blessed eternity.
Hence it is clear that it is pious and holy to perform good works with a view and hope of eternal reward. For thus Moses worked here, and David in Psalm CXVIII: "I have inclined," he says, "my heart to do Thy justifications forever, for reward." For this is an act of the virtue of hope. As therefore it is pious to do good from the virtue and instinct of charity, namely that through them we may please God, and witness our love toward God: so also it is pious to perform good works from the instinct of hope, namely that through them we may obtain the eternal reward. So teaches the Council of Trent, session VI, chapter XI. Hence secondly, the merits of good works are clear, as those for which God as a rewarder repays an eternal reward. You see here how Moses and Paul differ from the sense, faith and deeds of the Novatians.
Verse 27: By Faith He Left Egypt, Not Fearing the Fierceness of the King
Namely when Moses, having killed the Egyptian, fearing the wrath of Pharaoh, fled into Madian, and afterwards was to return for the liberation of his people, as in fact he did return to Egypt, not fearing Pharaoh. So Chrysostom, Theodoret, Theophylact. But because at that time Moses fled into Madian not so much by faith as by fear of Pharaoh, as is said in Exodus II, 15, and the Apostle does not say: "By faith he returned," nor even: "By faith he fled," but: "By faith he left Egypt," hence secondly and better, with Lyranus, Tostatus and Pererius on Exodus chapter II, we shall say that Moses left Egypt by faith when by the command of God he led the Hebrews out of it. For then by faith he believed that he with the people would escape the hands of pursuing Pharaoh by God's help, and that the people would happily penetrate into Canaan, as God had promised: for unless Moses had been armed with this faith, he would never have undertaken so great a deed, by which he was exposing himself and the whole nation to Pharaoh's wrath and indignation.
For he endured as seeing Him that is invisible. — For "endured" the Greek is "ekarterēsen," that is, he persevered, endured in afflictions, constantly tolerated all adversities. Hence Vatablus translates, exactly as if he had seen Him who is invisible, so he held firm and persevered in bearing every hardship. Our translator in the same sense renders "sustained," as if to say: Moses with sure faith, patiently, with great forbearance and perseverance in so many adversities awaited both the help of the invisible God in leading out the Hebrews from Egypt, and the reward promised in heaven, just as if he had beheld these present to his own eyes, and therefore he sustained and tolerated all hardships with brave and constant spirit.
Note that the word "as" has emphasis: for it corresponds to the Hebrew "caph," which is not only a sign of likeness, but also of measure, or equality, as if to say: With equal certainty, hope, patience and tranquility Moses sustained the help and reward of God, whom he did not see, as if he had seen Him before his own eyes. You see here how "faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."
Verse 28: By Faith He Celebrated the Pasch and the Shedding of the Blood
Because Moses believed by faith that he with the whole people was to be freed by the blood of the paschal lamb from death and from the angel striking the firstborn of the Egyptians: hence stirred by this faith he immolated the paschal lamb and sprinkled its blood on the doorposts, so that the striking angel, seeing the blood of the lamb, would pass over the houses of the Hebrews, and leap upon the houses of the Egyptians, Exodus chapter XII, verses 12 and 23; from which passing over, or rather leaping over of the angel, both the lamb and the feast itself are called in Hebrew "pesach," in Chaldaic, Greek and Latin "pascha," as I said on 1 Corinthians V, 7. Tacitly here Paul sets before the Hebrews the faith of the immolated Christ, by whose blood we have been freed from the striking angel, that is, from the devil and hell: for this is here signified allegorically.
Verse 29: By Faith They Passed Through the Red Sea as by Dry Land
For by the faith with which the Hebrews believed Moses, who in God's name promised a miraculous and successful crossing of the sea on dry foot, by this faith, I say, the Hebrews being stirred, confidently and securely entered the very Red Sea, and trod over it as if dry land. "Which attempting," in Greek "hēs peiran labontes," that is, of which when they had taken trial, namely when they had made the attempt, and tried to cross the sea on dry foot, the "Egyptians pursuing the Hebrews were drowned." In Greek "katepothēsan," that is, plunged down, swallowed up.
Up to this point the Apostle has set before the Hebrews the patriarchs Moses, Abraham, Noah and others as heroes of faith; now he sets before them the common people and the plebs, as if to say: If you cannot imitate those heroes, O Hebrews, at least imitate the rude people, who by faith overcame the Red Sea. For if you are equal to them in faith, you shall receive an equal fruit of faith, namely that, animated by faith in Christ and hope of the eternal retribution, you bravely tolerate exiles, the plundering of goods and whatever bitter things for the faith of Christ; and so not through the Red Sea into Canaan, but through the baptism of Christ, faith and patience you may penetrate into heaven, and there obtain eternal riches and rewards.
Verse 30: By Faith the Walls of Jericho Fell Down, by the Going About of Seven Days
As if to say: Not by undermining, not by battering rams, not by ballistas; but by the faith with which Joshua and the Hebrews believed and obeyed God promising, that by going around the city of Jericho for seven days with the ark, with the blast of trumpets and the shouting of the people, its walls, although very high and very solid, would fall down to their foundations; these walls in fact fell down, and so by faith, not by the edge of the sword, Jericho was conquered by the Hebrews. See Joshua chapter VI.
Verse 31: By Faith Rahab the Harlot Perished Not With the Unbelievers
"By faith," namely by which Rahab believed that Jericho and the other cities of Canaan would be handed over by God, as He had promised, to the Hebrews: for animated by this faith, she received the spies of the Hebrews "with peace," that is, peaceably, amicably and kindly, and hid them, and sent them safely back to the Hebrews, lest they be captured and killed by the citizens of Jericho: and therefore she alone with her own was saved in the destruction of Jericho, when all the rest of the unbelievers, refusing to surrender themselves to the Hebrews, were killed, as if to say: If you are not moved by popular examples, O Hebrews, at least, since you have been brought up in the true religion, the faith which the Canaanite Gentile, indeed a vile shameful woman and harlot, formerly displayed.
Hence it is clear that, when the Hebrews were approaching, especially upon seeing their spies, and hearing the report of the passage of the Hebrews through the Red Sea on dry foot, the Egyptians being drowned, of the miracles and victories which the Hebrews obtained against Amalek, Og and Sihon kings, Rahab believed in the true God of the Hebrews, and that God touched her heart, and inspired in her not human but divine faith, repentance and His own fear: for by this faith, and the works of faith, Rahab was justified, as St. James says, chapter II, verse 25.
Note: Rahab is called "harlot," in Hebrew "hatzona," which although the Chaldean, Joseph, the Hebrews and Lyranus translate as "innkeeper," yet St. Jerome and the Septuagint, and from them Paul, here interpret as "pornēn," that is, harlot: for the Hebrew "zona" signifies both, and both fit this Rahab. For it is likely that Rahab was an innkeeper for hire. For it rarely happens that women who set up public lodgings, and preside over them and take profit, overcome the danger of incontinence and stupration, or at least the suspicion of it. Hence these mercenary innkeepers were considered both among the Gentiles and among the Hebrews illiberal and immodest, and from them the name "harlot" was derived; for "zona" in Hebrew is said from "zun," that is, to earn, to sell, to prostitute oneself, or one's wares; and in Greek "pornē," that is, harlot, is said from "pernein," that is, from selling; and the Latin "meretrix" is derived from "merendo" and "merces" (earning and reward).
You will say how did the faithful and religious Hebrew spies wish to turn aside to a harlot in a brothel.
I answer, the house of Rahab was not a public brothel, but a lodging, in which however both she herself and other women lovers were not lacking to guests, as not rarely even now happens in lodgings. But by prudent counsel the Hebrews entered the lodging of this one woman, that having entered there as guests, not as spies, they might lie hidden there most secretly. Add that the house of Rahab was near the walls, and so was more remote from the people and more hidden, and more convenient for escape, should circumstances require. So Abulensis, Vatablus and Arias Montanus, on Joshua chapter II.
Verse 32: And What Shall I Yet Say? For Time Would Fail Me to Tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the Prophets
For Gideon by the faith with which he believed God, who promised victory over the Madianites to him and his own, obtained that same victory, Judges VII; Barak by the faith with which he believed Deborah, in the name of God commanding him to fight against Sisera, struck him down like a thunderbolt (whence aptly Barak in Hebrew means thunderbolt), Judges IV; thus Samson, Jephthah, David and others by the faith with which they believed God who roused them to battle against the Philistines, Ammonites and the other enemies of the people of God, struck them down. Hence of Jephthah and Samson it is often said that the spirit of the Lord was made or rushed upon him, when he undertook battle, or some other arduous work.
Note: Here the Apostle combines the heroes of faith, namely two by two, who lived in nearly the same age, in such a way that he places the earlier one first not in time, but in dignity and celebrity. For Gideon was more glorious than Barak, who however in time was earlier than Gideon. Thus also Samson before Jephthah; and David, as a king most brave and most fortunate in wars, surpassed Samuel not in time, but in glory.
Note secondly, that the Apostle here properly and primarily does not weave together a catalogue of the saints of the Old Testament, but only puts forward and praises the heroes of faith, who by faith brought forth and accomplished heroic works: for otherwise it is clear that Jephthah sinned by robbery, Samson and Rahab by fornication, others in other ways. So Chrysostom and Theophylact here, and Abulensis on chapter XI of Judges. Yet secondarily the Apostle sufficiently hints that all were saints, and consequently repented of their sins by faith, and so departed from life in grace and the hope of salvation, and of the blessed resurrection. For in verse 33 he says "that they by faith wrought justice," etc.; and in verse 39: "And all these, being approved by the testimony of faith, received not the promise, God providing some better thing for us, that they should not be perfected without us." Where he sufficiently indicates that all those named by him did not indeed receive the consummated happiness promised to the faithful before Christ and Christians: yet they shall receive the same with them in the blessed resurrection. For the aim of the Apostle is to confirm the Hebrews by the example of the fathers, whom he here cites, both in sanctity and in the Christian faith. Hence St. Thomas, Anselm and Ribera assert that the Apostle here weaves together the catalogue of the saints of the Old Testament, not of all, but of the more illustrious, namely those who among the Hebrews obtained the fame of sanctity and the glory of name.
Verse 33: Who by Faith Conquered Kingdoms, Wrought Justice, Obtained Promises, Stopped the Mouths of Lions
Conquered kingdoms — of the Canaanites, Philistines, Ammonites and others. Wrought justice — that is, the just vengeance of their own people, against the unjust Canaanites, Philistines and other enemies.
Secondly, "justice," that is, mercy and humanity, e.g. which David and Samuel showed to Saul, the unjust king and their enemy (when they could harm him) by sparing, indeed by serving him. So Chrysostom and Œcumenius.
Thirdly, others take "justice" properly, as if to say: These saints defended justice, rendered to each his own right, were just judges and vindicators of justice.
Fourthly and best, they wrought "justice," that is, just and holy works, by which, as I said in verse 5, they pleased God. Hence the Syriac translates "pelachu kinuta," that is, they cultivated justice, as if to say: The saints by faith, by which they believed that such great rewards were laid up in heaven for virtue, spent their whole life in its pursuit and exercise, and cultivated and exercised one virtue.
Obtained the promises. — E.g. when Joshua, Caleb and other Hebrews entered and possessed the land of Canaan promised to them; when to Abraham Isaac was born; to David Solomon, son and heir promised by God; when Gideon, Samson, Jephthah obtained the victories promised by God; and so any other obtained in fact the promise specially made to him by God, which he believed by faith.
You will say: How then in verse 39 does he say that they had not yet received the promises?
I answer: In Greek it is "tēn epangelian," that is, that (namely the eminent) promise, which is the end, head and sum of all promises, and which is commonly promised to all, namely eternal happiness, and the consummated beatitude both of soul and body: for none of those fathers before Christ obtained this.
Stopped the mouths of lions. — Not all, but some from the heroes already named, namely Samson, who tore apart a lion cub with his bare hand, Judges XIV, 6; and David, who suffocated a lion attacking his flock by seizing its jaw, 1 Kings XVII, 34; and Daniel, who by his presence and sanctity closed the mouths of lions raging with hunger, so that they did not dare to touch him, Daniel VI, 22.
Verse 34: Quenched the Violence of Fire, Escaped the Edge of the Sword, Recovered Strength From Weakness, Were Made Strong in Battle, Put to Flight the Armies of Foreigners
Quenched the violence of fire. — Namely the three companions of Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the Babylonian furnace, where they as it were halted and pushed back the most burning fire, which most strongly consumed wood, pitch and all other things, so that it could not exercise its force and violence on their bodies, as if they were of asbestos, Daniel III, 49.
Escaped the edge of the sword. — Correct with the Romans, the Syriac and the Greeks, "ephugon," that is, they escaped. For an enemy is put to flight, but the edge of the sword is not put to flight, but is fled from. Thus Elijah escaped the sword of Jezebel, David that of Saul, Moses that of Pharaoh.
Recovered strength from weakness. — That is, from illness, like Hezekiah, 2 Kings XX, 6, and Tobit from blindness, Tobit XI, 15, and Job from his affliction, Job last chapter.
Secondly, "from," that is, away from, "weakness," that from being weak, feeble and timid they became strong, vigorous and bold: as Gideon, Barak, Moses, Joshua (Joshua chapters VIII and IX), Judith and others were made, when called by God to the leadership or rule of the people. Both senses Theodoret, Theophylact and Chrysostom bring forward and follow, the latter referring this to the Jews who, as if wasted and dying with the Babylonian captivity, returned cheerful, brisk and vigorous into Judaea.
Thirdly, Vatablus translates, they were made strong from weakness; and Hugo Cardinalis from St. Chrysostom, by feebleness they were made strong; for the strength of the faithful is the recognition and confession of their own weakness: for through this the power of God is perfected in our weakness. See what is said on 2 Corinthians XII, 9.
Put to flight the armies of foreigners. — For "turned" the Greek is "eklinan," that is, they made to incline, this is, they drove into flight; for a battle line is said to be inclined, when it yields to the enemy and prepares for flight. For "camps" the Greek is "parembolas," which although Erasmus translates as "incursions," yet more correctly our Interpreter, indeed Vatablus and Beza translate as "camps," or "armies." The Syriac translates "masreiata," that is, they overturned the fortifications of the enemies, as David did, when he stormed Sion the most fortified citadel; and the Maccabees, when they penetrated the iron walls of the enemies, and did not so much climb up as fly into the very citadels of the enemies. But, as I said, the Greek "parembolas" properly does not mean citadels or fortifications, but camps.
Verse 35: Women Received Their Dead Raised to Life Again; Others Were Tortured, Not Accepting Deliverance, That They Might Find a Better Resurrection
"Of," that is, from, "resurrection," namely by resuscitation, because they rose from death. Thus the Sunamite received her son raised by Elisha, as if regenerated and brought back to life from the bosom of resurrection, 2 Kings IV. In like manner the widow of Zarephath received her son recalled to life by Elijah, 3 Kings XVII.
And others were stretched out. — In Greek "etympanisthēsan," which Suidas translates as cudgelled, or beaten with clubs, flayed and hung up; Chrysostom and Theophylact translate, they were beheaded. But the Greek "etympanisthēsan" literally means they were drummed.
Where note, the drum was a kind of torment, by which men were strongly and rigidly stretched out, as on a rack, and were beaten as skins stretched on a drum. He notes Eleazar and the Maccabees, who were cruelly tortured by Antiochus Epiphanes. For of Eleazar it is said in 2 Maccabees VI, 19 and 28: "He went voluntarily to the punishment," in Greek "epi to tympanon," that is, to the drum; and of the seven Maccabean brothers in chapter VII, 1, it is said that they were tortured with whips and bull-hide thongs (in Greek "neurais," that is, with sinews and straps of bulls): for they were beaten on the drum with whips and thongs, and were struck with clubs, and pounded with staves, stones and hammers, and were as it were a drum exposed to the lashings and tortures of all. The philosopher Anaxarchus, as Laertius witnesses, while being beaten by the tyrant Nicocreon, as in a mortar with a pestle, said: "Beat, beat the bag, you are not beating Anaxarchus," calling his body the bag, and Anaxarchus the soul, or rather the lofty spirits which he bore. This in fact Eleazar said to Antiochus: "You strike and beat the drum, Antiochus, you are not striking and beating Eleazar." Hence that voice of the Maccabees: "From heaven (of the body) I possess these (members); but for the sake of God's laws I now despise these very things, because I hope to receive them back from Him."
Not accepting deliverance, that they might find a better resurrection. — As if to say: Eleazar, the Maccabees and the like voluntarily underwent these torments. For they could, if even by a single word they had yielded to Antiochus, have been redeemed and freed from all punishments: but now, strengthened by faith, they preferred to be tortured and to die, so that through that death they might find the resurrection and a life better than the present life, which they were losing and giving up for God.
Secondly, Theophylact and Œcumenius interpret "a better resurrection" as a more glorious one, namely that by which the Maccabees, as the bravest of Martyrs, will rise in greater glory above other Saints.
Thirdly, Chrysostom thinks this "resurrection" is called "better" with respect to the resurrection to the present life, of which he spoke before: "Women received their dead by resurrection." But the first sense is simpler and more solid. There is no doubt, says Beza, that he designates the persecution which Antiochus carried out. The Apostle therefore cites the books of the Maccabees: why then do you reject them and remove them from the canon?
They were tempted. — So all the Greek and Latin texts read, along with Chrysostom, Theodoret, Theophylact, and Œcumenius, although the Syriac and a few others delete this. Thus "they were tempted," namely some by grave and prolonged calamities, like Job; others by persecutions, exiles, hunger, and want, like the Prophets under Jezebel; others were tempted by God through arduous obedience, like Abraham; others were tempted by every kind of punishment, like the Maccabees and other Martyrs under Antiochus, and Paul speaks here properly of such ones, as is clear from what precedes and follows: but by faith and the hope of heavenly glory they overcame all these temptations.
They died by the slaughter of the sword. — Such were those Israelites in the persecution of Antiochus, of whom it is said in 2 Maccabees V, 13: "There were therefore slaughters of young and old, exterminations of women and children, and killings of virgins and infants; and during three whole days eighty thousand were killed."
Behold here the faith, fortitude, and martyrdoms of the Saints of the Old Testament; what then should Christians do? Hear what they did in the primitive Church, as Tertullian describes in his book to Scapula the Governor, chapter V: "Your cruelty," he says, "is our glory. See only that we do not seem, by the very fact that we endure such things, to break forth into this alone, namely to prove that we do not fear these things, but voluntarily call for them. When Arrius Antoninus was persecuting fiercely in Asia, all the Christians of that city presented themselves with one accord before his tribunals: then he, having ordered a few to be led off, said to the rest: O wretches, if you wish to perish, you have precipices or ropes. If this should please to be done here, what will you do with so many thousands of men, so many men and women of every sex, every age, every rank, offering themselves to you? How many fires, how many swords will be needed!"
The same in the Apologetic, last chapter: "Crucify," he says, "torture, condemn, grind us down. The proof of our innocence is your iniquity. Therefore God permits us to suffer these things: for also recently, by condemning a Christian woman to a pimp rather than to a lion, you confessed that with us a stain on chastity is reckoned more dreadful than every penalty and every death."
The first to stir up persecution against Christians was Nero, who exposed Christians, some to crosses, some to flames, some to be torn by dogs, as I have said on 2 Timothy IV, 17. The second was Domitian, who slew many noble Christians and illustrious men at Rome with no justice, no reason, drove countless into exile, and punished them with the seizure of their goods. Nor is it surprising, since he himself was lifted up with blind swelling into such pride that he wished himself to be called, written, and worshipped as Lord and God, as Orosius, Sextus Aurelius Victor, Sulpitius, and others bear witness. The third was Trajan, raging and daily slaughtering immense crowds of Martyrs, among others Saint Ignatius at Rome in the amphitheater (the place still stands marked by an altar and chapel, which I have often venerated with great feeling of soul) he exposed to the lions. The fourth persecutor was Marcus Antoninus Verus, of whom how harsh was the persecution is testified by the letters which were written by the Gauls of Lyons and Vienne to the Asian and Phrygian brethren, extant in Eusebius, book V of his History, chapter 1. The fifth was Severus; the sixth was Maximinus, who raged especially against Clerics and priests, as if against the masters of the faithful, as Eusebius testifies, book VI, chapter 20. The seventh was Decius, and his colleague Valerian, under whom Saint Lawrence triumphed on the gridiron. Concerning these, hear Saint Jerome, at the beginning of the Life of Saint Paul the First Hermit, who, fleeing this persecution, withdrew into the desert:
"Under Decius," he says, "and Valerian, at the time when Cornelius at Rome and Cyprian at Carthage were condemned by happy bloodshed, a savage tempest devastated many Churches throughout Egypt and the Thebaid. The wish of Christians then was to be struck by the sword for the name of Christ: but the cunning enemy, seeking out punishments slow to death, desired to slaughter souls, not bodies. And as Cyprian, who himself suffered from him, says: To those willing to die, it was not permitted to be killed." He adds examples: a Martyr persevering in the faith and victorious among racks and red-hot plates the judge ordered to be smeared with honey and, with hands tied behind his back, to be laid on his back under the most burning sun, namely that he might yield to the stings of flies, who had previously overcome fiery frying-pans. Against another he sent in a prostitute who, that she might overcome by force of pleasure his torture, biting off his tongue, he spat it at her. What is more cruel than that at Catana in Sicily glowing plates were applied not only on the rack to the tender virgin Agatha, but also her breast was cut off? Whence the judge Quintianus deservedly heard from her: "Cruel tyrant, are you not ashamed to cut off in a woman what you yourself sucked in your mother?"
Therefore by the just judgment of God Decius was drowned in a barbarian land amid confused crowds in the gulf of a marsh, so that not even his corpse could be found; but Valerian, captured by Sapor king of the Persians, grew old in most ignominious servitude among the Persians, as Eusebius testifies, book VII, chapter 9. The eighth was Aurelian, who stirred up a bitter persecution against Christians by an impious decree: not long after he was punished with sudden death. The ninth was Diocletian. The tenth, Maximian Herculeus, under whom there was such a rage of the unbelievers that within the space of thirty days eighteen thousand men of mixed sex were destroyed in various and horrible ways. We ourselves, says Eusebius, book VIII, chapter 9, when we were journeying through the wildernesses of Egypt, beheld with our own eyes how, while the most savage Governor sat at his tribunals, countless multitudes of the faithful were offered to him, whom one by one in order, as they confessed themselves Christians, he ordered to be beheaded. All willingly, indeed even one anticipating another, presented their necks to the executioners: the hands of the executioners failed, and those succeeding one another were wearied, the edge of the sword was blunted. I saw, he says, the executioners sitting down weary, regaining their strength, refreshing their spirits, changing their swords, and even the day not sufficing for the punishment. To these were added Maximinus and Maxentius, son of Maximian, and Licinius, who ordered Christians to be handed over to butchers, and commanded that they be hung up publicly in the manner of pigs, then placed on wooden blocks and chopped into pieces and divided into parts, and so cast into the sea as food for fish. See more in John Lensaeus of Belliol, Doctor of Louvain, in that excellent little book which he published on the various kinds of persecutions. In this age, what various and horrible torments the Orthodox and Martyrs have suffered from the Huguenots in England, France, and Belgium can be seen in the Theatre of Heretical Cruelty. Behold these things, Christians, and aspire to similar things: be ashamed not to be able to bear blows, indeed harsher words. Your fathers generously bore fires, gibbets, racks, lions, and whatever savagery could devise; they bore and laughed at them, and will you shudder at the bite of a gnat? Far be it, far be it; rather contend with them in patience and fortitude. The same faith of hoped-for eternity calls you here and sounds the trumpet.
Verse 36: Others Had Trial of Mockeries and Stripes, Moreover Also of Bonds and Prisons
Such was Jeremiah, who, when he threatened the rebellious Jews with the destruction of Jerusalem, suffered the most dreadful things from them, namely insults, slaps, blows, hunger, prison, and was often proclaimed by the whole people as guilty of death, and at length, stoned, fell as a martyr: thus Jeremiah was the most express type of Christ afflicted by the Jews, and is rightly called by Isidore of Pelusium, book I, letter 208, "polypathestatos," that is, the most calamitous. Such also was Micaiah, who, because he predicted disaster to King Ahab, was thrown by him into bonds, and was mocked and beaten by the false prophet, 3 Kings, last chapter. Such were the other Prophets, Zechariah XI, 11. "The heavenly pilgrimage produces such struggles: for it is the part of great men truly to suffer mockeries from their own," says Climacus.
Verse 37: They Were Stoned, They Were Cut Asunder, They Were Tempted, They Were Put to Death by the Sword; They Wandered About in Sheepskins, in Goatskins
They were stoned. — Like Naboth at the procurement of Jezebel, 3 Kings XXI, and Zechariah son of Jehoiada the high priest, 2 Chronicles XXIV, and many others, of whom Christ says in Matthew XXIII, 37: "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the Prophets and stonest those who are sent to thee," of whom the chief was Jeremiah, of whom Tertullian says in Scorpiace VIII: "Jeremiah," he says, "is stoned, Isaiah is sawn asunder, Zechariah is killed between the temple and the altar, leaving the perennial stains of his blood upon the flintstones."
They were cut in pieces. — Like the Maccabees, whose hands and feet were cut off and chopped away, 2 Maccabees VII, 4. Saint Jerome on Matthew XXVI reads, "they were sawn asunder" (for this is also what the Greek "epristhēsan" signifies), and refers it to Isaiah, whom the Hebrews relate was sawn in two by Manasseh, because he had more sharply and frequently rebuked the vices of him and his princes. The same is related by Epiphanius in the Life of Isaiah, by Saint Thomas, and by Tertullian in a poem, where he sings thus of him:
Whom the people, found cut by wood without blemish,
The madman undeservedly destroyed with cruel death.
By these words he teaches that the saw with which Isaiah was cut was wooden; doubtless so that Isaiah, who by his name prefigured the name and advent of Jesus the Savior, might also by his death prefigure the matter and form of the cross in the wooden saw.
They wandered about in sheepskins, in goatskins. — "A melota," says St. Thomas, "is a garment made from camel hair, or better: the badger has a shaggy skin from which a shaggy garment is made, which is called Melota." But "mēlon" in Greek is called a sheep, whence "mēlōtē," melota, is called a sheepskin, or rather a hide, that is, a skin stripped from the body of a sheep along with the wool. For Philo, at the beginning of the book On Victims, relates that poor and rustic people, whom necessity compels to live outside cities under the open sky, are accustomed to make their garments from this. Add that melota, by catachresis, signifies the skin of any quadruped.
Paul notes Elijah, who in 4 Kings I, 8 is called "a hairy man," not so much from his beard and hair as from his melota and hairy and shaggy garment; he notes also Elisha and other Prophets, whose distinctive mark was the melota, or hair-shirt of shaggy skin. Now the Prophets used the melota as a cheap and rough garment, both because Ahab, Antiochus, and others drove them to extreme poverty, so that they were forced to flee men and human comforts, and to wander and hide in mountains and caves like wild beasts; and because by this cheap habit they wished to teach men that the luxury of garments must be despised, on which Chrysostom has much in homily 28 on morals; and finally, that by this hairshirt as it were and habit of penance, going about fields and towns, they might teach the people, and rouse and prick them to penance and a holy life. Thus Saint John the Baptist, when preaching, was clothed in a hairshirt made of camel hair, and girded with a leather belt: hence also the holy Hermits of old used the melota. See Cassian, book I of the Institutes of the Monks, chapter VIII. Citing these words, Saint Bernard, in his treatise On the Solitary Life: "Therefore," he says, "our fathers in Egypt and the Thebaid, most ardent emulators of this holy life, living in solitudes, distressed, afflicted, of whom the world was not worthy: they built themselves cells in which, only roofed and surrounded, they were protected from storm and rain: in which, abounding in the delights of eremitical frugality, they enriched many, themselves needy, whom I know not by what worthier name to call: heavenly men, or earthly angels, dwelling on earth but having their conversation in heaven. They labored with their own hands, and from their labor fed the poor, themselves hungry; from the wasteland of the desert they fed the prisoners of cities; and they sustained the infirm, placed in any necessities, living from their own labor and dwelling in the labor of their hands. What shall we say to these things, we who are not animal but earthly beasts, clinging to the earth and to the senses of our flesh, walking in the sense of our flesh, and depending on the hands of others?"
Destitute. — "hysteroumenoi," that is, deprived of necessities. The Syriac translates "senikin," that is, those needing daily bread. Such was Elijah fleeing Jezebel, whom God had to feed by bread sent through a raven. Such also were the Jews fleeing and hiding in the persecution of Antiochus, 1 Maccabees chapters I and II.
Distressed. — An example of this was Elijah, longing for death from the distress of the persecution of Jezebel, 3 Kings XIX, 4. Such also was David in the persecution of Saul, and the Maccabees in the persecution of Antiochus.
Afflicted. — "kakouchoumenoi," that is, ill-treated, badly handled, and punished.
Verse 38: Of Whom the World Was Not Worthy; Wandering in Deserts, in Mountains, and in Dens, and in Caves of the Earth
As if to say: These holy men were of such dignity that the world did not deserve to have them. For they themselves by their prayers before God preserved cities and provinces, indeed the whole world, lest it again be overwhelmed by God with a flood for its sins. Whence to Elijah, when he was being taken up, Elisha cried out: "My father, (thou art) the chariot of Israel and the driver thereof." Wherefore rightly Rufinus says in the prologue to the Lives of the Fathers: "Truly, who would doubt that the world stands by the merits of the saints?" And yet the world (such is its blindness!) desires to be deprived of them, that even by this reasoning it may declare itself unworthy to enjoy such men any longer, as Saint Dionysius writes to Saint John the Evangelist.
Secondly, "worthy," that is, of equal price with these Saints the world was not, as if to say: If not only the earth, the heaven, and all inanimate things, but also evil men and the whole world were melted together into one weight and price, not even thus would there be a just price for any one of that band of Saints and heroes. So Theophylact, Galen, and Ribera. See how great is the worth and merit of the Saints, and consequently how powerful are their prayers and merits before God, which therefore it is most advisable to implore. But the former sense, as it is simpler, so it is plainer and more genuine.
Wandering in deserts, on mountains, and in caves, and in the holes of the earth. — So David fled from Saul, and hid in the cave of Adullam, then in Ziph, then in the desert of Engaddi, 1 Kings XXII, and following. So a hundred Prophets were hidden and rescued from the sword of Jezebel by Obadiah, 3 Kings XVIII, 13. So fleeing from Antiochus, Mattathias and other Jews hid themselves in the mountains and caves, 1 Maccabees II and 2 Maccabees VI.
Note that Elijah, Elisha, and the sons of the Prophets generally dwelt on mountains, and especially loved Carmel. For just as in mind they dwelt on heavenly things, so in body they dwelt on lofty heights, disdaining lowly things, which one may also observe in Christ: whence the Carmelites contend that their order began on Carmel, and was outlined in a rough manner by Elijah, on which subject John the 44th Bishop of Jerusalem (whoever he may be) wrote a book, which is extant in volume IX of the Library of the Holy Fathers.
Thus, and much more so, after Saint Paul, the Christians at Rome in the persecution of the Pagan Emperors dwelt in caves and grottos, and even in tombs. Truly I was amazed, and filled with sacred horror as well as compassion and devotion, when near Rome at Saint Sebastian's I saw the catacombs in which the bodies of Saints Peter and Paul the Apostles lay hidden for two hundred years and more: where the Popes celebrated, preached, and conducted ordinations in the stone chair which I saw there. Likewise when in the same place I traversed the subterranean caverns over a long distance, partly walking, partly crawling, now ascending, now descending, now winding, with a candle going before me. These caverns, dug by the Christians for many miles, run all the way to the sea: they have streets and side-passages running everywhere, infinite like a labyrinth (in which many have both lost themselves and perished: whence they have now been blocked up by order of the Pope), so that it seems to be a subterranean city, indeed a province. I beheld there everywhere on the sides of the passages the niches and tombs of Martyrs, either in the earth or carved into the rock in orderly tiers, so that each held only a single body, large for the large, small for the small. This is called the cemetery of Saint Calixtus, in which one hundred and seventy-four thousand Martyrs and Virgins are buried. Virgins are denoted by the figure of a dove cut into the tomb, Martyrs by the figure of a palm. I would never have believed how great was the labor, affliction, constancy, and zeal of the early Christians who dug out, adapted, and maintained these hiding places, and dwelt there like moles and wild beasts, had I not seen it with my own eyes. Moreover, that these were not only the tombs of the dead, but also the refuges and dwellings of the living, is clear from the acts of the Holy Martyrs, as of Saint Cecilia, in which we read that Valerian her spouse, sent by her to Saint Urban the Pontiff to be baptized by him, found him hiding among the tombs of the Holy Martyrs. The same is read elsewhere of others. Thus the Saints and chief men and Prelates of the Church, of whom the world was not worthy, were deprived of the very light of the sun even granted to the brute animals, and dwelt in caves, grottoes, and the inmost recesses of the earth among the dead: nor yet were they safe there. For in these very places they were sometimes killed, as we read of Saints Stephen and Xystus the Pontiffs in their Acts, that in this very cemetery of Calixtus they were struck down and slain by the sword. Go now, Christians, raise marble roofs to heaven, dwell among purple and golden hangings: I would rather dwell in a humble hut, indeed in crypts with the holy Martyrs, and there hide for a little while because of the hope of the blessed resurrection, that with them I may be worthy to enter and possess the heavenly and eternal tabernacles of the Blessed.
Verse 39: And All These, Being Approved by the Testimony of Faith, Received Not the Promise
Even though they were heroes, and produced heroic works of faith and holiness, they did not receive the promise. "Tēn epangelian," namely that which by antonomasia is called the promise, namely of heavenly goods and consummated beatitude.
Verse 40: God Providing Some Better Thing for Us, That They Should Not Be Perfected Without Us
"Better," that is, God provided something more excellent for us than for the early Fathers, by the very fact that He arranged that the time of beatitude and resurrection should not be with them in the Old, but with us in the New Testament. For God willed that heaven should be open to no one unless Christ, making satisfaction for our sins, opened it by His death and ascension; and consequently He willed that the entrance to heaven and beatitude be reserved for the time of Christ and Christians, and therefore He held those ancient Saints in suspension from this beatitude for so many thousands of years.
The Apostle has brought this in to throw new goads at the Hebrews, and to lead and transfer them from Moses and the Prophets to Christ, from the Old Testament to the New, as far more excellent and happy, since in it through Christ we obtain consummated grace and glory. Beza therefore wrongly holds in this passage that the Saints who died before Christ were blessed in heaven before Christ ascended there; and that Christ, when He came, only added some degree to their beatitude. For here the Apostle clearly rejects this, and says of them in verse 39: "They did not receive the promise." And in chapter IX, verse 8, where he asserts that before Christ "the way of the Saints was not yet made plain," and, as Beza translates, "made manifest," that is, into the Holy of Holies, namely into heaven.
That they should not be consummated without us. — From this passage and from Apocalypse VI, 9, where the souls of the Martyrs are bidden to rest under the altar until their fellow-servants and brothers, who are to be killed, are completed, Tertullian held in his book On the Soul, last chapter, Lactantius in book VII, chapter 21, and Victorinus on chapter VI of the Apocalypse, and several of the ancients, that the souls of the Saints who have died do not see God, nor are they blessed before the day of judgment. But this opinion is now erroneous, and is the heresy of Vigilantius and Calvin condemned by Benedict XI in the extravagant "Benedictus Deus." See Bellarmine, volume I, Controversies VII, at the beginning.
Therefore as regards the present passage, by "consummation" some understand the beatitude of the soul, which consists in the vision and enjoyment of God: for the early Fathers did not attain this before us, that is, before our time, namely of Christianity and of Christ, who, the price having been paid, opened the gate of heaven, so that the holy soul might fly there immediately after death. For this beatitude is the consummation of the soul, that is, perfect and consummated beatitude. Whence the Apostle, in chapter XII, verse 23, calls the blessed souls "the spirits of the just made perfect," as it were perfected and consummated in their beatitude.
Others understand by "consummation" the beatitude of the body, which the ancient Fathers will not attain before us, that is, before our common resurrection, on the day of universal judgment: for this is properly the consummation, that is, the consummated beatitude of man, both in soul and in body. So Saint Augustine, letter 90 to Evodius; as if the Apostle had regard to what he said in verse 34: "Not accepting redemption (namely of their body from death and torments), that they might find a better resurrection"; and as if he here calls that resurrection "consummation."
Nor does Chrysostom with his followers here mean anything else, when he says: "Lest they (the ancient Saints) should seem to have something more above us, if they were crowned first before us, He determined one time of all the crowns, and he who conquered so many years before will receive his crown together with you." And below: "They went before us in the contests, but they do not go before in the crowns; He did not do them an injury, but honored us: for they themselves as brothers willingly await us. For if we are one body, the joy of the body is made greater from this when it is crowned together and in common, and not in parts." Where Chrysostom manifestly speaks not of the beatitude of the soul, which is given to each in his particular judgment, but of the beatitude of the body, and the public glory and crown of the Saints in the sight of the whole world, which all will receive together on the day of judgment: for this will be the solemn and perfect crown, and will be the crown of beatitude and eternity.
But it seems to me truer that the Apostle by "consummation" does not distinctly and properly understand the beatitude of the soul, nor the beatitude of the body, nor does "without us" mean before our common resurrection on the day of judgment; but rather that the Apostle by "consummation" understands beatitude in general, not determining this or that species and part of beatitude (for beatitude itself absolutely perfects and consummates man, first in the soul, then also in the body), and that "without us" is the same as "before us," or before the time of the New Testament: for the Apostle opposes our time to the time of those Fathers, which was that of the Old Testament, as if to say: Before the time of the New Testament, which is ours, no consummation befell any of the ancient Saints, that is, beatitude either of soul or of body; but every beatitude both of soul and of body comes to each of them in the New Testament, in which the same comes to us also, and so we are consummated together with them, that is, beatified and glorified. That this is the sense is clear, because the scope of the whole epistle is to teach that salvation and beatitude come to no one through the Law and the Old Testament; but to all through the Gospel and the New Testament, namely through Christ. Hence he said above that the Law brought no one to perfection, that consummation does not come about through the Law; but is brought about through Christ, who is the author of salvation and beatitude to us: and therefore in chapter IX he taught at length that Christ opened to us by His blood the heaven previously closed. Therefore by "consummation" he here understands absolutely eternal salvation and beatitude, and entrance into heaven.
Secondly, what the Apostle here calls "consummation," in the preceding verse he called "the promise"; but there by it he understood the promise of salvation and beatitude absolutely, not only of the glory of the body; for this is the smallest part of the promise and of beatitude: therefore here also he understands the same by "consummation."
Thirdly, if by "consummation" you understand the glory of the body to be given on the day of universal judgment, it will be false that all those ancient Fathers whom he reviewed throughout the chapter were not consummated nor to be consummated without us; which, however, the Apostle here asserts: for it is certain that many bodies of the Saints (certainly the illustrious ones of the Old Testament, and consequently those whom the Apostle reviewed here) rose with Christ, Matthew XXVII, 52, and, as is highly probable, to immortal life and to the glory both of body and of soul: but we shall rise to the glory of the body only on the day of judgment. Therefore most of the ancient Fathers named here "without us," that is, before us, are already consummated, that is, have risen in a glorious body. For since Matthew says that many rose, it plainly seems to follow that most of those whom the Apostle reviews here rose; so that this should be reckoned not so much the privilege of a few as the common benefit of the prince Christ conferred on most of these Fathers. Since then this opinion of the Apostle does not seem true regarding the resurrection of bodies, it follows that it must be understood in general of beatitude, which fell to no one before us, that is, before the Christians, who are children of the New Testament, as if to say: God willed that the time of consummation, that is, of beatitude both of soul and of body, should not be that of the Old, but of the New Testament; that it should be given not by Moses to the Jews, but by Christ to Christians, and to those who of old believed and hoped in Christ to come. Wherefore by their example, you, O Hebrews, now believe in Christ already present, and constantly persevere in His faith, hope, and love, and so with the ancient Fathers you will obtain "consummation," that is, salvation and beatitude.
Note: For "that they should be consummated" the Greek is "teleiōthōsi," which secondly can be translated: "that they should be consecrated, dedicated, and as it were inaugurated," namely to heaven and the heavenly kingdom. See what was said on chapter II, verse 10.