title: Liber Deuteronomii

source_edition: Migne, Patrologia Latina, vol. 113, coll. 445D–506C

source_text:
Hebraice ELLEH HADDEBARIM ( אלה הדברים ), id est Haec sunt verba.

## PRAEFATIO.

[0445D]

*Fasciculus myrrhae delectus mihi.* Myrrha, arbor aromatica, quinque cubitis tantum in altum excrescit, [0446] cujus cortex et radix et folia et omnia amara sunt. Myrrha amara est et cadaveribus apponitur, ut arceat putredinem vermium. Haec est lex vetus in [0447A] quinque libris comprehensa; amara, id est, nemini parcens, unde et Marath designata est; apposita cadaveribus, id est inventa pro peccatoribus, ut corruptionem criminum ab eis arceret. Hujus fasciculus est Deuteronomius, id est ramusculorum plurium in unum collectio. Terminata enim lege in quatuor voluminibus, iste quintus additus est, diffuse dicta in unum breviter colligens, quaedam etiam praetermissa supplens. Additus autem est illis ut numero legali satisfaceret. Quinarius enim numerus est legis, quaternarius Evangelii. Unde et refectio quinque millium hominum in Evangelio ad patres Veteris Testamenti spectat: refectio quatuor millium ad patres novi; illis enim promissa sunt et data terrena, quae quinque sensibus subsunt: illis quadrata, [0447B] id est, soliditas terrae viventium. Deservit etiam liber iste Evangelio in nomine, in explanationis serie, in sui dignitate. Dicitur enim Hebraice *Elleh Haddebarim,* id est, haec verba, Graece δευτερονόμιον, quod est Latine secunda lex: Non ut quidam dixerunt, altera post praedictam, unde in praedictis dicebatur: *Locutus est Dominus;* hic autem, *Locutus est Moyses;* sed secunda, id est secundo iterata, hoc nomine Evangelium praefigurans, quod successit legi, cui nullum succedet. Cum etiam multa breviter colligit et supplet quaedam, formam Evangelii praefigurat: hoc est enim abbreviatum verbum quod fecit Dominus super terram, et supplet imperfecta legis; unde: *Non veni solvere legem, sed adimplere [n: (Matth. V)]*. Cum autem dicitur [0447C] hoc opus adeo dignum, quod manibus regis gestari jubeatur, dignitatem Evangelii aperit, quod ordinatum est in manu Mediatoris. Cum ergo sic serviat Evangelio, merito est fasciculus dilectus Christo, non tantum pro se, quantum quia ostendit rotam in medio rotae. Intentio est recapitulare praedicta triplici fine, ut arctius memoriae commendetur, ut utilitas praedictorum inculcetur. Quod enim utile est, saepe dicere, nec pigrum esse debet, ut ait Apostolus [n: (Phil. III)], nec molestum audire, et ut duritia Judaeorum condemnetur, qui toties dicta non intellexerunt. Modus agendi: Praemittit quasi prologum, quo ostendit quis scripserit, et quid, etc. Post memorat grave delictum pro quo perierunt in deserto, ut hoc timore excitet ad audiendum. Post separat [0447D] civitates refugii. Post recapitulat dicta et facta bona et mala supplet. Post jubet hunc librum poni in arca, et septimo anno legi omni Israeli in scenophegia. Post subdit canticum: *Audite,* etc., in memoriam murmuris eorum et poenae, obedientiae et praemii. Et post benedictiones tribuum. Ultimo de morte Moysi.

## CAPUT PRIMUM.

VERS. 1.-- *Haec sunt verba,* etc. Praemittit legislator titulum quasi prologum, in quo ostendit nomen auctoris, et quid fecerit, et ubi, et quando. Sicut paulo post in glossa distinguetur, et terminatur ut quibusdam videtur, ibi: *Quadragesimo,* etc., vel [0448A] inferius, ibi: *Deus noster,* etc. Sed ad eorum evidentiam quae in prologo, et eorum quae sequuntur, tangenda est aliquantulum veritas historiae. Ab exitu filiorum Israel de Aegypto usque quo pervenerunt ad campestria Moab supra Jordanem: fluxerunt quadraginta duo anni, in quibus diversis temporibus quadraginta duas mansiones fecerunt. Quando nubes levabatur, castra movebantur, et cum stabat, figebantur et manebant in eodem loco quousque iterum levabatur nubes. Prima mansio fuit in Ramesse, ultima in campestribus Moab. A Ramesse usque ad montem Sina, spatio quadraginta septem dierum duodecim mansiones fecerunt et hoc primo anno, et ibi fere totum annum steterunt. Ibi lex data est, ibi Genesis scriptus, Exodus, Numeri scripti sunt, et [0448B] magna pars hujus. Inde pedem moventes anno secundo pervenerunt in Cadesbarne et in spatio illo fecerunt viginti mansiones; de Cadesbarne miserunt exploratores, qui revertentes nuntiaverunt terram bonam, sed robustos et gigantes homines invenerunt, et territi volentes redire in terram Aegypti, unde iratus Dominus. Abierunt retro et lustraverunt montem Seir per triginta octo annos, ibi mortui et prostrati sunt murmurantes. In quadragesimo anno pervenerunt ad Cadesbarne, unde retro abierunt per desertum, et in illo spatio novem mansiones iterum fecerunt. Undecim vero dies Moyses antequam veniret ad Cadesbarne, legem solo verbo recapitulavit, et de Cadesbarne usque ad campestria Moab, et illo spatio undecim dierum scripto voluit [0448C] commendare. Ecce de primo anno duodecim, de secundo una et viginti, de reliquis novem, et ita quadraginta duae mansiones.

Haec fuit causa hujus libri, ut scilicet quae facta fuerant, breviter collecta, arctius tenerentur in memoria, facile enim retinentur quae breviter dicuntur.

[n: (RAB. in Deut. )] *Haec sunt verba,* etc. Principium Deuteronomii titulus esse videtur totius operis, quia personam indicat auctoris, et quid fecerit, et locum, et tempus. Nomen quoque libri gratiam demonstrat Novi Testamenti. Deuteronomium namque secunda lex interpretatur, et Evangelium significat, quod Veteris Testamenti sacramenta spiritualiter explanat. [0448D] Sicut liber Deuteronomii repetitio est quatuor librorum legis: illi enim proprias continent in se causas, iste replicat universa, habet et ipse propria sacramenta.

[n: (ID.)] *Haec sunt verba.* Hoc de se tanquam de alio, etc., *usque ad* ut nemo possit dubitare Moysen ista scripsisse.

*Locutus est.* Moyses lex vetus est, quae trans Jordanem, id est ante baptismum, Israeliticum docuit populum. In Jordane enim significatur baptismus in quo baptizatus est Christus: in solitudine campestri, id est in sterilitate carnalis populi, qui fructum virtutum non attulit.

*In solitudine,* sterilitate plebis, cui dicitur: *Relinquetur [0449A] vobis domus vestra deserta [n: (Matth. XXXI; Luc. XIII)]*.

*Contra mare.* Quia generatio prava et perversa ablutionem peccatorum in sanguine Christi credere noluit.

*Inter Pharan.* Pharan auctus; Thophel, insulsitas; Laban, dealbatio; Haseroth, atria. Auctus est enim populus numero hominum, doctrina legis et prophetarum; sed insulsus fuit, quia sal sapientiae non habuit, dealbatus vero legis caeremoniis variisque munditiis, quas ex littera legis se habere credidit. Qui bene per atria significatur, tanquam per divinas Scripturas ad introitum fidei paratus, unde multi in adventu Christi facilius susceperunt, quem ante praedictum agnoverunt, unde Philippus: *Quem scripsit [0449B] Moyses in lege, et prophetae invenimus Jesum filium Joseph a Nazareth [n: (Joan. I)]*. Quatuor hi montes, quatuor Evangelia significant, quibus Ecclesia circumdatur.

VERS. 2.-- *Undecim diebus.* Lex per Moysen undecim diebus explanata, Judaicae plebis transgressionem in mandatis Decalogi significat:

Undecim dies sunt undecim apostoli per quos (Juda reprobato) Evangelium Christi praedicatum est in mundo.

*De Horeb.* Qui Hebraice *Choreb* ( ); incipiens per Seir, id est pilosum et sordidum vitiis populum transiens venit ad Cadesbarne: qui commutatus vel electus vel nobilis interpretatur, significans litteralem legis sensum in spiritalem per Evangelium commutatum. [0449C] *Omnia enim in figura contingebant illis, scripta ad correctionem nostram, in quos fines saeculorum devenerunt [n: (I Cor. X)]*. Lex enim non est soluta, sed adimpleta, *nec unum iota aut unus apex praeteribit donec omnia fiant [n: (Matth. V)]*.

VERS. 3.-- *Quadragesimo anno, undecimo mense, prima,* etc. [n: (ISID., in Deut., tom. V.)] Quadraginta anni, etc., *usque ad* sine corruptione manebunt.

Quadragenarius ex denario et quaternario constat, et legis Evangelii impletionem significat, quae fit in Ecclesia, decem namque ad legem pertinent, quatuor vero ad Evangelium.

*Undecimo mense,* etc. Sicut in undecima expressa est legis transgressio, sic in prima die pervigil ad [0449D] docendum legislatoris intentio; qui ex quo inobediens populus legem transgredi non timuit, statim, praedicando et corrigendo, voluntatem Domini insinuare studuit, et eos ad meliora trahere vel provocare verbis et exemplis non cessavit.

VERS. 4.-- *Postquam percussit Sehon,* etc. Notandum quod, interfectis duobus Amorrhaeorum regibus, lex recapitulatur et populus instruitur, quia, remotis scandalis et superatis vitiorum turmis, competenter doctrinae insistitur et fidei lumen digne desiderantibus aperitur.

Debemus prius in nobis vitia occidere et sic mandata divina populis tradere.

*Sehon regem Amorrhaeorum qui habitavit in Hesebon,* [0450A]etc. [n: (ISID.)] In his regibus, etc., *usque ad* sed foris manentes semper operibus insistant pravis.

VERS. 5.-- *In terra Moab.* Exlex siquidem populus fuit, qui legem spiritalem non habuit.

VERS. 6.-- *Dominus Deus noster.* In libro Numerorum de profectione filiorum Israel de deserto Sinai narratur, sed praeceptum Domini ad Moysen de eodem transitu non dicitur; sed de nube quae tabernaculum tegebat, et quando proficiscendum erat recedebat: et ad locum figendorum castrorum praecedebat. Sic enim scriptum est: *Anno secundo, mense secundo, vigesima die mensis, elevata est nubes de tabernaculo foederis, et recubuit in solitudine Pharan [n: (Num. X)]*. Sed manifestum est transitum illum Dei praecepto esse dispositum, licet ibi non sit commemoratum. [0450B] Unde alibi in libro Numeri ad imperium Domini figebant tentoria, et ad imperium illius deponebant [n: (Num. IX)].

*Sufficit vobis,* etc. Praecipitur Moysi ut recedat a monte in quo legem acceperat, quia doctor non semper debet instare contemplationi, sed aliquando descendat ut sui et proximorum curam gerat, unde, *Sive mente excedimus Deo, sive sobrii sumus vobis.*

VERS. 9.-- *Dixique vobis in illo tempore,* etc. De hac divisione potestatum in Exodo antequam venirent ad montem Sinai, scriptum est quod Jethro sacerdos Madian cognatus Moysi hoc ipsi suggesserit [n: (Exod. XVIII)]. Unde merito quaeritur quomodo haec sibi modo, et illo tempore conveniant? Sed quod hic dicitur dixisse Moyses in illo tempore: *Non possum [0450C] solus sustinere vos,* etc., non illud tempus significat, quo de Horeb proficiscebantur, sed totum tempus quo profecti de Aegypto in solitudine morabantur, et Moyses non ex suo cognati sui consilio hoc populo suo persuasit.

*Illo tempore.* Omnia faciunt sancti in tempore opportuno, sic Deus quoque ubi venit plenitudo temporis, misit Filium suum [n: (Gal. IV)].

VERS. 11.-- *Dominus Deus patrum vestrorum addat,* etc. Docet doctores de profectu subditorum gaudere, gratias agere et semper meliora optare.

*Ad hunc numerum,* etc. Diffinitum apud Deum. *Novit qui sunt ejus qui numerat multitudinem stellarum [n: (II Tim. II)]*.

[n: (RAB.)] Vide quam observandum sit quod alibi Scriptura [0450D] dicit: *Fili, ne in multis sint actus tui [n: (Eccli. XI)]*. Verba quoque Jethro consilium dantis considera, ait enim: *Audi me, et consilium dabo tibi, et erit Deus tecum [n: (Exod. XVIII)]*. Videtur significari nimis intentum animum actionibus humanis, Deo quodammodo vacuari, quo tanto fit plenior, quanto in superna et aeterna liberius extenditur.

VERS. 13.-- *Date ex vobis.* Date vos, non ego; quasi, nolo vobis imperare, sed obedire.

*Ponam eos.* Nota, subditis electionem tribuit, positionem sibi retinuit, ne plebs contemnat aut oderit, si non licuit habere quem voluit.

*Tribunos.* Millenarios, Graece χιλιάρχους, qui de spe scilicet aeterni praemii docent subjectos.

[0451A] *Et centuriones.* Centuriones, Graece ἐκατοντάρχους : qui coelestia mandata perfectis tradunt. Jure praeponuntur, qui centenario numero, id est, perfectione praediti: quasi centum regunt, dum ad perfectionem perducunt.

*Et quinquagenarios.* Graece πεντεκοσιάρχους : qui opera poenitentiae annuntiant.

*Decanos,* δεκάρχους : qui denarii perfectione vineae denarium exspectantes, ejusdem denarii multos praeparant participes.

VERS. 17.-- *Quia Dei judicium est;* non hominum, quia judicando Dei vicarii estis, qui personam non accipit.

*Quod si difficile.* Majora quaeque et difficilia discernere et judicare debent majores, parva et facilia [0451B] minores.

## CAPUT PRIMUM. (cont.)

VERS. 19.-- *Cumque venissemus in Cadesbarne,* etc. Quod secundo anno egressionis suae populus in deserto Pharan, quod est Cades, venerit; ubi reversis exploratoribus cum fructibus terrae, et quae viderant nuntiantibus, murmuraverunt contra Moysen et Aaron, et ideo longi itineris taedio et mortalitate affecti interierint: hic locus manifestum dabit indicium. Ubi notandum quod quadraginta duae mansiones, quas ab Aegypto usque ad Jordanem habuerunt, trium tantum congruere videntur curriculis annorum: primi scilicet, secundi, et quadragesimi egressionis de Aegypto. Primus certa distinctione continet duodecim, primam Ramesse, quintodecimo die primi mensis ingressam, ultimam solitudinem Sinai, [0451C] prima die tertii mensis additam; et per undecim continuos menses construendi tabernaculi, et docendae legis gratia, minime relictam. Quarum duodecim mansionum novem tantum in Exodo exprimuntur nominatim, tres in vocabulo deserti Sin (quod dicitur esse inter Elim et Sinai) indiscrete significantur. Secundus annus complectitur mansiones viginti et unam. Quibus in ordine historiae cunctis indifferenter sub nomine solitudinis Pharan comprehensis, prima tantum et secunda, et ultima, id est, Sepulcra concupiscentiae, Haseroth, et Cades, distinguuntur nomine. Sed in catalogo mansionum pariter omnes quot in numero fiunt, vel quo nomine dictae ostenditur. Prima mansio, id est, Sepulcra concupiscentiae, secundo mense ejusdem secundi anni [0451D] secunda vicesima die mensis introita est. Anno enim secundo (ut Scriptura dicit) mense secundo vicesima die mensis moverunt castra de deserto Sinai, et recubuit in solitudine Pharan nubes, profectique sunt de monte Domini viam trium dierum, donec venirent ad locum mansionis, quae merito populi carnes concupiscentis sepulcrorum concupiscentiae nomen accepit. Ultimam harum, id est, Cades, quoto die vel mense ejusdem anni ingressi sunt, non dicitur: quae tamen in solitudine Pharan sita est, quia eodem anno adita fuerit, non tacetur. Scriptum est enim: *Populus non est motus de illo loco donec revocata est Maria. Profectusque est de Haseroth fixis tentoriis in deserto Pharan, ubi locutus est Dominus ad Moysen [0452A] dicens: Mitte viros gui considerent terram Chanaan [n: (Num. XII, XIII)]*. Quod ne proxima post Haseroth mansione jussum factumque putetur, sed in ultima eorum, quae sub nomine Pharan continetur, impletum, infra scriptum est: *Reversique exploratores terrae post quadraginta dies omni regione circumita, venerunt ad Moysen in Pharan, quod est Cades.* In Deuteronomio quoque dicit Moyses populo: *Cum venissetis in Cadesbarne, dixi vobis: Venistis ad montem Amorrhaei,* etc., *et dixistis: Mitte viros qui considerent terram,* etc. [n: (Deut. I)]. Quod autem eamdem mansionem secundo anno egressionis adierunt, a quo tamen peccato murmurationis reverti, et diu per desertum errare, et passim cadere meruerunt, testatur Moyses in sequentibus, dicens: *Sedistis in Cadesbarne multo tempore, profectique inde venimus [0452B] in solitudinem quae ducit ad mare Rubrum, sicut dixerat mihi Dominus, et circumivimus montem Seir longo tempore, et intra tempus quo ambulavimus de Cadesbarne usque ad torrentem Zareth* octavo tricesimo anno fuit, donec consumeretur omnis generatio bellatorum. Zareth autem non est nomen alicujus mansionis de quadraginta duabus, sed torrentis ad quem (sicut in libro Numerorum legitur) transgressa octava decima mansione nomine Jeabarim venerunt, quem relinquentes, inquit, castrametati sunt contra Arnon, quae est in deserto, et prominet in finibus Amorrhaei, quod quadragesimo anno gestum fuisse non latet, qui ultimus per desertum longissimae viae mansiones continet decem: quarum prima magno labore [0452C] repetita, eadem scilicet ipsa Cades deserti Sin, quam ante annos octo et triginta culpa exigente post se reversi reliquerunt, de qua scriptum est: *Venerunt filii Israel in desertum Sin mense primo, et mansit populus in Cades, et mortua est ibi Maria et sepulta in eodem loco. Cumque indigeret aqua populus, coierunt adversum Moysen et Aaron,* etc., usque ad hoc, *Haec est aqua contradictionis,* etc. [n: (Num. XX)]. Notandum quod eadem Cades, et in deserto Pharan, et in deserto Sin facta est, sicut Scriptura refert, unde conjicimus partem deserti Pharan ubi Cades est, specialiter Sin appellari: sin autem non est ipsa Cades, quam mox transgresso mari Rubro inter Elim et Sinai pertransierunt, sed alia prorsus, et aliis apud Hebraeos scripta litteris. Secunda vero ejusdem [0452D] quadragesimi anni mansio est mons Hor, in quo occubuit Aaron primo die quinti mensis: ultima, campestria Moab super Jordanem contra Jericho, ubi Deuteronomium meditantes, manserunt, donec mortuo Moyse, Josue duce, primo die decimi mensis Jordanem transierunt. Fiunt ergo mansiones primi anni duodecim, secundi viginti et una, ultimi et ipsa vicesima prima quae est Cades, et aliae novem, simul scilicet omnes quadraginta duae.

VERS. 22.-- *Et accessistis ad me.* In libro Numeri scriptum est, Dominum dixisse Moysi, ut mitteret viros, qui considerarent terram: hic vero populus dixisse legitur: *Mittamus viros qui considerent terram,* sed populus hoc prius Moysi suggessit, Moyses [0453A] ad Dominum retulit, secundum cujus praeceptum postea exploratores misit.

VERS. 23.-- *Misi ex vobis.* [n: (ISID.)] Duodecim exploratores missi ad explorandam uberem terram, etc., *usque ad* quia nec Christus sine lege, nec lex sine Christo.

*Duodecim.* Hi doctores Ecclesiae significant, quorum alii prava docendo populum pervertunt: alii recta praedicando proficiunt.

VERS. 33.-- *Nocte ostendens.* Nox peccatoris, dies vita justi. In columna ignis malorum damnatio, quibus terribilis apparebit Dominus in judicio: in columna nubis levis et blanda visio, qua consolabuntur electi.

*Die per columnam.* In aestu hujus saeculi obumbrans, [0453B] et sustentans fortitudine, et propitiatione suae carnis.

VERS. 34.-- *Juravit.* Non est Deus passibilis, nec vitio iracundiae subjectus. Sed per haec charitas Moysi erga populum manifestatur, et Dei bonitas, quae omnem sensum superat.

VERS. 35.-- *Non videbit quispiam.* Simile dicitur de illis, qui invitati ad coenam excusaverunt se: *Nemo virorum illorum qui vocati sunt gustabit coenam meam [n: (Luc. XIV)]*.

Pessima generatio non possidet terram bonam, quia Christi non credit incarnationem.

VERS. 37.-- *Nec miranda.* Hic dicit Moyses, propter populum, iratum sibi Dominum dixisse, quod in terram promissionis non ingrederetur, cum in [0453C] libro Numeri legatur: *Dixit Dominus ad Moysen et Aaron: Quia non credidistis mihi, ut sanctificaretis me coram filiis Israel, non introducetis hos populos in terram quam dabo eis.* Sed sententia sequens videtur solvere quaestionem: *Haec est,* inquit, *aqua contradictionis, ubi jurgati sunt filii Israel contra Dominum,* etc. [n: (Num. XX)]. Jurgium enim et rebellio populi causa fuit irae et vindictae, tam in populum quam in Moysen et Aaron.

*Nec tu ingrederis.* [n: (ISID.)] Videtur in Maria, etc., *usque ad* cum tanquam montis eminentia Christus excelsus agnoscitur.

VERS. 41.-- *Cumque instructi.* Haec sententia humanam percutit superbiam, quae de suis viribus praesumit, nec in Dei confidit potentia. Amorrhaei [0453D] enim, id est, amaricantes, hostes sunt spiritales, qui habitant in montibus superbiae, et praesumptuosos necant, de Seir usque Horma, id est a squalore vitiorum usque ad damnationem poenarum: Seir namque pilosus, Horma interpretatur anathema. Quisquis enim vitiorum sordibus non metuit pollui, hunc necesse est, pro meritis, ignibus gehennae tradi. Daemones namque volunt nos implicare cupiditatibus terrenis, et si perseveramus in peccatis, et in montem superbiae ascendere non desistimus, ignitis jaculis concidunt et perducunt ad anathema perpetuum. Ideo non secundum Pelagianistas de nostra praesumamus potentia, sed infirmitatem nostram considerantes, Domino per omnia obsequamur, ut [0454A] superatis hostibus, coelestis patriae gaudia promissa consequamur.

Cavendum est ne murmurantes contra Dominum ascendamus in montem superbiae, putantes nos propriis viribus salvari posse, ne continuo tradamur Amorrhaeis, id est daemonibus.

## CAPUT II.

VERS. 1.-- *Et circuivimus montem Seir,* etc. Seir est mons in terra Edom, in quo habitavit Esau in regione Gabalena, ubi habitavit antea Chorraeus quem interfecit Chodorlahomor; qui ab Esau piloso et hispido, Seir, id est pilosi, nomen accepit. Chorraei sicut caeterae gentes, quas superaverunt, qui de patriarcharum semine descenderunt, malignos spiritus [0454B] vel vitia exprimunt, quae illi exsuperare possunt, qui sanctorum Patrum vestigiis et doctrinis insistunt, et spiritalem militiam sub rege Christo agunt, de qua dicitur: *Non est nobis colluctatio adversus carnem et sanguinem, sed adversus principes et potestates,* etc. [n: (Ephes. VI)].

VERS. 9.-- *Filiis Loth tradidi.* Ar metropolis est Moabitarum, super ripam torrentis Arnon: olim possessa a gente veterrima Emim, postea retenta a filiis Loth, id est Moabitis, subversis accolis. Haec ostenditur hodie in vertice montis, torrens vero per abrupta descendens, in mare Mortuum fluit. *Ar* interpretatur *suscitavit; Emim,* id est terribiles: hi sunt daemones, qui lites suscitant, et contentiones, et tela nequitiae parant contra fideles. *Enacim* quoque [0454C] de stirpe *Enac* procreati, et gigantibus proceritate aequati, secundum nomen suum significant daemones, nam monile collo sublimi interpretantur. Superbiae enim fastu elati omnem militiae suae paraturam ascribunt propriae virtuti, et ideo illis facile cedunt, qui in virtute Dei confidunt, et cum Psalmista dicunt: *Fortitudo mea et laus mea Dominus, et factus est mihi in salutem [n: (Psal. CXVII)]*.

VERS. 14.-- *De Cadesbarne. [n: (HIERON., epist. ad Fabiolam.)]* Cabesbarne est locus in deserto, qui conjungitur civitati Petrae in Arabia: ubi occubuit Maria, et Moyses rupe percussa aquam sitienti populo dedit. Monstratur etiam usque hodie ibidem sepulcrum Mariae, sed et principes Amalec ibi caesi sunt a Chodorlahomor.

[0454D]VERS. 26.-- *Misi ergo nuntios,* etc. Sehon diabolum significat, quod est germen inutile, vel arbor infructuosa, vel elatus. Israel populum Christianum, qui per viam mundi hujus cupit transire, et ad coelestia regna pervenire. Hic mittit ad Sehon verbis pacificis, promittens se non habitaturum in terra ejus, sed tantum transiturum, et regali via incessurum. Hoc quisque promisit, cum primum ad aquam baptismi pervenit, et prima fidei signacula suscepit. Abrenuntiavit enim diabolo et pompis ejus, et operibus ejus, et omni servitio, et voluptatibus ejus. Hoc est quod dicitur: *Quia Israel non declinabit in agrum ejus, vel in vineam ejus, et aquam de lacu ejus non potabit [n: (Num. XXI)]*, id est, disciplinam vel astrologicae [0455A] vel magicae, vel cujuslibet doctrinae, quae contra pietatem est, amplius non sumet: sed bibet de fontibus Salvatoris, non derelinquet fontem aquae vivae, ut bibat de fonte Sehon, sed incedet via regia, quae est Christus, qui dicit: *Ego sum via, veritas, et vita [n: (Joan. XIV)]*, et rex, secundum illud, *Deus, judicium tuum regi da [n: (Psal. LXXI)]*. Non declinabit in agrum, neque in vineam ejus, ad opera scilicet, vel ad pravos sensus ejus. Amorrhaei loquentes interpretantur, vel amaricantes, quia Deum ad amaritudinem provocant, et in verbis tantum confidunt, ut poetae, astrologi, philosophi, qui inania loquuntur; regnum autem Dei non est in sermone, sed virtute. Volunt fideles cum pace transire, et pacifici esse etiam cum inimicis pacis: sed eo magis principem [0455B] mundi offendunt, quo se cum illo nolle morari dicunt, nec aliquid ejus contingere. Inde exacerbatus magis persequitur, pericula suscitat, cruciatus intentat, congregat populum suum, exit confligere adversum Israel: populus ejus sunt principes, et judices mundi, cunctique nequitiae ministri, qui persequuntur populum Dei: sed et ipse venit in Jasa, quod interpretatur mandati impletio. Qui enim ad expletionem mandatorum Dei venerit, Sehon vel exercitum ejus saevientem non timebit. Mandata enim Dei complere, est diabolum, et exercitum ejus superare. Sic enim conterit Deus Satan sub pedibus nostris, et dat nobis potentiam calcandi super serpentes et scorpiones, et super omnem virtutem inimici.

[0455C]VERS. 30.-- *Quia induraverat.* Longa patientia, non corrigendo, unde in Exodo: *Ego induravi cor Pharaonis [n: (Exod. X)]*; et Psalmista: *Convertit cor eorum, ut odirent populum ejus [n: (Psal. CIV)]*. Causa vero indurationis additur, *ut traderetur in manus tuas,* id est ut contereretur a te; quod non fieret nisi resisteret, nec resisteret nisi induratus esset. Hujus rei justitiam si quaesierimus, inscrutabilia sunt judicia ejus, sed iniquitas non est apud Deum.

VERS. 33.-- *Percussimusque eum.* Qui sunt veri Israelitae, non carne Judaei, sed spiritu, habitant in omnibus civitatibus Amorrhaeorum, cum in omni orbe terrarum Christi Ecclesiae propagantur, et unusquisque nostrum civitas fuit regis Sehon: quia regnabat in nobis stultitia, superbia, impietas, et omnia quae [0455D] diabolus suggerit. Sed ubi victus est fortis, et vasa ejus direpta, facti sumus civitates Israel, haereditas sanctorum, excisa prius arbore infructuosa, et dejecto elato rege, et regnante in nobis mansueto, qui dicit: *Discite a me, quia mitis sum et humilis corde,* etc. [n: (Matth. XI)]. Nomina quoque locorum conveniunt: Aroer namque sublevans interpretatur; Arnon, acervus tristitiae; Galaad, acervus testimonii. Ab Aroer ergo, *quae est super ripam torrentis Arnon,* etc. Quia omnis persona cujuslibet dignitatis fastu superbiae vel pompa confidens mundana, cum persecutoribus qui variis tribulationibus Christianos angustiant; usque ad haereticorum conciliabula, qui testimoniis Scripturarum depravatis contra Ecclesiam [0456A] pugnant, sed resistere non valent, traduntur victi in manus sanctorum cum habitaculis suis.

## CAPUT III.

VERS. 1.-- *Itaque conversi.* Ad Og, qui est rex Basan, nec legatos dignantur mittere, nec transitum per terram ejus petere: continuo confligunt cum eo, superantes eum et populum suum. Basan interpretatur turpitudo: merito ergo nec legati mittuntur ad gentem istam, nec transitus petitur; nullus enim transitus debet nobis esse, vel ascensus ad turpitudinem, quae statim expugnanda, et omnino cavenda est. Og autem interpretatur conclusio; carnalia significat, quorum desiderio anima excluditur, et separatur a Deo. Adversus haec sic est bellandum, ut [0456B] nullum relinquatur vitium. Nullum enim oportet relinqui in regno turpitudinis; debent enim turpia resecari, ut honesta et religiosa possint aedificari. In regno Sehon vel Moab non hoc praecipitur. Forte enim ex illis aliquid nobis opus est, quo multiplex praesentis vitae usus eget: alioquin deberemus exire de hoc mundo. De Basan vero, id est de turpitudine, nihil relinquimus, quia nihilo indigemus. Honestum etiam esse non potest, quod turpe est.

VERS. 4.-- *Sexaginta.* Superiorem sensum confirmat. Sexagenarius quippe numerus, sicut senarius, perfectionem significat. Bene autem sexaginta urbes memorat vastatas in regione Og regis Basan, id est diaboli, qui est rex turpitudinis; quia perfecte omnium vitiorum delectationem destruendam esse significat. [0456C] Argob , id est maledicta sublimitas, terrenam superbiam significat, quae in filiis irae regnat: destructis urbibus, viros ac mulieres ac parvulos dicit interfectos, jumenta et spolia direpta, quia, munitione diaboli superata, quidquid in carne nostra rebelle, quidquid lascivum senserimus cum parvulis cogitationibus, zelo Dei est conterendum; quidquid autem in simplicitate puri sensus, vel membrorum ornatu, servitio Dei aptum inveniemus, reservare debemus.

VERS. 12.-- *Terramque. [n: (GREG., lib. XXVII Moral., cap. 10.)]* Sunt multi in Ecclesia, etc., *usque ad* vana scilicet desideria et irrationabiles animi motus.

*Ruben et Gad.* [n: (RAB.)] Ruben primogenitus Jacob, etc., *usque ad* sed cum ipsis mulieribus et infantibus [0456D] contendunt transire et ad patriam pervenire.

VERS. 28.-- *Praecipe Josue,* etc. Magna dispensatione Dei factum est, ne Moses, qui est typus legis, introduceret populum in terram promissionis, quia lex neminem ad perfectum adduxit; Josue autem typus Christi, qui salvator interpretatur. (Christus enim populum suum salvavit), convenienter dux et princeps in terram promissionis introduxit

## CAPUT IV.

VERS. 1.-- *Et nunc, Israel, audi praecepta et judicia. Non addetis.* Docet normam aequitatis, et omnem haeresim percutit. Vetat enim rectae doctrinae aliquid pravae intentionis addere, vel aliquid veritatis [0457A] subtrahere: via enim regia incedendum est, non ad dexteram vel ad sinistram; unde: *Quia rectae viae Domini, et justi ambulabunt in eis [n: (Ose. XIV)]*. Similiter ait Joannes: *Si quis apposuerit ad haec, apponet Deus super illum plagas scriptas in libro isto; si quis diminuerit, auferet Deus partem ejus de libro vitae [n: (Apoc. XXII)]*.

VERS. 7.-- *Nec est alia,* etc. Non est alia natio tam grandis, dignitate, scilicet donorum, non multitudine populorum. Nec enim gens Judaeorum numero vincebat alias gentes aut potentia, sed patrum praerogativa et dignatione divina.

VERS. 9.-- *Quae viderunt.* Visus inter omnes sensus obtinet principatum: ideo pro omni sensu ponitur.

VERS. 16.-- *Sculptam similitudinem. (AUG., quaest. [0457B] 4 in Deut.)* Forsitan his duobus vocabulis unam rem significavit, etc., *usque ad* quod de hominibus usitatum est.

VERS. 18.-- *Qui sub. [n: (AUG., quaest. 5.)]* An aquam terram intelligi voluit, etc., *usque ad* et animalia terrena habere non posset.

VERS. 19.-- *Quae creavit. [n: (AUG., quaest. 6.)]* Non ita dictum est, etc., *usque ad* sed non cultum quem habent aliae gentes.

VERS. 23.-- *Sculptam similitudinem. [n: (AUG., q. 7.)]* Hic generaliter loquens similitudinem posuit, imaginem tacuit, quia si sit nulla similitudo, nec imago.

VERS. 26.-- *Testes invoco hodie coelum,* etc. Μετονυμικῶς per id quod continet id quod continetur significat.

[0457C]VERS. 30.-- *Novissimo autem.* Conversionem Israelis ad fidem Christi praenuntiat, ut postquam plenitudo gentium intraverit, omnis Israel salvus fiat.

VERS. 32.-- *A summo coelo. [n: (AUG., quaest. 8.)]* Cur non dixerit similiter a summo terrae, etc., *usque ad* cum hoc de novissima electorum congregatione dicatur.

## CAPUT V.

VERS. 1.-- *Audi, Israel,* etc. [n: (AUG., quaest. 9 in Deut.)] An ideo dictum est, etc., *usque ad* et videre, et audire, et memoria retinere?

VERS. 4.-- *Facie ad faciem,* etc. [n: (AUG.)] Paulo ante admonere curavit, etc., *usque ad* quamvis aliqui hoc speraverint.

VERS. 5.-- *Inter vos et Deum. [n: (ID., quaest. 10.)]* Tanquam [0457D] Dominus esset in loco, etc., *usque ad* audiens de medio ignis vocem Dei dicentis decalogum legis.

VERS. 9.-- *Reddens iniquitatem,* etc. [n: (ISID.)] Sunt qui ita edisserant, etc., *usque ad* sed sententiam diu differat.

*His qui oderunt me, et faciens misericordiam in multa millia diligentibus me,* etc. His scilicet, qui haereditaria impietate Dominum oderunt. Perversum est enim peccata patrum filiis non peccantibus imputari, cum per Ezechielem dictum sit: *Filius non portabit iniquitatem,* etc. [n: (Ezech. XVIII)].

VERS. 11.-- *Non usurpabis nomen Domini Dei frustra,* etc. Primum mandatum ad Patrem pertinet quod dicitur in sequentibus: *Audi, Israel, Dominus [0458A] Deus tuus unus est [n: (Deut. VI)]*; ut hoc scilicet audiens, unum Deum Patrem colas, non multos deos suscipias. Secundum pertinet ad Filium, de quo hic dicitur: *Non assumes nomen Dei tui in vanum,* id est, non aestimes creaturam esse Dei Filium. Omnis enim creatura subjecta est vanitati, sed credas eum aequalem Patri, Deum deorum, Deum apud Deum, per quem omnia facta sunt. Tertium ad Spiritum, cujus dono requies aeterna promittitur: quia enim Spiritus sanctus dicitur septiformis, ideo septimum diem sanctificavit Deus. In aliis enim diebus operum sanctificatio non nominatur, nisi in sabbato, in quo requievit Deus. Recte ergo hoc mandatum pertinet ad Spiritum: tum propter sanctificationis nomen; tum propter aeternam requiem, ad donum sancti [0458B] Spiritus pertinentem. Dicitur enim sic: *Memento ut diem sabbati sanctifices: sex diebus operaberis,* etc. In opere sex dierum, etc., videtur sex millium annorum operatio signari, in septimo tempus aeternae quietis, in quo post bona opera quies aeterna promittitur. Quidquid ergo agimus, si propter futuram requiem facimus, sabbatum observamus.

VERS. 16.-- *Honora patrem tuum et matrem, sicut praecepit tibi.* Post tria praecepta succedunt septem quae ad proximum pertinent. Inter septem primum, sed in ordine omnium quartum est: *Honora patrem tuum,* etc. A parentibus enim homo oculos aperit, et vita haec ab eorum dilectione exordium sumit: unde hoc mandatum, maximum et primum dicitur in altera scilicet tabula. Jubemur ergo parentes honorare, et [0458C] officium pietatis et reverentiam eis exhibere; qui enim hoc parentibus non facit, quomodo faciet aliis? Quintum: *Non maechaberis.* Id est praeter legitimam uxorem nulli misceberis. Sextum: *Non occides.* Occidit etiam qui fame vel nuditate proximum mori videt, nec subvenit in quantum potest. Septimum: *Non furtum facies.* In quo omnem rapinam prohibet. Octavum: *Non falsum testimonium dices.* Crimen mendacii et falsitatis abominatur. Nonum: *Non concupisces uxorem proximi tui.* In quo etiam adulterinam cogitationem interdicit. Decimum: *Non concupisces rem proximi tui.* In quo ambitionem et concupiscentiam percutit. Primum ergo prohibet subreptionem; secundum, errorem; tertium [0458D] saeculi amorem; quartum, impietatem; quintum, fornicationem; sextum, crudelitatem; septimum, rapacitatem; octavum, falsitatem; nonum, cogitationem adulterii; decimum, cupiditatem mundi. Et notandum, quod sicut decem plagis percutiuntur Aegyptii, sic decem praeceptis regitur populus Dei, et daemones occiduntur.

VERS. 22.-- *In duabus tabulis lapideis quas tradidit mihi.* [n: (ISID.)] Duo Testamenta, etc., *usque ad* sensibile scilicet et intelligibile.

VERS. 29.-- *Quis det talem eos habere mentem?* Vult Deus intelligi gratia sua hoc beneficium concedi, ut in omnibus sit justitia Dei ex fide, non quasi propria ex lege, unde: *Auferam eis cor lapideum, et dabo cor carneum [n: (Ezech. XXXVI)]*, id est, [0459A] sensatum, caro enim sensum habet, lapis vero non habet; et alibi: *Idoneos nos fecit ministros Novi Testamenti, non littera sed spiritu.*

## CAPUT VI.

VERS. 5.-- *Diliges Dominum. [n: (AUG., lib. I de Doctrina Christiana, c. 26, 27, 28.)]* Charitas non auferetur, etc., *usque ad* qui pro locorum et temporum vel quarumlibet rerum opportunitate magis nobis conjuncti sunt.

*[n: (GREG., lib. VII Moral., cap. 10.)] Diliges Dominum Deum tuum,* etc. Per amorem Dei gignitur amor proximi, etc., *usque ad* in bonis enim non agnoscitur amicus, et in malis non absconditur inimicus.

Triplicis naturae est anima: ideo jubetur diligere [0459B] tripliciter. Non vult Deus amorem suum partiri, ut simul diligamus Deum, et aurum, vel uxorem, vel filios. *Nemo potest duobus dominis servire [n: (Matth. VI)]*, ipse super omnia diligendus, ejus dilectio praeponitur.

VERS. 8.-- *Et ligabis ea quasi signum.* Hoc Pharisaei male interpretantes, in membranulis decalogum (id est, decem verba) scribebant, et ligata in fronte portabant. Quod usque hodie faciunt Babylonii, ut putentur religiosi. Unde: *Dilatant enim phylacteria sua, et magnificant fimbrias [n: (Matth. XXIII)]*.

VERS. 13.-- *Per nomen illius jurabis. [n: (AUG., quaest. 12.)]* Permittuntur jurare per nomen Dei, etc., *usque ad* qui autem omnino non jurat, longe a perjurio est.

[0459C]VERS. 16.-- *Non tentabis Dominum Deum.* Deum tentat, qui habens quod faciat, sine ratione se committit periculo, experiens utrum possit liberari a Deo.

## CAPUT VII.

VERS. 1.-- *Gentes multas.* Septem gentes sunt septem principalia vitia, quae per Dei gratiam spiritalis miles exsuperans exterminare jubetur. Majoris numeri dicuntur, quia plura sunt vitia quam virtutes. In catalogo dicuntur septem nationes, in expugnatione sine numero ponuntur; sed, *cum deleverit gentes multas coram te.* Numerosior enim est, quam Israel, populus carnalium passionum, qui multiplicatur de septenario fomite vitiorum. De gastrimargia, comessatio, ebrietas; de fornicatione, turpiloquia, [0459D] scurrilitas, ludicra, et stultiloquia; de philargyria, mendacium, fraus, furta, perjuria, turpis lucri appetitus, falsa testimonia, violentia, inhumanitas, et rapacitas; de ira homicidium, clamor et indignatio; de tristitia, rancor, pusillanimitas, amaritudo, et desperatio, et pigritia; de acedia, otiositas, somnolentia, importunitas, inquietudo mentis et corporis, instabilitas, verbositas, et curiositas; de cenodoxia, contentiones, haereses, jactantia, et praesumptio novitatum; de superbia, contemptus, invidia, inobedientia, blasphemia, murmuratio, detractio, et alia plura. Haec cum majoris numeri sint quam virtutes, devictis tamen principalibus omnes quiescunt, et perpetua nece delentur. Quod autem hae pestes robustiores [0460A] sint, in tentatione sentimus: fortius enim militat in membris nostris carnalium delectatio passionum, quam studia virtutum, quae summa cordis et corporis contritione acquiruntur. Harum gentium regiones possidemus, cum Israelis exercitu, id est virtutibus vitia superamus. Ut in corde nostro locum fornicationis castitas obtineat; locum furoris, patientia; locum tristitiae, salutaris laetitia; acediae locum incolat fortitudo; locum superbiae, humilitas, sic singulis vitiis expulsis loco eorum regnent filii Israel, id est, animae Deum videntes. Cum vero Abrahae de futuris loqueretur Deus, non septem sed decem gentes numerasse legitur, quorum terra semini ejus promittitur, abjectis scilicet idololatriis gentium, blasphemia Judaeorum, errore haereticorum, [0460B] quibus ante notitiam Dei et gratiam baptismi, in spirituali Aegypto commorantur, subjecti sunt. Sed qui inde egreditur, et per gratiam Dei ad eremum spiritualem pervenit, ab impugnatione trium gentium liberatur, contra septem congreditur.

*Haetheum et Gergezaeum,* etc. [n: (HIERON. de Nom. Hebr., tom. III.)] Hethaeum, etc., *usque ad* id est, calcatum sive praesepe eorum.

*Septem gentes.* Abrahae permissum est quod decem delerentur: tunc enim decem erant, sed cum filii Israel transirent ad Jordanem, jam tres deletae erant. Filii enim Loth deleverunt gigantes; filii Esau Horraeos; Cappadocesve partem Hevaeorum.

*Et robustiores.* Spiritales nequitiae subtiliores sunt, [0460C] et plus valent ad decipiendum, quam infirmitas hominum ad sustinendum.

VERS. 14.-- *Sterilis.* Quaedam steriles apud Judaeos fuerunt, sed adeo paucae, ut ad comparationem fecundarum viderentur nullae.

VERS. 20.-- *Insuper et crabrones,* etc. Non legitur alicubi in historia, quod crabrones vel vespas in hostes eorum Deus praemiserit. Sed per animalia aculeata timoris compunctiones designat, quibus hostes territos fugabat.

VERS. 22.-- *Non poteris,* etc. Cavendum esse ostendit, ne forte, expulsis peccatis a carne nostra, insurgat spiritalis bestia, id est jactantia, superbia, vel vana gloria, quae difficilius exstirpantur quam carnalia vitia. Loth enim, qui in Sodomis continuit, [0460D] in monte fornicatione pollutus est [n: (Gen. XIX)]. Expulso vitio statim virtus plantetur ne immundus spiritus redeat, et domum vacantem inveniat. [n: (Matth. XII)].

[n: (RAB., GREG.)] Quibusdam majora bona Deus dat, nec minora concedit, ut semper animus eorum habeat unde se reprehendat, et dum perfecti esse appetunt nec possunt, minime se extollant in his quae habent, qui per se parva non habere valent. Hinc est quod fortes et potentes adversarios exstinxit Philisthaeos; et Chananaeos diu reservavit, ut in eis erudiretur Israel habens contra quos pugnaret, ne de majoribus devictis sese extolleret. Eadem ergo mens pollet ex virtute, lassescit ex infirmitate, ut [0461A] dum quaerit quod habere non valet, quod habet humiliter servet. Superna quoque regio in civibus suis ex parte damna pertulit, ex parte fortiter stetit: ut electi angeli dum alios per superbiam cecidisse conspicerent, tanto robustius quanto humilius starent. Sic in unaquaque anima agitur, ut maxima lucra conferant, aliquando minima damnant.

VERS. 26.-- *Anathema.* Ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀναθήναι, id est, a sursum ponendo, vel suspendendo, sicut donaria in templis suspendebantur, et ab eis qui dabant alienabantur.

## CAPUT VIII.

VERS. 2.-- *Quadraginta annis.* Ideo enim per quadraginta annos permisit eos affligi, ut cognoscerent [0461B] quantae fragilitatis essent.

*Ut affligeret te. [n: (AUG., quaest. 13.)]* Hic apertius dictum est, etc., *usque ad* quod si dixisset, intelligendum erat, cognita faceret.

VERS. 3.-- *Manna.* Carnem Christi, qua refecti ad veram promissionis terram veniamus. Quadraginta annis manna comedimus, id est, toto tempore nostro, quod quatuor vicissitudinibus volvitur, Dominici corporis sacramento pascimur.

*Non in solo pane vivit homo, sed in omni,* etc. Spiritalis cibus commendatur, unde animae in aeternum victurae satiantur. Manna de coelo datum carnem Christi significat, qui ait: *Ego sum panis vitae, hic est panis qui de coelo descendit [n: (Joan. VI)]*, quia Verbum caro factum est, et habitavit in nobis. *Qui manducat [0461C] hanc carnem, habet vitam aeternam.*

*Non in solo pane,* etc. Significat geminam naturae nostrae substantiam. Homo enim ex anima et corpore constat: corpus, quod ex terra est, terreno alitur cibo; anima vero vivit de verbo Dei; spiritum vero hominis vivificat spiritus Dei, si tamen homo est in corpore Ecclesiae, id est Christi, et in fide Filii Dei. Ideo addit: *Vestimentum ejus vetustate non deficere;* quia novi hominis conversatio in novitate vitae debet permanere, cujus pes non est subtritus, quia gressus operum ejus servatur illaesus: *Quia novit Dominus viam justorum, et iter impiorum peribit [n: (Psal. I)]*.

VERS. 11.-- *Judicia.* Quae per Moysen post legem datam diversis temporibus populo praecepta sunt, [0461D] quae in Exodo justificationes appellantur.

*Et caeremonias.* Circumcisionem, ritus sacrificiorum. Unde Ambrosius super Epistolam ad Romanos: Triplex (inquit) lex est, prima pars de sacramento divinitatis; secunda congruit legi naturali, quae peccatum interdicit; tertia festorum legis, id est, sabbata, neomeniae, et circumcisio.

VERS. 15.-- *Ac dipsas.* Genus aspidis quae Latine dicitur situla, quemcunque momorderit, siti perit; adeo parva ut cum calcatur non videatur. Cujus venenum ante exstinguit, quam sentiatur, nec tristitiam sentit moriturus.

Mystice. Varii serpentes haereses sunt inter se quidem diversae, sed omnes mortiferae.

## CAPUT IX.

[0462A]

VERS. 5.-- *Neque enim,* etc. [n: (AUG., quaest. 14.)] Isti sunt qui non meruerunt perire in deserto, etc., *usque ad* ubi illi exacerbaverunt Dominum, qui merito suo in terram promissionis introducti non sunt.

VERS. 10.-- *Deditque,* etc. [n: (AUG., quaest. 15.)] In Exodo legitur quod tabulas Moysi Dominus dederit, etc., *usque ad* durat in saeculum.

## CAPUT X.

VERS. 4.-- *Scripsitque in. [n: (AUG. quaest. 14 in Deut.)]* In Exodo Moyses, etc., *usque ad* ipse autem adjuvat bonae voluntatis arbitrium.

VERS. 6.-- *In Mosera,* etc. In libro Numeri in [0462B] monte Hor mortuus scribitur, sed forsitan locus est binomius. Beroth enim filiorum Jacan locus est in deserto, sicut Mosera, ubi obiit Aaron, sicut in libris locorum legitur. Et ostenditur usque hodie in decimo lapide urbis Petrae in montis vertice

VERS. 8.-- *Tribum Levi.* Nisi per hanc significaretur omne regale sacerdotium, quod pertinet ad Novum Testamentum, non auderet homo dicere, qui de ea tribu non erat: *Pars mea Dominus [n: (Psal. LXXII)]*; et alibi: *Dominus pars haereditatis meae,* etc. [n: (Ibid., XV.)]

VERS. 14.-- *Coelum coeli,* etc. Quidam dicunt tres esse coelos, aereum, aethereum, et sidereum. Nonnulli septem, primum aereum, secundum aethereum, tertium olympium, quartum igneum, quintum firmamentum, [0462C] sextum aqueum, septimum angelorum.

VERS. 16.-- *Circumcidite,* etc. Spiritalem circumcisionem significat, id est mentis custodiam, et veram abstinentiam. Quasi, cum luxuriam carnis exstinxeritis, etiam mentis superflua resecato. Circumcidendi sunt omnes sensus. Unde Moyses se incircumcisum labiis conqueritur; et Stephanus Judaeis: *Incircumcisi,* inquit, *corde et auribus,* etc. [n: (Act. VII)]. Vere ergo circumcisus est, qui *obturat aures ne audiat sanguinem, et claudit oculos, ne videat malum;* qui non delinquit in lingua, cujus cor non gravatur crapula et ebrietate, qui lavat inter innocentes manus suas, et ab omni via mala prohibet pedes suos; qui castigat corpus suum et servituti [0462D] subjicit, et omni custodia servat cor suum. Bina quoque circumcisione indigemus, ne ex his quaeramus vanam gloriam, ne foris mundi, et intus immundi simus, et simulatae sanctitatis poenas sustineamus, sicut Sichimitae qui patriarcharum circumcisionem imitati sunt, non Dei amore, sed ob causam luxuriae: ideo nihil mercedis acquisiverunt, sed die tertia intra civitatis suae ruinas perierunt. Tales enim in tempore resurrectionis evacuatis, quibus confidebant, virtutibus, in aeternum moriuntur.

VERS. 22.-- *Descenderunt patres tui in Aegyptum.* Descenditur in Aegyptum: *Facilis est descensus Averni.* In Jerusalem ascenditur, quia arcta est via quae ducit ad vitam, et tendit in ardua virtus

## CAPUT XI.

[0463A]

VERS. 10.-- *De qua existi.* Mente, duce Moyse, id est docente lege terrenas voluptates despicere, et terram promissionis duce Jesu intrare.

*In hortorum.* Quia carnales quique praesentem felicitatem et copiam rerum temporalium appetunt sibi multiplicare.

VERS. 12.-- *A principio anni.* Ab initio scilicet bonae voluntatis usque ad perfectionem boni operis cursum vitae dirigit. *Deus enim est qui operatur in nobis velle et perficere pro bona voluntate [n: (Philip. II)]*.

VERS. 14.-- *Temporaneam,* etc. Quia electis suis priore tempore legis intellectum contulit; serotinam pluviam tribuit, quia ultimo tempore incarnationis suae mysterium patefecit nobis.

[0463B] *Et serotinam,* etc. Quia novissima hora est, cum praedicatio ejus ad nos pervenit, qui dicit: *Elevatio manuum mearum sacrificium vespertinum [n: (Psal. CXL)]*.

VERS. 20.-- *Scribes ea super postes. [n: (AUG., quaest. 17.)]* Hoc secundum litteram an hyperbolica commendatio est, sicut multa dicuntur?

VERS. 29.-- *Montem Garizim.* Garizim interpretatur Divisio vel Advena; Hebal, Vorago vetus interpretatur. Qui enim a vitiis se separant, et se advenas et peregrinos in hoc mundo judicant, etiam aeternam merentur benedictionem. Qui vero in voraginem veteris vitae se praecipitant, carnalibus desideriis servientes, aeternae maledictioni subjacebunt

## CAPUT XII.

[0463C]

VERS. 6.-- *Decimas et primitias,* etc. [n: (AUG., quaest. 18.)] Quaerendum est quomodo jubeat decimationes omnium fructuum et primitiva omnium pecorum non manducari, nisi in civitate ubi templum erat, cum eas Levitis dari in lege praeceperit.

VERS. 13.-- *Cave ne offeras.* Occasionem amputat idolis sacrificandi. Ideo enim praecipit in templo et ad altare Domini hostias offerri, ut ubi integra est religio, ibi cultus congruus exhibeatur. Mystice autem innuit nullum munus acceptabile esse Deo extra catholicam Ecclesiam, hic enim est locus quem Deus elegit, ut poneret nomen suum [0463D] ibi, et habitet in eo.

VERS. 16.-- *Absque esu.* Homicidium prohibet. Sanguis pro anima ponitur, quia sedes animae, id est humanae vitae, in sanguine est.

VERS. 17.-- *In oppidis.* Id est, meritis tuis non assignabis, quae divina largitate perceperis, non viribus tuis, sed Deo, cujus munere hoc habueris [n: (Gal. VI)].

VERS. 23.-- *Hoc solum cave.* Ad litteram apostoli hoc praeceperunt: Et in sanguine prohibetur homicidium, et odium fratrum. Qui enim odit fratrem suum homicida est [n: (I Joan. III)].

*Sanguis enim eorum.* Quia aliquod vitale est in sanguine, et per ipsum maxime in hac carne vivitur, [0464A] qui per omnes venas diffunditur: ipsum animam vocat, id est, corporis vitam, quae morte finitur. Mystice autem innuitur, ut carnales homines a pristina conversatione discedentes, in unitate fidei et bonorum operum sociantes, eorum errores in usum nostrum non convertamus; sed effundamus, id est, per confessionem prolatos terrenae fragilitati deputemus, et quasi indignos viris spiritualibus abjiciamus.

## CAPUT XIII.

VERS. 1.-- *Si surrexerit.* Vult intelligi, ea quae a divinis non secundum Deum dicuntur, etiamsi evenerint, non esse sic accipienda, ut fiant quae ab eis praedicuntur, nec praeter potestatem suam ostendit esse, quae ita contingunt. Sed quare permittat [0464B] supponit, ad cognoscendum scilicet quantum diligant Deum servientes ipsis, non illi qui omnia novit.

## CAPUT XIV.

VERS. 1.-- *Non vos incidetis.* Usque hodie multae gentes incidunt se in funeribus mortuorum. Unde: *Non vos contristemini sicut et caeteri, qui spem non habent.* Haec autem facere, eorum est qui desperant de resurrectione.

*Nec facietis. Capilli capitis vestri numerati sunt [n: (Matth. X)]*, id est cogitationes, quas non oportet ab honestate capitis auferre et diabolo offerre, sicut quidam corporales capillos diabolo offerunt.

VERS. 3.-- *Ne comedatis.* Animalia immunda [0464C] sunt, sed quae significando exprimunt, mores, scilicet hominum, et actus, et voluntates.

VERS. 5.-- *Camelopardalum.* Qui albis maculis respersus, capite camelo similis, collo equino, pedibus bubalo, per caetera pardus: in Aethiopia nascitur.

*Omne animal quod in duas.* Illos recipit Ecclesia et membris suis incorporat, qui ungulam findunt, qui discretionem boni et mali habere sciunt, et qui ruminant, id est meditantur in lege die ac nocte.

VERS. 6.-- *Quod in duas partes.* Qui scilicet duo testamenta suscipiens firmo gradu justitiae et innocentiae sese constituit

VERS. 7.-- *Camelum.* Judaeum qui liquat culicem, et glutit camelum, qui litteram ruminat, sed non [0464D] habet fissam ungulam, quia a spiritu litteram non dividit, hi sunt scribae et Pharisaei.

*Leporem.* Per choerogyllum et leporem multitudinem significat Judaeorum, utrumque enim animal debile et infirmum.

*Quia ruminant.* Ruminant Judaei verba legis, sed ungulam non dividunt, quia in Patrem et Filium non credunt, nec duo testamenta recipiunt. Quidam autem haeretici ungulam findunt, sed doctrinam veritatis in ore non ruminant [n: (Levit. XI)].

VERS. 9.-- *Haec comedetis ex omnibus quae moventur in aquis.* Per haec gentiles intelliguntur, qui in aquis baptismi renascuntur.

*Quae habent pinnulas.* Meditantes legem vitae sublimis [0465A] et coelestis; quia ignorantia divinae legis diu in gentibus fuerat, pinnulas et squamas adjungit: sicut enim pisces squamati sunt et pinnati, sic quibus est ignorantia temporalis, cito additur cognitio sublimis et vitae coelestis.

VERS. 12.-- *Et gryphem.* Quae est quadrupes, capite et alis aquilae similis, reliquo corpore leoni, et abundat in Hyperboreis montibus, equis maxime infensa et hominibus.

VERS. 15.-- *Struthionem.* Qui a terra non levatur, sed saecularibus negotiis implicatur.

*Noctuam.* Quae in nocte acute videt, et non in die. Sicut qui scientia legis gloriantur, et lucem Evangelii non capiunt.

*Larum.* Qui ut avis volat, ut aquatile natat, qui [0465B] scilicet circumcisionem veneratur et baptisma. Talibus Paulus ait: *Si circumcidimini, Christus vobis non prodest [n: (Gal. V)]*.

*Accipitrem,* etc. Qui mansueti videntur, sed potentibus et avaris sociantur.

VERS. 16.-- *Cygnum et ibin.* Hae longi colli esse, et cibum de profundo terrae trahere dicuntur: nos autem debemus quaerere panem qui de coelo descendit, nec esse solliciti quid manducemus [n: (Joan. VI Matth. VI)]

VERS. 17.-- *Nycticoracem.* Quae nocte repit et operatur, significans eos qui noctis operibus dedicantur, quae sunt fornicatio, immunditia, idolorum cultus et similia.

VERS. 18.-- *Upupam.* Quae luctum amat. Saeculi [0465C] autem tristitia mortem operatur: *Nos vero debemus in Domino gaudere, in omnibus gratias agere [n: (II Cor. VII; I Thes. V)]*.

*Vespertilionem,* etc. Quae circa terram volat, et pennis ambulat. Nostra autem conversatio in coelis debet esse [n: (Phil. III)].

VERS. 21.-- *Quidquid autem.* Mystice praecipitur ecclesiastico viro, ut se in sanctitate servet, et omnem peccati immunditiam devitet, peregrinum, id est, gentilem in suis sordibus remanere permittat.

*Peregrino qui intra portas tuas est.* Quasi paganis et haereticis immunda relinque. Hinc daemones in Evangelio permittuntur ire in gregem porcorum [n: (Matth. VIII)], et dicitur: *Sine mortuos sepelire mortuos suos* [0465D] [n: (Luc. IX)].

*In lacte,* mediocribus disciplinis, sed austerioribus, ut restaurarent amara quae perdiderunt dulcia.

VERS. 22.-- *Decimam.* Quasi, bona quae facis secundum divinae legis praecepta facias, et Domino separes, ut ad ejus laudem omnia facias.

VERS. 23.-- *Primogenita.* Id est boni operis initia, quae decimanda sunt, id est, Domino consecranda.

VERS. 24.-- *Portare.* Quasi, qui longe sunt a perfectione sanctorum, nec possunt ascendere culmen virtutum, nec contemplationi vacare: quod possunt, agant humiliter, et devote, et faciant sibi amicos de mammona iniquitatis, et thesauros in [0466A] coelis, ut recipiantur in aeterna tabernacula, ubi epulandum et laetandum cum amicis, id est sanctis et electis Dei.

VERS. 26.-- *Et emes ex eadem pecunia,* etc. Spiritualiter praecipitur, ut semper bonis operibus insistamus, quatenus post hanc vitam ad domum nostram, id est ad coelestem patriam revertamur.

VERS. 28.-- *Aliam decimam.* Extra illam, scilicet quam manducas cum tuis et Levitis, in loco quem elegerit Dominus.

VERS. 29.-- *Venietque Levites.* Manifeste ostendit hanc decimam non esse ei qui offert communicandam, sed tantum illis quibus praecepit erogari, in quibus praecipue Leviten posuit.

## CAPUT XV.

[0466B]

VERS. 1.-- *Septimo anno.* In hoc capite pietas et dilectio commendatur, ut proximis misereamur, et praemium a Domino exspectemus. Tempore enim suo metemus non deficientes, si, dum tempus habemus, operemur bonum ad omnes, maxime autem ad domesticos fidei [n: (I Tim. V)]; unde: *Dimittite et dimittetur vobis, date et dabitur vobis [n: (Luc. VI)]*.

*Septimo anno.* Quia in septiformi Spiritu remissio est. Omnes pene legis solemnitates in septenario numero sunt: sabbatum enim in die septima est; et Pentecoste finitis septem hebdomadibus; septimus quoque annus celebratur; et jubilaeus septies septem annis succedit.

[0466C]VERS. 3-- *A peregrino.* Licet sint omnes proximi nostri, maxime tamen illis misericordia impendenda est, qui Christi sunt nobiscum membra. *Qui enim habet substantiam mundi, et fratri indigenti non impendit, quomodo manet in eo charitas Dei? [n: (I Joan. III.)]*

VERS. 6.-- *Foenerabis.* Quasi: ditior eris omnibus gentibus. Ecclesia quoque abundat spiritalibus divitiis: ipsa docet, nec habet necesse doceri.

VERS. 9.-- *Cave. [n: (AUG., quaest. 21.)]* LXX: *Attende tibi ipsi, ne fiat verbum occultum,* etc., *usque ad* si crudeliter cogitat illo tempore dandum non esse, quo dandum est?

VERS. 12.-- *Cum tibi venditus,* etc. [n: (ISID.)] Si [0466D] Hebraeus puer in servitutem devenerit, etc., *usque ad* scilicet peccatis in aeternum serviemus.

*Cum tibi venditus,* etc. Hebraeus transitor qui ad aeternam scilicet patriam tendit, et de vitiis ad virtutes, de terrenis ad coelestia transit; si talis se tibi vendiderit, id est magisterio tuo se addixerit, docebis eum, ut in praesenti vita studeat operari, ut ad requiem pervenire possit. Hoc est, sex annis serviet tibi, septimo dimittes eum liberum, nec vacuum abire patieris; quasi: aeterna praemia et veram libertatem promittes ei in alia vita. Si autem dixerit, Nolo egredi, eo quod diligat te et domum tuam, id est si bona quae fecit non pro aeterna mercede, sed pro humana laude, quasi diligens praesentem [0467A] vitam fecerit, perforabis aurem ejus subula, id est mentem ejus terrore judicii; compunges in janua domus, quia judicium erit in hujus vitae egressu et alterius ingressu, et serviet tibi usque in aeternum, id est docebis eum si saeculum plus amaverit quam Deum, aeternis suppliciis mancipandum.

[n: (GREG., hom. 3 in Ezech.)] Cum activa vita et contemplativa sit nobis ex Dei gratia, etc., *usque ad* ubi subula recusantis libertatem aurem perfodi praecipitur.

VERS. 19.-- *De primogenitis. [n: (AUG., quaest. 23.)]* Primogenita dicit, etc., *usque ad* quia solus de substantia Patris, et aequalis et coaeternus.

*Sanctificabis Domino Deo tuo.* Non tibi, sed omnium largitori: *Quia omne datum optimum desursum [0467B] est [n: (Jac. I)]*. Quod autem leve in nostra cogitatione, vel maculosum in nostra conversatione, vel claudum in operum progressione, vel caecum ignorantia mentis aut aliqua parte deforme vel debile, non debemus Deo immolare, id est, imputare, sed nobis.

*Non operaberis. [n: (GREG., lib. VIII Moral., cap. 34.)]* In primogenito bovis arare, etc., *usque ad* deceptus animus non deprehendat quae in eis sunt mala.

VERS. 16.-- *Sin autem habuerit.* Sunt quaedam opera quae licet minus placeant Deo, prosunt tamen proximo; et si Deo offerri non possunt, comedi possunt. Cum enim Deo minus placeant pro fuscata intentione quam Deus intuetur, proximis tamen exemplo opitulantur. *Quasi caprea et cervo.* Caprea saltatim [0467C] incedit, cervus inimicus est serpenti, et aspera et spinosa transiliens, montana transcendit, et ideo in bonam partem accipiuntur.

## CAPUT XVI.

VERS. 1.-- *Observa mensem novarum frugum.* Quia in eo manipuli spicarum, id est primitiae, per sacerdotem offerebantur Domino.

Mensem primum, scilicet Hebraeorum qui apud eos nisan apud Graecos quoque ξάνθικος, apud Latinos Aprilis dicitur, in quo agnus paschalis occidebatur.

*Eduxit te.* Mystice. Nos quoque de Aegypto hujus mundi liberati, novum hominem induti, in novitate [0467D] vitae ambulemus, primitias bonorum operum consecrantes, et phase, id est, transitum bonum celebrantes, ut, relicta Aegypto, ad terram promissionis veniamus.

VERS. 2.-- *Et de bobus in loco. [n: (AUG., quaest. 24.)]* Boves addit, cum de ove tantum praeceperit, quam jussit accipi ex ovibus et haedis vel capris, vel propter Christum, qui secundum carnem ex justis fuit et peccatoribus. Non enim ait ex ovibus vel capris, sed ex ovibus et capris, licet proprie non intelligatur ovis ex capris, ne Judaei dicerent subaudiendum esse caprum. Quare ergo additi sunt boves? an propter alia sacrificia, quae diebus azymorum sunt immolanda?

[0468A]VERS. 3.-- *Panem fermentatum.* Corruptam doctrinam vel veterem conversationem, unde: *Epulemur in azymis, non in fermento veteri,* etc. [n: (I Cor. V)].

*Septem.* Toto tempore praesentis vitae. Sicut illi septem diebus azyma comedebant, sic nos pure et simpliciter septem diebus hujus vitae conversemur, quibus quotidie agnus occiditur, et pascha celebratur, si innovati nihil ex veteri corruptione retinemus. Quid enim est aliud fermentum, quam naturae corruptio? Fermentatum enim recedit a naturali dulcedine, et corrumpitur adulterino rancore.

VERS. 4.-- *Non apparebit. Epulemur non in fermento veteri, neque in fermento malitiae et nequitiae,* etc. [n: (I Cor. V)], quasi: relinquite veterem hominem, et induite novum.

[0468B] *Non remanebit.* In hac vita omnia sacramenta Dominicae incarnationis perscrutanda, et cuncta praecepta ejus implenda sunt [n: (Ephes. IV)], antequam mane, id est finis saeculi, adveniat.

VERS. 5.-- *Non poteris.* In una domo agnus paschalis editur, et in uno loco phase immolatur, id est in catholica Ecclesia: extra illam non recte pascha celebratur. Vetat celebrare mysteria Christi in conventiculis haereticorum.

VERS. 6.-- *Vespere ad solis.* Novissima aetate mundi, quando verus Sol in passione occubuit, et Aegyptiacam captivitatem solvit, cum pascha nostrum immolatus est Christus.

VERS. 7.-- *Vades in tabernacula.* Peracto servitio Domini mane resurrectionis transibimus in aeterna [0468C] tabernacula, ut quiescamus ab omni labore, laetantes de percepta retributione.

VERS. 8.-- *Die septima.* Aeterna requie, quam septenarius significat: propter sabbatum ubi nullus labor, nulla operandi ratio.

VERS. 9.-- *Septem hebdomadas.* In Levitico plenius. *Numerabis ergo ab altero die sabbati septem hebdomadas plenas ad alteram diem explorationis hebdomadae septimae.*

*[n: (AUG., quaest. 25.)] Septem hebdomadas,* etc. Si ab universo populo haec Pentecoste jussa est observari, nunquid omnes credendum est uno die falcem jussos mittere in messem? Si autem sibi quisque observat istam quinquagesimam, dinumerans ab illo die quo falcem mittit, non una est universo populo. Illa vero [0468D] una est quae computatur ab immolatione paschae usque in diem datae legis in Sina.

Nos quoque celebramus Pentecosten, id est, adventum Spiritus sancti, qui est digitus Dei, quo scripta est lex in tabulis.

VERS. 13.-- *Solemnitatem.* Qui ut tabernaculo, praesenti mundo utitur, festivitatem agere, et laetari in eo potest, propter futuri exspectationem: *Quia si terrena domus hujus habitationis dissolvatur, habebit domum non manufactam in coelis [n: (I Cor. V)]*.

*Quando.* Consummata perfectione omnium bonorum et multarum collectione virtutum, laetandum et exsultandum esse cum amicis significat. Cum exsultabit quisque de percepta retributione qui hic largus [0469A] fuerit in munere, tunc vere tabernaculorum solemnitas agetur, non mutabilium scilicet, sed aeternorum, unde: *Ut recipiant vos in aeterna tabernacula [n: (Luc. XVI)]*.

VERS. 16.-- *Masculinum.* Non femineum; nihil enim molle, fragile et infirmum in nostra conversatione debet esse: fortia quaeque a nobis exigit Deus [n: (Exod. XXIII, XXXIV; Eccli. XXXV)]. Si autem in fide Trinitatis Patris et Filii et Spiritus sancti aeternae mercedis respectu tempore praesentis vitae bonis operibus insudamus, masculum in conspectu Domini statuimus.

*In omnibus.* Ut advenientes undique statim in introitu, paratos inveniant, a quibus justa judicia accipiant.

[0469B]VERS. 19.-- *Oculos sapientum.* Apud homines, non apud Deum, quibus dicitur: *Vae qui sapientes estis in oculis vestris [n: (Isa. V)]*.

VERS. 20.-- *Juste. [n: (GREG., lib. X Moral., cap. 19.)]* Injuste quod justum est exsequitur, qui ad defensionem justitiae non virtutis aemulatione, sed amore praemii temporalis excitatur, et justitiam quam praetendit, vendere non veretur. Juste ergo justum exsequi est in assertione justitiae ipsam justitiam quaerere: *Sunt viae quae videntur hominibus justae,* etc. [n: (Prov. XIV)]. Et: *Vae qui justificatis vos coram hominibus [n: (Luc. XVI)]*.

VERS. 21.-- *Non plantabis.* Occasionem idololatriae amputat. Solebant enim gentes immolare, et in delubris statuas adorare.

[0469C] *Lucum.* [n: (ISID.)] Nemus, frondentes arbores infructuosae, etc., *usque ad* nec permittit fictionem falsitatis vel erroris veritati catholicae sociare.

## CAPUT XVII.

VERS. 2.-- *Cumque reperti fuerint.* Lex errorem et idololatriam maxime detestatur: maximum enim scelus est honorem Creatoris impendere creaturae; quod faciunt gentiles, vel mali catholici, qui, licet ab Ecclesia non recedant, tamen magis inveniuntur per diversa vitia servire diabolo, quam per bona opera militare Deo. Hos lapidibus jubet obrui quos irrevocabilis sententia damnandos esse praevidit.

VERS. 6.-- *In ore duorum aut trium testium.* Attestatione scilicet legis prophetarum et Evangelii, secundum [0469D] illud: *Sermo quem locutus est, ipse judicabit eum in novissimo die [n: (Joan. XII)]*. In titulo quoque crucis tres linguae testantur Christum esse regem Judaeorum: Hebraica, Graeca et Latina [n: (Joan. XIX)].

*Nemo occidatur.* Tanta concordia est Veteris ac Novi Testamenti, ut neutrum sine altero sit.

In humano judicio primum divinae Scripturae auctoritas requirenda est.

VERS. 81.-- *Si difficile.* Sacerdotes Ecclesiae Dei instruit, ut judicia ecclesiastica secundum potestatem sibi a Deo datam reverenter agant, et juste decernant, non ad libitum suum, sed secundum legis decretum, ne suscipiendo personam mutent sententiam.

[0470A]VERS. 11.-- *Juxta.* Nota, non dicitur tibi, ut obedias, nisi juxta legem docuerint, unde: *Supra cathedram Moysi sederunt scribae et pharisaei [n: (Matth. XXIII)]*.

VERS. 12.-- *Sacerdotis imperio.* Christi qui est sacerdos in aeternum secundum ordinem Melchisedech, qui vicarios sibi substituit, quibus ait: *Qui vos audit, me audit; et qui vos spernit, me spernit,* etc. [n: (Luc. X)]. Jure ergo damnationis sustinet sententiam, qui contemnit divinitatis potentiam.

VERS. 14.-- *Cum ingressus fueris terram,* etc. [n: (AUG., quaest. 26.)] Quaeri potest cur displicuit populus Deo, cum regem desideravit, cum hic inveniatur esse permissus? Sed intelligendum est merito non fuisse secundum voluntatem Dei, quia hoc fieri non praecepit, sed desiderantibus permisit. Verumtamen praecepit [0470B] ne fieret alienus, sed frater ex eodem populo indigena non alienigena. Quod autem ait: *Non poteris:* intelligendum est, non debebis.

*Constituam super.* Habitatores terrae constituunt sibi regem contra Dei sententiam.

VERS. 17.-- *Non habebit,* etc. [n: (AUG., quaest. 27.)] Manifestum est Salomonem hoc praeceptum transisse, etc., *usque ad* perveniat ad alienigenas.

*Neque argenti. Nolite thesaurizare vobis thesauros in terra [n: (Matth. VI)]*.

VERS. 19.-- *Legetque.* Nota quanta assiduitate legere debent sacerdotes, cum assidue legant reges. Lectio ipsa lux est et vita, unde: *Verba, quae ego loquor vobis, spiritus et vita sunt [n: (Joan. VI)]*.

VERS. 20.-- *Superbiam.* Quasi, sciat se esse fratrem. [0470C] Unum patrem Deum omnes habemus, cui dicimus: *Pater noster, qui es in coelis,* etc. [n: (Luc. XI)].

*Superbiam.* Benedictio est regnare super Israel, scilicet regnando facere Israel, scilicet Deum videntes.

## CAPUT XVIII.

VERS. 1.-- *Non habebunt.* Et in Veteri et in Novo Testamento ministris altaris praeceptum est de oblationibus et decimis vivere, nec terrenis possessionibus acquirendis concessum est inhiare: Unde: *Nolite possidere aurum neque argentum,* etc. [n: (Matth. X)]; et post pauca: *Dignus est enim operarius cibo suo [n: (I Cor. IX.)]* Et alibi: *Qui altario serviunt cum altario participant [n: (Num. XVIII)]*. Non enim oportet, ut [0470D] qui semper astare debet officio divino, inhiet terreno lucro, cui Deus haereditas est. Quid ergo deesse potest illi qui omnia habentem habet.

VERS. 2.-- *Haereditas.* Pro operatione bona, ut quod mente conceperit, opere probet, unde: *Coepit Jesus facere et docere [n: (Act. I)]*.

VERS. 3.-- *Dabunt.* Quia in corporalibus solatiis et spiritualibus emolumentis devote doctoribus nostris communicare debemus, unde: *Communicet is qui catechizatur verbo, ei qui se catechizat, in omni opere bono [n: (Gal. VI)]*.

*Ventriculum.* Venter receptaculum ciborum, omnes hominum labores, et momentanea gulae blandimenta sunt, quorum finem condemnat: et mentibus [0471A] Deo sacratis ostendit totum quod voramus in successum projici, unde: *Esca ventri, et venter escis: Deus autem et hunc et hanc destruet.*

VERS. 4.-- *Primitias.* Primitias frugum laborantem agricolam oportet primum de fructibus accipere.

VERS. 6.-- *Si exierit.* Quasi urbem et domum deserit, qui gratis Deo servit, et sine sumptu Evangelium ponit.

VERS. 8.-- *Excepto. [n: (AUG., quaest. 38.)]* Quod LXX, etc., *usque ad* eum servari oportet quod parentibus exhibitum est.

VERS. 9.-- *Quando ingressus. [n: (AUG., quaest. 29.)]* Quoniam portentorum inspectores interdicuntur, etc., *usque ad* sic illae inspectiones prodigorum a significationibus miraculorum discernendae sunt.

[0471B]VERS. 10.-- *Ariolos.* Qui circumeunt aras nefandis precibus, et divinationem in extis animalium quaerunt.

*Auguria.* Quasi avigeria, quae in vocibus avium gerantur. Vel avigaria, ab avium garritu.

VERS. 11.-- *Pythones.* Ventriloquos, de quorum ventre daemones loquuntur, a Pythone sic dictos, id est Apolline, quem deum divinationis credebant esse.

VERS. 15.-- *Prophetam de.* Licet historialiter de prophetis accipi possit, qui post Moysen in populo Israel repleti sunt Spiritu Dei, melius tamen de Domino prophetarum accipitur, de quo turbae ab ipso satiatae dixerunt: *Hic est vere propheta qui venturus est in mundum [n: (Joan. VI)]*. Et alibi: *Propheta magnus [0471C] surrexit in nobis [n: (Luc. VII)]*.

## CAPUT XIX.

VERS. 2.-- *Tres.* Fidem, spem et charitatem, ad quas omnes poenitentes debent confugere.

Tres civitates refugii ultra Jordanem constituit Moyses homicidis qui non sponte homicidium commiserunt, alias tres circa Jordanem jubet separari [n: (Num. XXXV; Josue. XX)], mystice insinuans quod ante perceptionem baptismi, qui vult a peccato salvari et ab hostibus spiritualibus liberari, sanctae Trinitatis fidem debet sincera mente confiteri, et post baptismum in fide, spe et charitate viriliter operari. Sicque religiose conversans in mundo, qui senario conditus est numero, post perfectionem bonorum [0471D] operum requiem aeternam exspectat in sabbatismo.

VERS. 3.-- *In tres.* Ut qui salvandus est facilius evadat. Praedicatores quoque verbo et exemplo debent peccatoribus consulere et aequaliter in tota terra Ecclesiae fidem Trinitatis omnibus insinuare, ut viam veritatis et portam fidei agnoscant patere sibi, et se merito damnandos si intrare noluerint.

*Sed abiisse.* Exemplo enim ostendit qualis homicida salvandus sit.

[n: (GREG., Past. part. II, cap. X, tom. III.)] Ad silvam cum amico imus, etc., *usque ad* quae non malitiose perpetratur.

[n: (AMBR., lib. de Fuga saeculi, cap. 2.)] Congrue [0472A] provisum liquet, etc., *usque ad* percussus Levitico gladio moriatur sensus carnis, ut vivat anima vestra.

VERS. 9.-- *Addes tibi.* In libro Jesu Nave, sex civitates refugii decernuntur talibus homicidis *(Josue XX)*. Cades in Galilaea montis Nepthali, Sichem in monte Ephraim, et Cariatharbe, quae est Hebron, in monte Juda. Et trans Jordanem Bosor de tribu Ruben, et Ramoth in Galaad de tribu Gad, et Gaulon in Basan, de tribu Manasse.

[n: (AMBR., ubi supra.)] Sex autem civitatum refugia sunt, etc., *usque ad* vel interdictorum declinatione veneremur.

VERS. 11.-- *Si quis autem odio habens proximum.* Qui malitia aliquem percutit, et in mortem animae ducit, reus est aeternae mortis, unde: *Si quis scandalizaverit unum de pusillis qui in me credunt,* etc. [0472B] Et alibi: *Qui odit fratrem homicida est, et non habebit vitam aeternam [n: (Matth. XVIII; I Joan. III)]*. Hic ab altari divellitur, tanquam sacramentis Dominicis indignus, nec veniam nisi per condignam poenitentiam promeretur. Qui autem non sponte occidit, habet urbes refugii, Ecclesiam scilicet catholicam, ubi se angustia poenitentiae coercens, per omne tempus praesentis vitae bonis operibus studeat, et si spem in morte summi pontificis, scilicet Redemptoris sui, posuerit, tandem merebitur salvari.

Qui fraternum odium retinet in corde, non potest fructuosam poenitentiam agere, nec Deum sibi placare.

VERS. 14.-- *Non assumes et transferes terminos,* etc. Unde: *Ne transgrediaris terminos quos posuerunt [0472C] patres tui [n: (Prov. XXII)]*, id est, praecedentium patrum regulas et definitiones vivendi.

VERS. 15.-- *Non stabit testis unus.* Hoc etiam historialiter servare debemus. Et contra impios vel haereticos, cum testimoniis Scripturarum indigemus, duos testes, id est, Vetus et Novum Testamentum adhibemus, vel tres, id est, Evangelium, prophetas, apostolum, et sic stat verbum.

VERS. 21.-- *Animam pro anima.* Qui enim animam errare fecit, venia dignus non est.

*Dentem pro dente [n: (Exod. XXI; Lev. XXIV; Matth. V)]*. Verborum virtutem. Dentes enim verba significant secundum illud: *Filii hominum, dentes eorum arma [n: (Psal. LVI)]*. Et alibi: *Dentes ejus lacte,* id est [0472D] lege, *candidiores [n: (Gen. XXIX)]*.

*Manum,* etc. Operationem, ut ea, scilicet. sunt ei utilia aut nociva quae in alio pervertit.

## CAPUT XX.

VERS. 1.-- *Quia Dominus.* Mystice. [n: (AUG., quaest. 30.)] LXX: *Quoniam Dominus,* etc., *usque ad* ut etiam ipsos acturos ostenderet.

VERS. 5.-- *Quis est homo. [n: (ID., quaest. 31.)]* Non est melior in bello qui jam aedificia dedicavit, etc., *usque ad* sed haec instituta sunt propter virorum animos explorandos.

*Quis est homo.* [n: (ISID.)] Docet non posse quemquam professionem contemplationis vel militiae spiritalis [0473A] arripere, etc., *usque ad: ut ei placeat cui se probavit [n: (II Tim. II)]*.

Melius est professionem vel persecutionem devitare, quam in ea succumbere. Ad disputationem quoque contra haereticos venire non debet, nisi doctus et perfectus, ne scandalizet alios superatus.

VERS. 16.-- *Nullum omnino permittes.* Nulli vitio in nostra conversatione parcendum, ne coram oculis Domini voluptatibus corrupti et abominabiles appareamus, et exsultantes inimici de ruina nostra dicant: *Euge, euge animae nostrae, devorabimus eum [n: (Psal. XXXIV)]*.

## CAPUT XXI.

VERS. 1.-- *Quando inventum,* etc. Cadaver, corpus [0473B] sine anima, et anima sine Deo, qui est ejus vita. *In terra quam Dominus Deus tuus daturus est tibi,* hoc est in Ecclesia. *Caedis reus,* actor seditionis; *Majores natu,* vita et sapientia majores. *Judices,* id est sacerdotes, quorum officium est de singulis judicare, id est, discernere. *Metientur a loco cadaveris,* id est, cum summa discretione investigabunt actorem seditionis. *Tollent vitulam de armento,* id est, carnem Christi, quam de patribus sumpsit. *Quae non traxit jugum,* quia *peccatum non fecit, nec inventus est dolus in ore ejus. Nec terram scidit vomere [n: (I Petr. II)]*, nullam scilicet seditionis maculam admisit.

*Et ignorabitur caedis reus.* Diabolus qui invisibilis, et ideo ignorari dicitur, scitur enim quia misit in cor, ut traderet eum Judas [n: (Joan. XIII)].

[0473C] *Majores natu,* etc. Apostoli et doctores qui Scripturae attestatione perceperunt nullam nationem sic promptam ad caedem ut Judaeorum gentem, qui et prophetarum et Domini sanguinem fuderunt.

VERS. 4.-- *Et ducent eam ad vallem asperam,* etc. Mortem scilicet despectam et turpissimam, unde: *Morte turpissima condemnemus eum. Quae nunquam arata est [n: (Sap. II)]*, quia mors Christi absque culpa fuit. Nec *sementem recepit [n: (Matth. XIII)]*, id est, zizania peccati, quae inimicus homo superseminavit. Possumus per vallem asperam gentilitatem accipere, quae aspera erat; saxosa, quia saxa adorabat; in qua caesa est cervix vitulae, quia pro salute gentium mors Christi celebrata est. Cervix robur carnis quod in morte deposuit. *Lavabunt manus super vitulam,* [0473D] id est, purgabunt opera per passionis Christi confidentiam.

VERS. 6.-- *Lavabuntque manus suas,* etc. Id est, opera sua in passione Christi demonstrabunt esse munda. Licet enim ejusdem passionis sacramenta quotidie iterentur, ab omni tamen fraude Judaeorum corda et opera habent mundissima.

VERS. 8.-- *Propitius esto.* Pro officio suo benedicunt populo, ut non reddatur vindicta pro scelere, sed salus pro redemptione.

VERS. 10.-- *Si egressus fuerit ad pugnam.* [n: (ISID.)] Dicant Judaei, quomodo haec servent? quid causae sit mulierem decalvari et ungues circumcidi? quid si sine capillis et unguibus inventa fuerit?

[0474A]VERS. 11.-- *Mulierem pulchram.* Sicut Paulus qui de Menandro sumpsit: *Corrumpunt bonos mores colloquia mala [n: (I Cor. XV)]*. Et de Arato: *In ipso vivimus, movemur, et sumus: ipsius enim et genus sumus [n: (Act. XVII)]*.

Alii putant hanc mulierem specie decoram significare rationabilem disciplinam apud Gentiles inventam: ab ea enim oportet recidi omnem superstitionis immunditiam, ut ad studium veritatis assumatur. Nihil enim mundum habent disciplinae gentilium, quia nulla apud eos disciplina est, cui non sit aliquid immunditiae vel superstitionis admistum.

VERS. 13.-- *Uno mense,* id est, triginta diebus, ut post fidem Trinitatis et opus legis, mereatur Ecclesiae sociari; ter enim decem triginta efficiunt.

[0474B] *Et postea.* Cum nec in capite, id est sensibus, nec in manibus, id est operibus, aliquid superfluum aut immundum erit.

VERS. 15.-- *Si habuerit homo uxores duas,* etc. Christus sibi duas uxores, populum scilicet Judaeorum et gentium, conjugii copulavit nomine. Odiosa est synagoga, semper contentiosa, dura cervice, incircumcisa corde; dilecta gentilis Ecclesia. Sed non potest filium dilectae praeferre filio odiosae, id est Ecclesiam de gentibus et filios ejus praeferre apostolis et aliis primitivis, qui sunt filii synagogae. Agnoscit odiosae primogenitum, dat ei duplicia, quia primitivis synagogae filiis dedit legem et prophetas, et notitiam nominis sui, et primo eis Evangelium praedicavit. Hic enim est primogenitus liberorum ejus.

[0474C] *Unam dilectam.* Animalitatem, quae dulcis videtur et delectabilis: omnia voluptuosa cupit et nullo moerore afficit.

*Alteram odiosam.* Rationalitatem, quae non indulget corpori, nec servit voluptati, sed abdicat occulta dedecoris.

VERS. 16.-- *Primogenitum.* Apostoli et apostolici viri, qui locum primogeniti obtinent, quorum Ecclesia sequitur auctoritatem.

VERS. 17.-- *Sed filium.* Hoc ad litteram faciendum est, ne sequatur quis animi sui motum, vel amorem, vel odium, sed naturam.

*Cuncta duplicia.* Apostoli cuncta duplicia susceperunt, qui doctrina et operatione praediti sunt.

Alii dabit ut vivat, non ut abundet, sicut Abraham [0474D] filium ancillae super nationes praefecit: filio Sarae, non solum temporalia, sed spiritualia accumulavit [n: (Gen. XII)].

VERS. 18.-- *Si genuerit. Melior est obedientia quam victimae, et auscultare magis quam offerre adipem arietum, quoniam quasi peccatum ariolandi est repugnare,* etc. [n: (I Reg. XV.)] Inobedientem ergo filium et vitiosum Moyses jubet obrui lapidibus: Evangelium quoque duris increpationibus, quasi lapidibus tales arguit: *Genimina viperarum, quis docebit vos fugere a ventura ira [n: (Luc. III)]*?

VERS. 22.-- *Appensus.* Cruciatum ejus vidente populo, unde: *Peccantes coram omnibus argue, ut caeteri metum habeant [n: (II Tim. V)]*.

[0475A]VERS. 23.-- *Non permanebit.* Hoc est non debet relinqui in eadem damnatione, sed revocari doctorum exhortatione, ut nulli, dum vivit, reconciliatio negetur.

*Non permanebit.* Non est de die in diem differenda poenitentia, sed statim agenda, ut per poenitentiam infructuosam ab oculis Dei abscondantur delicta, unde: *Beati quorum tecta sunt peccata [n: (Psal. XXXI)]*.

*Maledictus a Deo. [n: (AUG., lib. XIV contra Faustum.)]* Christus nos redemit de maledicto legis, factus pro nobis maledictum [n: (Gal. III)]. [n: (Adam namque in ligno praevaricationis corruit: ideo sibi et posteris suis maledictionem meruit, de qua dicit: Maledictus omnis qui pendet in ligno.)] Maledictam namque, id est, exsecrabilem et turpissimam mortem suscepit.

[0475B] *[n: (ID., ubi supra, cap. 3, 4.)] Maledictus a Deo est qui pendet,* etc. Quidam haeretici ad calumniam passionis Christi hanc sententiam transferunt, etc., *usque ad* bene ergo maledictum dicitur, quod odit Deus, hoc pependit in ligno.

*Contaminabis.* Poenitentiae lacrymis fetorem peccatorum abluere debemus, ne aliis scandalum et nobis germinet cruciatum.

## CAPUT XXII.

VERS. 1.-- *Non videbis.* Moraliter. Frater tuus doctor Ecclesiae, cujus discipulum vel doctum, qui significatur per bovem, vel indoctum, qui significatur per ovem, si videris errare, noli negligere, sed exhortare [0475C] ut fratri, id est, magistro possis reconciliare. *Duc in domum tuam [n: (I Cor. XI)]*, id est, adhibe curam. Et *si non est propinquus,* id est Ecclesiae tuae, sed alterius doctor.

VERS. 3.-- *Similiter.* Gentili, scilicet, cujus utilitatem et immunditiam non debemus despicere.

*Vestimento.* Plebe qua ornatur doctor. Ad litteram quoque omnia haec et similia servanda sunt.

VERS. 5.-- *Non induetur mulier,* etc. [n: (AUG., quaest. 32.)] Alia editio, etc., *usque ad* non debet aliquid femineum vel molle in doctrina sua habere.

*Mulier.* Cujus naturaliter diversus color, motus incestus, vires, cui non permittitur docere, nec dominari in virum, nec usurpet officium praedicandi [n: (I Cor. XIII)].

[0475D]Contra naturam est virum muliebria facere, comam crispare, torquere capillos, unde Apostolus: *Vir, si comam nutrierit, ignominia est illi.* Mulieri autem capilli pro velamine dati sunt; non ergo induetur vir veste feminea, operatione scilicet fluxa et dissoluta.

[n: (RAB.)] Per viam imus, etc., *usque ad* sed ex ea allegoricum sensum in mente retinemus.

VERS. 8.-- *Domum novam,* id est Ecclesiam.

*Murum tecti,* id est virtutum custodiam.

*Ne effundatur sanguis in domo tua,* hoc est ne alio peccante reus tenearis.

*[n: (GREG., lib. VIII Moral., cap. 39.)] Ne effundatur.* Per incuriam atque desidiam. Unde qui virtutes sine [0476A] humilitate congregat, quasi pulverem in ventum portat.

VERS. 9.-- *Vineam,* doctrinam, vel plebem doctoribus commissam, ubi vinum spiritalis gratiae abundare debet.

*Altero semine,* id est haeretico. Semen bonum verbum Dei; semen nequam quod inimicus seminavit [n: (Matth. XIII)]: cavendum ergo ne immisceatur aliquid erroris, et corrumpatur semen Dei.

VERS. 10.-- *Non arabis.* [n: (ISID.)] In bove et asino arat, qui recipit Evangelia cum Judaeorum observantia, quae praecessit in umbra. In bove quoque bene operantium vita, in asino stultorum socordia: quasi, fatuum sapienti in praedicatione non socies, ne per eum qui rem implere non valet ei obsistas qui praevalet. [0476B] Stultus vero et sapiens bene conjunguntur, ut unus praecipiat et alter obediat, non ut aequali potestate verbum Dei annuntient.

Allegorice lineis vestibus lanam vel purpuram miscet, qui inordinate vivit, et profectionibus diversi generis, ut si sanctimonialis habeat ornamenta uxoris, vel uxor gerat speciem virginis. Hoc autem figurabatur in vestibus, quod nunc declaratur in moribus.

VERS. 12.-- *Funiculos.* Ad differentiam scilicet, sicut signum circumcisionis Israelitas separat a caeteris. Superstitiosi vero magistri captantes auram populi, et lucra ex mulierculis, dilatabant fimbrias et eis alligabant spinas, ut vel ambulantes vel sedentes pungerentur, et sic ad serviendum Deo monerentur, [0476C] unde: *Dilatant phylacteria sua et magnificant fimbrias.*

VERS. 13.-- *Si duxerit. [n: (AUG., quaest. 33.)]* Apparet quomodo subditas viris feminas, etc., *usque ad* qua fuerat alter plectendus.

VERS. 15.-- *Pater et mater ejus.* Doctores Ecclesiae qui quasi pater et mater fovent plebem: patres auctoritate, matres pietate.

VERS. 18.-- *Et verberabunt.* Non mirum, si vir, qui falso accusat, jubetur caedi, et multam reddere; puella vero, si culpabilis sit, lapidari: quia per feminam initium peccati, quae virum seduxit et dupliciter peccavit, prius in Deum, postea in virum, vir tantum in Deum

VERS. 19.-- *Centum siclis,* etc. Perfectione doctrinae [0476D] et sollicitudinis, quam impendat subjectae plebi, vel poenitentiae. Centenarius enim perfectus est, quinquagenarius poenitentiae consecratus.

VERS. 23.-- *Si puellam virginem desponderit.* In hoc capitulo, sicut in duobus praecedentibus et duobus succedentibus, corporalem condemnat fornicationem.

VERS. 26.-- *Nihil patietur.* Sed ad incoeptam fidem revocabitur per gratiam baptismi liberata ab hostibus.

VERS. 29.-- *Non poterit. [n: (AUG., quaest. 34.)]* Merito quaeritur utrum ista poena sit, ut non eam possit dimittere per omne tempus, quam inordinate et illicite violavit; si enim intelligimus eam non posse, id est non debere dimitti per omne tempus, quia uxor effecta est, occurrit quod Moyses permisit [0477A] dare libellum repudii et dimittere. In his autem quae illicite vitiant noluit licere, ne videatur ad ludibrium fecisse, et potius finxisse quod eam duxerit. Hoc quoque de illa jussit, cui vir calumniatus fuerit de virginalibus non inventis.

VERS. 30.-- *Non.* Pater noster Christus est, cujus Ecclesia uxor est; non licet homini dignitatem istius sponsi transferre in se, nec sponsam ejus violare, ut amorem ejus commutet in se, ex dono virtutum vel ex praedicatione laudem suam quaerendo non Dei; cui dicere convenit: *Non nobis, Domine, non nobis, sed nomini tuo da gloriam [n: (Psal. CIII)]*.

## CAPUT XXIII.

VERS. 1.-- *Non intrabit.* Omnes qui molliter vivunt, [0477B] nec virile opus perficiunt, non possunt permanere in congregatione sanctorum nec digni sunt introitu regni coelorum, quod violentiam patitur, et violenti diripiunt illud.

*Mamzer.* Degener sensu vel moribus; vel quem haereticorum pravitas in perceptione sacramentorum degenerem fecit; vel ritus gentilitatis aut Judaismi maculavit. Is in Ecclesiam recipietur, cum integra fide decalogum legis secundum Evangelii institutionem servaverit, et carnalem conversationem Spiritu sancto roboratus abdicaverit; unde: *Si vis ad vitam ingredi, serva mandata [n: (Matth. XIX)]*. Et alibi: *Ego sum ostium: per me si quis intrat, salvabitur [n: (Joan. X)]*.

VERS. 3.-- *Ammonites et Moabites. [n: (AUG., quaest. 33.)]* Alia editio, etc., *usque ad* feminis imputaverunt, [0477C] quas conservare maluerunt.

*Moabites.* Haereticos semper ab Ecclesia esse pellendos significat, quasi, *Haereticum hominem post unam et alteram correctionem devita.*

VERS. 4.-- *Quia noluerunt nobis occurrere cum,* etc. Tradunt Hebraei quod hae gentes propinquae sibi exeuntibus de Aegypto occurrerunt cum pane tantum, cum scirent nos in deserto maxime siti laborare, et ideo huic maledictioni subjecti sunt.

Mystice designant haereticos, qui fugientibus de Aegypto hujus mundi ad veram terram promissionis offerunt panem pollutum, non aqua sapientiae dulcoratum, et ideo ab Ecclesia alienati sunt.

VERS. 5.-- *Vertitque.* Quia saepe persecutio causa majoris prosperitatis est. *Quia diligentibus Deum omnia [0477D] cooperantur in bonum [n: (Rom. VIII)]*.

VERS. 7.-- *Non abominaberis Idumaeum.* Idumaeus sanguineus vel terrenus carnem (cujus est terrena materia) significat: Aegyptius, id est tenebrosus, corpus morbidum. Carnem nostram non debemus abominari, sed fovere et necessaria illi praebere, curam tamen ejus in desideriis non facere: Frater, inquit, tuus est, quia ex carne sumus et anima. Aegyptium, id est corpus non abominemur, in cujus terra advenae fuimus; anima enim, quae coelestem habet originem, quasi advena moratur in corpore, unde Apostolus: *Dum sumus in corpore, peregrinamur a Domino [n: (II Cor. V)]*. *Qui nati fuerint ex eis,* etc., id est paulatim fient spirituales.

[0478A]Per Idumaeum et Aegyptium significatur praesens vita, cui quamvis renuntiantes Aegyptiam terram, id est conversationem pristinam et concupiscentiam mundi declinemus; dum tamen hujus mundi necessitatibus subdimur, non omnino Aegyptiam nationem exstinguimus: sed quodammodo separati, quotidiano victu et vestitu contenti sumus; tertia generatione in Ecclesiam intrabunt, quia saecularis potest sanctis Dei conjungi, cum perfecte in Patrem et Filium et Spiritum sanctum crediderit, vel cum spe, fide, et charitate ornatus fuerit.

VERS. 9.-- *Quando.* Spiritales Christi milites instruit, quibus alibi dicitur: *Omnis qui in agone contendit, ab omnibus se abstinet [n: (I Cor. IX)]*.

*Si. [n: (AUG., lib. de bono conjugali, cap. 20.)]* Multa [0478B] ponit lex in sacramentis et umbris futurorum, etc., *usque ad* non quia corpus mortuum peccatum est, sed significat peccatum animae a justitia desertae.

Mystice *[n: (GREG., lib. IX Moral., cap. 40.)] Si fuerit inter vos homo, qui nocturno pollutus,* etc. Nocturnum somnium tentatio occulta, etc., *usque ad* et ad fidelium merita reparetur praesumenda.

VERS. 12.-- *Habebis.* Corporalem enim munditiam diligit Deus: ideo praecepit nihil foedum remanere in castris.

Mystice. *[n: (GREG., lib. XXXI Mor., cap. 32.)] Habebis locum,* etc. Naturae corruptibilis pondere gravatae a nostrae mentis utero quaedam cogitationum superflua quasi ventris gravamen erumpunt. Sed portare sub balteo paxillum debemus, ut ad reprehendendos nosmetipsos [0478C] semper accincti acutum circa nos stimulum compunctionis habeamus, quod terram nostrae mentis poenitentiae dolore confodiat, et quod a nobis fetidum erumpit, abscondat.

VERS. 13.-- *In balteo.* Balteo enim renes accinguntur, ideo per balteum, malae voluntatis contritio designatur, unde Job: *Balteum regum dissolvit, et praecinxit fune renes eorum [n: (Job. II)]*.

*Humo operies.* Terrena fragilitate considerata, sordes debemus operire.

VERS. 15.-- *Non trades servum [n: (AUG., quaest. 36.)]* LXX: *Non trades puerum domino suo qui appositus est tibi a domino suo.* Non quod dominus eum apposuerit, etc., *usque ad* hoc explanat dicens: *In vobis habitabit in omni loco ubi placuerit ei [n: (I Reg. XXVII)]*.

[0478D]VERS. 37.-- *Non erit meretrix. [n: (AUG., quaest. 37.)]* LXX: *Non erit meretrix,* etc., *usque ad* unde quid nobis videretur, ibi tractavimus.

*Non offeres mercedem prostibuli. [n: (AUG. quaest. 38.)]* LXX: *Non offeres,* etc., *usque ad* dicendum fuit, quod Domino abominatio sit.

*Pretium canis,* rapacis. Dona iniquorum non probat Altissimus. *Qui offert sacrificium ex substantia pauperum, quasi qui victimat filium in conspectu patris [n: (Eccli. XXXIV)]*.

VERS. 19.-- *Non foenerabis fratri tuo.* Usuram et avaritiam removet, et charitatem impendere jubet.

Et pecunia, quae ad usuram dari prohibetur, quia [0479A] vitium cupiditatis est exigere velle, quod cognoscis te non commodasse. Hanc Dominus habuit, et inde pauperibus erogandam tradidit, et nos ad liberalitatem largitatis invitavit. Altera est quam ad usuram dare debemus; unde: *Nonne oportuit te pecuniam committere nummulariis ut ego veniens exigerem quod meum est cum usura? [n: (Matth. XXV)]*.

VERS. 20.-- *Sed alieno.* Infideli vel iniquo cui pecuniam damus ad usuram, cum pro verbo praedicationis exigimus fidem, poenitentiam et operationem bonam.

VERS. 21.-- *Non tardabis reddere.* Unde Salomon: *Ruina est homini post vota tractare vel tardare [n: (Proverb. X)]*.

VERS. 24.-- *Ingressus vineam proximi.* In ecclesia [0479B] alterius episcopi, potest alter aliquos corrigere vel confirmare, totam plebem non licet ei regere, vel magna negotia tractare.

*Foras.* Extra ecclesiam hanc gratiam efferre non licet, quia in una domo carnes agni edi jubentur.

VERS. 25.-- *Si intraveris.* Sunt quaedam loca Scripturae quae historialiter fidem imbuunt, quaedam moraliter sanctam conversationem instruunt: quaedam non secundum historiam, sed secundum allegoriam veneranda mysteria ostendunt. Caute ergo in segete proximi intrandum est, ut discernendo carpas cibum, non praecipitandum succisae messis incurras judicium.

## CAPUT XXIV.

VERS. 1.-- *Si acceperit. [n: (RAB. in Deut., tom. II.)]* [0479C] Homo uxorem accepit, etc., *usque ad* tanquam indigna et errore polluta abominabilis permansit; unde: *Vobis oportebat primum loqui verbum Dei, sed quoniam,* etc. [n: (Act. XIII.)]

[n: (AUG., lib. I de sermone Domini in monte.)] Multae erant in lege causae dimittendi uxores, etc., *usque ad* ut qui habent uxores, sint quasi non habentes [n: (I Cor. VII)].

*Scribet.* Ad duritiam cordis vestri scripsit Moyses praeceptum istud, malens scilicet indulgere dissidium, quam committi homicidium.

VERS. 4.-- *Ne peccare.* Polluit terram suam, qui concupiscentiis carnalibus inquinat corpus suum. Ideo necesse est ambitionem praesentis vitae citius domari, ne valeat dominari. Et cum terrena actio semel [0479D] fuerit repulsa, non est repetenda: ne post tergum respiciat, qui in aratro manum posuerat.

VERS. 5.-- *Cum acceperit.* Quasi, quicunque carnalibus desideriis se obligat ad regimen Ecclesiae, et ad spiritalem militiam se non habilem esse cognoscat: Quia *nemo militans Deo implicat se saecularibus negotiis, ut ei placeat cui se probavit [n: (II Tim. II)]*; unde: *Nemini cito manum imposueris.*

[n: (ISID.)] Tollit molam superiorem qui peccatum flenti dicit: Non habebis veniam de commissis. Tollit inferiorem qui peccatum palpando dicit: Age mala quantum vis, Deus pius est et ad veniam paratus; utiliter utraque mola habetur, si spes sit cum emendante formidine, et formido cum spe.

[0480A] *[n: (GREG., lib. XXXIII Moral., cap. 16.)] Non accipies loco pignoris inferiorem,* etc. Accipere aliquando offerre dicimus, etc., *usque ad* et incassum metuit qui non confidit.

VERS. 7.-- *Auferes. [n: (AUG., quaest. 39.)]* Assidue hoc Scriptura dicit, etc., *usque ad* quod exponens ait: *Qui furabatur jam non furetur [n: (Ephes. IV)]*.

VERS. 8.-- *Plagam leprae.* Nota propter peccatum hanc infirmitatem hominibus accidere, sicut Oziae qui sacerdotium usurpavit.

VERS. 10.-- *Cum repetes. [n: (AUG., quaest. 41.)]* Ad opus misericordiae pertinet ut pignorator in domum non intret, etc., *usque ad* non habens ubi dormiat.

*Nonne. Qui Evangelium annuntiat, de Evangelio vivat [n: (I Cor. IX)]*. *Dignus est enim operarius mercede [0480B] sua [n: (Luc. X)]*.

VERS. 16.-- *Non occidentur. [n: (AUG., quaest. 42)]*. Etiam lex dicit, etc., *usque ad* non tres vel quatuor intelligi voluit.

VERS. 17.-- *Non pervertes. [n: (AUG., quaest. 43)]*. LXX: *Non declinabis judicium advenae et orphani et viduae. Non pignorabis vestimentum viduae.* Cur non ait, etc., *usque ad* continentia in eis laudatur, non desolatio commendatur.

*Viduae.* Vidua anima ante diabolo juncta, cui conversae fidei vestimentum non est auferendum.

VERS. 19.-- *Non reverteris.* Invidendo gentibus, qui sunt advenae testamentorum Dei.

VERS. 20.-- *Si fruges collegeris.* Etsi superbi colligant et improbi, ille misericordiam facit qui hoc [0480C] animo dimittit, ut egentes habeant. Praeterea cum haec populo praecipiuntur; qui non indigent, admonentur ne ista quaerant. Si autem quaesierunt, tanquam praedones pauperum judicandi sunt.

*Vineam tuam.* Vineam de qua colligitur vinum, quod laetificat cor hominis [n: (Psal. CIII)].

## CAPUT XXV.

VERS. 1.-- *Si fuerit causa. [n: (AUG., quaest. 45)]*. LXX: *Si autem fuerit altercatio inter homines,* etc., *usque ad* sic et peccata quae non in Deum, sed in hominem videntur admitti, quaedam sunt digna morte, quaedam verbere.

VERS. 3.-- *Quadragenarium.* Quadragenarius denario quater ducto perficitur. Nos vero de quatuor [0480D] elementis secundum corpus consistimus: praecepta decalogi per denarium accipiuntur. Jubet ergo judicium vel vindictam, in qua carnis peccatum plectitur, secundum praecepta ordinari, et omnia praecepta in decalogo vult intelligi.

[n: (ISID.)] In quadragenario hoc tempus figuratur, etc., *usque ad* illic sine peccato invenimur.

VERS. 4.-- *Os bovis triturantis.* [n: (ISID.)] In bove vita operantium exprimitur, de quo dicitur: *Dignus est enim operarius mercede sua [n: (Luc. X)]*. Vult ergo Scriptura praestari carnalia iis a quibus accipimus spiritualia, qui occupati in doctrina non possunt sibi providere necessaria.

VERS. 5.-- *Quando. [n: (AUG., quaest. 46.)]* LXX *Si [0481A] ante habitaverunt fratres,* etc., *usque ad* aut adoptio fecit alterum patrem quem posset habere Joseph.

VERS. 5.-- *Mortuus fuerit.* Passus est et ascendit in coelum adhuc synagoga sterili permanente.

*Sed accipiet,* etc. Qui regere valet, cui nolenti in faciem mulier exspuit. Qui enim donis spiritalibus non curat prodesse aliis, hujus etiam bonis Ecclesia exprobrans quasi in faciem jactat salivam.

VERS. 9.-- *Calceamentum.* De quo dicitur: *Calceati pedes in praeparatione Evangelii pacis [n: (Ezech. VI)]*. Si ut nostram, sic curam proximi gerimus, utrumque pedem calceamento munimus; qui vero suam cogitans utilitatem proximorum negligit, quasi unius pedis calceamentum cum dedecore amittit.

[0481B] *De pede,* id est mercede praedicationis privatum ostendet. Doctorum enim pedes calceati sunt, quia exemplis praecedentium patrum muniti gressus praedicationis eorum imitati sunt. Utroque pede calceatus est, qui sibi et aliis prodest.

VERS. 11.-- *Et unus contra alterum.* Catholicus haereticusque quorum perpetua contentio, quia dispar intentio: alter enim falsitatem, alter defendit veritatem, et resistere oportet errori, ne sibi stultus sapiens videatur.

*Miseritque.* Per falsam ignominiam vel actionem abominandam voluerit catholici conversationem maculare vel doctrinam diffamare.

*Verenda.* Infirmiora membra Ecclesiae, scilicet volent blandiendo decipere vel insultando deridere.

[0481C]VERS. 13.-- *Non habebis in sacculo.* In Levitico idem interdicitur. Salomon quoque ait: *Pondus magnum et pusillum, et mensurae duplices, immundae sunt apud Deum [n: (Prov. XX)]*.

[n: (ISID.)] *Non habebis in sacculo.* Spiritualiter quoque studendum est, ne diversa pondera in corde habeamus, id est, districtionis regulam nobis mollientes, eos quibus verbum Dei praedicamus districtioribus praeceptis quasi gravioribus ponderibus obruamus. Quod cum facimus, diverso pondere praeceptorum Domini mercedem frugemque appendimus, unde: *Abominatio est Domino pondus duplex [n: (Prov. XX)]*.

VERS. 17.-- *Memento quae.* Tradunt Hebraei quod [0481D] leprosos et semine fluentes, et alios extra castra positos interfecerit Amalec, et hos dicunt esse extremos agminis Domini. Amalec lingens sanguinem. Hi sunt daemones qui nobis per baptismum de spiritali Aegypto exeuntibus adversantur, et in virtutibus extremos, et in itinere hujus vitae lassatos peccata suggerendo student occidere. Hos cum Dominus facultatem dederit, omnino debemus subvertere et suggestiones eorum omni modo ejicere atque delere, ne si aliquas reliquias, sicut Saul, servaverimus, quasi inobedientes cum eis subvertamur.

## CAPUT XXVI.

VERS. 1.-- *Cumque intraveris,* etc. Sicut Israelitae [0482A] in terra promissionis suas primitias jubentur offerre pro gratiarum actione, quia erepti sunt de Aegypto sic nos per spiritalem Jordanem, id est baptismum, terram Ecclesiae intrantes ponamus in cartalo conversationis nostrae primitias operationis bonae, et offeramus Deo in altari fidei catholicae, ut sacerdos noster Christus suscipiat, ibique confiteamur Domino dicentes quod Syrus, qui interpretatur sublimis, vel humectans, id est diabolus, persequebatur patrem nostrum, id est protoplastum, ut deceptum per superbiam, gulam et avaritiam, paradisi possessione privaret, unde exsul in Aegypto hujus mundi peregrinatus est in parvo numero, quia multi idololatriam secuti sunt, et pauci fideles remanserunt. Sed postquam lege data plures surrexerunt, scientiam [0482B] et fidem unius Dei accipientes, afflixerunt eos Aegyptii, id est daemones, onera peccatorum gravissima imponentes. Sed respexit Deus humani generis afflictionem et laborem, et misit Filium suum, qui manus ejus et brachium dicitur, ut eriperet de potestate tenebrarum, et transferret in regnum lucis. Sic tradidit nobis terram lacte et melle manantem, id est, potentem Ecclesiam, ubi lac innocentiae et favus doctrinae, unde nutriantur parvuli, et mel dulcis et multiplicis sapientiae, unde satientur perfecti.

VERS. 10.-- *Quam Dominus Deus dedit,* etc. Quasi non offero nisi quod dedit: omne enim bonum a Deo est.

*Domini Dei tui.* Qui quasi sub oculis servabit, et [0482C] reddet in illa die justus judex.

VERS. 11.-- *Epulaberis,* spiritali convivio, de quo dicitur: *Comedite, amici, et inebriamini, charissimi [n: (Cantic. V)]*.

*Et Levites,* verus Dei minister assumptus ex hominibus, et constitutus pro hominibus in his quae ad Deum sunt.

VERS. 12.-- *Quando compleveris:* hoc legis implesse Tobiam, sed qui longe erant a templo tertio anno collectas trium annorum decimas dabant pauperibus et Levitis qui secum morabantur.

## CAPUT XXVII.

VERS. 2.-- *Lapides.* Doctores debent omnem asperitatem deponere, et ideo splendidi apparere habentes [0482D] legem scriptam in cordibus suis.

VERS. 4.-- *Quando ergo.* [n: (ISID.)] Quomodo hoc factum fuerit, etc., *usque ad* qui altaris constructione digni sunt.

Qui juxta montem Garizim incedunt electi ad benedicendum, figurant eos qui non metu poenae, sed coelestis promissionis amore succensi, veniunt ad salutem. Qui juxta montem Hebal incedunt, in quo maledictiones prolatae sunt; hi sunt qui non amore benedictionum vel promissionum, sed suppliciorum timore, legis praecepta faciunt. Omnes autem circa arcam incedunt, quia ab Ecclesiae sinu non recedunt. Sed nobiliores, qui ex charitate, quam qui poenae timore serviunt. Solus vero Jesus potest hujusmodi [0483A] mentes cognoscere, et alios in monte Garizim ad benedicendum, alios in monte Hebal ad maledicendum statuere, non ut maledictionem accipiant, sed ut maledictiones scriptas et peccatoribus constitutas caveant, et timore supplicii poeniteant.

VERS. 13.-- *Et pronuntiabunt.* Quia sacerdos verbum instanter et valenter populis praedicare debet, ut sciant, si mandata Dei praeterierint, quae pericula maneant; si obedierint, quae sequantur beneficia, scilicet in praesenti vita solatium, et in futura praemium aeternum. Maledictiones autem et benedictiones historialiter pertinent ad eos qui felicitatem terrenam amant vel infelicitatem formidant. Sed maxime Christianis cavendum, ne per inobedientiam spiritualium patiantur penuriam; perfectis enim [0483B] viris terrenorum saepe contingit indigentia, cum semper adsit virtutum copia, unde: *Usque in hanc horam esurimus et sitimus et nudi sumus,* etc. [n: (I Cor. IV)].

*Maledictus.* Non solum idololatria simulacrorum prohibetur, sed omnis haereticorum error. Hi enim artifices vanitatis et superstitiosi dogmatis, qui de corde suo, quos volunt, fingunt sibi deos.

VERS. 16.-- *Omnis populus.* Omnes debent laudare bona, et detestari mala, tam praelati quam subditi.

VERS. 17.-- *Maledictus qui transfert terminos.* Hic est qui non contentus fide catholica et doctrina, superstitiones et sectas inducit.

VERS. 20.-- *Maledictus qui dormit cum.* Omnis [0483C] incestus abominatio est, sed specialiter haereticos atque schismaticos percutit, qui sponsam Christi (qui omnium pater et creator est) errore corrumpunt. Tropologice vero prohibet ne quis actionem pravam patris sui imitando diffamet, et ignominiam ejus revelet.

VERS. 21.-- *Maledictus.* Maledictus est, qui gentilium stultitiam sequitur. Vir aut mulier, non per fragilitatem, sed perseveranter tali commistione inhaerens, reus est mortis.

VERS. 22.-- *Dormit,* id est maculat, prave docendo, aut prava exempla demonstrando, alterius animam. Pater enim noster unus est Deus, et mater Ecclesia, nos autem omnes fratres aut sorores sumus.

[0483D]VERS. 23.-- *Cum socru sua.* Socrus, pravae actionis concupiscentia, quia omnis peccati concupiscentia mater est. Diligenter ergo attendamus ut concupiscentiae resistamus, ne cupita impleamus.

VERS. 24.-- *Maledictus.* Quocunque modo hominem occidere peccatum est. Mirum ergo videtur quare maledictum tantum dixit, qui clam percusserit. Sed forte clam percutere est corde odisse, unde: *Qui odit fratrem suum, homicida est [n: (Joan. III)]*. Et alibi: *Ne oderis fratrem tuum in corde tuo [n: (Lev. XIX)]*.

VERS. 26.-- *Maledictus qui non permanet.* Haec sententia generaliter et praeterita et praesentia et dicenda legis mandata complectitur, tanto gravior quanto generalior. Quis enim potest sine trangressione [0484A] omnibus sermonibus legis permanere, cum et Paulus dicat: *Quicunque ex operibus legis sunt, sub maledicto sunt? [n: (Galat. III.)]* Nemo hanc maledictionem evadere potuit, nec legislator, nisi Christus, unde: *Christus nos redemit de maledicto legis, factus pro nobis maledictum,* etc.

## CAPUT XXVIII.

VERS. 1.-- *Si autem audieris.* Sicut inobedientibus praedicit maledictiones et supplicia, sic obedientibus promittit benedictiones et praemia.

VERS. 4.-- *Fructus ventris.* Diversos ordines notat subditorum. Alii enim doctoribus corporalia praebent adjumenta; alii laborare possunt quod sibi fuerit praeceptum; alii simplicitate contenti per innocentiam [0484B] vitae student Deo placere: unusquisque proprium donum habet ex Deo.

VERS. 5.-- *Benedictae reliquiae.* Bonae intentionis praemium, etsi voluntas non habeat effectum, quia *pax hominibus bonae voluntatis,* etc. [n: (Luc. II.)]

VERS. 6.-- *Ingrediens.* Ingreditur ille per ostium, qui per fidem catholicam quam juxta voluntatem Dei intus meditatur et tractat: egreditur quando idem coram hominibus ad laudem Dei manifestat.

VERS. 7.-- *In conspectu tuo.* Ut gaudeas: *Laetabitur justus cum viderit vindictam [n: (Psal. LVII)]*.

VERS. 8.-- *Benedicetque.* Bonis operibus tribuens incrementum et felicem successum.

*Coelum.* Prophetas et apostolos, de quibus dicitur, *Coeli enarrant gloriam Dei:* quos Dominus aperit, [0484C] cum per eos doctrinae abundantiam tribuit, ut carnalium corda hoc imbre irrigata proferant germina bonorum operum.

*Faenerabis.* Id est tanta erit abundantia tibi, quod poteris dare pecuniam gentibus, illis vero non tanta. Vel, doctrina ecclesiastica intelligitur.

*Faenerabis gentibus.* Foenerat Ecclesia gentibus multis, quando divina charismata expendit nationibus. Nec foenus accipit, quia non praesentem remunerationem, sed futuram inquirit. Excellit enim omnibus, et caput est orbis, non cauda. Semper supra est, et non infra; quia licet pressuras et persecutiones malorum in mundo patiatur, fortior tamen adversariis est, fide et virtute praeeminet universis. Unde, *constituet te Dominus in caput,* etc.

[0484D]VERS. 14.-- *Non aectinaveris. [n: (AUG., quaest., 48.)]* LXX: *Non praeteribis ab omnibus verbis,* etc., *usque ad* nec propter ista colendi sunt.

VERS. 15.-- *Quod si audire nolueris.* Sicut custodientibus mandata promisit benedictionem, sic negligentibus pronuntiat maledictionem.

VERS. 22.-- *Percutiat te Dominus. [n: (AUG. in Enchirid., cap. 98.)]* Quis tam impie desipiat, ut dicat Deum malas hominum voluntates, quas voluerit, quando voluerit, ubi voluerit, in bonum non posse convertere? Sed cum facit, per misericordiam facit: Cum non facit, per judicium non facit, *qui cui vult miseretur, et quem vult obdurat.*

*Et aere corrupto.* Vita polluta ex carnali immunditia. [0485A] Carnalis vita polluta ex carnali immunditia. Carnalis vita per aerem exprimitur, quia aeris spiramine humanum corpus vivificatur.

VERS. 23.-- *Sit coelum.* Elementa, quibus fructus nutriuntur, comparat durissimis metallis, quia peccata hominum commutant ordinem rerum, et quae ad solatium condita sunt humano generi, unde: *Pugnavit pro eo orbis terrarum contra insensatos.*

Coelum est aeneum praevaricatoribus legis, cum nullam a sanctis doctoribus merentur clementiam, sed durissimam disciplinam, quoniam ipsi non cor carneum et mollem animum, sed lapideum habent et ferreum. Sicut duro populo lex in lapide dabatur, ut ex munere acceptor figuraretur.

VERS. 24.-- *Det Dominus imbrem terrae tuae pulverem:* [0485B] quasi, sicut pulvis et cinis non faciunt fructum, sic doctrina tibi infusa non excitet germina virtutum, sed aeternum praenuntiet interitum. Pulvis enim bonorum operum sterilitatem, cinis designat combustionem; quia paleae peccatorum comburentur igni inexstinguibili.

VERS. 25.-- *Et dispergaris.* Sicut Judaei captivati per latitudinem orbis dispersi sunt quia contra Deum collecti sunt, sic generatio malorum a spiritibus immundis dispersa per poenarum genera perturbatur, unde: *Inimici tui peribunt et dispergentur omnes qui operantur iniquitatem [n: (Psal. XCI)]*.

VERS. 27.-- *Percutiat te Dominus ulcere Aegypti.* Ulcera dolorosa et purulenta malitia. Vesicae, inflata superbia. Scabies et prurigo, ira fervida et furoris [0485C] insania. Haec in praesenti congrua poena peccatis infligitur: post hanc vitam (quod signatur in posterioribus) fetorem scelerum in aeternis cruciatibus sustinebunt.

*Percutiat te Dominus.* Haeretici et schismatici clarescente Evangelio in toto orbe erroris caecitate involuti, amentiam suam exercentes catholicae fidei contradicunt. Ideo Ecclesiae calumniam sustinent et a veritate opprimuntur.

Amentes et caeci fuerunt, cum Christi miracula videntes, in Beelzebub ea fieri dicebant, et Christum Deum esse negabant [n: (Matth. VII)], nec veritatem videbant, id est intelligebant.

VERS. 29.-- *Et palpes.* Tenebrae factae sunt cum crucifigeretur Jesus usque in horam nonam, sicut [0485D] tenebrae erant in cordibus Judaeorum.

*Non dirigas:* nec Christo praedicante crediderunt, nec per poenitentiam dirigi voluerunt.

VERS. 30.-- *Uxorem accipias, et alius,* etc. In uxore plebs haereticis sociata accipitur, cum qua diabolus fornicatur, dum in errorem seducitur. Animalia haereticis rapiuntur, cum subjecti ab eis liberantur: cum ipsi vita et doctrina privantur. Substantiam quoque, quam Judaei sibi docendo et scribendo singulariter praeparaverunt, Ecclesia sibi convertit in usum.

VERS. 33.-- *Fructus terrae tuae.* Tota caeremoniarum utilitas ad Ecclesiam translata est. Haec abundantia fruitur, Judaei egestate pereunt, unde per [0486A] Isaiam dicitur: *Servi mei comedent, et vos esurietis [n: (Isai. LXV)]*.

VERS. 35.-- *In genibus et in suris.* Fortitudinem, scilicet et statibilitatem auferat. Vel in genibus percutiatur, cujus novissima opera damnantur.

*A planta pedis.* Sicut ab initio pravae voluntatis usque ad perfectionem operis malitiam exercuisti, unde *a planta pedis usque ad verticem non est in eo sanitas [n: (Isai. I)]*. Hoc in ultima captivitate completum est.

VERS. 36.-- *Ducetque te.* Haeretici vel mali catholici, qui contemnunt praecepta Dei, a daemonibus et vitiis variis captivantur. Sicut servus, ita et dominus, et rex sicut populus, magister sicut discipulus.

[0486B] *Et regem.* Osee regem Samariae Salmanasar rex Assyriorum cum decem tribubus duxit in captivitatem: Nabuchodonosor, Joachin, et Sedeciam regem Juda cum populo captivavit.

VERS. 38.-- *Sementem,* etc. Nobis quoque cavendum est, ne perdamus panem qui confirmat cor hominis, et vinum quod laetificat, et oleum quod exhilarat faciem.

VERS. 43.-- *Advena.* Aperte significatur abjectio Judaeorum et electio gentium, unde: *Auferetur a vobis regnum Dei, et dabitur genti facienti fructus ejus,* et alibi: *Sic erunt novissimi primi, et primi novissimi.*

*[n: (RAB. in Deut., tom. II.)] Advena qui tecum versatur,* etc. Creator omnium per incarnationis suae mysterium, etc., *usque ad* et sanguinem testamenti [0486C] pollutum duxerit.

VERS. 66.-- *Et erit vita.* Nihil pejus inter maledicta, quae Judaeis merito superbiae acciderunt, quam videre vitam suam, id est Filium Dei pendentem, et non credere ei. Maledicta autem cum ex prophetia dicuntur: non de malo voto sunt, sed praedicuntur. Potuit autem sic sonare Judaeis: Videbis vitam tuam pendentem, et non credes vitae tuae, id est inter minas et dolos hostium vitam tuam videbis pendere ex incerto.

## CAPUT XXIX.

VERS. 1.-- *Haec sunt verba,* etc. [n: (AUG., quaest. 49 in Deut.)] LXX: *Haec sunt verba testamenti,* etc., *usque ad* ad Abraham de circumcisione vel ad Noe.

[0486D]VERS. 3.-- *Tentationes magnas,* etc. *[n: (AUG., quaest. 50.)] Et non dedit Dominus Deus vobis cor scire,* etc., *usque ad* quoniam judicia Dei quamvis occulta, tamen justa sunt.

VERS. 6.-- *Panem non comedistis,* etc. [n: (AUG.)] Hinc apparet Israelitas, etc., *usque ad* principium belli, sed principium vini.

VERS. 18.-- *Ne forte sit. [n: (AUG., quaest. 52.)]* LXX: *Nunquid aliquis est inter vos,* etc., *usque ad* non conjugem sibi concupiverat alienam.

VERS. 19, 20.-- *Ebria sitientem, et Dominus,* etc. Id est, ne quis plenus malitia et idololatria seducat eum qui sitit discere et scire veritatem, sicuti faciunt haeretici.

## CAPUT XXX.

[0487A]

VERS. 11.-- *Mandatum hoc, quod ego,* etc. [n: (AUG., quaest. 54.)] LXX: *Quia mandatum hoc,* etc., *usque ad* sine qua si foris manibus fiant, et in corde non fiant, praecepta Dei non implentur.

VERS. 14.-- *Juxta te est sermo,* etc. Id est mandata Dei moderata et contemperata sunt humanis viribus. Potest hoc de incarnatione Christi accipi, qui assumpta humanitate super terram visus est, et inter homines conversatus.

## CAPUT XXXI.

VERS. 7.-- *Vocavitque.* Verba Moysi ad Josue significant quod Christus terram viventium singulis secundum propria distribuit merita, et omnia promissa [0487B] Dei impleat. Ipse enim introducit populum in terram promissam. Eo namque duce coelestem ingredimur patriam, qui ait: *Nemo venit ad Patrem nisi per me [n: (Joan. XIV)]*. Et: *Nemo ascendit in coelum nisi qui descendit de coelo, Filius hominis, qui est in coelo [n: (Joan. III)]*; qui enim unitur et per ipsum ascendit.

VERS. 10.-- *Post septem annos.* In quibus praesens vita signatur, quae septenario numero volvitur; vel tempus veteris legis propter sabbatum. Post septem ergo annos in anno remissionis lex in conventu legi praecipitur: quia completa legis observantia, lex spiritualis succedit. Unde: *Ubi venit plenitudo temporis, misit Deus Filium suum natum ex muliere,* etc. [n: (Ephes. IV)].

[0487C]VERS. 24.-- *Postquam ergo scripsit Moyses.* Deuteronomium commendatur Levitis, quia Evangelium Christi per verorum sacerdotum ministerium in memoria reconditur Ecclesiae, quae est arca Domini, ubi coelestes thesauri reconduntur. Ibi duae tabulae testamenti, libri scilicet legis et Evangelii. Ibi urna quae continet manna, id est caro Christi, in qua cibus vitae aeternae; ibi virga Aaron, quae fronduerat, quia ibi sacerdotium Christi, quod manet in aeternum, vel, in perpetuum, ut sit ibi contra te in testimonium. Verba legis custodientibus sunt ad salutem, contemptoribus in testimonium contumaciae et inobedientiae: unde: *Est qui accusat vos, Moyses, in quo speratis. Si enim crederetis Moysi, crederetis et mihi forsitan: de me enim ille scripsit [n: (Joan. V)]*; et [0487D] alibi: *Sermo quem ego locutus sum, ipse judicabit [n: (Joan XII)]*.

VERS. 30.-- *Locutus est ergo Moyses.* Verba Moysi non simpliciter sunt accipienda, quia secundum historiam Israelitis largitori Deo ingratis exprobrat perfidiam, et allegorice sanctam instruit Ecclesiam, et ad morum honestatem provocat per tropologiam. Servanda est ergo in historia veritas, in allegoria mysteria, in tropologia disciplinae utilitas, ut sic ad coelestem theoriam provehamur. Notandum quoque quod dicitur: *Locutus est Moyses verba carminis hujus,* etc., ut qui Deum ore laudat, opere non contradicat. *Non est speciosa laus in ore peccatoris [n: (Eccli. XIII)]*.

## CAPUT XXXII.

[0488A]

*Audite, coeli.* In principio maxima elementa in testimonium vocat, ut si mandata neglexerint, eorum testimonio convictos puniat.

Hebraice *samaiim* id est coeli, quod est plurale et masculini generis, sed voluit singulariter intelligi, sicut singulas civitates Thebas et Athenas dicimus.

*Audite, coeli.* [n: (RAB.)] Audiant coeli allegoriam, terra historiam.

## CAPUT XXXII.

VERS. 1.-- *Audite, coeli,* etc. Quidam coelum et terram quasi animata ad audiendum provocari putant, secundum illud: *Qui respicit terram et facit eam tremere [n: (Psal. CIII)]*, cum hoc Dei potestatis sit, [0488B] non eorum intelligentiae.

VERS. 2.-- *Concrescat.* Doctrinam legis pluviae et rori comparat, quia a fidelium cordibus germina spiritalis fructus exigit. Haec enim sunt ager et vinea Dei. Tale est illud Isaiae: *Quomodo descendit imber, et nix de coelo, et illuc ultra non revertitur, sed inebriat terram, irrigat faciem ejus, et germinare eam facit [n: (Isa. LV)]*.

VERS. 3.-- *Nomen.* Demonstrat quae sit pluvia. Nomen enim Domini invocare, est Evangelium praedicare: quod qui audit et facit, fructum vitae possidebit.

*Dei.* Unde: *Perfecti sunt coeli, et terra, et omnis ornatus eorum: complevitque Deus die septimo opus suum [n: (Gen. II)]*, quod est redemptio humani generis, [0488C] quam ostendit nobis quando, perficiens spirituale sabbatum, in sepulcro requievit.

VERS. 5.-- *Peccaverunt ei,* etc. [n: (AUG., quaest. 55.)] LXX: *Peccaverunt non ei filii vituperabiles.* Qui enim peccat, etc., *usque ad* secundum id quod non ei nocuerunt peccato suo, sed sibi.

*Et non.* Quia non ex fide. *Dedit* enim *eis potestatem filios Dei fieri, his qui credunt in nomine ejus.* In fidelibus autem dicitur: *Vos ex patre diabolo estis.*

*Generatio prava.* De qua in Evangelio: *Generatio prava atque perversa signum quaerit [n: (Matth. XII)]*. Et alibi: *Genimina viperarum, quis ostendit vobis fugere a ventura ira [n: (Luc. III)]*?

VERS. 6.-- *Nunquid non,* etc. Qui omnium creator et conditor unus Deus a quo ipso, et per ipsum, et [0488D] in ipso sunt omnia. Praeposterus ordo. Primo enim creavit Deus disponendo ut esset, secundo fecit formando, tertio dominando possedit.

*Creavit.* Creavit, dum materiam unde formari possit, condidit. Stultus ergo et insipiens, quia Creatorem et factorem suum digna veneratione non colit: immemor ejus beneficii, quo eum Deus de manu inimicorum eruit et possedit, per mare Rubrum duxit, manna de coelo dedit, ipse ingratus idola coluit dicens: *Hi sunt dii tui, Israel, qui eduxerunt te de terra Aegypti [n: (Exod. XXXII)]*.

VERS. 7.-- *Patrem.* Doctorem legis et praedicatorem Evangelii, cujus doctrina et exemplo scilicet instruaris.

[0489A]VERS. 8.-- *Quando dividebat,* etc. Quasi, cum multitudo hominum innumerabilis sit, filios tantum Israel haereditatem suam Dominus elegit, quibus potentiam suam et secreta sua per legis et prophetarum manifestabat indicia.

*Constituit. [n: (GREG., hom. 4 in Evang.)]* Alia editio, etc., *usque ad* et in eorum sortem per conversationis similitudinem ascendunt.

VERS. 9.-- *Pars autem Domini populus ejus.* Cum Deus universas gentes creavit, solos Israelitas elegit, quos sua cognitione signis et miraculis glorificavit.

VERS. 10.-- *Invenit.* Quia in Sina pactum cum eo iniit, manna dedit, et aquam de petra produxit, coturnices ministravit; et in eremo quadraginta annis [0489B] eos circumducendo praecepta sua docuit.

*Circumduxit.* Ecclesiam per orbem terrarum dilatando, in viam mandatorum suorum dirigendo.

*Custodivit.* Multi in deserto prostrati sunt, sed postquam mandata Dei transgressi sunt.

VERS. 11.-- *Sicut aquila.* Aquila, secundum physicos, ab acumine oculorum vocata, tam acute videt, ut cum super maria immobili penna fertur, nec humanis visibus patet, pisciculos in mari natare videat, et tormenti instar descendens raptam pennis praedam ad littus pertrahat. Pullos quoque plumescentes alis verberat et ad volandum provocat. Sic Christus nos dictis et exemplis exhortans, ad alta provehit, ut sequamur quo praecessit; unde: *Ubi fuerit corpus, ibi congregabuntur et aquilae (Matth. [0489C] XXIV)*. Super coelos quoque exaltatus, et humanis subtractus aspectibus, in mari hujus mundi natantes oculis misericordiae videt, et pennis amoris pertrahit ad littus aeternae securitatis. Unde: *Ego si exaltatus fuero a terra, omnia traham ad meipsum [n: (Joan. XII)]*.

*Sicut aquila,* etc. Aquila, ut aiunt, cum plumescere pullos suos videt, ad solem convertit, et illum nutrit qui irreverberata acie aspicit radios solis, et si lumina deflectit, quasi degenerem negligit; pullosque ad volandum provocat, et lassos alis sustentat: sic Deus ad verum Solem nos invitat, infirmitatibus nostris compatitur, et alis gratiae sustentat.

*Provocans.* --Ad terram Chanaan possidendam Dominus populum suum provocavit, adjuvit, et ab [0489D] inimicis protexit.

VERS. 12.-- *Dominus.* Pater et Filius et Spiritus sanctus unus est Deus. Non dicit solus Pater, ne excludat Filium vel Spiritum sanctum, sed Dominus solus, id est Deus.

*Dominus.* Haereticorum tot domini sunt, quot errores colunt.

VERS. 13.-- *Excelsam.* Palaestinam, quae montuosa; Aegyptus plana et depressa.

Ecclesiam, quae virtute et scientia sublimis. In qua comeditur fructus agrorum, quia ibi germinat semen bonum, id est Dei verbum. Ibi fructus tricesimus, sexagesimus et centesimus, ut quisque pro capacitate sua sufficienter comedat.

[0490A] *Et sugeret. [n: (GREG., hom. 26 in Evang.)] Ut sugeret mel de petra, et oleum de firma petra.* Hoc juxta historiam factum nusquam legitur, etc., *usque ad* donatio diaboli per unctionem Spiritus sancti.

Mel quidem, ad litteram, omnium rerum copiam significat.

VERS. 14.-- *Filiorum.* Basan regio est quae pecoribus abundat propter pascua: unde Rubenitis et Gaditis et dimidiae tribui Manasse tradita est, quia pecora multa habebant.

*Et hircos.* Qui poenitentes significant, quia pro peccato offerebantur. Non satis est fidelibus dona virtutum percipere, nisi studeant pro commissis poenitere. Unde: *Amplius lava me ab iniquitate mea [n: (Psal. L)]*.

[0490B]Hircos vocat qui exemplo suo aliis ministrant poenitentiae opera, quamvis non commiserint gravia: deflent enim cogitationum peccata tanquam facta.

*Cum medulla tritici.* Corporis Christi; unde: *Nisi granum frumenti cadens in terram,* etc. [n: (Joan. XII)].

VERS. 15.-- *Incrassatus est dilectus,* etc. Sicut Judaei incrassati beneficiis, idololatrae facti sunt: sic quidam Christiani acceptum mysterium corporis et sanguinis Domini in perditionem sibi convertunt.

VERS. 16.-- *Provocaverunt.* Alii fiunt haeretici, alii idololatrae, qui de corde idola et abominationes sibi fingunt.

VERS. 17.-- *Novi recentesque.* Recedentes a cultura Dei, invenerunt sibi deos quos patres eorum [0490C] coluerunt.

VERS. 20.-- *Et ait: Abscondam,* etc. Nihil gravius est quam visione Dei privari; unde: *Ne projicias me a facie tua [n: (Psal. L)]*. Item: *Ne avertas faciem tuam,* etc. [n: (Psal. LXXXVIII.)]

*Ipsi me provocaverunt,* etc. Quasi: sicut irritaverunt me multitudinem falsorum deorum colendo, et me reprobando, sic irritabo eos in multitudinem gentium assumendo illos et reprobando.

*Et ego provocabo,* etc. Tradendo eos gentibus, qui aliquando non populus, nunc autem populus Dei. Similiter Christiani, qui deserta veritate ad errores declinant, malignis spiritibus traduntur, qui dignitatem angelicam perdiderunt. Qui bene gens stulta dicuntur, justitiam odientes, iniquitatem amantes.

[0490D]VERS. 22.-- *Ignis succensus est,* etc. [n: (GREG. lib. XVIII Moral., cap. 12.)] De his quos damnant flagella, et non liberant, scriptum est: *Percussisti eos nec doluerunt,* etc. His flagella in hac vita inchoant, et in aeternum permanebunt; unde Moyses: *Ignis exarsit ab ira sua, et ardebit usque ad inferos et deorsum.* De praesenti enim percussione dicitur: *Ignis exarsit ab ira mea [n: (Jer. XV)]*; de aeterna sequitur: *Et ardebit usque ad inferos et deorsum [n: (Psal. LXXXVIII)]*. Non tamen judicat Deus bis in idipsum: unum est enim flagellum quod temporaliter incipit, et in aeternis suppliciis consummatur.

*Devorabitque terram.* Alii: *comedent terram et nascentia ejus,* id est carnem, propter opera libidinis, [0491A] terna flamma comburet; nascentia enim carnis, opera concupiscentiae carnalis, quae sunt fornicatio, immunditia et hujusmodi.

VERS. 24.-- *Aves morsu,* Quae juxta viam commedere sementem.

*Dentes bestiarum,* etc. Trahunt bestiae et serpentes dentibus furiosis reprobos super terram, quando quod prius blandiendo carnalibus persuaserunt ut seducerent, furiose a peccatoribus expetunt ut crucient.

VERS. 25.-- *Foris.* Corpus ignis aeterni torquebit exustio, et mentem angustiae magnitudo; unde: *Vermis eorum non morietur, et ignis eorum non exstinguetur [n: (Isa. LVI)]*.

*Juvenem.* Nulli scilicet aetati parcetur, quia omnes [0491B] idololatria maculavit.

VERS. 26.-- *Cessare faciam ex hominibus.* A terra sua ejecti et per totum orbem dispersi sunt. Generaliter vero peccatores tollentur de terra sanctorum, et memoria eorum; unde: *Propterea Deus tuus destruet te in finem, evellet, et educet te de terra viventium,* etc. [n: (Psal. LI.)]

VERS. 27.-- *Distuli.* Ne blasphemarent nomen meum nec tamen abstuli vindictam.

VERS. 30.-- *Quomodo.* Tantum ostendit timorem Judaicae gentis, postquam Domino peccaverunt, ut unus hostium mille de eis, et duo fugarent decem millia, hoc est pauci plurimos.

VERS. 31.-- *Judices.* Approbatores; etiam qui idola colunt, unum Deum esse intelligunt, qui fecit [0491C] coelum et terram.

VERS. 32.-- *De vinea,* etc. Haereticorum nequitiam significat, qui a sanctis doctoribus spiritalem doctrinam puram acceperunt, sed a veneno suo corruperunt, et in fellis et absinthii amaritudinem perverterunt. Saepe Jerusalem Sodomae et Gomorrhae comparatur; unde: *Audite verbum Domini, principes Sodomorum Gomorrhae [n: (Isa. I)]*.

*Botri amarissimi.* Fructus scilicet opera amarissima sunt, vinum enim cum felle mistum obtulerunt

VERS. 33.-- *Fel draconum.* Quasi intra se retinent venenum malitiae, ne salutis et correctionis medicinam suscipiant. Haeretici sicut serpentes amaritudinem et venenum occultant, ut incautos laedant.

[0491D]VERS. 35.-- *Mea est ultio,* etc, Paulus de hoc loco sumpsit: *Mihi vindictam, et ego retribuam [n: (Rom. XII)]* secundum merita.

*In tempore.* Quasi, *cum accepero tempus, ego justitias judicabo [n: (Psal. LXXIV)]*. Hinc Moysi pro populo oranti dixit: *In die ultionis visitabo et hoc peccatum eorum [n: (Exod. XXXII)]*

*Juxta est dies perditionis.* Unicuique. Quidquid enim finitur, brevissimum est, si aeternitati comparatur. Secundum historiam Judaeorum vindicta festinat, quia locum et gentem et omnem prosperitatem in brevi perdiderunt, quia prophetas et Salvatorem occiderunt.

[0492A]VERS. 36.-- *Judicabit.* Discernendo a malis, secundum illud: *Judica me, Deus, et discerne causam meam [n: (Psal. XLII)]*.

*Videbit quod infirmata sit manus. Quodcunque potest manus tua, instanter operare, quia nec opus, nec ratio, nec sapientia est apud inferos [n: (Eccle. IX)]*.

VERS. 37.-- *Ubi sunt dii.* Quasi, nihil prosunt idola in quibus confidebant, vel opes vel honores vel saeculi voluptates, nihil enim secum ferunt de universo labore.

VERS. 39.-- *Videte quod ego sim solus,* etc. Generalis admonitio, quasi relicta idololatria vel haeresi et omnibus spretis immunditiis, ad verum Deum convertimini.

*Ego occidam. [n: (GREG., lib. VII Moral., cap. 18.)]* [0492B] Occidit ut vivificet, percutit ut sanet, etc., *usque ad* et sensibiles per ardorem charitatis facit.

## CAPUT XXXII. (cont.)

VERS. 40.-- *Levabo.* Alia editio: *Tollam in coelum manum meam, et jurabo per dexteram meam, et dicam: Vivo ego in aeternum.* In coelum manum Dei levare, vel attollere, est potentiam aeternitatis suae super omnia excellentem ostendere. Jurare per dexteram, id est per Filium, qui est dextera Patris, est promissa ipsius in conspectu hominum confirmare et aeternitatem suam credentibus sibi per Evangelium revelare, quia *potestas ejus, potestas aeterna [n: (Dan. VII)]*.

VERS. 42.-- *Sagittas.* Daemones, de quibus ait Job: *Sagittae Domini in me sunt (Job, VI)*, quasi tantam exercebo vindictam, quae daemonibus quoque [0492C] posset sufficere.

*Et de captivitate.* Captivorum capita radebantur, qui distrahebantur, et sub corona vendi dicebantur. *De captivitate.* Caput inimicorum nudatur, quando consilium iniquae mentis vanum esse probatur, quo se impune peccare arbitrabatur. Capita quoque inimicorum sunt magistri, in quos ultio novissima redundabit; unde: *Exivit sanguis de lacu usque ad frenos equorum [n: (Apoc. XIV)]*, id est ultio tormentorum usque ad rectores populorum.

VERS. 43.-- *Quia sanguinem.* In judicio populus Dei laudabitur, cum apparebit gloriosus, et inimici justa retributione punientur.

VERS. 49.-- *Ascende in montem.* Abarim interpretatur *transitus;* Nebo *in conclusione.* [0492D] Dicitur Nebo mons esse in terra Moab contra Jericho, supra Jordanem, in supercilio Phasga, juxta montem Phogor, a quo circa eum regio usque nunc Phasga appellatur. Moses ergo in Abarim et in monte Nebo contra Jericho ultra Jordanem moritur: quia lex et circumcisio usque ad Christum et baptismi sacramentum processit, ibique conclusa est, quia finis legis Christus. Vidit Moses terram promissionis, sed non ingressus est, quia in spiritu praevidit, et in lege praedixit Christi gratiam futuram, sed praesentem non vidit eum. Unde: *Multi justi et prophetae voluerunt videre quae vos videtis, et non viderunt [n: (Matth. XIII)]*.

## CAPUT XXXIII.

[0493A]

VERS. 1.-- *Haec est benedictio.* Bene in fine Deuteronomii benedictionem posuit, quia Christus post completionem Evangelii ascensurus in coelum, elevatis manibus discipulos suos benedixit. Benedictio qua filiis Israel in Deuteronomio (quod est secunda lex) benedixit, ad gratiam pertinet Novi Testamenti, in quo priscae legis mysteria reserantur, et veri Israelitae benedictionem, per Moysen hominem Dei praedictam, per hominem Christum consequuntur. Bene autem imminente morte Moysi benedictio datur, quia, legis umbra moriente, coelestium donorum veritas aperitur. Praevidens ergo Moyses Salvatoris adventum et gratiam Novi Testamenti quasi praeteritam explicans, voce primitivae Ecclesiae laetabundus [0493B] exsultat, dicens: *Dominus de Sina venit,* etc.

[n: (AUG., quaest. 36.)] Alia littera, etc., *usque ad* unde: *Laetamini, gentes, cum populo ejus. Quia caecitas contigit ex parte in Israel, donec plenitudo,* etc. [n: (Rom. XI.)]

*Moyses homo.* Moyses significat legem, quae ante mortem, id est, antequam in ipso finiretur, praedixit Ecclesiam in Christo benedicendam.

VERS. 2.-- *Dominus de Sinai venit.* Sinai ( ) interpretatur *amphora mea* vel *mensura mea* vel *mandatum.* Seir ( ) *pilosus* vel *hispidus.* Pharan ( ) *ferocitas eorum* vel *frugifer.* Sina igitur figurat Vetus Testamentum, quia certam mensuram mandatorum juxta decalogi decretum tenens, prohibere novit, non juvare: nec spiritu dilectionis liberat, [0493C] sed timore poenae subditos ligat. Unde: *Unum quidem in monte Sina in servitutem generans,* etc. [n: (Gal. IV.)] Dominus ergo venit de Sina, id est ex lege et prophetis credentibus innotuit. Inde enim venit, cum ibi legenti et intelligenti innotescit. Unde: *Ipse incipiens a Moyse et omnibus prophetis [n: (Luc. XXIV)]*, discipulis exponebat, ad quorum corda venire cupiebat. De Seir ortus secundum carnem, scilicet de Judaeis malitiae et perfidiae spineto asperrimis, novae lucis ortu tanquam verus sol justitiae fideles illuminavit. Unde: *Nobis orietur sol justitiae [n: (Mal. IV)]*. Et alibi: *Orietur stella ex Jacob, et consurget homo de Israel [n: (Num. XXIV)]*.

*Dominus,* etc. Sina interpretatur *tentatio.* Dominus [0493D] ergo de Sina venit, quia carnem nostram, in qua tentaretur, accepit.

*Et de Seir,* etc. Qui et Edom vel Esau. Hic est populus Judaeorum, qui gulae desiderio quasi pro lentis edulio primatus gloriam perdidit, et benedictionis gratiam fide junioris populi supplantatus amisit.

*De Seir ortus est nobis,* etc. Hunc montem longo tempore circumierunt, et in eo aliqua praecepta acceperunt. Seir, id est *hispidus* vel *pilosus,* gentilitatem significat, quae peccatis erat horrenda; de qua ortus est Dominus qui in fine de Ecclesia gentium Judaeis praedicabit, quia reliquiae salvae fient.

*Apparuit de monte Pharan,* etc. Qui *frugifer* interpretatur, [0494A] quia de Ecclesia gentium virtutibus frugifera fides Christi praedicabatur Judaeis. Christus ergo de Pharan apparuit; quia quanto contra eum ferocitas infidelium exarsit, tanto altius divinitatis ejus notitia crevit. Quanto enim inter passionis contumelias latuit, tanto per virtutem resurrectionis effulsit; et qui prius incredulitatis ferocitate persecuti sunt, postmodum ei charitatis ardore adhaeserunt; de quibus additur: *Et cum eo sanctorum millia.*

*In dextera ejus ignea lex.* Tabulae scilicet, in quibus lex, quae purgat et urit peccata. Dextera quoque Patris est Filius, qui attulit legem charitatis dicens: *Ignem veni mittere in terram,* etc. [n: (Luc. XII.)]

*In dextera ejus ignea lex.* Dextera, Evangelium, [0494B] per quod beatitudo aeterna promittitur; quae dextera dicitur, non temporalis, sicut in lege, quae dicitur laeva. Unde: *Dextera illius amplexabitur me.* In hac dextera lex ignea, id est, charitas a Spiritu sancto in electorum cordibus inflammata. Unde dicit: *Plenitudo legis dilectio [n: (Rom. XIII)]*. Et alibi: *Mandatum novum do vobis, ut diligatis invicem [n: (Joan. XIII)]*. Haec igneis linguis Spiritus sancti apostolis infusa, omnem legis plenitudinem tanquam digito Dei descripsit, et spiritu ferventes et operatione lucentes fecit. Sed quia non uni populo, ut lex Moysi, sed omnibus data est, adjungit: *Dilexit populos.*

VERS.--3.-- *Dilexit.* Unde: *Majorem hac dilectionem nemo habet, ut animam suam ponat,* etc. [n: (Joan. XV)].

[0494C] *Omnes.* Sine personae acceptione; unde: *Qui timet Deum et operatur justitiam, acceptus est illi [n: (Act. X)]*.

*Omnes sancti.* Sanctificati scilicet in nomine ejus qui audierunt: *Sancti estote, quoniam ego sanctus sum,* etc. [n: (Lev. XIX)].

*In manu.* Id est potentia, qua proteguntur. Unde: *Non rapiet quisquam de manu mea,* etc. [n: (Joan. X)]. Hi per charitatem sunt unum regnum in manu Domini; unde Isaias: *Et eris corona gloriae in manu Domini, et diadema regni in manu Dei tui [n: (Isa. LXII)]*.

*Et qui appropinquant,* etc. Quasi: Non contristentur qui Christum in carne docentem non audierunt, quasi ab hominibus decipiantur. Per os sanctorum loquitur Christus, per pedes doctrina capitis [0494D] auditur; unde: *Qui vos audit, me audit,* etc. [n: (Luc. X.)] Vel illi appropinquant pedibus ejus ad capiendam doctrinam, qui spirituali desiderio flagrantes, evangelicis et apostolicis Scripturis die noctuque invigilant. Sed quia haec de Novo Testamento dicta sunt, sequitur quorum voce Moyses loquitur de veteri lege dicens: *Legem praecepit nobis,* etc.

VERS. 4.-- *Haereditatem.* Quia haec est utilitas legis, haereditas Abrahae promissa: *Si volueritis et audieritis, me bona terrae comedetis.*

*Erit apud rectissimum,* etc. Jacob, ab angelo benedictus, Israel vocatus est, id est *rectus Dei;* et Judaeus ad fidem conversus ab eo post resurrectionem benedictus, cui in passione praevaluit, ob justitiae [0495A] professionem rectissimus appellatur. Unde: *Audi, Jacob, serve meus, et rectissime, quem elegi,* etc. [n: (Isa. XLIV.)]

VERS. 5.-- *Rex.* Christus. Ego autem constitutus sum rex ab eo, ut scilicet faciat regnum et potestatem, qui est rex et potestas prima.

*Cum tribubus Israel.* De quibus primitiva Ecclesia. Bene prius principes, deinde tribus congregandae dicuntur, quia primi apostoli, et per eos crediderunt alii.

VERS. 6.-- *Vivat Ruben.* Praedicta salute primitivae Ecclesiae, singulis tribubus proprias benedictiones tribuit; veros Israelitas de utroque populo praenuntians, nunc de Christo, nunc de apostolis, nunc de primitiva, nunc de tota Ecclesia vaticinatur.

[0495B] *Vivat Ruben.* Quasi: Licet Ruben cubile patris violaverit, et primogeniti dignitatem amiserit, vivat tamen, et agens poenitentiam non moriatur. Filii Ruben, id est, Judaei per Ruben significati, lectum Patris violaverunt, id est Christum Filium ejus sputis immundis polluerunt: tamen ad poenitentiam reservantur, sed pauci numero ad comparationem Ecclesiae gentium.

*Ruben.* Visionis filius, quia mater ait [n: (Gen. XXIX)]: Vidit Deus humilitatem meam. Hic est primogenitus, significans electos ex Judaeis, qui Christum negando et crucifigendo mortui, praedicatione apostolorum conversi, ex fide Christi sunt vivificati: hi visionis filii, quia respectu divinae misericordiae salvi.

VERS. 7.-- *Haec est Judae.* Judas, qui interpretatur [0495C] *confessio,* universalem significat Ecclesiam, in qua laudis divinae confessio et gratiarum actio. De quo mater ait: *Modo confitebor Domino [n: (Gen. XXIX)]*. Haec est vera sponsa Christi quae virtutum monilibus adornata, non superbit, sed gratias agit, pro hac orat ut audiatur.

*Audi, Domine, vocem Judae.* Regum scilicet qui de Juda, qui Christum desiderabant; et ipsius Christi, qui ait: *Confitebor tibi, Pater, rex coeli et terrae,* etc. [n: (Luc. X.)]

*Manus.* Oravit Dominum pro Juda, cui nunc Domini promittit auxilia, quasi non praesumat de viribus suis Judas, sed in illo confidat qui ait: *Confidite, ego vici mundum [n: (Joan. XVI)]*; cujus manus in cruce contra spiritales nequitias pugnaverunt, ut [0495D] per mortem destrueret eum qui habebat mortis imperium.

*Adjutor.* Ut vincat et dicat: *Super excelsa mea deducet me victor [n: (Habac. III)]*: ipse enim in nobis vincit, et pro victoria sua coronat nos in misericordia et miserationibus.

VERS. 8.-- *Perfectio.* Quasi, quam sis perfectus, et quam sancta doctrina tua per Moysen declarasti. Vel a sancto viro tuo, id est Levitis, est perfectio tua et doctrina tua. Illi enim debent legem custodire, facere et docere.

*Perfectio tua.* Choro angelorum et martyrum et omnium perfectorum ista dicuntur, qui perfectionem charitatis moriendo pro Domino impleverunt; [0496A] et mundo renuntiantes, culmen ecclesiasticae doctrinae assecuti sunt, tanquam veri Levitae in terra partem non habentes, sed cum Propheta dicentes: *Dominus pars haereditatis meae,* etc. [n: (Psal. XV)]; secundum illud: *Si quis vult venire post me, abneget se,* etc. *[n: (Luc. IX.)] Qui perdiderit animam suam propter me,* etc. [n: (Matth. X.)] Christus autem verus Levi, qui haec omnia fecit et docuit. Ipsi Levitae adhaerent imitantes illum usque ad sanguinem, de cujus passione subditur: *Quem probasti in tentatione,* etc.

*Ad aquas.* Locus est ubi Moysi et Aaron ingressum terrae promissionis contradixit.

*Ad aquas.* Legem significat, quae male viventibus introitum regni coelestis contradixit. Aquae, populi, qui contradicentes clamaverunt: *Crucifige eum. [0496B] Sanguis ejus super nos, et super filios nostros [n: (Matth. XXVII)]*. Ad cumulum perfectionis Levi adjungit:

VERS. 9.-- *Qui dixit patri suo.* Quando fecerunt vitulum aureum, jubente Moyse, Levitae, accincti gladiis, a porta usque ad portam idololatras interfecerunt. In ultione idololatriae quasi suos non cognoscebant, quia sine differentia occidebant. Unde: *Nisi quis reliquerit patrem et matrem et uxorem et filios propter me, non est meus discipulus [n: (Luc. XVIII)]*.

*Qui dixit patri suo et matri,* etc. Debemus et temporaliter his cum quibus vicinius conjungimur, plus prodesse. Debemus copulam terrenae cognationis agnoscere; sed si cursum mentis praepedit, ignorare, ut affectus mentis viscera repleat, sed a spiritali proposito non avertat. Haec bene vaccae innuunt, [0496C] quae sub arca Domini ad montana tendentes, affectu et rigido sensu gradiuntur: pro vitulis pergentes mugiebant sed accepto, itinere gressus non deflectebant.

VERS. 10.-- *Ponent thymiama.* Sicut Aaron stans inter mortuos et viventes pro populo deprecatus est. *Ponent thymiama.* Sanctorum oratio suavissimum incensum est Domino: quo (peccante populo) Domini furor mitigatur, quia ab omni terrena sorde defaecata, coelesti desiderio ignita, quasi thymiama in conspectu Dei flagrat, et quasi holocaustum ab ara pii cordis flamma devotionis in coelum subvolat. Hoc praecipue apostolis et martyribus congruit, de quibus dicitur: *Tanquam aurum in fornace probavit illos, et quasi holocausti hostiam accepit [n: (Sap. III)]*.

[0496D]VERS. 11.-- *Suscipe.* Quasi grata, ut remuneres. Dantur nunc singulis albae stolae, scilicet animarum laetitia; et in judicio secundum corpus, recepta immortalitate, *fulgebunt sicut sol et tanquam scintillae in arundineto discurrent,* exurendo scilicet vacuos et infructuosos adversarios; de quorum poena subditur:

## CAPUT XXXIII. (cont.)

*Percute dorsa.* Quasi: videbantur sibi impune martyrum sanguinem fundere, sed quasi post dorsum poena improvisa parabatur, id est aeterna damnatio, in quam ruentes surgere non valebunt. Unde: *Virga in dorso imprudentium [n: (Prov. XXVI)]*.

VERS. 12.-- *Et Benjamin.* Videtur historiae alludere, quia Benjamin patriarcha et propheta Jacob [0497A] spiritu plenus unice amabat, et dispensatione Dei, locus divino cultui mancipatus, ejus tribui custodiendus decernitur; unde addit: *Quasi in thalamo tota die,* etc.

*Amantissimus.* Christus est amantissimus Dei Patris, qui de seipso ait: *Hic est Filius meus dilectus [n: (Matth. XVII)]*. Hic habitat in dextera Patris confidenter, cui dicitur: *Sede a dextris meis [n: (Psal. CIX)]*.

Aliter: Benjamin, de filio doloris *filius dextrae* dictus, exprimit Paulum de persecutore apostolum et vas electionis factum: ipse enim de hac tribu fuit; dignum autem erat ut sicut Domini praecursor prophetali oraculo praedictus est, ita magister gentium universo mundo profuturus, inter magna Ecclesiae mysteria praedicaretur. In cujus mente Christus fiducialiter [0497B] habitavit, cum inter innumera pericula coram gentibus et regibus eum constanter praedicavit. De cujus anima dicitur:

*Quasi thalamo tota die morabitur.* Vel maritali connubio mira oblectatione perfruens, et virtutum prole fecundans, nulliusque vitii inquietudine secretum placidissimi pectoris derelinquens; vel in ea quasi in thalamo residens, tanquam sponsus speciosus, virgineas credentium mentes per praedicationem ejus suis jungit amplexibus. Unde: *Adducentur regi virgines post eam [n: (Psal. XLIII)]*. Ipse quoque ait: *Despondi enim vos uni viro virginem castam exhibere Christo [n: (II Cor. XI)]*.

Divinitas quoque in humanitate Christi habitat confidenter. *In thalamo morabitur,* significat quod [0497C] in utero Virginis coelesti sponso juncta est Ecclesia, quae in fortitudine potentiae Christi et in operibus fiducialiter requiescit.

*Et inter humeros illius requiscet.* Humeris onera portantur, ideo in eis robusta patientia designatur. Tanto autem libentius Christus in illo requievit, quanto pro ipso durissimos labores toleravit: tanto arctius amplexus est, quanto ab illius amplexu nullo terrore avulsus est. Unde ait: *Quis nos separabit a charitate Christi? [n: (Rom. VIII.)]*

VERS. 13.-- *Joseph quoque ait.* Joseph *auctus* interpretatur. Hic est Christus, qui a Judaeis fratribus suis abjectus, in Aegypto hujus saeculi princeps factus est, et genus humanum a famis inopia evangelici [0497D] frumenti dispensatione liberavit: qui est vere Salvator mundi.

*De benedictione Domini terra ejus.* Ad litteram, fertilitatem significat, quam duae tribus ex Joseph, id est Ephraim et Manasses, habuerunt in ubertate frugum, pomorum et pastu pecorum. Haec est Basan, fertilissima regio, unde *pinguedo* interpretatur.

Temperie coeli, et rore fructus, et fontium et fluminum abundantia, homine delectantur, quae in abysso significantur.

*Benedixisti, Domine, terram tuam,* Ecclesiam scilicet, quae non propria virtute, sed virtutum benedictione divinitus impletur. Unde: *Benedictus Deus [0498A] qui benedixit nos in omni benedictione spiritali in coelestibus Christo [n: (Ephes. I)]*.

*Coeli.* Coelum dicuntur propter unitatem fidei et doctrinae apostoli et evangelistae, de quibus alibi pluraliter dicitur: *Coeli enarrant gloriam,* etc. [n: (Psal. XVIII.)] In ipsis enim vita et contemplatione fulgentibus tanquam in coelo habitat Deus, intonans terrorem, pluens consolationem, et coruscans miraculis.

*Rore.* Coelesti praedicatione, quae mirae subtilitatis et gratiae, qua contra aestum tentationis corda rigantur, et ut semper vireant virtutibus; unde: *Det tibi Deus de rore coeli,* etc. [n: (Gen. XXVII.)]

*Abysso,* ut scilicet pinguior fiat, de fonte ascendente irrorata quasi paradisus Dei. Unde: *Fons ascendebat [0498B] de terra irrigans superficiem terrae [n: (Gen. II)]*. A mari abundavit sensus ejus, et cogitatus illius de abysso magna. Frustra enim exterius irrigat sermo doctoris, nisi riget interius gratia conditoris. Unde subdit: *De pomis collium,* etc.

VERS. 14.-- *Solis.* Christi, qui est sol justitiae, qui ait: *Fulgebunt justi sicut sol in regno Patris eorum [n: (Matth. XIII)]*, quia similes ei erimus.

*Ac lunae.* Ecclesiae, quae accipit hos fructus a sole, id est a Christo: semper igitur solem plena devotione respiciat, ne aliquando aversa lumen perdat.

VERS. 15.-- *De pomis collium aeternorum.* Colles aeterni fideles Veteris Testamenti qui humiles filii immobili firmitate in fide prophetarum et patriarcharum fundati [n: (unde: Mons domus Domini elevabitur super colles (Isa. II) )] quorum pomis terra Joseph [0498C] benedicitur, cum Ecclesia Christi doctrina prophetiae, exemplo virtutis, in fide fructificat. Et notandum, quia supra in pomis et rore coeli doctrina evangelica, hic in vertice antiquorum montium et pomis collium aeternorum, legalis et prophetica signatur, et utrisque terra Joseph locupletatur; quia sancta Ecclesia utriusque Testamenti paginis, et novorum et veterum Patrum exemplis informatur; unde: *Omnia poma, dilecte mi,* id est, *nova et vetera servavi tibi [n: (Cant. VII)]* et: *Omnis scriba doctus profert de thesauro suo nova et vetera [n: (Matth. XIII)]*. Manichaei ergo et Judaei (quia illi Vetus, isti Novum Testamentum non recipiunt) in hac terra opulenta haereditare nequeunt.

[0498D]VERS. 16.-- *Et de frugibus.* Ecclesia in toto orbe justitiae fruge fecunda et charismatum largitate, de plenitudine sui Joseph accepit; unde sequitur:

*Benedictio illius qui apparuit.* Totus Joseph, id est, caput et corpus benedictione plenus, sed benedictionis plenitudo praecipue in capite; unde: *Sicut unguentum in capite quod descendit in barbam Aaron,* etc. [n: (Psal. XXXII.)] Hic privilegio gratiae, fratribus, id est, fidelibus praeeminens, septiformi spiritu tanquam verus Samson ex utero virginis Nazaraeus, id est Deo consecratus, quasi septem crinibus intactis effulsit.

*Super caput Joseph,* Christi, qui est caput Ecclesiae, in quo benedicuntur omnes gentes, de cujus [0499A] passione et resurrectione subditur: *Quasi primogeniti tauri,* etc.

*Quasi. [n: (AUG., quaest. 56.)]* Primogenitus tauri pulchritudo ejus. Non est ita legendum ut dicatur primogenitus tauri: sed cum sit primogenitus, pulchritudo ejus pulchritudo tauri est, propter cornua crucis.

Christus vitulus saginatus, quem de armento patrum primogenitum regresso Filio Pater immolavit, qui die tertia suscitatus gloriosus apparuit, qui est primogenitus mortuorum et princeps regum terrae, post resurrectionis gloriam de virtute passionis adjungit cornua.

VERS. 17.-- *Cornua.* Joseph comparat cornibus rhinocerotis, significans Ephraim habiturum principatum inter decem tribus, in quibus regnavit Jeroboam [0499B] de tribu Ephraim in tempore Roboam filii Salomonis.

*Cornua rhinocerotis.* Cornua crucis significat, de quibus ait Habacuc: *Ibi abscondita est fortitudo ejus [n: (Habac. III)]*. Per infirmitatem namque carnis quasi aries illusorum spinis coronatur, his cornibus haesit, sed passionis incomparabili fortitudine unicornis exstitit mortis victor, et ejus qui habebat mortis imperium, unde: *Quod infirmum est Dei, fortius est hominibus [n: (I Cor. I)]*

*Ventilabit.* Praedicatione crucis discernens paleas a frumento: verbum enim crucis pereuntibus stultitia.

*Gentes. Postula a me, et dabo tibi gentes,* etc. [n: (Psal. II.)] De haereditate enim veri Joseph (quae est [0499C] terra inclyta) haec omnia dicuntur, de cujus cultoribus ex utroque populo congregatis, sequitur:

*Hae sunt multitudines Ephraim.* Hae duae tribus ex Joseph, non in se, sed in parente benedicuntur. Filios significant utriusque populi, qui in Christo benedicuntur secundum illud: *In semine tuo benedicentur omnes gentes [n: (Gen. XXII)]*. Hos patriarcha Jacob Ephraim et Manassen cancellatis manibus in modum crucis benedicens, et primogenito minorem praeferens, in fide crucis Christi benedicendos esse signavit, in minore ex gentibus fidelem populum in Christi gratia tempore minorem, sed fide majorem: ad quem Israelitici populi gratia transivit, de cujus inaestimabili multitudine dicitur: *Hae sunt multitudines,* etc., unde: *Multi filii desertae magis quam [0499D] ejus quae habet virum [n: (Isa. LIV)]*.

Manasses primogeniti honore privatus, et tamen benedictus, est Judaicus populus, qui ex majore sui parte pro infidelitate reprobatus, in reliquis tamen benedictionem consecutus, unde: *Caecitas contingit ex parte in Israel,* etc. [n: (Rom. II.)]

VERS. 18.-- *Et Zabulon.* Zabulon et Issachar in Galilaea passionem acceperunt, ubi Christus maxime docuit, unde apostolos elegit. Per eos ergo apostoli designantur, et eis in exitu laetitia promittitur, quia exeuntes de finibus suis populum gentium Christo subjugaverunt, et in tabernaculis pro conversione Judaeorum, de quibus et ipsi electi sunt. Pro utroque ergo populo, praesens eis laetitia promittitur, et futura: [0500A] quia in praesenti de conversione eorum gavisi sunt, et in coelestibus aeterna laetitia remunerati.

*In tabernaculis,* Judaeorum, unde: *Dilatet Deus Japhet, et habitet in tabernaculis Sem [n: (Gen. IX)]*: quia in ecclesiis de Judaeis habitat latitudo minoris populi per unitatem fidei.

VERS. 19.-- *Ad montem.* Sion scilicet vel Jerusalem, vel contemplationem et virtutum altitudinem.

*Vocabunt.* Justitiam tantum in fide Christi esse docentes. *Finis enim legis Christus ad justitiam omni credenti [n: (Rom. X)]*. In monte immolant victimas justitiae, dum omnes qui ad Christum veniunt (in quo construitur Ecclesia) non ex operibus legis sed ex fide Christi justificari docent, secundum illud *Justus [0500B] autem ex fide vivit [n: (Habac. I)]*. Sunt ergo veri Christiani victimae justitiae, quae ab apostolis immolantur, dum terrena desideria mortificare docentur, ut spiritualia vivificentur; unde: *Si spiritu facta carnis mortificaveritis, vivetis [n: (Rom. VIII)]*.

*Ibi immolabunt.* Non est locus veri sacrificii extra catholicam Ecclesiam, quae supra hunc montem posita est.

*Qui inundationem.* Hae tribus negotiationibus vacaverunt, de transmarinis regionibus mercimonia reportantes, et thesauros absconditos, argentum, scilicet aurum vel gemmas *quasi lac sugent,* id est, facile accipient.

*Qui inundationem maris.* Gentium vocationem significat. Mare enim universum genus hominum significat; [0500C] unde: *Simile est regnum coelorum sagenae missae in mari, et ex omni genere piscium congreganti [n: (Matth. XIII)]*. Mare, mundus, sagena, doctrina, omne genus piscium, omnis sexus, aetas et conditio intelligitur. Maris ergo inundationem apostoli quasi lac suxerunt, quia confluentes ad doctrinam Evangelii turbas populorum in augmentum corporis Christi traxerunt.

*Absconditos. Novit Dominus qui sunt ejus [n: (I Tim. II)]*. *Multi enim sunt vocati, pauci,* etc. [n: (Matth. XX.)]

Arenae, infidelium multitudo; thesauri, pretiosae electorum animae. Sic ergo suxerunt, ut ex auditoribus Evangelii alii quasi vasa in honorem thesauris regis transferrentur, alii quasi arenae steriles et [0500D] inutiles vacui remanerent.

VERS. 20.-- *Et Gad ait.* In benedictione Gad videtur praedicere potentiam virorum fortium vel judicium, qui de illa tribu fuerunt, sicut Jephte, et alii multi.

*In latitudine.* Quia omnis plenitudo benedictionis supra Christum requievit, unde suos benedixit.

## CAPUT XXXIII. (cont.)

*Gad.* Id est, accinctus, Christum significat, qui contra spirituales nequitias pugnaturus, in infirmitate carnis virtute divinitatis praecinctus apparuit, secundum illud: *Indutus est Dominus fortitudinem et praecinxit se [n: (Psal. CXII)]*. Et alibi: *Dominus fortis et potens in praelio,* etc. Hic in latitudine benedictus est, quia non in solis Judaeis, sed in omnibus [0501A] gentibus amplissimum regnum accepit. Inde Prophetia ait:

*A solis ortu usque ad occasum laudabile nomen Domini.* Sed quia per humilitatem passionis ad hanc gloriam pervenit, de morte ejus subjungit:

*Quasi leo requievit. Potestatem habeo ponendi animam meam [n: (Joan. X)]*. Potestas mortis, non necessitas exprimitur; unde: *Nemo tollit eam a me, sed ego pono eam. [n: (Ibid.)]*

*Quasi leo fremuit.* Quidquid enim dixit, potenter implevit.

*Cepitque brachium et verticem.* Cum resurgens a mortuis fortitudinem inimicorum sibi subjugavit. Cepit quoque verticem, id est, mundani imperii sublimitatem ad suscipiendam fidem inclinavit; unde: [0501B] *Et adorabunt eum omnes reges; omnes gentes servient ei [n: (Psal. LXXI)]*. Sequitur de novo statu regni ejus.

VERS. 21.-- *Et vidit principatum suum, quod in parte sua.* Subjectis sibi regnis et gentibus, potentia ejus apparuit, non armorum terrore, sed virtute doctrinae.

*Repositus.* Occultus, dum scribit leges suas in cordibus fidelium; unde ait: *Vos unctionem habetis a sancto, et non necesse habetis ut aliquis doceat vos; unctio ejus docet vos de omnibus [n: (Joan. II)]*. Vel, *Repositus,* quia in lege et prophetis in figuris latebat, et docebat absconditus, quae manifeste in Evangelio declaravit; unde: *Incipiens a Moyse et omnibus prophetis interpretabatur illis [n: (Luc. XXIV)]*.

[0501C] *Qui fuit cum principibus populi.* Adjutor, unde: *Domino cooperante et sermonem confirmante sequentibus signis [n: (Marc. XVI)]*, quia ait: *Sine me nihil potestis facere [n: (Joan. XV)]*.

*Fecit justitias.* Id est justificans in se credentes, et tandem secundum merita judicabit cum Israel, id est cum populo suo ad visionem Dei electo.

*Justitias.* Justificationes credentium. Ipse enim justificat impium ex fide. Neque enim ex operibus legis justificabitur omnis caro.

VERS. 22.-- *Dan quoque.* Alii per Dan Antichristum signari putant, quem de hac tribu nasciturum aestimant: ipse est catulus leonis, id est diaboli, qui largiter fluet de Basan, quia plenus confusione; [0501D] Basan quippe confusio, vel pinguedo, vel bruchus interpretatur.

Dan quoque judicium, Basan ignominiam. Dan vero Christum significat, qui ait: *In judicium ego in hunc mundum veni [n: (Joan. IX)]*. Catulus leonis propter fortitudinem, et quia parvulus fieri dignatus est; sed suscipiens infirmitatem nostram, non amisit virtutem suam, *quod enim infirmum est Dei, fortius est hominibus [n: (I Cor. I)]*. De ipso dicitur: *Vicit leo de tribu Juda,* etc. [n: (Apoc. V.)] Ignominiam quidem crucis a Judaeis sustinuit, putantibus nomen ejus per mortem deleri: sed qui per infirmitatem ejus carnis, in passione catulus fuit, per divinitatis potentiam leo invictus in resurrectione apparuit; unde Apostolus: *Et si crucifixus est ex infirmitate, [0502A] vivit tamen ex virtute Dei [n: (II Cor. XIII)]*. Quasi ergo ex Basan largiter fluxit, cum per ignominiam mortis perveniens ad gloriam immortalitatis, fluentis Evangelii totum orbem irrigavit; unde Isaias: *Repleta est terra scientia Domini, sicut aquae maris operientis [n: (Isa. II)]*.

*Dan catulus leonis.* Hoc propter Samsonem dicit, qui de tribu Dan fuit, et quasi leo fortis, cujus possessio usque Basan. Antichristus vero fluet largiter de Basan, quia satiabitur pinguedine luxuriae et omnium vitiorum.

*Mare et meridiem possidebit.* Quia possessio ejus ab australi parte in occidentem usque ad mare Tyrrhenum pertingit.

*Mare et meridiem possidebit.* Per apostolos enim [0502B] ex Judaeis et gentibus Ecclesia acquiritur Christo. Per mare enim occidentale (quod hic intelligitur) Judaei figurantur, qui umbrae et exemplari deserviunt, nec habent lucem scientiae et veritatis, et quia eis sol justitiae occubuit, perpetuis remanserunt in tenebris. Hunc occidentem apostoli possederunt, cum ex eis plurimos gratia fidei illuminatos Christo subjecerunt, ut qui fuerunt aliquando tenebrae, lux essent in Domino. In meridie intelligitur Ecclesia de gentibus collecta, quae, ablato legis velamine, Evangelii luce perfruitur, et cubans cum sponso in meridie, revelata facie gloriam Domini contemplatur.

VERS. 24.-- *Aser quoque ait: Benedictus in filiis Aser, sit placens fratribus suis.* Aser beatus, Christus scilicet nostrae beatitudinis spes, cujus primitias nobis [0502C] ostendit resurgens a mortuis. Hic est benedictus in filiis, quia credentes, per ejus gratiam renascentes, totum orbem ejus similitudine repleverunt, quibus dicitur: *Credite in lucem, filii ut lucis sitis [n: (Joan. XII)]*. Ipsi afferunt fructum lucis in omni bonitate et justitia et veritate. Hoc autem factum est, quia fratribus suis, id est apostolis, quos de Judaea elegit, vera charitate complacuit, ut spretis figuris gauderent de veritate Evangelii, et quia *digni essent pro nomine Jesu contumeliam pati.* Et unde eis tanta charitatis abundantia, supponit, *tingat in oleo pedem,* etc.

*Et tingat in oleo pedem suum.* Christus caput nostrum ascendens in coelum, apostolos, scilicet pedes suos mundum praedicando circumituros in terra [0502D] adhuc consistentes, oleo Spiritus sancti copiosissime unxit, ut nullo labore deficerent, sed immarcessibilis gaudii claritate pollerent. Incorruptibile quoque praebuit calceamenti munimentum de quo subditur:

*Ferrum et aes cal. [n: (GREG., lib. XXXIV Moral., cap. 5.)]* Hoc de Ecclesia, etc., *usque ad* his calceamentis verum pascha celebrandum.

VERS. 25.-- *Sicut dies juventutis.* Significat hanc tribum prosperitate et deliciis abundasse usque ad senectutem captivitatis.

*Sicut.* Promittitur Ecclesiae cruda viridisque senectus: ut sicut fortiter in principio omnes impetus evicit, ita eminente fine Antichristi furorem evincat, unde: *Ecce ego vobiscum sum omnibus diebus [0503A] usque ad consummationem saeculi [n: (Matth. XXVIII)]*. Et alibi: *Senectus mea in misericordia uberi (Psalmus XCI)*.

VERS. 26.-- *Non est Deus.* Supradicta admirans in laude Christi, qui haec omnia fecit laetabundus erumpit.

*Ascensor coeli.* Propria virtute ascendit, et quotidie Ecclesiam ad se trahit. *Trahe me post te, curre in odorem unguentorum tuorum [n: (Cant. I)]*.

*Nubes.* Apostoli, qui pluunt verbis, coruscant miraculis: quos ascendens in coelum misit ad praedicandum; unde: *Vocem dederunt nubes [n: (Psal. LXXVI)]*, quae scilicet nullo remorante discurrunt, non sua, sed Christi virtute signa et prodigia facientes, et quasi coruscationibus corda mortalium terrentes, unde: [0503B] *Bonum certamen certavi, cursum consummavi [n: (II Tim. IV)]*.

VERS. 27.-- *Habitaculum ejus sursum,* etc. Corpus a mortuis suscitatum in Patris dextera collocatum, de quo dicitur: Solvite templum hoc [n: (Joan. II)].

*Brachia.* Virtus scilicet passionis, quae omnes defendit, quam in cruce extensis brachiis accepit.

*Subter brachia.* Scilicet haec brachia contra verum Amalec dimicantes defendunt: nec sicut Moysi lassitudine gravantur, sed indefessa virtute sublevant, donec veram consequantur victoriam. Veneremur ergo in supernis primitias nostrae resurrectionis, in infimis sacramentum nostrae redemptionis, ut et ipsi, debellato adversario, immortalitatis gloriam consequamur, de quo vero Israeli promittitur: *Ejiciet a [0503C] facie tua inimicum.*

*Et solus.* Suo scilicet more et suis legibus vivens, unde Balaam: *Populus solus habitabit et inter gentes non reputabitur [n: (Num. XXIII)]*.

VERS. 28.-- *Oculus Jacob.* Qui hic vitiis supplantandis desudabat, ibi se levissimo mentis intuitu gloriam Christi, qui propter nos terram verae carnis accepit, indesinenter contemplabitur: ut cujus hic corpore et sanguine per sacramentum frumenti et vini pascebatur, ibi divinitatis ejus perpetua visione saginetur, unde: *Satiabor cum apparuerit gloria tua [n: (Psal. XVI)]*. Et alibi: *Manifestabo ei meipsum [n: (Joan. XIV)]*. Tunc Jacob in perfectum Israel conversus, facie ad faciem Deum videbit, tam larga, tam subtili, tam delectabili Dei cognitione, quasi [0503D] levissimo rore repletus, ut praedicatorum scientia qua in praesenti instruimur caligare videatur; unde: *Sive scientia destruetur [n: (I Cor. XIII)]*. Et alibi: *Tenebrosa aqua in nubibus aeris, prae fulgorem in conspectu ejus [n: (Psal. XVII)]*, ad quam cum perventum fuerit, omnis haec doctrina cessabit, *et erunt omnes docibiles Dei [n: (Joan. VI)]*; unde merito adjungit: *Beatus es, Israel,* etc

*Caelique caligabunt,* quasi tam abundanter terrae fecundandae ros infundetur, ut hominum tenebrescat obtuitus. In quo significatur, quia Judaei cum terrenam opulentiam ultra modum diligerent, caligaverunt, et Christum cognoscere non potuerunt; unde: *Si dimittimus eum sic, omnes credent in eum,* etc.

[0504A]VERS. 29.-- *Quis similis tui, popule?* Quasi, ideo beatus, ideo tibi similis nullus, quia non de tua virtute, sed de Christi gratia salutem speras, qui salvum facit populum suum a peccatis eorum.

*Et gladius gloriae.* In futuro adversarios irrevocabili severitate percutiens, quando sanguinem servorum ulciscetur. Gladius modo hic in humilitate patientium occultatur, in gloria resurgentium revelabitur, ideo *gladius gloriae* Israel dicitur. Christus ergo quasi scutum protegit praeliantem, et quasi gladius gloriae ulciscetur triumphantem. Ad eum quasi ad caput, in fine vaticinii refertur gloria corporis, cum dicitur:

*Negabunt.* Abominabuntur et odient, sicut Balac, qui rogavit Balaam, ut Israelitas maledicendo repelleret.

[0504B] *Calcabis.* Subjiciendo eos Ecclesiae, quam abominantur et persequuntur.

Notandum undecim tantum esse benedictiones. Simeon namque in his benedictionibus non reperitur, in quo Judas ab apostolis excluditur, undecim tantum remanentibus. Inde quoque undecim mansionibus filii Israel de Horeb pervenerunt ad locum in quo Deuteronomium acceperunt.

## CAPUT XXXIV

VERS. 1.-- *Ascendit ergo.* Tam Moyses quam caeteri patres Veteris Testamenti per spiritum in altitudinem contemplationis levati, praevidere potuerunt gratiam Novi Testamenti, quae in Christo data est, et virtutum collatione et coelestis regni perceptione: [0504C] sed eam in carne exspectare non potuerunt, in fide autem et spe mortui sunt, ad inferos deducti, ubi exspectabant Redemptoris adventum, qui per sanguinem suae redemptionis inde eos liberaret.

*Ostenditque ei.* Terram promissionis vidit Moyses, nec intravit, quia lex adventum Christi et doctrinam Evangelii verbis et figuris praesignavit, sed neminem ad perfectum duxit.

VERS. 2.-- *Omnem terram.* Partem omnis terrae, quam ex altissimo monte potuit videre. Vel omnem terram ostendit ei in spiritu.

VERS. 5.-- *Mortuusque est ibi,* etc. Nulli electorum parcit, et minima quoque peccata ulciscitur Deus etiam in amicis; unde: *Moyses et Aaron sacerdotibus ejus,* et addidit: *Propitius fuisti eis, et [0504D] ulciscens in omnes adinventiones eorum.* Lege scilicet finita, quae servivit Domino in tempore suo, urbs destructa et altare, nusquam sacrificia, nusquam libamina, nusquam sacerdos vel pontifex.

VERS. 6.-- *In valle.* In monte mortuus est, in valle sepultus est, quia lex tempore suo gloriosa fuit: sed comparata Evangelio abscondita videtur et humilis; unde: *Dedi eis praecepta non bona.*

*Et non cognovit homo.* Judaei autumant hoc factum, ne Judaei semper ad idololatriam proni mortuum colerent tanquam Deum; sed secundum allegoriam tempus et modum finiendi legis in sola Dei praescientia significat esse abscondita, nec profunditatem sapientiae Dei, vel secretum consilii alicui [0505A] patere, quia incomprehensibilia judicia ejus, et investigabiles viae ejus.

VERS. 7.-- *Moyses centum et viginti annorum.* Si ab uno per naturalem ordinem usque ad quindecim singulorum numerorum summas conjunxeris, unum scilicet et duo et tria, et deinceps, centum et viginti fiunt. Quindenarius vero ex septem et octo conficitur, septem ad sabbatum refertur, octo ad circumcisionem, quia octava die circumcidebatur puer. Si vero ad Novum Testamentum respicias, habes septem dona Spiritus sancti, et in octavo resurrectionem Christi, centum et viginti ergo eos significant qui vel in Veteri Testamento Legis et Evangelii praecepta implere student.

*Moyses centum et viginti annorum.* Hoc significat tam eum quam caeteros patres Veteris Testamenti post perfectionem mandatorum Dei, quae est in duobus [0505B] praeceptis charitatis, per gratiam Christi et sanguinis redemptionem, aeternae quieti et futurae vitae aptos esse; quorum *oculus non caligavit,* piae scilicet intentionis intuitus nubilo non fuit obscuratus, nec *dentes* malitiae *moti,* quia non est perturbatus tempestate vitiorum, ordo discretionis eorum centum et viginti sunt anni legislatoris quo numero confirmata est altitudo Salomonici templi. Primitiva quoque Ecclesia post passionem et resurrectionem, Dominique ascensionem hoc numero virorum gratiam Spiritus sancti accepit. Quindecim namque qui ex septem et octo constant, futuram vitam significant quae nunc geritur in sabbato animarum et perficietur in resurrectione corporum. In trigonum quoque quindenarius ductus, id est cum partibus [0505C] suis adnumeratus, efficit centum et viginti. Apte ergo centenario et vicenario electorum beatitudo in futura vita signatur, et tertium domus Dei coenaculum consummatur, quia post fidelium labores, post requiem animarum plena Ecclesiae felicitas in resurrectionis gloria complebitur.

[0506A]VERS. 8.-- *Fleveruntque.* Quia regnavit mors etiam in eos qui non peccaverunt ab Adam usque ad Moysen: ideo lacrymae prosequuntur ad inferos descendentem.

[n: (HIERON., epist. ad Paulam.)] Non mirum si Moysi et Aaron, etc., *usque ad* sed intrinsecus esse, id est voluntati Domini ministrare.

*Et completi.* Hinc videtur orta consuetudo, ut fidelibus mortuis triginta diebus pietatis officia persolvantur.

VERS. 9.-- *Posuit super eum.* In Scripturis suis testimonium ei perhibuit dicens: *Prophetam Deus suscitabit,* etc. [n: (Deut. XVIII)], unde: *Si crederetis Moysi, crederetis forsitan et mihi [n: (Joan. V)]*.

VERS. 10.-- *Et non surrexit,* etc. Hoc (ut fertur) Esdras de suo adjecit, qui bibliothecam a Chaldaeis exustam divino sensu reparavit, et litteras quibus Judaei nunc utuntur invenit, unde et *velox scriba* [0506B] appellatus est.

*Et non surrexit propheta.* Quia Moyses omnibus prophetis Veteris Testamenti praestantior: unde Judaei arroganter dicunt: *Nos Moysi discipuli sumus [n: (Joan. IX)]*. Sed postquam Dominus prophetarum incarnatus venit in mundum, omnis illa prior dignitas et umbra futurorum cessavit: quia *lex et figura per Mosen data est: gratia et veritas per Jesum Christum, qui est finis legis ad justitiam omni credenti [n: (Hebr. X; Joan. I; Rom. X)]*.

*Et sepelivit eum in valle.* Scilicet Dominus. Et per hoc significatur quod amoto impedimento naturae per Christum anima munda separata ascendit ad Deum: et corpus quod sepelitur in terra remanet usque ad judicium. Ecclesiastes XII: Donec pulvis [0506C] revertatur in pulverem unde erat, et spiritus redeat ad Deum qui dedit illum. Quem reditum prosperum nobis concedat, qui vivit et regnat in saecula saeculorum. *Amen.*

english:
In Hebrew ELLEH HADDEBARIM ( אלה הדברים ), that is These are the words.

## PREFACE.

[0445D]

*A bundle of myrrh, beloved to me.* [var: Vulg. Cant. 1:12 *dilectus meus mihi*, "my beloved is to me"] Myrrh, an aromatic tree, grows up in height only five cubits, [0446] whose bark and root and leaves and all parts are bitter. Myrrh is bitter, and is laid upon corpses that it may keep off the rottenness of worms. This is the old law comprised in [0447A] five books: bitter, that is, sparing no one, whence also it was signified by Marath; laid upon corpses, that is, devised for sinners, that it might keep off from them the corruption of crimes. The bundle of this law is Deuteronomy, that is, a gathering of many little branches into one. For the law having been completed in four volumes, this fifth was added, gathering briefly into one the things said at large, and supplying also certain things passed over. And it was added to them that it might satisfy the number of the law. For five is the number of the law, four of the Gospel. Whence also the feeding of the five thousand men in the Gospel looks to the fathers of the Old Testament, the feeding of the four thousand to the fathers of the New; for to those were promised and given earthly things, which lie under the five senses; to those, the four-square, [0447B] that is, the solidity of the land of the living. This book serves the Gospel also in its name, in the order of its exposition, in its own dignity. For in Hebrew it is called *Elleh Haddebarim,* that is, "these words"; in Greek δευτερονόμιον, which in Latin is "the second law": not, as some have said, another after the one aforesaid, whence in the aforesaid books it was said: *The Lord spoke;* but here, *Moses spoke;* but second, that is, repeated a second time, prefiguring by this name the Gospel, which succeeded the law, and to which nothing shall succeed. Since also it gathers many things briefly and supplies certain things, it prefigures the form of the Gospel: for this is the abridged word which the Lord made upon the earth, and it supplies the imperfect things of the law; whence: *I came not to destroy the law, but to fulfil [n: (Matth. V)]*. And when [0447C] this work is said to be so worthy that it is commanded to be borne in the hands of the king, it discloses the dignity of the Gospel, which was ordained in the hand of the Mediator. Since therefore it thus serves the Gospel, deservedly is it a bundle beloved by Christ, not so much for its own sake as because it shows the wheel in the midst of the wheel. The intention is to recapitulate the aforesaid with a threefold end: that it may be the more closely committed to memory; that the usefulness of the aforesaid may be impressed. For to say often what is useful ought neither to be irksome, as the Apostle says [n: (Phil. III)], nor troublesome to hear; and that the hardness of the Jews may be condemned, who so many times did not understand the things said. The manner of proceeding: he sets before it what is as it were a prologue, in which he shows who wrote, and what, etc. Afterward he calls to mind the grave offence for which they perished in the desert, that by this fear he may rouse them to hearing. Afterward he sets apart [0447D] the cities of refuge. Afterward he recapitulates things said and done, and supplies things good and evil. Afterward he commands this book to be placed in the ark, and in the seventh year to be read to all Israel at the feast of tabernacles. Afterward he subjoins the canticle: *Hear ye,* etc., in memory of their murmuring and of its penalty, of obedience and of its reward. And after that, the blessings of the tribes. Last, of the death of Moses.

## CHAPTER ONE.

VERS. 1.-- *These are the words,* etc. The lawgiver sets before it a title as it were a prologue, in which he shows the name of the author, and what he did, and where, and when. As will be distinguished a little later in the gloss; and it ends, as it seems to some, there: *In the fortieth,* etc., or [0448A] lower down, there: *Our God,* etc. But for the making plain of the things which are in the prologue, and of those which follow, the truth of the history must be touched upon a little. From the going out of the children of Israel from Egypt until they came to the plains of Moab above the Jordan there flowed forty-two years, in which at divers times they made forty-two stations. When the cloud was lifted up, the camp was moved; and when it stood still, they pitched and remained in the same place until the cloud was lifted up again. The first station was in Ramesse, the last in the plains of Moab. From Ramesse as far as Mount Sina, in the space of forty-seven days, they made twelve stations, and this in the first year; and there they stayed almost the whole year. There the law was given; there Genesis was written, Exodus and Numbers were written, and [0448B] a great part of this book. Moving their foot thence, in the second year they came into Cadesbarne, and in that space they made twenty stations; from Cadesbarne they sent scouts, who on returning reported the land good, but they found strong men and giants, and being terrified they wished to return into the land of Egypt, whereat the Lord was angered. They went back and ranged about Mount Seir for thirty-eight years; there the murmurers died and were laid low. In the fortieth year they came to Cadesbarne, whence they had gone back through the desert, and in that space they again made nine stations. But for eleven days, before he came to Cadesbarne, Moses recapitulated the law by word alone; and from Cadesbarne as far as the plains of Moab, and in that space of eleven days, he willed to commit it [0448C] to writing. Behold: from the first year twelve, from the second one and twenty, from the rest nine; and so forty-two stations.

This was the cause of this book: namely, that the things which had been done, being briefly gathered, might be the more closely held in memory; for the things that are briefly said are easily retained.

[n: (RAB. in Deut. )] *These are the words,* etc. The beginning of Deuteronomy seems to be the title of the whole work, because it indicates the person of the author, and what he did, and the place, and the time. The name of the book also shows forth the grace of the New Testament. For Deuteronomy is interpreted "the second law," and signifies the Gospel, which expounds spiritually the mysteries of the Old Testament. [0448D] Just as the book of Deuteronomy is a repetition of the four books of the law: for those contain in themselves their own matters, this one repeats them all, and itself also has its own mysteries.

[n: (ID.)] *These are the words.* This of himself as of another, etc., *as far as* that no one can doubt that Moses wrote these things.

*He spoke.* Moses is the old law, which beyond the Jordan, that is, before baptism, taught the Israelite people. For by the Jordan is signified baptism, in which Christ was baptized: in the wilderness of the plain, that is, in the barrenness of the carnal people, which brought forth no fruit of virtues.

*In the wilderness,* the barrenness of the people, to whom it is said: *Your house shall be left [0449A] to you desolate [n: (Matth. XXXI; Luc. XIII)]*.

*Over against the sea.* Because the depraved and perverse generation would not believe in the washing away of sins in the blood of Christ.

*Between Pharan.* Pharan, increased; Thophel, insipidity; Laban, whitening; Haseroth, courts. For the people was increased in the number of men, in the doctrine of the law and of the prophets; but it was insipid, because it had not the salt of wisdom; whitened indeed by the ceremonies of the law and by divers cleannesses, which it believed itself to have from the letter of the law. And it is well signified by the courts, as being made ready through the divine Scriptures for the entrance of faith; whence many at the coming of Christ received him the more easily, whom they had known as foretold beforehand; whence Philip: *Whom [0449B] Moses wrote of in the law, and the prophets, we have found: Jesus the son of Joseph of Nazareth [n: (Joan. I)]*. These four mountains signify the four Gospels, with which the Church is encompassed.

VERS. 2.-- *Eleven days.* The law expounded by Moses in eleven days signifies the transgression of the Jewish people in the commandments of the Decalogue:

The eleven days are the eleven apostles, through whom (Judas being reprobate) the Gospel of Christ was preached in the world.

*From Horeb.* Which in Hebrew is *Choreb* ( ) [ed: our source prints an empty parenthesis here, and the word Migne sets in it has been lost in the digitization. Three Hebrew words were lost in the same way in the Glossa on the Song of Songs (8944), the companion volume in this same recension, and recovered only from the plate; recovery here would require the same.]; beginning through Seir, that is, passing through the people hairy and foul with vices, he came to Cadesbarne, which is interpreted changed, or chosen, or noble, signifying the literal sense of the law changed into the spiritual through the Gospel. [0449C] *For all these things happened to them in figure, and were written for our correction, upon whom the ends of the world are come [n: (I Cor. X)]*. For the law is not loosed, but fulfilled, *nor shall one iota or one tittle pass away till all be done [n: (Matth. V)]*.

VERS. 3.-- *In the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day,* etc. [n: (ISID., in Deut., tom. V.)] Forty years, etc., *as far as* they shall remain without corruption.

The number forty consists of ten and four, and signifies the fulfilment of the law, of the Gospel, which comes to pass in the Church; for ten belong to the law, and four to the Gospel.

*In the eleventh month,* etc. As in the eleventh is expressed the transgression of the law, so in the first day the lawgiver's intention, ever watchful to [0449D] teach; who, from the time when the disobedient people feared not to transgress the law, straightway, by preaching and correcting, was zealous to instil the will of the Lord, and ceased not to draw or to provoke them to better things by words and by examples.

VERS. 4.-- *After he had slain Sehon,* etc. It is to be noted that, the two kings of the Amorrhites being slain, the law is recapitulated and the people instructed; because, scandals being removed and the troops of the vices overcome, one fittingly applies oneself to doctrine, and the light of faith is opened to them that worthily desire it.

We ought first to slay the vices in ourselves, and so to deliver the divine commandments to the peoples.

*Sehon king of the Amorrhites who dwelt in Hesebon,* [0450A]etc. [n: (ISID.)] In these kings, etc., *as far as* but, remaining without, let them ever apply themselves to depraved works.

VERS. 5.-- *In the land of Moab.* For that people was lawless, which had not the spiritual law.

VERS. 6.-- *The Lord our God.* In the book of Numbers the setting out of the children of Israel from the desert of Sinai is narrated, but the command of the Lord to Moses concerning that same passage is not spoken of; but rather of the cloud which covered the tabernacle, and which withdrew when they were to set out, and went before them to the place where the camp was to be pitched. For thus it is written: *In the second year, in the second month, on the twentieth day of the month, the cloud was lifted up from the tabernacle of the covenant, and rested in the wilderness of Pharan [n: (Num. X)]*. But it is manifest that that passage was ordered by the command of God, although it is not there recorded. [0450B] Whence elsewhere in the book of Numbers, at the command of the Lord they pitched their tents, and at his command they took them down [n: (Num. IX)].

*It is enough for you,* etc. Moses is commanded to withdraw from the mountain on which he had received the law, because a teacher ought not always to be intent upon contemplation, but should sometimes come down, that he may take care of himself and of his neighbours; whence, *Whether we be transported in mind, it is to God; or whether we be sober, it is for you.*

VERS. 9.-- *And I said to you at that time,* etc. Concerning this division of powers it is written in Exodus, before they came to Mount Sinai, that Jethro the priest of Madian, the kinsman of Moses, suggested this to him [n: (Exod. XVIII)]. Whence it is rightly asked: how do these things agree together, both now and at that time? But that which Moses is here said to have said at that time, *I am not able [0450C] alone to bear you,* etc., does not signify that time in which they were setting out from Horeb, but the whole time in which, having gone out from Egypt, they were tarrying in the wilderness; and Moses urged this upon his people not from his own, from his kinsman's counsel.

*At that time.* The saints do all things in the fitting season; so God also, when the fulness of time came, sent his Son [n: (Gal. IV)].

VERS. 11.-- *The Lord God of your fathers add,* etc. He teaches teachers to rejoice at the progress of their subjects, to give thanks, and always to wish better things.

*To this number,* etc. Determined with God. *He knoweth who are his, who numbereth the multitude of the stars [n: (II Tim. II)]*.

[n: (RAB.)] See how carefully that is to be observed which elsewhere Scripture [0450D] says: *Son, let not thy acts be in many things [n: (Eccli. XI)]*. Consider also the words of Jethro giving counsel, for he says: *Hear me, and I will give thee counsel, and God will be with thee [n: (Exod. XVIII)]*. It seems to be signified that a mind too intent upon human actions is in some manner emptied of God, of whom it becomes the fuller the more freely it is stretched out toward things above and eternal.

VERS. 13.-- *Give from among you.* Give ye, not I: as if, I will not command you, but obey.

*I will appoint them.* Note: he granted the choice to his subjects, the appointing he kept for himself, lest the people should despise or hate, if it were not permitted them to have whom they wished.

*Tribunes.* Commanders of a thousand, in Greek χιλιάρχους, who teach their subjects, namely, of the hope of the eternal reward.

[0451A] *And centurions.* Centurions, in Greek ἐκατοντάρχους: who deliver the heavenly commandments to the perfect. Rightly are they set over others, who are endowed with the number of a hundred, that is, with perfection: they rule as it were a hundred, while they lead men through to perfection.

*And officers of fifty.* In Greek πεντεκοσιάρχους: who announce the works of penance.

*Deans,* δεκάρχους: who, awaiting through the perfection of the denary the denary of the vineyard, make ready many to be partakers of that same denary.

VERS. 17.-- *Because it is the judgment of God;* not of men, because in judging you are the vicars of God, who accepteth not the person.

*But if anything be difficult.* All greater and difficult matters the greater ought to discern and to judge; small and easy ones [0451B] the lesser.

## CHAPTER ONE. (cont.)

VERS. 19.-- *And when we had come to Cadesbarne,* etc. That in the second year of their going out the people came into the desert of Pharan, which is Cades, where, the scouts having returned with the fruits of the land and reporting what they had seen, they murmured against Moses and Aaron, and therefore, afflicted with the weariness of a long journey and with mortality, perished: this passage will give a manifest indication. Where it is to be noted that the forty-two stations which they had from Egypt as far as the Jordan seem to fit the courses of three years only: namely, the first, the second, and the fortieth from the going out of Egypt. The first, by a sure division, contains twelve: the first Ramesse, entered on the fifteenth day of the first month; the last the wilderness of Sinai, [0451C] added on the first day of the third month, and by no means left for eleven continuous months, for the sake of building the tabernacle and of teaching the law. Of which twelve stations only nine are expressed by name in Exodus; three are signified without distinction under the name of the desert of Sin (which is said to be between Elim and Sinai). The second year comprises twenty-one stations. All of which, in the order of the history, being included indifferently under the name of the wilderness of Pharan, only the first and the second and the last, that is, the Graves of Lust, Haseroth, and Cades, are distinguished by name. But in the catalogue of the stations it is shown alike of them all how many they are in number, and by what name they are called. The first station, that is, the Graves of Lust, was entered in the second month of that same second year, [0451D] on the two and twentieth day of the month. For in the second year (as the Scripture says), in the second month, on the twentieth day of the month, they moved the camp from the desert of Sinai, and the cloud rested in the wilderness of Pharan; and they set forward from the mount of the Lord a journey of three days, until they came to the place of the station which, by the desert of a people lusting after flesh, received the name of the Graves of Lust. On what day or in what month of that same year they entered the last of these, that is, Cades, is not said; yet that it is situated in the wilderness of Pharan, and that it was reached in that same year, is not passed over in silence. For it is written: *The people was not moved from that place until Mary was called back. And they set forward from Haseroth and pitched their tents in the desert of Pharan, where the Lord spoke to Moses [0452A] saying: Send men [sic: gui] who may view the land of Chanaan [n: (Num. XII, XIII)]*. And lest this be thought to have been commanded and done at the station next after Haseroth, but rather to have been fulfilled at the last of those which are contained under the name of Pharan, it is written below: *And the scouts of the land, returning after forty days, having gone round the whole region, came to Moses in Pharan, which is Cades.* In Deuteronomy also Moses says to the people: *When you had come to Cadesbarne, I said to you: You are come to the mountain of the Amorrhite,* etc., *and you said: Send men who may view the land,* etc. [n: (Deut. I)]. And that they came to that same station in the second year of the going out, from which nevertheless, by the sin of murmuring, they deserved to turn back, and long to wander through the desert, and to fall on every side, Moses testifies in what follows, saying: *You sat in Cadesbarne a long time, and setting forward thence we came [0452B] into the wilderness which leads to the Red Sea, as the Lord had said to me; and we went round Mount Seir a long time, and within the time in which we walked from Cadesbarne as far as the torrent Zareth* was in the eight and thirtieth year, until the whole generation of the men of war was consumed. But Zareth is not the name of any station of the forty-two, but of a torrent to which (as is read in the book of Numbers) they came when the eighteenth station, by name Jeabarim, had been passed; leaving which, he says, they encamped over against Arnon, which is in the desert and juts out in the borders of the Amorrhite; and it is not hidden that this was done in the fortieth year, which last year contains ten stations of a very long way through the desert: of which the first was regained with great labour, [0452C] namely that very same Cades of the desert of Sin, which eight and thirty years before, their fault requiring it, they left behind them when they had turned back; of which it is written: *The children of Israel came into the desert of Sin in the first month, and the people abode in Cades; and Mary died there and was buried in the same place. And when the people wanted water, they came together against Moses and Aaron,* etc., as far as this, *This is the water of contradiction,* etc. [n: (Num. XX)]. It is to be noted that the same Cades came to be both in the desert of Pharan and in the desert of Sin, as the Scripture relates; whence we conjecture that the part of the desert of Pharan where Cades is, is specially called Sin: but Sin is not that same Cades which, soon after the Red Sea was crossed, they passed through between Elim and Sinai, but altogether another, and written with other letters among the Hebrews. But the second station of that same [0452D] fortieth year is Mount Hor, in which Aaron died on the first day of the fifth month; the last, the plains of Moab above the Jordan over against Jericho, where, meditating upon Deuteronomy, they remained until, Moses being dead, under Josue their leader, on the first day of the tenth month they crossed the Jordan. There are therefore twelve stations of the first year, twenty-one of the second, and of the last that same twenty-first which is Cades, and nine others; namely, all together forty-two.

VERS. 22.-- *And you came near to me.* In the book of Numbers it is written that the Lord said to Moses that he should send men who might view the land; but here the people is read to have said: *Let us send men who may view the land;* but the people first suggested this to Moses, Moses [0453A] referred it to the Lord, according to whose command he afterward sent the scouts.

VERS. 23.-- *I sent from among you.* [n: (ISID.)] Twelve scouts sent to explore the rich land, etc., *as far as* because neither Christ without the law, nor the law without Christ.

*Twelve.* These signify the teachers of the Church, of whom some, by teaching depraved things, pervert the people; others, by preaching right things, make progress.

VERS. 33.-- *Showing by night.* Night is the sinner's, day the life of the just. In the pillar of fire, the damnation of the wicked, to whom the Lord will appear terrible in the judgment; in the pillar of cloud, the light and gentle vision wherewith the elect shall be consoled.

*By day through the pillar.* Overshadowing in the heat of this world, [0453B] and sustaining by the strength and by the propitiation of his flesh.

VERS. 34.-- *He swore.* God is not passible, nor subject to the vice of anger. But by these things the charity of Moses toward the people is made manifest, and the goodness of God, which surpasses all understanding.

VERS. 35.-- *Not one shall see.* The like is said of those who, being invited to the supper, excused themselves: *None of those men that were invited shall taste of my supper [n: (Luc. XIV)]*.

The worst generation possesses not the good land, because it believes not the incarnation of Christ.

VERS. 37.-- *Nor is it to be wondered at.* Here Moses says that the Lord, being angered with him on account of the people, said that he should not enter into the land of promise, whereas in [0453C] the book of Numbers it is read: *The Lord said to Moses and Aaron: Because you have not believed me, to sanctify me before the children of Israel, you shall not bring these peoples into the land which I will give them.* But the sentence that follows seems to resolve the question: *This is,* he says, *the water of contradiction, where the children of Israel strove against the Lord,* etc. [n: (Num. XX)]. For the strife and the rebellion of the people was the cause of the anger and of the vengeance, both upon the people and upon Moses and Aaron.

*Neither shalt thou enter.* [n: (ISID.)] It seems in Mary, etc., *as far as* when Christ the exalted is acknowledged as it were in the eminence of a mountain.

VERS. 41.-- *And when, being armed.* This sentence strikes at human pride, which presumes upon its own strength, and trusts not in the power of God. For the Amorrhites, [0453D] that is, the embittering, are spiritual enemies, who dwell in the mountains of pride and slay the presumptuous, from Seir even to Horma, that is, from the squalor of vices even to the damnation of punishments: for Seir is interpreted hairy, Horma anathema. For whosoever fears not to be defiled with the filth of vices, he must needs, according to his deserts, be delivered to the fires of Gehenna. For the demons wish to entangle us in earthly desires; and if we persevere in sins, and cease not to ascend into the mountain of pride, they cut us down with fiery darts and lead us through to perpetual anathema. Therefore let us not, after the manner of the Pelagianists, presume upon our own power; but, considering our infirmity, let us obey the Lord in all things, that, [0454A] our enemies being overcome, we may attain the promised joys of the heavenly fatherland.

We must beware lest, murmuring against the Lord, we ascend into the mountain of pride, thinking that we can be saved by our own strength, lest we be straightway delivered to the Amorrhites, that is, to the demons.

## CHAPTER II.

VERS. 1.-- *And we went round Mount Seir,* etc. Seir is a mountain in the land of Edom, in which Esau dwelt, in the region of Gabalena, where formerly dwelt the Chorrhite whom Chodorlahomor slew; and it received its name Seir, that is, of the hairy one, from Esau, who was hairy and shaggy. The Chorrhites, like the other nations which they overcame, who were descended from the seed of the patriarchs, set forth malignant spirits [0454B] or vices, which they are able to overcome who follow the footsteps and the teachings of the holy Fathers, and wage the spiritual warfare under Christ the king; of which it is said: *Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers,* etc. [n: (Ephes. VI)].

VERS. 9.-- *I have given to the children of Loth.* Ar is the metropolis of the Moabites, upon the bank of the torrent Arnon: once possessed by the most ancient nation of the Emim, afterward held by the children of Loth, that is, by the Moabites, the former inhabitants being overthrown. This is shown to this day upon the top of a mountain; but the torrent, descending through steep places, flows into the Dead Sea. *Ar* is interpreted *he stirred up; Emim,* that is, the terrible: these are the demons, who stir up quarrels and contentions, and make ready the darts of wickedness against the faithful. The *Enacim* also, [0454C] begotten of the stock of *Enac,* and matched with the giants in stature, signify according to their name the demons; for they are interpreted a necklace upon a lofty neck. For, lifted up with the arrogance of pride, they ascribe all the equipment of their warfare to their own strength, and therefore they easily give way to those who trust in the strength of God, and say with the Psalmist: *The Lord is my strength and my praise, and he is become my salvation [n: (Psal. CXVII)]*.

VERS. 14.-- *Of Cadesbarne. [n: (HIERON., epist. ad Fabiolam.)]* [sic: *Cabesbarne*] is a place in the desert which adjoins the city of Petra in Arabia, where Mary died, and Moses, the rock being struck, gave water to the thirsting people. The sepulchre of Mary is also shown in that same place to this day; and there too the princes of Amalec were slain by Chodorlahomor.

[0454D]VERS. 26.-- *I sent therefore messengers,* etc. Sehon signifies the devil, which is a useless shoot, or an unfruitful tree, or the lifted up. Israel, the Christian people, which desires to pass by the way of this world and to come to the heavenly kingdoms. This people sends to Sehon with peaceable words, promising that it will not dwell in his land, but only pass through, and will go by the royal way. This every man promised when first he came to the water of baptism and received the first seals of faith. For he renounced the devil and his pomps, and his works, and all his service, and his pleasures. This is what is said: *That Israel will not turn aside into his field, or into his vineyard, and will not drink water out of his well [n: (Num. XXI)]*, that is, it will no more take up the discipline either of astrology [0455A] or of magic, or of any doctrine whatsoever that is against godliness; but it will drink of the fountains of the Saviour; it will not forsake the fountain of living water to drink of the fountain of Sehon, but will go by the royal way, which is Christ, who says: *I am the way, the truth, and the life [n: (Joan. XIV)]*, and king, according to that word, *Give to the king thy judgment, O God [n: (Psal. LXXI)]*. It will not turn aside into his field, nor into his vineyard, that is, to his works, or to his depraved meanings. The Amorrhites are interpreted speakers, or the embittering, because they provoke God to bitterness, and trust in words only, like the poets, the astrologers, the philosophers, who speak vain things; but the kingdom of God is not in speech, but in power. The faithful wish to pass through in peace, and to be peaceable even with the enemies of peace; but so much the more do they offend the prince [0455B] of the world, in that they say that they will not tarry with him, nor touch anything of his. Thereupon, being the more exasperated, he persecutes them the more, stirs up perils, threatens torments, gathers his people, goes out to fight against Israel: his people are the princes and judges of the world, and all the ministers of wickedness, who persecute the people of God; but he himself also comes into Jasa, which is interpreted the fulfilment of the commandment. For he who has come to the fulfilling of the commandments of God will not fear Sehon or his raging army. For to fulfil the commandments of God is to overcome the devil and his army. For thus God crushes Satan under our feet, and gives us the power of treading upon serpents and scorpions, and upon all the strength of the enemy.

[0455C]VERS. 30.-- *Because he had hardened.* By long patience, by not correcting; whence in Exodus: *I have hardened the heart of Pharao [n: (Exod. X)]*; and the Psalmist: *He turned their heart to hate his people [n: (Psal. CIV)]*. But the cause of the hardening is added, *that he might be delivered into thy hands,* that is, that he might be crushed by thee; which would not come to pass unless he resisted, nor would he resist unless he had been hardened. If we seek the justice of this matter, his judgments are inscrutable, but there is no iniquity with God.

VERS. 33.-- *And we slew him.* They who are true Israelites, Jews not in the flesh but in the spirit, dwell in all the cities of the Amorrhites, since throughout the whole world the Churches of Christ are spread abroad; and every one of us was a city of king Sehon, because there reigned in us folly, pride, impiety, and all things which [0455D] the devil suggests. But when the strong man was overcome and his vessels plundered, we were made cities of Israel, the inheritance of the saints, the unfruitful tree being first cut down, and the lifted-up king cast down, and the meek one reigning in us, who says: *Learn of me, because I am meek and humble of heart,* etc. [n: (Matth. XI)]. The names of the places also agree: for Aroer is interpreted lifting up; Arnon, a heap of sadness; Galaad, a heap of testimony. From Aroer therefore, *which is upon the bank of the torrent Arnon,* etc. Because every person of whatsoever dignity, trusting in the arrogance of pride or in worldly pomp, together with the persecutors who straiten Christians with divers tribulations, even to the conventicles of the heretics, who fight against the Church [0456A] with the testimonies of the Scriptures depraved, but are not able to resist, are delivered up, overcome, into the hands of the saints, with their dwellings.

## CHAPTER III.

VERS. 1.-- *And so, turning.* To Og, who is king of Basan, they deign neither to send legates nor to ask a passage through his land: straightway they fight with him, overcoming him and his people. Basan is interpreted baseness: rightly therefore are no legates sent to that nation, nor is a passage asked; for we ought to have no passage, nor ascent, to baseness, which must at once be stormed and altogether shunned. But Og is interpreted a closing in; it signifies carnal things, by the desire whereof the soul is shut out and separated from God. Against these we must so wage war that [0456B] no vice be left. For nothing ought to be left in the kingdom of baseness; for base things must be cut away, that honourable and religious things may be built up. In the kingdom of Sehon or of Moab this is not commanded. For perhaps we have need of somewhat from them, whereof the manifold use of the present life stands in want: otherwise we should have to go out of this world. But of Basan, that is, of baseness, we leave nothing, because we have need of nothing. Nor, moreover, can that be honourable which is base.

VERS. 4.-- *Sixty.* It confirms the foregoing sense. For the number sixty, like the number six, signifies perfection. And well does he record sixty cities laid waste in the region of Og king of Basan, that is, of the devil, who is the king of baseness; because he signifies that the delight of all vices is to be perfectly destroyed. [0456C] Argob, that is, accursed loftiness, signifies earthly pride, which reigns in the children of wrath: the cities being destroyed, he says that the men and the women and the little ones were slain, the beasts and the spoils plundered; because, the fortification of the devil being overcome, whatsoever we shall have felt rebellious in our flesh, whatsoever wanton, together with the little thoughts, is to be crushed with the zeal of God; but whatsoever we shall find fit for the service of God, in the simplicity of a pure understanding or in the adornment of the members, we ought to reserve.

VERS. 12.-- *And the land. [n: (GREG., lib. XXVII Moral., cap. 10.)]* There are many in the Church, etc., *as far as* namely, vain desires and the irrational motions of the mind.

*Ruben and Gad.* [n: (RAB.)] Ruben the firstborn of Jacob, etc., *as far as* but with those same women and children [0456D] they strive to pass over and to come to the fatherland.

VERS. 28.-- *Command Josue,* etc. By a great dispensation of God it came to pass that Moses, who is a type of the law, should not bring the people into the land of promise, because the law brought no one to perfection; but Josue is a type of Christ, who is interpreted saviour. (For Christ saved his people), fittingly, as leader and prince, brought them into the land of promise

## CHAPTER IV.

VERS. 1.-- *And now, O Israel, hear the precepts and the judgments. You shall not add.* He teaches the rule of equity, and strikes at every heresy. For he forbids to add anything of depraved intent to right doctrine, or to take away anything [0457A] of the truth: for we must go by the royal way, not to the right hand or to the left; whence: *For the ways of the Lord are right, and the just shall walk in them [n: (Ose. XIV)]*. In like manner John says: *If any man shall add to these things, God shall add unto him the plagues written in this book; if any man shall take away, God shall take away his part out of the book of life [n: (Apoc. XXII)]*.

VERS. 7.-- *Nor is there any other,* etc. There is not another nation so great, in dignity, namely, of gifts, not in the multitude of peoples. For neither did the nation of the Jews surpass other nations in number or in power, but by the prerogative of the fathers and by the divine favour.

VERS. 9.-- *Which they have seen.* Sight holds the chief place among all the senses: therefore it is put for every sense.

VERS. 16.-- *A graven likeness. (AUG., quaest. [0457B] 4 in Deut.)* Perhaps by these two words he signified one thing, etc., *as far as* which is customary of men.

VERS. 18.-- *That are under. [n: (AUG., quaest. 5.)]* Whether he wished the water to be understood as earth, etc., *as far as* and could not have earthly animals.

VERS. 19.-- *Which he created. [n: (AUG., quaest. 6.)]* It is not so said, etc., *as far as* but not the worship which other nations have.

VERS. 23.-- *A graven likeness. [n: (AUG., q. 7.)]* Here, speaking generally, he set down likeness and kept silence about image, because if there be no likeness, neither is there an image.

VERS. 26.-- *I call to witness this day heaven,* etc. Μετονυμικῶς, by that which contains it signifies that which is contained.

[0457C]VERS. 30.-- *But in the last time.* He foretells the conversion of Israel to the faith of Christ, that after the fulness of the Gentiles shall have entered in, all Israel may be saved.

VERS. 32.-- *From the highest part of heaven. [n: (AUG., quaest. 8.)]* Why he did not likewise say, from the highest part of the earth, etc., *as far as* since this is said of the last gathering of the elect.

## CHAPTER V.

VERS. 1.-- *Hear, O Israel,* etc. [n: (AUG., quaest. 9 in Deut.)] Whether it was said for this reason, etc., *as far as* both to see, and to hear, and to retain in memory?

VERS. 4.-- *Face to face,* etc. [n: (AUG.)] A little before he took care to admonish, etc., *as far as* although some have hoped this.

VERS. 5.-- *Between you and God. [n: (ID., quaest. 10.)]* As though [0457D] the Lord were in a place, etc., *as far as* hearing out of the midst of the fire the voice of God speaking the decalogue of the law.

VERS. 9.-- *Repaying the iniquity,* etc. [n: (ISID.)] There are those who so expound it, etc., *as far as* but long defers the sentence.

*To them that hate me, and showing mercy unto many thousands to them that love me,* etc. To those, namely, who by hereditary impiety hate the Lord. For it is perverse that the sins of the fathers should be imputed to sons who do not sin, since it was said through Ezechiel: *The son shall not bear the iniquity,* etc. [n: (Ezech. XVIII)].

VERS. 11.-- *Thou shalt not usurp the name of the Lord God in vain,* etc. The first commandment pertains to the Father, which is spoken in what follows: *Hear, O Israel, the Lord [0458A] thy God is one [n: (Deut. VI)]*; that, hearing this, thou mayest worship one God the Father, and not take to thyself many gods. The second pertains to the Son, of whom it is here said: *Thou shalt not take the name of thy God in vain,* that is, esteem not the Son of God to be a creature. For every creature is subject to vanity; but believe thou him equal to the Father, God of gods, God with God, through whom all things were made. The third to the Spirit, by whose gift eternal rest is promised: for because the Holy Spirit is called sevenfold, therefore God sanctified the seventh day. For on the other days no sanctification of the works is named, save on the sabbath, in which God rested. Rightly therefore does this commandment pertain to the Spirit: both because of the name of sanctification, and because of the eternal rest, which pertains to the gift of the Holy [0458B] Spirit. For it is said thus: *Remember that thou keep holy the sabbath day: six days shalt thou labour,* etc. In the work of six days, etc., there seems to be signified the working of six thousand years; in the seventh, the time of eternal rest, in which after good works eternal rest is promised. Whatsoever therefore we do, if we do it for the sake of the rest to come, we keep the sabbath.

VERS. 16.-- *Honour thy father and thy mother, as he hath commanded thee.* After the three precepts follow seven which pertain to the neighbour. Among the seven it is the first, but in the order of them all the fourth: *Honour thy father,* etc. For from his parents a man opens his eyes, and this life takes its beginning from love of them: whence this commandment is called the greatest and the first, namely, on the second table. We are bidden therefore to honour our parents, and [0458C] to show them the duty of piety and reverence; for he who does not this to his parents, how shall he do it to others? The fifth: *Thou shalt not commit adultery.* That is, thou shalt be joined to none besides thy lawful wife. The sixth: *Thou shalt not kill.* He also kills who sees his neighbour dying of hunger or of nakedness, and does not come to his aid so far as he can. The seventh: *Thou shalt not steal.* In which he forbids all rapine. The eighth: *Thou shalt not bear false witness.* He abominates the crime of lying and of falsehood. The ninth: *Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife.* In which he interdicts also the adulterous thought. The tenth: *Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's goods.* In which he strikes at ambition and concupiscence. The first therefore forbids stealthy deception; the second, error; the third, [0458D] the love of the world; the fourth, impiety; the fifth, fornication; the sixth, cruelty; the seventh, rapacity; the eighth, falsehood; the ninth, the thought of adultery; the tenth, the desire of the world. And it is to be noted that, as the Egyptians are struck with ten plagues, so the people of God is ruled by ten precepts, and the demons are slain.

VERS. 22.-- *On two tables of stone, which he delivered to me.* [n: (ISID.)] The two Testaments, etc., *as far as* namely, the sensible and the intelligible.

VERS. 29.-- *Who shall grant them to have such a mind?* God wills it to be understood that this benefit is granted by his grace, that in all things there may be the justice of God which is of faith, not as it were one's own which is of the law; whence: *I will take away from them the heart of stone, and will give them a heart of flesh [n: (Ezech. XXXVI)]*, that is, [0459A] one having sense; for flesh has sense, but stone has not; and elsewhere: *He hath made us fit ministers of the New Testament, not in the letter, but in the spirit.*

## CHAPTER VI.

VERS. 5.-- *Thou shalt love the Lord. [n: (AUG., lib. I de Doctrina Christiana, c. 26, 27, 28.)]* Charity shall not be taken away, etc., *as far as* who by the opportunity of places and of times, or of any things whatsoever, are more closely joined to us.

*[n: (GREG., lib. VII Moral., cap. 10.)] Thou shalt love the Lord thy God,* etc. Through the love of God is begotten the love of the neighbour, etc., *as far as* for in good things a friend is not known, and in evil things an enemy is not hidden.

The soul is of a threefold nature: therefore it is bidden to love [0459B] in a threefold manner. God wills not that his love be divided, so that we should love at once God, and gold, or wife, or children. *No man can serve two masters [n: (Matth. VI)]*; he himself is to be loved above all things, his love is set first.

VERS. 8.-- *And thou shalt bind them as a sign.* The Pharisees, misinterpreting this, wrote the decalogue (that is, the ten words) upon little parchments, and carried them bound upon the forehead. Which the Babylonians do to this day, that they may be thought religious. Whence: *For they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge their fringes [n: (Matth. XXIII)]*.

VERS. 13.-- *Thou shalt swear by his name. [n: (AUG., quaest. 12.)]* They are permitted to swear by the name of God, etc., *as far as* but he who swears not at all is far from perjury.

[0459C]VERS. 16.-- *Thou shalt not tempt the Lord God.* He tempts God who, having something that he might do, commits himself to danger without reason, trying whether he can be delivered by God.

## CHAPTER VII.

VERS. 1.-- *Many nations.* The seven nations are the seven principal vices, which the spiritual soldier, overcoming them by the grace of God, is bidden to exterminate. They are said to be of a greater number, because the vices are more than the virtues. In the catalogue seven nations are named; in the storming of them they are set down without number; but, *when he shall have destroyed many nations before thee.* For more numerous than Israel is the people of carnal passions, which is multiplied out of the sevenfold tinder of the vices. Of *gastrimargia*: revelling, drunkenness; of fornication: filthy speech, [0459D] scurrility, jests, and foolish talk; of *philargyria*: lying, fraud, thefts, perjuries, the appetite of base gain, false testimonies, violence, inhumanity, and rapacity; of anger: murder, clamour, and indignation; of sadness: rancour, pusillanimity, bitterness, and despair, and laziness; of *acedia*: idleness, drowsiness, importunity, unquietness of mind and body, instability, wordiness, and curiosity; of *cenodoxia*: contentions, heresies, boasting, and the presumption of novelties; of pride: contempt, envy, disobedience, blasphemy, murmuring, detraction, and many more. Although these are of a greater number than the virtues, yet, when the principal ones have been overcome, they all fall quiet and are blotted out by a perpetual slaying. But that these plagues are the stronger, we feel in temptation: for the delight of carnal passions wars more strongly in our members [0460A] than do the pursuits of the virtues, which are acquired by the utmost contrition of heart and body. We possess the regions of these nations when with the army of Israel, that is, with the virtues, we overcome the vices. So that in our heart chastity may hold the place of fornication; patience the place of fury; saving gladness the place of sadness; that fortitude may inhabit the place of *acedia*; humility the place of pride: so that, each several vice being cast out, the children of Israel may reign in their place, that is, souls seeing God. But when God was speaking to Abraham of things to come, he is read to have numbered not seven but ten nations, whose land is promised to his seed — when, that is, the idolatries of the Gentiles, the blasphemy of the Jews, and the error of the heretics have been cast away, [0460B] to which they are subject who, before the knowledge of God and the grace of baptism, tarry in spiritual Egypt. But he who goes out thence, and by the grace of God attains to the spiritual desert, is set free from the assault of three nations, and closes in battle against seven.

*The Haethite and the Gergezite,* etc. [n: (HIERON. de Nom. Hebr., tom. III.)] The Hethite, etc., *as far as* that is, trodden down, or their stall.

*Seven nations.* To Abraham it was granted that ten should be destroyed: for then there were ten, but when the children of Israel were passing over to the Jordan, three had already been destroyed. For the sons of Lot destroyed the giants; the sons of Esau the Horrites; or the Cappadocians a part of the Hevites.

*And stronger.* The spiritual wickednesses are subtler, [0460C] and avail more for deceiving than the weakness of men for enduring.

VERS. 14.-- *Barren.* There were certain barren women among the Jews, but so few that, by comparison with the fruitful, they seemed none at all.

VERS. 20.-- *Moreover also hornets,* etc. It is nowhere read in the history that God sent hornets or wasps before them against their enemies. But by stinging animals he designates the prickings of fear, by which he put their terrified enemies to flight.

VERS. 22.-- *Thou shalt not be able,* etc. He shows that care must be taken lest perchance, when sins have been driven out of our flesh, a spiritual beast rise up, that is, boasting, pride, or vainglory, which are rooted out with more difficulty than carnal vices. For Lot, who contained himself in Sodom, [0460D] was defiled with fornication upon the mountain [n: (Gen. XIX)]. When a vice has been driven out, let a virtue at once be planted, lest the unclean spirit return and find the house empty. [n: (Matth. XII)].

[n: (RAB., GREG.)] To some God gives the greater goods, and does not grant the lesser, that their mind may always have whence to reprove itself, and that, while they long to be perfect and cannot, they may in no wise extol themselves in the things they have, who of themselves are unable to have small things. Hence it is that he destroyed the strong and mighty adversaries, the Philistines, and long kept back the Canaanites, that in them Israel might be schooled, having those against whom he should fight, lest he should extol himself over the greater ones he had overcome. The same mind therefore is strong from virtue and grows weary from weakness, so that, [0461A] while it seeks what it is unable to have, it may humbly keep what it has. The region above too suffered losses in part among its citizens, and in part stood bravely: so that the elect angels, while they beheld others fallen through pride, might stand the more stoutly the more humbly. So it is wrought in each several soul, that they may confer the greatest gains; sometimes they condemn the least [cj: *damnant*; read *damna*, "the smallest losses"].

VERS. 26.-- *Anathema.* Ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀναθήναι, that is, from setting above, or from hanging up, as offerings were hung up in the temples, and were alienated from those who gave them.

## CHAPTER VIII.

VERS. 2.-- *Forty years.* For he therefore suffered them to be afflicted through forty years, that they might know [0461B] of how great frailty they were.

*That he might afflict thee. [n: (AUG., quaest. 13.)]* Here it is said more openly, etc., *as far as* and if he had said this, it was to be understood, he would make them known.

VERS. 3.-- *Manna.* The flesh of Christ, refreshed by which we may come to the true land of promise. For forty years we eat manna, that is, through our whole time, which is rolled round in four changes, we are fed with the sacrament of the Lord's body.

*Not in bread alone doth man live, but in every,* etc. Spiritual food is commended, whence souls that are to live for ever are filled. The manna given from heaven signifies the flesh of Christ, who says: *I am the bread of life; this is the bread which came down from heaven [n: (Joan. VI)]*, because the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. *He that eateth [0461C] this flesh hath life everlasting.*

*Not in bread alone,* etc. It signifies the twofold substance of our nature. For man consists of soul and body: the body, which is of the earth, is nourished with earthly food; but the soul lives of the word of God; and the Spirit of God quickens the spirit of man, if indeed the man is in the body of the Church, that is, of Christ, and in the faith of the Son of God. Therefore he adds: *That his garment failed not by age;* because the conversation of the new man ought to abide in newness of life, whose foot is not worn away, because the step of his works is kept unhurt: *For the Lord knoweth the way of the just, and the way of the wicked shall perish [n: (Psal. I)]*.

VERS. 11.-- *Judgments.* Those which were enjoined upon the people by Moses at divers times after the law was given, [0461D] which in Exodus are called justifications.

*And ceremonies.* Circumcision, the rites of sacrifices. Whence Ambrose on the *Epistle to the Romans*: Threefold (says he) is the law: the first part is of the sacrament of the Godhead; the second agrees with the natural law, which forbids sin; the third is of the feasts of the law, that is, sabbaths, new moons, and circumcision.

VERS. 15.-- *And the dipsas.* A kind of asp which in Latin is called *situla*: whomsoever it has bitten perishes of thirst; so small that when it is trodden upon it is not seen. Its venom extinguishes before it is felt, nor does he who is to die feel any sadness.

Mystically. The divers serpents are heresies, differing indeed among themselves, but all deadly.

## CHAPTER IX.

[0462A]

VERS. 5.-- *For neither,* etc. [n: (AUG., quaest. 14.)] These are they who did not deserve to perish in the desert, etc., *as far as* where those provoked the Lord who by their own desert were not brought into the land of promise.

VERS. 10.-- *And he gave,* etc. [n: (AUG., quaest. 15.)] In Exodus it is read that the Lord gave the tables to Moses, etc., *as far as* it endures unto the age.

## CHAPTER X.

VERS. 4.-- *And he wrote in. [n: (AUG. quaest. 14 in Deut.)]* In Exodus Moses, etc., *as far as* but he himself helps the choice of a good will.

VERS. 6.-- *In Mosera,* etc. In the book of Numbers he is written to have died upon [0462B] mount Hor, but perhaps the place is of two names. For Beroth of the children of Jacan is a place in the desert, as is Mosera, where Aaron died, as is read in the books of places. And it is shown unto this day at the tenth milestone from the city of Petra, upon the top of the mountain

VERS. 8.-- *The tribe of Levi.* Unless by this were signified the whole royal priesthood which pertains to the New Testament, a man who was not of that tribe would not dare to say: *The Lord is my portion [n: (Psal. LXXII)]*; and elsewhere: *The Lord is the portion of my inheritance,* etc. [n: (Ibid., XV.)]

VERS. 14.-- *The heaven of heaven,* etc. Some say that there are three heavens: the airy, the ethereal, and the starry. Not a few say seven: the first airy, the second ethereal, the third olympian, the fourth fiery, the fifth the firmament, [0462C] the sixth watery, the seventh of the angels.

VERS. 16.-- *Circumcise,* etc. It signifies spiritual circumcision, that is, the keeping of the mind and true abstinence. As if to say: when you have extinguished the wantonness of the flesh, cut away also the superfluities of the mind. All the senses are to be circumcised. Whence Moses complains that he is uncircumcised in his lips; and Stephen to the Jews: *Uncircumcised,* he says, *in heart and ears,* etc. [n: (Act. VII)]. Truly therefore he is circumcised who *stoppeth his ears that he may not hear blood, and shutteth his eyes that he may not see evil;* who does not offend with his tongue, whose heart is not weighed down with surfeiting and drunkenness, who washeth his hands among the innocent, and keepeth back his feet from every evil way; who chastiseth his body and bringeth it [0462D] into subjection, and with all watchfulness keepeth his heart. We need a twofold circumcision also, lest out of these things we seek vainglory, lest we be clean without and unclean within, and undergo the penalties of a feigned holiness, like the Sichemites, who imitated the circumcision of the patriarchs, not for the love of God, but for the cause of wantonness: therefore they gained nothing of reward, but on the third day perished within the ruins of their own city. For such men, at the time of the resurrection, when the virtues in which they trusted have been emptied out, die for ever.

VERS. 22.-- *Thy fathers went down into Egypt.* There is a going down into Egypt: *Easy is the descent of Avernus.* There is a going up into Jerusalem, because narrow is the way that leadeth to life, and virtue makes for the steep

## CHAPTER XI.

[0463A]

VERS. 10.-- *Out of which thou camest.* In mind, with Moses for leader, that is, with the law teaching us to despise earthly pleasures and to enter the land of promise with Jesus for leader.

*Of gardens.* Because all carnal men desire to multiply for themselves present happiness and an abundance of temporal things.

VERS. 12.-- *From the beginning of the year.* That is, from the beginning of a good will unto the perfection of good work he directs the course of life. *For it is God who worketh in us to will and to accomplish, according to good will [n: (Philip. II)]*.

VERS. 14.-- *The early,* etc. Because in the former time he bestowed upon his elect the understanding of the law; he granted the latter rain, because in the last time he laid open to us the mystery of his incarnation.

[0463B] *And the latter,* etc. Because it is the last hour when his preaching reaches us, who says: *The lifting up of my hands, an evening sacrifice [n: (Psal. CXL)]*.

VERS. 20.-- *Thou shalt write them upon the door posts. [n: (AUG., quaest. 17.)]* Is this according to the letter, or is it a hyperbolical commendation, as many things are said?

VERS. 29.-- *Mount Garizim.* Garizim is interpreted Division or Stranger; Hebal is interpreted Old Gulf. For they who separate themselves from vices, and judge themselves strangers and pilgrims in this world, merit also the eternal blessing. But they who cast themselves headlong into the gulf of the old life, serving carnal desires, shall lie under the eternal curse

## CHAPTER XII.

[0463C]

VERS. 6.-- *Tithes and firstfruits,* etc. [n: (AUG., quaest. 18.)] It is to be asked how he commands that the tithings of all fruits and the firstlings of all cattle be not eaten save in the city where the temple was, whereas in the law he had commanded them to be given to the Levites.

VERS. 13.-- *Beware lest thou offer.* He cuts off the occasion of sacrificing to idols. For he therefore commands that victims be offered in the temple and at the altar of the Lord, that where religion is whole, there a fitting worship may be shown. But mystically he intimates that no gift is acceptable to God outside the catholic Church; for this is the place which God chose, that he might put his name [0463D] there, and dwell in it.

VERS. 16.-- *Without eating.* He forbids murder. The blood is put for the soul, because the seat of the soul, that is, of human life, is in the blood.

VERS. 17.-- *In thy towns.* That is, thou shalt not assign to thy own merits the things thou hast received by the divine bounty, not to thy own strength, but to God, by whose gift thou hast had this [n: (Gal. VI)].

VERS. 23.-- *This only beware.* According to the letter the apostles commanded this: and in the blood both murder and the hatred of brethren are forbidden. For he that hateth his brother is a murderer [n: (I Joan. III)].

*For their blood.* Because there is something vital in the blood, and by it chiefly life is lived in this flesh, [0464A] which is diffused through all the veins: this he calls the soul, that is, the life of the body, which is ended by death. But mystically it is intimated that, when carnal men depart from their former manner of life and join themselves in the unity of faith and of good works, we should not turn their errors to our own use, but should pour them out, that is, should reckon them, brought forth by confession, to earthly frailty, and cast them away as unworthy of spiritual men.

## CHAPTER XIII.

VERS. 1.-- *If there rise up.* He would have it understood that the things which are spoken by diviners not according to God, even if they come to pass, are not so to be received that the things foretold by them should come about; nor does he show that the things which so happen are beyond his own power. But he subjoins why he permits it, [0464B] namely, for the knowing how much they that serve them love God — not for him who knows all things.

## CHAPTER XIV.

VERS. 1.-- *You shall not cut yourselves.* Unto this day many nations cut themselves at the funerals of the dead. Whence: *Be not you sorrowful, even as the rest, who have not hope.* But to do these things belongs to them who despair of the resurrection.

*Neither shall you make. The hairs of your head are numbered [n: (Matth. X)]*, that is, the thoughts, which ought not to be taken away from the comeliness of the head and offered to the devil, as certain men offer the bodily hairs to the devil.

VERS. 3.-- *Eat not.* The animals are unclean, [0464C] but what they express by signifying are the manners, namely, of men, and their acts, and their wills.

VERS. 5.-- *The camelopard.* Which, sprinkled with white spots, is like a camel in the head, like a horse in the neck, like a buffalo in the feet, and for the rest a leopard: it is born in Ethiopia.

*Every beast that into two.* The Church receives and incorporates into her own members those who divide the hoof, who know how to have the discernment of good and evil, and who chew the cud, that is, who meditate in the law day and night.

VERS. 6.-- *That into two parts.* He, namely, who, taking up the two testaments, establishes himself with a firm step of justice and innocence

VERS. 7.-- *The camel.* The Jew, who strains out the gnat and swallows the camel, who chews the letter, but has not [0464D] a cloven hoof, because he does not divide the letter from the spirit: these are the scribes and Pharisees.

*The hare.* By the *choerogyllus* and the hare he signifies the multitude of the Jews, for each animal is weak and feeble.

*Because they chew the cud.* The Jews chew the words of the law, but they do not divide the hoof, because they do not believe in the Father and the Son, nor do they receive the two testaments. But certain heretics divide the hoof, yet do not chew the doctrine of truth in their mouth [n: (Levit. XI)].

VERS. 9.-- *These shall you eat of all that move in the waters.* By these are understood the Gentiles, who are born again in the waters of baptism.

*Which have little fins.* Meditating the law of the sublime [0465A] and heavenly life; because ignorance of the divine law had long been among the Gentiles, he adds little fins and scales: for as fishes are scaled and finned, so to those whose ignorance is but temporal there is quickly added the knowledge of the sublime and of the heavenly life.

VERS. 12.-- *And the griffin.* Which is a four-footed beast, like an eagle in head and wings, like a lion in the rest of its body, and it abounds in the Hyperborean mountains, most hostile to horses and to men.

VERS. 15.-- *The ostrich.* Which is not lifted up from the earth, but is entangled in secular business.

*The night owl.* Which sees sharply in the night, and not in the day. Like those who glory in the knowledge of the law, and do not take in the light of the Gospel.

*The gull.* Which flies as a bird and swims as a water creature: he, namely, who [0465B] venerates both circumcision and baptism. To such Paul says: *If you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing [n: (Gal. V)]*.

*The hawk,* etc. They who seem meek, but ally themselves with the mighty and the greedy.

VERS. 16.-- *The swan and the ibis.* These are said to be of a long neck, and to draw their food from the deep of the earth: but we ought to seek the bread which came down from heaven, and not to be solicitous what we shall eat [n: (Joan. VI Matth. VI)]

VERS. 17.-- *The night raven.* Which creeps and works by night, signifying those who are given over to the works of night, which are fornication, uncleanness, the worship of idols, and the like.

VERS. 18.-- *The hoopoe.* Which loves mourning. But the sorrow [0465C] of the world worketh death: *But we ought to rejoice in the Lord, and in all things to give thanks [n: (II Cor. VII; I Thes. V)]*.

*The bat,* etc. Which flies about the earth, and walks with its wings. But our conversation ought to be in heaven [n: (Phil. III)].

VERS. 21.-- *But whatsoever.* Mystically it is enjoined upon the ecclesiastical man that he keep himself in holiness, and shun all uncleanness of sin, and suffer the stranger, that is, the Gentile, to remain in his own filth.

*To the stranger that is within thy gates.* As if to say: leave unclean things to pagans and heretics. Hence in the Gospel the demons are permitted to go into the herd of swine [n: (Matth. VIII)], and it is said: *Let the dead bury their own dead* [0465D] [n: (Luc. IX)].

*In milk,* by middling disciplines, but by more austere ones, that by bitter things they might restore the sweet things which they lost.

VERS. 22.-- *The tithe.* As if to say: the good things which thou dost, do according to the precepts of the divine law, and set them apart for the Lord, that thou mayest do all things unto his praise.

VERS. 23.-- *The firstborn.* That is, the beginnings of good work, which are to be tithed, that is, to be consecrated to the Lord.

VERS. 24.-- *To carry.* As if to say: they who are far from the perfection of the saints, and can neither ascend the summit of the virtues nor be free for contemplation — what they can, let them do humbly and devoutly, and let them make themselves friends of the mammon of iniquity, and treasures in [0466A] heaven, that they may be received into the eternal tabernacles, where there is feasting and rejoicing with friends, that is, with the saints and elect of God.

VERS. 26.-- *And thou shalt buy with the same money,* etc. Spiritually it is enjoined that we should always press upon good works, that after this life we may return to our own house, that is, to the heavenly fatherland.

VERS. 28.-- *Another tithe.* Besides that one, namely, which thou eatest with thine own and with the Levites, in the place which the Lord shall choose.

VERS. 29.-- *And the Levite shall come.* He plainly shows that this tithe is not to be shared with him who offers it, but only with those to whom he commanded it to be paid out, among whom he set the Levite chiefly.

## CHAPTER XV.

[0466B]

VERS. 1.-- *In the seventh year.* In this chapter piety and love are commended, that we may have mercy upon our neighbours and look for a reward from the Lord. For in due time we shall reap, not failing, if, while we have time, we work good toward all, but most of all toward the household of the faith [n: (I Tim. V)]; whence: *Forgive, and you shall be forgiven; give, and it shall be given to you [n: (Luc. VI)]*.

*In the seventh year.* Because in the sevenfold Spirit is remission. Almost all the solemnities of the law are in the number seven: for the sabbath is on the seventh day; and Pentecost when seven weeks are finished; the seventh year also is kept; and the jubilee follows after seven times seven years.

[0466C]VERS. 3-- *Of the stranger.* Although all are our neighbours, yet mercy is chiefly to be bestowed upon those who with us are members of Christ. *For he that hath the substance of this world, and bestoweth not upon his needy brother, how doth the charity of God abide in him? [n: (I Joan. III.)]*

VERS. 6.-- *Thou shalt lend.* As if to say: thou shalt be richer than all nations. The Church too abounds in spiritual riches: she herself teaches, and has no need to be taught.

VERS. 9.-- *Beware. [n: (AUG., quaest. 21.)]* The LXX: *Attend to thyself, lest there be a hidden word,* etc., *as far as* if he cruelly thinks that it is not to be given at that time at which it is to be given?

VERS. 12.-- *When there shall be sold to thee,* etc. [n: (ISID.)] If [0466D] a Hebrew boy shall have come into servitude, etc., *as far as* namely, we shall serve sins for ever.

*When there shall be sold to thee,* etc. The Hebrew is a passer-over, who, namely, tends toward the eternal fatherland, and passes over from vices to virtues, from earthly things to heavenly; if such a one sell himself to thee, that is, make himself over to thy teaching, thou shalt teach him to be zealous to work in the present life, that he may be able to come to rest. That is: six years he shall serve thee, in the seventh thou shalt let him go free, nor shalt thou suffer him to go away empty; as if to say: thou shalt promise him eternal rewards and true liberty in the other life. But if he shall say, I will not go out, because he loveth thee and thy house — that is, if he did the good things he did not for an eternal reward, but for human praise, as one loving the present [0467A] life — thou shalt bore his ear with an awl, that is, his mind with the terror of judgment; thou shalt prick him at the door of the house, because the judgment will be at the going out of this life and the entering of the other, and he shall serve thee unto eternity, that is, thou shalt teach him that, if he has loved the world more than God, he is to be made over to eternal punishments.

[n: (GREG., hom. 3 in Ezech.)] Whereas the active life and the contemplative are ours of God's grace, etc., *as far as* where with an awl the ear of him that refuses liberty is commanded to be bored through.

VERS. 19.-- *Of the firstlings. [n: (AUG., quaest. 23.)]* He says firstborn, etc., *as far as* because he alone is of the substance of the Father, and equal and coeternal.

*Thou shalt sanctify to the Lord thy God.* Not to thyself, but to the bestower of all things: *Because every best gift is from above [0467B] [n: (Jac. I)]*. But whatever is light in our thought, or spotted in our manner of life, or lame in the going forward of our works, or blind through ignorance of mind, or in any part deformed or feeble, we ought not to immolate, that is, to impute, to God, but to ourselves.

*Thou shalt not work. [n: (GREG., lib. VIII Moral., cap. 34.)]* To plough with the firstling of the ox, etc., *as far as* the deceived mind may not perceive the evils that are in them.

VERS. 16.-- *But if he shall have.* There are certain works which, although they please God less, yet profit the neighbour; and if they cannot be offered to God, they can be eaten. For although they please God less because of the darkened intention which God beholds, yet they help the neighbours by example. *As the roe and the hart.* The roe goes [0467C] by leaping; the hart is the enemy of the serpent, and, leaping over rough and thorny places, it climbs the mountains; and therefore they are taken in a good part.

## CHAPTER XVI.

VERS. 1.-- *Observe the month of the new corn.* Because in it the handfuls of ears, that is, the firstfruits, were offered to the Lord by the priest.

The first month, namely of the Hebrews, which among them is called nisan, among the Greeks also ξάνθικος, among the Latins April, in which the paschal lamb was slain.

*He brought thee out.* Mystically. Let us too, delivered from the Egypt of this world and clothed with the new man, walk in newness [0467D] of life, consecrating the firstfruits of good works, and celebrating the phase, that is, a good passing over, that, Egypt being left behind, we may come to the land of promise.

VERS. 2.-- *And of oxen, in the place. [n: (AUG., quaest. 24.)]* He adds oxen, although he had given command concerning the sheep only, which he bade be taken from the sheep and the kids or the goats — or because of Christ, who according to the flesh was of the just and of sinners. For he does not say, of the sheep or of the goats, but, of the sheep and of the goats, although properly a sheep is not understood to be of the goats, lest the Jews should say that a goat was to be understood. Why then are oxen added? is it because of the other sacrifices, which are to be immolated on the days of the unleavened bread?

[0468A]VERS. 3.-- *Leavened bread.* Corrupt doctrine, or the old manner of life; whence: *Let us feast in the unleavened bread, not in the old leaven,* etc. [n: (I Cor. V)].

*Seven.* Through the whole time of the present life. As they ate unleavened bread for seven days, so let us live purely and simply through the seven days of this life, in which daily the lamb is slain and the pasch is celebrated, if, being renewed, we retain nothing of the old corruption. For what else is leaven than the corruption of nature? For what is leavened departs from its natural sweetness, and is corrupted with an adulterine rancidness.

VERS. 4.-- *It shall not appear. Let us feast not in the old leaven, nor in the leaven of malice and wickedness,* etc. [n: (I Cor. V)]; as if to say: leave the old man, and put on the new.

[0468B] *There shall not remain.* In this life all the sacraments of the Lord's incarnation are to be searched out, and all his precepts are to be fulfilled [n: (Ephes. IV)], before the morning, that is, the end of the world, comes.

VERS. 5.-- *Thou shalt not be able.* In one house the paschal lamb is eaten, and in one place the phase is immolated, that is, in the catholic Church: outside her the pasch is not rightly celebrated. He forbids the mysteries of Christ to be celebrated in the conventicles of heretics.

VERS. 6.-- *In the evening at the sun's.* In the last age of the world, when the true Sun went down in the passion and loosed the Egyptian captivity, when Christ our pasch was immolated.

VERS. 7.-- *Thou shalt go into the tabernacles.* The service of the Lord being accomplished, in the morning of the resurrection we shall pass over into the eternal [0468C] tabernacles, that we may rest from all labour, rejoicing over the retribution received.

VERS. 8.-- *On the seventh day.* By the eternal rest, which the number seven signifies: because of the sabbath, where there is no labour, no reckoning of working.

VERS. 9.-- *Seven weeks.* More fully in Leviticus. *Thou shalt number therefore from the morrow after the sabbath seven full weeks, unto the morrow of the searching out of the seventh week.*

*[n: (AUG., quaest. 25.)] Seven weeks,* etc. If this Pentecost was commanded to be observed by the whole people, is it to be believed that all were bidden to put the sickle into the harvest on one day? But if each man observes that fiftieth day for himself, numbering from that day on which he puts in the sickle, it is not one for the whole people. But that one [0468D] is one which is reckoned from the immolation of the pasch unto the day of the giving of the law on Sina.

We too celebrate Pentecost, that is, the coming of the Holy Spirit, who is the finger of God, by whom the law was written on the tables.

VERS. 13.-- *The solemnity.* He who uses the present world as a tabernacle can keep festival and rejoice in it, because of the expectation of what is to come: *Because if the earthly house of this our habitation be dissolved, he shall have a house not made with hands in heaven [n: (I Cor. V)]*.

*When.* He signifies that, the perfection of all good things being consummated and many virtues gathered together, there is to be rejoicing and exulting with friends. When each one who here has been bountiful [0469A] in giving shall exult over the retribution received, then truly shall the solemnity of tabernacles be kept — not of changeable ones, that is, but of eternal ones; whence: *That they may receive you into eternal tabernacles [n: (Luc. XVI)]*.

VERS. 16.-- *The male.* Not the female; for nothing soft, frail, or feeble ought to be in our manner of life: God requires of us all things strong [n: (Exod. XXIII, XXXIV; Eccli. XXXV)]. But if, in the faith of the Trinity, of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, with regard for the eternal reward, we sweat at good works in the time of the present life, we set a male in the sight of the Lord.

*In all.* That they who come from every side may at once, at the entrance, find men prepared, from whom they may receive just judgments.

[0469B]VERS. 19.-- *The eyes of the wise.* Among men, not with God; to whom it is said: *Woe to you that are wise in your own eyes [n: (Isa. V)]*.

VERS. 20.-- *Justly. [n: (GREG., lib. X Moral., cap. 19.)]* He unjustly pursues what is just who is stirred to the defence of justice not by zeal of virtue, but by love of a temporal reward, and does not fear to sell the justice he puts forward. Justly therefore to pursue the just is, in the asserting of justice, to seek justice itself: *There are ways which seem to men just,* etc. [n: (Prov. XIV)]. And: *Woe to you who justify yourselves before men [n: (Luc. XVI)]*.

VERS. 21.-- *Thou shalt not plant.* He cuts off the occasion of idolatry. For the nations were wont to immolate, and to adore statues in their shrines.

[0469C] *A grove.* [n: (ISID.)] A wood, leafy unfruitful trees, etc., *as far as* nor does it permit the feigning of falsehood or of error to be joined to catholic truth.

## CHAPTER XVII.

VERS. 2.-- *And when there shall be found.* The law above all detests error and idolatry: for it is the greatest wickedness to pay to a creature the honour of the Creator; which the Gentiles do, or bad catholics, who, although they do not withdraw from the Church, yet are found rather to serve the devil through divers vices than to war for God through good works. These he bids to be overwhelmed with stones, whom an irrevocable sentence has foreseen to be condemned.

VERS. 6.-- *In the mouth of two or three witnesses.* By the attestation, namely, of the law, of the prophets, and of the Gospel, according to [0469D] that: *The word which he hath spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day [n: (Joan. XII)]*. In the title of the cross too three tongues bear witness that Christ is the king of the Jews: the Hebrew, the Greek, and the Latin [n: (Joan. XIX)].

*Let no man be put to death.* So great is the concord of the Old and the New Testament, that neither is without the other.

In human judgment the authority of Holy Scripture is first to be sought.

VERS. 81.-- *If difficult.* He instructs the priests of the Church of God, that they may conduct ecclesiastical judgments reverently according to the power given them by God, and may decree justly, not at their own pleasure, but according to the decree of the law, lest by accepting a person they change the sentence.

[0470A]VERS. 11.-- *According to.* Note, it is not said to thee that thou shouldst obey, unless they have taught according to the law; whence: *Upon the chair of Moses have sitten the scribes and the Pharisees [n: (Matth. XXIII)]*.

VERS. 12.-- *At the command of the priest.* Of Christ, who is a priest for ever according to the order of Melchisedech, who put vicars in his own stead, to whom he says: *He that heareth you heareth me; and he that despiseth you despiseth me,* etc. [n: (Luc. X)]. By right therefore he undergoes the sentence of damnation who contemns the power of the Godhead.

VERS. 14.-- *When thou shalt have entered into the land,* etc. [n: (AUG., quaest. 26.)] It can be asked: why did the people displease God when it desired a king, seeing that here it is found to have been permitted? But it is to be understood that deservedly it was not according to the will of God, because he did not command this to be done, but permitted it to them that desired it. Nevertheless he commanded [0470B] that no stranger should be made king, but a brother out of that same people, a native, not one of another race. But as to what he says: *Thou shalt not be able:* it is to be understood, thou oughtest not.

*I will set over.* The inhabitants of the land set a king over themselves against the sentence of God.

VERS. 17.-- *He shall not have,* etc. [n: (AUG., quaest. 27.)] It is manifest that Solomon transgressed this precept, etc., *as far as* it may come to men of another race.

*Nor of silver. Lay not up to yourselves treasures on earth [n: (Matth. VI)]*.

VERS. 19.-- *And he shall read.* Note with how great assiduity priests ought to read, since kings read assiduously. Reading itself is light and life; whence: *The words which I speak to you are spirit and life [n: (Joan. VI)]*.

VERS. 20.-- *Pride.* As if to say: let him know that he is a brother. [0470C] We all have one Father, God, to whom we say: *Our Father, who art in heaven,* etc. [n: (Luc. XI)].

*Pride.* It is a blessing to reign over Israel, that is, by reigning to make Israel, that is, men seeing God.

## CHAPTER XVIII.

VERS. 1.-- *They shall not have.* Both in the Old and in the New Testament it is enjoined upon the ministers of the altar to live from the oblations and the tithes, nor is it granted them to gape after the acquiring of earthly possessions. Whence: *Do not possess gold nor silver,* etc. [n: (Matth. X)]; and a little after: *For the workman is worthy of his food [n: (I Cor. IX.)]* And elsewhere: *They who serve the altar partake with the altar [n: (Num. XVIII)]*. For it is not fitting that [0470D] he who ought always to stand by the divine office should gape after earthly gain, whose inheritance God is. What therefore can be lacking to him who has him that has all things.

VERS. 2.-- *Inheritance.* For good working, that what he has conceived in mind he may prove in deed; whence: *Jesus began to do and to teach [n: (Act. I)]*.

VERS. 3.-- *They shall give.* Because we ought devoutly to communicate with our teachers in bodily comforts and in spiritual profits; whence: *Let him that is catechized in the word communicate to him that catechizeth him, in every good work [n: (Gal. VI)]*.

*The maw.* The belly is the receptacle of foods; all the labours of men and the momentary flatteries of the gullet are such, and their end he condemns; and to minds [0471A] consecrated to God he shows that the whole of what we devour is cast forth into the outcome; whence: *Meat for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both the one and the other.*

VERS. 4.-- *Firstfruits.* It behoves the labouring husbandman to receive first, out of the fruits, the firstfruits of the crops.

VERS. 6.-- *If he shall go forth.* He as it were forsakes city and house who serves God freely, and sets forth the Gospel without charge.

VERS. 8.-- *Except. [n: (AUG., quaest. 38.)]* What the LXX, etc., *as far as* that ought to be kept for him which was rendered to his parents.

VERS. 9.-- *When thou art entered in. [n: (AUG., quaest. 29.)]* Since inspectors of portents are forbidden, etc., *as far as* thus those inspections of the prodigal are to be distinguished from the significations of miracles.

[0471B]VERS. 10.-- *Soothsayers.* They who go about the altars with unspeakable prayers, and seek divination in the entrails of animals.

*Auguries.* As it were *avigeria*, things which are carried on (*gerantur*) in the voices of birds. Or *avigaria*, from the chattering (*garritus*) of birds.

VERS. 11.-- *Pythons.* Ventriloquists, out of whose belly demons speak, so called from Python, that is, from Apollo, whom they believed to be the god of divination.

VERS. 15.-- *A prophet of.* Although it may be taken historically of the prophets who after Moses were filled with the Spirit of God among the people of Israel, yet it is better taken of the Lord of the prophets, of whom the crowds filled by him said: *This is of a truth the prophet that is to come into the world [n: (Joan. VI)]*. And elsewhere: *A great prophet [0471C] is risen up among us [n: (Luc. VII)]*.

## CHAPTER XIX.

VERS. 2.-- *Three.* Faith, hope and charity, to which all penitents ought to flee.

Moses appointed three cities of refuge beyond the Jordan for homicides who committed homicide not willingly; three others about the Jordan he bids to be set apart [n: (Num. XXXV; Josue. XX)], mystically intimating that before the receiving of baptism he who wishes to be saved from sin and to be freed from spiritual enemies ought with sincere mind to confess the faith of the holy Trinity, and after baptism to work manfully in faith, hope and charity. And thus living religiously in the world, which was founded in the number six, after the perfection of good [0471D] works he awaits eternal rest in the sabbath-rest.

VERS. 3.-- *Into three.* That he who is to be saved may escape the more easily. Preachers also ought by word and by example to take counsel for sinners, and equally in the whole earth of the Church to intimate to all the faith of the Trinity, that they may acknowledge the way of truth and the gate of faith to lie open to them, and themselves to be deservedly damned if they should be unwilling to enter.

*But to have gone away.* For by an example he shows what kind of homicide is to be saved.

[n: (GREG., Past. part. II, cap. X, tom. III.)] We go to the wood with a friend, etc., *as far as* which is not perpetrated maliciously.

[n: (AMBR., lib. de Fuga saeculi, cap. 2.)] It is plain that provision was fittingly [0472A] made, etc., *as far as* struck with the Levitical sword let the sense of the flesh die, that your soul may live.

VERS. 9.-- *Thou shalt add to thee.* In the book of Joshua the son of Nun six cities of refuge are decreed for such homicides *(Josue XX)*. Cades in Galilee of mount Nephtali, Sichem in mount Ephraim, and Cariatharbe, which is Hebron, in mount Juda. And beyond the Jordan, Bosor of the tribe of Ruben, and Ramoth in Galaad of the tribe of Gad, and Gaulon in Basan, of the tribe of Manasse.

[n: (AMBR., ubi supra.)] Now there are refuges of six cities, etc., *as far as* or let us venerate them by the declining of things forbidden.

VERS. 11.-- *But if any man hating his neighbour.* He who out of malice strikes anyone, and leads him into the death of the soul, is guilty of eternal death; whence: *If any man shall scandalize one of these little ones that believe in me,* etc. [0472B] And elsewhere: *He that hateth his brother is a murderer, and shall not have eternal life [n: (Matth. XVIII; I Joan. III)]*. This man is torn away from the altar, as unworthy of the Lord's sacraments, nor does he earn pardon save through worthy penance. But he who kills not willingly has cities of refuge, namely the Catholic Church, where, constraining himself with the strait of penance, let him give himself to good works through the whole time of the present life; and if he shall have placed his hope in the death of the high priest, that is, of his Redeemer, he shall at length deserve to be saved.

He who keeps fraternal hatred in his heart cannot do fruitful penance, nor appease God toward himself.

VERS. 14.-- *Thou shalt not take and remove thy neighbour's landmarks,* etc. Whence: *Pass not beyond the bounds which thy fathers [0472C] have set [n: (Prov. XXII)]*, that is, the rules and the definitions of living of the fathers who went before.

VERS. 15.-- *One witness shall not stand.* This too we ought to keep historically. And against the impious or heretics, when we have need of the testimonies of the Scriptures, we bring forward two witnesses, that is, the Old and the New Testament; or three, that is, the Gospel, the prophets, the apostle — and so the word stands.

VERS. 21.-- *Life for life.* For he who has made a soul to err is not worthy of pardon.

*Tooth for tooth [n: (Exod. XXI; Lev. XXIV; Matth. V)]*. The force of words. For teeth signify words, according to that: *The sons of men, their teeth are weapons [n: (Psal. LVI)]*. And elsewhere: *His teeth than milk,* that is, [0472D] than the law, *are whiter [n: (Gen. XXIX)]*.

*A hand,* etc. Working: that those things, namely. are useful or hurtful to him which he perverts in another.

## CHAPTER XX.

VERS. 1.-- *Because the Lord.* Mystically. [n: (AUG., quaest. 30.)] The LXX: *Since the Lord,* etc., *as far as* that he might show that they themselves also were about to act.

VERS. 5.-- *What man is. [n: (ID., quaest. 31.)]* He is not the better in war who has already dedicated buildings, etc., *as far as* but these things were instituted for the trying of the minds of men.

*What man is.* [n: (ISID.)] He teaches that no one can take up the profession of contemplation or of spiritual [0473A] warfare, etc., *as far as: that he may please him to whom he has approved himself [n: (II Tim. II)]*.

It is better to shun a profession or a persecution than to succumb in it. To a disputation also against heretics one ought not to come, unless learned and perfect, lest, being overcome, he scandalize others.

VERS. 16.-- *Thou shalt permit none at all.* No vice is to be spared in our manner of life, lest before the eyes of the Lord we appear corrupted by pleasures and abominable, and our enemies, exulting over our ruin, say: *Well done, well done to our soul; we will devour him [n: (Psal. XXXIV)]*.

## CHAPTER XXI.

VERS. 1.-- *When there shall be found,* etc. A carcass, a body [0473B] without a soul, and a soul without God, who is its life. *In the land which the Lord thy God will give thee,* that is, in the Church. *Guilty of the slaughter,* the author of sedition; *The elders,* those greater in life and in wisdom. *The judges,* that is, the priests, whose office it is to judge concerning individuals, that is, to discern. *They shall measure from the place of the carcass,* that is, with the utmost discretion they shall investigate the author of the sedition. *They shall take a heifer of the herd,* that is, the flesh of Christ, which he took from the fathers. *Which hath not drawn the yoke,* because *he did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth. Nor hath it cut the earth with the ploughshare [n: (I Petr. II)]*, that is, it admitted no stain of sedition.

*And the guilty of the slaughter shall be unknown.* The devil, who is invisible and is therefore said to be unknown; for it is known that he put it into the heart of Judas to betray him [n: (Joan. XIII)].

[0473C] *The elders,* etc. The apostles and the teachers who by the attestation of Scripture have perceived that no nation was so ready for slaughter as the people of the Jews, who shed the blood both of the prophets and of the Lord.

VERS. 4.-- *And they shall lead her to a rough valley,* etc. Namely to a despised and most shameful death; whence: *Let us condemn him to a most shameful death. Which hath never been ploughed [n: (Sap. II)]*, because the death of Christ was without fault. Nor *hath it received seed [n: (Matth. XIII)]*, that is, the cockle of sin, which the enemy man oversowed. We can take the rough valley as the Gentile world, which was rough; stony, because it adored stones; in which the neck of the heifer was struck off, because for the salvation of the Gentiles the death of Christ was celebrated. The neck is the strength of the flesh, which he laid down in death. *They shall wash their hands over the heifer,* [0473D] that is, they shall purge their works through confidence in the passion of Christ.

VERS. 6.-- *And they shall wash their hands,* etc. That is, they shall show their works to be clean in the passion of Christ. For although the sacraments of that same passion are repeated daily, yet from all the fraud of the Jews they have hearts and works most clean.

VERS. 8.-- *Be merciful.* According to their office they bless the people, that vengeance be not rendered for the crime, but salvation for the redemption.

VERS. 10.-- *If he shall have gone forth to battle.* [n: (ISID.)] Let the Jews say, how do they keep these things? what is the reason that the woman is shaved and her nails pared? what if she be found without hair and without nails?

[0474A]VERS. 11.-- *A beautiful woman.* As Paul, who took from Menander: *Evil communications corrupt good manners [n: (I Cor. XV)]*. And from Aratus: *In him we live, and move, and are: for we are also his offspring [n: (Act. XVII)]*.

Others think that this woman comely in appearance signifies the reasonable discipline found among the Gentiles: for from her must be cut away every uncleanness of superstition, that she may be taken up unto the study of truth. For the disciplines of the Gentiles have nothing clean, because there is no discipline among them to which somewhat of uncleanness or of superstition is not mingled.

VERS. 13.-- *One month,* that is, thirty days, that after the faith of the Trinity and the work of the law she may deserve to be joined to the Church; for thrice ten make thirty.

[0474B] *And afterwards.* When neither in the head, that is, in the senses, nor in the hands, that is, in the works, will there be anything superfluous or unclean.

VERS. 15.-- *If a man have two wives,* etc. Christ joined to himself two wives, namely the people of the Jews and of the Gentiles, under the name of wedlock. The synagogue is hateful, ever contentious, stiff-necked, uncircumcised in heart; the Gentile Church is beloved. But he cannot prefer the son of the beloved to the son of the hateful, that is, prefer the Church of the Gentiles and her sons to the apostles and the other first men, who are the sons of the synagogue. He acknowledges the firstborn of the hateful, he gives him a double portion, because to the first sons of the synagogue he gave the law and the prophets, and the knowledge of his name, and to them first he preached the Gospel. For he is the firstborn of his children.

[0474C] *One beloved.* Animality, which seems sweet and delightful: it desires all voluptuous things and afflicts with no sorrow.

*The other hateful.* Rationality, which does not indulge the body, nor serve pleasure, but renounces the hidden things of dishonesty.

VERS. 16.-- *The firstborn.* The apostles and apostolic men, who hold the place of the firstborn, whose authority the Church follows.

VERS. 17.-- *But the son.* This is to be done to the letter, that no one follow the motion of his own mind, or love, or hatred, but nature.

*All things double.* The apostles received all things double, who were endowed with doctrine and with working.

To the other he will give that he may live, not that he may abound; as Abraham set the son of the handmaid [0474D] over the nations: upon the son of Sara he heaped not only temporal but spiritual things [n: (Gen. XII)].

VERS. 18.-- *If he beget. Obedience is better than victims, and to hearken rather than to offer the fat of rams; for it is as the sin of divining to rebel,* etc. [n: (I Reg. XV.)] Moses therefore bids the disobedient and vicious son to be overwhelmed with stones: the Gospel too rebukes such men with hard reproofs, as with stones: *Ye offspring of vipers, who shall teach you to flee from the wrath to come [n: (Luc. III)]*?

VERS. 22.-- *Hanged up.* His torment, with the people looking on; whence: *Them that sin reprove before all, that the rest may have fear [n: (II Tim. V)]*.

[0475A]VERS. 23.-- *It shall not remain.* That is, he ought not to be left in the same condemnation, but to be called back by the exhortation of teachers, so that reconciliation be denied to none while he lives.

*It shall not remain.* Penance is not to be deferred from day to day, but to be done at once, that through unfruitful [cj: *infructuosam*; read *fructuosam*, "fruitful"] penance offences may be hidden from the eyes of God; whence: *Blessed are they whose sins are covered [n: (Psal. XXXI)]*.

*Cursed of God. [n: (AUG., lib. XIV contra Faustum.)]* Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us [n: (Gal. III)]. [nt: (For Adam fell in the tree of transgression: therefore he merited a curse for himself and for his posterity, of which he says: Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.)] For he underwent a cursed, that is, an execrable and most shameful death.

[0475B] *[n: (ID., ubi supra, cap. 3, 4.)] He that hangeth is cursed of God,* etc. Certain heretics transfer this sentence to the calumny of the passion of Christ, etc., *as far as* well therefore is that called cursed which God hates: this hung upon the tree.

*Thou shalt defile.* With the tears of penance we ought to wash away the stench of sins, lest it breed scandal for others and torment for ourselves.

## CHAPTER XXII.

VERS. 1.-- *Thou shalt not see.* Morally. Thy brother is the teacher of the Church, whose disciple — whether the learned, who is signified by the ox, or the unlearned, who is signified by the sheep — if thou see him err, do not neglect him, but exhort him [0475C] that thou mayest be able to reconcile him to his brother, that is, to his master. *Bring him into thy house [n: (I Cor. XI)]*, that is, apply care. And *if he be not near,* that is, of thy church, but a teacher of another.

VERS. 3.-- *In like manner.* To the Gentile, namely, whose usefulness and uncleanness we ought not to despise.

*With the garment.* The people, wherewith the teacher is adorned. To the letter also all these things and the like are to be kept.

VERS. 5.-- *A woman shall not be clothed,* etc. [n: (AUG., quaest. 32.)] Another edition, etc., *as far as* he ought not to have anything womanish or soft in his teaching.

*A woman.* Whose colour is naturally diverse, her movement unchaste, and her strength; to whom it is not permitted to teach, nor to have dominion over the man, nor let her usurp the office of preaching [n: (I Cor. XIII)].

[0475D]It is against nature for a man to do womanish things, to curl his hair, to twist his locks; whence the Apostle: *If a man nourish his hair, it is a shame unto him.* But to the woman her hair is given for a covering; a man therefore shall not be clothed with a woman's garment, that is, with loose and dissolute working.

[n: (RAB.)] We go along the way, etc., *as far as* but out of it we retain the allegorical sense in the mind.

VERS. 8.-- *A new house,* that is, the Church.

*A wall of the roof,* that is, the guard of the virtues.

*Lest blood be shed in thy house,* that is, lest thou be held guilty when another sins.

*[n: (GREG., lib. VIII Moral., cap. 39.)] Lest it be shed.* Through carelessness and sloth. Whence he who gathers virtues without [0476A] humility, as it were carries dust into the wind.

VERS. 9.-- *A vineyard,* the doctrine, or the people committed to the teachers, where the wine of spiritual grace ought to abound.

*With other seed,* that is, with the heretical. The good seed is the word of God; the wicked seed is that which the enemy sowed [n: (Matth. XIII)]: care must therefore be taken lest anything of error be mingled in, and the seed of God be corrupted.

VERS. 10.-- *Thou shalt not plough.* [n: (ISID.)] He ploughs with an ox and an ass who receives the Gospels together with the observance of the Jews, which went before in shadow. In the ox also is the life of those who work well, in the ass the slothfulness of the foolish: as if to say, join not the fool to the wise man in preaching, lest through him who is not strong to fulfil the thing thou hinder him who prevails. [0476B] But the fool and the wise are well joined together, so that the one may command and the other obey, not that they should announce the word of God with equal power.

Allegorically he mixes wool or purple with linen garments who lives disorderly, and with departures of divers kinds, as if a nun should have the ornaments of a wife, or a wife bear the appearance of a virgin. Now this was figured in garments which is now declared in morals.

VERS. 12.-- *Little cords.* For a distinction, namely, as the sign of circumcision separates the Israelites from the rest. But superstitious masters, catching at the breeze of popular favour and at gains from silly women, enlarged their fringes and bound thorns to them, that whether walking or sitting they might be pricked, and so be admonished to serve God; [0476C] whence: *They enlarge their phylacteries and they magnify their fringes.*

VERS. 13.-- *If a man take. [n: (AUG., quaest. 33.)]* It appears how women subject to their husbands, etc., *as far as* wherewith the other should have been punished.

VERS. 15.-- *Her father and mother.* The teachers of the Church, who as father and mother cherish the people: fathers by authority, mothers by tenderness.

VERS. 18.-- *And they shall beat him.* It is no wonder if the man who falsely accuses is bidden to be beaten and to pay a fine, but the girl, if she be guilty, to be stoned: because through the woman was the beginning of sin, who seduced the man and sinned doubly, first against God, afterwards against the man; the man only against God

VERS. 19.-- *A hundred sicles,* etc. By the perfection of doctrine [0476D] and of solicitude which he should spend upon the people subject to him, or of penance. For the hundredfold number is perfect, the fiftyfold consecrated to penance.

VERS. 23.-- *If a man have betrothed a maid that is a virgin.* In this chapter, as in the two preceding and the two following, he condemns bodily fornication.

VERS. 26.-- *She shall suffer nothing.* But she shall be called back to the faith begun, being freed from her enemies through the grace of baptism.

VERS. 29.-- *He shall not be able. [n: (AUG., quaest. 34.)]* It is deservedly asked whether this be the penalty, that he cannot put her away for all time whom he disorderly and unlawfully violated; for if we understand that she cannot, that is, ought not, be put away for all time, because she has been made his wife, there occurs the fact that Moses permitted [0477A] a bill of divorce to be given and the wife to be put away. But in those things which unlawfully corrupt he willed that it should not be lawful, lest he should seem to have done it for a mockery, and rather to have feigned that he took her. This he commanded also concerning her whom her husband had calumniated concerning the tokens of virginity not found.

VERS. 30.-- *He shall not.* Our Father is Christ, whose wife is the Church; it is not lawful for a man to transfer the dignity of that bridegroom to himself, nor to violate his bride, so as to change her love unto himself, seeking his own praise and not God's out of the gift of virtues or out of preaching; to whom it is fitting to say: *Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to thy name give glory [n: (Psal. CIII)]*.

## CHAPTER XXIII.

VERS. 1.-- *He shall not enter.* All who live softly, [0477B] and do not accomplish a manly work, cannot remain in the congregation of the saints, nor are they worthy of entrance into the kingdom of heaven, which suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away.

*Mamzer.* Degenerate in sense or in morals; or one whom the depravity of heretics has made degenerate in the receiving of the sacraments; or whom the rite of heathenism or of Judaism has stained. He shall be received into the Church when with entire faith he shall have kept the decalogue of the law according to the institution of the Gospel, and, strengthened by the Holy Spirit, shall have renounced carnal converse; whence: *If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments [n: (Matth. XIX)]*. And elsewhere: *I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved [n: (Joan. X)]*.

VERS. 3.-- *The Ammonite and the Moabite. [n: (AUG., quaest. 33.)]* Another edition, etc., *as far as* they imputed it to the women, [0477C] whom they chose rather to preserve.

*The Moabite.* It signifies that heretics are ever to be driven from the Church, as if to say, *A man that is a heretic, after the first and second correction, avoid.*

VERS. 4.-- *Because they would not meet us with,* etc. The Hebrews hand down that these nations, being near of kin to them, met those going forth out of Egypt with bread only, though they knew that we laboured in the desert most of all with thirst, and therefore they were made subject to this curse.

Mystically they designate heretics, who to those fleeing out of the Egypt of this world unto the true land of promise offer polluted bread, not sweetened with the water of wisdom, and therefore they are estranged from the Church.

VERS. 5.-- *And he turned.* Because often persecution is the cause of a greater prosperity. *For to them that love God all things [0477D] work together unto good [n: (Rom. VIII)]*.

VERS. 7.-- *Thou shalt not abhor the Idumaean.* The Idumaean, the bloody or earthly one, signifies the flesh (whose matter is earthly); the Egyptian, that is, the dark one, the sickly body. We ought not to abhor our flesh, but to cherish it and to furnish it with what is necessary, yet not to make provision for it in its desires: *He is thy brother,* he says, because we are of flesh and soul. Let us not abhor the Egyptian, that is, the body, in whose land we were sojourners; for the soul, which has a heavenly origin, dwells in the body as a sojourner; whence the Apostle: *While we are in the body, we are absent from the Lord [n: (II Cor. V)]*. *They that shall be born of them,* etc., that is, little by little they shall become spiritual.

[0478A]By the Idumaean and the Egyptian is signified the present life; and although in renouncing it we shun the Egyptian land, that is, our former converse and the concupiscence of the world, yet while we are subject to the necessities of this world we do not altogether extinguish the Egyptian nation: but, in a manner set apart, we are content with daily food and clothing; in the third generation they shall enter into the Church, because a man of the world can be joined to the saints of God when he shall have believed perfectly in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, or when he shall have been adorned with hope, faith and charity.

VERS. 9.-- *When.* He instructs the spiritual soldiers of Christ, to whom it is said elsewhere: *Every one that striveth for the mastery refraineth himself from all things [n: (I Cor. IX)]*.

*If. [n: (AUG., lib. de bono conjugali, cap. 20.)]* Many things [0478B] the law sets in sacraments and in shadows of things to come, etc., *as far as* not because a dead body is sin, but it signifies the sin of a soul deserted by justice.

Mystically *[n: (GREG., lib. IX Moral., cap. 40.)] If there be among you a man who, defiled by a nocturnal,* etc. A nocturnal dream is a hidden temptation, etc., *as far as* and let it be repaired unto the merits of the faithful, which are to be presumed.

VERS. 12.-- *Thou shalt have.* For God loves bodily cleanness: therefore he commanded that nothing foul should remain in the camp.

Mystically. *[n: (GREG., lib. XXXI Mor., cap. 32.)] Thou shalt have a place,* etc. Certain superfluities of thoughts burst forth from the womb of our mind, weighed down by the burden of a corruptible nature, as it were the heaviness of the belly. But we ought to carry a paddle under our girdle, so that, being always girt for the reproving of ourselves, [0478C] we may have about us the sharp goad of compunction, which may dig into the earth of our mind with the pain of penance, and may hide what bursts forth foully from us.

VERS. 13.-- *In the girdle.* For with a girdle the reins are girt; therefore by the girdle is designated the contrition of an evil will; whence Job: *He looseth the belt of kings, and girdeth their loins with a cord [n: (Job. II)]*.

*Thou shalt cover it with earth.* Considering our earthly frailty, we ought to cover our filth.

VERS. 15.-- *Thou shalt not deliver up the servant [n: (AUG., quaest. 36.)]* The LXX: *Thou shalt not deliver up the boy to his master, who was set beside thee by his master.* Not that the master set him there, etc., *as far as* he explains this, saying: *He shall dwell among you in every place that shall please him [n: (I Reg. XXVII)]*.

[0478D]VERS. 37.-- *There shall be no harlot. [n: (AUG., quaest. 37.)]* The LXX: *There shall be no harlot,* etc., *as far as* whence we treated there what might seem to us.

*Thou shalt not offer the hire of a strumpet. [n: (AUG. quaest. 38.)]* The LXX: *Thou shalt not offer,* etc., *as far as* it had to be said that it is an abomination to the Lord.

*The price of a dog,* of a ravening one. The Most High approves not the gifts of the unjust. *He that offereth sacrifice of the substance of the poor is as one that sacrificeth the son in the presence of his father [n: (Eccli. XXXIV)]*.

VERS. 19.-- *Thou shalt not lend to thy brother upon usury.* He removes usury and avarice, and bids charity be spent.

And money, which is forbidden to be given for usury, because [0479A] it is a vice of covetousness to wish to exact what thou knowest thou hast not lent. This the Lord had, and thence delivered it to be laid out upon the poor, and invited us to the liberality of largess. There is another which we ought to give for usury; whence: *Oughtest thou not therefore to have committed my money to the bankers, that at my coming I might exact my own with usury? [n: (Matth. XXV)]*.

VERS. 20.-- *But to the stranger.* To the unbeliever or the unjust, to whom we give money for usury when for the word of preaching we exact faith, penance and good working.

VERS. 21.-- *Thou shalt not delay to pay.* Whence Solomon: *It is ruin to a man to deliberate or to delay after vows [n: (Proverb. X)]*.

VERS. 24.-- *Going into thy neighbour's vineyard.* In the church [0479B] of another bishop one may correct or confirm certain persons; it is not lawful for him to rule the whole people, or to handle great affairs.

*Without.* It is not lawful to carry this grace outside the church, because in one house the flesh of the lamb is commanded to be eaten.

VERS. 25.-- *If thou go in.* There are certain places of Scripture which historically imbue with faith, certain which morally instruct in holy converse; certain which show the mysteries to be venerated not according to history but according to allegory. Warily therefore must one go into the standing corn of one's neighbour, that by discerning thou mayest pluck food, and mayest not, by that which must be hurried, incur the judgment of the reaped harvest.

## CHAPTER XXIV.

VERS. 1.-- *If he shall take. [n: (RAB. in Deut., tom. II.)]* [0479C] A man took a wife, etc., *as far as* she remained abominable, as unworthy and defiled with error; whence: *To you it behoved us first to speak the word of God, but because,* etc. [n: (Act. XIII.)]

[n: (AUG., lib. I de sermone Domini in monte.)] There were in the law many causes of putting away wives, etc., *as far as* that they who have wives be as though they had none [n: (I Cor. VII)].

*He shall write.* For the hardness of your heart Moses wrote this precept, choosing rather to allow a separation than that a murder be committed.

VERS. 4.-- *Lest he sin.* He pollutes his land who defiles his body with carnal concupiscences. Therefore it is necessary that the ambition of the present life be tamed the sooner, lest it prevail to have dominion. And when an earthly action has once [0479D] been repelled, it is not to be sought again: let not him look back who had put his hand to the plough.

VERS. 5.-- *When he shall have taken.* As if to say, whosoever binds himself with carnal desires, let him acknowledge that he is not fit for the rule of the Church, nor for the spiritual warfare: because *no man being a soldier to God entangleth himself with secular business, that he may please him to whom he hath approved himself [n: (II Tim. II)]*; whence: *Impose hands hastily upon no man.*

[n: (ISID.)] He takes away the upper millstone who says to one weeping for his sin: Thou shalt have no pardon for what thou hast committed. He takes away the lower who, soothing the sin, says: Do evil as much as thou wilt, God is merciful and ready to pardon; both millstones are usefully had, if hope be with amending fear, and fear with hope.

[0480A] *[n: (GREG., lib. XXXIII Moral., cap. 16.)] Thou shalt not take the lower stone for a pledge,* etc. Sometimes we say "to take" for "to offer," etc., *as far as* and he fears in vain who does not trust.

VERS. 7.-- *Thou shalt take away. [n: (AUG., quaest. 39.)]* Scripture says this continually, etc., *as far as* which, expounding, he says: *He that stole, let him now steal no more [n: (Ephes. IV)]*.

VERS. 8.-- *The plague of leprosy.* Note that this infirmity befalls men on account of sin, as it did Ozias, who usurped the priesthood.

VERS. 10.-- *When thou shalt demand back. [n: (AUG., quaest. 41.)]* It belongs to the work of mercy that the taker of a pledge should not enter into the house, etc., *as far as* having nowhere to sleep.

*Is it not. He that announceth the Gospel, let him live of the Gospel [n: (I Cor. IX)]*. *For the labourer is worthy of his hire [0480B] [n: (Luc. X)]*.

VERS. 16.-- *They shall not be put to death. [n: (AUG., quaest. 42)]*. The law also says, etc., *as far as* he did not wish three or four to be understood.

VERS. 17.-- *Thou shalt not pervert. [n: (AUG., quaest. 43)]*. The LXX: *Thou shalt not turn aside the judgment of the stranger and of the fatherless and of the widow. Thou shalt not take the widow's garment in pledge.* Why does he not say, etc., *as far as* continence is praised in them, desolation is not commended.

*Of the widow.* The widow is the soul formerly joined to the devil, from whom, when she is converted, the garment of faith is not to be taken away.

VERS. 19.-- *Thou shalt not return.* By envying the Gentiles, who are strangers to the testaments of God.

VERS. 20.-- *If thou hast gathered the fruits.* Even though the proud and the wicked gather, he does mercy who leaves this behind with the [0480C] mind that the needy may have it. Moreover, when these things are enjoined upon the people; they who are not in need are admonished not to seek these things. But if they have sought them, they are to be judged as robbers of the poor.

*Thy vineyard.* The vineyard from which is gathered the wine that maketh glad the heart of man [n: (Psal. CIII)].

## CHAPTER XXV.

VERS. 1.-- *If there be a cause. [n: (AUG., quaest. 45)]*. The LXX: *But if there be a strife between men,* etc., *as far as* so also of the sins which seem to be committed not against God but against man, some are worthy of death, some of stripes.

VERS. 3.-- *Forty.* The number forty is completed by ten drawn four times. But we, according to the body, consist of four [0480D] elements: the precepts of the decalogue are taken by the number ten. He bids therefore that the judgment or the vengeance, in which the sin of the flesh is punished, be ordered according to the precepts, and he wills all the precepts to be understood in the decalogue.

[n: (ISID.)] In the number forty this time is figured, etc., *as far as* there we are found without sin.

VERS. 4.-- *The mouth of the ox that treadeth out.* [n: (ISID.)] In the ox is expressed the life of those that work, of whom it is said: *For the labourer is worthy of his hire [n: (Luc. X)]*. Scripture wills therefore that carnal things be supplied to those from whom we receive spiritual things, who, being occupied in teaching, cannot provide themselves with the things needful.

VERS. 5.-- *When. [n: (AUG., quaest. 46.)]* The LXX *If [0481A] brothers have dwelt together before,* etc., *as far as* or adoption made another father whom Joseph could have.

VERS. 5.-- *Shall have died.* He suffered and ascended into heaven while the synagogue still remained barren.

*But he shall take,* etc. He who is strong to rule, in whose face, when he is unwilling, the woman spits. For he who cares not to profit others by spiritual gifts — the Church, upbraiding him too for his goods, casts as it were spittle in his face.

VERS. 9.-- *The shoe.* Of which it is said: *Shod feet in the preparation of the Gospel of peace [n: (Ezech. VI)]*. If we bear the care of our neighbour as we bear our own, we fortify both feet with a shoe; but he who, thinking of his own advantage, neglects that of his neighbours, as it were loses with disgrace the shoe of one foot.

[0481B] *From the foot,* that is, he shall show him deprived of the reward of preaching. For the feet of teachers are shod, because, fortified by the examples of the fathers who went before, they have imitated their steps of preaching. He is shod on both feet who profits himself and others.

VERS. 11.-- *And one against the other.* The Catholic and the heretic, whose contention is perpetual, because their intention is unlike: for the one defends falsehood, the other truth; and it behoves us to resist error, lest the fool seem wise to himself.

*And she shall put forth.* He shall have wished by false ignominy or by an abominable action to stain the converse of the Catholic or to defame his teaching.

*The privy parts.* The weaker members of the Church, whom, namely, they will wish to deceive by flattering or to deride by insulting.

[0481C]VERS. 13.-- *Thou shalt not have in thy bag.* In Leviticus the same is forbidden. Solomon also says: *A great weight and a small, and double measures, are unclean before God [n: (Prov. XX)]*.

[n: (ISID.)] *Thou shalt not have in thy bag.* Spiritually also we must take care that we have not diverse weights in the heart, that is, that, softening the rule of strictness for ourselves, we overwhelm those to whom we preach the word of God with stricter precepts, as with heavier weights. And when we do this, we weigh out the reward and the fruit of the Lord's precepts with a diverse weight; whence: *A double weight is an abomination to the Lord [n: (Prov. XX)]*.

VERS. 17.-- *Remember what.* The Hebrews hand down that [0481D] Amalec slew the lepers and those with an issue of seed, and others set outside the camp, and these they say are the hindmost of the Lord's army. Amalec is "licking blood." These are the demons who withstand us as we go forth by baptism out of the spiritual Egypt, and who strive to slay, by suggesting sins, those who are hindmost in virtues and wearied in the journey of this life. These, when the Lord shall have given the power, we ought utterly to overthrow, and in every way to cast out and destroy their suggestions, lest, if we have kept back any remnants, as Saul did, we be overthrown with them as disobedient.

## CHAPTER XXVI.

VERS. 1.-- *And when thou shalt have entered,* etc. Just as the Israelites [0482A] in the land of promise are bidden to offer their first-fruits for a giving of thanks, because they were snatched out of Egypt, so let us, entering through the spiritual Jordan — that is, baptism — into the land of the Church, place in the basket of our manner of life the first-fruits of good working, and let us offer them to God upon the altar of the catholic faith, that our priest Christ may receive them; and there let us confess to the Lord, saying that the Syrian — who is interpreted "lofty," or "moistening," that is, the devil — was pursuing our father, that is, the first-formed man, that, having deceived him through pride, gluttony and avarice, he might deprive him of the possession of paradise; whence as an exile he sojourned in the Egypt of this world in a small number, because many followed idolatry, and few remained faithful. But after the law was given and more arose, receiving the knowledge [0482B] and the faith of the one God, the Egyptians — that is, the demons — afflicted them, laying upon them the most grievous burdens of sins. But God looked upon the affliction and the labour of the human race, and sent his Son, who is called his hand and his arm, that he might snatch them out of the power of darkness and carry them over into the kingdom of light. So he handed over to us a land flowing with milk and honey, that is, the mighty Church, where there is the milk of innocence and the honeycomb of doctrine, whereby little ones are nourished, and the honey of a sweet and manifold wisdom, whereby the perfect are filled.

VERS. 10.-- *Which the Lord thy God hath given,* etc. As if to say, I offer nothing but what he has given; for every good thing is from God.

*Of the Lord thy God.* Who will keep them as it were beneath his eyes, and [0482C] will render them on that day, a just judge.

VERS. 11.-- *Thou shalt feast,* with a spiritual banquet, of which it is said: *Eat, O friends, and be inebriated, my dearly beloved [n: (Cantic. V)]*.

*And the Levite,* the true minister of God, taken from among men and appointed for men in the things that pertain to God.

VERS. 12.-- *When thou shalt have completed:* that Tobias fulfilled this of the law; but those who were far from the temple gave in the third year the tithes gathered of three years to the poor and to the Levites who dwelt with them.

## CHAPTER XXVII.

VERS. 2.-- *Stones.* Teachers ought to lay aside all roughness, and therefore to appear shining, having [0482D] the law written in their hearts.

VERS. 4.-- *When therefore.* [n: (ISID.)] How this was done, etc., *as far as* who are worthy of the building of the altar.

Those who go beside Mount Gerizim, chosen for blessing, figure those who come to salvation not out of fear of punishment, but kindled by love of the heavenly promise. Those who go beside Mount Ebal, on which the curses were pronounced — these are they who perform the precepts of the law not out of love of the blessings or of the promises, but out of fear of punishments. But all of them go about the ark, because they do not withdraw from the bosom of the Church. Yet nobler are they who serve out of charity than they who serve out of fear of punishment. But Jesus alone can know [0483A] minds of this sort, and can station some on Mount Gerizim for blessing, others on Mount Ebal for cursing — not that they should receive the curse, but that they should beware of the curses that are written and appointed for sinners, and out of fear of punishment repent.

VERS. 13.-- *And they shall pronounce.* Because the priest ought urgently and mightily to preach the word to the peoples, that they may know what perils remain if they pass by the commandments of God, and what benefits follow if they obey — namely, in the present life comfort, and in the life to come an eternal reward. Now the curses and the blessings belong, according to the history, to those who love earthly happiness or dread earthly unhappiness. But Christians must above all take heed lest through disobedience they suffer a want of spiritual things; for to perfect [0483B] men there often comes an indigence of earthly things, while there is always at hand an abundance of virtues, whence: *Even unto this hour we hunger and thirst and are naked,* etc. [n: (I Cor. IV)].

*Cursed.* Not only the idolatry of images is forbidden, but every error of heretics. For these are the artificers of vanity and of superstitious dogma, who out of their own heart fashion for themselves what gods they will.

VERS. 16.-- *All the people.* All ought to praise good things and to detest evil things, prelates as well as subjects.

VERS. 17.-- *Cursed be he that removeth landmarks.* This is he who, not content with the catholic faith and doctrine, brings in superstitions and sects.

VERS. 20.-- *Cursed be he that lieth with.* Every [0483C] incest is an abomination, but it strikes especially heretics and schismatics, who by error corrupt the spouse of Christ (who is the father and creator of all). But tropologically it forbids that anyone, by imitating the depraved deed of his father, defame him and reveal his shame.

VERS. 21.-- *Cursed.* Cursed is he who follows the folly of the Gentiles. A man or a woman cleaving to such intercourse not through frailty but perseveringly is guilty of death.

VERS. 22.-- *Lieth,* that is, defiles another's soul by teaching depravedly, or by displaying depraved examples. For our father is one, God, and our mother the Church, and we are all brothers or sisters.

[0483D]VERS. 23.-- *With his mother-in-law.* The mother-in-law is the concupiscence of a depraved deed, because concupiscence is the mother of every sin. Let us therefore diligently take heed that we resist concupiscence, lest we fulfil the things we have desired.

VERS. 24.-- *Cursed.* In whatever manner, to kill a man is a sin. It seems strange, therefore, why he called cursed only him who shall have struck in secret. But perhaps to strike in secret is to hate in the heart, whence: *He that hateth his brother is a murderer [n: (Joan. III)]*. And elsewhere: *Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart [n: (Lev. XIX)]*.

VERS. 26.-- *Cursed be he that abideth not.* This sentence embraces generally both the past and the present and the yet-to-be-spoken commandments of the law, and is the graver the more general it is. For who can, without [sic: *trangressione*], [0484A] abide in all the words of the law, since Paul also says: *Whosoever are of the works of the law, are under a curse? [n: (Galat. III.)]* No one could escape this curse, not even the lawgiver, save Christ, whence: *Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us,* etc.

## CHAPTER XXVIII.

VERS. 1.-- *But if thou shalt hear.* Just as he foretells curses and punishments to the disobedient, so he promises blessings and rewards to the obedient.

VERS. 4.-- *The fruit of thy womb.* He marks the diverse orders of subjects. For some furnish bodily helps to the teachers; others can labour at what has been enjoined upon them; others, content with simplicity, are eager to please God through innocence [0484B] of life: every one has his own gift from God.

VERS. 5.-- *Blessed are thy remnants.* The reward of a good intention, even if the will has no effect, because *peace to men of good will,* etc. [n: (Luc. II.)]

VERS. 6.-- *Coming in.* He comes in through the door who, through the catholic faith, ponders and handles within according to the will of God: he goes out when he makes the same manifest before men to the praise of God.

VERS. 7.-- *In thy sight.* That thou mayest rejoice: *The just shall rejoice when he shall see the revenge [n: (Psal. LVII)]*.

VERS. 8.-- *And he shall bless.* Granting increase and happy success to good works.

*The heaven.* The prophets and apostles, of whom it is said, *The heavens shew forth the glory of God:* whom the Lord opens [0484C] when through them he grants an abundance of doctrine, that the hearts of carnal men, watered by this shower, may put forth the buds of good works.

*Thou shalt lend.* That is, so great will thy abundance be that thou wilt be able to give money to the nations, but they not so great. Or, ecclesiastical doctrine is understood.

*Thou shalt lend to nations.* The Church lends to many nations when she spends the divine graces upon the peoples. Nor does she take interest, because she seeks not a present recompense, but a future one. For she excels all, and is the head of the world, not the tail. She is always above, and not beneath; because although she suffers the pressures and persecutions of the wicked in the world, yet she is stronger than her adversaries, and by faith and virtue is pre-eminent over all. Whence, *the Lord shall set thee at the head,* etc.

[0484D]VERS. 14.-- *Thou shalt not turn aside [sic: aectinaveris]. [n: (AUG., quaest., 48.)]* LXX: *Thou shalt not pass beyond all the words,* etc., *as far as* nor are they to be worshipped on account of these things.

VERS. 15.-- *But if thou wilt not hear.* Just as he promised a blessing to those who keep the commandments, so he pronounces a curse upon those who neglect them.

VERS. 22.-- *May the Lord strike thee. [n: (AUG. in Enchirid., cap. 98.)]* Who would be so impiously senseless as to say that God cannot turn the evil wills of men — which he will, when he will, where he will — unto good? But when he does it, he does it through mercy: when he does not do it, he does not do it through judgment, *who hath mercy on whom he will, and whom he will he hardeneth.*

*And with corrupted air.* A life polluted by carnal uncleanness. [0485A] [d: A carnal life polluted by carnal uncleanness.] Carnal life is expressed by air, because the human body is quickened by the breath of the air.

VERS. 23.-- *Let the heaven be.* He compares the elements by which fruits are nourished to the hardest metals, because the sins of men change the order of things, and those things which were established for the comfort of the human race, whence: *The whole world fought for him against the senseless.*

The heaven is of brass to the transgressors of the law, when they merit no clemency from the holy teachers, but the harshest discipline, since they themselves have not a heart of flesh and a soft mind, but a stony and an iron one. Just as to a hard people the law was given on stone, that from the gift the receiver might be figured.

VERS. 24.-- *May the Lord give dust for the rain of thy land:* [0485B] as if to say, just as dust and ashes bear no fruit, so let the doctrine poured into thee not stir up the buds of virtues, but foretell an everlasting destruction. For the dust signifies the barrenness of good works, the ashes the burning; because the chaff of sins shall be burned with unquenchable fire.

VERS. 25.-- *And be dispersed.* Just as the Jews, taken captive, were dispersed throughout the breadth of the world because they gathered themselves against God, so the generation of the wicked, dispersed by unclean spirits, is troubled through kinds of punishments, whence: *Thy enemies shall perish, and all shall be scattered that work iniquity [n: (Psal. XCI)]*.

VERS. 27.-- *May the Lord strike thee with the ulcer of Egypt.* Ulcers are painful and festering malice. Blisters, inflated pride. Scab and itch, burning anger and the [0485C] madness of fury. These are inflicted in the present as a fitting punishment for sins: after this life (which is signified in the hinder parts) they shall bear the stench of their crimes in eternal torments.

*May the Lord strike thee.* Heretics and schismatics, wrapped in the blindness of error while the Gospel grows bright in the whole world, exercising their madness, contradict the catholic faith. Therefore they endure the calumny of the Church and are crushed by the truth.

Senseless and blind they were, when, seeing the miracles of Christ, they said that these were done in Beelzebub, and denied that Christ was God [n: (Matth. VII)], nor did they see the truth, that is, understand it.

VERS. 29.-- *And thou shalt grope.* Darkness came when Jesus was crucified, until the ninth hour, just as [0485D] there was darkness in the hearts of the Jews.

*Mayest thou not direct:* neither did they believe when Christ preached, nor were they willing to be directed through penance.

VERS. 30.-- *Mayest thou take a wife, and another,* etc. By the wife is taken the people joined to heretics, with whom the devil commits fornication while it is seduced into error. The beasts are snatched from the heretics when their subjects are freed from them: when they themselves are deprived of life and of doctrine. The substance too, which the Jews prepared for themselves singularly by teaching and by writing, the Church turns to her own use.

VERS. 33.-- *The fruit of thy land.* The whole usefulness of the ceremonies has been carried over to the Church. She enjoys abundance, the Jews perish of want, whence through [0486A] Isaiah it is said: *My servants shall eat, and you shall be hungry [n: (Isai. LXV)]*.

VERS. 35.-- *In the knees and in the calves.* Let him take away strength, namely, and [sic: *statibilitatem*]. Or let him be struck in the knees, whose last works are condemned.

*From the sole of the foot.* Just as from the beginning of a depraved will unto the completion of the deed thou hast exercised malice, whence *from the sole of the foot unto the top of the head there is no soundness in him [n: (Isai. I)]*. This was fulfilled in the last captivity.

VERS. 36.-- *And he shall lead thee.* Heretics, or bad catholics, who despise the precepts of God, are taken captive by demons and by divers vices. As the servant, so also the master; and the king as the people, the teacher as the disciple.

[0486B] *And the king.* Shalmaneser king of the Assyrians led Hosea king of Samaria into captivity with the ten tribes: Nebuchadnezzar took captive Joachin, and Zedekiah king of Judah, together with the people.

VERS. 38.-- *Seed,* etc. We too must take heed that we lose not the bread which strengthens the heart of man, and the wine which gladdens it, and the oil which makes the face cheerful.

VERS. 43.-- *The stranger.* The casting off of the Jews and the choosing of the Gentiles is openly signified, whence: *The kingdom of God shall be taken away from you, and shall be given to a nation yielding the fruits thereof,* and elsewhere: *So shall the last be first, and the first last.*

*[n: (RAB. in Deut., tom. II.)] The stranger that dwelleth with thee,* etc. The creator of all through the mystery of his incarnation, etc., *as far as* and shall have esteemed the blood of the testament [0486C] polluted.

VERS. 66.-- *And thy life shall be.* Nothing is worse among the curses which befell the Jews by the desert of their pride, than to see their own life, that is, the Son of God, hanging, and not to believe in him. But when curses are spoken out of prophecy: they are not from an evil wish, but are foretold. And it could sound thus to the Jews: Thou shalt see thy life hanging, and thou shalt not believe thy life — that is, amid the threats and the treacheries of enemies thou shalt see thy life hanging in uncertainty.

## CHAPTER XXIX.

VERS. 1.-- *These are the words,* etc. [n: (AUG., quaest. 49 in Deut.)] LXX: *These are the words of the testament,* etc., *as far as* to Abraham concerning circumcision, or to Noah.

[0486D]VERS. 3.-- *The great temptations,* etc. *[n: (AUG., quaest. 50.)] And the Lord God hath not given you a heart to know,* etc., *as far as* since the judgments of God, however hidden, are nevertheless just.

VERS. 6.-- *You have not eaten bread,* etc. [n: (AUG.)] Hence it appears that the Israelites, etc., *as far as* not the beginning of war, but the beginning of wine.

VERS. 18.-- *Lest perhaps there be. [n: (AUG., quaest. 52.)]* LXX: *Is there any among you,* etc., *as far as* he had not coveted another's wife for himself.

VERS. 19, 20.-- *The drunken the thirsty, and the Lord,* etc. That is, lest anyone full of malice and of idolatry seduce him who thirsts to learn and to know the truth, as the heretics do.

## CHAPTER XXX.

[0487A]

VERS. 11.-- *This commandment, which I,* etc. [n: (AUG., quaest. 54.)] LXX: *For this commandment,* etc., *as far as* without which, if they be done outwardly with the hands and be not done in the heart, the precepts of God are not fulfilled.

VERS. 14.-- *The word is nigh thee,* etc. That is, the commandments of God are measured and tempered to human strength. This can be taken of the incarnation of Christ, who, having assumed humanity, was seen upon earth and conversed among men.

## CHAPTER XXXI.

VERS. 7.-- *And he called.* The words of Moses to Joshua signify that Christ distributes the land of the living to each according to his proper merits, and fulfils all the promises [0487B] of God. For he himself brings the people into the promised land. For with him as leader we enter the heavenly fatherland, he who says: *No man cometh to the Father but by me [n: (Joan. XIV)]*. And: *No man hath ascended into heaven but he that descended from heaven, the Son of man, who is in heaven [n: (Joan. III)]*; for he who is united also ascends through him.

VERS. 10.-- *After seven years.* In which the present life is signified, which is rolled round by the number seven; or the time of the old law, on account of the sabbath. After seven years, therefore, in the year of remission, the law is commanded to be read in the assembly: because, the observance of the law being completed, the spiritual law succeeds. Whence: *When the fulness of time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman,* etc. [n: (Ephes. IV)].

[0487C]VERS. 24.-- *After therefore Moses had written.* Deuteronomy is entrusted to the Levites, because the Gospel of Christ is stored up, through the ministry of true priests, in the memory of the Church, which is the ark of the Lord, where the heavenly treasures are stored up. There are the two tables of the testament, namely the books of the law and of the Gospel. There is the urn which contains the manna, that is, the flesh of Christ, in which is the food of eternal life; there is the rod of Aaron which had put forth leaves, because there is the priesthood of Christ, which abides unto eternity, or, for ever, that it may be there against thee for a testimony. The words of the law are unto salvation for those who keep them, and for a testimony of stubbornness and disobedience for those who despise them: whence: *There is one that accuseth you, Moses, in whom you trust. For if you did believe Moses, you would perhaps believe me also: for he wrote of me [n: (Joan. V)]*; and [0487D] elsewhere: *The word that I have spoken, the same shall judge [n: (Joan XII)]*.

VERS. 30.-- *Moses therefore spoke.* The words of Moses are not to be taken simply, because according to the history he reproaches the Israelites, ungrateful to God the bestower, with their treachery; and allegorically he instructs the holy Church; and through tropology he summons to uprightness of manners. Therefore truth is to be preserved in the history, the mysteries in the allegory, the usefulness of discipline in the tropology, that so we may be carried forward to the heavenly contemplation. It is also to be noted that it is said: *Moses spoke the words of this canticle,* etc., so that he who praises God with his mouth may not contradict it by his work. *Praise is not seemly in the mouth of a sinner [n: (Eccli. XIII)]*.

## CHAPTER XXXII.

[0488A]

*Hear, O ye heavens.* At the beginning he calls the greatest elements to witness, that if they neglect his commandments he may punish them, convicted by their testimony.

In Hebrew *samaiim,* that is, heavens, which is plural and of masculine gender, but he wished it to be understood in the singular, as we speak of single cities, Thebes and Athens.

*Hear, O ye heavens.* [n: (RAB.)] Let the heavens hear the allegory, the earth the history.

## CHAPTER XXXII.

VERS. 1.-- *Hear, O ye heavens,* etc. Some think that heaven and earth are summoned to hear as though they were living things, according to that saying: *Who looketh upon the earth and maketh it tremble [n: (Psal. CIII)]*, whereas this belongs to the power of God, [0488B] not to their understanding.

VERS. 2.-- *Let it grow.* He compares the doctrine of the law to rain and to dew, because it demands from the hearts of the faithful the buds of spiritual fruit. For these are the field and the vineyard of God. Such is that saying of Isaiah: *As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and return no more thither, but soak the earth, water the face thereof, and make it to spring [n: (Isa. LV)]*.

VERS. 3.-- *The name.* He shews what the rain is. For to invoke the name of the Lord is to preach the Gospel: and he who hears it and does it shall possess the fruit of life.

*Of God.* Whence: *The heavens and the earth were finished, and all the furniture of them: and God completed on the seventh day his work [n: (Gen. II)]*, which is the redemption of the human race, [0488C] which he shewed to us when, completing the spiritual sabbath, he rested in the sepulchre.

VERS. 5.-- *They have sinned against him,* etc. [n: (AUG., quaest. 55.)] LXX: *The blameworthy sons have sinned not against him.* For he who sins, etc., *as far as* according to this, that they did not harm him by their sin, but themselves.

*And not.* Because not out of faith. For *he gave them power to be made the sons of God, to them that believe in his name.* But to the unbelieving [sic: *In fidelibus*] it is said: *You are of your father the devil.*

*A depraved generation.* Of which it is said in the Gospel: *A depraved and perverse generation seeketh a sign [n: (Matth. XII)]*. And elsewhere: *Ye offspring of vipers, who hath shewed you to flee from the wrath to come [n: (Luc. III)]*?

VERS. 6.-- *Is he not,* etc. Who is the one God, creator and founder of all, from whom himself, and through him, and [0488D] in him are all things. A preposterous order. For first God created by disposing that it should be, secondly he made by forming, thirdly he possessed by ruling.

*He created.* He created when he founded the matter out of which it might be formed. Foolish therefore and unwise is he, because he does not worship his Creator and Maker with worthy veneration: forgetful of that benefit whereby God snatched him out of the hand of his enemies and took possession of him, led him through the Red Sea, gave him manna from heaven, he himself, ungrateful, worshipped idols, saying: *These are thy gods, O Israel, that brought thee out of the land of Egypt [n: (Exod. XXXII)]*.

VERS. 7.-- *Thy father.* The teacher of the law and the preacher of the Gospel, by whose doctrine and example, namely, thou art to be instructed.

[0489A]VERS. 8.-- *When he divided,* etc. As if to say, although the multitude of men is innumerable, the Lord chose the sons of Israel alone as his inheritance, to whom he manifested his power and his secrets by the tokens of the law and of the prophets.

*He appointed. [n: (GREG., hom. 4 in Evang.)]* Another edition, etc., *as far as* and they ascend into their lot through a likeness of manner of life.

VERS. 9.-- *But the Lord's portion is his people.* When God created all the nations, he chose the Israelites alone, whom he glorified with the knowledge of himself by signs and miracles.

VERS. 10.-- *He found.* Because on Sinai he entered into a covenant with him, gave manna, and brought forth water from the rock, furnished quails; and in the desert, leading them about for forty years, [0489B] he taught them his precepts.

*He led about.* By spreading the Church throughout the world, by directing it into the way of his commandments.

*He kept.* Many were laid low in the desert, but after they had transgressed the commandments of God.

VERS. 11.-- *As the eagle.* The eagle, according to the natural philosophers, is named from the keenness of its eyes, and sees so sharply that, when it is borne over the seas on unmoving wing and is not visible to human sight, it sees the little fishes swimming in the sea, and, descending like a hurled weapon, drags the prey it has seized with its wings to the shore. Its young too, as they grow their feathers, it beats with its wings and provokes to fly. So Christ, exhorting us by words and by examples, carries us forward to the heights, that we may follow whither he has gone before; whence: *Wheresoever the body shall be, there shall the eagles also be gathered together (Matth. [0489C] XXIV)*. Exalted also above the heavens and withdrawn from human sight, he sees with the eyes of mercy those swimming in the sea of this world, and with the wings of love he draws them to the shore of eternal security. Whence: *If I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all things to myself [n: (Joan. XII)]*.

*As the eagle,* etc. The eagle, as they say, when it sees its young growing their feathers, turns them toward the sun, and nourishes the one that gazes upon the rays of the sun with unflinching eye; and if it turns its eyes aside, it neglects it as degenerate; and it provokes its young to fly, and holds up the weary on its wings: so God invites us to the true Sun, has compassion on our infirmities, and holds us up on the wings of grace.

*Provoking.* --To the possessing of the land of Canaan the Lord provoked his people, helped them, and protected them from [0489D] their enemies.

VERS. 12.-- *The Lord.* Father and Son and Holy Spirit are one God. He does not say the Father alone, lest he exclude the Son or the Holy Spirit, but the Lord alone, that is, God.

*The Lord.* The heretics have as many lords as they cultivate errors.

VERS. 13.-- *High.* Palestine, which is mountainous; Egypt is flat and low.

The Church, which is lofty in virtue and in knowledge. In her the fruit of the fields is eaten, because there the good seed springs up, that is, the word of God. There is the thirtyfold, the sixtyfold and the hundredfold fruit, that each may eat sufficiently according to his capacity.

[0490A] *And that he might suck. [n: (GREG., hom. 26 in Evang.)] That he might suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the hardest stone.* That this was done according to the history is nowhere read, etc., *as far as* the gift of the devil through the unction of the Holy Spirit.

Honey indeed, to the letter, signifies an abundance of all things.

VERS. 14.-- *Of the children.* Basan is a region which abounds in cattle on account of its pastures: whence it was handed over to the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half tribe of Manasses, because they had many cattle.

*And goats.* Which signify penitents, because they were offered for sin. It is not enough for the faithful to receive the gifts of virtues, unless they be eager to do penance for what they have committed. Whence: *Wash me yet more from my iniquity [n: (Psal. L)]*.

[0490B]He calls those goats who by their own example minister to others the works of penance, although they have not committed grave things: for they bewail the sins of their thoughts as though they were deeds.

*With the marrow of wheat.* Of the body of Christ; whence: *Unless the grain of wheat falling into the ground,* etc. [n: (Joan. XII)].

VERS. 15.-- *The beloved grew fat,* etc. Just as the Jews, grown fat with benefits, became idolaters: so certain Christians turn the received mystery of the body and blood of the Lord to their own perdition.

VERS. 16.-- *They provoked.* Some become heretics, others idolaters, who out of their heart fashion for themselves idols and abominations.

VERS. 17.-- *New and lately come.* Withdrawing from the worship of God, they found for themselves gods whom their fathers had [0490C] worshipped.

VERS. 20.-- *And he said: I will hide,* etc. Nothing is more grievous than to be deprived of the vision of God; whence: *Cast me not away from thy face [n: (Psal. L)]*. Likewise: *Turn not away thy face,* etc. [n: (Psal. LXXXVIII.)]

*They have provoked me,* etc. As if to say: just as they have provoked me by worshipping a multitude of false gods and by rejecting me, so I will provoke them by taking to myself a multitude of nations and by rejecting them.

*And I will provoke,* etc. By handing them over to the Gentiles, who once were not a people, but now are the people of God. In like manner Christians who, forsaking the truth, turn aside to errors, are handed over to the malignant spirits, who lost their angelic dignity. Who are well called a foolish nation, hating justice, loving iniquity.

[0490D]VERS. 22.-- *A fire is kindled,* etc. [n: (GREG. lib. XVIII Moral., cap. 12.)] Of those whom the scourges condemn and do not set free, it is written: *Thou hast struck them and they have not grieved,* etc. For these the scourges begin in this life, and shall remain unto eternity; whence Moses: *A fire is kindled in his wrath, and shall burn even to the lowest hell and downward.* For of the present striking it is said: *A fire is kindled in my wrath [n: (Jer. XV)]*; of the eternal there follows: *And shall burn even to the lowest hell and downward [n: (Psal. LXXXVIII)]*. Yet God does not judge twice for the same thing: for it is one scourge which begins in time, and is consummated in eternal torments.

*And it shall devour the earth.* Others: *they shall eat the earth and the things springing from it,* that is, the flesh, on account of the works of lust, a threefold flame [cj: *terna*; read *aeterna*, "eternal"] [0491A] shall burn; for the things springing from the flesh are the works of carnal concupiscence, which are fornication, uncleanness and the like.

VERS. 24.-- *Birds with their biting,* Which ate the seed along the way.

*The teeth of beasts,* etc. Beasts and serpents drag the reprobate along the ground with raging teeth, when what they first persuaded carnal men by flattery in order to seduce them, they now furiously demand of sinners in order to torment them.

VERS. 25.-- *Without.* The burning of eternal fire shall torture the body, and the greatness of anguish the mind; whence: *Their worm shall not die, and their fire shall not be quenched [n: (Isa. LVI)]*.

*The young man.* No age, namely, shall be spared, because idolatry has defiled [0491B] all.

VERS. 26.-- *I will make them cease from among men.* They were cast out of their land and dispersed through the whole world. But generally sinners shall be taken away from the land of the saints, and their memory; whence: *Therefore thy God shall destroy thee in the end, he shall pluck thee out, and shall lead thee out of the land of the living,* etc. [n: (Psal. LI.)]

VERS. 27.-- *I have deferred.* Lest they should blaspheme my name; nor yet have I taken away vengeance.

VERS. 30.-- *How.* He shews so great a fear of the Jewish nation, after they had sinned against the Lord, that one of their enemies put a thousand of them to flight, and two ten thousand — that is, a few put very many to flight.

VERS. 31.-- *Judges.* Approvers; even they who worship idols understand that there is one God, who made [0491C] heaven and earth.

VERS. 32.-- *Of the vineyard,* etc. He signifies the wickedness of heretics, who received pure spiritual doctrine from the holy teachers, but corrupted it with their own venom, and perverted it into the bitterness of gall and wormwood. Often is Jerusalem compared to Sodom and Gomorrah; whence: *Hear the word of the Lord, ye princes of Sodom of Gomorrah [n: (Isa. I)]* [var: Vulg. *principes Sodomorum … populus Gomorrhae*, "ye princes of Sodom … ye people of Gomorrah"].

*Most bitter grapes.* Their fruits, namely their works, are most bitter, for they offered wine mingled with gall

VERS. 33.-- *The gall of dragons.* As if they retained within themselves the venom of malice, lest they should receive the medicine of salvation and of correction. Heretics, like serpents, hide their bitterness and their venom, that they may wound the unwary.

[0491D]VERS. 35.-- *Revenge is mine,* etc, Paul took from this place: *Revenge to me, and I will repay [n: (Rom. XII)]* according to merits.

*In time.* As if to say, *when I shall take a time, I will judge justices [n: (Psal. LXXIV)]*. Hence he said to Moses praying for the people: *In the day of revenge I will visit this sin also of theirs [n: (Exod. XXXII)]*

*The day of destruction is at hand.* For each one. For whatever is ended is very short, if it be compared to eternity. According to the history the vengeance upon the Jews makes haste, because in a short time they lost their place and their nation and all their prosperity, because they slew the prophets and the Saviour.

[0492A]VERS. 36.-- *He shall judge.* By separating them from the wicked, according to that saying: *Judge me, O God, and distinguish my cause [n: (Psal. XLII)]*.

*He shall see that the hand is weakened. Whatsoever thy hand is able to do, do it earnestly, because neither work, nor reason, nor wisdom is among the dead [n: (Eccle. IX)]*.

VERS. 37.-- *Where are their gods.* As if to say, the idols in which they trusted profit nothing, nor riches nor honours nor the pleasures of the world; for they carry nothing with them of all their labour.

VERS. 39.-- *See ye that I alone am,* etc. A general admonition, as if to say: idolatry or heresy being left behind and all uncleannesses despised, be ye converted to the true God.

*I will kill. [n: (GREG., lib. VII Moral., cap. 18.)]* [0492B] He kills that he may make alive, he strikes that he may heal, etc., *as far as* and makes them sensible through the ardour of charity.

## CHAPTER XXXII. (cont.)

VERS. 40.-- *I will lift up.* Another edition: *I will lift up my hand to heaven, and I will swear by my right hand, and I will say: I live for ever.* To lift up, or to raise, the hand of God to heaven is to shew the power of his eternity, excelling above all things. To swear by the right hand, that is, by the Son, who is the right hand of the Father, is to confirm his promises in the sight of men, and to reveal his eternity through the Gospel to those who believe in him, because *his power is an everlasting power [n: (Dan. VII)]*.

VERS. 42.-- *Arrows.* The demons, of whom Job says: *The arrows of the Lord are in me (Job, VI)*, as if to say, I will exact so great a vengeance as could suffice even for the demons [0492C].

*And of the captivity.* The heads of captives were shaved, who were sold off, and were said to be sold under the crown. *Of the captivity.* The head of the enemies is laid bare when the counsel of an iniquitous mind, by which it thought to sin unpunished, is proved to be vain. The heads of the enemies are also the masters, upon whom the last vengeance will overflow; whence: *Blood came out of the lake, up to the horses' bridles [n: (Apoc. XIV)]*, that is, the vengeance of torments even unto the rulers of the peoples.

VERS. 43.-- *Because the blood.* In the judgment the people of God shall be praised, when it shall appear glorious, and the enemies shall be punished with a just recompense.

VERS. 49.-- *Go up into the mountain.* Abarim is interpreted *a passing over;* Nebo, *in the closing.* [0492D] Nebo is said to be a mountain in the land of Moab over against Jericho, above the Jordan, on the brow of Phasga, near Mount Phogor, from which the region round about it is called Phasga even to this day. Moses therefore dies in Abarim and on Mount Nebo over against Jericho, beyond the Jordan: because the law and circumcision went forward as far as Christ and the sacrament of baptism, and there was closed, because Christ is the end of the law. Moses saw the land of promise, but did not enter it, because in the spirit he foresaw, and in the law foretold, the grace of Christ that was to come, but present he did not see him. Whence: *Many just men and prophets have desired to see the things that you see, and have not seen them [n: (Matth. XIII)]*.

## CHAPTER XXXIII.

[0493A]

VERS. 1.-- *This is the blessing.* Well did he set the blessing at the end of Deuteronomy, because Christ, when he was about to ascend into heaven after the completion of the Gospel, lifted up his hands and blessed his disciples. The blessing wherewith he blessed the sons of Israel in Deuteronomy (which is the second law) belongs to the grace of the New Testament, in which the mysteries of the ancient law are unlocked, and the true Israelites obtain, through the man Christ, the blessing foretold through Moses the man of God. And well is the blessing given when the death of Moses is at hand, because, as the shadow of the law dies, the truth of the heavenly gifts is opened. Foreseeing therefore the coming of the Saviour, and unfolding the grace of the New Testament as though it were already past, Moses, full of gladness, exults with the voice of the primitive Church, [0493B] saying: *The Lord came from Sina,* etc.

[n: (AUG., quaest. 36.)] Another reading, etc., *as far as* whence: *Rejoice, ye nations, with his people. Because blindness in part has happened in Israel, until the fulness,* etc. [n: (Rom. XI.)]

*Moses the man.* Moses signifies the law, which before its death — that is, before it was brought to an end in him — foretold that the Church was to be blessed in Christ.

VERS. 2.-- *The Lord came from Sinai.* Sinai ( ) [ed: Our digitized source leaves these parentheses empty; the type Migne prints inside them has been dropped in the digitization, here and at the two names that follow. Recovery requires reading the plate.] is interpreted *my amphora* or *my measure* or *commandment.* Seir ( ), *hairy* or *shaggy.* Pharan ( ), *their fierceness* or *fruit-bearing.* Sina therefore figures the Old Testament, because, holding a fixed measure of commandments according to the decree of the decalogue, it knows how to forbid, not to help: nor does it set free by the spirit of love, [0493C] but binds its subjects by the fear of punishment. Whence: *The one indeed on mount Sina, begetting unto bondage,* etc. [n: (Gal. IV.)] The Lord therefore came from Sina, that is, out of the law and the prophets he became known to those who believe. For thence he comes, when there he becomes known to one who reads and understands. Whence: *He, beginning from Moses and all the prophets [n: (Luc. XXIV)]*, expounded to the disciples, to whose hearts he desired to come. Risen from Seir according to the flesh, that is, from the Jews, most harsh with the thornbrake of malice and perfidy, he enlightened the faithful by the rising of a new light, as the true sun of justice. Whence: *To us shall the sun of justice arise [n: (Mal. IV)]*. And elsewhere: *A star shall rise out of Jacob, and a man shall spring up from Israel [n: (Num. XXIV)]*.

*The Lord,* etc. Sina is interpreted *temptation.* The Lord [0493D] therefore came from Sina, because he took our flesh, in which he might be tempted.

*And from Seir,* etc. Who is also Edom or Esau. This is the people of the Jews, who by the desire of the gullet lost the glory of the birthright as though for a mess of lentils, and, supplanted by the faith of the younger people, forfeited the grace of the blessing.

*From Seir he arose for us,* etc. This mountain they went about for a long time, and on it received certain precepts. Seir, that is *shaggy* or *hairy,* signifies the gentile world, which was horrible with sins; from which arose the Lord, who at the end will preach to the Jews out of the Church of the gentiles, because the remnant shall be saved.

*He appeared from mount Pharan,* etc. Which is interpreted *fruit-bearing,* [0494A] because from the Church of the gentiles, fruitful in virtues, the faith of Christ was preached to the Jews. Christ therefore appeared from Pharan; because the more the fierceness of the unbelievers blazed against him, the higher grew the knowledge of his divinity. For the more he lay hidden amid the insults of the passion, the more he shone forth through the power of the resurrection; and they who before persecuted him with the fierceness of unbelief, afterwards clung to him with the ardour of charity; of whom it is added: *And with him thousands of saints.*

*In his right hand a fiery law.* The tables, namely, in which is the law, which purges and burns away sins. The right hand of the Father also is the Son, who brought the law of charity, saying: *I came to send fire upon the earth,* etc. [n: (Luc. XII.)]

*In his right hand a fiery law.* The right hand, the Gospel, [0494B] through which eternal beatitude is promised; which is called the right hand, not the temporal one, as in the law, which is called the left. Whence: *His right hand shall embrace me.* In this right hand is a fiery law, that is, charity kindled by the Holy Spirit in the hearts of the elect. Whence he says: *The fulness of the law is love [n: (Rom. XIII)]*. And elsewhere: *A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another [n: (Joan. XIII)]*. This, poured into the apostles by the fiery tongues of the Holy Spirit, wrote out all the fulness of the law as with the finger of God, and made them fervent in spirit and shining in work. But because it was given not to one people, as the law of Moses was, but to all, he adds: *He loved the peoples.*

VERS.--3.-- *He loved.* Whence: *Greater love than this no man hath, than that he lay down his life,* etc. [n: (Joan. XV)].

[0494C] *All.* Without respect of persons; whence: *He that feareth God and worketh justice is acceptable to him [n: (Act. X)]*.

*All the saints.* Sanctified, namely, in the name of him whose words they heard: *Be ye holy, for I am holy,* etc. [n: (Lev. XIX)].

*In the hand.* That is, the power by which they are protected. Whence: *No man shall snatch them out of my hand,* etc. [n: (Joan. X)]. These through charity are one kingdom in the hand of the Lord; whence Isaias: *And thou shalt be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a diadem of the kingdom in the hand of thy God [n: (Isa. LXII)]*.

*And they that draw near,* etc. As if to say: Let not those be saddened who did not hear Christ teaching in the flesh, as though they were deceived by men. Through the mouth of the saints Christ speaks; through the feet the doctrine of the head [0494D] is heard; whence: *He that heareth you heareth me,* etc. [n: (Luc. X.)] Or those draw near to his feet to receive doctrine who, burning with spiritual desire, keep watch day and night over the evangelical and apostolic Scriptures. But because these things have been said of the New Testament, there follows that in whose voice Moses speaks of the old law, saying: *He commanded us a law,* etc.

VERS. 4.-- *An inheritance.* Because this is the profit of the law, the inheritance promised to Abraham: *If you shall be willing, and shall hearken, me you shall eat the good things of the land.*

*It shall be with the most upright,* etc. Jacob, blessed by the angel, was called Israel, that is *upright of God;* and the Jew converted to the faith, blessed by him after the resurrection, against whom he prevailed in the passion, is called most upright for his [0495A] profession of justice. Whence: *Hear, O Jacob, my servant, and most upright, whom I have chosen,* etc. [n: (Isa. XLIV.)]

VERS. 5.-- *A king.* Christ. But I am appointed king by him, namely that he may make a kingdom and a power, who is himself the first king and power.

*With the tribes of Israel.* Of whom is the primitive Church. Well are the princes said to be gathered first, and then the tribes, because the apostles were first, and through them the others believed.

VERS. 6.-- *Let Ruben live.* The salvation of the primitive Church having been foretold, he bestows their proper blessings upon the several tribes; and foretelling the true Israelites out of both peoples, he prophesies now of Christ, now of the apostles, now of the primitive, now of the whole Church.

[0495B] *Let Ruben live.* As if to say: Although Ruben violated his father's bed, and lost the dignity of the firstborn, yet let him live, and doing penance let him not die. The sons of Ruben, that is, the Jews signified by Ruben, violated the bed of the Father, that is, they defiled Christ his Son with unclean spittle: yet they are reserved unto penance, but few in number in comparison with the Church of the gentiles.

*Ruben.* Son of vision, because his mother said [n: (Gen. XXIX)]: God hath seen my humiliation. This is the firstborn, signifying the elect from among the Jews, who, dead by denying and crucifying Christ, and converted by the preaching of the apostles, were made alive by the faith of Christ: these are sons of vision, because saved by the regard of the divine mercy.

VERS. 7.-- *This is Juda's.* Juda, who is interpreted [0495C] *confession,* signifies the universal Church, in which is the confession of divine praise and the giving of thanks. Of whom his mother said: *Now will I confess to the Lord [n: (Gen. XXIX)]*. This is the true spouse of Christ, who, adorned with the necklaces of the virtues, is not proud, but gives thanks; and for her he prays, that she may be heard.

*Hear, O Lord, the voice of Juda.* Of the kings, namely, who were of Juda, who longed for Christ; and of Christ himself, who said: *I confess to thee, Father, king of heaven and earth,* etc. [n: (Luc. X.)]

*His hands.* He prayed the Lord for Juda, to whom he now promises the Lord's helps, as though Juda should not presume upon his own strength, but trust in him who said: *Be of good heart, I have overcome the world [n: (Joan. XVI)]*; whose hands upon the cross fought against spiritual wickednesses, that [0495D] through death he might destroy him who had the empire of death.

*A helper.* That he may conquer and say: *Upon my high places the conqueror will lead me [n: (Habac. III)]*: for he himself conquers in us, and for his own victory crowns us in mercy and compassions.

VERS. 8.-- *Perfection.* As if to say: how perfect thou art, and how holy thy doctrine, thou hast declared through Moses. Or, from thy holy man, that is, from the Levites, is thy perfection and thy doctrine. For they ought to keep the law, to do it and to teach it.

*Thy perfection.* These things are said to the choir of angels and of martyrs and of all the perfect, who fulfilled the perfection of charity by dying for the Lord; [0496A] and who, renouncing the world, attained the summit of ecclesiastical doctrine, as true Levites having no portion in the land, but saying with the Prophet: *The Lord is the portion of my inheritance,* etc. [n: (Psal. XV)]; according to that word: *If any man will come after me, let him deny himself,* etc. *[n: (Luc. IX.)] He that shall lose his life for my sake,* etc. [n: (Matth. X.)] But Christ is the true Levi, who did and taught all these things. To him the Levites themselves cling, imitating him even unto blood; of whose passion it is subjoined: *Whom thou hast proved in temptation,* etc.

*At the waters.* It is the place where he refused to Moses and Aaron the entrance into the land of promise.

*At the waters.* It signifies the law, which refused the entrance of the kingdom of heaven to those who live ill. The waters, the peoples, who contradicting cried out: *Crucify him. [0496B] His blood be upon us, and upon our children [n: (Matth. XXVII)]*. To the sum of Levi's perfection he adds:

VERS. 9.-- *Who said to his father.* When they made the golden calf, at Moses's bidding the Levites, girded with swords, slew the idolaters from gate to gate. In the avenging of idolatry they did not, as it were, know their own, because they killed without distinction. Whence: *Unless a man leave father and mother and wife and children for my sake, he is not my disciple [n: (Luc. XVIII)]*.

*Who said to his father and his mother,* etc. In temporal things also we ought to profit more those to whom we are more nearly joined. We ought to acknowledge the bond of earthly kindred; but if it hinders the course of the mind, to ignore it, so that affection may fill the bowels of the mind, yet not turn it away from its spiritual purpose. This the cows well suggest, [0496C] which, tending to the mountains under the ark of the Lord, walk with affection and with unbending resolve: going on for their calves they lowed, but, the journey once taken up, they did not turn their steps aside.

VERS. 10.-- *They shall put incense.* As Aaron, standing between the dead and the living, made supplication for the people. *They shall put incense.* The prayer of the saints is a most sweet incense to the Lord: by which (when the people sins) the Lord's anger is mitigated, because, cleansed of every earthly filth and kindled with heavenly desire, it burns like incense in the sight of God, and, as a holocaust from the altar of a pious heart, the flame of devotion flies up into heaven. This befits especially the apostles and martyrs, of whom it is said: *As gold in the furnace he hath proved them, and hath received them as the victim of a holocaust [n: (Sap. III)]*.

[0496D]VERS. 11.-- *Receive.* As things pleasing, that thou mayest reward them. Now to each are given white robes, that is, the gladness of souls; and in the judgment, according to the body, immortality being received, *they shall shine as the sun and shall run to and fro like sparks among the reeds,* namely by burning up the empty and unfruitful adversaries; of whose punishment it is subjoined:

## CHAPTER XXXIII. (cont.)

*Smite their backs.* As if to say: they seemed to themselves to shed the blood of the martyrs unpunished, but behind their back, as it were, an unforeseen punishment was being prepared, that is, eternal damnation, into which they shall fall and shall not be able to rise. Whence: *A rod for the back of the imprudent [n: (Prov. XXVI)]*.

VERS. 12.-- *And to Benjamin.* He seems to allude to the history, because Jacob, patriarch and prophet, filled [0497A] with the Spirit, loved Benjamin uniquely, and by God's dispensation the place devoted to the divine worship is decreed to be kept by his tribe; whence he adds: *As in a bridal chamber all the day,* etc.

*Most beloved.* Christ is the most beloved of God the Father, who says of himself: *This is my beloved Son [n: (Matth. XVII)]*. He dwells confidently at the right hand of the Father, to whom it is said: *Sit thou at my right hand [n: (Psal. CIX)]*.

Otherwise: Benjamin, called *son of the right hand* instead of son of sorrow, expresses Paul, made an apostle and a vessel of election out of a persecutor: for he himself was of this tribe; and it was fitting that, as the Lord's forerunner was foretold by a prophetic oracle, so the teacher of the gentiles, who was to profit the whole world, should be proclaimed among the great mysteries of the Church. In whose mind Christ [0497B] dwelt with confidence, when amid innumerable perils he preached him steadfastly before gentiles and kings. Of whose soul it is said:

*As in a bridal chamber he shall abide all the day.* Either enjoying with wondrous delight a marital wedlock, and making it fruitful with the offspring of the virtues, and forsaking the secret place of that most peaceful breast through the unquiet of no vice; or, sitting in it as in a bridal chamber, like a comely bridegroom, he joins to his embraces, through his preaching, the virgin minds of believers. Whence: *After her shall virgins be brought to the king [n: (Psal. XLIII)]*. He himself also says: *For I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you a chaste virgin to Christ [n: (II Cor. XI)]*.

The Divinity also dwells confidently in the humanity of Christ. *He shall abide in a bridal chamber,* signifies that [0497C] in the womb of the Virgin the Church was joined to the heavenly bridegroom, she who rests confidently in the strength of Christ's power and in his works.

*And he shall rest between his shoulders.* Burdens are carried upon the shoulders, and therefore in them sturdy patience is designated. And the more gladly did Christ rest in him, the harder were the labours he bore for his sake: the more closely was he embraced, the less was he torn from that embrace by any terror. Whence he says: *Who shall separate us from the charity of Christ? [n: (Rom. VIII.)]*

VERS. 13.-- *To Joseph also he said.* Joseph is interpreted *increased.* This is Christ, who, cast off by his brethren the Jews, was made prince in the Egypt of this world, and freed the human race from the want of famine by the dispensation of the evangelical [0497D] wheat: who is truly the Saviour of the world.

*Of the blessing of the Lord be his land.* To the letter, it signifies the fertility which the two tribes out of Joseph, that is, Ephraim and Manasses, had in abundance of crops, of fruits, and of pasture for their flocks. This is Basan, a most fertile region, whence it is interpreted *fatness.*

By the mildness of the sky, and by dew, the fruits, and the abundance of springs and of rivers, are delighted with man, which things are signified in the deep.

*Thou hast blessed, O Lord, thy land,* namely the Church, which is filled divinely, not by its own power, but by the blessing of the virtues. Whence: *Blessed be God, [0498A] who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heavenly things in Christ [n: (Ephes. I)]*.

*Of the heavens.* The apostles and evangelists are called heaven because of the unity of faith and of doctrine, of whom it is said elsewhere in the plural: *The heavens declare the glory,* etc. [n: (Psal. XVIII.)] For in them, shining with life and contemplation, God dwells as in heaven, thundering terror, raining down consolation, and flashing with miracles.

*Of the dew.* Of heavenly preaching, which is of wondrous subtlety and grace, by which hearts are watered against the heat of temptation, and that they may always be green with virtues; whence: *God give thee of the dew of heaven,* etc. [n: (Gen. XXVII.)]

*Of the deep,* namely that it may become the fatter, bedewed from the spring that rises up, like the paradise of God. Whence: *A spring rose [0498B] out of the earth, watering the whole surface of the earth [n: (Gen. II)]*. From the sea his understanding abounded, and his thought from the great deep. For in vain does the word of the teacher water from without, unless the grace of the Creator waters from within. Whence he subjoins: *Of the fruits of the hills,* etc.

VERS. 14.-- *Of the sun.* Of Christ, who is the sun of justice, who says: *The just shall shine as the sun in the kingdom of their Father [n: (Matth. XIII)]*, because we shall be like to him.

*And of the moon.* Of the Church, which receives these fruits from the sun, that is, from Christ: let her therefore always look upon the sun with full devotion, lest at any time, turned away, she lose the light.

VERS. 15.-- *Of the fruits of the everlasting hills.* The everlasting hills are the faithful of the Old Testament, humble sons founded with unmoved firmness upon the faith of the prophets and patriarchs [n: (unde: Mons domus Domini elevabitur super colles (Isa. II) )], with whose fruits the land of Joseph [0498C] is blessed, when the Church bears fruit in faith by the doctrine of Christ's prophecy and by the example of virtue. And it is to be noted that above, in the fruits and the dew of heaven, evangelical doctrine is signified, here, in the top of the ancient mountains and the fruits of the everlasting hills, the legal and prophetic; and by both the land of Joseph is enriched, because holy Church is formed by the pages of both Testaments and by the examples of the new Fathers and the old; whence: *All fruits, my beloved,* that is, *the new and the old, I have kept for thee [n: (Cant. VII)]*, and: *Every scribe instructed bringeth forth out of his treasure new things and old [n: (Matth. XIII)]*. The Manichaeans therefore and the Jews (because the former do not receive the Old, the latter the New Testament) cannot inherit in this rich land.

[0498D]VERS. 16.-- *And of the fruits.* The Church, fruitful in the whole world with the fruit of justice and with the largess of the charisms, has received of the fulness of her Joseph; whence there follows:

*The blessing of him who appeared.* The whole Joseph, that is, head and body, is full of blessing, but the fulness of the blessing is chiefly in the head; whence: *Like the ointment on the head, which ran down upon the beard of Aaron,* etc. [n: (Psal. XXXII.)] He, pre-eminent over his brethren, that is, over the faithful, by the privilege of grace, shone forth with the sevenfold Spirit as a true Samson, a Nazarite from the womb of the Virgin, that is, consecrated to God, as it were with his seven locks untouched.

*Upon the head of Joseph,* of Christ, who is the head of the Church, in whom all nations are blessed, of whose [0499A] passion and resurrection it is subjoined: *As of the firstborn of a bull,* etc.

*As. [n: (AUG., quaest. 56.)]* The firstborn of a bull is his beauty. It is not to be read in such a way that he is called the firstborn of a bull: but, since he is the firstborn, his beauty is the beauty of a bull, because of the horns of the cross.

Christ is the fatted calf, whom the Father sacrificed for the returning Son as the firstborn out of the herd of the fathers, who on the third day was raised up and appeared in glory, who is the firstborn of the dead and the prince of the kings of the earth, and who after the glory of the resurrection adds horns out of the power of the passion.

VERS. 17.-- *Horns.* He compares Joseph to the horns of a rhinoceros, signifying that Ephraim would have the chief place among the ten tribes, over which Jeroboam [0499B] of the tribe of Ephraim reigned in the time of Roboam the son of Solomon.

*The horns of a rhinoceros.* It signifies the horns of the cross, of which Habacuc says: *There is his strength hidden [n: (Habac. III)]*. For through the weakness of the flesh he is crowned, like a ram, with the thorns of the mockers, and by these horns he stuck fast; but by the incomparable strength of the passion he stood forth a unicorn, the conqueror of death, and of him who had the empire of death, whence: *That which is the weak thing of God is stronger than men [n: (I Cor. I)]*

*He shall winnow.* By the preaching of the cross, separating the chaff from the wheat: for the word of the cross is foolishness to them that perish.

*The nations. Ask of me, and I will give thee the nations,* etc. [n: (Psal. II.)] For of the inheritance of the true Joseph (which is [0499C] the glorious land) all these things are said; and of its tillers, gathered out of both peoples, there follows:

*These are the multitudes of Ephraim.* These two tribes out of Joseph are blessed not in themselves, but in their parent. They signify the sons of both peoples, who are blessed in Christ, according to that word: *In thy seed shall all nations be blessed [n: (Gen. XXII)]*. These the patriarch Jacob, blessing Ephraim and Manasses with his hands crossed in the manner of a cross, and preferring the younger to the firstborn, signified were to be blessed in the faith of Christ's cross, marking in the younger the people faithful from among the gentiles, lesser in time within the grace of Christ, but greater in faith: to whom the grace of the people of Israel passed over, of whose inestimable multitude it is said: *These are the multitudes,* etc., whence: *Many are the children of the desolate, more than of her [0499D] that hath a husband [n: (Isa. LIV)]*.

Manasses, deprived of the honour of the firstborn and yet blessed, is the Jewish people, which for the greater part of itself was reprobated for unbelief, yet in the remainder obtained the blessing, whence: *Blindness in part happeneth in Israel,* etc. [n: (Rom. II.)]

VERS. 18.-- *And to Zabulon.* Zabulon and Issachar received their passion in Galilee, where Christ chiefly taught, whence he chose the apostles. Through them therefore the apostles are designated, and to them gladness is promised in their going out, because going out from their own borders they subjected the people of the gentiles to Christ, and in their tabernacles for the conversion of the Jews, from whom they themselves also were chosen. For both peoples therefore gladness is promised them, present and to come: [0500A] because in the present they rejoiced over their conversion, and in the heavenly places they were rewarded with eternal gladness.

*In the tabernacles,* of the Jews, whence: *May God enlarge Japheth, and may he dwell in the tents of Sem [n: (Gen. IX)]*: because in the churches of the Jews there dwells the breadth of the lesser people through the unity of faith.

VERS. 19.-- *To the mountain.* Sion, namely, or Jerusalem, or contemplation and the height of the virtues.

*They shall call.* Teaching that justice is only in the faith of Christ. *For the end of the law is Christ, unto justice to everyone that believeth [n: (Rom. X)]*. On the mountain they sacrifice the victims of justice, while they teach that all who come to Christ (in whom the Church is built) are justified not by the works of the law but by the faith of Christ, according to that word: *But the just [0500B] man liveth by faith [n: (Habac. I)]*. True Christians therefore are the victims of justice, which are sacrificed by the apostles, while they are taught to mortify earthly desires, that spiritual things may be made alive; whence: *If by the Spirit you mortify the deeds of the flesh, you shall live [n: (Rom. VIII)]*.

*There they shall sacrifice.* There is no place of true sacrifice outside the catholic Church, which is set upon this mountain.

*Who suck the flood.* These tribes gave themselves to trafficking, bringing back merchandise from regions across the sea, and hidden treasures, silver, namely, gold or gems, *they shall suck as milk,* that is, they shall receive them easily.

*Who suck the flood of the sea.* It signifies the calling of the gentiles. For the sea signifies the whole race of men; [0500C] whence: *The kingdom of heaven is like to a net cast into the sea, and gathering together of all kinds of fishes [n: (Matth. XIII)]*. By the sea, the world; by the net, doctrine; by every kind of fishes, every sex, age and condition is understood. The apostles therefore sucked the flood of the sea as milk, because they drew the throngs of the peoples flowing together to the doctrine of the Gospel into the increase of Christ's body.

*Hidden. The Lord knoweth who are his [n: (I Tim. II)]*. *For many are called, few,* etc. [n: (Matth. XX.)]

The sands are the multitude of the unbelieving; the treasures, the precious souls of the elect. So therefore did they suck, that of the hearers of the Gospel some were carried over as vessels of honour into the treasures of the king, while others remained empty, like barren and [0500D] useless sands.

VERS. 20.-- *And to Gad he said.* In the blessing of Gad he seems to foretell the might of the strong men, or the judgeship, who were of that tribe, such as Jephte, and many others.

*In breadth.* Because all the fulness of blessing rested upon Christ, whence he blessed his own.

## CHAPTER XXXIII. (cont.)

*Gad.* That is, girded, signifies Christ, who, being about to fight against spiritual wickednesses, appeared in the weakness of the flesh girded with the power of the Godhead, according to that word: *The Lord is clothed with strength and hath girded himself [n: (Psal. CXII)]*. And elsewhere: *The Lord strong and mighty in battle,* etc. He is blessed in breadth, because not among the Jews alone, but among all [0501A] nations he received a most ample kingdom. Whence the Prophecy says:

*From the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof, the name of the Lord is worthy of praise.* But because he came to this glory through the humility of the passion, he subjoins concerning his death:

*He rested as a lion. I have power to lay down my life [n: (Joan. X)]*. The power of death, not the necessity, is expressed; whence: *No man taketh it away from me, but I lay it down. [n: (Ibid.)]*

*He roared as a lion.* For whatsoever he said, he powerfully fulfilled.

*And he took the arm and the head.* When, rising from the dead, he subjected to himself the strength of his enemies. He took also the head, that is, he bent the loftiness of worldly empire to the receiving of the faith; whence: [0501B] *And all kings shall adore him; all nations shall serve him [n: (Psal. LXXI)]*. There follows concerning the new state of his kingdom.

VERS. 21.-- *And he saw his principality, that in his own portion.* When kingdoms and nations had been subjected to him, his power appeared, not by the terror of arms, but by the strength of doctrine.

*Laid up.* Hidden, while he writes his laws in the hearts of the faithful; whence he says: *You have the unction from the Holy One, and you have no need that any man teach you; his unction teacheth you of all things [n: (Joan. II)]*. Or, *Laid up,* because in the law and the prophets he lay hidden in figures, and taught while concealed the things which he declared openly in the Gospel; whence: *Beginning from Moses and all the prophets, he expounded to them [n: (Luc. XXIV)]*.

[0501C] *Who was with the princes of the people.* A helper, whence: *The Lord working withal and confirming the word with signs that followed [n: (Marc. XVI)]*, because he says: *Without me you can do nothing [n: (Joan. XV)]*.

*He did justices.* That is, justifying those who believe in him, and at length he will judge according to their merits with Israel, that is, with his people chosen for the vision of God.

*Justices.* The justifications of believers. For he himself justifies the ungodly out of faith. For neither shall any flesh be justified by the works of the law.

VERS. 22.-- *Dan also.* Others think that by Dan is signified Antichrist, whom they reckon will be born of this tribe: he is the whelp of the lion, that is, of the devil, who shall flow plentifully from Basan, because he is full of confusion; [0501D] for Basan is interpreted confusion, or fatness, or the locust.

Dan also means judgment, Basan ignominy. But Dan signifies Christ, who says: *For judgment I am come into this world [n: (Joan. IX)]*. The whelp of a lion, because of his strength, and because he deigned to become a little one; but taking upon himself our weakness, he did not lose his own power, *for that which is the weak thing of God is stronger than men [n: (I Cor. I)]*. Of him it is said: *The lion of the tribe of Juda hath conquered,* etc. [n: (Apoc. V.)] The ignominy of the cross indeed he bore from the Jews, who thought that his name would be blotted out by death: but he who through the weakness of that flesh was a whelp in the passion, appeared through the power of the Godhead an unconquered lion in the resurrection; whence the Apostle: *And although he was crucified through weakness, [0502A] yet he liveth by the power of God [n: (II Cor. XIII)]*. He flowed plentifully, therefore, as it were out of Basan, when, coming through the ignominy of death to the glory of immortality, he watered the whole world with the streams of the Gospel; whence Isaias: *The earth is filled with the knowledge of the Lord, as the covering waters of the sea [n: (Isa. II)]*.

*Dan is a lion's whelp.* This he says because of Samson, who was of the tribe of Dan, and strong as a lion, whose possession reached as far as Basan. But Antichrist shall flow plentifully from Basan, because he shall be sated with the fatness of luxury and of all the vices.

*He shall possess the sea and the south.* Because his possession reaches from the southern quarter westward as far as the Tyrrhenian sea.

*He shall possess the sea and the south.* For through the apostles [0502B] the Church is won for Christ out of Jews and gentiles. For by the western sea (which is here understood) the Jews are figured, who serve the shadow and the copy, and have not the light of knowledge and of truth; and because for them the sun of justice has set, they have remained in perpetual darkness. This west the apostles possessed, when out of them they subjected to Christ very many enlightened by the grace of faith, that they who once were darkness might be light in the Lord. By the south is understood the Church gathered out of the gentiles, which, the veil of the law being taken away, enjoys the light of the Gospel, and lying down with the bridegroom at noon, contemplates with unveiled face the glory of the Lord.

VERS. 24.-- *To Aser also he said: Blessed be Aser among his sons, let him be pleasing to his brethren.* Aser, blessed, that is, Christ, the hope of our beatitude, whose firstfruits he showed [0502C] to us in rising from the dead. He is blessed among his sons, because believers, born again through his grace, have filled the whole world with his likeness; to whom it is said: *Believe in the light, sons, that you may be of the light [n: (Joan. XII)]*. They bring forth the fruit of light in all goodness and justice and truth. And this was done because he was pleasing with true charity to his brethren, that is, to the apostles, whom he chose out of Judea, so that, the figures being despised, they might rejoice in the truth of the Gospel, and because *they were accounted worthy to suffer reproach for the name of Jesus.* And whence they had so great an abundance of charity, he adds, *let him dip his foot in oil,* etc.

*And let him dip his foot in oil.* Christ our head, ascending into heaven, anointed most abundantly with the oil of the Holy Spirit the apostles — his feet, who were to go about the world preaching, while still standing on the earth [0502D] — that they might fail through no labour, but be strong with the brightness of unfading joy. He furnished also the incorruptible defence of a shoe, of which it is subjoined:

*Iron and brass cal. [n: (GREG., lib. XXXIV Moral., cap. 5.)]* This concerning the Church, etc., *as far as* with these shoes the true pasch is to be celebrated.

VERS. 25.-- *As the days of thy youth.* It signifies that this tribe abounded in prosperity and delights until the old age of the captivity.

*As.* To the Church is promised a raw and green old age: that as in the beginning she strongly overcame all assaults, so at the end that is at hand she may overcome the fury of Antichrist, whence: *Behold I am with you all days [0503A] even to the consummation of the world [n: (Matth. XXVIII)]*. And elsewhere: *My old age in plentiful mercy (Psalmus XCI)*.

VERS. 26.-- *There is no God.* Marvelling at the things said above, in praise of Christ, who did all these things, he breaks out full of gladness.

*Who rideth upon the heaven.* By his own power he ascended, and daily draws the Church to himself. *Draw me after thee, run in the odour of thy ointments [n: (Cant. I)]*.

*The clouds.* The apostles, who rain with words, flash with miracles: whom, ascending into heaven, he sent to preach; whence: *The clouds gave forth a voice [n: (Psal. LXXVI)]*, which run to and fro with none to delay them, working signs and wonders not by their own power but by Christ's, and terrifying the hearts of mortals as with lightnings, whence: [0503B] *I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course [n: (II Tim. IV)]*.

VERS. 27.-- *His dwelling place is above,* etc. The body raised from the dead and placed at the right hand of the Father, of which it is said: Destroy this temple [n: (Joan. II)].

*The arms.* The power, namely, of the passion, which defends all, and which he received on the cross with arms outstretched.

*Underneath the arms.* These arms, namely, defend those who fight against the true Amalec: nor are they weighed down with weariness, as Moses's were, but lift up with unwearied strength, until they obtain the true victory. Let us venerate therefore in the highest the firstfruits of our resurrection, in the lowest the sacrament of our redemption, that we ourselves also, the adversary being overthrown, may obtain the glory of immortality; concerning which it is promised to the true Israel: *He shall cast out [0503C] the enemy from before thy face.*

*And alone.* Living, namely, after his own manner and by his own laws, whence Balaam: *The people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations [n: (Num. XXIII)]*.

VERS. 28.-- *The eye of Jacob.* He who here sweated to supplant the vices, there shall unceasingly contemplate, with the lightest glance of the mind, the glory of Christ, who for our sake took the earth of true flesh: so that he by whose body and blood he was here fed through the sacrament of wheat and wine, may there be filled full with the perpetual vision of his divinity, whence: *I shall be satisfied when thy glory shall appear [n: (Psal. XVI)]*. And elsewhere: *I will manifest myself to him [n: (Joan. XIV)]*. Then Jacob, turned into perfect Israel, shall see God face to face, with a knowledge of God so ample, so subtle, so delightful, filled as it were [0503D] with the lightest dew, that the knowledge of the preachers by which we are instructed in the present may seem to grow dark; whence: *Or knowledge shall be destroyed [n: (I Cor. XIII)]*. And elsewhere: *Dark water in the clouds of the air, before the brightness in his sight [n: (Psal. XVII)]*; and when it shall have been come to, all this doctrine shall cease, *and they shall all be taught of God [n: (Joan. VI)]*; whence he rightly adds: *Blessed art thou, Israel,* etc

*And the heavens shall be darkened,* as though the dew were poured out so abundantly for the making fruitful of the earth, that the sight of men should grow dark. In which it is signified that the Jews, since they loved earthly wealth beyond measure, were darkened, and could not know Christ; whence: *If we let him alone so, all will believe in him,* etc.

[0504A]VERS. 29.-- *Who is like to thee, O people?* As if to say: therefore blessed, therefore none is like to thee, because thou hopest for salvation not from thy own strength, but from the grace of Christ, who saveth his people from their sins.

*And the sword of glory.* In the world to come striking the adversaries with irrevocable severity, when he shall avenge the blood of his servants. The sword is now hidden here in the lowliness of those who suffer; it shall be revealed in the glory of those who rise again, and therefore it is called the *sword of glory* of Israel. Christ therefore as a shield protects the one who fights, and as a sword of glory shall avenge the one who triumphs. To him, as to the head, the glory of the body is referred at the end of the prophecy, when it is said:

*They shall deny.* They shall abominate and hate, like Balac, who asked Balaam to drive back the Israelites by cursing them.

[0504B] *Thou shalt tread.* By subjecting to the Church those who abominate and persecute her.

It is to be noted that there are only eleven blessings. For Simeon is not found among these blessings, in whom Judas is excluded from the apostles, only eleven remaining. Thence also by eleven encampments the sons of Israel came from Horeb to the place in which they received Deuteronomy.

## CHAPTER XXXIV

VERS. 1.-- *He went up therefore.* Moses as well as the other fathers of the Old Testament, lifted up in spirit to the height of contemplation, were able to foresee the grace of the New Testament, which is given in Christ, both by the conferring of the virtues and by the receiving of the heavenly kingdom: [0504C] but they could not await it in the flesh, and died in faith and hope, and were led down to the lower regions, where they awaited the coming of the Redeemer, who by the blood of his redemption should free them from thence.

*And he showed him.* Moses saw the land of promise, and did not enter it, because the law foreshadowed in words and figures the coming of Christ and the doctrine of the Gospel, but led no man to perfection.

VERS. 2.-- *All the land.* A part of all the land, so much as he could see from the highest mountain. Or he showed him all the land in spirit.

VERS. 5.-- *And he died there,* etc. God spares none of the elect, and avenges even the least sins, even in his friends; whence: *Moses and Aaron his priests,* and he added: *Thou wast propitious to them, and [0504D] taking vengeance on all their inventions.* The law, namely, being ended, which served the Lord in its own time, the city was destroyed and the altar, nowhere sacrifices, nowhere libations, nowhere priest or pontiff.

VERS. 6.-- *In a valley.* On the mountain he died, in a valley he was buried, because the law was glorious in its own time: but compared with the Gospel it seems hidden and lowly; whence: *I gave them precepts that were not good.*

*And no man hath known.* The Jews assert that this was done lest the Jews, ever prone to idolatry, should worship a dead man as God; but according to allegory it signifies that the time and manner of the ending of the law are hidden in the foreknowledge of God alone, and that neither the depth of the wisdom of God, nor the secret of his counsel, lies open to anyone, [0505A] because his judgments are incomprehensible and his ways unsearchable.

VERS. 7.-- *Moses was a hundred and twenty years old.* If from one, in the natural order, as far as fifteen, thou shalt join together the sums of the single numbers — one, that is, and two and three, and so onward — they make a hundred and twenty. And fifteen is made up of seven and eight: seven is referred to the sabbath, eight to circumcision, because on the eighth day the boy was circumcised. But if thou look to the New Testament, thou hast the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, and in the eighth the resurrection of Christ; the hundred and twenty therefore signify those who even in the Old Testament strive to fulfil the precepts of the Law and of the Gospel.

*Moses was a hundred and twenty years old.* This signifies that he, as well as the other fathers of the Old Testament, after the perfection of the commandments of God, which is in the two [0505B] precepts of charity, are through the grace of Christ and the redemption of his blood made fit for eternal rest and for the life to come; whose *eye was not dimmed,* the gaze, namely, of holy intention was not darkened with any cloud, nor were the *teeth* of malice *moved,* because their order of discretion was not disturbed by the tempest of the vices, a hundred and twenty are the years of the lawgiver, by which number the height of Solomon's temple was confirmed. The primitive Church also, after the passion and the resurrection and the Lord's ascension, received the grace of the Holy Spirit in this number of men. For fifteen, which is made up of seven and eight, signifies the life to come, which is now carried on in the sabbath of souls and shall be perfected in the resurrection of bodies. Fifteen also, brought into a triangle, that is, reckoned together with its own parts, [0505C] makes a hundred and twenty. Fittingly therefore is the beatitude of the elect in the life to come signified by the hundred and the twenty, and the third upper room of the house of God is completed, because after the labours of the faithful, after the rest of souls, the full felicity of the Church shall be fulfilled in the glory of the resurrection.

[0506A]VERS. 8.-- *And they wept.* Because death reigned even in those who had not sinned, from Adam unto Moses: therefore tears follow him as he goes down to the lower regions.

[n: (HIERON., epist. ad Paulam.)] It is no wonder if to Moses and Aaron, etc., *as far as* but to be within, that is, to minister to the will of the Lord.

*And they were completed.* From this the custom seems to have arisen, that for the faithful departed the offices of piety are discharged for thirty days.

VERS. 9.-- *He laid upon him.* In his Scriptures he bore witness to him, saying: *God shall raise up a prophet,* etc. [n: (Deut. XVIII)], whence: *If you did believe Moses, you would perhaps believe me also [n: (Joan. V)]*.

VERS. 10.-- *And there arose not,* etc. This (as is reported) Esdras added of his own, who by a divine understanding restored the library burnt by the Chaldeans, and found the letters which the Jews now use, whence he was also called *a swift scribe* [0506B].

*And there arose not a prophet.* Because Moses was more excellent than all the prophets of the Old Testament: whence the Jews arrogantly say: *We are the disciples of Moses [n: (Joan. IX)]*. But after the Lord of the prophets came incarnate into the world, all that former dignity and shadow of things to come ceased: because *the law and the figure was given by Moses: grace and truth by Jesus Christ, who is the end of the law unto justice to everyone that believeth [n: (Hebr. X; Joan. I; Rom. X)]*.

*And he buried him in the valley.* The Lord, namely. And by this it is signified that, the hindrance of nature having been removed through Christ, the clean soul, once separated, ascends to God: and the body which is buried remains in the earth until the judgment. Ecclesiastes XII: Until the dust [0506C] return into the dust whence it was, and the spirit return to God who gave it. Which return may he grant to be prosperous for us, who liveth and reigneth for ever and ever. *Amen.*