Letters & Polemics (CSEL) 59 part 11/33

For 'they shall be in the sheaths' is so said as if it were said: they shall be for sheaths. He commands the tabernacle to be made of ten curtains, since the decalogue is of the law. And the curtains signify breadth on account of ease. For charity is the fullness of the law, and only the precepts of charity are easy. Whence this very enlargement is commended, when it is said: 'thou hast enlarged my steps beneath me, and my footsteps have not been weakened.' But since this enlargement is made through the grace of God — for the charity of God is poured forth in our hearts, not through ourselves, but through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us — therefore here this very number is mystically commended, which pertains also to the Holy Spirit, through whom the law can be fulfilled.

For the curtain is said to have to be twenty-eight cubits in length. Now this number, because it is to be divided by seven, is signified when he says the breadth of the curtain is four cubits. For four times seven make twenty-eight. And this number too is perfect, because, like six, it consists of its own parts. But as to what he so often says: 'thou shalt make cherubim upon it by the work of a weaver,' what else does he commend in all these than a multitude of knowledge, which is what 'cherubim' is interpreted to mean? 'And thou shalt make veils of hair to cover over the tabernacle; eleven veils shalt thou make them.' The veils of hair — that is, of goat's hair — are said to be eleven. For in sins there is transgression.

Now transgression is signified by the number eleven, since it transgresses (goes beyond) the ten, that is, the law. Therefore these same eleven, multiplied by seven, make seventy-seven. Whereby the Lord signified the universal remission of sins, saying: 'not only seven times, but even seventy times seven,' as many generations as are found when Luke, reckoning upward from the baptism of the Lord, ascends and arrives through Adam even unto God. For to this end is there a signification of sins in these veils: that through confession they may be expressed, and through the grace which has been given to the Church they may be abolished, that is, covered — whence it is said: 'blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered.'

Then he commands those veils to be covered with rams' skins dyed red. And to whom would the ram dyed red not suggest Christ made bloody by his passion? By these are also signified the holy martyrs, by whose prayers God is made propitious to the sins of his people. Finally, over these are laid hyacinth-coloured skins, that the eternal life may be signified by the greenness, as it were by a perpetual vigour. 'Thou shalt make two little brackets for one column, standing over against each other,' that is: one on this side and one on that, from the sides of the column. He says 'little brackets' (anconisci), which we commonly call 'ancones,' such as are on the columns of wine-cellars, on which rest the timbers that bear the casks. And the likeness of the word is drawn from the elbows (cubita), where the arms are bent.

On which those reclining rest, who in Greek are called ἀγκῶνες. 'Two bases for one column.' Scripture seems to call 'bases' not only those by which the columns are supported from below, but also the upper ones, which we call capitals. Therefore he says: 'two bases for one column on both its parts.' For what are its 'both parts' but the upper and the lower? As to the fact that Scripture speaks of eight columns and their sixteen bases at the rear of the tabernacle, according to the aforesaid reckoning, whereas above it had said six, it is understood that, the two corner ones being counted in, they come to eight. 'And the veil shall divide for you between the midst of the holy and the midst of the holy of holies': that is, that between the holy and the holy of holies there be this veil, of which he now speaks.

...stretched out upon four columns. Concerning this distinction between the holy and the holy of holies the Epistle to the Hebrews speaks. For where the ark of the testimony is, there is the holy of holies, that is, within, beyond the veil. But outside are the table and the lampstand and the other things which a little before he said were to be made; these are called holy, and not the holy of holies. And by the outer part the Old Testament is signified, and by the inner part the New, since both are contained in the reading of the Old Testament, the one set forth openly in its works, the other prefigured in its symbolism. And on this account in the holy places there is a figure of a figure, because it is the figure of the Old Testament; but in the holy of holies there is the figure of the very truth, because it is the figure of the New Testament.

For indeed the whole Old Testament, in these things and in the observances which are thus commanded to be kept, is a figure. Concerning the altar it is asked how he willed it to be three cubits high, since this is about the height of a man's stature. How then was the altar ministered at, when in another place he forbids the altar to have steps? 'Lest,' he says, 'you uncover your shame upon it.' But there he was speaking of the altar that was to be constructed of earth or of stones, where the very steps, being built together with it, would indeed belong to the body of the altar; but now he commands the altar to be made of boards, so that if anything were set beside it for the hour of ministry, where the minister of the altar might stand, and when the ministry was completed it were taken away, it would certainly not belong to the body of the altar.

Likewise it is asked how the sacrifice that was offered could be burned upon a wooden altar, especially since he orders it to be made hollow and a grating to be set down as far as the middle of it, that is, the middle of its hollow made with lattice-work. Or is it because he said, 'And you shall make horns at the four corners; the horns shall be of one piece with it, and you shall overlay it with brass'—that the words 'you shall overlay it with brass' are not to be referred to the horns alone, but to all the things concerning the making of the altar of which he was speaking as he gave command? 'And you shall speak to all the wise of heart, whom I have filled with the spirit of understanding.' The Greek indeed has aisthēsis, which in Latin we are accustomed to call 'sense,' not 'understanding';

But Scripture is accustomed to speak thus of the inner sense, which we call understanding, as it does in the Epistle to the Hebrews: 'But solid food belongs to the perfect, to those who by practice have their senses exercised to discern good and evil.' For there where it set down 'senses,' the Greek has aisthēseōs. Whom then ought we to understand this spirit to be, except the Holy Spirit? 'And the robes which they shall make: the breastplate, the ephod, the ankle-length tunic, and the tunic with clusters.' It is to be noted that these are called 'robes' and the rest, although above he had proposed that a single robe be made. But 'the tunic with clusters' the Latin translators thought more fittingly said than if they had said 'with tassels,' which, when well arranged, are wont to be an ornament to garments.

As for the aspidiscae in the priestly garment, one may ask what he means by them. Are they little shields (scutulae), which in Latin are named from scutum ('shield'), since the Greeks too call a shield aspis? Or does he say aspidiscae, from the aspis serpent, on account of their being carefully bound together, just as the muraenae (lampreys) too are so named? 'A span in length and a span in breadth.' Certain Latin translators have interpreted this as 'the measure of an extended palm from the tip of the thumb to the tip of the little finger.' 'And let the stones be according to the names of the sons of Israel, according to their births,' that is, according to the order in which they were born. 'And you shall make upon the rationale fringes intertwined, chain-work of pure gold.' What the Latins translated 'rationale,' the poverty of the language brought about. For the Greek has logion, not logikon.

Now that which the Greeks call logikon, we are accustomed to call 'rational' (rationale). But since logos in the Greek language is ambiguous—whether it signifies 'word' or 'reason,' for it is the name of both things—where it was thought that logion was derived from 'word,' our translators rendered it 'utterance' (eloquium); for where we have 'The utterances of the Lord are pure utterances,' the Greeks have logia. But here, in the priestly garment, that which was commanded to be made of gold and blue and purple and doubled twisted scarlet and doubled twisted fine linen, a double square, which was to be upon the priest's breast and was to be called logion—it is uncertain whether it was derived from 'reason' or from 'word': our translators, thinking it rather said from 'reason,' called it 'rationale.'

'And you shall put upon the rationale of judgment the manifestation and the truth.' What this may mean, or in what thing or metal the manifestation and truth were to be placed upon the rationale, since he says such things were made in the priest's garment as are made bodily, it is difficult to discover. Yet certain persons relate that there was a stone whose color would change, either toward adversity or toward prosperity, when the priest entered into the holy places; and that this is what he says: 'And Aaron shall bear the judgments of the sons of Israel upon his breast,' showing evidently in that manifestation and truth what the Lord had judged concerning them. Although the manifestation and truth may be understood as placed in letters upon the logion.

'And you shall make an ankle-length tunic of blue,' that is, hanging down to the ankles. 'And there shall be an opening in the middle of it'—that is, through which the head may be put out; for this is what the Greeks call peristomion—'having a border round about the opening, the work of a weaver, a woven joining,' that is, so that the border itself may not be sewn on from without; this he seems to say by 'a woven joining.' Whence also he added: 'from itself, that it be not torn,' that is, so that the border itself may be woven from the garment itself together with it. 'And Aaron shall wear it when he begins to exercise the priesthood; his voice shall be heard as he enters into the holy place in the sight of the Lord, and as he goes out, that he die not.' He said that the voice of the one entering and going out was heard from the little bells, and he laid so great a weight of observance upon it that he said:

'that he die not.' He willed therefore that certain testimonies be signified in the priestly garment—by which surely the Church is signified—through these little bells, so that the priest's manner of life might be known, as the Apostle says: 'showing yourself in all things a pattern of good works,' or that other saying: 'the things which you have heard from me through many witnesses, these same commit to faithful men who are competent to teach others also.' Or what else? Yet whatever it is, it is a great thing. Now 'to the one entering and to the one going out' stands for 'of the one entering and of the one going out.' And 'voice' stands for 'sound'; for the little bells give a sound rather than a voice. 'And you shall make a plate of pure gold, and you shall form on it the engraving of a seal: The Holiness of the Lord.'

'And you shall place it upon the doubled twisted blue, and it shall be upon the mitre; it shall be at the front of the mitre. And it shall be upon Aaron's forehead, and Aaron shall take away the sins of the holy things which the sons of Israel shall sanctify, of every gift of their holy things.' How 'the Holiness of the Lord' is to be formed on the plate I do not see, except by certain letters, which some say are four Hebrew letters—which, as the Greeks call it, they believe to have been, or even still to be, the ineffable Tetragrammaton name of God. But whatever those letters may be, or however they stand, as I have said, I would believe that the Holiness of the Lord, or the Sanctification—if this rather ought to be said, which the Greek has as hagiasma—could be formed in the gold only by letters.

But there he says that the priest takes away the sins of the holy things. 'Whatever,' he says, 'the sons of Israel shall sanctify, of every gift of their holy things': which I think is said of those sacrifices which they offer for their sins, so that we understand not holy men, but things holy in this respect, that they are holy things which are offered for sins. When therefore he had spoken of the plate, he added and said: 'And Aaron shall take away the sins of the holy things which the sons of Israel shall sanctify, of every gift of their holy things,' that is: the priest shall take away whatever they offer for their sins, which are called both holy, because they are sanctified, and sins, because they are offered for sins; as in many places Scripture plainly mentions this very thing.

But that which he adds and says, 'And it shall be upon Aaron's forehead, always accepted for them in the sight of the Lord,' returns to that plate, in which is understood the ornament of the forehead, the confidence of a good life; which the priest who has it truly and perfectly, not in symbol but in truth, he alone can take away sins and has no necessity to offer for his own. Concerning Aaron and Aaron's sons, when he was giving command, speaking to Moses, how they should be clothed and anointed, what does he mean by saying, 'And you shall fill their hands, that they may exercise the priesthood for me'? Or is it perhaps with the gifts which are to be offered to God? 'And you shall make them linen breeches to cover the shame of their flesh; from the loins to the thighs they shall be.'

Since the garment covers so much of the whole body, what does he mean by saying, 'You shall make linen breeches to cover the shame of their flesh,' as though so much could appear beneath a garment thrown over above? Unless because he willed there to be in this a sign of chastity or continence: which is signified through the covering, so that it may be understood as not held from oneself, but given. When he was speaking of Aaron's sons, 'And you shall clothe them,' he says, 'with tunics and gird them with girdles and put upon them the cidares.' What he calls a cidaris or cidares, since it has not been translated and is not now in use, is unknown; yet I think it is not a covering for the head, as some have thought. For he would not say 'you shall put around them' unless it were something of such a kind as would be of use not to the head, but to the body.

'And the priesthood shall be theirs for me forever.' How he says 'forever' concerning these significative things we have often said above. For assuredly this priesthood was changed, so that it might be to them forever according to the order of Melchizedek, not according to the order of Aaron. For there is both an oath and no repentance of God, whereby a change is signified. 'For the Lord swore and will not repent, You are,' he says, 'a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.' But concerning the order of Aaron, 'forever' was indeed said, either on account of a time not appointed for how long it should be observed, or because the thing signified eternal realities; yet it was nowhere said concerning the priesthood of Aaron that 'the Lord swore and will not repent.'

And therefore it was said concerning that priesthood according to the order of Melchizedek, 'he will not repent,' in order that it might be signified that concerning the priesthood of Aaron he did repent, that is, he changed it. What does 'And you shall consecrate the hands of Aaron and the hands of his sons' mean? Or did he signify power through the hands, so that they too might be able to consecrate something, but that power itself was completed through the sanctification by which they were commanded to be sanctified by Moses? 'And you shall bring the bull-calf to the door of the tabernacle of the testimony, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands upon the head of the calf in the sight of the Lord.'

Behold, from this it was said above that their hands were to be consecrated, that is, their power was to be perfected, so that they too might sanctify—which is now done when they lay their hands upon the calf to be immolated. As to the fact that in the holy Scriptures the sacrifice of the cattle-victims is often called 'an odor of sweetness to the Lord,' God is certainly not delighted by the odor of that smoke; but only that which is signified by these things spiritually delights God when it is spiritually presented, since the very odor of God is understood spiritually. For he does not draw in the odor with bodily nostrils as we do. As therefore he smells, so these things signify. 'And you shall take the little breast of the ram of consecration, which is Aaron's,' that is, of this Aaron.

For this he willed to pertain to the high priest. 'And it shall belong to Aaron and his sons as a perpetual due from the sons of Israel,' when he was speaking of the breast and the arm of the victims. In that customary manner, then, he said 'perpetual,' which we have often recalled above. 'And the holy robe, which is Aaron's, shall belong to his sons after him, to anoint them in them and to consecrate their hands. Seven days shall the priest who succeeds him from among his sons clothe himself in it, who shall enter the tabernacle of the testimony to minister in the holy places.' These words hold many questions. For first it is to be noted here how, though he said the 'robe' of the 'holy man,' afterward he says in the plural: 'to anoint them in them,' as if in robes.

For above too he had called them many robes, of which one was composed. Although it is ambiguous whether 'in them' comes from the fact that they are 'those things' (in the neuter gender)—whatever they are of which that robe is completed, that is, the priestly garment: which is rather to be thought, from the fact that in what follows he says, 'Seven days shall the priest who succeeds him clothe himself in them,' namely in all those things which he mentioned when he was describing the priestly garment. He indeed repeated what he had said above, 'to consecrate their hands': whence I have expounded what seemed to me. But as to what he says, 'Seven days shall the priest clothe himself in them,' will he not clothe himself on other days?

But he willed those seven consecutive days to be understood, in which his priesthood is in a certain manner dedicated, and there is a festivity of a week at its inauguration. But he calls the successor of Aaron the one who enters the tabernacle of the testimony to minister in the holy places, signifying namely him who could not be but one—not such as Aaron's sons also were while their father was living, but such as the successor of Aaron himself. How then does he say it proper to this one alone 'to enter the tabernacle of the testimony to minister in the holy places,' when even those things which are outside the veil, by which the holy of holies are veiled, are called holy, and that too is called the tabernacle of the testimony where the holy things are, that is, the table and the lampstand?

Since the succeeding priests also minister at the table and the lampstand and the altar itself, how does he say that Aaron is one, who enters the tabernacle of the testimony to minister in the holy places? For if he had said 'to minister in the holy of holies,' there would be no question. For to these places, where the ark of the testimony is, one alone, the high priest, entered: which is also most carefully commended in the Epistle to the Hebrews. Unless perhaps by the very fact that he says that one enters the tabernacle of the testimony to minister in the holy places, he does not wish it to be understood except as in the holy of holies, since these too are indeed called holy. For not all things which are holy can also be called the holy of holies;

but those things which are the holy of holies, without doubt are surely holy. But this one man who once a year entered into the holy of holies, since he signified the Lord Christ, is most plainly commended in the aforesaid Epistle to the Hebrews. But that which was prefigured in the holy of holies—that above the ark, which held the law, there should be the mercy-seat, where God's mercy is to be understood as signified, whereby he becomes propitious to the sins of those who do not fulfill the law—this seems to me to be signified also in the very garment of the priest; for what else does it too signify but the sacraments of the Church?

For in the logion, that is, the rationale placed upon the priest's breast, he established judgments, but in the plate, sanctification and the offering for sins; as though the rationale upon the breast were like the ark in which the law was, and that plate on the forehead were like the mercy-seat which was above the ark; and so that in both places might be preserved what is written: 'Mercy exults above judgment.' What does it mean that he says the altar, purified and sanctified for seven days, shall be the holy of the holy? He does not indeed call the altar the holy of holies, as is that which is separated by the veil, where the ark of the testimony is; but nevertheless he says that this altar too, placed outside the veil, becomes the holy of the holy rather through the sanctification of seven days than through the anointing. And he adds:

'Everyone who touches the altar shall be sanctified.' When he was speaking of the rings of the altar of incense—which altar he ordered to be not brazen but golden—'And you shall make two rings of pure gold,' he says, 'beneath its twisted crown, on two sides; you shall make them on the two sides,' since the Greek has: eis ta dyo klitē poiēseōs en tois dysi pleurois. Both klitē are 'sides' and pleura are 'sides.' Whence certain Latins interpreted thus: 'you shall make them on two parts, on two sides.' But the Greek does not say merē, which means 'parts,' but klitē, which means 'sides.' For this word occurs in that psalm where it is written: 'Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine on the sides of your house.'

And on this account there is only a difference of case, since first he put the accusative, but afterward the ablative: 'you shall make on two sides, on two sides.' But what the meaning is, is difficult to attain. Unless perhaps, as Scripture is wont to love ellipsis, so that something is lacking and understood, here too 'shall be' is to be supplied, so that this be the meaning: 'you shall make on two sides, on two sides they shall be,' that is: 'toward two sides you shall make the rings, since they shall be on the two sides.' 'And there shall be bows for the poles, so that it may be lifted by them.' Those which he had called rings, he calls bows; for he put rings for round handles. And what else is a ring or a circle but a bow on every side?

Therefore certain persons, unwilling to say 'bows,' interpreted them as 'sheaths' (thecae), into which the poles might be inserted, saying: 'And there shall be sheaths for the poles.' As if the Greek could not have said this, since theca too is a Greek word; but he said psalides, which are interpreted 'bows.' 'He shall burn upon it the incense of continuation in the sight of the Lord throughout their generations.' He says 'the incense of continuation' because it was to be done continually, that is, on no day was it to be omitted. When he was giving command concerning the altar of incense—that is, on which incense only was to be placed, not a whole burnt offering, not a sacrifice, not a libation—he had foretold that this same incense ought to be placed daily. But now he says:

'And Aaron shall make propitiation—or shall entreat—upon its horns once a year, with the blood of the purification of transgressions of the propitiation.' 'Of the propitiation' from that which is depropitiatio, which in Greek is called exilasmos. Whence it is to be understood that this, which he commands to be done once a year for propitiating God upon the horns of the altar of incense—that is, that with the blood of the purification of transgressions, namely of the victims which are offered for transgressions, once a year the horns of the altar of incense be touched—does not pertain to that placing of incense which he had commanded to be done daily. For that was done with aromatic spices, not with blood, and daily, not once a year.

We are not therefore to understand that the priest was accustomed to enter into the holy of holies once a year, but once a year with blood, and indeed daily to enter without blood for the sake of placing the incense, but with blood once a year; especially because he goes on and says: 'once a year he shall purify it; it is the holy of holies to the Lord.' He shall not therefore once a year place there the incense, which was commanded to be done daily; but once a year he shall purify it, which was commanded to be done with blood. And after this he adds: 'it is the holy of holies to the Lord'; and on this account, if the holy of holies was not outside but within the veil, then that altar too of which we now treat, which he ordered to be placed opposite the veil, he ordered to be within.

What does it mean that he says, 'If you take the reckoning of the sons of Israel in their visitation,' except that he commands them to be at some time visited and reckoned, that is, numbered? Which is to be understood as having been on this account punished in David, because God had not commanded it. It is to be observed and noted how with the ointment of the chrism he ordered all things to be anointed, namely the tabernacle and the things that were in it, and thereafter they shall be the holy of holies. Namely, all things, when they have been anointed, shall be the holy of holies. What difference then will there now be between those inner things which are covered by the veil and the rest, if all things, when they have been anointed, shall be the holy of holies, is to be more diligently inquired; yet these things we believed were to be noted. Where let us also remember:

just as concerning that altar of sacrifices, which after the anointing he willed to be called the holy of the holy, it was immediately said, 'Everyone who touches it shall be sanctified,' so concerning all the things afterward which, having been anointed with that ointment, were called the holy of holies, the same sentence followed, that it might be said: 'Everyone who touches them shall be sanctified.' This can be understood in two ways: either he shall be sanctified by touching, or he shall be sanctified so that it may be permitted him to touch—if indeed it was not permitted to the people to touch the tabernacle, when they brought their sacrificial victims or whatever things offered by them were presented to God. For consequently he warns that it is to be said not to the priests alone nor to the Levites alone, in that he says to Moses:

'And you shall speak to the sons of Israel, saying'—assuredly the sons of Israel were that whole people; and he commands it to be said to them—'This oil of the anointing shall be holy to you throughout your generations. Upon the flesh of man it shall not be poured, and according to this composition you shall not make for yourselves in like manner; it is holy, and it shall be a sanctification to you. Whoever makes the like, and whoever gives of it to a foreign nation, shall perish from his people.' He therefore commands not the priests alone, but the whole people of Israel, that they make no such ointment for human uses. For this is what he means by saying: 'Upon the flesh of man it shall not be poured.'

He therefore forbids the like to be made for one's own uses, and threatens destruction if anyone should make the like, that is, should compound an ointment like it for his own uses, or should give of it hence to anyone of a foreign nation. And on this account, in that he says, 'It shall be a sanctification to you,' since he commands this to be said to the whole people of Israel, I do not see what I should understand, except that it was permitted to them, when each came with his own gifts, to touch the tabernacle; and by touching they were sanctified on account of that oil with which all things were thoroughly anointed. And hence it was said: 'Everyone who touches shall be sanctified'—yet not in the same way as the priests, who were also anointed from it that they might exercise the priesthood.