Moralia in Job 1291

45. What ought to be understood by the locusts. The Jewish people. It gave certain leaps, and immediately fell to the earth. By the name of locusts is sometimes signified the Jewish people, sometimes the converted Gentile world, sometimes the tongue of flatterers, and sometimes, by way of comparison, the Lord's resurrection, or the life of preachers. For that the locusts express the people of the Jews, the life of John signifies, of whom it is written: He ate locusts and wild honey (Matt. 3:4). For John, by the very appearance of his foods, proclaims Him whom he announces by the authority of prophecy. For in himself he designated the Lord, whom he preceded. Who indeed, coming for our redemption, because He took the sweetness of the fruitless Gentile world,

He ate wild honey. But because He converted the people of the Jews in part in His own body, He received locusts for food. For the locusts signify these very ones, giving sudden leaps, but forthwith falling to the earth. For they gave leaps when they promised to fulfill the commandments of the Lord; but they fell more quickly to the earth, when by evil works they denied that they had heard these things. Let us behold in them, as it were, a certain leap of the locusts: All the words which the Lord hath spoken, we will both do and hear (Exod. 24:3). But let us behold how more quickly they fall to the earth: Would that we had died in Egypt, and not in this vast wilderness! Would that we might perish, and that the Lord bring us not into this land! (Num. 14:2–3).

They were locusts, therefore, because they had a leap by their voice, and a fall by their action. [Old text 20.] 46. That the Gentiles are signified by locusts, and the tongues of flatterers, which devastate the fruits of good works. By the name of locusts also the Gentile world is designated, Solomon testifying, who says: The almond tree shall flourish, the locust shall be made fat, and the caper shall be scattered (Eccl. 12:5). For the almond tree shows its flower before all trees. And what is designated in the flower of the almond but the beginnings of holy Church? which in her preachers opened the first flowers of virtues, and, for the bringing forth of the fruits of good works, went before the holy ones to come, like following saplings.

In which the locust was soon made fat, because the dry barrenness of the Gentile world was infused with the fatness of heavenly grace. The caper is scattered, because when the called Gentile world attained the grace of faith, Judea, remaining in her own barrenness, lost the order of living well. Hence again through the same Solomon it is said: The locust hath no king, and yet goeth forth all by her troops (Prov. 30:27): because, namely, the forsaken Gentile world was long alien from divine governance, but yet, afterward set in order, it went forth against the opposing spirits to the war of faith. 47. By the word 'locust' the tongue of the flatterer is expressed: which the plagues of Egypt, shown from heaven, attest—plagues that, for exacting deserts, were bodily inflicted once;

but the evils which daily smite depraved minds they spiritually signified. For it is written: A burning wind lifted up the locusts, which ascended over the whole land of Egypt, and covered the whole face of the earth, laying waste all things. The grass of the earth, therefore, was devoured, and whatever of fruits was on the trees (Exod. 10:13–15). For with these plagues Egypt was afflicted, in which, stirred and grieving by the outward striking, she might weigh what losses of devastation she was inwardly, in negligence, enduring; so that while she saw the least things, but the more beloved, perishing without, through the appearance of these she might feel the graver things which she had suffered within.

But what do locusts foreshadow by their signification — creatures which, more than any other of the least living things, harm the crops of men — if not the tongues of flatterers, which corrupt the minds of worldly men by immoderate praise, whenever they observe them putting forth some good? For the produce of the Egyptians is the work of the vainglorious, and the locusts destroy it, when flattering tongues incline the heart of one who labours toward the seeking of fleeting praises. The locusts likewise devour the grass, when flatterers exalt with their favours the words of those who speak. They also consume the fruits of the trees, when by empty praises they sap the very works of certain men who were, as it were, already strong.

The locust also signifies the resurrection of Christ, and the preachers who now leap up to the contemplative life and now leap back again. — By the name of the locust, in comparison, the resurrection of our Redeemer is designated. Hence also it is said in His own voice through the Prophet: I am tossed up and down as the locust (Ps. 108:23). For He endured to be held by His persecutors even unto death; but He was tossed up like a locust, because by the leap of His sudden resurrection He flew out of their hands. And this can also be referred to the company of preachers. For in them too He was tossed up like a locust, because when Judaea raged in its persecution, and while they fled through diverse regions, they gave, as it were, certain leaps of their own withdrawal.

But because that preacher is raised to the summit of perfection who is made firm not by the active life alone but also by the contemplative, the very perfection of preachers is rightly expressed by locusts, which, as often as they strive to lift themselves into the air, first raise themselves by thrusting with their legs, and afterward fly with their wings. So indeed are holy men, who, while they seek the things above, first rest upon the good works of the active life, and then at last, flying, suspend themselves on high by the leap of contemplation. They fix their legs and put forth their wings, because by acting rightly they steady themselves, and by living well they are lifted to the heights.

These men, placed in this life, cannot remain long in divine contemplation, but, after the manner of locusts, catch themselves up again from the leap they had made upon their feet, when after the heights of contemplation they return to the necessary works of the active life; nor yet are they content to remain in that same active life. But while they leap up eagerly to contemplation, they seek the air again, as it were, in flight; and they pass their life ascending and descending like locusts, since without ceasing they ever aspire to behold the highest things, and are rolled back again upon themselves by the weight of their corruptible nature. — Humble in the peace of the Church, strong and upright in persecution. There is yet another thing in which locusts resemble holy preachers.

For in the morning hours, that is, in the time of coolness, they scarcely raise themselves from the ground; but when the heat has blazed forth, they fly the higher the more eagerly. So every holy preacher, while he beholds quiet times of faith, appears humble and despised, and after the manner of a locust is scarcely lifted from the ground. But if the ardour of persecution grows hot, cleaving in heart to heavenly things, he soon shows how great is his sublimity; and, beaten, he is caught up on wings into the heights — he who, while at rest, seemed to lie torpid in the depths. Concerning this horse, therefore, that is, His preacher, the Lord says to blessed Job: Wilt thou raise him up like the locusts?

You are to understand: as I do, who lift him up by rousing him to higher things in proportion as I permit him to be tormented by a heavier heat of persecution, so that then a more robust virtue may awaken in him, when the more burning cruelty of the unbelieving dashes against him. But while the holy preacher outwardly suffers many things, while he is tortured by the dire harassment of his persecutors, who is able to perceive what it is that he inwardly beholds, he who does not feel so many of his outward losses? For unless there were wondrous things which inwardly fed him with health, without doubt those torments applied from without would pierce even to his heart. But his soul lifts itself up in the citadel of hope, and therefore it in no way dreads the darts of the siege set against it.

Whence in this place also the Lord, in order to show how sweet are the things this horse already smells of the inner realm, while he suffers so many adversities in outward things, rightly adds: