Latin original · 38 verses · some words can be tapped for a gloss · long chapter, split into parts; this part covers 1:1580–1:1617 (2058 verses in all)
'All things whatsoever he willed, he did in heaven and on earth, in the sea and in the deeps'—let us see what all those things are which he willed and did. 'Bringing clouds from the ends of the earth, he made lightnings into rain, who brings forth the winds out of his treasures.' Passing over the marvel of thrones, dominions, principalities and powers, of Cherubim and Seraphim, of angels and archangels, of heaven, earth, sea, and deep, in all these things God did all that he willed in heaven and on earth, in the sea and in the deep: 'bringing clouds from the ends of the earth, he made lightnings into rain, who brings forth the winds out of his treasures.'
Is this then the whole omnipotence of the will perfect in God—that the lands should breathe forth clouds, that lightnings should flash when rains are impending, that the winds should blow with their alternating gusts? But the force of the words and the natures of the kinds refute this opinion of ours. 'Bringing,' he says, 'clouds from the ends of the earth'; for what does it mean, that clouds are brought forth, and brought forth from the ends of the earth? The moist valleys indeed breathe forth mists; but neither are the valleys the ends of the earth, nor has anyone supposed a mist to be the very same thing as a cloud. Then, 'he made lightnings into rain.' What understanding of human sense is there here? We sometimes see lightnings without rains, and often there are rains without lightning.
Rains do not bring lightnings, nor again do lightnings bring down rains. There follows also: 'who brings forth the winds out of his treasures.' What understanding of human sense is there here? Shall we suppose that the winds are stored up in some hollow and fortified place of treasures, out of which the winds are wont to be brought forth as the most precious portion of a treasure? And since frequent and uncertain and often contrary changes of the winds are wont to be stirred up, does God, so busily occupied with these things, bring forth these very winds out of the secret of his riches, that they may be changed, that they may be at variance?
But let these things have been thus recalled by me, who wish to show the force and reason of the words, in such a way that nonetheless it may be understood to be a matter of invisible and omnipotent power—it is a thing to be loved—that clouds are brought forth from the ends of the earth and lightnings flash amid the rains and winds blow from the hidden seats of their gusts. But since the omnipotence of God is not only in these things, nor did he only do in heaven and on earth, in the sea and in the deeps the things which he willed, and since in those things which are recorded to have been done bodily we remember that spiritual things are signified: it must now be shown what we ought to understand under these sayings through the power of prophecy.
In that 'all things whatsoever he willed, he did in heaven and on earth, in the sea and in the deeps,' as far as it is permitted to our knowledge, nothing is more beloved to God than man. And there is a reason why this should be his own peculiar creature. The world was established by a word, but man is made with counsel, not by a word, but by a deliberate work. He is made also to the image of God; by the inbreathing too of God he is perfected as a living soul. He receives a law, is left to his own will, is constituted the free lord of all the world, is an inhabitant of paradise, is worthy of the envy of the devil, after sin is reserved for mercy, is instructed unto the knowledge of God throughout every age of this world, is prepared as a judge over angels.
The creature awaits his revelation, itself also made subject to vanity in hope; because of his repentance from sin there is the greatest joy among the angels in heaven. This very man, through the mystery of the nativity, was assumed into himself by Christ according to his humanity. Now everywhere he who was before irreligious teaches religion before his face; now the body once defiled by fornications is by continence made pure; now the mind of Israel, once blind to the knowledge of God, has been made seeing; now envy has advanced into the imitation of the good; now drunkenness has kindled into fastings; now hatred has been changed into love; now vices have been destroyed in a life of virtues. The Lord, therefore, did all things whatsoever he willed, in heaven and on earth, in the sea and in the deeps.
For among all these things he had nothing prior to his own man, on whose account also his only-begotten God became man; and he did these things, bringing clouds from the ends of the earth. The Lord commanded the clouds that they should not rain upon the thorny and unfruitful vineyard: 'I will command,' he says, 'the clouds, that they rain not upon it.' I have known also the cloud in which God spoke: 'in the pillar,' he says, 'of cloud he spoke to them.' And Paul testifies to me that in this cloud not only that which is read is to be understood, saying: 'Are you ignorant that our fathers were under the cloud and were baptized into Moses?' This cloud, therefore, signifies the apostolic doctrine, which overshadowing and defending from the heat shuts out all the burning of the future judgment.
But that they are from the ends of the earth, let us hear the Apostle saying: 'For I think that God has set forth us apostles as the last, as those born out of due time.' The Lord himself, when there was talk about place and dignity among the disciples, said: 'Whoever among you wishes to be first, let him be the last of all.' These clouds, therefore, God, doing all things whatsoever he wills, brings forth from the ends of the earth, and the lowly things of the earth breathe forth this overshadowing doctrine. 'He made lightnings into rains.' The lightning is the recognition of the heavenly power, and this the Lord himself testifies, saying: 'For as the lightning goes forth from the east and appears even to the west, so shall be the coming of the Son of Man.' And this indeed is thus in the Lord, who will be discerned as coming not in places, like corporeal things, but everywhere.
For the rest, in individuals today, whoever shall announce the power of God, whoever shall furnish the knowledge of him through teaching, have been made lightnings into rains: first flashing themselves with the lightning of knowledge, then pouring forth the shower of words. And of this rain to be poured forth from himself Moses, now shining not spiritually through teaching, but bodily through glory, thus makes mention: 'Attend, O heaven, and I will speak; and let the earth hear the words from my mouth. Let my saying be awaited like rain, and let my words descend like dew and like rain upon the grass and like snows upon the hay.' Those lightnings were made into these rains—namely, words that give life and refresh those who drink and rouse those parched by the winter of sins.
But an order is preserved, that after the clouds gathered from the ends of the earth, after the lightnings established into rains, he should bring forth the winds out of his treasures. And which winds he brings forth out of his treasures, it is not ambiguous—namely those of whom he says: 'making his angels spirits.' For there are angels of the little ones daily seeing God. These spirits, therefore, are sent forth for the salvation of the human race; for our weakness would not otherwise withstand so many and so great wickednesses of the spiritual and heavenly hosts, unless angels were given for our protection. There was need for this of the help of a superior nature; and that this is so we are taught from these words by which the Lord confirms the trembling and fearful Moses, saying: 'Behold, my angel shall go before you.'
These winds, therefore, he brings forth out of his treasures [bestowing in them help to human weakness], that these divine defenses may guard us against the world-rulers of these darknesses in the salvation which is to be our inheritance. Then there follows this order of the sayings: 'who smote the firstborn of Egypt from man even to beast, and sent signs and wonders in the midst of you, O Egypt, upon Pharaoh and upon all his servants. Who smote many nations and slew mighty kings: Sihon, king of the Amorites, and Og, king of Bashan, and slew all the kingdoms of Canaan: and gave their land as an inheritance, an inheritance to Israel his people.'
Frequently the divine word teaches that he is to be understood as the God of heaven and earth and the Creator of the universe, who smote Egypt, divided the sea, drowned the Egyptians, led out his people by great and marvelous mighty deeds, fed them in the desert with manna, and, when the nations were cast out, brought them into the land of promise. And indeed all these are magnificent and illustrious. They testify that the works are God's; for it is not of a mediocre and moderate power to have accomplished such great things: in these he is to be understood as admirable.
But the Apostle teaches us, together with veneration of the deeds, to recognize in them a prefiguration of doctrine and spiritual work, since the Law is spiritual, since its deeds are allegories, since the fathers were under the cloud, since they were baptized into Moses, since they drank from the spiritual rock, since the rock was Christ, since finally, according to the form of the serpent lifted up in the desert, the Lord was to be lifted up. Therefore, although those things were done bodily in Egypt, spiritually nevertheless they are now wrought in us. Egypt, in which is the form of this world, is smitten by the mighty deeds and plagues of God, is terrified by signs and portents.
It is smitten by the plagues of God when it hears its own judgment, when it recognizes its own condemnation, when in the very guilt of its own conscience it is daily judged, when the Lord has fastened to his cross its principal and original powers. He spoke also as to a living and animate Egypt, so that he might be thought to be addressing not the dull and lifeless land and region, but its inhabitants, whom he had constituted rational and animate: 'he sent signs and wonders in the midst of you, O Egypt, upon Pharaoh and upon all his servants.' What is 'in the midst of you'? We recognize it from that which is said: 'But the Lord God our king, king before the ages, has wrought salvation in the midst of the earth.'
In the midst of the world, therefore, in the place in which the Lord, working salvation for us, suffered, he sent signs and wonders, when in the hours of his cross the sun fled, the earth trembled, the rocks were rent, the tombs were opened, the dead rose. These signs were done in the midst of you, O Egypt. Your Pharaoh, that is the devil, is drowned in the waters when the people is baptized, being himself overwhelmed with his army; then were smitten many nations—namely the innumerable dwellings of vices in us extinguished. Mighty kings also were slain, mighty indeed: 'Sihon, king of the Amorites, and Og, king of Bashan, and he slew all the kingdoms of Canaan.' And what is this? So many kingdoms overthrown, so many kings slain: and is memory made only of these?
Memory of a few is indeed made out of many according to the credibility of the deeds; but only those are recorded in which, although the deed done was indeed made known, yet through the conditions and forces of the names a spiritual condition was woven beneath them. For 'Sihon' is the interpretation of an unfruitful tree—for what with us is an unfruitful tree, that in Hebrew is called Sihon—but 'Amorite' means 'one who provokes.' These unfruitful and provoking powers in us, therefore, under the signification of these names, he destroyed—namely the unfruitful princes who held us who were provoking the Lord, and who on that account, according to the Gospel saying, were cut down after the example of the unfruitful tree.
But 'Og' the king has the interpretation of a wall or rampart, and 'Bashan' of confusion or shame. This king, therefore, of our confusion and shame he extinguished, dissolving, according to the Apostle, the wall or rampart, that is, breaking down the obstacle by which we were barred from the knowledge of God. Then he slew all the kingdoms of Canaan. Genesis teaches that Canaan is accursed and is a servant of his brothers because of his insulting injury against his father. But the interpretation of the name Canaan is 'motion.' Those things, therefore, which moved us into vices and into accursed impiety and reigned over us by their own force and power, the Lord extinguished.
But that through the various powers which work in the sons of disobedience, sins may not reign in us, let us hear the Apostle saying: 'Let not sin any longer reign in your mortal body.' These kingdoms, therefore, have been slain; for now they no longer have dominion in us. But when these are slain, what follows? 'He gave their land as an inheritance, an inheritance to Israel his people.' The land indeed of the kings and nations mentioned above was given, but again it was lost. Today it is inhabited by the nations, Israel is everywhere in exile; and how is the land which was given an inheritance? The same order, therefore, remains, that under those things which were done bodily, those which were to be done spiritually might be prescribed.
The land of our bodies, therefore, was given as an inheritance, which before was accursed in Canaan, unstable in vices, full of confusion and shame in Bashan, provoking and irritating in the Amorite, which the wall of unbelief possessed in Og, which the unfruitful tree had occupied in Sihon. This land, therefore, the rampart of unbelief being dissolved and the unfruitful tree cut out of it, was given as an inheritance, and given to Israel his people. And what this inheritance-land is, and who this Israel is, let us hear the Apostle Paul saying: 'As we have borne the image of the earthly, let us bear the image of the heavenly.'
This is Israel, to whom the inheritance of this blessed land shall come, to whom, being glorified together in the Lord, there shall be the eternal possession of his earthly body. This is proper to Christians, who shall have kept this name in themselves unimpaired through the image of the heavenly even to the end. And thus he says: 'Lord, your name is forever.' Is this to be wished by us for God, or does eternal power need our vow, that it may remain forever? Rather it is to be wished that it may remain in us; just as when we say: 'Hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done in heaven and on earth,' we surely do not wish that these things should come about for God—that he be hallowed who is holy, that his will be done, whose deed is in his will:
rather these are vows of our own concern, that through the excellent works of our faith his name may be hallowed in us—for he says: 'Be holy, for I am holy'—that his kingdom may come into us, and that we may be worthy of the eternal kingdom through the substance of eternity granted to us—because it is a hope of life to confess his kingdom, and to the thief saying to him: 'Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom,' he answered: 'Amen, I say to you, today you shall be with me in paradise'—that, just as his will is obeyed in the heavens by the unwearied and heavenly powers, so also it may be obeyed by us on earth, lest bodily weakness turn us aside from the carrying out of his will—for in the heavens it is said with unwearied daily voices:
'Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts, the heavens and the earth are full of your glory'—so that for us too there may be nothing else in work by which his name is hallowed, nothing else in hope by which we hope for his kingdom also in us, nothing else in will by which eternal praises are to be offered to him by us. This advancement of our vow is a matter of our own need, that with us his name may remain forever. Thereafter follows: 'And your memorial unto generations.' Warn also 'and generation.' Not, as often, 'from age to age' nor 'from generations to generations,' but 'in generation and generation.' And this not of the name, but of the memorial; for the memorial is the memory of the works of God, which are contained in the book of the Law.
And since the Law and the memorial of God remained in the first generation—namely of the Jews—even to the fullness of times, just as for the people of Sodom and Gomorrah the punishment was deferred even to the fullness of sin, so, when the first generation had filled up the measure of all impieties, the memorial of God and the memory of all his works passed over into another generation—namely into the Christians, with whom today is the veneration of the Law and of prophecy and the name of the Lord. But he held this same order in what follows, saying: 'for the Lord will judge his people and in his servants he will be consoled.' To be judged and to be consoled differ, and 'people' and 'servant' differ. In the servants is consolation, but in the people is judgment.
That the people of God, Israel according to the flesh, is so named, who does not know? But it was said by the Apostle: 'Those who have sinned under the Law shall be judged by the Law.' God, therefore, will judge his people; but in his servants he will be consoled, namely in those of whom the Lord says: 'He who believes in me shall not be judged, but shall pass from death to life: but he who does not believe is already judged.' And the Lord will be consoled, when Israel is judged, in his servants. For among all the faithful of the earth he will have consolation out of loss. For he would have willed that his people, whom he had chosen in their fathers Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, should not be judged:
on whose account, after various plagues, he had afflicted Egypt; on whose account he had stood by in a pillar of fire and cloud; on whose account he had divided the sea, brought forth water from the rock, sent manna from heaven, given the Law, granted pardon for such great sacrileges, cast down so many kingdoms of the irreligious, sent prophets, willed his Only-begotten to be born a man; but for so many and so great benefits the ungrateful people and the tenant first chosen for the vineyard laid parricidal hands upon the very Lord of the vineyard, putting God to death, as far as in them lay, crucified in man. But servants were chosen, to whom the vineyard was to be handed over as they rendered its fruit, in whom the Lord, when his people was judged, might be consoled for the loss of his own devotion.
And so the nations console him in the martyrs and confessors and his faithful, rendering out of themselves the fruit of the grace committed to them. But this voice is not new, nor belongs to this prophet only. Moses in that famous song of Deuteronomy, when he foretold the sins of this people and their latter impieties and the faith of another generation, said: 'For the Lord will judge his people and in his servants he will be consoled.' Holy Eleazar too, when he was compelled by the princes of his people to taste a pretended sacrifice, consummated the glory of martyrdom under this same voice, knowing that the Lord was to be consoled in his servants who work his will, when his people is judged.
He then turns, in prophetic speech, to dispel the error of the Gentiles, so that he may refute their foolish and irreligious superstitions from the very causes of the superstitions, saying: 'The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the works of men's hands. They have a mouth and shall not speak; they have eyes and shall not see; they have ears and shall not hear; they have nostrils and shall not smell; they have hands and shall not handle; they have feet and shall not walk; they shall not cry out in their throat, neither is there breath in their mouth. Let those who make them become like them, and all who trust in them.' Frequently in other psalms too the same thing is said of the idols of the nations;
and all prophecy labors at this, to turn away human error from these most foolish pursuits of irreligion. For very many add authority to these impieties of theirs, so that by the prices of metals they seek honor for the gods whom they have made for themselves, forming them of gold and silver; but they bestow only this much as they can, namely the image of mouth, eyes, ears, nostrils, hands, and feet, worshiping their gods in the form of a dead body, whose mouth, when the spirit has flown away, is mute, whose eyes are dull, whose ears are deaf, whose nostrils are lifeless, whose hands are limp, whose feet are stiff, whose whole body is immobile. But to their error is imputed that which they dare not even hope for:
namely that they may become like those whom they adore, being worshipers in the fellowship of the things worshiped, themselves to be left, after the manner of the idols, as dead bodies without the breath of life. But having demonstrated the error of the Gentiles, the prophetic speech returned to the order of doctrine, saying: 'O house of Israel, bless the Lord; O house of Aaron, bless the Lord; O house of Levi, bless the Lord; you who fear the Lord, bless him.' In these distinctions of names and offices he embraced the whole people of the Church, but through the signification of the appellations and properties he divided those very merits of the offices.
For in that it says 'house of Israel' and 'house of Aaron' and 'house of Levi' and 'you who fear the Lord,' one is distinguished from another, so that, according to the Apostle writing to the Corinthians, a certain distinction is made in the names, when he says: 'to the called, with the saints, together with all who invoke the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,' so that he signifies that 'the called' is one thing, 'the saints' another, 'those invoking the name of the Lord' another. Now, however, we see Israel named first, secondly Aaron, thirdly Levi, fourthly those fearing the Lord. And that in Aaron the priests are signified is not ambiguous: for Aaron was the first priest under the Law, and thereafter in his succession the honor of the priests remained. But that in Levi the ministers are shown is settled:
for this tribe was chosen for ministry. But the rest of the people, whose office is not of priesthood nor of ministry, but of fear, are named among those who fear the Lord. And the Apostle teaches us that above all these is Israel, when he says: 'and as many as shall obey this rule, peace be upon them and mercy, and upon Israel.' The rule of their office contains priests and ministers in that which they do; but it is far better to do something by will rather than by law. And it is best, through the order of ministry, not only to satisfy the ministry, but through the knowledge of doctrine and the ardor of faith to strive toward the knowledge and contemplation of God.
Him therefore who, understanding and seeing God—which is proper to Israel—he placed in the first rank of those blessing, who by this very power of God known through faith and contemplated would excel the office and honor of the priest in which he was: because, although the Aarons—that is, the priests—are many, yet few Israels—that is, those who by the knowledge of the mind are to contemplate God—will be found. These, therefore, are first summoned to bless, the others afterward being about to bless after them in that same office in which they too were. But both the house of Israel and the house of Aaron and the house of Levi and all who fear the Lord bless God—namely him who is the blessed God out of Zion, who inhabits Jerusalem, the holy mountain of Zion and the heavenly city.
...the church of the firstborn, who abide and are enrolled in heaven, in our Lord Jesus Christ, who is blessed unto the ages of ages. Amen. PSALM 135. Alleluia. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endures forever, and so on. The prophetic word is not idle, nor is spiritual speech drawn from empty and superfluous causes. For if among prudent men it is especially wont to be expected that the things they speak should be worthy of their gravity and learning, and that all their discourse should not be haphazard and wandering but should proceed from reasonable causes, be useful to the expectation of the hearers, and befit the authority of those who discourse—how much more is this to be supposed in heavenly utterances, that...
whatever is in them should be esteemed to be lofty, divine, reasonable and perfect. But for the most part—nay, always—it happens through our own fault that the things we hear read in church we neglect, our ears and minds wandering far from them, so that through carelessness in hearing the dignity of the heavenly sayings becomes cheap among us. When during the time of the reading we reckon up accounts, conceive angers, plot injuries, recall extravagances, meditate debaucheries, then, occupied with these things, our ears are deaf and our mind is dull; and if by chance anything of what is read falls upon our ears, yet the mind, overwhelmed by the cares of the world, does not perceive the power of the sayings; and of those things whose understanding it does not attain...
...it will esteem the authority as slight. But all things that are in the prophetic books have in themselves the greatest profit for humanity, both for salvation and for teaching, and all were written for our sake: that now they might bring us the instruction of an innocent life, now impart the knowledge of God, now grant the recognition of our origin and nature, now furnish the understanding of things to come, not only by hope but by reason, now set forth the causes of this universe and its beginning, and—stretching the human sense, which is incapable of grasping such great things—by various kinds of teaching might extend it to take in the knowledge of these matters.
For there was need of certain parts and divisions, through which, gradually and by the continual use of exercise, at least some notion of this understanding, incomprehensible to us, might be able to creep in. There are many prophets, and their sayings are vast and copious; there are also many psalms, and in each many and varied things are heaped together. And although all embrace in themselves one and the same form of doctrine, yet by diverse arrangements they direct us into the same way of knowledge, not heaping all into one—for we are incapable of all—but unfolding parts by parts, so that through this, that individual things are known, progress may be made toward many.
But in this psalm, because in each verse the arguments of the same matter are diverse, this is contained: that we should understand the cause of this universe—that is, why heaven, why earth, why men, why the rest exist—to proceed from the goodness and mercy of God, through that which is said: Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endures forever. And first, in that it thus begins, 'Give thanks to the Lord,' the signification of a twofold meaning is brought forward: that either we praise God in confession, because he is good, because his mercy is unto the ages, or we confess our sins to him to be pardoned by him, because he is good and his mercy is unfailing.
Both are fitting to our nature: that we should both praise him, to whose knowledge we are born, and confess our sins to him who is good and merciful unto the ages, under the acknowledgment of sin. For it is not confession to confess to God—who is ignorant of nothing—the things you have done, because God does not need that profession, he to whose knowledge nothing is hidden, to whose approach nothing is impassable, to whose power nothing is left over, outside of whom there is no place; but confession is the professed knowledge of that thing which was unknown, advancing from the opinion of one judgment into the conviction of another understanding. For a man had before esteemed it useful and pleasant to himself to plunder, to strike, to steal, to be proud, to drink, to fornicate;