Hail are those unrighteous men, when they not only grow numb, having no fervour of the spirit, but even with obstinate hardness, by persecuting and rushing in, bruise others. 'Which are laid up for you against the time of enemies, against the day of battle and war?' Even from this, who would not see whose person Job bears in prophecy? For these things are not laid up for this one man against the time of enemies and against the day of battle and war, but assuredly for the one people of God. For it is the time of enemies until iniquity passes away, which the more it abounds, the more sharply must one fight and war against the devil, lest the charity of the persevering grow cold. 'But whence does the hoar-frost proceed? Who has known this?' Save that these are as it were the beginnings of birth-pangs;
for hoar-frost is hail in its most minute form. 'And is the south wind scattered under heaven?' The south wind, although it is felt as oppressive to mortal flesh, nevertheless I do not anywhere remember in the sacred books to signify anything evil — just as the north wind never signifies anything good: the one, because it blows from that quarter where the light shines; the other, because it blows from that quarter where the light is more remote. The south wind, therefore, is scattered under heaven, so that against all those iniquities some aid of God may be understood, as long as we are not yet in heaven, but under heaven. 'Who has prepared the river of the mighty rain, and a way for the sounds of the storm?'
See how those three things are briefly comprehended which the Lord, in the temptations, sets forth as to be despised by those who build upon the rock, and as ruinous to those who build upon the sand. He mentioned rain, and river, and the sounds of the storm, by which we understand winds. By rain, therefore, is tempted he who from the very loftiness of the divine Scriptures takes occasion of sinning by understanding wrongly — as if, hearing 'To whom little is forgiven, little he loves,' he should say to himself: 'Let us do evil, that good things may come,' and remain in sin that grace may abound, and many such things, by which men, badly interpreting the divine word, subvert themselves, promising themselves impunity, when mercy is commended in the divine books;
but by the river, when he is tempted by men who have thus understood and received these things — for he now calls 'river' that which is collected from the rain and is called a torrent, when he says: 'Who has prepared the river of the mighty rain?' Which it may fill, and along which it may run — such as are 'the vessels of wrath fitted for destruction,' who receive the Scriptures in that manner of which I spoke; for through such men that ruinous interpretation has a freer course, which the fruitful fields do not receive, and it impels and casts down and drags away whatever it finds unstable with so much the greater force, by how much it seems to be taken up from divine authority. But by winds is tempted he whom the empty persuasions of proud men puff up — that is, of men casting forth vain words out of their own authority.
He, therefore, who by the judgment of God is prepared for destruction by not obeying His words—which is to build upon the sand—does not resist such winds, and by falling he becomes a road for the voices of the tempest. By 'mighty rains' I judge it to mean what is said to be 'difficult to grasp,' that is, to understand: 'that it may rain upon the earth where there is no man.' We must understand: 'who has prepared it?' By 'a man' it seems to signify the Law, which was given to the Jews. Therefore over the nations we understand the rain of the Gospel. 'In the wilderness where there is no man': among those very nations, where there was no authority of anyone knowing God. 'That it may fill the pathless and uninhabited land, and that the green of the grass may sprout': many are the children of the desolate one rather than of her who has a husband.
In all these four verses we must understand: who has prepared it? Who is the father of the rain? It is like the Bridegroom, who sent forth His sons by the preaching of the kingdom of heaven to water the earth. And who is it that has begotten the clods of dew? Those who receive that preaching well. For He says 'the clods of dew' just as vessels for wine are said to be made for this purpose, that they may receive the wine. 'Out of whose womb does the ice proceed?' Is ice to be taken in a good sense, on account of stability and restraint from flowing away, so that it would be said: 'out of whose womb does the ice proceed?' just as 'who is the father of the rain?' Or is 'womb' put for what is hidden, so that 'out of his womb the ice may proceed' just as 'God gave them up to a reprobate sense'?
Or rather, does the ice proceed out of the womb of him who, by persuading the ungodliness with which he is inwardly full, causes men to grow cold and hard, having lost the warmth of charity? For who has known this one, save He who said to those hard men resisting the Gospel: 'You are of your father the devil'? 'Or who has begotten the hoarfrost in heaven? which comes down like a stream of water': what we discerned about the ice at the last, this also is to be understood about the hoarfrost. Yet not in vain is 'in heaven' added, so that it may be understood of those very ones who are set over others, while imitating, to be sure, the good messengers of the truth, who transform themselves as ministers of righteousness. To this pertains what is joined: 'which comes down like a stream of water.' 'Or who has melted away the face of the ungodly?'—that is, confounded it. Who?
None but He who, whom He justified, them He also glorified. 'Or have you understood the bands of the Pleiades, and have you opened the fence of Orion? Or will you open Mazzaroth in its season, and lead Vesper over its building?' Must astrology then be searched out, to know the properties of those stars, that we may be able to understand this passage? I wonder whether this agrees with our discourse, and surely it is far too long; therefore we pass on to other matters. Or, by certain stars being named, by the figure of speech in which the whole is understood from a part, are all the stars to be taken?—if indeed Mazzaroth too is a star, which, being translated, we do not find even in the Greek tongue:
For that it is a Hebrew name appears clearly enough—thus indeed the whole is understood from a part, as also what is written: 'Before the morning star I begot you.' For the morning star was not created first among all creatures, so that 'before the morning star' might seem said for 'before every creature'; but by the morning star all the stars are understood—which is the whole from a part—and by all the stars all times are understood—for it is written about the stars: 'and let them be for signs and for seasons'—so that the Lord, born before all times, that is, not at all born in time, and therefore coeternal with the Father, might be hinted at. Therefore the mention of the Pleiades and Orion and Mazzaroth and Vesper persuades by way of abridgment that all the stars are to be understood.
For if by one morning star, how much more, when so many are named, may the rest also be taken by this kind of speech! Why then is it said in one place 'you have understood the bands,' in another 'you have opened,' in another 'opening in its season,' and in another 'you shall lead over its building'? These belong properly to each of the things mentioned in order. Or could it not rightly also be said: 'you have opened the fence of the Pleiades' and 'you have understood the bands of Orion'? And thus the other two as well can be interchanged, as in the psalm: 'He that dwells in the heavens shall laugh at them, and the Lord shall deride them.' Nothing of the meaning would be lost, even if it were said thus: 'He that dwells in the heavens shall deride them, and the Lord shall laugh at them.'
For just as He who dwells in the heavens is Himself the Lord, so, whether it be the name of the Pleiades or of Orion, it is of the same signification, if by either one all the stars are understood. Therefore by the name of all the stars all such in the Church are to be understood, who have their conversation in the heavens. Their 'bands' are understood to be those by which they are joined both to one another and to God, lest they fall. But charity never falls. And who would have known this, unless He had shown it who said: 'A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another,' and: 'He who loves Me shall be loved by My Father'? Their 'fence' is that by which they are hedged in by the divine Scripture, which they do not transgress. And who opens this, save He to whom one passes over, that the veil may be taken away?
The time of their opening, that is, of demonstration and manifestation, is when the Lord shall come and shall illuminate the hidden things of darkness and make manifest the thoughts of the heart; and then shall every man have praise from God. For He alone shall do this in its season, because when He shall appear, who is our life, then shall we also appear with Him in glory. And He shall 'lead them over their building,' He who shall make them possess what they have here built. For if anyone's work shall remain, which he has built upon, he shall receive a reward. 'Do you know the changes of heaven?' Whether for the worse, like those who, knowing God, did not glorify Him as God? For they would not be the seats of God;
and through this they were changed, when they became vain in their imaginations. Or for the better? Because we shall indeed all rise again, yet we shall not all be changed. But that they shall be changed who shall be changed is plain, when He says: 'and we shall be changed.' For when the righteous shall be changed, heaven shall be changed, because the throne of God is heaven, and wisdom is the Word of God, and the Word was God, and the throne of wisdom is the soul of the righteous. Or rather both? For He did not say 'the change of heaven,' but 'the changes.' Or all things that come to pass beneath heaven together? For just as the changes of this heaven affect the things that are beneath heaven, so also when the righteous are changed, whether for worse or for better, they affect the carnal toward both. 'Will you call the cloud with your voice?' Either the inner voice, or that by which it was said:
'Follow Me,' or that by which it was said: 'Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?' 'And shall the mighty waters obey you in trembling?' The powerful peoples, when they hear: 'Work out your own salvation in fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to work for His good pleasure.' 'Will you send the rivers with force, and shall they go?' 'Rivers,' He says, 'of living water shall flow out of his belly.' By 'force' He means 'confidence,' by which the persecutors did not fear, because they also who do violence seize the kingdom of heaven. 'Or shall they say to you, What is it?'—that is: will they not ask of you either the will of your command, as Saul said: 'What do you bid me do?' or the hope of their reward, as they said: 'Behold, we have left all and followed You;
what then shall we have?' 'Who has given to women wisdom in weaving and knowledge of varied things?' In Solomon too the woman wove garments for her husband. Therefore we must understand the works of the churches, by which God is honored. For that very weaving—that is, the weaker brethren, like the woolly woof—to bind together with the firm and upright spiritual ones as with a warp, by the interweaving of the fabric, is the greatest and singular work of the churches. And knowledge of varied things avails for this: that, just as in damask there is a variety of colors by which the beauty of unity is not disturbed, so in the brethren the gifts may be diverse, yet they may cohere together with no discord of envy, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
'Or who is it that numbers the clouds in wisdom?' For the Lord knows those who are His; but what man knows this, He says? 'And who has bowed down the instruments of heaven to the earth?' The heavenly angels, by whom the divine words are wont to be announced. For they did not fall like that one alone, but by the bending of obedience they were bowed down to the earth, especially since the Lord Himself was on earth. For the evangelist says: 'and the angels ministered to Him.' 'But the ash was poured out wide like the earth, and He glued him together as with stones for food.'
The humility of penitence has been poured out widely and abundantly to this end, that the Lord, who resists the proud but gives grace to the humble, might cleave to them as with the glue of charity, as man to men, that He might be the Mediator of God and men, giving Himself to them as food through the sacrament of His body and blood, choosing the foolish things of the world like stones, that He might confound the wise. For to the angels there is food inasmuch as He is the Word of God with God; but that He might be food for the stones, the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. Therefore He shall be glued to men, penitence going before, so that He may be poured out like ash, making a way for Himself. Hence too he who said: 'Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of penitence, and say not within yourselves:'
'We have Abraham as our father; for God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham': by these stones he was announcing that He was to be glued, as it were, like food. But if the humility of penitence does not go before, He will not be glued, because the lofty He knows from afar. 'Or will you catch food for the lion, or fill the souls of the dragons?' Of the devil it is said: 'and you shall trample upon the lion and the dragon,' because of his snares and wrath. Therefore all his angels are compared to lions and dragons. But He catches food for them and fills their souls who hands over to his power those convicted of ungodliness. For they wish to hide their ungodliness, but when they are brought forth, they are indeed caught, so that they may be in the power of the devil and his angels, to whom they consented.
'For they are afraid in their lairs,' in the hiding-places of their snares. For if they were not afraid, who could withstand? But they dread the dominion of Him under whom they cried out: 'Why have you come to destroy us before the time?' And just as it is manifest concerning the swine, that they would not have gone into them unless they had been permitted, so it is to be understood that they can do nothing against anyone unless permitted; and they are permitted by the justice by which all things are governed, whether for the sake of testing or of vengeance, inflicted either for damnation or for correction. 'And they sit in the woods, lying in wait': for the will to harm does not rest in them, even when the power is not given.
And they watch in their ambushes, in so woody a density of carnal occasions, to see who may be caught by the divine laws—that is, convicted of his sin—so that he may deserve to be reckoned as their food. 'But who has prepared food for the raven? For its young cry to the Lord, wandering and seeking food,' as it is in the psalm: 'and to the young ravens that call upon Him.' To this sentence this passage is most similar. Nor can they be understood in an evil sense, because they call upon Him. They signify, then, the black ones, that is, sinners not yet whitened by the remission of sins. But they are called 'young' because already humble; 'wandering' because they have not yet known the truth, which nevertheless they piously seek when they cry to the Lord.
And food can be prepared for the raven on account of His foreknowledge, who knows that even one not yet humble will be converted; but still 'the young,' that is, the humble, cry to the Lord. 'If you have known the time of the bringing forth of the wild goats of the rocks.' 'Tragos' is a he-goat, 'elaphos' a stag; the 'tragelaphus,' therefore, is an animal composed of he-goat and stag. It signifies, then, the mind serving the law of God according to the inner man; but it sees, inasmuch as it is still in part a he-goat, another law in its members warring against the law of its mind, and bringing it into captivity to the law of sin.
But to such He brought forth 'the rocks' at the fitting time, He who set solid foundations of examples in the Scriptures, in which even those at rest may not despair concerning themselves—those whose flesh lusts against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh—until, with the liveliness of a stag, the serpentine persuasions being overcome, they live by the spirit and follow the spirit, lest sin reign—whence the likeness of the he-goat is drawn—in their mortal body to obey its desires. 'Or have you kept the bringing forth of the hinds?' Of the churches in the number of the spiritual, who with maternal affection persuade men to imitate them, whom serpentine opinions can now no longer harm; yet even such are kept, presuming not upon themselves but upon God. 'And have you numbered the months of their bringing forth?'
For they do not bring forth except through the Gospel, which the Lord preached from His baptism even to His passion and ascension, by the authority of His teaching, during a certain number of months. 'And have you loosed their pains?' For not without pain was it said: 'My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you.' But these pains are loosed when the birth has been brought forth, that is, when the truth has been persuaded to those for whom there is such groaning, the Word of God doing this in the inner chambers of conscience. 'And have you nourished their fawns without fear?' Not timid in the milk of the sacraments; for they did not receive the spirit of bondage again unto fear. 'Will you send forth their offspring?' Into the liberty of a richer spiritual pasture. 'Their young shall break':
the chains of worldly lusts. 'They shall be multiplied in the grain': in the more solid food of wisdom, after the nourishment of milk. 'They shall go out and not return to them': they shall go out, as it were, from the straits of the doctrine which is delivered through men to beginners; and they shall not return to their mothers, no longer having need of milk nor needing human teachers. To be sure, these three verses are not to be pronounced by way of question. 'But who is it that has let the wild ass go free?' It is wonderful unless by the wild ass He signifies those few who, free from all business, serve God. 'And who has loosed his bonds?' Of carnal and popular affections. 'For I have set his dwelling as a desert, and his tents as a salt land.' Whence let him cry out: 'my soul has thirsted for You.'
'Laughing at the multitude of the city'—which Scripture calls Babylon—walking along the broad way that leads to destruction. 'And not hearing the complaint of the exactor': owing nothing to anyone. 'He has considered the mountains of his pasture': the greatness of revelations. 'And after every green thing he seeks': everything everlasting. 'But will the unicorn be willing to serve you?' The proud one in the dignity of this world. Because Christ has subdued such also, and made them ministers of the Church; for 'monoceros' is the unicorn, which signifies pride. 'Or to sleep upon your manger?' Just as one rests upon the humility of Him who, even laid as an infant in a manger, gives rest in the security of the pardon of sins and the forgetfulness of the cares of an evil conscience.
'And will he bind his yoke with thongs?' Bearing the light yoke bound with thongs, that is, in the authorities of those who have mortified and subdued the flesh. Whence John too was girded with a leathery girdle, not with the rough cords of sins. 'Or will he draw furrows for you in the field?' He shall open the breasts of an obedient people for the obtaining of the kingdom of God. 'But do you trust in him, because his strength is changed?' So that he may not seek the vanity of human praise and honor even in the ministry of the Church, as he was wont to seek it in the world. 'Or will you leave your works to him?' Like that one for whom the Apostle says he discharges an embassy, exhorting men for Christ's sake to be reconciled to God. 'And will you trust him, that he will render you the seed?' He will claim nothing from it to his own lordship;
for by 'seed' He means the work of sowing. 'And will he bring it into your barn?' So that he may be among those whom the Lord Himself commands to pray the Lord of the harvest, that He may send forth laborers into His harvest—not, however, that he may wish to make a barn for himself, as does the leader of heresies and schisms and whoever seeks not the glory of God but his own. For it is most difficult that this 'unicorn' should be willing; yet even this He grants and accomplishes in the soul of man, He who alone does wondrous things, destroying counsels and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing every understanding into captivity to His obedience. 'The wing of the ostriches is mingled with the wings of the heron and the hawk':
by this verse it is to be understood that to those slow of wit—whom the ostriches signify, because they cannot fly—it has been granted, through the grace of Him who chose the foolish things of the world, that they should be made equal in the swiftness of the witty who believe along with them, who are signified by these birds He mentioned. 'And he has left his eggs upon the earth': now he begins to speak of the ostrich, that is, of those whom he signifies by this animal. For their slow feathers would not be mingled with the wings of swift birds for flying together, unless they left their former hope upon the earth, which he signifies by the eggs. 'And they are warmed in the dust': because even though one did not attain what he hoped for in the world, it often comes about through the favor of the lovers of the world, who are compared to dust.
'And it has forgotten that the foot may scatter them, and the beast of the field may trample them': because if even another's hostile cupidity and the iniquitous things of this world disturb and crush such a hope of his—like his eggs which he leaves on the earth—he so cares not, that, as it were forgetful, he does not feel it. 'It has grown hard against its own young, as though they were not its own': even if there be now not a hope like eggs, but the very thing itself, like sons already born—that is, temporal felicity—he bravely despises it, not wishing it to be his felicity, because he desires that true one. 'It has labored in vain without any fear': this is before he is converted; for he labors in the hope of the world without fruit and, what is more foolish, without any fear, while he presumes on uncertain things.
'Because God has despised it in wisdom, and has not imparted understanding to it': for what is more foolish than to trust in vanity and to labor for acquiring perishable things without any fear of losing them? For very many conceive this disposition, to whom a long worldly felicity comes, especially if it is derived from grandfathers and great-grandfathers by a continuous succession, so that they do not believe they can suddenly become unhappy. And because they are wont to appear great on the earth, yet not to enjoy by the wings of virtues a heavenly conversation, they are rightly compared to ostriches. But attend to what follows: 'when the time shall be, it will fly aloft and will deride the rider and his mount.'
After the fullness of time has come, so that the rich of this world are charged not to be high-minded nor to hope in the uncertainty of riches, but in the living God, they have begun to lift up their heart to the Lord and to deride the proud persecutors whom the Lord cast into the sea; for then the wing of the ostrich, mingled with swift birds, seeks heaven, and the rest that have been said above about this animal come to pass. 'But have you encircled the horse with strength?' He seems to describe the martyr, the intrepid and eager witness of saving faith—not, however, by his own strength, but by that with which the Lord has encircled him. 'And have you set a neighing upon his neck?' 'Put on the armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day.' 'And the boldness of the glory of his breast?'
This is the boldness with which Isaiah dares and says. But the glory of the breast is the conscience that approves a man's work, so that each may have glory in himself and not in another. 'Going forth into the field, he revels': going forth into the light of liberty, with the ease of good work he exults in the breadth of charity. 'And he proceeds into battle with strength': against the temptations of adversities. 'And meeting the dart, he despises it': because arms are set around him, among which is that shield of faith, in which the fiery darts of the enemy are quenched. 'Nor does he turn aside from the iron': either from visible death, or because there are those both hard in not consenting to the truth and sharp in persecuting, from whom he does not turn aside, because he is bidden to love even them.
'For over him the bow and the sword rejoice': for by his confession both the threatening of God is asserted, which foretells from afar the invisible punishments, and the testimony of the word, by which he subdues all errors, as it were, hand to hand. For it is one thing to threaten that the punishments of sinners are far in the future—which is, as it were, to stretch arrows with the bow—and another to subdue present lusts, as it were hand to hand, with the sword of the word. 'With the trembling of the lance and the spear': what is it that 'over him the bow and the sword rejoice with the trembling of the lance and the spear'?
Is it because he himself, unless he trembles—that is, fears the future death which the divine justice hurls—cannot despise the present death which the persecutor threatens, so as to have an intrepid confession and to preach the truth with confidence, which the enemies cannot withstand; and thus 'over him' the bow and sword may 'rejoice,' that is, through him may freely be asserted the doctrine of God, by which He threatens the ungodly with future destruction and slays present iniquity? For unless the joy of our hope were with trembling of damnation, the very security in us would be negligent and a proud presumption, nor would it be said to us in the psalm: 'rejoice unto Him with trembling.' 'And with wrath he overturns the earth':
being angry within himself to overturn in himself the earthly concupiscences and carnal fears, by which anyone is turned away from the endurance of suffering. In this sense perhaps it was said: 'be angry and sin not'; for with a most wholesome anger each ought to correct himself with correction, saying: 'why are you sad, my soul? and why do you trouble me? Hope in God, for I will confess to Him.' For because with the mouth confession is made unto salvation, immediately there follows: 'the salvation of my countenance, my God.' 'Nor will he believe until the trumpet shall sound': for before the time of temptation, even if the earthly trepidation has been overturned, it does not appear, nor is it easily to be believed, unless the very time of temptation has taught it. But when the trumpet has sounded, he will say, 'Aha':
When the time of temptation has come, then indeed his soul will please him, if he glories in tribulations, because tribulation works patience, patience proof, and proof hope, so that he no longer says to his soul in anger: 'why do you trouble me?' but, glorying, says: 'praise the Lord, O my soul.' 'And from afar he scents the battle': not as it were among the persecuting men who are seen, but 'from afar,' that is, far from the eyes, knowing that his struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers and rulers of this world of darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places—this is 'from afar.' And aptly it was said 'he scents,' on account of the prince of the power of this air.
For odors, whether good or bad, are perceived by smell. Therefore he scents the battle who understands that the prince of the power of this air works in the sons of disbelief, whose wrath or snares, when they persecute, he suffers, that against the spiritual hosts of wickedness he may contend with spiritual arms, not bodily ones against flesh and blood, that is, against wicked and lost men, whom he sees with fleshly eyes. 'The thunder of the captains and the shouting': we must understand 'he scents.' But 'thunder' I think is said on account of the very air, in which those same spiritual hosts of wickedness dwell; for these spirits are not called rulers of the world because they rule heaven and earth, but as the Apostle himself expounds.