Leviticus 26

For this reason, in order to root out the materials of idolatry, God's law proclaims, "You shall not make an idol"; and by adding, "Nor the likeness of any thing that is in heaven or in the earth or in the sea," it utterly forbade such crafts to the servants of God. Enoch had anticipated this law when he prophesied that the demons and the spirits of the rebellious angels would turn to idolatry every element and property of the universe, everything which heaven and sea and earth contain, to be consecrated as a god against God. So it is that human error worships everything but the very Creator of everything. Their images are idols; the consecration of images is idolatry. Whatever sin idolatry commits must be put down to all the makers of all the idols.

In bodily contests certain grades and distinctions of the several ranks are customarily observed, so that each one may be rewarded with the prize of victory according to the quality of the struggle. For instance, if someone should have a contest among boys, or among youths, or among men, what observance ought to be kept for each rank, what may be done and what may not be done, and what rule of the contest is to be guarded, and what palm of reward the victor deserves after these things—all this is nonetheless provided for by the very laws of the games. So now too Almighty God, appointing for mortals in this world a contest of observing His law, after He had handed down very many things to be observed and had prescribed what ought to be done and what ought not to be done, fittingly, at the very end, in the book of Leviticus, in which it is laid down concerning each of the several observances, announces what reward he carries off who has fulfilled them and what penalty he undergoes who has not observed them. But if the law, according to what the Jews will have it and those who think the Scriptures are to be understood in their sense, is not "spiritual" but carnal, there is no doubt that, observed carnally, it also bestows carnal blessings on those who observe it. But if, as it seems to Paul the Apostle, "the law is spiritual", then without doubt it is to be observed spiritually, and from it a spiritual reward of blessings is to be hoped for. For it is of the whole consequence that "the spiritual law" gives spiritual blessings, and it is nonetheless of the same consequence that also the curses and condemnations of "the spiritual law" are not bodily.

But let us now see what is the opening of the blessings in Leviticus. "If", He says, "you walk in my precepts, and keep my commandments and do them". There are three things which He says: "one must walk in the precepts, one must keep the commandments and do the things which are commanded". Whence it seems to me that a precept is, for instance, when it is enjoined that he who has not kept the sabbath "be stoned by the whole synagogue", or "he who has cursed God, that he be destroyed with stones", and any such things that are enjoined. But that commandments are those by which it is enjoined, for instance, that tithes be offered to the Levites, or "to appear before the Lord three times in the year", or "not to appear empty in the sight of the Lord". "To keep" therefore is "the commandment" to understand or to attend to the things which are enjoined; but "to do" is "the commandment" to fulfill the things which are enjoined. Thus therefore I think it is to be understood, what He said: "if you walk in my precepts, and keep my commandments and do them".

If we faithfully and diligently pay attention to it, brethren, everything which was promised corporally to the Jews is fulfilled spiritually in us; for all the blessings of God which they received on earth we have obtained in our souls through the grace of baptism. Therefore, with his help, let us labor with all our strength so that we may be able to receive God's blessings and avoid his curses.

But let us see what is the first blessing for those who have fulfilled the things which are commanded. "I will give", He says, "you rain in its season". Therefore let us first say to the Jews and to those who suppose these things are to be understood simply or bodily: if this "rain" is given as a reward for labors to those who "keep the commandments", how is it that also to those who do not keep the commandments one and the same "rain" is given in its seasons, and the whole world makes use of the common rains given by God? For "He rains upon the just and the unjust". But if "rain" is given "to the just and the unjust", it will not be an exceptional reward for those who have kept the commandments. See therefore that, even if the Jews do not acquiesce in the words of Jesus our Lord, yet you, who are reckoned by His name and are called a Christian, ought to believe Him when He says that His heavenly Father "rains" this common rain "upon the just and the unjust", and you ought not to think that He has set apart for "the just" an exceptional portion, this which He has appointed common even with "the unjust". Let us therefore seek in the Scriptures what is the "rain" which is given to the saints alone and concerning which "it is commanded to the clouds that they rain not this rain" upon the unjust. What then this "rain" is, Moses himself, the lawgiver of these things, teaches us. For he himself says in Deuteronomy: "Attend, O heaven, and I will speak, and let the earth hear the words from my mouth; let my utterance be awaited as rain". Are these my words? Do we by rhetorical arguments violently bend the sense of the divine law? Is it not Moses who says that what he speaks is "rain"? "Let my utterance", he says, "be awaited as rain, and let my words come down as dew, as a shower upon the grass, and as snow upon the hay". Attend diligently, O hearer, lest you think we do violence to the divine Scripture, when, teaching the church, we say that either waters or showers or other things which seem to be said bodily are to be understood spiritually. Hear Moses, how he now names the word of the law "rain", now calls it "dew", now "shower", now even says "snow". And just as Moses speaks various and diverse things, as though speaking out of the grace of the manifold wisdom of God, so also Isaiah, when he says: "Hear, O heaven, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord has spoken". But also each one of the prophets, when he has opened his mouth, brings down showers "upon the face of the earth", that is, upon the ears and hearts of the hearers. Knowing this, the Apostle Paul also said: "For the earth, drinking in the rain that comes often upon it and bearing herb fit for those by whom it is tilled, receives blessings from God; but that which brings forth thorns and thistles is reprobate and near to a curse, whose end is unto burning". Did the Apostle say these things about this earth? But neither does the earth receive blessings from God "when it has drunk in the showers" and produced fruit; nor, if after the rain "it has brought forth thorns and thistles", does it obtain curses from God. But our earth, that is, our heart, if it should receive "the rain that comes frequently upon it" of the doctrine of the law and should bring forth the fruit of works, receives blessings. But if it should have, not spiritual work, but "thorns and thistles", that is, the cares of the world, or the desires of pleasures and riches, it is "reprobate and near to a curse, whose end will be unto burning". Therefore each one of the hearers, when he comes together to hear, receives "the shower" of the word of God; and if indeed he has brought forth the fruit of a good work, he will obtain "blessing"; but if he has despised the word of God he has received, and has neglected what he has often heard, and has subjected himself to the care of worldly affairs and to lust, as one who has choked the word with "thorns", he will procure "a curse" instead of a blessing, and instead of the end of beatitude he will find "the end of burning". "I will give", therefore, He says, "you rain in season". Necessarily He added also "in season". For just as this earthly shower, if it come unseasonably, that is, when the harvest is being gathered, when the grain is threshed on the threshing-floors, will seem to hurt rather than to help, so also those to whom "the rain" of the word of God is committed to be ministered ought to observe this which the Scripture says, that they furnish it "in season", that is, that they not press the word of God upon one who is glutted and drunken, nor upon a mind occupied with other things, when it cannot be attentive, or when it is constricted by the languor of some vice, and the inner hearing is offered not to the teacher but to one's own disease. Prudently therefore let him conjecture where the mind can be at leisure, where the hearer is sober, where watchful, where attentive, and there let him minister "the rain in season"; so also "the faithful and prudent servant" in the Gospel is bidden "to give to his fellow-servants their measure of wheat in season". But in another way too we can understand this which is commanded, "the shower is to be given in season". Someone is a child and "a little one in the faith": he needs rain, but the "rain" of "milk"; for so says he who knew how to dispense "rains in season": "I gave you milk to drink, not food; for you were not yet able". He has advanced after these things in the faith, "he has grown in age and wisdom": without doubt he has become fit to receive "more solid food". Someone is weak and, not according to the season but according to weakness, cannot receive the things that are robust; for instance, he cannot fully receive a discourse about chastity: one must have compassion and measure the doctrine according to the quality of his strength, and to such ones marriage is to be conceded. This is to feed "the weak one" with "vegetables" and to fit to measures of the soul of this kind, as it were, the thin "rain" of the word, like unto "dew". But there is another earth which can receive strong "showers", and even bear "rivers" of the word of God and carry rushing "torrents". For concerning such ones the prophet says in the Psalms: "and you will give them to drink of the torrent of your delight".

"I will give", therefore, He says, "you rain in its season, and the earth shall give its births". After the first blessing of rain, this is the second, in which it is said that "the earth", having received the rain, "gives its births". We find that Isaac also, blessing Jacob, says: "May the Lord give you of the dew of heaven and of the fatness of the earth, an abundance of grain and wine". Do you suppose that Isaac was giving in blessing to his son Jacob such grain as sinful men also have, and with which even the impious Pharaoh abounded? Was this the blessing of so great a patriarch? Do you wish that I still show you how others also, the unjust, have a multitude of grain? Behold that man in the Gospel, whose "field brought forth many fruits, who says": "I will pull down my barns and build greater ones, and I will say to my soul: Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; eat, drink, and be merry". Do we therefore believe such to be the goods which by divine blessings were handed over to the saints and to the faithful? Other fruits of the earth do I behold, and otherwise do I regard the multitude of "birth". For if my "earth" bring forth fruit, if it produce "its births" out of the Lord's blessing, my understanding will perceive and be able to explain what and of what kind is this "earth" which, having received the heavenly rain, brings forth the "births" of rational crops. Take a testimony from the Gospels, how "he who sows went out to sow, and some indeed fell along the way, but some upon the rock, some among thorns, but some upon the good earth". If therefore those things which "fell upon the good earth" have brought forth fruit, "the earth has given its fruit" and "its births", it has produced "a hundredfold and sixtyfold and thirtyfold".

"But also the trees", He says, "of the fields shall give their fruit". We have within our very selves also "the trees of the fields which produce their fruit". What are these "trees of the fields which produce their fruit"? Perhaps the hearer says: what is this word-hunter doing again? Why does he seek out words from everywhere, so as to escape the explanation of the reading? How will he teach that there are "trees" and shrubs within us? If you do not rashly disparage, you will now hear that: "a good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit". We have therefore trees within us, whether good or bad; and those which are good "cannot bear bad fruits", just as those which are "bad bear not good fruits". Do you wish that I set forth for you also the terms and appellations of the very trees which are within us? It is not a fig or an apple or a vine, but one tree is called justice, another prudence, another fortitude, another is named temperance. And if you will, learn yet a greater multitude of trees, with which perhaps the paradise of God will be thought more worthily planted. For there is there a tree of piety, and there is another tree of wisdom, and there is another of discipline, and there is another "of the knowledge of good and evil". But above all is "the tree of life". Does it not seem to you rather that the heavenly "Father", "the husbandman", cultivates trees of this kind in your soul and establishes plantings of this kind in your mind? Thus therefore says the Savior: "a bad tree cannot bear good fruits, nor a good one bad fruits". This is what He teaches: the tree of chastity is "good", it cannot bear the fruits of unchastity; the tree of justice is "good" and cannot bear the fruits of injustice. So also, on the contrary, if you should have the root of "a bad tree" planted in your mind, it cannot render "good fruits". For if there be in you a root of malice, it will not give "good fruits"; if there be within your heart a plant of folly, it will never bring forth the flower of wisdom; if it be a tree of injustice, if of iniquity, never can such trees rejoice in "good fruits". If therefore we keep the commandments of God, having received "the rain" of the word of God, of which we spoke above, the trees also which are planted in the fields of our soul and in the breadth of our heart will bring forth glad fruit of good sweetness. But do you wish that I show you from the Scriptures that these several virtues, which we mentioned above, are called trees or shrubs? I bring forward as witness the most wise Solomon, saying concerning wisdom: "it is a tree of life", he says, "to all who embrace it". If therefore "wisdom is a tree of life", without doubt there is also another tree of prudence, and another of knowledge, and another of justice. For it is not consequently said that of all the virtues wisdom alone deserved to be called "a tree of life", but that the other virtues by no means received the appellations of a like lot. "The trees", therefore, "of the field shall give their fruit". This, I believe, blessed David also felt concerning himself, when he said: "but I am like a fruitful olive in the house of God". From which he manifestly shows that a just and holy man is called a tree of olive.

I do not consider this as a material blessing, as though the man who observes God's law will obtain that common bread in abundance. Why not? Do not wicked sinners also eat bread, not only in abundance but even in luxury? Therefore let us look rather to him who says, "I am the living bread that has come down from heaven." And "he who eats this bread shall live forever." As we notice that he who said this is the word with which our soul is fed, we realize of what bread it was said by God in blessing that: "You will have food to eat in abundance." Solomon proclaims something similar concerning the just man, when he says in the book of Proverbs, "When the just man eats, his hunger is appeased, but the souls of the wicked suffer want." If this is understood only according to the letter, it seems utterly false, for the souls of the wicked eat more greedily and strive for satiety, while the just sometimes even suffer hunger. Finally, Paul was a just man, and he said, "To this very hour we hunger and thirst, and we are naked and buffeted";8 and again he says, "In hunger and thirst, in fastings often." How then does Solomon say that the just man eats and satisfies his soul? What we understood before concerning the rain we ought to consider at this point also with regard to the bread. That heavenly bread, that is, the Word of God who said, "I am the living bread," none but the just eat, to whom it is said, "Taste, and see how good the Lord is." With what kind of a conscience then do sinners who are defiled by many sins dare to eat?

The wicked man is never secure but is always disturbed and wavering. He is tossed about by every wind of doctrine to deceitful error, by the craft of men. However, the just man who observes God's law dwells in security on his land, because he governs his body in fear of God and brings it into subjection. His understanding is firm when he says to God, "Strengthen me according to your words, O Lord." Strengthened, secure and well rooted, he dwells on the earth, founded in faith. His house is not built upon sand but is established on solid ground.

"And the threshing shall reach for you unto the vintage". If good seed has been sown in my soul and, having received "rain" from God, it has grown and come to the ear, of necessity the harvest also will follow; and if the harvest, then also "threshing" will follow, in which the grains are cleansed. For indeed the soul which germinates from the word of God and, watered by the heavenly "rain", produces its sprout unto harvest, it is necessary that the very harvest which it brings forth be cleansed on the floor, that is, that the meanings which the soul has begotten it bring forth into the midst, and confer them—the things which it perceives—either with the other teachers or even with the divine volumes themselves; so that, if there be anything in them empty and superfluous, if there be anything like chaff or awns, it may shake it out with the spirit of discernment blowing within it, and retain the pure grain, by which alone it can nourish its fellow-servants and "dispense the measure of wheat in season". "And there shall reach", He says, "for you the threshing unto the vintage". Since "bread", as the Scripture says, "strengthens the heart of man, and wine gladdens it", whatever things are said concerning continence, concerning observances and the keeping of the commandments, these can be seen as grain, out of which "bread" is made and "strengthens the hearts" of the hearers. But those things which pertain to knowledge and by the explanation of hidden things "gladden" the minds of the hearers will seem to be fitted to "wine" and the vintage. For gladness is bestowed on the heart when the things that are hidden and obscure are explained. — "And the vintage", He says, "shall reach unto the sowing". As if we should say: first I sowed the things which are of the law and, after the sowing was done, I prayed that "the Lord would give rain in season": the harvest was made. After this I do not remain idle, but again I sow; I take the prophetic Scripture and from it I sow the lands and the fallow-grounds of the hearers. After these things I sow also other things from the evangelical discourses. Diverse are the things that are sown; through the whole year we can sow; for we can also cast many seeds from the apostolic writings. There is always something to be sown; in the whole of our life there is no time of idleness. As long as we breathe, let us sow; only let it be that "we sow in the spirit, that of the spirit we may reap eternal life". — "And you shall eat your bread in fullness". Neither do I take this to be of bodily blessing, as though he who keeps the law of God obtains this common bread in abundance. For what? Do not the impious and the wicked eat bread not only in abundance, but even in delicacies? Rather therefore, if we look to Him who said: "I am the living bread, who came down from heaven; and he who eats this bread shall live forever", and if we advert that He who said these things was "the word" by which souls are fed, we understand of what bread it was said in the blessings from God: "and you shall eat your bread in fullness". Things similar to these Solomon also pronounces in the Proverbs, saying concerning the just man: "the just man eating shall fill his soul; but the souls of the impious shall be in want". If you take this according to the letter, that "the just man eating shall fill his soul, but the souls of the impious shall be in want", it will seem false. For rather the souls of the impious take food with avidity and are eager for "fullness"; but the just at times even hunger. In fine, Paul was just and said: "even unto this hour we both hunger and thirst and are naked and are buffeted". And again he says: "in hunger and thirst, in many fastings". And how does Solomon say that "the just man eating shall satisfy his soul"? But if you consider how "the just man" always and "without intermission" eats of "the living bread" and fills his soul and satisfies it with the heavenly food, which is the word of God and His wisdom, you will find how out of the blessing of God the just man "eats his bread in fullness". — "And you shall dwell secure upon your land". The unjust is never inwardly, but is always moved and "tossed and carried about with every wind of doctrine, in the deceit of men, unto the deception of error". But the just man, who keeps the law of God, "dwells secure upon his land". For firm is the understanding of him who says to God: "confirm me, O Lord, in your words". "Confirmed" therefore and "secure" and "rooted" he "dwells upon the land", "founded in the faith", because "his building is not set upon the sand" nor is his root "upon the rock", but "his house" indeed "is founded" upon the land, but his plant is rooted "in the depth of the land", that is, in the inmost parts of his soul.

Then follow the words "and I will establish peace in your lands." What peace does God give? The peace which the world possesses? Christ says he does not give that kind of peace, for he declares, "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you; not as this world gives peace do I give to you." Therefore he denies that he will give the peace of the world to his disciples. Do you want to see then what peace God gives in our land? If the land is good so that it produces fruit a hundredfold, sixtyfold or thirtyfold, it will receive from God that peace which the apostle describes: "May the peace of God which surpasses all understanding guard your hearts."

"You may lie down to rest without anxiety." Moreover, Solomon says in the book of Proverbs, "When you sit down, you need not be afraid. When you lie down, your sleep will be sweet and you will not be afraid of sudden terror or of the attack of the wicked when it comes." These words he spoke concerning the just and wise man. Furthermore it is said in blessing, "You may lie down to rest without anxiety." If you are just, no one can frighten you. If you fear God, you will fear nothing else. "The just man, like a lion, feels sure of himself";19 and in the words of David, "I shall not fear the terror of the night," and so forth. He adds still further: "The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom should I fear? The Lord is my life's refuge; of whom should I be afraid?" and again, "Though an army encamp against me, my heart will not fear." Do you see the courage and constancy of the soul that observes the commandments of God?

"I will rid your country of ravenous beasts and keep war from sweeping across your land." There are many fights which pass over our land, if we do not observe the law of God and keep his commands. Let each one return to his own soul or conscience and examine himself with interior recollection. Let him see how our land, that is, our body, is oppressed at one time by the spirit of fornication, at another by anger or fury. Again it is disturbed by the darts of avarice or struck by the javelins of envy; then it is darkened by the vice of pride. In whatever way the flesh lusts against the spirit or the spirit against the flesh, our land is agitated by exceedingly dangerous battles. Therefore, if a man observes the divine commands, by the Holy Ghost brings his body into subjection, keeps God's precepts and fulfills them, he suffers this fight and war less or endures them in such a way that he is victorious. Indeed, God takes them away from his land and does not allow them to pass over the land, that is, the soul of the just.

Rightly therefore to a soul of this kind it is said in the blessings: "and you shall dwell secure upon your land; and I will give peace upon your land". What "peace does" God "give"? That which the world has? Christ denies that He gives this. For He says: "my peace I give to you, my peace I leave to you; not as this world gives peace, do I also give to you". He denies therefore that He gives "the peace of the world" to His disciples, because elsewhere too He says: "do you think that I came to send peace on the earth? I came not to send peace, but a sword". Do you wish then to see what "peace God gives upon our land"? If the land be that "good" one which "bears fruit a hundredfold or sixtyfold or thirtyfold", it will receive from God that "peace" which the Apostle speaks of: "but the peace of God, which surpasses every mind, shall guard your hearts and your understandings". This then is the "peace" which "God gives upon our land".

"And you shall sleep and there shall be none to terrify you". Solomon too in the Proverbs said: "for if you sit, you shall be without fear; and if you sleep, you shall gladly take sleep; and you shall not fear the terror coming upon you, nor the assaults of the impious coming upon you". These things he said concerning the just and wise man, and these things are said in the blessing: "you shall sleep, and there shall be none to terrify you". For if I become just, no one can terrify me; I fear nothing else, if I fear God; for "the just man", he says, "is confident as a lion", and therefore he does not fear the lion, the devil, nor "the dragon", Satan, nor "his angels", but says according to David: "I will not fear the nocturnal terror, the arrow flying by day, and the business walking in the darkness, the ruin and the noonday demon". He adds also this: "The Lord is my illumination and my Savior, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the defender of my life, of whom shall I tremble?". And again: "if camps stand against me, my heart shall not fear". You see the constancy and virtue of the soul that keeps the commandments of God and has the confidence of an inborn liberty. After these things, "and I will exterminate", He says, "the evil beasts from your land". Those bodily beasts are neither evil nor good, but something in between; for they are dumb animals. But those evil beasts are spiritual, which the Apostle calls "spiritual wickednesses in the heavenly places". And that is the evil beast of which the Scripture says: "but the serpent was wiser than all the beasts that are upon the earth". This itself, then, is that "evil beast" which God promises "He will exterminate from our land", if we keep His commandments. Do you wish to see also another evil beast? "Your adversary", he says, "the devil, as a roaring lion goes about seeking whom he may devour; resist him, strong in the faith". But if you wish to learn yet more beasts, the prophet Isaiah will teach you, who, under "the vision" which he entitled "of the quadrupeds in the desert", speaks by the prophetic spirit certain such things concerning beasts: "in tribulation", he says, "and anguish, the lion and the lion's whelp; thence also the offspring of flying asps, who carried upon asses and camels their riches to a nation which shall not profit them". Can these things in any way be seen as said of bodily beasts, even by those who are exceedingly friends of the letter? For how can "the lion and the lion's whelp" or "the flying asps" "carry upon camels and asses their riches"? But evidently the prophet, filled with the Holy Spirit, enumerates the contrary powers of the most wicked demons, and designated that they place "the riches" of their deceptions upon souls stolid and perverse, which by a figure he compares to camels and asses. And that his soul might not be handed over to these beasts, fearing God he prayed, saying: "deliver not to the beasts the soul that confesses to you". — "And I will exterminate", He says, "the malignant beasts from your land, and war shall not pass through your land". Many are the "wars" which "pass through our land", if we do not keep the law of God nor observe His precepts. Let each one return to his own soul and shake himself out by inner recollection, and see how our land, that is, our flesh, is now pressed by the spirit of fornication, now by that of anger and fury, now is agitated by the darts of avarice, now is struck by the weapons of envy, now is bored through by the arrows of lust, and in whatever ways "the flesh lusts against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh", it is always agitated by inner battles. But what shall I say of the wars of thoughts, which the enemy suggests to our heart, that he may strip us of the faith of Christ and of the hope of our calling? For when he has stirred up for us the afflictions of temptations and the troubles of the world, consequently he then suggests to the thought that it is superfluous and foolish to endure these things for Christ, that it is much better to lead a secure life and without persecutions. Knowing this, the Apostle Paul too said: "destroying thoughts and every height that exalts itself against the knowledge of Christ". He therefore who "keeps the divine precepts and keeps His commandments and does them", does not suffer this war and these battles, but God takes them away "from" his "land" and does not permit them "to pass" through the soul of the just.

"You will rout your enemies." Of what enemies do we speak, except the devil himself and his angels? We rout them not only by driving them from our own hearts, but we repel them far away from others whom they disturb or attack or overcome. We do this by our advice or reproof or prayer, if we preserve the divine precepts. Thus through death the enemy falls in our sight. Whose death? I think it is ours when we mortify our members which are on earth, namely, fornication and impurity. If we bring this death to our members, that is, to our concupiscences and sins, our enemies, the devil and his angels, will fall in our sight. How will they fall in your sight? If you are just, injustice falls at sight of you; if chaste, lust falls; if devout, you kill the spirit of impiety.

"And you shall pursue your enemies". What "enemies", except "the devil" himself "and his angels" and the malignant spirits and "the unclean demons"? We shall pursue them not only that we may drive them away from ourselves, but also from others whom they assail, if we keep the divine precepts. "You shall pursue", He says, "your enemies, and they shall fall before you by death". If "God should crush Satan under our feet swiftly", "the enemies shall fall before us by death". By whose "death"? I think, by ours; for if we "mortify our members, which are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness", if we inflict this death upon our members, "they shall fall before us". How "shall they fall before us"? If you be just, injustice has fallen "before" you; if you be chaste, lust has fallen; if you be pious, impiety has collapsed before you.

"Five of you will put a hundred to flight." Who are those five who can pursue a hundred? The number five is applied to both the praiseworthy and the culpable, for there were five wise virgins and five foolish; so also the number one hundred can be accepted in either way. Therefore if we belong to the five laudable ones, that is, the five wise virgins, we pursue one hundred of the foolish. If we fight wisely in matters of God's Word, if we discuss the law of the Lord prudently, we convince and put to flight a multitude of unbelievers. Similarly the number one hundred indicates both the faithful and the unfaithful. Under that number of years Abraham is recorded to have believed in God and been justified, while "the sinner of a hundred years shall be thought accursed." Now here a hundred unfaithful souls are put to flight by five wise men. Again, a hundred just men, who are so designated because of their perfection rather than their number, pursue many thousands of unbelievers. Indeed, devout teachers drive away countless demons, so they will not deceive the souls of believers with their old deceits.

"Your foes will be cut down by your sword." Who they are we mentioned above, but let us find out by what sword they are said to fall. The apostle Paul teaches us what this sword is when he says, "For the Word of God is living and efficient and keener than every two-edged sword and extending even to the joints of soul and spirit, of the members also and the marrow, and a discerner of the thoughts and intentions of the heart." This is the sword at whose edge our enemies will fall. For it is the Word of God which casts down all enemies and puts them under its feet, so that the whole world becomes subject to God. Do you wish to learn from still another epistle of Paul that the sword with which spiritual enemies are overcome is the Word of God? Listen to him as he provides arms for the soldiers of Christ: "Take unto you the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, that is, the Word of God. With all prayer and supplication pray." By these words he declares very clearly that by the Word of God which is a two-edged sword our enemies will fall in our sight.

"And five of you shall pursue a hundred, and a hundred of you shall pursue many thousands". Who are those "five" who can "pursue a hundred"? The number "five" is set both among the praiseworthy and among the culpable. There are "five wise virgins" and "five foolish". So therefore also the number of a hundred can be taken to either part. If then we be of the five praiseworthy, that is, of the five wise, we shall pursue a hundred foolish. For if we fight wisely and provably in the word of God, if we discourse prudently concerning the law of the Lord, we shall convince and put to flight a multitude of the unfaithful. For just as the number five indicates both the wise and the foolish, so also the number of a hundred indicates both the faithful and the unfaithful. For under the number of a hundred years Abraham is described as having believed God and been justified, and "the sinner who dies at a hundred years shall be accursed". And here a "hundred" unfaithful are put to flight by "five" wise, and again a "hundred" faithful, marked not so much by the number of a hundred as by perfection, "shall pursue many thousands" of the unfaithful. For the faithful teachers put to flight innumerable demons, lest by the ancient fraud they deceive the souls of believers. — "And your enemies shall fall before you by the sword". Who the "enemies" are, we said above; but by what "sword" they are said "to fall", let us inquire. The Apostle Paul teaches us what this sword is, when he says: "for the word of God is living and effective and more penetrating than every two-edged sword, reaching even to the joint of soul and spirit, of the members also and the marrows, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intentions of the heart". This is the "sword" by whose edge "our enemies shall fall". For it is the word of God which lays low "all enemies" and puts them "under His feet", "that the whole world may be made subject to God". Do you wish to learn still from another epistle of Paul that the sword is the word of God? Hear him, when he prepares arms for the soldiers of Christ, how he says: "and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, through all prayer and supplication", most evidently pronouncing also through these things that by "the word of God", which is "the two-edged sword", "our enemies shall fall before us".

"I will look with favor upon you and make you fruitful." Full of blessedness is the man upon whom God looks with favor. Do you want to understand how great is the salvation of a man upon whom the Lord looks [with favor]? Peter had once perished and at the prompting of the devil through the lips of a servant of the high priest had destroyed the consecration of his apostolic rank. But when the Lord looked at him, he was lifted up at once.

"And I will look upon you and increase you". Full of beatitude is this very thing, if "God look upon" anyone. Do you wish to see, if "the Lord look upon" a man, how great is salvation? Peter had once almost perished and, by the devil breathing through the mouth of "the maidservant of the high priest", had been snatched from the consecration of the apostolic number; but when "Jesus only looked upon him", when He turned toward him the countenance of a placid face, at once, returning into himself and recalling his foot slipped from the precipice, "he wept", it says, "most bitterly", and thus, looked upon by God, by weeping he recovered his place, which by denying he had lost. — "I will look", therefore, He says, "upon you, and increase you". As if the sun should look upon a crop and bring forth its fruits—which surely, if it had not looked upon it, would have remained fruitless—so God, "looking upon" the crop of our heart and illuminating us with the rays of His word, "increases us" and multiplies us, that we may no longer be "little ones", but be made "great", just as "Isaac was made great", and Moses was made "great", and John "great". — "And I will establish my covenant with you". See how great blessings are promised, if we keep the commandments.

For just as the teachings of the new and old Testaments should come together, as it is written: "Consume the old things of the ancients, and remove the old things from the face of the new ones." Let the knowledge of the patriarchs be food for us, let the soul feast on the oracles of the prophets: let the inner being be nourished by such sustenance. But now let it not be the appearance of a lamb, but rather the reality of the body of Christ. Let it not be the shadow of the law that blinds the eyes, but rather let the grace of the Lord's passion openly reveal, and let the splendor of the resurrection illuminate the mind's sight.

And we eat the oldest of the old [grain] when we retain in our hearts the sweet memory of the old commandment which was given to the human race from the beginning, by loving the Lord our God with all our heart, all our soul and all our strength, and by loving our neighbor as ourselves. And we cast away the old [to make room] for the new that is coming on when we cease to keep the typic statutes of the Mosaic law according to the letter but keep these same statutes quite gladly as they are understood through the Spirit. Our hearts [are] being renewed in the hope of the heavenly kingdom in accordance with that [saying] of the apostle: "If then anyone is in Christ a new creature, the old things have passed away; behold, things have been made new," and [with that saying] in the Apocalypse: "And he that sat upon the throne said, 'Behold, I make all things new.'"

For we eat with blessing the old things, the prophetic words and the old things of the old things, the words of the law. And, when the new and evangelical words came, living according to the gospel, we bring forth the old things of the letter from before the new. He sets his tabernacle in us, fulfilling the promise which he spoke, "I will dwell among them and walk in them."

"I will establish", He says, "my covenant with you. And you shall eat the old things and the old of the old, and you shall cast out the old from before the face of the new". How do we "cast out the old from before the face of the new"? "The old" things: "we had the law and the prophets"; but "the old of the old" are those things which were before the law, from the beginning, when the world was made. There came the new Gospels, there came also the Apostles. From before the face of these we cast out "the old things". How do we cast them out? We cast out the law according to the letter, that we may establish the law according to the spirit. We can also say in this manner: before the man came "from heaven" and the "heavenly man" was born, we were all "earthly" and "bore the image of the earthly"; but when there came "the new man, who was created according to God", we cast out "from before the face" of him "the old things", "putting off the old man and putting on the new", "who according to the interior man is renewed from day to day".

"And I will set my tabernacle among you". If we have these things in us which were said above, if, the "old man" having been cast off, our heart has been renewed, God comes to us and dwells in us, He who said: "and I will set my tabernacle among you, and my soul shall not abominate you". "The soul of God" will not "abominate" us, if we observe the things which are written. Yet I should wish to inquire what is "the soul of God". Shall we perhaps suppose that God has a soul as a man has? It is absurd to think this of God. But I dare and say that the soul of God is Christ. For just as Christ is "the Word" of God and "the wisdom of God and the power of God", so also He is the soul of God. And in this manner it is said: "my soul shall not abominate you", that is, my Son, but "I will walk among you".

Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. [Leviticus 26:12] Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.

God will be the source of every satisfaction, more than any heart can rightly crave, more than life and health, food and wealth, glory and honor, peace and every good—so that God, as St. Paul said, "may be all in all." He will be the consummation of all our desiring—the object of our unending vision, of our unlessening love, of our unwearying praise. And in this gift of vision, this response of love, this paean of praise, all alike will share, as all will share in everlasting life.

It does not seem to me that God promises this, that He will walk in the land of the Jews, but that, if anyone should deserve to be of so pure a heart as to be capable of God, in him God says that He "walks". — "And you shall be to me a people".

"I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, when you were servants, and broke the yoke of your bond". Truly "He brought us out of the house of servitude", for "we were servants" of sin, because: "everyone who sins is a servant of sin". And "He broke the bond of our yoke, the yoke" which he had imposed upon our necks who had "led us into captivity" and bound us with the bonds of sins. "He broke", therefore, the "bond" of sin and shook off the "yoke" of our captivity, our Lord Jesus Christ, and imposed upon us His own sweet yoke of faith and charity and hope and of all sanctity. To Him be glory unto the eternal ages of ages! Amen.

The danger of transgression ought to move us to the observance of the commandments, because the transgressor of the commandments falls into many dangers: first, because he loses many goods; second, because he rushes into abominable crimes; third, because he merits eternal punishments. Transgressors lose many goods; whence in Leviticus: "If you will not hear my voice and will not do all my commandments, I will visit you with want and burning heat, which shall consume your eyes and consume your souls." He says: "I will visit you with want": behold, the privation of all goods; "and with burning heat, which shall consume your eyes and consume your souls," because it blinds the intellect of the true and takes away the affection for the good.