Questions on the Octateuch 1 part 9/17

One should also note this, that he calls the fine flour offered, and the loaves baked in the oven, and the loaves baked on the griddle, and the cakes from the pan, a 'sacrifice,' cheering by this name those who live in poverty, so that they might not be distressed at lacking animals

One should also note this, that he calls the man who offers the animal 'man':

'A man,' he says, 'from among you, who offers a gift to the Lord, shall bring it from the birds, from the oxen, or from the sheep'

But the one who offers fine flour he calls 'soul':

'For if a soul,' he says, 'offers a gift, a sacrifice to the Lord, his gift shall be fine flour'

For the rational one offers the irrational.

He forbids leavened bread to be offered, for the reason I have stated;

he also forbids honey to be offered on the altar;

And some say this is because the bee also settles on unclean places, gathering from every source the materials of its honey-making;

but others have said we are thereby taught to perform our offerings from our own labors, according to Solomon's exhortation which says: 'Honor the Lord from your righteous labors, and give him firstfruits from the fruits of righteousness'

'But the produce of the bee,' he says, 'is not our own labor' -- yet this argument is not exact

For indeed bee-keeping is itself a form of human diligence

for some attend to farming, others to shepherding;

and some to trade, others to bee-keeping

I think, then, that by the leaven is hinted the antiquity of wickedness;

and by the honey, pleasure is forbidden

To the priests, moreover, he commanded that the firstfruits of these also be offered;

for these offer intercessions on behalf of our sins;

wherefore through the prophet he said concerning them:

'They shall eat the sins of my people'

He commands salt to be cast upon the sacrificial victims, signifying thereby the discerning faculty of the soul

Of this the sacrifice of Cain was deprived; wherefore he heard from the God of all:

'Did you not sin, if you offered rightly but did not divide rightly?'

And the divine apostle also legislates, saying:

'Let your speech always be seasoned with salt'

And the Lord said to the apostles:

'You are the salt of the earth;

but if the salt loses its savor, with what shall it be salted?' He commands all the sacrificial victims to be offered unharmed and unblemished, though they differ and are offered in different manners

By these things he teaches those in every walk of life to possess that which is unblemished

and those who embrace virginity to conduct their lives according to its laws;

those who take up the yoke of marriage, not to corrupt its bond through their conduct toward one another;

those who prefer the ascetic life, to keep the rule of perfection

and, to speak collectively, that the rich, the poor, the enslaved, and the powerful should each, in their own ranks, possess that which is unmarred and unblemished

Of the things sacrificed, apart from the whole burnt offerings, some were offered to the altar, and some given to the priests;

wherefore the divine apostle said that they share with the altar

and the rest of the meats were allotted to the need of those offering

Upon the whole burnt offerings, however, were placed the parts offered separately, such as the kidneys, the fat, and the lobe of the liver;

and from some of the sacrificial victims, also the loin, or according to the other translators, the tail

since we, the imperfect, use those perfect in virtue as our intercessors, and through them offer our prayers

The one making the offering would lay his hands upon the victim, as it were laying on his own deeds;

for the hands are indicative of deeds;

and on behalf of these he would offer the sacrificial victim.

He commands abstention from blood and fat, and ordains that both be offered at the altar.

It is most just that both be dedicated to God.

He commands that if the high priest has transgressed some law, he shall sacrifice an unblemished calf;

and that he offer at the altar the things we have already mentioned;

but that the flesh and the hide, together with the dung, be burned outside the camp.

This signifies that sin is a stranger to the sacred precincts.

And when the whole people has dared to commit some such transgression, he has legislated that the same sacrifice be offered, teaching how great is the honor of the priesthood;

for he has set it in the balance as equal in weight to the whole people.

But he ordained that the ruler, when he has transgressed some law, offer not a calf but a he-goat, that is, a kid a year old.

By so much does the one entrusted with bodily rule fall short of the dignity of the high priesthood. And for the one who is neither priest nor ruler, but has sinned, he ordained that he sacrifice a she-goat.

For the male is fitting for the ruler, and the female for the one ruled, as we have said before.

Concerning one who intends to offer something to God, and confirms the promise by an oath, but does not match the deed to the word:

He commands him first to confess the sin, and then to offer either a ewe-lamb or a she-goat, and in this manner to propitiate God.

But if he is poor, he commands him to offer either two turtledoves or two young pigeons.

And if he cannot afford even these, he is to bring a small measure of fine flour, without oil and frankincense.

For oil is indicative of gladness;

but sin has been stripped bare of both.

He has very fittingly joined together the touching of what is unclean and the concealment, by one who has sworn and lied, of his sin;

for indeed the clean person who touches unclean things is defiled;

and one who has not himself sworn falsely nevertheless shares in the sin with the one who lied, if he does not expose the falsehood;

It is worthy of admiration, the goodness of the Master, in that he does not punish the one who has promised to offer something and has ratified the promise by an oath, yet has not fulfilled it in deed, either as ungrateful or as a perjurer, but heals him with a light penalty.

What is the meaning of, 'If a soul forgets through forgetfulness and sins unwittingly concerning the holy things of the Lord'? It often happened that someone, falling into some preoccupation, failed to bring at the proper time the things dedicated to God, such as the firstborn, or the firstfruits, or the votive offerings.

He therefore subjects the one who has fallen into this offense to a greater penalty.

For he commands him first to pay off the debt owed to God, adding a fifth to its fair value;

and then, in this way, for the trespass, to offer for the sacrifice a ram worth fifty shekels, and thus to receive forgiveness of the sin.

Having legislated these things and others like them concerning those who have sinned unwittingly, he also commands that those who have sinned willingly — whether by receiving a deposit and then lying about it, or by committing some injustice, and increasing their sin with a false oath — must first restore to those wronged what they unlawfully took, adding a fifth to the principal;

and then, in this way, to offer a ram and propitiate God.

This the blessed Zacchaeus also did;

for he first restored fourfold what he had wrongfully taken;

and then, in this way, distributed half of his possessions to the poor.

so that they might know that those who are healed through repentance are not strangers to holy things.

For this reason he also called these things 'holy of holies.'

What is the meaning of, 'Everyone who touches its flesh shall be sanctified'? He teaches them reverence, and commands them to approach the divine things with awe, and ordains that they stand far off from the sacred things;

but the one who dares to draw near, and thereupon receives a drop of the blood, he commands to remain in attendance at the temple, as no longer being master of himself.

He is to remain in attendance, not performing the priestly rites, but carrying out the other services.

For this reason he also commands that the garments which have received drops of that blood be washed;

and as for the vessels, if they are of bronze, that they be carefully scoured;

but if they are of earthenware, that they be broken.

For this reason he commands that on the first day and the second day one is to partake of that flesh;

but that what remains over is to be burned;

so that, driven by this necessity, they might have the poor as sharers in the feast.

For if things that are natural defile according to the law, how much more do things of deliberate choice, which are properly called unlawful.

What follows attests to the manner of this.

For having commanded that all fat be offered at the altar, he set apart for human use the fat of animals that had died of themselves or been torn by wild beasts;

and he called such things unclean;

unclean, therefore, was also the one who touched such a thing. It is evident from this as well, that he legislates one thing by means of another.

The blood signifies the saving blood, and the oil the all-holy chrism/anointing.

The right ear is a symbol of praiseworthy obedience;

and the hand and the foot are symbols of good deeds.

For this reason indeed it was the right hand and the right foot that were anointed.

For there are also deeds of the left hand, so to speak, and obedience that is harmful.

How is 'the strange fire' to be understood? The narrative has taught us that when the first sacrifice was offered, the victims were consumed by divine fire.

The Master God commanded that this fire be kept unquenched, and that wood be supplied to it both night and day;

so that man-made fire might not be mixed with the divine fire.

Since, then, Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, transgressed this law and brought in man-made fire, the divine fire consumed them.

We, then, are instructed through these things not to quench the Spirit, but to rekindle the grace we have received;

and to introduce nothing alien into the divine Scripture, but to be content with the teaching of the Spirit, and to abhor the heresies — of which some have added myths to the divine oracles;

while others have preferred their own impious reasonings to the meaning intended by Scripture.

For they served by turns, some on these days, others on other days.

The Apostle also commands that the priest be sober, and that the deacons not be given to much wine.

And writing to Timothy, he directed him to make use of a little wine on account of his frequent ailments.

For it is fitting that the priest be mature/perfect, as one entrusted with intercession on behalf of the people.

For instance, Moses the lawgiver, when he saw that the he-goat offered for sin had been wholly burnt contrary to the divine law, was angry with Eleazar and Ithamar, saying:

'Why did you not eat the sin offering in the holy place, seeing that it is most holy? The Lord gave this to you to eat, that you might take away the sin of the congregation and make atonement for them before the Lord.' And from this again we are taught that we, though eating what is offered by the people, if we do not live according to the law, nor earnestly offer prayers on their behalf, incur penalties before God.

Hinting at this, the Master God said through the prophet:

'They shall eat the sins of my people.'

What does 'having a cloven hoof and chewing the cud' signify? I think that 'having a cloven hoof' signifies the discernment between good deeds and their opposites;

And in addition to this, that one should not live for the present life alone, but for the life to come as well;

and to allot to the former only the necessities, but to the latter everything—that is, both the soul and the body and the things pertaining to the body.

The 'chewing the cud' signifies the meditation on the divine oracles.

For just as the sheep, and those like it, continually bring up their food again, so too the diligent and God-loving man cries out to the God of all:

'O how I have loved your law, O Lord! It is my meditation all the day long.'

Now just as among animals some have a divided hoof and also chew the cud, while others do neither of these things, as the donkey, the mule, the horse, and the wild beasts;

and others have a divided hoof but do not chew the cud, as the pig;

and yet others chew the cud but do not have a divided hoof, as the camel and the hare;

so also among men one may find the perfect, who both embrace the meditation on the divine oracles and diligently pursue virtue;

and the imperfect, who utter the divine oracles with the tongue but cannot endure to 'divide the hoof,' resembling the camel;

but who are concerned only with praiseworthy actions,

and yet others who are bereft of faith and utterly stripped of good action.

Of aquatic creatures, he says that those having scales and fins are clean;

for these swim upon the surface of the waters.

for those that are not of this kind wallow below in the mud.

So also among rational beings, the clean are those who are not glued to earthly things, but who have the wings of faith and are fenced about with the covering of virtue.

For what the scale is to fish, this the full armor of virtue is to men;

and what the fins are to them, this faith is to men.

These the blessed Paul confers upon us, calling them the wings of grace and the weapons of the Spirit; and of birds, he says, the unclean are the birds of prey and those that feed on carrion, and those that delight in darkness;

teaching us both to abstain from greed, and to turn away from the foul-smelling food of sin, and to hate darkness.

That we have not understood these matters to be so without reason, the narrative of the Acts bears witness;

For, it says, the blessed Peter saw a sheet let down by its four corners, in which were all the four-footed beasts of the earth, and the birds of heaven;

and he heard a voice saying:

'Rise, Peter, kill and eat.'

Then, when he had said, 'By no means, Lord, for I have never eaten anything common or unclean,' the Master God said:

'What God has cleansed, do not you call common.'

That these things were said for the sake of Cornelius, who was a Gentile and was seeking salvation, is made clear by what follows.

And the Lord also said to the apostles:

'Many will come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.'

And to the elders of the Ephesians:

'I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you.'

And the prophets also call horses 'lustful after females,' and serpents 'offspring of flying asps.'

'The kingdom of heaven is like a net cast into the sea, gathering fish of every kind.'

'And wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together.'

This interpretation, then, is in harmony with the intent of the divine Scripture.

We, then, derive this benefit from these things.

But to the Jews, through these very same things, he has furnished another kind of benefit.

For having divided into two both the land animals, and the birds, and the aquatic creatures;

and having called some unclean and others clean, he persuades them to regard none of these as God.

For how could any man of sound mind call 'God' either the unclean thing, which he loathes and turns away from, or the thing that is offered to the true God and eaten by him? Why is it, then, that if any of the unclean things should fall into an earthen vessel, he commands that it be broken, but if into a bronze or wooden vessel, or a sack, or a garment, that it be washed with water? And from this it is clear that nothing is unclean by nature, but that for a certain reason he called some things unclean and others clean;

for if they were unclean by nature, then the bronze vessels and the wooden ones ought also to have been broken.

But since he called them unclean for another reason, he commands that those vessels worthy of greater value be washed, while the cheap ones be broken;

in this way confirming the law concerning the unclean;

and in that way indicating the purpose of the law.

For this very reason he also commands that an oven and a cooking-stove be destroyed, if any of these creatures should fall into them, and he calls the water in vessels unclean when a carcass has fallen into it,

but not spring water any longer, nor water in a cistern;

for he limits such matters to small penalties.

And we, in turn, learn how great an evil sin is;

for it is to sin that true defilement is truly attributed.

He especially says that those creatures which crawl on their belly are unclean;

for the serpent is the originator of evil, and the minister of the devil's plot.

For often he teaches one thing by means of another, and this is easy to learn from what follows.

For if the woman who has given birth is unclean, and the pregnant woman is unclean, I think, then, that the law commands her to rest, since she has labored exceedingly and has endured bitter birth-pangs.

But if he had simply declared this outright, husbands would not have restrained their desire;

but being taught that she is unclean, they avoid intercourse, lest they should partake of the uncleanness.

The law, therefore, quenches desire by means of the pretext of uncleanness.

As for the difference in the number of days, some have interpreted it thus: that women endure greater pain when giving birth to female children;

therefore he allotted to them double the time for rest.

And through involuntary things he condemns the voluntary.

For if things that are natural seem in some way to be unclean, much more so are things that arise from deliberate choice.

He also speaks of a distinction of leprosy;

since there is also a distinction among sins;

and there is a beginning of leprosy, since there is also a beginning of sin.

But just as the priest discerns the leprosy, so also must he be the judge of the sins of the soul.

That which is variegated in color is called 'leprous';

thus when vice comes upon the soul, it renders it leprous.

For just as he declared concerning the carcass, that if it should fall into a vessel, the vessel is unclean;

but if into a spring or a cistern, it is no longer so;

so also he separates from the others the one who has received a variegated color, as one who has hope of cleansing;

but the one who has become entirely white, he commands to mingle again with the others, lest he should spend his whole life separated from other men.

This too is a type of spiritual realities.

For the divine law commands that one not even eat together with the faithful who sin,

but it does not forbid dining together with unbelievers who invite one to a feast.

And the divine apostle speaks thus:

'If any of the unbelievers invites you, and you wish to go, eat whatever is set before you, asking no questions,' and so on.

But concerning the faithful who sin he said as follows:

'If anyone called a brother is a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a drunkard, or a reviler, or an extortioner, with such a one do not even eat.'

'Withdraw yourselves from every brother who walks disorderly.'

This one, then, resembles the man who is partly leprous, while the unbeliever resembles one who has lost his whole natural color.

But with these we both converse and associate;

and the divine apostle is witness to this:

'For I wrote to you,' he says, 'not to associate with fornicators' —

and not at all meaning the fornicators of this world, or the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, but 'if anyone called a brother,' and so on.

He has, however, called clean the one who has become entirely white, not as having a healthy body, but as no longer defiling, according to the law, those who come near him.

Thus the apostle spoke concerning those who sin:

'Withdraw yourselves from every brother who walks disorderly, and not according to the tradition which you received from us;'

'and if anyone called a brother is a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a drunkard, or a reviler, or an extortioner, with such a one do not even eat.'

How did leprosy occur in garments? God brought many such chastisements upon them;

at any rate, he also spoke thus concerning leprous houses:

'When you enter the land of the Canaanites, which I give to you, and I put a mark of leprosy in the houses of the land you possess,' and so on.

By this he teaches that these were plagues sent by God, coming to rest now upon garments, now upon houses.

And these things reveal the ineffable loving-kindness of God.

For when men sinned, he brought the plagues upon their garments and houses, thereby offering healing to those who owned them.

The house of Israel resembles a leprous house, from which those who had transgressed were often removed, like certain leprous stones—at one time by the Assyrians, at another by the Babylonians, and at yet another by the Macedonians.

But since the leprosy had become fixed, the lawgiver commanded that the house be utterly demolished.

Unclean, then, are those who enter their synagogues, as one entering a leprous house.

What do the two small birds offered on behalf of the leper being cleansed signify? It contains the type of the saving Passion.

For just as, of these birds, the one was sacrificed while the other, dipped in the blood of the one that had been sacrificed, was set free, so on behalf of leprous humanity the Master Christ was crucified, the flesh receiving death while the Godhead made the suffering of the humanity its own.

And just as, when the blood of the slain bird was mixed with pure water and, by means of cedar wood and hyssop and spun scarlet, was sprinkled upon the leper, he was declared bright and clean,

so he who believes in Christ the Savior, and is cleansed by the water of most holy baptism, casts off the stains of his sins.

The cedar wood is a symbol of the impassible Godhead;

for this wood does not decay.

and the spun scarlet, of humanity composed of soul and body;

and the hyssop, of the warmth and sweet fragrance of the most holy Spirit.

For it is through these things that those who are baptized are delivered from leprosy of the soul.

And the cup of oil, too, signifies the spiritual chrism.

The oil anointed upon the right ear, the right hand, and the right foot shows that hearing is to be set apart for upright words, and the hand and foot for upright deeds;

and being poured also upon the head, it signifies the consecration of the rational faculty.

He, however, who remained a leper dwelt outside the camp,

just as one who sins without repenting is cast out of the Church.

For if the discharge that occurs according to nature is unclean, much more is unlawful lust.

And again he teaches us to flee the company of such persons.

For he said that the one who comes near a person with a discharge is unclean.

But that nothing which occurs according to nature is truly unclean, the law itself makes plain.

For if the man with a discharge should touch an earthen vessel, it commands that it be broken;

but if he touch one of bronze or of wood, that it be washed clean with water.

Yet these too ought to have been broken like the earthen vessels, if indeed the man to whom this affliction happened were truly unclean.

So too he says that the man with a nocturnal emission is unclean, and likewise those joined by the law of marriage—

and yet it was he himself who established the law concerning marriage, indeed the very first law.

'For this cause,' he says, 'a man shall leave his father and his mother and shall cleave to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.'

How then does he call unclean the one who unites according to the law? But it is clear that he thereby teaches moderation even in lawful union, and commands that intercourse take place for the sake of procreation, not for the love of pleasure.

For this reason he calls those who unite unclean,

and commands that they be purified, so that the trouble attending the purification might restrain the frequency of intercourse.

But the divine apostle writes to the perfect:

'Marriage is honorable, and the bed undefiled;

but fornicators and adulterers God will judge.'

And besides this, it was also so that no one might unite with such women.

For some say that from such intercourse both deformity and leprosy are engendered, that residue harming the bodies being formed.

For this reason he says that the one who unites with such a woman is unclean.

And he briefly taught the reasons for such laws, saying:

...them—my tabernacle that is among them.

But if he said that involuntary things defile, it is clear that voluntary ones are far more accursed.

And these provisions were especially fitting for those who were most lustful and wantonly wicked.

For what was transgressed was no great matter, and, when observed, it made them better fitted for what is perfect.

When did the high priest enter the Holy of Holies? On the Day of Atonement, which God commanded to be kept on the tenth day of the seventh month.

For the Lord, he says, spoke to Moses:

'Speak to Aaron your brother, and let him not enter at every hour into the holy place within the veil, before the mercy seat which is upon the ark of the testimony, lest he die;

for I will appear in a cloud upon the mercy seat.'

From this it is clear that it was at the mercy seat that the Master, God, made his own appearing;

and, manifesting his own goodness, he was seen not in darkness and smoke and fire, as to Israel, but in a luminous cloud.

He also taught the manner of the sacrifices which the high priest had to employ before he could venture into the inner sanctuary.

For he commanded him to sacrifice a calf for sin, and to offer a ram as a whole burnt offering;

and these he was to offer on his own behalf, but on behalf of the whole people he was to take two goats for sin, and one ram for a whole burnt offering.

He also commanded that the goats be divided by lot, and that the one be sacrificed, and the other be sent away into the wilderness.

Now some, having foolishly understood this, supposed that the goat that is sent away was some demon, since it says:

one for the Lord, and one for the [goat] that is sent away.

But they assumed this out of great foolishness.

For how could it be possible that he who had said,

You shall have no other gods besides me, and you shall neither worship nor serve another god -- should assign an equal sacrifice to some demon? They ought rather to have set their mind on the fact that he commanded even the goat that was released to be offered to himself.

For it says: You shall take the living goat before the Lord, to make atonement over it, to send it away into the wilderness as a dismissal.

This shows that the goat itself was called the one sent away, as being sent away into the wilderness; for what follows also makes this clear:

and the goat shall bear upon itself their iniquities into the impassable land.

And Symmachus likewise interpreted the one sent away as follows:

for a goat that departs, so as to send it away for dismissal.

And Aquila: for a goat released into the wilderness.

It was not, therefore, sent away to some god or demon, but both were offered to God;

and while the one was being sacrificed, the other, bearing the sins of the people, was sent away into the wilderness.

For just as, in the case of a leper being cleansed, when one bird was sacrificed, the other was dipped in its blood and set free, so also, when two goats were offered for the sins of the people, the one was sacrificed and the other sent away.

These again are types of the Lord Christ,

these two animals being taken not as referring to two persons, but to two natures.

For since it was not possible for both the mortal and the immortal nature of the Lord Christ to be adumbrated in one goat -- for a goat is only mortal -- he necessarily commanded that two be brought forward,

so that the one being sacrificed might prefigure the passibility of the flesh,

and the one being released might signify the impassibility of the divinity.

O God, when you went forth before your people, when you passed through the wilderness, the earth was shaken;

for indeed the heavens dropped rain.

We have been taught that when the Lord Christ was crucified, the earth was shaken and the rocks were split, while heaven, through the darkening of the sun, signified the excess of that impiety.

And the wilderness is indeed a type of death,

when you passed through the wilderness.

But let no one suppose it unfitting that a goat should prefigure the Saviour's passion, since the great John called him a lamb;

let him rather consider that he offered himself not only on behalf of the righteous, but also on behalf of sinners.

The Lord himself made this very comparison,

for he said, He will set the lambs on his right hand, and the goats on his left.

And in the Law also a kid was offered for sin.

The Lord himself, indeed, called the bronze serpent a type of himself:

for he says, As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may not perish, but have eternal life.

If, then, the type of the goats is unfitting, much more so is that of the serpent.