Works (CSEL) 3 part 2/2

Moreover, Samson too was of the tribe of Dan, and he judged for twenty years. But it is not he that the prophecy signifies, but Antichrist, who, to come forth from the tribe of Dan, a savage judge and a monstrous tyrant, shall judge the people. Like a serpent lying in the way, he shall try to cast down those who walk the way of truth, desiring to supplant the truth. For this is to bite the horse's heel: that, by the infusion of venom, the horse, wounded and pierced by the serpent's tooth, may lift up its heel—just as Judas the traitor, tempted by the devil, lifted up his heel against the Lord Jesus, in order to cast down the rider, who cast himself down that he might lift up all.

He fell, therefore, not prostrate upon his face as one dozing, but backward, so that, stretching himself from the higher things toward what is before, he might await salvation from the Lord; for he knew that he would be raised again, and therefore awaited to lift up Adam as he lay. Whence, when we run well in the way, let us beware lest anywhere a serpent lurk in the path and undermine the footstep of the horse, that is, of our body, and suddenly cast down the sleeping rider. For if we are watchful, we ought to take heed in some measure and turn aside the bite of the serpent. Let not, therefore, the sleep of negligence oppress us, the sleep of the world; let not the sleep of riches oppress us, lest it be said also of us: 'They slept their sleep, and all the men of riches found nothing in their hands.' But there are also sleeping horsemen, of whom it is written:

'They slumbered who mounted the horses.' If avarice wounds your breast, if lust inflames it, you sleep as a horseman, and therefore you cannot rein in your body, that is, your horse. Watch, therefore, that even if you are cast down—that is, even if you die—you may not fall asleep. For they who sleep their own sleep find nothing; but you, await salvation from the Lord, look for it to come, that you may find the grace of resurrection. Judas was sleeping: indeed, he did not hear the words of Christ. Judas was sleeping, and that the sleep of riches, who sought a wage from betrayal. The devil saw him sleeping and oppressed by the heavy sleep of avarice; he flung himself into his heart, wounded the horse, cast down the rider, whom he separated from Christ.

Moses blessed this tribe, saying: 'Dan is a lion's whelp, and he shall leap out from Bashan'—that is, from confusion. Whence, according to the Greek, from which the Latin translated, we ought rather to understand that Dan himself became a serpent lying in the way. Dan is interpreted 'judgment,' and therefore that tribe underwent the grave peril of judgment, into which the serpent Antichrist glided, who wounds the runner with his venoms. But nevertheless that tribe shall be set free from confusion, when it shall have confessed the rising Rider, who says: 'He who has been ashamed of me before men, him will I also be ashamed of before my Father who is in heaven. But he who has confessed me before men, him will I also confess before my Father who is in heaven.'

'Gad—temptation shall tempt him, and he himself shall tempt them at the feet.' Temptation is the gathering and cunning of the scribes and priests, who tempted the Lord Jesus concerning the tribute of Caesar and concerning John's baptism, as Scripture has taught; upon whom the Lord Jesus, in his own righteousness, turned back the temptation. 'At the feet,' that is, replying at once without any deliberation, whereby he the more confounded those who tempted him. For when they said, 'By what authority do you do these things?', he did not answer their inquiries, but himself also put forth a question, saying: 'I too will ask you one word. If you tell me, I also will tell you by what authority I do these things.' Again, when they said, 'Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar or not?', he said: 'Why do you tempt me, hypocrites?

Show me the coin of the tribute.' And when they offered it, he again asked: 'Whose is this image and superscription?' They say to him: 'Caesar's.' There, then, he bound them with their own words, constrained them by their own admission—then he said to them: 'Render the things that are Caesar's to Caesar, and the things that are God's to God'—so that they could not contradict their own words. Finally, marveling, they went away from him. But it is no wonder if he 'replied at the feet,' who saw before his feet. Moses plainly set forth that this prophecy of holy Jacob is concerning Christ; for thus he says: 'Blessed is he who enlarged Gad. As a lion he rested, breaking the arms and the princes. And he saw from his beginning that there the land of the assembled princes was divided together with the princes of the peoples;'

'the Lord did righteousness and judgment in Israel.' We recognize, therefore, who it is that rested like a lion, when he had broken the arms of the mighty, because from the beginning he saw the divisions of the tempters. There, then, is the opening of the earth which swallows up the slanderers, where the temptation of the faithless is. 'Asher—rich is his bread, and he himself shall give food to princes.' Asher in the Latin interpretation signifies 'riches.' Who, then, is rich, except where there is the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God? Who is rich except the Lord Jesus, who always abounds and never fails? Poor, he came into this world, and he abounded toward all, he filled all. How great is he in riches, who by his own poverty made all rich! But poor for our sake, rich with the Father.

He was poor in order to vindicate us from want, as the Apostle teaches, saying: 'that for your sakes he became poor, though he was rich, so that by his poverty you might be enriched.' By whose poverty he enriches, his hem heals, his hunger satisfies, his death gives life, his burial raises up. This, then, is the rich treasure, whose bread is rich. And well 'rich,' which whoever eats shall not be able to hunger. This bread he gave to the apostles, that they might distribute it to the people of believers; and even today he gives it to us, which he himself as priest daily consecrates with his own words. This bread, then, has become the food of the saints. We can also receive the Lord himself, who gave us his own flesh, as he himself says: 'I am the bread of life.'

'Your fathers ate manna in the desert and died; but this is the bread which came down from heaven, that if anyone eats of it he may not die.' And lest anyone suppose that he speaks of that death which comes through the separation of soul and body, and rightly doubt, since he knows that the holy apostles died this death, he added: 'I am the living bread, which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this, he shall live forever.' That is: I did not speak above of temporal life, nor of the death of this life—by which even if anyone dies, yet if he receives my bread, he shall live forever. For he receives who proves himself; but he who receives shall not die the death of a sinner, because this bread is the remission of sins.

Moses too most beautifully prophesied in his blessings, saying: 'Blessed of his sons is Asher, and he shall be accepted by his brothers, and he shall dip his foot in oil. Iron and bronze shall be his sandal, and as your days are, so shall your strengths be. There is none like your God in heaven, your helper, both great and comely, the firmament's, and the protecting God of the beginning and through the strength of mighty arms. And he shall cast out the enemy from your face, saying: Let him perish. And Israel shall dwell trusting alone upon the land of Jacob, in grain and wine, and your heaven shall be to you with a cloud of dew.' 'Naphtali is a vine let loose, putting forth beauty in its shoot.'

One shoot of the vine is cut away, which seems useless, lest the vine run riot in the empty luxuriance of its shoots; another is for a little while pruned back and let loose, that it may bear fruit, whose beauty is put forth in its offspring, because, while it lifts itself toward things above, it embraces the vine, and ascending to the summit clothes the joined necks of the vines, as it were, with the necklace of a precious branch. There is also that beauty in the offspring, because with full branches it pours forth abundant fruits. This is comely, but much more beautiful is that which signifies the branch clinging to the spiritual Vine, whose shoot we are, and we can bear fruit if we abide in the Vine; but if not, we are cut off. The holy patriarch Naphtali was an abundant branch. Whence Moses says:

'Naphtali, the satisfaction of those who receive; he shall be filled with blessing from the Lord, he shall possess the sea and the south'—explaining what Jacob had said, that he is 'a vine let loose,' that is, stripped of the bonds of death through the grace of faith; in which is signified the people of God, called to the liberty of faith and to the abundance of grace, spread throughout the whole world, who clothe the yoke of Christ with good fruit and embrace the wood of that true Vine, that is, the mysteries of the Lord's cross, and fear not the peril of confessing him, but rather, even when set in persecutions, glory in the name of Christ. This is he who is truly let loose from bonds, who is bound by no chain of fear—whence the prophet also says:

'They shall go out and leap like calves loosed from their bonds'—and therefore in his shoot he puts forth beauty, because, set in a place of pasture and reared beside the water of refreshment through the sacraments of his regeneration, he buds forth the good beauty of the Word and is taken up into that most beautiful grace of Christ, who can increase the loveliness of your beauty. Indeed, comely above all, he gives what he has, because no one can give what he does not have; and therefore it is said: 'The Lord has reigned, he has clothed himself with beauty.' For the grace of the Church has put on beauty, which, laying aside in that laver the foulness of all its offenses, shone with the splendor of heavenly grace. And therefore the Bridegroom says of her:

'Who is this that looks forth as the dawn, fair as the moon, choice as the sun, a marvel like an ornament?' Now, that we may conclude the history as it were with a kind of epilogue—just as the divine Scripture itself is brought to a close—let us set forth the prophecy of holy Jacob concerning the name of holy Joseph: 'My son to be enlarged, Joseph; my son to be enlarged, the object of envy; my younger son, return to me. Against whom, taking counsel together, they cursed him, and aimed at him the bow of the Lord. And their bow was crushed with might, and the sinews of the arms of their hand were loosed by the hands of the mighty one of Jacob; and thence Israel prevailed by the God of your father.'

'And my God helped you and blessed you with the blessing of heaven from above and with the blessing of the earth that has all things, because of the blessing of the breasts and of the womb, the blessings of your father and your mother. They prevailed above the blessings of the abiding mountains and above the desires of the everlasting hills: they shall be upon the head of Joseph and upon the crown of those brothers over whom he was set.' What is the reason that the father attended Joseph above all his sons more abundantly, except that in him he saw the mysteries prefiguring Christ? Whence, blessing rather him who was awaited than him who was seen, he says: 'My son to be enlarged, Joseph.' Who is to be enlarged except Christ, whose grace is ever increased, and whose glory has no end of its advance?

Of whom John also says: 'He must increase, but I must decrease,' because through that saving and perfect name of his, grace was heaped up in this world and abounded—'my son to be enlarged.' And therefore, because the brothers saw him increasing, they began to envy him; and Joseph, understood spiritually, incurred envy from those whom he the more cherished. Finally he was saying: 'I came only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.' And they were saying: 'We do not know whence he is.' He was caring for them, and they were denying him. 'My son,' he says, 'the younger.' Truly the younger, who was almost the last in birth. Finally, Scripture too says: 'Jacob loved him, because he was the son of his old age.' This too is referred to Christ.

For to the world growing old and now declining, the Son of God, shining forth, came late through the childbearing of the Virgin Mary. As the son of old age, according to the mystery, he received a body—he who was before the ages always with the Father. Whence the Father says to him: 'Return to me,' calling him back to heaven from the earth, him whom for our salvation he had sent. And so, raising up his only-begotten Son, he made void the counsel of those who cursed—whence Isaiah also says: 'The counsel of your spirit is vain'—and he loosed all the revilings which, as though hurling arrows, they were directing. He crushed the power of those who trusted in their own strengths and not in God. 'Thence,' he says, 'Israel prevailed by the God of your father. And my God helped you.'

Who is it that strengthened Israel and helped the Son, except God the Father alone, who said: 'Jacob my child, I will sustain him; Israel my elect, my soul shall receive him'? 'And he blessed him with the blessing of heaven from above and with the blessing of the earth that has all things'; for he subjected all things to him, the heavenly as the blessing of heaven and the earthly as the blessing of earth, that he might rule over both men and angels. And so 'in that as it were contemptible body you prevailed,' he says, 'because of the blessing of the breasts and of the womb, the blessings of your father and your mother.'

By 'breasts' he meant either the two Testaments, by the one of which he was announced, by the other shown forth—and well 'breasts,' since the Son nourished and reared us as it were with a kind of spiritual milk and offered us to God—or he means the breasts of Mary, which were truly blessed, by which the holy Virgin gave the drink of milk to the people of the Lord. Whence also that woman in the Gospel says: 'Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts that you sucked!' But as to what he says:

'the womb, the blessing of your father and your mother'—if we should wish to understand only the womb of Mary, the reason will lie hidden why he joined both blessings—for he could have spoken of the womb of the mother alone—but I think it more beautiful that, according to the spiritual mystery, we understand both generations of the Lord Jesus, both according to divinity and according to the flesh, since before the ages he was begotten of the Father. Whence the Father also says: 'My heart has belched forth a good Word,' in that he proceeded from that innermost and incomprehensible substance of the Father and is ever in him. Whence the Evangelist also says: 'No one has ever seen God, except the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father; he has declared him.'

As, therefore, the 'bosom' of the Father is understood as a spiritual thing, a certain innermost secret of the paternal love and nature, in which the Son ever is, so also the 'womb' of the Father is a spiritual thing of the inner hidden mystery, from which, as from a generative womb, the Son proceeded. Finally, we now read variously of the 'womb' of the Father, now of his 'heart,' by which he belched forth the Word, now of his 'mouth,' from which righteousness proceeded, from which wisdom went forth, as she herself says: 'I came forth from the mouth of the Most High.' Thus, since the One is not defined and the one signifies all things, it signifies rather the spiritual mystery of the paternal generation than any bodily member.

But as we understand that generation from the Father, so also, for the completion of faith, let us understand the generation from Mary, when the womb of the mother is blessed—that womb, namely, the virginal womb of Mary, which brought forth to us the Lord Jesus. Of whom the Father says through Jeremiah the prophet: 'Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, and before you came forth from the womb of your mother, I sanctified you.' The prophet therefore declared a twofold substance in Christ, of divinity and of flesh, the one from the Father, the other from the Virgin, yet so that he was not without share of his divinity, when he was born of the Virgin and was in a body. 'Whence also he grew strong above all the mountains and the desires of the everlasting hills.'

For above all those men of sublime merit—the patriarchs and prophets and apostles, and even beyond the sun, the moon, the archangels—he flashed forth like the light of heaven, as he himself says: 'The disciple is not above the master, nor the servant above the lord.' For which of them was there to whom all things were subjected—to whom he himself gave what they were? In whom all his saints are blessed, because he himself is the Head of all above the heads of all—for the head of the woman is the man, the head of the man is Christ—and above the crowns of all, because he himself is the preeminent Crown of the universe; but he is the most exalted Crown of the just, whom he calls brothers, won through grace and a certain fellowship of regeneration.

Whence also by the 'brothers' of Joseph we understand rather those brothers of whom he says in the Psalm: 'I will declare your name to my brothers; in the midst of the Church I will sing to you.' Finally, Moses too, about to complete the course of this life, when he blessed the tribe of Joseph, was blessing not that Joseph now indeed deceased, but Christ, as you have it written of Joseph: 'From the blessing of the Lord is his land, from the bounds of heaven and from the dew and from the deeps of fountains below, and according to the season of the sun's course, and from the conjunctions of the months, and from the summit of the mountains from the beginning, and from the summit of the everlasting hills, and according to the season of the earth's fullness; and from him who appeared in the bush, may it come upon the head of Joseph and upon his crown, honored among his brothers.'

His glory is as the firstling of the bull, his horns are like the horns of the unicorn; with them shall he winnow the nations together, even to the uttermost parts of the earth. These are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and these the thousands of Manasseh. The blessing is the same, which holds all the fullness of things heavenly and earthly and the special grace of Christ, who, when He was seen in the bush, said to Moses himself: 'Loose the sandal from your feet'; who is God over all things, since He Himself is the head of the body, the Church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He Himself might hold the primacy, for in Him it pleased God that all fullness should dwell. And therefore to Him alone is borne the prerogative of this blessing, from the height of heaven to the uttermost parts of the earth.

For He Himself is before all things, and in Him all things consist, who also by the blood of His cross made peace with all things, whether they be things on earth or things in heaven. Bearing the figure of Him, holy Joseph is beautifully blessed, that he might be honored among his brethren: 'His glory is as the firstling of the bull, having the horns of the unicorn, with which he shall winnow the nations.' And He is a good bull, as a victim for sins and a sacrifice for the whole world, that He might make peace with all things. His glory is holy; for every firstborn is holy, as we have shown elsewhere, whence Levi merited to be called firstborn, not by the order of age, but by the prerogative of sacred succession. And truly holy is His glory, of whom it is written, when He rose again:

He is fairer in form than the sons of men, for He Himself is the firstborn from the dead, having the horns of the unicorn. But since it speaks of horns, how it could set them as belonging to the unicorn must be inquired, since the unicorn itself, as the learned say, is not found among the breeds of wild beasts. And therefore we ought rather to understand 'the one Word,' since the substantial Word of God is one, not many words. Whence also Hannah says: 'The Lord shall judge the ends of the earth, and shall give strength to His king, and shall exalt the horn of His Christ'; and Isaiah says: 'A vineyard was made for the beloved on a horn, in a fruitful place,' since in the only-begotten Son of God the Church flourishes, holding the one Word of God, in whom is the fullness of power and wisdom, by whose richness the harvest of faith sprang up.

It is this Word that the saints follow. 'Ten thousands,' he says, 'of Ephraim, and thousands of Manasseh,' that is: let Him have dominion over both Jews and Gentiles, and from both peoples gain for Himself the fullness of the Church. And therefore holy Jacob placed his right hand upon Ephraim, because she who speaks in the Song of Songs proclaims Him: 'My beloved is white and ruddy, chosen out of ten thousands.' Lastly, the young women too proclaimed the author of David and of Mary, from whose succession Christ was born through the Virgin's childbearing, 'by ten thousands,' but Saul 'by thousands,' although for reverence's sake they ought rather to have given greater weight to the king. He therefore who has exalted the horn of Christ, confessing His glory, himself also receives horns.

Hence also the saints are called unicorns in a verse of the psalm: 'And the beloved is as the son of the unicorns.' For just as in an animal of this kind, when horns rise up for it, this signifies the advance of fuller age, so when horns begin to sprout from a certain head of our soul, they seem to signify the advance of a more perfect virtue, and they grow so long as they may be completed. With this horn the Lord Jesus broke the nations in pieces, that He might crush superstition and restore salvation, as He Himself says: 'I will strike and I will heal.' And therefore the prophet, as it were an imitator of this bull, says: 'In you we will winnow our enemies,' that is, destroying every height that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. And therefore, according to the law, clean animals have horns;

for the law is spiritual. For those who are able by the word of God and by the keeping of virtue to drive off the allurements of this world seem to be defended by their horns, as by certain weapons of their own head. And rightly is the power of the wondrous word called a horned trumpet, which kindles the good soldiers of Christ to battle, that we may carry off spoils from the enemy, the devil. We are therefore in the battle-line, and we see very many of our own held captive in the camp of the adversaries. These must be stripped by us of the most grievous yoke of servitude. The devil has very many wolves, which he sends against the sheep of Christ. And therefore the spiritual Joseph, in order to save his sheep, seized that very enemy who came to plunder the sheep, making the wolf Paul into a teacher out of a persecutor.

Concerning whom Jacob says, as it is written: 'Benjamin is a ravening wolf; in the morning he shall still devour, and at evening he shall divide the spoil to the princes.' He was a wolf when he scattered and devoured the sheep of the Church; but he who had come as a wolf was made a shepherd. He was a wolf when he was Saul, when he entered into houses and dragged men and women into prison. He was a wolf when, breathing out threats and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, he sought letters from the chief priests, that he might fall upon the little servants of Christ. Whom, as a wolf wandering in the darkness of night, Jesus blinded by pouring forth His light.

Therefore Rachel, when she bore Benjamin, called his name 'the son of my sorrow,' prophesying that from that tribe would come Paul, who would afflict the children of the Church in the time of his persecution and vex their mother with grievous sorrow. Yet nevertheless the same man afterward, at a later time, divided food to the princes, preaching the word of God to the Gentiles and drawing very many to faith, who, when he disputed, like the deputy Paulus the proconsul and Publius the chief man, received the grace of the Lord. And beautifully too did Moses, when he blessed the tribe of Benjamin, say: 'The beloved of the Lord shall dwell in confidence, and God shall overshadow him all the days, and the beloved of the Lord shall rest between the shoulders.' He also was made a chosen vessel;

for he was not converted otherwise than by the mercy and love of the Lord. Whence he himself, attributing nothing to his own merit but referring all to Christ, says: 'For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain.' He dwelt in confidence in the house which before he laid waste; he dwelt in the tabernacles of Christ, who before wandered like a wolf in the woods; and God overshadowed him, when Christ was seen by him. Although with open eyes he saw nothing, yet he saw Christ; and rightly did he see Him present whom he also heard speaking. This overshadowing is not of blindness, but of grace. Lastly, it is said to Mary:

'The Holy Spirit shall come upon you, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow you.' 'And he shall rest between the shoulders,' that is, amid good deeds and precious works. For above too you have that Issachar 'put his shoulder to labor and became a man of husbandry.' Imitating him, Paul set the new seedlings of faith, and therefore, like a good farmer, said: 'I planted, Apollos watered.'