Verse 20. — In famine he shall rescue thee from death, and in war from the hand of the sword. 44. God, while he refreshes minds with the food of his word, renders them strong against temptations. As the famine of the flesh is the subsistence of the body withdrawn, so the famine of the mind is the silence of the divine speech. Whence rightly it is said through the prophet: I will send a famine into the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst of water, but a famine of hearing the word of God (Amos viii, 11). And because, when the divine address deserts the human mind, the temptation of the flesh grows strong against it, fitly it is subjoined: And in war from the hand of the sword. For we suffer war when we are assailed by the temptations of our flesh; of which war indeed it is said through the Psalmist: Overshadow my head in the day of battle (Psalm).
(cxxxix, 3). Since therefore the reprobate, while they fail through famine of the word of God, are also transfixed by the sword of war; the Lord both snatches his elect from death in famine, and hides them from the sword in war, because, while he refreshes their minds with the food of his word, he renders them strong against the temptations of the body. But there are some who, though from the divine utterance they refresh themselves from inward famine, though they are now upheld by the virtue of continence against the temptations of the body, yet still fear to be smitten by human detractions, and often, while they dread the javelins of tongues, they strangle themselves in the noose of sin. Whence too it is fitly subjoined: