On the Blessings of the Twelve Patriarchs

3-4 I. The more I excuse myself to you, and declare myself less fit to answer the things you inquire about, the more insistently you press on, and seek out harder things, and, as it were, having detected the fault of a slow ox, you goad with more persistent pricks its lingering flanks and its yielding, retreating back. Whence you must accordingly also understand this, that even if, at least with lowered neck, we can move the yoke and burden you place upon us, we still by no means have the abundance to pour ourselves out into open and spreading fields with the resource of a more copious style of speech, extending over wide spaces, to traverse them with swifter courses. Therefore bear with us, if perchance we wish, even more slowly, to arrive by our own steps at the place to which you call us.

II. You ask of us how that is to be understood which is written in Genesis concerning the Patriarch Judah, that Israel his father, while foretelling to each of his sons the things he foresaw would come to pass, says among other things concerning him: Binding his foal to the vine, and his ass's colt to the tendril of the vine: which you wrote as, And to the cilicium the colt of his ass, which in Greek is thus: καὶ τῇ ἕλικι τὸν πῶλον τῆς ὄνου αὐτοῦ. The Greeks call ἕλιξ a vine, not so much a branch (as our copies have it) as those little tendrils, as it were, or the props by which it leans on the branches of a tree, or on stakes, or on whatever supports, which farmers, I think, call "capreoli" tendrils: by which bindings, safe and without danger of falling, the vine-branch either is weighed down with fruit or is stretched out in wandering length.

I think, therefore, that this very Greek word was placed of old in the Latin copies, as also some others were, and that in course of time, through scribes who did not understand it, "cilicium" came to be said instead of ἕλιξ.

III. And in this indeed the translator's error is easily corrected, but it is not so easy to find the sense of the meaning itself, unless mention is made of the whole chapter. But the treatment of this whole chapter would find something ampler and clearer, if it had taken its beginning from the start of the Blessings themselves. This indeed requires no small amount of leisure and time, and, to speak more truthfully, requires a mind illumined by the Holy Spirit. Therefore, as far as the mediocrity of our understanding avails, or time permits, or those allow who press us for a reply concerning Origen, we set forth, with such brevity as so great a matter could bear, for the sake of that love with which you bid us trust you in all things, without prejudice to those who may perceive something better, what seems to us meanwhile concerning this chapter.

IV. I know that very many interpret this chapter of the Lord in such a way that they affirm nothing in the things said pertains to the Patriarch Judah, since he is nowhere shown to have slept as a lion, nor to have been roused as a lion's whelp, nor will it be proved that the Gentiles hoped in any way in him. But when it says: The prince shall not fail from Judah, nor the ruler from his thigh, until he come to whom it is reserved—namely the kingdom—and in him shall the Gentiles hope: since "until he come to whom it is reserved, in whom the Gentiles shall hope" is manifestly said of Christ; we are without doubt compelled to understand that he is someone other than Christ, from whose seed the ruler shall not fail, until Christ comes. For it does not fit that he be understood as that Christ, from whose seed the ruler shall not fail until Christ comes, since he indeed as ruler ceased at the coming of Christ.

And this very fact was a sign that he had come to whom it is reserved, that is, Christ. Some things are referred to Judah; just as in very many other places, so also in this chapter it must be understood that the exposition proceeds by alternating sense, and that the interruption of the historical understanding reveals the secret of the mystical meaning.

He says therefore: JUDAH, your brothers shall praise you. Your hands shall be upon the backs of your enemies. This can be referred either to Judah himself, or to those kings who seem to have sprung from him: who, administering the kingdom of that nation, subdued the backs of their enemies. But it is also fittingly taken of Christ, who is deservedly praised by his brothers, that is, by the Apostles, whom he himself named brothers in the Gospels. But his enemies, upon whose backs his hand is, are understood to be those whom the Father promises he will place under his feet, saying, Until I make your enemies your footstool.

They are therefore enemies as long as they are unbelieving and faithless, and for this reason are struck upon the back; but after they have been converted, they become brothers, and praise him, since he has made those called into adoption of the Father to be both his co-heirs and brothers. And rightly does he say that the backs of enemies are struck by Christ: for all who worshipped idols turned their backs to God, as also the Lord reproaches through the prophet, saying: Because they have turned their backs to me, and not their face. These backs, then, he strikes, so that being converted at some point they may turn their backs on idols and lift their face toward God, and do what is written in what follows: And let the sons of your father worship you. For then, when they worshipped him, they were made sons of the Father, and received the spirit of adoption, in which they cry, Abba, Father. For no one says "Lord Jesus Christ" except in the Holy Spirit.

This statement is somewhat harshly referred to Judah, unless we say it in an extended sense, that the sons of Judah were worshipped as kings, as it were, by their brothers, that is, by their other fellow tribesmen.

2. Judah is a lion's whelp: from the shoot, my son, you have gone up: reclining you have slept as a lion, and as a lion's whelp: who shall rouse him? In these little verses we are not now confined, but almost excluded; for if we should explain that Judah is called a lion's whelp for his prowess in war, how shall it be explained that he is said to have gone up from a shoot? Now "shoot" here is called in Greek βλαστός, which is more correctly rendered as a sprig, or a branch, which is wont to spring again from the root, or from the very strength of the tree.

From what sprig then, or from what branch, shall Judah be said to have gone up, or how, reclining, did he sleep like a lion, and like a lion's whelp, such that it is asked, who shall rouse him? Unless perhaps someone, doing violence to the text, wishes to assert thus: that Judah proceeded from a shoot, that is, as we said above, from a sprig or from a branch, signifying this from the very strength and might of his father: and that he, in confidence of his might, reclines and rests, like a lion and like a lion's whelp; nor does anyone dare to rouse him, since, because of the greatness of his strength and the power of the blessed ones, no one dares rouse him to battles. But a mystical exposition will be applied much more fittingly to this passage, in which the lion's whelp designates Christ, not only φυσικῶς physically/naturally but also τροπικῶς tropologically.

For the Physiologus writes this of the lion's whelp: that when it is born, it sleeps for three days and three nights; then afterward, by the roaring or bellowing of its father, the place of its den being, as it were, shaken, it rouses the sleeping whelp. This whelp, then, goes up from a shoot: for he was born of a Virgin, not from seed, but from a virgin without male intercourse, and without natural seed—Christ. Like a sprig, or a branch, in which most clearly is declared the truth of the flesh assumed from the Virgin, in that sacred shoot, and is excused from the contagion of carnal and human seed. Reclining you have slept like a lion, and as a lion's whelp. It is clearly shown that "reclined and slept" is said of the passion of death. But let us see why he sleeps as a lion, and as a lion's whelp.

Concerning the whelp's sleep indeed it has already been said above, which is very fittingly applied to Christ, who, buried for three days and three nights in the heart of the earth, fulfilled the sleep of death. But "as a lion," I think, must be understood in this way: The death of Christ was the oppression and triumph of the demons, for all the prey which that opposing lion had seized, when man was cast down and thrown low, our lion here snatched away: then, returning from the dead, and ascending on high, he led captivity captive. In this way, therefore, even in his sleep he was a lion, conquering and overcoming all things, and destroying him who had the power of death. And like a lion's whelp, on the third day he is roused. Who shall rouse him? Rightly, as it were in the person of the prophet inquiring who shall rouse Christ, the saying signifies this, since the Apostle indeed says: For God raised him from the dead.

And, He who raised Christ from the dead shall also raise your mortal bodies, because of his Spirit dwelling in you. And again Christ himself says in the Gospels, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up: but this he said of the temple of his body. Since, therefore, he himself says that he raised up his own temple, and God is said to have raised him: rightly does the Prophet, struck with wonder at so great a unity and indistinctness of Father and Son, say, Who shall rouse him?

3. The prince shall not fail from Juda, nor the leader from his thigh; until those things come which are laid up (and as it is found in other copies, Let him come for whom it is laid up), and he shall be the expectation of the nations.

This passage is manifestly referred to Judas: for it is agreed that, until the birth of Christ, princes did not fail from the race of Judas, nor leaders from his thighs, until King Herod, who according to the faithful history which Josephus writes, is said to have been a foreigner, and to have crept into the kingdom of the Jews through ambition. As soon, then, as this happened, and as the leader failed from the thighs of Judas, he came to whom the kingdom was laid up, in whom, in what manner the Gentiles hope, the faith of the Gospel and the spread of the Churches teaches. Now those things are said to be "laid up" which are to be brought forth at an opportune time, just as Christ also is said to have come at the end of the ages, when the Apostle says, Behold, now is the acceptable time, namely for the bestowing of salvation upon the Gentiles.

But if anyone should wish to fit the course of both expositions together in every respect, he can perhaps extort that these things may be understood in this way also concerning Christ: that the Prince shall not fail from Juda, that is, those who after his resurrection are ordained princes of the Churches: And the leader from his thighs, the leaders also of the Christian people, from the thighs of Christ. In this way it shall be shown that the members of Christ are, without doubt, to be understood spiritually, whom the Apostle calls the people of the faithful. His thighs, therefore, understood spiritually, can also indicate those who, by the firmness and constancy of their strength, seem to sustain and bear the whole body of the Church: or because the begetting of human seed is customarily spoken figuratively under the name of "thighs," while among us he who sows, sows the word: so those who exhibit the ministry of the word to the Church can be understood as leaders from the thighs of Christ.

Until those things come which are laid up for him: it will seem possible to understand it thus, that until the consummation of the age these leaders will not be lacking, until those things come which are laid up, which God has prepared for those who love him. And he shall be the expectation of the nations. That is, on the day of judgment, when all nations and peoples shall await Christ the judge, in the fear of their heart and the trembling of their conscience.

4. Binding his foal to the vine, and the foal of his ass to the branch. This is said properly and singularly of Christ: for he himself bound his foal to the vine, who said, I am the true vine. To this vine, therefore, he binds both his foal and the foal of his ass. His foal is the people from the Gentiles, upon whom, indeed, the burden of the Law had never yet been imposed, and upon whom, save he alone first, no one had sat.

But the foal of his ass is he who, from the former people—now named under the figure of the ass—were chosen unto salvation, of whom the Prophet says: If the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved. The ass, then, being cast off, which preferred to bear the burden of the Law in unbelief, the foal born of her is chosen, that is, a new people is drawn by faith from the old, and is joined to the people from the Gentiles. Christ, therefore, is called the vine in respect of that part by which he took up human nature, to which the Word of God binds his foal, that is, joins and associates his people to that manner of life which he himself carried out in the flesh: so that, by imitation of him, the foal which is bound to him may become, together with him, both a son of God and a co-heir of Christ.

Now what the branch signifies, we have explained at the beginning; we may understand it in this way. The faith which is in Christ both holds the rule of the present life, and affords the confidence of hope for the future. The vine, therefore, seems to show this: that those who believe in Christ, and who cleave to him, imitate the deeds accomplished by him in the flesh; but the branch, that is, κλῆμα—which is understood not so much as the branch itself, but as that by which the branch is connected to the tree and confirmed against falling (by which support, being secure, it despises and repels winds and whirlwinds)—indicates the hope of future goods, because all the faithful await the consummation of salvation not only in the things which they have done, but also in the things which they hope for and believe will come to pass: in this, as if bound to a certain tree of patience, being strengthened by hope, they bear the storms and whirlwinds of temptations.

As for interpreting this concerning the historical Judas, no reasoning seems to me able to permit it, unless, attending to Jewish fables, we suppose it can be understood thus, in accordance with what they say: that the portion of the tribe of Judah, which it received as an inheritance of land, is so filled with vineyards, that, as if there were no shrub of any other kind existing, there appears to be such an abundance of vines that not even an animal is given the possibility of being tied to any other kind of tree. But these things, as we have said, will appear rather Jewish fabrications; to us, however, let the Mystical exposition be more pleasing, even if it stand alone.

5. He shall wash his robe in wine, and his garment in the blood of the grape. These things also will seem to pertain only to the historical exposition: signifying a field fertile with vines, and by hyperbole the abundance of wine; but the Mystical exposition brings forth a nobler sense.

For the robe of Christ, which is washed in wine, is rightly understood to be the Church, which he himself cleansed for himself by his own blood, not having spot or wrinkle. For, says the Apostle, you were not redeemed with silver or gold, but with the precious blood of the Only-begotten of God. In this wine of blood, then, that is, in the laver of regeneration, the Church is washed by Christ. For we are buried together with him through Baptism into his death and blood, that is, we are baptized into his death. But how he washes his garment in the blood of the grape must be considered. The garment seems to be a certain more intimate or more secret vesture of the body than the robe. Those, therefore, who having first been washed by the laver, had been made his robe, after they have come to the sacrament of the blood of the grape, are said to be partakers, as it were, of his more interior mystery and more secret garment.

For the soul also is washed in the blood of the grape, when it begins to grasp the reason of this sacrament. For, the power of the blood being known and understood by the power of the Word of God, the more capacious the soul becomes, the purer it is made, and it is washed daily unto the advancement of knowledge: and joining itself to the Lord, it becomes not only his garment, but now one spirit with him. Contrary to this was that garment of the people of Israel, in which, to signify the shamelessness of the nation, he named it not so much a garment as a girdle, which Jeremiah is bidden to wrap about his loins, and to take off again, and to hide in the Euphrates.

5. His eyes, it says, are more graceful than wine, and his teeth whiter than milk. Do you see how it cuts off and severs the historical understanding, especially toward the end? For if we should wish still to argue more contentiously and say that Judah's eyes are graceful from wine because of the abundance of wine, as we said above, and the abundance of cups, what shall we answer concerning the white teeth, and the quality of milk, being brought forward? In this matter one must not act impudently against the truth. But being excluded by the interruption of the historical understanding, let us return to the order of the Spiritual exposition. His eyes, it says, are graceful from wine. Above we showed by Apostolic authority that the members of Christ are called each of the worthy faithful, and that the various members are named singularly, for the reason that each one renders his office to the whole body of the Church.

For they shall be the feet of Christ, who run to make peace, who go forward to bring aid to those placed in necessity. They shall be the hands of Christ, which are extended in mercy, which bring help to the needy, which are reached out for support to the weak. So they shall be the eyes of Christ who furnish the light of knowledge to the whole body, as it is written in the Gospel, The lamp of your body is your eye. Graceful, then, are those eyes: for the discourse of wisdom is seasoned with salt, that it may give grace to those who hear. It is not, therefore, called "graceful" for this reason alone, that it ministers the discourse of knowledge, but because it has grace in itself, it makes it. For hearing these things, it says, the wise man shall be wiser.

His eyes, then, are graceful from wine, because there is nothing watery in the word of wisdom, nothing fluid, nothing cold: but it is wine which gladdens the heart of man, and which is poured into the wounds of him who fell among robbers. By which, namely, the sin-wounds of the hearers are not only soothed by the gentleness of oil, but are also purged by the harshness of wine. And who is it, says the Apostle, that gladdens me, but he who is grieved by me? His teeth are whiter than milk. We have already spoken often about the order and reason of the members of Christ, and it seems absurd to repeat the same things too frequently in these passages.

His teeth, then, whiter than milk, will be those who are able to chew and grind with their teeth the strong and solid food of the word of God to the utmost subtlety, concerning whom the Apostle says in the Epistle to the Hebrews, But solid food is for the perfect, who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. But concerning the imperfect Corinthians he says, I gave you milk to drink, not food: for as yet you were not able. These things concern those who are nourished with milk: their teeth are white, that is, those who cannot take perfect food and eat it before those who, like little children, still need milk. Finally, in the Law also those animals which chew the cud, and recall the food they have taken back to their teeth, which, being finely broken down, they give over to the sustaining of the body, are designated as clean animals. Most fittingly indeed does it also call his teeth white.

For all who are perfect, and who, explaining the foods of the Scriptures with worthy and fitting interpretations, minister to the body of the Church a subtle and minute understanding, which is called spiritual, ought to be white and pure, and free from every stain, lest perhaps it be said to them: You who teach others, do you not teach yourself?

6. But since divine Scripture ought to contain not only the knowledge of the sacraments, but also to form the character and deeds of learners (for thus also Wisdom says through Solomon, Describe these things unto thyself doubly and triply in thy heart; and the ark which was built by Noah is commanded to be made with two chambers and three chambers), let us also attempt, after having described these things in twofold manner, as far as we were able to perceive them, that is, according to the Historical and according to the Mystical understanding, now, insofar as the place can receive it, to discuss the Moral discourse as well, so that students of the Scriptures may be taught not only what was done in others, or by others, but also what they themselves ought to do within themselves.

Judah is interpreted as confession: whoever, then, either confesses his sins and does penance, or confesses Christ before men in persecution, shall be praised by his brethren: For there is joy and gladness among the Angels in heaven over one sinner doing penance. By these, therefore, as by brethren (for both men and Angels are sons of one Creator and Father), he is praised together. But he who confesses the Lord Jesus, because he confesses in the Holy Spirit, has his hands upon the back of his enemies: for he who before had presented his members to serve iniquity unto iniquity, now presenting them to serve righteousness unto sanctification, now harasses and strikes the backs of his fleeing enemies, that is, the demons. For thus he fights, not as one beating the air, but putting demons to flight: and he who, on account of his great progress, now having as it were a share in God within himself, is said also to be adored by the sons of his father.

We may, in the Moral sense, understand the sons of his father as the sons of light, who rightly adore and venerate those who have advanced, by knowledge and the merit of their works, into the likeness of God. For as Christ is the light of the world, so also his disciples are the light of the world: but he by nature, these by grace. And Moses is said to be a god to Pharaoh. Judah is a lion’s whelp: from the shoot, my son, thou hast gone up. He is rightly called a lion’s whelp who has been crucified with Christ and has risen with him, as Paul also said, who himself too is rightly taken as Judah, for he confessed his sin, saying, I am not worthy to be called an Apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God. And again he says that he himself is what Christ is, when he says: I am crucified with Christ: yet I live, now not I, but Christ liveth in me.

He is therefore a lion’s whelp, who sleeps with Christ, in that he is dead to sin, and rises with Christ, in that he lives unto God. And the son who ascends from the shoot is without doubt he who, being a wild olive, was grafted into the good olive tree, and cast off the wild and fierce ways of carnal nature, becoming, through the spirit of adoption, an heir, a true root of life abiding, and bearing much fruit from its graftings. Reclining thou hast slept as a lion. He sleeps as a lion, for the wise man is confident as a lion, especially when he is able to say confidently, I can do all things in him who strengthens me. He is not roused by terrors, nor by threats, nor by any allurements, but his purpose remains unmoved and his mind fixed.

Nor shall a prince ever be lacking from Judah, nor a leader from his loins; for truly he will be able to exercise his own principality, and be a proven leader, who first, through confession and penance, having cut off and subjected to himself all the carnal vices by which he was formerly driven, exercises rule over himself, and permits neither anger, nor ambition, nor avarice, nor lust to hold sway in him. But there will be a leader for him from the loins of Judah, that is, of him who has been amended and corrected by confession, lest, if the blind lead the blind, that is, lest a mind still blinded by vices should govern a body blind by nature, both fall into the ditch. Until those things come which are laid up for him, as he also said: For the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come, which shall be revealed in us.

Or certainly thus at length each of the saints exercises rule over himself, and will be the leader of his own life, until that comes to pass, that God may be all in all, for this is reserved for the end. And he himself shall be the expectation of the nations. Since we have proposed once to pursue the Moral sense, we ought also to seek within ourselves these nations, which have an expectation. By this one so amended by confession and made perfect, we can understand within ourselves the nations as all the movements of our soul, which move more fiercely in us according to the first age, and act, as it were, like the Gentiles: for these there is all hope and expectation of amendment, if the sense, which is the prince and leader of man, having confessed Christ, and being illumined by him, moderates the helm of its own acts. Binding his foal to the vine.

Let us here understand the foal as the sense itself, with reference to the renewal of life, which elsewhere is called an infant by the Lord, when he says: Unless you are converted and become as a little child, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven. When, therefore, one joins himself to the Lord, and becomes one spirit with him, he binds his foal to the vine, saying: But it is good for me to cleave to God. And to the branch, the foal of his ass. This branch, that is, the God whom we have expounded above, we may understand as the subtle and winding understanding of knowledge, whose foal of the ass, that is, the soul’s affective sense, preserves the soul itself from falling. He shall wash his robe in wine. As the flesh of the Word of God is the food of the perfect, so also the blood is the drink of the perfect.

They, therefore, who are purified and renewed from day to day through the Word of God, are said to wash their robe in wine, that is, their visible acts: and their garment in the blood of the grape, their interior thoughts, as the Apostle also said: purging thoughts, and every height that exalts itself against the knowledge of Christ. Yet it can also be understood as referring only to the glory and passion of martyrdom, which the just man in the flesh hopes daily to suffer, and the garment alone in blood. Nonetheless, the conscience receives martyrdom which it endures unceasingly within itself. Finally, in what follows, it is said that his eyes are graced by wine, and his teeth are whiter than milk. There is no doubt that the praise of the eyes is put forth from the power of foreseeing and seeing farther, which surely comes through either the grace or the pursuit of knowledge.

And therefore the teeth are white, which put forth pure, immaculate, and solid foods of the word of God, and do not allow the soul to be fed on the milk of little ones, but nourish it with solid and strong foods, that is, transferring it from Moral things to Mystical and dogmatic things, by which, being illumined, it may, with unveiled face, behold the glory of the Lord.

19-20 Though it is uncertain to me whether the son Cerealis would go on to you in time, before he returns to holy Peter: yet through him, who is as much yours as ours, we judged it would be as blameworthy for us not to write to you, as it would be sad for you. And so, preferring to incur the loss of a little letter, if perchance he should not see you, rather than the loss of duty, as we believe, if he should visit you, we have entrusted this letter, not to chance, but to faith.

For we believe that the path of this discourse is to be directed to you by the Lord, and of our son, because for those who desire the good, all things will turn out for good: for he desires you as much as you ought to be desired by one who understands his own advantage in fellowship with you. And therefore I presume, that according to his faith and piety, his desire will be preserved among good things, and will reach you, and remain with you, and there will be doubled for us, in you, before the Lord, a saving support, since both to you so good a son, companion, disciple, helper will come, and you to him, a father and teacher of every good given by the Lord, will add strength of spiritual grace to the effective power of prayers.

As for us, although it may be presumption, given your charity, that on returning to the East you will not go away without visiting us: yet there is fear on account of our sins, lest even so near a daughter of Babylon turn you away from us. Wherefore we commend our desires and vows to the Lord, that He may act toward us not according to our merit, but according to our desire, and may direct your way to us in the way of His peace, since those not walking in it have been condemned to a reprobate mind, nor do they deserve to desire you.

II. Indeed, by the importunity with which I am accustomed to knock at your door even at midnight, compelled by fear of refusal to a measure of modesty and moderation in asking, I now hand over to you this business concerning myself, that you may deign to expound, distributed among the remaining sons, the Blessings of the twelve Patriarchs, whose beginning, concerning the person of Judah, you have already set forth to me in a threefold interpretation, as was commanded, in pages written out: so that I myself may become, through you, conscious of the truth, and may have an author of great grace and praise, if to those who have thought me, above myself, worthy to be consulted concerning the work, I should respond with things divine and inspired by your spirit, rather than with inept things from my own sense.

Rufinus to brother Paulinus, Man of God, Greeting. 21-22 I had not yet seen our common son Cerealis, but he, being aware of what grief it would inflict on me if he delayed to deliver your letter, sent it ahead to me: reading which, as I grew more and more, as is my wont, in desire for you, I found at last that you were commanding this: that whereof I have often excused myself before you, that you should not require me by letter to respond with anything concerning the interpretations of the Scriptures: and that you might the more desist from asking, I gave you, once and again, a sign of my inexperience and unlearned speech.

II. But since you do not even so cease to command, I have, as I was able, now added, concerning the remaining eleven Patriarchs, to what I had earlier answered you about the blessing of Judah: thinking that I might do the will of that father who, when he bade me go into the vineyard, I said, I will not go, and afterward went. If indeed there is any rashness in the deed, in that, though we are less fit, we touch upon so great a matter, this—with your pardon be it said—will most justly be reckoned to you, who, out of excessive love, do not see that the measures of knowledge in us, as of the other virtues, are quite small.

But since, while placed in the monastery of Pinetum during the days of Lent, I wrote these things back to you, I could not conceal my ineptitudes even from the Brothers who were present; but they too, thinking that whatever could please you must be something great, nevertheless wrung it from me that they might copy these things for themselves. Thus, when you ask for your own food, I also serve it to others. Farewell in peace, most beloved brother, most true worshipper of God, and Israelite in whom there is no guile, and be mindful of me, man of God, full of grace.

23. It must first be known that in each several place where Scripture makes mention of the twelve Patriarchs, there is much diversity in the very writing down of their order.

One order is set down at their very birth: another when, together with their father Israel and the offspring of their posterity, they are reported to enter the land of Egypt: another now, when they receive the blessings of their dying parent: another when the tribes, having gone out of Egypt, are recorded as doing something in the desert, or, having entered the land of promise, are stationed on Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal for blessings and curses. Yet another when they receive by lot the division of the land of inheritance; and this order varies to such a degree that sometimes some of them are not even found written down in the number—which is certainly a fact not varying without some reason, and there exist probable causes why in that place this one is passed over, but in another that one is placed first.

But it is not our present purpose, at your Brother Paulinus's proposal, to treat of these matters now, but only, as God grants, to explain those things which are contained in the blessings which they received from their father at the time of his death: which blessings indeed can perhaps be so called only for this reason, that at the end it is said: “And this their father spoke to them, and blessed them, he blessed every one of them with his proper blessing”. But at the beginning, where the father calls them together, he does not call them as it were to a blessing, but it is written thus: “And Jacob called his sons and said: Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you the things that shall befall you in the last days”; which certainly signifies rather prophecy, whereby the things that shall come upon them are foretold.

But in the very bodily sequence of the words, there is neither blessing alone, nor mere foretelling of future things, whereby either their death, or their purpose, or even certain deeds done by them are notably censured. This matter suggests to us, as we have done in other cases, a threefold subject matter for explanation, so that the blessings keep the place of History; the prophecy directs the Mystical and dogmatic sense; the correction and rebuke of morals directs the Moral style.

1. “Reuben,” he says, “my firstborn, thou art my strength, and the beginning of my sons, hard in behavior, and hard, rash: thou hast poured out injuries as water boils over. For thou didst go up upon thy father's bed, then didst thou defile the couch where thou didst go up”. No one is ignorant of the history of the incest, how Reuben burned with the flame of lust toward his father's concubine, and defiled his father's couch.

But as to the fact that at the beginning something of praise seems to be ascribed to him, when it says, “Thou art my strength,” this is so that his crime may be noted the more gravely, in that, though he was held to be the strength of his father and the beginning of his sons, he knew not how to preserve reverence toward his father; of the same sort is that too which is said through the Prophet: “I planted thee a fruitful vine, wholly a true seed: how art thou turned into the bitterness of a strange vine?”

2. According to the Mystical understanding, however, it seems to me that Reuben can bear the person of the earlier people, the Jews, who is both firstborn and the beginning of the sons, as also the Prophet says: “Israel is my firstborn”. For to them first were given the oracles of God. But that this people was hard and rash, the Scriptures declare: for the Prophet says of them, “All that this people speaks is hard”.

And likewise elsewhere he says of them, “You always of a hard neck, and uncircumcised in heart”. But to God the Father he poured out injuries, when he turned his back to him, and not his face. He defiled the couch of the concubine which he went up upon, that is, the law of the Old Testament, which he often defiled by transgressing it. Now that the law of the Old Testament is set forth under the person of a concubine, Paul taught, saying: “Abraham had two sons, one by a bondwoman, and one by a free woman: these are the Testaments”, in which Hagar, who was a concubine, is set as the type of the Old Testament. For there was one perfect dove and mother, the chaste virgin, the queen bride joined to the King bridegroom, the Church joined to Christ through the Gospel.

3. But the Moral point will also be treated here in this way.

Reuben is interpreted by the ancients as “son who is seen,” that is, visible and carnal: he, I believe, of whom the Apostle says, “The first man was of the earth, earthly”. But also elsewhere, “For though our outward man which is seen is corrupted, yet the inward man is renewed”. This same man who is seen he calls the outward man. And again he says: “That was not first which is spiritual, but that which is animal”. Therefore every man, when he lives carnally in this world, and is moved according to the flesh: and the first carnal motion is in the concupiscence of lust, to which if the time of first youth has already yielded obedience, it makes a man at once hard and rash and wanton, mounting even upon his father's bed and defiling the paternal couch, that is, transgressing also the precepts and admonitions of the natural law which is within us (which is here called the paternal couch).

For there is within us a certain natural law, which convicts each one when sinning, and suggests to him that what he does amiss is evil. He therefore violates the bed of this Law, and defiles the seat of its secret, who is borne headlong and unbridled into vices.

1. “Simeon and Levi are brothers, they perfected the iniquity of their will. Let not my soul enter into their counsel, and let not my inward parts be joined in their assembly”. As far as concerns the history, this seems to censure that deed of theirs, in which they, by fraud and deceit, slew Hamor, the father of Shechem, who after lying with their sister had wished to be joined to the family of Israel, and slew all his people; when also their father Israel said to them: “You have made me hateful in this world”. Therefore the curse imprecates their fury for their rashness, and declares that they are to be divided among the peoples of Israel, since from them the Levites and priests would come, who had no lot of the land of promise.

2. But a spiritual explanation of these things seems to me able to be fitted somewhat thus, that Simeon and Levi can bear the persons of the Scribes and Pharisees of the Jewish people, of whom it is written: “For the Scribes and Pharisees took counsel, that they might take Jesus by deceit”; of which counsel the saint who beheld God with his mind now says: “Let not my soul enter into their counsel”; and into their assembly, in which, with false witnesses brought in, they condemned Jesus, he says, “let not my inward parts be joined.” Does he not seem to you to say this: “I am clean from the blood of this just man”: I am clean of the sentence which you decree against the innocent one? “For in their fury,” he says, “they slew men.” I ask what men they slew, since it is certain that before the Passion of the Lord none of the believers was punished—unless perhaps someone ascribes to them also the blood of the Prophets.

For the Lord also says, “From the blood of Abel the just even to the blood of Zachariah”, all the blood of the just that was shed is required from that very generation. But let us see whether perhaps they slew also those men whom they persuaded to cry out, “His blood be upon us and upon our children”. “And in their self-will they houghed a bull.” We read in the figures of Scripture that the Son of God is called a bull—namely in the Gospel, where it is written twice under the person of the elder son saying to the father, “I have always been with thee, and I never transgressed thy commandment, and thou never gavest me a kid, that I might feast with my friends: but when this thy son came, this younger one, who devoured all his substance, thou hast killed for him this fatted calf”.

Therefore the Scribes and Pharisees are said to have houghed the bull, or calf, by their counsel, whose fury is cursed, because it is rash: and their wrath, because it is hardened. “I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.” We must see whether perhaps this division mentioned here is such as that of which it is said in the Gospel: “For when the lord of that servant shall come, he shall divide him, and shall appoint his portion with unbelievers”. Or certainly, as I have heard a certain one of the holy fathers discoursing, since division and dispersion are named together, this is because some of them believed on the Lord, and others remained in unbelief. Those are said to be divided who are separated from them and come to the faith: and those dispersed whose country and temple being overthrown, their unbelieving race is scattered through the world.

3. But the Moral trope can perhaps be preserved thus.

It has seemed to many wise men that the virtue of the soul is threefold, that is, that there are three species of its motion: through anger, through desire, through reason, and no other motion of the soul, I think, besides these can be found.

For everything on which it rests, or by which it is moved, belongs either to anger, or to desire, or to reason, and therefore the whole condition of human life seems to me to be shadowed forth in these three sons of Jacob, and through them this threefold motion of the soul is designated: in whom Reuben keeps the first species, that of concupiscence, in which he is marked as poured out with a stain. Simeon holds the second species, that of anger or fury, which is itself also shown by the reproach of his fury. Levi holds the third form of motion, the rational, since to him also it was entrusted to keep the law. These three species, then, it seems to me, nearly every soul that comes into this world commits culpably in its first motions, until, weighed down by the vices of sins, and wearied by the surfeit of evils, it can arrive at the place of repentance.

For Judah follows after this, who purges his sins by confession, because Judah in the Hebrew tongue is interpreted “confession,” which is said to free from death. Concerning Judah, however, I believe those things suffice which have already been said by us before, as we were able, which, if it please, may also be joined to these, or set before them.

1. “Zebulun shall dwell by the sea shore, and he himself is a haven for ships, and reaches even as far as Sidon”. The history designates a portion of future inheritance and lot. But as to what pertains to the mystery, we read in the Gospel that some of the Apostles were taken from these regions, and that in these very places the Lord often taught, as it is written: “The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, the way of the sea beyond the Jordan of Galilee of the Gentiles. The people that sat in darkness has seen a great light”. But as to what he said, “And he himself reaches even to Sidon”: Sidon is interpreted “hunter,” or “huntress.” But what other hunters shall we suppose are to be understood here in a laudable sense, but the Apostles of the Lord, of whom the prophet foretold, “For I will send many hunters, and they shall hunt them on every mountain”?

2. But if here too a moral point is sought, Zebulun is interpreted “nocturnal flux.” It may then seem consistent that, after the soul which sat in darkness saw the light of the Lord, and was converted to repentance from confession, there should be taken away from it, and there should flow away, all those things which it had done in the death of ignorance; and after confession has gone before in Judah, conversion too will follow in this case, since now everything that belonged to night and darkness flows away, in which, as it were, it tries to put off the old man, and to lay aside the things that are of the night, that it may walk honestly in the day. But this fact, that it shakes itself out even unto Sidon, that is, even unto the hunters, perhaps declares that it now itself tries to be among those to whom it is said: “Catch us the little foxes that destroy the vines”.

Therefore it extends itself even unto the hunters, that it may itself learn to hunt, if ever any wild beasts or crafty foxes—that is, either fierce demons, or noxious thoughts—creep into its heart, and wish to destroy the vineyard of the Lord of hosts: that, made a praiseworthy hunter of evil thoughts, it may seize them.

ISACHAR desired the good, resting in the midst of the lots, and seeing that rest, that it is good, and the land, that it is fat. Here too the order of the History is suitably observed, in that he dwelt in the midst of the lots, that is, in the divisions of the land which was distributed to them through Joshua the son of Nun. For the fourth lot, out of the seven latter tribes, is recorded in the book of Joshua the son of Nun to have come forth to him: since the two half-tribes, that is, of Judah and Ephraim, and the half-tribe of Manasseh had received the earlier ones. But Reuben and Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh had their possession beyond the Jordan. Isachar, then, is in the middle, because he is the fourth of the seven: a tiller of a rich and fertile soil, gladly bestowing labor upon the fat ground. And let these things be said as regards the History.

2. But Isachar, since it is interpreted "reward," can preserve the figure of those who say: "For if I preach willingly, I have a reward". And of whom it is said: "Behold, sons are the Lord's, a reward, the fruit of the womb". For the Apostles are rightly to be thought the reward of the Son of God, in that he deigned to enter the Virgin's womb: for it is they who desired the good, of whose souls it is said in the Song of Songs, "The young maidens loved thee"; and who say to Jesus, "We will run after thee, into the odor of thy ointments". Resting in the midst of the lots, that is, in the midst of the good land, the land flowing with milk and honey: in the midst of it they rest.

Which land was Jesus, flowing with milk and honey, upon whose breast not only John, but in John all the disciples reclined: and they became husbandmen, these having been husbandmen, and having tilled our land, which they had seen to be fat and good, and which the Son of man had come to sow, and his seed fell upon good ground, which brought forth fruit, one thirtyfold, another sixtyfold, another a hundredfold. All Scripture bears witness to this, and especially the Apostle Paul, who says: "For it is God's stewardship, it is God's husbandry". And again the same says: "The husbandman that laboreth must first partake of the fruits". And again he says of himself: "Who plants a vineyard, and does not eat of its fruit?" But perhaps you say: And how is it true that the Apostles saw rest, as it is said here, "And seeing that rest, that it is good," when it is agreed that the Apostles never had rest, but had, as the Apostle Paul indicates, their whole lifetime in labors, in persecutions?

Let us see, then, whether this is not what this saying signifies, when it says, "And seeing that rest, that it is good," namely that, considering the future rest, and the blessedness of the kingdom of heaven, and beholding the glory of all that has been promised, they gladly put their shoulders under the labor: for looking to those future goods, they patiently endured present evils, just as the Apostle Paul also says of Moses, that having spurned the treasures of the Egyptians, he chose rather to bear the reproach of Christ: "For he had respect," he says, "unto the recompense of reward".

3. But since we have set out to construct the ark of divine Scripture, not with two stories only but with three (as was said by the Lord to Noah), let us now see how Isachar builds for us also a third nest.

Above we took him as the man who, wandering by the threefold motion of the soul (as being the whole languor of the soul) in wrath and fury, which we distinguished as being signified through the concupiscence of Reuben, and through the wrath of Symeon, and the prudence of Levi not rightly directed: but him we have already shown repenting in Judah, and in Zabulon converted for the most part; but in Isachar, who is interpreted "reward," we now see him even expecting the reward of good work, because he not only cast away evil, but also desired the good, and rests even in the midst of the lots. Now he is in the middle who, according to the admonition of Wisdom, turns aside neither to the right hand nor to the left, for this is to hold the straight line, and to walk the way of virtue, in which also the lots can be understood thus.

A lot is that by which a portion of inheritance is assigned to each, not one that seems to be determined by some chance, as the nations think, but one that is decreed by God's judgment and dispensation. The lots, then, in this Moral exposition are to be understood by us as the commandments of God, through which the heavenly inheritance is to be obtained. This man, then, who is now converted, and even hopes for the reward of his works, always rests in the midst of the lots, that is, in the midst of the commandments of God, seeing that rest is good, and the land that it is fat. After he had driven off and shut out the battle of thoughts within himself, while the flesh lusted in him against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, his spirit rested in God: and then he saw that rest was good, when Jesus could now say to him, "Come apart a little while, and rest." But he also saw the land, that it is good.

When did he see the land as good? When he purged his flesh of vices and lusts, then he saw it to be a land good and fat without doubt, which brings forth the fruits of righteousness in good works. Seeing this, he put his shoulder under to labor, and became a husbandman. He is to be considered a husbandman of his own land who ceaselessly cuts and furrows the fields of his soul and the new ground of his heart with the plow of the word of God and the plowshare of the Scriptures, who waters the seedlings of faith and charity and hope and righteousness from the fountains of Israel, and applies the whole discipline of husbandry in the field of his own soul.

Dan shall judge his people as one tribe in Israel. And let Dan become a serpent in the way, lying in wait upon the path, biting the horse's heel, and the rider shall fall backward, waiting for the salvation of the Lord. As to the History of this passage, since—as far as concerns the smallness of my understanding—it is not easily found clearly set forth in the sacred Scriptures, either how Dan judged the people as one tribe, or how he lay in wait in the way: lest perhaps we bring forward something that seems to have less proof from the Scriptures, it seems to me that what is written should rather be fitted to spiritual understanding. Unless perhaps in these wars, which are recorded either in the book of Joshua the son of Nun, or in the book of Judges, these things written might be compared with certain deeds done therein.

Yet, though searching more curiously, we have not found what would fully satisfy our purpose: nevertheless, we set forth what is held in the opinion of some.

2. Some say that Antichrist is foretold through these words to arise from this tribe: others suspect that these things were written of Judas the traitor, and they wish the rider and the horse to designate the Lord who took on flesh. But such an understanding seems to me scarcely able to be explained: because even if they should wish to place the Deity in the horse, it certainly could not be bitten by the serpent; if in the rider, then to fall backward, and to wait for salvation from the Lord, cannot fittingly be said of the Deity of the Word.

Hence I think that Dan is perhaps more rightly to be referred to him who is awaited as judge of the living and the dead: because Dan is interpreted "judgment," or "judge." The Lord Jesus Christ, then, who says, "I came into this world for judgment"; and again, "The Father judges no man, but has given all judgment to the Son"; he himself shall judge his people as one tribe, for there will no longer be division of Tribes, no diversity, but as he himself says: "There shall be one flock, and one shepherd".

3. But as to what seems to deter some in this passage, this saying that follows, "Let Dan become a serpent in the way": and because the serpent is frequently placed in the Scriptures in the person of the devil, they think this cannot fittingly apply to the Lord.

But if we return to the Scriptures, just as we find the lion said to be the devil, who "goeth about, seeking whom he may devour": and bulls said to be hostile powers, as there, "Fat bulls have compassed me"; and again, the lion said even of the Lord, as Judah, expounded to us a little before, has taught: we find also the bull said of the Lord himself, that one who was slain for the salvation and return of the repentant son. But also many other things in the Scriptures are similar, which are drawn now to the good part, now to the bad: so also the serpent is found sometimes written even in the person of the Lord, as he himself says of himself in the Gospels: "For as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of man be lifted up". But also the Apostle, when he bids us be "wise as serpents," did he not apply the name of serpent to the good part?

It can, then, in this passage also be said of the Lord himself: "Let Dan become a serpent in the way, lying in wait upon the path": that is, he himself who judges hearts, and knows what is hidden within; seeing in the way, that is, in the course of this life, riders traveling not on a straight road. Now the riders may be understood as souls placed in bodies, as it says there: "All that mounted on horses have slumbered", that is, all who are in bodies have sinned, as the Apostle also declared. Of these horses, then, or riders, this serpent, lying in wait by the way, bites the heel; and he bites the heel when he macerates the body either with sicknesses or with any other torments, so as to check the swift course of sinners.

For when the body is afflicted and the flesh is consumed, then the rider falls backward, that is, the soul which was running badly, and hastening toward perdition, falls backward, and is recalled to repentance, so that, hindered from its evil course, it may be called back, and come to be after him who says, "Come after me". I think something of this sort happened even in regard to the Apostle Peter, when, the Lord saying, "The Son of man must be crucified, and die", he himself said, "Be it far from thee, Lord; this shall not be unto thee": in which, since through excessive love, out of ignorance, he was not riding rightly, in the end he is, as it were, bitten by the serpent from the Lord, in that it is said to him: "Get thee behind me, Satan, thou art an offense unto me, because thou savorest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men".

And thus Peter, called back backward, awaits salvation from the Lord through the cross and resurrection, which he, then riding and running too fervently, did not know was to come through ignorance of the future. These things have moved me in this passage; yet I do not exclude also the opinion of those who might be able to establish what they think by the authority of the Scriptures. 3. But that not even this third place may pass us by, it can be seen as that man whom we have already said, in Isachar, made progress, and rests in the commandments, and having become a husbandman of his own soul, now also makes progress in this, in Dan, so that he has taken up the understanding of discerning and judging his people, that is, the thoughts of his heart, as one tribe in Israel, that is, calling all things into unity and concord, so that there is in him no dissension of thoughts or counsels.

He becomes also a serpent according to the precept of the Lord, which we mentioned a little before, "Be ye wise as serpents"; yet he sits in the way, and never departs from the path. For the path is understood as the narrower way, which shows that he walks not by that broad and spacious way which leads to death, but by the narrow and strait way which leads to life. He bites the horse's heel, doing that which the Apostle Paul says: "For I chastise my body, and bring it into subjection, lest perhaps, when I have preached to others, I myself should become a castaway". This he does, so that the horse may fall backward. For such a man always fears elations and heights, and wants his soul to fall from bad height to good humility, that he may learn from Jesus, because he is humble and meek of heart. For indeed it is proper to those who make progress to fear elation.

Finally, even so great and such an Apostle as Paul said: "Lest I should be exalted above measure, there was given to my flesh a thorn, the angel of Satan, to buffet me". Thus, then, he calls back the soul from its height, and being brought back after the humility of Christ, awaits salvation from the Lord.

A band of robbers will tempt him, but he himself will tempt them at their heels. Through History indeed we do not easily find such a thing recorded in the Scriptures, unless perhaps someone should wish to force the matter and say that, since this Tribe obtained its inheritance beyond the Jordan in the regions of Arabia, and since wars of robbers frequently arise there, and they meet in constant clashes among themselves, these contests of theirs among themselves, after the manner of pirates, are designated in these words.

2. But truer is the spiritual understanding, which is able to indicate that contest which our Lord and Saviour had against the devil, when placed in the flesh. This Tribe's dwelling, then, is near the wilderness; and Gad is now interpreted as "temptations." It can therefore be understood that the Lord Jesus Christ was led into the wilderness by the Spirit, that he might be tempted by the devil. But see how great mysteries are contained in the words of the Patriarch.

Gad, he says, a band of robbers will tempt him. Let us suppose, as we said, that the person of the Lord is in Gad: this band of robbers will tempt him. Now "band of robbers" is said of a certain company and conspiracy of pirates. For it is certain that the devil, coming to tempt the Lord, did not come without his ministers and satellites; for just as Angels were present with the Lord watching his contest (those of whom the Gospel speaks after the temptation, And angels came and ministered to him), so also his own angels were present with the devil, with whom gehenna has been prepared for him, as the Lord says: Go into the everlasting fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels. But the Saints too, when they contend in the arena, are said to be made a spectacle to this world and to angels and to men.

The conspiracy of tempters, then, was tempting the Lord, when it said to him: If thou art the Son of God, command that these stones become bread. Through these things, then, the devil was tempting the Lord. But let us see what this means, that he says: But he himself will tempt them at their heels. How was the Lord tempting those who tempted him? If in the first temptation the Saviour had declared to the devil that he was the Son of God, it is certain that the devil would not have dared to approach a second time for tempting; but now see how he who tempts is himself tempted. For the Lord is in the wilderness forty days and forty nights, and afterward he hungered. For if he had not hungered, the tempter would have recognized the Son of God; but now he hungers, so that, through the Lord showing in himself the frailty of the flesh, he who tempts might himself be tempted, and might approach again as if to tempt a man.

Thus, then, the tempters come to the Lord. But he himself will tempt them at their heels, that is, by the same footsteps by which the devil had approached to tempt him, he tempts him.

3. The moral sense, then, is discussed by a similar unfolding: for that man of ours, having confessed his error and repenting, renders himself converted through understanding, and has made some progress, so that after his progress he comes to this, that he is tempted by the enemy, and the virtue of his soul and the constancy of his resolve are proved: for thus Scripture says, He who has not been tempted is not approved. Nor will anyone at any time whatsoever arrive at perfection, unless he has first given proof in his own temptations.

ASHER, his bread is fat: and he will give food to princes. I believe the champions of the letter understand in these words that his region and inheritance of land was fertile and fat, so much so that it even ministered to royal uses. But some of our own think it was said also on account of Anna the Prophetess, daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher, who is recorded as the first, along with Simeon, to have prophesied concerning the Lord in the Gospels, and who, by the faith of her prophecy, gave as it were food to princes, that is, to the Apostles and the rest of the believers, the things which had been prophesied concerning him.

2. But since Asher is interpreted "blessed," we now lead that man, whom we have recalled from error through repentance, gradually through each stage, up to the increase of blessedness; after conversion, after spiritual understanding, after victory over temptations, his bread is said to be fat.

For he eats that bread which came down from heaven, and gives life to this world, and that bread is fat.

3. As to his saying, "fat bread," we can understand it thus. Those who understand nothing more in Christ, except Christ Jesus crucified, they too indeed eat the bread from heaven, but dry and meagre; but those who are worthy to have revealed to them the treasures of wisdom and knowledge of Christ, these are they for whom the bread is fat, as it was for Paul, who said: I know both how to abound and how to hunger; I am instructed for all things and in all things. For indeed if the Lord and our Saviour, when he deigns to assume the figure of a calf, is called a fat and fattened calf slain for the penitent son, why should not those who arrive at blessedness, in the same manner, be said to be fat bread? This one, then, such as this, for whom the bread is now fat, will also give food to princes.

What kind of food? Without doubt, of the word of God; and he will give food not to just any poor persons, or to any who receive, but he will give it to princes: for he himself will also speak wisdom among the perfect.

A tree let loose (or, as our copies have it) a vine spread abroad, bringing forth beauty in its fruits. The History indicates that Gad first obtained his lot of inheritance in the fertility of the plains; and after him Naphtali possessed lands fruitful with shrubs, and wooded with trees.

2. But in the Mystical exposition, already above, when we were discussing Zabulon, we also said, concerning the name of Naphtali, as it seemed to us, being joined with him in the Gospels: that is, that as it were the root and origin of the blessed Apostles proceeded from the places and region of these men, and that the peoples who sat in darkness saw a great light. But also the princes of Zabulon and the princes of Naphtali, who are proclaimed through David, are certainly referred to the person of the Apostles.

3. As far as concerns the third explanation, the interpretation of the name Naphtali is this very thing which his father now expresses in blessing him: that is, either a tree spread abroad, or a vine.

That man of ours, therefore, who a little before was feeding on fat bread, and from it was giving food to princes (which bread strengthens the heart of man), now, consequently, has had brought forth for him also by the true vine, Christ, a beautiful fruit, by which, namely, the heart which had been strengthened by bread may now be gladdened by wine: in both of which he seems to me to have come to such progress that he even receives the sacraments of the priesthood. But if we prefer rather to understand a tree, rather than a vine spread abroad, which brings forth beauty in its fruits, what other tree will there be, bringing forth beauty in its fruits, than the wisdom of God, of which Solomon says, She is a tree of life to those who embrace her?

A son increased, JOSEPH: a son increased. In the blessing of Joseph, even the first face of the letter itself flourishes; for deservedly he is called a son increased, whom the Lord, for the sake of preserving his family, had exalted even to the second degree of the kingdom. Understand him, then, as increased in wisdom, counsel, constancy, chastity, honour, kingship, virtue, and—that which is the summit of all virtues—piety, in all of which Joseph is deservedly said to have grown and been increased. But as to his saying, "My son has been envied," this seems to have been expressed not as of one who envies, but as of one who has suffered envy: that is, one whose glory is so great that it deserves envy. This, then, is what he says: My son, envied, come back to me, younger one: my son, not so much by birth as by merits.

It seems to me indeed not without purpose that the Patriarch, repeating it a third time, names Joseph as son, saying: A son increased, Joseph, and a son increased. Envied, and my son, younger one. What does it mean that Joseph alone among all the brothers is named son a third time? For my own small understanding, I take it that once a son was born to him, Joseph, when he was reborn of Rachel after the despair of receiving offspring. But a second time, as it were, a son is born to him again, when after the persuasion of his death, it is announced that he lives. But a third time he becomes a son to him, when, through doctrine, and instruction, and all those virtues by which he himself saw God, instructing and teaching him, he had begotten him also as a son in the spirit. Otherwise it would not fit that he is called the younger son, since he has Benjamin younger than himself, unless he is understood as "younger" in his father's teachings.

"Come back to me," he says. That is, turn your minds to me, so that you may carefully note, and inscribe in your heart the things that are said: you, son Joseph, against whom those taking counsel spoke evil, and against whom the lords of the bows laid ambushes: for Holy Scripture also records this, that his brothers had counsel at that time to kill him, but Judah, intervening, checked the murderous plan. And as to his saying, "They spoke evil," this is what they said: Behold, the dreamer comes. Now "lords of the bows" designates warrior men; and that the arms were loosed, and the bows broken, designates the undertaking frustrated by the hand of the mighty one of Jacob, that is, of the God of Jacob. Hence he who strengthened Israel by the God of thy father, and my God helped thee. From thence help came to thee, whence Israel thy father also was strengthened, then without doubt, when he wrestled in the way, and God helped him, and Israel gave him his name.

He, then, my God, has also blessed thee, with the blessing of heaven, and from on high, and the blessing of the earth. The blessing of heaven designates wisdom; that of the earth designates kingship and power. For the blessing of the breasts and of the womb, the blessing of thy father and thy mother. He himself explained what the blessing of the breasts and of the womb is, naming the mother, because he obtained not only paternal but also maternal blessings. This blessing of father and mother prevailed, he says, over the blessings of the enduring mountains, and over the blessings of the eternal hills. It can perhaps seem to be said for the immovableness of the grace that was to remain in him, "of the enduring mountains and of the eternal hills," compared certainly to things immovable and abiding. These blessings shall be eternal, he says, upon the head of Joseph, and upon the crown of those brothers whom he ruled over.

At the end of the saying he seems to have conferred the blessings upon the whole number of the brothers, so that principally indeed the blessings are upon the head of Joseph, but through Joseph himself they come also upon those whose leader and master he was.

2. These things we have perceived according to the letter; but if we wish also to examine something further into a deeper sense, perhaps Joseph can be referred back to the person of the Lord, so that just as Joseph, after he was thought to be dead, is found not only living but even placed in a kingdom, and on this account is called "increased": so also our Lord and Saviour, who among the Jews was thought to be dead, is found among the hearts of the Faithful both living and reigning. Our Saviour, then, was also "increased" after death.

For before he died, Judea alone was the place in which God was known, and in Israel alone was his name great: but after he died out of weakness, and rose from the dead out of power, in every land a sacrifice is offered to his name. But he is also said to be "the envied son"; and who has so endured envy? Of whom it is even written, "For Pilate knew that the Jews had delivered him up out of envy". The "younger son" according to the flesh is he himself, the last Adam. But that which in the Historical exposition we noted as the third instance of the title "son," we find repeated much more clearly in this exposition. For he is Son before the ages, of whom it was said by the Father, "For I have begotten thee from the womb before the daystar".

And again he is Son, when he was born of Mary, and it is said by the Angel: "That which shall be born of thee shall be holy, and shall be called the Son of God". But he becomes Son a third time, when the firstborn rises from the dead, to whom indeed the paternal voice fittingly applies, saying, "My son, thou younger, return to me": that is, after he has risen from the dead, ascend also to me, victorious, into heaven, from whom thou didst set forth. "Against whom taking counsel," it says, "they spoke evil": for the Scribes and Pharisees had begun to take counsel to seize Jesus by guile: and without doubt they spoke evil, when they said, "Thou art a Samaritan, thou hast a devil". The lords of the bows aimed snares against him, and their bows were broken with power, and the sinews of the arms of their hands were loosed.

Those who set snares, "the lords of the bows," are understood to be those who approached him with feigned propositions, that they might catch him in his speech, and said to him: "Tell us, is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar, or not?" These words, then, as though certain arrows shot forth from the bow of their mouth, they aimed at Jesus, so that if he had said it was not lawful to give tribute to Caesar, he would become guilty before Caesar: but if he had said it should be given, he would seem to dissolve the law. But when he, as very Wisdom of God itself, having examined the inscription on the coin, answered: "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's": the sinews of their arms were loosed by the hand of the mighty one of Jacob.

This contest may also be understood of that which he had in the desert, when he was tempted by the devil aiming at him the arrows of evil suggestions, which he, driving them off by his answers, loosed the arms and sinews of those who aimed them. Thence he who strengthened Israel from the God of thy father, and helped thee. For the Saviour also, according to the man, is said to be helped by God: indeed it is also written in the Gospel, "When he was sweating in prayer, an Angel," it says, "came and strengthened him". This exposition may perhaps seem harsher at this point, in that we had indicated the things said above as spoken, as it were, from the person of the Father to the Son. But here it is written, "And my God helped thee, and blessed thee": how does this fit the person of the Father?

But let us see whether, just as it disturbs nothing if the Father says of the Son, in respect that the Son is Wisdom, "because he is my wisdom"; and in respect that the Son is Power, it is not absurd if the Father says of him, "because he is my power"; and in respect that the Son is Truth, it is not discordant if the Father says, "he is my truth"; so also, in respect that the Son is God, it should not seem absurd if he says, "he is my God": just as it is not called absurd that the Son says of the Father, "Because I go to my God, and to your God." "And he blessed thee," it says, "with the blessing of heaven from above, and the blessing of the earth having all things". That the blessing of heaven should be in Christ will not seem unfitting, according to what is said, "Because the second man is from heaven, heavenly".

But the earth—what he said, "the blessing of the earth having all things," on account of the blessing of the breasts and of the womb—seems to me quite marvelous and great, how that earth, which is blessed in the Son of God, has all things. Which I think is to be understood thus: Each one receives the grace of the Spirit according to the measure of his faith. For to one, according to the measure of faith, is given the word of understanding, to another the word of wisdom, to another prophecy, to another the discerning of spirits, to another kinds of tongues. These things you will find singly in individuals, or sometimes two or three together at once: but in that earth, that is, in that flesh which is blessed in Jesus, not only were all these present, but they dwelt fully and substantially, as the Apostle also says: "In whom dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily." On account of the blessing of the breasts and of the womb.

This too is recorded in the Gospel as having been proclaimed on a certain occasion, doubtless in remembrance of these things, and it was said, "Blessed is the womb that bore thee, and the breasts which thou didst suck". That phrase, "On account of the blessing," it says, "of thy father and thy mother": of the heavenly Father, who gave the blessing, and of the virgin mother, who received it. "It has prevailed over the blessings of the enduring mountains." This blessing, it says, which was given to thee from the highest heaven and earth, has prevailed over the blessings of the enduring mountains, and the blessings of the eternal hills. Who shall the enduring mountains be, except those to whom Jesus says, "You are they who have continued with me in my temptations"? Rightly, then, the Apostles are called enduring mountains, because they continued to the end, and they themselves shall be saved.

But also the eternal hills—whom else do we understand but those who are conferred a second rank by the merits of the Apostles, and who attain eternal life? For these, much more truly than mountains and hills, which perish together with the world, shall be believed to be eternal. But all these blessings shall be upon the head of Joseph, and upon the crown of him who was chief among his brethren. Fittingly all these blessings are said to be placed upon the head of Christ, from whose head they might come even to the crown of those over whom he himself presides.

Nor is there any other reason why he, born in the flesh, received all these blessings, except that he might himself pour them back again into believers, as it were through a certain channel poured out from the Father, and, having been made mediator of God and men, might receive the blessings which human nature, on account of its weakness, could now receive, he himself mediating and foretasting and transfusing them, just as he himself said, "For I sanctify myself for these".

3. But now that man who, restored to us in the third place through spiritual degrees, ascended, enlarged by increases, up to Joseph: who, through the progress of faith and through the gifts of the Holy Spirit, shone forth so greatly that he grew even unto envy: with what flowers of the things said by us shall he be crowned, who, having fought so good a fight, having finished the course, having kept the faith, the just Judge, God, prepares for him the crown of righteousness laid up?

Of him, then, the father says, "Son increased is Joseph, son increased." And who has been so increased, as this one who, after errors and falls, was restored through each several degree of virtue, and re-established, so that he attained even to the highest palm? But because he ascended by degrees, therefore in each instance he is said to be "increased." For he began first of all to be increased through confession in Judah, and again, when he cast off the nocturnal works of darkness, he was increased in Zebulun; and again he was increased in Issachar, when the reward of his work was augmented. He was increased in Dan, when he preferred right judgment to his own perverse thoughts. He was increased in Gad, when, being tempted, he prevailed. He was increased in Asher, when he came to blessedness. Worthily, then, even now the son Joseph is called "increased," who now attains the goods of the age to come.

But also that he is called "the envied son" refers to this: that he is to be imitated by the good, but pursued by envy and calumnies by the wicked. Of this good and evil envy the Apostle also indicates, when he speaks of the evil envy of the Jews, "They are zealous over you, but not well". And of the good zeal he speaks of himself, "But I am jealous over you with the jealousy of God". But he is called the "younger son"; and why should he not be called younger, who has put off the old man with his deeds, who has risen with Christ, and walks in newness of life?

But he too must be said to have been son a third time: for his first birth was according to the flesh; the second was from conversion, or through baptism; and this is the third, which itself also is called regeneration, which is the resurrection from the dead: for now he seems to me to be established as that son, of the sort that the blessed shall be in the future. Therefore it is then said to him by the father, "Return to me." For all who have set out from God return after the resurrection: but there is also the saying of holy Scripture, "Praise no man before his death". And therefore it seems to me the more that so great a blessedness as this belongs only to him who has now, after death, risen from death. But as to what it says, "Against whom taking counsel they spoke evil": they do not speak evil, but were speaking evil, at that time when, placed in this age in the flesh, thou wast tempted.

"And they aimed the snares of the lords of the bows". Those, no doubt, who sit in ambush, that they may shoot in the dark at the upright in heart. But their bows were broken with power, with the power of Jacob. He breaks the bows of enemies who not only receives no arrow of the devil into himself, but even defends others from his darts and wounds. And the sinews of the arms of their hands are loosed, by the hand of the mighty one of Jacob, when he who was mighty in Jacob, and helped him in the contest, who strengthened Israel, that he might make him see God with his mind, helped this one too, and blessed him with the blessing of heaven from above, and with the blessing of the earth having all things. For he received not only, as one meek, the inheritance of the earth, but also, as poor in spirit, obtains the kingdoms of heaven.

But that earth which has all things is Christ, which the just man receives as an inheritance, and says to the Lord: "My portion in the land of the living." But what is the cause on account of which he merited to obtain these things? "On account of the blessing," it says, "of the breasts and of the womb." Whose womb's blessing, or whose breasts? Perhaps that womb which Paul indicates, saying: "My little children, of whom I again travail in birth". Hence it is plain that there is an Apostolic womb, which not only gives birth to sons, but also, if by chance they have turned aside from the truth, takes them up again, and gives birth to them a second time.

From this womb, then, every just man either is born, or, if he is now perfect himself, both bears sons, and nonetheless sucks the Apostolic breasts, or even offers them to those who suck, of whom the Apostle said: "I gave you milk to drink, not meat", and elsewhere, that he might express the Apostolic breasts more definitely, adds: "But I was among you as a nurse cherisheth her children". There comes, then, to each just man the perfection of blessing, on account of the Apostolic womb and breasts. "And on account of the blessing," it says, "of thy father and of thy mother." The Father of the perfect is Christ, as he himself also said: "Little children, yet a little while I am with you": and the mother is the Church. This blessing "prevailed over the blessings of the enduring mountains and the eternal hills," that is, of those who pursue knowledge and sublime and lofty works.

Which blessings shall be, it says, "upon the head of Joseph, and upon the crown of him who was chief among his brethren." Not only, it says, is the head of the just man, who is Christ, blessed, but also the crown of those over whom he was set as chief: because those who rightly cultivate themselves, and establish themselves in flourishing fashion, benefit the faithful also, just as the Apostle said, "For in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee".

BENJAMIN, a ravening wolf, shall eat in the morning, and at evening shall divide the food. I would wish the advocates of the historical account of this narration to tell me, what a Benjamin could have in himself of a ravening wolf, or how he divides food in the morning and at evening. But in these matters even the Jews themselves, thick of heart, shrink from the injury of the letter, and some refer what is written to the voracity of the altar, as though constructed upon the portion of Benjamin, in that those things which are offered in the morning are divided in the evening by the priests. Others, with other and diverse, though fabulous, narrations, nevertheless confess that on this basis the consequence of the letter cannot stand.

2. But in the Church, among a great many, this opinion is held, that what is written may seem capable of being referred to the Apostle Paul.

Which indeed we neither shrink from nor disapprove, but we try to do as it is written: The wise man hearing the word, praises it and adds to it. We, therefore, do not deny the things rightly said of Paul by those who have gone before, but we add these things also. Benjamin, he says, is interpreted "son of sorrow": by lot of inheritance he received that place in which the earthly Jerusalem, bearing the type and form of that heavenly Jerusalem, was situated. When, therefore, the time shall come for the manifesting of the heavenly Jerusalem, and of the Church of the firstborn enrolled in the heavens, this Jerusalem which is now, on account of unbelief, cast off and repulsed, together with her children, having suffered for a long time hunger for the word of God and spiritual thirst, when the fullness of the Gentiles shall have entered in, according to the Apostle's promise—then all Israel shall be saved: who is now designated under the person of Benjamin.

The last son Benjamin, therefore, obtains the last blessing, because he too is to be saved last. And it is said of him, a ravening wolf; he is called a wolf on account of avidity: for this he does from much hunger and want of the word of God. Ravening, because he too violently seizes the kingdom of God. He shall eat in the morning: I think that morning still recalls that time in which he received the law; for then a certain illumination of knowledge was first given to the world, from which, as it were, the beginning of the day of knowledge is to be believed to have been received. He eats, then, still in the morning, the food which he had received in the morning: he still eats, and meditates, following the law of righteousness, in that he has not yet come into the law. At evening he divides the food.

This evening is that latest time in which he is converted, just as for us also that time of our conversion in which we now are is called evening. Then, therefore, he divides the food: for then he understands that in the law the letter must be divided from the spirit, and then he knows that the letter kills, but the spirit gives life. Because, therefore, now illumined by the grace of the Lord, he begins in the law to divide and separate spiritual things from corporeal ones, therefore he is said to divide the food at evening, which, meditating all day in the law, he had not done before.

3. But a third sense is almost vacant to us in this place, because that man of ours, who was created according to God, who first, in Reuben and Simeon and Levi, had erred with the threefold movements of the soul: who in Judah, his error acknowledged, confesses and repents: who in Zebulun put off the old man with his deeds: who in Issachar even awaits the reward of good works, and in Dan has received the grace of judging and separating good from evil, and of discerning thoughts and spirits: who in Gad is also found approved in temptations: in Asher also divides food to princes, that is, has set forth banquets to certain overseers of wisdom: in Naphtali has already taken up the mysteries either of the vine or of the tree: in Joseph, arriving at the perfect and highest point, holds already the glory of the age to come and of the resurrection: what then remains in Benjamin, in himself, but that after he, like a hungry and ravening wolf, has seized the kingdom of heaven, and invaded those things which he had read in the Law and the Prophets and the Gospels, of which he had here knowledge in part (for in part also the Apostle Paul says he himself has it), and, placed in the world as it were in the morning, was eating, while he lived not by bread alone, but by every word of God: these things, he, there placed in the kingdom, now no longer through a glass in a riddle, but face to face beholds all things, and divides and discerns, and there at length understands what things were written in the sacred Scriptures on account of the present state of life; what things designated the glory of the future kingdom; what things were said on account of the inner man, what on account of the outer, there he shall know more fully by skill; which of these very things, which we now knock upon step by step, keep the faith of history; which contain only mysteries; which indeed ought to be expounded according to the ethnic and moral interpretation of Scripture.

If we, poor in the grace of knowledge, and still placed in the flesh, have been able to explain these things less worthily, you will grant pardon; because this very thing, that we dare to bring forth our inexperience into public, your excessive charity brings about; to which if I should not yield, you would grant me the greatest fault.