Leviticus 6

If, according to the faith of the divine law, these things which are read to us were spoken by the Lord to Moses, I think that, as being the words of God, they ought to be understood not according to the incapacity of the hearers but according to the majesty of the one speaking. "The Lord," it says, "spoke." What is "the Lord"? Let the Apostle answer you, and learn from him that "the Lord is spirit." But if the word of the Apostle does not suffice for you, hear the Lord himself saying in the Gospels that "God is spirit." If therefore both the Lord and God is "spirit," the things which the spirit speaks we ought to hear spiritually. But I say yet something more: that the things the Lord speaks are to be believed not only spiritual, but even spirit. This I will prove not by my own opinion, but from the Gospels; hear our Lord and Savior saying to his disciples: "the words which I have spoken to you are spirit and life." If therefore we have learned from the voice of the Savior himself that the words which he spoke to the Apostles "are spirit and life," we ought in no way to doubt that the things also which he spoke through Moses are to be believed "spirit and life."

But let us see what these things are, concerning which we ought now, as far as we can, to say something. "And the Lord spoke," it says, "to Moses, saying: whatever soul shall sin, and passing over shall pass over the commandments of the Lord, and shall lie to his neighbor concerning a deposit or a partnership or a robbery, or has done some harm to his neighbor, or has found something lost and lies about it, and swears unjustly about any one of all the things which a man may do, so as to sin in these; and it shall be, when he has sinned and offended, that he shall restore the robbery which he robbed, or the injury which he inflicted, or the deposit which was entrusted to him, or the lost thing which he found, of every matter concerning which he swore unjustly, and he shall restore the principal itself, and shall add a fifth part over and above; and to whomever it belongs, to him he shall render it, on the day when he is convicted." Thus far, for the present, the kinds of sin are set forth, but afterward the purgation of it is commanded through offerings. If any are weak and incapable of the deeper mystery, let them be edified from the letter, and let them know that, if anyone "passing over shall pass over the commandments of the Lord and shall have lied to his neighbor concerning a deposit or a partnership or a robbery," he is declared guilty of an enormous sin. But far be it from the Church of God that I should believe there to be anyone in this assembly of the saints who conducts himself so wretchedly as to deny the "deposit" of his neighbor, or to defile a "partnership" by fraud, or himself to plunder what belongs to another, or to receive things robbed from others and, if they are demanded of him, to swear against his conscience concerning these. Far be it, I say, that I should suppose these things of any of the faithful. For confidently I say concerning you that "you have not so learned Christ," nor have you "been so taught." But neither does the law itself prescribe these things to the holy and faithful. Do you wish to know that these things are not spoken to the holy and just? Hear the Apostle distinguishing: "for the just," he says, "the law is not laid down, but for the unjust and the insubordinate, for the wicked and the defiled, for parricides, matricides," and the like of these. Since therefore the Apostle says the "law" is "imposed" upon men of this kind, let the Church of God — which far be it that it should be stained with crimes of this sort — leave the letter to others and be more holily edified by the spirit.

Let us therefore now see what is the "deposit" which each of the faithful has received. I think that we have received both our own soul and our body as a deposit from God. And do you wish to see another, greater "deposit" which you have received from God? To your very soul God entrusted "his own image and likeness." This deposit, therefore, must be restored by you as whole as it is established to have been received by you. For if you are merciful, "as your Father in heaven is merciful," the image of God is in you and you preserve the "deposit" whole. If you are perfect, "as your Father also in heaven is perfect," the deposit of the image of God remains in you. And likewise all the rest: if you are devout, if you are just, if holy, if "pure in heart," and if all the things which are present in God by nature subsist in you by imitation, the "deposit" of the divine image is safe with you. But if on the contrary you act, and instead of merciful are cruel, instead of devout impious, instead of kind violent, instead of tranquil turbulent, instead of generous a plunderer, then, having cast away the image of God, you have taken up in yourself the image of the devil and have denied the good "deposit" entrusted to you from on high. Or was this not what the Apostle, under a mystery, was commanding to his chosen disciple Timothy, saying: "O Timothy, guard the good deposit"? I even add this, that we have received Christ the Lord as a "deposit" and have the Holy Spirit as a "deposit." We must therefore take heed that we do not use this holy deposit unholily and, when sins solicit us to consent to them, swear that we have not received a "deposit." For if indeed we have it within us, we cannot consent to sin. But also the rational sense itself, which is in me, has been entrusted to me, that I may use it for the understanding of divine things: talent, memory, judgment, reason, and all the movements which are within me seem to have been entrusted to me by God, that I may use them in those things which the divine law has prescribed. But if the talent, skillful and keen-sighted, be turned to evil arts, and we abuse the things of God in those things which God does not will, this is to forswear the "deposit" and to turn benefits into treachery.

Let us now see what also is to be understood by "partnership." Do you suppose there is anyone who ought to be admonished according to the letter, lest perchance in a matter of money, or in any other kind of partnership, he deceive his partner by fraud? Of the utmost misery is that soul into which this kind of fraud can still fall. Yet nevertheless, because there is much fragility in man, let us admonish concerning these things also, since not even the Apostle was reluctant to command them. For he says: "let no one overreach his brother in business, since God is the avenger of all these things." But now let us inquire what also is the "partnership of the spirit." Hear the Apostle speaking concerning these very things: "if there is any comfort of love, if any partnership of the spirit, if any bowels of compassion, fulfill my joy." You see how the Apostle Paul understood the law of "partnership." Hear also John, how by one and the same spirit he speaks forth. "And we have partnership," he says, "with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ." And likewise Peter says: "you have been made partakers," he says, "of the divine nature" — which is to say, partners. And again the Apostle Paul says: "for what partnership has light with darkness?" But if there is no "partnership of light with darkness," then light can have "partnership" with light. Therefore, if "partnership with the Father and the Son" and with the Holy Spirit has been given to us, we must take heed that we do not by sinning deny this holy and divine "partnership"; for if we do "the works of darkness," it is certain that we have denied the "partnership" of light. But the Apostle also calls us partners "of the saints," and no wonder; for if it is said that we have "partnership with the Father and the Son," how not also with the "saints" — not only those who "are on earth," but also those who are "in heaven"? For Christ also "by" his "blood pacified things earthly and things heavenly," that he might make things earthly partners of things heavenly. This he clearly indicates where he says that there is joy in heaven "over one sinner doing penance," and again when he says that "those who rise from the dead will be as the angels of God in heaven," and when anew he promises "the kingdoms of the heavens" to men. This "partnership," therefore, whoever separates himself from the union of these by his evil deeds and evil thoughts breaks and denies. After these things it is spoken concerning "robbery"; there are robbers who are evil, and there are also good ones; and the good indeed are those of whom the Savior says that "they seize the kingdom of the heavens." But there are also evil robbers, of whom the prophet says: "and the robbery of the poor is in your houses." The Apostle, however, pronounces abruptly, saying: "do not err, for neither adulterers nor the effeminate nor those who lie with males nor thieves nor the rapacious shall possess the kingdom of God." Yet there is also, according to the spiritual understanding, a way of seizing culpably, just as those seize praiseworthily "the kingdoms of the heavens." To speak, for example: if a man not yet purged from vices, not yet separated from profane and sordid deeds, wishes stealthily to thrust himself into the assembly of the holy and perfect and to hear the discourse in which perfect and mystical things are treated: such a man has not rightly seized the knowledge of secret and perfect things. For it behooves us to remember the precept of the Savior, in which he says that "no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise both the wineskins will burst and the wine will perish," showing that to a soul not yet renewed, but persisting in the oldness of malice, the secrets of the new mysteries which the world came to know through Christ ought not to be committed.

For if Christ took away from us that very heavy yoke of many observances, so that we are not circumcised according to the flesh, we do not immolate victims of the cattle, we do not rest even from necessary works on the Sabbath, retaining the seventh in the revolution of the days, and other things of this kind; but keep them as spiritually understood, and, the symbolizing shadows being removed, are watchful in the light of those things which are signified by them; shall we therefore say, that when it is written that whoever finds another man's property of any kind that has been lost, should return it to him who has lost it, it does not pertain to us? and many other like things whereby people learn to live piously and uprightly? and especially the Decalogue itself, which is contained in those two tables of stone, apart from the carnal observance of the Sabbath, which signifies spiritual sanctification and rest? For who can say that Christians ought not to be observant to serve the one God with religious obedience, not to worship an idol, not to take the name of the Lord in vain, to honour one's parents, not to commit adulteries, murders, thefts, false witness, not to covet another man's wife, or anything at all that belongs to another man? Who is so impious as to say that he does not keep those precepts of the law because he is a Christian, and is established not under the law, but under grace?

Then the lawgiver adds: "or if he has done any harm to his neighbor, or if he has found something lost." The law of the letter seems to command this, that, if anyone finds what another has lost and it is asked for, he restore it and let it "not perish for him." This too is a useful edification for the hearers. For many think it is without sin if they retain another's property which they have found, and they say: God gave it to me, to whom do I have to render it? Let them learn, therefore, that this sin is like robbery, if anyone does not return what he has found. Yet nevertheless, if the lawgiver had wished only this, which is thought according to the letter, to be understood, he could have said: if he finds what had perished, or what someone had lost. But now, when he says "he has found a perdition," he wished us to understand something more. Those who sin exceedingly are in the Scriptures called "perdition," as we read said in the prophet Ezekiel: "you have become perdition," he says, "and you shall not subsist unto eternal time." There is, therefore, one who by seeking too much "finds perdition," so that, for example, let us say: heretics, to construct and defend their dogmas, search and dispute much in the divine Scriptures, that they may "find perdition." For when they have sought many testimonies by which to buttress the things they perversely hold, they are to be said to have found perdition for themselves. But if perchance one of these, hearing in the church the word of God treated according to the catholic faith, comes to his senses and understands that what he had found is "perdition," "he shall restore," it says, "what he found."

Some think that the precepts of the Old Testament are stricter than those of the New; but these are certainly deceived by careless consideration. For in the Old Testament, not avarice but robbery is punished. There, property unjustly taken is punished by fourfold restitution. But here this rich man is not blamed for taking what belonged to others, but for not giving what was his own.

Both this one, who "found perdition," and that one who found "robbery," and also he who "denied the deposit," and everyone whosoever in any part "has harmed the soul of his neighbor and has sworn unjustly": "he shall restore," it says, "the principal itself and shall add a fifth part over and above, and to him whose it is he shall render it," according, at least, to that exposition concerning the adding of the fifth parts which we have already given before. "And he shall offer," it says, "to the Lord a ram of the sheep without blemish, at a price, for that in which he offended; and the priest shall pray for him before the Lord, and it shall be remitted him for the one of all the things which he did and offended in it." We have said above what it is to offer a "ram," and this one bought "at the price of the holy shekel." Now it remains for us to state that difference — that there he placed "the price of the holy shekel," while here he says only "the price" and has designated neither the amount of the price nor the name of the money. For above, where the law was given for a sin which had been committed in "holy things," we said the "holy shekel" was named, and that "shekel" is the name of a coin, as elsewhere it is called "obol," elsewhere "drachma," elsewhere "mina" or "talent" or "small copper coin" or "denarius." Here, therefore, none of these is named, but only "a ram to be offered at a price" is spoken of. For it makes a difference to sin in holy things and to sin outside holy things. Do you wish to see this same distinction elsewhere too? — Hear how in the books of the Kingdoms the priest Eli says to his sons: "for if a man sins against a man, then the priest shall entreat for him; but if he sins against God, who shall entreat for him?" Similarly also John the Apostle says: "there is a sin unto death; I do not say concerning that, that one should pray." Since therefore there is a diversity of sins, we ought to learn from the spiritual law in which sins only a "ram" is to be bought, and in which one is to be purchased "with the holy shekel"; and let us also inquire who these are that sell the rams. I judge them to be those who dispense the rams for sacrifice, who are also those who sell the oil for the lamps of the virgins, concerning whom the prudent ones said to the foolish virgins: "go to those who sell and buy for yourselves." They sell, therefore, either oil for the lights or rams for the sacrifices — who else but the holy prophets and the Apostles, who, when I have sinned, show me and give me counsel how I ought to correct my errors and amend my sins? Isaiah sells me a "ram" for sacrificing for sin, when he says to me as it were from the person of God: "the whole burnt offerings of rams and the fat of lambs and the blood of bulls and of goats I do not want." And a little after he adds: "take away your wickednesses from your souls, from before your eyes; learn to do good, rescue him who suffers injury, judge for the orphan and do justice for the widow; and come, let us dispute, says the Lord. And though your sins be as scarlet, I will whiten them as snow; but though they be as crimson, I will make them white as wool." Daniel too sells me a "ram," when he says that: "there is no place for sacrificing in your sight, that we might find mercy. But in a contrite soul and a spirit of humility may we be received, as if in a multitude of fat lambs; so let our sacrifice be in your sight today." David too sells us the "ram" of sacrifice, when he says: "a sacrifice to God is a contrite spirit, a broken and humbled heart God does not despise." Since therefore each of the prophets, or even of the Apostles, has given counsel to those who transgress, by which they may be able to correct or amend their sin, they will rightly be seen to have sold rams to these for sacrifice. But what price do they take from those who purchase? That, I suppose, the zeal of reading, the vigils of hearing the words of God, and above all I think the most worthy price is obedience, concerning which the Lord says: "I prefer obedience to sacrifice, and a hearing of the word rather than whole burnt offerings."

After these things it follows: "and the Lord spoke," it says, "to Moses, saying: command Aaron and his sons, saying: this is the law of the whole burnt offering. This whole burnt offering shall be in its burning upon the altar all night until morning, and the fire of the altar shall burn upon it and shall not be extinguished. And the priest shall put on himself the linen tunic, and shall put on the linen undergarment about his body, and shall take away the victim which the fire has consumed, the whole burnt offering, from the altar, and shall place it beside the altar. And he shall strip himself of his robe and be clothed with another robe, and shall cast out the victim which has been burned outside the camp into a clean place. And the fire upon the altar shall burn and shall not be extinguished; and the priest shall burn wood upon it in the morning, and shall heap the whole burnt offering upon it, and shall place upon it the fat of the peace offering; and the fire shall burn always upon the altar and shall not be extinguished." Hear that there ought always to be "fire upon the altar" — you too, if you wish to be a priest of God, as it is written: "for all of you shall be priests of the Lord"; for to you also it is said: "a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a people for possession." If therefore you wish to exercise the priesthood of your soul, let the fire never depart from your altar. This is what the Lord also commanded in the Gospels, that "your loins be girded, and your lamps burning." Let therefore the "fire" of faith and the "lamp" of knowledge be always kindled for you. But also what the Lord said in the Gospel, "your loins girded," this is the very same thing which now too the lawgiver commanded, that the priest be girded with the linen undergarment and thus, the old ashes laid aside, renew the sacred fires. For it behooves us too to say: "behold, the old things have passed away, and all things have become new." For he is girded with the linen undergarment, or, as it is said elsewhere, uses breeches, who has restrained the luxury of flowing lust with the girdle of chastity. For before all things the priest who assists at the divine altars ought to be girded with chastity, nor otherwise will he be able to purge the old things and to restore the new, unless he is clothed in linen. Concerning linen it has often already been said, and then especially, when we were speaking of the priestly garments, that this species holds the form of chastity, because the origin of linen is so brought forth from the earth that it is conceived from no admixture. Yet it must be observed that the priest uses one set of garments while he is in the ministry of the sacrifices, and another when he goes forth to the people. This Paul too did, most learned of high priests and most skilled of priests. He who, when he was in the assembly of the perfect, as though placed within the "holy of holies" and clothed in the robe of perfection, said: "we speak wisdom among the perfect, yet a wisdom not of this world nor of the princes of this world, who are being destroyed; but we speak the wisdom of God hidden in a mystery, which none of the princes of this age knew. For if they had known, they would never have crucified the Lord of majesty." But after these things, as though "going out to the people," he changes his robe and is clothed with another far inferior to that one. And what does he say? "I judged," he says, "that I knew nothing else among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified." You see, therefore, this most learned priest, how, when he is within among the perfect, as it were in the "holy of holies," he uses one robe of doctrine; but when he "goes out" to those who are incapable, he changes the robe of the word and teaches lower things, and gives some "milk" to drink as "little ones," nourishes others with "vegetables" as "weak," but for others prepares "strong food" — namely for those who "according to their capacity of receiving have their senses exercised for the discernment of good or evil." Thus Paul knew how to change robes and to use some for the people, others in the ministry of holy things. But he himself, the high priest of high priests and priest of priests, our Lord and Savior, of whom the Apostle says that "he is the high priest of the good things to come" — hear how he first did these things and thus left them to his disciples to be imitated. The Gospel relates concerning him and says that: "he spoke to the crowds in parables, and without a parable he did not speak to them, but privately he resolved these things for his disciples." You see how he himself taught that the high priest ought to use certain garments when he goes forth "to the crowds," and others when he ministers to the learned and "perfect" in holy things. Whence it is to be desired by us and to be striven for, that Jesus not find us such — so unprepared and so bound up with the cares of the world — that he speak to us as with the crowds "in parables," so that "seeing we do not see and hearing we do not hear"; but rather that we may merit to be found among those to whom he says: "to you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God."

A holocaust is burned on the altar when a good work is performed with the burning fire of charity in the heart of any elect person who is devoted to God completely (that is, with both body and soul). This is done all night until the morning when one does not cease to persevere in good works throughout all the time of his life, until one is taken from the body and merits seeing the morning of the world to come. The fire will be on the same altar, because we ought to be burning with that charity alone which the Lord gives to his church through the Holy Spirit.

That fire is perpetual that is never extinguished on the altar. The altar of God is our heart. Fire must always burn in it, for the flame of charity must always burn on it for God. Day by day, the priest puts wood on the fire, lest it go out. Everyone who has faith in Christ has been made a member of the high priest. The apostle Peter says to all the faithful, "You are an elect people, a royal priesthood." The apostle John says, "You have made us a kingdom and a priesthood for our God." The priest who feeds the fire on the altar and puts wood on it each day is each one of the faithful. To keep the flame of charity from going out in himself, he does not cease to gather both the examples of the elders and the testimonies of Holy Scripture. To call to mind the examples of the fathers or the precepts of the Lord in the practice of charity is to put fuel on the fire. Since this inner newness of ours grows old in the daily living of life, wood must be used to feed that fire. While the fire grows dim as we age, it grows bright again through the testimonies and examples of the fathers. And the command is good, to gather wood each day in the morning. This cannot be done except when the night of darkness is banished. Since morning is the first part of the day and comes when we have put off thoughts of this present life, each of the faithful should think of this task first so that the practice of charity can inflame whatever is just about to die out in him, by the efforts he can make. For that fire on the altar of God— that is, in our hearts—is soon extinguished unless it is carefully maintained by the examples of the fathers and the testimonies of the Lord. Exposition of the Old and New Testament, Leviticus

That fire is perpetual that is never extinguished on the altar. The altar of God is our heart. Fire must always burn in it, for the flame of charity must always burn on it for God. Day by day, the priest puts wood on the fire, lest it go out. Everyone who has faith in Christ has been made a member of the high priest. The apostle Peter says to all the faithful, "You are an elect people, a royal priesthood." The apostle John says, "You have made us a kingdom and a priesthood for our God." The priest who feeds the fire on the altar and puts wood on it each day is each one of the faithful. To keep the flame of charity from going out in himself, he does not cease to gather both the examples of the elders and the testimonies of Holy Scripture. To call to mind the examples of the fathers or the precepts of the Lord in the practice of charity is to put fuel on the fire. Since this inner newness of ours grows old in the daily living of life, wood must be used to feed that fire. While the fire grows dim as we age, it grows bright again through the testimonies and examples of the fathers. And the command is good, to gather wood each day in the morning. This cannot be done except when the night of darkness is banished. Since morning is the first part of the day and comes when we have put off thoughts of this present life, each of the faithful should think of this task first so that the practice of charity can inflame whatever is just about to die out in him, by the efforts he can make. For that fire on the altar of God—that is, in our hearts—is soon extinguished unless it is carefully maintained by the examples of the fathers and the testimonies of the Lord.

The priest who offers the holocaust is the Lord who is himself accustomed to kindle in us the fire of his charity and through it to make the sacrifices of our good actions acceptable to himself. And he is clothed in linen garments when he does these things because, in order that he may excite us to works of virtue, he sets before us the examples of his own incarnation, passion and death, which can be signified by linen, as we have frequently said.

After this: "this is," it says, "the law of the sacrifice which the sons of Aaron the priest shall offer before the altar in the presence of the Lord. He shall take from it a full hand of the fine flour of the sacrifice with its oil and with all its frankincense, which are for the sacrifice, and shall place upon the altar the victim, an odor of sweetness, its memorial to the Lord. But what remains of it, Aaron and his sons shall eat. Unleavened it shall be eaten in a holy place; in the court of the tabernacle of testimony they shall eat it. It shall not be cooked leavened; this portion I have given to them from the offerings of the Lord; they are a holy of holies, as is that for sin and for offense. All the males of the priests shall eat it; a perpetual statute throughout your generations, from the offerings of the Lord. Everyone who touches these things shall be sanctified." In these things which are set forth, indeed the manner of sacrificing is given to the priests, and the observances by which God might be seen to be worshiped, or the people purified, or even by which provision might be made for the priests and ministers in the necessities of sustenance. For a measure is fixed for the "fine flour" to be offered in the sacrifice, which is called "the tenth part of an ephah"; over this "oil" is poured and "frankincense" is placed. But when he comes to the altar, the priest, it says, "shall take from it a full hand," so as to enclose within the fullness of his hand both the "oil" which was poured on and the "frankincense" which was placed on top, that this may be a libation and a "sacrifice" to God for an "odor of sweetness." The rest, it says, let it remain to the priests for eating, but the law delivered these to be eaten "in a holy place, in the court of the tabernacle, so that nothing of them be leavened." "This," it says, "I have given as a portion to the priests, and these are a holy of holies." But he willed this also to be observed, that only the "males eat of it," that no woman touch it. He adds this too, that "he who touches these things shall be sanctified." But if we should now wish to inquire from those who "are Jews in what is manifest" concerning the particulars — for what reason this was said in this way and that in another way — they will satisfy us with a ready answer, saying: so it seemed good to the giver of the law; no one disputes his own master. And therefore, yielding to them in the rest, let us inquire concerning this last statement, that they may say how "everyone who touches of the sacrifice of holy things shall be sanctified." If a murderer touches it, if a profane man, if an adulterer, if one incestuous, will he be sanctified? For he made no exception, but said: "everyone who touches these things shall be sanctified." For let us suppose that even now the state of that temple is intact, that victims are offered, that sacrifices are completed; someone has entered the temple, wicked, unjust, impure, has found the flesh set forth from the sacrifices, has touched it: will he immediately be pronounced sanctified? Indeed in no way does either the nature of the matter or the truth of religion admit this; and therefore we must return to the evangelical and apostolic expositions, that the law may be able to be understood. For unless the Gospel takes away the veil from the face of Moses, his countenance cannot be seen nor his meaning understood. See therefore how in the church the disciples of the Apostles stand by these things which Moses wrote and defend them, that they both can be fulfilled and were written reasonably; but the teachers of the Jews, following the letter, make these things both impossible and unreasonable.

Therefore the sacrifice, for which all these sacrifices had gone before in type and figure, one and perfect — "Christ" has been "immolated." If anyone "touches" the flesh of this sacrifice, he is immediately "sanctified"; if he is unclean, he is healed, if he is under a "plague." Thus at last did she understand — she of whom I made mention a little before, "who was suffering an issue of blood" — that he himself was the flesh of the sacrifice and the flesh of the "holy of holies"; and because she truly understood what was the flesh of the "holy of holies," for this reason she drew near. And indeed she does not dare to touch the holy flesh itself — for she had not yet been cleansed, nor had she grasped the things that are perfect — but she "touched the fringe of the garment" with which the holy flesh was covered, and by her faithful touch she drew forth "power" from the flesh which both sanctified her from uncleanness and "healed" her "from the plague" which she was suffering. Do not the words of Moses seem to you to be able to stand better in this order, in which he says: "everyone who touches of the holy flesh shall be sanctified"? For this flesh, which we have expounded, all who believed "from the nations" have touched. This also that man touched who said: "for we too were once foolish, and unbelieving, going astray, serving desires and various pleasures, acting in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. But when the kindness and humanity of our Savior God shone forth, he saved us through the laver of regeneration and of the renewal of the Holy Spirit." And elsewhere he says: "and these things," he says, "indeed you were, but you have been sanctified, but you have been justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God." For if, as we have said, anyone touches the flesh of Jesus in the manner which we expounded above, with whole faith, with all obedience, and draws near to Jesus as to the Word made flesh, this one has touched the flesh of the sacrifice and has been sanctified. But he too touches the flesh of the Word of whom the Apostle says: "but solid food is of the perfect, of those who according to their capacity of receiving have their senses exercised for the discernment of good and evil." He too, therefore, touches the flesh of the Word of God who examines its inner parts and can explain its hidden mysteries. And we too, if we had such understanding that we could discern by spiritual interpretation each single thing that is written in the law, and bring forth into the light of a subtler knowledge the sacrament veiled in each word; if we could so teach the church that nothing of the things read should remain ambiguous, nothing be left obscure — perhaps it could be said of us too that we have touched the holy flesh of the Word of God and have been sanctified. In this way also I understand that which was said, that "all the males from the priests shall eat it." For no woman, nor a lax and dissolute soul, will be able to eat the holy flesh of the Word of God. A "male" is sought, who may eat them. "Males," finally, are those who are brought into the count; nowhere is a woman, nowhere are "little ones" counted; whence the Apostle too said: "but when I became a man, I put away the things that were of a little one." Such, therefore, is that "male" sought, and such a man, who can eat the holy flesh, and eat it not in any place whatever, but "in a holy place within the court of the tabernacle." Let those hear these things who split the churches and, introducing foreign and perverse doctrines, think that they can eat the sacred flesh outside the temple of God and outside the Lord's court. Profane are their sacrifices, which are performed against the law of the commandment. They are commanded to be eaten "in a holy place," "within the courts of the tabernacle of testimony." The "courts of the tabernacle of testimony" are those which the wall of faith surrounds, which the columns of hope hold up, which the breadth of charity widens. Where these things are not, the holy flesh can neither be had nor eaten.

And well is it that the things which are offered from the sacrifice of fine flour are offered "with a full hand, with oil" and "frankincense, for an odor of sweetness to the Lord." This passage the Apostle Paul briefly explained to the Philippians, saying: "I am filled, having received from Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, an odor of sweetness, a victim accepted, pleasing to God." In which he shows that mercy toward the poor pours oil into the sacrifice of God, but the ministry which is rendered to the saints puts on the sweetness of frankincense. But this is commanded to be done "with a full hand." For thus the same Apostle says, that "he who sows sparingly shall also reap sparingly; but he who sows in blessing shall also reap of blessing." There is, however, something in the sacrifice itself which is called the "memorial," which is said to be offered to the Lord. If I could "meditate day and night in the law of the Lord" and retain all the Scriptures in memory, I would have offered the "memorial" of my sacrifice to the Lord. Surely, if we cannot do all things, let us at least commit to memory those things which are now taught in the church, which are recited, so that, going out from the church and doing works of mercy and fulfilling the divine precepts, we may offer a sacrifice "with frankincense and oil" for a "memorial to the Lord." From these things, therefore, be instructed, that the things you hear in the church you may, like clean animals, as it were ruminating them, call back to memory, and confer with your heart the things that have been said. But if any things exceed your memory and surpass your understanding, do what the authority of the present commandment prescribes, saying: "but what remains of them, Aaron and his sons shall eat." If anything surpasses and exceeds your understanding or your memory, keep it for Aaron, that is, reserve it for the priest, reserve it for the teacher, that he himself may eat these things, he examine them, he expound them; just as elsewhere the same Moses says: "ask your fathers and they will announce to you, your elders and they will tell you." For they themselves know how these unleavened things ought to be eaten and to be expounded "in the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth."

It is added in what follows: "and the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: this is the offering of Aaron and of his sons, which they shall offer to the Lord on the day when you shall anoint him, the tenth part of an ephah of fine flour in sacrifice always, half of it in the morning, and half of it after noon. In a pan it shall be made with oil, sprinkled he shall offer it soft, a sacrifice of fragments, a sacrifice for an odor of sweetness to the Lord. The priest who shall be anointed in his stead from among his sons shall make them; an eternal law; all shall be consummated. And every sacrifice of a priest shall be a whole burnt offering, and shall not be eaten." In the other precepts indeed the high priest furnishes his office to the people in offering the sacrifices; but in this commandment he attends to what is proper to himself and carries out what pertains to himself. For he is commanded "from the day on which he shall be anointed, always and in perpetuity to offer fine flour sprinkled with oil, soft, from a pan." And this he names "a sacrifice of fragments, for an odor of sweetness," and he commands that this remain "by an eternal law" and be transmitted to posterity. He adds, indeed, that it be observed that no "sacrifice of a priest" — that is, what he offers for himself — "be eaten" by anyone, but that it become a "whole burnt offering," which is to be consumed by fire. The precept, indeed, according to the letter is clear, yet I should like to see what type is formed in this and what figure. He wills "half" of this sacrifice to be offered "in the morning" and "half in the evening," a fixed measure of "fine flour sprinkled with oil, soft, from a pan." See whether, as I suspect, this "sacrifice of the priest" is not this very law which is promulgated through Moses, of which "half" is commanded to be offered "in the morning" and "half" indeed "toward evening." Which law he commanded to be divided into two parts, namely into the letter and the spirit. And the "half part" indeed, which is the letter, he commands to be offered "in the morning" — that is, in the first time of the law, which brought forth a new light and a new day to those to whom it was then given according to the letter. But "half" of it he commanded to be offered "in the evening"; for in the evening the coming of the Savior was given to us, in which that "half part" — that is, the meaning or the spirit of the law, according to which "the law is spiritual" — is offered "sprinkled with oil, soft." "Oil" is referred to mercy, which ought to abound in priests. "Soft" pertains to a subtle and pure understanding. But as to what is said, "from a pan," I think that he wishes the priest to be strict and, by much continence, dry and parched, in whom nothing can be found relaxed toward luxury, nothing wavering toward lust. But as to the fact that he named the sacrifice itself "of fragments," "for an odor of sweetness," I think that he wishes the fragments of the priests to be understood, when through them the letter of the law is broken and the spiritual food hidden within is drawn from it; that the hearing "crowds" may be refreshed, just as the Lord too is related to have done in the Gospels, where he blessed the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples, breaking them, set them before the "crowds"; and when all had been satisfied, "there remained," it says, "twelve baskets of fragments." This, therefore, is the "sacrifice of fragments," when we examine in minute detail the holy things of the law, that from them we may take spiritual and pure food. And this, it says, is the "eternal law." John the Apostle indeed in the Apocalypse says there is an "eternal Gospel." We find here too that it is written "eternal law," but those who wish to follow the law according to the letter — I should like them now to tell me how the law of this sacrifice can be "eternal," when indeed, the temple destroyed, the altar overturned, and all the things which were called holy profaned, this rite of sacrifices could not endure. How, then, will they call eternal what is now established to have long ago ceased and been ended? It remains that this law be called "eternal" according to that part in which we say the "law" is "spiritual" and that through it spiritual sacrifices can be offered, which can neither ever be broken in upon nor cease. For they are not in a place which is overturned, or in a time which is changed, but in the faith of the believer and in the heart of the one who sacrifices. Certainly, as to what it says, "it shall not be eaten of the sacrifice of the priest, but it shall be a whole burnt offering," it is certain that this refers to the person of our Lord and Savior; for of his sacrifice "it shall not be eaten, but it shall be a whole burnt offering." In this place the sacrifice is to be taken as the word itself and the doctrine, of which none shall eat — that is, none disputes, none reconsiders, but it is a "whole burnt offering." For whatever he said, whatever he established, endures by an eternal consecration, nor is anyone found so insane or so profane as to be able to reconsider his words; which we ought to hold, as a "whole burnt offering, a sacrifice offered to God," in all worship and veneration; because "heaven and earth shall pass away, but his words shall not pass away," but always remain, just as he himself always remains. Through him to God the Father, with the Holy Spirit, "is glory and dominion unto the ages of ages. Amen!"