OT § 170

"I send you to the sons of Israel, to apostate nations, who have departed from me." It should be noted that it is said: "I send you to the sons of Israel, to apostate nations, who have departed from me." For just as one departs from God in two ways, so in two ways men become apostates from God. For everyone departs from his Creator either by faith or by works. Therefore, just as one who departs from the faith is an apostate, so one who returns to the perverse work which he had abandoned is without any doubt reckoned an apostate from Almighty God, even if he seems to hold the faith. For one without the other avails nothing, because neither does faith help without works, nor works without faith, unless perhaps they are done for the sake of receiving faith; just as Cornelius deserved to be heard for his good works before he became a believer. From this it is gathered that he was doing good works for the sake of receiving faith. For when the angel says to him: "Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial in the sight of God," and immediately on account of that same ascent he is instructed to send for Simon, who should come and preach to him, it is clear that he sought that for which he deserved to be heard.

(Verse 3.) I send you to the children of Israel, to the apostate nations, who have turned away from me. They and their fathers have violated my covenant until this day. They are no longer called the people of God Israel, but rather the apostate nations, those who have turned away from the Lord, not only the fathers, but also the sons. It is not that the sons are guilty because of the sins of their fathers, but rather that the wickedness of both fathers and sons is equal. Furthermore, what the Septuagint translated as 'irritating me' or 'turning into bitterness' signifies that our kind and sweet God is changed into bitterness by our vices. For as it is said to the holy ones: Taste and see that the Lord is sweet (Psalm 33:9); so sinners perceive him as bitter. Therefore the Apostle refers to the goodness and severity of God towards the holy ones and sinners (Romans 21). And concerning the sinners who were lying down, it is written: The Lord raises up the fallen, the Lord loves the just, the Lord loosens the bound (Psalm 145:8). But to the holy ones who stand, he promises rewards.

"Their fathers have transgressed my covenant unto this day, and the sons are of hard face and indomitable heart, to whom I send you." Behold, there is one fault of pride, because they have transgressed the covenant. Behold, another of obstinacy, because even unto this day. Behold, in the iniquity of the sons there is the grave fault of imprudence, because they are of a hard face, since they no longer blush at the evils they do, and never return to repentance even after their faults, because they are of an untamable heart. But when those to whom the prophet is sent are of such great depravity and such great obstinacy, who does not already see that the person of the prophet can be despised by such perverse men? But behold, authority is given to his person, when it is added: "And you shall say to them: Thus says the Lord God." As if it were openly said: Because you will be despised on your own account, it is necessary that you speak from my voice. Lest you yourself who are sent be held in contempt; bringing forth my words, show who sent you.

It is a mark of great mercy that God sends him to such as these and that he does not despair of their salvation; and it is a mark of the trust of the prophet that he does not fear to go to such as these also.

(Verse 4.) And they are sons with a fierce face and an untamed heart, to whom I send you. This is not found in the Septuagint. It is of great mercy to send God to such people and not to despair of their salvation; and it is prophetic confidence that he is not afraid to go to such people as well. But we must understand that with an untamed heart and a fierce face, we should accept what is said to the sinner: Your neck is an iron sinew and your forehead is bronze (Isaiah 48:6). And those who are accused of having a heart of stone in their subsequent actions, God says that He will uproot them and restore them with a heart of flesh, so that they may receive God's commands through His gentleness.

"If perhaps they themselves may hear, and if perhaps they may be still, because it is a provoking house." While it is established that almighty God knows all things, it is greatly to be wondered why it is said: "If perhaps they will hear, and if perhaps they will be still." Therefore we must know that this doubt in God's speech descends not from ignorance, but from some signification. For who does not know that He who made and sees all things knows all things? And Truth itself says in the Gospel concerning the preachers of Antichrist: "They will give great signs and wonders, so as to lead into error, if it be possible, even the elect." Why is this said under doubt, when what will be is foreknown by the Lord? Truly it is one of two things: for if they are elect, it cannot happen; but if it can happen, they are not elect. And yet it is said: "So as to lead into error, if it be possible, even the elect." Therefore this doubt in the Lord's speech was a designation of temptation from the hearts of the elect, because those who are elect unto persisting will be tempted unto falling through the signs of Antichrist's preachers. Therefore by what is said, "If it be possible," this is expressed: that the elect will be tempted in heart. For they waver, but they do not fall. Therefore it is said, "If it be possible," because they will tremble; and yet they are called elect, because they will not fall. Thus the doubt of speech by the Lord expresses in the elect the trepidation of mind. He also calls them elect because He discerns that they persist in faith and good work. Hence here also it is said: "If perhaps they will hear, and if perhaps they will be still." For by what is said, "If perhaps," it is shown that from a great multitude few will hear. Therefore by the doubt in God's words, what else is signified but the fewness of hearers?

It should be noted that after he had spoken of the evils of the deceased parents, sending the prophet to the children he says: "If perhaps even they themselves may hear, and if perhaps they may be still." What does it mean to say "even they themselves," unless because their fathers who died in sin refused to hear? Let us consider, I ask, what power lies in this deficiency of the Lord's discourse, that he says: "If perhaps even they themselves may hear." This is said openly to us, to us who are afflicted, besieged, shut in, who have lost all the good things we had in this world. We see cities torn down, fortresses overthrown, fields laid waste, churches undermined; and yet we still follow our parents into iniquities, we are not changed from their pride which we have witnessed. And indeed they sinned amid joys, but we—what is more grievous—sin even amid scourges. But behold, almighty God, judging iniquities, has already taken away our predecessors, has already called them to judgment. He still waits for us to repent, he still endures us to return. And he who has already exercised judgment upon them extends to us the long-suffering of his patience, lest he destroy us along with our predecessors, saying: "If perhaps even they themselves may hear, and if perhaps they may be still, for they are a rebellious house."

Every soul, even after receiving faith, either persisting in or returning to its perversity, is called a rebellious house, because it repels by wicked conduct God as dweller, whom it had received through faith. For a house is inhabited by its lord. If therefore a house, why rebellious? But if rebellious, why a house, which certainly is no longer inhabited? But it is a house because God had begun to dwell in it through faith; yet it is rebellious because, repelled from it by wicked conduct, he departed, so that it remains empty which the heavenly inhabitant had previously filled. Hence also, as we have learned from the voice of Truth, the most wicked spirit returning with seven others finds the house swept clean, because he fills the mind alienated from virtues.

"And they shall know that a prophet has been in their midst." The knowledge of good things tends to benefit the wicked either as an aid to salvation or as a testimony to their condemnation. Therefore let them know that a prophet has been among them, so that having heard the preaching they may either be helped to rise up, or be condemned in such a way that they lack any excuse.

(Verse 5.) And you shall say to them: Thus says the Lord God: If perhaps they will listen, and if perhaps they will be quiet, for the house is provoking, and they will know that there was a prophet among them. Something similar is written in Jeremiah: If perhaps they will listen and do penance. (Jer. XXVI, 3). And in the Gospel: Perhaps they will fear my son. (Matth. XXI, 37). However, God speaks these things with a doubtful emotion, to demonstrate the free will of man, so that the foreknowledge of future evil or good does not make immutable what God knows will happen. For not because he knows what is about to happen, it is necessary for us to do what he predicted: but because we are going to do it of our own free will, he knows the future like God.

He says "whether they hear or refuse," not out of ignorance but in case any of the obstinate should say that the prediction was what made them disobedient in the first place. He therefore expresses himself in terms of "whether they will" and "it may be." For though they had been obstinate towards his servants, they ought to have shown reverence to the dignity of the Son.

In this Church therefore neither can the evil be without the good, nor the good without the evil. Therefore, dearest brothers, bring back to mind the times past, and strengthen yourselves for the toleration of the evil. For if we are children of the elect, it necessarily remains that we walk by their examples. For he was not good who refused to tolerate the evil. For hence it is that blessed Job asserts of himself, saying: "I was a brother of dragons, and a companion of ostriches." Hence through Solomon it is said in the voice of the bridegroom to holy Church: "As a lily among thorns, so is my beloved among the daughters." Hence the Lord says to Ezekiel: "Son of man, unbelievers and subverters are with you, and you dwell among scorpions." Hence Peter glorifies the life of blessed Lot, saying: "And he rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the injury of the wicked in their conduct; for in sight and hearing he was righteous, dwelling among those who from day to day tormented his righteous soul with their lawless deeds." Hence Paul both praises and strengthens the life of his disciples, saying: "In the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life." Hence John testifies to the Church of Pergamos, saying: "I know where you dwell, where the throne of Satan is, and you hold my name, and you have not denied my faith." Behold, dearest brothers, running through almost all things we recognize that he was not good whom the depravity of the evil did not test. For if I may speak thus, the iron of our soul is by no means brought to the sharpness of a fine edge unless the file of another's depravity has worn it down.

"Therefore you, son of man, do not fear them, nor be afraid of their words, because unbelievers and subverters are with you, and you dwell among scorpions." It is clear to what perverse people he is sent to preach, who is admonished not to fear. And because all wicked people both do other iniquitous things to those who speak good things to them, and still threaten other things, on account of those things which they do it is said: "Do not fear them"; and on account of what they threaten, it is added: "Neither fear their words." Or certainly because the reprobate both inflict evils upon the good and always disparage their actions, the prophet who is sent is admonished neither to fear their cruelty nor to dread their words. In this therefore that is said: "Do not fear," the authority of preaching is given to the prophet. And because all of us who live in God are instruments of truth, so that often He speaks to me through another, and often indeed to others through me; thus the authority of the good word ought to be present in us, so that both he who presides may speak right things freely, and he who is subject may not refuse to offer good things humbly. For the good that is said to a greater by a lesser is then truly good if it is said humbly. For if the rightness of thinking loses the humility of speaking, it has corrupted the root of understanding in the branch of the tongue. Which defect, evidently, is no longer from the branch but from the root, because unless the heart swelled up, the tongue would by no means be proud. Therefore humble authority ought to be present in the superior for speaking, but free humility ought to be present in the lesser.

But often in people this very order of speaking is confused, as we said far above. For sometimes someone speaks through the swelling of pride, and thinks that he speaks through the authority of freedom; and sometimes another keeps silent through foolish fear, and thinks that he keeps silent through humility. The former, attending to the position of his governance, does not measure the feeling of his pride; the latter, considering the position of his subjection, fears to say the good things which he perceives, and does not know how guilty he becomes against charity by keeping silent. Thus indeed pride cloaks itself under the guise of authority, and human fear cloaks itself under the guise of humility, so that often neither the one is able to consider what he owes to God, nor the other what he owes to his neighbor. For the one, while he looks upon those who are subject to him and does not attend to Him to whom all are subject, is lifted up in elation and glories in his elation as though it were authority. The other, however, sometimes fearing lest he lose the favor of a superior and thereby suffer some temporal loss, conceals the right things he understands, and silently within himself calls the very fear by which he is constrained humility. But the one to whom he is unwilling to say anything, he judges in his thoughts by remaining silent; and it happens that from the very thing by which he considers himself humble, he is more gravely proud. Therefore freedom and pride must always be distinguished, as must humility and fear, lest either fear pretend to be humility, or pride pretend to be freedom. And so Ezekiel, because he was being sent to speak not only to the people but also to the elders, lest he believe imprudent fear to be humility, is admonished that he ought not to fear, when it is said: "Do not fear them." And lest perhaps he dread the words of their disparagement, it is added: "Neither be afraid of their words."

But why he ought not to fear the tongues of detractors, the reason is also added, when it is immediately subjoined: "Because the unbelieving and subverters are with you, and you dwell among scorpions." For those to whom he was sent to speak would need to be feared if they had pleased Almighty God in faith and work. But because they are unbelieving and subverters, detracting in their words, they are not to be feared, because it is very foolish if we seek to please those whom we know do not please the Lord. But the judgments of the just ought to be held in fear and reverence, because they are members of Almighty God, and they reprove on earth that which the Lord rebukes from heaven. For the detraction of the perverse is the approbation of our life, because it is already shown that we have something of justice if we begin to displease those who do not please God. For no one can be pleasing in one and the same matter to the Almighty Lord and to His enemies. For he denies himself a friend to God who pleases His enemy. And he will be opposed to the enemies of truth who is subjected to that same truth in his mind. Whence holy men, inflamed in the rebuke of free speech, do not fear to arouse against themselves the hatred of those whom they know do not love God. Which the Prophet ardently displaying, offered to the Creator of all as if in a gift, saying: "Did I not hate those who hate You, O God, and waste away over Your enemies? With perfect hatred I hated them, and they have become enemies to me."

As if he openly says: Consider how much I love You, since I do not fear to arouse against myself the enmities of Your enemies. Hence indeed he says: "Those who render evil for good detracted from me, because I followed after justice." Very good is what the just man renders, when he contradicts with free voice those who act wickedly. But the perverse render evil for good when they detract from the just, because they maintain a defense of justice against them. For the just do not look to human judgments, but to the examination of the eternal Judge, and therefore they despise the words of detractors. Hence indeed Paul said to the detracting Corinthians: "But to me it is a very small thing to be judged by you or by a human day." Who, not finding even in his own heart anything for which he could reprove himself, adds: "But neither do I judge myself." But seeing that not even his own judgment would suffice for him toward the perfection of holiness, he added: "But I am not justified in this." Why indeed he did not trust even himself concerning himself, he rendered the reason when he subjoins: "But He who judges me is the Lord." As if he openly says: I do not think my own judgment about myself should be trusted, because He judges me whose judgment I do not comprehend.

Hence blessed Job, when through the tongues of detracting friends he suffered the darts of words amid the pains of his wounds, immediately ran back in thought to his conscience, and looked to where he might have a firm mind, saying: "Behold, for my witness is in heaven, and my advocate is on high." Who also added: "My friends are full of words; my eye drips tears to God." For in everything that is said about us, we must always silently return to the mind, seeking the inner witness and judge. For what does it profit if all praise when conscience accuses? Or what can it harm if all disparage us, and conscience alone defends us? Blessed Job therefore, persisting with unbending mind amid the tongues of detractors, because he saw himself attacked on earth by false speeches, sought a witness in heaven. Hence Isaiah says: "My people, those who call you blessed deceive you, and destroy the way of your steps." Lest this people attend to the words of their own praise and perish more deeply in faults, it is immediately said whom he should look upon, whose judgment he should fear, when it is added: "The Lord stands to judge, he stands to judge the peoples." As if it were openly said: Why do you follow human judgments, you who know that the heavenly judge stands above you?

Hence it is that Truth denies that John the Baptist was a reed shaken by the wind, saying: "What did you go out into the desert to see? A reed shaken by the wind?" That he said this by way of denial, not affirmation, the following words testify. For he says: "But what did you go out into the desert to see? A man clothed in soft garments? Behold, those who are clothed in soft garments are in the houses of kings." Now a reed shaken by the wind is at one moment raised up by the blasts, at another moment bent down by the blasts. But every weak soul that is either cast down by disparagement or exalted by praises is a reed shaken by the wind. This John was not, because he maintained an unbending summit of mind amid both the praises and the disparagement of men.

But the matter requires great inquiry: when we hold to the path of right action, whether we should always despise the words of detractors, or certainly sometimes restrain them. On this matter it must be known that we ought not to stir up the tongues of detractors by our own effort, lest they themselves perish; yet when they are stirred up through their own malice, we ought to bear them with equanimity, so that our merit may increase. Sometimes, however, we should also restrain them, lest while they spread evil things about us, they corrupt the hearts of the innocent who could have heard us unto good. For this is why John rebuked the tongue of his detractor, saying: "Diotrephes, who loves to have the preeminence among them, does not receive us; therefore, if I come, I will call attention to his works which he does, prating against us with malicious words." Hence Paul likewise speaks of the detracting Corinthians, saying: "'His letters,' they say, 'are weighty and powerful, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible.' Let such a person consider this: that what we are in word through letters when absent, such we will be also in deed when present." Those whose life is set forth as an example for imitation ought, if they can, to restrain the words of detractors against themselves, lest those who could have heard should not hear their preaching, and, remaining in wicked ways, should despise living well.

But in this matter, it is necessary that the mind investigate itself with subtle inquiry, lest perhaps it seek the glory of its own praise, and our thought pretend that it seeks the gain of souls. For often the mind is fed by praise of its own name, and as if under the pretext of spiritual gains, it rejoices when it learns that good things are said about it. And often it grows angry against detractors in defense of its own glory, and pretends to itself that it does this out of zeal for those whose hearts the word of the detractor disturbs from the good path. Therefore, those who, examining their conscience subtly, find in themselves nothing of the love of private glory, ought greatly to take care that the words of detractors do not prevail against their reputation.

For this is why the just and perfect sometimes proclaim their virtues and narrate the good things they have received from God—not so that they themselves might advance by displaying them before men, but so that they might draw those to whom they preach toward life by their own example. Hence the apostle Paul narrates to the Corinthians how many times he was beaten with rods, how many times stoned, how many times he endured shipwreck, how much he suffered for the truth, that he was caught up to the third heaven, that he was led into paradise—so that he might turn their minds away from false preachers, so that while he made known what sort of man he was, those whom he knew they wrongly venerated might become worthless in their eyes. When the perfect do this—that is, when they speak of their own virtues—in this too they are imitators of almighty God, who speaks His own praises to men so that He might be known by men. For when He commands through His Scripture, saying, "Let another praise you, and not your own mouth," how does He Himself do what He forbids? But if almighty God were silent about His virtues, no one would recognize Him; if no one recognized Him, no one would love Him; if no one loved Him, no one would return to life. Hence it is also said of Him through the Psalmist: "He will announce the power of His works to His people, that He may give them the inheritance of the nations." Therefore He announces His virtues not so that He Himself might advance by His own praises, but so that those who have come to know Him from His praise might come to the perpetual inheritance. Thus the just and perfect are not blameworthy not only when they rebuke words of reproach against themselves, but also when they speak to the weak about the virtues they possess, because through their own life which they recount they seek to bring the souls of others to life.

Concerning these matters, however, it should be known that they never reveal their good deeds unless, as I said, either the benefit of their neighbors or certainly extreme necessity compels them. Hence the Apostle Paul, when he had enumerated his virtues to the Corinthians, added: "I have become foolish; you compelled me." But it sometimes happens that when compelled by necessity, in the good things they report about themselves, they seek not the benefit of others but their own, just as blessed Job enumerates his deeds, saying: "I was an eye to the blind and a foot to the lame; I was a father to the poor, and the case I did not know I investigated most diligently." And many other things which he recalls having often done. But because, placed in the wound of his suffering, he was said by his reproaching friends to have acted impiously and to have been violent toward his neighbors and an oppressor of the poor, the holy man, caught between the scourges of God and the words of human reproach, saw his mind severely shaken and driven toward the pit of despair; he could have fallen at any moment had he not recalled to memory his good deeds, so that his spirit might be led back to hope, lest, overwhelmed by words and wounds, he perish in despair. Therefore, when he enumerates his good deeds, he does not desire to become known to others as if seeking praise, but he restores his spirit to hope.

Thus the righteous, just as they sometimes speak of the good things they do without arrogance, so too without zeal for private glory they refute the tongues of those who detract from them, because they speak harmful things. But when the tongues of detractors cannot be corrected, they must be tolerated with equanimity in all things. Nor should the speech of disparagement be feared, lest while the criticism of the perverse is dreaded, the path of right action be abandoned. Hence it is now said to the prophet Ezekiel: "Do not fear their words, because the unbelieving and the subversive are with you."

They would be less evil if those who are unbelieving had not also been subverters. For since they themselves do not believe that there are rewards of the heavenly kingdom or punishments of hell, abandoned to their own depravities, they subvert others as well from faith and good works, so that the kingdom which they themselves refuse to seek, another might not attain either. For when they perceive that certain tender souls are beginning good things and now avoiding evil, by mocking what is promised in heaven, by despising what almighty God threatens concerning the punishments of hell, by praising temporal goods, and by promising with cunning persuasion the pleasures of the present age, they turn aside the minds of the innocent and pervert their paths. They rejoice if they can call anyone back from life and drag them to death; they take delight in their own depravities and exult in those of others as well. Their own punishment is certainly not enough for those who act so as not to die alone.

But if perhaps they find someone righteous of such great virtue that they do not presume to speak contrary things to him, since they cannot be subverters, they immediately become scorpions. For the scorpion advances by caressing, but strikes with its tail; it does not bite from the front, but harms from behind. Therefore all who are flattering and malicious are scorpions, who do not resist the good to their face, but as soon as they have departed they disparage them, they inflame others whom they can, they send forth whatever harm they can, and they do not cease to inflict deadly wounds secretly. Scorpions therefore are those who appear flattering and harmless to the face, but carry behind their back that from which they pour forth poison. For those who strike in secret, as it were, draw death stealthily. Hence it is also said through the Psalmist: "They surrounded me like bees, and they blazed like fire among thorns." For bees have honey in their mouth, but a wound in the sting of their tail. And all who flatter with their tongue but secretly strike from malice are bees, because by speaking they offer the sweetness of honey, but by striking secretly they inflict a wound. But those doing these things blaze like fire among thorns, because through the flames of detractors it is not the life of the righteous that is burned, but if there were any thorns of sins in them, they are consumed. Therefore let it be said: "The unbelieving and subverters are with you, and you dwell among scorpions." Unbelieving toward God, subverters toward their weak neighbors, but scorpions even toward the strong and robust. Though they do not presume to contradict these to their face, yet they secretly inflict the wound of disparagement. For they are at once unbelieving and subverters and scorpions, because they do not believe the things of God when they hear them, and they subvert from good morals those whom they can prevail upon, and those whom they cannot bend they strike with hidden machinations.

In this matter it should also be noted that when it is said to the prophet: "The unbelieving and the subverters are with you, and you dwell among scorpions," a remedy of consolation is offered to us, whom it often wearies to live when we do not wish to dwell with the wicked. For we complain why all who live with us are not good. We do not wish to bear the evils of our neighbors; we decree that all ought already to be saints, while we do not wish to be what we must bear from our neighbors. But in this matter it is clearer than light that, while we refuse to bear the wicked, how much we ourselves still lack of goodness. For no one is perfectly good unless he has also been good among the wicked. Hence blessed Job declares of himself, saying: "I was a brother of dragons and a companion of ostriches." Hence the apostle Paul says to his disciples: "In the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom you shine as lights in the world." Hence Peter, the pastor of the Lord's flock, says: "He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the injurious conduct of the wicked. For he was righteous in sight and hearing, dwelling among those who from day to day tormented the soul of the righteous man with their lawless deeds."

Often indeed when we complain about the life of our neighbors, we try to change our place, to choose the seclusion of a more remote life; evidently not knowing that if the spirit is lacking, the place does not help. For that same Lot of whom we speak stood holy in Sodom, yet sinned on the mountain. Moreover, that places do not fortify the mind, the first parent of the human race himself testifies, who fell even in paradise. But all these things we speak from earth are less significant. For if a place could have saved, Satan would not have fallen from heaven. Whence the Psalmist, seeing that there are temptations everywhere in this world, sought a place where he might flee, but could not find one fortified without God. For which reason he asked that God himself become his place, on account of which place he sought, saying: "Be to me a God of protection and a fortified place, that you may make me safe." Therefore neighbors must be tolerated everywhere, because one cannot become Abel whom the malice of Cain does not exercise.

There is, however, one reason why the society of the wicked must be avoided: lest, if by chance they cannot be corrected, they draw others to imitation; and since they themselves are not changed from their wickedness, they may pervert those who have been joined to them. Hence Paul says: "Evil communications corrupt good manners." And as it is said through Solomon: "Do not be a friend to an angry man, nor walk with a furious man, lest perhaps you learn his ways and take a stumbling block to your soul." Therefore, just as perfect men ought not to flee from perverse neighbors, because they often draw them to righteousness and are themselves never drawn to perversity, so all who are weak ought to avoid the society of the wicked, lest they be delighted to imitate the evils which they frequently observe and cannot correct. For in this way, by hearing the words of our neighbors daily, we take them into our mind, just as by breathing in and out we draw air into our body. And just as bad air drawn in by constant breathing infects the body, so perverse speech constantly heard infects the mind of the weak, so that it wastes away with delight in wicked work and the iniquity of continual discourse.

"Do not fear their words, and do not dread their faces, because it is a rebellious house." The good are to be feared lest they be offended, lest perchance through them He who always dwells in their hearts be provoked to wrath. For, as was said above, if we offend the wicked, we ought not to fear at all, since our action displeases those whom the justice of the Creator does not please either. What then is to be feared if those are ungrateful to us who are not lovable to God? Hence it is rightly said now: "Fear not their words, and dread not their faces, because it is a provoking house." As if it were openly said: They would be to be feared, unless they provoked me by their actions.

Do not think yourselves to be deceived if you are sent to those who do not hear what you are saying. You must understand that I am preaching to you because they are of unsound mind and they gather together against you and they surround you, leaving no escape to you. For they do this because they are faithless and spurn the commands of God.

Verse 6: Therefore, son of man, do not fear them, nor be afraid of their words, because they are unbelievers and destroyers with you. LXX: And you, son of man, do not fear them, nor be afraid of their presence: because they are insane, and they will gather against you in a circle. Though they may have hard necks and stubborn hearts, my commandments are stronger. And do not think yourself deceived if you are sent to those who do not listen to you. Behold, I foretell to you that they will go mad, and gather together against you, and surround you, leaving you no escape. And they will do this because they are unbelievers and despise the commands of God.

And you live with scorpions. Do not fear their words, and do not fear their faces, for their house is unsettling. They are capable of striking with a curved wound, and with a stinging sting, so that the same blow may open both skin and spread venom. Each one is called by their own behavior. And to the scribes, it is said: Generation of vipers (Matthew 23:33). And of Herod, who was a fox, it is said: Go and tell that fox (Luke 13:32). And false prophets are compared to foxes in this same Prophet. And now they are said to be scorpions with an untameable heart. Hence, we read in the Gospel: All who came before me were thieves and robbers, and the sheep did not hear them (John 10:8). And how did the lost sheep of the house of Israel hear their adversaries? From this it is shown that those who hear thieves and robbers have lost the name of sheep and have taken on other names, so that they have not perished like sheep, but like vipers, foxes, and scorpions.

The soul that enjoys the watering that comes from the words of God produces in abundance, flourishes and teems with the fruit of the Spirit. But when a soul has become dry, is left uncared for and needs such watering, it becomes desert, its vines grow wild, it produces an abundance of thorns. And these thorns have the natural characteristics of sin. For where there are thorns, there will you find snakes, serpents, scorpions and every power of the devil.

Are there not revilings in Ezekiel directed against the people, when the Lord says, "you dwell among scorpions"?

Perhaps you fear the looks of your relatives sitting around and are afraid to offend them as they press and crowd around your beds. The Lord says through the prophet, "Be not afraid of them, be not dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house." You must also be unafraid and constant; do not fear their faces or be broken by their display.

"Therefore you shall speak my words to them, if perhaps they may hear and be still, because they are provokers." Everyone who sins, what else does he do but provoke the wrath of his Creator against himself? And we know that as often as we transgress in deed, as often in word, as often in thought, we provoke God against us just as many times. But nevertheless He endures, and mercifully waits, offering patience through Himself, but through His preachers He extends to us the word of exhortation. Moreover, everyone who preaches what is right, if he is heard, appeases the wrath of the provoked Creator over the transgressing people. Hence it is necessary that he himself ought not to do evil, which is accustomed to provoke the fury of his Creator among the people.

(Vers. 7, 8.) And you shall speak my words to them: if perhaps they will hear, and be afraid, or be quiet, since they are provokers. But you, son of man, hear what I speak to you. Therefore, you must not cease, although they are wicked to whom we speak; indeed, according to the Apostle (II Tim. IV), we must preach the word of God opportune and importune, because it is possible that even a stubborn person may be corrected to gentleness, and someone who is obedient, with a change of will, may not hear.

Do not be exasperating, as the house is exasperating. Once we said to put exasperation, or irritation, seventy bitterness. Therefore, what he says is this: You should not imitate those whom you are sent to correct, lest you deserve a similar sin and punishment.

Open your mouth and eat what I give you. Be worthy, he says, to my words, and receive spiritual food, so that as it is said in the Gospel: He who has ears to hear, let him hear (Luke 8:8); and here it is said: He who has an open mouth to eat, let him eat. Hence the Lord speaks to the Psalmist: Open your mouth, and I will fill it (Psalm 81:10). And he responded: I opened my mouth and drew in the spirit (Psalm 119:131). And the Apostle Paul, who had in himself the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, and in whom the Lord Christ spoke, writes to the Corinthians: My mouth is open to you, O Corinthians (2 Cor. VI, 11). And Matthew reports about the Savior: Opening his mouth, he taught the disciples (Matt. V, 2).

And I saw, and behold a hand was sent to me. For the hand that is sent, they translated it as extended in the Septuagint. It is sent and extended to those who receive blessings. But it is contracted by those to whom the prophet speaks: 'Has the hand of the Lord been shortened and contracted?' (Isaiah 50:2). And in the Psalm: 'Why do you withdraw your hand and your right hand from your bosom to the end?' (Psalm 73:11). Finally, he stretched out his wings in suffering, he received the disciples, and he carried them on his shoulders, and he spoke: 'All day long I have spread out my hands to a disobedient and opposing people' (Isaiah 65:2), to gather the children of Israel, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings. And by the stretching out of Moses' hands, Israel overcame Amalek (Exodus 17).

"But you, son of man, hear whatever I speak to you, and do not be provoking, as the provoking house is." That is, do not yourself do the evil things which you see being done, lest you yourself commit what you were sent to prohibit. For every preacher must always consider with attentive mind, lest he who was sent to raise up the fallen should himself fall into wickedness of deed along with the fallen, and lest the sentence of Paul strike him who says: "In what you judge another, you condemn yourself." Whence Balaam, filled with the Spirit of God for speaking, yet still held in carnal life by his own spirit, speaks of himself, saying: "The hearer of the words of God has spoken, who knows the doctrine of the Most High, and sees the visions of the Almighty, who falling has his eyes open." He had his eyes open while falling, who saw the right thing that he should say, but despised living rightly. Falling, that is, in perverse work, and having his eyes open in holy preaching.

There is, however, another thing that can be understood as to why blessed Ezekiel, who is sent to preach, is forbidden to be rebellious. For unless he obeyed when he was sent to speak words, he would have provoked the almighty Lord—just as the people provoked Him by their perverse deeds, so the prophet would have provoked Him by his silence. For just as the wicked provoke God because they speak or do evil things, so sometimes the good provoke Him because they remain silent about good things. Therefore, for the former it is a fault to do perverse things; for the latter, to remain silent about right things. In this respect, then, even the good provoke God along with the wicked, because when they do not rebuke perverse things, they grant them license to continue through their silence.

"Open your mouth and eat whatever I give you." We open our mouth when we speak rightly; and we eat what we receive from God, because the food of life is both granted and increased in our understanding when we begin to preach. Hence another prophet says: I opened my mouth and drew in the spirit. For he would not have drawn in the spirit unless he had opened his mouth, because unless he had devoted himself to preaching to his neighbors, the grace of spiritual teaching would not have grown in him.

You must not imitate those whom you are sent to correct, in case the same sin should merit exactly the same punishment.

"And I looked, and behold, a hand was sent to me, in which was a rolled-up book; and he spread it out before me, and it was written inside and outside." Just as the order of preachers is designated by the prophet, so the pages of Sacred Scripture are designated by the book which he received. Now the scroll is the obscure speech of Sacred Scripture, which is wrapped up in the profundity of its meanings, so that it may not easily be penetrated by the understanding of all. But the scroll is unrolled before the prophet, because the obscurity of sacred speech is opened before preachers. The hand of God had extended a rolled-up scroll when He was saying to the apostles: "The kingdom of heaven has become like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. And when the grass had grown and produced fruit, then the weeds also appeared," and the rest which your charity remembers even without my recounting it. But He unrolled the scroll which He had shown rolled up when He explained what He had spoken through riddles, saying: "He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world. The good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; but the weeds are the sons of wickedness. The enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the consummation of the age, and the harvesters are angels. Therefore just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so it will be at the consummation of the age." And so the rolled-up scroll is unrolled when what had been set forth obscurely is opened through the breadth of understanding. Truth unrolled this rolled-up scroll when He accomplished in His disciples what is written: "Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures."

Concerning this book it is further added: "Which was written within and without." For the book of sacred eloquence is written within through allegory, without through history. Within through spiritual understanding, but without through the simple sense of the letter, still suited to those who are weak. Within, because it promises invisible things; without, because it arranges visible things through the rectitude of its precepts. Within, because it promises heavenly things, but without because it teaches how earthly things are to be despised, whether they are to be used or fled from out of desire. For it speaks certain things concerning heavenly secrets, but commands other things in external actions. And indeed those things which it commands outwardly are plain, but those things which it narrates concerning internal matters cannot be fully apprehended.

Whence it is written: "Stretching out the heaven like a skin, who covers its upper parts in the waters." For what is signified by the name of heaven except sacred Scripture? From which the sun of wisdom, and the moon of knowledge, and from the ancient Fathers the stars of examples and virtues shine for us. This is stretched out like a skin, because, formed through the tongue of flesh by its writers, it is unfolded before our eyes by being expounded through the words of teachers. But what is signified by the name of waters except the most holy choirs of angels? Of which it is written: "And let the waters that are above the heavens praise the name of the Lord." The Lord covers the upper parts of this heaven in the waters, because the deep things of sacred eloquence, that is, those things which it narrates concerning the nature of divinity or concerning eternal joys, while we are still ignorant, are known to the angels alone in secret. Therefore this heaven is both stretched out before us, and yet its upper parts are covered in the waters, because both certain things of sacred eloquence now lie open to us through the opening of the spirit, and certain things which can be manifest to the angels alone are still kept hidden from us. Concerning which hidden things, however, we already perceive a part through spiritual understanding, we have already received the pledge of the Holy Spirit, because we have not yet fully known these things, and yet we love them from the depths of our heart, and in many spiritual senses which we have already known, we are fed with the food of truth.

Let him therefore say: "Which was written within and without," because in sacred eloquence the strong are satisfied by more hidden and sublime sayings, and we little ones are nourished by plainer precepts. Whence it is written: "The high mountains are for the deer, the rock is a refuge for the hedgehogs." For let those have the mountains of understanding who already know how to make the leaps of contemplation. But let the rock be a refuge for the hedgehogs, because we little ones, covered with the thorns of our sins, even if we cannot understand lofty things, are saved in the refuge of our rock, that is, in faith in Christ. Whence also it is said to certain ones: "I judged myself to know nothing among you except Christ Jesus, and him crucified." As if he were saying: Because I considered that you could not grasp the mysteries of his divinity, I spoke to you only of the weakness of his humanity.

The scroll symbolizes the prophets and the apostles. In it the Old Testament was written on the reverse and the New on the obverse. Moreover, the scroll symbolizes the secret, the spiritual teaching—and in such a dignified manner that it may be read on both sides. In reality it is of such a kind that there is a connection between reading the outside and understanding the inside.

If God were to stand up as the avenger of sin, the church would lose many of its saints and certainly would be deprived of the apostle Paul.

(Verse 9.) In which was a wrapped book, and he unfolded it before me, and it was written inside and outside: and there were written in it lamentations, and a song, and woe. And he said to me: Son of man, whatever you find, eat. Concerning the wrapped book, the seventy chapters of the book were translated. In the hand of the Lord sitting on the throne, which was sent and extended. Concerning which it is also said in the Psalms: In the chapter of the book it is written about me (Psalm 39:8). Chapter, let us understand the beginning. This book was wrapped and sealed, written inside and outside, or before and after, of such difficulty that no one was able to open and read it, neither in heaven, nor on earth, nor underneath the earth, except the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David and Jesse, whom John in the Apocalypse said devoured it (Rev. 5), not whole, but in a chapter, that is, in the beginning. For it is impossible for human nature to devour the entire treasure of this book. And He unfolded it before the prophet, and He made it available to be read and understood, who is said to be marked in Isaiah as belonging to the people who do not believe (Isa. XXIX). For even to this day the veil is placed upon the Jews in the old Testament. And it was written before and after; concerning things to come and concerning things past. Truly, outwardly in historical writing, but inwardly in spiritual understanding, of which the Psalmist says: The glory of the king's daughter is from within (Psal. XLIV, 14). And there were written in it both inward and outward lamentations, and song, and woe. Lamentations, concerning those who are called to penance, just as Samuel and the Apostle Paul mourned and lamented for Saul and the Corinthians, whom they desired to save (2 Chronicles 16; 2 Corinthians 12). Song about those who are worthy of God's testimony, and whom the Psalmist commands: Sing to the Lord a new song (Psalm 95 and 97, verse 1). Furthermore, woe to those who have completely despaired and, when they come into the depths of sin, they scorn (Prov. XVIII).

Both reason and faith lead to the splendors of exemplarity. But beyond, there is a threefold help for rising to the exemplary principles: the sensible creatures, the rational creatures, and the sacramental scriptures; and this help contains a mystery. As regards the first, the whole world is a shadow, a way, and a trace; a book "with writing front and back." Indeed, in every creature there is a refulgence of the divine exemplar, but mixed with darkness: hence it resembles some kind of opacity combined with light. Also, it is a way leading to the exemplar. As you notice that a ray of light coming in through a window is colored according to the shades of the different panes, so the divine ray shines differently in each creature and in the various properties. Again, it is a trace of God's wisdom. Wherefore the creature exists only as a kind of imitation of God's wisdom, as a certain plastic representation of it. And for all these reasons, it is a kind of book "written without."

And so, when the soul sees these things, it seems to it that it should go through them from shadow to light, from the way to the end, from the trace to truth, from the book to veritable knowledge which is in God. To read this book is the privilege of the highest contemplatives, not of natural philosophers; for the former alone know the essence of things, and do not consider them only as traces.

Another help is that provided by the spiritual creature, which resembles light, a mirror, an image, "a scroll written within." Every spiritual substance is light. At the same time, it is a mirror, for it receives and represents all things; and it has the nature of light, so that it may even pass judgment on things. For the whole world is described in the soul. It is also an image. Since it is both light and mirror containing images of things, it is image too. And hence it is "a scroll written within." And for this reason nothing can penetrate the intimate center of the soul, unless it is simple—meaning that nothing can penetrate its powers. For according to Augustine, the most intimate part of the soul is its summit, and the more a power is interior, the higher it is.

But the third help is that of sacramental Scripture. For the whole of Scripture is the heart of God, the mouth of God, the tongue of God, the pen of God, "a scroll written within and without." Wherefore it is a scroll "written without," because it contains beautiful stories and teaches the properties of things, and also "written within," because it contains mysteries and different possible interpretations.

In this consideration, moreover, lies the perfection of the mind's illumination, when, as on the sixth day, it sees man made in the image of God. For if an image is an expressive likeness, when our mind contemplates in Christ the Son of God, who is the image of the invisible God by nature, our humanity so wonderfully exalted, so ineffably united, seeing at once in one the first and the last, the highest and the lowest, the circumference and the center, the Alpha and the Omega, the caused and the cause, the Creator and the creature, the book, that is, written within and without: it has now arrived at a certain perfect reality, so that with God it may reach the perfection of its illuminations in the sixth stage, as on the sixth day; nor does anything further remain except the day of rest, in which through the ecstasy of the mind the keenness of the human mind may rest from every work which it had accomplished.

"And there were written in it lamentations, a song, and woe." There is no doubt that "song" (carmen) is sometimes used in a good sense and sometimes in a bad sense, because we can speak of both a joyful song and a mournful song. But following the usage of Sacred Scripture, which almost always uses "song" in connection with prosperity, we take "song" in this passage as said in a good sense. For when almighty God had delivered His people from the Red Sea, it is written: "Then Moses and the children of Israel sang a song to the Lord." And when David had achieved victory over his enemies, it is written: "David spoke to the Lord the words of this song." Solomon also says: "Like vinegar on soda is one who sings songs to a wicked heart." For if vinegar is poured on soda, the soda immediately fizzes and bubbles up. And when a perverse mind is rebuked through correction, or is urged toward good through the sweetness of preaching, it becomes worse from the correction; and it is inflamed thereby into the wickedness of murmuring, when it ought to have been restrained from wickedness. Through Elihu also it is said concerning the ungrateful man who despairs of himself: "And he did not say, 'Where is He who made me, who gives songs in the night?'" For a song in the night is joy in tribulation. We receive a song in the night when amid present afflictions we are consoled by future joys. The Apostle was showing us a song in the night when he said: "Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation." David indicates that he has a song in the night, saying: "You are my refuge from the distress that surrounds me; my exultation, deliver me from those surrounding me." For he who recounts that he is surrounded by distresses, and yet declares that God is his exultation, without doubt sings a song in the night. Therefore, since Sacred Scripture has almost always been accustomed to use "song" in a good sense, it ought to be understood by us in this passage in the same way.

But "woe" in Sacred Scripture is more often understood of eternal grief than of present grief. Whence it is written: "Woe to the wicked unto evil; for the retribution of his hands shall be made to him." And blessed Job speaks, saying: "If I be wicked, woe unto me; but if I be just, I shall not lift up my head, being filled with affliction and misery." For the affliction of the just is temporal. Therefore the woe which he spoke he distinguished from temporal affliction, since he declared that the just man has affliction, and the wicked man has woe. Truth also says through herself: "Woe to the world because of scandals," and, "Woe to you who laugh, for you shall weep." And, "Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing in those days." Therefore we must consider how these three things are written in the sacred volume: lamentations, song, and woe.

Lamentations, that is, because repentance for sins is written in it. Song, because there the joys of the righteous are foretold. Woe, because there the damnation of the reprobate is expressed. Therefore, that you may punish your sins, read the lamentations written in this volume: "Rend your hearts, and not your garments." And again: "Be miserable and mourn; let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to sorrow." But that you may rejoice in the promise of following joy, learn the songs of eternal praise written in this volume: "Blessed are they who dwell in your house, O Lord, they shall praise you forever and ever." And as it is said by a certain wise man concerning the heavenly Jerusalem: "And all its streets shall be paved with precious and pure stone, and through all its lanes alleluia shall be sung." The citizens of the heavenly homeland had come to announce this song to us, who cried out in harmony: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will."

But if you still cling in mind to the present age, if you still delight in earthly pleasures, you cannot love the eternal joys you hear about. Therefore learn the woe that is written in this volume, and drive from your soul through fear what you love, so that from the judgment you may be able to love the song you read. For there under the figure of one condemned the whole multitude of the reprobate is represented, when it is said by the voice of Truth: "Binding his feet and hands, cast him into the outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." For then the reprobate fall into outer darkness, because now they cast themselves down into inner darkness of their own will, so that they would follow the light of truth neither by believing nor by doing good. Bound in feet and hands they are commanded to be cast out, because now while it is the time for working and running, they refused to have free hands and feet for good action. There the woe of the reprobate is written: "Their worm shall not die, and their fire shall not be quenched." There it is said to the damned and rejected: "Depart from me, you cursed, into eternal fire, which has been prepared for the devil and his angels."

In this volume, therefore, all things that edify, all things that instruct, are contained in writing. For you have sinned, and now you repent of having committed unlawful deeds—that you may be taught to do penance, there you find lamentations. You desire to refresh your mind with hope of heavenly joys—there you find a song for your consolation. But if you have both committed evils and do not repent of having committed them, but raise the neck of your mind, bow down to no lamentations of penance, and are corrected by no expectation of heavenly joys, whether you will or not, you shall hear the woe written there, so that he whom neither fear humbles to repentance nor hope exalts to heavenly rewards may now foresee the punishment of his damnation and fall into eternal torment without excuse.

What then, brothers, what must we wretched ones do, except that we awaken to the words of this book and punish with tears the evils we remember having committed, so that through the laments of repentance we may arrive at the song of life? Lest, if we are unwilling to be afflicted now by repenting, we feel woe afterward without end. Nor should the multitude of our wounds cast us down into despair, because the power of the physician is greater than the magnitude of our weakness. For what is there that he cannot restore to health, who was able to create all things from nothing? For he is the Only-begotten, coeternal with the almighty Father, who lives and reigns with him in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God through all ages of ages. Amen.

I take it to be similar in the case of the book mentioned by Ezekiel, in which had been written lamentation, mourning and woe. The whole book contains the "woe" of those perishing, and the "mourning" of those being saved and the "lamentation" of those in between. John, too, who eats one roll on which there is writing on the back and the front, considered the whole Scripture as one book, which is thought to be sweet at the start, when one chews it, but bitter in the perception of each of those who come to know it.

When certain people read the writings of sacred Scripture, upon penetrating its more sublime passages, they tend to despise with a swelling sense of pride the lesser commandments that were given for the weaker ones, and they wish to change them into another meaning. If they rightly understood the lofty things in it, they would not hold even the smallest commandments in contempt, because the divine precepts speak in certain ways to the great, yet in other ways they are suited to the little ones, who through increases of understanding grow as if by certain steps of the mind, and arrive at comprehending greater things. Hence now it is said to the holy prophet: "Son of man, eat whatever you find."

Whatever is found in sacred Scripture must be consumed, because both its small things compose a simple life, and its great things build up subtle understanding. It follows: "Eat this scroll, and go speak to the sons of Israel. And I opened my mouth, and he fed me with that scroll."

Holy Scripture is our food and drink. Hence even the Lord threatens through another prophet: "I will send a famine upon the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the word of the Lord." He who says that we are worn down by hunger and thirst when his speech is withdrawn, demonstrates that his words are both our food and our drink. But it should be noted that they are sometimes food, sometimes drink. For in more obscure matters that cannot be understood unless they are explained, holy Scripture is food, because whatever is explained so that it may be understood is, as it were, chewed so that it may be swallowed. But in more open matters it is drink. For we swallow drink without chewing. Therefore we drink the more open things by command, because we are able to understand them even without explanation. But because the prophet Ezekiel was about to hear many obscure and perplexing things, he is by no means told concerning the sacred volume, "drink," but "eat." As if it were openly said: Work through it and understand it, that is, first chew, and then swallow. But in the words of sacred speech this order of our study must be observed, that we come to know these things so that, having been pierced with compunction for our iniquity, and recognizing the evils we have done, we may avoid doing others.

And when now from the great practice of tears there begins to be confidence concerning the remission of sins, through the words of God which we understand let us also draw others to life. For they are to be understood for this purpose, that they may both profit us and be conferred upon others with spiritual intention. Whence it is now well said: "Eat this scroll, and go, speak to the children of Israel." As if it were said to him concerning the sacred food: Eat and feed, be filled and bring forth, receive and scatter, be strengthened and labor.

In the scroll of Ezekiel, who is truly a type of the Savior, no other prophet (I mean of major prophets) is called "Son of man." The title is given strictly to Ezekiel. In Ezekiel after almost every twenty or thirty verses it says regularly, "the word of the Lord came to the prophet Ezekiel." Someone may ask, "Why is that so frequently repeated in the prophecy?" Because the Holy Spirit descended on the prophet but again withdrew from him. Whenever it says "the word came," it indicates that the Holy Spirit departed from him and came back again to him.

Unless we eat the open book first, we cannot teach the children of Israel.

(Chapter III, Verse 1) Eat this scroll, and go to the sons of Israel. Unless we eat the open scroll beforehand, we cannot teach the sons of Israel. Finally, even David, after he obtained mercy, said: I will teach the wicked your ways, and the impious will turn to you (Psalm 50:15).

And it should be noted that the prophet adds, saying: "And I opened my mouth and he fed me with that scroll." Another Prophet testifies that the mouth is in the heart, saying: "Deceitful lips in the heart, and with the heart they have spoken evil." Therefore we open our mouth when we prepare our understanding for the comprehension of the sacred word. Thus at the voice of the Lord the prophet opens his mouth, because at the breath of the Lord's command the desires of our heart yearn eagerly, so that they may receive something from the food of life. But nevertheless this very receiving is not within our own powers, unless he himself feeds us who commanded that he be eaten. For he is fed who cannot eat by himself. And because our weakness is not sufficient for grasping heavenly words, he himself feeds us, who measures out for us the portion of grain in due time, so that in the sacred word, while today we understand what yesterday we did not know, tomorrow also we may comprehend what today we do not know, and may be nourished by daily sustenance through the grace of divine dispensation. For Almighty God extends his hand to the mouth of our heart, as it were, as many times as he opens our understanding and places the food of sacred speech into our senses. Therefore he feeds us with the scroll, when by dispensing he opens to us the meaning of Sacred Scripture, and fills our thoughts with its sweetness.

With an open mouth the Lord has provided bread, so that the beginnings of his will may be in us and that we may reach the perfection of blessedness that comes from God.

(Verse 2.) And I opened my mouth, and he fed me with that scroll. And he said to me: Son of man. I, he said, opened my mouth, because I was told: Open your mouth, and eat. And, with my mouth open, the Lord bestowed food; so that the beginnings of the will are in us, and we attain the perfection of blessedness from the Lord. For it is not of the one willing, nor of the one running, but of the merciful God (Rom. IX, 16). However, both to will and to run is of our own free will. For He opened, they translated it as 'opened,' so that God may be understood, because He Himself both opened the mouth of the prophet and fed him.

Honey can be understood as the explicit teaching of wisdom, whereas the comb can represent that known to be stored in the depth, as it were, of the cells. Undoubtedly both are found in the divine Scriptures. They added "to my mouth," for they were indeed proclaiming with their mouths the wisdom that they had swallowed with their throats. The prophet Ezekiel speaks in the same way of the Lord.

"And he said to me: Son of man, your belly shall eat, and your bowels shall be filled with this scroll which I give to you."

In the old translation it does not have "Your belly will eat," but "Your mouth will eat, and your inward parts will be filled." For our mouth eats when we read the word of God; but our inward parts are filled when we understand and keep those things in which we labor by reading. In the later translation, however, which we also believe to be more accurate, it is written: "Your belly will eat, and your inward parts will be filled." In sacred Scripture, indeed, the belly is customarily put for the mind. Hence through Jeremiah it is said: "My belly, my belly, I am in pain." Because he had spoken this of the spiritual and not the bodily belly, he added: "The senses of my heart are troubled." For it would not have pertained to the salvation of the people if the prophet had proclaimed that his bodily belly was in pain. But he suffered pain in his belly who felt affliction of mind. But why do we bring forward the example of the prophet, when we have a clearer testimony of the Lord? And it is necessary that when Truth speaks through Himself, the prophet be silent, because a lamp has no brightness in the sun. For He says: "He who believes in me, as the Scripture says, rivers of living water will flow from his belly." For since holy preachings flow from the mind of the faithful, rivers of living water, as it were, run down from the belly of believers. But what else are the inward parts of the belly except the interior things of the mind, that is, right intention, holy desire, a will humble toward God and dutiful toward neighbor? Hence it is now rightly said: "Your belly will eat, and your inward parts will be filled," because when our mind has received the food of truth, our interior parts no longer remain empty, but are satisfied with the nourishment of life.

Let us consider, my dearest brothers, how gracious is that promise by which it is said: "Your belly shall eat, and your bowels shall be filled with this scroll which I give you." For many read, and from that very reading they remain hungry. Many hear the voice of preaching, but after the voice they depart empty. Though their belly eats, their bowels are not filled, because even if they perceive in their mind the understanding of the sacred word, by forgetting and not keeping what they have heard, they do not store these things in the bowels of their heart. Hence it is that through another prophet the Lord rebukes certain people, saying: "Set your hearts upon your ways. You have sown much, and brought in little; you have eaten, and have not been satisfied; you have drunk, and have not been inebriated." He sows much in his heart but brings in little who learns many things about the heavenly commandments either by reading or even by hearing, but by working negligently produces little fruit. He eats and is not satisfied who, hearing the words of God, desires the profits or glory of the world. And rightly is he said not to be satisfied, because he chews one thing and hungers for another. He drinks and is not inebriated who inclines his ear to the voice of preaching but does not change his mind. For through the inebriation of those who drink, the senses are usually changed. Therefore, he who is devoted to knowing the word of God but desires to obtain the things of this world drinks and is not inebriated. For if he had been inebriated, he would without doubt have changed his mind, so that he would no longer seek earthly things, and would no longer love the vain and transitory things he had loved. For of the elect it is said through the Psalmist: "They shall be inebriated from the abundance of your house." Because they are so filled with the love of almighty God that with changed minds they seem to be strangers to themselves, fulfilling what is written: "He who wishes to come after me, let him deny himself." He denies himself who is changed for the better and begins to be what he was not, and ceases to be what he was.

Often, however, we see certain people at the voice of preaching, as if compelled by conversion, change their habit but not their mind, so that they take up religious garb but do not trample down their former vices: they are savagely driven by the goads of anger, they burn with the pain of malice to injure their neighbor, they grow proud before human eyes over certain goods they have displayed, they greedily seek the profits of the present world, and they place their confidence of holiness solely in the outward habit they have assumed. What else should be said to them except what the excellent teacher says to certain people who observe the externals of the law, saying: "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision avails anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation"? For it is not a matter of great merit if something is done outwardly to us in the body, but what is done in the mind must be carefully weighed.

For to despise the present world, not to love transitory things, to lay the mind deeply in humility before God and neighbor, to preserve patience against insults inflicted, and, while guarding patience, to repel the pain of malice from the heart, to give one's own goods to the needy, in no way to covet what belongs to others, to love a friend in God, to love even enemies for God's sake, to grieve over a neighbor's affliction, not to exult over the death of one who is an enemy—this is the new creature, which the same teacher of the Gentiles seeks among other disciples with a watchful eye, saying: "If therefore there is any new creature in Christ, the old things have passed away; behold, all things are made new."

To seek the present world belongs indeed to the old man, to love transitory things from concupiscence, to raise the mind in pride, to have no patience, to think from the pain of malice about harming one's neighbor, not to give one's own goods to the needy, and to seek others' goods in order to multiply one's own, to love no one purely for God's sake, to return enmities for enmities, to rejoice at the affliction of one's neighbor. All these things belong to the old man, which indeed we draw from the root of corruption. But concerning the one who now overcomes these things and turns the mind to kindness according to the Lord's precepts, it is rightly said: Because the old things have passed away, behold all things are made new.

Then therefore new things come about in our minds when the vices of the old man pass away from us; and the vices of the old man pass away when the belly eats the precept of the sacred word and the inmost parts are filled to the marrow. For we have often seen certain people devote themselves with their whole mind to the study of holy reading, and, recognizing amid the Lord's words how greatly they had sinned, slaughter themselves in tears, be afflicted with continual grief, take delight in none of this world's prosperities, so that the present life became a burden to them and the very light became wearisome; scarcely admit common conversation, and relax their mind from the rigor of discipline with difficulty, for love of their Creator rejoicing only in mourning and silence. Their belly ate the sacred volume, and their inmost parts were filled, because the precepts of life which the understanding was able to grasp the memory did not lose, but the mind, gathered in God, preserved these by always mourning and recalling them.

And it often happens that such persons, through the gift of heavenly grace, also receive the word of doctrine, and from the food of truth which they themselves sweetly ruminate upon inwardly, they also sweetly feed their neighbors. From their mouth, indeed, preaching is sweet to their hearers insofar as their actions are not contrary to their preaching, because they draw from their own life what they bestow upon their neighbors through their tongue. Hence here too the prophet rightly adds: "And I ate it, and it became in my mouth sweet like honey."

The book which filled his inward parts became sweet in his mouth like honey, because those who have learned to truly love the Almighty Lord in the depths of their heart know how to speak sweetly about Him. Indeed, Sacred Scripture is sweet in the mouth of one whose inward life is filled with His commandments, because it is pleasant to speak for one upon whom it has been inwardly impressed for living. For speech has no sweetness when a reprobate life gnaws at the conscience within. Hence it is necessary that whoever speaks the word of God should first attend to how he lives, so that he may afterwards gather from his life what he should say and how he should say it. For in preaching, the conscience of holy love builds up more than the exercise of speech, because by loving heavenly things the preacher reads within himself how he may persuade others that earthly things ought to be despised. For he who weighs his life inwardly and builds up others outwardly by admonishing them through his example, as it were dips the pen of his tongue in his heart, in that he writes externally to his neighbors with the hand of his word. Hence the admirable preacher, when he said many things in exhorting his disciples, because he bore no contradiction within himself from his conscience, confidently added: "If there is any virtue, if there is any praise of discipline, think on these things; what you have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do these things, and the God of peace shall be with you."

The eating of the book is the initial reading and the simple narrative. But when we have done some hard meditating on it and when we have laid it in the treasure store of the memory, our belly is spiritually filled and our inward parts are satiated, so that like the apostle Paul they are filled with compassion.

(Verse 3.) Your stomach will eat; and your bowels will be filled with that volume which I give to you. LXX: Your mouth will eat, and your stomach will be filled with that chapter given to you. The beginning of the reading, and of a simple story, is the essence of this volume. But when we have stored the book of the Lord in the treasure of our memory through constant meditation, our spiritual stomach is filled, and our bowels are satisfied, so that we may have, with the Apostle Paul, the bowels of mercy (Colossians 3), and that stomach may be filled of which Jeremiah speaks: My bowels, my bowels, I am pained at my very heart: my heart maketh a noise in me (Jeremiah 4).

And I ate it, and it was in my mouth like sweet honey. David also speaks: How sweet are your words to my throat, sweeter than honey to my mouth (Psalm 118:103). And elsewhere: The judgments of the Lord are true, desirable more than gold and many precious stones; and sweeter than honey and the honeycomb (Psalm 19:10, 11). And Samson found honeycomb in the mouth of a lion (Judges 14); and after the resurrection, the Lord ate a piece of fish and honeycomb (Luke 24). And in Proverbs it is said about the bee, although there are no Hebrew examples of this: Go to the bee, and learn how diligent she is and how she makes her work clean: by whose labors kings and ignorant people abuse their health (Prov. 6:8, LXX version): just as Moses and the prophets, and the evangelists and the apostles did; so that whoever becomes a king, whose heart is in the hand of God, may enjoy sweet foods. But whoever is simple and without the cunning of the serpent has the innocence of doves, let them believe in simple faith and be saved: because there are snares everywhere, and often the Devil disguises himself as an angel of light (2 Cor. 2): and honey drips from the lips of a prostituted woman, promising sweetness but spreading poison (Prov. 5).

Just as he contemplated that vision in spirit, so he now felt its taste in spirit.