Chapter XVI.
The skilled doctor is to teach the unjust ways of the Lord. How does this apply to both the character of Christ and David; or what does the Prophet pray to be delivered from bloodshed?
Sequitur: Docebo inequos vias tuas, et impii ad te convertentur (Psal. L, 15). Ille praecipuus est gubernator, qui scopuloso in littore navim gubernat: ille doctor bonus, qui duriora acuit ingenia ad eruditionis profectum: ille bellator egregius, dux mirabilis, qui timidiores accendit in praelium, exploratisque locorum ingeniis, fulcit; ut infirma virium commoda stationis opportunitate compenset: ille similiter magnus etiam fidei zelator, qui iniquos docet. Where he beautifully says: I will teach the wicked. He did not say: I will teach the righteous; for the righteous already know the ways of the Lord. But, he says, I will teach the wicked. Finally, the author of wisdom and master of all says: I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners (Matthew 9:13). And that divine physician says: It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick (Ibid., 12).
Therefore, whether it be from the perspective of the one who called the nations or from his own, he has well said: I will teach the wicked your ways, because corrupt affections can be changed, and heavenly doctrine can convert the wicked purpose, and divine operation can infuse the desire for piety into sacrilegious hearts, so that those who were living without law may be converted to the true Lord, whom they were previously turning away from. Also, by the example of royal repentance, let those who commit injustices and cruel crimes be corrected, and when converted in faith and action, let them receive the healing remedy of doctrine and enter the ways of the Lord, in which they will not encounter any winding paths of error or any dangerous deviations that lead to a fall. For just as there are men who have traversed the blameless seasons of their life as an example of good living and a model of virtue, so those who have renounced their past wickedness or errors of cruelty and have corrected the course of their later years are set before us as objects of imitation by those who are either slipping or stumbling in action or thought.
It follows: Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, God of my salvation (Psalm 50:16). And it can be attributed to the death of Uriah, that he who is conscious of the commanded murder seeks forgiveness for such a great offense, and although the king is absolved by the law, he is still guilty in his conscience; desiring to be released from these bonds, he prays for divine assistance, so that he may be cleansed from all the stain of the committed crime. And truly, since the holy Prophet, who is meek and gentle in heart, has always displayed the striking insignia of his gentleness and piety, forgiving his adversaries frequently and believing that he should abstain from their destruction; it is not surprising that he grieves so deeply that the sin of shedding innocent blood has crept upon him. Therefore, he asked to be freed from the blood, that is, from mortal sins. He praised his Lord God, proclaimed the justice of the Lord, and therefore added: My tongue will rejoice in your justice.