17. But there is jealousy towards fault, and there is jealousy towards grace. For David himself said: I have been zealous for the sinners' peace (Psalm 72:2). And in Ecclesiasticus it is written: Do not be jealous of a woman's embrace; lest she should reveal malice towards you through her wicked teachings (Ecclesiasticus 9:1). And a jealous woman is justly reproached for being jealous of a faithful woman. Therefore, we consider that jealousy is a certain measure and discipline, just like the discipline of virtue. And blessed is the one who knows the discipline of jealousy and hates those who forsake the grace of the Lord, abandoning their own salvation and embracing the errors of deceit.
Therefore he says: Since they have forgotten your words, my enemies. Who are these enemies? If the people of the Jews, how were they appointed as enemies under his rule? For David governed all the Jews with his own kingdom. If the Gentiles, how did they forget the words of God, when they were ignorant of the Law of the Lord? For no one can forget except what he has received. Therefore, those are my enemies, who are your enemies, who were not going to receive the Lord when he comes in their own place. These are the serious enemies, these are his own enemies whom the Prophet testifies against; not those who were his own, but those who rebel against Christ. Finally, elsewhere he says: And I wasted away over your enemies: and I hated them with a just hatred (Psalm 138, 21 and 22); considering the weapons of treachery to be more serious than warfare. For there is no enemy more serious than one who harms the creator of all. Therefore, the people of the nations were acquired with great zeal, because God was denied to his own people. For those who did not hold the memory of divine precepts could not maintain either the devotion of faith or the discipline of virtue. Thus Adam was expelled from paradise, and thus the people of the Jews were excluded from the prerogative of election.
19. (Verse 140) It follows: Your eloquence is excessively inflamed, and your servant loved it. The Lord indeed sent fire upon the earth, not so that it would burn with the fire of Sodom, as it is written, but rather so that it would not strip it of the gift of fertility, either by use or by the blossom of greenness (Gen. XIX, 24). For the Lord is more accustomed to approve and increase his work than to diminish or condemn it. And indeed it was not fitting for innocent elements to bear the punishment of our wickedness. What had nature done wrong, if the grown offspring went astray? The fault was not in the birth, if the progeny slipped by a wandering error: but the fault was in the use. Therefore, who spread fire in the New Testament? Who would kindle the secret desires of divine knowledge in the minds, who would inflame the vapor of faith and devotion, who would ignite the desire for virtue. Jeremiah, heated by this fire, says: And there was a burning fire in my bones (Jeremiah 20:9). Cleophas, who had been warmed by the fire of celestial words, and the other disciple who had journeyed with the Lord from Jerusalem to the town, said: Was not our heart burning within us . . . when he opened to us the Scriptures (Luke 24:32)?
20. Therefore this fire is the word of Christ. And the good fire, which knows how to warm, does not know how to burn, except sins alone. By this fire, that apostolic gold placed upon the good foundation is proven: by this fire, that pure silver of works is examined: by this fire, those precious stones are illuminated, but hay and straw are consumed (I Cor. III, 12 and 13). Therefore, this fire cleanses the soul, it consumes error. Hence the Lord also says: Now you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you (John XV, 3). Here is the fire that burns before the Lord; for unless one has taken the flame of devotion, they cannot have the presence of the Lord (Leviticus 6:12). Ignite this fire within your minds first, so that the light of Christ may shine upon you. By this fire, the bush was burned but not consumed (Exodus 3:2). For the divine word burns in order to correct the conscience of the sinner; it does not consume in order to destroy. This fire dulled, this fire extinguished the fierce flames of material incendiaries. Finally, the Hebrews, having been set on fire by this flame, were neither able to fear nor feel the heat of the burning furnace (Dan. III, 50). Therefore, rightfully does the good servant love the burning Word of the Lord, with which he is clothed in charity, which excludes fear.
Moreover, he added beautifully, excessively; for every teacher indeed inflames the listener's feelings: but above all is the word of God, dividing the joints and marrow of the soul. Therefore, describe to yourself the ignited discourse of God in three ways, either that which cleanses, or that which ignites, or that which illuminates the listeners. Therefore the Lord says, \"I have searched Jerusalem with a lamp.\" (Zeph. 1:12) But he found no one in it who could be cleansed, or who could be ignited, or who could be illuminated; therefore he left it in darkness.
22. And do not be surprised if a servant loves the fiery speech of the Lord, which the Bride also loved, who said: 'Your lips are like a scarlet cord; for crimson is the color of fire, and the blood of the Lord's Cross is poured out. The scarlet lips of the Lord spoke of his own passion. In fact, in Exodus, scarlet was used in place of fire. For the world is not made of scarlet, but of four elements: however, in scarlet the image of fire is portrayed, and unless its vapor penetrated the sky, air, seas, and earth, all things would dissolve as if drained of strength.' Therefore, through the network of persuasion, we recognize a bond: through desire, or the burning ardor of passion that sparkles in the souls of the hearers, or a sign of passion. Hence, elsewhere the Bride says: His lips are lilies dripping with myrrh (Song of Songs, 5:13). For through myrrh, the ointment of passion, and by the grace of the resurrection, it is declared that you infuse the reviving scent of life into the hearts of the dead. Therefore, rightly receiving the sweetness of his conversation, the Bride exclaims and testifies: His lips are sweet, and he himself is altogether desirable (ibid., 5:16).
23. (Verse 141.) The fifth verse follows: I am a youth and despised: I have not forgotten your justifications. This little verse can apply to many of the saints who, from their earliest youth, have been exercised in hard labors. For even Joseph, when he was sold into Egypt by his brothers, was young and despised, being sold into slavery as an injustice: and later, when he was brought out of prison and made ruler of Egypt, he did not repay his brothers with injury, but instead gave them food at a reduced price, provided for his father in his old age, and, with a chariot lowered for him, he met them, adored them, and, with the other servants bearing the signs of great power, declared: I am a youth and despised: I have not forgotten your justifications.
24. David himself, when he was younger, was sent by his father to tend the sheep as though he were of lowly status, and he was not presented to the priest as one worthy to be anointed for the kingdom. But when the priest sought him out and summoned him from the pastures, he received the privilege of royal anointing. Later, when he advanced to war and Goliath, despising the entire Jewish people, challenged them to single combat, while the others were afraid, he asked the king for permission to engage with him. He was not considered capable enough for such a great contest yet, with the king saying: You cannot go against Goliath and fight with him; for you are a boy, and he is a warrior man from his youth (1 Samuel 17:33). Nor would he have been allowed, unless he had proven that in his youth he had strangled a lion with his own hands, and had killed it by pulling the legs off a stolen lamb. He also despised Goliath, because he had come forward against an armed warrior with only a staff and stones, and declared that he relied not on strength or weapons, but on the name of the Lord, in whom he had confidence for battle; so that he might remove the disgrace of the provoked crowd. Therefore this young man, and despised, struck down the Allophylum, and having obtained victory, triumphed with the testimony of ten thousand young women singing.
For he carried the figure of him who was to come, despised as though he were to appear in the earth, and without a legate, without a helper, without a messenger, he liberated the whole people of this world from the battle of his cross: to whose souls the sacrament of baptism, renewed, might applaud, that it was he, Goliah, revealed to us, and put to death by the sword of his word. Therefore the true Goliah lies slain by the humility of the Son of God: he lost the head that turned and deceived in many ways. The secure souls now sing, who previously lamented the torments of their sins. They declare with drums, that is, with their bodies dead to sin: Saul has triumphed in thousands, David in ten thousands (1 Samuel 18:7). That harsh king is indignant and the devil is angry because the young girls sang, for the son of hardness deceived few; Christ redeemed the whole world. Therefore, Christ born of the Virgin says: I am young and despised, but I have not forgotten your commandments.
26. The people of the nations also say that he, despised in the first election, still rough in faith and zealous in the first devotion, young in the sacraments of baptism, certainly or renewed by the youth of an eagle: I am young and despised: I have not forgotten your justifications. I, who was despised before, am now preferred, now placed before the chosen ones. The people of sinners formerly despised, I have the venerable associations of heavenly sacraments. Now I am received with the honor of heavenly food: my meals are not drenched with rain, nor does the hard work of the land bring forth fruits for me. I do not need to seek rivers or springs for my own water: Christ is my food, Christ is my drink: the flesh of God is food for me, and the blood of God is my drink. I no longer wait for the yearly harvest to satisfy me, Christ is served to me daily. I do not fear that any inclement weather of heaven or the barrenness of the fields will diminish him for me, if the diligent devotion of the pious persists. I no longer desire the rain of the evening, which I used to marvel at before: nor the manna which I used to prefer over all foods; for those who ate the manna hungered. My food is the one that if anyone eats, they will not hunger. My food is the one that does not fatten the body, but strengthens the heart of man.
27. Before, there had been for me wondrous bread from heaven; for it is written: He gave them bread from heaven to eat (John 6:31): but that bread was not the true one, but rather a shadow of the coming. The Father has kept for me that true bread from heaven. That bread of God descended from heaven for me, which gives life to this world. It did not descend for the Jews, it did not descend for the Synagogue, but it descended for the Church, for the younger people of God. For how did the bread descend for the Jews, which gave life, when all who ate that bread, which is manna, that the Jews thought to be the true bread, died in the desert? How does the Synagogue descend; when the entire Synagogue has been destroyed, and worn out by the eternal fast of faith? Finally, if they had received true bread, they would not have said: Lord, give us this bread always (Ibid., 34).
28. What do you seek, O Jew, that he should give you bread, whom he gives to all, gives daily, gives always? It is in yourself that you may receive this bread: approach this bread, and you will receive it. Concerning this bread it is said: All those who distance themselves from you, will perish (Psalm 72:27). If you distance yourself from it, you will perish; if you draw near to it, you will live. This is the bread of life: therefore, whoever eats life cannot die. How will someone die, to whom sustenance is life? How will he fail, who has the vital substance? Come to him and be satisfied, for he is bread: come to him and drink; for he is a fountain: come to him and be enlightened; for he is light: come to him and be set free; for where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (2 Corinthians 3:17): come to him and be forgiven; for he is the forgiveness of sins. Who is this that you seek? Hear him saying: I am the bread of life: whoever comes to me shall not hunger; and whoever believes in me shall never thirst (John 6:35). You heard him, and you saw him, and you did not believe him; therefore you are dead: or now believe, so that you may live.
But you are amazed at Moses, because he led your fathers through the sea on dry ground. Moses did not command, but obtained: he did not order the sea, but served the commanding waves. You praise Moses because he drowned Pharaoh and his army: Moses prayed, and another commanded. Moses prayed, Christ acted. Moses fled, Christ pursued. Moses followed the pillar, to turn away the darkness of the night: Christ illuminated. Moses, you recognize that he tempered the bitterness of the waters. Moses, you recognize that he produced water from the rock: you do not recognize Christ, who overthrew the army of the true Egyptian king and plunged them into the deep abyss: who liberates us daily from the tumults of this world; so that the storm of this age does not overwhelm us. What good was it for our ancestors to cross the Red Sea, if they were not permitted to reach the promised land? For whoever came out of Egypt, perished in the desert. Aaron is dead, Maria is dead, and even Moses himself is dead: only Jesus of Nazareth, the likeness of the sacred name, has been preserved. Let the Jew applaud; for when he was thirsty, the rocks spewed forth water: for me, an eternal fountain of divine grace flowed from the body of God Himself. Christ drinks my bitterness, in order to grant me the sweetness of His own grace.
So the Christian people say: I am young and despised; I have not forgotten your justifications. Well said, who justified God by the sacraments of baptism. For the one who is baptized justifies God; because he confesses his own sins and waits for the Lord's forgiveness of sins. David justified, who said: Against you alone have I sinned, and I have done evil in your sight: that you may be justified in your words (Psalm 50:6). The Pharisees did not justify themselves, who did not want to be baptized with the baptism of John, as you read in the Gospel (Luke 7:30). It is not only enough to justify oneself, but also not to forget the justifications of God, that is, to guard the unblemished gifts of spiritual grace and to preserve the untainted and unoffended gifts of sacred remission.
31. These are general aspects, but there is also a special privilege for each individual Christian to speak: I am young and despised; if he is humble in heart, meek and gentle. Therefore, let him say: I am young and despised. Let him prefix the general boast of his age, so that he may commend more the grace of his humility. Humility in old age is not astonishing, which is weakened by strength, broken by infirmities, burdened with sorrows, sighs heavily, boiled by the heat of cares, and overwhelmed by the sad aversion to life, forgetting the eagerness of boasting. Indeed, humility is rare in young people, and therefore remarkable. While youth is vibrant, while strength is solid, while blood boils, while worry is unknown, while weakness is ignored, while joy is abundant: then arrogance boils over, then the proud feelings of youth are elevated, then humility is almost despised, and lowliness is scorned; then submission is considered the weakness of a degenerate conscience. Therefore, a great maturity of character must be cultivated, one that surpasses nature.
Finally, if we consider, in paradise humility was lacking; and therefore it came from heaven. In paradise disobedience arose; and therefore obedience came down with the Savior. The flesh was inflated, hence the submission of meekness could not be found on earth. The whole inheritance of the transgressor had swelled. Coming, the Lord Jesus first emptied Himself (Philip. 2:6-8), considering it not robbery to be equal with God, taking the form of a servant for Himself, and being found in appearance as a man: He humbled Himself, becoming obedient unto death. Let it not move you, for it is written, 'as a man'; for he did not take on the likeness of a man, but the truth. For even the Apostle himself says elsewhere: 'The Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus' (I Tim. II, 5). And let us bring an example from the Gospel: 'We beheld,' says John, 'his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth' (John I, 14). Was it because he said, 'as of the only begotten,' that he wanted the likeness of an only begotten more than the truth to be esteemed?
33. Therefore, Christ did not come in vain. Now man can say: I am a young man and despised; the one who was previously a proud old man in the former people. He says: I am a young man and despised, just as the Church says: I am black and beautiful (Song of Solomon 1:4). He mentioned black first to increase beauty. Likewise, here he mentioned youth to increase humility. He did not say: I am black and beautiful; lest what is black be considered beautiful. And he said, I am a young man overlooked, so that youth may not be thought despicable; but he said, Young man, and marvel at this, humble, not proud, closer to the downcast than the swollen. Thus also there: I am black with a higher sin, but beautiful with the confession of sin, and with the zeal for correction, and with the love of virtue. Therefore, although it is a connecting syllable, as grammarians call it, it still has a distinction by which confusion is separated and distinguished: if you say that Ambrosius and Bassus are inside, only one is understood; but if you assert that Ambrosius is inside and Bassus is inside, then two are certainly understood.
34. Therefore let him say: I am young, and despised; because Christ redeemed the world in the poor and despised, because Christ conquered the devil by humility. Let him say; I am despised; because God does not despise the humble heart; because that despised Lazarus now rests in the bosom of Abraham, and that boastful rich man is afflicted in hell. Moses was despised, and he did not appear suitable to himself when he was sent to free the Hebrew people. Jeremiah was despised, who said: Lord, I cannot speak; for I am a youth (Jer. 1:6). But this despised one is chosen more easily. Finally, it is said to him: Do not say that I am a youth; for you shall go to all to whom I shall send you, and whatever I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid of their faces; for I am with you, says the Lord, to deliver you (Ibid., 7 and 8). That Publican was despised, who did not dare lift his eyes to heaven; and therefore he was heard more easily than that Pharisee: For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted (Luke 18:14).
35. (Verse 142.) It follows: Your justice, justice forever; and your law, truth. Indeed, individuals can perform acts of justice, but they do not endure forever. That wealthy person who has an abundance of riches in this world, perhaps has performed some acts of justice, for which they have received recompense in this present life; but those deeds have not been great, nor worthy of everlasting reward. Moreover, even if we do perform some acts of justice, we do so not continuously, but rarely. Most people do not seize others' possessions, but do not know how to be generous with their own. Others, in order to appear just, often give to the poor unjustly obtained resources. This is not eternal justice. Many righteous people have often committed serious offenses, not reaping the fruits of eternal justice. Only to God belongs the possession of justice forever, who feeds the just and the unjust; for justice is not to be repaid only with good deeds, but it is true justice when it is also granted to enemies. And rightly Justice of God says: Love your enemies (Matthew 5:44).
Therefore, just as the justice of God is eternal, so is the law of God truth. But how do we understand this? Is it because the law of God is truth, that is, true: and what God establishes is all true, as it says below: Your commandments are all true? Or is it because the truth is the law of God; because God does not lie? Therefore, with Him truth is the law, falsehood is perversion. But it can also be understood in this way, the law of God is truth: therefore, among the Jews there is no law of God, because they do not accept the truth. The law of God is spiritual (Rom. VII, 14), as the Apostle said: therefore, those who do not receive it spiritually do not have the true law. What is not true is false: what lies, kills. Therefore, the letter that kills is false: the spirit that gives life is true.
37. Let us receive it thus: The law of God is not a type, nor a shadow, nor an example of heavenly things; but it is the heavenly things themselves. Hence it is written, because the end of the law is Christ (Rom. X, 4). Not indeed a defect, but the fullness of the law is in Christ; for he came not to abolish the law, but to fulfill it. Just as the Old Testament is old, but all truth is in the New Testament: so also the law given through Moses is a figure of the law. Truly, therefore, that Law of truth is an example, for in the exemplar the blood of the Lamb is shed, in truth Christ is sacrificed. And so, it is necessary that the heavenly things themselves be purified with better sacrifices than these. For Christ did not enter into holy places made by hands, the patterns of the true ones, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us. (Hebrews 9:23-24). But in order for us to know that the Lord Jesus gave a new law, you have him saying: 'I will give them a new testament', says the Lord. I will give my laws in their hearts, and I will write them in their minds, and I will not be mindful of their sins and injustices (Hebrews 10:16-17). So where forgiveness is, there is no longer an offering for sins. Therefore, it is evident that all truth is contained in the Gospel; for the law of God is written in the minds and hearts of men, not on stone tablets (so those who do not have the commandments of God in their hearts do not have the law), whether because it becomes old in the Jews or is renewed in us.
38. It is a shadow, not the truth; for when an offering is made for sins according to the Law, there is no forgiveness of sins. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins (Hebrews 10:4). Therefore, that forgiveness was false until the truth of forgiveness came. What could be more clear than the statement of John the Evangelist, who said: 'For the Law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ' (John 1:17)? To contrast the law, he brought forth the truth. For when there is a conjunction, however, a disjunction must be understood to have been interposed; because if the truth had been in the law, it would not have been accomplished through Christ.
39. We can thus understand: Christ is the truth; therefore, truth is the law. And if the commandment of the Lord is the law, much more so is the living and active Word of God the law.
40. (Verse 143.) The seventh verse follows: Tribulation and necessity have found me: your commandment is my meditation. Tribulations and necessities seek the just, and sometimes find him, sometimes do not find him. He is found, to whom the crown is owed: he is not found, who is not proven suitable for the struggle. Therefore, tribulation is like a certain grace. Finally, Sacrifice is the spirit of God with tribulation (Psalm 50:19). Is not grace the one that works patience? Therefore, the one who knew the benefit of tribulation, when sought out from tribulation, was not avoided.
41. Wisdom says: Evil people will seek me, but they will not find me (Prov. 1:28); not because the Lord did not want to be found by humans, but because he offered himself to everyone, even those who did not seek him, so that they would be undeserving of seeking and finding him. However, Simeon, who was waiting for him, found him (Luke 2:25 et seq.). Andrew found him. Finally, he said to Simon: We have found the Messiah, which means Christ (John 1:41). Philip also said to Nathanael: We have found Jesus, the son of Joseph, who is from Nazareth, the one whom Moses wrote about in the Law and the prophets (John 1:45). And to show how Christ would be found, he said: Come and see (ibid., 46). Therefore, whoever seeks Christ, let them come not by the steps of the body, but by the traces of the mind: let them see him not with external eyes, but with internal ones. For the eternal is not seen by bodily appearances; for the things that are seen are temporal, but the things that are not seen are eternal (2 Corinthians 4:18). Therefore, Christ is not temporal, but from the Father before time, as if God, the true Son of God, and as if eternal power above time, whom no end of time can contain: as if life above time, which no day of death can find; For he who died, died to sin once: but he who lives, lives to God (Rom. VI, 10).