Chapter IX.
Why the excess and fear fell upon Abraham; or what the oracle about his descendants' journey and servitude in Egypt, about his own death, and about the liberation of his descendants signifies? Finally, to what does the vision of the flame and the furnace pertain?
61. Finally, the following things show with what spiritual and prophetic affection Abraham did this. For he fell into a trance at the setting of the sun; and behold, a great and dark terror came upon him. Exodus usually happens to prophets, as you have the Prophet saying: I said in my trance, every man is a liar. For my prophet surpasses certain limits of human prudence when he is filled with God. And before it empties itself of the thoughts and debates of this world, so that it may present itself pure and emptied to the coming spiritual grace, the Holy Spirit comes upon it with great force, so that the mind of man is suddenly disturbed. Finally, the Angel came to Mary, and he came with diligence and grace; and yet Mary was moved at his coming. Therefore, the Angel said to her: Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God: and behold, you shall conceive in your womb, and bear a son (Luke 1:30-31). Therefore we know that when the grace of God comes upon the prophetic mind, it suddenly rushes in and we read that the Holy Spirit has descended upon and overshadowed the prophets, because it suffers an excess and is troubled, and fears, and is cast into some darkness of ignorance and imprudence. Just as we read in the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 9:4) that a light from heaven shone around Saul and he fell down and was troubled in his mind with horror, and he heard a voice from heaven saying: 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?' For he ceases to see worldly things who begins to hear divine things. Hence, you should not wonder at the fear of Abraham and the darkness, as if they happened to him beyond his power or merit, when you consider that they are in accordance with the custom of the prophets, who are joined, so that they may know the future.
62. But immediately you have this said to him: Knowing, you shall know that your seed will be a stranger in a land not its own, and they will oppress them and harm them, and they will humble them for four hundred years (Gen. XV, 13). Accordingly, a dark and great horror has been made; because great oracles were being carried, when a command was being given concerning the people of the ages. How could the human mind so easily grasp this, especially one that was being admonished to journey in this foreign land? For it was not so much the future that was declared as what was prescribed for us to do: 'Your seed shall be a stranger,' he says, 'either because all men should be strangers in this land, for Abraham is indeed the father of all; or because the true seed of Abraham will wander in this world. For that is the true seed of which it is said: 'In Isaac shall your seed be' (Gen. XXI, 12).' Lastly, he who acknowledged himself as the heir of Abraham said: 'I am a stranger and a pilgrim in this land, like all my fathers' (Ps. XXXVIII, 13).' For whoever has been a foreigner here, is a citizen in heaven; but whoever in this land has thought that his entire substance of soul must be established and has exulted in acquiring the inheritance of this land, will be excluded from the kingdom of God. Therefore, the Apostle says to faithful men and citizens of that Jerusalem which is in heaven, and to the sons of the Church: So now you are not strangers and foreigners, but you are citizens of the saints and members of the household of God (Ephesians 2:19). Therefore, this earth is not ours, from which the prince of this world can say, showing all the kingdoms of the world: I will give you this power if you fall down and worship me (Matt. IV, 8): all that they claim as their own and oppress the people of God; to harm His servants and to humiliate the saints of God. Finally, the Son of God Himself thought that He should not claim anything for Himself from this world, which is why He said: The prince of this world is coming, and he will find nothing in me (John XIV, 30). Therefore, various lords want to hold us in servitude; the devil incessantly attacks, his angels infest; passions and movements of the body, like domestic and internal enemies, disturb. There are battles outside, fears inside: battles outside, desires inside. For the substance of the internal body is foreign to the purity of the heart; and therefore it fights against or at least resists it. Therefore, the war is daily, and within the same camp, a serious battle, until God, in His mercy, judges the devil and his ministers, extinguishes passions, and subjects them to the diligent mind, seeks our souls from all offenses and the authors of our danger, who says: I will require the blood of your souls from the hands of all beasts (Gen. IX, 5). And John saw and said: 'Because death and hell have been thrown into the lake of fire' (Rev. 20:15).
Therefore the righteous will go forth, so that they leave nothing of their own in this land; lest their spoils remain with the inhabitants and possessors of this land. They will also depart from the land of Egypt in such a way that the vessels they took from the Egyptians, whether gold or silver, which they used temporarily, they will take with them and plunder the Egyptians. These vessels they have taken with the will of the Lord, and they take them with them, because they are children of the resurrection, of whom it is said: 'Not a hair of your head shall perish.' The Egyptians gave these vessels, which were taken from the afflicted land. And there are some golden, others silver, because every creature of God is good, and especially excellent in humans on earth, whom God honored by breathing the spirit of life into his face, and appointed him as the ruler of all living beings. These are the vessels of which the Apostle says: We have a treasure in earthen vessels (I Cor. IV, 7). This is the clothing of the Egyptians with which our soul is clothed, so that it may depart from here richer and be freed from what it was greatly laboring for here. For not only does every creature groan and travail, but we ourselves also, until the redemption of our body takes place. The Lord takes care of His own work; nature is prompt in most cases to reason and benevolence. For we do not suffer the trees, from which the first fruits break forth around us, to be cut down and destroyed in our later age, if the wind shakes them, or the sun burns them, or the substance fails to provide and supply the necessary strength against droughts. Rather, we await the examination by better judges. And therefore our Lord God, the rewarder of good will, also having the consideration of the first offspring and nature, allows all the inheritance of our soul to be gathered and reserved, to be tested by the time of future coming.
64. Therefore, he admonished of his duty, which he willed to be immortal, but if serious fault had not arisen, which caused humans to not live long, says to Abraham: But you shall go to your parents in peace, nurtured in good old age (Gen. XV, 15). It allows us to depart from this world, so that the soul's separation causes this body to dissolve into its own earth, and brings an end to sin: then through resurrection, it may be transformed by the grace of divine generosity. And so He says to Abraham: You shall go to your fathers. Some thought that the fathers were the elements from which our flesh is made while we live, and into which we are dissolved. But we who remember that Jerusalem is our mother, which is above, which is free, which is the mother of us all, as the Apostle says (Galatians IV, 26), assert that those are the fathers who preceded us in life by merit and order. There was Abel, a pious victim; there was the pious and holy Enoch; there was Noah; to them Abraham is promised as a passage. For the one who departs from this life and migrates to another, he lives the life of a wise and just man who was nurtured in peace. As for the fool, he is nourished in war and discord; but the just man lives a good life in old age. It is not said 'long' but 'good', for the just man ages well; however, no one of the unjust, even if he lives a longer life than lively stags, lives a good life. For to live long is common for both the wise and the foolish, but to live well is special to the wise man, whose old age is venerable and whose old age is a blameless life: not long-lasting, as he says, nor calculated by the number of years, nor by the gray hair on his head, but by his senses. He, therefore, ages well who has sensed well.
65. But in the fourth generation they shall return (Gen. XV, 16). This story seems to apply to the Jews who crossed over into Egypt and then left Egypt. For four hundred and thirty years they were subject to the Egyptians, but not all of them lived one hundred and thirty years, like Moses or Joshua; in order for the time of the fourth generation to be fulfilled. Therefore, let us seek something more mystical, since the number four is fitting for all numbers, and is a certain root of the decimal system and foundation of the week as well. The ninety-third psalm is written on the fourth Sabbath; because this number is in the middle of the preceding and following numbers. Three come before it, the first, second, third; and three follow it, the fifth, sixth, seventh. Whoever sings this psalm, like fitting numbers, passes through the life of this world, as a square, and stable, and perfect. In four books, the Gospel is full and perfect. There are four mystical animals. Also, the parts of this world are four, from which the sons of the Church, gathered together, spread the most sacred kingdom of Christ, coming from the East and the West, the North and the South. Therefore, the holy Church arose from the four-fold side. Also, a group of ten arises from this number. For if you connect from one to four, in this way you make ten. Calculate one, add two to it, there are three: add three to three, there are six: and add four to six, there are ten. Therefore, ten is composed of four and six, the number ten encompasses all numbers. There are also four stages of a person's life: childhood, adolescence, youth, maturity. It gradually rises and establishes itself. Therefore, the highest wisdom comes with the fourth order of stages. And rightfully so, if anyone existed before under the rule of Egypt, still with more mature counsel, he departs from his power and acknowledges the law to be followed. Then, the sea of this life becomes navigable to him. The process is similar to those things that are born from the soil. When the seed has been scattered, it is dissolved in the earth. First, it breaks out into a root, then it sprouts, the fruit is formed, and afterwards it ripens. Trees themselves also first bear fruit, then the fruit itself grows, changing color with the passing of time, it is perfected in the fourth order, that is, finally. So let us also flee to form bricks in this land of affliction: but let us provoke the mercy of the Lord with tears and groaning; so that He may send us Moses and Aaron, that is, the law and the priest: but the true Priest and prince of priests, who though he lived among men, was called: 'Behold, the Spirit of the Lord Christ is before our face' (Lamentations 4:20); and may He free us from the land of Egypt, so that we may celebrate the Lord's Passover. Let us bear the fruit of faith even from childhood, let us increase it in adolescence, let us cultivate it in youth, let us fulfill it in old age. For now the axe is placed at the root of the tree; so that he who does it, may bear fruit. Let our harvester also find our crop mature and ripe; so that he may store mature fruits in the storehouses, lest winter catches them unripe, lest the wind shakes them, lest the rain spoils them.
However, I believe that it signifies more the time between the first coming of the Lord and the second coming, which will be the day of judgment. For at the setting of the sun, such a great fear came upon this man, because with the world already setting, the future sacrifice was being declared, by which the world would be redeemed, the faith would be the offering, which would not be separated from the sons of Abraham. For those who separate it are not the sons of Abraham. Faith is compared to the kingdom of heaven: For the kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed. And: The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. (Matthew 13:31) And: Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it. (Ibid., 45-46) The kingdom of heaven is indivisible; for the kingdom of the Trinity is one. Therefore, it is perpetual and eternal, being indivisible; for every divided kingdom will easily be destroyed. The offering dedicated to the Trinity would be chastity, after that sacrifice, the victim of toil would be the calf, for it is a priestly victim; for sins, the goat would be the sacrifice; for the whole world and for the very rams or heavenly ones themselves, not only for men, nor only for lambs, but also for the goats that it may eradicate the stench of the sinful generation. The oracle testifies that the future sons of Abraham are still in the land of affliction, so that they may prove themselves in the midst of many and severe struggles: and thus, with much spoil of golden and silver vessels, they may go forth and return with their souls enriched, possessing precious bodies of diverse virtues, and especially with the treasure of chastity as their possession, even being rewarded by the judgment of Christ against the devil, his ministers, and all those who wished to harm them. Then there will be great fear even among the righteous. For no one is without sin. Everyone will have something to fear; for sins will be fulfilled. And where sin increases, grace will abound as well.
67. Again, when the sun was already setting, a flame appeared: and behold, a smoking furnace and torches of fire passing between those divided pieces. (Gen. XV, 17) Even if there was doubt about the previous things, the following things would confirm it; when we read about the flame made towards the setting, which would illuminate the evening times of the world, and would shine in darkness, and would reveal hidden things. Finally, the smoking furnace was immediately seen. The likeness of human life seems to be entangled in the injustices of this age, lacking the brightness of true clarity and the radiance of sincere light. Within, it boils like a furnace with various desires, and longs for the fires of certain longings. Without, it is covered as if with smoke, so that it may not see the face of truth. Therefore, the eyes of the soul are overshadowed and obscured by a certain darkness; so that the gaze of the mind, like a globe of smoking clouds, is confounded; it cannot gaze upon pure matters until the Lord Jesus, that is, the brightness of His glory, directs celestial lamps. When, he said, they will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun; for the Lord himself will be the light for all (Rev. 22:5), and He will illuminate all things of this world, the division of which is known above, now manifested in light, not through a mirror in an enigma, nor in part, but face to face in the solidity of truth, and that which is perfect may be seen.