(Vers. 7. 8. 9.). With costly wine, inwardly as regards taste, arousing warmth from within; and with ointments, outwardly as regards touch, arousing warmth from without: let us fill ourselves, through superfluous and immoderate use; Amos 6: "Drinking wine in bowls and anointed with the finest ointment" etc. And let not the flower of time pass us by, that is, pleasantness as regards sight: Jeremiah 48: "Give a flower to Moab" etc. Such people care nothing for the fruit of the heavenly autumn, but only for the flower of the present spring. Let us crown ourselves with roses before they wither: Isaiah 40: "The flower has fallen"; and chapter 28: "Woe to the falling flower"! Let us crown ourselves with roses, for delight as regards smell: but "woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim"; Isaiah 28. Let no meadow be that our wantonness does not pass through, that is, no pleasant place: this is said as regards the universality of place: Jeremiah 2: "On every high hill and under every leafy tree you lay down, O harlot." Let none of us, this is said as regards the universality of persons. Such was Sodom, in which not even ten just men could be found, as is clear from Genesis 18.
Let none, I say, of us be without a share in our wantonness, that is, without a lot, that is, lacking a part or exempt from it. Everywhere let us leave signs of our merriment: this is said as regards universality in deed: Ezekiel 16: "At every head of the way you built a sign of your prostitution." For this, namely such a dissolute life, is our portion, namely on the part of the soul: and of clay is the lot ours, namely on the part of the body. Or: portion and lot are the same in reality, but they differ in concept, because portion is named from the side of the one receiving, lot from the side of the one giving: Isaiah 57: "In the parts of the torrent is your portion, this is your lot." On the contrary, the just man says: "The Lord is the portion of my inheritance"; likewise: "God of my heart, and God is my portion forever."
Let us oppress the just poor man etc. Here he describes the unjust life as regards the oppression of the good, first, because they oppress without reverence for the person: second, because without fear of justice, at the words: But let our strength etc.
(Vers. 10. 11.). Let us oppress: The Gloss: "It is the voice of the lost"; the just poor man, that is, anyone whatsoever: Job 24: "They have equally oppressed the meek of the earth." And let us not spare the widow: Psalm: "They slew the widow and the stranger" etc.; nor let us reverence the grey hairs of the aged of many years, that is, any old man whatsoever; Baruch 4: "They have not reverenced the old man."
But let our strength be the law of injustice, that is, let us consider everything lawful, whatever we are able to do: Habakkuk 1: "Judgment has arisen and contention is more powerful." Or: of justice: whence the interlinear gloss: "As if we should have strength in place of justice," that is, what we cannot do through justice, let us do through violence. For what is weak etc., as if to say: let us not oppress only the poor and weak, such as widows and the elderly, but whomever we can; for what is weak, namely in itself, such as the widow, the poor, and the elderly: is found useless, namely to others: whence for such persons little or nothing is to be cared about. Not so did the Lord think, who "chose the weak things of the world to confound the strong, and the ignoble things of the world and the contemptible" etc. Not so Paul, who said that "power is made perfect in weakness," 2 Corinthians 12.
Allegorically this is expounded concerning heretics, who do not spare the just poor man, that is, the Christian people; nor the widow, that is, the Church; nor the aged, that is, the Apostles and Prophets.
Specifically, the persecution of Christ is described, first with regard to the threefold cause.
Let us therefore beset the just man etc. Here he specifically describes the persecution of Christ, and first he touches upon the cause; second, the end, at: Let us see therefore, if his words etc.; third, the manner, at: With insult and torment etc. The cause, on account of which the Jews persecuted Christ, he touches upon in three ways: first, on the part of their works; second, on the part of their thoughts, at: He has become to us; third, on the part of their words, at: As triflers.
In the first part, on the part of works, he touches upon a threefold cause, of which the first is the detestation of the works of the Jews; the second, the reproaching and defaming of those transgressions, at: And he reproaches us etc.;
the third, the commendation of Christ, at: He promises etc.
(Vers. 12.). Let us therefore ensnare etc. Because I said: Let our strength be the law of injustice, and we cannot do this unless we ensnare the just one: let us therefore ensnare the just one etc., so that, namely, we may freely exercise the law of our strength. Let us ensnare, I say, through deceit, the just one, that is, Christ, who by antonomasia is called the just one: Jeremiah twenty-three: "This is the name by which they shall call him: The Lord our just one"; "because he committed no" actual "sin," First Peter two; nor did he contract original sin in his conception: whence Jeremiah twenty-three: "I will raise up for David a just branch," that is, Christ in the branch, that is, in his conception: Isaiah forty-five: "Let justice spring up together" etc. Or: Let us ensnare etc., can be the voice of any wicked persons against any just person, against which the Apostle warns in First Thessalonians four: "Let no one defraud his brother in business"; just as he himself had not done so; whence Second Corinthians seven: We "have injured no one," namely by deed; "have corrupted no one," namely by evil example; "have defrauded no one," namely by word. Because he is useless to us: The Gloss: "Although they saw his usefulness in all things," according to that passage in Acts ten: "Who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil." But they considered him useless to themselves in temporal matters: whence John eleven: "The Romans will come and take away our place and our nation." And he is contrary to our works, namely as good is contrary to evil, according to that passage in Ecclesiasticus thirty-three: "Against evil stands good, and against the just man stands the sinner." And he reproaches us with sins against the Law, that is, because we sin by transgressing the Law: whence John seven: "Did not Moses give you the Law, and none of you keeps the Law"? And he spreads abroad against us, that is, against us, or turning back upon us, the sins of our training, that is, by saying that we sin by teaching our traditions, or by holding them, or by making others hold them; whence Matthew fifteen: "Why do you transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your traditions"?
(Vers. 13.). He professes to have the knowledge of God: The Gloss: "That is, to know all things as God," and this with respect to essence. And he calls himself the Son of God, "that is, consubstantial and coeternal with God," with respect to person: John five: "He called God his Father, making himself equal to God." Thus any just person has the knowledge of God in the intellect, and is a son of God by grace in the affections; whence in the Psalm: "I said: You are gods," namely knowing good and evil, "and all of you sons of the Most High."
He has become for us an exposer. Here is set forth the moving cause on the part of thoughts, and first is touched upon the manifestation of the thoughts of the Jews through Christ; second, the effect of the manifestation, caused not on the part of Christ, but on the part of the Jews, namely their envy, at: He is grievous etc.
(Verse 14.). He has become for us an exposer, that is, a revealer, of our thoughts: The Gloss: "He brings our thoughts into the light," that is, he leads them out into knowledge; whence Matthew 9: "Why do you think evil in your hearts?" So traducere is understood in Matthew 1, namely as to expose, where it says: "He was not willing to expose her."
(Verse 15.). He is grievous for us even to behold, namely on account of the manifestation of their sins; Augustine: "To sick eyes the light is hateful"; John 3: "He who does evil hates the light." But this, that they could not bear to see him, was a sign of envy; whence 1 Kings 18: "Saul did not look upon David with favorable eyes," namely because he envied him. Because his life is unlike that of others, namely his entire outward life or conduct.
On the contrary: Hebrews 2: "He ought to be made like his brethren in all things."
It must be said that the Apostle speaks of likeness in passible nature; here, of likeness in fault.
It should be noted, moreover, that his life or conduct was unlike others both with respect to its beginning, because he was conceived and born without sin: Isaiah 6: "The holy seed shall be that which has stood in her," that is, in Mary; Matthew 1: "That which is born in her is of the Holy Spirit." And with respect to its middle, because he lived without sin: 1 Peter 2: "He committed no sin, nor was deceit found" etc. And with respect to its end, because he died without any debt of death: the Psalm: "What I did not seize, I was then paying back."
And his ways are changed: The Gloss: "They have been made unlike," namely his deeds and his teaching: Isaiah 55: "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are my ways your ways, says the Lord."
As triflers etc. Here is touched upon the moving cause on the part of speech, and first is set forth their reprobation; second, the approbation of others, at: And he prefers the last things etc.; third, his self-commendation, at: And he boasts that he has God for a father.
(Vers. 16.). As therefore we were regarded as triflers by him, that is, doing and saying vain things: Zephaniah 3: "I will gather the triflers, who had departed from the law." And he abstains from our ways: The Gloss: "That is, from our actions and traditions"; as from unclean things, and indeed justly, because they were truly unclean: whence Ezekiel 36: "Their way was made before me like the uncleanness of a menstruous woman." And he prefers the last things of the just, that is, the end, and indeed deservedly, because "the death of sinners is the worst," but the death of the just is precious, according to that verse of the Psalm: "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints"; therefore in Numbers 23 Balaam said: "Let my soul die the death of the just, and let my last end be like theirs." Or according to the Gloss: He prefers the last things of the just, "that is, eternal life to pleasure." And he boasts that he has God for his Father: John 8: "It is my Father who glorifies me."
Second, the persecution of Christ is described with regard to its purpose.
Let us see therefore, if the words etc. Here in the person of the Jews he first touches upon the purpose of the persecution of Christ, which was that they wanted to know the truth about Christ; second, it is added how they could know this, at the words: For if he is the true Son of God, etc.
(Vers. 17. 18.). Let us see, etc., as if they were saying: since he so boasts, let us see, as it were from afar, by deliberating about his death: John 11: "The chief priests and Pharisees gathered a council" against Jesus. Let us see, I say, if his words are true, namely, that he is truly the Son of God. This the centurion saw and recognized, who, seeing him expire with a cry and the earthquake and other signs, said in Matthew 27: "Truly this was the Son of God." And let us test him, from close at hand, namely by crucifying him and exposing him to death: what will come upon him, namely whether he will be able to free himself: Matthew 27: "He saved others, he cannot save himself." And we shall know, or: so that we may know, what his last end will be, namely whether he will rise again. And this we shall know by guarding his tomb: whence Matthew 27: "Lord, we have remembered that that deceiver said while he was still living: After three days I will rise again."
For if he is the true Son of God, as he foretold, not through the grace of adoption, as we are, but through the natural property of eternal generation: he will receive him, namely in glory: Isaiah forty-two: "Behold, my servant, I will receive him." And he will deliver him, namely from punishment: and this is what follows: From the hands of adversaries, that is, of those who crucified him, who were his adversaries. God did both for him: for he delivered him from punishment, according to that word of the Psalm: "My deliverer from my wrathful enemies," namely on the very day of the passion, after he endured temporal death: and he raised him up, but not immediately, but on the third day, according to that word of Zephaniah three: "Wait for me on the day of my resurrection"; and he received him with glory on the day of the ascension: whence in the Psalm: "With glory you have received me."