Commentary on Leviticus 2.7

Verses 1–7. "This also is the law of the victim for transgression: it is a holy of holies; therefore, where the burnt offering is sacrificed, the victim for transgression shall also be slain; its blood shall be poured out round about the altar. They shall offer from it the tail, and the fat that covers the vital parts, the two kidneys, and the fat that is beside the flanks, and the net of the liver with the kidneys; and the priest shall burn them on the altar: it is the Lord's incense for transgression. Every male of the priestly race shall eat this flesh in a holy place, because it is a holy of holies. And as the victim is offered for sin, so also for transgression; there shall be one law for both victims. It shall belong to the priest who has offered it."

He sometimes calls "transgression" a sin that has been recognized, and sometimes that which is committed against God himself, such as what is perpetrated against holy things, as we showed above. The present place speaks again of these; this is plain from his having commanded, for this too, according to what the Seventy specifically say, a ram to be offered. But by discussing it with exactness we shall find both in what it has communion with the sacrifices of other sins and in what it differs from them.

"This also is the law of the victim for transgression," where the Seventy, as was said above, specifically expressed the ram, saying: "This is the law of the ram for repentance; they are holies of holies. In the place where they sacrifice the burnt offerings they shall slaughter also the ram of repentance before God, and they shall pour out its blood at the base of the altar round about." These things, then, are common with the sacrifice that is offered for that other sin; for this reason, having been explained there, they will rightly be passed over here. But what did he add to them? "They shall offer from it the tail, and the fat that covers the vital parts, the two kidneys, and the fat that is beside the flanks, and the net of the liver with the kidneys; and the priest shall burn them on the altar: it is the Lord's incense for transgression." The Seventy render it thus: "And he shall take away all its fat from it, the loin and all the fat that covers the inward parts, and all the fat that is in the inward parts, and the two kidneys and the fat on them which is on the thighs, and the lobes of the liver with the kidneys; and the priest shall offer them on the altar, a victim to the Lord." These things do not belong at all to the sacrifices for other sins, so they must be discussed.

But first it is necessary to attend to this, that transgression relates to God; and whatever relates to God has a difficult pardon, so that Eli said to his sons: "If a man sins against a man, they will pray for him; but if he sins against God, who will pray for him?" Necessarily, then, we said that the ram, bearing the figure of the Lord, of whom it was said, "Behold the Lamb of God, behold him who takes away the sin of the world," is taken in the sacrifice, since in him alone it lies to remit the sins committed against him. But we must ask why the ram is not wholly a burnt offering, as the calf which was offered for the people and for the priest; for that too was proved to bear the figure of the sacrifice of the Only-begotten. But there, because a general forgiveness was dispensed and pardon of the whole human race was accomplished, the whole sacrifice of Christ is necessarily offered; here, however, it is that which is done for those for whom the sacrifice and forgiveness are procured. Whatever things, then, can save him, these the lawgiver commanded to be brought into the sacrifice of Christ for him. And what these are Paul says, saying: "Pursue peace with all, and holiness, without which no one will see God." The lawgiver also signified this now through the offering mentioned before: for the inward parts perceived by the mind are the thoughts of the inward parts; when they have peace, we shall have peace with all. And by the offering of the kidneys, and the lobe of the liver, and the thighs, he signifies the sanctification that has been ordained for us for salvation.

It must be noted that whatever he commanded to be done in the sacrifice of peace offerings, he commanded to be done in this sacrifice too. He commands the fat to be offered: for Christ desires to save even the one who has grave sins. With the fat, according to the Seventy, he shall also offer the loin: for he not only wills this but also is able; and the loin, as a strong member, signifies strength. "The two kidneys, and the fat that is beside the flanks": for he wants above all the inner man of the penitent to be cleansed, and he wants him also to have chastity. That is why he commanded to be taken away the fat not only of the kidneys but also of the flanks, or thighs, because these are thought to be the ministers of union and of seed. With these he commanded also the net of the liver, or as the Seventy have it, the lobe of the liver with the kidneys, to be taken away and offered with the rest on the altar as a victim to the Lord. For he wants the one who repents to have no lust of his own, but to offer it all to God. For they say that lusts, or desires, are moved and nourished in the liver; and the offering of their first fruits through the lobe makes them all to be brought to sanctification and corrected.

Having said this, he added: "It is for transgression," showing that not in vain did he say that this sacrifice differs from the other sacrifices that are for sins, but because it is for transgression, that is, his sin is aimed at God. Hence he had to receive, even in a single person, a part of the sacrifice of Christ, which was offered for the whole human race. The rest he did not receive, because it belongs only to the offering that was offered for all. For the sacrifice of the Only-begotten did not secure only the things just mentioned, but also the resurrection of the dead, the condemnation of the devil, the release from the curse, the restoration of paradise, each of which exceeds the power of a penitent. For its completion, since the one who sinned is not sufficient for himself because of the greatness of the sin, he took in a part of the Lord's sacrifice; the rest is kept for the sacrifice that is for all. And this one too, for whom the sacrifice is now made, shares in them, since he too is one of the whole lump.

After he had stated certain things special to the sacrifice for transgression, he added those it has in common with the sacrifices for sins: "Every male of the priestly race shall eat this flesh in a holy place, because it is a holy of holies. As the victim is offered for sin, so also for transgression. There shall be one law for both victims." So we need not set out or add anything else here, since we have heard that the sacrifices for sin and for transgression are common; and we have set out sufficiently in what was said before about those that are for sin. But he added this further confirmation to this law: "It shall belong to the priest who has offered it." And Christ has become a propitiation for us. In him, then, every sacrifice of repentance is ministered and done, and everything that anyone obtains from repentance is referred to him; for repentance is his, and for its sake he came to save us, as is plain from what he said: "I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."

Verses 8–10. "The priest who offers the victim of the burnt offering shall have its skin; and every sacrifice of fine flour that is baked in the oven, and whatever is prepared on the gridiron or in the pan, shall be the priest's by whom it is offered; whether they are sprinkled with oil or dry, they shall be divided among all the sons of Aaron, an equal measure to each."

The lawgiver does not signify ordinary things by what is now said; rather these are things which, when we search them out, deserve to astonish us. "The priest who offers the victim of the burnt offering shall have its skin." What can be understood by the skin, what the devil said to God about Job shows plainly. For when he had destroyed all the worldly substance of Job, whom he accused as abounding in everything, and all that was about him, and Job yet remained in his piety, [Satan] heard from God: "Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a simple and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil, and still holding fast his innocence? But you moved me against him, to afflict him without cause." Answering him, Satan said: "Skin for skin, and all that a man has he will give for his soul." The skin, then, is the surrounding of riches, which as it were surrounds a man on the outside; and those who wish to become a burnt offering must offer it to the priest perceived by the mind. That is why those who had believed the teaching of the apostles sold their possessions and laid them at the feet of the apostles. Since, then, he said "skin for skin," we necessarily understand the surrounding of riches, which Job lost, [given] for patience, which was left to him. And we declare that the skin is patience because many useful things are made from it. What many things? It provides good things for those who acquire it; and patience, above all that which is in tribulations; hence David too sang: "For I have become like a wineskin in the frost; I have not forgotten your statutes." For as a wineskin is said to be helped and strengthened in the frost, so too patience grows by tribulations. That is why Paul too said, "Tribulation works patience," and at the same time added below: "patience, proof; proof, hope; and hope does not put to shame."

And since the priest who offers our burnt offering is Christ (for to him we present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing to God, our rational service), we say that the patience through which we attain the said way of life is necessarily his; the Lord saying: "In your patience you will possess your souls." Then: "In the world you will have tribulations, but be of good courage, for I have overcome the world." And not only in his teachings but also in looking at him we have patience in sufferings, as Paul says: "Consider him who endured such contradiction from sinners against himself, so that you may not grow weary, fainting in your souls." That is why David says: "And now what is my patience? Is it not the Lord? And my substance is before you."

And that he here describes the burnt offering perceived by the mind the text itself shows, for it says: "The priest who offers the victim of the burnt offering": not of oxen or sheep or other such things, but of a man. For where the sacrifices are considered not from those who offer but from what is offered, he necessarily mentions animals; but here, because he wanted to bring in the person of the Lord more openly, he set down the priest offering the burnt offering of a man. For Christ alone offers our burnt offerings perceived by the mind, in imitation of whom the victims and ways of life of these are pursued.

After this he said: "Every sacrifice that is baked in the oven, and whatever is prepared on the gridiron or in the pan, shall be the priest's by whom it is offered." We must remember that we said these are sacrifices of the theology of the dispensation of the Only-begotten, and that the one from the oven signifies the Virgin's giving birth, the one from the pan the passion of the cross, and the one from the gridiron the resurrection from the dead; giving the reason in all of them and adding the proof that was needed. Since, then, these things are close to the theology of the incarnation, they necessarily belong to the priest who offers it, namely Christ, who was born and suffered and rose again. But no doubt what follows seems new to you: "Whether they are sprinkled with oil or dry, they shall be divided among all the sons of Aaron, an equal measure to each."

For he speaks of the sacrifice of fine flour sprinkled with oil which is put neither in the oven nor in the pan nor on the gridiron. We said that this too is theology, but not about the Lord's incarnation. So that we may not, then, confine all theology to the humanity of the Only-begotten, we must also discuss the substance of the Father and of the Holy Spirit, and also of the Son himself, which is from the Father. That is why he did not again require that this sacrifice be borne by himself, but assigned it to the sons of Aaron, who advance to theology through meditation on the Scriptures, dividing it equally to each, so that they might all think not dissimilar things but the same things about God. And this is plain, that he did not command heretics to partake of such a sacrifice, because they do not think the same things about God, but things very different.

And again he speaks of fine flour not sprinkled, when a tenth of an ephah without oil and frankincense is offered for sin by those who are not able to bring a he-goat or a sheep or a pair of turtledoves or young pigeons into the sacrifice. Though this too signifies the Saviour's sacrifice, yet because it was commanded not for the sake of theology but for the benefit of the one who offers, he assigned this too to the sons of Aaron. For since the offering was the same but the cause was not the same (the one is offered for theology, the other for the poverty of one who asks for his sins), the sacrifice had to have some difference, to show what is offered for theology and the glory that is in Christ, and what for the benefit alone of the one who offers.

Verses 11–15. "This is the law of the victim of peace offerings, which is offered to the Lord. If the offering is for thanksgiving, they shall offer loaves without leaven sprinkled with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil, and baked fine flour, and cakes sprinkled with a mixture of oil; and also leavened loaves with the victim of thanksgiving which is sacrificed for peace offerings, of which one shall be offered as first fruits to the Lord, and it shall be the priest's who pours out the blood of the victim; whose flesh shall be eaten on the same day, and nothing of it shall remain until morning."

As he repeated the sacrifices of burnt offerings and of sins, so too those which are offered for peace offerings, or for salvation; saying it a second time, so that by repetition he might implant their memory in those who meditate on the law. And he adds what he did not say before, so that the reading may not be … and contemptible for us. And he arranged that these be divided not in vain but very reasonably; for we find these things when we have searched the lawgiver's words.

"This is the law of the victim of peace offerings, which is offered to the Lord. If he offers it for thanksgiving," or for praise. You see that he gave us, as we pass to the peace offerings, or to salvation, [the choice of] the active life alone, [or] the rational and the active life, granting us the power to choose from either as we wish. For that the sacrifice of thanksgiving, or according to the Seventy of praise, is a kind of rational sacrifice, hear David, who, after he forbade the sacrifices that were according to the law, says: "Sacrifice to God a sacrifice of praise, and pay your vows to the Most High." Hear also Paul writing to the Hebrews; he says: "So let us offer the victim of praise always to God, the fruit of lips that confess his name."

And how does he command it to be offered? "They shall offer loaves without leaven sprinkled with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil, and baked fine flour, and cakes sprinkled with a mixture of oil." The Seventy render it thus: "And fine flour kneaded with oil; with cakes of unleavened bread he shall offer his gifts on the altar of the praise of salvation." Understand the loaves without leaven, or unleavened, sprinkled with oil, as the apostolic books, and the wafers anointed with oil as the prophetic, because the former [proclaim the mercy of God] richly, and the latter, even if they too do so richly, do not proclaim the mercy of God so much, since they mix threats with mercies because of the disobedience of the Jews. Hence the wafers are said to be not sprinkled with oil but only anointed. "And baked fine flour, and cakes sprinkled with a mixture of oil," or as the Seventy say, "And fine flour kneaded with oil, with cakes of unleavened bread": by fine flour kneaded in oil we understand theology together with almsgiving; hence it is also called fine flour, because of its fineness. Yet he commanded the gifts of the sacrifice of peace offerings, or of salvation, to be made in cakes of unleavened bread, that is, in the apostolic Scriptures. And one who desires to be saved must above all follow the apostolic teaching.

"And also leavened loaves with the victim of thanksgiving which is sacrificed for peace offerings, of which one shall be offered as first fruits to the Lord; and it shall be the priest's who pours out the blood of the victim." The Seventy say: "And he shall offer of all his gifts a praise to God; it shall be the priest's who pours out the blood of the [victim of] salvation." By these things they show that however much a man has done and lived, run and grasped or attained, he cannot gain or attain salvation without the help of the Lord. That is why Paul too said: "It is not of him who wills nor of him who runs, but of God who has mercy." And he commanded the first fruits to be offered to the priest himself who pours out the blood of the [victim of] salvation, that is, to Christ, who ministers and completes the sacrifice through his help.

And notice how he concluded the present ordinance of the law: "whose flesh shall be eaten on the same day, and nothing of it shall remain until morning," or as the Seventy have it, "And the flesh of the sacrifice of the praise of salvation shall be his," namely the offerer's, "and on whatever day it is given it shall be eaten; they shall not leave any of it until morning." Here he calls the age to come "morning," as being wholly of light and succeeding the night of the present age. Of it Paul too says, "The night has gone before, and the day has drawn near"; and David says, "In the morning I will stand before you and see, for you are not a God who wills iniquity." He wants, then, nothing of the flesh of the sacrifice to be left in the morning, so that we may not leave imperfect our life, through which we must be saved: knowing that work does not … in that age, and recalling to our memory the five virgins who, when the Bridegroom called them to come to the wedding, wanted to buy oil and were shut out of the wedding, let us leave nothing of what profits for salvation uneaten, that is, unworked, for the morning perceived by the mind. For Solomon too says this to us in Proverbs: "Do not say: Go and come back, and tomorrow I will give to you, when you are able to give at once; for you do not know what the coming day will bring forth"; lest perhaps, he says, you be led away where you can work neither mercy nor any other virtue.

Verses 16–20. "If anyone offers a victim for a vow or freely, it shall likewise be eaten on the same day; but if anything remains until the morrow, it is lawful to eat it. But whatever the third day finds, fire shall consume. If anyone eats of the flesh of the victim of peace offerings on the third day, the offering shall be made void and shall not profit the one who offers; rather, whatever soul defiles itself with such food shall be guilty of transgression. Flesh that touches anything unclean shall not be eaten, but shall be burned with fire; he who is clean shall eat of it. A defiled soul that eats of the flesh of the victim of peace offerings that has been offered to the Lord shall perish from its peoples."

This law at first sight seems contrary to what went before, but when it is examined it is found to agree with it entirely. One who searches it out must understand this, that the law, having the shadow of good things to come, rightly used many and different questions to figure the mysteries that are signified.

"If anyone offers a victim for a vow or freely, it shall likewise be eaten on the same day. But if anything remains until the morrow, it is lawful to eat it; but whatever the third day finds, fire consumes." Every sacrifice of peace offerings, or of salvation, is freewill; hence the lawgiver listed it among the gifts in the earlier part of this book. But the sacrifice of thanksgiving, or of praise, though it is a kind of the offering just mentioned, yet because it is something rational, does not have "freewill" added in the law: because, since we are without doubt rational, we owe the Creator a rational sacrifice as in a way a special debt. For this reason the law kept silent about "freewill" in it, not excepting it from the freewill offerings, for it does not show it to be offered for sins nor from a promise; it only keeps silent, as we said, about "voluntary," or "freewill," so that when this word is passed over we may understand that we, who are rational, owe God rational sacrifices and should cling to him with all zeal.

But there it says, "it is eaten on the day on which it is offered," and here, "on whatever day it is offered, and on the morrow." Nor is this contrary; for most plainly what we call "the morrow" is declared to belong to the present age, as James testifies, saying: "Come now, you who say: Today and tomorrow we will go into that city and trade and make a profit." And you will not find anywhere in Scripture "the morrow" likened to the age to come; rather the present age is called "today," as David says, "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts, as in the provocation," and again Paul, "But exhort one another every day, while it is called today." And "tomorrow" is also said, yet not wholly in contrast to "today," but because the spans of the present age are not the same, as he shows in Proverbs: "Do not say to your friend: Go and come tomorrow." For he does not describe the age to come but the following time of the present life. That is why he said, "For you do not know what the coming day will bring forth," that is, lest perhaps you die on it or be hindered by some cause. … of the present age …, not in the future. Hence he did not double the day at all, saying only one day in the sacrifice of thanksgiving, or of praise.

Or perhaps it is plain from this that for those who have set the rational life before themselves and the pursuit of quiet, like Mary, who chose the good part and sat at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ, life is simple and swift and ready for passing over; but for those who have chosen the active life it is not so, but laborious, like that of Martha, who was troubled about many things. Hence a double time is reckoned for her too, because of her labours. Yet the lawgiver, even if he uses different words because of the richness of the Spirit, and to render manifold, as we have often said, the riddles of understanding, does not depart from strict exactness. For there he said, "They shall not leave any of it until morning," not saying "until the morrow," because the morrow does not signify the age to come; but here, "whatever the third day finds, fire consumes," indicating the age to come by the third day: for in it is the general resurrection of the dead, which the Lord's resurrection, which took place on the third day and came about in the morning, designates. That is why we said that the morning signifies the age to come.

Then, therefore, what is left of the sacrifice of peace offerings, or of salvation, will be consumed by fire. For whatever we have left of what pertains to our salvation is unworked; and also unworked is what has been badly worked and made wood, or hay and stubble; this will be consumed by fire, and we shall suffer loss.

But what did he add to these things? "If anyone

eats of the flesh of the victim of peace offerings on the third day, the offering shall be made void and shall not profit the one who offers; rather, whatever soul defiles itself with such food shall be guilty of transgression." Nor did he add these things to the present ordinance in vain, but because some have presumed to describe, after the end of this life and the resurrection of the dead, another life such as the present one, introducing a certain age of a thousand years, in which, as they say, a visible Jerusalem will be built, and its temple, and the Holy of Holies that once were in it will be restored, and sacrifices will be offered, and there will be marriages and the begetting of children and certain delights with a visible righteousness, and our way of life, when we have risen from the dead, will be no other than the present one of the righteous. Wishing, then, to remove this presumption from our mind, he says: "If anyone eats of the flesh of the peace offerings on the third day," that is, if anyone proposes to himself in thought that after the resurrection of the dead he is going to live out the remnants of this life, and in some way eats the said things in his mind, using fancy for food, and hoping to eat at a time when it is impossible to eat, that is, to work: his offering is not received, nor will it be reckoned to him. For one who thinks false things about the age to come does himself harm and makes his offering abominable and defiled. And not only this, but he also brings sin upon himself; for this reason he said: "Rather, whatever soul defiles itself with such food shall be guilty of transgression," showing that whoever does not think good things about the recompense of Christ both lives in the loss of good things and subjects himself to sin. For the recompenses of God are not corruptible, nor does he set up again what he has once destroyed.

Moreover, he does not want the virtues to be defiled by a false intention; hence he said: "Flesh that touches anything unclean shall not be eaten, but shall be consumed by fire," calling "flesh" the virtues of which the sacrifice of salvation consists: for example, chastity, almsgiving, righteousness. If, then, these touch anything unclean, as when perhaps through pride righteousness and chastity are turned to vainglory, and almsgiving is done from injustice, they will be burned with the fire of the judgment to come. Isaiah shows this, saying: "He who sacrifices an ox is like one who kills a man; he who slaughters a sheep is like one who brains a dog," and the rest.

And the right conclusion of the present commandment is: "He who is clean shall eat of it. A defiled soul that eats of the flesh of the victim of peace offerings that has been offered to the Lord shall perish from its peoples." Here he plainly destroys irony and hypocrisy; for these are the uncleannesses of the soul, so that the inner man of such people was called a wolf when the Lord says: "Beware of those who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves." Those who eat of the flesh of the victim of peace offerings, or of salvation, which has been offered to the Lord, who perform the virtues which are possessed from God not with the intention of virtue but fraudulently, perish from their people, so that they are no longer called sheep but wolves, and so that it may be plain that they have been driven out of the flock. And whoever is outside the flock is counted in the portion of the beasts.

"And whoever touches the uncleanness of a man or of a beast, or of anything that can defile, and eats of such flesh, shall perish from his peoples." He wants, then, whoever performs the victim of salvation, or of peace offerings, and desires to share in it, not only to be clean of evil action himself and free of it, but also to abstain from joining with another's evil, whether his thoughts or his works are evil. For since man is rational and intellectual, he rightly understood the uncleanness of a man as the wickedness that lies in counsels and thoughts. The Lord too makes this plain, saying: "Do you not yet understand that whatever goes into the mouth goes into the belly and is cast out into the drain? But the things that come out of the mouth come out of the heart, and they defile a man. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, thefts, false witness, blasphemies." He does not mean the thefts or adulteries or fornications that are in action (for how do these come out of the heart?), but those that are in thoughts and counsels, because these above all are uncleannesses. Of these the Lord made mention, and so he added: "But these are what defile a man."

Unclean beasts, then, are those who are occupied with unclean and earthly actions; they look to the earth as beasts do. Hence fornicators too are called stallions. "Or of anything that can defile": whoever observe omens and divinations and purifications, or days and seasons, and much more the magicians and sorcerers, for they are abominable before the Lord, everyone who does these things. For perhaps someone shares in their evil counsels or actions; and he, as touching forbidden uncleanness, cannot eat, or work, the things that pertain to the victim of salvation, or of peace offerings. For when he strives to do the things that pertain to salvation, and shares with those who work evil and what pertains to perdition, he will perish from his people, that is, from those who are saved. For to share in the sins of others is deadly; hence David too said, "And from others' [sins] spare your servant." And Paul commanded Timothy: "Lay hands hastily on no one, nor share in the sins of others; keep yourself pure."

Verses 22–25. "And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to the sons of Israel: You shall not eat the fat of an ox, or of a sheep, or of a goat. The fat of a carcass that died of itself, and of that animal which was caught by a beast, you shall have for various uses. If anyone eats the fat that must be offered as incense to the Lord, he shall perish from his people."

The wisdom of the lawgiver is admirable, how through riddles and parables he brings in useful things for those under him, carefully placing the pearl of the commandment as in the bag of the letter. For why did he command that the fat of oxen and sheep and goats not be eaten? Of those whose flesh he called clean and eatable he forbade the fat to be eaten: neither of the one who works the commandment, as the ox is, nor of the simple, who is the sheep, nor of those who repent for sins (for by the goat the sacrifices for sins are signified, since he commanded a she-goat or a he-goat to be sacrificed in these). Of these, then, does he not grant that we eat the desire? For he commands it to be referred to God and offered to God, so that it may not be according to human intention, but that the desire of each thing which anyone attains from the things just mentioned may be offered to God alone.

Likewise the desire of sinners, which is signified by the carcasses and by the things caught by beasts: by the carcasses, as those who have chosen the death of sin through certain impurities and through pride. Paul proves this, speaking thus of widows: "For the widow who lives in pleasures is dead while she lives." And by the things caught by beasts are understood those who, while they are negligent, are seized by … those perceived by the mind; that we may not do this, Peter again says: "Be sober, be watchful; your adversary the devil, like a roaring lion, goes about seeking whom he may devour." Of these he does not grant that the fat be eaten, for it is harmful to us …. But what does he command? "You shall have it for various uses." We must, then, transfer it to usefulness, so as to turn the desire of these things to chastity, or to almsgiving, or to righteousness, or to any kind of good work, melting it down and drawing it off into another form. For this is "you shall have it for various uses": because fat too, if it is needed for some use in making any work, is subdued and melted down. "If anyone eats the fat that must be offered as incense to the Lord, he shall perish from his people." Rightly does he perish, namely one who compels, or in some other way persuades, him who has offered himself to God to have his desire not towards heaven above but towards pleasing himself.

Verses 26–27. "You shall also not take the blood of any animal for food, whether of birds or of beasts of the flock. Every soul that eats blood shall perish from its peoples."

That he wants blood to be understood as the soul has been sufficiently shown above. He wants us, then, to attain the virtue of mutual love: and neither of the righteous, whose way of life he has here signified by the birds because of their higher flight, nor of sinners, to whom the name of beasts of the flock is fitting because they look to lower things, is it fitting to eat the blood, that is, to work anything towards their death. And that, as the Seventy render, he commanded this not to be done "in any dwelling," by "dwellings" he hints at different ways of life. For this reason one who is wise in a lofty way, as well as one who is so in a middling way, or who has no zeal for wisdom at all, must abstain from malice against his neighbour; and, to put it briefly, both the righteous man from that malice which can be against the sinner, and the sinner from that which can be against the righteous, so that he lays no snares for him, knowing that he sins against blood, and the lawgiver judges him to eat blood, and this soul "shall perish from its peoples" …, because it had the intention of destroying.

Moreover, attend to this too: the law, suggesting to the soul the ordinance about forbidden foods and the touching of unclean things, makes mention of it because it is above all the custom of the people from the gentiles, whose signification we have shown to be the natural man, to be defiled by all forbidden actions, from which he commanded it to withdraw.

Verses 28–34. "The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to the sons of Israel: He who offers a victim of peace offerings to the Lord, let him offer at the same time also the sacrifice, that is, its drink offerings; and he shall hold in his hands the fat … what he has consecrated to the Lord he shall hand to the priest, who shall burn the fat on the altar; but the breast shall be Aaron's and his sons'; the right shoulder also of the victims of peace offerings shall fall to the first fruits of the priest. He of the sons of Aaron who has offered the blood and the fat shall himself have the right shoulder also as his portion. For the breast of the lifting up and the shoulder of the separation I have taken from the sons of Israel, from their victims of peace offerings, and I have given them to Aaron the priest and to his sons by a perpetual law from all the people of Israel."

Truly, he who meditates on the law of God night and day is a tree planted by the streams of waters, so that he gives his fruit in its season, watered by meditation on the law, which, so as not to cause weariness, nor to let the reader fail, varies its ordinance, commanding about the same things in different ways. And this is said

wisely, for wisdom works this in every discipline too. For see, you will find that medicine also, in time of sickness, brings out many remedies; much more so in what secures the progress and health of the soul. Let us therefore attend to the force of this ordinance.

"The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to the sons of Israel," where the Seventy rendered, "And you shall speak to the sons of Israel, saying." Not in vain, then, did we say above that the things then said pertained above all to the people of the gentiles; for the lawgiver, mindful of this, did not now say, according to the edition of the Seventy, "Speak to the sons of Israel," but "and to the sons of Israel," showing this, that he speaks not only to them but also to those who are from the gentiles; for this law according to the Spirit is common to them.

And what does he say? "He who offers a victim of peace offerings to the Lord, let him offer at the same time also the sacrifice, that is, its drink offerings." According to the Seventy: "He who offers a sacrifice of salvation to the Lord shall offer his gift to the Lord from his sacrifice of salvation." And what interpretation this has, what follows makes plain: "He shall hold in his hands the fat of the victim," or as the Seventy have it, "His hands shall offer the entrails to the Lord"; that is, each one must himself work the things that pertain to peace, or to salvation, since he cannot be saved by the zeal of another, a friend perhaps or a kinsman. Just as "the iniquity of the wicked shall be upon him," so also "the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him."

And how must the victim be celebrated? "He shall hold in his hands the fat of the victim and the breast," or according to the Seventy, "He shall offer the fat that is on the breast and the lobe of the liver, and he shall offer them, and let them be placed in the sight of the Lord." He calls faith and confidence "the breast," because these are joined to strength. And strength of the soul usually designates the perfect; for the Lord too speaks thus to Job: "Will you give the horse strength, or clothe his neck with neighing?" And according to the Seventy he adds: "And you have put all kinds of armour about him, and the glory of his breast is boldness." … And since, when he commanded the sacrifice of salvation, … making mention of the lobe and the liver and the fat and the thighs, … of the belly and the kidneys and the loin, … he did, wishing namely, as was said, to vary the legislation, and to keep time for himself to command often about the same things … he set out what he had not said before.

"He shall hold in his hands the fat of the victim and the breast," or as the Seventy have it, "the fat on the breast and the lobe of the liver," commanding them to be offered: by the lobe and the kidneys leading us back once to the memory also of the other things already said, and by the breast designating the faith and confidence which he wants to be offered to the Lord by one who desires to be saved; for "without faith it is impossible for us to please God." And what did he add to these? "He shall hand it to the priest, who shall burn the fat on the altar." Rightly; for we said that he wants all our desire to become a burnt offering. "But the breast shall be Aaron's and his sons'; the right shoulder also of the victims of peace offerings shall fall to the first fruits of the priest." The right shoulder is good actions. So one who wishes to be saved must offer both faith and actions. But since he assigned the breast to the sons of Aaron, who are lofty in life, and the right shoulder to the priest, who holds the image of Christ, for which reason the priest alone can complete this sacrifice, the lawgiver shows plainly that to believe, and to propose good things, or to begin them, is ours; but to complete them with works, and to bring to their end the things that have been begun, this belongs to divine grace. That is why Paul said: "It is not of him who wills nor of him who runs, but of God who has mercy." For it belongs to him alone to direct actions. That is why he himself is also called the arm of God; for Isaiah says: "Lord, who has believed our report, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?" As one, then, who is himself the true arm, he rightly received our shoulder, or, as the Seventy say, our arm.

Then, widening our attention, the lawgiver added: "He of the sons of Aaron who has offered the blood and the fat shall himself have the right shoulder as his portion." For it is Christ who offers the blood perceived by the mind of the peace offerings, and the fat, namely the souls and the desires of those who are being saved; he is of the sons of Aaron, not by kinship but by his own dignity, the singular priest, pre-eminent in all things; into his portion passes the right shoulder, or right arm, that is, every good action and the accomplishment of the work.

And summing up what has been said, he added: "For the breast of the lifting up" (or according to the Seventy, "of the setting forth") "and the shoulder of the separation I have taken from the sons of Israel, from their victims of peace offerings": because he wants faith and action as the special offering from the sacrifices of peace offerings, or of salvation. That is why he said … not only the breast but also the shoulder … of giving. For see, now … that without … namely the division mentioned above. The confirmation of this whole commandment follows: "It is by a perpetual law from the sons of Israel." For there is no time at which God does not receive specially from those who are saved the offering of faith and action. For Paul says that all who were strong in the virtues, such as Abel, Enoch and Noah, and whomever he numbered with them, were made perfect through faith.

[Verses 35–36.] "This is the anointing of Aaron and his sons in the ceremonies of the Lord, on the day on which Moses offered them to serve in the priesthood, and which the Lord commanded to be given to them by the sons of Israel by a perpetual observance in their generations."

The things said seem in a way to pertain to the anointing of the priests, but the lawgiver had not proposed to discuss this at present; for what fellowship with the anointing of the priests have the sacrifices mentioned before? He only wants to show the dignity of the things he has said above and what progress they secure for those who keep them. For in saying, "This is the anointing of Aaron and his sons in the ceremonies of the Lord," he referred it to what went before, so that you might know that one who keeps whatever the law said above advances to the dignity of the priest, and by striving after these things you may be called a royal priesthood, a holy nation; but in no other way. For this is "the anointing in the ceremonies of the Lord," namely from the observances that are described in the sacrifices mentioned before. That is why he added: "On the day on which Moses offered them to serve in the priesthood, and which the Lord commanded to be given to them by the sons of Israel." In these, then, he has given us the anointing, and in these God has called us, "on the day on which he offered them." And when is this? On the day on which he anointed them to serve in the priesthood, that is, on the day on which he anointed them from among the sons of Israel, namely by the anointing which has now been spoken of. For those who live, or conduct themselves, more loftily are rightly more excellent than all the people. Hence the lawgiver very fittingly added, "by a perpetual observance in your generations," so that you might know that this observance is unshaken with God: that no one can excel the people, or the many, by dignity, or wisdom, or kinship with the righteous, or any other such thing, unless he has attained the things that were commanded above. For so does anyone become a priest also according to kinship with Christ the true priest, who showed a life without blemish and perfect. And that he understood the anointing by the things plainly said above, what follows proves.

Verses 37–38. "This is the law of the burnt offering, and of the sacrifice for sin and for transgression, and for the consecration, and for the victims of peace offerings, which the Lord appointed for Moses on Mount Sinai, when he commanded the sons of Israel to offer their offerings to the Lord in the desert of Sinai."

… to God, whether through the perfect honour of wisdom, which is signified by the burnt offering, or through the middling righteousness, which is fit … to work the things that pertain to salvation. For the law understood these sacrifices of peace offerings, whether performed through burnt offerings or through the offering, to be rightly useful, as securing the priestly dignity; and for this reason, on the day on which he commanded the law of anointing to Moses on Mount Sinai, he also added the things concerning the sacrifices, and at the same time briefly enumerated and recalled them all. For the Seventy added, "and of the completion," though we do not find that specifically expressed in the lawgiver's words in what went before, even in the edition of the Seventy itself. But since the sacrifice of fine flour is neither for sin, nor of the burnt offering or of transgression, nor of the sacrifice of salvation, so that we might not be ignorant of the kind or name of this sacrifice, in this place he called it the sacrifice of completion, wishing you to understand that whose name he had left out. And what is more perfect than theology? which we said the sacrifice of fine flour offered with oil and frankincense signifies.

But where did he say these things were appointed? "In the desert of Sinai." And Sinai is interpreted "bush" or "temptation." And temptation is like a bush, for it is a rough shrub and hard to grasp with the hand. By it is signified that, just as the crown of those who contend in the contest lies in sweat and toil, so the crown of a good life is completed in temptations and tribulations, as Paul too said: "All who wish to live in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution"; above all if they offer their offerings to the Lord, or as the Seventy rendered, "in the sight of the Lord." For it is plain that one who has attained pure righteousness, pleasing to God, suffers both temptations and tribulations. For the enemies perceived by the mind do not rest, nor are temptations lacking to the righteous, because godliness is an abomination to sinners. And the end of temptations and tribulations James has set out for us sufficiently: "Blessed is the man who endures temptation, because when he has been proved he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him."