Homilies on Exodus 10.1–10.4

On the pregnant woman who miscarried when two men were quarrelling.

1. “But if two men quarrel and strike a pregnant woman, and her child comes out not yet formed, he shall suffer a penalty as much as the woman's husband imposes, and he shall pay with honour. But if it was formed, he shall give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.” First of all, I think we must ask under what heading of the law statutes of this kind are classed. For not everything that is enacted is called law, as it seems to the simpler; some things are called law, some testimonies, others commandments and ordinances, some judgments. The eighteenth psalm teaches this more clearly, gathering them in one place, when it says: “The law of the Lord is blameless, converting souls; the testimony of the Lord is faithful, giving wisdom to little ones; the ordinances of the Lord are right, gladdening hearts; the commandment of the Lord is clear, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the Lord is holy, enduring for ever and ever; the judgments of the Lord are true, justified in themselves.” Since, then, there are these different kinds of things enacted in the law, the passage now in hand is written under the heading of ordinances or justifications. For so it says above: “And these are the ordinances which you shall set before them openly.” But this is not the time to set out the differences between each of these, for we are pressed to explain what has been read. It should be known, however, that some part of what we must discuss is placed in the Gospel according to Matthew, where the Lord says thus: “You have heard that it was said to the ancients: Eye for eye, tooth for tooth. But I say to you, do not resist evil. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.” But perhaps one who reads the Scriptures more attentively may say that what is recorded as written in the Gospel … are related as written: “But if,” it says, “an unjust witness rises up, bearing witness against a man of impiety, both men who have the dispute shall stand before the Lord and before the priests and before the judges, whoever they may be in those days; and the judges shall inquire diligently and examine. And if they find that the unjust witness has testified unjustly and has risen up against his brother, you shall do to him as he tried to do to his brother, and you shall remove the evil one from your midst, so that the rest, hearing, may fear and not again do according to this evil word among you. Your eye shall not spare him: life for life, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.” Similar things seem to be said in both places; yet it is not clearly shown from which place in particular the saying placed in the Gospel seems to be taken, when he says: “For you have heard that it was said: Eye for eye, tooth for tooth.”

Nevertheless, our discussion must now turn to what is written for us in Exodus, where two men quarrel and strike a pregnant woman, and strike her so that the infant comes out of her, either already formed or not yet formed. First, let us see about the one that comes out not yet formed: how is one of those quarrelling ordered to be punished with a money penalty, when Scripture ascribes the fault of the quarrel not to one but to both? And why does the woman's husband impose it on him and not on them? Why “he shall pay” rather than “they shall pay” with honour? And what is this honour? But if the infant comes out already formed, when the pregnant woman has been struck by the quarrelling men, we easily understand that life is given for life, that is, that the deed is avenged by death. But what follows is worth explaining: “Eye for eye, tooth for tooth.” For it does not seem possible for us to understand that the infant which the struck woman miscarried, even if it came out formed, lost an eye in the womb when struck by the heel of the quarrelling man, so that the striker ought to be deprived of an eye by the judges for it. But suppose this too, since it is said to be already formed; what shall we say about the tooth? Did it have teeth in its mother's womb for the striker's blow to knock out? But if we refer this to the woman who miscarried, how again will it fit that a miscarrying woman should lose an eye or suffer in her teeth? But suppose she is said to have been struck in the eye or the tooth, and that the matter arose from that in another way; suppose she received a bruise, suppose a wound; what shall we say also of “burn for burn”? Could a woman standing by quarrelling men be burned, so that burn should be paid for burn? Yet each of these seems to me unable to have an easy outcome even in the passages of Deuteronomy where similar things are recorded as written. For let us suppose that there too an unjust witness has risen up, giving false testimony against a man about impiety. Let both be brought to judgment, let the judges inquire diligently, let them find that the accuser or that witness has said false things: how can the judge, who must not spare the false witness and must condemn the life of the guilty for the life of the innocent, how, I say, will he also be able to take out eye for eye? As though the one who was unjustly accused was to have been injured by the accuser in the eye, or the tooth, or the hand, or the foot! We have said these things wishing to show that what is written in both places cannot easily be explained. For it was necessary first to discuss what is read according to the literal account, and then, since the law is spiritual, to seek a spiritual understanding in these things.

But as regards the present passage, even the part that belongs to allegory, which usually lies open more widely, is forced into a narrow space. Yet, as far as we can, we will try to explain what seems right to us in this place. We have often said that in the Scriptures the members of the soul are named with the same words and the same functions as are used or named for the members of the body; for example, when it is said: “You see the speck in your brother's eye, and behold, a beam lies in your own eye.” For it is certain that he speaks not of the eye of the body, in which a beam might lie, but of the eye of the soul. So too when he says, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear,” and “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of peace!” and many things like these. We have set these things first so that the likeness of the names of members may not confuse us. Let these two men who quarrel, then, be two disputants, debating with one another about doctrines or questions of the law and, to speak in the Apostle's words, quarrelling in battles of words. Hence the same Apostle, knowing that quarrels of this kind arise among brothers, commands and says: “Do not dispute about words, for it is useful for nothing except the subversion of the hearers”; and elsewhere: “Avoid questions of the law, knowing that they breed quarrels. But the servant of God must not quarrel.” Since, then, those who quarrel in questions quarrel to the subversion of the hearers, therefore they strike the pregnant woman and cast out her infant, either already formed or not yet formed. The pregnant woman is the soul that has recently conceived the word of God. Of such a conception we read written in another place: “From your fear, Lord, we have conceived in the womb and brought forth.” Those, then, who conceive and at once bring forth are to be thought not women but men, and perfect men. Indeed, hear the prophet too saying: “If the earth has given birth in one day, and a nation has been born at once.” This, then, is the generation of the perfect, which is born at once, on the very day it is conceived. But lest it seem strange to you that we have said men give birth, we set out some time ago how you ought to take the naming of members, so that you may withdraw from bodily senses and grasp the understanding of the inner man. But if you want me to satisfy you from the Scriptures on this point too, hear the Apostle saying: “My little children, with whom I am again in labour until Christ is formed in you.” Those, then, are perfect and strong men who bring forth as soon as they conceive, that is, who bring forth into works the word of faith they have conceived. But the soul which has conceived, and holds it in the womb and does not bring forth, is called a woman, as the prophet too says: “The pains of birth have come upon her, and there is no strength in her to bring forth.” This soul, then, which is now called a woman because of its weakness, is struck and scandalized by two men quarrelling with each other and producing stumbling blocks in their contest, as contention over words always tends to do, so that it casts away and loses the word of faith which it had faintly conceived; and this is the quarrel and contention to the overthrow of the hearers. If, then, the soul that has been scandalized casts away the word not yet formed, the one who scandalized it is said to suffer a penalty. Do you want to know that the word is formed in some and not yet formed in others? The Apostle's saying which we mentioned above clearly teaches us, when he says: “Until Christ is formed in you.” And Christ is the Word of God. By this he shows that at the time he was writing, the Word of God was not yet formed in them. If, then, it comes out not yet formed, he will suffer a penalty. Of the penalties of teachers the Apostle too teaches, when he says: “But if anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.” And the Lord too says in the Gospels: “For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul or suffers loss?” Hence it seems to be shown that some sins pertain to loss but not to destruction, because the one who has suffered loss is nevertheless said to be saved, though through fire. Hence, I believe, the apostle John says in his Epistle that some sins are unto death and some are not unto death. But which kinds of sins are unto death, and which not unto death but unto loss, I do not think can easily be discerned by any human being. For it is written: “Who understands his transgressions?” Yet from what is related in the Gospel in parables we can know in some part of what kind are the things called losses, since there, conversely, we see certain things counted as gain, which are said to have been acquired by trading. For example, when five other minas are related to have been acquired besides five, or two others besides two; or when a drachma or a denarius or a talent is set down and named as a kind of money in the profit of works; and also when it is said that the householder settles accounts with his servants, and one is brought to him who owed ten thousand talents. Something like this, then, is the account of loss: that, for example, one who was to receive ten minas as his reward does not receive ten, but eight, or six, or even less; and the one who gave occasion of stumbling to a weaker, womanly soul is said to be struck with this loss.

“But he shall pay,” it says, “according to what her husband imposes or lays upon him, and he shall pay with honour.” The husband of the learning soul is its teacher. According to what this husband imposes, then, whether Christ, who is the teacher of all, or the teacher of souls who presides over the Church in Christ's place, the one who disputes about words to the subversion of the hearers will suffer a penalty for that soul which cast out the infant not yet formed. This can perhaps be taken of the stumbling of a catechumen not yet formed. For it can happen that the one who did the harm may in turn instruct, repair, and restore to the soul what it has lost; and this he will now do with honour, with moderation, with patience, as the Apostle says, “Correcting with gentleness those who oppose”; not with quarrelling, as before, when he caused the stumbling. “But if the infant was already formed, he shall give life for life.” The formed infant can be taken as the word of God in the heart of the soul which has obtained the grace of baptism, or which has conceived the word of faith more evidently and clearly. If, then, this soul, struck by the excessive contention of teachers, casts away the word and is found to be among those of whom the Apostle said, “For some have already turned back after Satan,” he will give life for life. Or this is to be taken of the day of judgment, before God the judge, who can destroy both soul and body in hell; for elsewhere too the prophet says to Jerusalem: “I have given Egypt as your exchange, Ethiopia and Syene for you.” Or certainly this too can perhaps be applied: that one who is conscious of so great a stumbling block should lay down his life for the life of the one he has scandalized, and work even to death at how he may return, how he may be repaired, how he may be restored to faith. Let him also lay down eye for eye: if he has injured the eye of the soul, that is, troubled its understanding, let his own eye be taken from him by the one who presides …, and let the turbulent and fierce intelligence of the one who causes stumbling be cut off. And if he has injured the tooth of the hearer, with which, receiving the word of God, he used to break up or grind the food with his molars, so as to pass on a fine sense from them to the belly of the soul; if he has troubled and pulled out this tooth, so that through his contention the soul cannot receive the word of God finely and spiritually, let his tooth be taken away, since he did not break up and grind well the food of the Scriptures. For perhaps for this reason it is also said by the Lord elsewhere: “You have broken the teeth of sinners.” And elsewhere likewise it is written: “Whoever eats a sour grape, his teeth will be set on edge.” And elsewhere: “The Lord will break the molars of the lions.” So, since the soul is said to be injured and struck through its members, hand for hand and foot for foot is also demanded. The hand is the power of the soul by which it can hold and grasp something, as if we were to say its deeds and strength; and the foot is that by which it walks toward good or evil. Since, then, if the soul suffers stumbling, it is cast down not only in faith but also in deeds, which are signified by the hand, the feet too of the one who provided the stumbling block will be taken away, and the hands with which he does not work well, and the feet with which he does not walk well. He will also receive burn for burn, because he burned and handed over the soul to hell. By each of these it is shown that this striker, all his members cut off, is cut out of the body of the Church, “so that the rest,” it says, “seeing, may have fear and not do likewise.” For this reason the Apostle too, when he describes the teacher of the Church, commands among other things that he not be a striker, lest, striking pregnant women, that is, unwise souls, he should give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. Such too are those souls which the Lord bewails in the Gospel when he says, “Woe to those who are pregnant and nursing in those days,” in which “even the elect, if possible, will be scandalized.” Yet it should be known that it is not for the perfect to be scandalized, but either for women or for little ones, as the Lord too says in the Gospel: “If anyone scandalizes one of these least little ones.” So whoever can be scandalized is little and least; “but the spiritual man judges all things,” tests all things and holds fast what is good, and abstains from every form of evil. These things we have said on the present chapter, as they could occur to us. But let us ask the Lord that he himself may deign to reveal to us what is perfect, through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.