The ten commandments.
Moyses receiueth the D cologue or tenne commandments of God, for al the people. 23. with rep••tion that they ••al not make •a•• goddes, nor make Altares but of earth, or vnbe•ved stone, and without slippes.
1And the Lord spoke all these words:E il Signore pronunziò tutte queste parole:AND our Lord spake al these wordes:Locutusque est Dominus cunctos sermones hos: 2I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.Io sono il Signore Dio tuo, che ti trassi dalla terra di Egitto, dalla casa di schiavitù.I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee forth out of the Land of Aegypt, out of the house of seruitude.Ego sum Dominus Deus tuus, qui eduxi te de terra Ægypti, de domo servitutis. 3Thou shalt not have strange gods before me.Non avrai altri dii dinanzi a me.Thou shalt not haue strange goddes before me.Non habebis deos alienos coram me. 4Thou shalt not make to thyself a graven thing, nor the likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, nor of those things that are in the waters under the earth.Tu non ti farai scoltura, né rappresentazione alcuna di quel che è lassù in cielo, o quaggiù in terra, o nelle acque sotterra.Thou shalt not make to thee a grauen thing, nor any similitude that is in heauen aboue, & that is in the earth beneth, neither of those thinges that are in the waters vnder the earth.Non facies tibi sculptile, neque omnem similitudinem quæ est in cælo desuper, et quæ in terra deorsum, nec eorum quæ sunt in aquis sub terra. 5Thou shalt not adore them, nor serve them: I am the Lord thy God, mighty, jealous, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me:E non adorerai tali cose, né ad esse presterai culto: Io sono il Signore Dio tuo forte, geloso, che fo vendetta dell'iniquità de' padri sopra i figliuoli, fino alla terza e quarta generazione di coloro, che mi odiano:Thou shalt not adore them, nor serue them: I am the Lord thy God mightie, ielous, visiting the iniquitie of the fathers vpon the children, vpon the third and fourth generation of them that hate me:Non adorabis ea, neque coles: ego sum Dominus Deus tuus fortis, zelotes, visitans iniquitatem patrum in filios, in tertiam et quartam generationem eorum qui oderunt me: 6And shewing mercy unto thousands to them that love me, and keep my commandments.E fo misericordia per migliaia (di generazioni) a coloro, che mi amano, e osservano i miei comandamenti.and doing mercie vpon thousandes to them that loue me, and keepe my precepteset faciens misericordiam in millia his qui diligunt me, et custodiunt præcepta mea. 7Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain: for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that shall take the name of the Lord his God in vain.Non prendere in vano il nome del Signore Dio tuo: perocché il Signore non terrà per innocente colui, che prenderà invano il nome del Signore Dio suo.Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vaine for the Lord wil not hold him innocent that shal take the name of the Lord his God vainly.Non assumes nomen Domini Dei tui in vanum: nec enim habebit insontem Dominus eum qui assumpserit nomen Domini Dei sui frustra.
8Remember that thou keep holy the sabbath day.Ricordati di santificare il giorno di sabato.Remember that thou sanctifie the sabbath day.Memento ut diem sabbati sanctifices. 9Six days shalt thou labour, and shalt do all thy works.Per sei giorni lavorerai, e farai tutte le tue faccende.Six dayes shalt thou worke, and shalt doe al thy workes.Sex diebus operaberis, et facies omnia opera tua. 10But on the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: thou shalt do no work on it, thou nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy beast, nor the stranger that is within thy gates.Il settimo giorno è il sabato del Signore Dio tuo: in questo non farai lavoro di sorta tu, e il tuo figliuolo, e la tua figliuola, il tuo servo, e la tua serva, il tuo giumento, e il forestiero, che sta dentro le tue porte.But on the seuenth day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: thou shalt doe to worke in it, thou and thy sonne, and thy daughter, thy man seruant, and thy woman seruant, thy beast, and the stranger that is with in thy gates.Septimo autem die sabbatum Domini Dei tui est: non facies omne opus in eo, tu, et filius tuus et filia tua, servus tuus et ancilla tua, jumentum tuum, et advena qui est intra portas tuas. 11For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and the sea, and all things that are in them, and rested on the seventh day: therefore the Lord blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it.Imperocché in sei giorni fece il Signore il cielo e la terra, e il mare, e quanto in essi si contiene, e riposò il settimo giorno: per questo il Signore benedisse il giorno di sabato, e Io santificò.For six dayes the Lord made heauen and earth, and the sea, and al thinges that are in in them, and rested in the seuenth day, therfore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and sanctified it.Sex enim diebus fecit Dominus cælum et terram, et mare, et omnia quæ in eis sunt, et requievit in die septimo: idcirco benedixit Dominus diei sabbati, et sanctificavit eum. 12Honour thy father and thy mother, that thou mayst be longlived upon the land which the Lord thy God will give thee.Onora il padre tuo, e la madre tua, affinché tu abbi lunga vita sopra la terra, la quale ti sarà data dal Signore Dio tuo.Honour thy father and thy mother, that thou mayst be long liude vpon the earth which the Lord thy God wil geue thee.Honora patrem tuum et matrem tuam, ut sis longævus super terram, quam Dominus Deus tuus dabit tibi. 13Thou shalt not kill.Non ammazzare.Thou shalt not murder.Non occides. 14Thou shalt not commit adultery.Non fornicare.Thou shalt not committe aduoutrie.Non mœchaberis.
15Thou shalt not steal.Non rubare.Thou shalt not steale.Non furtum facies. 16Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.Non dire il falso testimonio contro il tuo prossimo.Thou shalt not speake against thy neighbour ••lfe testimonie.Non loqueris contra proximum tuum falsum testimonium. 17Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house; neither shalt thou desire his wife, nor his servant, nor his handmaid, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is his.Non desiderare la casa del tuo prossimo, non desiderare la sua moglie, non lo schiavo, non la schiava, non il bue, non l'asino, né veruna delle cose, che a lui appartengono.Thou shalt not couet thy neigbours house: neither shalt thou desire his wife, nor seruant, nor handmaide, nor oxe, nor asse, nor any hing that is his.Non concupisces domum proximi tui, nec desiderabis uxorem ejus, non servum, non ancillam, non bovem, non asinum, nec omnia quæ illius sunt. 18And all the people saw the voices and the flames, and the sound of the trumpet, and the mount smoking; and being terrified and struck with fear, they stood afar off,E tutto il popolo sentiva le voci, e i folgori, e il suono della tromba, e il monte, che fumava: e atterriti e abbattuti dalla paura si stettero in lontananza,And al the people saw the voices and the flames, and the sound of the trumper, and the mount smoking: and being frighted and stroken with feare they stoode a farre of,Cunctus autem populus videbat voces et lampades, et sonitum buccinæ, montemque fumantem: et perterriti ac pavore concussi, steterunt procul, 19Saying to Moses: Speak thou to us, and we will hear: let not the Lord speak to us, lest we die.Dicendo a Mosè: Parla tu a noi, e ascolteremo: non ci parli il Signore, affinché per disgrazia noi non muojamo.saying to Moyses: Speake thou to vs, and we wil heare: let not our Lord speake to vs, lest perhappes we die.dicentes Moysi: Loquere tu nobis, et audiemus: non loquatur nobis Dominus, ne forte moriamur. 20And Moses said to the people: Fear not; for God is come to prove you, and that the dread of him might be in you, and you should not sin.E Mosè disse al popolo: Non temete: imperocché Dio è venuto per far saggio di voi, e affinché sia in voi il suo timore, e non pecchiate.And Moyses said to the people. Feare not: for God came to proue you, and that his terrour might be in you, and you should not sinne.Et ait Moyses ad populum: Nolite timere: ut enim probaret vos venit Deus, et ut terror illius esset in vobis, et non peccaretis. 21And the people stood afar off. But Moses went to the dark cloud wherein God was.E il popolo si stette in lontananza: e Mosè si appressò alla caligine, in cui era Iddio.And the people stoode a fa•re of But Moyses went •nto the darke cloud wherein God was.Stetitque populus de longe. Moyses autem accessit ad caliginem in qua erat Deus.
22And the Lord said to Moses: Thus shalt thou say to the children of Israel: You have seen that I have spoken to you from heaven.E disse ancora il Signore a Mosè: Queste cose dirai a' figliuoli d'Israele: Voi avete veduto, com'io vi ho parlato dal cielo.Our Lord said moreouer to Moyses: This shalt thou say to the children of Israel: You haue seene that from heauen I haue spoken to you.Dixit præterea Dominus ad Moysen: Hæc dices filiis Israël: Vos vidistis quod de cælo locutus sim vobis. 23You shall not make gods of silver, nor shall you make to yourselves gods of gold.Non farete dii di argento, né vi farete dii d'oro.You shal not make goddes of siluer, nor goddes of gold shal you make to you.Non facietis deos argenteos, nec deos aureos facietis vobis. 24You shall make an altar of earth unto me, and you shall offer upon it your holocausts and peace offerings, your sheep and oxen, in every place where the memory of my name shall be: I will come to thee, and will bless thee.Farete a me un altare di terra, e sopra di questo offerirete gli olocausti, e le vostre ostie pacifiche, le vostre pecore, e i bovi in ogni luogo consacrato alla memoria del nome mio: verrò a te, e ti benedirò.An Altar of earth you shal make to me, and you shal offer vpon it vour holocastes and pacifiques, your sheepe and oxen in euerie place where the memorie of my name shal be: I wil come to thee, and wil blesse thee.Altare de terra facietis mihi, et offeretis super eo holocausta et pacifica vestra, oves vestras et boves in omni loco in quo memoria fuerit nominis mei: veniam ad te, et benedicam tibi. 25And if thou make an altar of stone unto me, thou shalt not build it of hewn stones; for if thou lift up a tool upon it, it shall be defiled.Che se mi fabbricherai altare di pietra, nol farai di pietre tagliate: perché se alzerai sopra di esso lo scalpello, l'altare sarà contaminato.And if thou make an Altar of stone vnto me, thou shalt not build it of hewed stones: for if thou lift vp thy knife ouer it, it shal be polluted.Quod si altare lapideum feceris mihi, non ædificabis illud de sectis lapidibus: si enim levaveris cultrum super eo, polluetur. 26Thou shalt not go up by steps unto my altar, lest thy nakedness be discovered.Al mio altare non salirai per gradini, affinché non si discuopra la tua nudità.Thou shalt not goe vp by grieses vnto myne Altar, lest thy turpitude be discouered.Non ascendes per gradus ad altare meum, ne reveletur turpitudo tua.
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Year of the World 2513.
The Lord now, by his angel, delivers in an intelligible manner, the ten words, or commandments, which contain the sum of all the natural law, and may be reduced to the two precepts of charity, Matthew 22:40; Mark 12:31. How these commandments are to be divided into ten, the ancients are not perfectly agreed. We follow the authority of St. Augustine, (9. 71,) St. Clement of Alexandria, (strom. 6,) and others, in referring three of the precepts to God, and seven to our neighbour. Protestants adopt the Jewish method, of making four commandments of the first table, and six of the second; as they divide our first into two, and unite the 9th and 10th; though it surely must appear rational to admit a distinct precept, for an internal as well as for an external object; and the desires of committing adultery or theft, require a distinct prohibition no less than the external actions. Whereas the forbidding to have strange gods, or to worship images, or creatures of any description, is exactly of the same tendency. For no one can worship an idol, without admitting a strange god. The latter part, therefore, of the first commandment, or the second of Protestants, is only a farther explanation of what had gone before, as Moses himself clearly insinuates, ver. 23, You shall not make gods of silver, etc.
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Haydock
Thy God. By this endearing title, we are all required to consecrate our whole hearts and souls to our only Maker and Redeemer; and therefore we must love God sincerely, and comply with all his commandments. This preface to the Decalogue, enforces the acts of faith, hope, charity, religion, etc. (Haydock)
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Calmet
Before me, or in my presence. I shall not be content to be adored with idols. (Calmet)
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Challoner
A graven thing, nor the likeness of any thing, etc. All such images or likenesses, are forbidden by this commandment, as are made to be adored and served; according to that which immediately follows, thou shalt not adore them, nor serve them. That is, all such as are designed for idols or image gods, or are worshipped with divine honour. But otherwise images, pictures, or representations, even in the house of God, and in the very sanctuary, so far from being forbidden are expressly authorized by the word of God. See Exodus 25:15, etc.; Exodus 38:7; Numbers 21:8, 9; 1 Chronicles 28:18, 19; 2 Chronicles 3:10. (Challoner)
Haydock
Protestants insidiously translate "any graven image," though pesel, eidolon, glupton, and sculptile, in the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, denote a graven thing or idol. They will, however, hardly condemn his majesty for having his representation stamped upon the coin of the nation, nor so many of our wealthy noblemen, who adorn their rooms with the choicest efforts of painting and of sculpture. They know that the object of prohibition is the making and adoring of idols. But they probably wish to keep the ignorant under the stupid delusion of supposing, that Catholics are idolaters, because they have images, and that they themselves are not, though they have them likewise at home; and even in their churches admit the absurd figures of the lion and the unicorn, stretching their paws over the tables of the law, instead of the pious representations of Jesus expiring on the cross, etc., which were set up by their Catholic ancestors. Let them read, and adopt herein just weights and measures, proposed to them by Thorndike, one of their most discerning and moderate teachers. In the mean time, we will assure them, that we abhor all idols; both those made with hands, and those which are formed by the head of heretics, who set up their own fancies and delusions, to be adored instead of the true God. Our general councils of Nice and of Trent define what we ought to believe on this head; and the matter is so fully explained in our catechisms and books of instruction, as well as from our pulpits, that no person can well remain in ignorance. If we perform various actions of respect before pictures, which are also done in honour of God, can any man of sense infer, that we look upon both with equal respect? Do we not read of the people falling down to shew respect to the king, and supreme worship to God, by the same act of the body? (Haydock)
Altars and sacrifice we reserve solely for God, as St. Augustine (contra Faust. 20:21,) well observes. Other indifferent practices must be determined by the intention.
Haydock
Latria, or supreme worship, can be given to none but the Deity. But we shew our respect and veneration for his servants in glory, by an inferior service called Dulia, giving honour to whom honour is due. How profane and impious must the words of the first reformers appear, who, after saying most falsely, that "papists make the Virgin Mary a god, (Luther. postil.) and worship images in heathenish manner," (Melanct. Loc. com.) attribute various fictitious crimes to the blessed Virgin and other saints! (Centuriators of Magdeburg; Calvin, etc.) They knew that all the saints abhorred their impiety; and therefore, in revenge, they vilify the saints, and condemn all the doctors and fathers of the Church, since the death of the apostles, as guilty of superstition and idolatry. (Haydock)
Haydock
"By this occasion, dead creatures, and bloodless half worm-eaten bones, began to be honoured, invocated, and worshipped with divine honour. All which the doctors of the Church not only winked at, but also set forward." (Centuriators of Magdeburg, C. vi.) What is then become of the promises of God, to teach all the truth by the mouths of his pastors? (Matthew xxviii, etc.) Let others judge, whether we ought to pay greater deference to Saints Jerome, Augustine, Gregory, etc., or to Luther, Calvin, and the Centuriators of Magdeburg. But some will even admit that images were commanded by God, Exodus 25:18, etc. Hence they lay great stress upon the words to thyself; as if all images were forbidden that man should make, without the express sanction of God. So Parkhurst Lexic. But those who are conversant in Hebrew, know that these words have no such import; and if things were inseparable from idolatry, they could not be sanctioned by God. (Haydock)
Calmet
No creature must be represented as a deity. But sovereign worship, both internal and external, must be given to the great Author of all good, while we abstain from every superstitious act, and from all dealings with the devil and false religions. (Calmet)
Protestants, therefore, who only forbid images, diminish God's law. Were not the idols of Chanaan, Chamos, etc., which represented nothing in nature, also condemned?
20:5
Haydock
Adore. Protestants translate again, with the same view, as in the preceding verse, "thou shalt not bow down thyself to them," in condemnation of Catholics, who kneel before the cross. But do not they kneel, when they receive their sacramental bread, or when they ask for their parents' blessing? Did not St. John, and other saints, bow down out of respect to angels? And were these all idolaters! We are forbidden, therefore, to shew any respect to strange gods. But we must honour the true God in his saints, referring all the glory to him. (Haydock)
St. Augustine
Hate me. Those who do not imitate their wicked ancestors, need not fear being involved in their punishment. (Menochius) (St. Augustine, q. 42; St. Gregory, mor. 15. 22; St. Jerome in Ezechiel xviii.)
Haydock
Sometimes, indeed, God takes away the lives of children and of subjects, to punish the sins of parents and of kings; but this may be no real detriment to the deceased. (Haydock)
Calmet
Grotius thinks, that this menace is directed against idolaters. Others believe, it may be placed at the conclusion of each of the commandments. (Calmet)
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Philo
In vain. On trifling occasions, rashly, or falsely. "Those who swear often, diminish their credit among the wise." (Philo)
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Grotius
Stranger. Of some other nation. Good policy required, that all should conform to this regulation, whatever their religion might be. (Grotius)
Calmet
Maimonides says, without any probablility, that "a Gentile observing the law, was guilty of death. (Calmet)
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Philo
Honour. Love, respect, feed, if requisite; support the infirmities of parents. See Numbers 24:1; 1 Timothy 5:3, 17. They are ministers of God, in the production of children; and those who offer an affront to his minister, irritate God. (Philo)
Calmet
Land of Chanaan. The promises are of a temporal nature; but they should bring to our reflection the eternal rewards which attend the virtuous. The duties of parents are not specified, as nature would shew their extent, and as the obligations of parents and children are reciprocal. (Calmet)
20:13
Calmet
Kill. These precepts are to be taken in their full extent, as prohibiting not only the ultimate act, but every thing which leads to it. Magistrates are authorized to inflict capital punishments. We are allowed also to defend ourselves against an unjust aggressor. But we must never intend to kill him. (Calmet)
Haydock
The laws will not condemn us, perhaps, if we do; but God sees the heart, and judges. A night thief may be slain, because we know not how far our own lives may be endangered, Exodus 22:2. (Haydock)
20:14
Adultery. This precept is placed before the former one, in the Septuagint; St. Mark 10:19; and St. Luke 18:20. Adultery was punished with death, Leviticus 20:10. All civilized nations have held it in abhorrence, as destructive of all peace, Job 31:11. All other impure actions are forbidden, under different penalties.
20:15
Calmet
Steal; by which name fraud of every description is condemned. Some have erroneously restrained this prohibition to the stealing of men for slaves, Exodus 21:16. (Calmet)
20:16
False. Calumniators were subjected to the law of retaliation, and were forced, by the Egyptians and others, to undergo the same punishment, which they would have inflicted upon others. This law is the guardian of good faith and honesty in all our dealings. It is explained more in detail [in] Exodus 23:1, and Leviticus 19:11.
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Grotius
House. Septuagint places wife first, as all do, Deuteronomy 5:21. The express prohibition of lustful and unjust desires, might suffice to have obviated the mistake of Josephus, and of the Jews, in our Saviour's time, who looked upon them as indifferent, provided they were not carried into effect. They render us guilty in the sight of God, (Matthew 5:28,) whenever we give consent to them, as even Ovid and the pagan philosophers acknowledged. (Grotius)
At the conclusion of this 10th commandment, we find five verses in the Samaritan copy and version, as well as in the Arabic, and a sufficient vacant space is left in an ancient Syriac manuscript translated from the Hebrew, which induce Kennicott (Dis. 2. p. 97,) to conclude that they are genuine; particularly as they explain what law was to be engraven on the two stones set up by Josue, which the Hebrew leaves ambiguous. They are as follows, repeated, for the most part, Deuteronomy 27:2. "And it shall come to pass, when the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the land of the Chanaanites, whither thou goest to possess it, then thou shalt set thee up great stones; and thou shalt plaster them with plaster, and shalt write upon the stones all the words of this law.
And it shall come to pass, when ye are passed over the Jordan, ye shall put these stones, which I command you this day, upon Mount Gerizim.
And thou shalt build there an altar to the Lord thy God, an altar of stones; thou shalt not lift up any iron tool upon them.
Thou shalt build the altar of the Lord thy God of whole stones, and shalt offer thereon burnt-offerings to the Lord thy God, and shalt sacrifice peace-offerings; and thou shalt eat there, and rejoice before the Lord thy God.
Haydock
That mountain is on the other side Jordan, by the way where the sun goeth down, in the land of the Chanaanites, which dwell in the flat country over-against Gilgal, beside the plain of Moreh, near Sichem." This particular designation of Gerizim, makes Calmet suspect, that it is an interpolation of the Samaritans. But Kennicott hesitates not to lay the blame of omission upon the Jews; as he endeavours to shew, that they have corrupted (Deuteronomy 27:4.) substituting Hebal, instead of Gerizim. "Certainly the Jews might omit, as easily as the Samaritans might insert." (p. 100.) (Haydock)
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Saw. The Hebrews often substitute one organ of sense for another. (St. Augustine 9:72.; Jeremias 2:30.)
The Samaritan reads, "the people heard the thunders and the sound of the trumpet, and beheld the lightning." Henceforward till (Exodus 24.), Moses and Aaron alone heard the voice of God; and the laws delivered, (Exodus 25.
Exodus 31.) were revealed to Moses only.
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Die. The Samaritan copy inserts here what we read [in] (Deuteronomy 5:24-27.)
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Haydock
Seen: no visible form; (Calmet) but I have spoken from the top of Sinai. (Haydock)
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Menochius
Make. Hebrew adds, "with me," ver. 3. This people was prone to idolatry, and stood in need of having the first commandment often inculcated. (Menochius)
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Earth, which may be destroyed with ease, to prevent any profanation.
Haydock
Place. Where the tabernacle shall be fixed, you shall offer sacrifice, and I will hear you. The ark was afterwards deposited in the temple, where alone the Jews were, consequently, allowed to sacrifice. (Haydock)
Menochius
Samuel offered victims at Mespha and Ramatha, by the dispensation of God, (1 Kings 7:9.; 1 Kings 7:17.) (Menochius)
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Calmet
Defiled; because done in opposition to God's order, who required, on this occasion, the utmost simplicity, to prevent any undue veneration. Iron was not used about the tabernacle or temple, as brass was more common. Altars raised in haste, like that, (Deuteronomy 27.; and Josue 8:30.) and that which was designed for the ratification of the covenant, (chap. 24:4,) were required to be of this construction, unpolished and simple, as was the altar erected, 1 Machabees 4:47. But other altars were not built after this model. (Calmet)
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Calmet
Steps. These were afterwards allowed in the temple, (Ezechiel 43:17.) The Egyptians made use of their pyramids for altars; and some suppose, that the high places of Juda were of a similar nature, and exposed the priests, who wore long robes without breeches, to the danger of being seen, Exodus 28:42. The steps allowed by God were therefore very low, and enclosed with boards, after the Greek fashion. Such were used by the priest and priestess of Jupiter. (Servius in Aeneid 4:646.) Linen breeches, or girdles, were afterwards required, (Leviticus 39:27.; Exodus 28:42.) (Calmet)
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A graven thing, nor the likeness of any thing, etc.... All such images, or likenesses, are forbidden by this commandment, as are made to be adored and served; according to that which immediately follows, thou shalt not adore them, nor serve them. That is, all such as are designed for idols or image-gods, or are worshipped with divine honour. But otherwise images, pictures, or representations, even in the house of God, and in the very sanctuary so far from being forbidden, are expressly authorized by the word of God. See Ex. 25.15, and etc.; chap. 38.7; Num. 21.8, 9; 1 Chron. or Paralip. 28.18, 19; 2 Chron. or Paralip. 3.10.
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3. Strange goddes] Protestants pretend here to proue, that al Catholiques are Protestants charge al Catholiques to be Idolaters. Idolaters, for honoring Sainctes, and their Reliques and Images. And they haue so defamed Catholique Religion in this behalfe, that the vulgar sorte of deceiued people, otherwise knowing Catholiques to be ordinarily of moderate conuersation in life, of iust dealing towardes their neighboures, addicted to prayer, fasting, almes, and manie good woorkes, more wanting They abuse their folowers among them selues: yet supposing them, notwitstanding these laudable qualities, to be Idolaters, are therby auerted from Catholique Religion. And surely it were a iust cause, if it were true. As wel therfore to purge our selues of so haynous an imputed crime, as to remoue this dangerous block of erronious conceipt, we shal here note some of the Protestants egregious lies, against the whole Church militant, and blasphemous reproches against the the glorious Sainctes: then briefly declare the true and sincere doctrine, and They belie the Church militant. practise of the Catholike Church in this point. Luther in his posul vpon the Gospel of our Lordes Incarnation, sayth: Papists Virginem Mariam Deum constituunt: Omnipotentiam •i in caelo, & in terra tribuunt. The Papists (saith he) make the Virgin Marie God: they attribute to her omnipotencie in heauen and in earth. In Papistrie al expected more fauour and grace from her, then from Christ himself. His scholar Melancton (in locis comm••• ) postilling the first Precept, saith: Papistes inuocate Sainctes, and worship Images in heathnish maner. Caluin (li. de necess. refor Eccles.) saith: those of the Emperours religion (meaning al Catholiques) so diuide Gods offices among Sainctes, that they ioyne them to the Soueraigne God, as collegues; in which multitude God lieth hidden. Against the most glorious virgin mother the same Luther (ser. de natali virg. Mar.) feared not to say, that he estemed no more of the Blaspheme the triumphant. prayer of S. Marie, then of anie one of the people And his reason is worse then his wicked assertion, for that, saith he, al that beleue in Christ are as iust, and as holie as the virgin Mar•e, or anie other Sainct how great soeuer. The Magdeburgian Centuriators (li. 1. Cent. 1.) affirme that the virgin Marie sinned greuously, yea compare her imagined faultes with the sinne of Eue in paradise. (li. 2.) They charge S. Peter and S. Paul (also after their conuersions) with diuers great crimes. Caluin (li. 3. Inst. c. 2. parag. 31.) condemneth Sara and Rebecca of great sinnes (c. 4.) reprehendeth Iudas Machabeus for superstitious, and preposterous zeale, in causing Sacrifice to be offered for the dead. In his commentarie (in 32. Exodi) he accuseth most holie and meke Moyses of arrogancie and pride And (li. 3 Instit. c. 20. pa. 27.) he scuruely scoffeth at al Sainctes in general, saying; If they heare mortal mens prayers, they must haue eares so long, as from heauen to earth. And calleth them not only homines mortuos, dead men, (which S. Hierom reproued in Vigilantius) but also Al modest mē wil condemne these blasphemies. Catholique doctrine and practise conuince their lies. The true Catholique doctrin Honour due to excellencie vmbras, laruas, colluuiem: shadovves, night goblins, stincking silth. yet more, (li. de vera refor. Eccles. rat.) he calleth them Monstra, carnifices, bestias, monsters, hangmen, beastes. These and like blasphemies modest men can not but abhore and detest. Their lies also are conuinced by S. Hierom, handling this matter of purpose against Vigilantius, by S. Augustin touching it by occasion (li. 20. c. 21.) against Faustus the Manachey, Thomas VValdensis (To. 3. tit. 13 de Sacramentalibus) against wiclif. by al Catechismes and Christian Instructions, teaching nothing like, but quite contrarie to these mens reportes. In summe they al teach, that Sainctes are to be honored with religious honour, which is greater then ciuil, but infinitly inferiour to diuine, as the excellencie of God surmounteth al excellencie created.
For better declaration wherof, it is to be considered, that seing by the law of God and nature, honour is due to excellencie, there must be so manie distinct kindes of honour, as there be general kindes of excellencie, which are three. The first of God, infinite, and incomparably aboue al: the second is supernatural Three kindes of excellencie but created, as of grace and glorie: the third is humane or natural, consisting in natural giftes, or worldlie powre and dignitie, al three as distinct as God, heauen, and earth. To these three general kindes of excellencie perteine Therfore three kindes of honour. therfore other three as distinct kindes of honour; to wit, Diuine due to God only, called by vse and appropriation of a greeke world Latria: the second Dulia, belonging to Sainctes, and other holie things, eleuated by God aboue the course of nature, in diuers degrees, but within the ranck of creatures: the third is ciuil honour, due to humane and worldlie excellencie, according to diuers states and qualities of men. The first of these which is diuine, may in no case be geuen to anie creature, how excellent soeuer. The third which is ciuil, as both Catholiques and Protestants hold for certaine, is not competent nor agreable to Sainctes, but to mortal worldlie men in respect of temporal excellencie. Al the controuersie therfore is about the second. VVhich Caluin Protestants denie anie honour to be due to Saincts. Their obiection. First answer. (li. 1. Instit. c 11. & 12.) and al protestant writers denie & reiect, and so would haue no honour at al geuen to Sainctes. Obiecting as old heretikes did, that Catholiques do al the same external actes, as standing bare head, bowing, kneeling, praying, and the like to Sainctes, as to God himself. VVe answer, that the distinctiō of honour cōsisteth not alwayes in the external action, but in the intention of the mind. For when we do such external actes of honour to God, we intend therby to honour the Creator and Lord of al, and so it is diuine honour, but doing the same external actes to a Saint, we conceiue of him, as a glorious seruant of God, and so we honour him as a sanctified and glorified Example of this necessary distinction. creature, Gods subiect and seruant. VVithout this diuersitie of intentions in your mind, you can not shew difference, betwen the honour you do to God, and that you do to the King, by bowing, kneeling, and the like. For it is the same external action: yet no Christian doubteth but he honoreth God with Second answer. diuine honour, & the King with ciuil. Againe we answer, that we do not al the external actions of honour to Sainctes, which we doe to God. For Sacrifice is donne only to God, and to no Sainct; and because Altares perteine to Sacrifice, they are erected to God only, though oftentimes in memorie of Saincts.
Both which answers S. Augustin gaue long since, to Faustus the Manachie, S Augustin declareth this doctrin: and geueth both the former answers. arguing that Catholiques by doing the same external actes, worshipped Martyrs with diuine honour, and so turned them into Idols, as that heretike inferred. VVherupon S. Augustin declareth, that Christian people celebrate li. 20. c. 21. together the memories of Martyrs with Religious solemnitie, to styr vp imitation, to be partakers of their merites, and to be holpen by their prayers. Yet so that we erect not Altares (because they are for Sacrifice) to anie Martyr, though in Three causes of celebrating Saincts memories. memorie of Martyrs, but to God of Martyrs. For who euer standing at the Altar, in places of Sainctes bodies, saide: VVe offer to thee Peter, or Paul, or Cyprian, but that which is offered, is offered to God, who crowned the Martyrs, at their memories, whom he crowned, that by commonition of the very places, greater affection may arise, to inkindle charitie, both towards them, whom we may imitate, and towards him, by whose helpe we may VVe honour Martyrs with that worship of loue and societie, wherwith holie men are worshipped in this life. VVhose hart we perceiue is prepared to like sufferance for the Euangelical veritie: but Martyrs more deuoutly, by how much more securly, after al vncertainties are ouercome, and with how much more confident praise, we preach them now victours in a more happie life, then others yet fighting in this But with that worshippe, which in greke is called Latria, Latria is honour proper to God. Sacrifice only to God. a eruke property due to God, which in Latin can not be expressed by one word, we neither worship, nor teach to be worshipped but one God. And for so much as offering of Sacrifice perteineth to this worshippe (wherof they are called Idolaters, that offer sacrifice to anie Idols) we by no meanes offer anie such thing, nor teach to be offered, either to anie Martyr, or blessed soule, or holie Angel. Thus farre S. Augustin The same teacheth Theodoret (li. 8. ad Grecos) Our Lord hath depriued false goddes of the honour, they had in Temples, and in place of them caused his Martyrs to be honored: yet not in the same maner, for we neither bring hostes, nor libaments to Martyrs, but honour them, as holie men, and most deare freinds of God. It would be to long to cite manie ancient Fathers, testifying and teaching that Saincts are to be honored.
More compendiously we wil take our aduersaries confession, the Magdeburgian Protestants confesse that the ancient Fathers honored Saincts, and their Reliques. Centuriators. VVho (Prof Cent. 6.) holding that the Church was only pure from idolatrie the first hundred yeares of Christ, and that it begane to faile in the second and third age, more in the fourth and fifth, and was vtterly perished in the sixth, impute the cause of her ruine, that the very chiefe men taught and practised the honour of Saincts First of al (say they) these horrible and pernicious darknes, as certaine black cloudes couering the whole firmament. rose vp in the verse assemblie of teachers. For that partly the very Doctors of the Church, partly other supersticious men, augmented ceremonies and humane worshippes in the Temples. For sacred houses began to be :: Manna was put in a golden vessel. Heb. 9. built in al places, with great coste, altogether in heathnish maner: not principally to the end, Gods word might there be taught, but that some honour might be exhibited to the Reliques of Saincts, and that foolish people might there worship dead men. And how pleasant eloquent is that Gregorie, called How saucie are heretikes to scoffe at so renowmed a Doctor! the great, how feruent, when, as from his three footed stoole, he preached the maner of consecrating these houses? And a litle after By this occasion dead creatures, and bloudles half wormeaten bones began to be honored, inuocated, and worshipped with diuine honour. Al which The Doctors o• the Church not only wincked at, but also set forvvard. Thus the reader seeth, notwithstanding standing their lies, scoffes, and blasphemies, Protestants do confesse, that the Church and her chiefe pillers, straight after the first hundred yeares of Christ, fiue hundred next folowing, honored Saincts and their Reliques. Neither wante there autentical examples of holie Scriptures, wherby the same is proued. As. Gen. 32 48. Exodi. 3. 32. Num. 22. Iosue 5. 3. Reg. 18. 4. Reg. 2. Psalm. 98. and els vvhere.
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4. A grauen thing] Here the same falsi•iers of Christian doctrin, do not Protestants haue corrupted the text in al their English Bibles. only peruert the sense of holie Scripture, wresting that against Images, which is spoken against Idols, but also shamfully corrupt the text, by translating grauen image, neither folowing the Hebrew, Greke, nor Latin. For the Hebrew word. pesel, is the verie same that sculptile in Latin, that is a grauen or carued thing. The Greke hath 〈Greek〉, an idol. So al Protestants English Bibles are false.
In the meane time til they correct their bookes, they may please to remember, that God shortly after this (Exod. 25.) commanded to make Images God commanded to make Images. of Angels, to wit Cherubins. Likewise a brasen serpent (Num. 21.) Also oxen and Lions (3. Reg. 6. & 7.) Neither are Puritanes so precise, but that they engraue, carue, print, paint, cast, sow, embrother, and otherwise make, and kepe Images, pu•tractes, and pictures of men, and other things. As for worshipping of sacred Images the second concel of Nice (Act. 4.) The concel of Trent (sess. 25.) S. Gregorie the great (li. 7. •p. 5. & 53.) S. Damascen in diuers Christ, and Saincts are honored in their Images. whole bookes, and manie others, and al Catholique Catechismes and Christian Instructions teach, that the honour is not done to the Image for it self, but at the presence of the Image, to Christ, or Sainct, whose Image it is.
An other controuersie Caluin here maketh, that from these wordes, Thou shalt not make, beginneth the second precept, so counting foure precepts in the first table, and six in the second. But being no matter of faith, how they The first table containeth three precepts the second seuen. are diuided, so al the wordes, and the number of tenne commandemens be acknowledged (for holie Scripture calleth them tenne, Exo 34. v. 28. Deut. 4. v. 13. & 10. v. 4) we wil not contend: but only as more reasonable we folow the common maner of diuiding the first table into three precepts, directing vs to God, the second into seuen, belonging to our neighbour, approued for the better by S. Augustin (q 71 in Exodum) and generally receiued of al Catholiques; grounded vpon this reason, among others, because to make or haue a The first can not wel be diuided. picture, or similitude of anie creature, to the end to adore it as God, were in dede to haue a strange God, which is forbid in the first wordes. and so al that foloweth to the comination and promise, forbiddeth false goddes, and appeareth to be but one precept in substance. But the desire and internal consent The ninth and tenth are as distict, as the sixth and seuenth. to adultrie, and to theift, differ altogether as much, as the external actes of the same sinnes; and therfore seing adultrie and theift are forbidden to be committed, by two distinct precepts, the prohibition of the internal desire, with mental consent to the same, doth also require two precepts.
In Hebrew 〈◊〉 in Greke 〈◊〉, in 〈◊◊◊〉, in English a 〈◊◊〉 〈◊〉 This com〈…〉 and 〈…〉e one of the nine folowing Catech. Ro. p 3 q. 9.
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In the liturgy The Epistle on wenesday in the third weeke of Lent
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This and other ceremonial precepts are determinate lawes, for obseruing the cōmandments of the first table pertaining to God.
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St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Letters of St. Augustin 55.22
… For we have been taught literally not to worship idols; and the precepts enjoining us not to take God’s name in vain, to honour our father and mother, not to commit adultery, or kill, or steal, or bear false witness, or covet our neighbour’s wife, or covet anything that is our neighbour’s,
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 75.11
… but in all those kinds of sacrifices is understood that one Sacrifice and only victim of the Cross, the Lord, instead of all which sacrifices we have one; because even those figured these, that is, with those these were figured. That people received the Law, they received commandments just and good.
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Tertullian † AD 220 Scorpiace 2
… “ I am,” says He, “God, thy God, who have brought thee out of the land of Egypt. Thou shalt have no other gods besides me. Thou shalt not make unto thee a likeness of those things which are in heaven, and which are in the earth beneath, and which are in the sea under the earth. Thou shalt not worship them, nor serve them. For I am the Lord thy God.”
Aphrahat † AD 346 Aphrahat: Select Demonstrations 1.11
… What then does this woman signify? Clearly the congregation of the house of Israel, to which the ten commandments were given. They lost the first commandment—that in which He warned them saying:— I am the Lord your God, Who brought you up from the land of Egypt.
St John of Damascus † AD 749 An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith 1.5
… But that God is one and not many is no matter of doubt to those who believe in the Holy Scriptures. For the Lord says in the beginning of the Law: I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt. Thou shalt have no other Gods before Me
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Origen † AD 254 Origen Against Celsus 5.6
… thou shalt not make unto thee an image, nor a likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters under the earth; thou shalt not bow down to them, nor serve them,”
Origen † AD 254 Origen Against Celsus 7.64
… thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them;”
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 Exhortation to Martyrdom, Addressed to Fortunatus 2
“As it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.” Also in Exodus: “Thou shalt have none other gods beside me.”
St Phileas † AD 307 Fragments of the Epistle of Phileas to the People of Thmuis, Part III 1
… For they knew the sentence declared for us of old by the Holy Scriptures: “He that sacrificeth to other gods,” it is said, “shall be utterly destroyed.” And again
Eusebius of Caesarea † AD 339 The Church History of Eusebius 8.10.10
… For they knew what had been declared before by the Sacred Scriptures. For it is said, ‘He that sacrificeth to other gods shall be utterly destroyed,’ and, ‘Thou shalt have no other gods before me.’”
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Against the Heathen (Contra Gentes) 45
… 4. For the people of the Jews of old had abundant teaching, in that they had the knowledge of God not only from the works of Creation, but also from the divine Scriptures. And in general to draw men away from the error and irrational imagination of idols, He saith
St Gregory of Nyssa † AD 395 On the Faith 1
… and that which is new is not God, according to the saying of Scripture, “there shall not be in thee any new God .” Therefore he who says that the Son “once was not ,” denies His Godhead. Again, He Who says “thou shalt never worship a strange God
Sulpicius Severus † AD 420 The Doubtful Letters of Sulpitius Severus 1.4
… I predicted, O Lord Jesus, thy coming, that it might not be an unexpected thing to these people, when they were called to acknowledge him whom I had before announced as about to come.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John 3
… Now all those commandments are more enjoined on us, and are to be observed: “Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness. Honor thy father and thy mother. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s goods. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 78.31
… 58 ). But what this is doth better appear in that which followeth, where he saith, “And unto wrath they provoked Him with their hills” ( ver. 59 ). It doth signify that they leaped into idolatry. The bow then was perverted, not for the name of the Lord, but against the name of the Lord: who said to the same people, “Thou shalt have none other Gods but Me.”
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Tertullian † AD 220 On Idolatry 5
… It is enough that the same God, as by law He forbade the making of similitude, did, by the extraordinary precept in the case of the serpent, interdict similitude. If you reverence the same God, you have His law, “Thou shalt make no similitude.”
Tertullian † AD 220 An Answer to the Jews 10
… except it was that there, where the name of the Lord Jesus was the theme of speech—destined as He was to enter the lists one day singly against the devil—the figure of the cross was also necessary, (that figure) through which Jesus was to win the victory? Why, again, did the same Moses, after the prohibition of any “likeness of anything,”
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 Exhortation to Martyrdom, Addressed to Fortunatus 1
… but no man can make a god like unto himself. For, since he is mortal, he worketh a dead thing with wicked hands; for he himself is better than the things which he worshippeth, since he indeed lived once, but they never.” In Exodus also: “Thou shalt not make to thee an idol, nor the likeness of anything.”
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews 3.60
… Let them who make them become like unto them, and all those who trust in them.” Also in the ninety-fifth Psalm: “All the gods of the nations are demons, but the Lord made the heavens.” Also in Exodus: “Ye shall not make unto yourselves gods of silver nor of gold.” And again: “Thou shalt not make to thyself an idol, nor the likeness of any thing.”
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Against the Heathen (Contra Gentes) 45
… 3. For an argument when confirmed by higher authority is irresistibly proved. From the first then the divine Word firmly taught the Jewish people about the abolition of idols when it said
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 The Harmony of the Gospels 1.26
… For to this people was the announcement made by those divine voices which were addressed to Moses: “Hear, O Israel; the Lord thy God is one God.” “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is in the earth beneath.”
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 8.23
… “Honour thy father and thy mother,” or what follows in the Decalogue: “Thou shalt do no murder; Thou shalt not commit adultery; Thou shalt not steal; Thou shalt not bear false witness; Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife,”
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St Irenaeus of Lyons † AD 202 Against Heresies 1.29.4
… When these were generated, the mother Sophia deeply grieved, fled away, departed into the upper regions, and became the last of the Ogdoad, reckoning it downwards. On her thus departing, he imagined he was the only being in existence; and on this account declared, “I am a jealous God, and besides me there is no one.”
Tertullian † AD 220 On Monogamy 7
… Necessary it was that there should be a succession to the marriage of a brother if he died childless: first, because that ancient benediction, “Grow and multiply,” had still to run its course; secondly, because the sins of the fathers used to be exacted even from the sons;
Tertullian † AD 220 On Modesty 2
… “And pray not thou unto (me) on behalf of this People, and request not that they may obtain mercy, and approach not on their behalf unto me, since I will not listen to (them)” —of course when they sue for mercy, when out of repentance they weep and fast, and when they offer their self-affliction to God. For God is “jealous,”
Tertullian † AD 220 Five Books in Reply to Marcion 4
55 Grandchildren in “fourth generation” now
Origen † AD 254 Origen De Principiis iv.1.8
… Thereupon the heretics, reading that it is written in the law, “A fire has been kindled in Mine anger;” and that “I the Lord am a jealous (God), visiting the sins of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation;”
Origen † AD 254 Origen De Principiis iv.1-2.8
… but, as having called Himself Christ improperly, they crucified Him. And those belonging to heretical sects reading this (statement), “A fire has been kindled in Mine anger;” and this, “I am a jealous God, visiting the iniquities of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation;”
Origen † AD 254 Origen Against Celsus 8.40
… the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.” If any shall say that the response, “To children’s children, and to those who come after them,” corresponds with that passage, “Who visits the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me,”
Eusebius of Caesarea † AD 339 The Church History of Eusebius 7.10.8
… For concerning them the declaration which God spoke was plain, ‘Visiting the iniquities of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me.’
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 71
… Yet he did not slay his brother; but because not even by his example was he brought to a better mind. And this is what God saith elsewhere, “Requiting the sins of fathers upon children for the third and fourth generation of them that hate me.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Paul's Epistle to the Romans 23
… and she indeed did so for mischief, the love being unchaste; but God for good, since the love was worthy of Him who loved. This is why He does not refuse even to condescend to grosser words, and to speak the names of human passions, and to call Himself jealous. For “I am a jealous God” (
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 39.2
… Are we not told that the unrighteousness of the father does not fall upon the son, and that “the soul that sinneth it shall die?” Or if the old doctrine holds good that the sins of the fathers must be visited upon the children,
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 147.3
… “Thus saith the Lord, For three transgressions and for four shall I not turn away from him?” For this “turning away” God accounts a punishment, inasmuch as the sinner is left to his own devices. It is thus that he visits the sins of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation;
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On the Holy Trinity 1.1.2
… For, in speaking of God, it has both used words taken from things corporeal, as when it says, “Hide me under the shadow of Thy wings;” and it has borrowed many things from the spiritual creature, whereby to signify that which indeed is not so, but must needs so be said: as, for instance, “I the Lord thy God am a jealous God;”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 The Enchiridion 46
And it is said, with much appearance of probability, that infants are involved in the guilt of the sins not only of the first pair, but of their own immediate parents. For that divine judgment, “I shall visit the iniquities of the fathers upon the children,”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On Marriage and Concupiscence 2.50
… nor is it in the books of Manichæus that we read how “the Son of man come to seek and to save that which was lost,” or how “by one man sin entered into the world,” with those other similar passages which we have quoted above; or how God “visits the sins of the fathers upon the children;”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 109.14
… 13 ). Is it to be understood, that even the sins of his fathers shall be visited upon him? For upon him they are not visited, who hath been changed in Christ, and hath ceased to be the child of the wicked, by not having imitated their conduct. …And to these words, “I will visit the sins of the fathers upon the children,”
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Tertullian † AD 220 On Idolatry 20
… I honour him no more than I do Marcus, if I call a man Marcus. But it says, “Make not mention of the name of other gods, neither be it heard from thy mouth.” The precept it gives is this, that we do not call them gods . For in the first part of the law, too, “Thou shalt not,” saith He, “use the name of the Lord thy God in a vain thing,”
Tertullian † AD 220 Against Praxeas 7
… For although a thing may sometimes be made different from him by whom it is made, yet nothing can be made by that which is a void and empty thing. Is that Word of God, then, a void and empty thing, which is called the Son, who Himself is designated God? “The Word was with God, and the Word was God.” It is written, “Thou shalt not take God’s name in vain.”
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews 3.13
… nor by Jerusalem, because it is the city of the great King; neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black.) But let your discourse be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: (for whatever is fuller than these is of evil.”) Of this same thing in Exodus: “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Letters of St. Augustin 55.20
… because a creature is mutable, and therefore it is said, “The whole creation is subject to vanity,” since the nature of the whole is manifested also in any part of it, lest any one should think that the Son of God, the Word by whom all things were made, is a creature, the second commandment is, “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On Marriage and Concupiscence 1.32
… This accounts for the apostle’s precise words. He does not say, To do good is not present to him, but “how to perfect it.” For the truth is, one does a good deal of good when he does what the Scripture enjoins, “Go not after thy lusts;” yet he falls short of perfection, in that he fails to keep the great commandment, “Thou shalt not covet.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise Against Two Letters of the Pelagians 1.12
… nor by that law itself, holy and just and good as it was, where it is written, “Thou shalt not covet,”
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St Barnabas † AD 61 The Epistle of Barnabas 15
Further, also, it is written concerning the Sabbath in the Decalogue which [the Lord] spoke, face to face, to Moses on Mount Sinai, “And sanctify ye the Sabbath of the Lord with clean hands and a pure heart.”
Tertullian † AD 220 An Answer to the Jews 4
… and that thence it was, likewise, that Moses said to the People: “ Remember the day of the sabbaths, to sanctify it: every servile work ye shall not do therein, except what pertaineth unto life.” Whence we (Christians) understand that we still more ought to observe a sabbath from all “servile work”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John 20.2
… and that therefore He had sanctified that day, from which He began to rest as from labor. Now, to our fathers of old there was ordained a sacrament of the Sabbath,
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Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 2.21
… in other words, of course, actually on a Sabbath. You do not, however, consider the law of the Sabbath: they are human works, not divine, which it prohibits.
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 4.12
… The Pharisees, however, were in utter error concerning the law of the Sabbath, not observing that its terms were conditional, when it enjoined rest from labour, making certain distinctions of labour. For when it says of the Sabbath-day, “In it thou shalt not do any work of thine,” by the word thine
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Epistle to the Hebrews 32
From the first therefore they were themselves the cause of God’s being manifested through the Flesh. Let Moses speak with us, and “Let not God speak with us.” (
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Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 4.12
… The Pharisees, however, were in utter error concerning the law of the Sabbath, not observing that its terms were conditional, when it enjoined rest from labour, making certain distinctions of labour. For when it says of the Sabbath-day, “In it thou shalt not do any work of thine,” by the word thine
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies on the Statues to the People of Antioch 12.9
… When, for instance, He gave commandment respecting the Sabbath; “On the seventh day thou shalt do no work;” He subjoined also the reason for this cessation. What was this? “Because on the seventh day God rested from all His works which He had begun to make.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John 30.4
… “Not that it is of Moses, but of the fathers;” since it was Abraham that first received circumcision from the Lord. “And ye circumcise on the Sabbath-day.” Moses has convicted you: ye have received in the law to circumcise on the eighth day; ye have received in the law to cease from labor on the seventh day;
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St Irenaeus of Lyons † AD 202 Against Heresies 4.9.3
… and, Whosoever curseth father or mother, let him die the death.” And again, He says to them a second time: “And ye have made void the word of God by reason of your tradition;” Christ confessing in the plainest manner Him to be Father and God, who said in the law, “Honour thy father and mother; that it may be well with thee.”
Tertullian † AD 220 An Answer to the Jews 2
… Which law had continued enough for them, had it been kept. For in this law given to Adam we recognise in embryo all the precepts which afterwards sprouted forth when given through Moses; that is, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God from thy whole heart and out of thy whole soul; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself;
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 4.25
… In the true Gospel, a certain doctor of the law comes to the Lord and asks, “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?” In the heretical gospel life only is mentioned, without the attribute eternal ; so that the lawyer seems to have consulted Christ simply about the life which the Creator in the law promises to prolong,
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 5.18
… The superior god, in fact, ought to have borrowed nothing from the inferior; he was bound rather to annihilate Him. “Children should obey their parents.” Now, although Marcion has erased (the next clause), “which is the first commandment with promise,” still the law says plainly, “Honour thy father and thy mother.”
Tertullian † AD 220 On Monogamy 7
… The reason why (it is said), “If she have had no seed,” is not that if she have she may marry again—for how much more will she abstain from marrying if she have sons?—but that, if she have, she may be “nourished” by her son rather than by her father; in order that the son, too, may carry out the precept of God, “Honour father and mother.”
Origen † AD 254 Origen De Principiis iv.1.19
… For the passages which hold good in their historical acceptation are much more numerous than those which contain a purely spiritual meaning. Then, again, who would not maintain that the command to “honour thy father and thy mother, that it may be well with thee,”
Origen † AD 254 Origen De Principiis iv.1-2.19
… and innumerable other statements. For the passages that are true in their historical meaning are much more numerous than those which are interspersed with a purely spiritual signification. And again, who would not say that the command which enjoins to “honour thy father and thy mother, that it may be well with thee,”
Origen † AD 254 Origen's Commentary on Matthew 11.9
Jesus, however, does not accuse them with reference to a tradition of the Jewish elders, but with regard to two most imperative commandments of God, the one of which was the fifth in the decalogue, being as follows: “Honour thy father and thy mother, that it may be well with thee, and that thy days may be long on the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee;”
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 The Epistles of Cyprian 72.19
… Can a Christian, can a servant of God, either conceive this in his mind, or believe it in faith, or put it forward in discourse? And what will become of the precepts of the divine law, which say, “Honour thy father and thy mother?”
St Methodius † AD 311 Oration Concerning Simeon and Anna On the Day that They Met in the Temple 1
For He who said, “Honour thy father and thy mother,”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 51
… For, “honor,” saith He, “thy father and thy mother, that thou mayest live long upon the earth.”
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 54.3
… Except by letter we have no knowledge of each other; and where there is no knowledge after the flesh, there can be no motive for intercourse save a religious one. “Honour thy father,”
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 123.6
… The word ‘honour’ in this passage implies either alms or a gift, as also in the verse immediately following: “Let the elders…be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine.” So also in the gospel when the Lord discusses that commandment of the Law which says: “Honour thy father and thy mother,”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 City of God 18.41
… These were their philosophers, these were their sages, divines, prophets, and teachers of probity and piety. Whoever was wise and lived according to them was wise and lived not according to men, but according to God who hath spoken by them. If sacrilege is forbidden there, God hath forbidden it. If it is said, “Honor thy father and thy mother,”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On Lying 36
… So then with this salvo, that to bear false witness is never lawful, the question is, whether it be lawful sometimes to tell a lie. Or if it be false witness to lie at all, it is to be seen whether it admit of compensation, to wit, that it be said for the sake of avoiding a greater sin: as that which is written, “Honor father and mother,”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament 24.3
… suppose them to speak out of their own heart; thou wilt hear, “Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we shall die.” Suppose them to speak from Moses’ seat; thou wilt hear, “Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shall not steal, Thou shall not bear false witness. Honour thy father and mother; thou shall love thy neighbour as thyself.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John 49.12
… and here, then, we have the second day of death. The law was also divinely given through Moses, the servant of God; and therein it is said, “Thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not commit adultery; thou shalt not bear false witness; honor thy father and mother; thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s property; thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife.”
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Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 4.16
… Accordingly, when He uttered such denunciations as, “Thou shalt do no murder; thou shalt not commit adultery; thou shalt not steal; thou shalt not bear false witness,”
St Hippolytus † AD 235 The Refutation of All Heresies 5.15
… for one who is so disposed may depart, and one who is not so disposed may remain. But a law adjudicatory of punishment is that which makes the following declaration: “Thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal;”
Origen † AD 254 Origen De Principiis iv.1.19
… especially when Paul also has confirmed the command by repeating it in the same words. And what need is there to speak of the prohibitions, “Thou shalt not commit adultery,” “Thou shalt not steal,” “Thou shalt not bear false witness,”
Origen † AD 254 Origen De Principiis iv.1-2.19
… And what need is there to speak of the (prohibitions), “Thou shalt not commit adultery,” “Thou shalt not kill,” “Thou shalt not steal,” “Thou shalt not bear false witness?”
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Apology to the Emperor. (Apologia Ad Constantium.) 32
… For to give one’s self up to one’s enemies to be murdered, is the same thing as to murder one’s self; but to flee, as our Saviour has enjoined, is to know our time, and to manifest a real concern for our persecutors, lest if they proceed to the shedding of blood, they become guilty of the transgression of the law, ‘Thou shalt not kill
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies on the Statues to the People of Antioch 12.9
… For we have no need to learn that fornication is an evil thing, and that chastity is a good thing, but we know this from the first. And that you may learn that we know this from the first, the Lawgiver, when He afterwards gave laws, and said, “Thou shalt not kill,”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Ephesians 17
He has spoken of the bitter passion, of wrath; he now comes to the lesser evil: for that lust is the lesser evil, hear how Moses also in the law says, first, “Thou shalt do no murder” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Gospel of St. John 66
… On which account all ran to see. This then stung them, that while the feast was going on, all should leave it and go to Bethany. They set their hand therefore to kill him, and thought they were not daring anything, so murderous were they. On this account the Law at its commencement opens with this, “Thou shalt not kill” (
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 City of God 18.41
… Whoever was wise and lived according to them was wise and lived not according to men, but according to God who hath spoken by them. If sacrilege is forbidden there, God hath forbidden it. If it is said, “Honor thy father and thy mother,” God hath commanded it. If it is said, “Thou shall not commit adultery, Thou shall not kill, Thou shall not steal,”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On Lying 23
… but I understand it as if it were written, Thou wilt destroy all that speak false witness.” But neither there is it said, All false witness. “Yes, but it is set there,” saith he, “where the other things are set down which are in every sort evil.” What, is this the case with what is set down there, “Thou shalt not kill?”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On Baptism, Against the Donatists 6.14
… Are thieves and murderers not contrary to the law, which says, "Thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not steal?"
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on the Spirit and the Letter 36
… for instance, “Thou shalt not commit adultery,” “Thou shalt do no murder,” “Thou shalt not covet,”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament 59.3
… “Thou shalt not steal;” give ear, and thou hast “agreed” with it. “Thou shalt not commit adultery;” give ear, and thou hast “agreed” with it. “Thou shalt not give false witness;” give ear, and thou hast “agreed” with it. “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife;” give ear, and thou hast agreed with it. “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s goods;”
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Tertullian † AD 220 The Shows, or De Spectaculis 3
… Well, we never find it expressed with the same precision, “Thou shalt not enter circus or theatre, thou shalt not look on combat or show;” as it is plainly laid down, “Thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not worship an idol; thou shalt not commit adultery or fraud.”
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 1.29
… Consequently it is not an institution of this nature that is to be blamed, but the extravagant use of it; according to the judgment of its founder Himself, who not only said, “Be fruitful, and multiply,” but also, “Thou shalt not commit adultery,” and, “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife;”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Ephesians 17
He has spoken of the bitter passion, of wrath; he now comes to the lesser evil: for that lust is the lesser evil, hear how Moses also in the law says, first, “Thou shalt do no murder” ( Ex. xx. 13 .), which is the work of wrath, and then, “Thou shalt not commit adultery” (
Sulpicius Severus † AD 420 The Doubtful Letters of Sulpitius Severus 1.4
… “I Lord, delivered the law to all these, at thy command, that those whom a free faith did not influence, the spoken law at least might restrain: I said, ‘Thou shalt not
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Of Holy Virginity 30
30. Ye also who have not yet made this vow, who are able to receive it, receive it. Run with perseverance, that ye may obtain. Take ye each his sacrifices, and enter ye into the courts of the Lord, not of necessity, having power over your own will. For not as, “Thou shall not commit adultery, Thou shall not kill,”
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 14.11
… But to make this which we are aiming at somewhat clearer by an instance, it will be enough to produce a single passage of the law, by which we can prove that all the heavenly commands as well are applied to men in accordance with the measure of our state. For it is written in the law: “Thou shalt not commit adultery.”
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St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On Lying 20
… For it is no sin if a man hide his property which he fears to lose. But, if we therefore sin not in telling a lie, for that, while covering no man’s sin, we hurt nobody and do good to somebody, what are we about as concerning the sin itself of a lie? For where it is laid down, “Thou shalt not steal,” there is also this, “Thou shall not bear false witness.”
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Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 4.12
… The Pharisees, however, were in utter error concerning the law of the Sabbath, not observing that its terms were conditional, when it enjoined rest from labour, making certain distinctions of labour. For when it says of the Sabbath-day, “In it thou shalt not do any work of thine,”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On Lying 6
6. On the other hand, those who say that we must never lie, plead much more strongly, using first the Divine authority, because in the very Decalogue it is written “Thou shall not bear false witness;”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On Lying 23
… Why he fears that which is written, “Thou shall not bear false witness,”
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St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 On the Duties of the Clergy 2.26
130. Love of money, then, is an old, an ancient vice, which showed itself even at the declaration of the divine law; for a law was given to check it.
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Letters of St. Augustin 82.20
… for I do not think that he speaks here of circumcision merely, or of the sacrifices then offered by our fathers, but now not offered by Christians, and other observances of the same nature. I rather hold that he includes also that precept of the law, “Thou shalt not covet,”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Reply to Faustus the Manichæan 19.28
… but the stroke of the tongue breaketh the bones." Against adultery in the heart, "Thou shall not covet thy neighbor’s wife."
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on the Spirit and the Letter 22
What the difference between them is, I will briefly explain. What the law of works enjoins by menace, that the law of faith secures by faith. The one says, “Thou shalt not covet;”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on the Spirit and the Letter 35
The one was therefore old, because the other is new. But whence comes it that one is old and the other new, when the same law, which said in the Old Testament, “Thou shalt not covet,”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on the Spirit and the Letter 42
… and this is remitted only by grace. Accordingly, after saying, “For all shall know me, from the least to the greatest of them,” He instantly added, “For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” By the law of works, then, the Lord says, “Thou shalt not covet:”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on the Spirit and the Letter 50
… This then is the sole distinction, that the very precept, “Thou shalt not covet,”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on the Spirit and the Letter 52
… so free will is not made void through grace, but is established, since grace cures the will whereby righteousness is freely loved. Now all the stages which I have here connected together in their successive links, have severally their proper voices in the sacred Scriptures. The law says: “Thou shall not covet.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on the Spirit and the Letter 65
… “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might;” but in reference to the present life the following: “Let not sin reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.” To the one, again, belongs, “Thou shalt not covet;”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on Nature and Grace 72
… and who, whenever an unworthy thought stole over him, suffered it not to come to a head in actual deed. It is, how ever, one thing not to have sin, and another to refuse obedience to its desires. It is one thing to fulfil the command, “Thou shalt not covet;”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise Concerning Man’s Perfection in Righteousness 4
… So in the inward man the soul is the thing, theft is an act, and avarice is the defect, that is, the property by which the soul is evil, even when it does nothing in gratification of its avarice, even when it hears the prohibition, “Thou shalt not covet,”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise Concerning Man’s Perfection in Righteousness 28
… Therefore, while he does that which he would not,—in other words, while he wishes not to lust, but still lusts,—he consents to the law that it is good: for what the law would, that he also wishes; because it is his desire not to indulge concupiscence, and the law expressly says, “Thou shalt not covet.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On Marriage and Concupiscence 1.25
… In the case, however, of the regenerate, concupiscence is not itself sin any longer, whenever they do not consent to it for illicit works, and when the members are not applied by the presiding mind to perpetrate such deeds. So that, if what is enjoined in one passage, “Thou shalt not covet,”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on Grace and Free Will 22
… “What shall we say, then? Is the law sin? God forbid.” He then adds the statement: “Nay, I had not known sin but by the law;” which is of the same import as the passage above quoted: “By the law is the knowledge of sin.” Then: “For I had not known lust,” he says, “except the law had said, ‘Thou shalt not covet.’
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on Grace and Free Will 32
… since, if he has the will, he shall keep the commandments? How many of God’s commandments are directed against pride! He is quite aware of them; if he will, he may keep them. Why, therefore, does he shortly afterwards say, “O God, Father and God of my life, give me not a proud look”? The law had long ago said to him, “Thou shalt not covet;”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament 95.6
6. The disciples then of the Lord Jesus Christ while yet under the Law had to be cleansed still, to be nourished still, to be corrected still, to be directed still. For they still had concupiscence; whereas the Law saith, “Thou shalt not lust.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John 41.12
… Had he said so, hope would be wanting. He does not say, To do is not present with me, but, “To perfect is not present with me.” For what is the perfecting of good, but the elimination and end of evil? And what is the elimination of evil, but what the law says, “Thou shalt not lust [covet]”?
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Origen † AD 254 Origen Against Celsus 6.62
… but what is called the “voice of God” is said to be seen as “God’s voice” by the people in the passage, “And all the people saw the voice of God;”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On the Holy Trinity 2.15
… Law had been given in the ten commandments, it follows in the text, “And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking.” And a little after, “And [when the people saw it,] they removed and stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was, and the Lord said unto Moses,”
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St Basil the Great † AD 379 De Spiritu Sancto 14
… for the law was given, “ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator,” namely Moses, in accordance with the summons of the people, “Speak thou with us,…but let not God speak with us.”
St Cyril of Jerusalem † AD 386 The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril 12.13
… For if we cannot look full on the sun, which was made on the fourth day, could we behold God its Creator ? The Lord came down in fire on Mount Sinai, and the people could not bear it, but said to Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear; and let not God speak to us, lest we die
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 7.3
… the wild olive tree into the good one, and so far partook of its fatness as to be entrusted with the engrafting of others, and charged with the culture of souls, presiding in a manner becoming his high office over this people, like a second Aaron or Moses, bidden himself to draw near to God, and to convey the Divine Voice to the others who stand afar off;
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Epistle to the Hebrews 32
… And what the “fire which might be touched” to God who cannot be touched? For “God is a consuming fire.”— c. v. 29 .) For it is said, “Let not God speak, but let Moses speak unto us. And so fearful was that which was commanded, Though even a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned; Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake.” (
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Origen † AD 254 Origen Against Celsus 6.17
… And in order that it may appear that the knowledge of God has rarely been vouchsafed to men, and has been found in very few individuals, Moses is related to have entered into the darkness where God was.
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 37
… If He had abode upon His own eminence, if He had not condescended to infirmity, if He had remained what He was, keeping Himself unapproachable and incomprehensible, a few perhaps would have followed Him—perhaps not even a few, possibly only Moses—and He only so far as to see with difficulty the Back Parts of God.
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 54
For as, when He threatens, He shows a dark cloud;—as on Mount Sinai; for “Moses,” it is said, “entered into the cloud, and into the thick darkness; and as a vapor, so went up the smoke;”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 2
… “Who maketh the clouds His chariot” ( Ps. civ. 3 ); it is of the Father Himself that this is said. Therefore he says, “on a cloud;” in the symbol, he would say, of the Divine power, for no other Power is seen to appear on a cloud. For hear again what another Prophet says: “The Lord sitteth upon a light cloud” ( Is. xix. 1 ). For
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Epistle to the Hebrews 32
… And so fearful was that which was commanded, Though even a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned; Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake.” ( Ex. xx. 19 .) What wonder as respects the people? He himself who entered into “the darkness where God was,” saith, “I exceedingly fear and quake.” (
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Tertullian † AD 220 Scorpiace 2
… Thou shalt not worship them, nor serve them. For I am the Lord thy God.” Likewise in the same book of Exodus: “Ye yourselves have seen that I have talked with you from heaven. Ye shall not make unto you gods of silver, neither shall ye make unto you gods of gold.”
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St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews 3.60
… they have ears, and hear not; and neither is there any breath in their mouth. Let them who make them become like unto them, and all those who trust in them.” Also in the ninety-fifth Psalm: “All the gods of the nations are demons, but the Lord made the heavens.” Also in Exodus: “Ye shall not make unto yourselves gods of silver nor of gold.”
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1. AND THE LORD SPOKE ALL THESE WORDS. — The trumpet, which until now had given a confused trumpet sound, now with the angel distinguishing the voices, gave an articulate sound of the following words, namely of the Decalogue. For this angel representing God, as it were a legislator with a trumpet voice, which could be heard by all the people (by three million men), promulgated the Decalogue. Thus the Nyssene, Philo and others. The angel therefore says: "I am the Lord thy God," etc., because he speaks in the person of God; just as the Viceroy of Naples in his edicts says and writes: "We Philip the King command," etc., because he edicts and commands in the name of King Philip. Hence Prosper, book I of Promises, final chapter, thinks the Jews were called by this name from the fact that they received the law of God, that is the law of God. But this is only a fitting allusion to the Latin name; for otherwise it is certain that the Jews are called and named in Hebrew from Judah the patriarch, Genesis XLIX, 8.
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2. I AM THE LORD. — Here begins the Decalogue, which I shall explain more conveniently in Deuteronomy V, 6; for the whole of it is found there in better order.
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Vers. 18. AND ALL THE PEOPLE SAW THE VOICES. — "Saw," that is, perceived not by sight, but by hearing, that is, heard. For the Hebrews often exchange one sense for another, and especially take sight for any sense, because sight is the most excellent and most certain of all the senses, as St. Augustine says, Questions LXXII: see Canon. 5. To see voices, therefore, here is the same as to know voices: for, as Philo says, in the book On the Decalogue, this voice was so clear and sonorous to the Hebrews that they thought they saw it rather than heard it. AND LAMPS, — lightnings shining and flaming like lamps. See cap. XIX, vers. 16. AND THE SOUND OF A TRUMPET. — The trumpet, which before the promulgation of the Decalogue had sounded like a trumpet and summoned the Hebrews to hear the law of God, fell silent when the angel proclaimed the Decalogue with articulate voice; but after the promulgation of the Decalogue was completed, it soon began to sound and roar again like a trumpet. Whence the people, fearing lest God should again speak with His sonorous and terrible voice, asked Moses that he himself be the intermediary and speak in God's stead, and bring God's commands and words to the people: indeed, struck with fear by this sound of the trumpet, the people drew back from Sinai and stood at a distance, as is said here.
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Vers. 20. THAT HE MIGHT PROVE, — that He might test your fear, reverence and obedience.
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Vers. 21. AND THE PEOPLE STOOD AFAR OFF. — Understand from the preceding chapter, vers. 24, that Moses with Aaron ascended beyond the base of Mount Sinai; and the people, or the princes of the people, terrified by God's voice, cried out to Moses and asked that God should not speak to them, but Moses; which the Lord hearing, approved the petition of the people, and commanded them to return to their tents with Aaron; but He commanded Moses to remain on the mountain and ascend to its summit, that there he might hear the other commands of God which follow, and report them to the people. See Deuteronomy V, 23 et seq.
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AND MOSES DREW NEAR TO THE DARKNESS, WHEREIN GOD WAS. — By this darkness was signified God and the divine nature, which transcends immeasurably all knowledge of men and angels. God therefore is to Himself the highest light, but to us is the highest darkness: just as the sun is bright in itself, yet to the weak and feeble eye of the owl is dark, gloomy and invisible. See St. Dionysius, On Mystical Theology cap. 1, Nyssen here and St. Thomas on that passage of 1 Timothy VI: "Who dwelleth in light inaccessible." Thus the Egyptians, signifying the immense obscurity of the divine nature, used to say that the first principle of all things is darkness, placed above all understanding. Moreover in sacred writings they called God three times "unknown darkness," as Nicholas Causinus teaches from the Platonic Damascus in the Polyhistor Symbol. lib. I, cap. 1. And truly the Psalmist, Psalm XVII, 12: "He made darkness His covert. Before Him clouds passed in the brightness."
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23. YOU SHALL NOT MAKE GODS OF SILVER. — In Hebrew it is added "with me," namely, which you would worship together with me. God repeats the first precept of the Decalogue here and elsewhere often, and inculcates one God, because the Hebrews, accustomed to idols in Egypt, were very prone to idolatry. Lactantius teaches, lib. I, cap. XV, that the ancients reported that men well-deserving of the state were made into gods, both that they might show themselves grateful to them, and that by this example and reward they might sharpen the virtue of others. Hence Phoebus made Apollo a god by the lyre, Aesculapius by medicine, Saturn and Ceres by agriculture, Liber or Bacchus by the vine and wine, Vulcan by smithcraft. Hence Egypt worshipped Isis, the learned city Athens worshipped Minerva, because the former is said to have discovered the use of flax, the latter the use of oil and the art of wool-working. The same author, cap. XXII, reports that among the Romans the author of this superstition was Sabinus, who, to persuade the people of it, feigned that he had nightly intercourse with the goddess Egeria. See St. Augustine, lib. IV On the City of God and following. Tropologically, gods of gold and silver are the riches and golden coins of the avaricious: whence avarice is called by the Apostle the service of idols. For, as Pope Innocent III says, lib. On the Vileness of the Human Condition: "Just as the idolater serves a graven image, so the avaricious man serves a treasure. For the one diligently enlarges the worship of idolatry, and the other willingly increases the heap of money. The one carefully tends the graven image, and the other guards the treasure with all care. The one places his hope in idolatry, and the other establishes his hope in money. The one fears to mutilate the graven image, and the other fears to diminish the treasure."
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24. YOU SHALL MAKE AN ALTAR OF EARTH FOR ME — that is to say, You shall not make an altar of gold or silver, from which the nations make their gods and their altars; but of earth, either raw, or rather baked and formed into bricks, that is to say, You shall make for me an altar not elegant, not golden, not precious, but simple and of brick. Thus Cajetan, and this is suggested by the Hebrew word: for in Hebrew it is not erets, but adama, which signifies red and yellow earth, from which bricks are made. Such were also the ancient altars of the Romans, concerning which Tertullian in his Apology: "For although religion was conceived under Numa, nevertheless the divine thing among the Romans was not yet established either in images or in temples, and there were no Capitols rivaling the heavens, but rash altars of turf, and vessels still of Samian ware, and the god himself nowhere." But afterwards, what temples in Rome! what altars! hear Silius, in whom Jupiter predicts concerning that Domitian: "Golden Capitols shall he build on the Tarpeian rock, And join the summits of temples to our heaven." You will ask, why did God wish an altar to be erected for him of earth, or of unpolished stone, and not of marble, gold or silver? R. Abraham responds first, that God forbade the stones of the altar to be smoothed, or polished, and to be touched at all with iron, because, he says, it was impious that particles of those stones which were applied to so sacred a purpose should fall scraped away by a chisel into the earth or a dunghill. Second, R. Moses Maimonides gives this reason, namely lest from fragments of sacred stones idolaters should form images for themselves, for superstitious worship or magical arts. Third, R. Simeon and R. Moses of Gerona, and also Diodorus, and from him Theodoret, in Question XLIV, give this reason: The altar, they say, is compared to salvation, and to extending and prolonging the span of human life; but this is cut away with iron: for by iron many men are slain; iron therefore, which brings such great destruction to men, was not fitting to be employed; hence also in the temple of Solomon there was no use of iron either as material or as instrument, so much so that not even iron nails were employed, but bronze ones, otherwise more suitable ones would have been made from iron. Whence also Cicero, in book II of his Laws, excludes bronze and iron from shrines, as instruments of war, not of temples. Fourth, some Latin writers give this reason: God commanded, they say, that those altars, which were to be made in the meantime while he himself dwelt in tents, that is, before the temple built by Solomon in a place chosen in perpetuity, should be constructed either of heaped earth, or of rough stones only, so that they would either quickly fall apart, or the hastily accumulated mass would rather appear as a heap than as altars, lest confusion of religions, namely from the various altars in which their ancestors had sacrificed, should follow among posterity: a danger of this kind the Israelites feared, when they heard that the Reubenites had erected a great altar by the Jordan, Joshua XXII. This exposition is true, but not complete nor adequate. For who would doubt that in the most polished temple of Solomon, where the other stones were cut and most polished, the stones of the altar were also cut and most polished? especially since Scripture expressly says of the very pavement of the temple: "Solomon also paved the pavement of the temple with most precious marble, with great beauty," II Paralipomenon III, 6; and of the very courtyard it is said: "He built the inner court of polished stones," III Kings VI, 36; and chapter VII, verse 42: "And the greater court round about of three rows of cut stones." If the courtyard was of cut and polished stone, much more so the altar. Fifth, Andreas Masius in Joshua VIII, number 43: The ancients, he says, both Jews and Christians made altars most simply, so that in them we might admire nothing except the victim, namely the body and blood of Christ offered by Christians, but foreshadowed by Jews. Whence, he says, they also detested it if any image were placed on the altar. But this is one of two places which the censors of Masius noted, and judged to be corrected and amended. For it is certain that formerly there were images in the temples and altars of Christians; this is taught by Prudentius in the hymn concerning St. Cassian, where he writes that he saw in the temple of Cassian above his altar his image. Thus Valentinian the Younger, admonished by Pope Sixtus (as Anastasius has it in the Life of Sixtus, Platina, and others) placed in the church of St. Peter above the tomb, that is above the altar of Blessed Peter, a golden image of the Savior. Similar things are found in St. Basil, oration on Barlaam, near the end; Nyssenus, oration on Theodore; Paulinus in the Life of Felix, Lactantius in a Poem to the Crucified; Evodius, book II On the Miracles of St. Stephen; Athanasius to Antioch, Question VI. Masius cites Augustine and Optatus for himself, but incorrectly, as is evident to anyone examining those very passages. See Bellarmine, book II On Images, chapter IX; however Serarius interprets and excuses Masius in Joshua VIII, Question XVI. I say therefore: The true reason why God wished an altar to be made for himself from earth, or from uncut and unpolished stone, was that he might turn the Hebrews, who were prone to idols, as far as possible away from the sculptures and paintings of idols, and from the worship and rites of the gentiles. For the gentiles were accustomed to construct splendid and magnificent altars from marble or metals for their idols (such as King Ahaz the idolater made, IV Kings XVI, 10 and 15), having removed and taken away the altar of Solomon; and in these they were accustomed to carve or paint images, or symbols, or characters of their idols. From these things therefore God wished to turn away the Hebrews by this law; for this law is an appendix pertaining to the first precept of the Decalogue, concerning not making idols and graven images: whence it is also immediately attached to it, as is evident from verses 23 and 24. Lest therefore the crude Hebrews should think that something divine lay hidden either in the very sculptures of the altar skillfully made, or in the very precious material, namely gold or silver, for this reason God wished the altar to be made rough from earth, or from uncut stone: for this reason Baruch, chapter VI, so earnestly exalts and disparages the material, elegance and ornaments of the idols and altars, which the Hebrew captives were about to see in Babylon, lest, carried away by them, they should turn aside to venerate and worship them. Thus St. Thomas, I II, Question CII, article 4, to 7, Abulensis, Cajetan, Lipomanus and others. Serarius adds other probable reasons to this cause in chapter VIII of Joshua, Question XVI. God, he says, rightly wished the altar to be made from earth, or from rough stone: First, that he might signify that the sacrifices and victims of the Old Testament were rough and unformed, namely types and figures of the one sacrifice of Christ Jesus, which once made bloodily on the altar of the cross, is repeated unbloody daily. Second, that he might show how rough and unpolished and hard was the very altar of Christ the Lord himself, namely the cross, as Procopius indicates. Third, that he might hint that none of the ancient altars would be perpetual; but just as they would be easily constructed from earth and rough stones, so also they would be easily destroyed. Fourth, that suddenly and everywhere, whenever God wished, there would be an opportunity for erecting an altar itself; since it required neither labor nor artifice. Fifth, that the Lord might show that he regards the victims rather than the altars, and delights in the great purity and sanctity of those, rather than in the price and art of these. Symbolically, R. Levi Ben Gerson holds that in the temple and altar both of Moses and of Solomon, chisels were forbidden for this reason, that from this men might understand that God is perfect and good by his own nature, and needs neither a file nor anything external for his completion and perfection, just as God's altar was perfect by its own material without any work, file or artifice: for the altar represented God himself. An allegorical reason is given by St. Gregory, book III of the Morals chapter XX, and Rupert. By earth, they say, the incarnation of the Lord is signified: for whatever we offer to God, on an earthen altar, that is, in the faith of the Lord's incarnation, we establish. The same is signified by an altar from native and uncut stone. And so "to make an altar of earth for God, is to await the incarnation of the Mediator. On the altar therefore of earth we offer a gift brought, if we establish our acts in the faith of the Lord's incarnation," says Ansbert from St. Gregory, book V on the Apocalypse at the beginning. Tropologically, Isidore: Uncut stones, he says, are the faithful solid in faith, and in the whole integrity and sanctity of morals, and divided and separated by no schism; of whom the Apostle says: "You are living stones, who are built up into a spiritual house." AND YOU SHALL OFFER UPON IT HOLOCAUSTS, AND PEACE OFFERINGS. — "Peace offerings" are victims offered for peace and the safety of a house or commonwealth, concerning which Leviticus III. IN EVERY PLACE, IN WHICH THE MEMORY OF MY NAME SHALL BE. — In Hebrew, in which I shall cause my name to be remembered: for God himself chose a certain place for himself of the temple, altar and sacrifice, lest, if it were permitted to anyone to sacrifice anywhere and everywhere, schism, new religion, idolatry, or superstition might easily creep in among the Hebrews. The place therefore appointed by God for the altar and sacrifice was that where at that time the ark or tabernacle stood; but sometimes also in other places, by God's dispensation and instinct, or on account of some grave cause, altars were erected by certain Prophets or kings for sacrificing. For thus Samuel sacrificed in Maspha, I Kings VII, 9, and in Ramata, ibid. verse 17, and in Bethlehem, I Kings cap. XVI, verse 5. Thus also Absalom sacrificed in Hebron, II Kings XV, verses 7 and 12, although the ark was not then in Hebron, Maspha, Ramata, or Bethlehem, but in Cariathiarim, I Kings VII, 1; the tabernacle moreover was first in Silo, then in Nobe, II Kings XXI, verses 4 and 7; but when Nobe was destroyed by Saul, the tabernacle was transferred to Gabaon; whence it was brought by Solomon to the temple built by him, and there deposited together with the ark, as is said II Paralipomenon I, 3, 5 and 13, and cap. VI, verse 11. I WILL COME TO THEE, AND WILL BLESS THEE. — We rightly connect this with the preceding verses together with the Chaldean, who interprets these thus: In every place in which I shall cause my glory to dwell (namely in the tabernacle, or temple, the area and the altar), there I will send my blessing, and I will bless thee, that is, hearing thy prayers, and answering thy doubts and questions, and teaching what in this or that matter ought to be done: God speaks here not to Moses, but to the people.
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25. BUT IF THOU MAKE ME AN ALTAR OF STONE, THOU SHALT NOT BUILD IT OF HEWN STONES. — This is an exception from verse 24: for there God commanded the altar to be made of earth, but here he excepts hewn stone, and commands the altar to be made either of earth, or of hewn and unpolished stone; but this stone, or earth, namely the altar itself, he commands to be covered with bronze, Exodus cap. XXVII, 2: whence also the altar which Solomon made, Scripture calls brazen. The old altar therefore within was full either of earth, as Abulensis wishes in Exodus XXIX, Question VI; Hugo and Richard, lib. De Tabernac. cap. XI; or (which is more probable) of hewn stones; for in I Maccabees IV, 47, Judas Maccabaeus, rebuilding the altar destroyed by Antiochus as it had been before, is said to have placed in it whole stones according to the law; but the law here commands hewn stone to be taken, or uncut, as the Hebrew has it, that is unpolished, which the book of Maccabees calls whole. Thus also the Saints, who beyond the ordinary manner erected altars of God elsewhere by instinct, made them of unpolished stone, as is evident from the altar of Elijah, III Kings cap. XVIII, verses 31 and 32, and from the altar of Manue, Judges, cap. XIII, verse 19: whence the same is to be understood of the rest. Thus Ribera, book II De Templo, cap. XX. FOR IF THOU LIFT UP THY TOOL UPON IT (UPON that), IT SHALL BE DEFILED. — By tool is understood a file, or any other instrument fit for cutting, hewing, or polishing stone: for the Hebrews use tool for any iron instrument, says Vatablus. "It shall be defiled," that is it shall be contaminated on account of the precept, and the reason already stated verse 24, and therefore it will be unfit for victims and sacrifices.
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26. THOU SHALT NOT GO UP BY STEPS UNTO MY ALTAR, THAT THY NAKEDNESS BE NOT DISCOVERED, — that is to say, lest in ascending thy private parts, says Vatablus, or even thy linen breeches themselves (for the priests wore only these, and they extended only to the knees: therefore the priest sacrificing was barefoot, as is evident from Exodus XXVIII, 42), O priest, be seen, so that by this both the people and the priest may be admonished of chastity and of the most chaste reverence which ought to be observed in sacred things. Therefore, since common priests under the outer linen tunic, of which cap. XXVIII, vers. 29, wore only linen breeches, their breeches could easily be seen in ascending the steps, or even with them open or exposed, the very private parts themselves; for this reason God forbids these steps here. The contrary of this was done in the impure rites of Priapus, to which the Jews were very much inclined, as is evident from III Kings cap. XV, vers. 12 and 13. Whence St. Thomas, I II, Question CII, art. 4, ad 6, and from him Lyra, think that steps in the altar are forbidden here to exclude idolatry. For in the rites, they say, of Priapus the Gentiles exposed their private parts to the people. St. Thomas Aquinas pursues this reason at length, lib. IV De Templo, cap. LXXIX. Indeed he himself explains these very words: "Thou shalt not go up by steps unto My altar, that thy nakedness be not discovered," thus, as if to say, "Thou shalt not go up by steps," not after the manner of the Gentiles, "that," that is, to this end and manner, so that from the high steps of the altar thou mayest reveal and show thy nakedness, namely thy genitals, as did the incestuous and abominable Ithyphalli in the rites of Priapus, as witness Athenaeus, lib. XIV, cap. VIII. But thus, for "that thy nakedness be not discovered," it should have been said, "that thou discover not." For these two seem opposite: for this is affirmative, that is negative. Moreover, this foulness, as much as the cult of Priapus, was a proximate danger to the Hebrews in the time of Moses, and for this reason it is forbidden and guarded against by this sanction. For the Hebrews were about to pass with Moses through Moabitis, where Beelphegor, that is Priapus, was intensely worshipped, and they themselves were to be solicited by the Moabites to his worship. For thus we read in Numbers XXV, that the Hebrews, seduced by the daughters of Moab to fornication, were initiated into Beelphegor, that is, worshipped Priapus: on which account a plague raged upon them, which Phinees stopped by slaying the prince of the tribe of Simeon, the instigator of this crime. You will say, in II Paralipomenon IV, 1, it is said of Solomon: "He made also a brazen altar ten cubits high:" but to ascend to this height steps were necessary; therefore Solomon made these steps, which nevertheless are forbidden here. Abulensius and Ribera answer, lib. II De Templo, cap. XX, at the end, that in Solomon's altar there were not wooden or stone steps, but a continuous ascent from the ground, which was gradually and uniformly raised upward: and so there were no steps there in ascending which the priest's nakedness could be exposed and seen by the people. Cajetan, however, thinks that here not all steps whatsoever are forbidden in the altar, but many and high ones, by which namely the priest's nakedness could be seen: therefore few are permitted here, especially if they ascended gradually and moderately; and so God, forbidding steps in the altar, at the same time forbade that they make the altar too high and lofty; nevertheless the altar ought to have a moderate height, so that the sacrifices offered upon it could be seen by the people. But I answer that this precept was temporary, and lasted only during the time of the Mosaic tabernacle, namely when God dwelt with the Hebrews in tents, that is before the stable temple built by Solomon, the place chosen in perpetuity. For since Moses with the Hebrews was continually about to wander through the desert for forty years until Canaan, and therefore was to build for God not a solid temple, but a mobile and as it were military tabernacle; God likewise wished the altar to be mobile, and therefore small, namely three cubits high, so that there would be no need of a step and ascent to it. But Solomon, building for God a magnificent temple in the highest peace of the commonwealth, just as he built that far greater and more magnificent than the Mosaic tabernacle: so likewise he built a greater and more magnificent altar, ten cubits high, to which therefore it was necessary to ascend by steps. That this is so is evident from Ezechiel XLIII, verse 17, where concerning the temple of Ezechiel, which was expressed after the manner of Solomon's, it is said: "The steps thereof (of the altar) turned toward the East," where although Rabbi David and Rabbi Solomon answer that these steps were level, namely an incline ascending plainly and evenly after the likeness of a bridge; and others say that these steps were outside the court, and were themselves the steps of the court, by which one ascended to it: nevertheless others everywhere consider these to be true and magnificent steps, not of the court, but of the magnificent altar ten cubits high; and this is clear from the text. They may be seen excellently depicted in the figure at Villalpandus, page 388. Just as therefore the temple of Solomon differed from the tabernacle and the Mosaic altar in Cherubim, porticoes, courts, columns, the brazen sea, tables, candlesticks and many other things: so also in the altar and its steps, and was far superior to it, although after the manner of the Mosaic, as much as could be done, with the due proportion of the structure preserved, Solomon built his temple, altar, etc. Christ gave similar temporal precepts to the primitive Church, that is to the Apostles, when he first sent them to evangelize through Judaea, namely that they should go two by two, that they should go to the Jews, not to the Gentiles, nor to the Samaritans, that they should not carry a staff, etc., Matthew X, verses 5 and following; which after Christ's death it is certain they did not keep, nor could they keep, since they were sent to evangelize all nations throughout the whole world. the shameful parts of the priest, equally as on the steps of the altar. Moreover it is altogether probable that Solomon made these altar steps so wide, near and fitted, that there would be no danger of falling for the priest, and if by any chance he had fallen, nevertheless his shameful parts would not have been revealed, nor could they have been seen by the people, the width of the steps covering him and excluding the sight of the people. Finally some reconcile these passages thus, saying that the altar of Solomon precisely taken was only three cubits in height, as was the Mosaic, and therefore had no steps by which one would ascend to it. Yet it is said in Paralipomenon that it was eight cubits in height, if namely the altar is measured with its substructures, upon which as bases it rested, and above which it stood magnificently. Wherefore it was necessary to ascend to these substructures by steps, but from the substructures to the altar precisely taken there was no need of steps. But that this be true, this answer does not avoid the difficulty of the matter. For on the steps of the substructure the shameful parts of the priest could have been seen, equally as on the steps of the altar. Hence the altar is said to be named from height, says Festus, as it were a high altar. For the ancients made sacrifices to the gods above in buildings exalted from the earth, but made sacrifices to the earthly gods on the earth, and finally made sacrifices to the infernal gods in excavated earth. Allegorically, in the Holy Trinity no degrees of inequality are to be established, as Arius did, teaching that the Son is less than the Father; and Macedonius, denying the divinity of the Holy Spirit: these therefore ascended by steps to the altar, that is, to God, and therefore were rejected and reprobated by God. Tropologically: "In the altar of thy heart do not make steps, that is, do not exalt thyself in thy progress, otherwise thy shame will be revealed, because pride of mind is accompanied by the dishonour of the flesh," says Rupertus. For God is accustomed to punish pride through the falls of the flesh and lust, so that through it so shameful and disgraceful, those who thought too highly of themselves may know themselves and their weakness, and be humbled.
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
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v. 4 « Locutusque est. Dominus cunctos sermones hos » v. 9-17; ergo omnia decem praecepta ab eadem divina auctoritate fluxere (Ca?.). Non dicitur hae vice Deus locutus esse «d Moysen, quia reapse eius haec verba ab universo populo exaudiebantur (cf. v. 19). v.9 « Ego sum Dominus Deus tuus, qui eduxi te de terra Aegypti, de domo servitutis ». Cf. 13,3. Haec formula, quandoque in « Ego Iahve » contracta, frequenter in Pentateucho divinis effatis et mandatis praemittitur ^W ad calcem appenditur : Lev. 18,2. 4.30; 19,3. 4. 10.95.31. 35.36; 23,92; 95,98; Ex. 29,46; Num. 15,41 etc. (Dillm.). Quare non licet vertere « Ego lahve sum Deus tuus » (Kn.), vel « ero Deus tuus » (Ca?.). Ille est Deus Israelis , qui fuit Deus patrum eorum inde a condito mundo : loquitur ergo plena divina auctoritate. At idem nomine JaÀve se appellans pacti Israelitas commonefaeit (Ca?.), quo illi ad obsequendum sibi adiguntur « praeter alios titulos, qui sunt communes cum omnibus gentibus » (Sy/v.). Ulterior porro titulus est, quod ipse suas in pacto partes iam actu expleverit edwcens eos de Aegypto.
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v. 8 « Non habebis deos alienos coram me », vel deum alium (Chald.), utroque enim modo expressio verti potest, et certe non plures tantum dii adiectitii excluduntur, sed vel unus. *i5 5v non ante me, ut ego veluti in secundum locum releger ( Ewald S 217,1), non enim solum praeferri Domino alius deus prohibetur, sed vel aequiparari; sed ex- (ra me et hinc praeter me (LXX Chald. Syr.). Prohibetur igitur hoc mandato polylatria, et exigitur monolatria : sed ex hac facili illatione sequitur monotheismus. S1 enim plures essent dii, non posset illos debita agnitione privare Deus infinite iustus. 3 n'n' proxime exprimit agnitionem mentis, simul tamen etiam cultum, quem ea agnitio suapte natura exigit. Constructio supponit, Hebraeos agnoscere exsistentiam unius, non necessario unici Dei : sed unus Deus exsistens potest suam affirmare unicitatem et polytheismum proscribere. v. h « Non facies tibi sculptile neque omnem similitudinem » , — 5pB est imago sculpta e lapide vel ligno; statuae, quae dicebantur aureae vel argenteae, antiquitus ita confici assueverant, ut sculptile ligneum vel lapideum laminis aureis vel argenteis tegeretur; ergo etiam ipsae voce 5»z includuntur. Sed quid szmilitudo? Proc. gratuito fingit, sculptile esse repraesentationem rei in natura exsistentis, v. g. bovis, similitudinem esse repraesentationem symbolicam vel chimaericam, v. g. hippocentauri. Tost. censet efferri 1magines sculptas et pietas. Nota vocem omnem; ergo : non facies tibi similitudinem sculptam, neque alius generis similitudinem. Quo utique imprimis attinguntur similitudines pictae, et certe includuntur imagines symbolicae apud Aegyptios et Assyros tam frequentes — « quae est ?n coelo desuper, et quae ?n terra deorsum , nec |eorum| quae sunt in aquis sub lerra. ». Loci commentarium praebet Deut. 4,15-19, ubi res in coelo desuper constitutae dicuntur sol, luna et omnia astra; res in terra deorsum homo, iumenta, reptilia et aves sub coelo volantes; res sub terra et in aquis sitae pisces. Sed quid est facere similitudinem, quae est in. coelo etc.? Sensus nativus vocis nzY2n non est similitudo (ne textibus quidem Deut. 4,16. 23. 95; 5,8), sed species seu forma, quae species reperiri potest sive in imaginato sive in imagine. Praeterea Heór. Chald. omittentes Deut. 5,8 copulam ante 55, nos monent etiam retenta copula aliter sententiam construi posse. Primum enuntiatur mandatum brevi formula : Non facies tibi sculptile. Dein idipsum explicatur : Omnem formam , quae vest in coelo etc., non adorabis ea neque coles (Ewald). Sensus est perquam planus. Illico patet, quorsum Hebraei sculptilia facere prohiberentur, sc. ut ea adorarent et colerent. Et nota, haec verba hebraice non solam latriam, sed omnem cultum sonare. Perspicitur, quomodo potuerit Deus 25,18; 26,31 Cherubim et Num. 21,8 serpentem aeneum effingi iubere ; quomodo licuerit Salomoni leones et boves 3 Reg. 7,25. res mandatum sírictius esse interpretatos. Mandato autem prohibentur etiam veri Dei imagines. Pro eo quippe nulla statuitur exceptio 1n lege nectit cum facto, Deum in monte Sinai nulla se specie Hebraeis videndum praebuisse; Deus ipse in sanctuario Cherubim quidem imagines, sed nullam sui imaginem admisit, quo se magis invisibilem et spiritualem ipsis Cherubim esse significaret.
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v. 5 « Non adorabis ea neque coles » : — Hebr : neque servies eis — « ego sum Dominus Deus tuus, fortis, zelotes », — verum 5x non est vertendum fortis, sed Deus (LXX Syr.), et Deum zelotypum se dicit Dominus (Proc.) quod, uti frequenter habent prophetae (cf. Is. 1,21; ler. 2,2; Ez. 16,8; Os. 2,9 sq. et Knabenbauer 1n. eos locos), foedus cum populo in Aegypto et Sinai confirmatum comparetur coniugio, adulterium vero in eo coniugio imprimis sit idololatria et superstitio. Melius vero cum C/er. iunges : nam ego Iahve Deus tuus (cf. v. 2) sum Deus zelotypus. Verba autem usque ad v. 7 non ad solum mandatum v. l. sq. sed item ad illud v. 3 referri, quod mysticum illud connubium etiam magis immediate attingat, omnino demonstrat 354,14: « Noli adorare deum alienum : Dominus zelotes nomen eius, Deus est aemulator ». Quanta vero sit Dei zelotypla ex inflictis in transgressores poenis colligitur, qui, « ut parentes a peccandi licentia retrahat, liberis ob parentum delicta gravissimas et acerbissimas praedicit impendere poenas » (Proc.) : « visitans iniquitatem patrum in filtos in tertiam et quartam generationem eorum , qui oderunt me, » — Quod adiectum false Chald. interpretatur : quando. filii pergunt peccare post patres suos. Filii ita pergentes peccare plectuntur propter sua propria peccata; in plurimis casibus 1dololatria impunita abiret. Non agitur in eo adiecto de filiis, sed de patribus, quod comparatus v. 6 manifestat —
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v. 6 « et faciens misericordiam in millia » seu, ut secundum Deut. 1,9 cüm Chald. Syr. oportet interpretari : Zn mille generationes, « 1. e. usque in perpetuum » (Vat.), « hts, qu diligunt me et custodiunt praecepta mea ». Notat Ca., latius multo extendi divinam benignitatem, quam vindictam. Ceterum h. l. non sufficit cum TAeodoret. monere, apud Deum acerbiores semper esse comminationes quam poenas; aut cum CArys. (Hom. 56, al. 55in Io.; M. 59.307) verba ad solam eam generationem coarctare, quae Moyse duce egressa esset de Aegypto; aut cum Hugone ad eos solos filios limitare, qui post parentum peccatum nascantur. Sanctio traditur pro V. T. universalis; legi universali affixa, secundum quam alios textus explanare et circumscribere oporteat. Igitur Deut. 24,16 iudices humani prudenter vetantur occidere filios pro patribus, itemque patres pro filis. Ez. 18,2 et Ier. 31,29 « Deus pollicetur futurum, ut proverbium illud contraria consuetudine abrogetur » (Ca/m.). Sanctio illa non erat dura : agitur enim de poenis naturalibus, v. g. morbis, caecitate etc. (cf. popularem opinionem Io. 9,2), quae mala simpliciter non sunt, sed patientia transformari possunt in summa lucra. Erat sanctio universalis, bene multas admittens exceptiones : neque enim omnes superstitiosorum filii eiusmodi malis affligebantur, neque omnes caeci etc. filii erant superstitiosorum. Crediderim sanctionem pronuntiatam esse in integram nationem, non in individua, ut, quamdiu natio in Dei cultu perseveraret, omnia prospere cederent, ea deficiente bella, lues etc. ingruerent. Quandoque insontes etiam cum sontibus has poenas tulisse, docet Tobiae exemplum. Quanto maioris momenti est cultus Dei pielate parentum, tanto convenientius perspicitur filiis piis v. 12 proponi praemium ipsorum vitam non excedens, religiosis et superstitiosis praemium et poenam futuras etiam generationes affectura. .
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v. 5 « Non assumes nomen Domini Dei tui in vanum ». Non. voce efferes, proferes : cf. 23,1; Ps. 1^4 (15), 3; ^ Reg. 9,25. wv includit quidem significationem fa/so (cum v. 16 cf. Deut. 5,20), sed latius patet, significatque superflue, in vanum (cf. ler. 2,30; 4,30; 6,29 etc.). Ergo non prohibetur solum falsum iuramentum (CAa/d. Syr.), non solum nomen Dei i1ocose prolatum (TAeodoret.), quod crimen grave persaepe non est : sed quaevis mendax, superstitiosa, irreverens non culusvis (Tost.) divini nominis, sed nominis Iahve appellatio. Uti v. 16 famae proximi, ita v. 7 reverentiae nomini Ilahve debitae prospicit. « JVec enim habebit insontem. Domnus eum, qui assumpserit nomen Domini Dei sui frustra. ». « Quibus verbis per litoten minus dicitur et plus intelligitur; significatur enim, quod Deus talem reputabit valde sontem ae propterea gravissime puniet » (Sy/v.), non tamen aeque gravi - ter quam idololatrum et superstitiosum, habetur quippe multo solemnior v. 5 comminatio. i
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v. 8 « Memento , ut diem sabbati sanctifices ». Hoc praeceptum , ait S. Thom. 93 999 q. 192 a. & ad 1, « est partim morale, partim autem ceremoniale. Morale quidem est quantum ad hoe, quod homo deputet aliquod tempus vitae suae ad vacandum divinis. Inest enim homini naturalis inclinatio ad hoe, quod cuilibet rei necessariae deputetur aliquod tempus, sicut corporali refectioni, somno et aliis huiusmodi. Unde etiam spirituali refectioni, qua mens hominis in Deo reficitur, secundum dictamen naturalis rationis aliquod tempus deputat homo. Et sic habere aliquod tempus deputatum ad vacandum divinis, cadit sub praecepto morali. Sed in quantum in hoc praecepto determinatur speciale tempus in signum creationis mundl, sic est praeceptum ceremoniale ». Hebr. : Memento diei sabbati, ut. sanctifices. illum. Deut. 5,12. « Custodi etc. ». Verbum memento , uti etiam , quod minime quid nomine sabbati intelligatur describatur, ostendit agi de re non plane ignota : cf. quae diximus ad Gen. 2,3. Sanctificatur id, quod ab omni usu profano exemptum soli divino usui et cultui consecratur. Hine cum Ca/m. sentimus, huius legis summam fuisse in cultu Deo reddendo, unde appendicis instar consequatur requies sabbato servanda. Sed de cultu h. 1. nihil habetur enucleatius, quod Deus eius rationem enucleatius proponere tum non habuerit in animo. Sane sapiens nullus sibi mente finxerit, diei sanctitatem solo somno et otio constaturam esse. Sed requies illa iam accuratius describitur.
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v. 9 : « Sez diebus operaberis et facies omnia opera. tua »;
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v. 10 « septimo autem die sabbatum Domini Dei tui est : non facies omne opus: in eo, tu et filius tuus et filia tua, servus tuus et ancilla tua, iumentum tuum et advena, qui est intra portas tuas ». Quam expressionem D?//m. pronuntiat esse « plane deuteronomicam »; sed, cum ^vv 32,26 sq. dicatur etiam de castris, et probabilius dicebatur item de tentoriis, et in Aegypto utique dicebatur de domibus, quas multi sine dubio Israelitae incolebant, reapse ea vox h. 1l. admirationem non facit. Non est, cur cum LXX advenam interpretemur solum proselytam : inira fines proprios Hebraei sane procurabant, ut sabbatum ab advenis etiam ethnicis observaretur, « quoniam dedecet publicum festum turpe reddi a peregrinis » (Ca?.). Sequentia opera in scriptura sabbato explicite prohibentur : arare et segetem colligere (34,21), manna colligere (16,26 sqq.), coquere et pinsere (16,93), ignem accendere (35,3), ligna colligere (Num. 15,39 sqq.), onera portare (Ier. 17,21), calcare - toreularia, onera imponere et circumagere (2 Esdr. 13,15), mercaturam agere (Am. 8,5; 9 Esdr. 13,15 sqq.). Plura utique alia erant prohibita; circa Christi tamen tempora Iudaei, atque imprimis Pharisaei, hac in re evaserant nimis severi.
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v. 11 « Sez enim diebus fecit Dominus coelum et terram et mare et omnia, quae in eis sunt, et vequievit in die septimo ; idcirco benedixit Dominus diei sabbati et sanclificavit eum », Cf. 16,23; 31,15; 35,2 et Gen. 2,9. Ratio observandi sabbati Deut. 5,15 assignatur requies a Deo populo concessa in exodo post servitutem aegyptiacam : posterior ratio priorem minime excludit, neque diversum prodit scriptorem. Ex. 93,12 et Deut. 5,1. specialius insistitur requiei post hebdomadae laborem operariis concessae : etiam haec est vera ratio, licet subordinata. Exponebamus in Comment. in Genesin p. 49 sqq. varia cosmogoniae mosaicae explicandae systemata. Nullam in textu Ex. 20,11 eum suo systemate conciliando difficultatem experiuntur Diluvianistae : verum iidem, strata omnia geologica paucis saeculis formata esse defendentes, argumentis geologicis conficiuntur. Periodistae, plenam eum geologis concordiam praetendentes, nunquam tamen neque demonstravere neque demonstrare potuere tempus, quo formata sint strata omnia, suapte natura in sex periodos distingui diebus hexaemeri eorrespondentes; sed missis primae, secundae et quartae diei operibus, de solis tertiae, quintae et sextae diei operibus disseruere. keliquis erat explicandum, quomodo cum suis quique systematibus conciliarent verba : sex diebus creavit Deus coelum et terram , et die septimo requievit : idcirco etc. Igitur seeundum Allegoristas, quorum antesignanus S. Aug., per allegoricam locutionem Deus se exhibuit sex diebus mundum ereantem etoc., et idcirco eto. Secundum Idealistas, volens Deus consecrare sabbatum, sex diebus se operatum esse affirmavit etc., et idcirco etc. Secundum Poetistas, sacer quidam poeta finxit Deum sex diebus laborantem, et idcirco. etc. Secundum Revelationistas, volens Deus consecrare sabbatum, creationis opus exhibuit visione tamquam sex dierum laborem, sex diebus reapse conspectus :est laborare, atque deinceps legem tulit, quod ipse sex diebus laborasset et septimo die requievisset, idcirco septimum quemque diem habendum esse saerum. Ex his perspicitur, Revelationistas ceteris solidius quaestionem dirimere. Etenim, dum reliqui sola allegoria aut affirmatione aut poetica licentia nituntur, Revelationistae verum praesto habent factum, opus sc., quod protoparens in visione Deum perficientem conspexit; illud factum cum divina intentione consecrandi sabbati, sufficiens Deo fuit ratio, ut intuitu eius facti sabbati religionem iniungeret, simulque posterioris aevi interpretibus quaestionem dirimendam reservaret, quid cosmogoniae in rerum natura factum, quid tantammodo in visione fieri conspectum sit.
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v. 12 « Honora patrem. tuum et matrem tuam, ut sis longaevus super terram, quam Dominus Deus tuus dabit tibi ». Recte Tost. : « Ista promissio est specialis ad Iudaeos, quia non potest hoc referri ad alias gentes ». S. Paulus autem Eph. 6,2 vocat hoc « mandatum primum in promissione », i. e. quod adseriptam habeat promissionem directam et explicitam, nam aliquid promissionis iam habet v. 6. LXX h. l. uti Deut. 5,16 addit e? bene sit tibi : quod additamentum subtilius Di/Im. repetit ex aevo aliquo posteriore, ubi iam homines experientia didicerint, longam adversis rebus vitam neutiquam esse appetendam; hoe vel Moysis aequales norant. Alterum membrum prius explieat, et saepe in Deut. ambo simul leguntur (cf. 4,40; 5,29. 33; 22,7); unde etiam perspicitur, quam facile alterum membrum irrepere potuerit in textum, qui prius membrum haberet solum. Perperam item Dillm. suggerit, textum non solum edicere singulos pios filios fore longaevos, sed totam gentem, si pietas apud eam floreret, diutissime possessuram esse terram sanctam : hoc utique Deut. 11,9 promittitur ple Deum colentibus, at non h. l. genti amoris filialis studiosae. Pulchra autem longaevitatis promissio : « decet quippe, ut grati benefactoribus fruantur beneficio longo tempore » (Ca?.); et lans. : « vita est velut feudum a parentibus datum, quod propter infidelitatem revocari solet ». Praeceptum forma promissoria expressum fortasse Moyse erat antiquius; ef. F. Chabas in Transactions Soc. Bibl. Archeol. I. 177, afferentem hoc veterum Aegyptiorum ex Papyro Prisse pl. XVI effatum : « filius, qui recipit verbum patris, propter hoc eritlongaevus ». |
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v. 13 « Non occides », subintelhge hominem, et quidem iniuste. v. 4& « Non moechaberis ». *N: peccatum viri exprimit cum uxore aliena (Lev. 20,10; Prov. 6,32; Ier. 29,23), sed ctiam sponsae cum alio viro (0s. 4,13), et imprimis defectionem Israelis à Domino, cui nupta est (Ier. 3,8 sq.; 5,7; 9,1; 23,151; Ez. 23,37). Intelligitur ergo adulterium stricte dictum. Vi literae certe non proscribitur bestialitas et mollities (Tost.), cum mandata v. 13-17 amorem proximi respiciant : sed peccata luxuriae omnia tandem obsunt coniugii sanctitati, atque ideo legitima conclusione censentur hoec mandato proscribi.
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v. 15 « Non furtum facies ». LXX, et aliqui post illos, versus ita transponunt:
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v. 14. 15. 13. — v. 16 « Non loqueris contra proximum tuum falsum testimonium ». Hebr. : non respondebis in. proximum tuum , testis mendacii. 3 xy significat festificar?i, et quidem Gen. 30,33 pro aliquo, sed frequentius (Num. 35,30; Deut. 19,18; 1 Reg. 12,3; 2 Rheg., 1,16) contra aliquem. Sane gravissimum contra hoc mandatum scelus est falsum testimonium cum iuramento editum coram iudice : at non ad hoc restringi censendum est mandatum (Ca/m.), sed com-- plectitur omnem deceptionem et calumniam (ef. 23,1; Lev. 19,11). Mediate proscribuntur, quaecunque fidem inter homines minuunt, ergo etiam falsum testimonium cum nullius damno in unius favorem editum , detractio etc.
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v. 17 « Non concupisces domum proximi tui; nec desiderabis uxzorem eius », — non agrum habent Sam. LXX Symm. Theod. h. l., et Deut. 5,21 omnes — « non servum, non ancillam, non bovem , non asinum »,—- neque omne tumentum addunt LXX utroque loco — « nec omnia, quae illius sunt ». Deut. 5,21 omnes uxorem anteponunt domui : haneque lectionem tamquam unice genuinam tuentur ii, qui duo v. 17 tradi mandata defendunt, dum reliqui utramque lectionem tueri possunt. Secundum hos verbum »on concupisces repetit h. l. auctor, quo varia explicet, quae una voce domwm. modo erat complexus (Vat.). | Sam. h.l. inducit Deum iubentem, ut Israelitae terram promissam ingressi prope Garizim duas columnas erigant eisque mandata inscribant, ibidem item altare exstruant : evidens est desiderium sanctitatis montis Garizim ab ipsa legislatione in Sinai facta repetendae. Idem post v. 18 inserit ea, quae Deut. 5,24 sq. habentur, et v. 18 introducit correctionem satis superfluam, ut populus audierit voces etc. et viderit lampades. ; r Arg. — Populus theophaniae horrore correptus, atque denegatae obedientiae poenam sibi aliquando timens exterminium, rogat ut in posterum Deus non ipsi immediate, sed interposito Moyse loquatur. Responsum v. 20 non ad sacerdotes, sed ad populum dirigitur, non a Iahve, sed a Moyse proficiscitur, licet is utique Iahve mentem loquatur : animos componit, petita concedit. Hine approbante iam Moyse populus v. 21 intra terminos continetur, solus Moyses ad lahven accedit.
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v. 18 « Cunctus autem populus videbat voces », 1. e. tonitrua (cf. Chald. h. l. et ad 9,29. 33. 34), « et lampades et sonitum buccinae montemque fumantem ». Sc., ubi Iahve loqui orsus est v. 2 sqq., conticuere tonitrua et buccinae fragor, quo certius verba intelligerentur; postea iterum exaudiebantur (Ca?.). An forte singula quoque mandata eiusmodi portentis distinguebantur? Idem factum Deut. 5,22 narratur ita : « Haec verba locutus est Dominus ad omnem multitudinem vesiram in monte de medio ignis et nubis et caliginis, voce magna, nihil addens amplius... Vos autem, postquam audistis vocem de medio tenebrarum et montem ardere vidistis, accessistis ad me, omnes prineipes tribuum et maiores natu », — facentur etiam hic sacerdotes — « atque dixistis » : et sequuntur verba, quae correspondent verbis Ex. 20,19. « Et perterriti » — sed reliqui aliter punctantes e£ vidzf (populus); LXX vocem ignorant — « ac pavore. concusst steterunt procul » , intra terminos. Cf. quae dicebamus ad 19,23. Moyses, dum lahve decalogum promulgaret, non videtur ad lahven redisse, qui nullo iam interprete loquebatur, sed apud populum stetisse, qui illico eum allocutus est (Deut. 5,23 « accessistis ad me »).
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v. 19 « Dicentes Moywysi : Loquere tu nobts, et audiemus » « et faciemus » (Deut. 5,97), tibi loquenti sieut Iahve loquenti obediemus. « Non loquatur nobis Dominus, ne [forte] moriamur » igne consumptü (Deut. 5,95). Cur vero sibi timeant exitium, qui modo « hodie » probaverant, « quod loquente Deo cum homine vixerit homo » (ib. v. 24)? Ratio- .mnem ib. v. 26 assignant : « Quid est omnis caro, ut audiat vocem Dei viventis, qui de medio ignis loquitur, sicut nos audivimus, et possit vivere? » Tantum distat caro ab infinita maiestate, ut eius aspectu et alloquio sit prorsus indigna. Belle id dicitur ; manebat tamen factum, hanc eandem carnem Deum iam semel impune audiisse;.quodsi ea , quae afferebatur, unica erat ratio, debebat potius Moyses illis animos addere, ut propius ad Iahven accederent. At erat altera gravis ratio, quam nolebat scriptis consignare. Caro illa Hebraeorum non solum erat natura infirma, sed grave admiserat diffidentiae peccatum, « stantes procul » quando illos lahve accedere iusserat. Quod porro Iahve eius peccati poenam eis non inflixisset « hodie », non sequebatur poenam non esse sumpturum postea. Nota igitur, Hebraeos nunc petere fere idem quod antea 19,23, sed e diverso motivo : tum petebant ex diffidentia, nunc ex admissi sceleris conscientia. Quare nunc petita conceduntur, qui simul favor est et poena, Moysesque1llos blande alloquitur, imo Deut. 5,23 sq. lahve Moysis responsum approbat.
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v. 20 « Et ait Moyses ad populum : Nolite timere : ut enim probaret vos, venit Deus », — « ut experiretur vestrum timorem, reverentiam et obedientiam » (Men.) : utique, sed quod « experimentum » ad irritum cecidisset, non erat ea efficax ratio alleviandi timoris. Aug. : «ut, quales essetis, probatione innotesceret non Deo, sed ipsis vobis ». Sed ea item tum non erat ratio abdicandi timoris. Supple : solum ut probaret vos, non ut occideret (Tost.) — « et ut terror illius esset in vobis », Hebr. ante faciem vestram , coram mente vestra, « et non peccaretis »; clarius Hebr. ne peccaretis. Sit is saltem huius theophaniae fructus, ut eius vos memoria in posterum a peccato retrahat.
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v. 91 « Stetitque populus de longe » , Moyse et Iahve annuentibus intra terminos se continuit. « Moyses autem accessit ad caliginem, in qua erat Deus ». Ascenderitne cum Aarone (Bonfr. : cf. 19,94) an sine illo (Sylv.) , non liquet. cula vestra. Tu vero sta hic mecum, et loquar ad te omnia mandata et iustificationes meas et iudicia, quae docebis eos quaeque facient in terra, quam ego dabo eis in possessionem. Verba haec sunt apta, sed non nituntur sufficiente auctoritate critica. Sequentibus Iahve aliqua, non omnia decalogi mandata penitius explicat et aliqua officia, quae in illis non satis exprimebantur, inculcat. Generatim longiora mandata in singulis paragraphis prima scribuntur, dum ad calcem adnectitur congeries breviorum mandatorum. Mandata omnia in unicum congeruntur divinum eloquium (290,99 « Dixit Dominus ad Moysen »), dum in Lev. eloquia sunt plura et breviora. — Legum distinctionis per varias 2nscriptiones , formulas et clausulas, quae in Lev. vix non ubique observatur, vestigia solum h. l. discernuntur leviora et, ut ita dicam, cautiora. Nondum ubique Moyses legibus sigilli instar appendit nomen Iahve ( « Ego Iahve », cf. 12,12). Tamen Iahve auctoritas appellatur initio primae legis 20,22 : « Vos vidistis, quod de coelo locutus sim vobis ». Resonantibus quasi adhue in. Hebraeorum auribus portentosis illis de coelo vocibus, eam legem proloquitur Deus. Et adverte hane legem 20,22-26, quae tota est de re solos sacerdotes attingente, tamen non dirigi ad veteris ordinis sacerdotes (ef. 91,1 « Loquere ad sacerdotes » ), sed ad « filios Israel », ignoratis rursum (ef. 19,94; 24,9) antiqui ordinis sacerdotibus!. Tamen haee lex, quod cultum spectet ipsumque altare, et prima scribitur et a sequentibus secernitur inscriptione 21,1 : « Haec sunt iudicia, quae propones eis ». Quae ?nscriptio estomnium legum eap. 21-23, dum in Lev. frequentiores etiam sunt inscriptiones. Pericope vero cap. 21-93 duabus formulis disünguitur ex iis, quae in Lev. sunt frequentiores : 22,31 « Viri sancti eritis mihi » (cf. 19,6 et Lev. 11,5 sq.; 19,2; 20,4. 26; 21,8 eto.), et 93,13 « Omnia, quae dixi vobis, custodite » (cf. Lev. 18,5 26. 30; 19,19. 37; 20,8. 22; 22,9. 31 etc.); dein 23,20-33 1n solemnem ep?lo- .gum desinit. Singulae illae formulae adscriptam habent eodem versu, secundum vulgarem versuum distinctionem, brevem aliquam legem, prior legem sanguinis non comedendi, altera legem nominum deorum alienorum non ore solum, sed etiam mente excludendorum. Pos 1llas formulas legibus auctas tam. Masor. quam Sam. distinguunt textum; concipiunt ergo eas formulas ut clausulas praecedentium : cur autem ambae clausulae appendiculo illo instruantur? Nos igitur distinguere textum malumus an£e illas formulas; aut, si praeplacet, distinguas textum ante et post duas illas sententiolas. Quae adscribuntur non tam ut clausulae eorum, quae praecedunt, neque ut anacruses quaedam sequentium, sed tantummodo ut textum in varias sectiones discindant. Cuius distinctionis rationem eam fuisse suggero, utin singulis textus sectionibus habeantur leges longiores brevioresve numero sacro. Quod ne reputes inanem ludum, sed artem excogitatam iuvandis iis, qui eas leges non e scripto recitarent sed e memoria (cf. nostrum Comment. in Gen. p. 1^ sqq.). Numerantur quippe ad primam formulam usque /eges novem ( —3 x3): 1)lex de servis 21,9-11; 2) lex de laesionibus corporis 21,12-36; 3) lex de damnificatione 22,1-17 ; quibus accedunt leges breviores 4) de tribus delictis capitalibus 32,18-20; 5) de advenis 22,91; 6) de viduis et pupullis 22,92-2/; 7) de egenis 22,95-27; 8) de magistratibus 92,28; 9) de iis, quae Iahve debentur, mature persolvendis 92,99 sq. Item a prima ad secundam formulam numerantur leges tres : 1) de non comedendo sanguine 22,31; 2) de iustitia in 1udiclis servanda 23,1-9; 3) de requie sabbatica 23,10-12; quibus si adduntur aliae /eges sex a secunda formula ad epilogum, habebis rursum leges novem : &) de abhorrendis nominibus deorum 93,13; 5) de tribus festis maioribus 23,14-17; 6) de fermento sacrifieuis non adhibendo 23,18*; 7) de sacrificiis ipso die consumendis 23,18"; 8) de primitiis persolvendis 23,19*; 9) de hoedo non ecoquendo in adipe matris 93,19^. Extremis legibus v. 17. 19 adscribitur bis nomen JaAve et, si lectionem Sam. v. 19 sequaris, insuper nomen Zeus Iacob (cf. dicenda 1b.). Epilogus kandem 23,20-33 non tradit leges, sed angelum promittit, qui Hebraeos dociles perducat in terram promissam, et benedictiones demonstrat, quibus ibidem pro fidei obsequio sint fruituri. paucissimis verbis fieri poterat. Regulas sc. vitae singulis datas oportebat esse concinnas, quo firmius memoriae inhaererent; leges, quae imprimis iudicibus vel sacerdotibus administrandae credebantur, prolixiores esse et poterant et quandoque debebant. Peccata carnis (cf. 239.19) omittuntur, licet de illis exstitisse leges quasdam perantiquas et per se patet et ex Lev. 18 et 20 indubie colligitur. Rationem aliquam, cur alia explicentur, alia transmittantur, crediderim fuisse populi tum ad quaedam peccata animum magis pronum. Neque erant hae leges penitus novae, sed antiquitus receptae inculcabantur, complebantur, corrigebantur. Plurimum sunt affines legibus aliorum orientis populorum. Aliquae non potuere in deserto primum condi, sed eo aevo natae erant, quo gens electa urbes habebat (21,13 sq.) et agros colebat (22,5; 93,10 sq. 14 sqq.), ergo fortasse in Chaldaea vel ante diluvium. Annus sabbaticus 21,2; 23,11 tamquam res nota paucis expeditur. . Lex 90,92-26 est de altari altaribus aaronicis antiquiore. Lex 21,6 de aure servi perforanda non est sane a Deo primum introducta, sed a maioribus recepta. Probabile est, patriarchas etiam sculptilibus in cultu Dei caruisse, cum horum in Genesi mentio non habeatur. Aliam eamque gravissimam rationem, cur hae praecise leges selectae sint hac occasione publicandae, explicabamus in Introd. p. 11 sqq. Adneimus schema, quod tamen Seriei primae solummodo leges exhibet, quod Seriei secundae et tertiae leges simpliciores cum sint, schema non videantur requirere. In schemate notamus diversa initia legum earumque articulorum. Quarum aliae absolute incipiunt participio vel nomine (v. g. 21,12. 15 n2:2; cf. p. 22), alia incipiunt voce '?, alia voce 2x. Novellae de laesionibus corporis schema successiva describit incrementa. Cuius nucleus primum erant leges 21,12-17 de homicidio tribusque aliis delictis capitalibus; adscriptis v. 18-23 additamentis de homicidio habebatur lex de percussione lethali v. 12-23. Huic accrevit v. 24-27 lex de mutilatione, et ita facta est lex de percussione hominis qualibet v. 12-27. Additis v. 28-36 iis, quae animalium . laesiones spectabant, constitit tandem lex de laesionibus corporis universius spectatis. i. Novella de iis, quae Deo debentur, suis temporibus persolvendis v. 29 sq. Arg. — Deus illico, vel ante exstructum tabernaculum mosaicum, eas fert leges, quibus ab eo, quod tum erat, altari sculptilium usus ' penitus exeludatur. Prohibet igitur simulaera, proscribit sectos lapides, quibus facilius seulptura aliqua adhiberetur; praecipit decentiam in accessu ad altare. Licet probabiliter simulacra in stirpe electa iam antea erant lege humana prohibita, et decentia in accessu ad altare praescripta, tamen lex iis verbis, quibus h. l. describitur, nova est : in lege mere humana non poterat Deus pronominibus primae personae loquens introduci.
20:22
v. 99 « Dixit [praeterea] Dominus ad Moysen : Haec dices filiis I[srael : Vos vidistis, quod de coelo locutus sim vobis »; idcirco etiam pro meis verbis accipietis, quae porro per Moysen loquar ad vos. Et sequitur illico primum Dei alloquium , quod vel ex hoe nexu inferre licet brevi post antecedentia esse pronuntiatum.
20:23
v. 23 « Non facietis deos argenteos, nec deos aureos facietis vobis ». Masor. : non facietis mecum (*nN) deos argenteos, et deos aureos non facietis vobis. LXX pro "nx fortasse legebat 225, itemque Vw/g., quae, ubi eadem vox bis in eadem sententia habetur, eam semel facile supprimit. Syr. 225 'nN, Nulla ratio estillius ^nw confodiendi, facile fluit sententia, dummodo eum Syr. iungamus : Non facietis (vobis) mecum deos argenteos, nee deos aureos facietis vobis mecum. Tota sc. lex v. 23-26 est de cultu veri Dei, est explanatio mandati v. ^, cuius proprius locus est ante sequentium mandatorum explanationes cap. 91-23. Igitur a/fari veri Dei (v. 24) iam non erant adhibendae eiusmodi statuae, sive alios deos sive Deum verum sive angelos repraesentarent. Et adverte cum 7^ost., posse hebraeum etiam verti deum argenteum, deum aureum , ut prohibeatur ver? Dei imago, qualis videtur fuisse vitulus aureus. Grave porro prohibitioni pondus addit in memoriam revocata v. 99 solemnis ratio, qua de coe/o loquens Deus eandem v. ^ inculcaverat. Norat quippe Deus, quam pronus esset populus (Ca?.) in imaginum sculptarum cultum. Igitur locuturus de altari exstruendo, primum inculcat debere illud szmwu/acro carere; dein debere illud carere omni /apéctdo, sive quod ab hoc facilis habeatur transitus ad sculptas imagines, sive quod politis lapidibus facilius inducebantur Hebraei ad pictas aliquas formas superinducendas; tandem Deus prohibet gradus, cum ob rationem v. 26 adseriptam, qua reverentia et puritas in cultu invisibilis numinis observanda indicatur, tum fortasse etiam, quod gradibus mox lapides politi adhibiti fuissent. Adverte, quantopere altare, quod hic describitur, differat ab altaribus imprimis Aegyptiorum. Ceterum, cum hic agatur de altaribus ritu praemosaico exstruendis, non habetur contradictio neque cum altari e lignis setim (Ex. 27 et 38) neque cum altari aeneo (2 Par. 4). Quae hic dicuntur de altaribus e terra lapidibusve exstruendis, quoad sanctuarii altaria posterioribus legibus abrogantur. Et quidem Machabaeorum tempore (1 Macli. 4,1), quando de restituendis sanctuarii altaribus agebatur, adhibuere homines lapides non sectos « secundum legem », ignari iam penitus legem Ex. 20 lege Ex. 27 quoad sanctuarium fuisse abrogatam. Tamen elus, quae Ex. 20,24 sq. describitur, formae altare aedificatum est a Iosue e Moysis mandato-1n monte Hebal (Deut. 27, sqq. ; los. 8,30 sqq.), ab Elia in Carmelo (3 Reg. 18,31 sqq.). Sc., ubi de altaribus praeter sanctuarium exstruendis ageretur, Moyses aliique ad formam Ex. 20,94 sq. revertebantur, sive quod eam legem quoad sola sanctuarii altaria revocatam censerent, sive potius quod, de quorum altarium forma Iahve nihil sanxisset, ea sibl patriarcharum ritu exstruenda esse existimarent. Cum vero lex Ex. 20,94 sq. certe sit ex parte et probabilius ex integro revocata, falso affirmat Hoonacker p. 22, ea lege concessam esse Hebraeis veniam altarium ubicunque libuisset exstruendorum. | : v. 9M « Altare de terra », qua voce merito ait Ca?. non excludi lateres, « facietis miht et offeretis super eo holocausta et pacifica vestra, oves vestras et boves » — Sam. Ps. Ion. : de ovibus etc. — « in omni loco, in quo memoria fuerit nominis mei : veniam ad te et benedicam libi ». Sed melius cum Hebr. Chald. Syr. iunge ultimum incisum praecedenti : ubieunque in altari rite exstructo cultus Deo reddetur, aderit Deus et benedictionem largietur; ubi vero harum legum aliqua negligatur, deerit divina benedictio, — utique quamdiu ea lex valebit. Sam. legit Ow "22 DN 'TmmN àwwN. Ubi *m32N utique mendosum est. Sed nov (Chald. Ps. Ion.) videtur esse genuinum, et post "wv íacile potuit excidere. Porro **25N vel *nn25(N) significat memorari fecero (LXX). E; contra Syr. Targ. Hier. **23n, memorabis. Cf. A. Geiger : Zeitschrift der Deutsch-Morgenl. Ges. XIX. 603, Leipzig 1865. Vulg. pro TN ?'25N fortasse legebat 11325N. Ceterum in textu rem tanti momenti attingente posterisque minime perspicuo quaedam etiam pie et consulto esse mutata, quis miretur ? Ita Masor. ante ap? inseruere articulum : ergo non im omni loco, sed im toto ambitu sc. sanctuarii. Cf. A. Merz : Chrestomathia targeumica, Berolini 1888, p. 87. Qua lectione extra sanctuarium altaria erigi prohibebantur : at leetio est arbitraria et, intra sanctuarium altari de terra non fuisse locum, praeter omne dubium certum est. Simili effectu Sam. omittit 55; quare potest sequens nomen punctari tamquam habens articulum, restringiturque rursum assertio ad unicum locum. Sed haec spuria.
20:25
v. 95 « Quodsz altare lapideum feceris mihi, non aedificabis tllud de sectis lapidibus : si enim levaveris cultrum super eo, polluetur ». Cf. Deut. 27,5; los. 8,31. Extremi asserti ratio non ea est, cultri attactum natura sua polluere lapidem : 1d enim nullo argumento aut probari aut explicari potest. Sed, quia ob superstitionis timorem secti lapides proseribebantur, et quo certius prosceriberentur, ideo antiquitus iam omnis lapis, qui cultri ictum expertus esset, declaratus est meum, ne reveletur turpitudo tua ». 28,82 iubentur gestari feminalia linea ad eundem finem. Sunt ea imprimis mandata illa, quae prozimum respiciunt. Novellis communis praefigitur superscriptio Cap. XXI v. 1 : « Haec sunt iudicia » , 1udicis supremi de iure civili decreta, « quae propones eis ». Referri ea potest ad mandatum de non furando, sunt quippe servi genus aliquod. possessionis. Non tota de servitute materia discutitur, sed, quod sane erat primarii momenti, eius durattonis limites describuntur. Varii modi, quibus Hebraeus in Hebraei servitutem devenire potuit, postea diversis locis inseruntur : potuit sc. ob paupertatem Lev. 25,39 in servitutem se divendere; potuit liberos divendere Ex. 21,7; divendebatur fur 22,3 restitutioni faciendae impar, itemque ^ Reg. 4,1 debitor. Tam Masor. quam Sam. legem dividunt post v. 6, atque tam v. 2 quam v. 7 textus a voce ^2 orditur, dum membra subordinata v. 3. ^. 5.:8. 9. 10. 11 voce 2N incipiunt. Legis huius initia legis sequentis v.12-36 initiis exstitere minus antiqua. Dum enim poenas in homicidas, parentum percussores et conviciatores, raptores hominum, itemque legem talionis (v. 12. 15. 16. 17. 2*. sq.) sanciri oportuit in ipsis generis humani primordiis, nostra lex supponit usu omnino receptam servitutem, annum iubilaei et polygamiam. Ritus auris perforandae utique erat Moyse antiquior, cum ab alus etiam gentibus antiquis sit observatus : Mesopotamuis (Iuven. I. 104), Arabibus (Petron. sat. 102), Lydis (Xenoph. Anab. III. 1,31), Carthaginiensibus (Plaut. Poen. V. mitas observabantur. Ergo tota haec lex videtur esse Moyse antiquior. At fortasse laxius servabatur, etiam a sacerdotibus, qui servos suos tamquam rem sacram ultra annum sabbaticum retinerent etc. Cur haec. lex primo loco post legem de sacris 20,21-26 et ante gravissimam de percussionibus legem inseritur? Fortasse, quod multi essent in Moysis agmine servi, sive Hebraei sive ad Hebraeorum sacra recens conversi ; quod cum sequentia habeant aliqua (v. 20 sq. 32) servis iniquiora, par esset servos clare edoceri, quibus conditionibus servitute se possent liberare; quod servorum animos prudenter cuperet Deus Moysi devineme. Arg. — Anno sabbatieo servi dimittuntur liberi cum uxore, quam secum in servitutem adduxerint. Quam vero durante servitio duxerit servus, ea cum liberis penes herum maneto. À qua si servus separari nolit, addieitor hero servus perpetuus, aure perforata.
20:1
a nation (Ex. 20:1-17; Deut. 5:6-22). The D., the essence of the covenant, is still the essence of ancient Yahwism, the magna charta of the chosen nation. …
… the nation arises as "the particular portion of Yahweh," "his royal reserve"; and with the covenant, which takes up and specifies that with Abraham, the mission of Israel is sanctioned: a people and worshiper of the one true God, Yahweh (Ex. 19:5 f.; 20:1-17; cf. L. Cerfaux, Regale sacerdotium, in Revue des sciences philos. et théol., 28 [1939], pp. 5-39). The temporary character of the covenant is indicated in the sanction (Ex. 20:5; …
The Aaronites fit for the exercise of divine worship were publicly consecrated, before beginning the sacred service, by the "sanctification" (described in Ex. 20:1-37; 40:12-15; Lev. 8:1-36), which consisted of a double rite, of purgation (Num. 8:6-7) and of oblation. …
… With an impressive theophany (ibid. 19:16-25) the Decalogue was promulgated on the mountain (ibid. 20:1-18), followed by the Code of the Covenant (ibid. 21-23) and by other divine communications concerning the construction and furnishing of the tabernacle (v.) destined for the dwelling …
20:2
… Thou shalt not have strange gods before me" (Ex. 20:2-6; Deut. 5:6-10), reconfirmed in the Gospel: "The first of all is: Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord; therefore love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, …
Moses (Mōšeh, Μω[θ]σῆς, Vulg. MoySES, Ancient Latin Moses)
The attempts to remove his figure from the Egyptian framework (how else would the name M. be explained, and more generally the Egyptian names Hur, Ophni, Phinees, Phutiel, etc., and all the reminiscences, such as Ex. 20:2; Lev. 19:34; 25:42; 26:45; Num. 15:41; Deut. 5:6, 15, etc.?) and the Sinaitic framework, in which biblical tradition places him, have been recognized even by non-Catholic critics as …
The text has several readings that diverge from the Decalogue of the Masoretic text, both of Ex. 20:2-17 and of Deut. 5:6-18 (it inverts, for example, the order of the commandments: "Thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not commit adultery!"). …
20:4
Aaron (Heb. 'Ahărān, of uncertain etymology)
a grave sin, though it does not appear to be idolatry (it was not the bull Apis worshiped at Memphis), but rather a violation of the severe prohibition against representing God materially (Ex. 20:4 ff.). …
the ancient prohibition against producing images of a living being, whether of man or of animal (Ex. 20, 4; Deut. 4, 15-19), for which reason orthodox Judaism could not cultivate sculpture and painting, except for secondary ornamental purposes. …
… The ancient worship of Micah in Ephraim was not idolatrous, but its manner of proceeding is condemned (Judg. 17:6), because it was contrary to the Mosaic legislation (Ex. 20:4; Deut. 12:14; Lev. 17:8 ff.). …
… The Church (like the Jews and the Lutherans) considers the prohibition of any idolatrous sculpture or image (Ex. 20:4 ff.) a simple explanation or practical application of the I commandment; while it rightly sees (against the majority of Protestants) in v. 17 two distinct precepts, since the coveting …
… According to them, the cult of images is a veritable idolatry, contrary to the first precept of the Decalogue: "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, etc." (Ex. 20, 4).
The same severe prohibition, made by the Old Testament, of the use of images (e.g.: Ex. 20, 4 ff.; Lev. 26, 1; Deut. 4, 15; 27, 15; Job 24, 19), was not only not absolute, as appears from the sculptures of Solomon's temple, but was evidently motivated only by the practical danger …
20:5
… sanctioned: a people and worshiper of the one true God, Yahweh (Ex. 19:5 f.; 20:1-17; cf. L. Cerfaux, Regale sacerdotium, in Revue des sciences philos. et théol., 28 [1939], pp. 5-39). The temporary character of the covenant is indicated in the sanction (Ex. 20:5; cf. Lev. 26; Deut. 28; 34:29 ff.).
… O. (1-3) uses the image of marriage, perhaps derived from Ex. 20:5 (qannō' "jealous," from qn', which in the pi'el expresses the feeling of jealousy proper to a husband), and which will be taken up by the following prophets (Jer. 2; Ezek. 16, etc.; …
20:8
… the Lord" and the third precept of the Decalogue (v.) imposed abstinence from all work on that day, binding even foreigners and indirectly even beasts; and this because God had created the world in six days and had rested on the seventh (Gen. 2:3; Ex. 20:8-11). Specifically, on the sabbath it was forbidden to plough and reap (Ex. 34:21); nor was fire to be kindled in the houses; whoever "shall work therein shall be put to death" (ibid. …
I. ORIGIN, FOUNDATION, VALUE AND JUSTIFICATION. - The precept is included in the Decalogue: "Remember the day of rest, to keep it holy" (Ex. 20, 8-11; cf. Deut. 5, 12-15).
20:10
… Nor is it at all true that the prophets ignore the D.; Ex. 20:10-12 speaks explicitly of precepts given to Israel by Yahweh in the desert and among them names that
… But at bottom the religious concept always predominates, that of a kind of offering which the people made to God (cf. Ex. 16:23; 20:10; Lev. 23:3; Deut. 5:14).
20:11
… They appear, among others, to Hagar (Gen. 16:7), to Abraham (Gen. 18:1-2; 22:1-18), to Lot (Gen. 19:1), to Jacob (Gen. 28:12). In the Old Testament there is no explicit mention of the creation of the angels, but it is implicit in the fact that the one God is described as creator of all beings (Ex. 20:11; Ps. 148:2-5). They existed before man sinned in the earthly paradise: the presence of the cunning tempter in the form of a serpent (Gen. 3:1-15) hints at the fall of the angels (transformed …
20:12
Consanguinity (Lat. Consanguinitas; Greek Ὀμειμότης = Being of the Same Blood)
In the first place, the fourth precept of the Decalogue: Honora patrem tuum et matrem tuam (Ex. 20:12; Deut. 5:16, etc.). …
… The natural instinct, which places the relations between parents and children on a plane of mutual affection, is sublimated by the positive divine precept that enjoins: "Honor thy father and thy mother, that thou mayest be long-lived upon the earth which the Lord thy God will give thee" (Ex. 20:12; Deut. 5:16; Eph. 6:2-3). This commandment lays the foundations of the well-being of the family, which is an august institution of God.
… also the community, all Israel as a nation (cf. Ex. 21, 12-17). Observance of the law ensures the return of Israel's political and social prosperity (Is. 58, 12 ff.), and its violation, which brings hardship, famine and misery (Jer. 17, 21-27; cf. Ex. 20, 12-32; 22, 8), is punished with the death penalty (Num. 15, 32-36). On the Sabbath day not only must rest be observed, but sacrifices must also be offered to God (Ex. 46, 4): the Hebrews …
20:13
… It is the summary norm given as the 5th in the Decalogue ([v.] Ex. 20:13; Deut. 5:17). This norm agrees with the conscience innate in man, and God limited himself to recalling a rule already common, as is attested in the murder of Abel (Gen. 4:8-16). …
20:14
… In the Mosaic law very severe penalties are sanctioned against adulterers, particularly when the woman is guilty (cf. Gen. 39:7-20; Ex. 20:14, 17; Lev. 18:20; 20:10; Deut. 22:22; II Sam. 11:2 ff.; Jer. 5:8 ff.; Ex. 23:20; Hos. 4:2). It is the severity found in other Semitic legislations (cf. code of Hammurabi, § …
20:21
… With an impressive theophany (ibid. 19:16-25) the Decalogue was promulgated on the mountain (ibid. 20:1-18), followed by the Code of the Covenant (ibid. 21-23) and by other divine communications concerning the construction and furnishing of the tabernacle (v.) destined for the dwelling and worship of God (ibid. 24-30). There the covenant …
20:24
… Rephidim, with twelve masšebāth, at the foot of Sinai (Ex. 17:15; 24:4). The primitive form seems to have been a rocky block or a heap of unhewn stones; then the Mosaic Law sanctioned the use of rough stones, forbidding the placing of steps upon it (Ex. 20:24-26); outside the center of worship, an erratic boulder was used (I Sam. 6:14; 14:33-35). Intimately linked to sacrifice by combustion, it was minutely regulated in form and structure by
… While in Ex. 20:24-36 the multiplicity of places of worship is presupposed, in Lev. 17:39 the altar (v.) is unique for all and no slaughter of animals is permitted except at the altar; in D., moreover, …
… attributed to Moses, a semi-legendary figure of whom history can say almost nothing, results from the fusion of four different writings, of different epochs, none earlier than the 9th century, besides minor redactional parts and the "Code of the Covenant" (Ex. 20, 24-23, 19) of the 9th century: the Yahwist history (J) of ca. 850 and the Elohist one (E) of ca. 770 (so called from the names Jahweh and 'Elōhim with which they respectively designate God), …
… seems that true priests existed in Israel before the consecration of Aaron, since they appear at Sinai (Ex. 19:22-24; 24:4-5). The existence of a priestly class is already affirmed by the most ancient collection of laws, the "Book of the Covenant" (Ex. 20:24; 21:13; 22:8: allusions to a sanctuary with sacrifices, asylum, oracle). …
… Decalogue was promulgated on the mountain (ibid. 20:1-18), followed by the Code of the Covenant (ibid. 21-23) and by other divine communications concerning the construction and furnishing of the tabernacle (v.) destined for the dwelling and worship of God (ibid. 24-30). There the covenant pact with God was sealed, by which the people undertook to observe His Law (ibid. 23:25-31). Several centuries later, the prophet Elijah, to escape the threats …
TAGLIONE (TALION). - Use and penal law first set forth in the "Code of the Covenant" (Ex. 20:24; 23:12), where it deals with the compensation owed to the injured party in cases of assault, according to whether or not they produced personal injury. …
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · Vulgata Clementina · original Douay-Rheims (Douay 1609-10), transcription by EEBO-TCP (CC0) · La Sacra Bibbia, tradotta dalla Volgata da Antonio Martini (1769-1781) (LaParola (laparola.net), Martini OSIS text, Public domain (LaParola's electronic edition marks it 'Dominio pubblico')). Public domain.