Commentaria in Deuteronomium
is said in vers. 11: “There shall not be wanting poor always in the land of thy habitation”: for there he signifies that there will be poor, here he commands to succour them. For God willed that there should always be some poor among the Hebrews, why so?
9. BEWARE.—The Septuagint render it, attend. Hence St. Ambrose, on Psalm cxviii, thinks that the celebrated saying, “Know thyself,” which the Gentiles ascribed to the Pythian Apollo, was taken from this place. Rightly.
Clemens, book iii of the Pedagogue: “It is of the disciplines, the fairest and greatest of all is to know oneself. For if anyone knows himself, he knows God.” Hence St. Augustine, book ii of the Soliloquies, chap. 1, says that God is prayed to most briefly and most perfectly thus: “God ever the same, let me know thee, let me know myself.” And St. Francis: “Who art thou, Lord? who am I?” Thou art of being, goodness, wisdom, power, perfection and glory; I an abyss of nothingness, evil, ignorance, vices, miseries and all vileness.
On the contrary, Plato in the Philebus calls ignorance of oneself a kind of universal wickedness; for, as he says in the Lovers, to know oneself is simply to be wise, and on this all wisdom and justice of life depends. Xenophon, book iv of the Memorabilia of Socrates, says that those who are ignorant of themselves are fit neither for the rule of themselves nor for the government of a family or a commonwealth.
Wherefore St. Bernard wisely warns in the Meditations, chap. v: “Study to know thyself, for thou art much better and more praiseworthy if thou knowest thyself, than if, neglecting thyself, thou knewest the course of the stars, the powers of herbs, the natures of men and animals, and hadst knowledge of all things heavenly and earthly. Give thyself back, then, to thyself, if not always, at least often, at least sometimes.”
SAY NOT, ETC. THE SEVENTH YEAR IS AT HAND,—as if to say: Say not, The seventh year of release is at hand; if I lend or trust anything to my brother, he will not restore it to me, but when the seventh year comes he will be free of the debt; therefore I will not lend, I will not trust him. This was the craftiness of lenders, which is here forbidden. There could also be a craftiness of borrowers, if, being rich themselves, they asked a loan when the seventh year was at hand, that they might be freed from its repayment in the seventh year. But this craftiness was to be met by refusing them such a loan, and saying: Thou art rich, therefore thou hast no need of a loan. So Abulensis.
DENYING HIM THAT WHICH HE ASKETH TO LEND—that is, to give on loan; for if anyone had lent something to another for use, that thing itself had to be restored in the seventh year as in other years; for it was another’s, as I said on vers. 2. So Abulensis.
AND IT BECOME A SIN UNTO THEE,—that is, and the Lord be angry with thee, and punish thee sharply: “sin” is therefore put for the punishment of sin, by metonymy. So Vatablus.
10. NEITHER SHALT THOU DO ANYTHING CRAFTILY,—in the manner I explained on vers. 9.
Morally, note here how fully and earnestly God commends to the Hebrews the care and help of the poor. Daniel commends the same to Nabuchodonosor, Daniel iv, 27, that by it he might redeem his sins. So Christ commands that the poor be called to feasts, Luke xiv, 13, and declares that the goods bestowed on them are given to himself, Matthew xxv, 40, and that they shall receive those who give them alms into everlasting dwellings, Luke xvi, 9. Hence also he pronounces the poor in spirit blessed, Matthew v, 3. Nay, he himself willed to be poor; wherefore he said to a certain disciple: “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.” Hence St. Peter also, imitating Christ, said to the lame man: “Silver and gold I have none; but what I have, I give thee: in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, arise and walk.”
“Even until this hour we both hunger and thirst,” and: “I know both how to be brought low and to abound; to be full and to be hungry;”
Nazianzen, oration 16, On the Love of the Poor: “No worship,” he says, “is so pleasing to God as mercy toward the poor. For, first, God wills that some should be poor, to remind us of our weakness. Secondly, the poor are to be helped because they are our brethren, both by nature, and by the image of God renewed in Christ, and by faith, hope, charity and divine adoption, and with regard to the blessed life. Thirdly, because we aspire to Christ our common brother. Fourthly, because, since nothing in the present is stable, we must think of laying up our riches in safety through the poor. Fifthly, on account of the infinite advantages of this thing, which can be reduced to three: preservation from evils, certainty of salvation, and the greatest confidence in what is to come. Sixthly, because God, who has bestowed on us countless benefits, commands us to give a few to our brethren. Seventhly, nothing is so proper to God as mercy and beneficence; and him we are to imitate. Eighthly, the poor lie under the special care and providence of God, as Scripture witnesses. Ninthly, because on the day of judgment the elect will be adjudged to heaven for alms given, the reprobate to hell for alms neglected.”
St. Augustine, whenever the money of the Church ran short, announced this to the people, that he had nothing to give to the poor; for he even ordered the vessels of the Lord to be broken up for captives and other needy persons, and distributed among them, says Possidius in his Life, chap. xxiv.
Placilla, wife of the Emperor Theodosius, with her own hand tended the poor and the sick; and when some wished to call her away from them, she answered: “To distribute gold becomes the Emperor; but for the empire itself I ought to offer this service to him who gave it”: Theodoret is witness, book v of his History, chap. xviii.
Acacius, Bishop of Amida, in order to ransom seven thousand poor Persian captives, sold the sacred vessels, saying to his clergy: “Our God needs neither dishes nor cups; wherefore it is fitting to distribute these among his afflicted soldiers”: Socrates is witness, book vii, chap. xxi. Theophilus also: “It is better,” he says, “to restore the bodies of the sick, which are more truly the temples of God, than to build temples of stone.” So Sozomen, book viii, chap. xii.
12. IN THE SEVENTH YEAR THOU SHALT LET HIM GO FREE,—reckoning the seventh year, that is, not from the sale of the servant, but from the year of release, which was fixed and common to all.