Commentaria in Deuteronomium
Note: Iron as well as brass was in esteem among the ancients. So Lycurgus among the Lacedaemonians abolished gold and silver money, and put in its place iron coins, and these huge and heavy, to exclude avarice and thefts, as Plutarch relates in the Life of Lycurgus.
Secondly, Cajetan metonymically by shoe understands possession: for this is entered upon by shoes, by treading the thing to be possessed, as is plain from Psalm lix, 9. Thirdly, Procopius explains thus, as if to say: Aser shall be robust, and shall keep his strength perpetually, just as if he were shod with brass and iron. Fourthly, Masius on Josue xix, by brass and iron understands the strength of the Barbarians, who pressed the Aserites, as a shoe presses the foot, especially an iron one: for in Galilee of the Gentiles was a great multitude of barbarous nations, whose strength the Aserites could not break. Among these senses the first seems simpler and plainer (2).
23. AND TO NEPHTHALI HE SAID: NEPHTHALI SHALL ENJOY ABUNDANCE (plenty of crops and wealth) (the Hebrew is, he shall be satisfied with favour, that is, he shall have whatever he will; or, as Oleaster, he shall be free, he shall do what he will, like a hind let loose, as Jacob says, Genesis xlix, 21, and therefore) SHALL BE FULL OF THE BLESSINGS OF THE LORD.—Which, says Cajetan, will be seen most in this, that in Nephthali early fruits shall ripen, of which the first-fruits shall be offered to God in the temple.
HE SHALL POSSESS THE SEA AND THE SOUTH (1).—Nephthali shall extend to the Mediterranean sea, and to the southern quarter: so some. But because between the lot of Nephthali and the sea lies the whole lot of Aser, and the whole of Phenicia, hence secondly it is to the west and to the south: for the sea signifies the west in Scripture, because the Mediterranean is to the west of Judea; or Tropologically St. Gregory, Morals XXXIV, v: “Under the species of Aser, he says, the holy Church is designated: the shoe signifies the fortification of preaching, iron virtue, brass perseverance. Iron and brass therefore are said to be her shoe, when her preaching is fortified at once by sharpness and constancy: for by iron it pierces adverse evils, by brass it patiently keeps the good it has proposed.”
AS THE DAYS OF THY YOUTH (namely are, and shall be, placid, flourishing and robust), SO ALSO BE THY OLD AGE,—shall be placid, flourishing and robust (3).
26. THERE IS NO OTHER GOD LIKE THE GOD OF THE RIGHTEOUS ONE,—namely of Israel, who is called Jeshurun, that is, most upright, for his most upright faith and religion.
HE THAT IS MOUNTED UPON THE HEAVEN (in Hebrew, who rides upon the heaven: the heaven and the whole world are as it were the horse of God the rider, who rules it with the reins of his providence and turns it whither he will; he therefore is here the charioteer and ruler of the world) IS THY HELPER—that is, that swiftly and suddenly he may fly to thy aid, as riding on the heavens and clouds as on most swift horses; and that from heaven he may hurl for thee stones and thunderbolts upon enemies, make the sun stand, etc., says Cajetan. There is not therefore, O Israel, any cause why thou shouldst fear Chananeans, Philistines, men, demons; for all these this great rider will pierce with one thrust of his lance: wherefore take great courage, fight manfully, thou shalt surely conquer and triumph.
BY HIS MAGNIFICENCE (his great wisdom and power) THE CLOUDS RUN HITHER AND THITHER.
27. HIS DWELLING IS ABOVE (because God dwells in himself and in his eternity, likewise in the empyrean heaven; where he shows his majesty and glory to the Saints. In Hebrew it is, the dwelling of God is antiquity, that is, God’s dwelling is eternity, says Cajetan; or, namely, the heaven and ether are the dwelling of God from of old. So Vatablus), AND UNDERNEATH ARE THE EVERLASTING ARMS.—In Hebrew, and underneath are the arms of the age, as if to say: Under God, and eternity, are the angels or heavens, who are as it were the everlasting arms of God. So Abulensis; so also Cajetan: Eternity, he says, which is God’s dwelling, is above; but beneath it are arms, that is, the extensions and durations of every age: for every age and every time is encompassed by eternity, since the powers and might of every age arise from and under eternity, whether they be powers of angels, or of heavenly bodies, or of inferior ones.
Whence secondly, from the Hebrew you may render thus, under his arms is the age, as if to say: God stretches upward through the heavens to the immense the arms of his power, and under these his arms all this world, all time, and all things of this age are contained, directed and run their course.
Thirdly, and more aptly, as if to say: O Israel, God thy helper, though he dwell above, yet neglects not things below and human affairs, and thine, but cares for, rules and provides them: because under heaven he has everlasting, untiring and omnipotent powers, with which he embraces, binds, moves, directs, protects and governs the world and all things in the world; or, as Vatablus: O Israel, God as much thy God; thou shalt always lead a quiet life. This sense agrees best with what immediately precedes.
below as above surrounds thee, embraces, defends and rules thee; above, he protects thee with himself and his heaven, as a hut protects men from the injury of the air; below, he has as it were under thee his untiring arms, with which he binds thee, on which thou liest securely and restest, as an infant is clasped in a mother’s arms, and in them securely rests; diligently the Lord encompasses Israel and guards him (2).
To this belongs also the explanation of Oleaster: O Israel, God was thy dwelling from the beginning, nay from the eternity of his predestination, and embraces and protects thee, as by certain eternal and continuous arms.
Ascend therefore, O soul, whither here with gnats and fleas, with clod and mud thou strugglest; stretch thyself, and ascend to the rider of heaven, to thy God, who dwells in the highest mountains of eternity. Looking down from there, see how small are the things which here either allure thee by desire of themselves or strike thee with terror: see how slight and fragile are all things contained in a point of earth: see how in comparison with God, with eternity, all created things are scanty, how vain, weak, brief, nay nothing; one supreme and immense good therefore seek, esteem the rest little. Leaning on God, uplifted and enlarged, trample under foot whatever under the sun, under the moon, either caressingly allures or terribly threatens. Think on eternal things. A demon possessing a camel, brought to St. Hilarion, began to rage terribly, as if to devour him; to whom the Saint: “Thou dost not terrify me, devil, with so great a mass of body, both in a little fox and in a camel thou art the same;” straightway he fell down before him, and the camel was made quite gentle. So St. Jerome in the Life of St. Hilarion.
Such are all the allurements, all the temptations of the world. What dost thou hope? what lovest thou? what fearest thou? the rider of heaven is thy helper; he with his everlasting arms embraces and guards thee; and with the same he binds thy enemies, who either allure thee or terrify, so tightly that he can kill them all at one stroke like fleas, nay annihilate them. Does the pleasure of gluttony or lust solicit thee? it is small, despise it, think on the eternal. Do threats, tyrants, hardships, poverty terrify thee? they are small, despise them, think on the eternal.
HE SHALL CAST OUT THE ENEMY FROM BEFORE THEE, AND SHALL SAY: BE THOU BRUISED.—So it is to be read with the Chaldee, Septuagint and Roman texts, that is, in the Hebrew with other vowel points we read hisshamed, that is, be thou bruised, passively; for hisshamed is the passive imperative, mu-phal. Now with other points they read actively in hiphil, hashmed, that is, bruise, lay waste, namely thou, O Israel, thy enemies.
Now, “he shall say: Bruise,” that is, he shall make thee bruise. For God’s saying is doing. But the former reading and sense is more apt and plainer.
28. THE EYE OF JACOB (that is, the eye of the Jacobites, or posterity of Jacob; understand, shall see, enjoy and be delighted) IN A LAND OF CORN AND WINE.
AND THE HEAVENS SHALL BE MISTY WITH DEW,—as if to say: So great shall be the plenty of dew, watering and fertilizing herbs and fields, that it shall darken the air and heavens, and take away the sight of the sun (1).
29. THAT ART SAVED BY THE LORD (that is, through the Lord, by help of the Lord, who is) THE SHIELD OF THY HELP,—from whom, namely, all help and all protection comes to thee.
AND THE SWORD OF THY GLORY,—by which, namely, is prepared for thee glorious victory, empire, honour and fame.
THY ENEMIES SHALL DENY THEE.—In Hebrew, shall lie to thee (thy enemies, that is, thy enemies shall be altogether subjected to thee; for this the Hebraism here signifies, Psalm lxxx, verse 16; Psalm lxv, verse 3; Psalm xvii, verse 46. For enemies conquered and captured, to obtain pardon and favour from the victor, are wont to lie much, and say that they were not truly and from the heart his enemies, and had done many other things in his favour. So Cajetan, Vatablus and others. Otherwise Abulensis: for he refers this to the Gabaonites, who struck with fear of the Hebrews, lied to them, denying that they were of the land of the enemies of Israel; but Josue and Israel trod upon their necks, because the matter being known, he did not indeed kill them, but subjected them to servitude. But the former sense is from the Hebrew phrase and Scripture,
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR. SYNOPSIS OF THE CHAPTER. Moses, from Nebo contemplating Chanaan, dies, is buried, is mourned; Josue succeeds him: but no Prophet like Moses succeeds after him.