Commentaria in Deuteronomium
There is no other God like the God of the righteous one: he that is mounted upon the heaven is thy helper.
By his magnificence the clouds run hither and thither: his dwelling is above, and underneath are the everlasting arms.
Israel shall dwell confidently in a land of corn, oil and wine: and the heavens shall be misty with dew.
Blessed art thou, O Israel, O people, that art saved by the Lord: he is the shield of thy help, and the sword of thy glory: thy enemies shall deny thee: and thou shalt tread upon their necks.
Moses went up into mount Abarim, and saw the land promised to Abraham and his seed.
He died, and no man hath known of his sepulchre: his eye was not dim, neither were his teeth moved.
There arose no prophet like to him in signs and wonders: who knew the Lord face to face.
He made him like to the saints in glory: he shewed him his glory.
In his faith and meekness he made him holy: and chose him out of all flesh.
To teach Jacob his testimony, and Israel his judgments.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost: world without end. Amen.
Creator of all things, God, who by thy providence governest all, reaching from end to end mightily, and ordering all things sweetly, how holy and wonderful hast thou been in Moses and the Hebrews, and in all the works of the Pentateuch! We have beheld in Genesis thy mighty creation of all things: in Exodus, thy singular care and providence for thine own: in Leviticus, thy sacred religion, victims and ceremonies: in Numbers, thy august magnificence in the so great camps of the people: in Deuteronomy, thy fervour for the salvation of the people, thy love and zeal. We have beheld the ancient Church and commonwealth established in the people chosen by thee. We have heard the streams of thine eternal law, thy holy precepts, moral, judicial and ceremonial. Let heaven, earth, sea and all that are in them praise thee: let them praise thee, and bless thy holy name for ever. Grant, O Lord, that in all these we may recognise and behold thee, revere thee, worship and love thee with our whole heart, with our whole soul, and with our whole strength. Grant that in all these we may behold, foreshadowed and depicted as in a mirror, thine Only-begotten, Christ the Lord, our Saviour. Grant also that Israel, a people once chosen by thee, now forsaken and wandering, may acknowledge Him. Save, O Lord, the remnants of Israel: for they are children of Abraham according to the flesh; they are thy kinsmen, kinsmen of the Apostles. Take away from them the veil of the letter, and of carnal ceremonies, which has been laid upon their heart from the days of Moses and the Messias; that in them they may read and see the spirit, and the hidden mysteries of thy Christ: for this is eternal life, that they know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. Grant finally that this commentary may serve to illustrate thy glory and thy Moses, that whoever read these things may gain a clearer knowledge both of the Pentateuch, and of Christ prefigured in it, and of thy majesty, as of the author of all things, and thence be stirred to greater love, reverence and worship of thee. Favour these my prayers, holy Mother of God, Virgin Mary, obtain with thy blessed Son that I may obtain them. To thee, as to my mother, I refer and offer all that is mine, after this my first fruit as well as the earlier: to thee I say, deliver and consecrate this my Moses, as also my Paul. For he is thine, not mine: to thee the glory, to me confusion of my face. Mary, Mother of God, be mindful of me, now and in the hour of death. Grant finally that these writings, each of these tittles, may praise thee and thy blessed Son with the Father and the Holy Spirit; may praise, I say, both in this age and in all that are to come, and invite all who read these things to His unceasing praise: and, when I am dead, may speak His everlasting glory, and testify to all the eternal and immense desire of praising and glorifying Him. Amen.
Because the Mosaic laws, or those of the Old Testament, are very many, and are set forth scattered and confused throughout the Pentateuch, and intermingled, it seemed good to distribute them all here into their classes, and to place them before the eyes in one synopsis.
SYNOPSIS OF ALL THE PRECEPTS WHICH GOD GAVE TO MOSES, COLLECTED FROM THE PENTATEUCH.
Laws: simple (moral or natural; ceremonial; judicial); mixed (moral and ceremonial together; moral and judicial together; ceremonial and judicial together; moral, ceremonial and judicial together).
Precepts moral, or of the Decalogue:
7. A prophet of thy own nation, and of thy brethren, like unto me, will the Lord thy God raise up to thee; him thou shalt hear, Ibid. verse 15.
8. If a prophet arise, or a brother, son, daughter, or wife, saying: Let us go and serve strange gods; thou shalt not consent, but shalt immediately kill him, Deut. xii, 9 and 6.
9. You shall not make gods of gold or silver, Exodus xx, 23. You shall not make to yourselves an idol, or a graven thing,
I. I am the Lord thy God, strong, jealous: thou shalt not have strange gods before me: thou shalt not make to thyself a graven thing: thou shalt not adore them, nor serve them, Exodus xx, 4. To this belong, and explain it, the following:
1. Hear, Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole strength, Deut. vi, 4.
2. These words shall be in thy heart: thou shalt tell them to thy children; thou shalt meditate on them sitting and walking, sleeping and rising, Ibid.
3. Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God, as thou temptedst him in the place of temptation, Deut. vi, 16.
4. Be ye holy, because I am holy, the Lord your God, Levit. xix, 2.
5. Let there not be found among you any one that shall expiate his son or daughter, making them to pass through the fire; or that consulteth soothsayers, or observeth dreams and omens; neither let there be any wizard, nor charmer, nor anyone that consulteth pythonic spirits, or fortune tellers, or that seeketh the truth from the dead, Deut. xviii, 10.
6. Thou shalt be perfect, and without stain before the Lord thy God, Ibid. verse 13.
neither shall you set up pillars, nor a notable stone, that you may adore it, Levit. xxvi, 1.
10. Thou shalt not adore, nor worship the sun, moon, stars, etc., Deut. iv, 19. For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, a jealous God, Ibidem.
11. Destroy the altars of the gods of the Gentiles, break the statues, burn the groves, break the idols in pieces, destroy their names out of their places, Deut. xii, 3.
12. You shall not add to the word that I speak to you.
II. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain: for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that shall do this, Exodus xx, 7. To this belong, and explain it, the following:
1. By the name of foreign gods you shall not swear, neither shall it be heard out of your mouth, Exodus chap. xxiii, verse 13.
2. By the name of the Lord thy God thou shalt swear, Deut.
3. Thou shalt not forswear thyself in my name, nor profane the name of thy God: I am the Lord, Levit. xix, 12.
4. When thou hast made a vow to the Lord thy God, thou shalt not delay to pay it, because the Lord thy God will require it; that which is once gone out of thy lips thou shalt observe, and shalt do as thou hast promised to the Lord thy God, Deut. xxiii, 21 and 23.
5. He that curseth God, and blasphemeth the name of the Lord, let him die the death, Levit. xxiv, 16.
III. Remember that thou keep holy the sabbath day: thou shalt not do any work in it. For in six days God made heaven and earth, the sea, and all things that are in them, and rested on the seventh day, Exodus xx, 8.
IV. Honour thy father and thy mother, that thou mayest be long lived upon the land, Ibid. verse 12. To this belong the following:
1. Thou shalt not speak ill of the gods, and shalt not curse the prince of thy people, Exodus xxii, 28.
2. Thou shalt appoint judges and magistrates in all thy gates, that they may judge the people with just judgment, Deut. xvi, 18.
3. Thou shalt not accept person nor gifts: for gifts blind the eyes of the wise, and change the words of the just, Ibidem.
4. Rise up before the hoary head, and honour the person of the aged man, and fear the Lord thy God, Levit. xix, 32.
V. Thou shalt not kill, Exodus xx, 13. To this belong:
1. Hate not thy brother in thy heart, Levit. chap.
2. Seek not revenge, nor be mindful of the injury of thy citizens, Ibidem.
3. Thou shalt not curse the deaf, nor put a stumblingblock before the blind: but thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, Ibid. verse 14.
4. Thou shalt not oppress thy neighbour by violence, Ibid. verse 13.
5. The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, nor the children for the fathers, Deut. xxiv, 16.
VI. Thou shalt not commit adultery, Exodus xx, 13. To this belong:
1. Prohibitions of marriage and intercourse: with father and mother, Levit. xviii, 7; with stepmother, verse 8; with sister, verse 9; with granddaughter, verse 10; with step-sister, verse 11; with paternal aunt and maternal
2. Again in degrees of affinity: with the wife of an uncle, verse 14; with a daughter-in-law, verse 15; with a brother’s wife, verse 16; with the daughter and granddaughter of a step-child, verse 17; with a wife’s sister, verse 18.