Commentaria in Scripturam Sacram, Vol. 11: Prolegomena (prefaces and canons)
CANON XXXVIII. Abstract nouns are wont to be put for concrete, both actively, as Nabuchodonosor the terrible is called “dread,” who struck dread into the Jews and the whole world, Isaias 2:19. So Priapus in the gardens is called by Horace “the fright of birds;” and passively, especially when an act or power is put for the object. So God is called “our love, hope, fear,” that is, to be supremely loved, hoped in, feared by us. So Psalm 70:5 it is said: “Thou art my patience, O Lord,” that is, on account of whom I suffer. So the Church, and St. Paul, Ephesians 3:10 and Colossians 1:16, call some angels “Powers,” that is, mighty; others “Principalities,” that is, princes, etc. So Isaias, chapter 60, verse 17, says: “I will make thy visitation (that is, thy visitors) peace (that is, peaceable), and thy overseers justice,” that is, most just, so that they seem to be the norm of justice, and justice itself.
CANON XXXIX. The climates, or regions of the world, are marked in Scripture according to the situation of Jerusalem and the temple, says St. Jerome on that of Zacharias 2:6: “From the land of the north.” Hence Egypt is said to be to the South, namely with respect to Jerusalem. So Daniel, chapter 11, predicts “the kings of the South,” that is the kings of Egypt, who would contend with the kings of the North, that is, of Syria, namely the Ptolemies with the Antiochi. So the Assyrians and Chaldeans are called Northerners, namely with respect to Juda. Whence Jeremias, chapter 1, verse 14: “Out of the north an evil shall break forth.” Hence also by “the sea” they commonly signify the West: because the Mediterranean sea is for the greater part to the west of Juda; since however the same is partly to the south of it, hence at times “sea” signifies the southern region, as Psalm 88:13: “The north and the sea,” that is the South or Meridian, “thou hast created;” and Psalm 106:3: “From the rising and setting of the sun, from the north and the sea,” that is the south: for here the four regions of the world are named.
CANON XL. What is said of Christ in Scripture is at times said of the head alone, that is Christ Himself; at times of the body alone, that is the Church; at times of both; and it must be skilfully discerned what is said of whom: for Scripture passes secretly from one to the other. So St. Augustine from Tichonius, book 3 On Christian Doctrine, chapter 31 and following.
CANON XLI. The Prophets foretell many things which it is certain must have been fulfilled, even if how and when they were fulfilled neither holy Scripture nor profane histories relate. So Isaias, chapter 23, verse 17, foretells that Tyre would be laid waste by the Chaldeans, and after 70 years return to its former splendor; the same of the Ammonites Jeremias foretells, chapter 49, verse 6. Like of Egypt laid waste by the Chaldeans, and after 40 years to be restored, Ezechiel foretells, chapter 29, verses 12 and 13. When these were fulfilled, we know not. So Aggeus, Zacharias, Abdias and Malachias foretell many things from the return of the Jews from there up to Christ, which neither Esdras, nor the books of the Machabees, nor other historians record as having been done.
CANON XLII. The Prophets are wont, after they have prophesied against the Jews, to turn their speech and threats to the nations hostile to the Jews, for the consolation of the Jews, and both the just punishment and the consolation of the nations themselves, from the salvation to be brought through Christ. So Sophonias, after in chapter 1, verse 4, he foretold the ruin of Juda and Jerusalem, soon in chapter 2 foretells the destruction of Gaza, Ascalon, Moab, Ethiopia, Ninive and the Assyrians. So Isaias after the burden of Juda passes, chapter 13 and following up to 24, to the burdens of Babylon, Moab, Ammon, Idumea, Tyre, and other nations which had afflicted the Jews. The same does Jeremias, chapter 46 and following.
CANON XLIII. As to the allegorical sense, St. Basil on Isaias chapter 2 and St. Augustine epistle 99 to Evodius note that one thing in Scripture is at once the figure of two, even contrary things; as the flood to the faithful was a type of baptism, to the unfaithful of death and Gehenna. So Christ to believers was the stone of salvation, to non-believers the stone of offence, and rock of scandal. So the strong man is called lion and eagle, and so likewise a tyrant, says St. Jerome on Ezechiel 17.
CANON XLIV. In holy Scripture all sentences and all words ought to be applied to the thing signified, in the literal sense, but not in the allegorical. So St. Jerome on chapter 5 of Osee. See Canon 40 on the Pentateuch.
CANON XLV. As to tropology, it is easy to transfer to Christians, the name being changed, what the Prophets predict, promise, threaten, command, urge, reproach to the Jews and other nations. Again, what is said by them of the Synagogue as of one woman it is easy by tropology to apply to the soul of each faithful. Whence St. Jerome rightly, on chapter 23 of Jeremias: “Whatever,” he says, “is said literally of the land of Juda, refer tropologically to the congregation of the faithful: since on account of their adulteries, lies, perjuries, etc., the sterility of the virtues and gifts of God comes to pass in the Church.”
So by the king of Babylon understand tropologically the devil; by the Philistines, Idumeans, Moabites, and other enemies of the Jews, understand unbelievers, heretics and impious, and vices and the vicious; by Cyrus understand Christ.
CANON XLVI. The Prophets are wont to describe the redemption of Christ as a warlike victory, in which enemies are cut down, subjects liberated and saved. Hence they call it at once slaughter and salvation, punishment and redemption, indignation and peace. Hence again they introduce Christ as an armored soldier cutting down and trampling on all things; both because Christ crushed His enemies, namely the demon, sin, flesh, death; and because He subjected unbelievers and impious men to Himself, and so slew in them impiety and crimes, and raised from them new men, pious, sober, chaste. See Canon 42 on the Pentateuch. This is what Isaias says, chapter 59, verse 17: “He put on justice as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation upon his head: he put on the garments of vengeance, and was clad with zeal as a cloak: as unto vengeance, as unto repaying wrath to his adversaries, and reward to his enemies: he will repay the like to the islands.” And chapter 63, verse 1: “Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bosra? This beautiful one in his robe, walking in the greatness of his strength. Why then is thy apparel red? I have trodden the winepress alone, etc., I have trampled on them in my fury, etc. For the day of vengeance is in my heart, the year of my redemption is come.” Namely, as Claudian says in the 6th Consulship of Honorius:
No victory is greater than that which subdues enemies who have confessed it, in mind also.
So St. Augustine explains that of Psalm 149:6: “Two-edged swords in their hands, to execute vengeance upon the nations, etc. The Pagans,” he says, “are slain, when they become Christians: for I seek a Pagan, and find none: therefore the Pagan is dead. For if they are not slain, whence was it said to Peter: Kill and eat? So Paul the persecutor was slain, and Paul the preacher was raised up.”
CANON XLVII. The Prophets speak anthropopathically, or in human manner, of God. Hence they ascribe to Him human figure, mouth, eyes, hands, feet, etc., likewise anger, indignation, love, joy, exultation, and other passions of man. For the natural and good affects of these are in God, if you take from them what is vicious, excessive, turbid and beyond reason. For the affects of love and joy about the good, and of hatred and detestation about evil, are truly in God.
CANON XLVIII. God is said not to rain, but to distil His scourges; because He tempers His wrath with mercy. Hence Ezechiel chapter 20, verse 46, it is said: “Drop toward the south:” that not all of God’s wrath may seem poured out, but a drop and part. “But if a drop is of such bitterness, what shall be thought of whole showers?” says St. Jerome there. So also Daniel 9:11: “The malediction and curse hath dropped upon us, which is written in the book of Moses the servant of God, because we have sinned against him.” Hence also in Apocalypse 15 the wrath of God is said to be contained in vials, and poured out of them: for vials have a narrow mouth, whence wrath cannot flow from them except drop by drop. For divine mercy compresses and restrains the judgments, that they pour not out, but distil wrath, according to that of Psalm 77:38: “But he is merciful, and will forgive their sins: and will not destroy them. And he abounded (God’s mercy) to turn away his anger: and did not kindle all his anger. And he remembered that they are flesh.”
CANON XLIX. The Prophets use metalepsis, to understand from the antecedents what naturally follows. So they take “to hear” for to do what has been heard, and to obey: “not to know” for not doing what is known; for he who knows what must be done and does it not is as if he knew not. So, Isaias 30:2, to the Jews fleeing into Egypt it is said: “You have not asked at my mouth,” that is, you have not followed the Lord’s inquiry and answer: for truly they had asked and heard from Jeremias the answer of God, that they should not flee into Egypt, but had refused to follow it. So poets often use metalepsis, as Virgil, Eclogue 1: “After some ears of corn, seeing my realms, I shall marvel.” For by “ears of corn” he understands crops, by crops summers, by summers years. So: “He hid it in dark caves,” that is, deep; for deep things are shady, shady things seem dark.