۱ Their subjection denotes that of Jew and Gentile to Christ. 45 1. 14. 15. ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you. Boox Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart. That in the Gospel, therefore, rest is promised to those that labour well, is the same thing as that five hundred yoke of oxen are made mention of in this place; for whereunto does their way lead, who submit their necks to the dominion of our Redeemer, excepting to rest? And hence we are told of five hundred she asses, forasmuch as the Gentile folk that are called, so long as they desire to attain to rest, gladly bear all the burthens of the commandments; and hence, that this rest should be sought of the Gentiles, Jacob in addressing his sons did mean to signify by the voice of prophecy, saying, Issachar is a strong ass, Gen. 49, crouching down between the boundaries': And he saw that i vulg. rest was good, and the land that it was pleasant, and bowed terminos, E. the shoulder to bear. For to crouch down between the v. burboundaries is to rest forestalling the end of the world, and to thens. seek nought of those things, which are now going forward amongst men, but to long after the things that shall be at the last; and the strong ass sees the rest and the pleasant land, when the simple Gentile world lifts itself up to the strong effort of good works, and that because it is on its way to the land of life eternal; and it bows the shoulder to bear, in that having beheld the rest above, it submits itself in doing its work even to severe precepts, and whatever littleness of mind represents as hard to bear, the hope of the reward makes this appear to it light and easy. So because both Judæa and the Gentile world are gathered to eternal rest as a portion of the elect, he is rightly related to have possessed five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she 25. What means it that the number of the animals is first xvii. described, while the household is not mentioned till the end, but that the foolish things of the world are first gathered in to the knowledge of the faith, that afterwards the crafty things of the world may also be called as Paul bears witness, who says; For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many 1 Cor. 1, wise men after the flesh, not many noble, not many mighty, 26. 27. are called; But God hath chosen the foolish things of the prin 46 Feasting of Job's sons is the Apostles' preaching. Job world to confound the wise. For the first beginnings' of holy 1.3. Church are reputed to have been without knowledge of cipia letters, plainly for this reason, that in His preachers the Redeemer might manifest to all, that it was not their dis*populos course, but their cause, which had influence with the numbers that believed unto life. It proceeds; xviii. 12. So that this man was the greatest of all the men of the East. 26. That our Redeemer is styled The East is declared by Zech. 6, the testimony of the Prophet, where he says, And lo! the Man Vulg. whose name is The East. And thus all that live in this Oriens, Orient by faith, are rightly called men of the East. Now The Branch xix. 16. because all men are only men, whereas 'The East' Himself is both God and Man, it is rightly said, He was the greatest of all the men of the East. As though it were said in plain words, He surpassed all those that are born to God in faith. Because it is not by adoption, as others are, but by the Divine Nature that He is exalted, who though He appeared like to others in His human Nature, yet in His Divine Nature continued above all men without fellow. Ver. 4. And his sons went and feasted in their houses. 27. The sons went to feast at their houses, when the Apostles as preachers, in the different regions of the world, served the banquet of virtue to hearers as it were to eaters. And hence it is said to those very sons concerning the Mat. 14, hungering multitude, Give ye them to eat. And again; And Mat. 15, I will not send them away fasting, lest they faint by the way; that is, let them by your preaching receive the word of consolation, that they may not by continuing to fast to the food of truth, sink under the labours of this life. Hence John 6, again it is said to the same sons, Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meut which endureth unto everlasting life. And how these feasts were set forth is added, whereas it is forthwith subjoined, 32. 27. xx. Every one in his day. m 28. If without any doubt the darkness of ignorance is the night of the soul, the understanding is not improperly styled Rom. the day. And hence Paul says, One man esteemeth one 14, 5. day above another; another esteemeth every day alike. As m Or, Work not at; the original allows it to be taken of food for others. The feast they give is on the word of God. 47 I. if he had said in plain words; 'One man understands some Book things so as that some are left out, and another acquaints himself with all things that are possible to be understood, in such sort as they may be seen. Thus each son sets forth a feast in his day, in that every holy preacher, according to the measure of the enlightening of his understanding, feeds the minds of his hearers with the entertainments of Truth. Paul made a feast in his own day, when he said, But she is 1 Cor. happier if she so abide according to my judgment. He 7, 40. bade each to take account of his own day; when he said, Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. It Rom.14, goes on; And sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them. 5. 29. The sons call their sisters to the feast, in that the xxi. holy Apostles proclaim to hearers that are weak the joys of the refreshment above, and inasmuch as they see their souls to be starved of the food of truth, they feed them with the feast of God's Word. And it is well said, to eat and to drink with them. For holy Scripture is sometimes meat to us, and sometimes drink. It is meat in the harder parts, in that it is in a certain sense broken in pieces by being explained, and swallowed after chewing; and it is drink in the plainer parts, in that it is imbibed just as it is found. The Prophet discerned holy Scripture to be meat, which was to be broken in pieces in the explaining, when he said, The young Lam. 4, children ask, and no man breaketh it unto them, i. e. the 4. weak ones sought that the stronger declarations of holy Scripture might be crumbled for them by explanation, but he could no where be found who should have explained them. The Prophet saw that holy Writ was drink, when he said, Ho, every one that thirsteth come ye to the waters. In, 55, Had not the plain commandments been drink, Truth would1 never have cried out with His own lips; If any man thirst, John 5, let him come unto Me and drink. The Prophet saw that there was, as it were, a lack of meat and drink in Judæa, when he declared, And their honourable men are famished, Is.5, 13. and their multitude dried up with thirst. For it belongs to the few to attain a knowledge of the mighty and hidden meanings, but to the multitude it is given to understand the 37. 48 Our Lord cleansed the Apostles after their preaching. Job plain sense of the history. And therefore he declares that 1,4. the honourable men of Judæa had perished not by thirst, but hunger, in that those who seemed to stand first, by giving themselves wholly to the outward sense, had not wherewithal to feed themselves from the inward parts by sifting their meaning, but forasmuch as when loftier minds fall away from the inward sense, the understanding of the little ones even in the outward meaning is dried up; it is rightly added in this place, And the multitude dried up with thirst. As if he said in plainer words, whereas the common sort give over taking pains in their own lives, they now no longer seek even the streams of history.' And they bear witness that they understood both the deep and the plain things contained in divine Writ, who in comLuke13, plaining to the Judge that rejects them, say, We have eaten and drunk in Thy presence; and this they subjoin in plain terms by explaining it; And thou hast taught in our streets. Therefore because the sacred oracles are broken in the more obscure parts, by the explanation thereof, but in the plainer parts are drunk in just as they are found, it may be truly said, And they sent and called for their three sisters, to eat and to drink with them. As though it were said in plain terms, they drew every weak one to themselves by the mildness of their persuasions, that both by setting forward great truths contemplatively, they might feed their minds, and by delivering little things historically, they might give them nourishment. The account proceeds: 26. V. thus xxii. Ver. 5. And it was so, when the days of their feasting' were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all. 30. 'The days of feasting are gone,' when the ministrations of preaching are brought to an end; and when the feasts were ended, Job offered an holocaust for his sons, in that our Redeemer besought the Father in behalf of the Apostles, when they returned from preaching. Now it is rightly said that he ' sent and sanctified,' in that when He bestowed the Holy Spirit Which proceeds from Himself, upon the hearts of His disciples, He cleansed them from whatsoever might be in them of offence, and it is rightly delivered that he rose up ! ; Job's Intercession. Blessing God in an ill sense. 49 I. early to offer sacrifices; forasmuch as through this His BOOK For Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and 31. For this blessing God, which means cursing, is the xxiii ■ So Mss. old Edd. 'in Himself,' which it has been noted St. Greg. would E hardly have said, see Ep. ad Eulog. 1. x. L |