Bible Verses and Early Church Commentary | Historical Christian Faith

[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 45:1-8

(Chapter 45, vers. 1 and following) When you begin to divide the land as an inheritance, set apart for the Lord a portion of the land, twenty-five thousand cubits in length and ten thousand cubits in width, which shall be consecrated in all its boundaries. This portion shall be holy and shall be laid out in a square, five hundred by five hundred cubits in size, with fifty cubits of additional land as its outskirts. And you shall measure this measure of length twenty-five thousand, and a width of ten thousand, and in it there shall be a temple (or consecration) and a holy of holies. The consecrated portion of the land shall be for the priests, the ministers of the sanctuary, who approach to minister to the Lord, and there shall be a place for them in the houses, and in the sanctuary of holiness. Twenty-five thousand in length, and ten thousand in width. But the Levites who serve the house: they shall possess twenty storerooms (for which the Seventy translated: they shall hold the city to dwell in). And you shall give a possession of the city of five thousand in width, and twenty-five thousand in length, according to the separation of the sanctuary, to the whole house of Israel. Also, the prince shall have a portion on both sides of the separation of the sanctuary and of the possession of the city, extending from the side of the sea to the sea, and from the side of the east to the east. And the length shall be alongside each of the portions, from the west border to the east border of the land. It shall be a possession for them in Israel. And my people will no longer be oppressed by their leaders. They shall give the land to the house of Israel according to their tribes. After the ceremonies of the priests, their worship, and the food they should eat and avoid, he now describes the land of the holy place, and before dividing it among the tribes, he commands a place to be chosen from all the tribes, which should have a length of twenty-five thousand and a width of ten thousand. And because the cubits or feet or arms are not mentioned, it is understood to signify a reed that was in the man's hand, which measured six cubits and a sixth part of one cubit, that is, a παλαιστήν. Let the diligent reader calculate how many paces a thousand reeds make, and how many thousands there were in length and in width. After this description, he again commands that from the consecrated land, which was chosen from all the tribes of Israel, that is, twenty-five thousand reeds in length and ten thousand in width, be chosen to build the sanctuary, that is, the temple of the Lord, with another piece of land inside of five hundred reeds in circumference, that is, two thousand. And so that other buildings would not be joined to the building of the temple by chance, he commanded that there be an empty space in the suburb of fifty cubits around it: or as Symmachus and Theodotius and the LXX translated, to a boundary, and separation and space. With this description finished, another measure of complete separation for consecration is commanded, that twenty-five thousand reed lengths in length, and ten thousand in width, be measured on the upper part of the land, in which there should be no temple, that is, a holy place, but a holy and most holy place, and in it the priests who approach the ministry of the Lord shall dwell. But they shall dwell at that time, when they are performing the priestly office, and the possession itself, as we have said, shall be twenty-five thousand cubits in length, and ten thousand in width. Moreover, the Levites who serve the priests and have their own ministries shall receive a place to build twenty treasuries; next to Aquila, exedras; next to Symmachus, chambers; next to Theodotion, gazebos, or as the seventy translated, a city. By which we understand that a certain separate place for the habitation of the Levites, is called by the name of a city, which place is five thousand cubits in breadth, and twenty-five thousand in length. But all these, that is, the sanctuary, and another sanctuary, the holy of holies, and the dwelling places of the priests, and the house of the Levites, who minister to the priests, are called separate and consecrated places for ministry and for the sanctification of the house of Israel. After the fourfold description of the Holy Land, the fifth division is made. The leader or ruler of the people may take possession here and there, that is, on both sides of the sanctuary, and reside in the city. Their possession should face the separate temple area and the face of the city. It should extend from the side of the sea, that is, from the west, to the other side of the sea, having the width that the prophet describes in the subsequent description of each tribe. Finally, it follows: In terms of length, on each side, which each tribe takes, from the Western boundary, that is, the sea, to the Eastern boundary, where it ends, we will learn in the division of the tribes. And this will be the possession of the duke or prince in the land of Israel. Let these things be said for the sake of a simple historical account. But if we wish to compare spiritual things with spiritual, and according to certain interpreters to ascend to higher things, who assert that the figure of future things is present, and that everything that is said pertains to the heavenly Jerusalem, which is the mother of all of us, and to the Church of the early Christians, it will not indeed be difficult to say what has been said by others, but we fear that the wise reader may in no way accept such an exposition. At the present time, everything must be directed towards the Church, which is now working in the world and hastening to go to heaven, so that others may be chosen from the entire world to possess God, those who possess the holy; others, who have made progress in greater things, may hold the holy of holies. Among the ministers, there is also a different order of priests and Levites, some of whom offer sacrifices to God daily through their prayers and virtues; others are in a second and lower rank, to serve them, and through them those who have reached the heights of virtue, and in the end there should be a leader or prince, who should be able to receive a possession against one tribe; and the merit of one should compensate for the merits of many, and first, while he is in the world, he should possess the breadth from sea to sea; then from the West or from the sea to the East, so that, leaving the present, he may hasten to the future and have his own certain possession, and the princes should never desire what belongs to others, and each tribe should hold its own portion: which can properly be referred to bishops and presbyters, to whom it is said, that they should not devastate and depopulate the people of God any further, nor possess the land of Israel as an inheritance, but each one should have his own possession that is appointed for his rank. Twenty-five thousand, however, are referred to the senses, which are four times placed. Furthermore, ten thousand are related to perfect knowledge, so that in the former only a simple history is maintained, while in the latter both theology and discussion of supernatural virtues are included, because ten is a perfect number. It must also be considered that priests, who are in a higher degree, possess twenty-five thousand in length and ten thousand in width. But the Levites, that is, the inferior order, have the same number in length, that is, twenty-five thousand: but their breadth is limited to a number fivefold. Therefore, only twenty receive the treasuries: in which number the gifts of Esau are offered. However, the true leader among the people, who deserves to be called a leader, receives possession of the sanctuary from both sides: namely, from all those who are subject to his will and from the dwelling of the city, and he receives reward for the well-being of many. In the front temple, which is called the sanctuary, five hundred on each side of the reeds are described; and again, fifty cubits by which the entire possession of the priests is separated. But in the second sanctuary, where the holy of holies is, the width and space of the temple are not described, but the number is uncertain. Indeed, we find this also in the possession of the prince, who has possession in the people of Israel without any number, while the surplus of all flows back to the prince; and the salvation of the disciples is the reward of the teachers.

Source: Commentary on Ezekiel

[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 45:9

(Verse 9) Thus says the Lord God: Enough for you, princes of Israel: cease iniquity and robberies, and execute judgment and justice, and separate your borders from my people, says the Lord God. For because of robberies they have brought misery upon the seventy; for because of borders, oppression. And the meaning is this: Since you, O princes, have received your portion, as the Scripture says: To each prince from this side and that side shall be given a portion of the sanctuary's possession within the city; and your power is so great that one tribe's portion shall be given unto you as possession. Therefore, I command and advise you, that you have done enough in committing iniquity and robberies, while invading and plundering the property of others. And because it is written: Depart from evil, and do good; and contrarywise, judge ye and practice justice (Ps. XXXVI, 27), judging the orphan and vindicating the widow: separate your boundaries from my people, lest you transfer the landmarks. And because this very proximity harms the more humble, who cannot withstand the arrogance of the greater and more powerful, it is said through Isaiah: Woe to those who join house to house, and field to field, even to the boundaries of the place. Let this be said for the people of that time. Moreover, this commandment can also be applied to our leaders, who, like the Pharaoh and the Egyptians, oppress the children of Israel by force, and do not remember the scripture: They have set up a governor over you, do not be exalted, but be among them as one of them (Eccl. XXXII, 1). And also what the Lord speaks in the Gospel according to Luke: But if that servant says in his heart, 'My master is delayed in coming,' and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and get drunk, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces and put him with the unfaithful (Luke XII, 45, 46). He also instructs his disciples in the Gospel according to Matthew with these teachings: 'You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.' (Matthew 20:25) There are many things that, if one desires to delve into the Sacred Scriptures, the pride of the arrogant is restrained, and all are challenged by the Lord's words, saying: 'Learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart.' (Matthew 11:29)

Source: Commentary on Ezekiel

[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 45:10-12

(Chapter 45, verses 10 and following) 'A fair balance and a fair ephah and a fair bath shall be for you. The ephah and the bath shall be of the same measure, so that the bath may contain a tenth part of a homer, and the ephah a tenth part of a homer: their measure shall be according to the homer. Now a shekel has twenty obols. Furthermore, twenty shekels, and twenty-five shekels, and fifteen shekels make a mina.' LXX: A just balance, a just measure, and a just dry measure shall you have: the dry measure shall be a choenix, and a choenix shall be the same as a homer. The tenth part of a homer shall be a choenix, and the tenth part of a homer shall be an ephah. A homer shall be equal to twenty obols in weight. Twenty shekels, twenty-five shekels, and fifteen shekels shall be a mina for you.» This passage in the LXX does not cohere, and cannot be entirely understood, since not only have they changed the numbers of the measures, but also the names. For they have interpreted pro ephi as a measure, a general term for a specific one, and for bato choenica: for homer also Hebrew, which is called κόρος in Greek, they translated as gomor: and again for bato choenica. Let us therefore speak according to the Hebrew and the letter, and let us explain more clearly what seems to us, individually. The balance, which is called Mozene in Hebrew (), is understood as those which are attached. The ephah, which is corruptly called Ἔφι in the Greek language, pertains to the measure of various grains, for example, wheat, barley, legumes. Furthermore, a batus, which in Hebrew is called Bath, is the same measure as the ephi, and is used only for liquids, such as wine and oil, and the like. It holds thirty modios, both in the dry and liquid measure. The tenth part of a cor in those things which are measured by the modius is called epha, that is, three modii; and the tenth part of a cor in liquid measures is called Batus or Vadus, so that epha and batus are of the same measure. Furthermore, the coin called στατὴρ in Greek has twenty obols. But the weight called mna has sixty siclos, which makes twelve hundred obols. However, it should not confuse the reader that there are twenty siclos, twenty-five siclos, and fifteen siclos in a mina. For the difficulty lies in the numbers, to focus the attention of the listener. Hence, many things are said in parables and riddles, so that those who have ears to hear may hear. And all prophecy contains truth in obscurity, so that the disciples may hear from within: the common and lowly people, positioned outside, may not know what is said. Therefore, divine Scripture commands that the weights be just, saying: You shall not have in your bag two kinds of weights, a large one and a small one: a true and just balance shall be yours, and a true and just measure shall be yours (Leviticus 19:36). And in Proverbs it is said: Both a large and a small weight are an abomination in the sight of God (Proverbs 11:1). Indeed, this should be observed not only in commerce and in the use of everyday life, but in all things justice must be preserved, as the Scripture says: 'You shall make a balance and weights for your words' (Eccl. 28:23), so that in both words and deeds and thoughts, we may do everything with proper measure and reason. However, we read in another place that 'to him who is faithful, the whole world of riches belongs', and for him who is unfaithful, not even an obolus remains (Prov. 17:6 LXX). In other words, he said: The unbeliever possesses nothing in the world: but even the smallest portion is needed. Regarding this, in other words, it is said in the Gospel: He shall not depart from there until he pays the last farthing (Matt. 5:26), that is, even the last and least coin. We read of ten minas given to each servant to trade with (Luke 19); and in another parable, talents divided among servants; and a debtor of five hundred denarii, and fifty (Matt. 25); and the vineyard workers who each receive a denarius (Luke 7); and the widow who had lost a drachma and found it only by lighting a lamp (Matt. 20, Luke 15). To discuss all of these things and their meaning is not of this time.

Source: Commentary on Ezekiel

[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 45:13-14

And these are the firstfruits that you shall offer: one-sixth of an ephah of wheat, and one-sixth of an ephah of barley. The measure of oil: a bath of oil is one-tenth of a cor; and ten baths make one cor, for ten baths fill a cor. And these are the firstfruits that you shall separate: one-sixth of a measure of wheat, and one-sixth of an ephah of barley, and a prescribed measure of oil, a cotyle, which is a tenth of a cor; and ten cotyles make one measure, for ten cotyles are a cor. And here, in the 70th edition, all the names of the measurements were changed and confused, so that it is not possible to understand what is being said. For those who had previously called the measure "ephi" and the measure "bato," they now call them "choenica" and "gomor" for the measure "coro." And for the measure "siclo" they now call it "appendiculum," and here they put the measure "ephi" for the measure "coro," now called "gomor," and sometimes even "corum." And in the measurement of oil, instead of "bato," they use the term "κοτύλην," that is, "cyathum." Therefore, let us first say, according to the letter, that the "δεκάδα" (or "δεκάδας"), that is, the tenth part of all fruits, was to be given to the people of Leviticus according to the law. Again, from the tithes themselves, the Levites, that is, the lower order of ministers, gave tithes to the priests, and this is what is called the second tithe. There were also other tithes, which each person from the people of Israel set aside in their own barns to eat when they went to the temple in the city of Jerusalem, and in the vestibule of the temple, and the priests and Levites were invited to feasts. There were also other tithes, which were given to the poor, and these are called the poor tithe in Greek. But the first fruits that they offered from the crops were not defined by a specific number, but left to the discretion of the offerers. And we have received a tradition from the Hebrews, not commanded by law but established by the decision of the teachers: the one who had a lot gave a fortieth part to the priests, the one who had little gave a sixtieth part. Between the fortieth and the sixtieth part, they were allowed to offer whatever they wanted. Therefore, what was left doubtful in the Pentateuch is specifically defined here because of the greed of the priests, so that they do not demand more from the people in the offering of the first fruits, that is, that they offer a sixtieth part of what is produced from the land. For if a kor, which in Hebrew is called a homer, and is called a gomor by the Septuagint, holds thirty modii, both in dry and liquid commodities; and if an ephah and bath, as we have said before, is the tenth part of a kor, it is commanded that the sixth part of an ephah and bath be given to the priests in the offering of first-fruits, which is half a modius out of three, and it is clearly computed that the priests ought to receive the sixtieth part of the first-fruits. Let this be enough for now, to understand and hear the literal and Hebrew truth. Now let us turn to spiritual understanding, in which we must first seek to discern: Honor the Lord with your righteous labors, and give Him the fruits of your righteousness, so that your storehouses may be filled with grain, and your vats may overflow with wine (Prov. III, 9); so that after you have offered the firstfruits of your labors and virtues, and have said: Behold, I have brought you the firstfruits of the fruits of the land that you have given me, O Lord; may you deserve to hear: Blessed are you in the city, and blessed are you in the field; blessed are the fruit of your womb, and the produce of your land, and the offspring of your livestock (Deut. XXVIII, 3), and the rest, and may you possess, according to the Apostle (Ephes. I), every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ: for whatever you have, do not consider it to be of your own virtue, but of His mercy, who gave the fruits. And if indeed we have such knowledge of the Scriptures, that we may unfold and teach mystical things, and instruct men, that is, rational animals, we offer the first fruits of our grain. But if after the anagoge, we follow only the pure history, which can nourish the simple, according to what is written: You will save men and animals, Lord (Ps. 35:7), we offer the first fruits of our barley, which Isaac sowed, but in a foreign land, and it brought him a hundredfold (Gen. 26). He who gives firstfruits of barley can say: The Lord feeds me, and nothing shall I lack, in a place of pasture He has placed me: He has led me up on the waters of refreshment (Ps. 23:1-2). But he who feeds rational beings turns the sentiment, and says: You have prepared in my sight a table against those who trouble me. And after he has offered firstfruits of oil and wine, he joins in and speaks: You have fattened my head with oil, and your chalice which inebriates, how brilliant it is, that oil which is most pure without sediment, is prepared for the lamp of the Lord. The one who prepares this, his face will be exhilarated with oil; with the oil of exultation, with which Christ is anointed before His companions; and he will be like a fruitful olive tree in the house of God (Psalm 51:10). And with that wine which flows abundantly from the true vine in the winepresses of the Savior, as the Lord says: I am the vine, and you are the branches, my Father is the vinedresser (John 15:5). Concerning these winepresses, we read three psalms, the eighth, the eightieth, and the eighty-third, which all refer to the sacraments of the Church. And indeed, in the old law, there were no measures and no fixed number: for God did not give the spirit in measure. However, in the second building of the temple that is contained in the prophecy of Ezekiel, there is a definite measure, that is, the number sixty, by which the world is completed, as it is said to us: 'With the measure you measure, it will be measured to you' (Matt. VII, 2).

Source: Commentary on Ezekiel

[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 45:15-17

(Verse 15 and following) And one ram from the flock of two hundred, from those that nourish Israel, for a sacrifice, and for a burnt offering, and for peace offerings, to make atonement for them, says the Lord God. The whole population of the land shall be held accountable for these first fruits to the prince in Israel. And the prince shall have burnt offerings, and sacrifice, and drink offerings for the festivals, and for the new moons, and for the Sabbaths, and for all the appointed feasts of the house of Israel. He himself will make a sacrifice for sin, and a burnt offering, and peace offerings, to make atonement for the house of Israel. As mentioned above, a certain portion of those things that are offered, both dry and liquid measures, should be offered to the prince. Now he holds the same order of firstfruits in regard to animals: that one of the flock of two hundred rams should be commanded to be offered, which nourishes Israel, as a sacrifice and burnt offering, and peace offering, to make atonement for the people of Israel, says the Lord God. What we have interpreted, regarding what nourishes Israel, is written in Hebrew as Memmasce(), which Aquila and Symmachus interpret as 'from the waters', and the Septuagint and Theodotion interpret as 'from the reservoirs'. The former refers to irrigation, while the latter refers to canals or pools, indicating that the firstfruits of the prince should only be nourished in irrigation systems. And just as we read in previous passages that a sixtieth part should be offered to the prince from what is attached and subject to measurement, now a two-hundredth part of animals is commanded to be offered. And by such commands of the law, the entire people are subject to offering to the leader or prince, so that through him, burnt offerings, sacrifices, and libations may be offered for the people and the house of God may be exonerated. From which it must be noted that just as the people owe the offering of first fruits to the ruler, so the ruler owes the offering of victims to the people, whom, according to the trope, we can understand to be none other than the Lord Savior. It is he who receives a ram for the two hundred animals, or as the Hebrew word more significantly indicates, the sustenance that can be referred not specifically to the ram but to all animals, and he receives the animal or ram that has been nourished in fertile places, namely the holy Scriptures, and he can say, 'The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want; he has set me in a place of pasture, he has nourished me by the waters of refreshment' (Psalm 22:1-2). These were the irrigated, or rather, these were the canals, to which Jacob led his livestock, so that they could drink and conceive in them, and according to the color of the rods, they would produce offspring for the Lord (Gen. 30). As for sacrifice, that is θυσία in Greek, Aquila and Symmachus interpret it as gift: which in Hebrew is called Manaa (), and properly does not pertain to the offering, but to those things which are offered in sacrifice, such as flour, porridge, and oil. But a Holocaust is what is entirely offered to God and is consumed by sacred fire. Pacifica, when we are reconciled to God; and the Apostle speaks for us: We beseech you in Christ, be reconciled to God (2 Corinthians 5:20). And in another place: God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself (ibid., 19). Now this ruler, to whom the first fruits are offered, is also a king: as is demonstrated on the title of the cross with Hebrew, Greek, and Latin letters. And when the Jews insisted that the triumphal title be removed, the crowd of the Gentiles responded to Pilate: What I have written, I have written (John 19:22). Under the prince, he says, they will be. The dignity of the priesthood should be bestowed beautifully, to which it is subject; so that it knows that it must offer sacrifices and libations that are offered from wine ((or smoke)) for the people in all solemnities: both on the kalends, that is, the first day of the month, and on the sabbaths: when darkness covers everything, the beginning of the lunar light is: and on the rest of the sabbaths: so that it may indeed make atonement for sin, to cleanse the house of Israel, which is the Church of the living God, a pillar and foundation of truth. For this is the house of the living God, and the house of Israel, which is in need of the expiation of its sins.

Source: Commentary on Ezekiel

[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 45:18-25

(Verse 18 and following) Thus says the Lord God: In the first month, on the first day of the month, you shall take a young bull without blemish, and you shall purify the sanctuary. The priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering and put it on the doorposts of the house, and on the four corners of the ledge of the altar, and on the doorposts of the gate of the inner court. So you shall do on the seventh day of the month for everyone who has sinned inadvertently and been deceived by error, and you shall make atonement for the house. In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, there shall be a solemn feast for you: for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. And on that day the prince shall make a sin offering for himself and for all the people of the land, a young bull. And during the seven-day feast he shall offer a burnt offering to the Lord: seven young bulls and seven spotless rams each day for seven days, and a male goat for a sin offering each day. And for each young bull he shall offer a hin of oil, and for each ram he shall offer a hin of oil, and for each male goat he shall offer a measurement of oil. In the seventh month, on the fifteenth day of the month, during the feast, he shall perform as mentioned above for seven days: both for sin and for burnt offering, and in sacrifice and in oil. I have included the entire passage so as not to disturb the reader's mind by dividing it into individual parts. And first, we must speak of the variety of interpretations. Where we have interpreted, at the four corners of the altar's base. The Septuagint translated it as on the four corners of the temple and on the altar. And where we said 'for each and every one who is ignorant and deceived by error,' they put 'for the ignorant and for the little one.' In that same place where we said 'the offering of an ephah for a calf and an ephah for a ram,' and 'a hin of oil for each ephah,' their edition holds 'the offering and cooking of a calf and the cooking of a ram you shall give, and the cooking of oil.' And in the final verse where we said 'in the sacrifice and in the oil,' they said 'as in the manna, as in the oil.' In the first month and on the first day of the month (no doubt, Nisan signifies) you shall take a calf from the cattle: not one that is raised in the house, but one that is from the cattle, that is, from the flock and a larger number. On the seventh day of the same month: these two solemnities, that is, the first day of the first month, and the seventh of the same, are not found in the Mosaic law. But the fourteenth day of the month, on which the Passover is celebrated, and Moses commanded to be observed, when we eat unleavened bread for seven days. But the fourth solemnity, of which he says: On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, in the solemnity (Exod. XII), and the rest, seems to me to signify the scenopegia, which he has placed here without a name. So let us run through each [topic] and briefly discuss what seems to us [to be relevant]. There are spiritual celebrations, and the Apostle teaches: Therefore let no one pass judgement on you in questions of food and drink or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come (Colossians 2:16). And thus God speaks through Isaiah: I cannot endure solemn assemblies with iniquity. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates (Isaiah 1:13). It is clear that whoever despises the Jewish feasts loves his own, namely the Sabbath that was left to the people of God. Let us see what has been given to us by God, and let us speak, not in the learned words of human wisdom, but in the teaching of the Spirit, comparing spiritual things with spiritual things. In the present age, which is under the power of the evil one, we cannot see good days, but in the new age: of which days the Holy Spirit sings in the Mosaic song: Remember the days of old: understand the years of generations upon generations (Deut. XXXII, 7). Of which (things) even the Holy One spoke in the psalm: In the night my heart meditated (Ps. LXXVI, 7). And again: And I have kept eternal years in my mind, and have meditated (Ibid., 6). Whoever does not understand this, let him answer how he can explain what Isaiah prophesies about the future and the new age: There shall be a month from month to month, and a Sabbath from Sabbath, and all flesh shall come to worship the Lord (Isa. LXVI, 23): when true worshippers shall not worship on Mount Gerizim or in Jerusalem, but in spirit and truth (John. IV); when there shall be a new heaven and a new earth, and all creation shall be freed from the bondage of corruption, unto the liberty of the sons of God, and the sun shall receive light seven times brighter, and the moon shall be compared to the sun (Rom. VIII, Isa. LXV). For we have come to Mount Zion, which is interpreted as the lookout, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to the thousands of angels in festive gathering. Concerning this feast, another prophet speaks: What will you do on the days of the assembly and on the days of the Lord's solemnity? (Hosea 9:5). This is what is also said elsewhere: Celebrate, O Judah, your festivities; fulfill your vows (Numbers 1:15). Therefore, if we have learned spiritual solemnities, we will subsequently be taught spiritual sacrifices. A calf is taken from the herd, or a bull, as Symmachus interpreted, free and not burdened by any yoke, that is, the burden of sins, and spotless: who did not commit sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth, a young calf, carrying horns and hooves: so that in him the sanctuary may be cleansed and atoned. And the priest will take, he says, from his blood which will be for the sin of all: who is called in other words the lamb in Exodus, and in the Gospel, John the Baptist saying: Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29). But the blood itself is precious, in which we are redeemed in the passion of the Lord and Savior; in whose flesh we are nourished, and in whose blood we are made to drink; by which the four corners of the altar of the Temple, which Theodotius placed, the Hebrew word itself, Azara (), or the Temple, as the LXX translated it, are touched, so that the house and the altar may be sanctified. For all the elements of the world are sanctified by this blood, so that when someone has been purified and cleansed, they may enter the gate of the inner court and be able to know the secrets of the Lord and subsequently come to the seventh day of the first month, and attain rest, and offer a sacrifice to the Lord for both ignorance, of which David speaks: The sins of my youth and my ignorances do not remember (Ps. 24:7), and for the child who, when he reaches the measure of a perfect man, will destroy those things which are childish and speak with confidence: When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child (2 Cor. 13:11). Whether it is for the one who has been deceived by error, and not so much by will, as by the opinion of good, he has sinned. But when the two solemnities of the first month are completed, that is, the first day and its seventh, he comes to the fourteenth day of the month, in which the solemnity of Easter is: of which it is written: For Christ our Pasch is sacrificed (I Cor. V, 7). Then we eat unleavened bread for seven days in rest and security of all things, when we eat the bread of sincerity and truth, destroying the leaven of malice and wickedness, our prince offering all these things for us, and first for himself. For he assumed the human body and, through sin, destroyed sin; he who suffers for us and bears our weaknesses. Then, for his own house, as is written in the Septuagint, but not in the Hebrew, that is, for the Church, and for all the people of the earth, that is, for the entire human race. For the Savior is the Savior of all men, especially of the faithful, and he is the one who offers forgiveness for our sins; and not only for ours but for the whole world. But a calf is offered for the whole people of the earth, and for the seven remaining days of the Lord's Passion, seven calves and seven unblemished rams are offered daily, so that they may be consumed as a burnt offering and in the Lord's fire. And there are seven calves and seven rams, which symbolize the Lord's Passion, so that they may imitate the true calf and the true ram, and the blood of the martyrs may purify the sins of the whole world for seven days. And a goat of the goats is also offered for sin daily, specifically for seven days. And it must be observed more diligently that in the sacrifice of the calf, and the ram, and the hin of oil, the offerings which are commanded by the Law are made. But in the offering of the goat, neither the hin nor the preparation (as the Septuagint has rendered it) is mentioned, which they have interpreted as referring to the hin, that is, to the preparation. But the hin of oil, which is a fixed measure, as we have already said, is used in the sacrifice of the calf and the ram, so that we may be able to receive the nourishment of eternal light, and the rest from labor, and the health from weariness, after the propitiation of sins. In the seventh month also, on the fifteenth day of the month, that is, the Feast of Tabernacles, the same order of offerings and sacrifices is to be observed, both for sin and burnt offerings, and in the sacrifice, and in the oil, so that we may obtain the Lord's festival, the darkness being banished and the light of the oil rising: and that we may have brighter solemnities, in which all sins are forgiven.

Source: Commentary on Ezekiel