Deuteronomy 32
ECFDeuteronomy 32:1
Paterius: By heavens he means the order of the clergy and by earth the people subject to them. For “Listen, O heavens, and I shall speak” was addressed not to insensible but to rational creation. — EXPOSITION OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT, Deuteronomy 19
Deuteronomy 32:2
Caesarius of Arles: Behold the nature of the rain which is given only to the just and denied to sinners. Therefore the rain is the Word of God. Only the just are prepared to receive it. Lovers of the world, however, who are proud, dissolute or avaricious are unwilling to receive the rain of God’s Word even if it is forced upon them. Why is this? Because they are unwilling to hunger or thirst after justice. Those who are saturated with the filth of dissipation do not deserve to be refreshed with the rain of God’s Word. — SERMON 105.2
Caesarius of Arles: All of us wish to have refreshing waters in our gardens. If there are no waters in them, we draw them from the sea with great effort in order to provide vegetables for our bodies. If so how much more solicitous should we be for the Lord’s garden, that is, the church of God, that the dry places be watered and the hard places softened by the rivers of sacred Scripture and the spiritual streams or fountains of the ancient Fathers, so that afterwards what is harmful may be uprooted and what is useful planted? — SERMON 1.15
Origen of Alexandria: Therefore let us seek in the Scriptures what is “the rain” which is given only to the saints and concerning which “it is commanded to the clouds that they do not pour their rain” upon the unjust. Therefore Moses and the Lawgiver himself teach us what this rain is. For he himself says in Deuteronomy, “Consider, O heaven, and I will speak, and let the earth hear the words from my mouth; let my speech be awaited like rain.” Are these words my speech? Do we pervert violently the meaning of divine law by arguments of rhetoric? Is it not Moses who says that it is “rain” of which he speaks? He says, “Let my speech be awaited like rain and my words descend as dew, as a storm upon the grass and as snow upon the hay.” — HOMILIES ON Leviticus 16.2.3.See also AMBROSE ON Deuteronomy 28:12
Deuteronomy 32:4
Origen of Alexandria: But he who is on the white horse is called “faithful,” not so much because he trusts as because he is trustworthy, that is, he is worthy of being trusted. According to Moses, the Lord is faithful and true. For he is also true in contradistinction to a shadow and a type and an image, since the Word that powers from heaven is true. For the Word on earth is not like the Word in heaven, inasmuch as he has become flesh and is expressed by means of a shadow and types and images. — COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF John 2.49
Deuteronomy 32:5
Augustine of Hippo: The vituperable children did not sin for him. What the Greek says: tékna mometá, some translate it as vituperable children, like the text that I quote; others for children stained; others for vicious children. From here a serious problem does not derive; There is no problem at all. But if those words were said in a general way: They sinned not for him -because the one who sins does not sin for God, does not harm God, but himself-, then the question of knowing how to understand what is that is read in the psalm: For you I have only sinned (Ps. 50,6). And in Jeremiah it is said: We have sinned for you, patience of Israel, O Lord! And again in a psalm it says: Heal my soul, because I have sinned for you (Ps. 40,5). And we want to know if it is the same thing to “sin for God” (peccare Deo) than to “sin against God” (peccare in Deum). In this respect the priest Eli says: If one sins against God, who will pray for him? (1R 2,25) Meanwhile, I will say what I think about the matter now. Maybe those who know these things better, or even myself at another time, as far as the Lord helps me, will understand a little better. “To sin against God” (in Deum) is to sin in that which is related to the divine worship. Because nothing else indicates the example I have just mentioned. So Eli’s sons sinned, to whom his father had already told them this. In the same way we must think that sin is also committed against men who belong to God. Because we read that God said these same words to Abimelek about Sarah: That is why I have prevented you from sinning against me (Genesis 20,6). On the other hand, “to sin for the Lord” (Domino), or rather “to have sinned for the Lord” - unless there is somewhere a text of Scripture that opposes this sense - it seems that it can be said, not without reason, of those who do not make a pious penance of their sins to give glory to God, who forgives them. David, explaining the reason why he said: For you only I have sinned and I have done wrong in front of you, add the following words: So that you may be declared fair in your words and expire when you judge (Ps. 50,6). And the same when God says: Judge between me and between my vineyard (Isaiah 5,3). And the same when it is affirmed of our Lord Jesus Christ, the only one who could say with absolute truth: Because the Prince of this world is coming and against me he has nothing -no sin that is worthy of death-. But that I may know the world that I love the Father and that I work according to the command given me by the Father, rise up; let’s get out of here (John 14,30.31). By this he means: Even if the Prince of the world pursues the smallest sins with the death penalty, he has nothing against me; but, get up; let’s go from here, to suffer the passion, because suffering I fulfill the will of my Father; I do not pay the guilt of my sin. In relation to what Jeremiah says: We have sinned for you, patience of Israel, surely this is said in a supplicating way to the Lord in penance, waiting for salvation through forgiveness. The phrase: Heal my soul, because I have sinned for you, means the same, that is, that God be glorified forgiving, because his mercy is great for those who confess to him and turn to him, because he does not want death of the sinner, but to become and live (Cf Ez 33,11). He also answered like this, not only in the psalm, but also when God rebuked him through the prophet, not without the hope of the Lord’s forgiveness: I sinned for the Lord (2R 12,13). For a person who puts himself in the hands of the doctor to cure him, is wounded to the doctor, so that the effectiveness of the medicine is fulfilled in it. Well, in this song the prophet predicted that there would be some who would sin by offending God with such great iniquities, that they would not be willing to do penance and return to God to be healed. Of these it is also said in another place: Because they are flesh; a breath that goes and does not return (Ps.77,39). The phrase: They sinned not for him, can also be understood in the sense that they did not hurt God with their sin, but themselves. — QUESTIONS ON DEUTERONOMY, Q. 55 (tr. J. Litteral, draft)
Deuteronomy 32:6
Origen of Alexandria: But if the Lord himself is Creator of all things, we must consider in what manner he is said “to have acquired” what is without doubt his own. It is said also in another song in Deuteronomy: “Is not he himself your God who made you and created you and acquired you?” For each one appears to acquire that which was not his own. Indeed, on this basis the heretics also say of the Savior that he “acquired” those who were not his; for with the price which was paid he purchased men whom the Creator had made. And it is certain, they say, that everyone buys that which is not his own; indeed, the apostle says, “You have been bought with a price.” — HOMILIES ON Exodus 6:9
Deuteronomy 32:7
John Cassian: Who then would be so presumptuous and blind as to dare to trust in his own judgment and discretion when the vessel of election testifies that he needed to confer with his fellow apostles? From this it is clearly proven that the Lord shows the way of perfection to no one who has the means of being educated but who disdains the teaching and the instruction of the elders and who considers as insignificant that saying which ought to be diligently observed: “Ask your father, and he will declare it to you, your elders, and they will tell you.” — CONFERENCE 2.15.3
Deuteronomy 32:8
Clement of Alexandria: This is he who bestows on the Greeks also their philosophy through the inferior angels. For by an ancient and divine ordinance angels are assigned to the different nations. But to be the Lord’s portion is the glory of believers. — The Stromata Book 7
Cosmas Indicopleustes: They say however that, until men become equal in number to the angels, the consummation of the world will not take place. For Moses says: He set the boundaries of the nations according to the number of the angels of God. — The Christian Topography, Book 5
Gregory the Dialogist: But what does it profit us to touch briefly upon these matters concerning the angelic spirits, if we do not strive to apply them also to our own advancement through suitable reflection? For since that heavenly city consists of angels and men, to which we believe the human race ascends in such number as equals the elect angels who remained there, as it is written: “He set the boundaries of the nations according to the number of the angels of God,” we too ought to draw something from those distinctions of the heavenly citizens for the use of our own way of life, and inflame ourselves with good pursuits toward growth in virtues. — Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily 34
Jerome: [Daniel 7:2-3] “And during the night I saw in my vision, and behold, the four winds of heaven strove upon the great sea, and four great beasts were coming up out of the sea, differing from one another.” The four winds of heaven I suppose to have been angelic powers to whom the principalities have been committed, in accordance with what we read in Deuteronomy: “When the Most High divided the nations and when He separated the children of Adam, He established the bounds of the peoples according to the number of the angels. For the Lord’s portion is His people; Jacob is the line of His inheritance (Deuteronomy 32:8). But the sea signifies this world and the present age, overwhelmed with salty and bitter waves, in accordance with the Lord’s own interpretation of the dragnet cast into the sea (Matthew 13:47-50). Hence also the sovereign of all creatures that inhabit the waters is described as a dragon, and his heads, according to David, are smitten in the sea (Psalms 74:13). And in Amos we read: “If he descends to the very depth of the sea, there will I give him over to the dragon and he shall bite him” (Amos 9:3). But as for the four beasts who came up out of the sea and were differentiated from one another, we may identify them from the angel’s discourse. “These four great beasts,” he says, “are four kingdoms which shall rise up from the earth.” And as for the four winds which strove in the great sea, they are called winds of heaven because each one of the angels does for his realm the duty entrusted to him. This too should be noted, that the fierceness and cruelty of the kingdoms concerned are indicated by the term “beasts.” — Commentary on Daniel
Jerome: [Daniel 10:13] “But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me for twenty-one days.” In my opinion this was the angel to whose charge Persia was committed, in accordance with what we read in Deuteronomy: “When the Most High divided the nations and distributed the children of Adam abroad, then He established the bounds of the nations according to the number of the angels of God” (Deuteronomy 32:8). These are the princes of whom Paul also says: “We speak forth among the perfect a wisdom which none of the princes of this world knew. For if they had known it, they would never have crucified the Lord of Glory” (1 Corinthians 2:6-8). And so the prince or angel of the Persians offered resistance, acting on behalf of the province entrusted to him, in order that the entire captive nation might not be released. And it may well be that although the prophet was graciously heard by God from the day when he set his heart to understand, the angel was nevertheless not sent to proclaim to him God’s gracious decision, for the reason that the prince of Persia opposed him for twenty-one days, enumerating the sins of the Jewish people as a ground for their justly being kept in captivity and as proof that they ought not to be released.
“And behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to my assistance.” That is, while the angel of the Persians was resisting thy petitions and my representations on thy behalf as I presented thy prayers to God, then there came to my assistance the angel Michael, who has oversight of the people of Israel. By chief princes we are of course to understand archangels.
“And I remained there close by the king of the Persians.” He designates the angel or prince by the term “king of the Persians,” and shows that he had tarried with Michael for a little as he spoke in opposition to the prince of the Persians. — Commentary on Daniel
Novatian: Moses represents God as descending to the tower that the sons of men were building, seeking to inspect it and saying, “Come, let us go down quickly, and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.” Who do the heretics think was the God that descended to the tower in this passage and then sought to visit these men? Was he God the Father? In that case, God is enclosed in a place. If so, how then does he embrace all things? Or is it possible that he speaks of an angel descending with other angels and saying, “Come, let us go down quickly, and there confuse their language”? On the contrary, we note in Deuteronomy that it was God who recounted these things and God who spoke, where it is written: “When he scattered abroad the sons of Adam, he set up the boundaries of the people according to the number of the angels of God.” Therefore the Father did not descend, nor did an angel command these things, as the narrative clearly indicates. Accordingly, the only remaining conclusion is that he descended of whom the apostle Paul says, “He who descended, he it is who ascended also above all heavens, that he might fill all things,” that is, the Son of God, the Word of God. — ON THE TRINITY 17.7
Origen of Alexandria: “When you go to the ruler”. Who then is this ruler? “When the Most High divided the nations, when he scattered the sons of Adam, he set the boundaries of the nations according to the number of the angels of God, and the Lord’s portion became his people Jacob, the cord of his inheritance Israel”. Therefore from the beginning the earth was divided among the rulers, that is, the angels. For Daniel more plainly testifies that those whom Moses had named “angels” are “rulers”, saying: “the ruler of the kingdom of the Persians” and “the ruler of the kingdom of the Greeks” and “Michael your ruler”; and so there are rulers of the nations. And each one of us has an adversary clinging to him, whose work it is to lead us to the ruler and to say: O ruler — for example, of the kingdom of the Persians — this man, who was under you, I have kept for you as he was; none of the remaining rulers was able to lead him over to himself, not even that one who boasted that he had come for this purpose, to snatch men from all the inheritances of the Persians or the Greeks and of all the nations and make them subject to the inheritance of God. Christ our Lord conquered all the rulers and, passing beyond their boundaries, carried over the captive peoples to himself for salvation. And you were of the portion of some ruler: Jesus came and snatched you from the perverse power and offered you to God the Father. — HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF Luke 35
Deuteronomy 32:10
Clement of Alexandria: As far as I can see, Scripture is undoubtedly presenting a picture of the educator of children and describing the guidance he imparts. — The Instructor Book 1
Deuteronomy 32:11
Ambrose of Milan: Finally, listen to Moses saying: He spread his wings and took them, and carried them on his shoulders (Deuteronomy 32:11): just as an eagle carries its offspring, which it is accustomed to examine; in order to hold and nurture those who have the true nature of birth, and to observe the grace of incorruptible nature; or to reject those in whom it has detected the weakness of a degenerate origin at a tender age. — Interrogation of Job and David, Chapter V
Jerome: Like an eagle, the Lord spreads his wings over us, his nestlings. There the Lord is compared with the eagle guarding its young. The simile therefore is appropriate that God protects us as a father and as a hen guarding her chicks lest they be snatched away by a hawk. Nevertheless a different interpretation is also permissible. “With his pinions he will cover you”: he will be lifted up on the cross; he will stretch forth his hands to shelter us. “And under his wings you shall take refuge.” — HOMILIES ON THE Psalms 20
Jerome: The song in Deuteronomy says that he bore the people of Israel upon his shoulders and like the eagle guarded them. This same versicle may be interpreted also of the Savior because on the cross he gave us the shelter of his wings. “Under his wings you shall take refuge.” “All the day long I stretched out my hand to a people unbelieving and contradicting.” The hands of the Lord lifted up to heaven were not begging for help but were sheltering us, his miserable creatures. — Homily 68
Paterius: The Lord protects us, his little ones. He nourishes us and restores us—not in a heavy and burdensome way but with gentle and kind protection. He shows his mercies toward us, as if extending his wings over us as a bird does. — EXPOSITION OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT, Deuteronomy 20
Deuteronomy 32:13
Paterius: Nothing like this is ever found in Scripture in the literal sense, even if one reviews the whole body of the Old Testament. People never sucked honey or oil from a rock. But since, according to Paul, the rock was Christ, they did suck honey from a rock, because they beheld the deeds and miracles of that same Redeemer of ours. They did suck oil from a solid rock, because after his resurrection they deserved to be anointed with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Thus the Lord gave them honey in the solid rock when he, still subject to death, showed his disciples the sweetness of his miracles. And the solid rock poured forth oil, because after his resurrection, when he became impassible, he founded the house of holy anointing by the outpouring of the Spirit. The prophet says of this oil, “The yoke will fall from before the oil.” We were held under the yoke of demonic domination, but we have been anointed with the oil of the Holy Spirit. And because the grace of liberty has anointed us, the yoke of demonic domination has fallen. — EXPOSITION OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT, Deuteronomy 21
Philoxenus of Mabbug: Even as also the prophet Moses hath taught us that through this cause the people forgot their God, and that through the lust of the belly they went forth unto idolatry, and from eating meat they were led into blasphemies, and from dainty foods they arrived at all wickedness, saying, “He made him to dwell upon the strength of the earth, and He made him to eat of the produce of the field. He made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the rock of flint: butter of kine, and milk of sheep, with the fat of stalled beasts, rams, the offspring of ibexes, and kids, with the fat and fatty parts of wheat, and He made him to drink wine of the blood of grapes. And Israel waxed fat and kicked, he grew fat, and became thick, and acquired riches.” And what happened unto him because of these things? and to what pass did he come by reason of these desirable things? and what country did he possess through these dainties with which he delighted himself? and into what sicknesses did the overfeeding of the belly, and the superfluity of meats cast him? Now Moses himself hath explained and made known unto us what the people obtained from these possessions: “He forgot the God Who made him, and he blasphemed the Might which redeemed him. He moved Him to jealousy with strange things, and provoked Him to wrath with idols. They sacrificed unto devils which were not gods, and unto gods which they had not known.” These are the things which the people obtained from dainty foods, and this is the inheritance of the worship of devils which they inherited from the overabundance of the body. And from the table which was rich in meats they were drawn unto the unclean tables of idols, and from dainty foods they went forth to cast stinking things before graven images, and through the lust which taketh away the strength from nature they came to unclean thoughts which are alien unto nature. — 13 Ascetic Discourses, Discourse 10 – On Gluttony
Deuteronomy 32:14
Philoxenus of Mabbug: And through this lust another Prophet brought accusation against the people, saying, “They ate fatlings of the flocks, and calves from the herds.” For the lust of the belly is the captain of the host of the left side, and to it are fettered all the hosts of sin, and as captains of hosts go forth to war at the head of their companies against the enemy, even so also doth it, as the captain of the host of all wickedness, go forth to war against that which is good. — 13 Ascetic Discourses, Discourse 11 – On Abstinence
Deuteronomy 32:15
Clement of Rome: Every kind of honour and happiness was bestowed upon you, and then was fulfilled that which is written, “My beloved ate and drank, and was enlarged and became fat, and kicked.” [Deuteronomy 32:15] Hence flowed emulation and envy, strife and sedition, persecution and disorder, war and captivity. So the worthless rose up against the honoured, those of no reputation against such as were renowned, the foolish against the wise, the young against those advanced in years. For this reason righteousness and peace are now far departed from you, inasmuch as every one abandons the fear of God, and has become blind in His faith, neither walks in the ordinances of His appointment, nor acts a part becoming a Christian, but walks after his own wicked lusts, resuming the practice of an unrighteous and ungodly envy, by which death itself entered into the world. [Wisdom 2:24]
For thus it is written: “And it came to pass after certain days, that Cain brought of the fruits of the earth a sacrifice unto God; and Abel also brought of the firstlings of his sheep, and of the fat thereof. And God had respect to Abel and to his offerings, but Cain and his sacrifices He did not regard. And Cain was deeply grieved, and his countenance fell. And God said to Cain, Why are you grieved, and why is your countenance fallen? If you offer rightly, but do not divide rightly, have you not sinned? Be at peace: your offering returns to yourself, and you shall again possess it. And Cain said to Abel his brother, Let us go into the field. And it came to pass, while they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.” [Genesis 4:3-8] You see, brethren, how envy and jealousy led to the murder of a brother. Through envy, also, our father Jacob fled from the face of Esau his brother [Genesis 27:41-45]. Envy made Joseph be persecuted unto death, and to come into bondage. [Genesis 37:18-28] Envy compelled Moses to flee from the face of Pharaoh king of Egypt, when he heard these words from his fellow-countryman, “Who made you a judge or a ruler over us? Will you kill me, as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?” [Exodus 2:14] On account of envy, Aaron and Miriam had to make their abode without the camp. [Numbers 12:14-15] Envy brought down Dathan and Abiram alive to Hades, through the sedition which they excited against God’s servant Moses. [Numbers 16:33] Through envy, David not only underwent the hatred of foreigners, but was also persecuted by Saul king of Israel. [1 Samuel 21:10-15] — Clement’s First Letter to the Corinthians, Chapters 3-4
John Chrysostom: One must not so much admire those saints who in the height of sorrow were so pious and lovers of wisdom as those who, even when the turbulence subsided and tranquility ensued, remained in the same goodness and earnestness. — HOMILIES ON REPENTANCE AND ALMSGIVING 4.8
John Chrysostom: For we have continuous need for a curb to keep us walking straight on the path, since even the Jews wandered from the path and drew down upon themselves the anger of heaven. When they enjoyed considerable ease and had become free after their harsh bondage in Egypt, they should have given greater thanks and been more eager to offer their praise to the Master. They should have been better disposed toward him who had bestowed such benefits upon them. But they did quite the opposite and were ruined by the ease which was theirs in abundance. On this account the Holy Scripture accuses them and says, “Jacob ate his fill; the darling became fat and frisky.” — BAPTISMAL INSTRUCTIONS 5.16
John Chrysostom: “They ate,” and drank, “and kicked.” When fed with their manna they ought not to have asked for luxury, seeing they had known the evils which proceed from it. And they acted precisely as if a free child, when sent to school, should ask to be reckoned with the slaves, and to wait on them,-so did these also in seeking Egypt-and when receiving all needful sustenance, and such as becomes a free person, and sitting at his father’s table, should have a longing for the ill-savored and noisy one of the servants. — HOMILIES ON Colossians 4
Philoxenus of Mabbug: Even as also the prophet Moses hath taught us that through this cause the people forgot their God, and that through the lust of the belly they went forth unto idolatry, and from eating meat they were led into blasphemies, and from dainty foods they arrived at all wickedness, saying, “He made him to dwell upon the strength of the earth, and He made him to eat of the produce of the field. He made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the rock of flint: butter of kine, and milk of sheep, with the fat of stalled beasts, rams, the offspring of ibexes, and kids, with the fat and fatty parts of wheat, and He made him to drink wine of the blood of grapes. And Israel waxed fat and kicked, he grew fat, and became thick, and acquired riches.” And what happened unto him because of these things? and to what pass did he come by reason of these desirable things? and what country did he possess through these dainties with which he delighted himself? and into what sicknesses did the overfeeding of the belly, and the superfluity of meats cast him? Now Moses himself hath explained and made known unto us what the people obtained from these possessions: “He forgot the God Who made him, and he blasphemed the Might which redeemed him. He moved Him to jealousy with strange things, and provoked Him to wrath with idols. They sacrificed unto devils which were not gods, and unto gods which they had not known.” These are the things which the people obtained from dainty foods, and this is the inheritance of the worship of devils which they inherited from the overabundance of the body. And from the table which was rich in meats they were drawn unto the unclean tables of idols, and from dainty foods they went forth to cast stinking things before graven images, and through the lust which taketh away the strength from nature they came to unclean thoughts which are alien unto nature. — 13 Ascetic Discourses, Discourse 10 – On Gluttony
Philoxenus of Mabbug: Now this is the first lust which conquered the world, and because of it the first transgression of the law took place. Incited thereby they were ungrateful for all the acts of grace which had been shewn unto them, for Israel had waxed fat and kicked through this lust, and it is written of him, that “He forgot God Who made him.” — 13 Ascetic Discourses, Discourse 11 – On Abstinence
Deuteronomy 32:20
Clement of Alexandria: There is peace and joy in the hearts of those upon whom the face of the Lord looks. But for those from whom he turns away there is an accumulation of evils. He does not desire to look upon evil, because he is good. But if he deliberately looks toward evil, then wickedness takes root, because of humankind’s infidelity. — The Instructor Book 1
Deuteronomy 32:22
Origen of Alexandria: Something like this is also written concerning God: “a fire is kindled in my fury”, not as far as heaven, but “as far as hell beneath”, and “it shall devour” not heaven, but “the earth and its produce”. To what end have I recalled these things? Because the baptism too, with which Jesus baptizes, is “in the Holy Spirit” and “in fire”. If you are holy, you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit; if a sinner, you will be plunged into fire; and one and the same baptism will be turned, for the unworthy and for sinners, into condemnation and fire, but to those who are holy and turn to the Lord with their whole faith, the grace and salvation of the Holy Spirit is to be granted. — HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF Luke 26
Deuteronomy 32:23
Clement of Alexandria: The Divinity is not angry, as some suppose, but when he makes so many threats he is only making an appeal and showing humankind the things that are to be accomplished. Such a procedure is surely good, for it instills fear to keep us away from sin. — The Instructor Book 1
Deuteronomy 32:32
Origen of Alexandria: It was the work of the good God, indeed, to destroy the land of the Sodomites and to dry up all its remaining moisture, so that there might no longer be a vineyard of the Sodomites, or a vine branch of Gomorrah, or grapes of gall, or a cluster of bitterness, or wine, the wrath of dragons and the incurable wrath of asps. — COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF John 20.28
Deuteronomy 32:35
Ambrose of Milan: But what better pattern can there be than that of Divine justice? For the Son of God says: “Love your enemies;” and again: “Pray for those that persecute you and speak against you.” So far does He remove the desire of vengeance from the perfect that He commands charity towards those who injure them. And since He had said in the Old Testament: “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay.” He says in the Gospel, that we are to pray for those who have injured us, that He Who has said that He will avenge, may not do so; for it is His will to pardon at your desire with which according to His promise He agrees. But if you seek for you know that the unjust is more severely punished by his own convictions than by judicial severity. — Epistle 63, Section 84
Desert Fathers: A brother who was hurt by another brother went to the Theban Sisois and said, ‘I want to get back at a brother who has hurt me.’ The hermit begged him, ‘Don’t do that, my son, leave vengeance in the hands of God.’ But he said, ‘I can’t rest till I get my own back.’ The hermit said, ‘My brother, let us pray.’ He stood and said, ‘O God, we have no further need of you, for we can take vengeance by ourselves.’ The brother heard it and fell at the hermit’s feet, saying, ‘I won’t quarrel with my brother any longer; I beg you to forgive me.’ — The Desert Fathers, Sayings of the Early Christian Monks
Deuteronomy 32:39
Aphrahat the Persian Sage: We are sure that he causes to die. We see it. Just so also is it sure and worthy of belief that he makes alive. And from all that I have explained to you, receive and believe that in the day of the resurrection your body shall arise in its entirety, and you shall receive from our Lord the reward of your faith. And in all that you have believed, you shall rejoice and be made glad. — DEMONSTRATIONS 9.25
Augustine of Hippo: He is God, so he also takes pity. He gets angry, and he takes pity. He gets angry and strikes; he takes pity and heals. He gets angry and does to death; he takes pity and brings to life. In one person he does this. It’s not that he does some people to death and brings others to life, but in the same people he is both angry and gentle. He is angry with errors; he is gentle with bad habits put right. “I will strike and I will heal: I will kill and I will make alive.” One and the same Saul, afterward Paul, he both laid low and raised up. He laid low an unbeliever; he raised up a believer. He laid low a persecutor; he raised up a preacher. — SERMON 24.7
Augustine of Hippo: [Paul’s conversion] fulfilled in him what was written in the prophet, “I will strike, and I will heal.” What God strikes, you see, is that in people which lifts up itself against God. The surgeon isn’t being heartless when he lances the tumor, when he cuts or burns out the suppurating sore. He’s causing pain; he certainly is, but in order to restore health. It’s a horrid business; but if it wasn’t, it wouldn’t be any use. — SERMON 77.3
Augustine of Hippo: So the apostle was petrified, knocked down and laid low, raised up and patched up. The words, you see, were realized in him: “It is I that will strike and I that will heal.” You see, it doesn’t say, “I will heal, and I will strike,” but “I will strike, and I will heal.” I will strike you and give myself to you. Thus being laid low, he was horrified at his own justice, in which he was certainly without reproach, praiseworthy, great, even glorious among the Jews. He reckoned it was waste, he thought it was loss, he counted it dung, “that he might be found in him, not having his own justice, which is from the law; but that which is through the faith of Christ, which is,” he says, “from God.” — SERMON 169.10
Basil of Caesarea: He himself permits the suffering which he again restores. The One who strikes is the One who heals. The afflictions precede in order that the graces may be lasting. Only then do we exert ourselves exceedingly for the preservation of what has been given. — HOMILY ON Psalms 29:4
Gregory of Nyssa: It is not possible for the good to exist in me unless it is made to live through the death of my enemy. As long as we keep grasping opposites with each of our hands, it is impossible for there to be participation in both elements in the same being. For if we are holding evil, we lose the power to take hold of virtue. — ON PERFECTION
Hilary of Poitiers: The true method of our enquiry demands that we should begin with him, through whom God first manifested Himself to the world, that is, with Moses, by whose mouth God the Only-begotten thus declared Himself; See, see that I am God, and there is no God beside Me. That godless heresy must not assign these words to God, the unbegotten Father, is clear by the sense of the passage and by the evidence of the Apostle who, as we have already stated, has taught us to understand this whole discourse as spoken by God the Only-begotten. The Apostle also points out the words, Rejoice, O ye nations, with His people as those of the Son, and in corroboration further cites this:—And there shall be a root of Jesse, and One that shall arise to rule the nations; in Him shall the nations trust. Thus Moses by the words, Rejoice, O ye nations, with His people indicates Him Who said, There is no God beside Me; and the Apostle refers the same words to our Lord Jesus Christ, God the Only-begotten, in Whose rising as a king from the root of Jesse, according to the flesh, the hope of the Gentiles rests. And therefore we must now consider the meaning of these words, that we, who know that they were spoken by Him, may ascertain in what sense He spoke them. — ON THE TRINITY 5:36
Origen of Alexandria: What then do the divine Scriptures intend to say, for example, here: “Before Me there was no God, and after Me there shall be none,” and “I am, and there is no God besides Me”? Do not suppose that in these utterances the unity is applied to the God of the universe … apart from Christ, and, of course, not to Christ alone apart from God. But let us speak of this as Jesus Himself taught: “I and the Father are one.” — DIALOGUE WITH HERACLIDES
Origen of Alexandria: There is also something deeper to be understood against those especially who bark against the Creator, and, gathering together from here and there out of the Old Testament testimonies which they do not understand, “deceive the hearts of the simple”. For they say: behold, the God of the Law and the Prophets, see what sort he is. “I”, he says, “will kill, and I will make alive; I will strike, and I will heal, and there is none who can deliver out of my hands”. They hear: “I will kill”, and they do not hear: “I will make alive”; they hear: “I will strike”, and they disdain to hear: “and I will heal”. On occasions of this kind they slander the Creator. Therefore, before I interpret what sense there is in: “I will kill and make alive, I will strike and heal”, I will set against them a testimony of the Gospel and will say against the heretics — for there are countless heresies which receive the Gospel according to Luke —: If the Creator is bloodthirsty and only a judge and cruel because he says: “I will kill and make alive, I will strike and heal”, it is most manifest that Jesus too is his son; for the same things are written of him: “behold, this one is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel”, not “for the rising” only, but also “for the fall”. … But I, who desire to be of the Church and to be named and to bear a name not from any heresiarch, but from the appellation of Christ, and to have a name that is blessed upon the earth, and long to be and to be called a Christian both in work and in thought, seek an equal principle both in the old and in the new law. God speaks: “I will kill”; I am glad that God kills. For when the old man is in me and I still live as a man, I long that God may kill in me the old man and make me alive from the dead. For, he says, “the first man was of the earth, earthly; the second man from heaven, heavenly. As we have borne the image of the earthly, let us bear also the image of the heavenly”. — HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF Luke 16
Deuteronomy 32:42
Paterius: The sword of God consumes flesh, because at the last judgment his sentence slays those who think carnally. — EXPOSITION OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT, Deuteronomy 25
Deuteronomy 32:48
Athanasius of Alexandria: The great Moses, who previously had hidden himself from Pharaoh and had withdrawn into Midian for fear of him when he received the commandment “Return into Egypt,” did not fear to do so. And again, when he was bidden to go up into the mountain Abarim and die, he delayed not through cowardice but even joyfully proceeded there. — DEFENSE OF HIS FLIGHT 18
Deuteronomy 32:50
Augustine of Hippo: Let’s take a look at this text too: “Climb the mountain and die.” The bodily death of Moses stood for the death of his doubting, but on the mountain. What marvelous mysteries! When this has been definitely explained and understood, how much sweeter it is to the taste than manna! Doubting was born at the rock, died on the mountain. — SERMON 352.5
Deuteronomy 32:51
Augustine of Hippo: [Moses] touched the rock with his rod with doubt and thus distinguished this miracle from the rest, in which he had not doubted. He thus offended, thus deserved to hear that he should die without entering into the land of promise. For being disturbed by the murmurs of an unbelieving people, he did not hold fast that confidence which he ought to have held. — EXPLANATION OF THE Psalms 106:26