Leviticus 24

Leviticus 24:5

Bede: The twelve loaves on the table of the tabernacle then are the twelve apostles and all those in the church who follow their teaching. Since until the end of time they do not cease to renew the people of God with the nourishment of the word, they are the twelve loaves of proposition which never depart from the table of the Lord. And those same loaves are properly ordered to be made not from just any flour but from the finest wheat, doubtless because all those who minister the word of life to others must first devote themselves to the fruits of virtue. [Thus] they may commend by their actions those things that they counsel in their preaching, being conformed to the example of him who says concerning himself, “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone.” Those same loaves are also properly commanded to be set on the table in two rows of six for the sake of concord (that is to say, charity and fellowship), for the Lord is also said to have sent his disciples out to preach two by two. This suggests figuratively that the holy teachers never disagree with one another in either their defense of truth or their ardor for love. — On the Tabernacle 1.7

Bede: In the first place, the figure of the twelve apostles is clearly foretold here in the very number of the loaves, for when the Lord appeared in flesh he chose them to be the first of those by whose ministry he gave the food of life to all nations. And then to these same disciples of his (that is, to our apostles), he says in reference to the multitudes hungering in the wilderness, “You give them something to eat.” And when five thousand men had been satisfied from the five loaves, they “gathered twelve baskets of fragments,” doubtless because those sacraments of the Scriptures which the multitudes are not able to receive belong to the apostles and the apostolic men. — On the Tabernacle 1.7

Cyril of Jerusalem: The Old Covenant had its loaves of proposition, but they, as belonging to that covenant, have come to an end. The New Covenant has its heavenly bread and cup of salvation to sanctify both body and soul. For as the bread is for the body, the Word suits the soul. — Catechetical Lecture 4.5

Leviticus 24:7

Bede: Now that clearest frankincense which is put upon the loaves designates the power of prayer, because the same teachers commit both their ministry of preaching and their labor of devotion unto the Lord. Prayer is symbolized by frankincense, as the psalmist testifies when he says, “Let my prayer be set forth in your sight as incense.” The clearest frankincense is put upon the loaves as a memorial of the oblation of the Lord when the pure prayer of the saints is added to their pious action and teaching, so that when each is duly joined to the other, the remembrance of the sacred oblation will always appear in the sight of the supreme Judge. — On the Tabernacle 1.7

Leviticus 24:8

Bede: The loaves are properly commanded to be changed before the Lord every sabbath day. For surely the loaves that were set out on the table of the Lord through the six days of work are exchanged for new loaves on the sabbath when all the teachers in the holy church, once the time of their holy labor is completed, are rewarded in heaven with eternal peace and leave others behind them in the same work, laboring in the word with the hope of the same reward. And in this way it is brought to pass that the table of the Lord is never left destitute of bread, but as soon as one loaf is taken away another is put in its place, as long as the churches never lack ministers of the word who follow one another in succession. In their words and in their deeds, they always manifest the faith of apostolic piety and the purity of apostolic action, continuing as in that most beautiful verse in which it is said in praise of that same holy church: “Instead of your fathers, sons are born to you; you will make them princes over all the earth.” In other words, that is as if it were being said to the tabernacle of the Lord: “Instead of your old loaves, new ones are prepared for you; you will designate them for the refreshment of the spiritual hearts of the faithful in all the world.” — On the Tabernacle 1.7

Leviticus 24:9

Bede: And that which is added in conclusion, “And they shall be for Aaron and his sons,” contains a mystery which can be understood in two ways. For surely Aaron in company with his sons eats the holy loaves that are taken from the table of the tabernacle when our High Priest takes his elect out of this life and leads them into the increase of his body which is in heaven (that is, the whole multitude of his elect). Or perhaps the holy loaves belong to Aaron and his sons when all the leaders and the peoples who are subjected to them in the Lord are nourished unto life eternal by the examples of the fathers who have gone before. — On the Tabernacle 1.7

Leviticus 24:15

Augustine of Hippo: Any man who curses his God will bear his sin. Whoever pronounces the name of the Lord, will die without remedy. It seems like one thing is to curse your God and another to pronounce the name of the Lord. And it seems that this is a sin, and this, a crime so great that it deserves even the death penalty. Although in this text the words: the name of the Lord, must be understood in the sense that it is done with a curse, that is, that the name of God be said by cursing him, what difference is there between that sin and this crime? So serious? Have you tried to show, perhaps, by repeating the same thing, that the sin was not small, but such a great evil that it should be punished with the death penalty? The thing is very dark, because the text introduces a distinction. It does not say: «Well, he who pronounces» (nominans enim), but says: «He who pronounces, instead» (nominans autem). Therefore, if we understand this correctly, we must also pay attention to the genre of expression. — QUESTIONS ON LEVITICUS, Q. 87 (tr. J. Litteral, draft)

Leviticus 24:17

Philoxenus of Mabbug: Whosoever by reason of his gluttony destroyeth the members of his body is an associate of the murderer, and he is the consort of a destroying thief, and that which is written in the Law, “Everyone who slayeth shall be slain, and whosoever cutteth off a member of his neighbour, one of his members shall be cut off,” applieth unto him. Now the glutton destroyeth his own members, and little by little he maketh to perish and consumeth the power of his body and of his members, and whosoever ruineth the fair creation of God, and throweth down the building of his body which the will of the Architect builded aforetime, bringeth together for every reason punishments upon himself, according to the word of righteousness, which was uttered before he had transgressed the command of God, Who had commanded man not to become a servant unto his lusts. — 13 Ascetic Discourses, Discourse 10 – On Gluttony

Augustine of Hippo: Whoever strikes [all] the soul of man and he dies, he will die without remedy. It is not said: “Whoever hurts a man and he dies,” but says: to the soul of man, when, in reality, it is rather the body of man that is wounded by the one who produces the wound, as he says the Lord: Do not fear those who kill the body (Matthew 10,28). As Scripture usually does, it calls soul to the life of the body that comes to it through the soul, and with this it has wanted to reveal the murderer, who hurts the soul of man, who deprives man of his life, wounding him mortally. Why is it added: And this one dies, if homicide is already pointed out by the very fact that one has hurt the soul of man, that is, man has been deprived of life by the murderer? Have we wanted to say, perhaps, how we should understand what the text says: “the soul of the wounded man”, and that is why it is said: And he dies, as if to say: he is dead? Because this is what it means that the soul of man has been wounded. — QUESTIONS ON LEVITICUS, Q. 88 (tr. J. Litteral, draft)