Ambrose of Milan

When temptation arose, it tempted him, and he tempted them by deceiving them. Temptation is the gathering and cunning of the scribes and priests who were tempting the Lord Jesus about the tribute to Caesar, and about John's baptism, as the Scripture teaches, to whom the Lord Jesus, in his righteousness, turned the temptation back. By deceiving, that is, constantly and without any deliberation, with the intention of deceiving the tempters even more. For they said: In what authority do you do these things? He did not answer about what was asked, but he also proposed saying: I will also ask you one question: if you tell me, I will also tell you by what authority I do these things. Again they said: Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? He said: Why are you testing me, hypocrites? Show me the coin for the tax. And they brought him a coin, then he asked them: Whose image and inscription is this? They said to him: Caesar's. Therefore, he bound them with their own words, with their own obligation. Then he said to them: Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's, so that they could not come against their own words. Finally, they marveled and went away from him. But it is not surprising if he answered differently than what they expected, since he could see what was before his feet.

Moses clearly explained that this prophecy of Jacob was about Christ. For he said: Blessed be he that enlarges Gad. As a lion, he rested, breaking the arms and the heads of the rulers, and saw from the beginning that the land was divided with the princes of the people. The Lord has executed justice, and judgment with Israel.

Therefore, we recognize who has rested like a lion, who has broken the arms of the mighty, who has seen the divisions of those who tempt from the beginning. Therefore, there is a chasm in the earth, which swallows the slanderers, where the temptation of the treacherous is.

His bread shall be fat, and he shall yield royal dainties. The Latin interpretation of Aser signifies riches. Who then is rich, unless where the height of riches is wisdom and knowledge of God? Who is rich but the Lord Jesus, who always abounds, and never fails? The poor came into this world, and has abounded to all, and has filled all. How great is he in riches, who by his poverty has made all rich! But he became poor for our sake, being rich with the Father. He became poor so that he might deliver us from poverty; as the Apostle teaches, saying: For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich. His poverty enriches, heals wounds, satisfies hunger, gives life to the dead, and raises the buried. Therefore, he is a treasure, and his is the abundant bread. And whoever eats this rich bread will never hunger. He gave this bread to the apostles, so that they would distribute it to the people who believed; and today he gives us the same bread, which the priest consecrates daily with his words. Therefore, this bread has become the food of the saints.

We are able to receive the Lord Himself, who gave His flesh for us, as He Himself says: I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the desert, and they died: but this is the bread which comes down from heaven, that if any man eat of it, he may not die. And so that no one may think that He is speaking of the death which comes through the separation of soul and body, and may doubt with reason, since he knows that the holy apostles died this death, He added: I am the living bread, which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this, he will live forever: that is, I did not speak about temporal life above, nor about the death of this life, in which even if anyone dies, nevertheless if he receives my bread, he will live forever. For he who receives, proves himself: but he who receives will not die the death of a sinner, because this bread is the forgiveness of sins.

Moses also prophesied most beautifully in his blessings, saying: Blessed from the sons of Asher, and he will be accepted by his brothers; and he shall dip his foot in oil, and his shoe shall be iron and brass. And as your days are, so shall your strength be. There is none like your God, who is in heaven, your helper, and the great Lord of the firmament: and God, protecting you from the beginning, and by the strength of the mighty arms, has cast out your enemy from before your face, saying: Perish. And Israel shall dwell in confidence alone upon the land: Jacob shall have abundance of grain and wine; and the heavens shall be dewy with mist for you.

The vine of Nephthalim is sent forth, stretching out its beauty in its branches. Another branch of the vine is pruned, which appears useless, so that the vine does not boast in vain in the exuberance of its branches; and another is cut back for a short time and then allowed to grow again, so that it may bear fruit, whose beauty is extended in its generation; for as it rises up to the heavens, it embraces the vine, and ascending to the summit, it adorns the precious stem of the vine with a perpetual collar. And he is a glory in his generation, because he overflows with many fruits from full palms.

This is beautiful, but much more beautiful is the vine branch that signifies the spiritual, of which we are the branch, and we can bear fruit if we abide in the vine; but if not, we are cut off.

The holy patriarch Nephthalim was an abundant vine. Hence Moses says: Nephthalim will receive satisfaction, and will be filled with the blessing of the Lord, possessing the sea and the south wind. Moses explains this what Jacob had said, what it means to have a lax vine, that is, freed from the bonds of death through the grace of faith: in which the people of God are signified as being called to the freedom of faith, and the abundance of grace spread throughout the whole world, who may willingly bear the yoke of Christ with good fruit, and surround themselves with the true branches of that vine, that is, the mysteries of the Lord's cross, and not fear the danger of confessing it, but rather even glory in the name of Christ even in persecutions.

This is truly a release from chains, which is bound by no bond of fear. Hence the prophet says: They shall go forth, and shall leap as calves of the stall. And therefore it extends its beauty in its germ, because it is placed in the place of pasture, and is raised above the water of refreshment, and through the sacraments of its regeneration it brings forth the good beauty of the word, and is assumed into that most beautiful grace of Christ, who can increase the loveliness of your beauty.

Finally, above all, he adorns with what he has; for no one can give what he does not have. And so it is said: The Lord reigns, he is clothed with beauty. For the grace of God clothes the Church with beauty, by depositing in that baptism the filthiness of all sins and shining forth with the splendor of heavenly grace. Therefore the bridegroom says of her: Who is this that looks forth as the dawn, fair as the sun, beautiful as the moon, a miracle as adorned.

My son, he said, is younger. Indeed, he is the youngest, who was almost the last born. Finally, Scripture also says: Jacob loved him, because he was the son of his old age. This also refers to Christ. For the Son of God, shining forth to the aged and already setting world, came late through the birth of the Virgin Mary, as if receiving a body as the son of old age according to the mystery, who always was with the Father before the ages.

And the Father says to him: Return to me, calling him from the earth to heaven, whom he had sent for our salvation. Therefore, raising up his only-begotten Son, he frustrated the plan of the slanderers. Hence, Isaiah also says: The futile plan of your spirit. And the one who had been accusing and directing arrows like a hunter, has disarmed everything: he has crushed the power of those who relied on their own strength and not on God. Then, he said, Israel prevailed from the God of your father, and my God helped you. Who is it that strengthened Israel and helped his son, if not the only Father God, who said: Jacob, my servant, I will uphold him; Israel, my chosen one, my soul will uphold him.

But why did she say: Blessed is the womb of your father and mother, if we want to understand the womb alone of Mary, the reason will be hidden. For she could have said it concerning the womb of the mother alone. But I think it is more beautiful to understand both the generation of the Lord Jesus according to the spiritual mystery, and according to divinity, and according to the flesh, because he was begotten from the Father before the ages. And the Father says: My heart has uttered a word; because it proceeded from that most intimate and incomprehensible substance of the Father, and it is always in Him. Therefore the evangelist also says: No one has ever seen God, except the only-begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him. Just as the spiritual bosom of the Father is understood as a certain inner secret of paternal love and nature, in which the Son is always present, so also the spiritual bosom of the Father is the womb, the secret of the innermost mystery, from which the Son has proceeded as though from a generative womb. Finally, we read in diverse ways, sometimes the womb of the Father, sometimes his heart from which he uttered a word, sometimes his mouth from which justice proceeded, from which wisdom came forth, as he himself says: From the mouth of the Most High, I came forth. Thus, just as we understand that generation from the Father, let us also understand the generation of Mary, the mother, when the womb of the mother is blessed, certainly the virginal womb of Mary, who gave birth to the Lord Jesus for us. Concerning which the Father says through the prophet Jeremiah: Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you; and before you came forth from the womb, I sanctified you. Therefore, the prophet declared the dual substance in Christ, of divinity and flesh: one from the Father, the other from the Virgin; in such a way, however, that he did not lack his divinity when he was born of the Virgin and was in the body.

The devil has many wolves, whom he directs towards the sheep of Christ; and therefore Joseph, being intelligent, snatched the wolf Paul, the enemy who came to plunder the sheep, in order to save his own sheep, making him a teacher from a persecutor. Concerning whom Jacob says, as it is written: Benjamin is a ravenous wolf; in the morning he shall devour prey, and in the evening he shall divide the spoil among the princes. The wolf was present when he scattered and devoured the sheep of the Church. But the one who was a wolf became a shepherd. The wolf was there when Saul entered houses and dragged men and women to prison. The wolf was there when he breathed threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, seeking letters from the chief priests to capture the servants of Christ. But Jesus blinded him like a wolf wandering in the darkness of the night with the outpouring of His light. Therefore, when Rachel gave birth to Benjamin, she called his name Son of my sorrow, prophesying that from her would come the tribe of Paul, who would afflict the children of the Church during his time of persecution, and cause great pain to their mother. But nevertheless, at a later time he divided the same bread among the leaders, proclaiming the word of God to the Gentiles and calling many to faith. During this discussion, as we read, the proconsul Paul and the prince Publius received the grace of the Lord.

But beautifully also, when Moses blessed the tribe of Benjamin, he said: The beloved of the Lord shall dwell securely, and God shall overshadow him all the days, and the beloved of the Lord shall rest between his shoulders, who has also become a vessel of election. For he was converted to the Lord by the mercy and love of the Lord. Therefore, offering nothing to his own merit, but attributing everything to Christ, he says: For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace towards me has not been in vain. He will dwell with confidence in the house that he previously laid waste, he will dwell in the tabernacles of Christ, who previously wandered like a wolf in the woods. And God overshadowed him when Christ appeared to him. Although he saw nothing with his open eyes, he still saw Christ. And he rightly saw the present one, whom he also heard speaking. This shadow is not of blindness, but of grace. Finally, Mary is told: The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.