Ambrose of Milan

This text appears to be directed to the patriarch Judah, indeed, but more so that later Judah is meant, the true confessor who was born of that tribe and who alone is praised by his brothers; of them he says, “I will declare your name to my brothers.” He is the Lord by nature but a brother by grace; his hands, which he stretched out to an unbelieving people, are on the back of his enemies. For with those same hands and by that same passion Christ protected his own, subjugated hostile powers, and made subject to himself all people who were without faith and devotion. Of these the Father says to his Son, “And you will rule in the midst of your enemies.” It was their own wickedness that made them enemies, not Christ’s will. In this there is a great gift of the Lord. Previously, spiritual wickedness generally used to make our neck bend to the yoke of captivity. Thus even David wrote that he felt in some way the hands of those who triumphed over him, for he said, “Upon my back sinners have wrought.” But now spiritual wickedness is subject to the triumph of Christ and to his hands, as it were; that is, wickedness undergoes the affliction of captivity, being subject forever in deeds and in works. And it is he indeed to whom the sons of his Father bow down, when we bow down to him; for he has permitted us to call upon the Father, and to be subject to the Father is to be subject to virtue.

“A lion’s whelp is Judah.” Isn’t it clear that he represented the Father and manifested the Son? Is there any clearer way to teach that God the Son is of one nature with the Father? The one is the lion, the other the lion’s whelp. By this paltry comparison, their unity in the same nature and power is perceived. King proceeds from king, a strong one from one who is strong. Because Jacob foresaw that there would be those to claim that the Son was younger in age, he replied to them by adding, “From my seed you have come up to me. Resting you have slept like a lion and like a whelp.” And in a different passage you find that the whelp is himself “the lion of the tribe of Judah.” … But the Son is not being named in such a way as to be separated from the Father. Jacob, who confesses the Son, also esteems him equal.Moreover, he represented the Son’s incarnation in a wonderful fashion when he said, “From my seed you have come up to me.” For Christ sprouted in the womb of the Virgin like a shrub upon the earth; like a flower of pleasing fragrance, he was sent forth in the splendor of new light and came up from his mother’s vitals for the redemption of the entire world. Just so, Isaiah says, “There shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a flower shall come up out of the root.” The root is the household of the Jews, the rod is Mary, the flower of Mary is Christ. She is rightly called a rod, for she is of royal lineage, of the house and family of David. Her flower is Christ, who destroyed the stench of worldly pollution and poured out the fragrance of eternal life.

Yes, because they denied the true king, they began to have false kings. And so the patriarch is saying this: The inheritance of an unblemished line of succession, traced through the kings, will be kept among the judges and kings of the Jews, “until he comes for whom it has been reserved,” reserved that he may gather together the church of God out of the assembly of all the nations and the devotion of the Gentile peoples. That is, this awaits him, this is kept for him as his due—the prerogative of such great grace is given to him.“And he is the expectation of the nations.” Jacob spoke more meaningfully than if he had said, “The nations are expecting him,” for in Christ lies the entire hope of the church. Therefore it is said to Moses, “Remove the sandals from your feet.” Otherwise Moses, who was chosen as leader of the people, might be thought to be the bridegroom of the church. It was for that reason that Joshua, son of Nun, removed his sandals, in order that he also could preserve the gift of so great a function for him who was to come. It is for that reason that John says, “A man is coming after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.” He also says, “He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices with joy.” This means he alone is the husband of the church, he is the expectation of the nations, and the prophets removed their sandals while offering to him a union of nuptial grace.

“He will wash his robe in wine.” The good robe is the flesh of Christ, which has covered the sins of all people, taken up the offenses of all, concealed the misdeeds of all—the good robe which has clothed all people with the garment of rejoicing. He washed this robe in wine at his baptism in the Jordan, when the Holy Spirit came down like a dove and remained upon him. By this, it is indicated that the fullness of the Holy Spirit will be indivisible in him and will not depart. On this account also the Evangelist says, “The Lord Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan.” Therefore Jesus washed his robe, not to wash away his stain, for he had none, but to wash away the stain that was ours. Then Jacob continued, “and his mantle in the blood of the grape.” This means that in the passion of his body he washed the nations with his blood. Truly the mantle represents the nations, as it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, unless I shall clothe myself with them all, as with a garment,” and in another passage, “Like clothing you will change them, and they will be changed.” And so with his own blood he cleansed not his own sins, for there were none, but the offenses that we committed. It was appropriate that Jacob spoke of a grape, because Christ hung on the wood like a grape. He is the vine, he is the grape; he is the vine because he cleaves to the wood and the grape because, when his side was opened by the soldier’s lance, he sent forth water and blood. For thus John said that “there came out from him blood and water,” water for baptism, blood for redemption. The water washed us, the blood redeemed us.

And therefore the prophet says, “His eyes are joyful from wine, and his teeth are whiter than milk,” for he means the prophets and the apostles. For some, like eyes of Christ, have foreseen and announced his coming, and of them Christ himself says, “Abraham saw my day and he rejoiced,” and one of the prophets says, “I saw the Lord of hosts.” Seeing him, they were filled with a spiritual joy. Others, however, that is, the apostles, whom the Lord cleansed from every stain of sin, were made whiter than milk, for no blemish darkened them afterward. Indeed, milk is a temporal thing, but the grace of the apostles remains forever. They provided us with that spiritual sustenance which is of heaven, and they nourished the vitals of the spirit which is within. There are also those who think that the commandments of the Lord, which were revealed from the mouth of God, being clear, have become to us like milk. Nourished upon them, we come to the sustenance of the bread of heaven. On this account also Paul says, “I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet ready.” The Corinthian in the beginning of faith is initiated with milk to drink, whereas those saints whose faith is proclaimed in the whole world are strengthened with more solid food, as if they had been weaned.

The very interpretation of his name gives promise of better things, since in our tongue it means “freedom from the things of night,” which is surely a good, and appropriate to one who trusts in the wings of the Lord. For the truth of the Lord encompasses him, so that he is not afraid of the terror of the night or of the thing that walks about in darkness. Therefore “Zebulun shall dwell by the sea.” Thus he may look upon the shipwrecks of others while being himself free from danger; he may behold others driven here and there on the sea of this world, those who are borne about by every wind of doctrine, while himself persevering on the ground of an immovable faith. Just so, the most holy church is grounded and founded in faith, as it beholds the tempests of heretics and the shipwrecks of the Jews, because they refused the pilot whom they once had. Therefore [the church] dwells beside the waters, but it is not disturbed by the waters. It is ready to give help rather than being subject to danger. Even so, if anyone have been driven by severe storms and wants to take refuge in the harbor, the church is at hand like a harbor of salvation. Opening its arms, it calls into the lap of its tranquility those who are in danger and shows them a trusty place of anchorage. Therefore, the churches in this world are scattered over the coasts like seaports; they stand to meet the afflicted, and say to them that a refuge has been prepared for believers, where they can beach their wind-battered vessels.

“Issachar desired the good and rested in the midst of lots. And seeing the place of rest that it is good, and the land that it is rich, he bowed his shoulder to labor and became a husbandman.” Issachar is called “reward,” and therefore he represents Christ, who is our reward, because we buy him for ourselves for the hope of everlasting salvation, not with gold and silver but with faith and devotion.… He is the one who desired the good from the beginning and did not know how to desire what is evil. Of him also Isaiah says, “Before the child knows how to call his father or mother, he does not trust evil, choosing what is good.” He rested among the lots of the Old Testament and the New and in the midst of the prophets. And therefore he appeared in the middle between Moses and Elijah, to show us that he had rest through discourse with them, through whom many renounce their sins and believe in the living God, and that they themselves are witnesses of his resurrection and blessed repose. Accordingly, to call the nations to the grace of his resurrection—which is the rich and fertile land that bears everlasting fruits, fruits a hundredfold and sixtyfold13—he bowed his shoulder to labor, bowed himself to the cross, to carry our sins. For that reason the prophet says, “whose government is on his shoulder.” This means, above the passion of his body is the power of his divinity, or it refers to the cross that towers above his body. Therefore he bowed his shoulder, applying himself to the plow, patient in the endurance of all insults, and so subject to affliction that he was wounded on account of our iniquities and weakened on account of our sins. “And he became a gardener,” for he knew how to sow his own land with good grain and to plant fruitful trees with deep roots.

Therefore, when we are going well on the road, let us beware that a snake does not hide in the path and overthrow the footprint of the horse, that is, of our body, and suddenly cast down the sleeping rider. For if we are watchful, we ought to be somewhat cautious and to avoid the bites of the serpent. Therefore, let not the sleep of negligence oppress us, the sleep of the world, let not the sleep of riches oppress us; lest it also be said of us: They have slept their sleep, and all the men of riches have found nothing. But there are also sleeping knights, of whom it is written: Those who mounted the horses fell asleep. If greed wounds your heart, if lust inflames it, you sleep, knight, and therefore you cannot control your body, that is, your horse. Therefore, stay awake, so that even if you fall, that is, if you die, you do not fall asleep. For those who fall asleep in their sleep, find nothing. But you, wait for salvation from the Lord, look to the coming, so that you may find the grace of resurrection. Judas was sleeping: finally, he did not hear the words of Christ. Judas was sleeping, and indeed the sleep of riches, seeking a reward for his betrayal. The devil saw him sleeping, and oppressed by the heavy sleep of greed: he entered into his heart, wounded the horse, threw off the rider, whom he separated from Christ.

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.