Caesarius of Arles — Commentary on Scripture

Genesis 3:14

God said to the devil: “Dust you shall eat.” Is it the earth that we tread underfoot that the devil eats, brethren? No, it is people who are earthly minded, sensual and proud, who love the earth and place all their hopes in it. They labor entirely for carnal advantages, rather for such pleasures, and think little or nothing of the salvation of their souls. People like these, then, the devil seeks. He seems to do so justly, for they were assigned to him at the beginning of the world when it was said to him, “Dust you shall eat.” Therefore let each one look to his own conscience. If he sees that he has greater care for his body than for his soul, let him fear that he will become the food of the serpent.

SERMONS 136

Genesis 12:1

When the sacred lesson was read just now, we heard the Lord say to blessed Abraham, “Leave your country, your kinsfolk and your father’s house.” Now everything that was written in the Old Testament, dearly beloved, provided a type and image of the New Testament. As the apostle says, “Now all these things happened to them as a type, and they were written for our correction, upon whom the final age of the world has come.” Therefore, if what happened corporally in Abraham was written for us, we will see it fulfilled spiritually in us if we live piously and justly. “Leave your country,” the Lord said, “your kinsfolk and your father’s house.” We believe and perceive all these things fulfilled in us, brothers, through the sacrament of baptism. Our land is our body; we go forth properly from our land if we abandon our carnal habits to follow the footsteps of Christ. Does not one seem to you happily to leave his land, that is, himself, if from being proud he becomes humble; from irascible, patient; from dissolute, chaste; from avaricious, generous; from envious, kind; from cruel, gentle? Tru…

When the sacred lesson was read just now, we heard the Lord say to blessed Abraham, “Leave your country, your kinsfolk and your father’s house.” Now everything that was written in the Old Testament, dearly beloved, provided a type and image of the New Testament. As the apostle says, “Now all these things happened to them as a type, and they were written for our correction, upon whom the final age of the world has come.” Therefore, if what happened corporally in Abraham was written for us, we will see it fulfilled spiritually in us if we live piously and justly. “Leave your country,” the Lord said, “your kinsfolk and your father’s house.” We believe and perceive all these things fulfilled in us, brothers, through the sacrament of baptism. Our land is our body; we go forth properly from our land if we abandon our carnal habits to follow the footsteps of Christ. Does not one seem to you happily to leave his land, that is, himself, if from being proud he becomes humble; from irascible, patient; from dissolute, chaste; from avaricious, generous; from envious, kind; from cruel, gentle? Truly, brothers, one who is changed thus out of love for God happily leaves his own land. Finally, even in private conversation, if one who is wicked suddenly begins to perform good works we are inclined to speak thus of him: He has gone out of himself. Indeed, he is properly said to have gone out of himself if he rejects his vices and delights in virtue. “Leave your country,” says the Lord. Our country, that is, our body, was the land of the dying before baptism, but through baptism it has become the land of the living. It is the very land of which the psalmist relates: “I believe that I shall see the bounty of the Lord in the land of the living.” Through baptism, as I said, we have become the land of the living and not of the dying, that is, of the virtues and not of the vices. However, this is true only if after receiving baptism we do not return to the slough of vices, if when we have become the land of the living we do not perform the blameworthy, wicked deeds of death. “And come,” says the Lord, “into the land which I will show you.” It is certain that then we will come with joy to the land that God shows us if with his help we first repel sins and vices from our land, that is, from our body.

SERMON 81.1

Genesis 12:1

“Leave your kinsfolk.” Our kinsfolk is understood as those vices and sins that are in part born with us in some way and are increased and nourished after infancy by our bad acts. Therefore we leave our kinsfolk when through the grace of baptism we are emptied of all sins and vices. However, this is true only if later we strive as much as we can with God’s help to expel vice and to be filled with virtues. If after being freed from all evil through baptism we are willing to be slothful and idle, I fear that what is written in the Gospel may be fulfilled in us: “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a man, he roams through dry places in search of rest and finds none. If after he returns he finds his house unoccupied, he takes with him seven other spirits more evil than himself; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first.” Therefore let us so go forth from our kinsfolk, that is, from our sins and vices, that we may never again wish to return to them as a dog to its vomit.

SERMON 81.2

Genesis 12:1

“Leave your father’s house.” This we ought to accept in a spiritual manner, dearly beloved. The devil was our father before the grace of Christ; of him the Lord spoke in the Gospel when he rebuked the Jews: “The father from whom you are is the devil, and the desires of your father it is your will to do.” He said the devil was the father of humanity, not because of birth from him but because of imitation of his wickedness. Indeed, they could not have been born of him, but they did want to imitate him. This fact that the devil was our first father the psalmist relates in the person of God speaking to the church: “Hear, O daughter, and see; turn your ear, forget your people and your father’s house.”

SERMON 81.3

Genesis 15:9

Therefore the heifer, the she-goat and the ram of three years, as also the turtledove and the pigeon, presented a type of all nations. They were described as of three years, because all the nations were to believe in the mystery of the Trinity. Now the entire Catholic church has not only spiritual members but carnal ones also, for although some say they believe in the Trinity, they are nevertheless carnal because they neglect to avoid sins and vices. Since there are spiritual souls with the carnal ones, for this reason the turtledove and pigeon were added. In the latter, spiritual people can be meant, but in those other three animals carnal people are understood.

SERMON 82.1

Genesis 15:10

Now notice carefully Abraham is said to have divided the three animals into two parts and to have placed them one against the other. “The birds,” says Scripture, “he did not cut in two.” Why is this, brothers? Because in the church catholic, carnal people are divided but spiritual people are not. And, as Scripture says, they are separated one against the other. Why are carnal people divided and set against each other? Because all wicked lovers of the world do not cease to have divisions and scandals among each other. For this reason they are divided, since they are opposed to one another. However, the birds, that is, spiritual souls, are not divided. Why not? Because they have “one heart and one soul in the Lord.” To will and not to will is all one thing to them. Surely the turtledoves and pigeons that we mentioned above are like these souls. In the turtledove chastity is represented, and in the pigeon, simplicity. All God-fearing people in the church catholic clearly are chaste and simple, and with the psalmist they can say, “Had I but wings like a dove, I would fly away and be at r…

Now notice carefully Abraham is said to have divided the three animals into two parts and to have placed them one against the other. “The birds,” says Scripture, “he did not cut in two.” Why is this, brothers? Because in the church catholic, carnal people are divided but spiritual people are not. And, as Scripture says, they are separated one against the other. Why are carnal people divided and set against each other? Because all wicked lovers of the world do not cease to have divisions and scandals among each other. For this reason they are divided, since they are opposed to one another. However, the birds, that is, spiritual souls, are not divided. Why not? Because they have “one heart and one soul in the Lord.” To will and not to will is all one thing to them. Surely the turtledoves and pigeons that we mentioned above are like these souls. In the turtledove chastity is represented, and in the pigeon, simplicity. All God-fearing people in the church catholic clearly are chaste and simple, and with the psalmist they can say, “Had I but wings like a dove, I would fly away and be at rest.” And again: “The swallow finds a nest in which she puts her young.” Carnal people, who can be divided, are pressed down by the heavy fetters of vice. Spiritual people are raised on high by the wings of various virtues. As if by two wings, that is, the two precepts of love of God and charity toward the neighbor, they are lifted up to heaven. With the apostle they can say, “But our citizenship is in heaven.” As often as the priest says, “Lift up your hearts,” they can say with assurance and devotion that they have lifted them up to the Lord. However, very few and rare are the people in the church who can say this with confidence and truth. Therefore Abraham did not divide the birds, because spiritual souls who have one heart and soul, as I said, cannot be divided or separated from love of God and of neighbor. They exclaim with the apostle, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress or persecution?” Other words follow until it is said, “Nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Therefore spiritual souls are not separated from Christ by torments. Carnal souls are sometimes separated by idle gossip. The cruel sword cannot separate the former, but carnal affections can remove the latter. Nothing hard breaks down spiritual people, but even flattering words can corrupt the carnal. For this reason Abraham divided those animals into two parts, but the birds he did not divide.

SERMON 82.2

Genesis 15:17

Notice, brothers, that what is called a fiery torch passing between those pieces is also not said to have touched the turtledove and pigeon. That evening signified the end of the world. Those animals, as we already said, showed a type of all the nations who believe in Christ. Because those nations have in them not only spiritual people, as was already said, that is, not only good people but even the wicked, for this reason the animals were divided and the fiery torch passed through them. According to what the apostle says, “The day of the Lord will declare it, since it will be revealed in fire,” and so forth. That burning, smoking oven and fiery torch prefigured the day of judgment, and for this reason fear and a darksome horror settled upon blessed Abraham. Therefore we have realized that “if the just man scarcely will be saved,” on the day of judgment, “where will the impious and the sinner appear?” That burning, smoking oven signified judgment day: the day of judgment, I repeat, on which “there will be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth.” On that day there will be wailing and l…

Notice, brothers, that what is called a fiery torch passing between those pieces is also not said to have touched the turtledove and pigeon. That evening signified the end of the world. Those animals, as we already said, showed a type of all the nations who believe in Christ. Because those nations have in them not only spiritual people, as was already said, that is, not only good people but even the wicked, for this reason the animals were divided and the fiery torch passed through them. According to what the apostle says, “The day of the Lord will declare it, since it will be revealed in fire,” and so forth. That burning, smoking oven and fiery torch prefigured the day of judgment, and for this reason fear and a darksome horror settled upon blessed Abraham. Therefore we have realized that “if the just man scarcely will be saved,” on the day of judgment, “where will the impious and the sinner appear?” That burning, smoking oven signified judgment day: the day of judgment, I repeat, on which “there will be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth.” On that day there will be wailing and lamenting and repentance that is too late, when the foundations of the mountains will be moved and the earth will burn down to hell.

SERMON 82.3

Genesis 15:17

Therefore, in order that we may not come to this torture of soul, let us awake while there is time for correction and like good, profitable servants seek the will of our Lord. Then when that dreadful day of judgment comes, which is dreaded exceedingly even by the good and was signified by that burning, smoking oven, we will not be tormented in hell by avenging flames in company with carnal people. These souls were signified by the animals, because they can be divided by various contentious desires. Let us rather show the simplicity of the pigeon and the chastity of the turtledove, so that we may be raised to heaven on the spiritual wings of virtue. According to the apostle’s words, “We shall be caught up together with them in clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall ever be with the Lord” with the help of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom is honor and glory together with the Father and the Holy Spirit world without end. Amen.

SERMON 82.3

Genesis 18:1

Now where did this happen? “Near the holm-oak of Mamre,” which in Latin is interpreted as “vision” or “discernment.” Do you see what kind of a place it is in which the Lord can have a feast? The vision and discernment of Abraham delighted him; he was clean of heart, so that he could see God. Therefore in such a place and in such a heart the Lord can have his feast. Of this vision our Lord spoke to the Jews in the Gospel when he said, “Abraham rejoiced that he was to see my day. He saw it and was glad.” He saw my day, he says, because he recognized the mystery of the Trinity. He saw the Father as day, the Son as day, the Holy Spirit as day, and in these three one day. Thus the Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God, and these three are one God. For individually each person is complete God, and all three together are one God. Moreover, because of the unity of substance, in those three measures of flour the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are not unfittingly understood. However, this can also be taken in another way by understanding Sarah as the church; the three measures of…

Now where did this happen? “Near the holm-oak of Mamre,” which in Latin is interpreted as “vision” or “discernment.” Do you see what kind of a place it is in which the Lord can have a feast? The vision and discernment of Abraham delighted him; he was clean of heart, so that he could see God. Therefore in such a place and in such a heart the Lord can have his feast. Of this vision our Lord spoke to the Jews in the Gospel when he said, “Abraham rejoiced that he was to see my day. He saw it and was glad.” He saw my day, he says, because he recognized the mystery of the Trinity. He saw the Father as day, the Son as day, the Holy Spirit as day, and in these three one day. Thus the Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God, and these three are one God. For individually each person is complete God, and all three together are one God. Moreover, because of the unity of substance, in those three measures of flour the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are not unfittingly understood. However, this can also be taken in another way by understanding Sarah as the church; the three measures of flour then are faith, hope and charity. In these three virtues all the fruits of the church are contained, so that if one merits to possess the three within oneself, one can with security receive the entire Trinity at the banquet of one’s heart.

SERMON 83.5

Genesis 18:2

“Three men came to Abraham and stood over him.” Observe how it is that they come upon him but not against him. He had subjected himself to God’s will, and for this reason God is said to stand over him. “They stood over him,” not against him to repulse him but over him for protection.

SERMON 83.4

Genesis 18:2

Notice, brothers, and see how God appeared to Abraham and how he appeared to Lot. The three men came to Abraham and stood over him; two came to Lot and stayed in the street. Consider, brothers, whether these things did not happen through the dispensation of the Holy Spirit according to their merits. Indeed, Lot was far inferior to Abraham; if he had not been, he would not have merited to be separated from Abraham, nor would the dwelling of Sodom have pleased him. Now the three men came to Abraham at noon, while the other two came to Lot in the evening for this reason: Lot was unable to endure the power of the noonday sun, but Abraham could stand its full brightness.

SERMON 83.2

Genesis 18:4

Moreover he adds, as though speaking to the men, “I will bring water, that you may wash your feet.” Learn from blessed Abraham, brothers, to receive strangers gladly and to wash their feet with humility and piety. Wash, I repeat, the feet of pious strangers, lest there remain in them some dust that they will be able to shake off of their feet to your judgment. In the Gospel we read, “Whoever does not receive you—go forth and shake off the dust from your feet. Amen, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that town.” Abraham foresaw this in spirit and for this reason wanted to anticipate it by washing their feet, lest perchance any dust remain that might be kept and shaken off on judgment day as an evidence of unbelief. Therefore the wise Abraham says, “I will bring water, that you may wash your feet.” Carefully listen to this, brothers, if you are unwilling to exercise hospitality and to receive even your enemy as a guest. Behold, while blessed Abraham welcomed those men warmly, he merited to receive God in considerat…

Moreover he adds, as though speaking to the men, “I will bring water, that you may wash your feet.” Learn from blessed Abraham, brothers, to receive strangers gladly and to wash their feet with humility and piety. Wash, I repeat, the feet of pious strangers, lest there remain in them some dust that they will be able to shake off of their feet to your judgment. In the Gospel we read, “Whoever does not receive you—go forth and shake off the dust from your feet. Amen, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that town.” Abraham foresaw this in spirit and for this reason wanted to anticipate it by washing their feet, lest perchance any dust remain that might be kept and shaken off on judgment day as an evidence of unbelief. Therefore the wise Abraham says, “I will bring water, that you may wash your feet.” Carefully listen to this, brothers, if you are unwilling to exercise hospitality and to receive even your enemy as a guest. Behold, while blessed Abraham welcomed those men warmly, he merited to receive God in consideration of his hospitality. Christ further confirmed this in the Gospel when he said, “I was a stranger, and you took me in.” Therefore do not despise strangers, lest perhaps he himself be the one you have rejected.

SERMON 83.4

Genesis 18:7

Lot too received men, but only two, not the whole Trinity; moreover in the evening, not at noon. What did he serve them? “He baked unleavened bread, and they ate.” Because he was much inferior to Abraham in merits he did not have a fatted calf. Nor did he recognize the mystery of the Trinity in the three measures of flour. However, since he offered what he could in a kindly spirit, he merited to be freed from the destruction of Sodom. Notice, brothers, that even Lot deserved to receive the angels, because he did not reject strangers. Behold, angels enter a hospitable home, but houses that are closed to strangers are burned with flames of sulphur.

SERMON 83.3

Genesis 18:7

He received the three men and served them loaves out of three measures. Why is this, brothers, unless it means the mystery of the Trinity? He also served a calf; not a tough one, but a “good, tender one.” Now what is so good and tender as he who humbled himself for us even unto death? He himself is that fatted calf which the father killed upon receiving his repentant son. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son.” For this reason Abraham went to meet the three men and adored them as one. In the fact that he saw three, as was already said, he understood the mystery of the Trinity; but since he adored them as one, he recognized that there is one God in the three persons.

SERMON 83.4

Genesis 18:20-21

Now let us see what he means by saying, “I descended to see whether they have done all that the outcry which has come to me indicates; if not, I will know.” Because of this, pagans, and especially the exceedingly foul Manichaeans, are wont to assail us by saying, “Behold, the God of the law did not know what was being done in Sodom.” Now we reply with sound understanding and say that God knows the just in one way and sinners in another. What is said concerning the just? “The Lord knows who are his.” What is said about sinners? “Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity; I do not know you.” Moreover, the apostle Paul says, “If anyone is the Lord’s, he knows what I am saying; if anyone ignores this, he shall be ignored.” What does it mean, then, “I do not know you”? “I do not recognize you in my pattern; I do not recognize my image in you. My justice knows something to punish in you, but my mercy does not find anything to crown.” For this reason if one’s actions are unworthy of God, one is said to be unworthy of his knowledge also. “I descended to see”; not in order to know what they…

Now let us see what he means by saying, “I descended to see whether they have done all that the outcry which has come to me indicates; if not, I will know.” Because of this, pagans, and especially the exceedingly foul Manichaeans, are wont to assail us by saying, “Behold, the God of the law did not know what was being done in Sodom.” Now we reply with sound understanding and say that God knows the just in one way and sinners in another. What is said concerning the just? “The Lord knows who are his.” What is said about sinners? “Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity; I do not know you.” Moreover, the apostle Paul says, “If anyone is the Lord’s, he knows what I am saying; if anyone ignores this, he shall be ignored.” What does it mean, then, “I do not know you”? “I do not recognize you in my pattern; I do not recognize my image in you. My justice knows something to punish in you, but my mercy does not find anything to crown.” For this reason if one’s actions are unworthy of God, one is said to be unworthy of his knowledge also. “I descended to see”; not in order to know what they are doing but to make them worthy of my knowledge if I find any of them just, repentant, or such as I should know.

SERMON 83.6-7

Genesis 22:2

When Abraham offered his son Isaac, he was a type of God the Father, while Isaac prefigured our Lord and Savior.

SERMON 84.2

Genesis 22:4

The fact that he arrived at the place of sacrifice on the third day is shown to represent the mystery of the Trinity. That the third day should be accepted in the sense of a promise or mystery of the Trinity is found frequently in the sacred Books. In Exodus we read, “We will go a three days’ journey into the wilderness.” Again, upon arriving at Mount Sinai it is said to the people, “Be sanctified, and be ready for the third day.” When Joshua was about to cross the Jordan, he admonished the people to be ready on the third day. Moreover, our Lord arose on the third day. We have mentioned all this because blessed Abraham on the third day came to the place that the Lord had showed him.

SERMON 84.2

Genesis 22:5

The two servants whom he ordered to stay with the ass typified the Jewish people, who could not ascend or reach the place of sacrifice because they would not believe in Christ. That ass signified the synagogue. The ram that was stuck among the briars with its horns also seems to represent the Lord, for Christ as it were stuck among thorns with horns when he hung on the beam of the cross, fastened with nails. When Isaac carried the wood for the sacrifice of himself, in this too he prefigured Christ our Lord, who carried his own cross to the place of his passion. Of this mystery much had already been foretold by the prophets: “And his government shall be upon his shoulders.” Christ then had the government upon his shoulders when he carried his cross with wonderful humility. Not unfittingly does Christ’s cross signify government: by it the devil is conquered and the whole world recalled to the knowledge and grace of Christ. Finally, the apostle also said this when he spoke of the Lord’s passion: “He became obedient to death, even to death on a cross. Therefore God also has exalted him a…

The two servants whom he ordered to stay with the ass typified the Jewish people, who could not ascend or reach the place of sacrifice because they would not believe in Christ. That ass signified the synagogue. The ram that was stuck among the briars with its horns also seems to represent the Lord, for Christ as it were stuck among thorns with horns when he hung on the beam of the cross, fastened with nails. When Isaac carried the wood for the sacrifice of himself, in this too he prefigured Christ our Lord, who carried his own cross to the place of his passion. Of this mystery much had already been foretold by the prophets: “And his government shall be upon his shoulders.” Christ then had the government upon his shoulders when he carried his cross with wonderful humility. Not unfittingly does Christ’s cross signify government: by it the devil is conquered and the whole world recalled to the knowledge and grace of Christ. Finally, the apostle also said this when he spoke of the Lord’s passion: “He became obedient to death, even to death on a cross. Therefore God also has exalted him and has bestowed upon him the name that is above every name.” We have said this, brothers, so that your charity may know that the government of Christ of which we read, “And the government shall be upon his shoulders,” is none other than his cross. For this reason this lesson is read at Easter when the true Isaac, whose type the son of Abraham illustrated, is fastened to the gibbet of the cross for the human race.

SERMON 84.3

Genesis 22:5

Why is it said to the servants who prefigured the Jews, “Sit here with the ass”? Could that ass sit down, dearly beloved? It is said, “Sit with the ass,” because the Jewish people who would not believe in Christ could not stand but, like the weak and languid sinner who had despised the staff of the cross, were about to fall to the ground. For this reason blessed Abraham said, “Sit here with the ass while the boy and I go on; and when we have worshiped, we shall come back to you.” What is it that you are saying, blessed Abraham? You are going to sacrifice your son and you say you will return with him? If you offer him as a burnt offering, surely he will not be able to return with you. Blessed Abraham could reply: I speak the truth. I am offering my son, and I will return to you with him. So great is my faith that I believe that he who deigned to give him to me of a sterile mother could raise him from the dead. For this reason I say with truth, “When we have worshiped, we shall come back to you.”

SERMON 84.4

Genesis 22:13

But when the ram was killed and Isaac was not killed, it happened thus because Isaac was a figure and not the reality; for in him was designated what was later fulfilled in Christ. Behold, God is contending with people in great devotion. Abraham offered God his mortal son who was not to die, while God surrendered in death his immortal Son for the sake of humankind. Concerning blessed Isaac and that ram it can be further understood that in Isaac was signified the divinity of Christ, in the ram his humanity. Just as in his passion not the divinity but the humanity is believed to have been crucified, so the ram but not Isaac was immolated: the only-begotten Son of God is offered, the firstborn of the Virgin is sacrificed. Listen to another mystery. Blessed Jerome, a priest, wrote that he knew most certainly from the ancient Jews and elders that Christ our Lord was afterward crucified in the place where Isaac was offered. Last, from the place whence blessed Abraham was commanded to depart, he arrived on the third day at the place where Christ our Lord was crucified. This too is mentioned…

But when the ram was killed and Isaac was not killed, it happened thus because Isaac was a figure and not the reality; for in him was designated what was later fulfilled in Christ. Behold, God is contending with people in great devotion. Abraham offered God his mortal son who was not to die, while God surrendered in death his immortal Son for the sake of humankind. Concerning blessed Isaac and that ram it can be further understood that in Isaac was signified the divinity of Christ, in the ram his humanity. Just as in his passion not the divinity but the humanity is believed to have been crucified, so the ram but not Isaac was immolated: the only-begotten Son of God is offered, the firstborn of the Virgin is sacrificed. Listen to another mystery. Blessed Jerome, a priest, wrote that he knew most certainly from the ancient Jews and elders that Christ our Lord was afterward crucified in the place where Isaac was offered. Last, from the place whence blessed Abraham was commanded to depart, he arrived on the third day at the place where Christ our Lord was crucified. This too is mentioned in the account of the ancients, that in the very place where the cross was fastened the first Adam once was buried. Moreover, it was called the place of Calvary for the very reason that the first head of the human race is said to have been buried there. Truly, brothers, not unfittingly is it believed that the physician was raised up where the sick man lay. It was right that divine mercy should bend down in the place where human pride had fallen. The precious blood may be believed to have corporally redeemed the ashes of the sinner of old by deigning to touch it with its drops. We have gathered these facts as well as we could, dearly beloved, from the different books of Scripture for the progress of your soul, and we suggest them to the consideration of your charity. If, with the Lord’s help, you will read over the sacred Scriptures rather frequently and heed them carefully, I believe that you can find an even better explanation.

SERMON 84.5