Gregory the Dialogist

There are two main types of compunction, however. The penitent thirsting for God feels the compunction of fear at first; later on, he experiences the compunction of love. When he considers his sins, he is overcome with weeping because he fears eternal punishment. Then when this fear subsides through prolonged sorrow and penance, a feeling of security emerges from an assurance of forgiveness, and the soul begins to burn with a love for heavenly joys. Now the same person, who wept out of fear of punishment, sheds abundant tears because his entrance to the kingdom of heaven is being delayed. Once we envision the choirs of angels and fix our gaze on the company of the saints and the majesty of an endless vision of God, the thought of having no part in these joys makes us weep more bitterly than the fear of hell and the prospect of eternal misery did before. Thus the compunction of fear, when perfect, leads the soul to the compunction of love.This is beautifully symbolized in one of the historical books of the Bible. There we read that Achsah, the daughter of Caleb, sighed as she sat upon her beast of burden. “And Caleb asked her. ‘What is troubling you?’ She answered, ‘Give me an additional gift! Since you have assigned to me land in the Negeb, give me also pools of water.’ So he gave her the upper and the lower pools.”
We say that Achsah sat on an ass because her soul presided over the irrational movements of her flesh. Just as she begged her father with a sigh for pools of water, so must we with deep groans obtain from our Creator the grace of tears. There are some who have received the gift of speaking out openly for justice, of defending the oppressed, of sharing their possessions with the needy, of professing their faith ardently, who still do not have the grace of tears. These we may say received “land in the Negeb,” that is, “southern and dry land,” but are completely lacking in “pools of water.” It is of utmost importance, however, that those who are zealous for good works and devote much time to performing them should also weep over their past sins, either through fear of eternal punishment or through longing for God’s kingdom.
Caleb gave Achsah the upper and lower pools. These correspond to the two kinds of compunction. The soul receives the upper pools when it weeps because of its longing for heaven; it receives the lower pools when the fear of hell causes it to break forth in tears. Actually, the lower pools are given first; then, only, the upper. Yet, since the compunction of love is greater in dignity, the upper pools were necessarily mentioned first and then the lower.

For “the stars of this night” are “overshadowed with darkness,” when even they that already shine with great virtues still bear something of the dimness of sin, while they struggle against it, so that they even shine with great luster of life and yet still draw along unwillingly some remains of the night. Which as we have said is done with this view, that the mind in advancing to the eminence of its righteousness, may through weakness be better strengthened and may in a more genuine manner shine in goodness by the same cause by which, to its humbling, little defects overcloud it even against its will. Hence, when the land of promise now won was to be divided to the people of Israel, the Gentile people of Canaan are not said to be slain but to be made subject to the tribe of Ephraim, as it is written: “The Canaanites dwelt in the midst of Ephraim under taxation.” For what does the Canaanite, a Gentile people, denote, if not a fault? And oftentimes we enter the land of promise with great virtues because we are strengthened by the inward hope of eternity. But while, amid sublime deeds, we retain certain small faults, we as it were permit the Canaanite to dwell in our land. Yet he is taxed in that this same fault, which we cannot make subject, we force back by humility to our own well-being, so that the mind may think poorly of itself even in its highest virtues, as it fails to master by its own strength even the small things to which it aspires.

Almighty God shows wonderful providence in distributing his blessings. Frequently, by denying lesser gifts to those whom he has favored with great virtues, he offers their souls an opportunity for self-reproach. When they find themselves unable to reach the perfection they aspire to and see themselves struggling in vain for a mastery of virtues not granted them, they are not likely to pride themselves on the gifts they have received. For, when they see that of their own power they are incapable of overcoming small faults and slight imperfections, they begin to realize that their great virtues were not self-acquired. For a similar reason the Lord destroyed the powerful enemies who beset his chosen people on their way to the promised land, but [he] allowed the Philistines and Canaanites to survive, so that, as it is written, “he might try Israel by them.” Sometimes, as I have said, those who have received exceptional graces are the very ones God allows to retain small imperfections so that they may always have obstacles with which to contend. As a result they do not foster pride in their hearts even though they are victorious over powerful enemies, for they realize that the weakest of adversaries still causes them great weariness. It is quite remarkable how one and the same person can be vigorous in virtue and weak with infirmity, and while strongly fortified on one side see himself laid waste on the other. The good, therefore, for which he is striving without success, makes him cherish humbly the gifts God has given him.Why should we be surprised that this is true of people? Heaven itself witnessed the same occurrence, for some of its citizens were lost and some stood firm. Seeing one part fall through pride, the other, the chosen angels, kept their stand more humbly and therefore also more firmly. This loss, then, was beneficial for those citizens of heaven whom it helped to establish more firmly in their eternal condition. The same is true of us individually. A slight loss that safeguards humility can at times be of immense profit to a soul.

“But I say to you that whoever looks on a woman lustfully has committed adultery with her already in his heart.” “The pus is wiped off,” therefore, when sin is not only severed from the deed but also from the thought. It is hence that Jerubbaal saw the angel when he was winnowing corn from the chaff, at whose request he immediately prepared a kid and set it upon a rock and poured over it the broth of the flesh, which the angel touched with a rod and fire came out of the rock and consumed it. For what else is it to beat corn with a rod, but to separate the grains of virtues from the chaff of vices with an upright judgment? But to those that are thus employed the angel presents himself, in that the Lord is more ready to communicate interior truth to the extent that people are more earnest in ridding themselves of external things. And he orders a kid to be killed, that is, every appetite of the flesh to be sacrificed, and the flesh to be set upon a rock and its broth to be poured upon it. Whom else does the rock represent except him of whom it is said by Paul, “And that rock was Christ”? We “set flesh upon the rock,” then, when in imitation of Christ we crucify our body. He too pours the broth of the flesh over it who, in following the conduct of Christ, empties himself even of the mere thoughts of the flesh themselves. For the “broth” of the dissolved flesh is in a manner “poured upon the rock” when the mind is emptied of the flow of carnal thoughts too. Yet the angel directly touches it with a rod, in that the might of God’s assistance never deserts our striving. And fire issues from the rock and consumes the broth and the flesh, in that the Spirit, breathed upon us by the Redeemer, lights up the heart with so fierce a flame of remorse that it consumes everything in it that is unlawful either in deed or in thought.

And they were brought to the river to drink the waters; and whoever drank the waters with bended knees were removed from the struggle of war. For by the waters is designated the doctrine of wisdom, but by the unbended knee righteous conduct. Therefore those who are reported to have bent their knees while drinking the water retired from the strife of battles, having been forbidden because Christ proceeds to battle against the enemies of the faith with those who, when they drink the streams of doctrine, do not distort the uprightness of their actions. For all are said at that time to have drunk the water, but not all [are said] to have stood with unbended knee. And those who bent their knees while they were drinking the waters were rejected because, as the apostle witnesses, “It is not the hearers of the law who are just before God, but the doers of the law will be justified.” For since weakness of conduct is, as we have said, signified by this very bending of the knees, it is rightly said again by Paul: “Lift up the hands that droop and the feeble knees and make straight steps with your feet.” Therefore those who proceed under Christ as their leader to battle, are those who exhibit in their conduct that which they profess with their mouth, who drink spiritually the streams of doctrine and yet are not carnally distorted by wicked works.

I think it will not be amiss if we consider at greater length this war of the Midianites, which was intentionally introduced by the prophet in comparison with the coming of the Lord. For in the book of Judges Gideon is described as having fought against the Midianites.… Why then is it that such a battle is brought forward by the prophet, and why is victory in that battle compared with the coming of our Redeemer? Did the prophet intend to point out to us that that victorious battle under the command of Gideon was a type of the coming of our Redeemer? Such deeds were doubtless there wrought, which, the more they exceed the usual mode of fighting, are the less removed from the mystery of prophecy. For whoever went forth to battle with pitchers and lamps? Who, when going against arms, ever abandoned his arms? These things would have been truly absurd to us, had they not been terrible to the enemies. But we have learned by the evidence of the victory itself not to regard these things which were done as of little account. Gideon, therefore, coming to battle, signifies to us the coming of our Redeemer, of whom it is written: “Lift up, O princes, your gates, and be lifted up you everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty. The Lord mighty in battle.” He prophesied of our Redeemer not only by his doings but also by his name. For Gideon is interpreted “going about in the womb.” For our Lord embraces all things by the power of his majesty, and yet he came through the grace of the dispensation assuming the nature of a human being in the womb of the Virgin. Who then is he who goes about in the womb except almighty God, redeeming us by his own dispensation, embracing all things by his divinity and taking a human’s nature in the womb? In the womb he was both incarnate and not confined because he was both within the womb by the substance of his infirmity and beyond the world by the power of his majesty.

They go forth therefore to battle with trumpets, with lamps and with pitchers. This, as we have said, was an unusual order of battle. They sounded with the trumpets, and the pitchers were held in their left hands. But lamps were placed within the pitchers; but, when the pitchers were broken, the lamps appeared, and by their flashing light the frightened enemies are put to flight. The trumpets signify, therefore, the loud voice of preachers, the lamps the brightness of their miracles, and the pitchers the frailty of their bodies. For our leader led forth with him to the contest of preaching, so as by making light of their bodily safety would overthrow their enemies by dying and would overcome their swords, not by arms, not by words, but by patience. For our martyrs came armed under their leader to battle, but armed with trumpets, with pitchers, with lamps. And they sounded with their trumpets when preaching. They broke their pitchers when exposing their bodies to dissolution by the swords of the enemy in their suffering. They shone forth with lamps when, after the dissolution of their bodies, they flashed forth with miracles. And their enemies were presently put to flight, because, when they beheld the bodies of dead martyrs glittering with miracles, they were overpowered by the light of truth and believed that which they had impugned. They sounded therefore with the trumpets that the pitchers might be broken; the pitchers were broken that the lamps might appear; the lamps appeared that the enemies might be put to flight. That is, the martyrs preached until their bodies were dissolved in death; their bodies were dissolved in death that they might shine forth with miracles; they shone forth with miracles that they might overthrow their enemies with divine light, so that they might no longer stand up and resist God but fear him and submit to him.

Samson, in the book of Judges, foreshadowed this by his deeds. When he had entered Gaza, a city of the Philistines, they immediately knew of his entry. They quickly surrounded the city with a blockade and assigned guards, and they rejoiced at having now apprehended Samson who was so extremely strong. But we know what Samson did. At midnight he carried off the gates of the city and ascended to the top of the hill. Whom, dearly beloved, whom does Samson foreshadow by his deed but our Redeemer? What does the city of Gaza signify if not the lower world? What is indicated by the Philistines except the faithlessness of the Jews? When they saw that the Lord was dead and his body had been laid in the sepulcher, they assigned guards there. They were happy that they caught and held him, who shone out as the creator of life, behind the defense of the lower world, as Samson had been held in Gaza. Samson not only went out at midnight but even carried off the gates of the city, because our Redeemer, rising before it was light, not only went out free from the lower world but even destroyed its very defenses. He bore the gates and went up to the top of the hill, because by rising he carried off the defenses of the lower world, and by ascending he passed into the kingdom of heaven.