Jerome — Commentary on Scripture

Leviticus 2:11

They quote the passage which says that “the lips of a strange woman drop as honeycomb,” which is sweet indeed in the eater’s mouth but is afterward found more bitter than gall. This, they argue, is the reason that neither honey nor wax is offered in the sacrifices of the Lord, and that oil, the product of the bitter olive, is burned in his temple.

LETTER 128.2

Leviticus 2:11

Under no circumstances is there an offering of honey. “Whatever happens,” it says, “will be impure.” Honey is a sign of pleasure and sweetness, and believe me, sensual pleasure always brings death; sensuality as such is never pleasing to God.

HOMILY 75

Leviticus 2:13

Salt is good, and every offering must be sprinkled with it. Therefore also the apostle has given the commandment: “Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt.” But “if the salt have lost his savor,” it is cast out.

LETTER 125.1

Leviticus 10:9

Priests given to wine are both condemned by the apostle and forbidden by the old law. Those who serve the altar, we are told, must drink neither wine nor shechar. Now every intoxicating drink is in Hebrew called shechar, whether it is made of corn or of the juice of apples, whether you distil from the honeycomb a rude kind of mead or make a liquor by squeezing dates or strain a thick syrup from a decoction of corn. Whatever intoxicates and disturbs the balance of the mind avoid as you would wine.

LETTER 52.11

Leviticus 11:44

“Be holy, says the Lord, for I am holy.” The apostles boasted that they had left all things and had followed the Savior. We do not read that they left anything except their ship and their nets; yet they were crowned with the approval of him who was to be their judge. Why? Because in offering up themselves they had indeed left all that they had.

LETTER 118.5

Leviticus 18:5

“The man who carries out the law will find life through it.” Scripture did not say he will find life through it, in the sense that through the law he will live in heaven, but he will find life through it to the extent that what he merits, he reaps in the present world.

HOMILY 76

Leviticus 19:15

“You shall not be partial to the poor,” a precept given lest under pretext of showing pity we should judge an unjust judgment. For each individual is to be judged not by his personal importance but by the merits of his case. His wealth need not stand in the way of the rich man, if he makes a good use of it; and poverty of itself can be no recommendation to the poor if in the midst of squalor and want he fails to stay away from wrongdoing.

LETTER 79.1

Leviticus 22:14

At the end, it is stated, “If a man eats of the sanctified things through ignorance, iniquity and wickedness are laid at his feet, and he shall be bound by a vow.” Thus also the apostle teaches us that we are to eat the Eucharist of the Lord with caution, lest we eat to our condemnation and judgment. If ignorance is condemned under the law, how much more will full knowledge be condemned according to the gospel?

Against the Pelagians 1.34