Haggai 2:11

He writes to Timothy, who had been trained in the holy writings from a child, exhorting him to study them diligently and not to neglect the gift that was given him with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. To Titus he gives commandment that among a bishop’s other virtues (which he briefly describes) he should be careful to seek a knowledge of the Scriptures: “A bishop,” he says, must hold fast “the faithful word as he has been taught that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers.” In fact, lack of education in a clergyman prevents him from doing well to anyone but himself, and much as the virtue of his life may build up Christ’s church, he does it an injury as great by failing to resist those who are trying to pull it down. The prophet Haggai says—or rather the Lord says it by the mouth of Haggai—“ask now the priests concerning the law.” For such is the important function of the priesthood to give answers to those who question them concerning the law.

(Verse 11 and following). On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius ((Vulg. adds King)), the word of the Lord came to the prophet Haggai, saying: Thus says the Lord of hosts; ask the priests concerning the law, saying: If a man carries holy flesh in the fold of his garment, and touches bread, or stew, or wine, or oil, or any kind of food, shall it become holy? And the priests answered and said: No. And Haggai said: If someone who is polluted in soul touches any of these things, will it be contaminated? And the priests answered and said: It will be contaminated. And Haggai replied and said: So will this people and this nation be before me, says the Lord; and so will all the work of their hands and all that they offer there be contaminated. On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Haggai, saying: Thus says the Lord of hosts; ask the priests concerning the law, saying: If a person takes holy flesh in the corner of his garment and touches with the corner of his garment bread, or cooked food, or wine, or oil, or any kind of food, shall it be sanctified? And the priests answered and said, No. And Haggai said, If one who is unclean by reason of a dead body touches any of these, does it become unclean? The priests answered and said, It becomes unclean. Then Haggai answered and said, So is this people, and so is this nation before me, says the Lord, and so is every work of their hands; and whatever they offer there is unclean. Therefore, whoever comes near there becomes unclean, because of the morning offerings and the sacrifices that are offered there; they shall mourn because of their evil doings, and they shall be appalled at their own abominable practices. Therefore, we have included the edition of the Seventy Interpreters, because they seemed to differ in certain words. And this that is said: Because of their morning gifts, they will lament from the face of their wickedness, and they will argue at the gates with the ones who bring sweet-smelling offerings; neither in Hebrew, nor among other interpreters is it found. It should be noted that in this place: On the twentieth and fourth day of the ninth month, in the second year, it is not said for the third time as above: The word of the Lord came into the hand of the prophet Haggai; but it is said to the prophet Haggai. For there, because it was still making progress and only the works were pure, but his heart had not yet received full wisdom; either because he was still living among those who said, 'The time has not yet come to build the house of the Lord,' only his works became the word of the Lord. But now, since the foundations of the temple have been laid and the people have entered with their leaders into the house of God, and he is doing work befitting the temple of God, and he has heard the mystery: 'I will shake all nations, and the Desired One of all nations will come, and he is full of prophecy;' therefore, the whole oracle of the Lord is directed to Haggai. On the twenty-fourth day and the second year, we have already said: the number nine, which is added here, is never read in a good way. The people sacrifice the Passover lamb and celebrate other festivities; the whole solemnity ends on the eighth day and does not reach the ninth. Those who prepare the Passover lamb begin preparing it after the ninth day has passed. The day of atonement and expiation of the seventh month is also celebrated after the ninth day. And in Jeremiah (Chap. XIX and LII), as it can be clear to those reading, Jerusalem is besieged by the Babylonians in the ninth year. Therefore, because the prophecy of the impending defilement of the people was to come true, in the second year of Darius the ninth month is joined. Again, because a place of repentance is given after the correction of defilement, on the twenty-fourth day the word of God comes to the prophet Haggai, so that, as if in the person of the Lord, a question is asked of the priests coming from the law, and it is said to him: Ask the priests the law, saying. At the same time, consider it to be the duty of priests to respond to inquiries about the law. If someone is a priest, they should know the law of the Lord; if they are ignorant of the law, they prove themselves not to be a priest of the Lord. For it is the role of a priest to know the law and to respond to inquiries about the law. Indeed, we read in Deuteronomy (Chapter 17) that whenever a dispute arises in the towns of Israel between blood and blood, between judgment and judgment, between leprosy and leprosy, between contradiction and contradiction, they should go to the priests and Levites, and to the priest who is appointed in those days, and inquire about the law of the Lord. And when they have received a response, they should do as they are commanded. But if they do not do so, they shall be exterminated from their people. And lest these precepts appear only in the old Instrument, the Apostle also speaks to Timothy, that a bishop must not only be irreproachable, but also the husband of one wife, wise, chaste, adorned, hospitable, and also a teacher (1 Tim. 3). And lest it seem by chance that he said this, the same caution is observed in regard to the ordination of presbyters (whom he also wants to be understood as bishops) in Titus (1:5-9). Because of this, I left you in Crete, so that you could correct the things that needed finishing and appoint elders in each city, just as I instructed you: If any man is blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children who are not accused of wildness or unruly behavior. For a bishop must be blameless as the steward of God, not self-willed, not easily angered, not given to violence, not a striker, not greedy for filthy lucre; but hospitable, loving what is good, sensible, just, holy, self-controlled, holding firmly to the faithful message as taught, so that he may be able to encourage others by sound teaching and to refute those who contradict it. For there are many who are not subject, empty talkers, and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, whom it is necessary to silence. I have explained these things at length so that we may know that it is the duty of priests, both in the old and new Testament, to know the law of God and to respond to what they are asked. And simplicity and abstinence from foods are not enough in a teacher: unless he can also instruct others by what he does. Certainly, because I think they will answer: this is the task of those who from their youth prepare themselves for teaching, and who are often chosen as priests by the judgment of the Lord and the vote of the people. At least let them have this, that after they have been ordained as priests, they learn the law of God, so that they can teach what they have learned, and increase their knowledge more than their wealth, and not be ashamed to learn from laypeople, who know those things that pertain to the office of priests, and rather spend their nights and days in the study of the Scriptures than in reasoning and calculation. What is it that Haggai, speaking in the Lord's name, asks the priests? If a man carries holy flesh in the fold of his garment and touches bread, stew, wine, oil, or any food, will it become holy? Before we discuss the question, we must first understand, according to the written word, what holy flesh is and what defiles the soul. The sacrifices that were offered on the altar consisted of these holy meats, and among them there was a great diversity. For some priests were eating in the inner sanctuary of the temple, others at home, others who seemed to be blemished from among the priests, and others who were Israelites and had no impurity. The reason for this diversity is said to be found in the book of Leviticus. However, one who had touched the body of a dead person was called unclean in the soul. In this, it should be noted that as long as the soul is in the body, the human body is not unclean. But as soon as the animating spirit leaves the limbs, that which is earthly becomes unclean, as it is written in the same book of Leviticus: 'And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to the priests the sons of Aaron, and you shall say to them: They shall not become unclean in their souls among their people; but they may become unclean among their relatives who are close to them: over their mother, and over their father, and over their sons and daughters, and over their brothers and sisters who are virgins and who are not given to a husband. They shall not become unclean over these, and they shall not defile themselves suddenly among their people in their defilement.' (Lev. 21:1-2) Consider this command for the priests not to enter any dead person, except for their relatives and close ones, as mentioned above. But the high priest, that is, the pontiff, had something more than the other priests: neither piety nor affection could persuade him to become unclean in the aforementioned cases. For Scripture says: And he shall not enter on any soul that is dead: not even on his father or mother, and he shall not defile himself. Therefore, knowing what sanctified flesh is, and what is unclean in the soul, let us see what the prophet seeks. If any man, not this man who is called the Pontiff, or the priest, or the Levite; but any man: where the person is not specified, it is allowed to everyone everywhere to touch the flesh. If he takes, he says, the sanctified flesh, and ties it to the top of his garment, and the top of the garment touches bread, or any other cooked food, or wine, or oil, or any food besides these that a man can eat, can the bread, or wine, or oil, or any food, be sanctified by touching the garment to which the holy flesh is bound? And the responding priests said: It is not possible, that is, nothing of what you ask will be sanctified; but everything will remain as it was. Again, another question is posed to the priests: namely, if they have answered well to the previous one, and a similar problem is presented, in which an ignorant person could easily slip up. For let us suppose that someone does not know the law, and as he answered that sanctified meat does not sanctify bread, or porridge, or wine, or oil, or any food, he will also respond in this case and say: The defiled in the soul does not defile those things which the holy flesh could not sanctify. Therefore, he asks: If someone who is polluted in their soul, meaning someone who has become impure from contact with a dead body, touches any of these things, namely bread or porridge or wine or oil or other foods, will the things they touch be polluted as well? And the priests, whose leader was Jesus son of Josedec, who knew the law, answered and said that anything touched by someone who is impure will be polluted. And Haggai answered and said, keeping silent about the former things, that consecrated flesh cannot sanctify other foods; and he addressed the second question, saying: Thus says the Lord: This people and this nation, in my presence, are unclean in their souls, and if they touch anything that is dead, whatever they touch and whatever they offer to me will be unclean. And what he says according to the letter, is this: O people, who, after just building the altar and destroying my house, offer sacrifices to me on the altar, and think that you are sanctified by its victims and flesh: know that you are not sanctified by the sacrifices, which, with the temple destroyed, cannot benefit you; but rather, all your works and everything you do are contaminated because you neglect and are more concerned with building your own house than mine. Indeed, the offering on the altar is sacred; but you are not sanctified so much by the sacrifices as by dwelling in the valleys and being involved in dead works, you are polluted. This is according to history, although we have drawn spiritual lines of intelligence from it. Furthermore, according to the ἀναγωγὴ, just as Ecclesiasticus says, the man who offered an unblemished lamb and a yearling and was clothed with Christ, if he takes of its flesh and binds it on the top of his garment, and the top touches the bread of Scripture, which strengthens the hearts of believers, or the cooking, the apostolic Epistles, which cuts and cooks the flesh of the old Law and provides them for eating, or the wine that gladdens the heart of man, or the oil in which the face of the hearer is brightened, or any food: milk, with which the Corinthians are nourished (I Cor. 2), and vegetables on which the weak feed (Rom. XIV, 3), and other similar things: they do not immediately eat them as if they were sanctified, to whomever they may be given. For it is not from what is said, but from what is received, that the hearers are sanctified: because many are hearers of the law, but not doers. But also for this reason I believe that all these things which I have said, are not sanctified when carried from the touch of the garment to those who eat, because they only touch the surface of the cloak; and the inward parts, the moisture, the blood, the veins, and the nerves, are not known to be sanctified. Therefore, just as the surface of the Lord's garment and a light touch do not sanctify, unless the one who eats the flesh of the lamb and drinks his blood: so, on the contrary, uncleanness in the soul, and various perverse teachings, make whatever they touch unclean. For they have in their sacraments bread and wine and oil and all kinds of food; but their sacraments are like bread of mourning, all who touch them will be contaminated. They also read the Scriptures themselves and, as it were, sprinkle bread with testimonies from the Scriptures, and they cook it all night in a pan; but when it is given to be eaten, those who eat it are provoked to madness. They have porridge and cooking, attempting to weave mystical things from the Scriptures according to the sense of their own perversity, and as if to cook and season the flesh of the lamb, but that cooking is destruction. They have wine, but not from the vineyard of Sorek, which the Lord planted in Jeremiah, chosen and entirely true (Jer. II); but from the vineyard of Sodom. They also have oil, which they violently extract from the testimonies of the Old and New Scriptures, and promise it as a refreshment to deceived and weary minds; but the holy one detests it, and says: But the oil of the sinner will not anoint my head (Ps. CXL, 5). They also have various foods, namely, the multitude of various assumptions and various treatises, which, because they are written by the unclean, and have been uttered by an unclean mouth, whoever touches them will become unclean and be drawn into their error. Then Aggaeus replied, who knows the differences of festivals, and for that reason he obtained the name: Thus, this people and this nation, namely the Jews, and the Gentiles, and all heretics, in my sight, says the Lord: Everything they have done, whether they have offered it to me as vows for salvation, or for peace, or for sin, or for offense, or as a burnt offering, or as alms, or as fasting, or as self-control in food, or as bodily chastity, will be defiled in my sight. Although they may appear holy in their outward appearance, those things that are offered by such individuals are tainted because they have been touched by someone whose soul is defiled. Everything becomes polluted.