1For your judgments, O Lord, are great, and your words are indescribable. Therefore, undisciplined souls have wandered astray.
2For, while they managed to convince the unjust, so as to obtain dominion over the holy nation, they themselves were fettered with chains of darkness and of endless night, enclosed in their houses, fugitives of everlasting providence, lying in ruins.
3And, while they thought to escape notice in their secret sins, they were scattered under a dark veil of oblivion, being horribly afraid, and having been disturbed with great astonishment.
4For neither did the cave which enclosed them preserve them from fear, because descending noises disturbed them, and the sorrowful persons appearing to them intensified their fear.
5And, indeed, even fire had no strength to provide them light, nor could the clear flames of the stars illuminate that horrible night.
6Yet there appeared to them a sudden fire, filled with fear; and, having been struck with the fear of that face which is unseen, they considered those things which they did see to be worse,
7and, having been ridiculed, the illusions were removed from their arts along with their contemptuous rebuke of glorious wisdom.
8Indeed, those who promised to drive away fears and disturbances from a languishing soul, though they were filled with derision, were themselves languishing in fear.
9And, even if nothing unnatural disturbed them, yet being agitated by the passing of animals and the hissing of snakes, they died of fear, denying what they themselves saw even in the air, which no one thinks to be able to escape.
10For, while there may be apprehension with wickedness, it gives testimony to condemnation, for a troubled conscience always forecasts harshness.
11For fear is nothing else but unfaithfulness to thinking helpful things.
12And, while expectation is driven from within, the cause of this is supposing that one is great in knowledge, and as a result, conflict excels.
13Yet those who were truly powerless that night, being overcome by both the vilest and the deepest hell, were sleeping the same sleep,
14sometimes stirred up by the fear of unnatural things, other times sinking down in disgrace of soul, for a sudden and unexpected fear overcame them.
15Then, if any among them had fallen away, he was kept in a prison without bars which had been left open.
16For if a farmer, or a shepherd, or a worker in a field of labor were suddenly overcome, he endured an inescapable necessity.
17For they were all bound together with one chain of darkness. Or if there were a whistling wind, or the sweet sound of birds among the thick tree branches, or the force of water rushing excessively,
18or the strong noise of rocks crashing down, or the scattering of playful animals having been seen, or the strong voice of bellowing beasts, or the resounding of the highest mountain echo, these things made them sink down because of fear.
19For the whole world was enlightened with a clear light, and none were being hindered in their labors.
20But then, the heavy night was placed over the sun for them, an image of that darkness which was about to overcome them. Yet they were more grievous to themselves than was the darkness.
Verse 1
In the Apocalypse we see “a Lamb, as though sacrificed.” This is the Lamb that, for certain ineffable reasons, became the sacrifice of expiation for the entire world, having accepted even to be sacrificed, according to the measure of the Father’s love for humanity. By his blood he bought us back2 from him who had bought us, in that we were corrupted by sins. Leading this lamb to the sacrifice was the God who was in the man, the great high priest, as he himself attests, saying, “No one takes my life from me, but I myself give it. I have the power to give it and the power to take it up again.” All of the other sacrifices are related to this sacrifice by affinity, the sacrifices prescribed by the Law being a symbol of it. And in my opinion, the shedding of blood on the part of the noble martyrs are sacrifices similar to this one; not without reason does John the disciple contemplate them as surrounding the heavenly altar. “Who is wise enough to understand these things, intelligent enough to know them?” To grasp somewhat more contemplatively the reason for these sacrifices, which purify those for whom they are offered, we must understand the significance of the sacrifice of the daughter of Jephthah. Jephthah had defeated the Ammonites because of a vow, to which she who was to be sacrificed adhered, responding to her father’s words, “I have given my word to the Lord against you,” by saying, “Even if it is against me that you have given your word to the Lord, fulfill your vow.” In considering such events one could be led to attribute an element of great cruelty to God, to whom such sacrifices are offered for the salvation of human beings. One needs a more open and farsighted mind to reconcile this in light of the designs of providence, so as to be able to justify these things as both ineffable and beyond human nature, saying, “The judgments of God are great and difficult to tell. For this reason, ignorant souls fell into error.” Moreover, it is also attested among the pagans that in times of pestilence, many were given over to sacrifice for the common salvation. The faithful Roman Clement also admits that this occurred, basing himself on history;8 Paul testifies of him saying, “Together with Clement and my other coworkers, whose names are in the book of life.” Someone wanting to insult mysteries that escape the comprehension of the many finds the precepts regarding martyrs10 similarly absurd. God, however, considers that it would be better for us to confess his divinity at the price of the most atrocious sufferings than to free ourselves for a brief time from apparent evils, declaring our acquiescence to the will of the enemies of truth.
In the book of the psalms we read, “Your judgments, like the great abyss.” The apostle Paul says, “The judgments of God are inscrutable,” and the prophet, “Your judgments are great and beyond number.” In what sense, then, does the prophet dare to say, “With my lips I recited all the judgments of your mouth”? And yet he is not saying here anything that contradicts himself or anyone else who is similarly inspired. In fact, he does not say, “With my lips I have recited all your judgments,” but, “All the judgments of your mouth,” knowing that there is a difference between the judgments of God and the judgments of the mouth of God. When he said, “Your judgments like the great abyss,” did he in fact use the expression, “The judgments of your mouth like the great abyss”? Here, rather, he says, “I have announced the judgments of your mouth.” The prophet, therefore, did not remain silent about those judgments that he knew from the prophets or from the word of God, and if he proclaimed them it is precisely so that they would be taught.