First Reading — Genesis 12:1-9
Philo of Alexandria
On 12:1
XV. "And they were both naked, both Adam and his wife, and they were not ashamed ; but the serpent was the most subtle of all the beasts that were upon the earth, which the Lord God had made:"§ — the mind is naked, which is clothed neither with vice nor with virtue, but which is really stripped of both : just as the soul of an infant child, which has no share in either virtue or vice, is stripped of all coverings, and is completely naked: for these things are the coverings of the soul, by which it is enveloped and concealed, good being the garment of the virtuous soul, and evil the robe of the wicked soul. And the soul is made naked in these ways. Once, when it is in an unchangeable state, and is entirely free from all vices, and has discarded and laid aside the covering of all the passions. With reference to this Moses also pitches his tabernacle outside of the camp, a long way from the camp, and it was called the tabernacle of testimony. || And this has some such meaning as this : the soul which loves God, having put off the body and the affections which are dear to it, and having fled a long way from them, chooses a foundation and a sure ground for its abode, and a lasting settlement in Deut. xxxiii. 9. t Deut. x. 9. J Lev. xvi. 7. § Gen. ii. 25 ; iii. 1. I! Ex. xxxiii. 7. the perfect doctrines of virtue ; on which account testimony is borne to it by God, that it loves what is good, " for it was called the tabernacle of testimony," says Moses, and he has passed over in sileuce the giver of the name, in order that the soul, being excited, might consider who it is who thus beareth witness to the dispositions which love virtue. On this account the high priest " will not come into the holy of holies clad in a garment reaching to the feet ; but having put off the robe of opinion and vain fancy of the soul, and having left that for those who love the things which are without, and who honour opinion in preference to truth, will come forward naked, without colours or any sounds, to make an offering of the blood of the soul, and to sacrifice the whole mind to God the Saviour and Benefactor ; and certainly Nadab and Abihu,f who came near to God, and left this mortal life and received a share of immortal life, are seen to be naked , that is, free from all new and mortal opinion; for they would not have carried it in their garments and borne it about, if they bad not been naked, having broken to pieces every bond of passion and of corporeal necessity, in order that their nakedness and absence of corporeality might not be adulterated by the accession of atheistical reasonings ; for it may not be permitted to all men to behold the secret mysteries of God, but only to those who are able to cover them up and guard them ; on which account Mishael and his partisans concealed them not in their own garments, but in those of Nadab and Abihu, who had been burnt with fire and taken upwards ; for having stripped off all the garments that covered them, they brought their nakedness before God, and left their tunics about Mishael. But clothes belong to the irrational part of the animal, which overshadow the rational part. Abraham also was naked when he heard, " Come forth out of thy land and from thy kindred ;"| and as for Isaac, he indeed was not stripped, but was at all times naked and incorporeal ; for a commandment was given to him not to go down into Egypt,§ that is to say, into the body. Jacob also was fond of the nakedness of the soul, for his smoothness is nakedness, " for Esau was a hairy man, but Lev. xvi. ). t Lev. x. J. $ Gen. xiii. 1. § Gen. xxvL 2. Jacob," says Moses, " was a smooth man/' on which account he was also the husband of Leah.
On 12:1
XLVI. Do you not see in the case of Abraham that, "when he had left his country, and his kindred, and his father's house," that is to say, the body, the outward senses, and reason, he then began to become acquainted with the powers of the living God ? for when he had secretly departed from all his house, the law says that, " God appeared unto him,"j" showing that he is seen clearly by him who has put off mortal things, and who has taken refuge from this body in the incorporeal soul ; on which account Moses taking his tent " pitches it without the tabernacle, "J and settles to dwell at a distance from the bodily camp, for in that way alone could he hope to become a worthy suppliant and a perfect minister before God. And he says that this tent was called the tent of testimony, taking exceeding care that it may really be the tabernacle of the living God, and may not be called so only. For of virtues, the virtues of God are founded in truth, existing according to his essence : since God alone exists in essence, on account of which fact, he speaks of necessity about himself, saying, "I am that I am,"§ as if those who wrere with him did not exist according to essence, but only appeared to exist in opinion. But the tent of Moses being symbolically considered, the virtue of man shall be thought worthy of appellation, not of real existence, being only an imitation, a copy made after the model of that divine tabernacle, and consistent with these facts is the circumstance that Moses when he is appointed to be the God of Pharaoh, was not so in reality, but was only conceived of as such in opinion, "for I know that it is God who gives and bestows favours, but I am not able to perceive that he is given, aud it is said in the sacred scriptures, " I give thee as a God to Pharaoh," and yet what is given is the patient, not the agent ; but he that is truly living must be the agent, and beyond all question cannot be the patient. Genesis xii. 1. t Genesis xii. 7. X Exodus xxxiil 7. § Exodus iii. 14. THE WORSE PLOTTING AGAINST THE BETTER. 283 What then is inferred from these facts ? Why. that the wise man is called the God of the foolish man, but he is not God in reality, just as a base coin of the apparent value of four drachmas is not a four drachma piece. But when he is compared with the living God, then he will be found to be a man of God ; but when he is compared with a foolish man, he is accounted a God to the imagination and in appearance, but he is not so in truth, and essence.
Responsorial Psalm — Psalm 33:12-13, 18-19, 20 and 22
Athanasius of Alexandria
On 32:18
Those who fear him, those who hope for his mercy, he saves from spiritual death and nourishes in a spiritual way, that they may also say, "Let your mercy be on us, Lord, as we have hoped in you."
Gospel — Matthew 7:1-5
Hilary of Poitiers
On 7:1
Otherwise; He forbids us to judge God touching His promises; for as judgments among men are founded on things uncertain, so this judgment against God is drawn from somewhat that is doubtful. And He therefore would have us put away the custom from us altogether; for it is not here as in other cases where it is sin to have given a false judgment; but here we have begun to sin if we have pronounced any judgment at all.
On 7:3
Otherwise; The sin against the Holy Spirit is to take from God power which has influences, and from Christ substance which is of eternity, through whom as God came to man, so shall man likewise1 come to God. As much greater then as is the beam than the mote, so much greater is the sin against the Holy Spirit than all other sins. As when unbelievers object to others carnal sins, and secrete in themselves the burden of that sin, to wit, that they trust not the promises of God, their minds being blinded as their eye might be by a beam.