Alcuin of York, on Rev 7:4

“And I heard the number of them that were signed, an hundred forty-four thousand were signed, of every tribe of the children of Israel.”

“And I heard the number of them that were signed, an hundred forty-four thousand were signed, of every tribe of the children of Israel. It is a definite number put for an indefinite one, and it does not refer only to the twelve tribes of Israel, but all the Church, in the elect, is represented by it. Indeed the number three is a perfect number in the sacred Scripture, especially because it represents the Trinity; same for the number four because of the four parts of the world, the four Gospels, or the four cardinal virtues: if we multiply these by each other, we reach the number twelve, which also is hallowed because of the twelve tribes or the twelve apostles. As for the number thousand, it represents totality, according to this: unto a thousand generations. [Deut. 7:9, 1 Chron. 16:15, Ps. 104:8] Therefore, since the Church is brought together from all nations by knowledge of the Trinity and nourished by the four books of the Gospels, it is appropriate for it to be symbolized by twelve thousand; but in order for it to be perfected in what it has believed in, the number twelve thousand needs to be joined together by the solidity of the cube: therefore, let twelve thousand be multiplied by four, and it makes forty-eight thousand; then, in order for it to reach what it has believed in, that is the contemplation of the Trinity, let forty-eight thousand be multiplied by three, and it gives a hundred forty-four thousand.”

Imported from an open dataset — not yet checked against the printed edition.

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