§8et ludaei putant quia propterea haec senex ad Ruben filium dicat, quia cum Bala concubina patris concubuit et torum patrium polluit — sed facile refelluntur; hoc enim ante erat gestum —, Iacob autem quae uentura essent in nouissimis diebus, non ea quae gesta erant spondet se esse dicturum.
And the Jews think that the old man says these things to his son Reuben for this reason, because he lay with Bilhah, his father's concubine, and defiled his father's bed—but they are easily refuted; for this had been done before—whereas Jacob promises that he will speak of things that were to come in the last days, not of things that had already been done.
ergo patriarchae sibi congruit et constat sententia, qui uidens persequentibus ludaeis futuram domini passionem execratur immanem primogenitae plebis audaciam, quae incredula nec dei legi subdita et iugum Christi dura nesciens portare ceruice auctorem uitae non solum scelere necis, sed etiam sacrilegae insultationis adfecit iniuria.
Therefore, the patriarch's judgment is consistent with itself and stands firm; for, seeing the future passion of the Lord at the hands of the persecuting Jews, he execrates the monstrous audacity of the firstborn people, who, unbelieving and not subject to the law of God, and not knowing how to bear the yoke of Christ with their stiff neck, affected the author of life not only with the crime of death but also with the injury of sacrilegious insult.
§9non efferueas inquit sicut aqua, ne in maiorem prorumpat amentiam et feruor furoris atque insaniae non sinat resipiscere peccatores, sed agant paenitentiam delictorum, quoniam durus populus ascendit cubile patris et torum polluit sanctum, hoc est carnem domini Iesu creatoris nostri patibulo adfigens crucis, in qua uelut in quodam cubili et patrio toro sancti eius salutari refectione requiescunt.
"Do not boil over," he says, "like water," lest they should break out into greater madness, and the fervor of fury and insanity should not permit the sinners to return to their senses, but rather that they should perform penance for their transgressions, because a stiff-necked people went up into their father's bed and defiled the holy couch—that is, affixing the flesh of the Lord Jesus, our Creator, to the gibbet of the cross, upon which, as if on a certain bed and paternal couch, His holy ones rest in saving refreshment.
quis igitur abnuat de populo dictum, cum populo haec uniuersa conueniant? ipse enim dictus est primogenitus Istrahel, ipse durae esse ceruicis, de ipso dixit Moyses: uos autem populus dura ceruice estis. et re uera quis tam durus et tam temerarius et contumeliosus quam populus Iudaeorum, qui dominum Iesum, per quem uiderant mortuos suscitatos, caecos inluminatos, flagellis uerberauerunt, clauis confixerunt, cum diuina eius opera negare non possent? quod scribis et pontificibus auctoribus et principe sacerdotum Caipha pariter saeuiente commissum euangelii series declarauit.
Who, then, would deny that this was said of the people, since all these things agree with the people? For he himself was called the firstborn Israel, he himself was said to be of a stiff neck; of him Moses said: "But you are a people of a stiff neck." And indeed, who was so stiff, so reckless, and so abusive as the people of the Jews, who scourged with whips and fastened with nails the Lord Jesus—through whom they had seen the dead raised and the blind illuminated—even though they could not deny His divine works? The sequence of the Gospel has declared that this was committed with the scribes and chief priests as authors, and with Caiaphas the high priest raging likewise.
et ideo sanctus propheta refugit tanti sceleris participatum, ne per successionem generis auderent tanti patriarchae sibi adrogare consortium.
And therefore the holy prophet shrank from participation in so great a crime, lest through the succession of generation they should dare to arrogate to themselves the partnership of so great a patriarch.
§10Contestatur iustus et abdicat posteritatem, quae patrium non seruaret adfectum, et quia praeuidit flagitium, perhorrescit consilii contagium.
The just man bears witness and disowns his posterity, which would not preserve fatherly affection; and because he foresaw the crime, he dreads the contagion of their counsel.
in consilium inquit eorum non ueniat animameaetin congregationem eorum non contendant uiscera mea, quoniam in ira sua occiderunt hominem et in cupiditate sua subneruauerunt taurum. quod dicit de filiis quidem dicit Symeon et Leui.
"Into their counsel," he says, "let my soul not enter, and in their congregation let my inward parts not contend, for in their anger they slew a man, and in their self-will they hamstrung a bull." What he says of his sons, he indeed says of Simeon and Levi.
sed eorum nomine tribus signat, quae appellatione simili uocabantur.
But by their name he designates the tribes that were called by a similar appellation.
quam interpretationem pulcherrimam deriuant Iudaei et arbitrantur quia propterea arguat filios Iacob, quia propter stuprum sororis Sicimitas isti duo prae ceteris fratribus ultum ire cupientes simulauerunt cum ipsis inire uelle se gratiam et ideo circumcidi eos oportere suaserunt, ut religione concordi pax inter eos et recipiendae adfinitatis societas firmaretur.
The Jews derive this most beautiful interpretation and think that Jacob rebukes his sons for this reason, because, desiring to go to avenge the defilement of their sister upon the Shechemites before the rest of their brothers, they pretended that they wished to enter into favor with them, and therefore persuaded them that they ought to be circumcised, so that by a harmonious religion peace and the partnership of alliance to be received might be established between them.
sed circumcisos adorsi recentibus adhuc uulneribus et inualidis uiribus, quas dolor soluerat, fractos die superueniente tertio necauerunt.
But having attacked them when they were circumcised, while their wounds were still fresh and their strength invalid, which pain had weakened, they slew them when they were broken, on the third day that came upon them.
ideo et fortasse isti duo ultores prae ceteris, quia scribarum et sacerdotum auctores sunt; nulli enim magis quam sapientes et sacerdotes debent castimoniam uindicare.
Therefore, and perhaps these two were avengers above the rest, because they are the authors of the scribes and priests; for none ought more than the wise and the priests to vindicate chastity.
§11sed in hoc quoque errant Iudaei.
But in this also the Jews err.
isti enim causas doloris sui praestiterant patri adserentes se in illa licet aetate iuuenili uindices laesae fuisse pietatis et uiolatae casas ultores.
For they had presented the causes of their grief to their father, asserting that they, although at that youthful age, had been the vindicators of offended piety and the avengers of a violated home.
quod utique sanctus <Iacob> condemnare non poterat, quia non passi sunt inultam sororem suam loco esse meretricis, quae et uirginitatem amiserat et uindictae solacium non habebat, maxime cum ipse sic factum probauerit, ut <cum> Sicimam possideret, in morte donaret eam filio suo dilectissimo Ioseph dicens ad eum: do tibi Sicimam praecipuam super omnes fratres tuos. quam accepi de manibus Amorraeorum in machaera mea et arcu. quod factum negari non potest, interpretari tamen possumus per Sicimam umeros significari, per umeros opera.
This holy Jacob certainly could not condemn, because they did not allow their sister to be unavenged in the place of a harlot, she who had both lost her virginity and had no consolation of revenge, especially since he himself approved the deed in such a way that, when he possessed Shechem, he gave it in death to his most beloved son Joseph, saying to him: "I give you Shechem, chief above all your brothers, which I took from the hands of the Amorites with my sword and bow." This deed cannot be denied; yet we can interpret that by Shechem the shoulders are signified, and by the shoulders, deeds.
heredem ergo bonorum operum sanctum Ioseph prae ceteris elegit, cuius opera fratres aequare non poterant.
Therefore, he chose the holy Joseph above the rest as the heir of good deeds, whose deeds his brothers could not equal.