Judges 9

Judges 9:8

Augustine of Hippo: And no one has been so illiterate as to think that similar fables of Aesop, related for the same purpose, ought to be called lies. But also in the sacred writings such passages are found, as in the book of Judges the trees look for a king to rule over them and speak to the olive and the fig and the vine and the bramble. Surely, all this is invented in order that we may reach the matter intended by means of a narrative [that is] fictitious, to be sure, but bearing a true and not a false signification. — Against Lying 13.28

Methodius of Olympus: But lest I should appear to some to be sophistical, and to conjecture these things from mere probabilities, and to babble, I will bring forward to you, O virgins, from the Old Testament, written prophecy from the book of Judges, to show that I speak the truth, where the future reign of chastity was already clearly foretold.…Now it is clear that these things are not said of trees growing out of the earth. Inanimate trees cannot be assembled in council to choose a king since they are firmly fixed to the earth by deep roots. But on the whole these things are narrated concerning souls that—before the incarnation of Christ—luxuriated too deeply in transgressions, who approach God as beggars asking for mercy so that they may be governed by his pity and compassion. This mercy is what Scripture expresses by the figure of the olive, because oil is of great advantage to our bodies: it takes away our fatigue and ailments and offers light. For all lamplight increases when nourished by oil. So also God’s mercies entirely dispel death, assist the human race and nourish the light of the heart. Consider the laws [which were in effect] from the first created man successively on to Christ. Weren’t they imaginatively set forth in these words by the Scripture, in opposition to which the devil has deceived humanity? In it the fig tree has been associated with the command given to the man in paradise, because, when he was deceived, he covered his nakedness with the leaves of a fig tree; and the vine [has been related] to the instruction given to Noah at the time of the deluge, because he was mocked when overpowered by wine. The olive signifies the law given to Moses in the desert, because the prophetic grace, the holy oil, had failed from their inheritance when they broke the law. Lastly, the bramble aptly refers to the law that was given to the apostles for the salvation of the world: by their instruction we have been taught virginity, which is the only figure that the devil has not been able to make into a deceptive image. For this reason, also, the four Gospels have been given, because God has four times given the gospel to the human race and has instructed them by four laws, the times of which are clearly known by the diversity of the fruits. For the fig tree, on account of its sweetness and richness, represents the delights of man, which he had in paradise before the fall. Indeed, as we shall afterwards show, the Holy Spirit frequently takes the fruit of the fig tree as an emblem of goodness. But the vine, on account of the gladness produced by wine and the joy of those who were saved from wrath and from the deluge, signifies the change produced from fear and anxiety into joy. Moreover, the olive, on account of the oil that it produces, indicates the compassion of God, who again, after the deluge, bore patiently when people turned aside to ungodliness, so that he gave them the law and manifested himself to some, and nourished by oil the light of virtue, which is now almost extinguished. — BANQUET OF THE TEN VIRGINS 10.2

Judges 9:14

Augustine of Hippo: Dark is the passage in which the bush is introduced, that is, a thorny tree, saying in an apologue to all the trees that gather around it, so that it reigns over them: If you really anoint me to reign upon you, come, trust in my protection; and if not, let fire come out of the bush and devour the cedars of Lebanon (Jc 9,15). The meaning is obscure, but, making a proper separation, it becomes clear. Do not read like this: And if fire did not come out of the bush. You have to separate the phrase as follows: And if not, and then continue: that fire comes out of the bush. That is, if you do not trust in my protection, or, if you do not truly anoint me to rule over you, let fire come out of the bush and devour the cedars of Lebanon. It is, then, threatening words of those who say what they could do if they did not want her to reign over them. But as it does not say: fire will come out of the bush and devour the cedars of Lebanon, but: that fire comes out and devours, the meaning becomes darker than if only the separation of words were hidden. Indeed, it is a threat more vehement and, in a way, a greater effectiveness if one said: If you do not want to do what I want, that my anger falls with all its force on you, that is to say, already fall with force Why do I keep it? What if I said: my wrath will fall on you, threatening a sorrow that has to come with a kind of promise. — QUESTIONS ON JUDGES, Q. 44 (tr. J. Litteral, draft)

Judges 9:23

Augustine of Hippo: And God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the people of Shechem. It is not easy to say if the word “sent” refers to what God commands or allows. The word that appears here is sent. The Greek has exapésteilen, a word that also appears in the psalms, where it is read: send (emitted) your light (Sal 42,3). In spite of everything, our translators, when in Greek they appear exaptereth in some places, have translated by “mandó” (misit) and not by “sent” (emisit). It can also be interpreted in the sense that God has sent an evil spirit, as if he wanted to go among them, that is, as if he had given the evil spirit power to disturb the peace that was between them. To such an extent it has not been considered as absurd that the Lord could send an evil spirit to avenge justice, that some have even translated the exapésteilen by “launched” (inmisit). — QUESTIONS ON JUDGES, Q. 45 (tr. J. Litteral, draft)

Judges 9:32

Augustine of Hippo: The message he sent to the messengers of Abimelech Zebul, governor of the city of Shechem, also contains the following: And now get up at night, you and the people who are with you, and put an ambush in the field. And it will happen that tomorrow, when the sun rises, you will hurry and launch yourself against the city. What some Latin translators translate for “you will hurry” (maturabis), others translate it for “madrugarás” (manicabis). The Greek has a word that should be translated by two terms: you will get up at dawn (elucidate surges). Perhaps it has been said here “you will hurry” (maturabis), thinking about the time of the morning, although this is also often said of any other time, when it comes to accelerating the realization of a thing. As for the word manicabis, I must say that I do not know that I am Latina. But it is strange that after saying: when the sun rises, add: you will get up at dawn, when the dawn (diluculum), which in Greek corresponds to orzros, means the time before sunrise, an expression commonly used when it begins to lighten. Therefore, the word mane (of tomorrow), which appears in the text, must be understood from the dawn itself (diluculum). Well, it is added: when the sun rises, to say that it is not necessary to do it when the sun has already risen, but when the sun shines at birth. Well, at dawn it does not begin to get brighter than when the sunlight, which comes back, begins to touch the part of the sky that we see from the east. From this it follows that in the Gospel, too, one evangelist says that it was made at dawn, when the sky was still dark, (Cf John 20,1) and another says that it happened when the sun came out, (Cf Mc 16,2) because the dawn light itself, however small, it came, evidently, from the sun that began to appear, that is, when the sun came towards the exit and cast its radiance from the closeness of its presence. Some fools do not believe that light is the light of the sun, but it is that light, created at the beginning, before God made the sun on the fourth day. — QUESTIONS ON JUDGES, Q. 46 (tr. J. Litteral, draft)

Judges 9:53

Basil of Caesarea: The homicide Abimelech, bastard son of Gideon, killed the seventy legitimate sons, and, thinking he had hit upon a ruse for securing his grasp on the royal power, he destroyed his accomplices in the crime. He, however, was in turn destroyed by them and in the end was slain with a stone cast by a woman’s hand.… In short, countless examples teach us that the profit of human wisdom is illusory, for it is a meager and lowly thing and not a great and preeminent good. — ON HUMILITY