23. "It is better for me not to do it." For it is better to die by the hand of wicked men and live with God, than, by consenting to them, to be delivered from them and fall into the hands of God.
24. "And Susannah cried with a loud voice." And to whom did Susannah cry but to God? as Isaiah says: "Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer thee; whilst thou art yet speaking, He shall say, Lo, here I am." [1354]
"And the two elders cried out against her." For the wicked never cease to cry out against us, and to say: Away with such from off the earth, for it is not fit that they should live. In an evangelical sense, Susannah despised them who kill the body, in order that she might save her soul from death. Now sin is the death of the soul, and especially (the sin of) adultery. For when the soul that is united with Christ forsakes its faith, it is given over to perpetual death, viz., eternal punishment. And in confirmation of this, in the case of the transgression and violation of marriage unions in the flesh, the law has decreed the penalty of death.
25. "Then ran the one and opened the gates;" pointing to the broad and spacious way on which they who follow such persons perish.
31. "Now Susannah was a very delicate woman." Not that she had meretricious adornments about her person, as Jezebel had, or eyes painted with divers colours; but that she had the adornment of faith, and chastity, and sanctity.
34. "And laid their hands upon her head;" that at least by touching her they might satisfy their lust.
35. "And she was weeping." For by her tears she attracted the (regard of) the Word from heaven, who was with tears to raise the dead Lazarus.
41. "Then the assembly believed them." It becomes us, then, to be stedfast in every duty, and to give no heed to lies, and to yield no obsequious obedience to the persons of rulers, knowing that we have to give account to God; but if we follow the truth, and aim at the exact rule of faith, we shall be well-pleasing to God.
44. "And the Lord heard her voice." For those who call upon Him from a pure heart, God heareth. But from those who (call upon Him) in deceit and hypocrisy, God turneth away His face.
52. "O thou that art waxen old in wickedness." Now, since at the outset, in the introduction, we explained that the two elders are to be taken as a type of the two peoples, that of the circumcision and that of the Gentiles, which are always enemies of the Church; let us mark the words of Daniel, and learn that the Scripture deals falsely with us in nothing. For, addressing the first elder, he censures him as one instructed in the law; while he addresses the other as a Gentile, calling him "the seed of Chanaan," although he was then among the circumcision.
55. "For even now the angel of God." He shows also, that when Susannah prayed to God, and was heard, the angel was sent then to help her, just as was the case in the instance of Tobias [1355] and Sara. For when they prayed, the supplication of both of them was heard in the same day and the same hour, and the angel Raphael was sent to heal them both.
61. "And they arose against the two elders;" that the saying might be fulfilled, "Whoso diggeth a pit for his neighbour, shall fall therein."
To all these things, therefore, we ought to give heed, beloved, fearing lest any one be overtaken in any transgression, and risk the loss of his soul, knowing as we do that God is the Judge of all; and the Word [1357] Himself is the Eye which nothing that is done in the world escapes. Therefore, always watchful in heart and pure in life, let us imitate Susannah.
[1346] This apocryphal story of Susannah is found in the Greek texts of the LXX. and Theodotion, in the old Latin and Vulgate, and in the Syriac and Arabic versions. But there is no evidence that it ever formed part of the Hebrew, or of the original Syriac text. It is generally placed at the beginning of the book, as in the Greek mss. and the old Latin, but is also sometimes set at the end, as in the Vulgate, ed. Compl.
[1347] 2 Kings xxii. 8.
[1348] Jer. xliii. 8.
[1349] Gal. ii. 4.
[1350] Prov. i. 32; in our version given as, "The prosperity of fools shall destroy them."
[1351] 1 Cor. x. 11.
[1352] Matt. vii. 13, 14.
[1353] That is, Daniel, present in the spirit of prophecy.--Combef.
[1354] Isa. lviii. 9.
[1355] Tobit iii. 17.
[1356] Prov. xxvi. 27.
[1357] Cotelerius reads holos instead of ho logos, and so = and He is Himself the whole or universal eye.
On Matthew. [1358]
Matt. vi. 11. [1359]
For this reason we are enjoined to ask what is sufficient for the preservation of the substance of the body: not luxury, but food, which restores what the body loses, and prevents death by hunger; not tables to inflame and drive on to pleasures, nor such things as make the body wax wanton against the soul; but bread, and that, too, not for a great number of years, but what is sufficient for us to-day.
[1358] De Magistris, Acta Martyrum Ostiens., p. 405.
[1359] He is giving his opinion on the epiousion, i.e., the "daily bread."
On Luke. [1360]
Chap. ii. 7 And if you please, we say that the Word was the first-born of God, who came down from heaven to the blessed Mary, and was made a first-born man in her womb, in order that the first-born of God might be manifested in union with a first-born man.
22. When they brought Him to the temple to present Him to the Lord, they offered the oblations of purification. For if the gifts of purification according to the law were offered for Him, in this indeed He was made under the law. But the Word was not subject to the law in such wise as the sycophants [1361] fancy, since He is the law Himself; neither did God need sacrifices of purification, for He purifieth and sanctifieth all things at once in a moment. But though He took to Himself the frame of man as He received it from the Virgin, and was made under the law, and was thus purified after the manner of the first-born, it was not because He needed this ceremonial that He underwent its services, but only for the purpose of redeeming from the bondage of the law those who were sold under the judgment of the curse.
Chap. xxiii For this reason the warders of Hades trembled when they saw Him; and the gates of brass and the bolts of iron were broken. For, lo, the Only-begotten entered, a soul among souls, God the Word with a (human) soul. For His body lay in the tomb, not emptied of divinity; but as, while in Hades, He was in essential being with His Father, so was He also in the body and in Hades. [1362] For the Son is not contained in space, just as the Father; and He comprehends all things in Himself. But of His own will he dwelt in a body animated by a soul, in order that with His soul He might enter Hades, and not with His pure divinity.
[1360] Mai, Script. vet. collectio nova, vol. ix. p. 645, Rome, 1837.
[1361] hoi sukophantai.
[1362] Pearson On the Creed, art. iv. p. 355.
Doubtful Fragments on the Pentateuch. [1363]