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Chapter 40BenjaminMinor.1.40

CAPUT XL. Quomodo vel quo ordine oriatur in nobis odium vitiorum

The Birth of Zebulun: Hatred of Vices

After Issachar comes Zebulun, signifying the dwelling of strength, which is a rightly ordered hatred of vices, a holy anger that loves people and detests their sins.

So let him soon be as strong against every danger as he is a fierce enemy of all vices. That is why, after Issachar, Zebulun is born; his name is interpreted as 'the dwelling of strength.' For what do we understand by Zebulun if not hatred of vices? A good hatred, a rightly ordered hatred—hatred of vices. Without a doubt, this is the affection the Prophet wanted to put in right order within us when he said: 'Be angry, and do not sin.' For what is it to be angry without sinning, and to become angry without falling into sin, if not this: loving people for their true good rather than for appearances, and being indignant at their vices?1 The same Prophet showed that he had this as his son when elsewhere he said: 'I hated them with a perfect hatred.'2 And elsewhere he said: 'I have hated every wicked way.'

Zeal for the Lord: The Strength of the Contemplative

This zeal, exemplified by Elijah and Phinehas, is the strength that arises from tasting interior sweetness, empowering the soul to fight the Lord's battles and avenge wrongs done to God.

This is that excellent soldier of God who never stops fighting the Lord's battles, and whom Scripture, by its familiar name, calls zeal for the Lord or zeal for what is right: 'Zeal for your house, Lord, has consumed me, and the insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.' And again: My zeal has made me waste away, because my enemies have forgotten your words. And Elijah says, 'I have burned with zeal for the Lord.' And Phinehas fought with the zeal of the Lord, and received an everlasting priesthood.3 But where do you think they got such great strength, such wonderful steadfastness? Elijah alone rose up against a hundred and fifty prophets of Baal; Phinehas alone, breaking into the Midianites' camp, ran the adulterers through with his sword.4 See how much strength they receive; see how strong they become—those who eat from the fruits of that land spoken of earlier, who refresh themselves with interior sweetness. Rightly, then, after Issachar, which means 'reward,' Zebulun is born—that is, the dwelling place of fortitude—because after tasting the sweetness of eternal recompense, the spirit is wonderfully strengthened against the arguments of temptation; suddenly counting its own dangers as little, it boldly avenges the wrongs done to the Lord.

Moses and the Pattern of Holy Zeal

Moses, after his contemplative fast, exemplifies how interior sweetness generates hatred of vices and holy zeal, which pleases God above all.

This is why Moses—the gentlest person on earth—after a forty-day fast, refreshed by a wonderful abundance of spiritual delights, suddenly burned with such zeal against those who made or worshiped the idol that he immediately gathered those who belonged to the Lord, went through the camp from gate to gate striking them down, and killed three thousand of the men who had broken faith. Just so—yes, just so—is Zebulun born after Issachar: because through tasting inner sweetness, hatred of vices arises, and the strength of true fear is gained.5 This is Zebulun, who by becoming angry is accustomed to calming God's anger; who, by raging piously, while he strikes people's vices, better spares them by seeming not to spare them.6 Without a doubt, nothing pleases God so much, and nothing appeases God so much, as zeal for souls.

Read the original Latin

Sit ergo mox tam fortis contra omne periculum, quam ferox hostis vitiorum omnium. Hinc est quod post Issachar, Zabulon nascitur, qui habitaculum fortitudinis interpretatur. Quid enim per Zabulon intelligimus, nisi odium vitiorum. Odium bonum, odium ordinatum, odium vitiorum. Hunc procul dubio in nobis affectum Propheta ordinare cupiebat cum dixit: Irascimini, et nolite peccare. Quid est enim irascendo non peccare, et non peccando irasci, nisi homines utiliter non ad oculum amando, eorum vitiis indignari? Hunc habere se filium idem Propheta significabat, cum alias dixit: Perfecto odio oderam illos. Et alibi: Omnem viam iniquam odio habui.

Hic est egregius ille miles Dei, qui bella Domini praeliari non cessat, et quem usitato vocabulo Scriptura sacra zelum Domini vel zelum rectitudinis appellat: Zelus domus tuae, Domine, comedit me, et opprobria exprobrantium tibi ceciderunt super me. Et iterum: Tabescere me fecit zelus meus, quia obliti sunt verba tua inimici mei. Et Elias: Zelo, inquit, zelatus sum propter Dominum. Et Phinees bellavit zelum Domini, et accepit sacerdotium aeternum. Sed unde istis putas fortitudo tanta, tam mira constantia? Elias solus contra centum quinquaginta prophetas Baal insurrexit, Phinees solus contra castra Madianitarum irrumpens, adulterantes gladio transverberavit. Ecce quantum roboris accipiunt, ecce quam fortes fiunt, qui de illius praedictae terrae fructibus comedunt, qui se interna suavitate reficiunt. Recte ergo post Issachar, qui merces interpretatur, Zabulon, id est habitaculum fortitudinis nascitur, quia post degustatam aeternae retributionis dulcedinem, animus contra tentationum argumenta mirabiliter roboratur, sua subito pericula parvipendens, Domini injurias fortiter ulciscitur.

Hinc est quod Moyses, ille mitissimus omnium qui morabantur in terra, post quadraginta dierum jejunium, spiritualium deliciarum refectus satietate mirifica, in tantum subito zelum contra fabricatores vel cultores idoli exarsit, ut statim adjunctis sibi qui Domini erant, per medium castrorum, de porta ad portam percutiendo transiret, et hominum praevaricatorum tria millia in mortem prosterneret. Sic sic post Issachar Zabulon gignitur, quia per internae dulcedinis degustationem odium vitiorum generatur, et verae formidinis robur acquiritur. Iste est Zabulon, qui irascendo iram Dei placare consuevit, qui pie saeviendo dum hominum vitia percutit, eis quasi non parcendo melius parcit. Absque dubio nihil sic placet Deo, nihil sic placat Deum, quomodo zelus animarum.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩non ad oculum echoes the biblical idiom of eye-service (serving for show); rendered as 'for appearances' rather than a wooden calque.
  2. 2 ↩Hunc...filium treats ordered hatred of vices (Zebulun) as a spiritual 'son' of the Prophet; not a literal genealogical claim.
  3. 3 ↩bellavit zelum Domini is compressed; rendered as 'fought with the zeal of the Lord' rather than a wooden 'fought the Lord's zeal.'
  4. 4 ↩The Latin reads centum quinquaginta (150); 1 Kings 18 has 450 prophets of Baal. Translated as written, without harmonizing the number.
  5. 5 ↩verae formidinis: 'true fear' here is the strengthening holy dread that rises with hatred of vice after interior sweetness, not cringing terror.
  6. 6 ↩pie saeviendo / quasi non parcendo melius parcit: holy severity against vice is framed as a deeper mercy to the persons struck, not cruelty for its own sake.

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