Verba Dei presente sponsa de sui magnificencia et in figura mirabili, qualiter Christus per Dauid et Iudei et mali Christiani et pagani per tres filios Dauid designantur et qualiter Ecclesia subsistit in septem sacramentis.
The Divine Nature and the Three Sons of David
God reveals His eternal nature and introduces the allegory of David's three sons as a framework for understanding the Jews, bad Christians, and pagans.
I am God, not made of stone or wood, nor created by anyone, but the creator of all things, existing without beginning and without end. I am the One who came into the Virgin and was with the Virgin, yet without losing my divinity. Yet I, who through my humanity was in the Virgin while my divinity remained, am the same one who reigned in heaven and on earth with the Father and the Holy Spirit through that divinity. I also inflamed the Virgin with my Spirit—not because my Spirit, who did the inflaming, was separated from me, but because the one who inflamed was the same one in the Father and in me, the Son; and in him were the Father and the Son, and these are one God, not three gods. I am like King David, who had three sons. One of them was named Absalom, who sought his father's life. The second, Adonijah, sought his father's kingdom. The third, Solomon, obtained the kingdom.
The Lament for the Jews
God expresses His fatherly compassion and sorrow for the Jews, who rejected His counsel and sought fleeting things.
The first represents the Jews. These are the ones who sought my life and my death, and who despised my counsel. Therefore, now that their retribution is known, I can say what David said about his dead son: “My son Absalom!” That is: “O you Jewish children, where is your desire and expectation now?” “O my children, where is your end now?” I felt compassion for you because you longed for me to come, even though you had heard from so many signs that I had already arrived, and because you longed for fleeting things—all of which have now fled. But now I feel even more compassion, repeating that first word just as David did, because I see your end in the misery of death. Therefore, out of the greatest love, I still say what David said: 'My son, would that I might die for you?' David knew well that he couldn't bring his dead son back to life with his own death, but to show the depth of his fatherly love and his most ready good will, he would have gladly died for his son, even though he knew it was impossible. So I say now: O children of the Jews, even though you held ill will toward me and did everything you could against me, if it were possible and it pleased the Father, I would gladly die for you once more, because I have more compassion for your misery than you have for yourselves, which you brought upon yourselves by the demands of justice. I told you what you had to do in word, and I showed you by example. I went before you like a hen, warming you under the wings of charity, but you rejected everything.✦ That’s why everything you desired has slipped away. You’re ending in misery, and all your labor has come to nothing.
The Presumption of Bad Christians
God rebukes the presumption of Christians who abuse His mercy and treat the Church's sacraments as a mere formality for their own gain.
David's second son represents bad Christians. He is the one who sinned against his father in his old age. For he thought to himself, 'My father is old and his strength is failing.' If I speak any evil to him, he doesn't answer. If I do anything against him, he won't take revenge. If I attempt anything against him, he bears it patiently. Therefore, I'll do what I want. He went up into the grove, where there were few trees, with some of his father David’s servants, so that he might reign. But when the Father’s wisdom and will became clear, his plan was changed, and those who were with him were disgraced. This is how Christians treat me now. They think to themselves, 'God’s signs and judgments aren't as clear now as they used to be.' We can say whatever we want, because He is merciful and doesn't pay attention. Let’s do what pleases us, because He forgives so easily.' They doubt my power, as if I were somehow weaker now in doing what I will than I was before. They think my love is less, as if I no longer wanted to show them the same mercy I showed their ancestors. They even treat my judgment as a joke and my justice as vanity. That’s why they also go up into the grove with some of David’s servants, so that they may reign with confidence. What is this grove where only a few trees usually stand, if not the holy Church, which subsists on the seven Sacraments just as if they were a few trees? They enter this Church, but only with a few of David’s servants—that is, with a few good works—so that they might confidently claim the kingdom of God. This is because they perform only minor good works, trusting that no matter what sin they are in, or what kind of sin they have committed, they can still possess the kingdom of heaven as if by hereditary right. Just as the son of David, who tried to seize the kingdom against David’s will, was driven away in disgrace because he sought it unjustly and was himself unjust, and it was given to someone wiser and better, so they too will be cast out of my kingdom, and it will be given to those who do the will of David; for no one will be able to obtain my kingdom unless they have charity. No one can draw near to me, the Most Pure, unless they are pure and live their life according to my heart.
The Promise to the Pagans
God promises to bring the pagans into the Church through the seven sacraments, contrasting their future inheritance with the fate of the unfaithful.
David's third son was Solomon. He represents the pagans. When Bathsheba heard that certain people had chosen someone other than Solomon—the one to whom David had promised the throne—she went to David and said: My Lord, you swore to me that Solomon would reign after you. But now, someone else has been chosen. If it happens this way, and if things proceed like this, I'll be judged like an adulteress and condemned to the fire, and my son will be considered illegitimate. Hearing this, David stood up and said, "I swear by God that Solomon will sit on my throne and reign after me." He commanded his servants to exalt Solomon to the throne of his kingdom and to proclaim the king whom David had chosen. Fulfilling their master's command with great power, they exalted Solomon; meanwhile, all the others who had sided with his brother were driven away and reduced to servitude. What is this Bathsheba—who would consider herself an adulteress if another king were chosen—if not the faith of the pagans? There is no worse adultery than to commit fornication against God and against the true faith, and to believe in a god other than the Creator of all things. But like Bathsheba, some of the Gentiles come to God with a humble and contrite heart, saying, 'Lord, you promised that we would be Christians in the future; fulfill your promise, then!' If another king—that is, another faith—should rise up over us more than yours, or if you should separate yourself from us, we will be consumed in our misery and, like an adulteress who has taken an adulterer in place of her legitimate husband, we will die. And although you live forever, you still die to us, and we to you, whenever you withdraw yourself from our hearts by your grace, and we set ourselves against you through our lack of faith.1 So, fulfill your promise, strengthen our weakness, and enlighten our darkness! For if you delay—that is, if you distance yourself from us—we will perish. Having heard these things, I, like another David, now wish to lift myself up through my grace and mercy. I swear, therefore, by my divinity, which is one with my humanity, and by the humanity that is in my Spirit, and by my Spirit, who is in my divinity and my humanity—and these three are not three gods but one God—that I will fulfill my promise. I will send my friends to bring Solomon, my son—that is, the pagans—into the grove, which is the Church, which subsists through seven sacraments as if through seven trees: namely, baptism, penance, confirmation with chrism, the Sacrament of the Altar, priesthood, marriage, and anointing; and they will rest in my seat, that is, in the right faith of the holy Church. But bad Christians will become their servants. They will rejoice in an everlasting inheritance and in the sweetness that I will prepare for them. These others, however, will groan in misery—a misery that will begin for them in this life and last forever. Therefore, my friends, because it's now time to stay awake, let them not sleep, let them not grow weary, for a glorious reward follows their labor.
Read the original Latin
"Ego sum Deus, non lapideus vel ligneus nec ab aliquo creatus sed omnium creator, manens sine principio et sine fine. Ego sum, qui veni in virginem et fui cum virgine, non tamen amittens deitatem.
Sed ego, qui eram per humanitatem in virgine manente deitate, ego idem cum Patre et Spiritu sancto regnabam in celo et in terra per deitatem.
Ego eciam Spiritu meo inflammabam virginem, non quod Spiritus meus, qui inflammabat, separaretur a me, sed idem, qui inflammabat, idem erat in Patre et in me Filio, et in eo Pater et Filius, et hii unus Deus, non tres dii.
Ego sum similis Dauid regi, qui habuit tres filios. Unus eorum vocabatur Absalon, qui querebat vitam patris. Secundus eorum querebat regnum patris sui, scilicet Adonias. Tercius optinuit regnum, scilicet Salomon.
Primus notat Iudeos. Hii sunt, qui vitam meam et mortem meam querebant et despiciebant consilium meum. Propterea nunc cognita retribucione eorum possum dicere, sicut dixit Dauid de filio suo mortuo:
'Fili mi Absalon!' , idest: O filii Iudei, ubi est nunc desiderium vestrum et expectacio? O filii mei, ubi est nunc finis vester?
Compaciebar vobis ex eo, cum me desiderastis venturum, quem tot signis audistis venisse, cum desiderastis fugitiua, que omnia iam fugerunt.
Sed nunc magis compacior, sicut Dauid reiterans verbum primum, quia video finem vestrum in miseria mortis. Ideo adhuc ex maxima caritate dico, sicut Dauid dixit: 'Fili mi, quis det michi, ut moriar pro te?'
Dauid enim sciuit se bene non posse morte sua filium reuocare mortuum, sed ut ostenderet affectum caritatis paterne et voluntatis bone promtissimum, si possibile fuisset, libenter, licet sciret impossibile esse, mortem suscepisset pro filio.
Sic ego nunc dico: O filii Iudei, qui licet habuistis malam voluntatem ad me et, in quantum potuistis, fecistis contra me, si possibile esset et Patri sic placeret, libenter adhuc semel morerer pro vobis, quia compacior miserie vestre, quam vobis exigente iusticia vos ipsi fecistis.
Dixi enim vobis facienda verbo et ostendi exemplo. Precessi vos quasi gallina alis caritatis fouendo, sed omnia spreuistis.
Ideo omnia, que desiderastis, fugerunt. Finis vester est in miseria et labor omnis euacuatus.
In secundo filio Dauid notantur mali Christiani. Qui contra patrem suum in senectute deliquit. Cogitauit enim secum sic: 'Pater meus senex est et deficit viribus.
Si locutus ei aliqua sinistra fuero, non respondet. Si fecero aliqua contraria, non vindicabit. Si attemptauero contra eum aliqua, pacienter suffert. Propterea faciam, que volo.'
Hic cum quibusdam seruis Dauid patris sui ascendebat in lucum, ubi pauce erant arbores, ut regnaret. Sed, apparente sapiencia et voluntate patris, immutatum est consilium eius et ipsi, qui cum ipso erant, dehonestati sunt.
Sic faciunt nunc michi Christiani. Ipsi cogitant apud se sic: 'Signa Dei et iudicia non aperta sunt nunc ut prius. Nos possumus loqui, que volumus, quia misericors est et non attendit. Faciamus, que nobis placent, quia faciliter indulget.'
Ipsi diffidunt de potencia mea, quasi nunc infirmior sim ad faciendum, que volo, quam prius. Ipsi caritatem meam minorem arbitrantur, quasi noluerim iam eis ut patribus eorum misereri. Ipsi et iudicium meum reputant ludibrium et iusticiam meam vanitatem.
Propterea et ascendunt in lucum cum quibusdam seruis Dauid, ut regnent fiducialiter.
Quis est iste lucus, ubi pauce arbores stare solent, nisi sancta Ecclesia, que ex septem sacramentis quasi ex paucis arboribus subsistit?
In hanc Ecclesiam intrant, sed cum aliquibus seruis Dauid, idest cum paucis operibus bonis, ut fiducialiter optineant regnum Dei. Quia ipsi faciunt modica opera bona, ex quibus confidunt, quod, in quocumque peccato fuerint et qualecumque peccatum fecerint, nichilominus regnum celeste quasi hereditario iure habere possint.
Sed sicut filius Dauid, qui contra voluntatem Dauid regnum optinere voluit, repulsus est cum dedecore, quia ambiuit iniuste et iniustus erat, et dabatur sapienciori et meliori, sic ipsi a regno meo expellentur et dabitur eis, qui voluntatem Dauid faciunt, quia nullus, nisi qui caritatem habuerit, regnum meum optinere poterit.
Nec nisi mundus et secundum cor meum se dirigens michi mundissimo poterit appropinquare.
Tercius filius Dauid erat Salomon. Hic significat paganos. Cum audiuit Bersabee, quod alter quam Salomon, cui Dauid promisit post se regnaturum, a quibusdam electus esset, intrauit ad Dauid et ait:
'Domine mi, tu iurasti michi, quod Salomon post te regnaret. Nunc autem alter electus est. Si sic contingit et si sic habebit processum, tunc ego quasi adultera iudicor ad ignem et filius meus erit illegit/t/imus.'
Quibus auditis Dauid erexit se et dixit: 'Iuro per Deum, quod Salomon in sede mea sedebit et post me regnabit.'
Et precepit seruis suis, ut Salomonem exaltarent in sede regni sui et predicarent regem, quem Dauid elegisset. Qui preceptum domini sui complentes cum potestate magna exaltauerunt Salomonem, et omnes alii, qui fratri suo consenserunt, fugati sunt et in seruitutem redacti.
Que est ista Bersabee, que se pro adultera, si alius rex eligitur, reputabit, nisi fides paganorum? Nullum enim peius adulterium est quam fornicari a Deo et a fide recta et alium Deum credere quam creatorem omnium.
Sed tamquam Bersabee quidam gentilium cum humili corde et contrito veniunt ad Deum dicentes: 'Domine, nos in futurum esse Christianos promisisti; perfice ergo promissum tuum!
Si alius rex, idest alia fides, amplius quam tua super nos surrexerit, si tu separaueris te a nobis, incendemur miseri et quasi adultera, que pro legit/t/imo suscepit adulterum, moriemur.
Et tu licet in eternum viuas, tu tamen morieris a nobis et nos a te, cum tu per graciam tuam elongas te a cordibus nostris et nos per diffidenciam nostram opponimus nos tibi.
Propterea comple promissum tuum et conforta infirmitatem nostram et illumina tenebras nostras! Nam si distuleris, idest si te a nobis elongaueris, periemus.'
Quibus auditis ego quasi alter Dauid volo nunc erigere me per graciam meam et misericordiam. Iuro igitur per deitatem meam, que est cum humanitate mea, et per humanitatem, que est in Spiritu meo, et per Spiritum meum, qui est in deitate et humanitate mea, et hii tres non tres dii sed unus Deus, quod complebo promissionem meam.
Mittam enim amicos meos, qui Salomonem filium meum, idest paganos, introducant in lucum, idest in Ecclesiam, que ex septem sacramentis quasi ex septem arboribus subsistit, scilicet baptismo, penitencia, confirmacione crismatis, sacramento altaris et sacerdocio, coniugio et unccione, et requiescent in sede mea, idest fide recta sancte Ecclesie.
Christiani autem mali fient eorum serui. Illi gaudebunt de hereditate perpetua et dulcedine, quam eis preparabo. Isti autem in miseria ingemiscent, que incipiet eis in presenti et in perpetuum durabit.
Ergo amici mei, quia iam tempus est vigilandi, non dormitent, non attedientur, nam merces gloriosa sequitur laborem eorum."
Scripture echoes
- ↩Matt.23.37 — Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those who are sent to you — how often I desired to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.
Notes
- 1 ↩The Latin 'diffidenciam' here carries the sense of a lack of trust or faith, creating a barrier between the soul and God.
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