NPNF2-08. Basil: Letters and Select Works - Holy Bible Institute

Exegetic.Homily on Psalm i. begins with a partial quotation from 2 Tim. iii. 16, “All Scripture isgiven by inspiration of God, and is profitable,” and goes on, “and was composed by theSpirit to the end that all of us men, as in a general hospital for souls, may choose each whatis best for his own cure.” For him, Scripture is supreme. 478 As is noticed on Hom. IX. 479of the Hexæmeron, Basil is on the whole for the simpler sense. But he was a student ofOrigen, and he well knows how to use allegory when he thinks fit. 480 An example may beobserved in Letter VIII., 481 where there is an elaborate allegorisation of the “times and theseasons” of Acts i. 7. An instance of the application of both systems is to be found in theHomily on Psalm xxviii. (i.e. in A.V. xxix.). The LXX. Title is Ψαλμὸς τᾥ Δαυὶδ ἐξοδίουσκηνῆς, Psalmus David in exitu e tabernaculo.” Primarily this is a charge delivered to thepriests and Levites on leaving their sacred offices. They are to remember all that it is theirduty to prepare for the holy service. As they go out of the Tabernacle the psalm tells themall that it behoves them to have in readiness for the morrow, young rams (Ps. xxix. 1, LXX.),glory and honour, glory for His name. “But to our minds, as they contemplate high andlofty things, and by the aid of an interpretation dignified and worthy of Holy Scripture makethe Law our own, the meaning is different. There is no question of ram in flock, nor tabernaclefashioned of lifeless material, nor departure from the temple. The tabernacle for usis this body of ours, as the Apostle has told us in the words, ‘For we that are in this tabernacledo groan.’ 482 The departure from the temple is our quitting this life. For this these wordsbid us be prepared, bringing such and such things to the Lord, if the deeds done here are tobe a means to help us on our journey to the life to come.”This is in the style of exegesis hitherto popular. To hearers familiar with exegesis of theschool of Origen, it is an innovation for Basil to adopt such an exclusively literal system ofxlv478 cf. Epp. cv., clx. § 2, cxcviii. § 3, and cclxiv. § 4.479 See p. 101.480 “Origène sacrifiait tout au sens mystique Eusèbe le faisait aller de pair avec le sens historique. Comme luiSt. Basile respecte scrupuleusement la lettre; mais comme lui aussi, il voit sous la lettre tous les mystères du NouveauTestament et surtout des enseignements moraux. Les différents caractères que présente son interprétation sont unmoyen presque infaillible de connaitre la date des ses grands travaux exégétiques. Aussi ne doit-on pas hésiter àassigner aux premiêres années de sa retraite la composition du commentaire d’Isaïe, dans lequel domine à peuprès exclusivement l’interpétation morale; à sa prêtrese celle des homilies sur les Psaumes, où il donne une égaleimportance au sens moral et au sens mystique, mais en leur sacrifiant sans cesse le sens littéral; à son épiscopat,enfin. l’Hexaméron, qui, sans négliger les sens figurés, s’attache surtout à donner une explication exacte de lalettre.” Fialon, Et. Hist. p. 291. The theory is suggestive, but I am not sure that the prevalence of the literal orof the allegorical is not due less to the period of the composition than to the objects the writer has in view.481 p. 118.482 2 Cor. v. 4.77