Chapter XXXIX
THE TWELVE PATRIARCHS
rest, that it was good, and the land, that it was best; and he set his shoulder to bearing and became one serving for tribute" (Gen.
49:14-15). Hence it is necessary for us to cross over from land to land, from an alien land to our own land, from exile to the fatherland, from people to people, and from a kingdom to another people, from the land of the dying to the land of the living, if we wish by experience to know true and inner joy. Let us crave that land which Issachar himself saw and craved. For if he had not seen he would not have known; and if he had not known he would not have craved.
Chapter XXXIX How inner sweetness is accustomed both to strengthen the soul for brave things and to incline it toward humble things After having been made an ass for this land and having been made strong, he gladly set his shoulder to bearing and became one serving for tribute. Suddenly he became very vile to himself, as he considered himself an ass, viz., an animal almost more vile in comparison to all others. He very much craved the land that he saw, for which he strongly endured in all sorts of labor. Certainly he saw that compared to the beauty of that land,
"all our justices" were "like the cloth of a menstruating woman" (Isa. 64:6). Nonetheless, he saw "that the sufferings of this time are not worthy to compare with the future glory, which will be revealed in us" (Rom.
8:18).
Therefore, in the one made vile to himself, in the other made strong; concerning one humbled, concerning the other strengthened, he gladly bent the shoulder of his strength to all sorts of labor, and in acquiring divine glory, not his own, he truly paid worthy tribute to the King. Do you wish to hear that another was vile to himself for a similar reason and nonetheless grew strong for all sorts of labor: "So that I have been made a beast of burden in your presence" (Ps. 72:22)? And elsewhere: "For your sake we are killed all the day" (Ps. 43:22). Behold how vile; behold how strong: vile like a beast of burden; strong for mortifying himself. Issachar, a strong ass, living between boundaries, saw rest, that it was good.
RICHARD OF ST. VICTOR
and the land, that it was best. Therefore, he who Hved between the boundaries almost but not completely abandoned this land of the dying. Almost but not completely he grasped that land of the living. Because he had been content with the vilest, the smallest goods of this life, he possessed the outermost edges of this wretched land.
Because through frequent ecstasy of mind he tasted beforehand the goods of everlasting life, he touched the beginning of that blessed land. Issachar, a strong ass, living between the boundaries. Because he did not cast off the goods of this life that are necessary, he did not abandon completely this land. Because he was able to grasp only a kind of extremity of future life, he did not grasp that land at all. And for that reason he lived between the boundaries. This land he tolerated for necessity. That land he craved for enjoyment. And for that reason he lived between the boundaries. He did much to abandon totally this land, but he could not. He sought to enter totally into that land, but he was not able. Therefore he did what he could: He lived between the boundaries. Daily he pressed forward to that land. Daily he slid back to this land. And in this way he remained between the boundaries. Issachar a strong ass, living between the boundaries; he saw rest that it was good, and the land that it was best. Therefore why marvel that he who lived at the boundary of it, saw it? I say, why marvel that he saw, that he knew what he saw, that he craved what he knew? And for this reason he set his shoulder to bearing and became one serving for tribute.
It says, he saw rest that it was good. Therefore rest is there, and rest is good. For if it were not there he certainly would not have seen it there. And if it were not good he certainly would not have set his shoulder to bearing on account of it:
"The gentle," said the Prophet, "shall inherit the land, and they shall be delighted by the abundance of peace" (Ps.
36:11). Behold what kind of a land it is.
Peace is there, rest is there.
Full peace, good rest; quiet peace, peaceful quiet. He saw rest that it was good, and the land that it was best. There is no labor in that land, but he cannot reach that land without labor. He labors on account of it, but he does not labor in it. Outside of this land true rest is not found. No labor at all is found in this land. There are two: land and rest. Two against two. Two goods against two evils. There are two great evils: misery and craving, that is punishment and guilt. There are two great
THE TWELVE PATRIARCHS
goods: tranquillity and stability.
Against misery, tranquillity of mind; against craving, stability of heart. To feel no vexation is to rest well. To be disturbed by no tempests of craving is without doubt already to remain in the land. In such a land there is such rest. The mind that is not yet totally gathered to inner joy in no way experiences what true rest is. O, I pity myself, I who until today live a wanderer and a fugitive upon the earth: a wanderer when following craving; a fugitive when avoiding misery. That which I crave is always lacking.
That which I flee, I find everywhere. Craving makes me a wanderer. Misery makes me a fugitive. Certainly it is an evil land, a land of misery, such a land in which I live in such a manner: a land of misery and of darkness, where the shadow of death is, where there is no order at all.
Without doubt such a land is not stability of heart but hardness and insensibility of mind. But, "Your good spirit, Lord, shall lead me into the right land" (Ps.
142:10). And finally Issachar saw such and craved it because rest was good, and the land itself, best. O happy one, who was able, even for an hour, to forget all evils and to possess that interior peace and rest, at least to a slight degree! No less happy is he to whom it has been given to gather the dispersions of the heart into a unity and to fix desire on that fountain of true happiness. Certainly the former is good, but yet the latter is best.
According to that, Issachar saw rest, that it was good, and the land, that it was best. Because it is indeed good to be a long way off from all evils, it is so much better— no, even best— to have adhered to the highest good.
Issachar knew this, and for that reason he was unwilling to go far away from such a land, but while living between the boundaries remained in the vicinity of it, while desiring and seeking to touch it at least hurriedly and furtively by means of rare excursions and also to eat frequently of the fruits of that land. For, as you are able to know, the fruit of that land is sublime— a marvelous fruit, a singular fruit.
If indeed the mind of man is more often satiated by the fruits of that land and to a certain degree is made fat, suddenly it receives a marvelous fortitude against all perils.
It grows strong in the hatred of all vices to such an extent that now it is not enough for him not to consent to receive any vices in himself unless he is also zealous to pursue them manfully in others and to strike them with strong chastisement.
RICHARD OF ST. VICTOR
Chapter XL How and in what order hatred of the vices is born in us Therefore he soon becomes as strong against all peril as he is a spirited enemy of all vices. This is the reason that Zabulon, who is interpreted "dwelling place of fortitude," is born after Issachar. For what do we understand by Zabulon, except hatred of vices? This hatred of vices is a good hatred, an ordered hatred. Without doubt the Prophet desired to order this affection in us when he said: "Be angry and do not sin" (Ps. 4:5). For what is it not to sin when angry, and to be angry without sinning, except when loving men beneficially and not for display, to be indignant with their vices? The Prophet also signified that he himself had this son, when he said elsewhere:
"I have hated them with a perfect hate"
(Ps.
138:22).
And elsewhere: "I have hated every unjust way" (Ps. 118:128). This is that extraordinary soldier of God who does not cease to fight the wars of the Lord, and whom sacred Scripture calls in its usual vocabulary "zeal of the Lord" or "zeal of uprightness." "The zeal of your house," Lord, "has devoured me, and the reproaches of those reproaching you have fallen upon me" (Ps. 68:10). And again, "My zeal makes me waste away, because my enemies have forgotten your words" (Ps.
118:139). And Elijah: "With zeal I am zealous on account of the Lord" (3 Kings 19:10). Phinehas was zealous for the zeal of the Lord, and he received an eternal priesthood. (Cf. Num.
25:1 Iff.) But from where do you think you have advanced by means of so much fortitude, by means of so much wonderful constancy?
Elijah rose up alone against one hundred and fifty prophets of Baal.
When he invaded the camp of the Midianites, Phinehas alone pierced through the adulterers with a sword. Behold how much strength they receive; behold how strong they become, who eat of the fruits of that land mentioned above, who refresh themselves with inner pleasantness.
Therefore after Issachar, who is interpreted "reward," Zabulon, that is "dwelling place of fortitude," rightly is born since after tasting the sweetness of eternal reward the soul is marvelously strengthened against the arguments of temptations, and suddenly esteeming lightly its own perils it forcefully avenges injuries to the Lord.
It is for this reason that Moses,