Commentaries, Commentary on Judges · Chapter 6 · Verse 22
22 And when Gideon ſaw, that it was the Angell of the Lorde, he ſayd: Alas my Lord God, ſhall I bycauſe I hauehave ſene an Angell of the Lorde face to face?
This is ſpoken by the figure Ecliptica: for when Gideon ſayth:The fathers by ſeyng of god & of angels wer made alrayde. Alas my Lorde God, ſhal I bycauſe I hauehave ſene an Angel of the Lord: there ſhould be added, dye. Thou ſhalt euermore perceaue that the old fathers, after that they had ſene god or beholdē his Angels, wer very ſore afraid, yea & ſo aſtoniſhed, that they feared preſent death to come vponupon them. And no maruail, for they wer not ignoraunt, what God anſwered Moſes, when he deſired to ſee his face: Man ſhal not ſee me and liue. Iohn Baptiſt alſo (as we reade in the firſt of Iohn) ſayth: No man hath ſene God at any time. And Paul to Timothy hath confirmed the ſame writing. No man hath ſen God, neither can he ſe him: for he is inuiſible, bicauſe he dwelleth in the light that no man can come vntounto. And that alſo which nowe Gideon ſpeaketh, Mannah the father of Samſon (as we ſhal afterward heare) ſhal ſpeak. Iacob likewiſe, after he had wraſtled al night, thinking that he had ſtriuen with a man, when he vnderſtood that he was an Angel, maruailed howe he eſcaped a lyue and ſafe. HaueHave I ſene the Lord (ſayth he) face to face, and is my lyfe ſaued? As though that yt was in a maner impoſſible. Yea, and the Hebrues, when the Lord diſcended to mount Sina to geue the lawe, were ſo ſtriken with feare and dread, that they ſayd vntounto Moſes: HaueHave thou (we praye thee) to doo wyth God, leaſt, if he go forward ſo to ſpeake before vsus, we dye. To this ſerueth that alſo whych is written in the ſame booke of Exodus, when the couenaunt was then made betwene God and the people, and Moſes recited the cōdicions, and ſprinkled the people with ye blood of the ſacrifices which wer offred, he brought forth the Elders vntounto the mountain, wher they ſaw God ſitting in his throne wyth chiefe glory and maieſty. But after the recital of that viſion, it is ſayd: Neyther did God extende hys hande vntounto them: which declareth that it was a newe and vnaccuſtomed ſight, that men ſhould ſe god, & hauehave their life ſtil whole & ſound. Wherfore that altogether is mencioned as a thing geuen by a ſingular prerogatiue.Ierome. Ierome alſo teſtifieth, that Eſay was vnderunder this pretence killed of the Iewes, bicauſe he ſaid that he had ſene God ſitting vponupon his throne, as it appeareth in the .vi. chap. of his booke. They caueled that he lyed, foraſmuch as God cā not be ſene of men, which yet remain ſtil a liue. Wherfore they condemned him for a lier, as though in prophecieng he had taught ye people not the things which the Lord had ſhewed him, but his own inuencions. This they fained againſt the innocent prophet, when as byſides it they had no other cauſe againſt him.
And there are the like examples in the new teſtament: when our Lord manifeſted in mount Thabor to his Apoſtles a certain ſhew of his maieſty & glory, he was altogether changed before them, & he ſhined with an incredible brightnes & light, with whō wer Moſes & Elias ſtraightway preſent, & the voice of the father ſounded from heauen. Theſe thinges bicauſe they many waies ouerpaſſed the faculty of mans ſight, the eyes of the Apoſtles were not able to beare them: wherfore they fel downe to the earth, & wer as it wer dead. Peter alſo, whē in fiſhing at the cōmaundement of Chriſt he caught an incredible number of fiſhes: for before his woord he had long labored in vaine, marueiling at the ſtraunge ſight, and vnderſtanding that God was in Chriſt, he was ſo afeard of himſelf, that he ſaid vntounto him: Lord, I pray thee depart from me, bicauſe I am a ſinfull man, and cannot without daunger ſuffer the preſence of God. Paul alſo declaring his rauiſhing vntounto the third heauen, where he vnderſtoode thinges deuine, whyche in word he might not expres vntounto mē, writeth: whither it wer in the body, or without the body, I cannot tel. Verely he durſt not affirme that thoſe thinges happened vntounto him, whileſt he had the vſe of the body, & ſenſes of this life. Wherefore it manifeſtly appeareth, that Gideon was not without a cauſe aſtoniſhed.
But why the beholding of God or of the Angels ſeemeth to bring preſent deſtruction vntounto men,Platos ſect. we muſt now ſhew the reaſon. Peraduenture that hapneth by reaſon of the groſnes of the body, which (as the ſect of Platos affirme) is to vsus as it wer an obſcure & darke priſon. Wherfore foraſmuch as by it we are letted, ſo that we cānot ſee things deuine, if peraduēture at any time we behold them, by & by we remember that the ioyning together of the body & mind is nowe diſſolued, & that we ſhal ſtraightway dye, & that therfore deuine things are ſet before vsus to behold, bicauſe now is at hand the ſeperation of the ſoule frō the body. For Ariſtotle in his Metaphiſicis teſtifieth,Ariſtotle. yt the powers of our vnderſtanding are in ſuch ſort vnable to vnderſtand things deuine, which of their own nature ar moſt euident, yt iuſtly they may bee compared vntounto the eyes of the Owles or Battes, whych cannot looke vponupon the brightnes of the Sunne, and lyght of the day. They which thus thinke, doo in deede ſay ſomewhat, but not ſo much as is ſufficient, to expounde the thing manyfeſtly.
The bodye remoueth vsus not from the beholding of God.The body from the firſt creation was not therfore geuen vntounto men, yt it ſhould be a let vntounto them to know God, neither that it ſhould reſtraine our ſoules as in a certain blinde & darke priſon: for ſo the goodnes of God, which created the bodily nature of man, ſhould be accuſed. And that the thing is thus, the hiſtorye of Geneſis proueth, which teſtifieth that God was very familiar with our firſt Parentes, though they had bodies: for he led them into Paradiſe which he had planted, he ſhewed them the trees wherof they might eate, and for certaine trees hee gaue them a law that they ſhoulde not toutche them, he ſet all creatures before Adam, to cal them by what name he liſted. Wherefore the bodye was not a let, wherby the firſt man could not be familiar with God.Synne ſeperateth vsus frō god Sinne vndoutedly remoueth vsus from the ſight of god. Therof cōmeth our dimnes, darknes, blindnes & ignorance as touching things deuine. For this cauſe we ar turned into Moles, Bats & Owles. But God of his owne nature may be ſene, yea he is the lyght it ſelfe, but that the blot of ſynne is put betwene. Peraduenture thou wylt ſaye, that is now ſufficiently declared,Bycauſe of ſinne men flye from the ſight of God. that ſinne is the originall cauſe of our blyndneſſe but we hauehave not yet ſhewed, why mē are ſo afeard at ye ſight of god. Yea by cauſe of ſinne happeneth all this alſo vntounto vsus: for men, beſides yt by reaſō of their darkneſſe they are oppreſſed with ye diuine light, beyng of ſinne accuſed by their conſcience, do flye from the iudge who is no leſſe mighty then iuſt. For they vnderſtand that God himſelfe is ſuch a one, that by reaſon of his pureneſſe and iuſtice he will ſuffer no vncleane or filthy thing before hym. Wherfore to hauehave God preſent they thinke nothing els, then that their puniſhement prepared for them and the paynes whiche they hauehave deſerued are at hande. For this cauſe our firſt parentes when they had ſinned ſtraight way hid thēſelues, and at the voyce of God were ſo afeard, that they determined to hide themſelues among the trees of Paradiſe: whiche vndoubtedly came of a troubled conſcience for as much as God of his owne nature is both quickning and alſo the author of all conſolatiō. Wherfore it is manifeſt that theſe terrors and diſcommodities, came not by hys defaulte, but thoroughe our owne wickedneſſe.