On Fleeing the World

Contents

Reading pages: 1–24 · 25–51 · 52–58

1. 1Fleeing the world is easy to speak of but hard to do, since our thoughts are not in our power; so the psalmist prays for it.
2. 2Only with God’s help can one keep ascending without looking back, as Paul did, unlike Lot’s wife.
3. 3The senses are windows through which death enters; one who would ascend should prefer mourning to pleasure.
4. 4David, knowing the danger of the eyes, prays to be turned from vanities; to be saved one must flee the world toward Christ.
5. 5The law’s cities of refuge for the involuntary slayer raise four questions to be answered spiritually.
6. 6The Levites, who leave everything for God, are fugitives from the world; through Christ all believers share this calling.
7. 7The priest’s true flight is renouncing family and world to serve God alone, as Christ and Elijah did.
8. 8The Levites carry out God’s judgment, as Paul did; the mind of the flesh must die by their sword.
9. 9The six cities of refuge are the knowledge of the Word, the contemplation of God’s creative and royal power, his mercy, and the law’s commands and prohibitions.
10. 10The first three cities: flight to the Word in the Father’s bosom, contemplation of God through creation, and fear of his royal power.
11. 11The three cities beyond the Jordan are the image of God, love of God, and fear of God, virtues of the few.
12. 12The three cities this side of the Jordan serve those who have fallen: seeking God’s mercy, obeying his commands, and avoiding what he forbids.
13. 13The high priest whose death frees the slayer is the Word of God, who never dies but “dies” to us when separated from our soul.
14. 14Paul’s Letter to the Romans sets out the same six refuges: image, creation, royal judgment, goodness, and law.
15. 15Natural and written law show what is good and evil but cannot convert the mind; the final refuge is the death of the High Priest.
16. 16The high priest is Christ, the eternal priest and Word who enlightens and fills all and speaks from above the mercy seat.
17. 17To flee the world is to abstain from sin and imitate God; we must flee lust, avarice, and faithlessness.
18. 18The six cities of the law become the ten cities of Christ’s reward.
19. 19Glorious flight from sin is shown by Jacob, Moses, David, the Hebrews at the sea, and Jonah, a type of Christ.
20. 20Jacob’s flight to the house of Bethuel (“daughter of God,” wisdom) and his brief stay in Haran (“caves” of the senses) teach flight from bodily pleasure.
21. 21Jacob’s brief stay with Laban means a short acquaintance with the senses, after which patience calls the soul back to wisdom.
22. 22Jacob, wedded to wisdom, gained a flock of virtues, so that Laban, searching his house, found nothing empty or idolatrous.
23. 23Like Laban and the men of Sodom, the prince of this world finds nothing in Christ because he is blind to what is Christ’s.
24. 24On another reading, the devil finds in Christ no malice, no death, no sin, since Christ has all that the Father has.
25. 25Flee the empty world: pass by like David and Moses, loosing earthly bonds, turning from evil to seek heavenly peace.
26. 26Laban, whose name means “white,” stands for the bright things of this life, which Jacob tasted briefly and then left.
27. 27Rachel, the church, hides the idols; life is a shadow full of snares, and the soul longs for the dove’s wings to flee.
28. 28David’s wings fail in one psalm and succeed in another because the just fight many contests; in the cave of the flesh he prevailed by prayer.
29. 29David, unable to win by himself, spread his hands in prayer and asked Christ to lift him with his hand.
30. 30To be lifted by Christ, one must fly from the world; David and Christ both fled into the wilderness, and we follow Christ’s body like eagles.
31. 31Those who cannot soar should at least flee to the mountains, like Lot, and to the heavenly Zion, where Christ’s blood speaks pardon.
32. 32Flight must be swift and fruitful, not burdened by sin or idle, as Christ said: pray that your flight be not in winter or on the sabbath.
33. 33God asks not sacrifices but fear, justice, mercy, and walking with him; the Gospel calls us to flee the coming wrath.
34. 34Repentance, grace, and the desert are good flights; Elijah fled not Jezebel but the world, to Horeb and the brook Cherith.
35. 35Solomon’s harlot is the corrupt world; we should put our hearts in God’s hand and seek his unchanging good.
36. 36God himself is the supreme good, above all mind, from whom every good comes; we must cleave to him and become like him.
37. 37We flee the world to pass from evil to good, from death to eternal life, strengthening the knees of the soul.
38. 38To flee is to die to the world and hide one’s life in God; the rich fool has nothing because he was not rich toward God.
39. 39Malice, signified by Cain’s mark, survives on earth; God postponed the devil’s punishment so that those he deceived might defeat him.
40. 40The deceived are to become wise as serpents; Satan fell like lightning, losing his light, while we regain ours.
41. 41Christ’s grace freed humanity but left the serpent under its curse, crawling on its belly and eating earth.
42. 42The serpent crawling on its belly signifies every malicious person; the mind’s “womb” should rather bear the seed of the Word.
43. 43God restrained but did not abolish malice, setting enmity between serpent and woman; the gospel shoe protects the heel.
44. 44Man’s curse lasts until death; Christ became a curse to fulfill and end it, so that we who died with him live his life.
45. 45We can flee in spirit to God, our refuge, and his sabbath rest; having fled, we must not return to the world.
46. 46Flight means using the world as though not using it; those who remain in Christ do not pass away.
47. 47Joseph going to Dothan (“sufficient failing”) and Sarah’s ceasing to have the ways of women show that the failing of vain opinions is progress.
48. 48Jacob’s quick finding of food for Isaac shows the difference between God-given talent and diligent searching.
49. 49Jacob supplied Isaac with the quick food of the word, while Esau was still hunting; Isaac praised the full field blessed by God.
50. 50Esau, lacking talent, was told to add diligence, which still bears fruit for one who acknowledges God’s gift.
51. 51Diligence must be joined to wisdom, as with Isaac and Abel; Wisdom’s mixing bowl, which Plato borrowed, offers the drink of faith.
52. 52Like the deer, the soul should thirst for God, the spring of life, pouring itself out.
53. 53Susanna poured out her soul, preferring to flee sin rather than danger, and entrusted herself to God.
54. 54Paul fled through a window to preach the gospel; we too should flee through the window of disciplined eyes.
55. 55Like Lot, we should flee the sins of the world into the heavenly city, where Christ’s death in baptism sets us free.
56. 56Good flight means avoiding sinners’ counsel, drunkenness, the strange woman, fools, and evil guides.
57. 57Christ the High Priest died for us, nailing our debts to the cross; renouncing the world, we bear his likeness and need not fear death.
58. 58Fly like clouds and doves, sail across the world, run swifter than eagles, and flee the coming wrath through repentance.