Lecture 7

^4:7^ Zain. Her Nazarites were whiter than snow, purer than milk, more ruddy than the old ivory, fairer than the sapphire.

73. Here he describes the hunger of those consecrated to God, namely, the Nazarites, whose consecration is described in Numbers 6.

And first, their beauty;

second, their ugliness following from their hunger: their face is now made blacker than coals (Lam 4:8);

third, he presents a comparison of punishments, at it was better with them that were slain by the sword, than with them that died with hunger (Lam 4:9).

But a seemly appearance that makes the face cheerful is required for the physical beauty of a human being, and regarding this, he says: fairer than the sapphire, which indeed, being the color of the sky, delights the mind. There is also required the right two colors: namely, ​​red, and regarding this, he says, more ruddy than the old ivory, and white, and regarding this, he says, whiter than snow. And because, as the Philosopher says, the color white is especially receptive to others, it is necessary that whiteness be without stain, and regarding this, he says, purer than milk. (Perhaps the passage Thomas Aquinas has in mind is from Aristotle’s Physics 1.5, 188b25, which states that all intermediates are derived from the contraries of which they are intermediates. Since white and black are contraries, and the contraries are in potency to the intermediate colors, it follows that they are relatively more receptive. Cf. Aristotle, On Sense and What is Sensed 1.3, 439a6.)

And these expressions are hyperbolic and yet not false, because they are figures, which say one thing and signify another. And literally: they were beautiful because of the purity and abstinence of their lives, as we read of Daniel and his companions (Dan 1:15). The blessing of him that appeared in the bush, come upon the head of Joseph, and upon the crown of the Nazarite among his brethren (Deut 33:16).