VL DEUT.

4:24
Author(s): Howard Jacobson
Source: Revue Biblique (1946-), Vol. 114, No. 1 (JANVIER 2007), pp. 30-31
Published by: Peeters Publishers
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/44090867
Accessed: 20-04-2020 22:25 UTC

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Revue Biblique (1946-)

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R.B. 2007 - T. 114-1 (pp. 30-31)

VL DEUT. 4:24

by
Howard JACOBSON

University of Illinois
707 S. Mathews
Urbana, IL 61801

Several times in Scripture God is described or identified as hVdIK

(rcûp KCtTavaAAoKov), a "consuming fire" (Deut. 4:24, 9:3, Hebr. 12:29
[a quote of the Deuteronomy expression]).1 Much more often God is
simply associated with or compared to fire.2 1 am here concerned with
the explicit declaration that God is a consuming fire, as in the three
texts cited above.
The TLL s.v. edax col. 62 reports that a Vetus Latina text of Deut.
4:24 and 9:3 translated our phrase ignis edax. The Beuron edition of
the VL at Hebr. 12:29 (p. 1623) thinks this may be true, but appends a
question-mark to edax.
My sole purpose here is to observe that there is no reason to believe
that there was ever a Vetus Latina translation of the phrase "consuming
fire" of God as ignis edax. What then is the rationale for TLL's certainty
and Beuron's inclination? It is the following: They have correctly taken
note of the fact that Augustine (at Conf. 5.4 and especially c. Adi-
mantum 13) both alludes to and quotes the Deuteronomic texts with
ignis edax of God; and Evodius too cites the phrase from Scripture of
God (de fide 37). But these are secondary pieces of evidence. The fact
is that the direct VL transmission of our verses has either ignis consu -

1 Some have taken the expression at Isa. 33:14 as another such explicit identification, but
this is far from apparent. The parallelism of the latter half of the verse makes it unlikely that
this is an identification like those of the Deuteronomic verses.
2 E.g. Exod. 24:17, Nu. 16:35, Deut. 32:22, Isa. 30:27, 30; 33:14, Ezek. 36:5, Ps. 79:5.

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 VL DEUT. 4:24 31

mens or ignis concremans .3 Eq

Augustine (and Evodius) came to
Biblical verses. Not surprisingly
mind the latter's memorable phr
burning of Troy (Aen. 2.758). It
was unconscious, but this is
(borrowed by Ovid several times
liar to and used by others in the
Gentes 6.23 and ps-Ambr. Hymn
Dracont. de Laud. Dei 1.657, 3.
influence at Cassian. Coll. 15 an
As for Evodius' notice of the
confident in asserting that he
friend. The de Fide in general is
particular context, Evodius is c
the language of the Old Testamen
context as in the phrase's occurr
Thus, it seems fair to say that
God to Augustinus Vergilianus a
Vetus Latina translation of the r

ł Note also flamma devorans at VL Isa.

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