Augustine’s interpretation of the story of David and Bathsheba was embodied verbatim in a work upon the Old Testament by Isidore of Seville.[39] The voluminous commentator Rabanus Maurus took the same, also verbatim, either from Isidore or Augustine.[40] His pupil, Walafrid Strabo, in his famous Glossa ordinaria, cited, probably from Rabanus, the first part of the passage as far as the reference to the well of living water from John’s Gospel. He abridged the matter somewhat, thus showing the smoothing compiler’s art which was to bring his Glossa ordinaria into such general use. Walafrid omitted the lines declaring that Uriah signified the devil. He did cite, however, again probably from Rabanus, part of a long passage, taken by Rabanus from Gregory the Great, where Bathsheba is declared to be the letter of the Law, united to a carnal people, which David (Christ) joins to himself in a spiritual sense. Uriah is that carnal people, to wit, the Jews.[41]
Thus far as to the comments on the narrative from the eleventh chapter of the Second Book of Samuel, otherwise called the Second Book of Kings. When Rabanus came to explain the sixth verse of the first chapter of Matthew—“And David begat Solomon from her who was the wife of Uriah”—he said: “Uriah indeed, that is interpreted ‘My light of God,’ signifies the devil, who fashions himself into an angel of light, daring to say to God: ‘My light of God,’ and ‘I will be like unto the Most High’ (Isaiah xiv.).”[42] Here pupil Walafrid follows his master, but adds: “Whose bewedded Church Christ became enamoured of from the terrace of His paternal majesty and joined her, made beautiful, to himself in matrimony.”[43]
With Rabanus and Walafrid, as with Isidore and the Venerable Bede who were the links between these Carolingians and the Fathers, the interest in Scripture relates to its allegorical significance. Unmindful of the obvious and literal meaning of the text, they were unabashed by the incongruity of their allegorical interpretations.[44] Rabanus, for instance, had unbounded enthusiasm for Exodus, because of its rich symbolism:
“Among the Scriptures embraced in the Pentateuch of the Law, the Book of Exodus excels in merit; in it almost all the sacraments by which the present Church is founded, nourished, and ruled, are figuratively set forth. For there, through the corporeal exit of the children of Israel from the terrestrial Egypt, our exit from the spiritual Egypt is made clear. There again, through the crossing of the Red Sea and the submersion of Pharaoh and the Egyptians, the mystery of Baptism and the destruction of spiritual enemies are figured. There the immolation of the typifying lamb and the celebration of the Passover suggest the passion of the true Lamb and our redemption. There manna from heaven and drink from a rock are given in order to teach us to desire the heavenly bread and the drink of life. There precepts and judgments are delivered to the people of God upon a mountain in order that we may learn to be subject to supernal discipline. There the construction of the tabernacle and its vessels is ordered to take place with worship and sacrifices, that therein the adornment of the marvellous Church and the rites of spiritual sacrifices may be indicated. There the perfumes of incense and anointment are prepared, in order that the sanctification of the Holy Spirit and the mystery of sacred prayers may be commended to us.”[45]
The same commentator compiled a dictionary of allegories entitled Allegoriae in universam sacram scripturam,[46] saying in his lumbering Preface:
“Whoever desires to arrive at an understanding of Holy Scripture should consider when he should take the narrative historically, when allegorically, when anagogically, and when tropologically. For these four ways of understanding, to wit, history, allegory, tropology, anagogy, we call the four daughters of wisdom, who cannot fully be searched out without a prior knowledge of these. Through them Mother Wisdom feeds her adopted children, giving to tender beginners drink in the milk of history; to those advancing in faith, the food of allegory; to the strenuous and sweating doers of good works, satiety in the savoury refection of tropology; and finally, to those raised from the depths through contempt of the earthly and through heavenly desire progressing towards the summit, the sober intoxication of theoretical contemplation in the wine of anagogy.... History, through the ensample which it gives of perfect men, incites the reader to the imitation of holiness; allegory, in the revelation of faith, leads to a knowledge of truth; tropology, in the instruction of morals, to a love of virtue; anagogy, in the display of everlasting joys, to a desire of eternal felicity. In the house of our soul, history lays the foundation, allegory erects the walls, anagogy puts on the roof, while tropology provides ornament, within through the disposition, without through the effect of the good work.”[47]
This work, alphabetically arranged, gave the allegorical significations of words used in the Vulgate, with examples; for instance:
“Ager (field) is the world, as in the Gospel: ‘To the man who sowed good seed in his field,’ that is to Christ, who sows preaching through the world.
“Amicus (friend) is Christ, as in Canticles: ‘He is my friend, daughters of Jerusalem,’ for He loved His Church so much that He would die for her....
“Ancilla (handmaid) is the Church, as in the Psalms: ‘Make safe the son of thine handmaid,’ that is me, who am a member of the Church. Ancilla, corruptible flesh, as in Genesis: ‘Cast out the handmaid and her son,’ that is, despise the flesh and its carnal fruit. Ancilla, preachers of the Church, as in Job: ‘He will bind her with his handmaids,’[48] because the Lord through His preachers conquered the devil. Ancilla, the effeminate minds of the Jews, as in Job: ‘Thy handmaids hold me as a stranger,’ because the effeminate minds of the Jews knew me through faith.[49] Ancilla, the lowly, as in Genesis, ‘and meal for his handmaids,’ because Holy Church affords spiritual refection to the lowly.