OUR HOLY FATHER CYRIL, ARCHBISHOP OF ALEXANDRIA, COMMENTARY ON THE PROPHET HOSEA, CONTAINING SEVEN TOMES
PROEMIUM
ASomeone might perhaps think it idle, and joined with temerity, and of little benefit, to all but dig up things already discussed and explained by many before, and to add new labors to the toils of predecessors, even though those earlier works might be wholly and plainly sufficient to clarify the writings of the holy prophets. But I, for my part, would hold that matters do not stand so; far from it. For I will recall Paul exclaiming to those whom he was instructing in divine matters: "To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not irksome, but for you it is safe." Consider, moreover, how true his saying is. For if something is set forth that is preeminent and necessary to know, and then many discourses are made upon it by many people, no harm at all will come of it; indeed, the greatest profit will accrue to the hearers. For if those who are accustomed to interpret produce discourses that harmonize with one another, a more certain and safer knowledge is introduced for those who love to learn. And if something new appears to have been brought forward by each one, which perhaps not everyone has yet B fully discerned, rightly and with precision,
A what is the harm if it should come to mind not to me, but to another? But rather, why is it not better that the presentation of ideas should become richer and more distinct? Therefore, even if many have written before us, interpreting what is in the holy prophets, we shall not for this reason keep silent. Rather, we shall cast aside sloth as something ineffective, and whatever grace the One who illuminates deep and hidden things may bestow upon us ourselves, this we shall also make manifest to others, mindful of what Christ says: "Freely you received, freely give."
Beginning, therefore, to interpret the blessed prophet Hosea clearly, I shall first set forth that which pertains to the writings of the other prophets as well. For it is the habit of all, in whatever discourses each person produces, to transform their words easily to that which is pleasing to the holy Spirit; so that sometimes, from history—that is, from sensible things and from events that are, as it were, placed before the eyes and which have already taken place—they may easily B return to inner spiritual meanings; while at other times, they may reach out again, and in a way that is not at all obvious, to things that fall under the senses. There is also, on their part, a very frequent introduction of persons, and lamentations, and exclamations, and memories of things past, and predictions of things to come. Therefore, one must carefully and diligently distinguish individual points, and it is necessary to observe the order of the thoughts and the distinction of the persons; for thus, the discourse will be altogether clear to us, and unconfused, and freed from every difficulty.
I believe, however, that some things must be explained beforehand, which happened to those descended from the blood of Israel, so that the mind of those who read may not be troubled when they now hear of Ephraim, and Israel, and indeed also of Samaria; and now of Judah, and Benjamin—names which the holy prophets use most frequently. So that they may know each thing clearly, therefore, let them pay heed. Solomon, once administering the ancestral kingdom in Jerusalem, built for God that celebrated and admirable temple. Yet, although he was most excellent in the splendor of his wealth and the abundance of his riches, in his old age, while he did not wish to offend his wives, he offended God, in the manner which the holy Scripture will record for us, whose words are C as follows: "And the king loved many foreign women, and the daughter of Pharaoh, and the Moabitesses, and the Ammonitesses, and the Sidonians, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, from the nations of whom the Lord said to the sons of Israel: You shall not enter into them, and they shall not enter into you, lest they turn away your hearts after their idols. To these Solomon was joined in love. And he had seven hundred ruling wives and three hundred concubines. And it came to pass in the time of Solomon’s old age, that the foreign women turned away his heart after other gods. And his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father. And Solomon walked D after Astarte, the abomination of the Sidonians, and after Baal, the idol of the sons of Ammon. And Solomon did evil before the Lord, and did not walk after the Lord, as did David his father. Then Solomon built...
A a high place to Chamos, the idol of Moab, and to Baal, the idol of the sons of Ammon, and to Astarte, the abomination of the Sidonians. And he did likewise for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their idols. And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because he turned his heart away from the Lord God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, and had commanded him concerning this matter, not to go after other gods at all, and to keep and do what the Lord God had commanded him.
All the daring deeds of Solomon in his old age were beyond any impiety. For what could be more grievous than such strange transgressions? Or how is it not beyond all reason to disregard the honor and love due to the one who is God by nature and in truth, and to attribute the dignity that belongs to Him alone to herds of demons, or rather, to bestow it upon stones and wood? But since he was caught having intended and done things that it is not even lawful to mention, and was found guilty of such shameful transgressions, the God of all finally said to him: "Because these things have been done with you, and you have not kept my commandments and my statutes which I commanded you, I will surely tear the B kingdom out of your hand and give it to your servant. Nevertheless, in your days I will not do it, for the sake of David your father. I will take it out of the hand of your son. Yet I will not take away the whole kingdom; I will give one tribe to your son, for the sake of David my servant, and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city which I chose." For because, as I have said, Solomon, overcome by his desire for women—although he was exceedingly wise—did, as it were, and as much as one can say regarding the power of his actions, tear apart the kingdom of God by bestowing upon idols the honor and glory most fitting to Him and to Him alone, for this reason, and very justly, God threatened to tear apart his kingdom, paying back like for like, according to what is written in the prophet Ezekiel: "As you have done, so shall it be for you; your retribution shall return upon your own head."
When Solomon died, his C son Roboam was called to the kingdom. Then, indeed, Israel was divided, and the ten tribes departed from Jerusalem, along with the half-tribe, the Ephraimite, that is to say. For the sons born of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh, were counted as one tribe by the authority and will of Jacob, the first father. For it was said to Joseph: "Now therefore your two sons, who were born to you in Egypt before I came to you into Egypt, are mine; Ephraim and Manasseh, as Ruben and Symeon, shall be mine." D Therefore, the ten tribes and the half of the one, that is, Ephraim, departed into Samaria, outside...
A of the kingdom of Roboam, but those of the tribe of Judah and Benjamin remained in Jerusalem. And since those in Samaria remained without a king and without a general and were observing the incursions from Roboam, and were expecting that they themselves would be utterly destroyed along with their dearest ones, they send for Jeroboam. This man was a servant of Solomon, who had fled into Egypt to King Shishak. And indeed, having arrived, they immediately appointed him leader, and honored the apostate with the scepter of the kingdom. And Jeroboam was from the mountain and the tribe of Ephraim. B And since he had been appointed king, he deliberated from then on as to how the affairs of the kingdom might stand for him and remain secure, and that the will of those who had appointed him would not shift to any other counsel or thought. Then, fearing that perhaps Israel, mindful of the religion prescribed by the Law and the feasts that were celebrated in Jerusalem, might choose to return to the former state and be subjected to the yokes of Roboam, he fashioned two golden calves C and, lifting up Israel to this worship, commanded them to worship and offer burnt offerings to them. "And he set," he says, "one in Galgala, and the other in Dan." For these were cities more famous than the others, which were in the region of the Samaritans. Therefore, there was a double apostasy of the ten tribes and the half tribe of Ephraim. For they departed not only from Jerusalem, but also from piety itself toward God, worshiping golden calves, sacrificing and serving the works of their own hands, as it is written. D Those, however, who remained in Jerusalem—Judah, I say, and Benjamin—maintained a certain reverence and regard for the oracles of Moses. They sacrificed in the temple; yet they did not hold to the love of God in all things, because the apostasy, or defection, had divided them as well. For they sacrificed to idols upon every high hill and under every leafy tree, according to the voice of the prophet. When, therefore, you hear the holy prophets naming Israel, or Ephraim, then know that it refers to those in Samaria; but when you hear Judah and Benjamin, to those who remained in Jerusalem. And there were prophets among them, prophesying indiscriminately concerning both those in Samaria and those in Jerusalem. And some dwelling in Jerusalem, and others dwelling in the region of the Samaritans, brought the words of God to their listeners. It should be known that after the ten tribes and the half tribe of Ephraim were torn away from Jerusalem, both made use of their own kings, and this held until the time of the final captivity, when they returned to Jerusalem, Cyrus having conquered and permitted their return, under the leadership and princedom of Zorobabel the son of Salathiel, who was of the tribe of Judah, and the high priest Jesus the son of Josedek. Then also they rebuilt the temple, and having removed all discord, they lived in Jerusalem under one authority, all dissension having been removed. How many captivities occurred at different times, separately for the ten tribes and the half tribe of Ephraim, and for those who inhabited Jerusalem, Judah, and Benjamin, will clearly appear from what follows. Furthermore, it became necessary for the times to be recorded in which each of the holy prophets spoke, so that we might know exactly in what state of affairs, and in what manner as things stood for them, the words of God were spoken to them.
VOLUME I. CHAPTER I.
A Verbum Domini quod factum est ad Osee filium Beeri in diebus Oziæ, et Joatham, Achaz, Ezechia, regum Juda, et in diebus Jeroboam filii Joas regis Israel. A
I. The blessed Osee prophesies, therefore, in the days of Ozias, and Joatham, and Achaz, and Ezechias, kings of Judah; and in the days of Jeroboam, son of Joas, king of Israel. And the time of the prophecy is understood to reach as far as this. But I think it is necessary to narrate hereafter clearly concerning each one, so that we may be able to discern, as I already said, what sort of men these were: whether they were good and well-disposed toward God, or rather had turned to the contrary; and what things befell each one, both those in Samaria and those in Jerusalem. For here we shall know, and very easily, where the purpose of the prophecy points. Jeroboam, the son of Joas, king of Israel, is mentioned last, yet he came before Azarias, who is also Ozias. It must be known that this is a different one for us than the first, who lived in the times of King Roboam, son of Solomon, yet similar to him in character, and prone to impiety. For it is written concerning him thus: “In the fifteenth year of Amasias, son of Joas, king of Judah, Jeroboam, son of Joas, reigned over Israel in Samaria, forty-one years. And he did evil in the sight of the Lord. He did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam, son of Nabat, who made Israel to sin.” Do you see how he became a zealot of those ways, B following the same path, as it were, and walking, so to speak, in the footsteps of his impiety? Then what does the holy Scripture say? “In the twenty-seventh year of Jeroboam, king of Israel, Azarias, son of Amasias, king of Judah, reigned, being sixteen years old. And he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem. And the name of his mother was Jechelia, of Jerusalem. And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that his father Amasias did; yet he did not take away the high places; for the people still sacrificed and burned incense in the high places. And the Lord touched the king, and he was leprous until the day of his death.” Indeed, Ozias was pious and a worshiper of God, but not in all respects. “For he did not take away the high places,” it says, “but they sacrificed in them, and those who were led astray offered sacrifices to demons.” C Then Azarias, that is to say Ozias, having been led astray into strange notions, thought it fitting for the dignity of the kingdom that he ought to fulfill the things ordained by God, and to take charge of the sacred ministry. And indeed he sacrificed himself, ignoring the law given by Moses. At the same time, he ascended to the sacred office, in no way convenient for him; “and the Lord smote him,” it says, “and he was a leper until the day of his death.” Unclean, therefore, according to the Law, was the leper, and of such D
a disease were sent away from the camp. For God once said to the hierophant Moses: “Speak to the children of Israel, and let them send out of the camp every leper, and he who has an issue of seed, and every one that is unclean on a soul.” He was punished with disease, having dared what was not lawful, and God condemned the king with dishonor, because he had snatched the sacred glory.
Since the power of prophecy does not look only toward Judah—that is, those residing in Jerusalem—but comes also upon Israel—that is, the ten tribes in Samaria—let us necessarily speak of those who reigned over it in the days of Azariah, who is also Uzziah, and of what calamities it befell them to be seized, having become sickly with profane idolatry to a monstrous degree.
Now, in the twenty-eighth year of the reign of Uzziah, who is also Azariah, another Azariah, the son of Jeroboam, reigned over Israel for six months. Because he too walked in the way of his father B and did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord, he was delivered to some of his own household to be slaughtered, and so he perished.
As time went on, in the thirty-eighth year of the reign of Uzziah, Sellum was again anointed over Israel; and he reigned for a month, but was immediately killed by Manaim, the son of Gadi, from Tirzah. The sacred Scripture notes that both were sons, and both were of the blood of Jehu, who killed Ahab, and his sons, and Jezebel, to whom God had promised, saying: “Thy sons unto the fourth generation shall sit upon thy throne.”
Manaim therefore reigned over Israel, having killed Sellum; “and he did,” it says, “what was evil in the eyes of the Lord. He did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin.” But while he was reigning, I mean Manaim, and offending God because he was vehemently given over to the false worship of idols, Phul, king of the Assyrians, marched against Samaria with a hostile army. Since Manaim could not resist him, he persuaded him to depart from the land and dissolve the war C by paying a large sum of money.
When Manaim had died in the fifty-second year of the reign of Uzziah, Jotham was anointed again as king in Jerusalem after the death of his father, of whom we read written: “He did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that his father Uzziah had done. Howbeit the high places were not removed: the people still sacrificed and burned incense in the high places.”
But over Israel, Pekahiah, the son of Manaim, was anointed. “And he reigned,” it says, “two years, and did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord. Then Pekah, the son of D Remaliah, his captain, conspired against him, and struck him in Samaria, and reigned in his stead over Israel. And he did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord, and did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin.” Under this king, Theglathphalasar, king of the Assyrians, came up and, having taken all of Samaria by force, carried Israel away to the Assyrians. But Pekah also died through the treachery of Hoshea, the son of Elah, who reigned in his stead in the twentieth year of Jotham, the son of Azariah. “In those days,” it says, “the Lord began to send against Judah Rezin the king of Syria, and Pekah the son of Remaliah.” At which point the discourse turns backward. For we said...
that Pekah, the son of Remaliah, had been put to death, after Hosea the son of Elah had formed a conspiracy and plot against him. Nevertheless, the narrative brings into the middle of the account events that occurred in his own time. For he says, “The Lord began in those days to send against Judah Rezin the king of Syria, and Pekah the son of Remaliah.” For Pekah the son of Remaliah had made war against the Jerusalemites as being his neighbors. But when he saw that their resistance was severe and unbreakable, he persuaded Rezin, the king of the Syrians, to become his ally in arms and his helper, and to join him in besieging Jerusalem. And when the war had thus begun, Jotham the son of Azariah died. He is succeeded in the kingdom by his son Ahaz, who was extremely wicked and an idolater, and so intoxicated by the delusion of idol-worship that he even caused his own son to pass through the fire, and inclined toward any and every kind of transgression, and offered sacrifice on the high places and under every leafy tree, according to what is written. Therefore, Ahaz, being troubled, gathered up all the wealth that was found in the house of the Lord and sent it to Tiglath-Pileser, king of the Assyrians, and begged him for salvation through his help. The Assyrian, therefore, armed himself against the kingdom of Rezin, and he takes Damascus, which is the metropolis of Syria, and kills Rezin. After this, Ahaz comes down from Jerusalem to Damascus, intending to see the Assyrian. And having seen an altar in the temples of the idols, with a fashion that was novel and strange, and being greatly delighted with it, he took its design and sent it to Uriah the priest in Jerusalem, and ordered that a similar one be constructed. And once it was brought into the house of the Lord, he all but despised and held in contempt what had been made by Moses through the will of God, and ordered that the legal sacrifices be performed upon it. He also introduced other innovations in the temple, according to his own judgment, inconsiderately and defiantly toward God. But even in his days, while Hosea the son of Elah was still alive and king of Israel, B Shalmaneser, king of the Assyrians, went up against Israel, and having desolated Samaria, he deported Israel into the mountains and rivers of the Medes. He also put Hosea himself to death. And for what reason? C For not having brought to him the *manaa* (a sign of subjection), but rather having called upon the king of Egypt for help. After Ahaz was taken from the living, Hezekiah his son reigned over Judah in Jerusalem. He was a pious man and most zealous for justice, so that he excelled all others by an immense degree in these things. “He destroyed the high places, and cut down the groves, and the Lord was with him.” In his reign, Sennacherib, king of the Assyrians, went up against the fortified cities of Judea, which he besieged and captured without effort. Then also Rabshakeh insults Jerusalem, and opening his shameless mouth against God, utters those most blasphemous words. Then also one hundred and eighty-five thousand were put to death from the camp of the Assyrians, killed in one night by the hand of an angel. These things are helpfully stated for the present, for according to each of those events, this prophetic discourse fits with skill. For now it rebukes the Samaritans; now it threatens the Jerusalemites with a hostile arrival; it foretells captivities, portends fear, promises help, and invites them to conversion; nor is any method or any way of correction omitted in this prophecy. D
A Therefore he says:
10 VERS. 2. Beginning of the word of the Lord to Osee. And the Lord said to Osee.
B For God begins to reveal mysteries in the prophet, in accordance, certainly, with that which was clearly said by another prophet: "I will stand upon my watch, and I will set myself upon a rock, and I will watch to see what the Lord God will speak in me." For the God of all reveals [the future] to the saints, by infusing into their mind the knowledge of things to come. And so the blessed David says: "I will hear what the Lord God will speak in me; for he will speak peace unto his people." In the same way, the blessed prophet Zacharias also proceeds with similar words; for he said: "And the angel who spoke in me answered." For it was the custom among the holy prophets to call the Word of God an angel, as one who announces to them and makes manifest the will of God the Father. And the prophet Isaias will also bear witness to this when he says: "For every garment gathered with guile, they shall return with change, and they shall wish if they have been burned with fire. For a child is born to us, and his name is called the Angel of great counsel." But that the revelation in the saints was subtle and distinct, and not performed by tongue and words in our manner, Paul will confirm by writing: "Do you seek a proof of Christ who speaks in me?" Therefore, that the word of the Lord came to Osee would mean, as far as I am able to discern, nothing else to the listeners than that a revelation had been made in Osee, and that the knowledge of future things had shone upon him like light, illuminating not the eyes of the body, but the mind and the heart.
Furthermore, regarding what is said again, "And the Lord said to Osee," this suggests to us something to think about. For what was commanded was not common to all who were to read it, nor was it proposed so that whoever might wish could eventually do it, but it was spoken individually to Osee alone. For it is not, as there is a common and useful precept, namely: "Thus says the Lord, Learn not according to the ways of the nations, and be not afraid of the signs of heaven"; so can it be understood that it is also good and fruitful to take a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms. That former command can usefully pertain to everyone; this one is fittingly said by God to the prophet alone. But it is,
I imagine, A exactly as if one were to say: "Such a word is not simply for all, but for Osee alone." For it was not necessary that an occasion for a shameful and pleasure-loving life should arise for many. What, then, is it that God said to the blessed Osee?
VERS. 3. Vade, accipe tibi uxorem fornicationis, et filios fornicationis, quia fornicans fornicabitur terra a Deo. Et abiit, et accepit Gomer filiam Debelaim, et concepit, et peperit ei filium.
III. No argument will persuade us to repudiate the Scripture, or to condemn the history as vanity, or to convict the event itself of dishonesty, and to think—as some do—that it did not happen in this way, nor that Gomer was taken for a marriage, or for the custom of matrimony, since the holy Scripture teaches that a conception and a birth followed, and it mentions the name of the child, and expresses by name the father of the young woman himself, and furthermore calls her by name. But because those who wish to assent to the truth of the things that took place must necessarily confess that these things truly happened in this way, B come, let us set forth the arguments of those who are accustomed to slander, and afterwards let us opportunely append the narrative of the dispensation. I fell, therefore, into a short disputation of a certain man of no obscure reputation, who was attempting to explain this passage, and since he was not lightly rebuking those who affirm that the history was done in such a way in the very fact, he asserted in plain words that on this very chapter one must exclaim, without any fear, to the lovers of continence: "The letter kills." For as if attacking the letter itself, and as it were running headlong downhill, he wove together conclusions of the following kind. For the divine Moses, he used to say, was once commanded to lead Israel, having been redeemed from Egyptian slavery, C into the holy land formerly promised to the fathers—into the land of promise, I mean. Indeed, the prophet Jeremias also heard God saying clearly: "Before I formed thee in the womb, I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee, and made thee a prophet unto the nations." How, then, he says, are they not worthy of admiration, who reject even a ministry so venerable and so absolutely honorable, and do not fear to hesitate? For he, Moses, was saying: "I beseech thee, O Lord, choose another capable man whom thou mightest send." Another, pretending his youth, was striving to implore God. Indeed, the prophet Ezechiel also, being commanded D to make bread for himself in human dung, was not slightly troubled, and for this reason he heard: "Behold, I have given thee bull's dung instead of human dung, and thou shalt bake thy bread in them." Moreover, the divine Peter himself, when a sheet was lowered from heaven in which were seen all four-footed animals and beasts, heard God saying: "Arise, Peter; kill, and eat," he refused, with these words: "By no means, Lord, for..."
never have I eaten anything common or unclean, nor has any profane meat entered into my mouth." A Yet when he heard that it was necessary to be joined to a woman who was shameful, and a fornicator, and possessed of a cursed life, he does not refuse the matter, nor does he admit of any hesitation, nor does he offer up supplication, begging to be excused; but, like one of the most lecherous, he rushes into the matter most readily and without delay, indeed almost snatching at it, perhaps overcome by the pleasure of the woman. Then, ending his discourse in absurdity, he adds a few cold remarks. For he pretends to be defending the prophet, and says again that he would have made a very great refusal if he had supposed that God had commanded a bodily union. But since what was being done was something spiritual, he says the prophet descended to performing what was commanded almost of his own accord, out of very great love for God. Furthermore, he says, God, who is the author of continence, would not have wished such a thing to be committed, so that such a great man should be defiled by such base and detestable embraces, that is to say, with this woman, who was unchaste and a fornicator. B And, weakening the history, and in a way transforming it into spiritual meanings, he asserted that Gomer was a type of the soul, which had chosen for itself an unchaste and base life; and that the prophet was fulfilling the image of Him who is from heaven, that is, the Word of God from the Father; who, being joined to our souls in a spiritual manner, sows the seeds of a life of virtue. And these are the findings of his persuasive argumentation.
But I am not a little astonished, first, that disregarding sentiments that lead to the truth, he has dared to say that "the letter kills." Then, in addition to this, that he has brought forth Moses, and those we have just mentioned, who reclaimed against the celestial oracles; but he has spoken ill in remaining silent about the fact that those who dared to oppose divine commands were not without fault. For C God rebuked Moses, the teacher of the sacred rites, as he was shirking and tergiversating regarding the mission he was to perform, and alleging slowness of tongue, as one infirm in faith, in these words: "Who has given a mouth to man, and who made the mute and the deaf, the seeing and the blind? Is it not I, the Lord God? Now therefore, go, and I will open your mouth." And when he still refused, and was tying knots of delay, "The Lord was angry," he says, "with Moses, and said: Is not Aaron your brother? I know that he will speak to you." Again, when Jeremiah had said rather inconsiderately that he was a youth and did not know how to speak, nevertheless God met him, saying: "Do not say that I am a youth, for to everyone to whom I shall send you, you shall go, and all that I shall command you, you shall speak." For it was not at all without danger to say, or even to think, that the highest counsel had strayed from right reason when it called a young man to the office of prophecy. Similarly, the divinely-inspired Peter indeed heard the voice, with the sheet let down from heaven; D
A but because he cried out like a Jew: "By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything common or unclean," he was immediately reproved. And, as one who dared to resist the divine purposes, he heard clearly: "What God has cleansed, you must not call common."
For although the God of all things wished to rebuke them mildly, and was not immediately incensed against them as one is against the obstinate, yet their refusal was not without fault. I say that it is necessary, casting aside all delay, and regarding the heavenly decree as right and blameless, to hasten to execute what is commanded, even if the matter is not altogether pleasing to our own souls. What, I ask, do I mean? The God of all things commanded Saul to slaughter Agag, as one who had committed unholy deeds against the people of Israel. But he thought to devise something better in his regard, and deemed worthy of mercy him who had been condemned by the divine decree. B He therefore offends God in this, and indeed gravely. He was concerned, then, for the safety of the man who had been ordered to die, all but crying out, and saying by the very act, that God had pronounced an unjust sentence against him. For this reason, the blessed Samuel was greatly grieved and indignant along with God; and he himself slaughtered Agag, adding these reasons: "As your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women." And he foretells to Saul that he will be cast out of the kingdom, and will pay bitter penalties for his disobedience.
If, moreover, it is necessary to interweave an account of another history alongside this, it is written in the Third Book of Kings that at one time Adad, the prince or king of the Syrians, waged war against the Israelites. C When Ahab, who was king of Israel, was not a little distressed and fearful of the incursion, and expected that he would shortly be captured with all his forces, God promised through a prophet that He would deliver the enemy into his hand. When he had received him, he decided to spare him, contrary to what had pleased the Lord. And what does the Holy Scripture say after this? "And a certain man of the sons of the prophets said to his neighbor in the word of the Lord: 'Strike me.' But the man would not strike him. And he said to him: 'Because you have not heard the voice of the Lord, behold, you shall depart from me, and a lion shall strike you.' And he departed from him, and a lion found him, and struck him. D And he finds another man, and said: 'Strike me.' And the man struck him, and by striking, wounded him. So the prophet went, and stood by the king of Israel on the road. And he bound his eyes with a headband. And after he had spoken a few words to the returning Ahab, he added again: 'Thus says the Lord: Because you have let go a man worthy of death from your hand, your soul shall be for his soul, and your people for his people.'"
Do you see how he who refused to strike the prophet miserably fell in with a fierce beast and perished? And yet, how is it not true that it is a duty of piety toward God to shrink from striking a saint and prophet? But this was in the word of the Lord, that disobedience deserves...
became an inescapable charge. A Ahab, too, unreasonably spared Ader, even though God had commanded him to destroy him, and he himself was delivered up in exchange for his life. Therefore, necessity demands that what is pleasing to God be accomplished by us without hesitation or delay; to do or think anything else brings the stain of pride. For such men as these essentially go so far as to hold that even God is to be censured, as if He sometimes does not decide rightly.
We reply, therefore, to those who slander the history and falsely accuse it: O you, you think it a foul thing for a prophet to be the consort of a lascivious woman. What then? Is it not much fouler for certain men to be put to death by the hands of the holy prophets? How then did Samuel slay Agag, and Elijah B the prophets of Baal, even though they were many in number? And tell me, what of the prophet Isaiah, who loosed the sackcloth from his loins and walked about Jerusalem naked and barefoot? Would not some person have immediately mocked a man who appeared in such a guise as a light-headed, stupid, and mad person? And what doubt does this matter contain, when it is full of praise that all things should be done by us with decorum and honesty? But you will object that they did such things at that time, yielding to divine promptings. What, then, I ask, should one think about the blessed Hosea? Does he go of his own accord to a harlot woman and make such a shameful person his domestic consort, or is he commanded by God? C And I marvel no less at him who wishes to mock the things written about him and has not blushed to tear apart the history as if it were indecorous. For in rejecting the matter as incredible, and asserting most openly that the prophet did not have intercourse with a harlot, but that the Word of God sometimes unites with fornicating souls, he has failed to understand, as he ought to have, in what absurdities he is involving himself. For he certainly wishes the prophet to be more honorable than God, who is most honorable of all. For, I ask, would not anyone say that it is in exactly the same category for a prophet to be united with a wicked woman and for the Word of God to choose to have commerce with an unclean soul? I believe, in truth, that there is no difference at all between them. D Therefore, let them either reject both together along with him, because of the absurdity, or else certainly allow the things of men to follow after the divine will. I also think it necessary to adduce something from the evangelical Scriptures. Our Lord Jesus Christ reclined at table with tax collectors and sinners, a thing which the fault-finding Pharisees again took as a defect, and approaching his holy disciples, they openly objected, saying: "Why does your master eat and drink with sinners?" What then does Christ say to these things? "Those who are well," he says, "have no need of a physician, but those who are sick." That God, out of His immense loving-kindness, admits both the defiled and those not yet washed of their sin, no one would doubt in the least.
COMMENTARY ON THE PROPHET HOSEA
A It is not necessary, or rather it is not right, to judge the history concerning the blessed Hosea as containing anything base, for it shows us in a most beautiful way, through itself, that the divine Word grants His spiritual communion to us even while we are still defiled and impure. The God of all therefore says to the blessed Hosea: "Go, take for yourself a wife of harlotry, and children of harlotry." He receives Gomer, not turning the matter into a source of pleasure, but fulfilling the work of obedience and service, becoming a servant of the type, which we would certainly say most of all forms spiritual things within corporeal and earthly matters, as far as it is possible. No one, I imagine, would blame the prophet’s purpose from this point on. For the choice to marry, to be joined to a woman, and to desire children is not forbidden by the discourse of the divinely inspired Scripture; rather, it sets it free from blame and calumny in every way: "For marriage is honorable, and the bed undefiled," according to the voice of the blessed Paul. It was permitted to those who wished to live uprightly and to perfect a life of virtue and piety, even if they prayed for the procreation of children. For the blessed Abraham lived in this way, and those after him became acceptable before God. What, then, tell me, is strange here? Or how could it generally be blamed that he did not refuse marriage, when God commanded that some spiritual things, necessary for the benefit of those who read, be described and depicted in corporeal and sensible things? I myself would say, having no fear, that the prophet also brought salvation to Gomer. For he persuaded a woman so shameful and common to be attached to one man alone, and B he persuaded her to abstain from the nature that formerly caused her grief (because she did not submit herself to the procreation of children, but by selling her beauty to the pleasures of any who happened by, she became a snare of death, and a door and a way leading to that deep and final darkness) and from deeds and undertakings that were so despised, and he made her a respectable mother of children.
The fact that he did not care excessively for his own affairs, but chose rather to accomplish what was useful to another and necessary for salvation, would appear to be a holy and admirable endeavor. For shall we not in this way also deem the blessed prophet Isaiah worthy of all praise, if, stripping off his tunic and taking off his sandals, and being little concerned with propriety, he walked about naked, so that by showing the Israelites the fashion of the future captivity, he might prepare them to be attached to God thereafter? And what, tell me, of our wise Paul, saying plainly: "For I myself could wish to be anathema from Christ for my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh"? Does he not also say that he became all things to all men, that he might by all means save some, and that to the Jews he became as a Jew, to those without law as one without law—not being lawless toward God, but subject to the law of Christ—that he might save those without law? And why do I still mention these things, leaving aside what is greater? That even the Only-begotten Word of God Himself, in order that He might save...
A the human race, “did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a man, He endured the cross, despising shame.”
There is, therefore, nothing wonderful if the prophet, having departed slightly from what is decorous, saved Gomer and brought back the lost woman to the honesty of good morals. That God commanded him to be joined to the woman for the sake of a useful and necessary matter, he makes full proof immediately, confirming that He commanded it for this very reason: “For the land playing the harlot will play the harlot away from the Lord.” And he went and took Gomer, the daughter of Debelaim, and she conceived and bore him a son. He indicates not a future fornication of the land, but one that has already occurred for the prophet. For the calves in Dan and Bethel had been erected, and the temples of Baal had been raised, and the rites of Israel were being performed throughout the entire region of the Samaritans. The divinely inspired Scripture, therefore, makes no distinction of times, or rather, which is more truthful to say, those who interpreted this for us do not; just as also the very Person of Christ is introduced speaking through the voice of Isaiah: “I have given my back to the scourges, and my cheeks to the slaps.” And the prophet B himself says concerning Him: “As a sheep he was led to the slaughter, and as a lamb before the shearer is silent, so he does not open his mouth; in his humiliation his judgment was taken away.” Do you see how the discourse of prophecy has introduced to us what was to happen in future times as if it had already occurred? Wherefore, that phrase, “The land playing the harlot will play the harlot,” ought to be understood as, “The land has played the harlot.” But in what way has it played the harlot? “Away from the Lord,” that is, it has spurned the following which one ought to observe toward God. For it is written: “You shall walk after the Lord,” C that is, you shall follow unchangeably the laws given from above by God. The land, therefore, has played the harlot away from the Lord, not enduring to follow Him. For it has become apostate and profane, and having been added to the worship of idols, it has offended the Lord. For this reason, therefore, the prophet Hosea is joined in the bond of marriage to Gomer, because the land has played the harlot away from the Lord. For what is done can be received as a type of a mystical matter, as I was saying. Then Gomer bore fruit.
18 VERS. 4, 5. And the Lord said to him: Call his name Jezreel; for yet a little while, and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Judah, and will cause to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel. And it shall be, in that day I will break the bow D of Israel in the valley of Jezreel.
IV. In these matters, the discourse brings forth for us a twofold contemplation. But there is also another reading brought forward by some, which it is necessary to mention now because of its accuracy.
Our own edition, that is to say, that of the Seventy, says: A "And I will avenge the blood of Jezrael upon the house of Juda." But the other says: "And I will avenge the blood of Jezrael upon the house of Jehu." And if some choose to understand it in this way, it is necessary to make the historical account more thorough. It is as follows: There was once an Ahab, king in Israel, who also had Jezabel as a consort. Since he sought the vineyard of Naboth, and he replied to this, saying, "May it not be permitted for me to give the vineyard of my father to you," he was slain, having fallen victim to the perverse ways of Jezabel. Since, therefore, he was murdered, Ahab inherited the vineyard of Naboth. Moreover, he was addicted in other ways to the worship of demons, and this in an outrageous manner. Consequently, the God of the universe grew indignant. Then He commanded Eliseus the prophet to anoint Jehu king over Israel. Having sent his servant, the prophet fulfilled the divine decree. Then Jehu, having been anointed, came down from Samaria and satisfied the divine wrath against those who had committed the offenses. For having killed Ahab, he cast his carcass into the vineyard of Naboth. After this he put to death Jezabel, and also seventy sons of Ahab, those who were in all of Samaria. To these he also added Baal; for he burned his pillars, and tore down the shrines, and slaughtered his priests themselves. On account of these things, God accepted him; and indeed He even promises, saying, B "Thy sons to the fourth generation shall sit upon thy throne." But Jehu, having become renowned in this way, nevertheless offended God; for he did not remove the calves, but was himself also caught walking impiously in the sins of Jeroboam. Then from Jehu was born first his son Joachaz, a man who was also an idolater and a worshiper of the calves. But in his times, it says, "The furor of the Lord was angered against Israel, and He gave them into the hand of Azael king of Syria, and into the hand of Ader, the son of Azael." The second to reign after Joachaz was Joas, and he too was a wicked man. The third was Jeroboam, under whose reign the prophecy of Osee begins. The fourth was Azarias (also called Zacharias), the son of Jeroboam, who was also an idolater. This man Sellum killed. C Since, therefore, Jehu had been anointed so that he might avenge the blood of Naboth the Jezraelite (Jezrael was a town of Samaria) and so that, having removed the idolatry of Israel, he might subsequently persuade them to cleave to God, yet he himself became a worshiper of the calves, and those who were his children were none the less impious, "I will avenge," He says, "the blood of Jezrael upon the house of Jehu." And just as He had taken vengeance upon the house of Ahab through the kingdom of Jehu, so He will take vengeance also upon the house of Jehu. For in the days of his sons, Azael king of Syria waged war, and indeed Ader, and they conquered Israel, and they ravaged a great number of the cities in Samaria. Thus, the prophet’s child is born, to whom the name Jezrael is given, as if God were D calling to mind the sin committed against Naboth. For since a just and religious man had been unjustly put to death, how would the tutor and protector of the just have remained silent? He promises, therefore, that he will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezrael. For they were conquered, as I have said,
A by Azael and Ader, the tribes of Israel. And this, indeed, is the historical account.
But come now, let us speak as well to the other Scripture, bringing what has been said by God back to a spiritual contemplation or sense. The Synagogue of the Jews was noble on account of its ancestors. For those around the inspired Abraham served the living and true God, and indeed they became diligent observers of justice, and were most distinguished and famous in all the actions of genuine virtue, and immovable in faith, and practiced in every kind of goodness. But when, compelled by famine, they mingled with the Egyptians and remained there for a long time, their descendants took on different customs and assumed different senses and thoughts, resolving henceforth to imitate the natives and paying little heed to what was customary to their fathers and to the piety that had been so splendidly practiced. For they worshipped B the creature rather than the Creator, and the works of their own hands, as it is written. They went so far in abomination and lived their lives so profanely that there was hardly any manner of wickedness they did not learn and pursue. And it seems to me that the same thing happened to them as would happen to a wise and well-born woman who, having abandoned her own character and having bidden farewell, as it were, to her pursuits of decency and modesty, resolves instead to be seen in the appearance and dress of a harlot. For just as such a woman serves the pleasures of everyone, careless of all trouble, so also the soul of a man, as soon as it has turned away from the reasons of piety and has made light of love for God and has inclined toward Satan, complies with the desires of evil spirits. C Therefore, the Synagogue of the Jews fornicated spiritually in Egypt. For it was on offer, as I said, to the desires of demons, and was easily carried away to whatever they pleased. Yet God, taking pity, visited her, thus cast away, and wished to make her chaste again; and the All-Holy and Pure one all but made the profane woman his consort, and made her a mother of children, and deemed her worthy of love on account of the firstborn brought forth from her, that is to say, Jezrael, which in Latin means "seed of God." See, then, that Oseas was chosen as an image and type of these things so wisely administered by God. A holy prophet is joined to Gomer, a harlot woman; she bore him Jezrael. So also did God, through the all-wise Moses, call the Synagogue of the Jews D to intimacy and spiritual communion, on account of the firstborn who would be born of her, namely Christ, who is in truth the seed of God. For the Son was born of the Father, even though he has become flesh.
Since a clear and accurate presentation of the spiritual contemplation cannot be had in any other way unless the history of the events is brought into the middle, come, let us mention them again. We have clearly taught before that Jezreel was a city. But because Naboth signifies something A from the city of Jezreel, this also could be a type of the economy which we understand in Christ. For Naboth himself is rendered in Latin as "he who is coming," by which name Sacred Scripture so often indicates Emmanuel. It was said, therefore, to the blessed prophet Habakkuk: "Yet a little while, he who is coming will come, and will not delay" (Hab. II, 3). And David also sings in one place: "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord" (Ps. CXVII, 26). And indeed, the divine Baptist himself sends some of his disciples to our Lord Jesus Christ for this very reason to inquire: "Art thou he who is to come, or do we look for another?" (Matt. XI, 3). That he was a figure of Christ, we may see clearly from the things written about him. For Ahab desired to possess his vineyard, and to transform that most excellent plot into a vegetable garden. But Naboth, taking this as an indignity, expressly protests that he would not surrender his father's vineyard: "God forbid," he says, "that I should betray to thee the vineyard of my father" (III Reg. XXI, 3). And after this became known to the hateful-to-God and impious Jezebel, the persecutor of the prophets and the schemer against the just, she contrived the murder of the just man through perverse machinations. And once she had arranged for him to be put to death, she commanded her husband, I mean Ahab, to take possession. Because of these things, God was rightly indignant, and indeed promised that He would avenge the blood of Jezreel. Ahab was therefore killed by Jehu, as we have already said, and the most wicked Jezebel along with him. Come then, let us apply to Christ the things that were done to the ancients as in a type. For the prophet Isaiah says: "The vineyard was made for the beloved in a horn, in a fat place" (Isa. V, 1). And the vineyard was the man of Judah, a new plant, beloved. But the leaders of Israel, of whom the reigning Ahab could be a figure, desired to have his vineyard—not that it should be an elect heritage, that is, a vineyard, but that it should become a deserted and uncultivated B vegetable garden—that is, that it should be cast down because of a condition inferior beyond comparison; for the difference between a vegetable garden and a vineyard is vast. And that which is still more prominent in these things is not obscure. For the peoples of the Jews, having been brought under Christ, how were they not destined to be like vines flourishing with an abundance of shoots and most fertile, and to be held as such by all? But living according to the institutions and customs of the Pharisees, and learning doctrines and the commandments of men, they were in no way different from herbs close to the ground, which both easily succumb and wither.
Therefore, the leaders of the Jews indeed coveted the vineyard of Christ as their own portion, and for a vegetable garden; but they could not persuade him to betray to them the vineyard of his Father. What then did he C attempt?
A God-hated Jezebel, that is, the herding multitude, being submissive to the rulers, that is to say, the Synagogue, having conspired through the wickedness and guile of the rulers, pursues the just and holy Naboth, that is, He who is coming; and she even prepared for him to be put to death. For Emmanuel was slain, being unjustly accused. But that this matter is intolerable to God, it would be clear from what is said to the prophet Hosea: “Because yet a little while, and I will avenge the blood of Jezrael upon the house of Judah, and I will cease the kingdom of the house of Israel.” For the blood of Christ has been avenged, as I said, from all Israel. Since at that time, when this prophecy was also given, they were called separately—Judah, indeed, those who remained in Jerusalem, but Israel, again, those who were in Samaria—in order that he might signify the whole of Israel, he said necessarily that he would avenge the blood of Jezrael from the house of Judah, and would cease the kingdom of the house of Israel. This also the divine Jacob previously made known, saying: “A ruler shall not fail from Judah, nor a leader from his loins, until he comes for whom it is laid up; and he is the expectation of the nations.” For when Emmanuel shone upon us, then, B then, I say, the kingdom of the Israelites was removed from the midst. And lo, Herod the son of Antipater, the Ascalonite, ruled the country of the Jews when Christ was born. And in that day, he promises to shatter the very bow of Israel, that is to say, at that time. “For the bow of the mighty has waxed feeble,” according to what is written, even though they had supposed they would hold Emmanuel. “And the swords of the enemy have failed unto the end, and the strength of their arms has been dissolved.” For they did not conquer the unconquerable. Preparing, as it were, the depth of spiritual contemplation, he comes down immediately to the things that were historically done, saying: “For I will shatter the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezrael.” For there Hazael, king of Syria, defeated C Israel as they brought forces against him. And because I judge it appropriate not to lead the discourse away from the principal and spiritual contemplation, I say this, that it is no inconvenience, in my opinion, to understand by the valley of Jezrael (that is, of the seed of God, or Christ) the tomb in the garden, in which also the resurrection, having followed the passion, has triumphed over every kind of evil deed undertaken by the Jews. For by the resurrection their perverse, and God-hated, and murder-stained deeds have been brought to nothing. For they hoped that they could remove the Son from the midst, that they might also have his vineyard as their own portion. But placed in the sepulchre, He revived, and rendered their meditated snares ineffective, and as it were shattered the bow by the fact that He can suffer nothing more. D And He casts them out of the vineyard as God-hated, and wicked, and killers of the Lord; and He hands it over to other laborers, good and grateful, and most eager for work, according to the parable of the Gospel.
VERS. 6, 7. *And she conceived again, and bore a daughter, and he said to her: Call her name Absque misericordia (Not Pitied), because I shall no longer have mercy on the house of Israel;*
A but rather, opposing, I will oppose them. But I will have mercy on the sons of Judah, and I will save them in their Lord God, and I will not save them by bow, nor by war, nor by horses, nor by horsemen.
V. After the birth of Jezrael, a little daughter was born to the prophet by Gomer, whom he was ordered to name "Not Pitied." He immediately adds the occasion and clearly sets forth the cause, saying that he will no longer deign to look upon Israel, but will rise up as it were against them and, in the place of most bitter enemy, will manfully oppose their prosperity, so that they might be cast down into extreme misery and suffer a truly intolerable calamity. For when God resists, no help is left anywhere for those who suffer. "For if he shuts against men, who will open?" he says. And as the same prophet says, "Who will avert his mighty hand?" 78 or who will have mercy on him who is condemned by a heavenly sentence? For all things follow the divine nod, and whatever the Lord wishes to accomplish is done without delay in every way and altogether, the creation cooperating with him and following the decrees of the one who rules. Thus he punished the Egyptians, with the waters changed into blood, and ashes or dust into lice, and a terrible hail sent down, and a long three-day darkness poured out, and all other punishments inflicted upon them 79. Therefore, the girl’s name, "Not Pitied," is B usefully and necessarily imposed, so that those who are always curiously inquiring into the reason for the affair, and learning that at that time they had offended God through the error of polytheism, might be persuaded to think and do better things more consistent with reason, and henceforth to be prudent, at least by later reflections desiring to measure the divine wrath, and rendering the God of the universe—whom they had offended—well-disposed and mild toward them.
The prophetic word seems to us, in this place, to hint again at the captivities of Israel that occurred under Tiglath-Pileser and Shalmaneser, kings of the Assyrians, who carried Israel away from Samaria to the borders of the Persians and Medes, having inflicted desolation upon the cities in Samaria. But they would not have fallen into such grave calamities if God had wished to defend them; rather, he had in a certain way brought out an army against them and had opposed them like an enemy. For he says openly: "Opposing I will oppose them." C He promises, however, that he will have mercy on the sons of Judah and will save them, not by the law or custom of warfare (for this is what it means to say: *not in chariots, nor in horses*). And this was indeed accomplished when Sennacherib held Jerusalem in a circle, and the Rabshakeh was slandering the divine glory, saying that God could not save Jerusalem and those in it; and he brought forth as the firmest proof that they too would inevitably fall into his power, because the gods in Samaria had been unable to rescue their own. But Judah was saved miraculously—that is, the two tribes who inhabit Jerusalem. "For the angel of the Lord went out," it says, "and killed in the camp of the Assyrians in one night one hundred and eighty-five D
A thousand." And those who were saved sang in this way; and regarding the greatness of the work performed for them, they recounted the manner in these words: "These in chariots, and these in horses, but we shall be magnified in the name of the Lord our God. They were fettered and fell; but we have risen and have been set upright." But let these things be said by us historically.
Let us proceed to other meanings, to Christ, I say. For after the birth of Jezrael, that is, the seed of God—that you may understand Immanuel, whose blood he promised to avenge—Gomer (that is, the fornicating Synagogue of the Jews) gives birth to a daughter, or a multitude, who could fittingly be called "Without mercy." For she herself killed Jezrael, that is, Christ. Wherefore she rightly finds God an enemy and most hostile to herself, and she has immediately suffered B irremediable calamities, devastated by Roman armies, and having endured the much-famed war, when even women devoured their own infants, and as the prophet Jeremiah says, “The hands of merciful women have cooked their own children,” having disregarded the laws of human nature, when the famine compelled them to neglect an otherwise invincible natural affection. Yet indeed all these things have befallen those who acted impiously. But he promises that he will show mercy to the sons of Judah, that is, to those who, according to instruction and regeneration through the Spirit, have become sons of Christ, who was of the tribe of Judah. For if some are begotten in Christ through the Gospel to the holy apostles, how much more so through Christ himself? Concerning whom he also says: C "Behold I and the children whom God has given me." They are saved, therefore, in Christ the Lord and God of all, not by wielding earthly and carnal weapons, but in the power of the One who saves, and who shakes principalities and thrones, and who triumphs by his own cross over the ranks of the adversaries, and who overthrows evil powers, and who gives to those who love him the ability "to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and upon all the power of the enemy." And most aptly does he compare the unbelieving and unbridled and Lord-killing people of the Jews to a woman—I mean to the one who is called "Without mercy." For a woman is a sign of weakness, and could be understood most clearly as a symbol of an unmanly and broken spirit. D Such are all those who have not accepted the instruction through Christ, nor have they endured to walk following his divine and holy decrees. And thus the prophet Hosea says: "Turn, O Israel, to the Lord your God, for you have grown weak in your iniquities." And again the same one says concerning the commandments of the Savior: "For the ways of the Lord are straight, and the just shall walk in them, but the impious shall grow weak in them." And the same one somewhere concerning those who killed Jezrael, that is, Christ, [says]: "And the pride of Israel shall be humbled before his face"
And Israel and Ephraim shall grow weak in their iniquities." And she weaned the one called "Not Pitied." And she conceived again, and bore a son. And he said, "Call his name, 'Not my people.' For you are not my people, and I am not yours."
C VI. Another child is born to Gomer directly, and not long after, whom God commanded to be called, "Not my people." The occasion for this matter is immediately explained by such a solution: "For you," he says, "are not my people, and I am not yours." It may be clear from this henceforth that these things were done historically D for the conviction of those who sinned, and for the sure correction of those who had chosen to be contemptuous, and for the straying of those who had swerved; but they were types of the things that were to happen in their own times to those from Israel, after the Only-Begotten had already put on human nature and endured the precious cross for us. But if it is necessary to relate the historical events before the spiritual ones, we say that after Israel had been deported from Samaria to the borders of the Persians and Medes by Theglathphalasar, king of the Assyrians, and indeed by Salmanasar, those who still remained, and the remnant of the afflicted, fell away entirely from being named the people of God, due to their pursuing the same ends as those who had forsaken God. For they did not at all cease to cling to the most abominable worship of demons.
But regarding the true meaning, and as it pertains to Christ, you will understand it differently. For after that impious multitude, which did not deservedly obtain [pity] (for it was deicide), those who were born immediately after them, or who already were children of the fornicating Synagogue, clearly fell away from being and being called the people of God. For the Roman war did not consume the entire multitude of the Jews; but while a very great number—indeed, more than can be counted—perished, those who were saved from among them, and who had escaped the net of death, were scattered to every wind, according to what is written, and were dispersed in the regions of the nations, no longer, as I said, bearing the name of the people of God. For grace has passed over to those from the nations, with whom the remnant of Israel has been mingled, that is, those saved through faith in Christ. For not a few in number among them have also believed. And that God of all had also withdrawn from Israel, having spurned the intimacy with them, he has indicated, saying not only, "And you are not my people," but having also added to these, as was necessary, "And I am not yours." But regarding us, who have been justified in Christ, and sanctified in the Spirit, and who have been enriched with intimacy with him, he says through the mouth of the prophet: "And I will be their God, and they shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty." And indeed to the Jews, Christ sometimes said: And
"Yet a little while I am with you," and sometimes, "Behold, your house is left to you desolate." But concerning those from the Gentiles: "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, and I give them eternal life."
27 VERS. 10. And the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which shall not be measured, nor numbered.
VII. The blessed Isaiah explains this to us in another way: "And if it shall be," he says, "that the people of Israel are as the sand of the sea, a remnant of them shall be saved. For the Lord will make a B word bringing it to an end, and shortening it in justice, because the Lord will make a shortened word in the whole world." But whether it should be understood in this way or otherwise—namely, that although Israel is great and innumerable and to be compared to the sands of the shore, nevertheless they are not of great concern to God, since they have given themselves over to impiety; whereas, on the contrary, He singularly favors one just and pious man with His charity and indulgence. He looks, therefore, even upon "one who is humble, and quiet, and trembling at His words." Nor does this suffice for the good, and the meek, and those who fear Him and serve Him sincerely; but they are also able to benefit others, and sometimes to deliver those guilty of sin against God from the impending punishment. For proof C of this matter, take what is written concerning the Sodomites, when the omnipotent God promised that He would pardon them the punishment of fire if only five just men were found among them. And thus Lot was saved along with his wife and daughters. And why do I speak of five just and good men, when even in threatening Jerusalem with wrath, He says: "Run through the ways of Jerusalem, and see, and know, and seek in its streets, and if you find a man, if there be anyone doing judgment and seeking faith, and I will be propitious to them, says the Lord." You understand, therefore, how He takes up the defense of even one just man, and does not despise one who prays for the whole city. But He does not care for an innumerable multitude, as I said, if it appears profane, and declines toward wickedness, and allows D itself to be involved in the deceits of importunate demons.
And it shall be, in the place where it was said to them, You are not my people, they shall be called themselves sons of the living God.
VIII. The removal of the most severe wrath of sad things is very near, and the end of calamities is continuously promised. For at one time He clearly foretold that Israel would be rejected and repudiated, as we have just shown: but that they would not be entirely wiped out and perish completely; rather, that a time would come in which they would return to their ancient state of dignity, and receive again the charity of God—namely, through faith in Christ—is what He certainly promises again. For they were obliged, they were obliged, those who were to hear the prophetic words, to know the whole mystery
and not to be ignorant of the modes of the divine economy. "It shall be, therefore," He says, "in the place where it was said to them, You are not my people, they themselves shall be called sons of the living God." Now, what "in the place" B might mean, let us explain precisely. For those of Israel were at times made captives, and were carried off into the land of the Assyrians. But they were there weeping and wailing over the law, and the blessed David made this manifest to us, saying: "By the river of Babylon there we sat and wept, when we remembered Sion." And he said again: "How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?" But returning to Jerusalem, God having compassion, they were no less called the people of God, and continued to live in prosperity, worshipping freely and performing the sacrifices according to the law. For it was not permitted C at all to perform the prescribed rites elsewhere, but only in Jerusalem and in the temple, the law given through Moses clearly enjoining: "Take heed to yourself, that you do not offer your whole burnt offerings, unless in the place which the Lord your God shall choose, for His name to be called upon there; there you shall offer your whole burnt offerings." Therefore, returning from time to time to Jerusalem, and leaving the land of the aliens, they would again fulfill what was ordained through Moses, and were accounted as the people of God. But after the cross of the Savior, and the siege and destruction that befell them, they were dispersed in families throughout the cities and lands of the nations. How, therefore, will they at the proper time be the people of God? Shall they return again to Jerusalem and be gathered in the temple? Or, being in those places in which each one happens to be established? What says the prophet? "In the place where it was said to them, You are not my people, they themselves shall be called sons of the living God." For they fell away from being the people of God, and were dispersed throughout the countries of the nations—a fact which anyone might observe to this day D as being preserved. But in the final times of the age, "when the fullness of the nations shall have come in," then truly the rejected Israel itself shall be adopted as sons of God, even though dwelling in the places where they might happen to be found. For nothing shall compel them to ascend to Jerusalem and to seek still a temple of stone. For neither will they worship God by the ancient customs—I mean by the sacrifices of oxen and the slaughter of sheep—but the manner of their religion will be faith in Christ, and His divine commandments, and sanctification in the Spirit, and regeneration through holy baptism, which procures the glory of the adoption of sons for those who have been called to this by God.
"And the sons of Judah and the sons of Israel shall be gathered together, and shall appoint for themselves one head, and shall ascend from the land; for great is the day of Jezrael."
IX. And we shall find that these things have come to pass both historically and spiritually. For those who had been captured in the war from Samaria were in the borders of the Persians and Medes, that is,
A Israel, and those besides them who were from Jerusalem, that is, Judah and Benjamin. But after Cyrus, son of Cambyses, having conquered Babylon and having transferred the Persian power to himself, released Israel and Judah from captivity, and commanded them to return home together with the holy vessels, they arrived at Jerusalem; and they lived there henceforth no longer divided, as was the case before the captivity, nor did they hold individual kingdoms. All of them dwelled peacefully in Jerusalem alone, under the leadership at that time of Zorobabel, son of Salathiel, who was of the tribe of Judah, and with Jesus, son of Josedech, officiating as high priest, at which time they also rebuilt the divine temple and diligently took care of matters pertaining to the house. Therefore, he says, the sons of Judah and the sons of Israel shall be gathered B together, and they shall set for themselves one leadership, and they shall ascend from the earth; that you might understand the land of aliens, into which they had been taken captive. But that "great is the day of Jezrael" does not fit the historical account. Therefore, we do not say there that Israel shall be called the people of God, although on account of very great impiety it had been called "Not-a-people," as we have already explained above. Then they shall be gathered, both they and the sons of Judah, that is, the whole multitude of the Jews found in the last times. And they shall all be under one leadership, that is, Christ. And yet the God of all has foreannounced this through the voice of Ezekiel concerning Christ, saying: "And I will raise up over them one shepherd, and he shall pasture them, my servant David, C and he shall be their shepherd." He names David, him who was born from the seed of David according to the flesh, Christ. Therefore, the flock of the nations having already been called, Israel will finally be brought in, and all shall be under one leadership. "And they shall ascend," he says, "from the earth." This signifies, I think, to those who understand correctly, either that since they have altogether and in every way taken upon themselves the yoke of the Savior, they will henceforth cease to set their minds on the things upon the earth, and will be superior to the wisdom of the flesh (for such are all who have become subject to Christ; and the blessed David will confirm this, saying: "Because the strong ones of the earth have been greatly exalted"; and indeed also Paul: "But those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified their flesh with its passions and desires"), D or certainly that they themselves shall also attain the resurrection of the dead. For Christ also said somewhere: "Amen, I say to you, that everyone who believes in me, even if he should die, shall live." But how is it not necessary to say, "But tell me, shall those who do not believe remain dead, and shall they not rise with others?" The Savior himself demonstrated to us what more those who have believed shall have, speaking thus: "The thief does not come except to steal and to destroy. I came that they might have life, and might have it more abundantly." Therefore, all shall indeed rise again, both the good and the wicked; but not all shall have that "abundantly." For those who are not Christ's, who are known to be wrapped in the crimes of infidelity, shall have in the end a life harder than death. For they shall render an account of both their deeds and their infidelity. But those who are his, and who have been enriched with spiritual friendship with God, and with the improvement of their characters...
will have, beyond the common resurrection and return to life, those things which follow: namely, gifts, honors, crowns, rewards, and brilliance. And Paul will bear witness to this, saying: "Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed." Therefore, he says, they shall go up from the earth—that is, the holy ones shall themselves also live the life—because the day of Jezreel is great. For the day of Christ is truly great, on which he will raise all who have departed from life. And he shall indeed descend from heaven, and he shall sit upon the throne of his glory. "And he will render to each according to his works." But if one should wish to understand the day as the time of the visitation, in which forgiveness of sins was given by Christ to Greeks and Jews, and to those who had sinned against him, then this person also will not stray from the path of truth. For David also, speaking in this way concerning the time of the visitation, says: "This is the day which the Lord has made; let us exult and rejoice in it."
CHAPTER II
B Verse 1. *Say to your brother, "My people," and to your sister, "Obtained mercy."*
It was absolutely necessary to append these things to what had already been said. For since he has stated that all will be under one authority, with no one henceforth separating or dividing them into discord—but rather with a unanimity of souls prevailing, and with the faith in Christ gathering everyone together into unity in the Spirit—the Spirit has now necessarily commanded those who have already been enriched by faith and have been placed under Christ no longer to spurn the zeal for peace toward those who have rightly been called "My people" and "Obtained mercy." For once Israel had been received and had obtained forgiveness and had joined themselves to Christ, how was it consistent to still be at variance, rather than to persist in concord, being those who were called into brotherhood in the one Spirit of the adoption of sons of God? C Therefore, he says, "O you who have been enlightened by faith in Christ and have obtained the glorious status of kin, say at last to your brother who was formerly and rightly called 'Not my people,' 'My people'; and to your sister who was 'Not obtained mercy,' say: 'Obtained mercy.'" For it is necessary that those who are subject to the Master should appear to agree with his judgments and to desire the same things as their Father—they who have been called into the unity of children through grace—and to rejoice D rather that the remnant of those from Israel has been saved, and that those who were formerly cast aside because of great infidelity have now been admitted and have henceforth been sanctified in Christ, through whom, and with whom, be glory to God and the Father, with the Holy Spirit, for ever and ever. Amen.
VOLUME II.
VERS. 2. *Contend with your mother, contend, for she is not my wife, and I am not her husband.*
A XI. Having previously said that Israel would be justly rejected, and furthermore that they would be called "not a people," and indeed that the multitude which slew the Lord would be entirely devoid of mercy, and most justly so; then, having immediately added to these that in the last times of the age there would be a future conversion through faith in Christ, when he said: *And the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together, and shall appoint themselves one head,* and having recounted the whole economy from the beginning to the end: he passes now in these words to lay bare the crimes of those who were rightly rejected, and he clearly brings into the midst the reason why it befell them to suffer those things. Therefore, he says to those who have now obtained mercy, and have been received, and have become the people of God, but were born of the Synagogue as if from a harlot: *Contend with your mother, contend.* For if you wish to know the cause, he says, why you were called "not my people" and "without mercy" before your conversion, you will not find me to have been unkind to you or averse to your love. Contend, however, with your mother, because she did not keep a sincere love for me, and she denied the intimacy, and deemed the purity of spiritual communion with me as a matter of little significance, and did not wish to bring forth the fruits of my will. B *She was not my wife, and I am not her husband.* She did not bear you for me, but for others. For surely I would have acknowledged my own. The Father is not slow by nature to show mercy; but his leniency is more hesitant toward illegitimate offspring. And perhaps these things are said as if from the person of God. Someone might consider and ponder in their mind again, and not wrongly, that because the Synagogue had turned to apostasy from God, and had embraced the worship of demons, and—all but spreading her legs like a harlot before them—had given birth to children who had not loved God sincerely and steadfastly, nor were they of good character; but rather, being reared in the customs of their parents, they had committed things displeasing to God without any shame, partly by sacrificing to Baal and to the golden calves, and partly also by rushing headlong into every kind of impurity. C But most justly they will accuse their own mother, rather than the lover of virtue and the truly most chaste Lord, who refuses to endure a companion contaminated by fornication. Moreover, the mode of this fornication is clearly spiritual, even though the discourse is held as if concerning bodily matters.
VERS. 3. *And I will take away her fornication from before my face, and her adultery from the midst of her breasts, that I may strip her naked, and set her as in the days of her birth.* D
A XII. To those who do not turn to God by their own will, nor yet endure to fulfill what is pleasing to Him, but who, I know not how, obstinately cling to a baseness that is prized by them, punishment and chastisement are devised. What is this? That to which it had been better to be moved by one's own will, one is at length transferred, as if by necessity and fear. For just as severe and intractable wounds in the body, if they do not admit of a change toward health by yielding to the power of medicines, are either cut with iron, the skill of the physicians urging this mode of aid, or at any rate are overcome by fire; so also the soul of man, being far inclined toward apostasy from the good, if it does not yield to the voices of those who admonish it, nor yet chooses to migrate from shameful things to what is better, is conquered by penalties, and being entangled in the snares of punishment, is forced to turn. Such is that which we read of by the voice of Jeremiah: *Thou shalt be instructed by pain and the scourge, O Jerusalem.* B The blessed David also sings something to this effect concerning those who take pleasure in rushing into sins: *Bind their jaws with bit and bridle, who draw not near to thee.* For those who break in colts are wont to turn the rough and untutored irrational animals with bridles toward what seems well; so also God deals usefully with those who are prone to sin. Therefore, the prophets and righteous men advised the Synagogue to depart from the worship of idols, and to refrain from the error that was somehow invented and introduced. Nor was this all, but God Himself threatened that He would inflict upon them the foulest of all evils if they did not choose to turn back to thinking and seeing what is pleasing and dear to Him. But they were still fierce and unyielding, and inflexible in their mind. Wherefore, taken captive, they lived for a long time among the Assyrians and Medes. C When they were there, and were weighed down by the yoke of servitude, they no longer sacrificed to the calves—for how, or from where should they do so, when they were oppressed by inevitable evils?—nor did they implore the help of Baal himself, but rather bewailed their own calamities continually. This, therefore, is what the Lord of all says: *And I will take away her fornication from before my face, and her adultery from the midst of her breasts.* For, He says, she will go away a captive, and I shall not see her sacrificing any longer to Baal, nor offering sacrifices of burnt offerings to the golden calves, nor, with exceeding great arrogance, all but baring her breasts to her own lovers. But I will rather rejoice over her, as she is sorrowful, and afflicted, and surrounded by most grievous D tribulations in a land not her own, and serving fierce and bitter masters. I will bring these things upon her, having stripped her of my help, and having left her in shame, so that it may be seen that she is established exactly as she was at the beginning, when, bearing the yoke of the tyranny of the Egyptians, she remained naked, destitute of my grace, and love, and legal wisdom. And so, the Synagogue, having gone back as it were, was again among those things in which it had been, being deprived of the honor and glory of the intervening time because of its own folly. This the Savior Himself taught us, when He said: *When the unclean spirit*
A has gone out of a man, he walks through waterless places, seeking rest, and finds none. Then he says: I will return to my house from which I came; and coming, he finds it unoccupied, swept, and garnished. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. So shall it be also for this wicked generation.* For while the Israelites were still dwelling in Egypt, the wicked spirit dwelt in them as in idolaters. But he was cast out afterwards; for through Moses they were called to the knowledge of God. But after they killed the Lord, and bound themselves to a thousand crimes, their last state became worse than the first, with not just one, but a herd of B demons inhabiting them. For a soul, when it has cast away the protection of heavenly grace, will be entirely and utterly vulnerable to Satan.
*Vers. 4. And I will put her in the desert, and I will set her as a land without water, and I will kill her in thirst; and I will not have mercy on her children, because they are the children of fornication; because their mother has played the whore, and she who bore them has disgraced them.*
XIII. He says that the fornicator shall be unfruitful, arid, bringing forth thorns, thirsty and waterless—not, I believe, stripped of earthly waters, but of the supernal and heavenly fatness, that is to say, the distribution of gifts through the Spirit, which He bestows upon every wise and good soul. For the blessed David chants in a certain place to the Lord, and says: *But the sons of men shall hope in the shadow of Thy wings. They shall be inebriated with the fatness of Thy house; and Thou shalt make them drink of the torrent of Thy pleasure, for with Thee is the fountain of life.* But those who are genuine, who have lived with integrity and set nothing before divine charity, ought C to be judged worthy of such venerable and abundant distribution. But he affirms that the fornicator has become waterless, and will even die of thirst; and this, if I am not mistaken, is what is said about her through other prophets. For one says thus: *Behold, the days come, says the Lord, and I will send a famine upon the earth, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the word of the Lord. And they shall run to and fro from east to west, seeking the word of the Lord, and they shall not find it.* And Jeremiah again, as if in the person of God: *Thou shalt be disciplined with pain and the scourge, Jerusalem, lest my soul depart from thee, lest I make thee an impassable land, which shall not be inhabited.* For to each of us, as I said, D God sends speeches into the mind through the Spirit, which are able to nourish our souls unto eternal life, or else He frequently waters them through the voices of the saints. He says, therefore, that the children must perish together with their fornicating mother without mercy. For what reason? Because they are children of fornication. And we do not indeed say that the child is guilty for the mother's sins. For there occurs to us that which exists somewhere in Ezekiel
«The fathers shall not die for the children, nor the children for the fathers; each shall die for his own sin.» A We must know, rather, that even if the persona of the fornicating mother is conceived as a sort of type of the Synagogue, nevertheless those who emerged from her would be, none the less, fornicators as well. And by saying that they are children of fornication, he showed clearly that they stand guilty of the charges of spiritual fornication; and that they have been ungodly from their very swaddling clothes and womb, and have never at any time touched those works that lead to piety, nor have they possessed virtue in any way, nor have they honored the path that is pleasing to God. Thus also the Psalmist says, «The sinners were alienated from the womb; they went astray from the belly, they spoke lies;» B even though every pious person, and one nourished by the works of justice, can brilliantly exclaim to God: «Upon thee I was cast from the womb; from my mother’s belly thou art my God.» Just as those who are of the light and of the day could rightly be understood as those who live their lives brilliantly and honorably in light and day; so too, if some are called children of fornication, you would conceive of them in turn as those who are living in a brothel and an extremely off-track life, whom He does not deign to pity, «because their mother has played the whore, and she who bore them has put them to shame.» And she has put herself to shame, clearly, and the children born from her. For just as the righteous man is in the ornaments of virtue, so every ungodly man is in shame and disgrace.
He said, for: «I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread, and my water, and my garments, and my linens, and my oil, and all things that befit me.» C
XIV. He says that her lovers are the impure demons, concerning whom the manner of fornication is said to have occurred. For to follow their intentions, and to fulfill what is pleasing to them, is, I think, to be wantonly licentious in sins and to live shamefully, and to be impregnated with the utmost wickedness, and practically to bring forth every kind of impurity in labor pangs. For just as those who are in labor with divine fear cry out to God: «For fear of thee, O Lord, we have conceived in the womb, and have been in labor, and have brought forth, we have brought forth the spirit of thy salvation upon the earth;» D so also those who have yielded their mind to the desires of demons have their mind immediately filled with every ungodliness, and, departing from the divine laws, become practitioners of every wickedness. Therefore, the evil and pernicious lovers of those who have turned aside to ungodliness are the apostate demons; to whom, if anyone should choose to listen as gods, he will turn out to be significantly ungodly. For he credits them with what he has, and frequently honors them with praises, and offers them thanks as gifts, having abandoned the one God by nature—the one who bestows the sustenance of life, who clothes us as it were with benefits, and overshadows both mind and heart with help from above, who renders us abundant as with oil, and provides with the bread that, under the intellectual…
aspect, nourishes unto life glorious and unending, and with the lifegiving water nourishes us unto spiritual well-being. But whoever has inclined toward impiety, just as the fornicating Synagogue surely did, and said that it behooved her to follow her own lovers, and to offer up thank-offerings to them, and to expect to receive from them both food and clothing—for this, I think, is what is meant when she said: "I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread, and my water, and my garments, and my linen, and my oil, and all things that befit me."
But the wise and the good, those known to God and most intimate with Him, would surely attribute the bestowal of heavenly goods and the provision of earthly ones entirely to Him. For they will say, and most wisely: "Is there any among the idols of the nations that causes rain? Or will the heaven give its fullness? Art Thou not He? And we will wait for Thee, for Thou hast made all these things." And they will cry out together with the divine David: B "Thou hast visited the earth, and watered it; Thou hast greatly enriched it" (Ps. LXIV, 10).
VERS. 6, 7. *Therefore behold, I will hedge up her way with thorns, and I will block her paths, and she shall not find her way; and she shall pursue her lovers, and shall not overtake them; and she shall seek them, and shall not find them.*
XV. For since she has determined, he says, upon evil against herself, and has left nothing of the wickedness that is natural to her undone (for she said that she must choose to follow her lovers—that is, to surrender the inclination of her mind to the unholy opinions of those who have led her astray, as if they alone supplied their needs); and since, in addition to this, she offers up thanksgiving to demons—who profited her nothing—for the things that were bestowed upon her by Me, I will therefore render her thoughts insane, and I will resist her firmly. For I will hedge up her ways with thorns, and I will wall off her path, so that she may neither follow her own lovers, nor find her seductive deceivers to be useful, C even if she were perchance to resolve to follow them—that is, to apply herself earnestly to honors and worship for them.
By "thorns" he means the difficulties that befell Israel: I speak of wars, captivities, famine, dangers, and the weariness of servitude. For once they had been subjugated by the Medes and Persians, they were not at leisure to approach Baal, nor the golden calves; but there was of necessity, being deprived of liberty—that liberty which is from above and most dear—and seeking the things they had had at home, yet being in want and pressed by the greed of their masters, they were no longer able to perform their accustomed rituals; but rather they mourned and were intoxicated with incurable misfortunes, already condemning their deceivers, since they had been able to derive no benefit from their empty hopes. For they were helped not at all by Baal defending them (for what could a mute log do?), nor, indeed, by the calves devising any way of helping them. For it was "gold, the work of men's hands," as it is written (Ps. CXIII, 4). Thus are the ways blocked, D not by God smoothing the path to wickedness, but usefully
A preventing them from being carried headlong in the way they foolishly desire; so that, even against their will, they may be hindered and return to a fruitful life, once they have learned by the very experience that sinning remains not unpunished for anyone at all.
And [she] will say, "I will go and return to my former husband, for it was better for me then than now."
XVI. The discourse still maintains the mode appropriate to it; for it has been established from beginning to end regarding a harlot woman. Therefore, he says, she will repent of her counsel and will say, "I will go and return to my former husband, for it was better for me then than now." But observe even in this the God of all B both chastising in anger, and helping in various ways, and drawing back those who have gone astray through the bringing upon them of terrible things, and changing them for their benefit. For, he says, when she sees her own ways hedged in with thorns, then, yes, then she will change her counsel; and that which it would have been better to choose, she will seize upon—even if late, and after trying experiences—before the painful things have begun. For then she will learn to love the things of God; and having dismissed the sins committed in the meantime as if by the reason of one who has come to their senses, she will thereafter move toward acting as she did at the beginning, and she will admire the things of God, and will perceive them only with difficulty, as if recovering from drunkenness, because of their incomparably superior excellence. Therefore, being chastised is by no means harmful, even if it happens to cause distress of itself. C Understanding this, the prophets say, "Correct us, O Lord" (Jerem. X, 24). And the divine Paul writes: "If you endure discipline, God offers Himself to you as to sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten?" (Hebr. XII, 7). And he shows the sweetness and profit resulting from being chastised, saying thus: "All discipline for the present indeed does not seem to be of joy, but of sorrow; afterward, however, it returns the most peaceful fruit of justice to those who have been trained by it" (Hebr. XII, 11).
And she did not know that I gave her the corn, and the wine, and the oil, and multiplied silver for her. But she made them into silver and gold for Baal.
XVII. That she would no longer choose to follow her own lovers, no one would doubt, for this will be D brought about even very easily if her way is hedged in and her paths are walled up, and if she succeeds in nothing at all. But because she deems Baal to be God, and has attributed to him the thank-offerings for the things provided to her by Me, I shall also deliberate appropriate things toward this, so that she may learn who it is that gives and who has the power over all things. For I have given the necessities for sustaining life; I have given corn and wine and oil, and I have multiplied silver for her. But whereas it was her duty to return thanks for My bounties, she has turned them to the glory of Baal, which is indeed a clear proof of the utmost senselessness and at the same time of the most ungrateful spirit; and the matter holds not without cause
A strongly towards the need to stir up God, even if He be thought of as the source and origin of all gentleness. It is therefore a most terrible thing, and not devoid of penalty, to seek to attribute the generosity of the gifts bestowed by God to those who destroy His glory, that is to say, to the unclean demons—a thing which some in the world, namely the Greeks and the heretics, in fact do. For the former, though God grants to man wisdom and speech, bestow the excellence of their eloquence upon the glories of the demons. And the latter, the God-hated and impious crowds of heretics, ruin some by the inventions of their crafty notions, and they overturn the mind of the simpler folk, and have set snares to destroy men, as it is written. Therefore both have honored Baal, B and they bring as it were a shining offering from the intellectual wealth that pertains to God, to the glory of their own idol. And this, I think, is very well understood spiritually: "I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver; but she made it into silver and gold for Baal." Therefore, we must attribute to God that which is God's. For it is fitting that the Giver and Provider of all our good things should be gilded by those things which we have from Him, whether it be illustrious speech or a mind capable of perceiving true mysteries.
"Therefore I will return, and take away my corn in its time, and my wine in its time, and I will take away my garments and my linen, that they may not cover her shame. C And now I will reveal her uncleanness in the sight of her lovers, and no one shall deliver her out of my hand."
XVIII. You see how He threatened to take away those things that are wont to delight, and not without purpose? For just as He induced her to make her path rough with fixed stakes, in order to embrace more wholesome things, and made her, even against her will, to say: "I will return to my first husband, for it was better for me then than now"—for by experience she had learned what brings profit, and in what it was better to dwell—so if I shall take away, He says, those things which are mine, then she will by all means seek the giver, and she will cease to show herself pleasing to the demons, and to think that they are truly gods, such as to be able to restore D those who have been subjected to them to their former happiness. And He speaks of taking away the corn and the wine and the linen in their season, with the fruits perhaps failing in their time, and the harvest deserting them, so that the labors expended in cultivating the land appear to have been endured in vain. But if anyone prefers to understand that the Jews will be deprived of corn and wine in their season, as being despoiled of the mystical blessing, he will understand it well. By "linen" He means the heavenly aid, by which anyone, as if covered by it, will be comely; but outside of it, he will no longer be very comely, but very much the opposite, and will remain as if naked among men. Thus, therefore, you may understand the removal of the linen, so that they may not cover her shame. But that He will reveal the uncleanness...
the stripping away [of her adornments], so that her shame might not be hidden. He promises to reveal her uncleanness, even before her lovers, in such a way as I was just saying: that having fallen into the stakes—that is, into the evils of war and the disasters most capable of striking terror—she will even neglect those she deemed to be gods, having no leisure to offer them sacrifices, nor even the ability to fulfill the customary rites for their glory. And mocking them all the more, as if she had derived no benefit at all [from them], and reproaching them for being utterly powerless, she says: “I will return to my former husband, for it was better for me then than now.” When, therefore, I have stripped her of the assistance that came from me, and she has fallen into terrible things, and becomes scornful of the honor and love she had for them, then she will appear unsightly even to them, having spat upon them with a cracked and punishing mind. For as much as she possesses that is pleasing and dear to them, it ought to be seen as something she endures. And even when she is in the very depths of these calamities, she does not forget those whom she thinks [to be her gods]. Consequently, as far as their will is concerned, Israel is unsightly even to those she deemed to be gods, when she has chosen not to love them to the very end. And it seems to me that the blessed Elijah said something of this sort: “How long will you limp on both your legs? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is god, follow him.” As it is said elsewhere: “Either Baal is Baal, or God is God.” A That no one could set upright the one cast down by God, he showed when he said: “No one shall deliver her out of my hand.” B
41. Verse 11. *And I will overturn all her joys, her solemnities, and her neomenias, and her Sabbaths, and all her festivals.*
XIX. For how could those who were completely hemmed in by such harsh and unavoidable evils, so as to be rendered subject to a barbarian power and to serve as captives of war, celebrate a feast? Or what opportunity for joy could they have, who were vexed by such bitter cares and consumed by intolerable griefs? Yet, why do we not prefer to understand it this way, that it would not be absurd for those overcome by such great miseries to exclaim what the lyre of the Psalmist so truly sang to them: “By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat and wept when we remembered thee, O Sion”? And although they gave no effort at all to performing feasts, the ceremonies established by law in divine worship, and those things which were pleasing and customary at home—the Babylonians, I suppose, not permitting it—nevertheless they say: “How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?” But perhaps someone will object: If Israel turned aside to worship idols, why would they not also turn aside from the feasts established by the law, and from the Sabbaths and the neomenias? We reply that although they had slipped from the love of God, and had worshiped Baal and the golden calves, C they had not, however, utterly rejected all those things ordained through Moses. Moreover D
they persisted in limping on both legs, according to the voice of the prophet, so that they were willing to worship neither Baal absolutely, nor the God of all things purely and sincerely. Therefore, they missed the feasts and the solemn assemblies, and the joys, and the Sabbaths, neither being permitted to perform those things in the law to God, nor yet celebrating the customary festivals to Baal.
It is possible that this has another, and indeed a true and very apt meaning. It is necessary that those who depart from God, and spurn His love, should be sorrowful and flee from all cheerfulness. "For there is no joy to the wicked, says the Lord," for whom the worm is reserved forever. But to the upright, and those who have a pious and God-fearing purpose, it is fitting and deserved to rejoice over all good things: "For everlasting joy," according to the Scripture, "shall be upon their head; and sorrow, and sadness, and sighing shall flee away." To whom the inspired Paul also writes, saying: "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice. Let your modesty be known to all men." For just as punishment follows the wicked completely, so also shall the heavenly abundance follow those whose purpose it has been to lead a life conspicuous for virtue. B
VERS. 12. *And I will destroy her vine, and her fig trees, of which she said, These are my wages that my lovers have given me. And I will put them into a testimony, and the birds of the air, and the beasts of the field, and the reptiles of the earth shall eat them.*
XX. This again can be said in other, namely these, words: "I will take away my grain in its time, and my wine in its time." For since Israel, attributing the abundance of fruits existing in their seasons to the power and beneficence of demons, most senselessly showed themselves grateful to them, and not rather to God; for this reason, He says, I will destroy and ruin those things through which she has been evilly seduced, saying that she had been hired for wages by her lovers. And the discourse is elegantly conceived, as if concerning a lustful woman. For in truth Israel supposed that the abundance of timely fruits, and the fertility of the land which she possessed, were paid back to her as a price and reward for the honor and worship which she rendered to idols. And that they therefore enjoyed every security and cheerfulness of mind, and believed this to be the one and only cause, anyone may very easily understand by the words of Jeremiah. For when Jerusalem had been taken, and some had escaped the brunt of war or the hostile sword, they went down into Egypt, and the prophet was with them by divine command. There, therefore, he urged them to abstain from the pollutions of idolatry, and to return to God. Then the wretched and most foolish crowd of women, opposing the words of the prophet, C D impudently gossiped: "The word which you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord, we will not hear; but we will do everything, as the word that shall go out of the mouth…"
of us, to offer incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings to her, as we have done, we and our fathers, our kings and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and from outside Jerusalem. And we were filled with bread, and we became well-off, and we saw no evil. And as we left off offering incense to the queen of heaven, we have all been in want, and by the sword and in famine we have perished." A Do you observe, then, how they claim that they received the things necessary for the use of life, and moreover the prosperous state of affairs, as a wage and reward for their error? Therefore, He says: "I will destroy those whose wages I have declared, which my lovers have given me, and I will place them as a testimony." For these things, having been removed, would bear witness in a way to the perversity of Israel, and would illustrate their punishment, and would declare the divine anger against them. "And the beasts of the field and the birds of the sky and the creeping things of the earth shall eat them." One might understand this not in one way, but rather in three ways, which shall be taken from the meaning. For either He says that what is in the fields will be food for beasts, since there is no longer one inhabiting the land, because very many were driven out of their homes and cities and went unwillingly to Babylon and the Medes, and others, not a few, were consumed by war, so that now the region of the Samaritans is inhabited only by beasts and creeping things; or He wishes to say this, that the Babylonians will devour the abundance of the fruits of the region in the manner of beasts, while the inhabitants of the land hold themselves within the walled cities, not daring, so to speak, to go out beyond the gates, B even though they are dying of famine.
If, however, it seems to anyone that these things should be understood spiritually, it is permitted to proceed by another path. For the instruction through the Law, leading to Christ, may be very well compared to a vineyard and a fig tree. For according to the voice of blessed Paul, it is a pedagogue toward this. And the vine may be understood as a symbol of joy, but the fig tree as one of sweetness. And that the Law of God is truly sweet to a soul that loves God, and is capable of gladdening it, how could anyone doubt? Therefore Israel remained, by necessity, bereft of the divine and spiritual goods. And they were given up for consumption to those as if they were beasts and creeping things—I mean, to those from the nations, who before the advent of the Savior might be suspected of differing little from venomous beasts and creeping things, on account of the savageness of their manners. But nevertheless they did not remain in this state, when they chose to follow Christ, who says: "Learn from me, for I am meek and humble in heart, and you shall find rest for your souls." I would also add to what has been said this: that there is a necessity for those who walk in the accursed and God-hated way, as they will not, D to be deprived of every good and to be devolved to the most extreme miseries.
A
*And I will avenge upon her the days of Baalim, in which she sacrificed to them, and put on her earrings and her necklaces, and went after her lovers, and forgot me, says the Lord.*
XXI. He forthwith brings forward again the cause of an indignation so severe, or rather, most exceeding becoming toward them. For since they have persisted in being led astray for long periods of time, He says that they shall experience the wrath of God in equal lengths of time. This, I think, is the meaning of: *I will avenge upon her the days of Baalim*, that is, of the idols. For He says that He will surely make the days of punishment and justice match the days of her waywardness, in which she burnt incense to Baal. For she has not ceased to deck herself out B and to please her lovers in many ways. Now the ornament of souls implicated in idolatry is the pursuit and performance of those things which are pleasing to impure demons. For just as we say that a man's soul is conspicuous in which the excellence of virtue and beauty is perceived, so must it be assumed that the soul that is a friend to sins, thinking and acting by design those things which are pleasant and acceptable to the flocks of demons, is for them most exceedingly beautiful. And such a soul might be compared to a woman of bad character, foolishly adorning herself with gold, and practically bewitching the hearts of those she loves with the ornaments of her ears and neck. Thus, it glorifies every kind of impurity for the wicked. But that for those whose goal is to look toward such things, it is both customary and necessary that they should also slip away from the memory of God C Himself, He shows by saying: *And forgot me, says the Lord.* For, He says, because she was corrupted by adhering to demons, or rather by completely departing from the desire and inclination toward what is good, she also lost the memory of God; and this is a clear demonstration of absolute impiety.
*VERS. 14. Therefore behold, I will seduce her, and set her as a wilderness.*
XXII. For after, He says, she traveled astray in many ways, and I most justly exacted the penalties for her defection (for I have taken vengeance upon her for the days of Baalim, and have leveled my wrath in proportion to her transgressions), for this reason I will henceforth D apply myself to mercy, and I will transfer her to better things, and to the power of performing those things through which she might become acceptable to God. What, then, He says, will be the mode of healing? *Behold, I will seduce her*: not, indeed, from that which is necessary and useful for the preservation of life, so that she might no longer have such things, but from shameful things and those accustomed to cause harm, unto those things which conduce to benefit. For just as a soul is led astray from virtue to wickedness, in the same way, I think, as if retreating from perverse habits, it might be seen as having been led astray, turned aside from its own goal, and no longer running the course that was set before it. And just as her ways were profitably blocked with thorns, so that she might not overtake her lovers: so now, too, as she runs, as it were, headlong into ruin and destruction, by the mercy of God translated to the love of virtue and true knowledge of God into the soul, and light...
and no longer finding her former way, as I said. It should be known, however, that the phrase "I will seduce her" has been rendered differently by other interpreters. Nevertheless, it leads to one and the same meaning. For some have rendered it, "Because behold, I will take her away"; others, "Because I am deceiving her," using different words, as I said, yet signifying the same thing; this phrase "I will seduce," I say, is usefully understood. For He promises to make her, as it were, a desert land accessible to the bands of demons, teaching that He will make it harsh, impassable, and waterless to their desires, so that, finding henceforth no way to find rest, they may spurn it and depart.
So also our Lord Jesus Christ says that the unclean spirit B gone out from a man walks through waterless places, seeking rest, and finding none. For just as a place lacking water is not habitable for men, so too for unclean spirits, a soul that loves God and is holy, and that does not endure to think or do anything that is according to their pleasure, may rightly be considered a land that is evil and unpleasant, and as it were inaccessible and waterless. Therefore, this so-called seduction is a mode of succor, as is being set in a desert land, according to the words just spoken to us.
*And I will speak to her heart, and I will give her her possessions from thence.*
XXIII. In these words, salvation through Christ is clearly promised to us, and the times of His coming are signified, in which we say that this is fulfilled: "In those days, and in that time, I will surely put my laws into their mind, and on their hearts I will write them." C For thus also the most wise Paul writes to those who have been enriched with such a brilliant and truly acceptable grace, saying: "You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men; being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God." For we who have believed have become taught of God. And so the divine John has proclaimed, saying: "And you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you have no need that anyone teach you, but as His Spirit teaches you concerning all things." And having henceforth Christ dwelling within in the heart, as the prompter of things necessary, we have been enriched at once with every form of virtue, and with the abundant and inalienable possession of spiritual charisms. And indeed, Paul writes to confirm us in this: "What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and what has not ascended into the heart of man, those things which God has prepared for them that love Him." He promises, therefore, to speak to her heart; for it shall be called to the knowledge of D the Synagogue of the Jews, having taken the divine laws into its mind, written by the Holy Spirit, just as the Church gathered from the Gentiles. And her possessions shall be from thence, for henceforth,
namely from this matter. For from the time that God spoke to us, and caused us to hear the things of the Spirit, which are necessary for life and for the knowledge of God that is understood in Christ, through whom and in whom we have seen the Father, we have become wealthy, as I have said, with the unfading hope, the glory, the boastings of adoption, the possessions of the saints—this is the heavenly wealth, the grace, and the reigning together with Christ himself. A For such as these do not consent to fix their minds on earthly things, but have hated the world and the things therein.
*And the valley of Achor, to open up the understanding thereof.*
XXIV. We must return again to the word B "I will give." For he says: "I will give her possessions from thence. I will likewise give the valley of Achor, to open up the understanding thereof." And what he wishes to signify is this: we who have believed, desiring to set before ourselves, as a pattern and example of the things to be done, those things which happened to the ancients, shrink from offending God as something destructive; but rather we seek, and are anxious, as to how we might perform the things that are pleasing to him. For the most wise Paul exhorts us to this in these words: "Now all these things happened to them by way of figure; and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages are come." The method, therefore, of pedagogy for virtue is that we should think it necessary to look closely at and consider the things that happened to those of old. That, therefore, the unbelieving and the rebellious and the despisers of divine commands will fall into terrible and inevitable punishments when Christ judges, he could show, and indeed quite easily, as in a type, by the things performed at the time of Achor. He, having disregarded the divine command, and having stolen C from the devoted things, was punished together with his whole house, with Joshua the son of Nun, who filled the type of Christ, imposing upon him the ultimate penalty. For he acted as leader after Moses, and he himself brought the sons of Israel across the Jordan, and he himself distributed to them the land of promise. The matters concerning Achor are written as follows. Since, indeed, he was caught having stolen, and confessed his sin, "And Joshua," he says, "took Achor the son of Zarah, and led him away to the valley of Achor, and his sons, and his daughters, and his calves, and his beasts of burden, and his sheep, and his tent, and all his possessions, and all the people with him, and they led them to Emek-Achor. And Joshua said to Achor: Why hast thou destroyed us? May the Lord destroy thee, as also this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and they heaped up over him a great pile of stones." D Now, Achor is interpreted as 'distortion.' But with the addition of *Emek-Achor*, it is understood again as 'the valley of distortion.' There the sons of Israel slew Achor as hateful to God and greedy for wealth, together with all that he had. For it is written that "the ungodly shall be rooted out from the earth." A similar thing shall happen in the final times of the age, when to us
A from above out of heaven Christ shall descend, "to render to every man according to his works." For those who have chosen to disobey the divine commands, and have loved the things in the world more, as if casting them down into a deep ravine, into Hades, he will destroy the wicked miserably.
Then it says: "I will give the valley of Achor, or Emekachor, to open up her understanding."
For it shall be, he says, among the things of great utility for her, so that she must sober up, and finally, after the ancient callousness of her understanding, open her eye to the things done at various times in the valley of Emekachor—for he called the place "valley of perversion" (since there, not a few of those from Israel fell, when those from Hai pursued them, and much distortion occurred, as Israel had slipped from the saving care and help of God because Joshua had not consulted Him). The things done, then, he says, in the ravine of perversion, by him who dared to violate the divine command, He will open her understanding to see clearly what kind of end shall befall those who wish to despise the task. But observe how B first the valley of Achor is not given to open her understanding, until He has spoken to her heart; for the multitudes of the Jews would not have understood the divine commandments, nor would they have gazed in types upon the mystery of Christ, if they had not been enriched, as we who have already believed have been, by the participation of the Holy Spirit, and shown to have partaken of the illumination from above. The blessed Paul, writing concerning those of the blood of Israel, will confirm this for us: "For until this very day the veil remains at the reading of the Old Testament, not taken away, because it is abolished in Christ. But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies upon their heart. But whenever it shall turn to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." Therefore, He promises first to speak into her heart, engraving upon her His divine laws and the instruction of the Holy Spirit from above; then thus she will understand the things that were done in the valley of Emekachor C typically and historically, which are not sufficient of themselves to open the eye of her understanding and to finally deliver her from her ancient callousness. "For callousness has happened in part to Israel," as the wise Paul also writes."And she shall be humbled there according to the days of her infancy, and according to the days of her ascent out of the land of Egypt."
XXV. "When," he says, "I shall speak into her mind and heart, and give the valley of Achor to open her understanding, there," that is, at that time, "she shall be humbled," and she shall not be brought low because of anything that is accustomed to cause pain; but rather, having finally abandoned being disobedient, and unruly, and held by accusations of haughtiness—for the disobedient person is arrogant, and as it were D steep, and unbridled, and practiced in holding the keeping of the law—is, on the contrary, greatly humble, and as it were easily approached, ready to obey, and beloved by God above all. And indeed, he says somewhere through one of the holy prophets: A "To whom shall I look, if not to the humble and quiet and him who trembles at my words?" When, therefore, I shall speak, he says, to her heart, then, indeed, then she also shall be humbled, just as in the beginning, when at the calling of Moses, and when the compassionate God ordered them to depart from Egypt, they strove very readily to do this, and hastened from the lands of imperious masters. But when He was giving the law in Horeb, having gathered with Moses at Mount Sinai, they promised, saying: "All things that the Lord our God has spoken to us, we will do and will hear." She will, therefore, be humble and tractable, just as in the beginning, when, having received birth through the law unto the knowledge of God, she would gladly embrace what was pleasing to God in such infancy. Therefore, he calls the regeneration through the law unto the knowledge of God "the days of youth." B Therefore, he also said: "Israel is my first-born son."
VERSES 16, 17. *And it shall be, in that day, saith the Lord; she shall call me: My husband, and shall no more call me Baalim. And I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and they shall no more be mentioned by their own names.*
XXVI. In this place, he calls the time of the advent of our Savior a "day"; for the time of the incarnation of the Only-Begotten can be called a day, properly and truly, during which the darkness in the world has been dissolved and the gloom has vanished; and bright rays have risen, as it were, in the minds of those who have believed, and the sun of righteousness has shone C, inserting the light of the true knowledge of God to those who have known how to open the eyes of their mind. At that time, therefore, he says, having been called to the knowledge of the true God, she will depart from that former and odious shallowness, and will no longer be easily diverted from the straight path to apostasy from any quarter; but she will rather possess a mind proceeding straight and salutarily with the constancy of piety, so that she will not even for a point of time make use of the names of idols in her speech. For she shall call me, he says, "My husband," and shall no more call me Baalim; that is, she will refrain from being a harlot, and will refuse to play the harlot in the future. She will consider it a great thing to be legitimate, and will confess the kinship, D a spiritual one, indeed. But she will by no means call upon the Baalim, thinking those things which have been fashioned out of stone, and formed by the clever artifice of some into a human shape, to be gods. "Therefore, she shall call me," he says, "My husband." For as a modest and most upright [woman] she will turn herself to me, and for the future she will love no one else; nor will she call upon the Baalim any longer. But the statement may also be accepted in another sense, if it pleases anyone. For "Baalim," as everyone knows, signifies idols. Now it was the custom among Hebrew women to call their own husbands by the names of the false gods; a most iniquitous custom which was to them an honor. They say that Ninus the Babylonian was the first author of this, who named his father Belus, after the idol Bel which they worshipped. Therefore, that this so shameful custom would cease—
A he indicated when he said: "You shall call me 'My husband' [Vir meus], and you shall call me no more 'My Baalim'." For if she wishes, he says, to call me her husband, she will surely add and address me as "My husband," and no longer shall she call me by the names of idols for the sake of honor. On this account, he says, "Because I will also take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and they shall no more remember their names."
Vers. 18. And I will make a covenant for them in that day with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground; and I will break the bow and the sword B and the battle out of the earth.
XXVII. Above he was saying: "I will destroy her vine, and her fig trees, whereof she has said, 'These are my rewards that my lovers have given me';" and he was adding: "The beasts of the field shall eat them, and the fowls of heaven, and the creeping things of the ground." Interpreting this passage, we said that by beasts and birds are obliquely signified the enemies devastating the region of the Jews—Persians, Medes, Babylonians, and that confused multitude of other enemies, who might be understood as not differing much from wild beasts C on account of their bloodthirsty manner; and the birds indeed on account of the swiftness of their pursuit; the creeping things, however, because they were ferocious, most malicious, and sharp for wickedness. These, while Israel was shut up in the cities of Samaria, devoured everything that was in the fields, leaving nothing of insolence unattempted. But when, he says, I take away the names of their idols from the earth, then I will also arrange a covenant of peace for them with every savage and barbarous nation. For then hostilities will cease, war will be taken away, and they will remain free from terrors. "For I will break the bow and the sword." D Which, indeed, we find to have been brought to an end according to history. For after the most illustrious leaders of the Romans obtained empire over all things, and brought whatever the sun beholds under their sway, God bestowing the glory upon them administratively, the Persians looked after only their sole empire, and the incursions of other barbarians into the provinces and cities also quieted down; of which thing the blessed Isaiah makes clear mention, saying: "And they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; and nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more." For now, as if forced under one yoke, they applied themselves rather to useful labors of work, and exchanged military instruments into those suitable for farming. There will be, therefore, peace, he says, and the fears that were once terrible will cease, God calming them, and gladdening those who love Him with the fruits of peace.
I think that this also must be added. Formerly, indeed,
when we persisted in error and were called children of wrath, we were destroyed by wicked and adversarial powers, like certain evil beasts and carnivorous birds, and, indeed, like the most baneful A serpents. But when we acknowledged the true God in Christ, and wiped away our offenses through faith and ancient love, then we were saved, “and we received power to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and upon all the power of the enemy.” Then, too, we walked upon the asp and the basilisk, and trampled the lion and the dragon, with Christ protecting us, and girding His own with invincible power, and inserting His peace into our souls. For He says: “My peace I give to you, my peace I leave with you.”
VERSE 19. *And I will make thee to dwell in hope; and I will betroth thee unto me for ever.*
XXVIII. I shall not only deliver you, He says, from the terrors of war, but I will also add this: that henceforth you may be in good hope for good things, so that you may possess a certain, firm, and immovable joy. For I will betroth you to myself, and that for ever. But what, then, is this? In a certain way, He used to betroth to Himself the ancient Israel, that is, the Synagogue of the Jews, and called it into intimacy, namely through the law, with Moses officiating and angels serving as intermediaries. But the manner of that betrothal was not perpetual, nor did it last for ever; far from it; for the types, “which were imposed until the time of reformation,” were not destined to prevail for all time. B But at the time of reformation, that is, the coming of our Savior, another manner of betrothal appeared, perpetual and unshaken, and much more splendid than the former, and superior to the shadows. For the God of the universe, as a kind of dowry to His bride, granted a release from carnal servitude, and through shadow and figures called her to spiritual purification. However, He set a time limit for that betrothal. For since that first betrothal was not free from fault, according to the voice of Paul, nor was it free from old age, nor far removed from destruction, a place was sought for a second, that is, a new one, which, I say, brings to us through the gift and grace of Christ a liberty that is neither temporal nor carnal. For He adopts us into the number of the children of God, and liberally adds the pledge of the Spirit, and prescribes perpetual laws. And thus C the divine David speaks to Him: “Thy justice is justice for ever, and thy word is truth”; manifesting, as I suppose, that the things which are delivered in the law do not remain for ever, as the shadow is translated into truth; nor can the beauty of truth be discerned by anyone in the legal letters. For the law, as I said, was a shadow and a figure. Therefore He seeks her marriage, having dissolved that ancient and first one. For the law does not have enough power to join us to God perfectly and purely. D
A We approach Him through the Son and His precepts—that is, those of the Gospel—which contain a spiritual union, in other words, a bonding. For we are united to God in the Spirit, and we are enriched by the participation in His divine nature. It is also likely that the phrase "I will betroth you to myself" elegantly indicates something else; for you will understand it thus again. For "to myself," He says, is instead of "through myself," not as in the past, with angels intervening, nor with some minister assumed for this purpose, after the manner of Moses. For it is not an emissary, nor an angel, as it is written, but the Lord Himself, the Word from God the Father, having become man similar to us, who presented the Church to Himself, and B "built the two peoples into one new man, making peace, and reconciling both in one Spirit to the Father," according to the voice of the blessed Paul.
Or, if you wish, you may take what is said in another way. For He betrothed to Himself, as I said, the Synagogue of the Jews in Egypt long ago, but as if for another rather than for Himself—I mean, for the holy Moses, to whom He said: "Go, descend quickly from here, for your people, whom you led out of the land of Egypt, have sinned." You hear how He attributed to Moses the one being betrothed, that is, the people, not yet having deemed them worthy of the intimacy of being with Himself. For the Law, or Moses, was not sufficient, as I said, to join them to God purely and in every way. For this was reserved as the best of accomplishments, and truly befitting to God, for the Mediator of God and men, namely Christ, through whom and in whom we are united to God. For He Himself is our peace, according to the Scriptures, who took away the sin that lay between, and joined and bound us, pure and washed by the Spirit, to Himself, and through Himself to God and the Father. C
"And I will betroth you to myself in righteousness, and in judgment, and in mercy, and in compassion. And I will betroth you to myself in faith, and you shall know the Lord."
XXIX. He explains clearly what the manner of union might be, and by what things the mystery of the economy will proceed. "For it shall be," He says, "in righteousness, and in judgment, and indeed also in mercy and in compassion." What, then, is this righteousness, what is the judgment, and furthermore what is the mercy? It seems necessary to say. Consequently, we wretched ones have been circumvented, with Satan snatching us away like a wild D beast, and driving us into error, and casting us at his own will into the pits of sin, being able to offer no help to ourselves. For the beast is truly most cruel, most violent, and a manslayer. Since human affairs had descended into such misery, the blessed prophets frequently poured out supplications to God, who is able to succor, and, as if putting on the common persona of human nature themselves, they begged for the Son to arrive from the heavens as a helper and auxiliary. The divine David therefore says: "Arise, O God, judge the earth."
A And again, "O God, in thy name save me, and in thy power judge me." God therefore judged in justice, and saved the afflicted; he drove away the murderous and pestilent Satan, and thrust him from our necks, and overturned the proud sovereignty of the demons. And he manifested this mystery himself through himself, when he said, being about to endure the cross for the life of all: "Now is the judgment of this world; and the prince of this world shall be cast out." "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto myself." And we do not, of course, say that he meant the judgment of this world would happen at just the time of his coming. For as he himself said again: "God sent not his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him." B By "judgment," however, he means the right and blameless adjudication, as it were; for he has judged rightly, as I said, for us and against him. And he has saved us, having drawn us to himself; he has cast out of the tyranny over us the one who was coveting us and destroying us in various ways. We have been saved, therefore, through God having mercy and compassion on us. "For we have been justified, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his great mercy," as it is written. We have been called to spiritual intimacy through faith; and being called in this way, we have acknowledged him who is by nature God. Therefore, he says: "And I will betroth thee to myself in faith, and thou shalt know the Lord." Faith, then, has gone before; and thus we have acquired riches by knowing Christ. And this, I think, is what was said to some: "Unless you believe, you shall not understand." C But that correctly understanding the mystery of Christ provides the participation in eternal life to those worthy to receive it, the Son himself will confirm, speaking to the Father and God in the heavens: "And this is life eternal, that they may know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent."
VERS. 21, 22. And it shall be in that day, says the Lord, I will hear the heaven, and the heaven shall hear the earth, and the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil, and they shall hear Jezrael.
XXX. Again, he designates the time appropriate for the calling as "this day;" for this is the custom of the God-inspired Scripture. That Israel, therefore, shall at some time be brightened by faith in Christ, in the abundance of every good thing and of the gifts granted from above D and by God, he shows under a certain veil. For he asserts that there will be a plenty of rain when he himself nods assent; for this, I think, is what he asserts when saying, "I will hear the heaven." Indeed, even on the earth below, the fruits most necessary and essential to us will be given. For without God and his providence from above, neither would the heaven at any time send down rains to the earth, nor would the earth at any time bring forth its own fruits. Knowing this, the prophet Jeremiah prayed, saying: "Are there any among the vanities of the nations that can cause rain? Or can the heaven give its abundance? Art not thou he?"
And we will wait for thee, for thou hast made all these things." A For when the Creator, as I have said, nods His assent and stretches out His hand to those upon the earth, heaven shall be the giver of rain, and the earth, as mother and nurse, shall provide the necessary fruits. "I will hear," He says, "the heaven," that is, I will nod My assent for the rains to be poured down upon those on the earth. And when this happens, it too "shall hear," and it shall bring forth wheat, wine, and oil—that is, it shall render to those who dwell upon it abundant fruit, with nothing missing of all that is necessary and life-sustaining. And this is taken historically.
But it is necessary to turn from bodily things, as from a most clear image, to spiritual ones. For as long as Israel, the vineyard of the Lord, "the new plant, beloved," was unbridled, disobedient, and an adversary of God, God commanded the clouds not to rain B upon it. Now, by clouds we must understand the holy and intelligible powers, the heavenly and supernal virtues, through which the word of exhortation can come down to us, clearly from God. For they are "ministering spirits," according to the voice of the blessed Paul, running up and down, and sent out for service for the sake of those who shall inherit salvation. But when the time of punishment had passed, he who was once a slayer of the Lord was saved through faith and was received henceforth in righteousness, in judgment, in mercy, and in compassion, and God bestowed upon him the blessings from above, "He who distributes to all abundantly." For He commanded the clouds to send down C the rain—I mean the exhortation into mind and heart. But that even the very nature of the angels has nothing of its own, but possesses all its wealth from God, He has taught by saying: "I will hear the heaven," that is, I will make the heaven, or those who are in heaven—the intelligent and holy powers—the fulfillers of my gifts, so that they too may be able to exhort those who have received mercy. And then, indeed, "the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil"—that is, they who are on the earth will bring forth the fruit of hope for life, joy, and cheerfulness. And wheat is a type of life, wine of joy, and oil of cheerfulness and well-being. For there is in those who have believed a good, firm, and established hope. D And one departs from wickedness, and yearns for every good thing, and submits his neck to the yoke of the Savior, sustained by a good, and altogether indubitable, and truly certain hope of the life to come, so that he may rejoice together with the other saints and have a most cheerful heart. For the prophet Isaiah says somewhere concerning the saints: "Everlasting joy shall be upon their heads. Praise, and exultation, and joy shall overtake them. Sorrow and sighing have fled away." Accordingly, the earth—that is, the men inhabiting the earth—shall surely hear the hope of life and cheerfulness, and indeed of joy, the exhortations from above, or rather the intelligible rains. As for there being in
A the glory of Christ the fruit of the life of the saints ("For one died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again"), he has made known, saying: "And they shall hear Jezrael." For we shall bear fruit to him, as I said, owing him our own life. It has been said very often that Jezrael is interpreted "seed of God," and this is the Son, as being begotten of God the Father according to nature and in an ineffable manner, even if he be called by a name of a bodily thing.
VERS. 23, 24. *And I will sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy, and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people; and he shall say, Thou art my Lord God.*
XXXI. Again you will understand the words "unto me" in two ways. For I shall show her, he says, as it were flourishing and fruitful, clearly the synagogue of the Jews, no longer fulfilling the law against its will, nor clinging and adhering obstinately to the types; but choosing to perform what appears to be most pleasing to God, and what he deemed appropriate. And so "I will sow her unto me": for she will receive my seed, so that we may understand the evangelical oracles, and no longer the law promulgated through Moses, as in the beginning. B For originally it was worshipped through types and figures. Or certainly, "unto me" you will interpret in another sense. By myself, says he, I will care for her, or I will set myself to her care, and as if she were a certain fat and easily plowed earth, not through anyone else, but by myself I shall sow her. For God and Father has spoken to us in the Son, although "to those of old he spoke in many parts and in many ways through the holy prophets." And the Saviour himself likens the vast multitude of those who have believed to the crops in the field. And thus he said to the holy apostles: "Do not you say, that there are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? Behold, I say unto you, lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest. And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal." And again elsewhere: "The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest." C When therefore the rain has been sent down to us by the Saviour, which is perceived by the understanding, we have become "willing earth," as the prophet speaks. For he sowed us unto himself, and Israel has been called the tillage of God. For he will have mercy on her who had not obtained mercy: and he who was once "Not my people," shall be called "My people": and he himself, having stripped off his former error, will acknowledge the true God, and will say: "Thou art my Lord God," although once he shouted out of excessive madness: "We know that God spake unto Moses; as for this fellow, we know not from whence he is." Therefore, not knowing the Son, neither did they know the Father: and the Saviour himself will bear witness, saying: "If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also." But since they have been called to knowledge, and have confessed the Son, they have at last beheld through him and in him the Father. D For it is true that, as John says, he who denies the Son, does not even have the Father: but he who confesses the Son, confesses also the Father.
CHAPTER III
A Ver. 1. *And the Lord said to me: Go yet, and love a woman loved by her husband, an adultress; as the Lord loveth the children of Israel, and they look to strange gods, and love cakes of grapes.*
B XXXII. It is necessary to learn what this matter or mystery is. I for my part think that such things ought to be investigated more diligently and weighed more subtly. For after the first woman, who was a harlot and was put away, another little woman is offered to the prophet, involved in the disgraces of adultery. And what is the reason? For the multitude of the Jews, which preceded the advent of our Savior, as being more insolent and following error all too readily, and worshipping golden calves, and kneeling to and sacrificing to Baal, or rather to Beelphegor, was likened to a harlot; and most aptly, as if being exposed to every evil and unclean spirit, and to one desiring to satisfy its own pleasures in her. For they used to accept even the sacred rites of the neighboring nations, according to what pleased each one, unholily and without investigation. But that woman, as one entering upon apostasy quite readily, C received a punishment worthy of it, being reduced into captivity, and subjected to the feet of her enemies. Nevertheless, God reveals to the prophet that in the time of the day of Jezrael, of the day that is truly great, they shall ascend from the land, that is, they shall escape from the country of the aliens. This was again to hint under a veil that they would cease to be foreigners and sojourners, or rather, prisoners taken in war, and dwelling in a strange land, as did not befit free men. For the Savior preached ["captivity to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind"], according to the word of the prophet. Moreover, that they would be received through faith in mercy and compassion, and would be called the people of God, and indeed would also become the objects of mercy, He has shown clearly. For after the Savior’s advent, and the passion upon the cross, and the return from the dead, the remnant has been saved (for no small number from Israel have believed); D yet there remained still the unbelieving multitude, which is compared to the lascivious woman, because it did not choose the heavenly Bridegroom, and rejected Him who was wooing it in faith, and surrendered its mind to the Scribes and Pharisees, as to certain adulterers. For they taught ["doctrines and commandments of men"]. As, therefore, the prophet was with the harlot as a type of God who endures Israel's fornication, and punishes moderately for the sake of conversion, and brings them back to recognition, in the same way, I think, and through the words proposed here, the mystery is again skillfully shaped for us. For acting in the person and type of God, the prophet admits the adulteress who loves evil; but he fosters her, in a way nourishing her with promises and good hope, and does not allow her to rush to despair. For in these things God shows that the whole mystery consists, when He thus addressed the prophet: Go...
love an adulteress, and one who loves evil, even as God loves the sons of Israel. And they indeed look upon A strange gods, and love cakes with raisins. Although it is said that even those who choose to be disobedient, and those who bestow their love upon pseudo-gods, and those who desire to fulfill their passions, God loves out of innate kindness, for He wills that all men be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth. But the Word of God gives us, in a way, to understand that at the time of the visitation there were perhaps still many among the Jews who were undecided, and who neither adhered purely to the commandments given through Moses, nor were they once and for all B delivered from the stains of error, but looked rather toward strange gods, to whom they also brought cakes with raisins—perhaps sacrificial loaves and honey cakes. For they used to bring such cakes as an offering to the demons.
VERS. 2-4. And I hired her to myself for fifteen pieces of silver, and a homer of barley, and a skin of wine, and I said to her: Thou shalt sit many days with me; and thou shalt not commit fornication, and thou shalt not be for another man, and I will be for thee.
XXXIII. The prophet, therefore, hires the woman with a price. He settles her C at home, and commands her to refrain from wickedness and to put an end to the filth of adultery. He promises, furthermore, that if, having turned to him alone, she preserves herself untouched by another, he will be with her, which is to say, he will bring her to the marriage bed and become one flesh with her. For the Scripture says: "And the two shall be one flesh." What then does the enigma mean? God bids the unbelieving crowd of the Jews, the slayer of the Lord, the adulteress and the unclean, to sit D after the return of Christ to the heavens, without a husband indeed; yet, if she has not committed fornication again—that is, if she has refused to worship strange gods once more—He promises to unite her to Himself in His own time, with the multitude of the Gentiles, of course, having entered in first. For Israel was placed at the back, that is, as a kind of sequel, an appendage, and in the last place. Observe also how the nuptial union of bodies between the prophet and the adulterous and wicked woman did not take place at all; but the promise of the event was for the time after many days, provided that she had not again been with another man—that is, if she had not contaminated her soul by committing the crimes and pollutions of fornication. For, as I said, the Bridegroom from heaven will one day receive the adulterous multitude, if it ceases to worship idols. For after the cross of the Savior, Israel was given over only to the laws of Moses; flaccidly indeed and negligently, yet he did not incline to choose to worship the false idolatries of the demons. But what was the mode of life for her who was polluted by adultery and who was awaiting the communion of the prophet in his own time? Or what were the wages with which she was hired? Fifteen, he says, pieces of silver, and a homer of barley, and a skin of wine. For Israel continued...
vessel of wine. For Israel passed the time A between his first and his last calling fed by an unapproved word, and attentive to fabled and truly old-wive’s teachings of his own instructors. His life became beast-like, and his mind was drunk and shrouded in darkness. And there could be a very clear type of the teaching word as silver, according to what was said to them through the voice of Isaiah: "Your silver is dross," and according to the voice of the Savior, justly rebuking the wicked and slothful servant and saying: "You ought to have put my money with the bankers." Therefore, by "silver," understand the word of those who teach.
B But if anyone should choose to refer it to the law itself given through Moses, he will say that it is fifteen pieces of silver, or that the law is at once perfect and imperfect. Perfect, indeed, if it is understood spiritually (for it speaks to us of the mystery of Christ); but imperfect, on the other hand, if the mind of those who are instructed by it does not proceed beyond the letter; for the mere outward crust of the history contains, as it were, half of the knowledge. Now, the number ten is the symbol of perfection, being all-perfect, according to the words: "Have authority over ten cities," and, "To one he gave five talents." But for one who is not yet in such a state, the number five may be understood. For, as I said, five is half of ten. Or you may interpret the things said in another way. The number fifteen is inclusive of seven and, moreover, of eight. C It is signified, in a way, almost always in the divinely inspired Scripture: by seven, the entire time of the law up to the holy prophets, because of the Sabbatism, or rest, on the seventh day; and, on the other hand, by eight, the law of the New Testament, according to which the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ occurred on the eighth day. And I think this is the meaning of what is enigmatically said: "Give a portion to seven, and also to eight," that is, let the law and the prophets who came after it have a place with you, honoring the Sabbatism of the seventh day. But let the eight also have their portion, that is, the apostles and evangelists who appeared after the resurrection day of the Savior. This also corresponds to what is indirectly indicated by the voice of the prophet: D "And there will be raised against him seven shepherds, and eight bites of men." For after our Savior Jesus Christ shone upon us, the legal and prophetic proclamations and the apostolic teaching rose up, as it were, against Satan, who had paralyzed us. For through these he was, in a way, bitten and plundered. And according to the voice of the Savior, "his vessels were plundered," as those who had once wandered away escaped from his servitude and acknowledged him who is by nature and truly God, and Lord of all. Therefore, seven shepherds and eight "bites of men" rose up against him, that is, those who were before the coming, and those who were after the eighth day, calling to salvation through legal and new scriptures those who had gone astray.
A Israel continued, therefore, as I have said, to feed on the unapproved voices of his own teachers, that is, on the bare letter of the Law, even though it also contained the things of the eighth day—which is to say, the mysteries of Christ. That his life was like that of a beast, and that he was inclined only toward carnal things, is very aptly indicated by the fact that barley was given to the adulteress for food. For this is a food appropriate for beasts, and it could also be a sign of drunkenness. It was said to them: "You will hear with your hearing and will not understand, and seeing you will see and will not perceive." These are the afflictions of those who are drunk, and the reproaches of those who are surfeited, to neither see while looking, nor be able to understand anything while hearing; but to have the mind, as it were, thickened and filled with blindness.
"Because the children of Israel will sit for many days, with no king, nor prince, nor sacrifice, nor altar, nor priesthood, nor manifestations. And after these things the children of Israel will return and will seek the Lord their God and David their king, and they will be amazed at the Lord and at His good things in the last of the days."
B XXXIV. The declaration of the taking of the adulteress and of her dwelling at home for many days, until the prophet should arrive to her, is clear and follows without any doubt as if in these things. For it was written thus; but what was transpiring was a delineation or a certain prefiguration of that which was eventually to befall the Synagogue of the Jews which had committed adultery. For after our Lord Jesus Christ willingly suffered the cross for the salvation of all, when the Israelites had acted madly against Him, then indeed, their land having been ravaged, they went off as if into every wind. C And to this day they are idle as far as the Law is concerned, the temple in Jerusalem having been burned, the altar overturned, the sacrifice removed, the priesthood vacant, and the manifestations no longer appearing. For when there was no high priest adorned in priestly fashion according to the Law, how was it any longer possible to see the manifestations? The lover of learning knows, I believe, what the manifestations might be considered to be, but it will not be unprofitable to suggest it briefly. When the God of all commanded that the things pertaining to the adornment of the high priest be made, He says to holy Moses: "And you shall make a breastplate of judgment, a work of a weaver. A span in length and a span in breadth. It shall be four-square." D Then He commanded that stones be woven cleverly and skillfully into this textile, according to the names of the twelve tribes. And among the others, there were two, which had the names "Manifestation" and "Truth." Then this breastplate of judgment was hung from the ephod by golden chains. It rested upon the breast of the high priest, and the Manifestation and the Truth were a type of Immanuel, "For all that He heard from the Father, He has made known"
A to us. And He manifested the will of Him who begat Him, and showed the way of salvation. But who would doubt that He is also the Truth, when He Himself says clearly: "I am the truth"? For this reason also, these things hung upon the breast of the high priest, as the type all but cried aloud and clearly proclaimed that the Savior and Redeemer of all, the Truth and the Manifestation, would have the holy race in His mind and heart; or at any rate that it is absolutely necessary for the priests of Christ always to remember Him, and to carry Him within themselves through the Spirit. His house is a pure mind and a thoroughly cleansed heart.
"The children of Israel," He says, "shall sit for many days, lacking a king and prince"—that is, without a king and without a leader. For neither will those of the tribe of Judah reign, nor will there be leaders—that is, priests—to preside according to the law. And there will not be, He says, either altar, or sacrifice, or priesthood, or manifestation. B Yet Israel will not be rejected forever, nor in every way; for he shall be called upon in due time, and shall be converted through faith, and shall acknowledge the God of all, and with Him David—that is, He who came from the seed of David, Christ according to the flesh, the King and Lord of all. Then, indeed then, shall they be struck with wonder at the greatness of His goodness and the immeasurable grace of His gentleness. For they shall be partakers of the hope prepared for the saints, and, mingled with the companies of the holy, they shall be pastured in good pastures and in a fat land. For the time for them of such splendid and adorable grace shall be the last and final one, in Christ, C through whom and with whom to God and the Father be glory, with the holy Spirit, unto the ages of ages. Amen.
VOLUME THREE
CHAPTER IV
VERS. 1, 2. "Hear the word of the Lord, you children of Israel, for the Lord has a judgment with the inhabitants of the land; because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God upon the earth. Cursing, and lying, and murder, and theft, and adultery are poured out upon the earth, and blood mixes with blood."
XXXV. D Needing to unfold the meaning of the words set before us, it is necessary to go back and take up almost everything said from the beginning, and to gather together, as it were, the whole scope of this prophecy. Therefore, as far as it is possible, and reducing it to a few points, I say this: "The beginning of the word of the Lord was in Hosea." When we interpreted these things, we said that the word of God was rightly made by God to the blessed prophet Hosea, as He instructed him in the mysteries and foretold things to come through types and words. For this reason, in the beginning, Gomer was taken, and she bore Not My People and Not Pitied. Afterwards, a second woman, an adulteress and wicked, was taken; and the prophet, as I have said, was taught the secrets of each of these things subtly and accurately. Therefore, as if
A having gathered within himself the power of the mystery sufficiently, he begins henceforth to proclaim to those of the blood of Israel the things that are to come, and to make clear the cause of the calamity that is all but upon them, and to reveal very clearly the things for which God has been grieved; so that they who are being punished may know that they are suffering justly, whatever it is that might happen to them to suffer. For since they were about to be captured by enemies, and to be made a laughingstock B to those who had previously admired them, and who imagined Israel to be more difficult to overcome than all other nations, in order that they might not think that the hand which defends and saves had grown weak for them, but rather choose to repent and turn back to better things, considering that they have offended through ignorance Him who knows how to save, and have therefore provoked divine wrath against themselves, he necessarily announces their crimes to them even before the expectation of future events, and says: "Hear the word of the Lord, O children of Israel, for the Lord has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land." For God contends with men, rebuking, not judging, and sets before those who have acted impiously against Him their naked crimes, according to that which perhaps is sung in the Psalms: "I will rebuke you, and set your iniquities before your face"; so that they might not say that the wrath was brought upon them in vain, but rather that it was brought upon them as in the manner of a debt, and that which is necessary for those who were accustomed to sin in the greatest ways. C But what does He say, He who is contending, or rather rebuking? "There is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God upon the earth." By saying that truth is not, He implies, and very fittingly, that at that time there was much calumny among all, and perjury and deceit, and guile, the most shameful of all evils. That they were indeed unloving and unmerciful, stiff-hearted, and stubborn in their resolve, that which is said, "there is no mercy among them," is sufficient to show. Moreover, He declares that they were lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, and utterly devoted to false-named gods, when He affirms that there is no knowledge of God on the earth. Furthermore, it would not be improper to consider those who are bound by such terrible absurdities even as no longer knowing God: if indeed we say that to know Him is, as one who thinks rightly, to follow His divine wills. He adds to these: "Cursing, and lying, and murder, and theft, and adultery have surged upon the earth, and D blood is mixed with blood." Do you hear how those of whom the discourse treats have plunged into every kind of wickedness, and having progressed beyond the bounds of impiety, have left nothing, however far it may be in insolence, unattempted? And what is even more irrational than this, "they mix blood with blood," He says. And this would be a clear sign that neither is any respite allowed for evils, nor indeed have those who committed such crimes ever been touched by repentance; but they accumulate sin upon sin, as if in continuous and successive order. But let these things have been said for a simpler and more ready exposition.
A The blessed prophet appears to bring before us once again a certain arcana and mystical narrative, and to accuse Israel for their debaucheries against Christ, and for the murders committed against Him and His saints. "For judgment [is] to the Lord against the inhabitants of the earth." On account of what, and upon what grounds? For our Lord Jesus Christ appeared to us, and was sent, as He says Himself, "to the lost sheep of the house of Israel," that He might illuminate with the torch of the Spirit those who were covered in darkness; that, having set them free from the legal shadows, He might introduce them to the true norm of divine worship, so that, being justified by faith, those who were entangled in sins might be joined through Himself to God and the Father. But it did not seem right to those from Israel to understand. For they cast out Him who had come down from heaven for these purposes; they rejected the truth and the mercy, and were unwilling to have with them the knowledge of God and the Father. For that Christ is both truth and mercy, I do not think there will be need of many words to demonstrate, since the divinely inspired Scripture is sufficient for this, which everywhere inculcates for us that Christ is truth and mercy. B And that He is also the knowledge, or cognition, of God, anyone can learn even without any difficulty, and clearly, from the most unmistakable words of Him who cries out: "He who has seen me, has seen the Father." He says, therefore, "judgment [is] to the Lord against the inhabitants of the earth"—and it is clear that this means the land of the Jews—because among them there no longer existed truth, and mercy, and the knowledge of the Father. He therefore disputes with those who do not possess these things; but those who have laid hold of the faith have escaped the necessity of undergoing judgment against Him, or of having judgment brought upon them by Him. And this very thing would become clear from the words of Christ saying again: "Amen, amen I say to you, he who believes in me has eternal life, and does not come into judgment." What, then, is that which is "poured out upon the earth"? "A curse, and lying, and murder, and theft, and adultery; and blood is mixed with blood." What is the curse? C Detraction and contumely; for the people of the Jews never ceased to vex Jesus most contumeliously, insulting Him with an impudent and unbridled tongue, so as to call Him at one time a Samaritan, at another time a drunkard, and saying that He was born of fornication: for they imagined within their own minds that the holy Virgin had been defiled. Therefore, the curse is understood as being in these things. They lied also against His glory, asserting that He had a demon, and ascribing His divine miracles to the power of Beelzebub. One can also be convicted that they harbored a mind desirous of killing Him. One may prove this from the fact that they attacked Emmanuel with stones not once, and led Him to the brow of the mountain, that they might throw Him headlong from there. Nor did their crimes proceed only to this point. D They also greatly honored theft; for they hired for a price His betrayer, Judas, a man greedy for shameful gain and most thievish. And just like some wicked adulterers, the Pharisees of the synagogue of the Jews used to scare away from it the bridegroom from heaven, this...
A is Christ. They were practicing harlotry alongside their own pleasures, persuading others to serve them. And they mixed blood with blood. How, or in what way? For after they had killed the holy prophets, they even added to them the Lord of the prophets. And thus the blessed Stephen in the Acts of the Apostles rightly reproaches them, saying: “Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold of the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become betrayers and murderers.” Moreover, also the Savior, rebuking the Pharisees and Scribes for their wicked attempts, used to say: “And you, fill up the measure of your fathers.”
VER. 3. Therefore the earth shall mourn, and it shall be diminished together with all them that dwell therein, with the beasts of the field, and with the reptiles of the earth, and with the birds of heaven. And the fishes of the sea shall fail, so that no one shall judge, nor shall any one reprove.
XXXVI.
For after, he says, they have led a life so hateful to God and so very wretched, impious, and lawless, and have plotted and done what is not lawful, holding God up to ridicule, for this reason, and most justly, they will depart into destruction, with the earth, as it were, mourning, for it will be laid waste B and will change its appearance and wear a cheerless face, with cities burned, houses razed, and crops and plants cut down. The inhabitants of the earth will be in a similar state, mourning and wailing together: for they also shall mourn, that is, they shall be far removed from all joy and prosperity. But who are these inhabitants? Beasts, and reptiles, and in addition to these, things that fly. And we surely will not think, if we understand correctly, that the prophetic word is preaching to us about wild beasts, or reptiles, or birds: for this would be altogether foolish and full of ignorance. For we think rather, having embraced the correct and genuine meaning, that the customs of the Jews are expressed by these things already mentioned. And by C beasts, indeed, he signifies those who are most powerful and able to frighten others, wild and oppressive, and accustomed to murder, and in their character greatly savage and cruel. By reptiles, however, those who are most practiced in the bitterness of their character and already consumed by wickedness. For thus, indeed, the wise John somewhere also reproves the most wicked multitude of the Pharisees and Scribes, crying out and naming them "Serpents, brood of vipers." By the birds of the air, you will rightly understand those who are prepared to be lifted up into apostasy from God, or those suffering from the cursed pride, and accustomed to be carried on high and to think D lofty thoughts. It seems, moreover, that he calls "fishes" the base and common masses, those immersed in the cares of life, and having, as it were, a mind overwhelmed, being mute and most devoid of reason: for a fish is a thing most remote from a voice. And according to another sense, those who, as it were, swallow up the weaker: for fishes delight most of all in mutual devouring. He says, therefore: “The earth shall mourn together with its inhabitants.”And what is the cause of this? “So that no one may plead, and no one may reprove.” For since cursing, and falsehood, and theft, and murder, and adultery have been poured out upon the earth, and they mingle blood upon blood, for this reason it shall mourn, and henceforth falsehood, and deceit, and slander shall cease. For those who lament over events which have happened beyond their expectation, and who weep over the calamity at hand, will, even against their will, abstain from such transgressions. For to plead and to reprove would be nothing else, in my opinion, than to accuse and to pass sentence against some, or to testify falsely. This is what another B of the holy prophets, from the blood of Israel, also cried out to us, saying: “Woe to me, my soul, for the godly man has perished from the earth, and there is no one upright among men; all judge unto blood; each one oppresses his neighbor with oppression.” But these things take place historically.
Directing the discourse of the prophecy to its innermost sense, we say this: Because in the region of the Jews, or rather among the Jews themselves, there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God (these, however, are what we have warned should be understood as Emmanuel), but rather cursing and falsehood have prevailed, and theft has been held in honor, and they mingle blood upon blood (having slain the prophets, as I said, and they even slew Jesus himself). The earth shall mourn hereafter together with its inhabitants, being burned by the hands of the Romans. C But these things shall be, he says, “so that no one may plead, and no one may reprove.” This is a clear accusation against the Jews, as those who passed judgment impiously, and convicted, that is, bore false witness against Christ. For the leaders brought Him to Pilate, judging and accusing Him. Others then came forward into the midst and bore witness against Him, and they dared even to convict Him, the miserable ones, lying, sometimes that He perverts the people, and sometimes that they had heard Him saying this, that in three days He would destroy the temple of God and raise it up again. "Judgment and reproof," therefore, he says, "shall be taken away," that is, testimony and untrue verdict, when there shall be no king, nor ruler who is accustomed to judge. For this reason, as I think, the prophetic D discourse also compares the people of the Jews to animals lacking a ruler, I mean to beasts, and reptiles, and birds, and fishes. Thus also the blessed prophet Habakkuk said somewhere to the God of all: “Why do You look upon those who despise? Will You be silent when the wicked swallows up the righteous, and You make men as the fish of the sea, and as the reptiles that have no ruler?”
VERS. 4. “And my people shall be as a priest whom one opposes, and he shall be weak by day, and the prophet shall be weak with you.”
A Consider, I pray, how the blessed prophet sets forth in another way the things that were spoken to him by God. For he had heard clearly that the children of Israel would sit for many days, devoid of king, prince, sacrifice, altar, priesthood, and manifestations. But he, B hastening as it were to restrain the unbridled anger of those who hear him, rebukes them with moderation, and veils his discourse with measured obscurities. For he subtly indicates that they would remain for some time without princes, king, or institution, comparing them to animals that have no king. And he further shows that they would be excluded from sacrifices and priestly liturgies, saying that they would be in the same state as those priests who are opposed. But who, then, would these be? Or who is the priest that is opposed? He is the one who has a blemish or a bodily infirmity, and for this reason is debarred from the liturgy. For either because of a defect in the leg or eyes, or because of a crushed foot, or for some other cause, certain men were removed from the duty of the priesthood, even though they were of the tribe and blood of Levi. For the law given through Moses had decreed it so. Thus, he says, it will be with my people. For although deemed holy on account of their fathers and counted worthy of the sacrifice, yet he shall sit outside the holy tabernacle, outside the liturgy, and outside the priests. C For he shall not offer sacrifices, nor shall he send up an odor of sweetness to God; for he is now sick with no small diseases of the soul, and he is defiled in heart, and has rightly become rejected and hateful. Furthermore, he declared that it would come to pass for the Israelites that even the prophets would be silent, using these words: “And the prophet shall be weak with you,” according to that which was spoken by God to the blessed Ezekiel: “And I will bind your tongue, and you shall be mute, and you shall not be to them as a man who rebukes, because it is an exasperating house.” All these things, moreover, will happen on account of their impiety toward Christ and the crimes committed against the prophets. Nevertheless, he says that Israel will not be weak forever, but only for a time. For the season of his salvation and conversion to the faith is reserved for him.
VERS. 5, 6. “I have compared your mother to night. My people are become as those who have no knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you, that you may not serve as priest to me. And you have forgotten the law of your God, and I will forget your children.”
D XXXVIII. Still the discourse is directed toward the lying and impious multitude of the Jews. He calls its mother the Synagogue, just as he calls the Church the mother of those who have been justified in Christ. He aptly compares the Jewish Synagogue, therefore, to obscurity and darkness. Hence, the most wise Paul also, speaking of himself and those brightened by faith, most correctly says: “We are not of the night, nor of darkness, but we are sons of light and of the day.” He says, moreover, that my people are like those who have no knowledge, although they were rich, with the law preceding them and showing the way. For being called to the knowledge of the true
God, and having been assured through miracles, they lacked nothing at all of what is capable of illuminating those who are in darkness, and they were quite capable of grasping the knowledge that is worthy of admiration by those of simpler mind. But since you have rejected, he says, knowledge—that is, Christ, through whom and in whom the Father can be approached and known—I will henceforth reject you from being holy and from offering sacrifices to me, as one who is profane. And since you have slipped into forgetfulness of the divine laws, neither having understood the things of Moses spiritually nor having received the teachings of Christ with a strong and well-disposed mind, I also shall, as it were, lapse into forgetfulness of your children; that is to say, I will no longer remember them, in that I will no longer deem them worthy of pity and care. For God extends his own philanthropy to those whom he deems worthy to be remembered. But Israel forgot the divine law in another way as well, and rejected knowledge by worshipping idols. B
Vers. 7. According to their multitude, so they have sinned against me. Their glory I will turn into ignominy.
XXXIX.
The divine and ineffable nature is the fountain and origin of all gentleness, and is goodness itself. Yet it does not endure those who sin for all time; but upon those who give themselves over to it without restraint, it inflicts the punishments they deserve. Therefore, he maintains that Israel had reached such a degree of worthlessness that its madness could no longer be tolerated, and that its sins seemed to have equalled the number of its heads. For they were as the stars of heaven in number, and as the sand on the seashore, according to what is written; and he said that their offenses fell nothing short of that multitude. This, I think, is what is meant by "According to their multitude, so they have sinned against me." But since they had slipped into such wretchedness and folly, and did not cease from offending God, he says, "Their glory I will turn into ignominy"—that is, they will be put to shame over the very thing for which they were puffed up with pride. C How or in what way? For they will fall from the boasts they made on account of their great multitude, as the war devours the combatants along with every other age. For their houses and cities will remain emptied of men. And it is over this very thing that the prophet Jeremiah lamented Judea, saying: "How has the city sat solitary that was full of people! The princess of the provinces has become tributary."There is another way also. Offending God, we shall remain as far as possible from all glory, doing things that are not lawful: and those things for which we ought to feel shame, we sometimes do instead, boasting of them and lifting our eyebrows, so that it may rightly be said even of us: "Whose glory is in their shame." Therefore, you should understand the words "Their glory I will turn into ignominy" in this sense as well. For as regards the fact that some are delivered "to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient," D how can anyone doubt it, since the blessed Paul has spoken of it so clearly?
A *Vers. 8, 9. The sins of my people they shall eat, and in their iniquities they shall take their souls. And it shall be as with the people, so with the priest.* B 71 XL. Having written of the causes of the anger against the multitude, he transfers his discourse to the sacred order; this is appropriate, as I feel, to that which was just said by us: "I will turn their glory into shame." For the glory of the synagogue of the Jews is the holy and elect race. It shall therefore be clothed with shame, he says, and shall pass over to what is uncomely. And for what reason? Because they neglected B the things most becoming to them and were carried away toward apostasy. They have not kept their own authority; they have not understood the manner of the priesthood; they did not consider "that the sins of my people they shall eat, and in their iniquities they shall take their souls." But since the discourse has the greatest obscurity, come now, let us say as best we can how it ought to be understood. A goat from the flock was slaughtered for sin; for this reason, the sacrifice itself was also called "sin." But the priests who were in office at the time, C when they offered the goat upon the altar, would offer indeed the inwards and the fat, but they would eat the rest themselves, this being enjoined by the divine law. Therefore the priest is accepted as a mediator, so to speak, between God and men, receiving the gifts from the people and sharing them with the altar, as it is written, while he himself, as it were, performs the sacred work for the transgressions of the people, just as also our Lord Jesus Christ. And that what I say is true, I will provide the law itself concerning the goat as a witness, which is as follows: "And the goat which was for sin, Moses sought diligently, and D behold, it had been burned. And Moses was angry with Eleazar and Ithamar, the sons of Aaron who were left, saying: Why did you not eat that which is for sin in the holy place? For because it is holy of holies, this he has given you to eat, that you may take away the sin of the assembly, and make atonement for them before the Lord." Do you see how they act as mediators, those who stand by the divine altar, by eating the things offered for sin, and by most pure prayers appeasing the wrath hanging over those who sin, and, so to speak, consecrating their own souls to God as an odor of sweetness for the transgressions of the people? Just as also the divine Aaron, when the people began A to be destroyed. For it is written thus: "Taking the censer, and putting on the incense, he stood," he says, "between the dead and the living, and the destruction ceased." In this way also the blessed Moses, interposing himself, entreated God when the Israelites had fashioned the calf in the desert. For he submitted himself, in a manner, to punishment, beseeching and saying: "If indeed you forgive them their sin, forgive; but if not, blot even me out of this book which you have written." "They shall eat," therefore, "the sins of my people," that is, the sacrifices offered for their sins; "and in their iniquities," that is, of the Israelites or the people, "they shall take their own souls," for they offer to God. For the divine Scripture uses a word significant of this matter. For that which was offered to God and readied for sacrifice was called "taken," and the vocabulary was placed there as especially suitable for expressing this, so that
A just as I said a moment ago. In Numbers, indeed, when the laws concerning the red heifer were being laid down, God said to the hierophant Moses: "This is the ordinance of the law, as much as the Lord has commanded, saying: Speak to the sons of Israel, and let them take to thee a red heifer, without blemish." Do you hear the "let them take"? It means "let them offer up," or "let them bring forward." And again, concerning the one about to be cleansed from leprosy, he says: "And the priest shall go out outside the camp, and the priest shall look, and behold, the plague of leprosy is healed from the leper. And the priest shall act, and they shall take for the one being cleansed two living, clean birds." When, therefore, he says "they shall take" even in the case of the priests, the expression may logically be understood in the sense of "they shall offer." In a time of iniquities, therefore—that is, the people's—they themselves "shall take," that is, they shall offer as a sacrifice and a spiritual pleasant fragrance to God their own souls, living properly, as is clear, and having a most orderly life, and striving in every way to think and to watch for those things which are fitting for priests. For such a man is capable of saving peoples who have offended God and committed injustice against the law. But those who were appointed for this, he says, have slipped B together with the others. For this reason, the sacred things will rightfully cease, the sacred and honorable race will come to an end; "the people shall be as the priest," for there will be nothing left between the people and the priest. And this was, indeed, the meaning of "I will turn their glory into dishonor."
And they shall eat, and shall not be satisfied; they have committed whoredom, and shall not be directed.
XLI. By "ways," as it seems, he refers to paths in terms of deeds; but by "counsels," he refers to errors stemming from distorted thoughts. Since, he says, he has walked not rightly, having swerved from the straight path, and having traveled, as it were, every path of impiety, and has counseled the most shameful and absurd things of all, having dishonored the God of all and himself turned aside to serve idols, "I will take vengeance upon him," that is, I will inflict a punishment equivalent to his transgressions. For that it will happen that those who depart from the love of God are surrounded by all evils in every way, how is there any room to doubt? For neither will he traverse a straight and blameless path, nor will he ever be able to counsel wisely, having not the divine wisdom or power to aid him.
And they shall eat, and shall not be satisfied; they have committed whoredom, and shall not be directed. C
XLII. He has again preserved a remnant for those of the blood of Israel. For he declares that the whole substance will not perish once and for all with the priests, saying: "They shall eat, but they shall not be satisfied." For whether one considers those ancient deportations and captivities of Israel, or the desolation of Judea brought about by the hand of the Romans on account of Christ, in the remnant one recognizes Israel himself, and the cult of the law... D
A For when they were carried away at that time by Shalmaneser and Tiglath-Pileser to the Assyrians and the Medes, nevertheless a few and very small number, left behind from those of Israel, offered the customary things to the priests, honoring them with what was at hand, and not departing entirely from their ways. In the same manner, even in the final war—in the time of Caesar Augustus, I mean—when their land was devastated, they were scattered to every wind, and into every land and city. Nevertheless, they still moderately honored the holy and select race, offering what they could according to their ability. And they are to be found in this state even now, although the ancient sacrifices have been overturned. For once they were outside of Jerusalem, it was B unlawful to sacrifice. "They shall eat, therefore," he says, "and shall not be satisfied," which means they will receive a little, and with difficulty, and not enough to reach fullness. And this, no less, shows the overthrow of their ancient honor and the loss of their former happiness. "Because they have committed fornication," he says, "they shall not be directed." For it is impossible, as I have said, for those who depart from God (for this, I think, is what the name and reality of spiritual fornication signify) to have the supply of good things to fullness, that is, to be able to gather up food from heaven and from above, or to be directed in plans or in deeds. For God is the Savior of every good thing for us, and the rudder of the mind that is in us.
C **Verse 11. Because they have forsaken the Lord, to keep fornication, and wine, and what can intoxicate, has entered the heart of my people.**
XLIII. Here he speaks of the causes why neither the priests are filled with food, nor are they any longer directed. For since, he says, they themselves have departed from the Lord, and the teachers have been led away together with those who are being taught—that is, those whose task it was to lead those under their hand and power—therefore they shall justly undergo divine wrath and pay the penalty for those things in which they have incessantly stumbled. "For they have kept fornication," that is, they caused the error to be preserved among those under their hand, although they ought rather to have cast it out from the midst and destroyed it. For it is the duty of teachers to remove with diligence that which is harmful to the people, and to immediately put an end to that which is D hateful to God. But if, loathing to do this, they allow the works of error to remain and be kept in a certain way, or rather, on the contrary, even confirm them, then the mind of those who are being instructed will also receive them, just as it would wine and intoxication. For whence, or how, could the disciples have been sober, and have been able to open the eye of the mind to the One who is truly and by nature God, if those who are their pedagogues and teachers of what is beneficial are still further instructing them to wander? And this, I think, is what has been clearly spoken by another prophet: "The priests did not say, Where is the Lord? And those who clung to my law did not believe in me, and the shepherds behaved impiously toward me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal"; and again:
"My children and my sheep are not; there is no place for my tent, no place for my skins. Because the shepherds have acted foolishly, and have not sought the Lord. For this reason the whole flock did not understand, and they were scattered."
"They used to ask by signs, and they declared to him by their rods." A XLIV. He makes it manifest in what way they have abandoned the Lord, while keeping their fornication. For he shows that the instructor was in collusion with those being led astray; and he clearly demonstrates that those who were expected—or rather, for whom it was now necessary—to follow the divine laws and to lead those subjected to them into this, were themselves, as I said, committing the sins of sedition. For some would go to them, he says, wishing to learn, perhaps what was to happen, or what concerned them personally, or in what times or circumstances they might find themselves. But they, B acting impiously, would persuade those coming to them no longer to seek such things from God; but rather they would inquire "by signs," that is, they sought to learn through certain omens and observations from the unclean spirits. Just as, indeed, Balaam once attempted to prophesy against those from Israel; for this is what Balak, son of Beor, ordered him to do. And he says, "Build for me here seven altars, and sacrifice for me seven calves and seven rams, and I will go to look out for omens." C For they would observe either the fruits springing up from the sacrifices, and how and in what manner they would leap and spring upward; or the miserable men would contemplate the twitchings in the liver; or they would curiously observe the flights of birds. Auguries, divination, and evils of this kind are crimes of impiety, and they proceed from the deepest recesses of idolatry.
"And they declared to him by their rods." When those from Israel came to them, as he says, and were eager to discern something of their own affairs, they would declare it to them not only "by signs," but even by their rods. D This is another mode of deception—the thing is "rhabdomancy," and perhaps an invention of Chaldean curiosity. For Nebuchadnezzar used to divine against Jerusalem in this way, just as the inspired prophet Ezekiel also testifies. For by setting up two rods, then enchanting them with certain secret words, they would cause them to fall through the operations of demons. And they would observe how they fell, whether they slanted forward or backward, to the right or to the left. And thus, finally, they would report to those who approached them what they supposed. This is what it means: "They declared [it] by their rods." It is truly most scandalous, therefore, that those who were the teachers of others, and who were capable of leading the rest to God, were also leading them astray, and, as the prophet says, "They have planted madness in the house of the Lord." For by "madness," he refers to false divination. For those who are accustomed to practice such things pretend not even to know, thereafter, where they are. For they would say that they were raving and carried away by divine frenzy, as some used to call those filled by the gods. They did not know that the hearts of the seducers were but a certain dwelling and cave of unclean spirits.
VERS. 13. *They have been seduced by the spirit of fornication, and have committed fornication from their God. They sacrificed upon the tops of the mountains, and upon the hills they sacrificed under the oak, and the poplar, and the shady tree, because it was a good covering.* A
XLV. He clearly teaches that such things are not done without impure and evil spirits. For every kind of wickedness originates from them, and there is nothing of the most shameful things that those who have resolved to comply with their will do not pursue. He says, therefore, "They have been seduced by the spirit of fornication," and have become alienated from God, lovers of pleasure, and seeking in the works of idolatry a commodity to soothe the flesh. For they sacrificed, ascending the hills and mountains, and worshipping buried demons on earthly heights. Then, having raised altars under the oak and the poplar, they offered libations, offering this honor to nymphs—perhaps to the Hamadryads, according to the fictions of the Greeks. B For the poets and writers of the Greeks say that the impure demons, whom it pleased them somehow or other to call nymphs, love plants and trees. It seemed good to them, therefore, he says, to pursue shadows and to be enervated by pleasures in the greenest groves, and praising them to say, "because it is a good covering." Thus, a lover of pleasure cannot be a lover of God. Paul will bear witness, saying of some that they are *lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God.* 11 Blessed, therefore, are *those who mourn now,* 12 as the Savior says, and patient endurance in useful labors is greatly to be marveled at and loved.
VERS. 14. *Therefore your daughters shall commit fornication, and your spouses shall commit adultery. And I will not visit upon your daughters when they shall have committed fornication, nor upon your spouses when they shall have committed adultery; because they themselves were mixed with harlots, and sacrificed with the initiated.* C
XLVI. For since, he says, it seems to you an excellent thing to be softened and dissolved under a tree and in the shade, and you have made into a pleasure that which displeases me—that is, the detestable seduction and uncleanness—therefore your daughters shall commit fornication, and the spouses, that is, the wives of your sons, shall commit adultery. And when these things happen, I shall keep silent, and I will not visit. It seems indeed by these things that he is foretelling the destruction of war and the inconveniences that are to befall the sinners in captivity. For those who have once conquered and overcome, take counsel regarding the captives as they please, using their power intemperately, and with unbridled impulse attacking whatever is pleasant to them at last, neither accounting for the law, nor enduring to consider what is fitting or decent; but as though hardened and exceedingly cruel in spirit, they disdain to spare the wretched in any way. Therefore, he clearly indicates that their children will be exposed to the enemies for insult and the filth of fornication. D
A If anyone should wish to understand this passage in another way: God, the God of all things, indeed visits those whom He wishes to honor and love. Even if He sees those who have been turned toward sloth and are doing what is not permitted, He rebukes them with moderation, urging them to turn back to what is better. Therefore, the divine Apostle says to those who have been called to a life of approval: "If you endure discipline, God deals with you as with sons. For what son is there whom a father does not discipline?" And the most wise writer of Proverbs testifies in turn, saying: "For whom the Lord loves, He disciplines; and He scourges every son whom He receives." Therefore, those whom He disciplines, He also deems worthy of His oversight, as being good and beloved. But He does not at all look upon those who have grievously offended, essentially saying, "I do not know you." "For the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous," as it is written. B Therefore, He says, even if they sin, I will not visit them—that is, I will not care for them, I will not turn toward them, I will count them as worthy of nothing. For what reason? "For you yourselves," He says, "you who are in the order of fathers, are so far from wishing to rebuke this behavior in yourselves and in your children, even if they are engaging in the depths of depravity, that you are instead mingling with harlots." For you have joined in the sacrifices with the initiated. He specifically calls the harlots the priestesses of Beelphegor. Beelphegor is what is called Priapus. Those who worship such an abominable disgrace were fittingly harlots. By "initiated," he means the *hieromystae* of Beelphegor; they were men who could not endure to be what they were, but instead migrated into a feminine frame of mind, being wickedly softened in words and manners—those whom some call effeminate and weak—who, running around with feminine wailing and cymbals, pretending to teach sacred rites amidst the torches, performed the shameful acts of Beelphegor. Therefore, He says, they offered sacrifices with the initiated; that is, they were initiated into their mysteries, and with such corrupted men they performed sacrifices to Beelphegor.
"And the people that understands cleaved to a harlot."
C 47. He shifts the discourse to Judah—that is, to those from the tribe of Judah and Benjamin, who were still living in Jerusalem and who, having the divine altar (for the temple still stood), professed to keep the commandments of Moses and to possess the understanding of the Law. But even they too had worshipped Astarte, an abomination of the Sidonians. They say that Astarte is the one named Aphrodite among the Greeks—I do not know why. Her statue stood naked, and in the form of a harlot, shamelessly exposing to the eyes of all even the parts of the body that should be hidden from view. Therefore, He says, not only did Israel—although it was afflicted with the greatest disease of mindlessness—mingle with harlots and offer sacrifices with the initiated, but even that people which "understands"—that is, the one which still made a pretense of preserving the understanding from the Law—"cleaved to a harlot." For they worshipped, as I said, Astarte. For Solomon, in a libidinous and...
foreign woman, fulfilled what was pleasing to her, A erecting a shrine for her.
VERS. 15. *But thou, Israel, be not ignorant, and Juda, do not enter into Galgala, and do not ascend into the house of iniquity, and do not swear by the living Lord.*
XLVIII. I have said already many times that the ten tribes in Samaria are called "Israel" by the prophets, while Juda—and sometimes Benjamin—are called the two tribes in Jerusalem, namely, those of Juda and Benjamin. He speaks at present, therefore, concerning both, and rebukes the disease of each multitude. For see how he censures Israel as utterly senseless and impoverished in mind, and therefore also as having become a deserter: since it is right that the crime of senselessness be reckoned as delighting in the frequenting of idol worship and being separated from the love of God. Therefore, he signifies in this place, "be not ignorant," that is, "do not be a fool, nor full of extreme senselessness." He then puts to shame the inhabitants of Jerusalem, B namely Juda, as a hypocrite and impiously insulting, because he walks on both sides—or rather, because he limps on both knees, according to the word of the prophet. For he pretended to cultivate and to love piety toward God, and he performed the sacrifices instituted by the Law, but he did not at all cease from hastening to worship the demons themselves—albeit not altogether openly, but secretly and hiddenly. Wherefore the blessed prophet Ezekiel was commanded to dig through the wall; by doing which he saw all the idols of Israel depicted upon the walls. And the God of all things said to him: "Hast thou seen, O son of man, what the elders of the house of Israel do here? Each one of them in their hidden chamber. For they said: The Lord hath abandoned, the Lord does not see the earth." The prophet also says that he saw women C sitting and mourning for Thammuz, which in the Greeks’ tongue is Adonis. Behold, therefore, how, although they visited the divine temple and pretended that their divine worship was proper and peculiar to them according to the Law, nevertheless they clandestinely divided themselves toward worships that were strange, demonic, and hateful to God. Therefore, "Thou, Israel," who hast utterly turned aside, "be not ignorant," he says, that is, "abstain from ignorance; cease from such a vain and profane will; receive the understanding that is consonant with the Law and the prophets, or rather with Christ and the Gospel." "And Juda, do not enter into Galgala, and do not ascend into the house of iniquity, and do not swear by the living Lord." For it is not fitting to swear by God and to have the living Lord upon the tongue, while being meanwhile D addicted to idols and choosing to worship lifeless calves. For Jeroboam set up one in Bethel, and the other in Dan. He does not allow, therefore, the feigning of piety toward God by the pronunciation of the Lord's name, while nevertheless being carried away toward outlandish, false-god-worshipping, and reason-defying idolatries, in going up into Galgala and into the house of iniquity. He calls Bethel the "house of iniquity." Why? For Bethel is rendered "House of God." But it was made a house of an idol, with a certain injury to both the thing and the name: for the house...
of worship, ascending to Galgala, and to the house of iniquity. But he calls Bethel the house of iniquity. For what reason? Bethel is interpreted as the house of God. But it has become a house of an idol, A having been wronged, in a certain way, both by the matter and by the very name itself; for the house of God, as I have said, has become a house of an idol. And he says somewhere, through the voice of Jeremiah, concerning the multitude of those who are from Israel: "What hath my beloved done in my house, having wrought abomination?" The God of all might rightly say in addition, concerning those who are of Judah and Benjamin: "This people draweth near me with their lips, but their heart is far from me."
For as a heifer going mad with the gadfly, so Israel has ran mad. And now the Lord will feed them as a lamb in a spacious place.
XLIX.
One of the saints wisely leads us toward the pursuit of what is profitable, saying: "My son, let not thy heart envy sinners, but be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day." For how could one wish to imitate those whom he would censure? The God of all says something similar to Judah: Do not let the fact that Israel is goaded by the gadfly become for you a pretext for apostasy, as if to run away from the herd, like heifers on which, if a gadfly—or an ox-fly (which is a type of gnat that bites intolerably)—should settle, it drives them from the herd and prepares them thereafter to be borne along at a rapid pace, wherever it may happen. Will we not find that Israel has suffered this? For he has departed B from Jerusalem and, having left his own shepherd, that is, God, he has fashioned a terrible and accursed apostasy. Therefore do not envy them, O Judah, he says; for even if Israel went off toward apostasy, being goaded like heifers, yet his undertaking shall not be unpunished for him. For he shall go away captive, and leaving the land that bore him, he shall be fed in the land of the Persians and Medes. No longer bold, and as it were unbridled, and straying from the herd (for such is a heifer always when goaded by the gadfly), but he shall be like the most gentle lambs. For the condition of captives is always humble and fearful, and not far from the dread of suffering evils, burdened by the superior power of those who rule them. By the land of the Persians and C Medes, he names a spacious land, practically saying something like this: He shall be fed in a broad and limitless land, and he shall exchange many territories, not always having the same master, but shifting according to the will of the one who receives him. A human soul might suffer this very same thing, having neglected the love toward God. For it will be carried about into everything that is loved by demons. Captive, and cowardly, and powerless, and indeed it will justly hear from God: "Thy apostasy shall instruct thee, and thy wickedness shall rebuke thee."VERS. 17-19. Particeps idolorum Ephraim posuit sibi scandala, et elegit Chananaeos. Fornicantes fornicati sunt, et dilexerunt ignominiam ex fremitu eorum. Turbo spiritus tu es in alis ejus, et confundentur ex altaribus suis.
L.
The word is still to the prophet to Judah, simulating, D as I said, to take up the law as his own, andto esteem piety toward God not lightly, yet at the same time secretly inclining toward the necessity of honoring the images of demons. Therefore, "He has truly become," he says, "a partaker of idols, Ephraim," that is, Israel. He is named thus from the tribe that held power among them, I mean, that of Jeroboam; for he was from the mountain and tribe of Ephraim. And just as he calls the one in Jerusalem Judah, keeping the title according to the reigning tribe, so also in the case of Israel, when he names Ephraim, he derives the name from the reigning tribe. Ephraim, he says, has partaken of idols. For he has worshipped the Egyptian object of veneration, that is, Apis, or the calf, which they worshipped as God. Moreover, he partook no B less of the impiety and utter senselessness of the Canaanites, who chose to cherish and worship such a shameful idol, namely, Beelphegor. But by doing this, Ephraim "set stumbling blocks for himself." For he violated the God who provides and is able to deliver. "He chose the Canaanites," that is, he deemed the customs and rites of those people worthy of choice and acceptance; and these were neighbors to the country of the Jews, impious and idolaters. And in addition to these things, "Committing fornication, they have committed fornication," those from Israel. It is clear that, because of the excess, and because they had naturally gone beyond into spiritual fornication, their offenses were leading them to the end of shameful apostasy. "They have also loved dishonor from their boastings," that is, from the high exaltation they had because of God and the glory they received from Him. Therefore, they have truly become dishonored and cast down, C pitiable and trodden upon by the feet of all, having slipped away from their former boastings; for they shall no longer be called free, but rather they shall go into insult and ignominy, and they shall be under bitter masters. Indeed if, he says, the most senseless multitude of Ephraim has been subjected to all these things, yet you, O Judah, have been to it like a kind of whirlwind of spirit in the wings of a bird. It is plain to everyone, surely, that all things that fly are, by a violent wind pushing them and all but compelling them, driven beyond doubt to fly more swiftly. Therefore, Israel has fallen away, having turned toward apostasy. But you have been to him a "whirlwind of spirit in the wings." How, or in what way? Because when he saw you, who were instructed in the law, who used to frequent the divine temple, and had performed the sacrifices according to the law, being sluggish, and supine, and bound by the same sins, he fell away the more quickly. Nevertheless, "they shall find their altars for their own D shame and ignominy." Therefore, since we who appear to lead a good life, and are bound to be free from reproach, are found sluggish and idle in this; nay rather, if we choose like others to slight what is pleasing to God, we shall not only wrong ourselves, but by ruining others with us, we shall sustain a double punishment. For whereas we ought to have been set before those who are seduced and living wickedly as an image and pattern of virtue, we have become an occasion of scandal. What then does Christ say to these things? "Whoever shall scandalize one of these little ones who believe in
A me," he says, "it is better for him that a millstone should be hung about his neck and he be drowned in the depth of the sea."
CHAPTER V
VERS. 1, 2. "Hear this, O priests, and attend, O house of Israel, and O house of the king, give ear; for the judgment is for you, because you have become a snare in the watchtower, and as a net spread over Tabor, which those who catch the prey have fixed."
LI. He previously accused Judah, as having become a whirlwind of spirit to Israel, according to the manner we just explained. Then he shifts the word of reproof to the inventors of deceit and error, and to those who caused the madness of B apostasy to befall them. These were the priests falsely so called, and not of the blood of Levi, but having purchased the priesthood, and having bought with money the right to perform priestly rites for idols. For it is written concerning Jeroboam that "whoever wished, he filled his hand, and became a priest of the high places." The word therefore rightly creeps toward those very priests themselves and toward the house of the king, with Israel itself also being encompassed by the charges. For they both spoke of and enacted things pertaining to the establishment of idolatry, setting up altars, offering libations and sacrifices, and widening the path of destruction for those being deceived. The architects of error, however, were the kings. Hence he says to them: "You have become a snare in the watchtower." C He calls "watchtower" the lot inspected by the priests—if indeed they were truly priests—and by the rulers themselves, that is, the care of the people. For they themselves watch and inspect their subjects; or rather they are inspected by the subjects, and wheresoever it may seem good to the masters, they turn the subjects, who follow the will of their leaders. You have become, therefore, he says, like a snare to the multitude which you watch, or perhaps which watches you, "and you have become as a net spread over Tabor." This is a most D conspicuous mountain, situated in Galilee, very rich in the hunting of wild beasts and birds on account of its height, and very dense with trees and shrubs.
VERS. 3. "I am your teacher, I have known Ephraim, and Israel has not departed from me."
LII. The priests, therefore, and indeed also those born of royal blood, have become a net, and a snare, and a hunting for the peoples, commanding them to offer incense to demons, and being themselves the first, before others, to perform and persuade them to feel the nefarious things, and the impious inventions of others: the high places, I say, Beelphegor, the abomination of the Sidonians, Baal, Chamos, amplifying them with new methods of seduction. He promises that he will be their teacher, and not long from now, as he is about to visit upon them the evils from his fury and wrath. And the word is true. For those who were of the royal house, constrained by dire and unavoidable calamities, some perished, according to the narrative of the Sacred Scriptures; others departed.
subjected to the rapacity of the Babylonians and Medes. A Slain miserably—or rather, justly—were the false priests, those who had attained this rank for money, some under Jehu, others under Josiah, who was of the tribe of Judah, that is, of David. A man of God prophesied this long ago, while Jeroboam was sacrificing and standing by the altar, with these words: "Altar, altar, thus says the Lord: Behold, a son shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name; and he shall sacrifice upon you the priests of the high places who sacrifice upon you." Therefore, He threatened that He would punish in fury and wrath those who had become a snare to the lookout—I mean the priests—and those born of royal blood. Yet He by no means leaves the deceived one, that is, Israel, without censure. For this reason He says: "I have known Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from me." B It is as if He were saying: "Who is this who hides counsel from me, containing words in his heart, and thinks he can hide them from me? For I have known Ephraim," He says, "and I have not departed from Israel. For am I a God who draws near, and not a God from afar? If a man hides himself in secret places, shall I not see him?" And again, "Shall anything be hidden from me?"
VERS. 4. "For now Ephraim has played the whore, Israel is defiled; they have not set their thoughts to return to their God, for the spirit of whoredom is in them, and they have not known the Lord." C LII. Since God, who watches over all, sees the kidneys and the hearts, and absolutely nothing is invisible to Him, He knew that Israel—or Ephraim—had committed whoredom and had reached the pinnacle of wickedness. Yet not even for a moment did he entertain so much as a thought of repentance, because he was occupied by the spirit of whoredom and did not wish to seek the true Master. It is true, therefore, as the Savior says: "No one can serve two masters."
VERS. 5. "And the pride of Israel shall be humbled to his face. And Israel and Ephraim shall grow weak in their iniquities; and Judah shall also grow weak with them." D LIV. Here He calls detestable arrogance "pride," for the braggart is an arrogant man. He says, therefore, that the pride of Israel will be humbled, when he has suffered those things which were destined to render him lowly, pitiful, cast down, stripped of his boasting in God, and bereft of that liberty which was his from above and from his fathers. And by "the pride shall be turned back to his face," it must be understood that every kind of ignominy is in some way similar to blows received on the face. He says that the Israelites will grow weak alongside Judah. For the kings of Syria and of the Persians, having ravaged Samaria, did not allow Judah to remain immune; they added to the cities of Israel some of those that belonged to the tribe of Judah and Benjamin.
A
It is acknowledged that impiety and insolence toward God played the role of precursor to the calamity that befell them. He taught this by saying that the suffering of their weakness would not happen to them in any other way than that they would “stumble in their iniquities.” How useful, therefore, and truly most precious is piety toward God, by which one might be able to master nations and easily succeed in everything! The Savior spoke truly when He said, “Without Me you can do nothing.” And David, having chosen to think rightly, also sings somewhere: “The Lord is my strength and my song.”
“They shall go with their sheep and herds to seek the Lord, but they shall not find Him; for He has withdrawn from them, because they have forsaken the Lord, because strange children have been born to them. Now the mildew shall devour them, and their lots.”
B 55. The thing itself proves what the divine Paul says, that it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins, and that God is inaccessible through the Law. By Law, I mean the worship according to the Law, through blood and sacrifices. Therefore, even if the people from Israel were to offer the prescribed victims, seeking forgiveness for the sins they impiously committed, or seeking union and friendship with God, they would not attain it, he says; nor would they succeed in being able to find God, nor would He be accessible to those who repent in such a way. For He is found only through the life in Christ, the preamble of which may be considered the word of faith, and in addition to this, the saving baptism, which produces familial union with God in the Spirit. Therefore, Israel would not find the Lord through the ceremonies of the Law. For He has withdrawn from them, because they themselves have forsaken Him, falling away to such an extent that they even became fathers of “strange children.” He calls them “strange children” C as being, as it were, from the womb and from the very swaddling clothes, addicted to the worship of idols, with parents perhaps offering them to demons as a gift of thanks, and as a sacrifice for a successful birth. Or, otherwise, they are those who were born from foreign women. For those from Israel used to mingle heedlessly with the daughters of the nations, who were still worshiping idols, even though the Law explicitly says that one must not be united in marriage to foreigners. For it says: “You shall not give your daughter to his son, and you shall not take his daughter for your son, for he will turn your son away from Me, and he will go and serve other gods.” Since they have done these things, “the mildew shall devour them.” By this He again signifies enigmatically the affliction and harm that will befall them from the onset of war, which has the power—no less than mildew—to miserably D destroy both them and their possessions; for this is what “lots” means. That the war is not for any delay or reprieve, but is immediate and pressing, He has confirmed by saying: “Now the mildew shall devour them.”
A similar expression would be: “The trial of grievous words shall come later; the disaster is already near and at the doors.” B It will then be the lot of those who grieve God, either not to be able to find Him, even if they should wish to seek Him, or to become fathers of strange children—that is to say, not to have noble and genuine fruits (which would be those produced from virtue and a holy life)—but rather to perish, as if consumed and spent by a certain mildew of their own wickedness and misery; and, in addition to this, to be deprived even of the lots [vouchsafed] by God. Concerning these, the inspired David also sings to God, the Savior of all: “In thy hands are my lots” (Ps. CXVII, 20). For our entire lot and every portion is in the power of God, and He is the distributor of crowns.
VERSES 8, 9
“Clang with the trumpet upon the hills, sound among the high places; cry out in the house of the Lord; Benjamin has been cast down, Ephraim has become a desolation. In the days of reproof among the tribes of Israel I have manifested faithful things.”C 56. It has been stated clearly above that, in addition to the golden calves, the accursed Jeroboam had introduced among the Israelites other ways of idolatry and pestilential error. For they practiced the rites of Chemosh and Peor on the mountains and hills, under the oak, the poplar, and the shady tree; and, as I said, there were also the golden calves in Bethel and in Dan. This, then, was the seduction of Israel. But Judah, or Benjamin, was no less seduced, and they worshipped Astarte, the abomination of the Sidonians. D Moreover, they worshipped the sun, and this will be made clear to us again through the voice of Ezekiel. For he was led, as he himself says, into Jerusalem in a vision of God. Then he beholds the seduction of its inhabitants. “For I saw,” he says, “as it were twenty-five men, their backs toward the temple of the Lord, and their faces toward the east, and these were worshipping the sun” (Ezek. VIII, 16). Observe, then, how they were dividing up destruction for themselves, offending God in many ways and provoking Him. Therefore, since there were those—I mean the Assyrians, the Persians, and those from Damascus, that is, the Syrians (for both invaded [the land] at their own times, having been incited to this for one reason or another)—who were willing to ravage Samaria, which was placed in near expectation, and were about to disturb Jerusalem not a little, He almost chides the delay and hesitation of the assault, and orders them to begin the war, sounding the trumpet about and striking the first fruits of terrors into the minds of those who were seduced. For since he says that the mildew is now about to devour them and their lots (and we have said that by the term “mildew” the devastation of war and desolation is intended), he teaches that it is at the doors and will happen before long; and he orders them to sound the trumpet with great force, and before all else upon the places of idols, either because they were soon to be burned and razed, or because they served as a military advantage from which it was permitted to attack the seduced most hostilely. Thus, when he says that the trumpet is to be sounded upon the hills and upon the high places, you must understand the places of the idols.
A One must know, however, that regarding the expression "in the house of On," it does not agree with the Septuagint. For they translated it "in the house of an unprofitable thing," that is, of every idol. But these others [translated it] "in the house of On." We shall therefore suppose that the prophetic word now intends to signify to us that it is necessary for them to sound the trumpet, not only upon the hills and the high places—that is, not only against the idolatry of Israel, or rather of the ten tribes in Samaria—but also against that which was in Jerusalem among Judah and Benjamin. For as I said, they worshipped the sun (for Ὢν is the sun), casting God behind their backs and turning away from His sacred things. For I believe this signifies that they turned their backs to the temple of the Lord and their faces against—doubtless against—the sun. When, therefore, you hear "in the house of On," you must understand a shrine or temple of any false-named and fabricated god, namely, of the sun. And it should seem to no one absurd or incredible that a house of the sun should be understood and named for those who worship the sun, just as those who think the things of God and offer Him worship and reverence might rightly be conceived of as the house of God. But if it pleases anyone that the golden calf also be called Ὢν, the argument will carry plausibility in that way as well. B For Jeroboam, who was loathsome to God, fashioned the calves in accordance with the Egyptian cult, namely, that of Apis. Now the Egyptians honored Apis, claiming that he was the son of the moon (and therefore he had a crescent-shaped mark on his forehead); and they believed him to be, as it were, a grandson of the sun, because, as they thought, the moon is illuminated by the sun. Therefore, as a son of the moon and a grandson of the sun, they honored Apis. The many-wiled dragon, that is, Satan, led them into this misery of error and wretchedness of thought. He therefore commanded the trumpet to be sounded upon the hills and the high places and in the house of On, that is, of the golden calf. And the text immediately makes manifest what the crimes of both were, and the reason for the punishment, adding at once: "Benjamin has exceeded," instead of "he has wandered from his own customs," that is, he has fallen away from the best of minds. For truly this kind of distraction is to be understood as being directed toward base things. "And Ephraim has been destroyed." Nevertheless, he says, these things are not so forever. "For in the days of the rebuke of the sin of both, I have shown faithfulness," demonstrating my words to be firm and true. For those things which I had predicted came upon them, and nothing of my words deceived them. For as they departed from their ancient customs and lost a good mind, they were also driven out of their own country, and likewise fell from the love of God and from all prosperity. D Those who abandon God will follow up this with a departure from every good thought, and indeed from every work pertaining to virtue. And such persons proceed to desolation, with God rebuking and reproving them and demanding penalties for their sloth. It is therefore useful and necessary for life to be with God, and to cry out just as it is in the Psalms: "Adhæ-
Adhæ-Asit anima mea post te.", for He will then receive and willingly help with the right hand of the Almighty, from which no man shall snatch, as the Savior testifies.
VERS. 10. *Facti sunt principes Juda velut transponentes terminos, super eos effundam sicut aquam impetum meum.*
LVII. This is (although under a veil) what he was saying: "Benjamin is alienated in mind." For they have become, he says, like those who shift boundaries and who desire to transgress what was established long ago. For those who transfer to others things that are fitting for God alone—and which were justly dedicated to Him, I mean love, honor, and adoration—because they perhaps entreat the sun, or the moon, and the stars with prayers, they do in truth nothing else but change the boundaries entirely. And that Judah, or Benjamin, has dedicated to the sun and moon and stars the glory due to God alone is made clear from what the Lord says to the prophet Jeremiah: "Do you not see what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? Their children gather wood, and their fathers kindle fire, and their women knead dough, to make cakes for the host of heaven; and they have poured libations to foreign gods, that they might provoke me to anger." B The princes of the tribe of Judah, therefore, have shifted the boundaries—that is, those who were clothed in supreme and kingly glory, whom it was fitting for the erring masses to follow as examples. "But like water poured out with a rush, I will pour out upon them my rush," that is, my fury. For calamities imposed by a wrathful God can in no way be borne or tolerated, nor can they be repelled, just as surely as a great flood of water poured out in abundance cannot be checked.
VERS. 11, 12. *Oppressit Ephraim adversarium suum, et conculcavit judicium, quia cœpit abire post vana. Et ego quasi conturbatio Ephraim, et quasi stimulus domui Juda.*
LVIII. In what manner Benjamin was alienated in mind, he has clearly declared. For he said that the princes of Judah had become like those transferring boundaries. But how Ephraim also suffered desolation, he explains next, adding: "Ephraim oppressed his adversary." And it seems that the words are directed to us now as if C in an ethical sense. What, then, is the accusation against the tribe of Ephraim, or what is the adversary whom the divine oracle says Ephraim oppressed? I will attempt to explain as far as I am able. For those of the tribe of Judah and Benjamin still respected to some extent the Mosaic laws, and were still mindful of their purpose, and were studiously devoting themselves to righteousness. For not all had turned aside; but there were not a few who wept and lamented over the defection of those who were led astray, and suffered no small grief of heart when certain ones, despising the God of all, introduced idolatrous customs. Hence the blessed prophet Ezekiel says that those sent against Jerusalem with axes D
A heard God clearly saying that they must follow the one clothed in the priestly garment, but withhold mercy from no one. For he says, "I saw, and behold, six men coming through the gate looking toward the north, and each had a battle-axe in his hand. And he said to the man clothed in the priestly garment: Go through the midst of Jerusalem, and give the sign upon the foreheads of the men who are groaning and grieving over all the iniquities being done in their midst. And to others he said, as I heard: Go into the city behind him, and strike, and do not spare; and slay old man, and young man, infants and women, unto destruction; but upon everyone on whom is the sign, do not draw near." You hear that certain ones were marked as being outside of justice, and wrath, and every cause for blame, for the very reason that they chose to think rightly, and moreover to live according to the law, and to cling to justice, and to love with blamelessness the love toward God. But in Samaria, Israel had gone astray in every way, perhaps not even deigning to recall the Mosaic law, but pursuing a life B as if it were a combatant and wholly arrayed against them, such that it even considered the law of God as an enemy—to the extent of not even wanting to know it, but dishonoring the pedagogue, even though he knew how to save and was able to lead [them] very well into a straight and blameless life. This, then, as it seems, the prophetic word hints at. And it is composed with character, as I have said. "For Ephraim," he says, "oppressed his adversary," instead of: Ephraim conquered with a very shocking victory that was the cause of ruin; he oppressed [it] as if it were his own enemy, that is, he conquered in a general sense, for he had hated the law. And since the expression is obscure, he explains it differently, saying, "He trampled upon judgment," that is, he did not care at all for the justice in the law. For something that is trampled upon is in some way understood to be in dishonor, and is found worthy of no regard. And so our Lord Jesus Christ says: "The salt is good; but if the salt has become tasteless, with what will it be seasoned? It is no longer good for anything, unless it be thrown out [to be] C trampled underfoot by men." When, therefore, he says "judgment," you shall understand "the law." Thus also the inspired David, naming it, cries out to God: "Judgment and justice in Jacob thou hast performed." For the law is God's, even if it is spoken through angels. But what is the cause of [his] also considering the law as an enemy and trampling upon judgment, he showed again, immediately saying, "Because he began to walk after vanities." The beginning of such a disease, he says, is the choice to honor vanities and to follow after idols. For it is impossible at the same time to be able to follow God and also wicked and unclean spirits. For this reason the inspired Paul also writes: "You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons." For the lover of God is uniform in character; but the subverter is D mutable, and wavering, and skilled in going in both directions, and easily going wherever fate has carried [him]. "And they have become, he says, as those who displace the boundaries. Ephraim has oppressed his adversary and has trampled upon judgment. And I will be in the future as a disturbance to Ephraim, and as a sti-
stimulus to Judah. A What this means, strictly speaking, is necessary to investigate. For other interpreters, instead of "disturbance," have said "devourer," and instead of "stimulus," "rottenness." But the Seventy have named it "disturbance" and "stimulus." For since Ephraim—that is, the ten tribes—was being disturbed not moderately by the war that had fallen upon them, this caused by neighbors, I mean, the Syrians, and this also by the Persian forces and those who came from the land of the Assyrians, Judah was in pains, and not in moderate fears, or rather, even in great anxiety. For he expected—and not in the long term—that he would be consumed by the same, or perhaps much worse, evils; for with the war pressing down and attacking the cities of Samaria, there was every necessity for the neighbors, I mean those of Judah and Benjamin, to perish together. Therefore, "disturbance" indicates the arrival of the war, B and "stimulus" indicates the torture resulting from sadness and despondency in these events, from which those who wish to think on matters of Christ will certainly be safe; through whom and with whom to God and the Father be the glory with the holy Spirit unto the ages of ages. Amen.
VOLUME FOURTH.
VERS. 13. *And Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah his pain, and Ephraim went to the Assyrians, and sent ambassadors to King Iarim, and he could not heal you, and will not make the pain cease from you.*
LIX. After God had become as a disturbance to Ephraim, and as it were a stimulus to the house of Judah, Ephraim beheld his own sickness, that is, his weakness and infirmity; and indeed Judah beheld his own pain, for he was being dragged down, as I said, along with those in Samaria and the borders of Benjamin. Then, having become exhausted by this, and being unable to oppose these misfortunes with his own powers, C nor able to ward off the disasters of war, Ephraim offended the almighty God again, and did not, so to speak, recognize his own utility even in these very lashes, and when the time had arrived in which he ought rather to have turned back to God, then precisely did he choose to cause Him vexation, and he did not hesitate to depart from Him more insolently. For he was not ignorant that God was the author and guardian of all his glory, who always bestows strength for the breaking of adversaries. But there is no need for many words, when that voice of the wisest Moses is extant: *The Lord is a breaker of wars; the Lord is his name,* and when he clearly teaches that through Him and in Him *one shall pursue a thousand, and two shall put ten thousand to flight.* Then, when it was proper to seek the accustomed aid from Him again, and Him alone, and to urge the Savior by prayers to grant aid, he meditated dire things upon his own head. For when an embassy had been sent to foreigners and enemies, he requested reinforcements from them. *For Ephraim was made as a foolish dove,* and
having no heart, he called upon Egypt and went to the Assyrians, thinking to be delivered from the evils that hung over him. And indeed, while Manahem was reigning in Samaria, Phul, king of the Assyrians, went up against Israel. Then, with money and embassies, they persuaded him to desist from the land. Such is the meaning of: *Ephraim went to the Assyrians.* Again, Pekah, the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, once hired Rezin, king of Syria, and waged war against Judah and those of the tribe of Benjamin, while Ahaz, the son of Jotham, was reigning, who, fearing the incursion, persuaded Tiglath-Pileser the Assyrian with embassies and money to come to his defense. Having taken Damascus by storm, he removed Rezin from the midst. B But, he says, even if Ephraim has gone to the Assyrians, and has bought off the delay of the incursion with money and entreaties, and even if he has sent envoys to King Jareb—that is to say, to an avenger or punisher (for this is what Jareb signifies)—yet they have not overcome the divine wrath, nor will they prevail against God, who is demanding the penalty for so terrible an apostasy. For he says, the one persuaded by money was not able to cause them to rest even for a little while, nor could any other person hired for pay heal you. But the sting of pain will by no means cease. It is, therefore, a most terrible thing not to desire to be saved rather by the gentleness from above, but to trust in human aid; even though the Spirit cries out through the voice of blessed David: *It is good to trust in the Lord, rather than to trust in man. It is good to hope in the Lord, rather than to hope in princes.* And again through the prophet Jeremiah: *Cursed is the man who puts his hope in man, and will strengthen the flesh of his arm upon him, and his heart has departed from the Lord. And he shall be as the wild tamarisk that is in the desert, and he shall not see when good things come. And blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and the Lord shall be his hope. And he shall be as a tree planted by the water, and it shall cast its roots upon moisture, and shall not be afraid when heat comes. And upon it shall be leafy boughs, in a year of drought it shall not be afraid, and it shall not cease in producing fruit.* It is better, therefore, to become reconciled to God, and to say that wise saying from a good mind: *I am yours, save me, for I have sought out your statutes.*
Verse 14, 15. *For I am as a panther to Ephraim, and as a lion to the house of Judah, and I will tear and go, and I will take, and there shall be none to deliver. I will go and return to my place, until they are destroyed.*
D LX. He makes clear the reason why those bringing help to Ephraim were of no profit, and why their pain will not be cease. *For I am,* he says, *to Ephraim as a panther, and as a lion to the house of Judah.* It is clear, then, that when God destroys, there is no one who can save. *For who shall turn away His high hand?* as it is written. That the things which happened to them happened because they were deserted by all of God’s clemency, is indicated under a veil.
A, comparing his own onset to the most terrible and strongest beasts. For the panther is borne with a very swift course upon whomsoever it chooses, and leaps with such light feet that its footprint is scarcely seen, nor does it leave any sign upon the ground. But the lion roars terribly and dreadfully in the mountains, like thunder, and in a way strikes those who hear it with dismay. For he says: "The lion will roar, and who will not fear?" Neither can his approach be warded off, and the power of the one attacking can with difficulty be repelled. What he seizes, he immediately destroys, nor can anyone snatch away what is caught in his claws. That the panther, moreover, is strong in speed and flies almost after the prey is snatched away, and that the lion is a strong, intrepid beast, whose onset is dangerous, he himself points out when he adds: "And I will seize, and I will go, and I will take; and there shall be no one who can deliver." For this is appropriate to the strength of lions; but that other thing, "I will seize, and I will go, and I will take," the panther would do, as I said. That the Lord will also depart from those by whom He has been offended, and will almost withdraw His aid, and will deprive them of His benevolence, He has indicated in those words: "I will go, and I will return to my place, until they perish." In no way, indeed, is the Divinity B included or defined by a place. But He is said to be present to some, when He bestows His grace and favor upon them; and again to be absent from those who have sinned, when He turns away from them and ceases to bestow His gentleness upon them. For He speaks of God in a human manner; but we understand these things as is agreeable to Him.
"And they shall seek My face when they shall be afflicted."
LXI. That, for those who uncontrollably decline toward wicked things and are accustomed to sin without end, evils are not brought in by God rashly, but rather for their benefit and as if by way of medicine, he teaches again. C For those who despise divine gentleness and are ignorant that the greatness of His long-suffering calls them to repentance, will by no means escape His inflamed wrath; on the contrary, broken and weakened by the bitterness of calamity, they will understand what is advantageous to them: and those to whom kindness was of no help, the punishments of tribulations lead to the knowledge of their own advantage. For just as the more severe ailments of bodies, and those not yielding to gentle medicines, are frequently overcome by fire and iron: in the same, I think, mode and reason are the affections or vices occurring in human souls—if they do not yield to gentle words and are not conquered by prudent reasoning—driven away by toils, and scourges, and cruel calamities. Therefore, pressed by tribulation, D then at length, he says, "they will seek My face." For when good things are in one's power, imprudent men do not care much for the Giver of these joys. But if we are stripped of those things which are most desirable, then indeed, desiring them more keenly, we drink in an incredible and inconsolable sense of distress. "When, therefore, they shall have been afflicted, then they will seek My face."
A The discourse seems to return very fitly to the mystery of Christ, and it shows forth very clearly the redemption through Him, as well as the conversion to God. For the face of God which is sought might most fittingly be understood as the Son Himself, who is the image, and the radiance, and the character of the Father's substance. The true face, therefore, of God and Father is the Son, if indeed He is known in Him, "And he who has seen Him has seen the Father." By this name also the divine Cantor calls Him, crying out to the God of all and saying: "Make Thy face to shine upon Thy servant." And indeed, as if from the person of the faithful, already transformed to the Son through the Spirit, he says, "The light of Thy countenance, O Lord, is sealed upon us." For as the prophet says, "The light of our countenance is Christ the Lord." B
CHAPTER VI. VERSES 1-3.
"They shall rise early to me, saying: 'Come, and let us return to the Lord our God, for He has seized, and He will heal us; He will strike, and He will bandage us; He will heal us after two days; on the third day we shall arise, and shall live in His presence, and shall know. We shall pursue to know the Lord. As the morning ready we shall find Him, and He will come as the rain to us, the early and the latter rain to the earth.'"C LXII. "They shall rise early," implies in this place, it seems, that as if awakened from the sleep of the senselessness by which they are held, and having as it were been brought from night and darkness henceforth into light and day, they will exhort one another, crying that it is fitting for the future to return to the Lord. This is, moreover, the recovery of those who have slipped into deceit and are entangled in the worship of idols. For the fruit of sobriety is to seek to be set free from darkness—diabolical darkness, I mean—and thereafter, as if filled with divine light, to hasten with a straight aim toward the knowledge of the One who is by nature and truly God and Lord, even though they formerly perceived that there were gods and lords in the world; such that they arrived at such a degree of foolishness as to say even to a piece of wood, "You are my father," and to a stone, "You begat me." D The discourse remains metaphorical. For see how, as if of a lion or another wild beast, they say, "He has seized, and He will heal us." For after He had said, "And I shall be as a panther to Ephraim, and as a lion to the house of Judah; and I shall seize, and shall go, and there shall be none to rescue," they have kept the figure of the metaphor and say that He who has seized will altogether heal. For just as anger has saddened, so goods bestowed out of gentleness will altogether exhilarate those who have suffered. At the same time, we shall also understand this: that when God is pressing certain ones, no one can struggle against Him; but that for the affairs of the wretched, there is need of Him—and Him alone—for their restoration.
But if the force of the prophecy must be extended to all mortals who are on the earth, we shall elicit this meaning. He seized in the begin-
-Aning Adam’s human nature; for He immediately rendered it subject to a curse, to death, and to corruption. Therefore, wrath struck, but grace healed, like a bandage applied to a wound. For Christ healed; He called us to the knowledge of the true vision of God; He strengthened us through the Spirit for the observance of the commandments; He rendered us blessed again; He exempted us from corruption, and set us beyond it; and He delivered us from the ancient maladies—I mean sin and the passions.
These things have befallen those on earth not as in the first—or rather, in the second—time, but as in the third, that is, the final and ultimate time. For all times are numbered in three stages: the first, the middle, and the last, in which Christ appeared to us. Thus they say that the things of our healing shall be after two days, a day measuring for us the time of the prophetic word. Then, he says, "We shall pursue, that we may know the Lord." "We shall pursue," they say, for "we shall strive." Then also "we shall rise, and we shall live before Him." For we have risen together with Christ; and since He died for all, we live His life, no longer being far from the eyes of God because of the transgression, nor as if cast behind for the sake of sin; but we are brought into sight from now on, and having confidence in Him because of the righteousness in Christ. And that we have known the Father through Him, and that the Son, having become like us, is to us the fullness of every good thing, they confess, saying: "As the dawn we shall find Him," that is, as a rising light, as the sun, as brightness, the darkness having passed away. "And He shall be to us as the early and the latter rain." For He waters us who have received the faith, and have rightly recognized His appearance, in a double way, I think. For He reveals in the spirit the knowledge of the ancient and legal, and, in addition to these, of the prophetic teachings. And this, I suppose, is the early rain. But the latter rain, as if together with that, He gives the understanding of the evangelical teachings, and the most desirable grace of the apostolic proclamations. And we have become, as the prophet says, "a desired land"; and perhaps the blessed David chants concerning us, saying: "You have visited the earth, and have intoxicated it; You have multiplied to enrich it." And so it has given its fruit, a hundredfold, sixtyfold, and thirtyfold, according to the voice of the Savior.
Vers. 5. What shall I do to you, Ephraim? What shall I do to you, Judah? My mercy is as a morning cloud, and as the morning dew that passes away.
DLXIII. These are not the words of one who is in doubt; for God would not have been ignorant of what was expedient for those who were wandering, nor would His power have failed to provide what could have been of service to those who were entangled in diabolical snares; but rather, He accuses them because, when nothing was lacking to them for their cure, they nevertheless turned aside by their own voluntary impulse to do what is not lawful. For it is perhaps as if He were saying: What manner of indulgence and assistance has been devised...
and what shall I do after these things? How will you beat back the disease? Or with what medicines will you henceforth be healed? For it was possible for you, as from a cloud that fattens and with a very abundant, even as from a morning dew A that waters, to be able to attain, and this abundantly, to the sweetness of My gentleness and incomparable philanthropy; but you regarded the matter as nothing, He says; you have counted as naught the grace so venerable and to be desired by all vows.
This prophecy will B especially befit the gift of prophecy through Christ. For He is the watering cloud, the fattening dew; and it is "morning" because it is as though after night, which is understood as being in the gloom and darkness of the devil. He has therefore descended from heaven. For the Word has arrived from above and from the Father to us. "Passing through," because He came throughout the whole world that is under heaven. For the saving proclamation is very wide, and is extended, one may say, over everything under heaven; although the Law was in a manner restrained, and went about the region of the Jews only. "For God was known in Judea," according to the voice of the Psalmist. But the whole world has known the Savior and Redeemer of all, that is to say, Christ.
VERS. 5. *Therefore I have mowed down your prophets, I have slain them by the word of My mouth.*
C LXIV. A demonstration of indulgence and love toward them is the destruction of those who lead astray. For there have been at times false prophets in Israel, sitting by the shrines of Baal, leading astray and led astray, according to that which is written. Nevertheless, they were afterward removed from the midst, after God had foretold this too, and had brought a just judgment upon them. For indeed Elias slew some beside the altar of Baal, while they were babbling and saying: "Hear us, O Baal, hear us;" and Jehu slew others, whom the blessed prophet Eliseus, by one of his servants, anointed king over Israel, God also commanding this to take place. And when he had been anointed, God being angry at the impostors, he first gave Achab to death, and after him Jezabel, and then his sons throughout all Samaria. And pretending that he wished to keep a feast for Baal, he gathered together all the false prophets, and under the pretext of sacrificing, he slew them one by one, having shut them up in the house. He also pulled down Baal himself, and burned his statues; for it is so written. Therefore, that the destruction of the D false prophets was an argument of indulgence and love, as I said, toward Israel, He taught, saying: "Therefore," He says, "I have mowed down." For they have fallen in a multitude, being mowed down like ears of corn.
*And My judgment shall go forth as the light, because I desire mercy, and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.*
LXV. He narrates to us another mode of His indulgence and love toward them, which, if it had been brought to the end according to His own will, all Israel and Judah would have been saved...
For God and Father did not merely cut down the multitude of the impious false prophets, having appointed for them a death worthy [of their deeds], but He also at His own times sent His own Son, A who, born of Israel’s blood, would above all others disclose His good will and make His judgment manifest. Therefore, He also spoke through the voice of David: “But I was established king by Him, upon Sion, His holy mountain, declaring the commandment of the Lord.” And He, having become like us through Himself, that is, man, [says]: “I do not speak from myself, but the Father who sent me, He gave me commandment what I should say, and what I should speak.” Therefore, He says, “My judgment shall go forth as light,” that is, My will is not obscured by enigmas, but will lie naked and unconcealed before the minds of all. B And that Emmanuel, having arrived at the proper times, will not turn those who have been led astray back to legal worship, nor will He persuade them to honor those things which still obtained in types and shadows, but will rather lead them to equity, kindness, compassion, and to true and guileless knowledge of God, He makes the aim of this judgment plain, and says: “For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.” For what did the Savior say? “Therefore, whatever you wish that men should do to you, do you also to them likewise.” And He holds not the lowest place before God, who practices charity. “By this,” He says, “all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” And that He was leading back the minds of those coming to Him to the knowledge of Him who is truly God, how could anyone doubt? For He set Himself before us as an image of the Begetter, saying to the genuine disciple (this was Philip): C “Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me? He who has seen me, has seen the Father. I and the Father are one.” And if anyone should choose to say that the Son Himself is the mercy of the Father, [that which is] greater than every sacrifice and burnt offering, he will judge rightly. For He has been called by such a name by the divinely-inspired Scripture. For God and Father Himself says somewhere to us concerning Him: “My righteousness draws near quickly, and my mercy to be revealed.” And the prophets [say] to Him: “Show us, O Lord, thy mercy, and grant us thy salvation.” For truly Christ is the mercy from the Father, as one who takes away sins, as one who releases [men from] crimes, and justifies by faith, and restores those who are lost to their former state of salvation, and renders them unconquered by death; and what excellent [gift] D and primarily praiseworthy thing does He not bestow upon us? Therefore, the knowledge of God is better than sacrifice and burnt offerings, as being perfected in Christ. For we have known the Father through Him and in Him, and we have been enriched by justification through faith.
Ver. 7. But they are like a man transgressing the covenant.
A LXVI. Since we are striving with the best of intentions to investigate the truth as diligently as possible, we must also admit now that the edition of the Hebrews has, instead of "as a man," "as Adam transgressing the covenant," so that the transgression of the Israelites might be understood as being of the same kind as that of Adam. For although it was granted to him to live joined to God and immortal, and to be delighted with the pleasures of paradise, he neglected the divine commandment, and then fell into worse things, having been despoiled of his former honors and excellences beyond all expectation. Similarly, these Israelites, I say, having God, the Lord of all, as their benefactor and friend, their savior and guardian, who also set before them mercy—like the morning cloud and the morning dew passing away—and who brought forth His judgment as light, and honored them with a worship according to the law—they became negligent regarding what was necessary and useful to them for [their] well-being and glory, and they disparaged the all-powerful God, even though the most wise Moses clearly said to them: "You shall not make for yourself an idol, nor a likeness of anything, whatever is in the heaven above, and whatever is on the earth below, and whatever is in the waters beneath the earth." And again: "There shall be no other gods for you besides me." Since, however, they fell into apostasy just like the first one, that is, Adam, they too will surely be cast out from the One who knows how to rejoice them; for they have transgressed the covenant.
B But if the oracle is understood in a more mystical sense, as referring to Christ, we shall say again, in order that the mind may grasp the clear meaning of the words: God and Father sent from heaven the Son to illuminate the children of Israel and to manifest His judgment, and in order that He might persuade them to discontinue the ancient sacrifices and the holocausts according to the law, but rather to show mercy, being justified by faith, and to call them to the knowledge of the One who is God in truth. For through Him and in Him we have seen the Father, and we have obtained access, as the holy Scripture says somewhere. But the children of Israel have become "as a man transgressing the covenant." C And what is this? I will again say in whatever way I can. For one who transgresses a covenant written by another either does not approach the lot distributed to him by the founder of the covenant, or he certainly cheats others who were inscribed in the testament out of their due goods. The Jews have committed such a thing, and this specifically with regard to Christ. How, or in what way? For God and Father granted to the Son, as a kind of splendid and special inheritance, the leadership over the nation. For he cried out, as I have said: "But I have been established as king by Him upon Zion, His holy mountain," and He gave to the Son the vineyard which is perceived by the mind—that is, Israel. D "For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts, as it is written, is the man of Judah, a newly planted, beloved one." But, as the blessed evangelist John says: "He came unto His own, and His own did not receive Him." For they cast Him out beyond the gate, and punished Him with death, saying: "This is the heir; come, let us kill Him, and we shall have His inheritance." Consider
then, how they have effectively become as a man transgressing a testament. Do you recognize the heir? Therefore, restore to him the inheritance that has been allotted to him. They have, then, transgressed the testament of the Father, as far as it lay in them, disinheriting the heir; and yet they themselves did not draw near to the grace, not receiving the inheritance given to them by God. For God says through the prophet: « Behold, days are coming, says the Lord, and I will perfect for the house of Israel and for the house of Judah a new testament, not according to the testament which I disposed for their fathers in the day in which I took hold of their hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt. » B But if the new be compared with the former, a very great difference in the promised blessings will be perceived. For there, the land of the Amorites, the Gergesites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites was promised to them; but the New Testament—that is, the ordinances through Christ—called them through faith to the adoption of children of God, to incorruption, to eternal life, to the communion of God through the Spirit, and to the kingdom of heaven. But they would not have the inheritance distributed to them by the Father through the Son. In both respects, therefore, they have provoked God, both by transgressing the testament and, as I said, by expelling the heir, as far as it lay in them, from the inheritance given to him by the Father, and falling away themselves from the gifts bestowed upon them by God in Christ.
*There Gilead treated me with contempt, a city working vanity, troubling the water, and thy strength is of a man that is a pirate.*
67. C The discourse returns again to the narration of the crimes on account of which the impious crowd of false prophets among them was justly destroyed. For "there," he says—that is, at that time when Israel turned away and fell into such a state that it did not shrink from worshipping demons even (for this is what the "there" means, understood according to the reality and the action, and not so much according to place)—Gilead treated me with great contempt. Now the name of the city is beyond the Jordan, which according to the prescription of Moses fell to the Levites. It was, therefore, a city of priests and Levites. But those who ought to have turned others away from error and to have instructed them in the truth and in the knowledge of useful things ("For the lips of the priest," he says, "shall guard judgment, and they shall seek the law from his mouth"), they themselves became the inventors of idols and the craftsmen of vanities. "For they worked vanity," that is, idols. "And they troubled the water," that is, they became an occasion of confusion for the common multitude. For it is the custom of divine Scripture to assimilate the countless multitude of men to water. And so, when Babylon and Nineveh were both very populous, it says, "as a pool of water are its waters," D which is the same as saying, as a pool is full of waters, so is its multitude. Or, in another way, they had troubled the water, as if proposing a turbid and muddy doctrine to those attending, and simple-minded
people, thickening their understanding. For they taught them to worship idols. For indeed, through the voice of Ezekiel, God of all again accused them, and like one addressing rams and leaders of a flock, he says: "And you, O my sheep, thus says the Lord: Behold, I will judge between sheep and sheep, and rams and he-goats. And is it not enough for you that you enjoyed good pasture? You trampled the residue of your pasture with your feet, and drank the clearest water, and troubled the rest with your feet; and my sheep fed on the trample-things of your feet, and drank the water troubled by your feet." For since those from the blood of Levi were learned in the law, and possessed, as the finest pasture, the delicate and limpid water—the education through Moses, which was not insufficient to lead them into truth—they trampled in a way upon the pasture, and also troubled the water, offering a certain thick, muddy, and earthly-filth-filled doctrine to those who followed them in the order of sheep, as if they were rams. The citizens and inhabitants of Gilead are therefore accused as those who trouble the water, and they are refuted as also having the strength of a pirate. How we should understand this, we shall declare by interpreting what follows.
"The priests have hidden the way, they have murdered Shechem, for they have wrought iniquity in the house of Israel. I have seen horrible things there, the fornication of Ephraim: Israel and Judah are defiled."
LXVIII.
Sometimes the prophetic speech makes mention of certain histories which, if anyone should wish to pass over, he could not clarify the meaning of the proposed words. Wherefore, those desiring to expound such things must remove laziness from themselves, and represent what is for the benefit of the hearers from wherever they can by their own labor. Hence, now too, we are led to such a matter. Shechem, therefore, is a small town beyond the currents of the Jordan, nearby and bordering on Gilead, which we previously said was given to those of the blood of Levi, when Joshua, son of Nun, was distributing the land of promise. It happened, therefore, when a holy and festive day was being observed by the authority of the law—I mean the C Scenopegia, when it was the custom for all from everywhere to ascend to Jerusalem, as the law so commanded—that certain ones from the Shechemites, either pricked at heart and repenting of their seduction, or called by God to a sound mind, wished thereafter to obey divine laws and desired to ascend to Jerusalem and to offer sacrifices and to perform the feast commanded by the law. And this was as it were a beginning of conversion and of ceasing to adhere to the worship of idols. For, lest any of those from Israel—that is, from the ten tribes—should for the sake of the sacrifices and the feast, as the law commanded, ascend from Samaria to Jerusalem, and thence little by little return to the ancient customs and religion and be under the kingdom of Judah, Jeroboam devised in the beginning golden calves, by whichand commanded them to fulfill the prescribed rites in them, attributing to his own inventions the glory due to God, the wretch, so that he might himself reign securely, and God be, as it were, defrauded of His own. Therefore, when some of those from Shechem attempted to go up to Jerusalem, those from the neighboring Gilead hindered them from doing this, although, as I said, they were of the Levitical tribe, and appointed by the Law to take care of and perform the sacrifices. But because they were working vanities (for they were craftsmen of idols), as if their craft would shortly fade into nothing if Israel were henceforth to turn away from the worship of idols, they were sharpened into rage. And because they could not persuade them with words, they descended to impious counsels and deeds. For they stationed some in the middle of the road, B who would behave in the manner of brigands, and would slaughter those of the Shechemites who intended to go up to Jerusalem against their will. Those, however, who escaped their hands with their bodies safe, being destitute of those things which they were bringing for sacrifice, returned with difficulty to their own country. Therefore, the God of all reproves the Gileadites, because, although they were more obligated as Levites, and priests, and having been allotted the duty of leading others, according to the Law, to show the path of piety clearly and manifestly to those who had wandered, they on the contrary hid it, not allowing them to think rightly, either by their own counsel, or certainly, having been pricked by grace from above, to shake off hereafter the burden of demonic deception. He says, therefore: "They hid C the priests the way of the Lord." This is the same thing which is clearly said by another prophet in other words: "The priests did not say, Where is the Lord? and those who handled the law knew me not, and the pastors acted impiously against me." Nor indeed did the crimes of the Gileadites cease here. For besides the fact that they hid the way of the Lord, they also plundered and killed the Shechemites by brigandage. Wherefore also He spoke thus to Gilead, "And your strength is as that of a marauder."
See, however, how God restores to our memory the ancient history, and makes mention of the ancient offenses of Levi. D What I say is of this kind again. Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, or rather of Israel (for the name of Jacob was changed into Israel), went out once from the tent of her father, because she desired to see the daughters of the inhabitants. Now she was in Shechem. Then Emmor the son of Sichem, having sighted the girl, suddenly violated her; for he deprived her of her virginity. The brothers of the young girl, Levi and Simeon, bearing this most iniquitously, plot deceit. They persuade the men of Shechem to suffer themselves to be circumcised. Which being done, while still suffering fiercely and vehemently from the wound, they slaughter them one and all, responding to their father, who was chiding their uncontrollable anger, "Or will they treat our sister as a harlot?" He brings back to our memory such a history now, with a certain urbanity and dissimulation, saying, "They slaughtered Shechem, because they wrought wickedness"
in the house of Israel. A This, he says, they objected then, because they had sinned against the house of Jacob, or Israel, by deflowering the young maiden, and on that account we too slaughtered Shechem. But now, he says, they have resolved to return to God, to love the things of the law, to fulfill sacrifices, to celebrate feasts, and for the future to depart from the notions of idolatry. What then of the Levites? "They hid the way of the Lord, they slaughtered Shechem." Or perhaps even now are they able to bring complaints, because they wrought iniquity in the house of Israel? What young maiden has been insulted even now? Against what Dinah have they sinned? What are the crimes of the Shechemites—of those who have honored God, of those who have chosen for the future to think rightly, and are hastening to complete what is in the Law? "I have seen," therefore, he says, "a most horrible fornication of Ephraim in that place." B For one might be struck with horror, and most justly, seeing that the holy and elect race had so far departed from the love toward God, that they not only became finders of idols for others, but also hindered them, if they chose to love the things of God. "Israel and Judah are therefore polluted," he says. Wherefore, if they should even suffer some of those things which threaten them, let no one blame God who is indignant.
Verse 11. "Begin to vintage for thyself when I turn the captivity of my people, when I heal Israel."
LXIX. The discourse is directed again to the inhabitant of Gilead with this point.
I indeed began as God to heal and to convert Israel. And so the Shechemites were desiring for the future to submit their necks to God, and to celebrate feasts—not those C instituted by Jeroboam any longer, but rather those according to the law—and to flee from that deception that had been introduced I know not how. But you, O Gileadite, have almost shorn, or vintaged, and have acquired unjust riches from brigandage. He calls out again, moreover, and with a certain derision, "Begin to vintage for thyself"; saying, as it were, such a thing, or at least subtly insinuating in silence, "And I shall make you the firstfruits of those being punished." For beginning to shear Israel, and to vintage the practitioners of such terrible impiety, I shall make you the firstfruits of my wrath. For it is necessary to know that Phul, king of the Assyrians, who first came against Samaria and Israel, first carried off into captivity D the tribes beyond the Jordan. And one of the cities there was Gilead. Therefore, just as when I was converting Israel, and beginning to heal for the future, you vintaged for yourself, O Gileadite, things acquired by brigandage; so also I, when I shall have handed over Israel to the Assyrians, will make you the firstfruits of those who are led away.Those ancient crimes are akin to those which the Jews perpetrated against Christ. For God and Father was calling all of Israel to choose for the future to think better things, and to cease from the worship according to the law,
and to be enlightened by the knowledge of the truth; but they were not persuaded. Therefore, those of the synagogue, having been handed over to their enemies, became partakers in bitter sufferings, on account of their rebellion against Christ.
CHAPTER VII.
VERS. 1. A *And the iniquity of Ephraim shall be revealed, and the wickedness of Samaria, for they have dealt falsely, and the thief cometh to them, stripping off what is in the way, that they may harmonize as those singing in their hearts.*
LXX. B *Good by nature, and long-suffering, and slow to anger, and of great pity*—verily the Lord of all—endures those who sin for a long time, their faults being for a time hidden and concealed. But when he has struck 106 and is no longer able to endure their keeping quiet, they become manifest and appear as if they were revealed, and are brought into the midst, being seen by the eyes of all. He affirms that such will also be the case now for Ephraim and Samaria. C By Ephraim, you will here understand the royal tribe in Samaria, from which Jeroboam and his successors originated; by the term Samaria, the ten tribes that were in Samaria. He says their sins shall be revealed for reasons such as these: because they dealt falsely, and were devoted to the cold and already rancid [worship] of idolatry, and became makers of idols, as I said; and the thief (for this is what it means to be a robber/brigand) will come to them, to them that is, and will cause them to be quiet, and will act toward that thief as one stripping off in the way, so that from this it appears, he says, that they have harmony, that is, they conspire, and are of the same sentiment. For those who wished to go up to Jerusalem were stripping off the robbery: these, having become partakers with them of the wickedness, were sharers of those who were robbed.
They rejoiced, D even the leaders and magistrates of the Jews, when they were nefariously opposing those who believed in Christ, and because others were attacking and committing robbery, they becoming their allies, deriving pleasure from the persecution of the faithful, and as if possessing a robber, Satan, in their mind and heart, and receiving them, they were in every sense of piety, as they thought, being stripped—though they had harmony with them. For just as he who adheres to God, one spirit is with him, in the same way, I suppose, he who adheres to Satan will have one heart with him.
VERS. 2. *I remembered all their wickedness. Now their designs have surrounded them, they have come against my face.*
The word is true, even if it might be understood again concerning those who crucified Emmanuel. For by lying and slandering him, they were causing Herod and Pontius Pilate, and those presiding over the Synagogue, to rejoice. For somewhere also the divine Peter said to the Father and God of all: *For gathered together in truth in this city against your holy boy Jesus, whom you anointed, were both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the nations and the peoples of Israel.* 3
*All committing adultery as a furnace burning for the baking of combustion from the flame, from the kneading of the dough until it was fermented. It is the day of your kings.*
And in what manner they gladdened the kings in their wicked deeds, and the rulers in their lies—this is explained to us clearly. The narrative goes in this way, which if anyone should know by chance, he will surely know the mind of the prophecy. When, therefore, the ten tribes having been broken off, the accursed Jeroboam reigned over them, he feared greatly lest perhaps, on account of the feasts according to the law, they might go up to Jerusalem, and be persuaded little by little to choose again the scepter of Judah, and having been brought to the memory of the ancient customs, they might either kill him, or at least cast him out, and no longer willing, [deprive him] of the rule over them. For the sake of this reason, the God-hating and wretched man took thought to consecrate the golden calves for them, and devised the manner of the unholy false-worship, and set out to innovate the feasts concerning the calves, as the tradition of the Hebrews has the account. He was therefore at the beginning not a little fearful, lest perhaps by agreeing with the worship from above and from their fathers, they might either cast him from the thrones, or even, as I said, kill him, and having pushed aside the enterprise, might choose to return to the former things, being grieved and indignant rightfully, as Moses having been insulted, and the divine commandment having been trampled by them. For this reason, being a fox in deceits, he sends many into Israel, spreading it around and saying, that it is necessary for them also both to make calves, and to innovate feasts of their own, and to ask for this very thing from the king. Since he learned that the crowds were most ready for this, assenting and having pleasure with those who had advised such things, having gathered everyone together, he announced clearly that it is proper to worship even the golden calves, and he revealed the day of the feast, the fifteenth of the eighth month, as it is written. 4 When Jeroboam was saying these things at that time, the people acclaimed, and cried out, "This is the day of the king;" thus also we will follow the goal, and they wished to gladden him with other such praises. Those who had been allotted the role of leaders were also carried along with the crowds, resounding and assenting to them. Of these, the word of the prophet reminds us for the present. *For all,* he says, *committing adultery as a furnace burning for the baking of combustion...* For since they had turned aside into spiritual fornication, or rather into defection from God (for this is fornication), a furnace already kindled, and toward...
which one might cast all things, they were ready to be baked. For they were full of flame, that is to say, of fervent and, as it were, burning desire. They were also like a mass of dough that already had the leaven, and was thoroughly leavened, in the day of their king, when, as I just said, Jeroboam having stated openly that they ought to sacrifice to the calves and observe the feasts belonging to them, they exclaimed, "This is the day of our king," as the account of the tradition, as I said, has it. Then it was also fully leavened, that is to say, the word became wholly given over to impiety. Therefore, having their minds kindled beforehand with fervent and irrepressible desires for transgression, and being also leavened in this very way in the day of the king, they slipped down into the extremity of worthlessness. The Jews did something similar B once again in the case of Christ. For, belied against his glory, and little by little drawing the crowds away from the love for Him, the Scribes and Pharisees committed spiritual fornication, having alienated the common multitude from Him.
"They began, the princes, to rage from wine; he stretched out his hand with the pestilential, because their hearts were kindled like an oven."
LXXIV. By wine, it seems, he indicates here that from the vine of Sodom, which makes the heart drunk, and clouds the mind, and fills it with a ruinous and abominable gloom. Since, therefore, some were annoyed at the innovation of the calves, and indeed at the feasts, some of the princes were provoked to anger. And lest the more sober-minded multitude, remaining silent and not enduring to offer praise, should be observed, they themselves, stretching out their hands with the crowds, exclaimed even more loudly, "This is the day of the king," and they accepted the ways of unholiness. They were angry, therefore, being intoxicated, he says, with an unholy drunkenness, and they gnashed their teeth at those who did not join in such disgraceful things, stretching out their own hands with the pestilential. And he calls the crowds "pestilential." For they were applauding, he says, as I said, although they ought to have tutored them toward piety and revealed the path of what is advantageous. But they too were fervent in heart, he says, having received into their minds the ruinous flame of desire for transgression.
"In their dashing, all the night Ephraim was filled with sleep. Morning came, it kindled like the light of fire."
LXXV. I said that the god-hating Jeroboam was exceedingly fearful while he was still in the deliberations alone regarding his unholy undertakings. For he feared, and very reasonably so, that Israel would be indignant if they learned of such a thing, and would not make light of the transgression of ancestral customs. But since he addressed the crowds himself, that it was necessary to worship the calves, and they received the thought gladly, and together with the princes they applauded, as if having chosen to think and see what is right and advantageous; he put aside his fears, he cast off his suspicion, and he continued C henceforth with peace of mind.
"In their wickedness they made kings glad, and in their lies, the princes."
LXXII. It was expected, he says, rather that they should work goodness and choose to live according to the law, making their Redeemer gentle toward them and gladdening their Savior, and having Him as an unconquerable protector for this purpose. But they did not do this, but rather, being slothful in those things that were necessary for life and useful for prosperity, they reckoned that it was of no account to offend God. D They also conspired with their leaders, and by approving of all things whatsoever were pleasing to them, they gladdened them and gratified those who were wandering by making them take pleasure in their own destruction. He blames them again, because they ran together at the prompting of Jeroboam and his princes, and thoughtlessly rushed into the cult of the golden calves, and desired to drive them away by inventing another, unholy worship. But it was necessary to withstand those extremely absurd suggestions and outrageous undertakings generally with genuine love for God, and to attempt to restrain those who were acting insanely, not readily going along to gratify them. Ps. cxvii, 14.
A
It is fitting, he says, that they should rather have been doing good and choosing to live according to the law, thereby rendering the Redeemer gracious unto themselves, and gladdening the Savior who possesses invincible power for this end. But they have not done this; rather, having become excessively slothful regarding what was necessary for their own life and useful for their prosperity, they made no account at all of offending God. Instead, they acted as hypocrites in concert with their own kings and rulers, delighting them by running along with whatever they thought best, and bestowing as a pleasure and delight upon those who were leading them into error the very things that grieve God.
He accuses them again, inasmuch as they had conspired with Jeroboam and the rulers under him, and had unhesitatingly consented to the desecration he devised regarding the golden calves, as he wished to unholily carry them away to a different type of worship. For it was necessary—it was truly necessary—to oppose their schemes and their excessively strange undertakings with genuine love for God, and to attempt to restrain those who were acting insanely, not readily going along to assent to them and to gladden them. B
The word is true, even if it were to be understood again in reference to those who crucified Emmanuel. For, dealing falsely and slandering him, they prepared Herod and Pontius Pilate, and those presiding over the Synagogue, to rejoice. C D
For this reason, that God-hated and wretched man considered dedicating the golden calves to them, and devised a method of unholy false worship, and attempted to innovate festivals regarding the calves, as the account of the Hebrew tradition has it. In the beginning, therefore, he was not moderately fearful, lest perhaps, by speaking in favor of the worship that had reached them from above and from their fathers, they might either thrust him from his throne, or even kill him, as I said, and having pushed aside the enterprise, they choose to return to the former ways, being grieved and reasonably indignant, as if Moses were insulted and their divine commandment trodden underfoot. For this reason, being bitter in his deceptive plots, he sent many among Israel to spread rumors and say that they ought also to engage in calf-making and to innovate festivals of their own, and to request this very thing from the king. But when he learned that the crowds were very ready for this, and were agreeing and rejoicing with those who had counseled such things, he gathered them all together and addressed them plainly, that it was fitting to worship the golden calves as well, and he revealed the day of the feast, the fifteenth of the eighth month, as it is written. A B C D
A They were angry, therefore, as it says, intoxicated with an unholy drunkenness; and they gnashed their teeth against those who did not run with them in such base things, stretching out their hands against the pestilential ones. By "pestilential ones" he refers to the masses. For, as I said, they applauded, although they ought to have acted as pedagogues toward piety and revealed the path of what is profitable. But they themselves, he says, were warm in their heart, having received into their mind the destructive flame of desire for transgression. B "In their casting down, all the night Ephraim was filled with sleep; in the morning it became, he was kindled as a fire." I said that the God-hated Jeroboam was extremely timid, while he was still only in the considerations of his unholy undertakings. For he thought—and very reasonably so—that Israel would be indignant if they should hear of such a thing, and that they would not consider the transgression of their ancestral customs as a small matter. But since he had spoken to the crowds himself, that it was necessary to worship the calves, and they received the design gladly, and together with the rulers offered applause, as though having chosen to think and do what was right and profitable, he departed from fears, withdrew from suspicion, and remained light-hearted from then on, and was full of luxury.
A By no means, he says; for they were all inflamed, and those after him as well, and the destructive fire of such inflammation has consumed all their judges; and it destroyed all those who reigned after him. For there was no one among them who wished to worship me, or who deigned to entreat the God of all, or who kept the boast of true knowledge of God within himself. *Ephraim mixed himself among the peoples; Ephraim became a cake not turned.* He severely censures those of the tribe of Ephraim who had assumed the royal honor over Israel in Samaria, as they were accustomed to think no better than the underlings and the common rabble; but they ran together with them in everything and were easily carried away with them, although they ought, as leaders, to guide them toward the good, and to see with more elevated deliberation what would result in their salvation. But this they did not do; rather, they were commingled with the crowds, all of them suffering from one and the same thoughtlessness, and added to this, a persistence in wickedness, and an unchangeable disposition that did not entirely let go of what it chose to do, even if these things were the causes of destruction and ruin for them. He says, therefore, that Ephraim became a "cake not turned," as if from the image or example of breads baked on stones, which, if one does not turn them, there is every necessity that they be scorched, and thereafter be seen as useless, and the edible part be damaged by the abundance of the flame. *Strangers have devoured his strength, and he knew it not; gray hairs were sprinkled upon him, and he knew it not.* He calls the foreign and heterogenous tribes "strangers," by which I mean the Persians, and their neighbors, the Moabites and Idumeans, and the Syrian nations, who all but devoured Ephraim. For because he called him a "hidden cake," he has remained in the trope of the discourse. He calls his "strength" the multitude that exceeds counting; for the tribe of Ephraim was very populous, and lifting up its eyebrow high on account of this, it thought that it would be terrible and irresistible even to the leaders or generals of the Assyrians. But since they arrived having taken up war against them, they were consumed without a struggle, and were led away into captivity. But "he knew not," he says, that is, he did not consider the cause of the calamity, although he ought to have come to a realization even if only through the things that had happened. For that which is not seen is often placed before the eyes by trials, out of providence.
A Likewise, he was not even wishing to impose taxes upon Israel. But Osee, having refused servitude, was preparing himself for resistance, in case the law of war should happen to be imposed upon Israel. Then he sent an embassy to So, the tyrant of Egypt, asking for assistance. For he believed that, with him as his ally, he would be superior to the hand of the Assyrians. The latter, having been deeply grieved by this, waged war against Israel. Then Osee became his servant, and Israel was taken captive along with him and migrated from Samaria. Ephraim, therefore, became as a senseless dove, not possessing simplicity in a good or timely manner. Hence, Christ also says, "Be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves." For simplicity of character, when combined with a noble spirit, is deservedly to be held in highest esteem. But when prudence is absent, simplicity is detrimental and is henceforth to be reckoned as foolishness. B Ephraim, therefore, is foolish. In what way, or how? For he was calling upon the Egyptians, yet he went as a captive to the Assyrians, since So was unable to provide assistance. And how was it not more expedient to seek help from above—help which is unconquerable—rather than human aid? Therefore, the God of all says through the voice of Isaiah: "Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help, who trust in horses and in chariots." And that it was not without the divine will that their help failed them, He showed by saying that, whithersoever they might turn, He would bring them down like sparrows, casting over them a net or a snare, not allowing them to boast, but bringing them down, as it were, from on high to the earth—that is, from a very lofty and haughty brow to mournful and humble thoughts, such as befit those who have become subject to their enemies. C He adds, "I will chastise them in the hearing of their tribulation," wishing, as it seems to me, to signify that the rumors of future events went before the very experience of them, and that the terrible report was terrifying everyone in Samaria. They were, therefore, being chastised while hearing of the tribulation that was about to overtake them. And if they had been wise, this alone would have sufficed for their conversion. But being utterly devoid of feeling, they were not moved even by the experience itself, possessing a mind that is hard, unbreakable, and very much diseased by disobedience. D "Woe unto them! for they have fled from me: they are miserable, because they have acted impiously against me."
LXXXI. That the cause of their evils was their departure from God, He makes evident through these words as well.
Just as those who are ill in body are convicted of having brought upon themselves the torments of their diseases if they reject physicians and the medicines suitable for soothing and driving away their pains, so we too, withdrawing ourselves from the love toward God, sin not insignificantly. For there is nothing that can save the one who offends God. Since, therefore, they have fled from God, for this reason they are miserable and cursed. But because they have acted impiously, in that they worshipped idols and rendered divine honors to them, they will be subject to woe. "For if God should shut..."against man, who shall open?" as it is written.
"I, however, redeemed them, but they spoke falsehoods against me, and their hearts did not cry out to me, but they wailed in their beds, they gashed themselves for grain and wine."
B LXXXII. He indicates again that he inflicts punishments proportional to the transgressions of each. For they spoke against God, their redeemer, who had led them out of the house of bondage "in a strong hand and with a high arm," as it is written, and who had delivered them from the dominion of the Egyptians. They spoke against his glory, attributing the praise due for the benefits they had received to unclean demons and to the works of their own hands—just as, indeed, when they had made the calf in the wilderness, they almost impiously and contumeliously reviled their liberator, saying in their madness: "These are your gods, Israel, who led you out of the land of Egypt."
Injury and contumely toward God, then, is without doubt an act of reproach: to render divine worship to graven images and demons, and to offer thanks to them, and to transfer the excellence of the supreme glory to them. And they not only spoke against God, as I just said, but they also entirely turned away from even believing that the things necessary for life are distributed to all those in the world by him. "For their hearts," he says, "did not cry out to me," that is to say, they sought nothing from me, although they were disposed to believe—and did believe—that I am the provider and giver of every good thing.
That God does not require a cry, but rather a disposition of mind and heart, we shall know through these very points. Therefore, they did not cry out to God; rather, they turned away with unbridled license toward outrageous carnal indulgences, so much so that they even wailed in their beds. This matter is proof of shameful ways, and of a propensity that invites correction toward fornication, and of a mind broken by pleasures. To fall into such a shameful and most detestable habit is fitting only for those who have trained themselves to force what is peculiar to men into the ways, garments, and voices of women. These are womanish, and effeminated to an immense degree, and have reached the zenith of human impurity.
Now, the statement that they "gashed themselves for wine and grain," I think, is meant to signify this: giving thanks to their idols for the abundant produce of the fields—grain, I mean, and the fruits of the vine—they wished to celebrate what were called mysteries. Being as it were possessed and raging, they would gash their breasts and both hands with iron, and, in a manner of speaking, wickedly sacrifice their own blood to the graven images, and were subsequently condemned for extreme alienation from God. Perhaps another prophet mocks them, saying: "Sacrifice men, for the calves have failed." Such acts are indeed of great power to provoke God, who holds authority over all things, to whom it would have been more fitting to render thanks than to foolishly attribute the glory due to him to wood and stone.
A VERS. 15. *Eruditi sunt in me, et ego confortavi brachia eorum, et contra me cogitaverunt mala. Aversi sunt in nihil, facti sunt quasi arcus extensus.*
LXXXIII. He charges them with another crime of ingratitude, demonstrating that they are impious and negligent. For, he says, although I formerly made them, who were in no way different from brute beasts and were utterly without understanding, educated and wise—giving them knowledge of what is useful, the way of righteousness, and the correct administration of all propriety—so that they already rejoiced among themselves and said: "Happy are we, O Israel, because the things that are pleasing to the Lord are known to us." Nor did his benevolence toward them rest here; but he furthermore rendered them most valiant and capable of vanquishing any adversary whatsoever. For they defeated many great nations without labor. Nevertheless, they proved perverse to me, the author of such goods to them—in fact, contemptuous and deserters—and the reason for their apostasy fell into nothingness. For an idol made by hand from material subject to the senses is absolutely nothing. And if indeed they had found something better, their transgression might have been defended with some probability. But since, when compared with God, these things are nothing—being purely objects of laughter and folly, and whatever is akin to them—there is no plausible reason for their apostasy. Thus, they have "turned aside into nothing." To this, they "became as a bent bow," not submitting to repentance, not relaxing the resolve through which they arrived at such disgrace and madness. It should be known, moreover, that other interpreters have rendered this, "they became as a bow turned in the opposite direction," or "reversed," so that it might be understood that Israel had done something of this sort. For those whom it would have befitted to be strung like a bow against the enemy, and to strike powerfully when prepared for battle, did not notice in what manner they were wounding themselves bitterly, as if with arrows sent from a bow. For, when they offend God in the ways already mentioned, what else are they convicted of doing than arming their own hands against themselves?
Potentially, however, the matter at hand may be explained, if anyone so wishes, in another way. For God, the Lord of all, strung Israel as if he were his own bow, challenging the tyranny of the devil and opposing the deception of idolatry. For Israel alone out of all nations throughout the whole world, according to the intent of the Law having repulsed the adoration of idols by nature, was truly addicted and consecrated to the Lord of all things. But they were turned to the contrary. For those who ought to have done that, fought against God for the glory of idols. Therefore, they became like a reversed bow, directing their arrows in the opposite direction.
A Verse 16. Their princes shall fall by the sword, for the inexperience of their tongue.
LXXXIV. God’s wrath will not merely rage against those who are subject to the princes; it will seize most swiftly even those who have been accustomed to enjoy the highest honors. For they shall fall by the sword, and the reason for their suffering will be the wantonness of their tongue. For it is truly great ignorance to say to a piece of wood, “You are my God,” and to a stone, “You have begotten me.” Emmanuel will very fittingly say such things to those against whom the Scribes and Pharisees have wagged their untrained tongues, although he was teaching and strengthening them, in a spiritual sense, of course. Having considered none of these things, they turned to nothing (for they were turned toward the doctrines and commandments of men), and they became like a reversed bow, wickedly striking their own Master, for whom they ought rather to have fought manfully and striven to overcome the adversaries, just as the genuine disciples of those who believed were bound to do.
CHAPTER VIII
Verse 1. This their mocking in the land of Egypt into their own bosom. As the earth, as an eagle upon the house of the Lord, because they have transgressed my covenant, and have sinned against my law.LXXXV. These things, as I feel, are written in the Hebrew tongue very obscurely, whence much difficulty is brought upon the interpreters. But we, following the sequence of the thoughts, will say what has come to mind. He says, therefore, “This, their mocking in the land of Egypt,” that is, since after I had always preserved them, and taught them, and rendered them unconquerable by their adversaries (for I encouraged them), they wickedly mocked me, rendering worship to demons, and trusted in the land of the Egyptians, and judged that their help would suffice for them for a prosperous condition of life, for this reason their own endeavor will return into their bosom, and they will not find a good reward for their rashness; for they will receive their punishments as if into their bosom. For there will come, he says, there will surely come, the tyrant of the Assyrians, who will devastate them, having a multitude of fighting men greater than any count. C And it will come upon them like the whole earth, and region, and fatherland, so that one might think that the entire region of the Persians and Medes had migrated in its entirety and come into Samaria; this is what is meant by “as the earth.” And it will come also “as an eagle upon the house of the Lord,” that is, sudden and terrible, it will swoop down upon the temple of God and descend upon the kingdom of Judah and Jerusalem, seizing them without labor and carrying them off into his own kingdom. For the region of the Samaritans underwent devastation first, and in it, certainly, was Israel. Afterwards, that celebrated city was also captured, which the prophet Jeremiah lamented, using these words: “How does the city sit solitary that was full of people? The mistress of provinces has become…” D
tributary.” For that the temple was burned along with the city, there is no doubt. And these things shall come upon them, he says, because they have transgressed the divine covenant and acted impietously against the law A of which we have spoken. For, holding in utter contempt what was divinely uttered through the most wise Moses, they endeavored to live according to their own lusts, and every man established his own judgment, his own religion, and his own law.
VERS. 2, 3. *Me clamabunt, Deus, cognovimus te; quia Israel projecit bona, inimicum persecuti sunt.*
LXXXVI. Being cut off regarding corn and wine, and celebrating their feast days to unclean demons, they who in their hearts have not cried out to God, nor recognized the bestower and overseer of all their prosperity, nor honored Him with due thanks—because in the abundance of their prosperity they did not know Him—at least will know Him when they suffer what awaits them; and when they have reached the bitter and detestable end of their unhappy counsel, they will cry out and, with difficulty, will at last call upon Me, being oppressed by horrible and most dreadful calamities. Having received, as it were, the experience of these very evils as a counselor, they will then accuse their own folly, saying perhaps: “Israel has cast away good things.” For when it was possible to have them—and that in abundance, while established with God and endeavoring to perform works pleasing to Him—they “persecuted the enemy,” that is, they ran to the enemies almost of their own accord, and fell under the power of those who hated God, who always protects them and makes them stronger than their adversaries, being grieved by their defections. It is therefore most wise and truly profitable not to wait for the experience of evils, but rather to reject and turn away from them while they are still absent, and to strive by anticipating to discern what is profitable.
VERS. 4. *Sibimetipsis regnaverunt, et non per me principes exstiterunt, et non indicaverunt mihi. Argentum suum et aurum suum fecerunt sibi idola, ut dispereant.*
LXXXVII. He does not recognize either the kingdom of Jeroboam or of those who reigned in succession over Israel in Samaria, although He Himself said expressly, “This word has come from Me,” and threatened Solomon himself, who, having yielded to the opinions of foreign women, had erected temples and altars to their idols, with these words: “I will tear the kingdom from you and give it to your servant.” What shall we say then? That the God of all is a liar? Far from it! We shall rather apply ourselves to a correct understanding of the words, considering this. It is written: “Is there evil in the city, which the Lord has not done?” He terms affliction “evil.” For some things He does by His own decree and will; other things He permits to happen, that He may punish some, even if they happen without His will. But because, although He could prevent them, He often permits something to happen dispensationally, even
him to operate, and he is said to be the author of them. For instance (for we shall proceed now to Solomon himself), he gave him to construct the temple from stones in Jerusalem, made him perfect in wisdom, and distinguished by incomparable intelligence. This work was of his own will. He permitted his kingdom to be divided, not by bringing this about by his own will, but on account of his indignation against him, as it were, silent concerning involuntary things. Wherefore, although Jeroboam and his successors reigned, they did not reign with God's full approval. For things that happen to some men out of wrath by way of punishment have a different rationale, nor can such things, perhaps, be understood as being exactly those which occur according to [God's] true will. "They reigned for themselves," He says, "and not through me." But since they began—as if God were unaware (for what happens against His will, He does not even seem to know)—the sovereignty became weak and easy to conquer, unable to offer any resistance, and incapable of protecting its subjects. "For through him kings reign, and tyrants rule the earth." That they suffered from great lack of understanding in this, and used the gifts provided by God to anger Him, or rather, even to the destruction of their own souls, He taught by saying: "Their silver and their gold they made into idols for themselves, that they might perish." For from where they could have flourished by having compassion on their brothers, from that source they offended God, and foolishly turned the instrument of salvation into a means of securing their own destruction. B
VERS. 5, 6. *Cast away your calf, O Samaria; my anger is kindled against it. How long will they be unable to be purified in Israel? And it was a craftsman who made it, and it is not God, because your calf was a deceiver, O Samaria.*
LXXXVIII. On the calf at Samaria
How beautifully and appropriately He says "cast away," as if He were speaking of a stain, and defilement, and the utmost filth! For truly this idolatry makes the soul of the unclean person abominable and ill-odored and hateful before God. He exhorts, therefore, as One compassionate and good, that they should turn themselves to better things, and remove [His] anger, and hold back the causes of future [evils] for the future, and cut off the evils by repentance, even if [they were to do so] late, at least, repenting. For He says He is C angered on account of the calf itself, showing that while in His kindness He sometimes passes over faults committed out of human weakness, He nevertheless punishes [deliberate] apostasy. He considers the turning aside of the perverse to the worship of demons to be intolerable. For how long, having fallen into uncleanness, will you remain unchanged? What time will suffice for you to lay aside your folly? For that which a craftsman has fashioned, you believe to be God; and that which profits nothing, but rather brings pestilence and destruction, you resolve to venerate and embrace. For the calf deceives, and is nothing else. D
Verse 7. *For they have sown to the wind, and their subversion shall receive them. A sheaf having no strength to produce flour. And if it should produce, strangers shall eat it.*
B LXXXIX. By a certain similitude, he indicates the fruitless outcome of the counsel and of the vain efforts of those who labor in agriculture to no purpose, and of their underlying lack of judgment. For to choose to expend labor upon these things, and at times to diligently perform the ceremonies of superstition, and to offer honor with sacrifices, would be nothing other than gathering a seed corrupted by the wind, from which he who labors can obtain no profit. For what reward is there for zeal in idolatry? Or what benefit is there from sculpted images? Or in what way will those things refresh anyone, which are altogether destined to be overturned? Therefore, those who have become accustomed to doing such things, and devote serious effort to idols, seem like those who have sown to the wind, and to a sheaf of stalks lacking wheat, and not made for the use of flour. And if they achieve anything at all—that is, even if they might appear in some way diligent and sincere in the works of seduction—this too will be conferred by them upon strangers, and it will in no way bring joy to God. He calls the falsely-named gods "strangers." Therefore, our integrity in those things which God hates is altogether devoid of any reward; and good ways that are not directed toward the true Good will always and in every way be blamed by Him, as they fall short of the prize of the good.
Verses 8, 9. *Israel is swallowed up, now he has become among the nations as a vessel useless, because they went up to the Assyrians. Ephraim sprouted by himself, they loved gifts; therefore they shall be surrendered among the nations.*
XC. He says Israel has been swallowed up, as one having suffered a miserable shipwreck and suffocated in the floods of his own sins, and as though dashed and crushed against a rock by the impulses of divine wrath. Or certainly, according to another interpretation, he says he has been swallowed as if by a horrible and insatiable dragon, Nebuchadnezzar. For another of the holy prophets says thus, assuming the person of Israel who is already captive and serving his masters: *He ate me, he divided me, deep darkness has grasped me. Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has swallowed me like a dragon, he has filled his belly with my food.* It is also true in another sense, that the many-headed dragon in a certain way swallows up those who fall away from the love of God, and makes them his own food; which the Psalmist also says was given as food to the Ethiopian peoples. For he says: *Thou didst crush the head of the dragon, thou didst give him as food to the Ethiopian peoples.* For those who have within themselves a mind most black and bereft of light can justly be understood and called Ethiopians by us and by God. These feed the many-headed dragon, and they themselves are in turn fed by him. *Israel is therefore swallowed up, and has become among the nations as a vessel useless.* For he was led away to the Assyrians and the Medes
A, he became utterly useless, perhaps compelled to think the thoughts of those people. Or rather, because he became a useless vessel, for this reason he was also swallowed up, and having abandoned the land that bore him, he migrated into the nations. The Lord of all says something similar to this through the voice of Jeremiah, concerning one of those who reigned over Israel in Samaria: *Jechoniah is dishonored as a vessel which has no use; for he was cast away and thrown into a land which he did not know. O earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord; write this man as an abdicated human being.* Israel, therefore, became useless and dishonored. For what need has God of a soul that has wandered, that is a lover of sin, and that slides easily into every sort of transgression, and into what is beyond all evils—the turning away from the service of God? What, then, is the cause of Israel suffering such things? *Because they went up.* For they have run, so to speak, as deserters to the enemies. How, or in what way? Because fearing their incursion, they did not rather seek the help of God by repenting B. Instead, they persuaded them by gifts to be quiet for a little while. Then, by a certain way, he mocks this plan as being vain and useless for them, saying about the kings who were of the tribe of Ephraim, who also sent gifts to the tyrants of the Assyrians: *Ephraim blossomed forth by himself.* As if he were to say: "Being about to be cut down like a stump, the king of the tribe of Ephraim, and like something to be consumed by the fire of divine wrath, has blossomed forth by himself." That is, without me; and not having my inspiration, he thought that he would live, and would strike deep roots, and would not lose his own throne. For he purchased a temporary and slight postponement of the evil, loving not to receive gifts, but to give them. And what is the result of this? Profit there is none, but they will be delivered to the nations, and through the things that will come to pass they will learn that no one is able to blossom C by himself, nor will he who offends God find relief by giving gifts to the enemies; for they will be subjected, and not in a long time, to justice.
*Now I will receive them, and they shall rest a little from anointing a king and princes.*
CI. The causes of all the wickedness of Israel, so to speak, have been those of the tribe of Ephraim who have reigned over them. For the first is the accursed Jeroboam, who became the inventor of the apostasy, having erected for them golden calves, and having appointed priests for the so-called high places—that is, those in the mountains and on the hills—who were not of the tribe of Levi, but as many as rather *filled their hand*, according to what is written. Then after him, when the Assyrians were expected, in the time of the reign of Manaim, they sent money, persuading them to refrain from the land. For this reason the divine threat has justly been directed against the kingdom that had been established by God D over Israel from the tribe of Ephraim. *For now I will receive them,* he says, not as having a good way of life, nor as having entered upon the best path of living, nor
yet as those desiring a way of life according to the law, but as a corrector, one demanding penalties and one already calling them to judgment. For the punishments which I, being angry, would have brought upon them, I have deferred for the time being out of my gentleness. But *now I will receive them,* he says, so that through the experience of evils they may learn at last that they are under a Master and are not outside my hand. And that these things coming from anger are not for delay, he confirms further by using the particle "now." Having been received, however, that they might be disciplined, they will henceforth cease to anoint a king and princes. For being subject to the Assyrians and the Medes, what leisure would they have to perform the works of apostasy, when they were constantly lamenting and mourning over their unexpected calamity? It should be known, moreover, that B after Cyrus, son of Cambyses, set Israel free from captivity, they did not anoint kings in Samaria from the tribe of Ephraim, but all became once more under a single yoke, with those from the tribe of Judah reigning in Jerusalem. For they no longer dwelt divided, but all in Jerusalem. And the first to hold both kingdoms—I mean those of Israel and Judah, or rather all of the twelve tribes entirely—after the times of the captivity, was Zorobabel, son of Salathiel, of the tribe of Judah, who presided over the Levitical orders, and Jesus, son of Josedec, the high priest, who administered the ministry of the priesthood.
VERS. 11, 12. *Because Ephraim hath multiplied altars to sin, altars unto him became unto sin. I will write to him a multitude, and his judgments. They were counted as strange, his beloved altars.*
XCII. He brings forward the cause on account of which the royal power will justly be taken away in the future. For Ephraim made very many altars, indeed, for sins, or rather, for the purpose of sinning. The discourse touches upon Jeroboam first, who C, being of the tribe of Ephraim, reigned, and those who succeeded him in order, who upon every mountain and hill erected altars to demons and induced the Israelites to sacrifice. Then, when they ought to have grieved over such unspeakable crimes, they multiplied altars for sin, and made them, he says, "beloved," and furthermore, they were accounted to him as strange—that is, to Ephraim—the beloved altars. He signifies clearly those placed in the ancient tabernacle, or in Jerusalem in the divine temple. There were two of these: one for burnt offerings in the first or outer tabernacle, and the other, the golden altar of incense, in the second and inmost tabernacle. The crimes, therefore, of the kings of Ephraim were many: first, because they multiplied altars for sins; then because they also made them "beloved"—things over which it was fitting to lament and mourn as having offended [God]—and what is greater, as those who had lapsed into madness, they considered the "beloved" altars as "strange," which they ought to have loved so much and followed with every reverence. There is, however, an insertion: *I will write to him a multitude and his law.* In what sense? The multitude, he says, of the altars constructed by them for sins, and their legitimate—
A that is, again, the sacrifices sanctioned for them, or rather the times or modes of the sacrifices, according to which they brought forward their profane rites (for they were wont to cut themselves while occupied with grain and wine, and were eager to perform other things akin to these)—these I shall record as sins against them.
Therefore, it is a way of salvation to cling to the divine altars, to take hold of those things that are from God, and not to seek the things of others, which are indeed a sin. B Those who do not live as genuine Christians act in this way, falling away after their saving baptism into Hellenic customs and observances; to whom it is fitting to say, by the voice of Paul: "You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons." But even those who join themselves to unholy heretics and participate in the altars that are among them—to them, in truth, the cherished altars have become foreign. For they have multiplied for themselves altars unto sin, sacrificing the Lamb outside the sacred and divine fold, that is to say, the Church.
*For if they offer a sacrifice, and eat flesh, the Lord will not accept them; now He will remember their iniquities, and will avenge their sins.*
C That the altars for sins have been made and multiplied by Ephraim, he demonstrates very clearly through these things. For what they sacrifice, he says, is not offered by them so much to God as to the sanctuaries of idols. And even if they celebrate a festival with sacrifices, filling themselves with food or drink, this has nothing to do with God. For they do not perform the feast for Him, because the divine and undefiled nature could in no way accept those things which are done for the glory of demons. D Nay, it is rather provoked as one insulted. And it is all but against its will, and as if forced, that it is led to the necessity of inflicting punishments from its wrath upon those who provoke it to this point, and of remembering all, to use a phrase, that has been committed by the wrongdoers against it. When this has come to pass, the fury will be vehement, the vengeance immediate, and there is no one to deliver. "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." But it is much more fitting, and incomparably better, and the source of all prosperity for us, to offer to God sacrifices—spiritual ones, clearly—and to celebrate festivals for Him, having resolved to live uprightly and being eager to avoid even the smallest stain of the soul entirely.
*But they have turned back to Egypt, and in Assyria they shall eat unclean things.*
XCIV. He censures them again, as those who have resolved to pass their lives most insensately and impiously, and who have utterly ignored the path of profit. For I, he says, have threatened that I will be angry with them, since they have already arrived at such a state of mind, and that I will avenge their sins and remember all the iniquities.
A And it was at the beginning that what was to happen was being expected, as war was already terrifying Israel, and all but invading their country. Then, since it was their duty to mitigate God with prayers and repentance, and to be instructed toward what is well-pleasing to Him, and by their return to better things to deflect His anger—this being something of the greatest utility from which they could have been delivered—they turned back to Egypt, calling to their aid an Egyptian man, and not God, "the flesh of horses," according to what is written. "But a king is not saved by great strength, nor will a giant be saved by the multitude of his power; a horse is a false thing for safety. It is better to trust in the Lord than to trust in man." B And that such rash counsel brought them no benefit at all for their necessities, He says, they will know from experience itself. For they will be deported to the Assyrians and Medes, and there they will eat unclean things; that is, they will pass their time having cast aside the remnant of reverence for the Law, and eating without distinction whatever they happen upon. But perhaps someone will object: "How could this have been a source of anxiety for the Israelites, if indeed they had chosen to worship false gods?" To this question we reply that they had indeed gone astray, yet there remained in their minds a small measure of care for the Law, and they had not completely departed from Jewish customs, even though they were offering prayers in the temples of idols. For this reason also the blessed prophet Elijah once reproached those who were limping on both legs, desiring to adhere neither to Baal in his entirety, nor indeed to God perfectly. C Accordingly, having become a captive, Israel has cast aside completely any reverence for the Law, as if forced by necessity to follow the customs and laws of their masters. And this, I think, is that which Christ himself also said: "To every one who has, will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who has not, even that which he thinks he has will be taken away from him." We must not, therefore, despise divine gifts; but what we have received from God we must value as most high. For if they are dear to our hearts, the grace and the gift will willingly dwell within us. But if we are slothful and remiss in guarding them, it will utterly fly away.
126 VERS. 14. And Israel has forgotten Him who made him. And they have built temples. And Judah has multiplied walled cities. And I will send fire into his cities, and it shall devour their foundations.
D 95. He reproaches both kingdoms, Samaria, I mean, and Judah, that is, that which is in Jerusalem. For what both have done must be examined and set forth. Since war was anticipated, and terror was practically looming at their very doors, it was the duty of both those in Samaria and those reigning from the tribe of Judah to seek help from God the Savior, if indeed they would change their useless and wicked thoughts, and with repentance worship; but they irritated the almighty Lord yet more against themselves. For Israel, that is, the ten tribes,
A and those who held dominion among them, being grieved at the capture, and to overturn the phalanxes of the enemy, would bring even greater services. As if coaxing them, and making them favorable, they used to build temples, and set up altars in them, and honor them with yet more sacrifices. But Judah indeed made his own cities stronger, trusting rather in stones, and not in God, although He clearly said of Jerusalem: “I will be to it, says the Lord, a wall of fire round about, and I will be for glory in the midst of it.” But this matter did not benefit Israel at all. For God threatened henceforth to cast fire upon the cities of Judah; the Babylonians, of course, who became the ministers of His wrath against them, would burn them down. B
CHAPTER IX
VERS. 1-4. Ne gaudeas, Israel, neque laeteris sicut populi, quia fornicatus es a Deo tuo. Dilexisti data super omnem aream frumenti. Area et torcular non cognovit eos, et vinum decepit eos. Non habitaverunt in terra Domini. Habitavit Ephraim Aegyptum, et in Assyriis immunda comedent. Non libaverunt Domino vinum, et non placuerunt ei; sacrificia eorum, quasi panis luctus ipsis. Omnes manducantes ea contaminabuntur, quia panes animabus eorum non ingredientur in domum Domini.
C XCVI. Among the flocks of the nations, inasmuch as they labor under the greatest folly (for they have wandered away with one accord), it was the custom when starting the husbandry, and being about to plow the land, to perform sacrifices to the demons, and to ask from them the fertility of the fields. Again, when harvest-time called them to it, and also when they put the grapes into the winepresses, they would pour out libations and sacrifice to the deities who preside over the four seasons of the year, and, modulating songs at the winepress, would offer thanks, and continued to live in joy and gladness. God accuses the Israelites for doing this same thing. He affirms clearly that it is not fitting for them to rejoice after the manner of the other nations. For what reason? For those who have not known God by nature and in truth, and who have sucked in error with their nurse's milk, have perhaps a not D incredible excuse for their weakness, or rather their ignorance. But Israel, although tutored by the law and having known the Master of all, has committed fornication in apostasy. Therefore he can justly be understood as guilty of a heavier fault and bound by a crime of impiety that is by no means excusable. For he knew the will of his Lord and neglected to do it; therefore he shall be beaten with many stripes; whereas, on the other hand, he who did not know it, and yet did not do it, shall be beaten with few, according to the voice of the Savior. "Do not rejoice, therefore," He says, "as the nations." For they "have wandered from the womb," but you, having been tutored by the law, have committed fornication from God. And what is the manner of their fornication? He says, "You loved wages," not indeed from God, but
A from calves and from Baal—even though they gave nothing to those who asked of them. For what gifts or rewards did they seek from them? "Upon every threshing floor of grain." For it seemed impious and senseless to them to ask for the abundance of fruits from the fields, as I have said, from empty idols. Did Israel then seek gifts from the idols? And did its requests turn out according to its desire? Not at all. "For the threshing floor and the winepress did not know them, and the wine deceived them." It is hidden from none of those who are somewhat studious that pestilences have occurred in Samaria, as well as famines and B long periods of drought. He fell, therefore, from his hope, not having obtained what he sought; and furthermore, they departed even from the holy land itself and entered into Egypt, as if into a fortified country, and there they served many more gods. For in Egypt there were a myriad of idols, and a marvelous opinion held sway among those who served them concerning their power, as being able to accomplish everything easily through magical arts. They had grown weary, then, of dwelling in the land chosen by God, and they exchanged it for the region of idols. But even if they have done this, they will travel to the Assyrians. "They did not pour out libations to the Lord." For having brought together the fruit of the vine in the winepresses, they poured out C the firstfruits to the demons, and not to the God who had given them. They also offered loaves, as if as the firstfruits of the harvest. But the matter, he says, will turn out for them into pollution and defilement, and the things offered will be reckoned as "loaves of mourning"—that is, abominable, profane, and hateful. For what reason? For the law declared anyone who approached a dead person to be unclean—approaching, that is, either through connection of blood or by the very touch of the body itself. There was, therefore, a necessity for those near by kinship or friends of the deceased to be defiled by the mourning, as they were caring for the dead and desiring to perform the customary rites for him. Everything D that they happened to touch was unclean. Therefore, the "bread of mourning" is that which is set before those mourning the dead for food—bread which it seemed terrible even to taste for those who were intent on avoiding the pollution associated with the dead. These loaves, then, which are offered as if the firstfruits of the harvest, are polluted and to be rejected, he says, "and those who eat them will be defiled." They will be useful rather to their souls—that is, for their eating. "For they will not enter into the house of the Lord." It should be known, moreover, that the law also commanded that the firstfruits of the harvest, both sheaves and bread, be brought as a sacrifice. But Israel transferred the things for the glory of God to carved images, although God says clearly: "My glory I will not give to another, nor my praises to carved images." Therefore, it is necessary to ask from God the things that sustain life, and to confess that He is the giver and bestower of all our abundance, whether it pertains to the body or to the spirit. For there is no other besides Him who rains, as it is written; but by His nod the crops spring up in the fields at their proper seasons, and they are nourished by the blessing from above,
being fed with the intellectual bread and having the wine from heaven, "which gladdens the heart of man." A Being thus disposed, we shall inhabit the holy land. For we shall be with God, and we shall not eat unclean food among the Assyrians. For those who approach them—"the world-rulers of this present darkness, the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places"—feed on uncleanness.
*What will you do on the day of the convocation, and in the days of the feast of the Lord?*
XCVII. Since you have proceeded thus far in ill-counsel and impiety, and have become so detestable and odious, in what way will you be helped? Or what will you undertake, what plan will you adopt, so as to escape such a dire and atrocious calamity, when my festal assembly is being celebrated, as the war consumes those who have offended Me? Therefore, God names it "His own feast," signifying the time at which Israel is to pay the penalty for the sins committed against Him. B Therefore, one must not fulfill what seems good simply and inconsiderately, nor rejoice in the present life if our desires draw us into offending God; but rather, we must look ahead to the future and take careful thought, so that we may escape the punishments to be sent by an angry God. For thus we shall be wise and cognizant of what is to our advantage.
*For this, behold, they shall go from the misery of Egypt, and Memphis shall receive them, and Machmas shall bury them. Their silver, destruction shall inherit; thorns in their tabernacles.*
XCVIII. When the Babylonians were ravaging Samaria, those who were able to escape scarcely reached the land of the Egyptians. C But when they had overthrown even Jerusalem itself, at the time of the prophecy of Jeremiah, a very small number from the tribe of Judah and Benjamin remained and betook themselves to Egypt; although God, through the voice of Jeremiah, had explicitly commanded them that they must not enter Egypt after abandoning their fatherland, and had further threatened that if they did so against His will, they would fall into similar or even worse calamities. The words are thus: "Thus says the Lord: If you set your face toward Egypt and enter there to dwell, it shall be that the sword which you fear from its face shall find you in Egypt." D For since, trusting in the assistance of the Egyptians, they resisted the Babylonians, and the Babylonians were incensed by this and, having subjugated Jerusalem and Samaria, moved against the Egyptians and triumphed over them without any difficulty, then those of the Jews who remained perished together with the Egyptians. Those, however, who were able to avoid the misery in Egypt with difficulty fled further, going into the region of the Arcadians. And since they had settled in Memphis—a city most strongly fortified—and in Machmas, another city, surely a neighboring one,
they have met their end, having clearly spent long periods of time there, unable to return to Judea. And the prophet Jeremiah says again in this way: “Therefore thus says the Lord: Behold, I set my face against you to destroy all the remnant that are in Egypt, and they shall fall by the sword, and by famine they shall fail, from the least to the greatest; and they shall be for a reproach, and for destruction, and for a curse. And I will visit upon those sitting in the land of Egypt. And there shall be no one saved of the remnant of Judah, who are sojourning in the land of Egypt, to return to the land of Judah, to which they hope in their souls to return there. They shall not return.” B Do you hear that they have met their end in Egypt, and that the divine wrath has been brought upon them even there? When, therefore, they avoid the hardship in Egypt, and arrive as if at a distinguished city, Memphis, it will indeed receive them, but they will die in Machmas. For this is what it means: “Machmas shall bury them.” When, therefore, God pursues, no one will save the one in danger, but wherever one may go, there he will encounter His wrath. And he says that these things will happen to them in Egypt. But because they also offended Him with their own riches—“For their silver and their gold they made for themselves idols,” he says—for this reason, destruction will rightfully inherit it, that is, it will be a portion for the destroyer. For he calls the Assyrian “destruction,” as one who has been savage and cruel in cutting down and fighting. “And thorns,” he says, “shall grow up in their tents.” For indeed, the cities have reached such a state of desolation as to be filled with thorns. And this is a sign of a pathless and desolate land. When, therefore, someone does not use correctly, or for His glory, the goods—either bodily or spiritual—granted by God, but acts thoughtlessly in ways by which he might offend and provoke Him, he will go toward destruction, and he will be property of the plundering Satan, and a lodging of thorns—that is, of savage and irrational passions—and he will have no gentle fruits in his mind. This happens, and indeed to heretics before all others, who consume the use of the word impiously in corrupting the brethren and striking their weak conscience, even though Christ died for us.
VERS. 7. *The days of vengeance are come, the days of your retribution are come, and Israel shall be afflicted as the prophet, the madman, the man who possesses the spirit.*
C XCIX. It was the custom among those from Israel to reject the words of the holy prophets and to consider those things sent by God as nothing, even though He had often predicted that evils would happen to them. And so, somewhere, the God of all addresses the prophet Ezekiel thus, saying: “Son of man, behold, the house of Israel is embittering; saying, they say: The vision which he sees is for many days, and for long times this man prophesies. Therefore say to them: Thus says Adonai the Lord: All my words which I shall speak shall not be prolonged any further; for I will speak a word, and
A I shall perform it, says Adonai the Lord.” He says something similar here: “For [he says] the days of retribution have come.” It is as if he were saying: retribution is near, and the danger is already at the very doors; disaster is close, and war is before your eyes. The day of repayment is at hand. But while you, Israel, are afflicted, every false prophet among you will be utterly afflicted with an equal penalty—the man who is deranged, that is, the fanatic and the madman, he who has lost his wits, whom you thought to be moved by the Spirit. For along with the others, the priests of the high places, and the worshippers of idols, and as many as were deceitful and false prophets in Israel, have perished. For because they pretended to be mad when they were going to deliver oracles, and feigned that they were inspired by a prophetic spirit, for this reason he calls such a person a madman or one deprived of his senses.
B “By the multitude of your iniquities, your madness has been multiplied.”
C. He calls the “multitude of iniquities” the manifold and multiform superstition of Israel. In a word, all were corrupt and idolaters. However, they were divided according to their modes of deception; some performed sacred rites for one thing, some for another, and they preached falsehoods to those who approached them. For some worshipped calves, some Chemos the idol of Moab, others Astarte. Furthermore, there were those who worshipped Baal and the host of heaven among the number of their gods. Therefore, God, rebuking them, says through the voice of Jeremiah: “According to the number of your cities were your gods, O Judah.” For each city of theirs professed to have its own god. He rightly calls this very thing “a multitude of iniquity.” For it is truly an iniquity and an insult to God to turn away from Him and to be devoted to the worship of wood and stone and C the “works of [their] hands,” as it is written. And he calls “madness” their divination. Therefore, since a “multitude of iniquity” has been found in you, he says, for this reason also “madness” has been multiplied among you—that is, false divination—with each false prophet, as is natural, having his own method of divining. It is therefore absurd and wicked, and truly profane, and not insufficient to severely offend and provoke the God of all, to love to attend to false words spoken by those accustomed to speak “from their own heart,” as it is written, D “and not from the mouth of the Lord.” This sin must therefore be avoided by Christians. For it would be appropriate only for the worshippers of holy things to be sluggish and infirm with regard to such things.
VERS. 8. A watchman of Ephraim with God is the prophet; a tangled snare is upon all his ways.
CI. It is the custom of divine Scripture to call “watchmen” those who are set over the peoples, and who are raised on high because of their dignity, whom anyone who wishes to lead a straight and blameless life might look toward. And so God said somewhere to the blessed prophet Ezekiel: “Son of man, I have made you a watchman to the house of Israel, and you shall hear a word...
A from my mouth, and you shall warn them from me.” For it was customary for these watchmen not only to set before those whom they instructed a life in keeping with the laws for the embodiment of virtue, but also to bring forward what is useful, and to interpret rightly what is pleasing to God. But while those who were under good watchmen, walking straight in the path of what is proper, were saved, others, committing the impulses of their own minds to wicked and depraved men, continued to deceive and be deceived, having a mind barren of every good work and true knowledge. On account of those of the tribe of Ephraim, that is, Israel, he applies this reproof even now. “For there has become for him,” he says, B “a watchman, along with a prophet of God.” As if to say: “For every false god, there was a specific false prophet.” For, as I said before, they were divided into manifold error. And some served Baal, and others Chemosh, or Beelphegor. And in every shrine there was some fashioned and man-made likeness and image to be seen, and a specific pseudoprophet sat by each and served it assiduously, and there was among them a various sort of divination. They would belch forth to those who approached them whatever they wished, without reason, as though it were useful and necessary. Since, therefore, there had become for the tribes of Ephraim a watchman with each of the falsely named gods, and a specific prophet, for this reason they later abandoned themselves impotently to every most shameful thing. This happened to them C as “a tortuous snare.” For those who had fallen into such polytheism, such that with each god they had a specific prophet, and what is more, made a watchman for themselves who led them away from piety toward God and plunged them into the pit of destruction, could not ever be directed or walk straight. Those, therefore, who wish to live lawfully must listen not to those who teach simply, nor to those who speak from their own heart, but to those to whom divine and heavenly grace has given testimony of a sincere love for God. Hence also Christ says: “Beware,” He says, “of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.” For we are not far from the truth D when we say that the inventors and patrons of unholy heresies differ little from cruel wild beasts, who with open mouths devour Israel. For in a certain way they consume the souls of the simpler ones, grinding them with the teeth of deceit. Therefore, let it be said by us also: “God will break their teeth in their mouth; the Lord has crushed the molars of the lions. They will come to nothing as water that runs away. He will bend his bow until they are weakened.”
VERS. 9. They have fixed madness in the house of God. They have been corrupted according to the days of the hill. He will remember their iniquity; he will avenge their sins.
CII. By “madness” here he customarily refers to false prophecy, and by “house of the Lord” he refers to Israel. For it has been said somewhere through the voice of Jeremiah to the Synagogue of the Jews, as if from the person of God: “Has it not...
called me as a house, and a father, and the leader of your virginity?” A He is struck with astonishment, therefore, at the magnitude of their madness and the excess of their absurd undertakings. For they have progressed to such a point of impiety, he says, as to have fixed their madness in the house of the Lord—that is, false divination and the transgression of those things forbidden by divine laws. Moreover, the expression “they have fixed” is appropriate. For the deed, once dared, did not cease, but the impiety remained, as it were, and was rooted in the pit; for Israel did not cease to have false diviners and false prophets.
Since they have dared such things, they have deservedly been exacted the penalties for what they have done: “They are corrupted according to the days of the hill. He will remember their iniquity, and will avenge all their sins.” B And as to what this is, “they are corrupted according to the days of the hill,” come, let us briefly remind you. Something of this sort is written in the Book of Judges; I will recount the whole narrative as briefly as I can, gathering into a few words what is longer. “In those days,” it says, “there was no king in Israel, and everyone did what was right in his own eyes. And there was a young man from Bethlehem, of the tribe of Judah, and he was a Levite, and he lived there. And the man went out from Bethlehem, the city of Judah, to live in whatever place he might find. And he came as far as the mountain of Ephraim, and as far as the house of Micah, in order to make his journey. And Micah said to him, ‘Where are you coming from?’ And the Levite said to him, ‘I am from Bethlehem of Judah, and I am going to live in whatever place I might find.’ And Micah said to him, ‘Stay with me, and be to me a father and a priest, and I will give you ten pieces of silver per day, and a change of garments, and things for your living.’ And the Levite went, and began to live with the man. And the young man was with him as one of his sons. And Micah filled the Levite’s hand, and he became his priest, and he was in the house of Micah.” C Micah, therefore, was an idolater, yet nevertheless he hired the one descended from the blood of Levi, and made him an attendant of a graven image, and dedicated him to the uses of idols.
And what happened after this? The Sacred Scripture again declares it in this manner: “And in those days the tribe of Dan was seeking for itself a possession to dwell in, because no possession had fallen to them up to that day in the midst of the tribes of Israel. Then, having chosen five men, they persuaded them to go ahead and explore the land which they might be able to take, and to make it their own inheritance.” They arrived, he says, as far as the mountain of Ephraim, as far as the house of Micah, and they lodged there, and they recognize the Levite as their kinsman, because he was using the language of their own people; for being Hebrews, he spoke as a Hebrew. D Having asked the reason, and having learned how, being from the tribe of Levi, Micah had hired him and had appointed him as a minister of his own objects of worship, instead of feeling pity for him as one captured, deceived, and wandering, they immediately fell into the same snares of deception, and requested him to report to them, having consulted his idols, whether their undertaking would proceed according to their desires, so that they might obtain, I say, the region which they were coming to explore. He
A indeed spoke what seemed best, as if from God. When those who had been sent had explored the land, they reported to those who had dispatched them that it was good and fertile, and could not be taken without sweat. Since they heard such words, the tribesmen of Dan, six hundred in number, went up in arms. They arrived even at the house of Micah. And those five men, who had gone to explore the land of Laish, answered, it says, and said to their brothers: "Know that in this house there is an Ephod, and Theraphim, and a carved image, and a molten image. And now know what you will do." Now, "Ephod" is interpreted as "liberation," and "Theraphim" again as "remission" or "the one healing them." B For it was an idol which fostered the false opinion that it could heal certain people. For the Greeks, too, sometimes fabricate such notions about certain carved images. When the men of Dan learned this, they took the carved image, and they persuaded also the man of the blood of Levi to follow them, having abandoned Micah. Having drawn up in battle array, and having gained the victory, and having occupied the region, they built a city, which they named Dan, inscribing upon it the name of their first progenitor: for they were, as I said, of the tribe and blood of Dan. And having placed the idol there as well, they offered sacrifices, and together with the land they also acquired a god; so great was their senselessness. For this reason God was later angry, and most justly, as being treated with indignity. C And whereas it was incumbent upon all those from Israel to consider the men of Dan as enemies and the most bitter of foes, and to exact an account of the impiety committed against God, perhaps they even sympathized with them and deemed them worthy of praise, as having done nothing wrong at all; let us now recount in order what were the wages they received for this sloth.
While Israel was still without a king, a certain Levite, dwelling on the side of Mount Ephraim, took a wife of Bethlehem. When she had fled to her father, her husband followed her, and persuaded her to return with him and live together henceforth. This having been done, in the middle of their journey he turned aside with her into the town of Gabaa, which is interpreted as "hill." The inhabitants of Gabaa, or the hill, were Benjaminites. D As they were lodging there with a certain old man, in the middle of the night some citizens of the tribe of Benjamin came, wicked men, as it is written, and wished to abuse the Levite and others with their lust. Having with difficulty been spared this most wicked deed through entreaties, they seize his wife, and the poor woman, vexed by impure lust throughout the night, is driven to die. The man, having cut her lifeless body into parts, distributed them among the tribes of Israel, manifesting both the crime of the Benjaminites against the guests and their unbridled lasciviousness and their imitation of the Sodomite sin. Because of this, the whole of Israel, being indignant, gathered together and led their forces against the Benjaminites at Gabaa, that is, at the hill. And they wrought such massacres that, although it was very populous, scarcely a very few escaped safely into the wilderness by flight. From all of Israel as well, a huge number of warlike men perished. But God would not have permitted the Israelites to engage in conflict, had they not worshipped the carved image taken from the house of Micah, which those of the tribe of Dan practiced, and other
tribes were silently indifferent to this iniquity. A similar event happened because of the golden calves, by which God was provoked to anger. For the two tribes of Judah came into conflict with the ten tribes of Ephraim; and just as in the times of the hill, many thousands fell, and at the instigation of God's wrath, the victors themselves were given over to destruction along with the vanquished. These events took place while Amaziah was reigning over Judah, and Joash over Israel, who captured Jerusalem in such a way that he tore down a portion of the wall measuring four hundred cubits. B
VERS. 10. *As the grape in the desert I found Israel, and as the early fruit in the fig tree I saw your fathers. They went in to Beelphegor, and were alienated into confusion. And the beloved ones became as the abominable.*
CIII. He does not rashly, but rightly, endeavor to show that destruction has been brought upon them. "For I, He says, chose them, as one finding a grape in the desert, and as having snatched a ripe fig from a fig tree; for I led them out of the land of the Egyptians, which was totally enslaved to idolatry, and error, and suffering from a great dearth of every good thing." What then, you chosen ones, you who were snatched by my hand? They inclined toward Beelphegor; they departed from friendship with me into confusion; for this is what it means: "They were alienated into confusion." He calls Beelphegor "confusion," for it was an idol of the most shameful form, and indecent to behold. C
Therefore, since we desire to be with God, and honor Him as the one who called us and chose us, and snatched us as if from a desert and from a land bearing thorns—that is, from the state of this world—and loved us as an early grape and fig, let us maintain our union with Him unbroken, that is, our spiritual union. But if indeed there should be any turning aside to what is shameful and to what grieves Him, we shall differ in nothing from the Gentiles. For we, the beloved, shall be in that place as the execrated ones, whom it is right to hate. "For the righteousness of the just, he says, shall not deliver him; in the day that he sins, he shall die." And most wisely the blessed Paul writes: "So that he who thinks he stands, let him see that he does not fall." D
*Ephraim as a bird has flown away.*
CIV. Whatever birds are not tame and domesticated, if they are caught, they are kept and delight their owners. But if any opportunity for flight occurs, they depart without delay and are carried with a swift flight to their accustomed dwelling. Accordingly, Israel had been captured, as it were, by Moses, like a bird, and had been offered to God, and was in a good state, being instructed by the law, and enjoying care and a fostering from above. But again, where it had been before, it flew away, almost from the hand of the fowler.
You may also understand what was said in another sense. Many birds, not bearing the winter of their own climate, depart to other lands, having the knowledge of what is beneficial without a teacher, according to the will of the Creator. In the same way, Ephraim also, struck by the fear of the calamities of war, flew away to the Egyptians. A
VERS. 12. Their glory from birth, and from travails, and from conceptions. For even if they should raise their children, they shall be bereaved of them from among men, because woe is also unto them.
CV. Israel, fleeing to the Egyptians from his native abodes, petitioned the God of that land to be his helper. Is it because God was weak and could not save them? By no means. For the Divinity is all-powerful, and was not incapable of repelling the war from the Assyrians. But it happened that those of Ephraim, that is, Israel, suffered such things because, having forsaken God the Savior, and having ceased to persevere in glorying in Him alone, they considered this to be stale and obsolete, and, putting it aside, they thought that they would be formidable to their enemies and would not be subdued by them, since they had increased to such a great multitude and abounded in an infinite number of children. For their women were giving birth according to the promise and the blessing, as Moses had predicted: "There shall not be an unfruitful nor a barren one among the children of Israel." But it was altogether foolish, on account of the multitude of bodies, to disregard the help that comes from God. They ought rather, if they were wise, to have considered that with Him and through Him "one shall pursue a thousand, and two shall put ten thousand to flight." B They please themselves, therefore, and boast, he says, not so much in God; but they count their births, and their conceptions, and the pains of their women as their glory. Let them know, therefore, that even if they have brought forth sons, and even if they have labored while nourishing their children, they will repent, having labored in vain. For they will utterly lament the bereavement of their children, and the Babylonian sword will suffice to destroy their entire race easily. "Because woe is also unto them." As if he were to say, when God is brandishing woe against them, who will provide them with joy? For if "He shuts against a man, who shall open?" as it is written. C
CVI. "My flesh out of them."
When God is threatening, and also saying concerning Ephraim, or rather concerning all Israel, that he will perish root and branch, and will lament his childlessness, and will labor in vain in the upbringing of his children, the prophet withdraws himself from the punishment, and prays to be outside of the wrath, saying: "My flesh out of them" [or "far from them"]. Understand "out of them" as far from them. Outside of them, he says, and as far as possible, may I be, and all my kin. For sometimes the phrase "flesh" is also subject to the notion of kin. For so also shall we rightly accept that which Paul writes: "As long as I am an apostle of the Gentiles, I glorify my ministry, if by any means I may provoke to jealousy my..." D
to provoke to emulation my flesh, and save some of them [Rom. XI, 13, 14]. It is the custom of the holy prophets, if they often see the grave and intolerable crimes of some, to separate themselves thenceforth from their impurity and wickedness. And so the prophet Jeremiah, seeing the Jews fallen into very many sins and having offended God, says: "O Lord Almighty, I sat not in the assembly of the mockers, but I feared because of the hand of thine; I sat alone, because I was filled with bitterness" [Jer. XV, 17]. Therefore, the blessed Paul is to be admired when he instructs us: "Keep thyself pure, and do not communicate with other men's sins" [1 Tim. V, 22]. Every impious man, regarding those who offend God and are soon to be punished, could rightly say: "My flesh is of them."
Vers. 13. Ephraim, as I saw, in hunting exposed his children, that he might bring forth his children to the slaughter.
A CVII. The prophet now laments Ephraim, or Israel, and declares that he himself brought upon himself the cause of both the bereavement of his children and of his most grievous calamity. For, as I have seen from your words, O Lord, he says, and from the things themselves, Ephraim himself exposed his children to be captured and slaughtered, nor will he be able to blame others hereafter, nor shall he cry out against the divine wrath; but if he should wish to estimate the matter by what is fair and just, he will rather accuse his own folly and apostasy. For since he has offended not moderately the God who defends and saves him, he has all but willingly delivered with his own hand his own seed to the savagery of the nations, and exposed them to abduction and captivity. For this is what is meant by "in hunting," and indeed also "to the slaughter," which is to say, death. For some of the Israelites the Babylonians slew; others they carried away to their own land.
When, therefore, we commit a fault, we shall more correctly blame ourselves, and not the divine wrath. For we have despised what is fitting, and have become slothful regarding what is pleasing to God. But it is necessary that he who is a contemner and contumacious, and all but saying to the Lord of all, "Depart from me, I desire not to know thy ways" [Job XXI, 14], be punished.
VERS. 14. Da eis, Domine. Quid dabis eis? Da eis vulvam sine filiis et ubera arentia.
CVIII. If the Israelites do not know the Lord, and are carried away rather by a useless and foolish hope, and think that they will be superior to their enemies because of the multitude of their children, and that they abound in warlike men, and for this reason have no need of the help of thy hand, let their women not give birth at all—for this is a "womb without children." And if they should give birth, let them not rear them; that is, let them perish before their time, and let the race die out before it reaches the years of maturity. For thus being pruned of the pride which swells up from this source, and with the hope henceforth removed that relied on the abundance of those fit for war, [they will be forced to look] to thy B C D
indulgence, and will proclaim thee Savior and Redeemer. The prophet speaks these things now also out of the love of God. And at the same time he seeks both the glory of his own Lord, and the conversion of those who are of the blood of Israel, as though it were by necessity, if they do not have the fruit of a good purpose.
A barren womb and dry breasts would spiritually suit also the workers of evil, and anyone who wanders and turns away those accustomed to walk uprightly from the straight path—I mean in faith—and those who move directly in their own ways. For since their mind produces nothing for them—no false discourse, no spurious theorem—nor could they have raised their own children in seduction, I speak regarding instruction; and having dry breasts, the B Churches of the wicked could not become mothers of those who have been deceived.
Ver. 15. All their wickedness is in Galgal, for there I hated them, because of the malice of their inventions. I will cast them out of my house, I will not love them anymore.
CIX. Again the God of all begins to enumerate their crimes, and he remembers Galgal. This is the name of a city in which, most vehemently and in an unspeakable manner, the superstitious cult of statues flourished. C But what he says has this meaning: The Israelites were not wicked in only one kind. And one may see how remarkably depraved they were if one considers Galgal. "There I saw all their wickedness, there I hated them." Not, indeed, because of the place—for that would be foolish—but rather by setting before his eyes what had been perpetrated in it. Therefore, he says, "I will cast them out of my house, and I will keep them from my court, and I will exclude them from my intimacy." But since I have hated them justly, I will persist from now on, and I will no longer change so as to wish to love those D who are bound by such great sins. But someone, I think, will object: "How then did he bring them back from Assyria to Judea, or how did he release them from captivity? Was he not made more gentle, and did he not deem them worthy of indulgence and charity?" I would not deny that I myself think it is so. For it is confessed that they obtained mercy out of kindness. But those of whom the discourse treats went into captivity, and after a long time ended their lives in punishment. And just as when he had promised through Moses in Egypt to the Israelites that he would lead them all into the land which he had sworn to their fathers, certain impious men nevertheless made themselves rebels, whose bodies also fell in the wilderness, and the land was distributed rather to their children; so also here you shall understand. For those of whom we speak have died; but some of them returned at some time to Judea, when Cyrus finally let them go, where they had completed the seventieth year in a foreign land.
They shall be cast out of the house of God, or rather they have already been cast out, even those who acted insolently against Christ, and [committed] impious deeds which cannot be adequately expressed in words, and
A they who have loosed upon him a bitter and slanderous tongue shall endure wrath irrevocably. For they are found to have acted insolently not against one of the prophets, but against the Lord of the prophets himself. Passing over in silence, therefore, whatever other transgressions they have committed on their own behalf, one might see their entire wickedness and the magnitude of their depravity in the crimes they have undertaken against Christ alone.
VERS. 16, 17. *All their princes are disobedient.* Ephraim has been pained in his roots, he has withered, he shall bear fruit no more. For even if they beget, I will slay the desires of their womb. God will cast them off, because they did not listen to him, and they shall be wanderers among the nations.
B CX. He says that no one good, that is, ready to obey and gentle, is to be found among them—neither small nor great, neither prince nor client and subject. For this reason he declares that they have perished entirely, as if uprooted, and that they are now like trees that are withered and smitten, which have need only of being cut down, inasmuch as they openly display their own barrenness. That amputation is appropriate for barren trees, the Saviour himself also taught, ordering the fig tree that has no fruit—which shadows forth the Synagogue of the Jews—to be cut down. For he says, "Why does it also cumber the ground?" Israel, therefore, having been found fruitless, he says, is deservedly cut down; for he will not give fruit. But if they should even produce any, he says, "I will destroy those that are born of them." And this is what is meant by "the desires of their womb."
I think it is also necessary to consider what those words contain. For why does he say, "All their princes are disobedient"? For what need at all was there of the obedience of the princes? The discourse therefore has a reference to a certain ancient history. And I will speak of this one again. Israel made a calf in the wilderness while Moses was absent, for he had gone up into Mount Sinai to receive the law. C When he came down, he was deeply grieved at the transgression, he crushed the calf, and in a way prevailed upon the indignant God by his own sincerity and virtue. For he fell down as a suppliant, praying in these words: "If thou wilt forgive them their sin, forgive; but if not, blot me out of this book which thou hast written." And God assented to the prophet in his gentleness toward all, and even said, "I have been propitious to them according to thy word." Do you see how much the love of the leader for God profited Israel, and how one man sufficed to incline God for the sake of all, through [his own] subjection and obedience? He accuses Israel, therefore, not unjustly, as one who has turned aside entirely from the straight path, and has no prince at all among his own who might correct those who sin, who might turn them back from error, or at least one who, by the splendor of his own conduct and virtue, having rendered God propitious, could avert his wrath, just as we read was done in the times of Moses. Wherefore also D
they will be driven forth, he says, and will be wanderers among the nations. B This befell them both then, when they were carried away to the Assyrians, and now no less, as they are abhorred because of their outrages against Christ; for those who are of Israel remain in the world everywhere as exiles and strangers, not having a city. "For I will scatter them into every wind," God said through the holy prophets. If, therefore, friendship with God is our care, and if we have regard for His account, let us submit our neck to Him and approach with pious obedience to Christ, who says: "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you." For thus we shall be both fruitful and immune from the blow; our root will not wither, nor will our fruit fall away to nothing; we shall not wander very far from God; but we shall be near Him and with Him, and we shall have the city above in heaven, the mother of the firstborn, the nurse of the saints, and the pure dwelling-place of the higher spirits.
VOLUME FIVE. CHAP. X.
VERS. 1, 2. Vinea frondosa Israel. Fructus ejus abundans, secundum multitudinem fructuum suorum multiplicavit altaria. Juxta bona terræ suæ ædificavit simulacra, diviserunt corda sua, nunc disperibunt. Ipse suffodiet altaria eorum, affligentur simulacra eorum. C143 CXI. After having said that Ephraim had pained his roots, and would be fruitless, and like those who have changed their dwellings and migrated completely elsewhere, their progeny having been destroyed by the savagery of the Assyrians, he now also usefully shows what sort he was formerly, namely, very fruitful, when he was living wisely a life responsive to the laws. For he was like some beautiful vine, well-clothed with branches, and was not undeservedly an object of admiration before the eyes of the neighboring peoples; and regarding it, the blessed David somewhere in the book of Psalms says to the God of all: "Thou broughtest a vine out of Egypt, Thou didst cast out the D nations and plant it. Thou preparedst the way before it. It extended its branches even to the sea, and its offshoots even to the rivers." For it was born, "in a horn, and in a fertile place," according to the voice of the prophet. Yet it did not bring forth grapes, but rather brought forth thorns. For in the multitude of the goods bestowed upon it, it exhibited iniquity as if it were a partner and one struggling against God. For it multiplied altaria, and built idols; and as much as it abounded with blessings from above, just so ready was it for contamination, because it worshipped demons, and raised up altars, and in the seduction of manifold idolatry, it, in a manner, divided its heart. But these things shall not last, he says. By what means? "For He Himself shall"
A lead you wisely to the Lord who holds authority over all, or rather, to the person of the Babylonian king, as has already been shown many times. For it happened that along with the cities of Samaria, the very temples were burned down and the graven images were plundered. Therefore, we ought to give thanks with joy for the things we have received from God, not sliding into something displeasing to God because of the abundance of our prosperity; but rather, we should desire and apply ourselves most eagerly to performing those deeds which win glory through virtue, not being divided towards worldly passions and bowing our necks to Satan. For that is true which Christ said: "No man can serve two masters." And if we are divided, we shall be "portions of foxes," according to the voice of the Psalmist.
For now they shall say: "There is no king for us, because we have not feared the Lord. And the king, what shall he do for us? Speaking words as false pretexts, he shall make a covenant."
B CXII. He says that not only would their altars be shaken and their pillars suffer trouble—being broken, clearly, and torn down—but he adds also that they shall repent and lament their own lack of wisdom, and having been disappointed in their hope and deceived by the lying words of those in power, they shall understand late and with difficulty. For those among them who occupied the royal thrones used to assert that the golden calves and the protection from other idols would suffice to help them, even if they did not possess the divine law, and even if they did not choose to carry out the things given through Moses. But experience has shown that they were speaking falsely. For they saw those who once used to suggest such things to them, and spoke foolishly, falling under the hand of their enemies. "Therefore," they say, "there is no king for us, because we have not feared the Lord." For behold, they say, there is no one to assist, that is, no one rising up against the incursions of the Babylonians. But all have grown weak: "They are dissolved and have fallen," those who were in charge. And the cause of their weakness, and ours, is "not having feared the Lord." What profit, therefore, is there from the rulers? he asks. Nothing, then, were those things that they kept saying, except C lying words and the vanity of "covenants," that is, of promises. For it is the custom of divine Scripture to call promises "covenants."
It is wise, therefore, and worthy of all praise, to trust rather in God, and not to be led away by the words of those who lead astray so as to offend God, but rather to turn away from His wrath wisely before experiencing it, and not to lament after having suffered late, scarcely descending to a late and useless wisdom.
"Judgment shall spring up as grass upon the wilderness of the field, for the calf of the house of On."
CXIII. Grass grows in the fields, especially in those unploughed and deserted, and it takes hold of, and D ground near and adjacent to the
land. For it creeps in a way into the widening [fields], and it is still difficult to be subdued by those who wish to check its course beyond the boundaries of its current reach. "Judgment" therefore, he says, (and it is clear that this is from God Himself), will rise up like a certain grass upon the wasteland for the calf of the house of On. B It is as if He said: The sentence of destruction and the punishing nod will come from me. It will seize like grass the calf, that is, the objects of worship of the temple which is in Bethel; for this is what "the house of On" means. For other interpreters have set forth again: "of the calf of the house of Bethel." But the Seventy have said "house of On" in place of "house of Bethel." And we have already explained the reason above. Nevertheless, we will not hesitate to recall it. For the Egyptians, mythologizing, said that Apis was the child of the moon and the offspring of the sun. But "On," according to them, is the sun. And the heifer was in the likeness of the Apis among the Egyptians, which Jeroboam made. Therefore, as grass seizing and overcoming all that is set near it, so He says, the judgment will come from me to the calf of the house of On, that is, of Bethel. For the divine power is always all-powerful, and to its nods nothing shall be able to stand against it. "For who shall turn away the exalted hand?" according to that which is written.
Verse 5. Wanderers and sojourners shall be the inhabitants of Samaria, because its people mourned over it. And as they provoked him, they shall rejoice over its glory.
CXIV. Behold now, He makes plain the judgment C seizing the calf, and having the power to spread itself out like grass, against whatever God might wish. He now also makes mention of history, which it is necessary to tell: for thus we shall understand what is being oracularly declared, and not otherwise. It was a custom among all those who worshiped idols, when a time of oppression occurred and enemies were bearing down, if they were troubled by a lack of money, to lay hands even upon the very votive offerings in the temples. It is written therefore in the Books of Kings, that when the king of Syria was besieging the cities in Samaria, Menahem, who was then reigning over Israel, since he did not have equal forces to resist him, sent an embassy to Phul, the king of the Assyrians, and persuaded him with gifts both to help him and to drive back the Syrian, which in fact was accomplished. For he took Damascus by force and strength, and slew Ader himself. They say D therefore, that when a very great weight of gold was sought, the situation had brought Menahem into such straits that he even stole away one golden heifer and sent it along by the envoys. And Israel mourned, seeing that being sent away which they thought to be God. Yet he nonetheless believed, comforting himself with foolish reasonings, that the Babylonian would place this calf in a greater and more illustrious temple. Moreover, he supposed that it would be worshiped by more nations; for the nations of the Persians and Medes are countless. Menahem, therefore, [sent] the calf, as it was, entirely from pure gold...
But Phulas took it and broke it in pieces; for the Assyrians worship another deity, and they do not tolerate the calf. Later, they say it was no longer pure gold, but rather bronze covered with gold. From this, he says, the Assyrian mocked Ephraim, that is, Menahem, the king reigning from the tribe of Ephraim. Therefore, he spat upon, in addition to this, the foolish counsels of Israel. Having spoken then of the history, or the tradition of the Hebrews, come, let us now necessarily run through the text. For it is difficult to see: "The inhabitants of Samaria shall dwell," for "they shall dwell" [instead of] "they shall migrate," or rather, "the present inhabitants of Samaria shall be deported," he says. He speaks of the calves, or the heifers, for they were sent away, as I said, to the Babylonians. "And his people shall mourn over them." And whose [people]? Or is it clear, that of the *On*, which is of Apis? Nevertheless, as they were seen, he says, provoking and dishonoring him by sending [him] to others, thus will they rejoice over his glory. For they will think that he will be much more renowned when he is worshiped by more nations. But they have missed their hope. For he was shattered, and was a cause of laughter and mockery to the Babylonians. Therefore, their pillar has suffered misfortune according to the very voice of the prophet. They provoked the calf, not because it was really provoked—for how could senseless matter suffer such a thing?—but because the nature of the deed would have provoked it, if it were truly God and were able to perceive the events that happened to it.
B "Because he was migrated from him, and they bound him and carried him away to the Assyrians as a gift to King Iarim."
The gift Ephraim shall receive, and Israel shall be ashamed in his counsel.
CXV. The prophetic word interprets itself to us. For what it said darkly, it endeavors to explain. For the calf was migrated from Israel, and they bound it—for the word speaks playfully—and carried it off as a gift to King Iarim, that is, the avenger. For he had been called for help, and as it were, to avenge Samaria, which was being destroyed by the Syrians. But Phulas will indeed receive the heifer as a gift from Ephraim—by which is meant the king of Israel. Nevertheless, "Israel shall be ashamed," he says, "in his counsels." For because, as I said, he apostatized from the Almighty, and preferred to worship calves, he was ridiculous, and was caught as having fallen into an old, foolish, and useless vanity of counsel. True, therefore, is the prophet, or rather God, when he speaks through the mouth of the saints concerning those who served the works of their own hands: "Ye have seen that their hearts are ashes (Sap. xv, 10), and they are led astray."
The discourse is also applicable to those who corrupt the correct dogmas of the Church. For just as the shattered heifer refuted the insanity of Israel, so also are those people's dogmas crushed by examinations, and by the power of the truth con-
A broken into pieces, to the shame and disgrace of those who have composed them, and who have impiously uttered them, and who have most foolishly received them into their mind and heart.
*Verses 7, 8. Samaria hath cast off her king as a foam upon the face of the water, and the altars of Aven, the sins of Israel, shall be taken away; the thorn and the thistle shall come up on their altars.*
116. This place might also easily prove the unsteadiness and the depravity of the manner of life of those from Israel, that is, of those in Samaria, and regarding those whom they thought to be gods. And it is no wonder. For those who have impiously wronged B the one and true and by nature God, both by apostatizing and by practicing every sort of most shameful thing, how could they have behaved themselves sincerely and legitimately toward many, and false, and those fashioned from stones or wood? He says, therefore, that the calf, which was worshipped among them with royal and divine honors, has been cast away by the Samaritans. And it has been cast away in such a way, as if straw or stubble had fallen into the eddies of the waters, and were henceforth carried off wherever the force of the waters might drive it. And that the shrines were to perish along with the very idols, and the altars were to be destroyed, and the place was to be a place of thorns, their whole province being devastated, how was this not most certain? He calls the altars "the sins of Israel," most aptly, as a monument of the impiety impiously C raised against God; and again, he named "Aven," that is, the calves in Bethel and Dan, for whose glory the altars also stood. Therefore, what God has not established and firm, that shall utterly perish. And I suppose that something of this kind has been clearly spoken by another prophet: "They shall build, but I will overthrow."
*And they shall say to the mountains, Cover us; and to the hills, Fall on us.*
117. Not only in the two cities, I mean Dan and Bethel, were idols superstitiously worshipped; but there, indeed, were the golden calves, while in the mountains and on the hills were the objects of worship of the neighboring nations, Baal, Beelphegor, Astarte, and Chamos. That, therefore, not only will the altars, that is to say, of Apis, or the calves, be D disturbed, but that the shrines on the hills and mountains will also fall utterly and entirely, he makes known through these things. For their situation will be reduced to such a degree of misery and terror that they will prefer to be buried by the mountains, rather than to see while living the things which they will be compelled to suffer, even against their will. It should be known, however, that Christ himself, when announcing to the Jews the calamities about to be inflicted upon them because of the daring deeds committed against him, used similar words. For he says: "Then shall you say to the mountains, Cover us; and to the hills, Fall on us." For the heights of calamities and of evils, even though death is otherwise bitter, sometimes make it highly desirable for many. For those very mountains and hills in which idols were worshipped and crimes of impiety were impudently committed against God
they will, as it were, say, "Fall upon us," and anticipate the cruelty and disgrace of the Babylonian sword, and the shameful and unbearable misery of being led away into captivity.
"From the time when the hills were, Israel sinned; there they stood." The war shall not overtake them in the hill, to punish the sons of iniquity themselves. And peoples shall be gathered against them when they are punished for their two iniquities.
A 118. He says that the apostasy which occurred on the mountains and hills is older than the error concerning the calves. For when the ten tribes came into Samaria, having cast off the yoke of the kingdom of Rehoboam, Jeroboam then introduced the calves. But those who were in Jerusalem used to practice their error upon the mountains and hills diligently, for Solomon was yielding to and consenting with foreign women, and had already built altars and shrines to their deities. From the time, therefore, that these high places were devised, along with the trifles in them and the false worship, from that time Israel sinned against God. And from this, the kindness of God can be clearly seen, as He did not endure to punish B those guilty of impiety even after a long interval, but rather showed indulgence, and waited in case the deceived might perhaps offer repentance. But they were found to be more contumacious and more corrupted by wickedness. For they added the calves also to the high places. Offering sacrifices to demons on the mountains and hills, and thinking themselves to be religious in this vain pursuit, they perhaps even reasoned within themselves, or rather they quite firmly believed, that they would constantly enjoy prosperity, [and] be stronger than their adversaries, and remain safe from the servitude of having to serve their enemies: a disease which is familiar to those who have been deceived by error. C This, therefore, was the case when, after Jerusalem had been captured by the Babylonian, they were descending into Egypt; the prophet Jeremiah advised them to abstain from sacrificing to idols, that they might have the saving God as propitious. But they claimed that they had fallen into calamities for this reason: because they had not ceased obeying what was prescribed by the Law, and had become sluggish in the worship of false gods. And we read thus: "And all the men who knew that their wives burned incense to other gods, and all the women, a great congregation, and all the people who were dwelling in the land of Egypt, in the land of Pathros, answered Jeremiah, saying: D 'The word which you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord we will not hear, for we will surely do every word that shall go out of our own mouth, to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings to her, as we did, we and our fathers, our kings, and our princes in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, and we were filled with bread, and were well off, and saw no evil. But since we ceased to burn incense to the queen of heaven, we have all been in need, and have perished by famine.'" Israel, therefore, is blamed
A for this vainglorious speech and for the frailty of its hope, and he says regarding their high places, "there they stood," meaning that, just as they themselves claim, or at least think in their own hearts, by having worshipped idols there, they had secured the stability of their prosperity and were established in unshakable good things. And as they again think, no trouble would ever overtake them upon the hill—the sort of trouble, that is, which is wont to pain them at all—if they chose to fulfill the customs regarding the idols. But they are deceived, he says, and have failed in their hope. For war has indeed arrived upon them from outside, B being children of iniquity, and they shall be disciplined by the experience of it, bitter as it is—and these, through whom the lessons for their discipline will come, are an innumerable host of enemies. For this is what is meant by, "Peoples shall be gathered against them," and the evils of war will surely come to pass as they are being disciplined "for their two iniquities." And what these are, he has shown us more clearly through the voice of Jeremiah, saying: "The heaven was astonished at this, and shuddered exceedingly, says the Lord, because my people have done two evil things: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and have hewed out for themselves broken cisterns, which will not be able to hold water."
VERS. 11. Ephraim is a heifer trained to love victory. But I will come upon the beauty of her neck. I will mount Ephraim, and I will be silent concerning Judah.
C CXIX. He compares Ephraim to a heifer, intractable and exceedingly haughty, not knowing how to be checked in its own impulses—whatever cause it might have for them—not enduring to be tamed, but always seeking to win, and rushing forward with unchecked impulses toward whatever happens to please it. But even if he is of such a sort, he says, he will yield, though unwillingly. For he will be tamed by the onslaughts of calamities, God causing him to submit, and, as it were, breaking the beauty of his neck—that is to say, shaking out the part that especially rebels in Israel. And this was the kingship among them, which provoked the peoples under its hand to desert God. Therefore, as God presses down upon it, it will be dissipated; for I think this is what is signified by "I will mount Ephraim." He says it D economically, however, when he states, "I will be silent concerning Judah," meaning, "I will defer Judah for a little while, not punishing him with torments already, not bringing upon him things that stem from wrath, but rather waiting, and acting more slowly." And for what reason? Because Ephraim, that is, the ten tribes, as I have already said, have in every way inclined toward choosing to fulfill the works of seduction. But the two tribes that are in Jerusalem—Judah, I mean, and Benjamin—have often had upright and pious kings, who destroyed the trifles of idolatry and persuaded the people to live decently and in accordance with the law; such as was Amaziah the son of Joash, a pious and just man. Likewise Heze-
Hezekiah, who was equally to be marveled at as the aforementioned, a zealot and beloved of God. For this reason the ten tribes suffered their captivity first. The Babylonian, having brought his forces against Jerusalem, returned to his own kingdom, having done no harm, being a fugitive and full of fear, at the time when one hundred and eighty-five thousand of the Assyrians were B put to death in one night by the hand of an angel. Since God is long-suffering and bears with our infirmities, let us not be indolent, nor let us be found sluggish in following the things that are pleasing and acceptable to Him.
*And Jacob shall be strengthened by him.*
CXX. I have said that the Assyrian led his forces on an expedition, and after Samaria was entirely overturned, and its cities and temples burned, he besieged Jerusalem thereafter. But he did not prevail at all, because God was shielding it; for in one night, one hundred and eighty-five thousand were destroyed by an angel. This, as I believe, is what the text now foretells, saying: *And Jacob shall be strengthened by him.* But by whom? It is obvious that it refers to the one about to besiege it, Rabshakeh. And he calls those of the blood of Jacob "Jacob"—I mean Judah and Benjamin. Yet if one should choose, the expression may also apply to the whole of Israel. The mind of the prophecy seems again to bring us to a recollection of C a more ancient event, with God fulfilling the promise given to the divine Jacob. For, as a man wrestled with him by night across the torrent of Jabbok, and then when it became morning and the day was dawning, and God wished to depart, saying: "Let me go, for the dawn has risen," he said that he would not let him go unless he blessed him. He heard then at that time: "Because thou hast prevailed with God, and with men shalt thou be strong." It is perhaps this that the word of the prophecy now signifies to us, placing very clearly the phrase, *And Jacob shall be strengthened by him.* Observe the precision of the promise; for it does not say that Jacob will prevail against the Assyrians, but "he shall be strengthened," he says; for in God he grew strong, not by himself.
VOLUME SIX
*Sow for yourselves in righteousness, reap for a fruit of life, light for yourselves a light of knowledge, seek the Lord until the fruit of righteousness comes to you.*
CXXI. The mode of admonition is almost always twofold. For either we are accustomed to diverting those who wish to be lazy from the punishment that awaits them, and to urge them very quickly to choose to live in a distinguished manner; D or by announcing the honors prepared for the virtuous, we make those being instructed more eager to approach the better and most lawful life. Something of this kind God, the Lord of all, is doing now. For He threatened those who had gone astray with wars, calamities, deportation to foreign lands, the burning of cities, and the incursions of enemies. However,
A he does not end his admonition here, but see, he advises them again by another way. For having dismissed what is useless and the source of all misery for them, he urges them to grasp what is accustomed to profit the most, in the manner of farmers, "sowing in justice, and reaping the fruit of life." For as the blessed Paul writes, "Whatever a man sows, that he will also reap," and, "He who sows evils shall reap evils," as it is written. But the worker of justice shall be filled with salvation and life, bright and worthy to be emulated, and he shall reap the wine "that gladdens the heart of man." B Furthermore, those who wish to succeed must settle the light of true knowledge into their mind and heart, which those who have passed over the Creator to worship the creature lack. And he himself demonstrates how it might be possible to sow in justice, and indeed to reap the fruit of life, and to receive the bright light of knowledge, adding, "Seek the Lord until the fruits of justice come to you." But God is to be sought by us, not locally. For this would be foolish, since the Divine Power is not contained in a place; but as in a disposition of the soul, and in the promptings of a mind inclined toward all things pleasing to Him, and watching over a conscience that is right, pure, and free from all reproach. For having thus found Him, we shall become enriched with the acquisition of other goods. Or is Christ not speaking the truth when He says, "Without me you can do nothing"? But I think this is in no way doubtful to those who are accustomed to think rightly. For this possession of every good for us is with God, and through God, and from God. C Yet one might say, and very reasonably, that the command "Sow for yourselves in justice," and what follows, applies not only to the worshippers of idols, but also to those who flee from the sincere faith, "giving heed to spirits of error, in the hypocrisy of demons, having a cauterized conscience." As therefore the most wise Paul writes, these indeed sow, being intent on knowledge and the love of learning; yet not into works of justice, but into injustice and impiety, deceiving and being deceived, "and striking the weak conscience of the brethren for whom Christ died." They reap, therefore, not ever to the fruit of life, but to punishment and judgment. Wherefore Christ said that "whoever shall scandalize one of these little ones who believe in me, it is better for him that a millstone be hung about his neck, and he be drowned in the depth of the sea." D Let them therefore love the truth, that is, that light of knowledge. Thus is God sought. Hence, fruits of justice shall spring up for them unto life. And wine shall be gathered, not indeed bodily, but rather that which is perceived by the intelligence, and through the Spirit, which also gladdens the heart and mind of man.
Verse 13. Why have you kept silent about impiety, and iniquities
A of it have you harvested? You have eaten a lying fruit, because you hoped in your sins, in the multitude of your strength, and destruction shall arise in your people, and all your walled places shall depart.
CXXII. He reproaches them again, as people who had settled down in the pleasure of evil in matters where they least of all should have done so, and had most thoughtlessly kept silent regarding those things for which it was reasonable that God should be not moderately angry. For when it was necessary, he says, to drive away with all one's might the impiety against me, and to rebuke those who advise shameful things, and thus to enjoy all good things, they kept silent, they admitted seductions; there was no one among them who would resist those who were innovating such things, no one who would set the Law in opposition and bring back to memory the things divinely ordained. For it is written: “There shall be no other gods for you 1 besides me,” and again: “You shall not make for yourself an idol 2.” But their discourse concerning these things was altogether meager. For they kept silent, honoring impiety, that is to say, B apostasy. Therefore, “they have harvested the fruits of iniquity for this henceforth.” “They have devoured a lying fruit,” that is, they have possessed a hope that is feeble and useless. For the true fruit, which is able to save and to benefit, is love toward God and the ornaments of justice. But the lying fruit can be rightly understood as that of impiety; for it certainly leads to an execrable end. Therefore, he immediately shows what the lying fruit is, which arises for them from impiety. For he adds, “because you hoped in your chariots, in the multitude of your strength; and destruction shall arise in your people, and all your walled places shall depart.” For you have been impious in no moderate way, he says, having worshiped wood and stones, and having despised the one God, both by nature and truly. Then, with war announced and already present within your gates, you did not seek my aid rather, but trusting in your own powers and in the multitude of your chariots, you supposed that you would overcome the enemies, as if the favor and assistance of false gods were sufficient for you for this. This C shall be a lying fruit for you. For there will be destruction against the peoples. And every splendid and most fortunate city shall be shaken. For that which God does not establish must necessarily fall in every way and entirely.
Let these words be said also by us, or rather by God, to those who desire to sit alongside unholy heretics and who pretend to be disciples in matters pertaining to life and prudence. These keep silent about impiety. For they endure hearing those who speak blasphemy, even though they ought to perform the greatest denunciation against them. They will therefore be partakers of their counsel, and will reap the fruits of their iniquity. For they shall eat a lying fruit, accepting spurious and to-be-rejected knowledge, and teaching perverse things, and all that attempts to adulterate the beauty D of the truth. That all their power also shall fall, with God overturning it, and that they shall depart into destruction and ruin, can there be any doubt?
__________________ 1 Exod. xx, 3. 2 Levit. xxvi, 1.
A VERSE 14, 15. As the prince Salmana from the house of Hierobaal, in the days of war, dashed the mother upon her children; so will I do unto you, O house of Israel, from the face of the iniquity of your wickednesses.
CXXIII. In the Book of Judges it is recorded that Israel once turned aside after the Baalim. By which wickedness, when they had offended God, they were delivered into the hands of Madian for seven whole years. And they felt masters so inclement, that they even dwelt in caves and dens, and hiding themselves in them, they barely supported life, opposing the difficulties of the places as walls or bulwarks, because they despaired altogether of a favorable battle. It happened, therefore, that those who encountered the Madianites were cruelly slaughtered, B so that, with the wretched mothers, the infants also perished, all mercy being taken away. Their princes were Oreb, and Zeb, and Zebee, and Salmana. The calamity, however, lasted until God, pitying the wretched Israel, raised up Gideon, who was called by another name by his father and the natives, Hierobaal, for a cause of this kind. For when God had so commanded him by angelic oracles, he destroyed the altar of Baal and cut down his grove, and that secretly and by night. The inhabitants of the small town, when they arrived at the grove at first light to perform sacred rites according to custom, and there saw Baal and the grove fallen upon him, then conjecturing Gideon's zeal toward God, they attributed the cause of this matter to him. Then, having met with his father, they said: "Give us thy son, that we may kill him, because he destroyed Baal." To these he replied: C "Will you, said he, avenge Baal? If he is a god, let him avenge himself upon him who destroyed him." And from thence the surname remained to Gideon, Hierobaal: which sounds, "Let Baal avenge himself." As therefore, he says, Salmana, the leader of the Madianite host, dashed the mother with her children from the house of Gideon, or Hierobaal; in the same way, the leader of the Assyrians will treat you in war, atrociously and inhumanly, and without any mercy, and will dash the mother with her children. These things will come upon you because of your wickednesses. For God, the just judge of all things, does not punish without cause; but if the offenses of those who offend him proceed beyond measure, then at length, angry, he inflicts punishment in proportion. If, therefore, we avert his anger, it is D right, certainly, that we also avert sin, and that we be unwilling to sharpen, as it were, the divine and most mild nature unto indignation, and perhaps even force it, though unwilling, hereunto by the enormity of our transgressions. It should be known, however, that some of the earlier commentators write that it was not the prince of the Madianites, Salmana, who dashed the mother with her children from the house of Hierobaal, or Israel (for by leaders, the whole body is at times signified), but rather that Gideon dashed the mother with her children in the house of Salmana. But it would be better and more suitable, as I think, to hold the former than the latter. For just as at that time, when Israel turned aside to the Baalim, the children with their mothers were dashed by the hands of foreigners; so also now,
B as Ephraim has turned aside to idolatry, they shall be dashed again by the hands of the barbarians, that is to say, of the Assyrians, along with those who bore them, together with their offspring. I think, therefore, that the meaning is probable, and will better preserve the likeness of the former things as from an image unto the newer ones, if the power of the things set before us be understood in this way.
CHAPTER XI
*Mane projecti sunt.* [At morning they were cast away.] *Projectus est rex Israel.* [The king of Israel is cast away.]B CXXIV. The other interpreters, and indeed also the Hebrew writing, manifestly have: "As in the morning they were cast away," by which they signify, as it were, at a very insignificant time, or quickly, and without delay, that Israel had fallen from the friendship of God: for the morning time is indeed very short. For at the same time the light of the day begins to brighten, it creates the morning; but when the sun has risen and cast its first rays, it soon ceases and passes away. Therefore "as in the morning," that is, in a small and short and exceedingly narrow space of time, they were cast away together with their rulers. Or we shall understand it in this way, or we shall receive it in another sense. For when God does not yet inflict punishments for human transgressions, or extends the duration of his long-suffering a little further, there is nothing absurd in comparing Him to those sleeping at night. And indeed, the blessed prophets have cried out to us in many ways, signifying this very thing to us. For most wise Jeremiah says: "Wilt thou not be, he says, as a man sleeping, or as a man not able to save?" And the divine chanter, at one time says: "Arise, why dost thou sleep, O Lord? Arise, and do not cast away until the end;" but at another time, seeing Him aroused for the aid of some, "The Lord is awakened," he says, "as one sleeping." He seems therefore to call the morning the time of his awakening on their behalf. For in the morning we rise from sleep. Therefore, when God has been vigilant over them, and as it were awakened at last to the visitation of what they have done, they shall become C castaways and rejected, even if, because of his very great patience, he had for the time past almost slept over them. But he affirms that the king also is to be cast away together with the crowds, inasmuch as the kingdom of Ephraim is also shortly to be removed from the midst. For those who returned into Judea, as I have said, after the time of captivity, were all under one king, just as they had been at the beginning and before the time of captivity. For those born of the tribe of Judah reigned, when all Israel still acknowledged Jerusalem as the seat of the kingdom.
*Quia parvulus Israel, et ego dilexi eum, et ex Ægypto vocavi filios ejus. Sicut vocavi eos, ita abibant a facie mea.* [For Israel is a child, and I loved him, and out of Egypt I called his children. As I called them, so they went away from my face.]
CXXV. It seems to me that in these words the argument D [provides a counter-objection]
A meets with A B B some opposition. For let one be understood to be pondering this, or even speaking it openly: "If the descendants of Israel were fated to fall away, and at times become cast out from the face of God, and to be abominable and hated, why were they called at all from the beginning?" To this God answers, and very appropriately, in a way, saying: "Israel was a child, and I loved him. Out of Egypt I called his children." "A man simple and without guile," he says, "was Jacob, who was renamed Israel; therefore I loved him. For when they were still in the womb, 'Jacob I loved,' he says, 'but Esau I hated.'" Since, therefore, I loved him, for that reason I also snatched his children from the covetousness of the Egyptians. "For I show mercy to thousands of those who love me." What then of those who were honored and chosen because of their fathers? Who were honored with the grace of liberty, and freed from slavery and labors? Have they in turn honored God? Have they endeavored to gladden with well-disposed hearts the God who shielded them? By no means, he says. For they have fled from the Lord; they have departed from him who had honored them; they have become insolent toward him who called them. But departed in what way? Was it because they fell away one by one, or by a few, from a right mind and judgment, and were caught by the deceits of others? Not at all. For they fell away in the same manner as they were called: that is, by the whole multitude, and by tribes, the whole race, and entire families. For thus did they once go forth from Egypt. Furthermore, we remember that when Pharaoh with difficulty at last promised to let Israel go, and desiring to know about the multitude that was to depart, and asking in plain words, "Who are they that are going?" Moses replied: "We will go with our juniors and our seniors, we will go with our sons and daughters, and with our sheep and our oxen." Therefore, according to whole tribes and according to the multitude, according to the whole race and families, was the call. In like manner also was their apostasy, the ugliness of which he shows most clearly by saying, "They went away from my face." For whom the Lord of all things might choose to hate, he would not even deign to look upon, according to that which is sung in the Psalms: "Look upon me, and have mercy on me." For it is written: "The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous," and he himself says somewhere: "Upon whom shall I look, if not upon the humble and the quiet, and him who trembles at my words?"
"They themselves sacrificed to Baalim, and burned incense to carved images. And I bound Ephraim, and took him up on my arm, and they did not know that I healed them amid the corruption of men. I drew them with bonds of love."
CXXVI. He shows the unspeakable and divine-befitting gentleness that is in God. For to bestow good things upon those who have already believed, and have recognized him, and who have chosen to worship him alone, might seem reasonable, and the matter would not be considered beyond what is expected. For it is a kind of honor, if one were to choose to do
correctly [honors] himself and him who of his own accord relies upon his faith. But to appear to the profane even still, and to those who do not know him, as the dispenser of every good thing, would involve an excess of philanthropy and be an instance truly worthy of wonder, and a divine proof of gentleness. Wherefore, even the Savior himself—pitying our affairs and, as God, bestowing mercy in a way that was in no way fitting for those who are lovers of sin—said at one time, "They that are whole have no need of a physician, but they that are sick"; and at another time, "I came not to call the just, but sinners to repentance." A Yet even then, he says... that is to say, those of Israel were wandering in the land of Egypt; they did not yet know the true God, that is, me; but they were found out rather to be offering sacrifices to the Baalim—that is, to idols—burning incense to graven images, or to the local objects of worship. But because I am kind and good, even though Ephraim—or rather the whole of Israel, as being signified here by one tribe—was so foolish, I "bound" them, he says. And what this is, he himself clarified, saying, "I took him up upon my arm." B And the likeness of the example is taken from what is done to infants. For those who take up small infants into their arms, as it were, bind them together, by bringing their feet close. For it is necessary, I think, for the thighs and knees of any one sitting to be drawn together; and this is what "I bound" means, just as indeed it is written also concerning Abraham, that he "bound" Isaac his son [Gen. XXII, 9], when he expected also to sacrifice him to God. But it is necessary to know that the Hebrew edition, and indeed that of others too, does not have "I bound," but rather they have placed, "I became as a fosterer to Ephraim." Thus, I indeed was such towards them; but they did not know, that is, they did not understand, they did not perceive that by destroying others I was making provision for them. For this is the meaning of, "I heal them in the corruption of men." C For the Egyptians were destroyed, being the first to be struck by the ten plagues, since Pharaoh would not let them go. But after the Egyptian plagues, the Hittites, Hivites, and Amorites, the Canaanites and Jebusites perished, whom Israel, having conquered by force, succeeded to the land of promise, with God making every difficult thing level for them, and bestowing the ability to overcome their enemies. Therefore, they do not perceive, he says, that in destroying men who were sharers of their own nature, I was providing for their affairs, and I "extended" them—that is, I tightened them and held them fast—in the bonds of love. But if they were wise, they would certainly have thought about it and reasoned with themselves as to why these nations were destroyed by God, D and we ourselves brought in in their stead. For having understood thus, that I have hated the sinner and that I do not hold in any esteem the one who worships demons, they would perhaps have ceased to choose similar things. It is necessary, therefore, for those who wish to gladden God, by both a sober reasoning and a good mind, to turn the anger directed against others into an occasion for their own safety. That the crime of an ungrateful will is most grievous, and that he who is held by this disease is deservedly punished as one convicted of every kind of wickedness, it is easy to see from this. For the ungrateful man, he says, is like a blasphemer.
And I shall be to them as one giving A a slap upon his cheeks, and I shall look upon him; I shall prevail against him.
CXXVII. Since he said that he had loved them, and as it were in the fashion of an infant had taken them into his arms, and bound them as if in bonds of love, even though Ephraim was still profane and sinful, for this reason he says that he will return to him even while he is sinning: "For whom the Lord loves, he corrects, and he scourges every son whom he receives." See, moreover, how he promises a mode of correction not devoid of a gentleness worthy of God. For he says that these movements against them will be equal to slaps with a human hand on the cheek. But this movement is to be understood as that of a Father, tempering the effects of wrath with compassion and love, and, as if gently, and scarcely striking, so that it might not appear that he had not entirely vindicated the fault. Since, however, he has loved, he also promises that he will look upon him. For he deems worthy of his regard those whom he might choose to honor, and he prevails against us, and by divine teaching and virtue he subjects to himself those who are rebellious. For when he does not profit by persuading, he compels
A his hands to rest. That is to say, in no city of Ephraim has a man been found, terrible in battle, and able to use the sword. For they have become slack, and as it were, the hands that were accustomed to hold it have been loosed. Since they have thought and done evil against themselves, they shall eat the fruits of their own ill-counsel.
In truth, then, it is bitter to dare to despise the Savior through disobedience; and even if to someone the possibility of escaping offenses is set forth by the gentleness of God, sloth does not remain unpunished. For we shall dwell in Egypt, that is, we shall be entirely and altogether exiles and wanderers, not having left the sensible earth and moved into another, but having lost the lot of the saints. We shall be also under Assur, the prince, that is, of this world, and we shall lie under him as slaves and captives, yielding to his desires, because the sword has grown weak and has ceased among us. For it is not possible, it is not possible for those who are addicted to sin to be able to seize the armor of God, "And the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God" (Eph. vi, 17). By the sword, understand also, as it were, the most warlike and God-loving impulse of our mind, which we oppose to the passions, and setting it in array against diabolical wickednesses, we direct our path along piety and blame-lessness, and we bind the glories of the evangelical life B to our own heads.
And his people hanging from their own dwelling. And God shall be angry over his precious things, and he shall not lift him up.
CXXIX. The sense of the words placed before us is extremely difficult to explain, and the composition of the terms is rough, and much clarification would be required for those wishing to understand. But what he wishes to signify is, in brief, of this sort. Ephraim, he says, has gone away to the Egyptians, and has even come under a king, Assur. Then, as if someone were inquiring and saying, "Why, and in what manner has it been permitted to happen, or how has Israel served foreigners?" he sets forth the defenses in order C and says, first of all, "Because he did not wish to return." For though gentleness was set before him, he was caught, he says, in this, and was slothful and disobedient. Next, because "the sword was weakened in his cities." For there was not, as I said, one to stand against the Assyrians, or even one skilled in tactics, God paralyzing their fighting strength, and perhaps even casting cowardice beforehand upon one who was very strong in battles. There is also another cause for his falling under Assur. What is this? For the people, that is, Ephraim, all but hung upon him, namely Assur, and wished to depart from his own dwelling to the land of the Persians D and Medes. And we do not surely say that Ephraim wished to suffer this, but as far as his sins are concerned, he all but sought to suffer things so terrible, if it had been possible to escape the wrath by choosing to move toward better and more fitting things. He all but hung upon Assur, and, his fatherland having been abandoned, that is, his dwelling or his habitation, into the kingdom
of that one he foolishly strove to walk, even though God had declared in every way and altogether that he would bring such things upon him, if they did not wish to repent. But since they slipped into this intent: *God will be angered against his honorable things.* Honorable and choice, and preeminent among the peoples, are clearly kings and leaders, who were carried away together with the common people, wretched and servants, and in the rank of captives, because they had led astray those under their hand, and had become a snare to them—had they themselves only wished—who were able to travel the straight path. For the leadership B always leads those placed under it. They shall therefore be humble and cast down, although they had possessed a great amount of glory. For the splendor of the throne of a kingdom generally adds glory. But God will not exalt them; for the kingdom of Ephraim has ceased, as I have said before many times.
We must therefore be very careful, we who are in Christ, against an inclination toward base things. For if we do not do this voluntarily, we ourselves shall lay the yoke of the devil upon ourselves, all but hanging C from the love of him, and walking with all eagerness toward being under him henceforth, and complying with the things that seem good to him. But if this were to happen, we provoke God, and so we shall henceforth be humble, having a lowly and downtrodden mind, while God causes it to relax, and does not permit us to stand upright with the courage for good things.
VERS. 8, 9. *What shall I do to you, Ephraim? I will protect you, Israel, what shall I do to you? I will make you as Adama, and as Seboim. My heart is turned. D In the same my repentance is troubled, I will not do according to the wrath of my fury. I will not leave off that Ephraim should be blotted out, because I am God, and not man, in you holy.*
CXXX. He applied rebukes, indicating that henceforth wrath was to be brought upon them in every way and altogether, since they had done unholy deeds and acted impiously toward God beyond measure, so that no place for pardon was left to them anymore. But because He is good, the fountain and source of gentleness, He restrains the impulse—not as if correcting it for having been perhaps stirred up unreasonably against the reasoning of the better (for the divine and ineffable nature would never depart from its most fitting thoughts and actions), but as if checking what was worthy of them, and restraining out of gentleness what they primarily deserved, that is, to perish utterly, and to be rooted out, as it were, from the very root. Therefore He says: *What shall I do to you?* By what path, He says, shall I use in arranging your affairs? I will protect you, and I will aid you again, and show myself impregnable to those meditating plots? But how shall this happen? For it is fitting that those who have committed foul deeds against God be punished rather than prosper. Therefore, bestowing upon you according to your deserts, and decreeing punishments equal to your transgressions, *I will make you as Adama, and as Seboim.* These were Sodomite cities, which fire fallen from heaven consumed with their very foundations.
A But I will not do this, he says, although it ought in justice to be done; but I will defer it: for I have changed my counsel, and I will not use the fullness of my wrath; I will not utterly destroy Ephraim, although he has become corrupt through wickedness. For what reason? Did they not deserve this? They deserved it, he says, but I am God, and not man; good, evidently, and not yielding the victory to the impulses of anger. For such an affection is human. Why then, he says, do you still punish, if you are God, and are not held by anger, but follow instead an innate gentleness? I punish, he says, for I am not only good as God, but in addition to this, I am also holy, hating iniquities, turning away from the defiled, rejecting those who hate God, and converting the sinner, scouring clean the profane, so that he may be joined to me again. The prophet therefore reminds us, crying out and saying: *“Seek the Lord, and when you find him, call upon him. When the wicked draws near to you, let him forsake his ways, and the unrighteous man his counsels, and let him return to the Lord, and he shall find mercy.”* For we must, if we prize being with God, recoil with all our strength from sinning, and remember Him who says: *“You shall be holy, for I am holy.”*
And I will not enter into the city. I will walk after the Lord.
131. The perfect knowledge of future things sometimes occurs to the minds of the holy prophets, the Holy Spirit revealing the matter to them with a certain light. C Hence, too, in the midst of their own words, or those sometimes suggested from above by God, they utter beforehand the voices of some who are either repenting, or giving thanks, or leaping for joy at the things which God promises will gladden them. We find that something of this kind has happened now to the blessed Hosea. For the God of all was promising gentleness, and saying that He would not utterly destroy those who had sinned, because He is God, and clearly good, and not man. For He who is above all creation is not like us. But they, as if recognizing their own transgressions, and blushing at the very abundance of such an unexpected grace, promise that they will cease from their inventions by which they have offended God. And what are these? God shows us fully through the prophet himself again. For he says, a little above, accusing Judah and Ephraim: *“Israel has forgotten his Maker, and built temples, and Judah has multiplied walled cities. And I will send fire upon his cities, and it shall devour their foundations.”* D For Ephraim, that is to say, Israel, having built altars and temples to idols in Samaria, had slid into apostasy, forgot God, and, esteeming the genuineness of His love for them as worth nothing, continued to provoke Him. Judah, however, although trusting in God according to the custom of former times, in which they had been preserved by Him and through Him, yet provoked Him to anger in many other ways, this
A was done especially by one thing. For although God had threatened that He would send the Assyrian against them to devastate the land, they were walling up their own cities, thinking that even if God did not wish it, they would be saved by the strength of the walls and would prevail over the hand of the combatant. Therefore, when God promised good things from His gentleness, and they had provoked Him not lightly, they themselves now—the ones being saved—say that they will desist from their perverse undertakings and plans at once. And indeed let Judah cry out: "I will not enter into the city," which is to say, "I will have God as a wall; I will place my hope in Him as my security, I will flee to the right hand of Him who saves. He shall suffice, and He alone is my salvation." I will confess that it is vain and utterly useless to wait, expecting that when war spreads through the region, I shall be saved by entering the city. Therefore I will not enter the city. And let Israel again, or rather Ephraim, proclaim the other statement. Which is, "I will walk B after the Lord." He says, "I will desist from my ancient transgressions. Henceforth I will follow the laws of God. I will make the God of all things my Guide, and Him alone will he know. And to Him alone shall the worship of no one else be given." C VERSES 10, 11. *As a lion he shall roar, for he himself shall roar, and the children of the waters shall be amazed. And they shall fly away like a bird from Egypt, and like a dove from the land of the Assyrians. And I will restore them to their houses, says the Lord.* D CXXXII. When the time already arrived, and the period was completed by which Israel was at last to be released from captivity, Cyrus, the son of Cambyses, who had obtained the empire of the Persians and Medes, with a vast army and an inexorable power, broke into Babylon itself and Assyria, God inciting him to this. Wherefore the prophet Jeremiah, announcing the capture of Babylon, speaks thus concerning the Medes and Persians: "They shall come upon you, and you shall be captured, Babylon, and you shall not be aware of it. You have been found and you have been captured, because you have resisted the Lord." And concerning Cyrus: "A lion has gone up from his lair, to set your land into desolation. And your cities shall be ravaged, because they shall not be inhabited." That it was the God of all who gave victory to Cyrus, Isaiah will confirm, saying: "Thus says the Lord to my anointed Cyrus, whose right hand I have taken hold of, to subject nations before him, and I will break the strength of kings. I will open doors before him, and cities shall not be closed. I will go before you, and I will level the mountains; I will shatter brazen doors, and I will crush iron bars, and I will give you treasures that are dark, hidden, and invisible [I will open to you.]" Cyrus, therefore, having victoriously subdued the kingdom of the Babylonians, released Israel, who returned to their own region.
This narrative A the prophet Hosea interprets, saying: "As a lion he shall roar." Who shall roar? Cyrus, evidently. It is much as if he were to say: "A terrible and weighty war, stirred up by Cyrus against the Babylonian empire, shall resound." While he roars, and as it were as a lion cries out against his adversaries, "the children of the waters shall be struck with fear." By "shall be struck with fear," he means they shall be terrified. He calls the Babylonians "children of the waters," for in nothing do they yield in cowardice to the children of the waters—that is, to those that swim in water, or fish—and having become in experience itself easily caught and unwarlike, they shall be captured. The race of fish is of a most timid nature; it flees from noises and shrinks away from the mere shadow of one fishing. When, therefore, Cyrus roars, he says, and raises a certain terrible and fearful alarm against the kingdom of the Babylonians, if the children of the waters—that is, the Babylonians, who in nothing differ in cowardice B from fish—should be struck with fear, then they shall fly off like a bird or a dove from Egypt, even those who had long ago taken refuge there; and they shall flee from the land of the Chaldeans, who were held fast by the snares of captivity. They shall then return and dwell in their own land. Since it is possible, therefore, to possess good things by submitting the neck of the mind to God and acting under Him alone, let us not of our own will walk toward what brings grief, drawing upon ourselves a movement that is self-invited; although it is possible, as I have said, to settle in the depths of prosperity, delighting the Master through a lawful manner of life and sincerity toward Him.
Vers. 12. Ephraim has encompassed me with lies, and the house of Israel and Judah with iniquities.
C CXXXIII. God is by nature good and merciful, and is wholly averse to striking anyone; yet He is also necessarily called to an indignant repentance when the crimes of certain ones are beyond reason and measure. This He teaches us again through what is set before us. For it is as if He says: "Here and there, and as if casting and carrying the eye of the Godhead around in a circle, it is given everywhere to behold the lie and the impiety of Ephraim and of Judah." He calls the playthings of idolatry and the worship of vain things a "lie"; and by "impiety," perhaps, the outrage against God. For how is it not a grave and most unreasonable injury, to thrust aside God, who is such by nature and in truth, and to incline foolishly toward wood and stones—or rather, to worship the creature instead of the Creator, and to attempt to crown with masterly honors D those things which have been brought into being by Him for this purpose?
Now God has known them, and he shall be called the holy temple of God.
CXXXIV. "The house of Ephraim and Judah," he says, "has encompassed me with lies and impiety. Nevertheless, even so, I will be merciful, bringing upon them an affliction proportionate to their deserts." For He knew them, as they could not otherwise learn the better way, unless they were to suffer some of those things
A which cause distress, and call [the mind] to a perception of those things which have been sinned. God therefore knew them, that is to say, He was not ignorant of the path of repentance which would be of benefit to them. And the matter shall not be without profit for them. For from this hence it will happen that they will also be numbered among the holy temples of God. For once their inherent depravity has been broken down by labors and tribulations, they will be both pure and sanctified, and having learned by experience that a sincere love toward God will be the provider for them of all delight and prosperity, just as, indeed, the sins of apostasy cast them into the pits of servitude and affliction.
CAP. XII.
VER. 1. *Ephraim but evil spirit, pursued the heat. All the day he multiplied empty and vain things, and he struck a covenant with the Assyrians, and carried oil into Egypt for merchandise.*CXXXV. The discourse passes again from the common multitude to those of the tribe of Ephraim who reigned over Israel in Samaria, whom he also calls an evil spirit B because of the intractability of their mind, and because it was turned and unbridled toward apostasy from God. "For he pursued C the heat," he says; although he might have been under my shadow, he departed like a deserter toward the heat. He names the heat the burning and scorching calamity of tribulations. And thus the wise Paroemiastes [Solomon] enigmatically names labors in this way, and says: "The understanding son is saved from the heat; but the iniquitous son becomes corrupted in the harvest by the wind." Therefore Ephraim, since he is an evil spirit, pursued the heat. He sought it, and willingly ran toward the heat. But those who are wise say concerning God: "In His shadow I desired and sat." D They call the shadow the protection of the aid from God and from above. But Ephraim did not do this. For he sought the heat. How, or by what reasoning? "He multiplied empty and vain things all the day," that is to say, in every time he was doing and meditating upon things that were cold, and useless, and futile. And what are these things? "He struck a covenant with the Assyrians." And I have said already, and often, that some of the kings of Samaria, and of those in Jerusalem, sometimes strove to purchase peace and security from the Assyrians with money, and at other times called upon the Egyptians for aid. And bartering the promise of their friendship, they sent [goods] from the things their own land had produced, together with other things. Moreover, the land of the Samaritans was fertile in oil, and that oil was of great price in Egypt, because that land did not produce it. Therefore, the hope that is placed in men is empty and vain. Indeed, let him who trusts in God mock the one who trusts in men, using that which is from the Psalms: "Behold the man who did not set God as his helper, but hoped in the multitude of his riches. But I, as a fruitful olive tree in the house of God, have hoped in the mercy of God for ever, and for ever and ever."
Commentary on the Prophet Hosea
A Vers. 2. *And there is a judgment for the Lord against Judah, to avenge Jacob. According to his ways and according to his doings he will repay him.*
CXXXVI. Just as by naming Ephraim he indicates that one should understand the kings from the tribe of Ephraim, so here too he indicates those who at times held the scepter from the tribe of Judah, as being from the reigning tribe. Therefore, having rebuked Ephraim—that is, those from Ephraim who rule over Israel—and having called them an evil spirit, and said that they multiply empty and vain things, in that they make covenants with the Assyrians and export oil into Egypt, he henceforth accuses the kings of Judah in turn, and most rightly says that the God of all things will contend in judgment with them, as if to avenge Jacob—the patriarch, I say—as having been most unjustly wronged, because although they had sprung from him, they refused to hold the same view regarding religion, nor did they follow in the footsteps of their fathers, and they rejected the desire to imitate his will as something exceedingly B absurd. Therefore, as one who has been wronged, he promises to bring glory to Jacob by avenging him because of the wickedness of his children, rendering to those who have done wrong according to their ways and according to their doings.
Vers. 3. *In the womb he supplanted his brother, and in his labors he prevailed over God. And he prevailed with the angel, and was strong.*
CXXXVII. He usefully enumerates the praises of Jacob, setting them forth for the power of refuting those who have chosen both to think and to do other things; for the evil or vicious is always somehow refuted by the juxtaposition of the good, and by the comparison of praiseworthy things, that which is not of this kind is accustomed to be censured and condemned. Therefore, he strives to prove that Jacob was capable and skillful from his very swaddling clothes—nay, even before he was born—by the fact that he supplanted his brother in the maternal womb. For although the action occurring was a work of divine power (for we would not dare to say that the infant in the visceral womb held Esau by the heel of his own accord), yet according to his foreknowledge, as one who was to be good, God inspired this noble deed in him; who even said thus: *I have loved Jacob, but I have hated Esau.* Furthermore, this was according to the election of grace, God having chosen the one who was in every way to be the better, as again in foreknowledge. But these things were in the womb. But when he reached youthful age, or rather was truly counted among men, *in his labors he prevailed over God.* For when God, providing for him, had sent him into sweats and labors, he did not fail, he says. For is it not a work of sweat to depart from one's father's house, to arrive at Laban, to endure mercenary service, and to undergo the labors of shepherding? Therefore this is the ambiguous phrase, *In his labors he prevailed over God:* not as if fighting with God, but rather obeying Him, and as it were becoming superior and a victor, because he was fulfilling things commanded. For although it was possible for Jacob to grow rich D without sweat and to attain happiness if he remained at home, God did not permit him to be idle from exercise; but on the pretext of the threats brandished by Esau, he sent him to a foreign land and city, arduous
A labor he was prepared to undergo, so that even in those very afflictions, having preserved the sincerity of his love toward God, he might deservedly be an object of admiration. Therefore, "He prevailed in his labors toward God." B "He prevailed also with the angel," he says, "and he was able." For the angel wrestled with him as in the form of God. Then also his thigh grew numb. Nevertheless, the divine Jacob was returning very great thanks for this wrestling; for he said, "Because I saw God face to face, and my soul was saved." The mystery, therefore, in Christ was foreshadowed through the wrestling with the angel. For the descendants of Jacob persisted in opposing Christ, whom the word of the prophets calls the Angel of Great Counsel. And some indeed, not accepting the numbness—that is, his redemption—kept on; others, however, were not willing to confess that they had seen through him and in him face to face the One, both by nature and truly, God. For in himself, the Emmanuel showed us the Father, saying: "He who has seen me, has seen the Father." Therefore, the manner of the contest foreshadowed the mystery. But God credits this deed of Jacob to his praise.
VERSES 4, 5. They wept and prayed to me. In my house they found me, and there it was spoken to him. The Lord God Almighty shall be his memorial.
CXXXVIII.
He makes mention again of other histories, showing us Jacob C as glorious and praiseworthy in every respect. Therefore it is written in Genesis that the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, cruelly and inhumanely slaughtered the Shechemites, being inflamed with anger on account of Dinah their sister, whose virginity Emor, the son of Shechem, had taken away. Thence the blessed Jacob was seized with great fear; and immediately expecting that he would be killed along with his children and all his household, he rebuked the authors of those slaughters, saying thus: "You have made me hateful, so that I am evil among all the inhabitants of the land, both among the Canaanites and the Perizzites. But I am few in number, and they will gather against me and strike me, and I shall be destroyed, I and my house." But the young men were in no way relaxing their ferocity; and, occurring to him, they said: "But shall they treat our sister as a D harlot?" But since, as I said, the just man was overly fearful, he fell again as a suppliant before the Savior God. Then the God who loves the just promised to deliver him from his terrors, and not long after, saying thus: "Arising, ascend to the place Bethel, and dwell there, and make there an altar to God, who appeared to you when you were fleeing from the face of Esau your brother." Afterward, being about to ascend to Bethel—and about to enter the divine house (for Bethel is translated "into the house of God")—the blessed Jacob called to his whole house and to all who were with him: "Put away the foreign gods from your midst, and be cleansed, and change your garments."A Let us arise and go up to Bethel, and let us make there an altar to God, who has heard me in the day of my tribulation, who has been with me, and has saved me in the way in which I walked. And they gave to Jacob the foreign gods which were in their hands, and the rings that were in their ears, and Jacob hid them under the terebinth that is in Shechem, and left them there until this day." Having done this, the blessed Jacob was in a fine state of hope. For he was completely delivered from the suspicion of the Shechemites, as God by His own power calmed those who were contriving war against him. For the holy Scripture continues thus: "And the fear of God was upon the cities round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Israel." Since, then, an altar had been built in Luza, which is Bethel, "God appeared," he says, "to Jacob, and blessed him, and said, 'I am thy God; increase and multiply; nations and congregations of nations shall come of thee, and kings shall come forth from thy loins, and the land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I have given to thee, and to thy seed after thee will I give this land.'"
The prophetic oracle reminds us of these histories at the present B time. So, Jacob was a supplanter from the womb, but you are always being supplanted, and you do not rather supplant sin. And he was indeed most loving of labor, and distinguished for his sweat, and sincere toward God; but you, sporting in rebellions, have not honored the provider of all your bounty. "Your fathers wept," he says, "and besought me." For if ever they suspected they would suffer anything through the treachery of some, they wept and besought me. For they expected to be saved by me and by me alone; but you fortify cities, and think that even if I am unwilling, you will perhaps be saved and will master those who oppose you. And they "found me in the house." For, as I said, Jacob went up to Bethel, and God appeared to him, and there the promise of the blessing was spoken to him, as we have just shown; but you, on the contrary, do not seek God in His house, but rather run very eagerly into the shrines of Baal, and seek out not responses C from God, but the prophecies of demons. And indeed the blessed Jacob, ascending to Bethel—that is, to "the house of God"—made the idols disappear; but you, on the contrary, set up a carved god in the house of God. For they set up the golden calf in Bethel, even though Bethel, as I said, has the interpretation "house of God." Wherefore God also says, through the voice of Jeremiah, concerning the Synagogue of the Jews: "What has my beloved done in my house, an abomination?"—that is, an idol. And the blessed Jacob, even when ascending to the house of God, ordered them to be cleansed and to change their very garments; but you are seen to be profane and unclean, and do you not blush to enter the divine house with unwashed feet? he says. Since then || such was Jacob, therefore also "the Lord Almighty will be his memorial." For he remains safe in the memory of God, and flourishes with immortal glory. For God glorifies those who love Him. And so (for I will say it again, something D vehemently...
necessary) the glories of the fathers condemn you, because you have not chosen to think the same things as them, and to be adorned by similar ways and pursuits. You will be condemned, not as ones who have wronged only your own souls, but as ones having, as it were, also conspired against the glories of the fathers and disgraced your ancestral nobility.
Vers. 6. And you, in your God you shall turn; mercy and judgment keep, and draw near to your God always.
CXXXIX. The promise of grace is mixed with threats; for this discourse is of one threatening rather than simply promising. Yet the threat proceeds from love, and it is for good thoughts, and for an eagerness for the duty of obeying the oracle that calls. For, he says, the divine Jacob was wise and altogether the best, and he had the love of God toward himself as the fruit of his own resolve. But you have not imitated your father. Nevertheless, "You shall turn in your God, you too," that is to say, even if you are degenerate, and an apostate, and insolent, B yet you shall return, even if not willingly, to choosing to live rightly. You will return having been disciplined in God, that is, through God. And since a good reason has not persuaded you to go on the straight path, and to desire to be wise as you ought, the lash will surely remain for you, and it will quickly shift you toward the choosing and knowing of what is expedient. And this, as I suppose, is what these words, "And you in your God shall turn," would reasonably denote to us—a statement having, as I said, threats very cunningly mixed with good promises. Then, furthermore, as though to one already suffering the lash and established in the very midst of the scourging, God calls out: "Mercy and judgment keep, and draw near to your God C always." For just as if some master, to a servant being disciplined and at that very moment being scourged, were to say with both restraint and indignation: "Be modest and readily obedient, and do not despise the commands of your master"; in the same way, I think, the God of all, to Ephraim, being struck in a certain manner and disciplined by the calamities of war, says: "Mercy and judgment keep, and draw near to your God always." Perhaps it is just as if He were to say: "For this cause know that you are being struck, because you did not keep nor count as significant things that are pleasing and dear to Me." Mercy, therefore, signifies love. "For love is the fulfillment of the law" (Rom. xiii, 10). "For D it does no evil to one's neighbor," as the blessed Paul says. Judgment, however, signifies just action, or rather righteousness and the observance of the divine law and will. For judgment is called law in the divinely-inspired Scripture. To draw near to God always can signify a sincere desire and inclination of the mind toward Him, and to abhor others that are not gods, whether from the creature, perchance, or at any rate from wood and stones. But he will draw near to God, and will be near according to his disposition, who also knows how to excel in good actions, and who has preserved in himself an incorrupt faith.
For sin often intervenes and separates one from God. In the same way, the adherence to the voices of unholy false teachers also drives one far from the intimacy with Him. Those, therefore, who wish to be near to God must cast away those things by which they would be made far.
COMMENTARY ON THE PROPHET HOSEA
"Chanaan, in his hand is a balance of iniquity; he loved to oppress. And Ephraim said: Yet I have become rich, I have found rest for myself. All his labors will not be found against him for the iniquity he has committed." A
CXL. So far as concerns the good pleasure of God, Ephraim would have kept mercy and judgment, and would have striven to draw near to Him always. But because he lost a good mind, and made things so venerable and worthy of worship naught, he became, like the alien Chanaanites, atheistic and impious, taking the greatest pleasure in base ways and, with a barbarian mind, being uncontrollably subjugated by the desire for the things of others. Ephraim ought indeed to have been seen as an emulator of his forefather Jacob, and to have loved to walk in the tracks of his justice. But he became a Chanaanite. B For a "balance of iniquity" has been found in his hands, that is to say, inequality and greed. For he prized among those nations that do not know God the accursed oppression. And that he was failing by doing this, he did not deign to consider. He was delighted only in being rich and living luxuriously, as if God were not looking on, as if He were no longer visiting those on earth and justly punishing those who act unjustly. It is, moreover, a most certain proof of extreme madness C that Ephraim should hasten in every way to get rich, and should consider the crimes of robbery and violence as nothing, but should even—from a state of great and excessive stupidity—boast of them as if they were things for which he ought rather to have been blushing. For he says: "Yet I have become rich, I have found rest for myself." What, then, does God say to these things? "All his labors will not be found against him, because of the iniquity he has committed." For it is true that "Wealth gathered unjustly will be vomited up," according to what is written. And indeed, to those who wish to collect from iniquity and grow rich from greed, let one now call out the words of the Holy Spirit: "It were better for you to do judgment and good justice." For before the Divine judgment seat, "Treasures profit not the wicked, but justice shall deliver from death." And as the writer of Proverbs says: "Better is a small portion with the fear of the Lord, than great treasures with the absence of fear." And again the same: "Better is a small acquisition with justice, than many fruits with iniquity." Indeed, our actions and the quality of our deeds sometimes render us worthy of the nobility of the holy Fathers, and sometimes assign us to sinful fathers. For we shall in no way differ from those who have lived in impiety if we imitate their ways. For this reason we say that Ephraim has been called Chanaan. For they were of the same mind as the aliens. Now, the Chanaanites were aliens, and infamous by reason of their impiety. Therefore also certain D
A ones were reproached, hearing in a manner befitting their own audacity, “Semen Chanaan, and note Iuda.” B
VERS. 9, 10. *But I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And I will yet cause thee to dwell in tabernacles, as in the days of the solemnity. And I will speak to the prophets. And I multiplied visions, and in the hands of the prophets I was made like.*
CXLII. Chanaan called Ephraim, as I said,
manifestly convicting him as an enemy of mercy and justice, and one who follows rather after inequality and avarice and every kind of iniquity. But behold, he further endeavors to show that he was not only such in human affairs, but that he also refused to draw near to God by the very things themselves. He simulates, therefore, ignorance of his own deliverer, as one senseless and froward against Him who brought him up out of the house of servitude, “in signs and in wonders, and in a strong hand and an outstretched arm.” “For I,” He says, “brought you up out of Egypt.” But while He says “I brought you up,” He recalls to their memory the things that were done for them, until they should enter into the land promised to their holy fathers. These are six hundred thousand, and those which no one can sufficiently admire. And he teaches that no excuse is left to them for the forgetting of these things, by adding: “I will yet cause thee to dwell in tabernacles, as in the days of the solemnity.” What this means, you shall hear again. The law of Moses commanded in the seventh month, on the fifteenth day, that the feast of Scenopegia, or of Tabernacles, should be celebrated. And what the occasion of this was, the lawgiver himself declares, speaking in this wise concerning the Scenopegia in Leviticus: “In the seventh month you shall celebrate it. In tabernacles you shall dwell seven days. Every native in Israel shall dwell in tabernacles; that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in tabernacles, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.” Therefore, they celebrated the feast in remembrance of the exodus from Egypt. Then He says, “How can you forget Me, who brought you out of Egypt, while you are still dwelling in tabernacles, and making this very matter of the solemnity the occasion and cause of the feast?” For “I will yet cause thee to dwell in tabernacles, as in the days of the solemnity.” “I will cause thee to dwell,” He says, instead of, “I make thee to dwell,” or “I effect that thou dwellest in tabernacles during the days of this feast.” Therefore, such forgetfulness cannot be defended. But perhaps you desired to know something of the future, and wanted to inquire too curiously about things that concerned you. And why did you rather approach the false prophets of Baal, or the feigned gods, and seek these things from them, and not rather wisely remember that I speak to the prophets, and have also multiplied visions—that is, that all prophetic speech proceeds from Me, and is accomplished by Me, and not by any false-named god of yours? For to Me alone shall it be ascribed both to know future things and to remember the past. But they have imitated Me, He says, the adulterous soothsayers and prophets honored by you. This is what He means: “in the hand of the prophet—I was made like.” You were seeking A to know from them the things to come. Then, they, fashioning my words and mimicking the works of my prophets, vomited up their own hearts to you. And so, indeed, Jeremiah the prophet placed wooden yokes around his neck, as God commanded. But the false prophet Ananias, opposing his words, took and smashed the yokes and said: “Thus says the Lord: I have smashed the yoke of the king of Babylon.” This is what I said, “in the hand of the prophets I was made like.” Therefore, the accusation against Ephraim is that, although he had a clear reminder from the feast of Tabernacles, which took place for the exodus from Egypt, he was forgetting God and because he did not rather seek Him, as One speaking to prophets, as One having multiplied visions, but rather was attached to the deceits of the false prophets, who counterfeited the things of God through both words and B deeds.
“If Galaad is not, were the princes offering sacrifices in Galgal false, and were their altars like tortoises on the wasteland of the field?”
CXLII. He rebukes those addicted to false soothsayers and false prophets, who go up and offer sacrifices in Galaad and Galgal, with these words. He takes for demonstration, therefore, these two cities primarily, in which a most enormous seduction flourished, and every reason for piety was despised, and they magnified everything that would inflame the soul, being completely full of extreme madness. And so, above, God said concerning Galaad: “There Galaad despised me, a city working vain things,” that is, idols. For the inhabitants of it were craftsmen of idols. And concerning the other: “All their wickedness is in Galgal; because there C I hated them because of the wickedness of their inventions.” It is necessary to state some of the things that happened to the Galaadites. For it is in this way that we shall understand the meaning of the words set forth. Phulas, the king of the Assyrians, having come first against Samaria, made the two tribes beyond the Jordan as a sort of first-fruits for himself, and he subdued all their cities, and before the others, Galaad. God mentions these as if in passing, saying: “If Galaad is not.” If it is not, He says, and Galaad is not now saved; if it has also perished, and there is no one from it to rebuke the petulance of Ephraim, because it is not seen now; for the princes sacrificing in Galgal were also D liars, and not true. Galgal is a city beyond the Jordan, into which small and great, flowing together, defiled themselves with the filth of idolatry. Therefore, if Galaad is not, who dares to say that even the sacrificing princes in Galgal were false and not true? . . . erecting altars high and conspicuous for idols, similar to tortoises in the field. He says they are tortoises—do not think them to be the animals, beware of this—but rather constructed mounds which some make for drawing water into the hills, for countless things of this sort have been cleverly devised by farmers. Moreover, he names the sacrificing princes, or those Prefects of the army and dis-
disciplinarian leaders, or certainly those born of the family of Levi, A with whom lay the stewardship according to the law: for they themselves, having lapsed with others, served graven images, not a few in number. It is written, therefore, in Ezekiel: "Therefore thus says the Lord: Every alien son uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh shall not enter into my holy places, among all the aliens who are in the midst of the house of Israel; but the Levites, who stood apart from me when Israel wandered from me after their own thoughts, shall receive their iniquity."
VERS. 12. *And Jacob fled into the field of Syria, and Israel served for a wife, and for a wife he kept.*
B 177 CXLIII. The discourse returns again to an examination of the genuineness and kindness of the forefather, and to the perversity and impiety of those born from him. It marvels at his endurance in small things, as if to set the matter before us as an indictment of the sloth of the ten tribes in the greatest matters. For how would one not admire Jacob, who exhausted such grievous and barely tolerable labors, and did not refuse to serve as a hired laborer for Laban for the sake of C taking wives? But even if the reward of the first forefather was small—marriage, as I have said—he nevertheless kept and preserved the faith to him who had promised him the marriage. Moreover, he did not labor for his own country, or land, or home, but as a sojourner and one dwelling in a foreign territory. And such, indeed, was Jacob. Let us now examine the offenses of the descendants of Israel. They were not sent into a foreign country, but were settled in the land which they acquired by arms; and when they served the Egyptians, and received no reward for their own D labors, at some time, by the power of God, they departed from the land of their oppressors and settled in the land promised to their fathers. Their reward was not marriage with a little woman, as proposed to one seeking marriage for wages; but rather an abundance of every good thing, a land flowing with milk and honey, the conquest of adversaries, glory and riches, and the decorations flowing thence, and what, in short, does it not include that pertains to a happy state and delights? But they did not keep it. For they transgressed, valuing the observance as of almost no account at all. It is manifest, therefore, that, being far removed from the probity of their fathers, the grace to come will not allot them even the reprieve granted to those; for the Judge is just.
VERS. 13. *And by a prophet the Lord brought Israel out of the land of Egypt, and by a prophet was he preserved.*
CXLIV. In this place, he discloses to us the reason why Israel did not keep the command prescribed to him, and despised God, who says: "You shall have no other gods beside me," and why he was unwilling to emulate the noble zeal of his fathers. For he rebukes the Israelites because they subjected themselves entirely to a human kingdom, when
rule of men, even though God was reigning over them through the holy prophets; and nothing was lacking to them for their blessedness. For we remember that while the blessed Samuel was still alive and prophesying, they demanded a king. And at this, indeed, God was angry, and though he was deeply grieved at being despised, he nonetheless appointed Saul. A He blames them, therefore, to a great degree, because they have placed themselves entirely under the rule of men, not enduring to be ruled by God through the prophets. For God, he says, saved Israel and led them out of the house of bondage, with Moses—who was both a prophet and the leader of the prophets—acting as mediator; and he says that he not only led them out of Egypt, but also protected them. For they had remained in the natural and true worship of God. But since they have come under kings, they have drifted away from the love for God. For first Solomon built altars and shrines to the Baalim; then, after him, the accursed Jeroboam made the golden calves. He accuses them, therefore, of not having kept the most excellent order—I mean, to be ruled by God through the prophets—but of having preferred to surrender themselves under the hand of men, which is precisely what became the cause of their apostasy. B
"Ephraim has provoked [Me] to anger, and irritated [Me]; and his blood will be poured out upon him, and the Lord will repay his reproach upon him."
CXLV. That it was sad, dangerous, and a cause of destruction for those of Israel to have preferred to be under the rule of men, he tries to show us very clearly in these words. For behold, he says, Ephraim—that is, Jeroboam, who was of the tribe of Ephraim—has provoked and irritated me, the Lord of all, and has invited every kind of exasperation by innovating with the calves and bestowing upon them my glory. Therefore, he himself has become the author of his own destruction. For his blood shall come upon him. Since, because he set up the calves in Bethel and Dan, he had proclaimed to those of Israel, thus saying: "Let it suffice for you to go up to Jerusalem. Behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt," he will therefore, quite rightly, pay to me, who judge, the penalties for this reproach, he says. C For it is an insult, plainly, and a reproach acknowledged against God, to dare to attribute to inanimate matter the brilliant and admirable deeds that were wrought by Him. Therefore, according to the reproach of Ephraim himself—that is, in proportion to his blasphemies and impious utterances—punishment will be inflicted upon him in turn by the angry God. For just as God was driven out from the glory which is befitting to Him and Him alone, as far as their attempt and words are concerned, so he too shall be driven out of his own rule. For the kingdom of Ephraim will at some time cease. For as I have said above, after the return from Babylon, no one any longer reigned in Samaria over the ten tribes; but all were united under one rule in Jerusalem, D of those who had previously reigned from the tribe of Judah.
CHAPTER XIII
VERS. 1, 2. *His justifications he received himself in Israel, and placed them to Baal, and he died. And they added to sin still more. And they made for themselves a molten image out of their silver, according to the image of idols, works of craftsmen finished for them.*
CXLVI. He does not accuse the ten tribes separately, but the whole of Israel, and says that, though the justifications were given to them through Moses—by which they were disciplined in the manner in which they ought to worship God, and how one must offer sacrifices—they almost dedicated such things to Baal, that is, to idols. For sometimes the part signifies the whole. For they no longer sacrificed to God, but rather performed their feasts and brought divine worship, B the first-fruits, the adoration, and the gifts of gratitude to the works of their own hands, and robbing God of His glory, they ascribed it to graven images. But having done this, Israel, he says, "died," and again they added to sin. It is as if he were to say: He was punished after the act, he was destroyed after these attempts, he perceived the indignation of the Lord, who inflicts the penalty of vengeance upon the blood of those who err. And he did not cease at all from his stupidity; rather, he can be found caught in other and equal crimes. For I have read in Numbers that the sons of Israel had committed fornication, inflamed with illicit pleasures, and had attached themselves to the women of the Moabites. Which sin they expiated most atrociously. For the Scripture holds it thus: *And Israel turned aside in Setim, and the people were defiled so as to commit fornication with the daughters of Moab. And they called them to the sacrifices of their idols; and the people ate of their sacrifices and worshipped their idols, and Israel was initiated to Beelphegor, and the Lord was angry with wrath against Israel. And the Lord said to Moses: Take all the leaders of the people, and set them up before the Lord against the sun, and the anger of the Lord’s wrath shall be turned away from Israel. And Moses said to the tribes of Israel: Let each one kill his own kinsman who has sacrificed to Beelphegor.* By this slaughter, no small multitude fell from Israel. C See, therefore, how Israel, in the times of Moses, offering the justifications of God to idols, died miserably: for having been seduced, he was slaughtered by the swords of his kin, not by an alien hand. But he added to sin. For they made for themselves a molten image of gold, and works of a craftsman, and gods elaborated by the arts of workers. But he mocks their vanity in a certain way. For they believed them to be gods, whom they themselves had fabricated. Let the Psalmist, therefore, exclaim against them: *Let those who make them become like them, and all who trust in them.*
VERS. 3. *They say: Sacrifice men, for the calves have failed. Therefore they shall be like the morning cloud, and like the morning dew passing away, and like dust blown away from the threshing floor, and like vapor from a chimney.*
A CXLVII. He complains again that they have not only acted impiously, by transforming the silver given by God into the image of idols and ascribing the name of divine glory to things made of wood and stone, but that they have even fallen into such ignorance, or rather folly, and inhumanity, and beast-like ferocity, or if there be anything greater than these, that they would not even spare their own children, but sacrificed them to demons, although God so hated the deed that He could not endure even to speak the word Himself or to hear it from others. For the Lord does not delight in blood, nor does He rejoice B in the destruction of men. Far from it. For He created all things that they might exist (as it is written), and the generations of the world are healthful. But the apostate dragon, as the inventor and parent of death, delights in the slaughter of men. He declares, therefore, that even the mere mention of these things is hateful to God, saying: "They themselves say: Sacrifice men, for the calves have failed." It is not my word, He says, nor would I ever speak such a thing. But they themselves, the worshippers of demons, say that men must be sacrificed to them. Then He derides their plan and mocks their undertaking, adding and saying: "For in all likelihood they had no more calves. Therefore they have honored man-slaughter." But suppose, He says, that you have been led astray, and have honored gods that are carved and molten; why then have you also steeped their altars in human blood? We have read in the books of Kings that Ahaz was the son of Jotham, who reigned over Judah: C "He walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and burned incense in the high places, and carried his own son through the fire," and sacrificed to demons him who was born and begotten of him. And because they have done such things, they shall be, He says, "as the morning cloud; and as the dew, as dust, and as vapor from a chimney," that is to say, appearing for a little while, they shall depart to destruction, and shall pass away into nothingness. For a morning cloud, that is, a mist, and dew and dust, and vapor from a chimney, are easily scattered, and in a very short time are dissipated entirely; or rather, as the dew, or the vapor consisting of smoke D and in one hour. For what substance is there in dust, or
SEVENTH VOLUME.
I am the Lord thy God, who establishes the heaven, and creates the earth, whose hands have created the whole host of heaven, and I have not shown them to you, that you should walk after them.CXLVIII. The baseness of false opinion is almost perpetually censured, while true knowledge is brought into the midst, and, as if a light shining in the night and in the darkness, it shines forth through logical discourse that instructs toward righteous thoughts. Since, therefore, they are filled with the most extreme lack of discernment, and, having gone to the end of misery, [they turn toward] the molten and
work, and the works of craftsmen that the children of Israel have honored, passing by God who is truly and by nature God, He convicts them, saying that it is He who established the heaven, and made firm the earth, and is the creator of the stars. He reproaches them, moreover, because, passing over as something stale their ability to learn the glory of the Maker through the things that have been made, they have abused these things for their own error. For they were not made for this purpose, that they should do injustice to the divine glory by being considered gods by mortals; but that, as the holy Scripture said, from the greatness and beauty of the creatures, in proportion, the mind of those who understand should ascend B to the apprehension of the power and art of the Maker, as far as is possible. The Creator, therefore, did not display the creation to us so that it might be worshipped by us. And, in fact, He also testified beforehand, saying through Moses: "And do not, when you look up to heaven and see the sun and the moon and the stars and all the host of heaven, be led astray and worship them and serve them, which the Lord your God has allotted to all the nations under the heavens." But they called gods those things that were allotted for the indication of times and established in the order of luminaries, and they were bold to worship them; and seeking things even more shameful than these, the wretches honored molten work and wood as gods, worshipping the craft of smiths and C carpenters.
VERS. 4, 5. *And I brought you out of the land of Egypt, and you shall know no God apart from me, and there is no savior besides me. I was shepherding you in the wilderness, in the land without inhabitants, according to their pastures.*
CXLIX. There is much refutation of stupor and madness in these things, and the types of the assistance by which the Israelites, most ungrateful of all, are convicted are set forth in order. He reproaches them, however, not, I think, as if they were ignorant of where they had come from to those places; but as being possessed, by reason of great stupidity and stupor, by a sort of oblivion regarding those things of which they ought to have kept a perpetual memory. For the accursed Jeroboam, having set up the calves, said: "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you D out of the land of Egypt." But they, although they knew that this was not a feat performed by any other but by God, nevertheless rendered thanks to the man-made calves, and I know not how they persuaded one another to ascribe to them the excellence of the divine miracles. Wherefore, as if they were inebriated with the wine of the Sodomites, He wounds them, saying that it is manifestly He who brought them out of the house of servitude, and commanded through Moses: "There shall be no other gods for you apart from me"; and that He alone is the one who saves, and accomplishes everything He wills without labor; He who provided sustenance in the wilderness and in a desert, trackless, and waterless land brought forth fountains of waters, sent down manna, and gifted them with the bread of angels from heaven, and like a good shepherd fed them in abundance, according to their pastures, or rather their journeys. For nothing of all good things in the wilderness
A even when the children of Israel changed place after place, and encamped in rough and barren land. Therefore, one ought always to remember what we have received from God, and to banish from our minds as far as possible the forgetfulness of these things, as it is a harbinger of destruction and provokes to indignation God, the giver of all our prosperity. For the ungrateful man is also a blasphemer, as has been sapiently said by someone.
*And they were filled to satiety, and their hearts were exalted: on account of this they forgot me.*
B PN. Just as the most experienced physicians, having examined very carefully the causes of diseases, hasten to suppress them with remedies sought from their art; in the same way, I think, God, the Lord of all, looking into the mind and into the heart, investigates the causes of our passions, and thus finally composes and heals the diseased mind with fitting medicines. He blames, therefore, the children of Israel, as having been brought to forgetfulness of Him who supplies them with all the means of life and who knows how to make all things shine out, by reason of their excessive prosperity; although the law had clearly warned them beforehand: *Take heed to thyself, that thou forget not the Lord thy God, so as not to keep his commandments, and his judgments, and his ordinances, which I command thee this day. Lest when thou hast eaten, and been filled, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt in them, and thy sheep and thy oxen have multiplied for thee, and silver and gold have multiplied for thee, and all that thou hast have multiplied, thy heart be exalted, and thou forget the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage; who led thee through the wilderness, that great and terrible one, where there is a biting serpent, and scorpion, and drought, where there was no water.* C For luxury, and the splendor of unexpected goods, have power enough to lead us into forgetfulness of God, and to dissolve the human soul toward any kind of illegality. It will suffice, I think, as proof, [to point to] Israel, who broke away and found in the abundance of his prosperity an occasion for so grave a disease. Joyful things are, therefore, a slippery matter and difficult to manage, and a kind of smooth road to apostasy from God. But much better is moderate tribulation, as the voices of the saints will testify to us. For one said: *Lord, in tribulation we have remembered thee; in tribulation thy discipline is small to us.* But the most wise Paul set forth tribulation as the root and origin of every good for us, when he said: *Tribulation worketh patience; and patience, probation; and probation, hope; and hope putteth not to shame.* And somewhere the blessed David also chants: *It is good for me that thou hast humbled me, that I might learn thy ordinances.* D
*And I will be to them as a panther, and as a leopard. By the way of the Assyrians I will meet them as a bear bereft of her whelps, and I will break through the enclosure of their heart.*
B CLI. For since prosperity had created destruction for them, and provided an occasion for apostasy from God, therefore tribulations appropriate to their sicknesses are brought upon them. For bodies that have been severely ill and have already begun to putrefy will by no means be cured by mild medicines: there is need rather of the sword and of fire. Since, therefore, the greatness of divine gentleness profited the Israelites but little—not to say nothing at all—a certain bestial ferocity is sent upon them. He compares himself to those of the beasts that are most terrible and ravenous, and that have a very great propensity toward cruelty. Not because the divine and ineffable nature could truly conceive of such angers, but because this perhaps teaches besides that the Assyrians would act with such implacable wrath, and would appear inhuman and cruel (and indeed, what would they not be of such a sort?). Yet it might seem to be the work of God, inasmuch as He himself permitted it, pursuing those who have sinned so savagely with a fitting wrath. "I will find them," therefore, "as a panther, as a leopard," for they shall be deported into Assyria. "I will meet them also as a bear," being in need—that is, perhaps hungry, or exceedingly sad and wandering because her whelps have been taken away. For it is said that it is then, most of all, that wild beasts give vent to their innate ferocity to the utmost degree. "And I will break through the enclosure of their heart." By "enclosure" in this context he means protection. The protection of the heart is the boldness which one might possess against enemies; when this is broken through, the passion of fear enters in, so that one grants the victory to the enemies even without a battle. It is similar, therefore, as if he were to say: I will drive them to an extreme degree of timidity, while those who oppose them imitate a bear that is hungry and deprived of her whelps. Moreover, that even when they are entangled in the bonds of captivity and led away into the region of the Assyrians they will by no means turn away from their wickedness, but that their perversities will, as it were, follow them even thither, he shows when he adds: "And the whelps of the forest shall devour them there, the beasts of the field shall tear them to pieces." For the untamable nations of the Assyrians are compared to the whelps in the forests or thickets on account of their remarkable ferocity. C VERS. 9-11. Who will help thy dispersion, O Israel? Where is this thy king? And let him save thee in all thy cities. Let him judge thee whom thou saidst, Give me a king and a prince. And I gave thee a king in my wrath, and I have kept in my fury a gathering of iniquity. D CLII. I have already said, even a little before, that God had accused the sons of Israel, because they nevertheless preferred a human yoke, and refused to live under the reign of God, although He had reigned over their ancestors, and that through holy prophets. For He said above: "And by a prophet the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet he was preserved." But you, he says, by pushing aside acting under God, have fallen...
A from the blessed Samuel, saying: "Behold, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your way. Now therefore appoint for us a king to judge us, like all the other nations." Consequently, since you seemed to have consulted well for yourself by setting up a king over you, as the other nations have, and expected to be saved by him, where is he now, pray? Behold, it is the time for a display; let him wage your war, let him arm himself brilliantly, let him save the cities, let him shield those under his hand, let him drive back those from the opposition, let him valiantly pursue those who wish to ravage houses and cities. But perhaps you will say, although I seem to have been the one who asked, and you the one who gave, and who anointed Saul in the beginning—yes, He says, but "in anger I gave you a leader," and "I had in my wrath a gathering B of unrighteousness," as if wronged by you, He says. As if I were almost being pushed out from the thrones of the kingdom, at least as far as it depended upon you, I have been very angry. Nevertheless, I displayed it, even though, he says, the matter was not necessary for benefit. But in order that the experience of events might thoroughly assure you that you have planned foolishly and uselessly even in this matter. For where is he now, or what benefit could hereafter come to those who are being warred upon from him? Surely, if you were again under My providence, you would have appeared C altogether superior to your enemies.
Ephraim, his sin is hidden. The pangs of one travailing shall come upon him. This son of yours, the wise one, because he will not stand in the destruction of children.
CLIII. This, I think, is that which says: "He conceived pain and brought forth iniquity." For in the beginning Jeroboam, so that he might not be deprived of the scepter (since Israel desired to fulfill—according to the Law—the sacrifices, and for this cause to go up to Jerusalem), devised the golden calves. And he received into his mind, as it were, the sowing of some evil seed, colored and hidden, just as the sin was hidden. But, he says, the time of birth pangs will also come. This might be understood as that of the war and the captivity. For even if it did not happen to Ephraim himself, D yet it reached those who came from him, that is, the successors to his rule, because they became imitators of his impiety. He is discoursing, therefore, to the synagogue in Samaria, and says: "Who will save you? Is it this wise son of yours?" By saying "this," he either points to the one reigning at the time, who also accepted the reputation of being prudent (for this always follows those in power), or he signifies something else suited to the time, to which also the prophecy refers. For "in the tenth year of Ahaz reigning over Judah in Jerusalem, Hoshea son of Elah began to reign in Samaria over Israel, who did evil in the sight of the Lord." But at that time Shalmaneser, king of the Assyrians, marched against Samaria, and Hoshea became his servant. But the Assyrian was very angry with him for this reason. For he sent messengers to him, seeking tribute (gifts) and what he was accustomed to. He, for his part...
not bearing to be ordered by him, acted as an ambassador to So, the king of Egypt, seeking help from him. Salmanasar, being grieved at this, besieged Samaria for three whole years. Then, capturing Osee alive, he bound him in chains and recorded him among his servants. He also deported Israel to the mountains of the Persians and Medes. A Thus it seems that the prophetic word for us indicates Osee the son of Ela in these things, whom it also calls "prudent." Not that he was prudent in truth, but it uses a certain irony. For he was held by Israel to be a prudent man and one who had counseled very wisely, inasmuch as he had decided to call for help from Egypt for them; but he appeared to have acted and counseled frivolously and uselessly. "Who then," he says, "will deliver you from suffering the gravest calamities? This son of yours, that prudent one, because he will not endure at the destruction of your children." For he says that while your children are being crushed, he himself will not stand. He will be taken, and as a slave and a captive he will go along with the others to the Assyrians. Wise, therefore, is the one who says, "The Lord is my strength and my praise." B For all power and all salvation are from Him; and there is no one who saves apart from Him.
VERS. 14. *From the hand of hell I will rescue them, and from death I will redeem them. Where is your victory, O death? Where is your sting, O hell?*
CLIV. After having spoken to those who have sinned out of anger, and having foretold the things that would come to pass out of his grief, he returns to a gentleness becoming to God, and indicates that He has not turned away from the whole human race, nor sent it into irrevocable and eternal exile, but that forgiveness and a revocation to the ancient state will one day be given in Christ, adding that He will deliver them from the hand of hell and redeem them from death, those who were, without doubt, subject to the same from the beginning because of the sins committed against the Creator and because of the transgression of Adam. C For such a promise was made later, not only to Ephraim, or the offspring of Israel, but to all mortals. For, as the divine Paul writes, "Is God the God of the Jews only? No, but of the Gentiles also. Since he has justified the circumcision by faith, and the uncircumcision through faith." And He has redeemed us from the hand of hell, that is, from the tyranny of death; and the mode of redemption is understood to be the death of Christ. For He willingly endured slaughter on the wood for our sake, and triumphed over the principalities and powers, having nailed to it the bond that was against us. For then, then also, "Every iniquity has stopped its mouth," and the empire of death has been destroyed with sin removed. D For it itself is the victory of death, and the sting of hell. For so also the wise Paul has interpreted for us. For he says, "The sting of death is sin; and the power of sin is the law." Therefore, with the sin of all deleted, we too may rightly say, "Where is the victory"
of death? Where is your sting, O Hades?" For God is He who justifies; who is he that condemns? It is Christ Jesus who died for us, or rather, who gave Himself A as a ransom for all, the one who is more worthy than all, through whom and in whom we have been enriched, to return again to incorruption.
"Consolation is hidden from my eyes, because he will separate among the brothers."
CLV. Explanatory comments on the sequence
We shall read the first verse of the passage before us by way of interrogation and subdistinction, and it would suggest to us something of this sort, if we should desire to understand it rightly. The nature of man, he says, has been weakened by the diversity of sins, and has not deviated slightly toward transgression. Therefore, it has been not undeservedly condemned to death. But then, what manner of assistance will there be for those who have suffered this, or how might this downfall be turned aside? I myself will consider this. Or is there anyone among you so foolish as to suppose and to say that there is some method of consolation and soothing which the divine and incorrupt B mind has not foreseen? For I am the artificer, and I am not powerless to effect anything; but I know all things well, and without delay I rightly provide what is pleasing. Yet, he says, "he will separate among the brothers." He foretells to us through these things our Lord Jesus Christ. For He is the consolation of all, the method of healing; the Father predestined Him before eternal ages as Savior and Redeemer for those held by death. He says that He will separate among the brothers. And what is this? We have heard our Savior Christ, who belongs to us all, saying: "Do not suppose that I came to cast peace upon the earth. I did not come to cast peace, but a sword. For I came to divide a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and a man’s enemies shall be those of his own household." And again, foretelling the things that would come to pass for His holy disciples: C "Brother," he says, "will deliver brother over to death, and a father will rise up against his children." For since He has overthrown the tyranny of the devil, and has rescued those who were deceived from the snares of idolatry, He has thus bound those who have believed to the love toward Himself, so that they might even disregard natural affection, and not acknowledge brothers, houses, and lineages, and that the being called to Christ might suffice for them for every joy. Wherefore also the blessed David, in the person of those who have accomplished this, chants somewhere, and says: "My father and my mother have abandoned me, but the Lord has taken me up."
"The Lord will bring a burning wind from the desert upon him, and he will dry up his veins. He himself will dry up his land, and all his desirable vessels."
D
CLVI. Transfer of the discourse to the person of death
and he compares Christ to a southern wind and a burning heat. For he says that he is to be brought A from the desert in due season. It should be known, moreover, before other things, that the region of the Jews has a broad and immense desert, lying in the most southern parts; and if it ever happened that the wind from there blew violently, they were in no small fear, as the land was being parched. It appears also to some that it constricts the very veins of water under the earth, and inhibits them by the impulses of a violent and fiery blast. Therefore, he uses words from what is known and experienced. The prophetic words indicate to us, therefore, that Christ will apply himself against death, and, like a burning wind, will dry up all its fountains and veins. He remains, then, in the metaphor, and very aptly declares the mystery by means of that which is accustomed to happen. By "veins and fountains of death," we say that the modes of perdition are meant, that is, the wicked and opposing powers. For through them, as through veins, the multitude of those who perish is always provided to him in its due season. In the same sense you will understand his "desirable vessels." For one might not inappropriately call the vessels that destroy mortals upon the earth, and are dear to death, either the wicked and opposing powers toward us, or certainly certain impious men who serve the perversity of the demon and destroy others along with themselves. When, therefore, the burning wind has blown, he says, the whole land of death will wither. The discourse again consists of a metaphor, as if one might say perhaps: Death was grazing on men as on a grassy field; but that place will wither, nor will death find its fodder. For death is taken away, where Christ has set forth life for all, and has permitted immortality to be recalled.
CAP. XIV.
Vers. 1. *Samaria shall be destroyed, because she hath resisted against her God. They shall fall by the sword, and their sucking children shall be dashed in pieces, and their women with child shall be ripped up.*CLVII. Having finished most opportunely the discourse concerning Christ, and having announced the mystery of the universal redemption, the blessed prophet again laments the calamities of those who had offended God, and D as it were mourns for the Samaritans. For whereas it was permitted, he says, and permitted abundantly, to enjoy blessings from the gentleness of God, they ran of their own accord to suffer punishments from the One who is angry, because they wished to resist Him, and to oppose their own will to the Lord’s commandments, and almost to be seen contending in battle against Him, or to be of the number of those truly rebelling against Him. Therefore, without any mercy, they themselves will be slaughtered by the sword, and new methods of cruelty will be devised against their women and children. For, together with the infants just born, those who have not yet even received life will suffer premature death; the hostile sword will anticipate their exit from the womb. That it is therefore calamitous and destructive to resist God, is perceived also by experience itself. B Death was grazing, as if it were a field, on those upon the earth; but it will be dry, and the one who has granted life and brought back immortality through Christ C will not find pasture.
CHAP. XIV.
*Samaria shall be destroyed, because she hath resisted against her God. They shall fall by the sword, and their sucking children shall be dashed in pieces, and their women with child shall be ripped up.*A "Turn, O Israel, to the Lord thy God, for thou hast been weakened by thine iniquities. Take with you words, and turn to the Lord your God. Say to him, that you may not take iniquity, and may take good; and we will render the fruit of our lips. Assur shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses, and we will no longer say: Our gods, [they are] the works of our hands."
B CLVIII. One might not lightly admire, even in this passage, the prophet’s skill and the arrangement of his discourse; for, as was fitting for a holy man, the words are spoken in a way full of divine initiation or heavenly doctrine. He has proclaimed beforehand the future liberation through Christ, and that in due time death shall be exhausted, and the sting of hell shall cease. And in addition to these things, that there is no manner of consolation or comfort that could possibly be conceived by anyone which is not known to God. After this, it was necessary to persuade them that they ought henceforth to contemplate and perform those things which pertain to their salvation, and to endeavor to lead back to sobriety, as it were, those who were intoxicated—not by wine from anywhere, but by worldly desire and a love for clinging to the deceits of demons.
That they might not, therefore, through promises of kindness and philanthropy, become supine and negligent, and treat with contempt the discourse of their master, which knows how to bring to sound-mindedness, for this reason he usefully recalls them to the memory of their bitter sufferings. And when he had said that Samaria would be destroyed because it had resisted its God, he immediately adds those things which seem to have C no small power to strike terror into and grieve the hearers. He says, indeed, that infants shall be dashed to the ground, and that the mothers themselves shall perish, not yet having brought forth into the light from their wombs the much-desired flower. Having therefore first struck them with fear, he subsequently lets fall into the hearts of those he is admonishing the word that calls to repentance, rightfully demanding that they must turn back and return to God.
For by saying, "Thou hast been weakened in thine iniquities," he lets it be understood that their weakness will entirely and altogether cease together with their iniquities; and that if the manifold ways of their apostasy are removed from the midst, their adverse circumstances will also depart at the same time. He smooths out, moreover, the manner of the return to God; for he says, quite beautifully, that sinners will fare better and will perceive God to be propitious—not by offering those things that come from wealth, not by consecrating gold, not by being resolved to honor him with silver vessels, not by the sacrifice of oxen, nor by gladdening him with the slaughter of sheep; but if they should offer him words, and should resolve to appease the Lord of all with praises.
"Take with you words," he says, "say to God, that you may not receive iniquity, and may receive good"—that is, that you may not be punished in proportion to your iniquities, but may rather be enriched with the abundance of good things—"and promise to bring to him the offerings of your lips, hymns of thanksgiving, and confession." For such are the fruits of the tongue. But, he says, cry out and firmly promise that you will no longer say: "Our gods, the works of our hands." For these were the ways of apostasy; on account of these they had D turned away from God.
and having dishonored the God who continually saves, they bestowed their hope upon human assistance. And while the Egyptians were warring against them, they called upon the Assyrian. But when the Assyrian weapons were again raised against Samaria, they hired with money the Egyptian mounted archers, that is to say, those skilled in cavalry warfare. For this reason, they heard God saying clearly: "Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who trust in horses and chariots." They were mocked, and quite justly, as they strove to make an Egyptian man, and not God, their protector—"flesh of horses," according to what is written. Therefore, they promise to depart from serving idols and to no longer place their hopes in men. This amendment of all their previously committed transgressions calls the Creator of all back to gentleness, as He says through the voice of the prophet: "Repent and turn away from your iniquities, O house of Israel, and they shall not be for you a punishment for iniquity." A
*Who is in you shall have mercy on the orphan.*
CLIX. The voice of the prophet exhorting to repentance and manifesting the gentleness of the Lord, cutting off the hesitation of one who wishes to repent.
Do not doubt, He says, O Israel, that you will obtain what you desire if you first yield yourself to repentance. For He who is in you knows how to pity and to show mercy to orphans. Thus also the divine David says: "He shall take up the orphan and the widow," demonstrating, I think, the benignity of the divine and ineffable nature through one thing, namely, through those persons who are by nature most worthy of pity. And if one should wish to apply the term "orphan" to Israel itself—for it had almost lost God as its Father, B even though He said clearly: "Israel is my firstborn son"—I would say that even in this way it is correctly understood. Therefore, those who have relied upon the goodness and facility of the Lord of all toward clemency ought to embrace repentance most promptly and, by amendments for the better, wash away the stains of their past transgressions.
Vεrs. 5. *I will heal their habitations, I will love them openly, because I have turned my anger away from them.*
CLX. Soon, and as if from the very doors, the Word from God is introduced, promising to heal those who are sick and to love them openly, that is to say, clearly and publicly to lavish from henceforth the increase of indulgence, and of charity, and of every good thing.
He teaches, moreover, that He has set aside His wrath against them, and that the humanity which is dear to Him will not depart from them. The prophet seems, however, in these words not only to remember the conversion of those who are descendants from the blood of Israel, C but also to interweave the calling of the nations. For not all who are of Israel are Israelites. Rather, others are counted as children who follow the footsteps of faith in the uncircumcision of the father D
A of ours, Abraham. Therefore, the calling of the nations is introduced simultaneously, as is the union with God in Christ through faith and sanctification. Furthermore, the supply of spiritual gifts and the abundance of grace, namely that which is in Christ, is signified.
By this, there is also signified the supply of spiritual things and the abundant wealth of grace. It is clear that this arises from that which is in Christ.
Vers. 6. *I will be as the dew to Israel.* 193 CLXI. In every way making fat and irrigating the mind of those called to repentance with heavenly consolation; certainly through the Spirit, for the dew falls from above. *It will bloom as the lily.* CLXII. It will exhale, he says, the fragrance that is in Christ, and the sweet scent of a holy manner of life, and it shall be a choice flower for the future.
*And it will cast its roots as Lebanon, and its branches will go forth.* B CLXIII. By these words he indicates that the mind of those who believe is hardly moved from its state, nor can it easily be conquered by evil spirits. For it is so safe and established, just like, indeed, the plant of Lebanon, which sends its root down to great depth; while in its branches above, it spreads out no little way. For when the root is nourishing, the outgrowths of the shoots are surely strong.
*And it shall be as a fruitful olive tree.* CLXIV. Ever-flourishing, that is to say, and fruitful; for such is the species of the olive tree.
*And its scent as frankincense.* CLXV. The nature of frankincense is most fragrant. For this reason, the oracles of the Mosaic law wished it to be holy to the Lord. For they ordained that the fine flour offered in sacrifice to God should often be sprinkled with frankincense. The fruit of those who are called, therefore, is fragrant, he says, and acceptable as a sacrifice to God, who loves virtue. C
*They shall return, and shall sit under his shadow.* CLXVI. They shall put an end, he says, to their ancient offenses, and they shall return with strength to worship the living and true God, and they shall be established under him in a single-minded way, expecting their salvation from the enemies not from another, but from him alone. The Church gathered from the nations aptly fulfills this, saying of the Savior of all in the Song of Songs: "In his shadow I desired and sat." To those accustomed to doing this, let the blessed David also cry out, saying: "The sun shall not scorch you by day, nor the moon by night." This was provided to those of old by God, with a cloud shading them in the desert, pleasantly signifying the supernal and divine tabernacle. Moreover, he says "they shall sit" very rightly, so that from this the constancy and firmness of the will of those who are returning may be understood. D
A They shall live, and they shall be inebriated with wheat. These are the acceptable gifts of conversion and stability. And they shall be partakers of eternal life, he says, and they shall abound in power—spiritual power, clearly, for this is what I think is meant by "they shall be inebriated with wheat." Moreover, it is written: "bread strengthens man’s heart." For bodies rejoice in their appropriate nourishment, but the divine and heavenly Word strengthens the soul of man. For since it is able to pass from weakness to strength, converting itself from error to the knowledge of God, and leaping forth from the pits of depravity vigorously toward the desire for virtue, how can this be doubted? Since, indeed, it is truly a fault of weakness to fall into sloth, and into worldly pleasures, and to delight in serving idols. But the noble deed of spiritual strength is perceived in alacritously applying oneself to performing good works, and in counting—on top of this—that nothing is more excellent than the love toward God, and in walking the path leading thereto with struggle and without falling.
*And his memorial shall flourish like a vine, as the wine of Libanus.* B
CLXVIII. God says somewhere to the mother of the Jews, that is, to the Synagogue: "But I planted thee a fruitful vine, all true." Also, the divine David sings to us about her: "Thou broughtest a vine out of Egypt; thou didst cast out the nations, and plantedst it. Thou madest a way before it." Israel was, therefore, a vine spreading with branches. But after it fell into offense against God in many ways: "The Lord broke down its wall, and all they that pass by the way have gathered the vintage thereof. The boar out of the wood hath laid it waste, and a wild beast has devoured it." For it was set as if for trampling by those wishing to do harm, to be fed upon by swine and asses, that is, by pleasures and movements averse to reason. Therefore, it withered. C Nevertheless, its memorial, namely Israel, has flourished again in Christ. He says "memorial" because not all have believed, but a remnant has been preserved as if for a memory of it. But to Ephraim, or Israel, there came from God a grace like the wine of Libanus, that is, fragrant and yielding little to frankincense in sweetness. Now, such is the discourse concerning Christ, and about Him the blessed David says: "Wine cheereth the heart of man." To apply ourselves to this with great alacrity the holy discourse urges us; for it holds thus: "Eat, and drink, and be inebriated, dearly beloved." For there is no satiety for the saints in those things which are supplied through Christ, and those things which are taken even to drunkenness are profitable.
VERS. 9. *What have they to do any more with idols?*
CLXIX. For if he has partaken of so great an abundance of such venerable and heavenly goods, he will withdraw entirely from the will to err, nor will he cleave to the worship of the works of his own hands. For of what good being in want would he still seek it from others? Is it not so...
A that such a search is altogether useless to those who have been led astray? For what will lifeless matter grant to anyone, to whom it was justly said by God: "Do good, and do evil, and we shall know that you are gods"? But they would never do evil to anyone, being made by hands. For how should they, or from where? Nor, for that matter, would they provide anything beneficial or useful to them. Let them hear, then, and most justly: "The gods who have not made the heaven and the earth, let them perish from the earth, and from under this heaven." Therefore, He who has made it, and has anchored affection unto God, signifies this by saying: "What has he to do any more with idols?"
"I have humbled him, and I will strengthen him."
CLXX. "I have the power," He says, "to afflict those whom I see spurning the ways of sincerity toward me. I strengthen, on the other hand, those who would choose to perform virtue and to know God B truly and by nature." Neither, therefore, the affliction nor the weakness of Israel came from them, nor can the transformation into strength be understood as a gift of demons; but it is a good bestowed by God, just as in fact the being weak was a failing born of movements of wrath. Wisely, then, and lovingly toward God, the great David sings to us: "The Lord is my strength and my praise."
"I am as a shadowing juniper; from me is thy fruit found."
CLXXI. The juniper is a tree, yet so thick and spreading in its foliage that it seems to be a kind of hand-crafted roof, C neither yielding passage to the rays of the sun, nor on the other hand to the downpours of rain, even if torrential streams should ever pour upon the earth. That, therefore, those who have been made by God will have unshakable sheltering, or aid, He implies by saying: "I am as a shadowing juniper." That all fruitfulness of those under God could not happen otherwise than in Christ and through Christ, He himself confirms, speaking in evangelical oracles: "Without me ye can do nothing." Let it be said, then, with good reason to each of the believers, if anyone should be distinguished, and admirable, and adorned in the boastings of virtue: "From me is thy fruit found."
"Who is wise, and shall understand these things? or prudent, and shall know them? for the ways of the Lord are right, and the just shall walk in them; but the impious shall grow weak in them."
CLXXII. Him who understands these things, He very rightly calls wise and most prudent. For the grasping of divine oracles is not set forth D for whosoever casually wishes to take it. Nor could anyone understand a parable, and a dark saying, and the utterances of the wise, and enigmas, according to that which is written, unless Christ, through illumination from above, casting into the mind and heart like a brilliant ray, has sent down His own grace. He teaches, moreover, that to be able to traverse the path that is straight and pleasing to God is a journey free from struggle for the lovers of moderation. Nor is it a rough