Commentary on the Prophet Joel

virtue to be a difficult thing. For to those who are not minded in this way, a desiring and prompt mind supplies strength, so that they may be carried along as if by a most rapid course toward the achievement for themselves of a good reputation; but for these others, a propensity and inclination toward wickedness and sin renders them timid and impotent, and they have nothing from God by which they might perform the duties of virtue, because they have from the beginning neglected virtue itself. Wherefore, if we are sharp-witted and wise, let us ask of God that we may be able to do what is fitting. He will certainly make us heirs to our prayer, since He is kind, and will fill us with spiritual strength through Christ. Through whom and with whom, to God and the Father, be glory, with the holy Spirit, unto all eternity. Amen. ^B

OF OUR HOLY FATHER CYRIL, ARCHBISHOP OF ALEXANDRIA, COMMENTARY ON THE PROPHET JOEL.

PROEMIUM.

1. The divine Joel appears to have prophesied at the same time as the others placed before him—I mean Osee, and also Amos. For the Hebrews think that he should be placed not after Michaeas, but after those I have named. He complains, as is my opinion, against the Israelites and attacks them most severely, because they had arrived at such a degree of pride and stupor, and had so lost all sense of suffering, that they were not restrained from sins by any punishment at all, nor were they overcome by such frequent and—so to speak—heaped-up calamities, when not even any time had intervened during which they might have enjoyed even the slightest respite from their miseries. It is clear, furthermore, that Isaias also spoke to the same effect. “He was angry,

and the furor of the Lord of Hosts was against His people, and He stretched out His hand against them,” and a little later: “In all this His furor is not turned away, but His hand is still high.” ^A You perceive how, having suffered one evil after another, the hand of Him who strikes remained still aloft, as if about to inflict new blows straightway. Just as, for diseases that are difficult to cure, not merely one incision but sometimes many must be applied, so the human mind, overcome by the torpor of apathy, must be touched by a more frequent blow, so that when it is finally recalled, it may be able to learn anew how it might pursue its own interests for the future. Joel, therefore, seems to chide the Israelites wisely, as men who, having been afflicted with many wounds, had not yet left room for admonition. He advises them at the same time to cast aside what is most shameful and to choose to turn to the God who softens. Furthermore, he adds the promise of things most dear to them, provided they choose to repent, and he inspires confidence that they will find the Master most kind and most gentle. This is the entire scope and goal of the prophecy. We shall discuss each point in order, following the contemplation of the matters set forth.

FIRST VOLUME. CHAPTER 1.

VERS. 1. *The word of the Lord which came to Joel, the son of Bathuel.*

II. ^B The prophet says that the word of God came to him so that we might accord faith to his predictions, our souls being affected as is fitting, and confident that all things which are foretold will come to pass. In this, the Savior Himself also confirms us, saying: “My words shall not pass away.” For truth is not deceitful, and whatever God says will certainly come to pass; for He is indeed “confirming the word of His servant, and verifying the counsel of His messengers.” Wherefore, He most knowingly demands that the listeners believe, not that he is a vain speaker like some, or that he is bringing forth what seemed good to him from his own heart, but most clearly testifies that he speaks the words from the mouth of the Lord, in the Spirit. Necessarily, moreover, he added, ^C “son of Bathuel,” lest some other person should be understood instead of this Joel. For many, without doubt, were called by this name, yet not all were begotten by Bathuel. Certainly, therefore, for the sake of distinction, as I suppose, the name of Bathuel has nonetheless been added.

VERS. 2, 3. *Hear this, ye old men, and with your ears perceive, all inhabitants of the earth; if such things have come to pass in your days, or in the days of your fathers. Tell your children of these things, and your children to their children, and their children to another generation.*

III. ^D He reminds those worn out by age of ancient times and old memory, and bids them consider with themselves when, and under what circumstances, similar calamities or

^A occurrences brought on by God in His wrath may have been inflicted upon their fathers, or upon those even further back. He says, therefore, that they must consider whether the stories are strange and unusual, and perhaps known to no one of the ancients. He further says that it is very fitting for others, too, to consider whether such things have happened to them; and that this will be a subject for endless stories, not reaching only to one, or two, or three generations, but rather extending far beyond that. For just as we say that accounts of illustrious and perhaps even delightful events are worthy of the ears of the many, and that it may even be fitting to take pleasure in them; so too, it seems that things which have reached the end of their disasters and sufferings are, in a way, worthy of being remembered. For such things do not only, as it were, forcibly express the truth, but they demand to be recounted, even when their urgency is made more oppressive by an overflow of impudence, and they contend for glory with the most distinguished events. And as good things, I think, are not uselessly commemorated, so too are the unfortunate and the gloomy. For the former stimulate the listeners to a love of virtue; the latter teach them to pray that evils may be averted before they come and are felt; and they do not allow those who are eager to entangle themselves in the same wicked deeds to do so, by showing them the things through which others have paid the penalty.

VERS. 4. The residue of the caterpillar has the locust eaten; and the residue of the locust has the bruchus eaten; and the residue of the bruchus has the mildew eaten.

IV. ^B The speech of the holy prophets is always in some way veiled, and they relate the most grievous things with reluctance; and lest the hearers be stirred to more unrestrained anger, they cast over them such veils of obscurity as they can. By devising riddles and parables, they are of no small benefit; and at times their discourse makes use of useful examples. Such is the passage found in Ezekiel: "A great eagle, with great wings, long in its reach, and full of feathers, which has an urge to enter Lebanon, and it took the choice branches of the cedar. It plucked off the tops of its tenderness, and carried them into the land of Canaan." For it signified Assur, the ruler of the land of the Babylonians, who tore away the choice things from Israel and carried off the plundered goods to his own home. And that failures of the fields, shortages of mature crops, and cruel and long-lasting famines have often existed throughout the land of Judea, the holy Scripture reports. Nay, some, emaciated by famine, were ^C driven to such straits that they would buy an ass’s head for fifty shekels. The calamitous time is also shown by the two women squabbling over their infants; for when one had been consumed, they asked for a judgment from the king regarding the living one. If, therefore, the prophetic word indicates to us through these veils the barrenness of the fields and the corruption of the fruits, it is understood to be a thing unbearable even in this way; for how is it not greatly intolerable, and more worthy of silence than of narration, to be devastated gradually, without interval, by the greatest and most savage calamities? But if the obscurity of what has been said

^A allows us to extract clearer meanings, I think that the prophet, through the caterpillar, the locust, the locust-beetle, and the blight, ^B and the terrible and intolerable afflictions resulting therefrom, intends to signify the devastations of each era and to place before our eyes the conditions of the captivities, by which they were consumed and perished, just as crops in the fields were devoured and reduced to nothing by hostile armies. For many, in turn, have been the ruinous insurrections, as the neighboring nations have often ravaged the Jewish territory; sometimes even those who have reigned over Egypt undertook an expedition there. For while Roboam was holding the royal honor in Jerusalem, Susacim, king of Egypt, went up, took the royal residence, emptied all the treasuries within it, seized the golden spears and shields that Solomon had made, and returned home with a splendid victory. Moreover, Azael the Syrian also inflicted on them no moderate wounds. Phul, king of the Babylonians, also subjected the tribes beyond the Jordan. And even before these, Pharao Nechao, king of Egypt, while Josias held the scepter, invaded Samaria and made the region tributary, having exacted a hundred talents of gold. Therefore, while the calamities and devastations of the Jews have been many at different times, four are more illustrious and memorable. For while Osee, son of Ela, was reigning in Samaria, Salmanasar the Assyrian went up and deported Israel to the mountainous parts of the Persians and Medes. Then, a little time later, while Jeremias was prophesying, Nabuchodonosor captured ^C Jerusalem by force of arms, and Israel was barely released from captivity by Cyrus, son of Cambyses, once the seventy years had elapsed. Then, in the second period, Antiochus, nicknamed the Illustrious, appeared. He came into Judea, burned the divine temple, plundered its vessels, and compelled all the Jews to abandon their ancestral customs. Whence arose the most illustrious and admirable struggles of the Machabees. A fourth war was brought upon the Israelites by the Romans, when they were scattered to every wind. It appears, therefore, that the prophet, obscurely and as if by way of paradigms, wished by a narrative of this kind ^D to convey his proper message to us, obliquely signifying either the wars themselves through the caterpillar, the locust, the locust-beetle, and indeed the blight, or the leaders of the expeditions themselves, whom we have just mentioned.

But if anyone wishes to record a more moral exposition for these things, he would not stray from what is fitting. For if a soul were seen to be bitten by frequent and successive passions, and as it were losing each virtue, adding little by little this suffering to that through sloth, how could one not truly say regarding it: "The rest of the caterpillar did the locust eat, and the rest of the locust did the locust-beetle eat, and the rest of the locust-beetle did the blight eat"? For like the blight, and the others of this

^A kind of plague, the evil and unclean powers, in a way, devour the good things that are in us when they enter into the mind, and are accustomed to consume all things with insatiable gluttony. For vigilance is truly a good thing. And indeed, the Proverbist also benefits us not a little, saying: "If the spirit of him who has power should rise up against you, do not leave your place, because a remedy will make great sins cease." For when passions are rebuked at the beginning, they are both calmed and checked. But if they happen to find a path to the worse that is broad and without admonition, they tear the whole soul apart in every way, and no longer endure the reproof of reason.

Verse 5. *Resipiscite, ebrii, a vino vestro, et plorate. Plangite, omnes qui bibitis vinum ad ebrietatem; quoniam ablata est ab ore vestro lætitia et gaudium.*

V. Beyond the immediate matter, again, I think, you may see here clearly how wise the divine Paul was in the highest degree, as he invites to salvation those who have been netted by faith in Christ, and says, at one moment, "Awake, you who sleep"; and at another, again, as he urges them to love endurance in toils, he speaks thus: "Endure for discipline; God is dealing with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline?" For God strikes sinners, not as one who wishes it—for He is loving to mankind—but as though compelled, converting them, and making the occurrence a means of help for them; just as, certainly, good physicians also provide the sick with very sharp and unpleasant medicines, intending by the endurance of the pain to dispel the disease. For observe how, after first showing ^C the scourges, and demonstrating beforehand what wrath will do, he constrains their jaws with "a curb and a rein," as it is written, almost wishing to force them back and to pull them, as it were, to walk in the right path, bidding them to change their mind and to acquire that which was better and most proper. "Awake, then, you who are drunk, from your wine." Do you hear how ^D he rebukes them as children who have lost their senses and are already intoxicated? For if they had been vigilant at the beginning, it would have been enough to be punished by the locust alone. But because they remained hardened after the first penalty was inflicted, a second was added, and after this a third, and finally it came even to the fourth. Nevertheless, he bids those who have at least awakened late, and recovered their senses, and set aside the love of pleasure—which is, as it were, a drunkenness of the mind—and their insane lust for sinning, to perceive hereafter their past falls, indulging in groans and tears for their transgressions.

It should be known, moreover, that for each of us there is a wine, as it were, which is his own, that intoxicates the heart. For we are divided, if I may so say, according to the diseases of our souls. For one of us is snatched, beyond other sins, towards avarice; another has a mind for the things of the world and acts sickly with the care of the flesh, immersed in delights and pleasures; another gives himself up to any other sin whatsoever.

^A We are indeed moved toward things detestable and hateful to God—some not very zealously, others with the full force of their drives, having a proclivity of mind that spurns instruction. For this reason the prophet says: “Awake, you who are drunk from your wine.” He counsels this because it is fitting that those who drink wine to the point of drunkenness should wail. For as I was just saying, they do not stop until they have had their fill and are satisfied, but they drink until they are, as it were, intoxicated, and they drink beyond all measure. From the mouths of such people, he says, joy and gladness have been taken away. For Christ speaks truly: that those who mourn now shall surely be comforted. Yet it will follow for those accustomed to living in luxury that they must shed tears, because the end of pride is mourning, and wailings, and it drags those who love it down into the yawning abyss of Hades. David also speaks truly when he says to God: “For there is no one in death who remembers you,” and again, “For the dead will not praise you, O Lord, nor will all who go down into Hades. But we the living will bless you, O Lord.” ^B But if the force of the things set before us is to be understood in a more earthly sense: if the causes of their joy have been consumed by the caterpillar and the other pests, then certainly, along with the abundance of the fruits, the joy and gladness of those who have suffered will be destroyed. For it is necessary for those who have painful things to be downcast, in such a way, I mean, as to be able to melt the flesh with bitter and unbearable grief.

“For a nation has ascended upon my land, strong and innumerable. Its teeth are the teeth of a lion, and its molars are those of a lion’s cub. It has set my vine for destruction, and my fig trees for shattering; searching, it has searched it out, and has uprooted it, and has made its branches white.”

^C 3. Desiring to stir up a rivalry, in a way, with what has happened, or rather with what is expected to happen, and calling forth tears based on repentance, he narrates bit by bit the things that will come to pass and, by bringing the assault of the sad events almost before one’s very eyes, he provides a lament for those who are being struck, and instructs with a mournful song those who, as it were, have been commanded to wail, and finally persuades them to say: “A nation has ascended upon my land, strong and innumerable; and as far as the sharpness of teeth goes, it yields little to lions and lions’ cubs.” Now the fact is true, even if one happens to understand it as referring to the locust, the locust-beetle, and the caterpillar. ^D For the thing is irresistible, and the assault of such creatures is entirely unconquerable, and it is capable of destroying utterly the produce in the fields—the fruits, I mean, and the grass—and of ruining the fig trees and the vines, and of leaving the appearance of the field bare and unseemly. But if the discourse should be turned back again toward the inhumanity of the despoilers and the total desolation of the land, it would suggest nothing else but that their entire land has perished, and that even the leading men among them have been consumed, they who by glory and wealth exceeded the measure of the common people (just as we should understand both the fig tree and the vine in this order). Nevertheless...

^A we are not ignorant of what happens to the vines themselves if the teeth of locusts chance to fall upon them. For as they drink up the moisture within the plants and absorb all their vital energy, they dry them up before long; for this reason they also appear white. Therefore, the teeth of the consuming enemies have utterly exhausted those that are placed in the order of vines, or even in the form of fig trees, and have reduced them to uselessness, either striking them down with the sword or subjecting them to the yokes of slavery.

One might, if he wished, interpret these things also in a spiritual way concerning sinners, into whose minds and hearts there constantly creep, just like locusts, bruchi, and caterpillars, ^B evil spirits and various modes and types of passions, which make them appear despicable and most foul, having lost the flower of piety and possessing no sprout of justice. To these, therefore, I would affirm it is fitting to offer perennial tears and lamentation before God, and a yearning to obtain pardon and help from God through persistent prayers; so that, although it be late and at length, they might barely become wise and robust, having been freed from the things into which they have fallen. This also pertains to those whose mind has turned aside to listen to teachers of new opinions and those who adulterate the sincere dogmas of the Church: of whom it may be said most deservedly, ^C “Their teeth are the teeth of lions, and their molars are those of the cubs of lions.” It is a genus of men hated by God, adulterous and pestilent, devouring and consuming the minds of the simpler ones with their inventions, so that not even a relic of their former doctrine appears in them. These reduce the Lord’s vineyard to a withered state, rendering the garden empty of figs, bare, and uncultivated. “Whose judgment does not cease,” ^D but the just condemnation will be in its own time. Those, therefore, who spend their life in ignorance will be food for the locust, the bruchus, and the caterpillar, and they will remain destitute of all decency, and there is nothing blooming in them. But the soul that is wise and lover of God, and opulent in the dogmas of the truth, and almost overflowing with the fruits of justice, and having a heart wonderfully blooming on every side, will say with all boldness, like the bride understood in the Canticles: “Let my nephew descend into his garden, and let him eat the fruit of his fruits.”

The fruits of piety and the sweet apples, where there is a true desire for learning, are as fruits to Christ, the Savior of us all, who is also our nephew, in that he was born of our sister, the Lady, who is in all ways uncontaminated.

VERS. 8. *Lament to me over the virgin girt with sackcloth over her husband, her virgin spouse.*

VII. He does not demand that they perform repentance, and the mourning therein understood, with a light hand, nor as if in passing, or sluggishly, and in just any way; but with other, much more serious, labors not lightly

^A to be undertaken, and to strive earnestly that their toils should be proportionate to their committed sins. It is the custom for a newly wedded girl to mourn excessively for her dead bridegroom, and to receive such bitter sorrows for his sake, that her mind rejects every consolation, and no manner of mourning whatsoever seems to her to be sufficient or worthy. For the female nature is confessedly given to tears and mourning, especially when, above others, she sees her virgin and youthful bridegroom lying pitiably in their bed, dead and breathless. He says, therefore, that the multitude of the Jews ought to be likened to this, and to ward off the things that come from wrath, and to check the divine agitation, as it were, which is coming upon them uncontrollably, by their laments, being confident that the Lord of all is good and gentle, ^B a lover of mankind, and of great mercy, and repenting over evils, according to his nature.

Yet the Synagogue of the Jews has not mourned for the heavenly bridegroom, that is to say, Christ. For it killed him, and behaved insolently toward him. Wherefore it is debarred from the divine bridal chamber, and is excluded from the sacred marriage, and is utterly destitute of the feast, and henceforth disinherited and cast away, and most far removed from the hope of the saints. But there has been called in her stead that young maiden, newly born, that chaste and wise one, the bride from Lebanon, the beautiful dove—namely, the Church from the Gentiles, which confesses the very passion of Christ, and all but weeps for him, because she suffers with him and mourns, and takes up her own cross and follows him, and loves to walk in the same footsteps by reason of the love she has for him. ^C And Emmanuel may be considered the virgin bridegroom of her who (although she may seem [to have been] defiled by adultery and to have fornicated with Satan, according to the manner of her wandering) [is now pure] through the regeneration from above with which we have been enriched through the Spirit, denying the carnal generation. For it is written concerning Christ: "He came unto his own, and his own received him not. As many, however, as received him," and the things that follow.

"The sacrifice and the libation have been taken away from the house of the Lord. Mourn, you who minister at the altar of the Lord, because the fields have been laid waste. Let the earth mourn, because the wheat has been laid waste, the wine has dried up, the oil has grown scant. They have dried up."

VIII. Just as if he were to say more clearly: Thanksgivings have ceased, and there is absolutely no one any longer who sacrifices, who brings an offering. There is no one who brings the first fruits of the crops—perhaps the sheaf, as the first fruits of the wheat harvest—to be set before God according to the law of Moses. ^D There is no one, he says, who puts [them] in a basket and walks to the house of the Lord, and renders to God hymns of thanksgiving, which was their wont to offer. Therefore he commands the chosen race, I mean the priests, to mourn—not because they have lost their own gains, for whose sake they labored, but because they are grieving exceedingly for the people entrusted to them, and are set for the performance of the sacred liturgy

^A, they must be holy and worthy of admiration, so that they may reconcile God to themselves before all others, and truly imitate the holy minister Moses, who led Israel and said: "I pray, O Lord, this people has sinned a great sin, and if you forgive them the sin, forgive; but if not, blot me out of your book which you have written." For the priesthood acts as a mediator between God and the people; and it is fitting, I suppose, and indeed highly reasonable, that those appointed to such a venerable ministry should have the freedom of supplication. For they consecrate their own lives to God almost above all others, by consuming the sacrifices offered for sin. For so the Lord of all speaks through the voice of Hosea: "They eat the sins of my people, and they will take their souls in their iniquities." That is to say, when the peoples sin by transgressing what is ordained by the law, then the sacred ministers of the divine altars will take their own souls to God on behalf of them. ^B He uses "will take" instead of "will offer," or "will dedicate," and said "take" for "to consecrate to God." And further, what is the cause of their mourning? "The fields are desolate," he says, "and indeed the wheat is consumed by the teeth of the locusts, and as if scorched by mildew." For mildew burns and reduces the crops of the fields to ashes. He says that the earth must also mourn, widowed of its fruits. "For the wheat is ruined, the wine has dried up, the oil has failed." "They have dried up," that is, all things from it have passed away, and those for which it was natural to be admired greatly, as a mother and nurse of good fruits. And let these things be said by us as regarding things perceived by the senses. ^C But everyone who is a most approved priest will lament those who, because of excessive madness, do not accept the purification through faith, and have not loved to be sanctified by Christ. For they will remain utterly and entirely destitute of spiritual fruitfulness, and will be in need of everything capable of nourishing them and raising them to spiritual vitality, having no wheat or wine, and bereft of the use of oil; for the discourse is mystical. Because to those who accept the faith, Christ will present himself as the bread of life (for he said: "I am the bread of life"), and as wine gladdening the heart of man. Understand again, I say. They will also be anointed with oil, that is, the intellectual and sanctifying oil, and as one understood in the participation of the grace from him. But those who have a cruel intention, ^D a bitter and godless mind, disobedient and stubborn, he will show to be utterly destitute, and completely devoid of the goods we have just mentioned. And let us know that even Paul, performing the priestly office of the Gospel of Christ to the Gentiles, almost mourned for the unbelievers of Israel. For he said that "I have great sorrow," and the rest that follows. But the discourse concerning this, as I said, is mystical and hidden.

^A "Farmers, mourn your possessions over the wheat and the barley, because the harvest has perished from the field. The vine has withered, and the fig trees have grown few. The pomegranate, and the palm, and the apple, and all the trees of the field have withered, because the sons of men have put to shame joy."

^B This is truly mourning, and pain, and lamentation for those accustomed to labor in the fields, the total destruction of things in the fields, and the being able to gather nothing at all from them, and that after long labors at times. And to see the choice trees in the gardens, and the vines together with the crops ruined, and even the wild growth itself perishing along with the gardens. "For all," he says, "the trees of the field have withered, because the sons of men have put to shame joy," that is to say, they have shown that it is a time of disgrace and shame, and of reproofs, and of punishment and judgment, for those who dwell in the land, during which it was likely that they would even be expanded in prosperity, gathering the produce from the fields, and measuring out the storehouses with corn, and singing the harvest songs to those reaping, and rejoicing over the herds of sheep, while most abundant and blooming grass was scattered for them.

And the discourse seems again ^C here to name as farmers, enigmatically, those who were leading the orders of the Jews at that time, whom he also said must mourn, as those who were soon to walk toward the destruction of all things throughout the region—that is, of those who dwell in the land—who might be understood as in the order of wheat, and barley, and beautiful trees. The force of the meaning will perhaps fit more appropriately the Scribes and Pharisees, who, being placed in the order of farmers, have acted recklessly against Christ, and have killed the heir, so that they might have the fruit themselves, and become henceforth masters of the vineyard—as if exulting in the fields with the populous multitude of those yoked beneath them, and accustomed to harvest those among them who were most brilliant, like a pomegranate, like an apple. ^D But the war of the Romans took them; it consumed great and small, illustrious and obscure, as if understood in the figs, as I said just now, as in the vine perhaps, the palm and the apple, and in the trees, as in the barley and the wheat. For the manners are various, and the measure of life is not in all of them. Since he once compared the land of the Jews to a field, and named the leaders as farmers, the discourse has preserved the metaphor until the end, comparing to crops and trees in a different manner those under them.

If, however, anyone should think it necessary to transfer these things to a moral exposition, he will think rightly. For the vine, and the fig tree, and the other trees, which are accustomed to be crowned with beautiful fruits, must be compared to virtues and to achievements for the mind. But if a man is wise and sagacious, and eager for good renown, he will cultivate a garden beautifully flowering and filled with happy trees in his own heart and mind, nurturing many kinds of virtues and all modes of goodness within himself. But if, on the contrary, he is slothful, and given to pleasure, and has leaned far too much toward dishonorable things, he will surely wail, with his goodness and soul [cont.]

^A having experienced much barrenness. Those who are prudent must therefore take heed of the good things in their hearts, which will surely remain if they choose to delight the Giver of heavenly goods within themselves.

VERS. 13. *Gird yourselves and lament, O priests; wail, O ministers of the altar. Come, sleep in sackcloth, you who minister to God; for the sacrifice and libation have failed from the house of your God.*

^B 209 X. With these words, he further exaggerates in a way the things that have happened and instills a horrible fear, signaling that the situation requires the most abundant entreaties, since even the priests themselves must lament. Yet there lies a certain skill in his words. For since they had most foolishly frequented the temples of idols, and because God, striking them in anger, had sought helps therefrom, the Lord of all things usefully requires of His own ministers that they lead the way for others in supplicatory prayer, and that they themselves, afflicted, lead the way in burning studies of repentance, so that those who have been struck might know that unless they choose rather to seek things pleasing to God and offer their entreaties to Him, they could not deflect His wrath. It is necessary, therefore, he says, for those who exercise the priesthood to lend, as it were, to the others the labors of entreaties, the wailing and lamentation, and the wearing of sackcloth, through which is signified the setting aside of luxury and ease, a harsher way of life, the hardship of labors, and the upright and blameless pursuit of a life that befits the holy. Then, making manifest the cause of this labor, he says that the sacrifice and libation have failed from the house of the Lord. It is a dreadful thing to say: for he does not affirm that the sacrifice and libation have been lessened or made inferior; but rather that they have failed, that is, that they have been altogether overturned and destroyed. A matter truly grave and burdensome to those who stand at the head of the peoples, if God is in no way worshiped by those who are subject to them. ^C

VERS. 14, 15. *Sanctify a fast, proclaim a cure, gather the elders, all who inhabit the earth, into the house of the Lord your God, and cry out to the Lord vehemently: Woe, woe, woe unto the day.*

XI. In what way they ought to perform this mourning, he shows once again, proving himself a wise guide to them on the path to repentance, and explaining by what means the Lord of all things might be rendered mild and benevolent. This is, I believe, for someone who wishes to check His wrath, to remove utterly that which brings grief, to restrain that which harms, and further to bestow a happy life and an abundance of goods. He says, therefore, "Sanctify a fast," that is, use the fast as one would a sacred offering, and in the manner of a sacrifice, truly holy and exempt from reproach. For it is not right to emaciate the little body by abstinence from food, and while fasting, to do those things by which God is provoked to anger. For if, ^D while we afflict ourselves with fasting, we are unwilling to depart from our own wills, and we oppress our subjects, and we fast for the sake of judgment and strife, and strike with the fist for...

^A a base end. And yet, under what damage do we rightly suffer, while God vociferates: "Is this the fast that I have chosen?" We must, therefore, abstain from wickedness and apply ourselves, and that very energetically, to the mandates of the Lawgiver, directing the heart toward everything that is well-pleasing to Him, and bowing the neck of the mind, chanting and saying: "Look upon my humility and my labor, and forgive all my sins." Furthermore, besides this, there is that prophetic saying: "Behold, we shall be Thine, because Thou art the Lord our God." For this is a spiritual offering, and is well-pleasing to God rather than a newborn calf, rather than a lamb from the flocks, rather than a goat from the herds, rather than fine flour and frankincense. For God is recreated by spiritual sacrifices. But while sanctifying the fast, let us proclaim a remedy, that is, the fulfillment of the divine will, which should indeed be fittingly accompanied by rectitude, a tractable manner, and a mind ready and prepared for everything related to piety. ^B Let us perform the ways of this remedy, by gathering in the Church the elders, and with the whole multitude of those who inhabit the land assembling, and weeping very earnestly throughout the whole day, and being disposed in an unyielding state, because God has pity on all; for He is long-suffering, and of great mercy, and true, taking away iniquities, and passing over injustices, and not retaining His wrath for a testimony against the race, "because He is a lover of mercy."

"For the day of the Lord is near, and as destruction from destruction it shall come. Food before your eyes. Joy and gladness have been cut off from the house of your God."

XII

^A

It will be found that a similar fate has befallen those who have acted most insolently towards Christ. For the "living bread which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world," the "grain of wheat" which falls into the earth and brings forth manifold fruit, and the wine which is perceived by the mind and is wont to gladden the heart of man, were already, in a sense, before their eyes. But because they did not cease to offer insult through their unbelief, these spiritual foods have been removed from their sight and, as it were, from their midst. For the participation in every good thing has departed from them. Joy and gladness have also been taken away from their house. For they have been given over to desolation, and they remain in misery, having neither king nor prince, neither sacrifice nor altar, neither priest nor manifest tokens.

And in another way we say that food, joy, and gladness have been removed from their eyes. For the Lord says, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God." Now the food of the mind is the Word. No one would doubt that this Word, I say, has been removed from the multitude of the Jews; for they have been reduced to a famine of spiritual nourishment. They have not understood the writings of Moses, but "to this day a veil lies upon their heart," since they have hated the oracles of Christ. Every spiritual food has perished for them; not that it has itself suffered destruction, but because it is no longer set before those who have suffered, and so far as they are concerned, it is not there at all. But the Lord bestows delights upon those who believe in Him, and a rich and delicate life among heavenly goods. For it is written: "The Lord will not slay the soul of the righteous with hunger; but He will overthrow the life of the wicked." ^B

VERS. 17, 18. *The heifers leaped in their stalls, the treasures were scattered, the wine-presses were dug up, because the wheat was dried up. What shall we store up for ourselves? The herds of oxen wept, because there was no pasture for them, and the flocks of sheep were destroyed.*

XIII. Even to brute animals, the divinely inspired Scripture sometimes attributes reason, artfully diversifying the natures of their actions in a pleasing and charming manner, and, as it were, describing their moral economy, which it is fitting for us to understand. ^C Then, what is the wonder if a heifer is said to have leaped, or if the herds of oxen should have wept? For they were being pressed by an insufferable famine. Perhaps the fields themselves would have leaped and lamented, if they had possessed any portion of intelligence. "The treasures," it says, "were scattered, and the wine-presses were dug up," perhaps being totally neglected because nothing was being gathered from the fields; but the sickle was idle regarding the grape in the vineyard, and the ear of corn, as being prostrate in the fields, had withered and had not reached maturity. Therefore, it says, "What shall we store up for ourselves?" But because, as I said, both the heifers and the very ^D

flocks of sheep have perished, having been utterly destroyed by famine and having been deprived of their customary and most cherished life. He will also apply these things wisely to the calamities of the Jews, who have heaped insults upon Christ. ^A

VERS. 19, 20. "To you, O Lord, I will cry, because fire has consumed the beautiful things of the desert, and flame has kindled all the trees of the field, and the cattle of the field have looked up to you, because the water-brooks have dried up, and fire has devoured the things of the desert."

XIV. By "the beautiful things of the desert," he perhaps means those things which grow spontaneously in fields that are not plowed; but by "the trees of the field," the noble shoots of gardens and orchards, accustomed to being adorned with the timely abundance of fruits. He says that fire, so to speak, has devoured these, as well as the locust and the blight. ^B He makes his prayer to God most earnestly and usefully, teaching that we should by no means seek the removal of calamity from another, but should offer our prayers to Him alone who is able to save and, being angry, to repel those things that are accustomed to cause distress. For he says—and rightly so—that we should not think that such evils happen of their own accord, but rather that they are brought upon us as a divine chastisement; a point which the Lord of all indicates to us through the voice of another prophet: "If there shall be evil in a city, which the Lord has not done?" ^C For nothing of those things by which cities and regions are afflicted would happen if God did not permit it. For He saves whom He wills and renders them immune from evils. Therefore, the prophet persuades them to seek the repelling of those things that are harmful from God, casting far away the opinion that they ought to seek the help and assistance of false gods in their affairs. "The water-brooks," he says, "are dried up." For since rain does not irrigate the earth, and in addition to this, blight has been sent, and the locust has been equipped, and the caterpillar is hopping, and the grub creeping, how could it be anything but certain that their means of sustenance would utterly perish? And since the herb is perishing, it is altogether necessary that the cattle should also suffer destruction. ^D

I might say, moreover, that perhaps these words could be aptly spoken by the Jews, when in the last times of the world they return to God, pressed by a lack of good things and wailing. For their goods of the soul have been consumed as if by fire; that mental locust has devoured them, and the water-brooks have dried up. For He has commanded the clouds not to rain upon the earth, according to its manner and nature, and the land has become impassable and waterless, which shall not be inhabited. But God foretold concerning us who are justified by faith, and indicated that we would be most copiously gifted with favors through Christ, saying: "In that day the mountains shall drip sweetness, and the hills shall flow with milk; and all the water-brooks of Judah shall flow with water, and a fountain shall go out from the house of the Lord, and shall water the torrent of the reeds." And indeed, in another way: "I am the Lord God; I shall hearken..."

unto them, I the God of Israel, and I shall not forsake them, but I will open rivers upon the mountains, and fountains in the midst of the plains, and the thirsty land into aqueducts." ^A Thus we are in these things. But if they should walk toward repentance, and look up to God, and they themselves should also say, "Unto thee, O Lord, I will cry," they shall receive the releases of waters, and shall draw with us the intelligible water, and shall be watered from the fountains of the Savior, and they shall have the torrent of delight from God and the Father, and the fountain of life in their hearts. And there shall lie before them for delight even the beautiful things of the desert, that is, good and ample pasture, turning them unto divine and evangelical knowledge, which is conceived in the mind in Christ.

CHAP. II.

VERS. 1, 2. *Blow the trumpet in Sion, sound an alarm in my holy mountain, and let all the inhabitants of the land be troubled, for the day of the Lord is at hand; for a day of darkness and of gloom, a day of cloud and mist is near.*

XV. The appearance of the war is again described to us gracefully, and the description is true, whether it be understood of the locust and the caterpillar, or if one should prefer to take it of the Babylonians themselves. For as if the war had already entered through the gates, and had spread throughout almost the whole of Sion, or throughout the whole of Judaea, he says that the city is filled with tumult and terrors: "For the day of the Lord is at hand." Which has this force: the matter is no longer a bare prediction, but all things which had been announced are before the eyes, and are become such by the actual experiences of things long ago foretold, which it would have been much better to have chosen to depart from towards better things, and before the arrival and presence of evils to have shaken off the anxiety. ^B Therefore he does not allow one to be uncertain of counsel regarding repentance, but, having put aside if there be any languor and sloth of mind, he bids one to press forward expeditiously to the zeal of action, and to apply oneself to the will to succor oneself manfully, by hastening to God, and, of course, by effacing the stains of former sins with the providing of virtues. Therefore he says that the day of the Lord is near, in which they will be as if in mist and darkness, fearing the famine brought on by the locust, or the calamity and destruction hanging over their heads from the invasion of the Assyrians.

VERS. 2, 3. *As the morning light shall it be spread upon the mountains, a people many and strong; there hath not been the like from the beginning, neither shall there be any more after it, even to the years of generations and generations. A fire devoureth before the face of it, and behind it a flame burneth. The land is as a paradise of delight before the face of it, and behind it a desert of destruction, and there shall be no deliverance for it.*

XVI. He seems to call "morning" either the dew at morning, or when it is poured generally over the bounds, it lets nothing

of what is in them remain unwatered, or certainly the first rays of the sun and the sudden and first brightness of the daylight, which is spread out on the summits of the mountains before the others, as it were, and reddens the hills. ^A Thus, he says, the strong people—the locusts, perhaps, or out of their similarity, the Assyrians, being understood for their incomparable multitude—will be upon the mountains. He adds soon after, "There has never been the like of it from of old, nor will there be after it ever." Because when the locusts make an incursion, what they encounter is consumed immediately; but if anything should perhaps be left over, it is also the work of those following the first. "A fire devouring," he says, "is before it, and a flame burning" the things behind and following after it. This same thing, I think, a hostile army would also do. For those who come after will surely follow the pride and arrogance of those who have arrived first, and to a small extent. They will make the land a paradise of delights, stripping it entirely and living a life of luxury on what they find in it. ^B And the statement holds true, even if it is put forth in regard to the locust itself.

"As the appearance of horses is their appearance, and as horsemen, so shall they pursue. As the voice of chariots over the summits of the mountains they shall leap, and as the voice of a flame of fire devouring the stubble, and as a people numerous and strong, arrayed for battle."

XVII. He says that the locust and the locust-beetle, if they should be carried down against fields and cities, are no less powerful than the most warlike cavalry. For they will leap from the earth in such a way that they perhaps almost imitate the sound of chariots. For they spring upon all the peaks of the mountains and settle upon every hill, and they produce the sound of a flame burning up the stubble. For they say that their descent in the fields does not happen without a clatter; a faint sound is produced by their teeth, as the fallen matter is crushed by them, as if a wind were fanning a flame. ^C But if one must compare it to a throng of enemies, there is nothing improper in it; for it rushes according to multitude and yields little to those who act bravely in battles. For it is a consuming thing, and by reason of its immeasurable multitude, it is not easily overcome, or rather, it is difficult to engage. The same argument could be made regarding the Assyrians; and if one should perhaps wish to apply it to the expedition of the Romans, who like a locust have devoured Israel having sinned against Christ, it is not poorly said.

"From his face the peoples shall be crushed."

XVIII. It is, as I said, utterly invincible and uncontrollable by humans, the incursion of the locust-beetle and the locust.

"Every face as the scorching of a pot."

XIX. For it is true that by terrors and by unbearable griefs, sometimes even the bloom of the face fades, and it is blackened, as it were, to an ugliness, being changed in color by these turmoils, as it were, to another hue. ^D

"As warriors they shall run, and as men of war they shall climb upon the walls."

XX. They will charge like the most warlike, superior in terrors and energy, and will raise themselves above the very walls, as if meditating a bold assault.

VER. 8. And every man shall walk in his own way, and they shall not turn aside from their paths, and every man shall not draw back from his brother.

XXI. For locusts have no king, and they set out on an expedition as if one order had been given. They relate, moreover, that they fly in a certain series, and as if in battle array, and they are not separated in the least, and they pursue and follow each other in turn so helpfully, just as if they were sisters, with nature itself bestowing upon them mutual love.

They shall march heavily armed.

XXII. By arms, I suspect, he perhaps means their teeth, with which they wage war, and in battle perform feats of destruction, the grass being consumed, the corn prostrate, and the plants dried up.

And they shall fall upon their darts, and shall not be cut off.

XXIII. Locusts do not indeed wound those whom they attack with the points of weapons, nor is a bow strung for them from anywhere. But while they destroy things suitable for food, they kill in a certain way by the terrors of hunger and scarcity. And furthermore, for those reduced to such a calamity, it will not be enough that the fruits of the country have perished; they will have to endure ^C an entry into their houses and cities, and the army of locusts fiercely causing confusion. Or he even demonstrates the Assyrian himself with these words, "And they shall not be cut off." Just as if he were to say: neither will this be the end of the wrath, but it will go even further; for he says:

VER. 9, 10. They shall seize the city, and shall run upon the walls, they shall climb up upon the houses, and shall enter in at the windows as a thief. Before their face the earth trembles, and the heavens are moved; the sun and moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining.

XXIV. You hear how they will fly down, even upon the very walls of the city, and as if to plunder the grass, just as robbers strip travelers of their garments. And they will rush in through the windows, and will disturb the peoples, all but confounding all things, so that now the very heaven seems to be shaken, and the sun, ^D and moon, and even the stars, seem to withhold their own light. In this matter, moreover, the discourse leaves nothing more to be added, and places before the eyes a calamity intolerable and full of sorrows for the inhabitants of the earth. But it is true, even if it is taken to refer to an army of men, when they have entered regions and cities. For, covering everything like locusts, they are injurious to the fields, they vex cities, climbing walls, and invading houses, and vying in ferocity with the horrifying shaking of the earth.

VER. 11. And the Lord shall utter his voice before the face of his army: for his camp is exceeding great,

for his works are powerful; for the day of the Lord is great, and very ^A manifest.

XXV. I have already said, in passing, that it is the prophet’s intention to show that the calamity is dreadful and impossible to withstand, so that those who, by their turning toward depravity, have offended the legislator, may begin to wish to act better and take counsel more prudently. For the sheer magnitude of sufferings knows how to shift people easily, as if by necessity, toward choosing at last to do what is pleasing to Him who is accustomed to save and possesses the power to deliver. ^B "The Lord shall utter his voice before the face of his army," almost as if he were taking command and sharpening them against the enemy. For it is fitting that the commander, and no one else—saving those who are acting as shields or those promoted to lead others—should rouse the martial spirit and consider the camp as his own. He implies through these words that the terrible events do not possess an advent that is spontaneous, nor have they happened simply by chance, but rather that they are brought solely by God, who is, of course, grieved and now justly punishing. He terrifies them even more by saying that the camp is exceeding great, and that the works of His words are powerful. For it is impossible that what God commands to happen should not completely attain its end. And so, he said to one of the holy prophets—this was Jeremiah: “Are not my words like a burning fire, saith the Lord, and like a hammer that breaketh the rock?” For the word of God penetrates, as it were, through everything, and nothing that it says can resist it; rather, it yields, ^C and even things that are hard and unyielding are broken easily, and they yield involuntarily to the master’s will. “Great, therefore, and manifest is the day,” he says, because of the rumor spreading among all men of the evils that are to be inflicted.

And who shall be sufficient for it?

XXVI. That is to say, no one among men on earth would be so obdurate and robust as to be able to stand against the divine wraths. And the wise David was very right when he cried out to God: “Thou art terrible, and who shall stand against thee from thy wrath?”

And now saith the Lord your God: Turn ye to me with all your heart, in fasting, and in weeping, and in lamentation: and rend your hearts, and not your garments. And turn to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, patient, and rich in mercy, and repenteth him of the evil. Who knoweth if he will return and forgive, and leave behind him a blessing, and a sacrifice, and a libation to the Lord your God?

XXVII. From this you might learn, and most clearly, that the things recounted above were not posed for any other reason. He was announcing to them a calamity that is harsh and truly impossible to bear, so that he might, for the future, bring these people to repentance. For he does not allow them to despair. He confirms, moreover, in most plain language, that if they should wish to change their minds for the better, and to correct their own ways ^D by subsequent counsels,

the things brought about by wrath will altogether cease, and things will straightway move into a spaciousness of joy. What might be the manner of his conversion and of supplication, he renders evident, thus saying: "And now, says the Lord our God: Turn to me with all your heart." It should be cast away, he says, the things that have passed by, and it is fitting to consign to oblivion the things that have already occurred; become better than your former selves; propitiate God with subsequent actions: by fasting, and toil, and wailing, and lamentation. For it will certainly follow for those who have chosen such things to do, that they will henceforth live in ease and luxury. ^B For just as the end of sloth, and the falling away into pleasures, brings one in the end to wailing and punishment; so the fruit of gentleness, and of the toils undertaken in repentance, comes into a spaciousness of prosperity. It is useful, therefore, to weep for sins, and to grieve according to God. For as Paul writes: "Godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation and brings no regret." And Christ himself calls those who mourn blessed, "for they shall be comforted." And, indeed, the wise Solomon also tells us something of this sort enigmatically: "It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting." ^C But it is necessary to examine that other point: how great is the power of fasting. It renders the Master gentle; it calms his wrath; it averts punishment. For by afflicting ourselves, we quite effectively soften the divine anger that is wild and raging against us, and we easily restrain the hand of the one striking us. For if it is true that we are justified by God’s mercy merely by confessing our sins, who can doubt that by macerating ourselves with ascetic toils, and by exacting of ourselves, as it were, the penalties, we obtain from God the forgiveness of our sins? He commands us, therefore, to mourn, and not indeed to rend our garments; but rather, that which can be perceived by the mind and thought—the harsh and savage, the changed and hardened heart—must be dissolved and laid open, so that the fear of God may enter in. ^D Paul therefore writes to the Corinthians: "You are not restricted in us, but you are restricted in your own affections. The same reward I speak of as to my children: widen yourselves also." It is necessary, therefore, to widen the heart, as if for God, and almost to rend the mind, so that it may receive what is his. For to feign sorrow, while rending garments in vain and to no purpose, will profit those who have chosen to do this nothing at all. But it will bring no small gain to open the heart to God, and to store up therein what is pleasing to him; for the thing will conduce to salvation. And the prophet confirms, for those who might fall into despair while praying suppliantly, that the Master of all is philanthropic, and merciful, and compassionate, and good, and “relents concerning what is evil.” For even if he should choose to afflict those who have sinned, yet he will soon be softened, and will easily turn himself toward kindness. This, I say, it is to “repent concerning what is evil.”

^A And he wisely forestalls the rash judgment of those who have despaired of their salvation, saying: “Who knows if he will repent, and will leave a blessing behind him?” and the rest. That is, he will grant those who turn back to be made partakers of a blessing, so that they may again offer up a libation and a sacrifice to Him, and, exulting with joy and gladness, sing songs of thanksgiving.

“Blow the trumpet in Sion, sanctify a fast, preach a healing, gather the people, sanctify the Church, choose out the elders, gather the infants that suck the breasts. Let the bridegroom go forth from his bed, and the bride from her bride-chamber. Between the threshold and the altar the priests, who minister to the Lord, shall weep and say: Spare, O Lord, thy people, and give not thine inheritance to reproach, that the nations should rule over them, that they should not say among the nations, Where is their God?”

^B XXVIII-XXIX. By these words, too, he very effectively stirs them up to repentance, and directs them to attempt, in a salutary manner, every possible way in such an endeavor. For he says that, using a notable and excellent proclamation, they must sanctify a fast, preach a healing, and gather into the Church those who are ^C obliged to appease God, whom they have offended—namely, the young men and the maidens, the old with the young, and moreover the infants newly born and still at the breast; furthermore, the bridegrooms and new brides, coming forth from chambers that are still decorated with garlands, abandoning the marriage bed, and despising pleasure and feasts, and changing to a more austere life—the noise suppressed, the epithalamia silent, and those good omens with which some are wont to accompany new spouses—and lamenting together with the spouses. For it is true what one of our wise men said: “Music in mourning is an untimely narration.” ^D Since, therefore, the divine wrath hangs over us, it is necessary to mourn, and not to be wont to indulge in drinking and luxuries with a loose spirit. For one of the holy prophets shows that to give oneself to pleasure at an untimely hour is to deserve both rebuke and punishment, saying these words about the Israelites: “And the Lord of Sabaoth called in that day to weeping, and to lamentation, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth; but they made joy, sacrificing calves and slaying sheep, so that they ate meat and drank wine, saying: Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” One must therefore seek out lamentations and tears when wrath hangs over us. Away with banquets. He says that the holy and elect race must be gathered together for mourning, and therefore he says that the priests are to weep intensely between the vestibule of the temple and the altar, and with wailing are to say: “Spare, O Lord, thy people, and give not thine inheritance to reproach, that nations should rule over them, lest the nations say: Where is their God?” But if he is speaking only of the locust, how then do they not rather seek to be delivered from famine and lack? For they fear to fall into the hands of enemies, and at the mockery and disgrace

^A of the locust jumping upon them by the herd of demons, and of the tyrannical powers running down, and of the… For it is likely, I would say, and true, that in the riddles concerning the locust, the incursion of the Assyrians was covertly written. But if anyone were to wish to understand such things even of the locust itself, he would rightly admire the economy of the prophetic oracles. For the very manner of the punishment cries out, as it were, against the folly of Israel, and furthermore against their inherent weakness; for they have exchanged the gods that are not gods, and having abandoned the God of all, have worshipped Baal. But behold, the locusts make their encampment unbearable, the bruchus is armed, and they have fallen having no help from their falsely named gods. And what cure could the bruchi and locusts, having been defeated, offer to those who worship them, if they were fighting against enemies and were besieged by the battalions of their adversaries? ^B

LATER VOLUME.

VERS. 18, 19. *And the Lord became jealous for His land, and spared His people. And the Lord answered and said to His people: Behold, I send you corn, and wine, and oil, and you shall be filled with them; and I will no longer make you a reproach among the nations. And I will drive away from you him who is from the north.*

XXX. Observe mercy running hard on the heels of judgment. For serenity, I think, anticipates mourning, and the grace of the compassionate anticipates the tears of repentance. For He is not only moved by mercy toward the wretched, but is also led by jealousy, so as to be angry at those who harmed them, and through whom they fell into calamity. Now the Lord of all rebukes the Babylonians, because they raged ^C somewhat more cruelly than was fitting against those with whom He Himself was angry. For He says: *I gave them into your hands; but you did not show them mercy.* And indeed, He also addresses Zechariah: *Thus says the Lord: I have been jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy, and with great wrath I am angry against the nations who have conspired together against me. For whereas I was angry but a little, they have conspired for evil.* Having been jealous, therefore, for His people, He promises to shower upon them abundantly the necessities for sustaining life, and to compensate for the preceding calamity with joy, and to grant them food unto satiety; in addition to these things, He promises safety, so that they may not be delivered into the hands of enemies, nor live a life of miserable and wretched servitude. To these things ^D He adds a promise to drive away him who is from the north, that is, the one who is neighbor to the north; for the Assyrians are situated rather to the east. But if anyone thinks that the incursion of the locusts also took place from the more northerly parts of Judea, nothing prevents this explanation from being accepted. But if for some the good things of their heart are being corrupted, and the wealth of spiritual fruit, such as

^A the locust leaping upon the very flock of the demons, and the rushing principalities, powers, and authorities (it is clear, indeed, that these are evil ones), let him make lamentation, let him practice repentance, let him shed tears to God. For he shall hear immediately from His philanthropy one saying: "Behold, I am giving to you the grain, and the wine, and the oil." For He will reveal his heart as a land full of corn, as a garden flourishing with fair stocks, as a fruitful vineyard, and indeed He shall satisfy it with oil: "You anointed my head with oil." And He shall drive away from him the one from the north, that is, Satan, who chills and does not allow those who have come under him to live in the Spirit. The Lord declared that the love of many was to grow cold because iniquity shall abound. But those who are acquaintances of Christ boil in spirit, and they by no means endure being chilled toward base pleasures, since they crucified their own flesh with its passions and lusts.

"And I shall drive him into a waterless land, and I shall destroy his face into the first sea, and his hind parts into the last sea. And his rot shall rise up, and his stench shall rise up, because he has magnified his works."

^B XXXI. Retaining the figure of speech still, as from the beginning, just as he said regarding the locust and the bruchus, that they would be destroyed, having been carried off according to the will of God perhaps to the extremities of the land of the Jews, and coming to such a state of stench that the spreading of it would become burdensome to those throughout the whole country. The argument does not in any way change in what one must think, and these things again, as in the case of the Babylonians, are to be understood. For in the southern parts of Jerusalem a certain deep wilderness stretches out, which is bounded toward the east and south by the Indian seas, and toward the west and, in turn, the more northern parts, by the sea neighboring the Palestinians and washing also the Egyptians themselves. There, he says, he destroyed the bruchus and the locust, and that their stench became burdensome. But the Babylonians were also destroyed, they who inhabit the more northern region and the one situated toward the east. And they were destroyed in the times of the reign of Hezekiah, and the stench of the corpses was intolerable, so that the land was cleansed with difficulty in seven months, and was freed from the rot of the corpses, as we read in Ezekiel. ^C That the land of the Babylonians is inclined to the more northern parts would be made clear, God saying through the voice of the saints to those from the blood of Israel who had been led away in captivity: "O, O, flee from the land of the north, says the Lord; save yourselves in Zion, you who dwell with the daughter of Babylon."

Christ, having driven out from us ourselves the locust—I mean, of course, the intelligible one, the utterly wicked swarms of demons—has shut them away into Hades, and has caused them to vanish in the recesses of the abyss, having cast ^D them as if into the depths of the sea. And his rot has risen, and his stench [has risen]...

become burdensome to us and detestable, although in times past he did not seem to be such; for we did not believe that Satan was foul-smelling. But now, and with difficulty, we have come to recognize that he is such. For we wretches used to think that he was sweet-smelling and lovable, when, bound by the chains of wickedness, we were held fast under his power. But after Emmanuel appeared to us, and uttered this word: ^A “I am the flower of the field, the lily of the valleys,” then, although late, perceiving the fragrance that is in Him, we have discerned the stench of that one (the demon).

Vers. 21-24. *Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice, for the Lord has done great things. Fear not, ye beasts of the field, for the fields of the wilderness have put forth green, for the tree has borne its fruit, the vine and the fig tree have yielded their strength. And ye, O children of Zion, rejoice and be glad in the Lord your God; for He has given you food for righteousness, and He will rain down for you the early and the latter rain, as before. And the threshing floors shall be filled with wheat, and the presses shall overflow with wine and oil.*

XXXII. It is the custom of the holy prophets to direct their speech from particular goods, conferred upon a few, to those which are universal and more general. Such are the things that we have obtained through Christ. ^B Our discourse therefore advances again to this point. For when was it granted to the earth that it should be confident? Again, when did the Lord do great things? If not when the Word, who was God, put on human nature, so that, flooding the world under heaven with goods from above, He might be found by those who believe in Him as a river of peace, as a torrent of delight, as the early and latter rain, and as the bestower of all intellectual fruitfulness? For then, even to the most insensate souls (who are called the beasts of the field), an intellectual grass sprang up—that is, the discourse of the teachers. Then the fields of the wilderness grew green. And he calls the Church a wilderness, according to the passage: ^C “Rejoice, O thirsty desert; let the wilderness exult, and bloom as the lily.” The fields of it are the rulers and teachers of the peoples, who carry their own soul as if bubbling over and beautifully blooming everywhere with divine gifts from heaven, and breathing sweetly with the flowers of dogmas, and budding everywhere with fresh grass. These imitate the nature and character of beasts, yet they exhilarate them, so as to lead them even to a prudence worthy of man. He says also that the tree has brought forth its fruit, and the vine and the fig tree have given their own strength, which is, I suppose, the firm and solid word of those who teach, in which is mixed the sweetness and the capacity to delight, comparing it to the fruits of the fig and the vine. And it would be fitting, and not ^D without reason indeed, to impart to those still grosser in mind, and who are like cattle and have a more lowly instruction to graze upon, just as grass growing in those who teach small things, while to those perfect in sublime understanding, [one imparts] the fruit blooming as if from beautiful trees, namely, concerning the holy and consubstantial Trinity, or

^A regarding moral discipline, which we contemplate as if placed on high. Hence he calls them ^B beasts, but Zion now [calls] her children more perfect, whom he also bids to rejoice in the Lord our God. For our whole delight is Christ, from whom and through whom is all fullness of good things, and the granting of heavenly gifts to those who love him, understood as in the early and latter rains, and as in grain on the threshing floor, and wine overflowing the vats, and oil gushing forth. Yet one must know that even according to the manner of mystical fulfillment, the promise is true. For there is given to us, as it were in rain, the living water of holy baptism, and as in grain, the bread of life, and as in wine, the blood. The need for oil has also been brought forward, contributing to the perfection of those justified in Christ through holy baptism.

And I will repay you for the years which the locust, and the bruchus, and the caterpillar, and the blight have eaten, my great power which I have sent among you, and you shall eat with eating, and be filled, and you shall praise the name of the Lord your God, who has done wonders with you.

^C XXXIII. Inasmuch as it concerns the historical account, he promises a liberality no less powerful and fully equal to the preceding incursions of the locust, and confirms that the provision of food will be more abundant for them than the scarcity they have already experienced.

But if indeed the word of prophecy is understood spiritually, we say that since Satan has devoured us, and we have been cruelly destroyed by the caterpillar and the locust and likewise the blight through various kinds of vices, we have remained dry and fruitless, stripped and naked of every good thing, possessing nothing in our minds that pertains to moral virtue, destroyed as it were by famine, and deprived of every fruitfulness whatsoever. But since we have been enriched by Christ with the [courage] that we ought to have (for we have conquered the world with him, "And he has given us the power to tread upon serpents and scorpions" ^D), then we have received also the spiritual rains, both early and latter, that is, the discipline of the law and evangelic consolation. Then, having eaten, we have been filled, and we glorify as our Master our own Savior Christ, proclaiming him as a wonder-worker, and as one who bestows on those who love him things beyond both word and hope. And we have known no other besides him at all. We have been taught to say with a good conscience: Lord, besides you we know no other.

Observe yet how the God of all things all but laughs at and mocks human affairs, calling the caterpillar his great power, which he claims to have sent against them, and yet we do not say that the caterpillar is the power of God. Rather, it is like when he says to those who could not endure the punishment brought by it: "O stubborn and proud ones, and who reckon it as nothing to offend me! I have not sent fire from heaven upon you, not thunder, not hail"

nor anything else of those things which are raised up on high, and which are most especially fitting for the glory of God. A miserable multitude of worms has risen up against the land, and you have been troubled and have perished quickly. A locust is naturally very robust: ^A I certainly deem it a great force of my own." In this manner, then, the discourse proceeds, and it is as if the God who is accustomed to despise those who scorn Him were laughing, and almost mocking them, so that if He should choose to punish them, the locust is sufficient for this purpose, in place of a great and invincible power henceforth. Therefore, let not the heretics laugh unrestrainedly, nor let them prattle against the glory of the Only-Begotten, inasmuch as the locust is called a "great force." Nor let them treat it ^B as being on the same level as a worm that possesses powers; for the miserable men have dared to slip even into this wretchedness of concepts.

"And my people shall not be ashamed forever. And you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel. And I am the Lord your God, and there is none besides me; and all my people shall not be ashamed forever."

XXXIV. He clearly promises the mode of the incarnation's economy, and that He will empty Himself, and will dwell with those upon the earth, having become like us, that is to say, a human being. ^C For then He was in the midst of Israel, and we escaped ignominy, and have been delivered from shame—death having been laid low, sin having been destroyed, and the knowledge of the truth having been brought in. For we no longer worship the creature alongside the Creator, and we accept absolutely no other God besides Him. Hence we have also become rich, as we live in a firm hope and the expectation of life eternal, in sanctification and holiness of life.

"And it shall be after this, and I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy; and your elders shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. ^D And also upon my menservants and upon my maidservants in those days I will pour out of my Spirit."

XXXV. Behold indeed, He clearly promises to bestow the grace of the Holy Spirit, that is to say, His abundant gift, not choosing one or two prophets, should the matter turn out in such a way, but absolutely upon all who are worthy to receive it. And this we confess has been fulfilled when Christ rose again, and destroyed the power of death. For as if from the very beginning, He breathed this most venerable and admirable grace upon the holy disciples, saying, "Receive the Holy Spirit." For it was necessary, it was necessary that the mystagogues of the Church and those who were to be teachers of the world should be honored with the gift of the Holy Spirit before all others, and that those who had indeed been made holy from the beginning through faith might be gilded with divine and heavenly grace. But on the days of the holy Pentecost...

when the disciples were gathered in one house and bringing their accustomed supplications to God, both ^A happened: a sound occurred, and tongues sat upon each one, "and they began to speak with other tongues, as the Holy Spirit gave them utterance." But they were speaking while prophesying, that is, understanding and proclaiming the mysteries concerning Christ that had been announced through the holy prophets, and the things through which it was likely that those who heard them would be persuaded to come readily to obedience, as the time of the good pleasure was now at hand and what had been announced of old concerning Christ had now at last reached its fulfillment. Therefore they were prophesying, speaking in every tongue, with God himself foreannouncing this through the voice of the holy ones. For it is written: "In other tongues and with other lips I will speak to this people, and not even so will they believe." Paul, understanding this, says that the gift of tongues was given as a sign to the Jews. And since, after the Holy Spirit had descended from heaven, there were very many who were coming forward to exercise the grace of prophecy, Paul declares what must be done: "Let two or three prophets speak," he says. And presently: "For you can all prophesy one by one." ^B Of old, indeed, when Israel was offending God through much perversity, God said: "Behold, I will bring a famine upon the land, not a famine of hearing the word of the Lord, but they shall run to and fro from east to west seeking the word of the Lord, and shall not find it." And to Ezekiel: "And I will bind your tongue to your throat, and you shall be dumb, and you shall not be to them a man who reproves, because it is a rebellious house." But since, according to the voice of the Psalmist, "God is the Lord, and he has appeared to us" (for Christ has appeared to us, ^C relieving us of charges and stopping the mouth of sin), the shedding of the Holy Spirit is given henceforth, God cheering the nature of men and crowning it with glory from above and in the beginning, and in his goodness bringing it back again to that state in which it was before sin had entered in. For we shall not find Adam devoid of the prophetic Spirit before he had transgressed the divine commandment; but he was yet firm and stable, and prominent and distinguished by the goods of nature. And so, when God brought to him the woman he had fashioned, although he had not heard whence she was, or who she was, or in what manner she had grown up, he immediately exclaimed: "This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman," that is, according to the Hebrew language, ^D *virago*, because she was taken from man. But the grace granted to the human being was rendered idle. It was renewed, however, in Christ, who is also the second Adam. But in what way was it renewed? Insofar as he is God, and by nature the Son from God (for he was born of God and the Father), the Spirit is his own, and in him, and from him, just as indeed the same Spirit is understood to be in God and the Father himself. But insofar as he became man and became like us, he is said to have the Spirit imparted to him. For he alighted upon him in the form of a dove, because according to

our condition he was baptized, as being one of us, and he was baptized economically. Then also his ^A own Spirit is said to have been given to him from above, on account of his human nature. And this is the emptying.

It must be understood in this way, and not otherwise: "For our sake he became poor, though he was rich, so that we by his poverty might become rich." For the Spirit was indeed given to Adam, as I have said, in the beginning, but he did not remain in human nature. For he inclined toward error and fell into sin. But since the Only-Begotten, who was rich, became poor, and began to be among us as man, and received as if it were something added his own Spirit, it remained upon him, as John the evangelist writes, so that thereafter it might dwell also in us, as having already remained in the second first-fruits of our race, that is, in Christ; for he is ^B named on this account the second Adam. Therefore we are fashioned anew to incomparably better things, and we obtain the regeneration through the Spirit as a happy gain, no longer having the first one—I mean the one according to the flesh, which is subject to corruption and sin (for the mind of the flesh is death, according to the nature of the race), but the second one from above, which is from God through the Spirit, if it is true that "those who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, but of God." It was fitting, therefore, that those numbered among the children of God should be enriched by the grace of the Holy Spirit. And Christ accomplished this in us as well, and Peter will confirm it, saying: "Being exalted then by the right hand of the Father, and having received the promise of the Holy Spirit from the Father, he poured this out ^C which you see and hear." For he receives as man from the Father that which is in him naturally; but he pours it out upon us abundantly, because he is God by nature, and has become flesh. And he pours it out upon all flesh. And this is clear, that it is not upon only those from the circumcision, but upon all those called simply through faith, whether small or great, slaves and free, barbarians and Scythians. For the grace of salvation in Christ is set forth for all mortals, for "he is also the expectation of the gentiles." But if any should speak with unrestrained tongue and claim that "flesh" refers also to beasts, they are raving, and let them hear that the scope of this prophecy pertains only to the human race, and that God does not care for oxen, ^D as the wise Paul also said. But by saying that "sons and daughters" will prophesy, he indicates by this the abundance of the grace and that it is equal for all. For the female sex would not be rejected by God, if it would perform what is pleasing to Him promptly and choose to be wise. Nor will it be unrewarded or devoid of sanctification, if it should distinguish itself through faith and the goodness of its works. For it, too, has been deemed worthy of grace and mercy, and receives the pledge of the Spirit from God. And those who are older shall dream dreams,

^A he says, and the young shall see visions, calling "older age," as I suppose, that which excels in the quality of virtue and is placed above it, and is as it were gray with brilliant achievements, and distinguished and admired for its most perfect wisdom, such as was that of Paul, who saw in a dream a certain man from Macedonia, beseeching him and saying, "Come over into Macedonia and help us." [Act. XVI, 9.] And Ananias, one who was proven in faith, saw a vision concerning Paul himself when he came to Damascus, and Christ appeared to him on the way, and he was deprived of sight by the flash of the light, [and then] was healed through Christ. It is written again as follows: "And there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias. And the Lord said to him in a vision: Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and inquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul, of Tarsus." [Act. IX, 10, 11.] Do you hear how He spoke to Ananias in a vision? For he was perhaps faithful in spirit, and young in disposition, and having a mind invigorated toward the good, unbroken in reach—it is clear, however, that this refers to the spiritual [mind]. And in his sleep, the Macedonian seemed to offer prayers to Paul; for Paul was an elder in mind, aged in understanding, and full of the wisdom from above. And the wise John also addresses those who have been sanctified in Christ through faith in these words: "I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and have overcome the wicked one." [I John II, 13] ^B He promises, therefore, the outpouring of the Spirit to those who serve Him. And who might these be, in turn? Are they not entirely those who submit the neck of their minds to the evangelical decrees, having departed from the cult in types, and having ceased from the deception of Greek superstition, as someone says?

"And I will show wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and manifest day of the Lord come."

^C XXXVI. At the impieties of the Jews, which were committed against Christ, the nature of the elements themselves felt indignation. And the creature, as if mourning when it saw the Creator so insultingly treated, wept in a way, and the divine temple (being equally pained and sorrowful with them) was rent. For it is written that "the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom." [Matth. XXVII, 51.] And the sun, having withheld its proper radiance, did not deign to shine any longer upon those on earth. For it made darkness from the sixth hour unto the ninth, and rocks were rent; and perhaps something unusual also occurred around the cycle of the moon, so that it appeared to be transformed into blood. Now such things the holy evangelists have indeed passed over in silence. ^D Yet belief based on the prophecy is credible enough, that not only were signs made in the sun by the nod of the Creator, but that as it were the whole nature of things put on a deformity and a certain unusual aspect. This will be clear from God speaking through the voice of Isaiah: "I will clothe the heavens with blackness, and as sackcloth the covering of them. He..."

When He speaks of heaven, he means that all things in heaven are, as it were, clothed in the sackcloth of darkness, mourning, grieving, and, as it were, crying ^A out in their appearance. These, then, I would call the signs in heaven. But the blood, fire, and vapor of smoke on earth would, I think, signify the calamities of the Jews, with which a most cruel war, brought upon them by the Romans, overwhelmed them; for their whole land was stained with blood. Along with their cities, the famous temple itself was to be burned, and houses were to smoke from the conflagration and be razed to the ground. That such things would happen to the Jews before the great and manifest day, on which the divine tribunal of Christ will be set before all, rendering to each according to his works, He shows when He says: "Before the great and manifest day of the Lord comes." ^B Additionally, it must be noted that our Savior Himself, when asked by the holy apostles about the consummation of the age and the destruction of Jerusalem, mingled the signs, so that it might perhaps remain uncertain as to when these things were about to happen.

Vers. 32. And it shall be: Every one who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved; because in Mount Sion and in Jerusalem there will be one who is saved, as the Lord has said, and those evangelizing whom the Lord has called.

XXXVII. Therefore, it is altogether and plainly stated that, because of the wicked deeds of the Jews, there will be signs and wonders in heaven and on earth. Nevertheless, the placability of God is even thus set before them: namely, salvation through faith, justification in Christ, the pledge of the Spirit, sanctification, and the hope of the kingdom of heaven, with God forgiving and forgetting the crimes they committed against Christ. Peter, therefore, sharply accuses ^C the multitudes of the Jews, openly crying out that they had killed the Savior and Redeemer of all by hanging Him upon a tree, and that they had denied the Holy and Just One, and had asked for a murderer to be granted to them. He then adds to these things: "And now, brothers, I know that you did it in ignorance, as did also your rulers. Repent, therefore, and let each of you be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit; for to you is the promise, and to your children." Wherefore, he says, although signs and wonders may have occurred, nevertheless, everyone who calls upon the Lord, the powerful one of heaven and earth, will be saved. That the word of salvation was to be ^D preached first in Jerusalem itself—which first killed the Lord—and was thus to be carried around to all nations through the holy apostles, can be clearly seen from this prophet: "In Mount Sion and in Jerusalem there will be one saved, and those evangelizing whom the Lord has called." For as Paul writes: "No one takes the honor to himself, but he who is called by God." They were called, therefore, with choice from among all, the blessed disciples, nor did they of their own accord...

^A approach the apostolate, as that foolish Pharisee did, or the lawyer, who, boasting that he wished to be a disciple, said, "I will follow you wherever you go." Wherefore, also, the Savior repels him who was needlessly intruding and was not even remotely close to the evangelical pursuits, saying, "Foxes," and so forth. To those, however, who were fit for the apostolate, he exclaimed, saying, "Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men." He even raises Matthew from the very workshop of greed, commanding him to follow. They were called, moreover, by his own will, as was to be expected, that they might be most capable of carrying out whatsoever seemed good to him, even if the founder and father of lawlessness snatched the traitor from among that group.

CHAPTER III

^A and had departed from Jerusalem, the surrounding nations of the Gentiles were naturally embittered and filled with rage, inasmuch as they had been treated with no small degree of insult by these people. Moreover, they perhaps reasoned with themselves as follows: because the inhabitants were walling Jerusalem about and were also eager to raise the divine temple itself, they were inflamed with the arrows of envy and sought to hinder the work. They reflected, as is natural, that if Israel were to return to its former power and possess cities fortified with walls, and if it had as its defender the God of all—who would be worshipped in the temple as in ancient times—it would again hold dominion, become an intolerable burden to all everywhere, impose tribute upon the neighboring peoples, and inevitably conquer them, with their lands being utterly laid waste if any dared even so much as to look at them ^B. For this reason, they contrived to set certain men to prevent them from putting their hands to the building of the temple and the walls. But when they labored in vain—for God caused the efforts of the Israelites to prosper—they then took up arms and wished to oppress them. Yet, with God helping, they were defeated and killed by them. A multitude gathered for this battle in the valley of Josaphat, a place not many stadia distant from Jerusalem toward the east; they say it is open ground and suitable for cavalry.

That some of the more powerful among them envied the Israelites for building the divine temple, yet achieved nothing, the blessed Esdras will teach us, writing thus: "In the days of Artaxerxes, king of Persia, Belemus, and Mithridates, and Sabellius, and Rathimus, and Belthethmus, and Geentethmus the scribe, and the rest of those associated with them, who dwelt in Samaria and in other places, wrote against those dwelling in Judea and in Jerusalem," ^C to this effect: that Jerusalem would be an impregnable city and subject to no other kings by any means; but that it would rebel most audaciously, and if it were to recover its ancient status and dignity, it would stir up surges of trouble for the princes of the Babylonians who were then in power. But they gained nothing at all by these writings. Furthermore, certain men from Samaria requested to be allowed to work and build together with those who had returned from Babylon. They were refused. Therefore, while the Israelites were defending themselves against their subsequent machinations, they were not a little weary.

Furthermore, it is written in Esdras in this manner: "And those who troubled Judah and Benjamin heard that the sons of the captivity were building a house to the Lord God of Israel; and they approached Zorobabel and the heads of the fathers’ houses, and said to them: Let us build with you, for as you seek your God, we also sacrifice to Him from the days of Asaradan, king of Assur, who led us here." But Zorobabel with his companions ^D

^A answered: "It is not for you and us to build a house to our God, for we ourselves shall build the same to the Lord our God, as Cyrus, the king of the Persians, commanded us." And the people of the land were weakening the hands of the people of Judah, and they hindered them from building, and having hired counselors against them, they plotted to disrupt their plan. But while they plotted, their enterprise was indeed fruitless for them. That the secret plotting had henceforth lost its strength, and that all the surrounding nations were waging a war by the law of war, and that they were defeated and fell, you may learn from this. For he writes again in the second book thus: "And it happened when Sanabalat, and Tobias, and the Arabs, and the Amanites heard that the shoot had risen upon the walls of Jerusalem, and that the breaches had begun to be stopped, it seemed very grievous to them. And they were all gathered together to come up and fight against Jerusalem. And we prayed to the Lord our God, he says, and we set guards over them, day and night, from before them. And Judas said: The strength of the enemies is broken, and the multitude is great." ^B In these there is no mention of the valley of Josaphat. But this has come to us by tradition. The prophecy also merits belief, naming for us the very place of the conflict. We say that the prophet is mindful of this history, when he predicts that God will gather all the nations into the valley of Josaphat: He will not gather them unwillingly, without doubt, but He will not prevent them from coming if they wish, so that He may contend with them concerning Israel and His own inheritance, which they had divided—robbing, I believe, the remnants of the Babylonians, and in times of distress attacking them, delivering their children to harlots, and offering up their private parts to unusual debaucheries, and as if at a market, selling them to the lust of others, and from thence collecting profit for their banquets and drunkenness. ^C We say that something not unlike this has occurred in our own case, when we reflect upon the redemption of Christ. For He took us, being captives and acting under a tyrant, under the bitter Satan, I say, and brought us back as if into the holy land, into the evangelical way of life, into a most accessible habit, into the wall-girt city, the spiritual Jerusalem—which is the Church of the living God—having prepared us to be built up, as precious stones, into a holy temple, into an habitation of God in the spirit. But the unholy crowd of demons, inflamed by the pains of envy, and furthermore those who fight against the doctrines of truth, have made frequent incursions against the saints; yet they harmed them nothing, with God protecting them and Christ bringing them confidence with these words: "Take heart, for I have overcome the world." Frivolous and old-wife tales are those which are circulated among the Jews, that at some time in the valley of Josaphat, where the dead shall return to life, God will hold judgment over all things and all who are under heaven, ^D and then collect the wages therefrom for food and drunkenness.

of his regarding the things that were perpetrated against them, they will give an account. This thought cannot but be ridiculous, since the divinely inspired Scripture says that the prophecy has been fulfilled, and that, the battle having been joined in the valley of Josaphat, ^A punishments were exacted from the neighboring nations. For they rushed, as I said, upon the remnants of Israel, even though they had been cast about by very many calamities; for indeed, they had been delivered into bondage to the Babylonians.

VERS. 4-6. *And indeed what have you to do with me, O Tyre, and Sidon, and all the Galilee of the strangers? Do you return a recompense to me, or do you hold anger against me? Quickly and speedily I will return your recompense upon your heads. For you have taken my silver and my gold, and my choice things and my good things you have brought into your temples. And the sons of Juda, and the sons of Jerusalem, you have sold to the sons of the Greeks, that you might cast them out of their borders.*

XXXIX. Therefore, all the nations gathered against Israel: the Moabites, the Idumeans, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, and the rest. I believe that ^B the ringleaders of this plan and of these crimes were the Damascenes, the Tyrians, and those who were called Philistines, even as far as Gath itself, which is also called the territory of the strangers. Therefore, the God of all things speaks thus to them: *What have you to do with me, O Tyre, and Sidon, and all the Galilee of the strangers?* For what occasions of cruelty, He says, did you have, that you impiously oppressed Israel, who was weighed down by calamity and afflicted by no ordinary troubles by the Babylonians? You bitterly insulted him and, as it were, mocked me, who ^C saved him and defended him, and you did not hesitate to lacerate him with reproaches, or rather, indeed, to afflict him with the very deed itself. Wherefore, in a short time you shall receive your retribution, and it shall come upon your own head; for you shall pay the penalty to me, when I shall dispute with you in the valley of Josaphat. He accuses them as those who had plundered the choice things of the temple, and had stolen the golden vessels, and had dedicated them to the honor of their own gods. But it is an intolerable and dire thing, and one sufficient to offend God, whose voice is this: *My glory I will not give to another, nor my praise to idols.* For what else could it be to adorn the shrines of idols with sacred votive offerings, than almost to proclaim and say that the God of the universe holds second place, while those others hold the first, and can give salvation to those by whom they are worshipped? ^D And it is not enough for you, He says, for impiety to have stripped my temple of its divine gifts, but you have moreover sold the sons of Juda and the sons of Jerusalem to the sons of the Greeks. It is likely that such a thing happened, namely, that some of those of Israel were carried away into the lands of the nations, being bought and led away either by the Tyrians perhaps, or by others who practiced commerce and were given over to the trade of making profit.

^A This discourse, if I reason rightly, will also fit the leaders of impious heresies, who, all but dragging away the children of the Church, sell them with Greek philosophy, so that they, being filled with convoluted ideas, become bitter inquirers—or rather, unbelievers and wicked men who distort what is straight—when they ought to live according to simple speech and meditate on the unadulterated word of truth. They cause those who have been deceived to be cast ^B out of their own boundaries. Now, just as the land of the children of the Church is the knowledge of the truth, so also is it everything that has been accurately examined and inclines toward righteousness. And they would rightly be called golden and silver vessels, and chosen of God; and in truth, those adorned by faith and gilded with the beautiful works of virtue, and shining with the splendor of piety. But if it should happen that any of those brilliant in this way are caught in the snares of deception, the inventors of the deception will certainly hear: "My silver and my gold you took, and my chosen things you brought into your temples." This crime is terrible and hard to escape. For by sinning against our brethren, for whom Christ died, they are injurious to Christ Himself, to whom they will certainly pay the penalties for all the things in which they have sinned against Him.

"And behold, I raise them up from the place where you sold them there; and I will return your recompense upon your heads. And I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hands of the sons of Judah, and they will sell them into captivity to a nation far off, for the Lord has spoken."

^C XL. He affirms most clearly that the machinations and perverse inventions of the Tyrians against Israel will be in vain, and that calamity is to be meted out to those who have done wrong, as if from the opposite direction, and that they will be properly involved in equal evils, with the recompense of justice falling, as it were, upon the heads of those who have impiously transgressed. For just as they captured the race of Judah, and then gave them to slave-traders, saying to carry them away to a distant nation, so He says that their own children will be sold through the hands of Judah. And that such things will certainly come to pass, He confirms again, saying, "For the Lord has spoken." And nothing that God utters is ever ineffectual. Thus, Christ also ^D said, "My words shall by no means pass away." And these things are thus spoken historically. But if anyone should choose to contemplate the spiritual realities and to fill himself with deeper meanings, he will consider again that also the followers of the Greeks, who are puffed up with opinions of wisdom, and furthermore those heretics who—by the convoluted invention of deception, thinking that they are something—turn aside some of the simpler ones from the upright and blameless faith which they might have from God, and, having caught them in the snares of deception, all but take them as booty of war and carry them away as far as possible from the boundaries of truth. But the God of all...

^A renders their wickedness ineffective; He releases those who were deceived, and brings the children of those who deceived them—by way of instruction—to those of Judah. These divine disciples, and as many as speak the mystery of Christ, may also be understood as those who deliver people from their error and bring them into a beautiful and desirable servitude, namely, that under Christ; they seize them as it were like captives, transferring them into their own way of life and mind, which is very far removed from that of the others. For a great interval is seen between the mind of the saints and that of such people. Christ is also said to take as captives those who have been brought—from Greek superstition to the knowledge of Him who is God by nature. For David said: «Ascending on high, He led captivity captive, He gave gifts to men.» ^B

VERS. 9-12. Proclaim these things among the nations; sanctify war, rouse the warriors, draw near, and go up, all you men of war. Beat your plowshares into swords, and your sickles into spears. Let the weak say: I am strong. Assemble yourselves, and enter, all you nations from all around, and gather yourselves there; let the warrior be gentle. Let the nations rise up, and go up to the valley of Josaphat, for there I will sit to judge all the nations round about.

XLI. Having threatened the nations with the woes they were to suffer in return for what they had done to others, and with retribution for their impious deeds in accordance with their deserts, He now turns His speech to His own worshippers. He exhorts them to be by no means timid or effeminate, but rather spirited and energetic, and, as it were, to issue a proclamation that may be heard by all, to assemble the nations for battle, and to incite them to hasten toward this, even if they should perhaps prefer to lead a quiet life averse to war. This is to make them ^C most daring and to persuade them to be confident that, with Him as their leader, they will overcome their enemies. Therefore, «Proclaim these things in the nations,» He says, «and sanctify war.» And this word, «sanctify,» is nothing other than «consecrate to Me»; for I Myself will wage war, and the action will be directed toward My glory. For those who have rendered My honor to wood and stones shall perish. Everything that is said to be sanctified is always joined with the divine glory. Therefore He says: «Sanctify war, rouse the warriors.» And He further adds, «Draw near, all you men of war.» Let the farmer set aside his cares and his most dear pursuit; let him craft for himself a sword out of the plowshare, and a spear out of the sickle; for it is not a time for cultivating the earth, but for paying the penalty for having despised God. And if anyone should be weak, He says, let him not offer his infirmity as an excuse; but let him—if he wishes—feign, and suppose that strength is not lacking to him. For let him by no means withdraw himself from these weapons! Assemble yourselves, therefore, all you, He says, who dwell around Judea, and let the gentle one be

^A a fighter as well. It is as if He were saying, with no one at all being left behind: Whether someone is a husbandman, or whether he is cowardly and unmanly (for this is what it means to be "powerless"), or whether he is meek and averse to war, let him sharpen himself for battle. For I will excuse no one. I will judge all in the valley of Josaphat. Now, to "judge" means that I will be a powerful Judge, inflicting punishments and penalties upon those who have plundered My land, who have distributed Israel by lot, and who have given boys to harlots, and have sold girls, and have drunk as though it were wine.

The Lord will again proclaim such things to the enemies of the Church: though they attack the saints with all their forces and with full power, they will certainly all fall, while He protects His own, overthrowing those enemies, and fortifying His own worshippers like walls with faith, hope, charity, and the gifts of His own kindness. ^B

Ver. 13-16. Emittite falces, quoniam adest vindemia; introite, calcate, quia plenum torcular; redundant torcularia, quia multiplicata sunt mala eorum. Sonitus auditi sunt in valle judicii, quia juxta est dies Domini in valle judicii. Sol et luna obtenebrabuntur, et stellae occidere facient splendorem suum. Et Dominus de Sion clamabit, et Jerusalem dabit vocem suam, et movebitur coelum et terra.

XLII. He ordered the peoples neighboring the land of Judea—I speak of the Arabs, and Tyrians, Gethaeans and Philistines, Moabites and Idumeans, Ammonites, and Gergeseans—as if using a trumpet, to gather into the valley of Josaphat, so that they might soon die and pay bitter penalties for their judgment. Now, He arouses the Israelites to a certain alacrity and an unassailable and invincible fortitude, and as it were orders them to leap upon those gathered, ^C saying that they ought to appear as bold as possible, and manly and strenuous, even if those gathered are terrified by the horrors of war and shrink from joining battle; rather, they should hold it as a delight and count it a pleasure, rejoicing no differently than those who bring in a rich vintage. Therefore, "Emittite falces," he says, "quoniam adest vindemia." He has put "emittite" for "send forth and extend," just as those who are accustomed to harvest are wont to do. For they will lie ready to be killed, ready to be cut off. "Let the enemy be cut off," he says, "as a cluster from a vine, and let him, subjected to [your] feet, be trampled in heaps as in a wine-press." For He says, "Introite, et calcate, quia plenum est torcular," that is, the multitude of the nations has been gathered for destruction; nothing stands in the way of their being subjected to your feet. "Redundant torcularia." A perfect sign that those gathered are to be trampled. For in the abundance of grapes, wine often even exceeds the presses themselves. Therefore, by this word he demonstrates the frequency of those lying underfoot, saying, "Redundant torcularia." There follows: ^D

^A "Sonitus auditi sunt in valle judicii." And what is this? It is the custom of the holy prophets to announce future events, and sometimes even to conceive in their minds images of these realities, so that they seem to see the things happening and hear the voices. And because Nebuchadnezzar, stirred to battle, was about to destroy everyone utterly, and was carried away in mind and thought to the shameful spectacle of that war, and as it were seeing an immeasurable multitude of the slain, he said: "Woe is me, for my soul faints because of the slain" (Jer. iv, 31). Something similar, I think, happened to Joel; perhaps having received into his ears the tumult in the war, for this reason he says: "Sonitus auditi sunt in valle judicii" [Sounds were heard in the valley of judgment]. He calls the place of the struggle the valley of judgment, as if the nations were gathered there for no other reason than to suffer bitter judgment. By "sounds heard," he means either the groans of those falling, or the shouts of those conquering here. For it happens in wars that those who fall groan, while those who have conquered exult over the prostrate, and very much boast. He says that the sun and moon will be darkened, and that the stars themselves will be without light, not that the elements will suffer this at that time in any way, but as the war casts darkness, and as it were a mist, over the eyes of those being defeated. For the fear of death always brings darkness, and the magnitude of an unexpected calamity blunts the mind, and, as with the sun, it blackens the heart with the immensity of the disturbances. He says that the Lord will cry out, as if present and fighting in the ranks, and after the manner of a leader, inciting the Israelites against their adversaries.

^B It is especially fitting to apply the Lord’s crying out as if from Sion to the time of the resurrection of the human race. For as Paul says: "The Lord himself, at a command, and with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, will descend from heaven, and the dead who are in Christ will rise incorruptible" (1 Thess. iv, 16). The Law of Moses also foreshadowed this. For it commanded the Israelites to blow the trumpet on the day of the new moon (Ps. lxxxi, 3). The new moon can be understood, and quite clearly, as a figure of the coming age, and of the new [creation] according to the first. And the trumpet represents the piercing voice of the archangel—the trumpet of God, I mean—which will awaken all who lie in the earth, sounding forth something extraordinary, like a voice. It is to be noted that our Lord himself, performing the miracle concerning Lazarus, came to the tomb, and as the evangelist says, he cried with a loud voice: "Lazarus, come out" (John xi, 43), even though he says through the prophet: "He shall not contend, nor shall he cry out, nor shall his voice be heard outside" (Isa. xlii, 2). The sign, therefore, of the piercing trumpet and the sound from it, I mean the one at the end times and from heaven, is that the Savior used a loud voice to raise Lazarus. ^D Vers. 17. But the Lord will spare his people, and will strengthen the sons of Israel. And you shall know, that I am the Lord.

your God, dwelling in Sion my holy mountain. And Jerusalem shall be holy, and foreigners shall pass through it no more.

^A XLIII. When the crimes of the apostasy of the fathers were laid to the charge of those from Israel, and they worshipped golden calves, impiously declaring, "These are your gods, O Israel, who led you out of the land of Egypt," then they were weak, and easily conquered, and were most ready prey for their enemies. Therefore they were also sent into captivity. But after they had obtained mercy, and dwelt in their own land, God laying aside his wrath, they remained henceforth invincible and insurmountable to their enemies, and they won [their battles] without effort, even though all the nations were gathered together for war. He says, therefore, that they will know from the fact that they are prevailing over their opponents, that He is among them, and [that He] will henceforth rest in Sion as in a holy city. ^B Therefore He says that He will spare his own people, and will show them to be most valiant, and [he says] they will learn that He is with them. And he says that Jerusalem will be holy, having utterly cast off the ancient atheism; no longer will false divination and sorcery be honored among them, but rather the law of life will prevail, and the study of the best practices will have become their concern. Since it is so, and since they have chosen to live thus, He says that no enemy will pass through it; that is to say, it will not be easily conquered by any, nor will it be snatched by those who happen to pass by, as it was before, but rather it will be secure, and strongly fortified by the powers and succors from me.

^C This matter, moreover, is true even if it be understood of the Church of Christ itself. For it cares for its own worshippers, and makes them superior to their enemies, robust, most valiant, and full of spiritual strength, since they know and believe that God is in them through the Spirit. "For he dwells in our hearts through faith." And the evangelist John says, "In this we know that he is in us, because he has given us of his Spirit." Holy, in truth, is the intelligible Jerusalem, that is to say, the Church, the orders of the saints. For there is no passage through it for foreigners. "For those who are Christ’s have crucified their flesh." I remember also the saying of one of the wise, who instructed: ^D "If the spirit of anyone having power should ascend upon you, do not leave your place, because healing will cause great sins to cease." Safe, indeed, is the heart they possess, not accessible to feet, nor to horsemen, nor shaken by unclean spirits; but rather stable, and thoroughly fortified, as if by towers, by the dogmas of the truth.

Vers. 18. And it shall be in that day: the mountains shall drop down sweetness, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the channels of Juda shall flow with waters, and a fountain shall come forth out of the house of the Lord, and shall water the torrent of thorns.

XLIV. Jerusalem having been declared holy, and no longer being accessible to foreigners, because the Lord of all things dwells in it, and having granted pardon to the people of Juda, and having strengthened

COMMENTARY ON THE PROPHET JOEL

^A his own people, and having shown them to be better than their opponents, then indeed the mountains "shall drip sweetness, and the hills shall flow with milk, and the pardons of Juda" shall yield their own stream. By pardons, I think, are meant the outlets of fountains, or, in another way, what might be called the conduits of waters. By the name of mountains, one may accept those who have attained to the summit of virtue, and who, by the praises of a life according to virtue, excel others in measure—those who are conspicuous and manifest, such as the disciples of Christ were, and before all others the Baptist, of whom the Savior says, "There has not arisen one greater than John." ^B These great and most renowned ones, then, drip sweetness, and as if anointing with honey, they will make their discourse concerning the Savior, so that everyone who hears, suffused with exceeding joy, exclaims: "How sweet are your words to my throat!" and what follows. For the discourse of the saints is never-failing in its sweetness to those who desire to please God. Such men, therefore, and most aptly indeed, are understood by the term mountains. We say that the hills are those who are a little inferior to the excellence of the former, and lower in their way of life, yet they too have raised themselves up and excel many others. These pour into the minds of those who have recently believed the "rational and guileless milk," ^C and provide food suitable for infants; for solid food is for the perfect, but milk is most appropriate for infants. And we certainly do not say that their power is limited only to their being able to pour out milk for infants. For realizing that they are able—and quite conveniently so—if they so choose, to distribute more solid food to those who are more established in their habit, they are guided by Him who says openly: "You shall know the souls of your flock." And thus the divine disciples, although Christ gave us countless commandments, prescribe to us who have believed from the Gentiles, by their own authority, that we must abstain from fornication, and from what is strangled, and from blood. "For it seemed," they say, "to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden." Do you hear how the commandment is suited to infants, ^D and how it provides strength, as it were, to the somewhat weaker ones, like milk? That the intelligible water is also abundant for those who are planted in the house of the Lord, so that they may bloom in the courts of God, being watered by divine streams, and being enriched by the words from above and from heaven, he indicates by saying that "all the pardons of Juda shall flow with waters." For even the blessed apostles confessed that they were called by God. But the first pardons of the intelligible waters would certainly be the gifts bestowed by God upon the saints through the Spirit. The second pardons, as it were, of water, would be the discourse coming from them to us, filling us with spiritual charisms. But what fountain again could the one going forth from the house of the Lord be, except Christ? For thus the Psalmist also named him, addressing the Father and God in the heavens: "You shall give them to drink of the torrent of your delight; for with you is the fountain of life." Thus Christ is both the torrent and the fountain of life. The prophet, however, makes mention of the reeds of the torrent, of some torrent, that is, to which an abundance of reeds grows.

They say that this is the same as the torrent of Cedron, ^A toward which the evangelist narrates that the traitorous disciple sought the Lord with a military cohort when He had been insulted.

Nor will it be indecorous if we compare the Church to the torrent of the reeds, into which our Lord has bent His course like a river of peace, which He surrounds as if perpetually, irrigating the ever-verdant reeds—that is to say, the souls of the saints. For the reed is always, in a way, water-loving, and it is ever-verdant. And if it is also indeed seen to be pointed, that may well be the case here as well. For the virtue of the saints is not altogether without a sting; for while they are most gentle lovers, yet, along with this, they are also sharp and warriors. ^B

Egypt shall be for destruction, and Idumea for a field for destruction because of the iniquities of the children of Judah, for that they shed innocent blood in their land. But Judea shall be inhabited for ever, and Jerusalem into generations of generations. And I will avenge their blood, and I will not acquit them, and the Lord shall dwell in Zion.

XLV. As far as pertains to the historical sense, Egypt was punished when Cambyses, the son of Cyrus, conquered the kingdom. And Idumea was reduced to a wilderness, as the thing itself speaks. ^C

Yet in these things, the prophetic word seems to us to reveal a hidden mystery, which the Only-Begotten fulfilled when He became man. For the divine Scripture has, in a way, practiced assimilating those who are too much into idolatry, and who have inclined their herds of demons—and even those who are always opposing the saints—to that, to those who are completely like them. Therefore, he prophesies that all enemies will perish, having been compared to the Egyptians and the Idumeans. For the promise of Christ concerning the Church is firm, saying, "The gates of hell shall not prevail against it." And he makes it manifest that the evil powers, and as many as have dared to do the like to them, or those who are leading some away ^D to Greek errors, or precipitating them into a reprobate mind while teaching them to pursue perverse things, were all surely about to pay the penalty for offenses committed against men; and for this reason he says that those who waged war against Zion will be destroyed, because they shed innocent blood and intolerably harassed the children of Judah, that is to say, the saints, who are children of confession, for "Judah" is interpreted as "confession." And the God-inspired David said somewhere concerning those who were unholily slain: "For He remembered when He made inquisition for their blood." But as for Satan, who is portrayed in the image of the Assyrian: "As a garment stained with blood will not be clean, so neither shalt thou be clean, because thou hast defiled my land and destroyed my people. Thou shalt not remain for all time." Therefore he says that the adversaries will depart into destruction, and that Judea will be inhabited for ever, and Jerusalem into generations of generations; not that it was laid waste