OF THE BLESSED THEODORET, BISHOP OF CYRRHUS, COMMENTARY ON THE PROPHET HOSEA.
ARGUMENT
A When the division of the people occurred under Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, Jeroboam, son of Nebat, ruled over the ten tribes. Fearing that, during the festive days which called the people to the temple at Jerusalem, the ten tribes might return to the kingdom of David, he nefariously began an impiety against God, and fashioned two golden calves, building shrines for them, for one in Dan and for the other in Bethel. Hence, impiety having taken root, he taught them to serve the idols of the neighboring nations. Wherefore, having lapsed into extreme iniquity, they were despoiled of divine providence. B And first, Hazael, king of the Syrians, warred against them; then Phua, king of the Assyrians, exacted a very large tribute. After him, following the destruction of many cities, Tiglath-Pileser killed some of the inhabitants and led others into captivity. After him, Shalmaneser, succeeding to the kingdom, did the same again against the cities that were still intact and had not yet been ravaged, and having divided his army for a siege, he took Samaria C along with its inhabitants and led the remaining part of the ten tribes away into Assyria. Finally, the king of the Assyrians, Sennacherim, having waged war against Judea, took indeed some of the cities; but when he attempted to besiege Jerusalem, he lost his army through a plague divinely inflicted, while he himself escaped unhurt, in order that he might become a herald of the divine power. But when he returned home, he was killed by his own children, since he too, having been made by God, had raged against his own Maker. Accordingly, the blessed Hosea, D having been accepted into the prophetic office and seeing far with the eyes of his mind, is commanded to preach to the people, so that, being terrified by the fear of these predictions, they might flee from the punishments and escape the danger of evils.
A Call his name Jezreel." But I am greatly astonished at those who have dared to say that these are words devoid of substance, and that though the God of all commanded it, the prophet did not do it; that the words were spoken, but the deeds were not performed. Those who attempt to say such things ought to have observed that God often commanded many such things. For He commanded Isaiah to loose the sackcloth from his loins, and to run naked and barefoot, and thus to perform the prophecy; to Jeremiah, He once instructed him to place wooden yokes on his neck, and at another time iron ones; to Ezekiel, He commanded him to lie on his left side for one hundred and fifty days, and on his right for forty, and to eat bread baked in human dung, and to take the vessels of captivity, and to dig through the wall, and to draw a picture of the fugitives, and thus to predict the flight of Zedekiah. And we shall find ten thousand other such things in the divine Scripture, of which if one were to ignore the purpose, he might say they were unworthy of prophetic virtue: "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. And even upon my servants and upon my handmaids, in those days I will pour out of my Spirit." This promise received its fulfillment openly and plainly on the day of Pentecost, when the divine apostles spoke with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance; and after this, the grace was distributed through them to all who believe. Among these were also the prophets in Antioch, and Agabus who took Paul’s belt, and those in Corinth, to whom Paul writes: "If all prophesy, and an unbeliever or an uninstructed person enters, he is convicted by all, he is judged by all, and thus falling on his face he will worship God, saying that God is truly among you." Also the four daughters of Philip received the gift of prophecy. For what need is there even to speak of the divine Paul, who at Miletus said to the elders of the Ephesians: "For I know that after my departure heavy wolves shall enter in among you, not sparing the flock; and of your own selves men shall arise, speaking perverse things"? And writing to Timothy he cries out, "In the last days perilous times shall come; for men shall be self-lovers, covetous," and the rest. And again: "But the Spirit expressly says, that in the last times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits," and the rest. But it is superfluous for me to try to demonstrate the truth of prophecy. For this gift has been preserved even to our own times, and there are men among the saints who have a pure sharpness of mind, who both foresee and predict many of the things that are to come. Having thus spoken of the gifts bestowed by the divine Spirit after the first manifestation of our Savior, he predicts also the things that are to happen before the second manifestation.
VERS. 30, 31. "And I will show wonders in heaven and in the earth, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and illustrious day of the Lord comes." The Lord also predicted these things in the holy Gospels: "For there shall be," He says, "signs in heaven, and in the sun, and the moon, and the stars." He calls the second manifestation of our Savior the great and illustrious day. For since at the time of His prior advent He was born from a poor woman in a cave, and when born was placed in a manger, and until He began His miracles He was unknown to the many, but coming in...
A His state of abasement, He was made known, and by the wonder of what was seen, He drew those devoid of understanding to spiritual contemplation. For those seeing Isaiah running naked would surely have run to the contemplation of this strange thing, desiring to learn the reason for such a course. And those who saw Ezechiel doing all those things would, as is likely, have inquired into the cause of what was being done.
In this way, then, the Lord of all prepares the blessed Osee to take an unchaste wife, that by what was done he might both rebuke the impiety of the people and display His own incredible forbearance. If, however, the God of all endured the Synagogue, lost to lust and adulterous, and the fountain of holiness was not B defiled by that impure and execrable one, neither did the prophet receive any stain from that wife full of shame; for it was not from serving immoderate desire, but from obeying the commands of God, that he entered into association with her.
It must be known, moreover, that good and evil are judged by their purpose; for in this way marriage is distinguished from adultery. Although they do not differ at all in the act of coitus, the distinction is demonstrated by the purpose and the law, and by this mark the one is judged legitimate and the other illegitimate. One might find this same thing in the case of killing, if one only considers it. For the murderer kills, C and the D judge also kills; but the one does so lawfully, the other unlawfully, and...
while the act is the same, they differ in purpose and in scope. And that we may learn this more clearly from the holy Scripture, we must consider it as follows. Cain committed murder, but he did so while laboring under envy and using wicked guile. Phinehas committed murder, but he did so while inflamed with zeal, taking up the struggle for piety, and abhorring impiety; and so the act was the same, but the purpose and scope were diametrically opposite. In the same way, while theft is condemned by the law, yet Jacob stole the blessing from his father, and was not only not accused of theft, but is even celebrated throughout all generations. B Elijah the great fasted, and those who stoned Naboth also fasted; but the former was engaged in contemplation, while the latter were brewing calumny. Saul showed mercy to Agag and was stripped of his kingdom, for that mercy was unlawful; Samuel killed Agag and satisfied the divine law. C And it is easy to find ten thousand other such things, not only in the holy Scripture but also in those things that happen among us every day. And so, the wonderful Hosea, not serving his own lust but yielding to divine impulses, took the harlot, and this union was chaster and more praiseworthy than any marriage: not only because it happened according to the divine impulse, but because it exhibited the likeness of God, and how the Holy One, resting in the saints, became the spouse of the licentious multitude of the Israelites. Therefore, after she had borne a child, He commands him to call the one who was born Jezrael: "For yet a little while, and I will avenge the blood of Jezrael upon the house of Jehu, and I will cause the kingdom of the house of Israel to cease." (vs. 4-5) "And it shall be in that day that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezrael." The meaning of what He says is this: Jezrael is the place in which Naboth suffered that unjust slaughter; D and Jehu, who became the punisher of this man according to the divine counsel, and to whom God had promised, on account of what he had done against Jezebel, that his kingdom would last for four generations. Since, therefore, the descendants of this man took no thought of the divine benevolence, and began to emulate the impiety of those who had reigned before them, God threatens that He will also cause this kingdom to cease, and will break the bow of Israel, that is, He will dissolve their power in the valley of Jezrael. And He did not make mention of this place simply, but to recall the divine benevolence to the king then reigning, and to teach that, just as the Lord exacted penalties from those who had slaughtered Naboth through his ancestor Jehu, so He will also exact the penalty from them for their ingratitude toward Him. To these He adds that another child was born, and by the God of all...
A a name was given; for He commanded, He says, that she be called *Not-pitied*, teaching by this that He would no longer deem Israel worthy of pity.
VERS. 7. B "But I will have mercy on the children of Judah," He says, "and I will save them by the Lord their God, and I will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by war, nor by horses, nor by horsemen." And by these things He clearly revealed what happened in the time of Sennacherib; for at that time the Assyrians were defeated, not by the formation of a battle line, but by angelic power, and one hundred and eighty-five thousand were destroyed. To these He adds that, when another child was born, God commanded that he be called *Not my people*; and He teaches the reason: "For you are not my people, and I am not yours." And lest anyone suppose that He casts them off as being easily counted and few, He has appropriately added:
VERS. 10. "Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which shall not be measured nor numbered." But God does not rejoice in multitude; for where two or three are gathered into His name, there He is in the midst of them. Thus He preferred Noah to all mortals together, thus Abraham, thus Moses; but their descendants, though surpassing in number, He calls *Not my people* on account of their impiety. But, being merciful, He immediately recalled the sentence that had been issued:
"For it shall be in the place where it was said to them, 'You are not my people,' they shall be called children of the living God. (VERS. 11.) And the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together into one place, and they shall appoint for themselves one rule, and they shall go up from the land, for great is the day of Jezreel." By these words He foretold the recall from Babylon, and that after their return from there they would no longer have divided kings, but, being united and joined together, they would have one ruler. And this was fulfilled in the time of Zerubbabel. He called the day of Jezreel the calamity which the Assyrians brought upon Israel in the valley of Jezreel. For because, He says, I bring upon them a great punishment, I will also deem them worthy of great salvation, and having freed them from servitude, I will restore them to their ancestral homeland.
CHAPTER II.
D Then He exhorts them, as things have undergone a change, to change their names as well, and to call *Not my people*, *My people*, and *Not beloved*, *Beloved*. For you, He says, who have attained salvation and have returned from Babylon, be judges of your mother and of me—that is, of your ancestors, who sinned against me, because this...
is not my wife, and I am not her husband. A bill of divorce, he says, was issued because the cause originated from her. We find something similar also said in Isaiah: "And now, O house of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, judge between me and my vineyard, for I looked for it to bring forth grapes, and it brought forth thorns." And in this place He says: B
VER. 2. "Judge with your mother, judge, for she is not my wife, and I am not her husband." And to show that this divorce was not brought about for her destruction, he adds: "And I will take away her fornication from before me, and her adulteries from the midst of her breasts." Something of this kind is that which was said by the blessed David: "It is good for me that You have humbled me, that I may learn Your statutes." In chastising her, He promises to free her from fornication and adultery, and not superficially, but by rooting it out from the midst of her breasts. He denotes the heart lying under the breasts, from which proceed evil thoughts, envies, murders, adulteries, fornications, and things like these. Therefore, the chastisement of God brings the greatest benefit, by which those who are instructed are freed from fornication. He also teaches the kinds of chastisement.
VER. 3. "So that I may strip her naked, and restore her as she was on the day of her birth." He calls her time in Egypt the day of her birth. I will make her, He says, desolate and destitute of my providence, and I will cause her to serve the Assyrians, just as she served the Egyptians. And I will make her like a dry and desert land; and I will destroy her with thirst. By thirst, He implies not only the lack of water, but also the deprivation of divine providence. C Nor will I spare her children, He says, because, born of impious parents, they have imitated the wickedness of their fathers. For here he calls the worship of idols fornication; and to point out her ingratitude more clearly, he introduces her as saying that it is fitting to follow her lovers—that is, the idols—from whom, she says, I receive an abundance of all things necessary. And because she did not know the Giver of good things, He fittingly adds:
VER. 6. "Therefore, behold, I will hedge up her way with thorns, and I will build up her ways, and she shall not find her path." And this punishment itself is full of philanthropy; for it works toward a cessation of her impiety. For having learned by trial of evils the weakness of the idols (for she called upon them for an alliance at the time of the invasion, and did not obtain help from them—"For she will seek them," He says, "and will not find them"), she will remember divine providence, and will say, "I will go and revert to D
for it was better for me then than now." And who, beholding such divine love for mankind, would not justly be astonished—that He who is God, Creator, and Lord, calls Himself her husband, and not her master? Since the affection of a wife for her husband is greater and more vehement than that of servants for their master, wishing to instill this disposition in humanity, He styles Himself bridegroom and husband. Yet not even these things move ungrateful men of perverse mind toward a right and thankful disposition toward God. Whence it comes to pass that He also says of them:
A VERS. 8. "And she did not know that I gave her the grain, and the wine, and the oil; and I multiplied the silver and the gold to her: but she made them into silver and gold for Baal." The gifts she received from God, these she offered to those enemies of God. Wherefore, God, being offended, threatens to deprive them of grain and wine. And lest they should think the land is suffering from unfruitfulness, He aptly added, "In its time," that is, after it has fully ripened and become mature, in the time of harvest and vintage. He threatens also to strip her of clothing, so that she might even lack necessary garments. [10] Her lovers, He says, seeing these things, will be unable to bring her aid. [11] Furthermore, He threatened through the prophetic mouth to cause a cessation of festival days, to extinguish every occasion of joy and exultation, and to destroy the fig trees and the vines. [12] Since she said, He says, that she received these things from the idols, and ignored Me as the bestower of them. "And I will place them," He says, "as a testimony." For being destroyed and corrupted by wild beasts, birds, and serpents, they will convict their impiety and will B bear witness to the discipline and correction brought about by Me. [13] She will suffer these evils because she preferred the worship of Baal—that is, the idols—over Mine; and decked out in varied and manifold adornment, she celebrated their festivals. Wherefore He says,
VERS. 14. "Behold, I will seduce her, and will bring her into the desert." That is, I will cause her to wander and stray as a captive, and I will render her destitute of all these good things; yet nevertheless, I will comfort her in these evils.
VERS. 15. "For," He says, "I will speak to her heart, and I will give her her possessions from there, and the valley of Achor for opening her understanding." For "Achor," in the C Syriac I have found "Achar"; this is he who under Joshua the son of Nun committed theft and violated the established anathema, and who paid the penalty, for the whole people stoned him. But after
A his death, when they recognized what vast troubles the transgression of the divine law brings, they appeased God with weeping and lamentation. This, therefore, the prophet here indicates. For as they then learned from the punishment of Achar how great an evil the violation of the law is, so also from the captivity these will receive a perception of their own transgressions. And making this clearer, he adds:
VERS. 16, 17. "And she shall be humbled there according to the days of her infancy, and according to the days of her coming up from the land of Egypt. And it shall be in that day, saith the Lord, she shall call me, My husband, and shall no longer call me Baalim. And I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and they shall no more be mentioned by their names." In the same way, he says, as they served the Egyptians, so shall they serve the Assyrians; for he calls their time in Egypt her infancy. However, the servitude will be useful to them, and will plainly be a reconciler of piety; for in the captivity she will forget the worship of idols, and will call me husband and companion. And I, seeing the change that has taken place in her soul:
VERS. 18. "I will make a covenant for them in that day, with the beasts of the field, and with the birds of the heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground." And teaching that he does not speak of beasts and birds, but of brutish men, and of those flying about after the manner of birds, and of those resembling venomous serpents, he adds: "And I will break the bow and the sword, and the battle from the earth." Then he promises them eternal goods: B "And I will make them dwell in hope." Concerning this hope, the blessed Paul speaks: "For in hope," he says, "we were saved. But hope that is seen is not hope; for what anyone sees, why does he also hope for? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience." And that it is of this hope he spoke, and not another, the things that follow bear witness.
VERS. 19. "And I will betroth thee unto me forever; and I will betroth thee in righteousness, and in judgment, and in mercy, and in compassions." And that he did not betroth the Synagogue of the Jews unto himself forever, but the Church gathered from the Jews and from the Gentiles, the events themselves bear witness. For the former was cast off, C whereas this one, joined to the Bridegroom, awaits eternal goods. He betrothed her, not only in righteousness and judgment, but also in mercy and in compassions; for he used righteousness and judgment against the wicked tyrant, but displayed mercy and compassions toward those who were forced to serve that tyrant. And since it was necessary that those who had obtained mercy should themselves also render something back to their Savior, he reasonably added:
A Ver. 20. "And I will betroth you to myself in faith, and you shall know the Lord." For faith alone is immediately required of those who approach, as they are destitute and void of righteousness; but they receive this through the washing of regeneration from God the Savior. Whoever possesses faith comes into the knowledge of the Master. 21 After the prefiguration of eternal goods, he foretells to them also corporeal gifts. For since they were earthly and stuck to the dust, they devoted their attention more to these than to those. He promises, therefore, that he will supply rain from above, and will labor so that the earth may bring forth good things, as he says: "I will hear the heaven, and the heaven shall hear the earth. (Vers. 22.) And the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and these shall hear Jezreel." Then again he intermingles the spiritual.
Ver. 23. "And I will sow her to myself upon the earth." This is: I will make her a field which I will cultivate, and I will sow the seeds of righteousness. "And I will have mercy on her that had not obtained mercy, and I will say to Not-my-people: You are my people; and he shall say: You are my God." These things indeed happened figuratively under Zerubbabel; but in reality, after the incarnation of Christ the Lord, when he betrothed the Church to himself for eternity: for then those who believed in him were truly called faithful people, and he himself was called God specifically of those who believed in him from the heart.
CHAPTER III
B 1 After these promises of goods and betrothals, God again exhorts the prophet to love the adulterous woman who was living in wickedness, so that through the events he might again show an image and likeness of the supreme divine love toward the unworthy. "For just as," he says, "the Lord loves the children of Israel, and they look to other gods and love cakes with raisins." Men devoted to idols were accustomed to making such things. [2, 3] The prophet, however, immediately performed what was commanded, and explains what wages he promised to the woman, and what covenants he made with her. "For I said to her," he says, "to flee every other association and to keep herself entire for me alone." He then shows the archetype of the image.
Ver. 4. "For many days," he says, "the children of Israel shall sit without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an altar, and without a priesthood, and C without manifestations." For just as, he says, she, renouncing her former lovers, chose the company of the prophet: so also you, having been led away captive into a foreign land, will enjoy neither royal nor priestly care: for since there is no altar, what kind of sacrifice will be made? But
neither will the things accustomed to be declared and presignified through the priests or prophets be preannounced to those who wish, in a foreign land, to learn what must be done; nor will I openly show them my care, even though I pursue them with ardent love because of their ancestors. For this reason the prophet indeed lived with a woman occupied in wicked deeds, as the Lord had commanded, yet he refrained from marital intercourse; for God, the Lord of all, neither entirely stripped the people of His own providence, nor did He make it plain and evident to them. He called the divine predictions A *manifestations*; for the high priest used to receive the manifestation and truth by the rational of judgment, and through certain signs occurring in that, he foretold things to come. For this reason, also, the great Moses, blessing the priestly tribe, says: "Give to Levi manifestations." Thus, having prophesied sad things, he mingles with them also those that are joyful.
5. "After these things," he says, "the children of Israel will return, and will seek the Lord their God, and David their king, and they will be amazed at the Lord and at His good things in the last of the days." For whereas the ten tribes, having revolted from the kings sprung from David, had elected a king for themselves, after their return from Babylon, being united and joined together, they had one leader, Zerubbabel, sprung B from the Davidic tribe, under whom they also received the enjoyment of the God-given good things. All these things, clearly knowing them before they came to pass, he predicts with a prophetic voice. And "in the last of the days" means: after the end of the seventy years of the captivity.
CHAPTER IV
[1, 2] Having thus presignified the good things, he again institutes an accusation regarding the evils that were being committed. "For you are destitute," he says, "of truth and kindness, and deprived of divine knowledge; but among you, much falsehood prevails; murder is committed with impunity, and, coveting what belongs to others, you appropriate it, and you plot against one another's marriages, so that your whole land abounds with these pollutions." On account of which I shall bring upon you such a multitude C of enemies that they will be utterly consumed, not only those who abound in wealth and who, after the manner of wild beasts and reptiles, prey upon the poor and use their strength like certain wings, but also all the others, who, like certain fish, swim through the sea of life. For he figuratively called the powerful "wild beasts, and reptiles, and birds," but he named the poor "fish." But when this happens, he says, the land will be destitute of both those who judge and those who are judged. "And my people," he says, "as a priest who is contradicted: and he will be weakened by day, and the prophet also will be weakened with D
him, A you will become like a priest who has been shown to be unworthy and has fallen from his proper dignity, being stripped of my providence, and for many days you will be delivered over to this discipline along with the prophets who announce falsehoods to you. For he has now called the pseudoprophet a prophet, according to the custom that prevailed among them. "And in the night I have made your mother like." And showing whom he calls mother,
VERS. 6. "My people," he says, "is become as one without knowledge." For since they have delivered themselves over to the darkness of ignorance, and do not wish to receive even a small glimmer of the light that leads to the knowledge of God, they are rightly likened to the night, being held by such darkness; B by the mother he refers to the Synagogue, and by the people, those born from it. For this we also find in Isaiah: "What is this bill of the divorce of your mother?" Therefore, "Because you," he says, "have rejected knowledge, I will reject you, so that you shall not serve as a priest before me: and because you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your children." And showing more clearly both his own kindness and their ingratitude,
VERS. 7. "According to their multitude," he says, "so they have sinned against me," that is, I brought it about that they should be very numerous in count; but they, on the contrary, persisted in sinning against me. Wherefore
VERS. 8. "I will change their glory into dishonor. They shall eat the sins of my people, and C their souls shall receive their iniquities," that is, they shall reap what they have sown, and shall harvest the fruit of their own transgressions. But some say that the priests are also signified by these words: because they received a certain portion according to the law from the sacrifices offered for sins, and enjoying this benefit, while living wickedly, they were unwilling to rebuke those who lived in wickedness; for which cause the Lord, being offended, says: Since you take delight in the sacrifices offered for sins, and do not apply the proper cure to those who are slipping, you shall pay the penalty for these offenses, being delivered over to foreign nations for slaughter. And teaching this more clearly, he immediately adds:
VERS. 9. "And it shall be as with the people, so also with the priest." D That is, you shall likewise endure the punishment for your wickedness just as the people, because when you had received the duty of curing the people, you lived in total sloth and cast away all care for those who were disposed to sickness. Therefore he says: "And I will punish upon them their ways, and I will repay his designs to him." For not only for
wicked works, but also for perverse thoughts shall I exact punishment.
A Ver. 10. "And they shall eat, and shall not be satisfied." I shall bring upon them, he says, consecutive evils, just as more food is set before those who cannot be satiated with meals. He again recounts their iniquities, accusing them of drunkenness and the worship of idols; for this very thing he calls fornication. He adds also the ridiculous sorcery, teaching how they would consult those who professed to prophesy, and in what manner they would return answers to them. B Ver. 12. "For they asked in symbols, and their staves told them." For some, he says, sought to learn what was to be done through certain symbols; while others, using certain staves as aids to their fraud, declared what they wished. These things were dared by them because they had acquired an inclination to fornication; for he calls "the spirit of fornication" the great zeal for fornication. And teaching more clearly what he calls fornication, he added: "And they have gone a-whoring from their God." And indicating the manner:
Ver. 13. "They sacrificed on the tops of the mountains, and upon the hills they sacrificed under the oak, and the poplar, and the shady tree: because the shade was good." For delighting in shady trees, they did not worship the creator of these, but offered sacrifices to them in his place. Ver. 14. "Therefore," he says, "I will have no care for you, nor for your daughters, nor for your brides openly debauched by the enemies invading you." For what you dared to do in secret, I will allow to happen openly. C For he showed this when he said: "For they themselves were mixed with harlots, and they sacrificed with those who were initiated, and the people not understanding were joined to a harlot." Fornication, therefore, he sometimes calls incontinence, and sometimes impiety; and he calls those "initiated" who were imbued with and instructed in the rites of impiety. For just as we call those who have been deemed worthy of the divine mysteries "the faithful," so the pagan Greeks termed those "initiated" who were more accurately instructed in their own impiety. Having threatened them in this way, he again applies an exhortation.
Ver. 15. "But do thou, Israel, not be ignorant, and, Juda, do not go into Galgala, and go not up into the house of On, and do not swear by the living Lord." On is the name of the idol in Bethel; for it does not signify the eternal, as some have supposed, D that is, the existing one; but it is a Hebrew, not a Greek, name. This, the others who translated the Hebrew have clearly taught us.
For Aquila A and Theodotio have translated it as "useless house," while Symmachus rendered it as "house of iniquity"; and both terms are appropriate to the situation. For those who presided there did not merely gain no profit therefrom, but even suffered great loss, becoming unjust and ungrateful toward their own benefactor. Gilgal was a city itself dedicated to many idols; in this city, Joshua, the son of Nun, circumcised those of the people who were uncircumcised, using stone knives, and he also set down the twelve stones which the Lord had commanded to be taken from the midst of the Jordan, so that they might be a memorial of the benefit received, and that those who were to be in the future might learn that the people had made the crossing using the riverbed as dry land. It is, therefore, a sign of the greatest ingratitude that this city, in which they had received so many monuments of divine benevolence, became the metropolis of impiety.
Now, this, "Do not swear by the living Lord," is not forbidden without cause; rather, it is because those who had cleaved to Baal, and were making their oaths by him, were calling him the "living Lord." And this one may learn from elsewhere: "For if," he says, "you take away the Baalim from your mouth, and you swear, 'The Lord lives,' in truth." That is, if you exile the memory of the idols, and, giving your attention to my worship and calling me the living Lord, you swear, honoring the truth and loathing the lie. B
Vers. 16. "For as a heifer goad-stricken has the madness of Israel: now the Lord shall pasture them, as a lamb in a spacious place." Oestrus is a certain fly most troublesome to cows, which by its sting inflicts such a sense of pain that the cows, to which its stings have been applied, can neither be recalled by the voice of the cowherd, nor pasture with the rest of the cows, but run continuously, and sometimes are driven headlong over precipices. To these, he says, Ephraim is similar, having received the goad of the worship of idols (for by Ephraim, as we have said above, he designates the ten tribes). However, not even so will I leave them without pastoral care; but, having caused them to be lead away as prisoners of war, I will scatter them here and there, so that they differ in no way from a wandering lamb seeking its mother’s teat. These things he will suffer, C because having set before himself these heifers and other idols as certain stumbling blocks and snares, he has emulated the impiety of the Canaanites, and using pride against me, he has preferred the observance of idols to my worship and veneration. "For they loved ignominy from its snorting." But for this very reason:
Vers. 19. "The whirlwind of his spirit shall whistle in its wings." For just as, he says, D by the movement of the wings,
A he cleaves the air with a certain sound, so this one, as if winged, shall be carried away into a strange land, as if a whirlwind of my wrath were dragging it down and compelling it to dwell there; yet it shall endure these things, reaping those fruits from the altars of the idols.
CHAPTER V
B [1] You therefore, O priests, attend to these threats, and all the people, and all who live your lives in the royal cities, receive these words with attentive ears: "For the judgment pertains to you, because you have become a snare to the watch-tower, and as a net spread out over Itabyrium." [2] Those who capture the prey have fixed it. By this, he says, I shall bring you all to my judgment: for you have plotted innumerable evils against my prophets, and have spread your snares like nets against them; and just as those who, on the mountain of Itabyrium, which is full of various game, fix their hunting instruments, in like manner you construct the machinery of your deceits against the prophets sent by me for the sake of your own salvation. For he called the assembly of the prophets a "watch-tower," for he also said to Ezekiel: "I have given you as a watchman to the house of Israel." For this reason he says to Ephraim and to Israel, that is, to all the people: "I will bring correction. For he has committed fornication and has been defiled, since he has fallen away from my worship."
[4] "And they did not set their thoughts on returning to their God, for the spirit of fornication is in them, and they have not known the Lord." For having used absurd lines of reasoning, they have fallen away from true knowledge of God, and have given themselves to the worship of idols. [5] Wherefore for this indignity they shall pay the penalty to God, clearly seeing what sort of thing is the fruit of impiety. For this he said: "In his face; and Israel and Ephraim shall become weak in their iniquities, and Judah also shall become weak with them." Since the ten tribes previously endured kidnapping and servitude, he deservedly remembered them first, calling them Israel and Ephraim; but he correctly placed Judah in the last place, since he endured captivity after them. [6] Afterward he teaches how, while at the same time obtaining calves and sheep, they shall perform sacrifices, seeking the Lord, but they shall not find him, for he has turned away from them. And showing the cause, he subjoined:
[7] "Because they have forsaken the Lord." And because they produced children from illegitimate union with foreign women whom they had joined to themselves in marriage; for he declared this, saying: "Because strange children
A now the mildew shall devour them, and their portions." He calls that blight which occurs to the fruits of the ground through the inclemency of the air "mildew," but he also calls the enemies "mildew" figuratively, as they destroy everything just like mildew does. And explaining this more clearly, he immediately adds:
VERS. 8, 9. "Clang the trumpet upon the hills, resound upon the heights, preach in the house of On: Benjamin was astonished. Ephraim became a desolation in the days of correction; in the tribes of Israel I have displayed faithfulness." For they did not believe all these things which I forewarned to them through the prophets, but they will believe after the experience of events; and by punishing their iniquities, I shall show the truth of the prophet's prediction. Yet, cleverly deriding the weakness of the idols, he says: "Preach in the house of On; B stir up," he says, "to your aid those whom you honor; let them cause the chastisements which I bring upon you to cease. Betake yourselves to the highest hills, on which you offered all manner of service to your idols; let them grant you their assistance in a timely hour." He appropriately makes mention of Benjamin as well, since he adds the mention of Judah alongside it.
VERS. 10. "For the princes of Judah," he says, "became like those removing boundaries; upon them I will pour out my impulse like water." For they transgress the boundaries set by me so impudently, just as those who attempt shamelessly to move and transfer the marker-stones that divide one field from another; C wherefore, like a torrent, I will heap punishments upon them. It is clear that when he mentions Benjamin, he includes the tribe of Judah, and again, when he accuses Judah, he similarly joins Benjamin; for they lived under one kingdom. In the same way, when he says "Ephraim," he names the ten tribes of Israel, and when he mentions "Israel," he means the same thing.
VERS. 11. "Ephraim oppressed his adversary, he trampled upon judgment, because he began to walk after vain things." The cause, he says, of his iniquity was the worship of idols; for if he had known me, he would have been instructed in what is right by my laws.
VERS. 12. "And I will be as a disturbance to Ephraim, and as a goad to the house of Judah." D That is, I will bring upon them the disturbance of enemies, and as if pricking them with a certain goad and sting, I will apply punishment to them through their enemies.
VERS. 13. "And Ephraim saw his infirmity, and Judah his pain." For by experience he learned the cause of his evils. "And Ephraim went to the Assyrians." For when he was warred upon by the Syrians,
he called A Phua, king of the Assyrians, to his aid. "And he sent messengers to King Jarib," and he was not able to deliver you, nor will pain cease from you. "Again, when the Assyrians come upon you," he says, "you will send embassies to the King of Egypt," seeking aid from there; but you will obtain no help from there either, but will be delivered up to successive pains. That he calls Jarib the King of Egypt is easy to learn from what follows: "For Ephraim became as a foolish dove, not having a heart; he called upon Egypt, and they went to the Assyrians." For having need to ask for my help, which was both powerful and very close to him, he kept wandering here and there, asking for weak aids; yet he will receive no profit from the help of those.
B Ver. 14. "For," he says, "I am as a panther to Ephraim, and as a lion to the house of Judah, and I will tear, and I will go, and I will take, and there shall be none to deliver." For who will be able to stand against what is done by me? And who will deliver those who are punished by me?
Ver. 15. "And I will go, and I will return to my place, until they vanish." He continues in the allegory. For since he said: "I will be to them as a panther, and as a lion," he fittingly added: "I will return to my place, until they vanish." For it is the custom of those wild beasts, when they have hunted something, to return to their accustomed places, and to rest from the pain incurred by the hunt. C I too, therefore, he says, in the manner of a panther and a lion, having come upon you through your enemies, will thereafter be by myself, deeming you worthy of no further concern.
CHAPTER VI
[1] When these things, he says, come to pass, they will seek my providence; and they will exhort one another to supplicate God, the author of their corrections, that he may apply a fitting medicine to their wounds. "For he," he says, "has smitten, and he will heal us; he will strike, and he will bind up our wounds." And demonstrating the speed of the healing:
Ver. 2. "He will heal us after two days, in the third day we shall rise again." For he does not require a long period of time for healing, but he will provide health suddenly. D Through these words, he also alludes to the resurrection of the Savior which took place after three days, which became the cause of the common resurrection and granted to us all the hope of immortality, which is generated through the knowledge of God. "For in the third day," he says, "we shall rise again, and live before him, and we shall know." For after the resurrection, he says,
Apostle, "I shall know, even as I have been known." A For after the resurrection, the Apostle says, "I shall know, even as I have been known. For now I know in part, but then I shall know, even as I have been known." Then, he says, we shall receive a more accurate knowledge of things. "Now let us pursue to know the Lord." Zealously, he says, and more eagerly let us seek Him. "For as the dawn, we shall find Him ready." Just as the dawn dissolves the darkness of the night, so He will rid us of the temptations looming over us, and will provide the ray of His providence. "And He shall come to us as the early and the latter rain upon the earth." For He will provide us with an abundance of all good things. After this conversion of theirs to the better, as a most loving father, He makes his address to them.
B Ver. 4. "What shall I do to you, Ephraim? What shall I do to you, Judah? Your mercy is like a morning cloud, and like the dew that passes away in the morning." I, He says, wish to treat you with all kindness; but your repentance is temporary, and does not last long, being like the slight dew, which is exhausted by the sun, and the cloud, which is seen in the morning and is scattered by the sun's rays; and mercy is measured out according to repentance. Nevertheless, even in this state, I persevered in pursuing you with every care, even to the point of becoming the cause of death for my own prophets; for by sending them to instruct you, I brought about their death at your hands. For these things are shown when He said:
Ver. 5. "Therefore I have cut down your prophets, I have killed them with the word of my mouth, and my judgment shall go forth as the light." For even if you kill all the prophets, C you will not be able to show the prophecy to be false; for as a kind of light, I shall show forth its truth.
Ver. 6, 7. "Because I desire mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. But they are like a man transgressing the covenant; there they have despised me." I do not, He says, indeed need sacrifices, but I accept them, condescending to the weakness of your understanding. But I demand these two things: love towards me, and love towards one's neighbor. For I set these two as the first points when I was establishing the laws: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, D and with all your mind, and with all your strength; and you shall love your neighbor as yourself." But I indeed decreed these things; they, however, are like a man who violates the covenants he has entered into with someone. For likewise, these men too, despising my forbearance, have trampled upon the laws imposed upon them.
A Vers. 8, 9. «Galgala has despised me, a city working in vain, stirring up water. And your strength is that of a pirate.» He also mentioned this city above, as being dedicated to idols and inciting many to impiety. He said that they «stir up water,» which means they were sullying the pure notion of God with filth. He compares their strength to that of a pirate, because by means of sorcerous incantations and certain contrived sophistries, they used to cause movements of the idols. For just as pirates attack those sailing by in secret, so the worshippers of idols, not being able to show the efficacy of these things openly, deceive the senseless with certain frauds contrived for them. But since it was necessary for the divine priests to rebuke the attempted impiety with boldness, they were silent, fearing the frenzy of the impious. Fittingly, therefore, and most justly, he accuses them, saying: «The priests have hidden the way of the Lord; they have murdered Sichem, for they have wrought iniquity. (Vv. 10, 11.) In the house of Israel I saw a horrible fornication there of Ephraim; Israel is defiled. And Judah has left his harvest.» What he says is of this sort: Levi, the forefather of the priests, using Simeon as an assistant, utterly destroyed the city of the Sichemites, exacting the punishment for the insult offered to their sister from those who had committed such a deed. He rebukes the priests, as if saying: Being their descendants, you have not set them as an example. For they indeed took vengeance for their sister who had been wronged, and they fought vehemently for their father's house; but you, enjoying every honor, did not even endure to rebuke the lawlessness happening against me. But seeing those horrible and fearful pollutions, not committed by one man, but by all of Ephraim and Judah, you continued in silence. But that which is most distressing of all is that at the time when Judah ought to have harvested the fruits of the divine promises, he then left the harvest unharvested. But having put aside this negligence and sloth, O Judah, D «Begin to gather for yourself when I turn back the captivity of my people, when I desire to heal Israel.» Since, he says, before the experience of evils you did not wish to gather the fruits of righteousness, now after the experience, and after the return from captivity, live according to the law, and gather the fruits springing from it. Fittingly he said, «Begin to gather for yourself;» for we do not offer anything to God when we live justly, but we procure for ourselves the goods which come from it.
CHAPTER VII
Vers. 1. «And the iniquity of Ephraim will be revealed and...the malice of Samaria, for they have loved A falsehood.» Their iniquity will be made manifest to all through the vengeance brought upon them. «And a thief will enter unto him, a robber stripping him upon his way.» Since, indeed, having neglected the true knowledge of God, they surrendered themselves to the error of idols, their enemies, coming upon them like robbers and thieves, will burn and ravage some things, plunder others, and deprive them of every good.
Vers. 2. «That they may sing as if chanting in their hearts.» But when these things happen, he says, they will continue to lament and wail, not daring to utter their laments aloud, but stifling silent groans within their minds. «For I have remembered all their malice; now their thoughts have surrounded them, they have come before my face.» For a very long time, he says, having been long-suffering, and as if not seeing the things being dared, now I clearly behold them, having decided to bring punishment upon them. On account of this, blessed David cries out: «Turn your face from my sins.» B Aquila and Symmachus translated «thoughts» as «pursuits,» which signifies almost the same thing. For the Seventy have put «thoughts» for the first impulse of the soul, while the others have used it for the pursuits and works born from these.
Vers. 3. «In their malice they rejoiced the kings, and in their lies the princes.» For having become prone to destruction on account of their own iniquity, they became causes of rejoicing to those who fought against them. C
Vers. 4. «And all adulterers were as an oven burning for baking.» All, he says, who are inflamed by an indulgent mind are like a heated oven, ready for the reception of leaven which is prepared for the making of bread. «He will consume them from the flame.» The fire of licentiousness will bring upon them the hostile flame. «From the kneading of the dough until it is all leavened, the days of your kings.» For just as leaven changes the mingled flour into its own nature, so the leaven of impiety, having been introduced by Jeroboam, the first who reigned over you, made both you and those who were your kings at different times all participants in its own stench. D From this point forward he accuses the princes as rejoicing in drunkenness, and on account of this being inflamed to anger, and serving by the corruption of bribes, and living together with perverse men and architects of evils. For he calls these «plagues,» as being authors of ruin and destruction. For just as if the contagion of a plague touches someone, it corrupts also those who approach more closely through him; so the wicked bring destruction to their associates. For «Evil company corrupts good morals.»
A And he teaches that even by night they continued to weave plots, and by day they destroyed like fire those who were being wronged by them. For the phrase, «In their plotting all the night,» all the interpreters have rendered as «to lie in wait.» But they shall pay the penalty for these things. «For fire has devoured their judges, all their kings have fallen.» And the cause of all these evils, «For there was none among them who called upon me.» He speaks of things to come as though they were past, showing that these things will certainly happen, and nothing will prevent the fulfillment of the prophecy. We find this idiomatic usage also among the other prophets. For Isaiah cries out, «As a sheep to the slaughter he was led.» And, «His judgment was taken away.» And, «We saw him, and he had no form or beauty,» instead of, «We shall see him, and he shall be taken up, and led away.» And again, «For a child was born to us, a son was given to us,» instead of, «He shall be born, and he shall be given.» From this he turns the discourse to a second accusation.
H. «Ephraim was intermingled among the peoples.» The transgression is manifest. The blessed David also accuses them of this, saying, «They were intermingled among the nations, and learned their works.» Ephraim became as a cake cooked on the embers that does not turn. He persisted, he says, in wickedness, and did not accept any change for the better, just as a cake B cooked on the embers, being in contact with the fire on one side, is burned.
Θ. «Strangers have devoured his strength, and he has not known it.» And though evils are pressing upon him, he says, he does not recognize him who chastens him. «And gray hairs have blossomed upon him, and he has not known it.» Not even with the passage of much time, he says, was he taught what was necessary.
I. «And the arrogance of Israel shall be humbled before his face.» He shall be convicted, he says, clearly, and shall learn what fruits wickedness brings forth. «And they have not returned to the Lord their God, and have not sought him in all these things.» (XI.) «And Ephraim was like a senseless dove, not having a heart; he called upon Egypt, and traveled to the Assyrians.» Receiving these chastisements from me, they in no way allowed me to stop the onrush of the evils brought upon them, but were running to the Assyrians while being warred upon by the Syrians, and to the Egyptians while being besieged by the Assyrians, showing in themselves the thoughtlessness of the dove. For just as that bird, when its own D young are being snatched away, does not fly away, but keeps running to the same places, so these people, often and continually, now by these, now by those, being despoiled C [alt-version omitted]
A by these, and now being slaughtered and enslaved by those, kept running to the Assyrians and the Egyptians, obtaining no help from them.
Ver. 12. "I will cast my net upon them, as the birds of the air I will bring them down, and I will discipline them in the report of their affliction." First, I will discipline them with the threat of severe things, then, like a net cast over them by the cloud of the enemy, I will hunt them all down like birds. And having said these things, He does not forget His own kindness, but offers them a sort of lamentation out of fatherly affection.
Ver. 13. "Woe to them, for they have started away from me: they are miserable, because they have acted impiously against me." And since He called them miserable, as having become ungrateful and impious towards Him, He necessarily reminds them also of the ineffable benefits bestowed upon them. "But I redeemed them." For I freed them from Egyptian slavery. "And they have spoken false words against me." The blessed David also accuses them of this same thing; for he introduces them saying: "Because he smote a rock, and waters flowed, and torrents were flooded: will he be able also to give bread, or prepare a table for his people?" B
Ver. 14. "And their hearts did not cry to me." He proclaims the same things through Isaiah, saying: "This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me." Then He rebukes what they were doing for the sake of idols. "But they were howling in their beds, they were being cut for the sake of wheat and wine." For having received the land promised to their fathers (for he called this a bed, as having given them rest after the labors they endured in the desert), they performed pagan rites, and luxuriating in my good things, they offered the so-called cuttings to their own bodies in the idol temples. For this reason, He says, they will be disciplined by me, since, having received power from me (for this He calls an arm), "they devised evil things against me."
Ver. 16. "They have turned to nothing, they have become like a bow not stretched." For having abandoned me, they reaped no benefit; but they are become like a slack and unstrung bow, which inflicts no harm on the enemy. Therefore, "and their princes shall fall by the sword because of the ineptitude of their tongue: such is their derision in the land of Egypt." C
CHAPTER VIII.
Ver. 1. "Into their throat as an inaccessible land, as a trumpet, as an eagle upon the house of the Lord." For just as their fathers were always rebellious and spurned my power, and to Moses and Aaron D
they openly resisted, to whom the cause of their liberty had been sent—so also they, having imitated the ignorance of those others, shall become as an impassable land and shall be delivered to utter desolation, while the war-trumpet sounds loudly and the king of the enemies flies down like an eagle, and comes upon the divine house with the greatest madness. That he has called the king of the enemies an eagle, the prophecy of Ezekiel also confirms: A "The great eagle," he says, "with great wings, great in its talons, which has the leadership, [intended] to enter into Lebanon," and so forth. And these things they shall suffer B "because they have abandoned my covenant, and have acted impiously against my law." For this reason he says:
Ver. 2. "They will cry out to me: O God, we have known you." For when they have come to experience of those evils, then they will seek for assistance. But why do they suffer these things?
Ver. 3. "For Israel has turned away from good." And showing what these things are, he added:
"They persecuted the enemy. (v. 4) They made kings for themselves, and not by me; they ruled, and they did not know me." For whenever, he says, they enjoyed my providence, they ruled over all their enemies; but nevertheless not even this persuaded them to hold fast to my providence, but they appointed a king for themselves, not having consulted me at all about this. And he makes this accusation against the ten tribes, who appointed Jeroboam for themselves as king, not having inquired of the God of all C if it were right to do this. But let no one who has encountered the Books of Kings consider this contrary to what is reported there; for he did not send Ahijah the Shilonite to the people, but to Jeroboam; for which reason they are worthy of no forgiveness, having entrusted the appointment of the king to themselves. Then, having scolded them because, having received silver and gold from the God of all, they spent it on the construction of idols, he offers them exhortation and counsel.
5. "Cast away your calf, O Samaria." And having placed in the middle, "My anger is kindled against them; until when will they not be able to be cleansed in Israel?" he added:
6. "And the workman himself made it, and it is not God; for your calf was wandering, O Samaria." Very fittingly D he mocked the weakness of the idols; for they stand in need of matter and of art for their existence. For taking the matter from the earth—for example wood, or stone, or gold, or silver, or tin—and acquiring the form from the art, they deify the hand-made images of beasts. And he persists in his rebukes. 7. "For they have sown to the wind," he says, "and their destruction shall overtake them; a sheaf having no strength to make meal; and if it should even make it, strangers shall devour it." For you reap, he says, no fruit from the worship of idols, but their sheaf is like wind-blasted ears, which show the husks full on the outside, but do not have the grain within. Such is also the nature of the idols; for the visible form—whether of man, or woman, or lion, or any other of the animals—it receives from the art; but it is deprived of all strength and activity. Wherefore also they themselves, he says, shall be destroyed along with their worshipers; for "their destruction," he says, "shall overtake them, and strangers shall devour them." 8, 9. "Israel has been swallowed up; now it has become among the nations as a useless vessel."
For they have gone up to the Assyrians; and because they sought their help, they shall be delivered into slavery, offering no sacrifice to God, nor celebrating feasts according to the law. "And he has flourished by himself,"—that is, having grown apart from me, and like a plant, he has separated himself from my care.
"Ephraim loved gifts." B (Vers. 10.) Therefore, they shall be delivered among the nations. He was not satisfied with good things, but always craved more; therefore, he shall be delivered into slavery. "Now I will receive them," that is, in the enemy's land. "And they shall rest C a little, from anointing a king and princes." And since they wished to be ruled by another rather than by me, they shall be under the power of the Assyrians, and from now on, they will not be able to appoint a king for themselves.
(Vers. 11.) "Because Ephraim has multiplied altars, altars have been made for him to sin." Justly, he says, his kingdom will cease, since for this reason the multitude of the altars was increased, he slid toward idols, and from there imbibed impiety, and with intense affection, he embraced the unlawful altars.
(Vers. 12.) "I shall write for him the multitude and his rightful observances." Of this multitude of altars, and of the laws invented for them, according to which they performed the idol sacrifices, D I will make a record in writing, for the reproof of their great impiety. "Altars were accounted among the strange things that were beloved." And of these, he says, they took much care of the unlawful altars; but the divine ones, which ought to have been deemed worthy of all care, and to be thought greatly to be desired, and very lovely, they abandoned as if they belonged to others, and gave them no care. But it is not because I am in need of their sacrifices that I have made this accusation.
13. "For if they sacrifice a sacrifice, and eat flesh, the Lord will not accept them." The phrase "eat flesh" is not added without cause; for they were accustomed, of the sacrifices that were not entirely consumed by fire, to offer the kidneys, and the lobe of the liver, and the fat upon them to the altar; and to assign the breast and the right arm to the priests; but the rest of the sacrifice they consumed themselves, as they wished. For this reason, he has placed…
A «If they offer a sacrifice, and eat flesh, the Lord will not accept them.» For God does not need these things, but requires the disposition of the soul: «Offer unto God the sacrifice of praise,» he says.
«Now he will remember their iniquities, and will avenge their sins.» To these things the words of the Apostle are similar: «Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; Who will render to every man according to his deeds.»
«And they returned to Egypt.» For they sought aid from there, and fled there when calamities were overwhelming them. «And they shall eat unclean things among the Assyrians.» But they shall even be led against their will into the land of the Assyrians, and they shall lead a life contrary to the law.
14. «And Israel forgot his Maker, and built temples; and Judah multiplied fortified cities: but I will send a fire upon his cities, and it shall devour the foundations B of them.» And he shall learn, he says—Judah, by having his cities burned, not to trust in walls, but in me; and Israel, not to build temples for demons, but to fulfill the worship according to the law.
CAPUT IX.
1. «Rejoice not, O Israel, and be not glad, like the peoples, for thou hast committed fornication from thy Lord God.» It does not befit thee, he says, to rejoice in like manner to other nations. For they, indeed, received no teaching through prophets; but thou, continually feasting upon them, didst harvest no profit therefrom, but didst bring the firstfruits of the goods supplied to thee by me to demons. For he declared this, saying: «Thou hast loved gifts upon every grain threshing floor.»
C(Ver. 2.) «The threshing floor and the winepress did not know them, and the wine failed them.» For I shall deprive you of the goods that I was accustomed to supply to you.
3. «They did not dwell in the land of the Lord.» For they did not conduct their life as in a land dedicated to God, but lived unlawfully. «Ephraim dwelt in Egypt.» He emulated the Egyptian way of life. «And they shall eat unclean things among the Assyrians.» D
A Since they loved iniquity even in the land of promise, they shall live unlawfully in the land of the Assyrians.
VER. 4. «They shall not offer wine to the Lord, and it shall not be pleasant to Him.» They despised the worship of God, even while they bestowed great care on the idols. «Their sacrifices are as the bread of mourning to them; all that eat of them shall be defiled.» For just as bread offered to those in mourning both encourages the mourners themselves to grief and is not pleasing to those who dine with them, because of the communion in grief, and those who are compelled to partake consider that they contract a certain defilement from it: so their sacrifices are full of all abomination. «For their bread is for their souls, it shall not come into the house of the Lord.» For the just Judge does not accept what is not offered with sincere disposition, just as he did not accept the sacrifice of Cain, so that he cries out through Isaiah: «If you offer me fine flour, it is in vain; incense is an abomination to me.» And through Malachi the prophet: «I have no pleasure in you, and I will not accept a sacrifice from your hands.» Then he recalls to them the evils that would befall them in captivity.
VER. 5. «What will you do in the day of the solemn assembly, and in the day of the feast of the Lord?» For compelled to serve and to live according to foreign laws, you will not be able to celebrate the Lord’s solemn assemblies according to the Mosaic legislation. B Then he teaches that they will flee into Egypt, and now they will move to this city, and now to that one, and will waste their silver in vain, offering gifts to the king of the Egyptians. «But thorns shall be found in their tabernacles.» That is to say, they shall reap no fruitful harvest. By these words, he indicated the loss resulting from the flight into Egypt. It is like that which is written: «I waited for it to make grapes, but it brought forth thorns;» that is, I did not receive any useful fruit from it, but on the contrary, only bad ones.
VER. 7. «The days of your retribution are come, C and Israel shall be afflicted, like the prophet who is mad, the man who is possessed by the spirit: because of the multitude of your iniquities, your madness is multiplied.» When the fruits of iniquity, which are not far off, overtake you, you shall be likened to a false prophet who is deranged by the spirit dwelling in him, and is tossed about hither and thither. Such an alienation of mind will seize you; and this madness was brought upon you by the multitude of your iniquities. D
VER. 8. «The watchman of Ephraim with God, the prophet; a gnarled snare upon all his ways.»
A We must remember what was said to Ezekiel. For to him also God said: «I have made thee a watchman to the house of Israel» (Ezech. III, 17). And here, addressing all the people, He says: "Just as I appointed you a kind of watchman and prophet of God to the neighboring nations, so that through My providence over you and your manner of life according to the Law, they too might come to the knowledge of Me; you, however, have done exactly the opposite; for you became against them a twisted snare, having increased for them through your own impiety their devotion to idols. For you did not only build altars and sanctuaries for idols in other cities, but you even set up the images of idols in the temple dedicated to Me." For He says this: B «He has planted madness in the house of His God.» (VER. 9.) «They are corrupted according to the days of the hill.» From the time they became attached to the hills and loved the sacrifices performed there, they labored with the madness of their thoughts; but, He says, they shall most swiftly pay the penalties for these. Then He calls to mind the virtue of the fathers, stirring them to emulation.
(VER. 10.) «As a grape in the desert I found Israel, and as a first-ripe fruit on a fig tree I saw their fathers. But they went in to Beelphegor, and were alienated unto shame, and the beloved ones became as the abominable ones.» C For just as if someone in a desert land, utterly bereft of plants, were to find a grape and a first-ripe fig on a fig tree, he would pluck it with great delight: so I, having seen the virtue of Abraham living among men who were long ago addicted to impiety, plucked him, and made a covenant with him; and in the same way also with his son, and his son's son. But those who were born from them in this way did not in the least emulate their virtue; for although they had as a fresh memory my benefits—liberty, the removal of slavery, the manifold scourges of the Egyptians, the strange passage across the sea, and the other things which they enjoyed—yet they preferred the worship of Beelphegor to My service, reaping from this nothing but shame; on account of which, those who were once beloved have become abominable. D (VER. 11.) «Ephraim has flown away like a bird.» So swiftly shall they be transplanted to a strange land; for they do not love the glory of virtue, but consider a large family their greatest glory. «For their glories,» He says, «are from births, and from pangs, and from conceptions.» (VER. 12.) «Because even if they rear their children, they shall be childless of men; for woe to them, because I have left them.» In vain, He says, do you boast of your multitude of children; for the enemy, rushing in, shall deprive you of your children, since you have become bereft of My providence. To this He adds: «My flesh from them,
A Ephraim. «Nevertheless, however, He says, «you shall not suffer total destruction, until I take upon Myself the flesh from you.» The divine Paul teaches us this more clearly, saying: «For He does not take hold of angels, but He takes hold of the seed of Abraham.» And again: «Promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say: And to seeds, as of many, but as of one: And to your seed, who is Christ.» And elsewhere: «From whom is Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God.» One may find thousands of such things in the Holy Scripture. Since, therefore, He says, the flesh which I am to take up is from them, I will not utterly abandon them until I have taken it up, and have chosen those who are obedient to the calling. He also confirms this through the prophet Isaiah: «As if a grape-cluster should be found in the vine, and they shall say: Do not destroy it, for there is a blessing of the Lord in it; so will I do for the sake of him who serves Me. Therefore I will not destroy all, and I will bring forth the seed from Jacob, and from Judah, and they shall inherit My holy mountain.» And a little later: «But you who have forsaken the Lord, I will deliver to the sword.» Having thus predicted the slaughter of the children, He demonstrates the justice of the punishment; for He says: B
VERS. 13. «Ephraim has set out his children for the hunt, and has brought them forth for the slaughter.» He constantly offers them to the idols; for this reason, I will deliver those who have already been born to the slaughter; and I will cause resultless the men, and I will make the women barren. He made this plain, having said:
VERS. 14. «Give to them, O Lord; what will You give them? A womb that does not bear, and dry breasts.» For since they have used those things given to them badly, I will cause their iniquity to cease by infertility. C Then, mentioning Galgal again, and the impiety that was performed there, and the lawlessness of their princes, He adds:
VERS. 16, 17. «Ephraim is pained, his roots were dried up; he shall no longer bring forth fruit: because even if they beget, I will slay the treasures of their womb. God will cast them off, because they did not listen to Him, and they shall be wanderers in the nations.» He called the kingdom the root, which Shalmaneser rooted up altogether, having made Samaria desolate. After its siege, the ten tribes no longer had a king. But what He says: «They shall be wanderers in the nations,» clearly shows their dispersion. D
CHAPTER X
VERS. 1. «Israel is a flourishing vine, its fruit is abundant.» He received this appellation from many prophets. For Isaiah cries out: «The vineyard of the Lord...»
A of hosts is the house of Israel,» and David before him: «You brought a vine out of Egypt.» And God through Jeremiah: «Yet I planted you a fruitful vine, all true.» And the Lord in the Gospels: «A man planted a vineyard, and let it out to husbandmen, and went abroad.» He calls it a vine flourishing here too, and in the house of Israel, and having fruit in abundance, not because of its piety or other virtues, but because of the multitude of its descendants. And he has made this clear, having said: «According to the multitude of his fruit he increased the altars.» As they increased, he says, and became numerous, they everywhere built altars to idols. «According to the good things of his land he built pillars.» By the good things, he says, they became overbold and set up statues to idols.
VERS. 2. «Their heart is divided.» For they did not indeed preserve that affection for Him, but now they worshipped this, now they worshipped that idol. But I will deliver them to slaughter and to bondage, and I will make these things of no effect. Then He teaches them with what kind of words it befits those who repent to use.
VERS. 3, 4. «Now they will say: There is no king for us, because we did not fear the Lord; but should the king do anything for us? » Speaking words as false excuses, he shall conclude a covenant. For no one, he says, has obtained help from the King; and whereas we ought to trust in God, who deems us worthy of providence in all things, we have basely trusted in men, speaking not the truth, but C making excuses, now to these, now to those, making covenants. But this lawlessness, he says, shall suffer judgment. «For my judgment shall go forth as the wild herb upon the field.» For just as a wild herb grows profusely in untilled ground, needing no matteok to disturb it, nor plow to cut it; so shall the punishment be easily inflicted by me upon you.
VERS. 5. «The inhabitants of Samaria shall sojourn near the calf of the house of On.» They shall pay court, he says, to the idol, seeking help from it. «Its people shall mourn over it, and as they provoked it, they shall exult over his glory, because it has been carried away from him.» For not only, he says, do they not obtain any help from thence, but they even mourn and lament it, and D see it covered with ignominy. Wherefore it
VERS. 6. «And they having bound have carried it as gifts to King Jareb.» For having seen his weakness, having melted it down, they offered gifts to the King of the Egyptians, beseeching him to become their helper; but not even from this will they enjoy any help. «For Ephraim, he says, shall receive shame, and Israel shall be ashamed of his own counsel.» For his counsels are full of folly; and while he ought to have approached God, he invokes the alliance of idols and of men. Then He teaches how the king of Samaria, like a twig carried away by a violent torrent, shall vanish; and how the altars of the idols, and those who promoted the impiety of Israel, shall be torn up from the foundations, so that the places of the altars shall become full of thorns. Afterwards, wishing to point out the magnitude of the calamities, he added: «And they shall say to the mountains, Fall on us; and to the hills, Cover us.» For such, he says, shall be the tide of evils during the assault of the enemies, that each would choose to be swallowed up by the earth splitting open, or by the mountains falling down suddenly, rather than to await the evils which are happening at their hands.
9 But they suffer these things in order to pay the penalties for their insane idol worship. For at the time when they were eager to perform the service at their altars and on their hills, they did not cease from worshiping them; but they will no longer cling to them. B
Verse 10. For the war against the sons of iniquity has come, to chastise them according to my desire; and the peoples shall be gathered against them, when they have been trained in their two iniquities. He calls these their two iniquities: one, that they have forsaken God; the other, that they have preferred non-existent things to the Existing One. Jeremiah makes this same thing clear, saying: "For my people have done two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and have digged for themselves broken cisterns, which cannot hold water."
Verse 11. Ephraim is a heifer instructed, loving victory. C Like a heifer that refuses the yoke, and struggles against those driving it. But I will come upon the beauty of its neck. I will tame its stubborn neck. And I will mount, and will teach Judah to carry. And then, "I will be silent concerning Judah." For I will not surrender it to the Assyrians, but I will consume the power of Sennacherib, since Jacob is strengthening himself for it (for Judah is meanwhile displaying the virtue of Jacob). Therefore it also enjoys my providence. By these things he hints at the virtue of Hezekiah, through which the whole people enjoyed divine aid. From there he again turns the discourse to exhortation. For since, he says, Judah, by displaying ancestral virtue, prevails over its enemies, D verse 12. "Sow for yourselves unto righteousness, and reap the fruit of life." For it is for yourselves, and not for God, that the things being sown are sown, and the things being reaped come to be. "Light for yourselves the light of knowledge." For it behooves one first to take care of other virtue, and then thus to dare the knowledge of divine things. "While there is still time, seek the Lord, until the fruit of righteousness shall come for you." Such is that which was said by David: "Let us anticipate his presence with confession." In the time of his long-suffering let us show the change for the better, that we may harvest the fruits of righteousness.
B V. 13. "Why have you passed over impiety in silence, and harvested its fruit?" You who have acted impiously, he says, ought to have healed your wounds with the remedies of repentance, and not kept silent, but confessed the evils that you have committed. "You have eaten a lying fruit, because you hoped in your chariots, in the multitude of your power." He calls empty hope a lying food; for since you trusted in the multitude and in chariots, you received no benefit from them. For:
V. 14. "For destruction shall arise in your people, and all your fortified places shall be wiped out," with neither the multitude bringing you any help, nor the walls providing security. "As Salmanas was destroyed in C the house of Arbel, in the days of war they dashed the mother to pieces upon the children. (V. 15.) So will I do to you, house of Israel, because of your wickedness." Some say these things were spoken about a certain prince at that time who both did and suffered these things; but I believe these things were spoken about the prince of Midian, whom Gideon captured and killed; for the divine Scripture condemns his cruelty. The blessed David also makes mention of him, saying: "Make their princes like Oreb, and Zeb, and Zebee, and Salmanas." He says, therefore, that just as Salmanas suffered utter destruction when, in the days of war, he dashed the mother to pieces upon the children, so will I do to you, house of Israel, because of your wickedness.
CHAPTER XI
V. 1. "In the morning they were cast away." When they expected D the help of the Egyptians to appear like a dawn to them as they dwelled in darkness, at that very time they were led away as captives. "As the morning the king of Israel was cast away." He signified by these words the suddenness of the total destruction; for the dawn lasts for a short time, and then the rising sun brings the day. "Because Israel is a child." Because of foolishness, he says, and childish dis-
- A position, they endure this punishment. For I myself called them out of Egypt, and delivered them from that bitter slavery; but they, having become ungrateful toward me, chose the worship of idols—for he calls these Baalim. But me, who led them, and delivered them from an unordered course, and showed fatherly affection toward them, and applied every kind of healing to them, they were unwilling to acknowledge. And yet I often rescued them from all kinds of destruction at the hands of invading peoples, held as if by a bond of love for them; because of which I still care for them, and cherish them with these corrections, acting like one who might strike an erring child on the cheek. B It is enough for me to look upon him sharply, and to consume him in every way. For he signified this having said: "I will look upon him, and I will prevail over him." (Vers. 3.) "Ephraim dwelt in Egypt, and Assur himself is his king." For he shall not escape his dominion, even if he flees a thousand times into Egypt; but the cause of evils for him was "that he was not willing to turn back." Therefore, although he uses a multitude and every kind of armor, he will show forth nothing manly; but he will reap the fruits of evil counsels, and will be led far from his own land, since I will deliver all precious things to the adversaries, and will continuously humble those whom I have afflicted. Having thus cast these terrors, he again uses words of philanthropy, C devising benefit for them through the variety of his discourse. (Vers. 8.) "How shall I dispose of you, Ephraim?" How, he says, O Ephraim, shall I act toward you? "I will defend you, Israel; how shall I dispose of you?" For I indeed desire to defend you, but your impious wickedness does not allow me to do so. Therefore, "I will place you as Adama, and as Seboim," which were burned along with Sodom and Gomorrah. But having barely brought down the sentence against them, he revokes the decision, led by compassion. "My heart is turned within me: my repentance is moved together. (Vers. 9.) I will not act according to the wrath of my fury, I will not abandon Ephraim so that he may be blotted out." He imitates a father and a mother D who are disturbed by nature, and who are unable to turn away from their children for very long. But he says these things, not as though he now wills this, and now again changes his mind and wills otherwise; but he fashions his discourse toward wrath and kindness, toward punishment and mercy, so as to strike terror through the former, and to offer exhortation through the latter. This philanthropy of his the blessed David also celebrates: "As a father pities his sons, so has the Lord pitied those who fear Him." And through Isaiah, God himself says: "Can a woman forget her infant"
A so as not to pity the child of her womb? And if a woman should forget to do these things, yet I will not forget you, says the Holy One. Therefore, he says here too: "My heart is turned within me, my repentance is stirred together. I will not act according to the wrath of my anger, I will not allow Ephraim to be blotted out. For I am God, and not man; the Holy One in your midst, and I shall not enter into the city." For he says that I do not grow angry similarly to man, nor do I endure to hold a grudge for very long; for I am God, the Holy One, and I am manifest in matters concerning you, and I am superior to all earthly things, and I am not compelled to dwell as men are, but I am present everywhere and stand by all. Enjoying such philanthropy, therefore,
Ver. 10. "Follow," he says, "after the Lord," following him continually and observing all that is commanded. B "For he shall roar like a lion, and the children of the waters shall tremble." For just as the lion roaring terrifies the animals that are nearby and hear the roar; so, when the God of all wishes to defend you, fear will seize the opponents, just as fish, which do not endure to bear even the slightest sound, but hide themselves in the waters. For he called fish the "children of the waters," as finding the opportunities for life in the waters. Thus, with the enemies being dissipated by the divine will,
Ver. 11. "They shall come as a bird from Egypt, and as a dove from the land of the Assyrians; and I will restore them to their houses," says the Lord. For just as the other birds, and especially doves, using flight and flying about, easily return to their own nests; so too he will easily lead you back, some from here and others from there, and will cause them to recover their ancestral soil. By these things, he signifies the return that took place under Zerubbabel. C For when some had returned from Babylon and were rebuilding the city of Jerusalem according to the law of Cyrus the Persian, others also who were living in Egypt took courage and returned.
Ver. 12. "Ephraim has engaged me with falsehood, and the house of Israel and Judah with impiety." I, he says, deem them worthy of such great providence; but they repay me with the opposite, preferring false and impious worship to my service. "Now God has known them, and a holy people of God shall be called." But nevertheless, even though you are such, I will deem you worthy of care, and I will cause you to be called a people consecrated to the God of all. D
CHAPTER XII
Ver. 1. "But Ephraim is an evil spirit, he has pursued the heat all day long." And teaching, what
he calls [it] a scorching wind, adding: "Multiplied vanities and emptiness; and he made a covenant with the Assyrians, and carried oil into Egypt." A He calls a wicked spirit a wicked intention; and he calls the zeal concerning the scorching wind a labor that is not only fruitless, but also injurious. For, he says, when I was using such a disposition of mind toward them, they, living impiously, raised up hills and a multitude of idols. These he has called vanities and emptiness, which, like a scorching wind, will destroy all their fruits. In addition to these things, having removed themselves from my care, they now begged the Assyrian to govern them, and now sought the assistance of the Egyptians. For he calls this a trade in oil. He does not condemn trade, but signifies one of two things: either that they offered the oil as a kind of gift to the king of the Egyptians, or that, by offering gold, they implored the mercy/oil from him, requesting that he might be a helper to them.
B Vers. 2. "And there is a judgment to the Lord with Juda, to take vengeance on Jacob according to his ways, and according to his inventions he will render to him." But because these things are being done by them in this way, I will assemble a tribunal; and I will convict the transgression of Juda, and I will deliver a just judgment against him, because he did not emulate the virtue of his forefather, but dishonored his ancestor by [his] impiety. After this, he brings forward the deeds of Jacob, the patriarch, that by the comparison of the paternal virtue he might more clearly refute their transgression.
Vers. 3, 4. "In the womb he supplanted his brother, and in his labor he prevailed with God. And he was strengthened with an angel, and prevailed." C He, he says, coming forth into the light at the very time of his birth, grasping the heel of his brother, foreshadowed what kind of man he would be, and that he would receive the blessing of the firstborn through a clever deception. But as time progressed and he became a man, he so excelled in the practice of virtue that he drew to himself the providence of God: and having one time feared the arrival of his brother, and having entreated God, he did not obtain any ordinary help, but he seemed to himself to wrestle by night with Him who had appeared, and to carry off the victory, that he might cast out the fear from his soul, reasoning that he who had seemed to himself to overcome God would not be defeated by men. But he called the same one both God and angel, because the blessed Moses has set down both names. D For our Lord Jesus Christ is called by Isaiah both mighty God and Angel of great counsel. "They wept, and entreated me; in the house of On they found me, and there it was spoken to them." This the other interpreters, Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion, have placed as if spoken concerning Jacob: "He wept, and entreated him, and in Bethel he found him."
A For when Jacob was fleeing the treachery of his brother and escaping to his uncle Laban, when he reached Bethel he happened upon a divine revelation and received divine promises. "Do not fear," He says, "Jacob, because I am with you." And weeping, as was appropriate, he made those statements: "If the Lord gives me bread to eat and a garment to put on, and brings me back in peace, the Lord will be my God, and this stone which I have set up for a pillar will be to me the house of God; and of all that you give me, I will tithe them to you." And returning, when he reached that place, he sung the praises of his benefactor, saying: "With this staff of mine I crossed the Jordan, and now I have become two camps." This, therefore, those around Aquila and Symmachus, expounding it in their interpretation, made clear, teaching that in Bethel, which, he says, now has the idol On, [it was there that] He was seen by Jacob. But the Seventy, having changed the singular number to the plural, teach us to understand it such that: "Your progenitor was worthy of my care because he was such as he was toward me. But you have walked the opposite path, and wishing to show repentance, you have not come to the temple dedicated to me, but mourning beside the idol On, you sought my help." B Yet I, enduring such indignities, nevertheless showed myself to you, and in the places where you called upon me, I gave answers. And Amos the prophet clearly teaches this, having delivered his entire prophecy at Bethel, where the idol On was, to whom also Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, said: "Go down to the land of Judah, and do not prophesy at Bethel, for it is the king’s sanctuary." C
VERS. 5, 6. "But the Lord God Almighty will be his memorial. Keep mercy and judgment and draw near to your God always." Having such a Master, who has power over all things, keep the memory of Him unceasingly at all times, lay hold of justice, be humane toward your neighbor, and follow the divine commandments continually; for by thus approaching God, you will have Him as your willing defender.
VERS. 7, 8. "Canaan, in his hand is a balance of unrighteousness; he loved to oppress: and Ephraim said: Nevertheless I have become rich, I have found rest for myself." He refers to Ephraim as Canaan. D For thus the blessed Ezekiel was also commanded to address Jerusalem: "Your seed and your birth are from the land of Canaan; your father was an Amorite, and your mother a Hittite." For they obtained the name from those whose impiety they imitated. You, therefore, O Ephraim, imitating the wickedness of Canaan,
D and disdaining the just balance, you desire an unjust power and are proud of your riches, and you arrogantly attribute their collection to yourself. Know, however, that the blessed David also makes mention of the unjust balance, saying: "The sons of men are liars in the balances, to act unjustly." And what follows is consistent with what was said by Ephraim: "Do not hope in injustice, and do not covet rapine; if riches abound, do not set your heart upon them." From one Spirit both these and those have flowed. The very last point, also, "That you will render to everyone according to their works," is consistent with what is added in this place: "All his labors will not be found for him on account of the iniquities in which he has sinned." For through the despoiling of the wealthy, he pays the just penalties for his lawlessness.
VERS. 9. "But I, the Lord your God, brought you out of the land of Egypt; I will make you dwell in tabernacles again, as in the days of the feast." Since he was liberated from Egyptian servitude, he forgot the benefit, and again became a sojourner in a foreign land. He will remind him of the tabernacles which he used to make when he celebrated with joy in the days of the feast. But "Scenopegia" signifies the solemnity.
VERS. 10. "And I have spoken to the prophets, and I have multiplied visions, and I have been assimilated into the hands of the prophets." Rightly do they suffer this punishment, because they did not tremble at these things, nor did they accept the predictions of the prophet, nor were they willing to change their mind; and this, not only in words, but also in the things that were done through the prophecies. Such was indeed that which was done by the inspired Hosea: sometimes he was commanded to take a harlot as a wife, sometimes an adulteress, C as the symbol of the God of the universe, and reproving the iniquities of the people. Furthermore, he teaches that different uses were made of the revelations: "Not to show my nature," he says, "for this is invisible, but that I might produce the contemplation and use as the need requires." For He did not appear to all in the same way; for He appeared otherwise to Daniel, and otherwise to Ezekiel, and differently to Isaiah, and to Micah not in the same manner; and before this, differently to Moses and Abraham. D
VERS. 11. "If Gilead is not, then the princes in Galgal were false, offering sacrifices." You, however, though enjoying these things from me, in Gilead and Galgal, those cities full of idols, along with your princes, offer sacrifices to demons; and this, while you are reaping the benefits not from them, but from me. For if from Gilead, that is, from the idols, you were enjoying some good, then the deceit would have some place; but since, while flourishing in my gifts, you sacrifice to idols in Gilead and Galgal, you yourselves become the heralds of your own ingratitude. "And their altars are like tortoises in the field." The tortoise is an amphibious animal; but while living in the waters it often escapes the hands of those hunting it, yet when it walks on the land, it is ready and easily captured. In this way, he says, similar to this, the altars constructed by you to the demons will be easily captured, and they will be demolished by the enemies.
[Note: The remaining text of column 1620, starting from "πληγαῖς ἐλωβήθησαν" in the Greek and "ctatas esse" in the Latin, pertains to the commentary on the Prophet Joel, which follows immediately in the editorial structure.]
[49] For their repentance being accepted, the Lord promises that He will give them grain, wine, and oil, and will give them with as much munificence as possible. For He added: "And you will be filled from them." That is, you will enjoy them to satiety. "And I will not give you up anymore to reproach among the nations." The gift is appropriate to the request; for since they said in their pleas: "Do not deliver your inheritance to reproach, and let them not say among the nations: Where is their God?" He gave a response fitting to the prayers: I will not permit you to be a laughingstock and a pleasure to your neighbors, but I will honor you with my care, so that they also might know the power of your God through the benefits bestowed upon you. "And I will drive away from you the one from the North, and I will lead him out into a land that is without water, and I will destroy his first rank into the first sea, and his hindermost part into the last sea, and his rottenness will ascend, and his stench will ascend, because he has magnified his works." He calls the Assyrian the one from the North, whom he once expelled from Jerusalem, with most of them being struck down by an angel; after this, however, he reduced them to the power of the Babylonians, and the Babylonians he handed over again to the Persians. Therefore, he calls the armies "seas": the first, indeed, that of the Babylonians, by whom the kingdom that was at Nineveh was destroyed; the last, however, that of the Persians. For these, with Cyrus leading, both captured Babylon and killed most, and led others away as captives. And he called the foul odor after death "rottenness" and "stench"; for the bodies having been cast away unburied, as it is in war, these things also followed. Therefore, these things being done by me, he says,
VERS. 21. "Confide, O land, rejoice and be glad, because the Lord has magnified to act." And that I might not exceed the measure by recounting everything, He also commands the cattle to be confident, since it is certain that both rains are to come in their usual way, and herbs are to be produced, and fodder is to abound to satiety; furthermore, vines, and fig trees, and other trees are about to bring forth an abundance of all fruits. It is clear, however, that He is not speaking to the earth and the cattle as though reason were in them, but is trying to provide consolation from every side to those who are downcast and afflicted. Wherefore, having soon left the inanimate earth and the animals that are devoid of reason, He converts Himself to the nature endowed with reason. "And you, children of Sion, rejoice and be glad in the Lord your God." For He will supply to you the necessary needs, and will provide the rain at the proper time, both the early and the latter rain, just as you enjoyed before. Moreover, there will be such a redundancy of fruits that the threshing floors will be too narrow to receive the crops, and the vats will overflow with wine and oil.
A in Galaad and in Galgalis you offer sacrifices to idols, being ungrateful and making yourselves heralds of your own ingratitude. "And their altars are as tortoises upon the desert of the field." The tortoise is of the amphibious kind; but when it dwells in the waters it often escapes the hands of those who hunt it, yet when it comes upon the land, it is ready to hand and easily captured. In the same way, therefore, he says, the altars which you have constructed for demons will be easily captured and overthrown by the enemy. Then he again reminds them of the virtue of their forefather.
12, 13. "And Jacob departed into the plain of Syria, and Israel served for a wife, and for a wife he kept (his flock). And by a prophet the Lord brought Israel up out of the land of Egypt, and by a prophet he was preserved." For your ancestor, having received the counsel of his mother, did not refuse to leave his father's house, and he preferred the foreign land to his own home, and for the sake of a wife—in order not to take a Canaanite, but one from the kin of Shem—he preferred servitude to freedom, and kept the law concerning wives established by his fathers. B Therefore, even to his descendants, the divine providence was extended; for his race, having been forced to serve the Egyptians, God deemed worthy of freedom through the great prophet Moses; and indeed, while they were in the desert, he kept them unharmed, using the service of the same prophet.
14. "Ephraim has provoked me to anger and irritated me, and his blood shall be poured out upon him, and the Lord will return his reproach to him according to the word of Ephraim." And he, he says, tracing his race from that man, moves me to anger by living in every kind of lawlessness; but he will reap the sheaves of the things sown by him, paying the penalties proportionate to what he has done.
CHAPTER XIII
[1, 2] For having received from me justifications and laws according to which it was fitting for him to conduct his life, he embraced the lawlessnesses of the idols instead of them; C from which, in place of life, he reaped death. And they increase their impiety almost day by day, fashioning images of various animals out of gold and silver, and serving man-made idols. For they are possessed by such a frenzy regarding these things that, owing to the multitude of their sacrifices, the breed of victims falls short, and they dare to say, "Sacrifice men: for the calves have failed."
(3) "Therefore they shall be as a morning cloud, and as the morning dew that passes away, and as chaff blown off from the threshing floor, and as steam from locusts." On account of this, he says, impiety, D
A I will make them vanish by the incursion of their enemies. For just as the rising sun easily consumes and readily dissipates the morning dew and the cloud that appears at that time, and just as a violent wind easily clears away the chaff of the threshing floor and disperses the cloud of locusts that comes upon the air—so too will the cloud of the enemy consume you, and will make the land now inhabited by you a desert.
Ver. 4. "For I am the Lord thy God, who firmest the heaven, and createst the earth, whose hands fashioned all their host." That is: I am he who not only created the heaven and the earth, but also bestows upon them their continuance for a long time. I also brought forth all the host of heaven into being, whether visible or invisible, whether the powers above and the intellectual natures B or the multitude of stars, together with the sun and moon, the great luminaries.
"And I did not show them to thee so that thou mightest walk after them." (Ver. 5.) "And I brought thee out of the land of Egypt, and thou shalt know no God beside me, and there is no savior except me." For when giving you laws after your liberty had taken place, and your deliverance from Egypt, I instructed you to acknowledge no other God beside me. "For thou shalt not make, I said, any likeness of all things that are in heaven above C and as many as are in the earth beneath, and as many as are in the waters under the earth." Not only, then, did I free you from the bitter slavery of the Egyptians, but also
"In the wilderness I fed thee, in a land not inhabited." (Ver. 6.) "According to their pastures." That is: I provided the things suitable for your needs—manna from heaven, quails from the sea, water from the rock. For they were not, as though living in a desert, in want of necessities, but D "They were filled to satiety, and their hearts were lifted up; on account of this they forgot me." Such things even the divine Moses said about them: "And Jacob ate, and was filled, and the beloved kicked, grew fat, and thick, and broad, and forsook the Lord who made him." "But I will not leave him," he says, "unpunished."
Ver. 7. "And I will be to him, he says, as a panther, and as a leopard in the way of the Assyrians." For I will raise up to him his beast-like enemies, who will be like a panther and a leopard to him. Since indeed He, being the one who governs all things, brings on the enemies, He says He likens Himself to a panther and a leopard. And He adds, that
Ver. 8. "I will meet them as a bear robbed of her whelps, and will tear asunder the closure of their heart." Just as a bear straitened and unable to escape, with much fury...
A attacks those who approach it, so the enemies will grant them no indulgence; but will show against them a cruel and savage intent. But these things I will perform against them, wishing to open their heart that is shut up and not willing to be opened, but remains hardened and unbending, and to prick it, and to lead them to the knowledge of what is proper. "And there the young of the forest shall devour them, and the beasts of the field shall tear them asunder." He has stated the same things in different ways, that by the multitude of fearful images he might strike with terror and frighten those who are suffering from insensibility. Then he laments to himself, and reproaches, and reminds them of their former foolishness.
B Ver. 9, 10. "In thy corruption, O Israel, who shall help thee? Where is this thy king? And let him save thee in all thy cities, and let him judge thee, whom thou didst say, Give me a king and a ruler." Who could mourn thy corruption, O Israel, as it deserves? For thou hast remained entirely destitute of help, and that too while ruled by a king, and living under him; for having dishonored my sovereignty, thou didst desire to have a man as king.
Ver. 11. "I gave thee a king in my anger, and I endured [him] again in my fury." For being angered by their unreasonable request, I gave thee Saul; but again practicing forbearance and long-suffering, I introduced David in his place. For this is what he says: "I endured in my fury," that is, I bore it most patiently.
C Ver. 12. "A gathering of iniquity is Ephraim, his sin is hidden." This is similar to what was said by Isaiah: "Woe to them that draw sins as with a long rope!" For he says here also that Ephraim gathers together iniquities, and increases them unceasingly, using evil counsel. For the phrase, "His sin is hidden," signifieth this, namely, that he has wickedness in the depth; but I will encompass him with such evils that he will be tormented like a woman in travail. Then as if by way of interrogation he says to Israel:
Ver. 13. "This is thy son, the wise one." Him, he says, thou hast preferred before Manasseh, and being young, thou hast placed him before the elder; but instead of that honor, he shall be clothed with dishonor. "For he shall not be able to stand in the breaking of his children." For he will not be able to succor those who are being besieged by the neighbors. Having thus declared the painful things, he again transfers his discourse to the promise D of good things.
Ver. 14. "I will deliver them from the hand of Hades, and from death I will redeem them." Then, as if singing a paean against
A death, it commands: "O death, where is thy sting? O Hades, where is thy victory?" These things were fulfilled typically in the return of the Jews; for it calls the life spent in captivity Hades and death. But it received its perfect and true end after the resurrection of our Savior. For when our first-fruits rose, we all received the hope of the resurrection. This same thing may also be found in the prophecy of Ezekiel. For there too the resurrection of the bones signifies two things: both the return of Israel—which, having cut off all good hopes, said, "We have failed, our bones have become dry"—and the common resurrection of all men. For what happened to the Jews was a type of the providence of God over all for all B men. "Consolation is hidden from my eyes, for he will divide between brothers." And this, he says, is the consolation of a better hope, and the expectation of the resurrection, which seems to have been hidden for a time both from the captive Jews and from all men. For the Jews, being led away into captivity and separated from their kindred, and compelled to serve in division and dispersion, had no hope of recall. And all men, when they saw death destroying nature utterly, and now separating brother from brother, now depriving children of their fathers, were utterly despairing of the resurrection. Yet, he says, the things spoken are true, even if for the present they are unclear to many C.
Ver. 15. "For the Lord will bring a burning wind from the desert upon him, and will dry up his veins, and will desolate his fountains; he will dry up his land, and all his desirable vessels." By these things, he signifies Cyrus the Persian, who was to wage war, and to overthrow the empire of the Assyrians, or Babylonians, and to destroy the entire royal line, and to remove the causes of the tyranny. For he calls sources and veins these things by way of translation. By these things, he wished to teach how he will destroy him whom by translation he has called death and Hades. But these things shall come to pass hereafter. Now, however,
CHAPTER XIV
Ver. 1. "Samaria shall be destroyed." Having dared D to act contrary to the divine will, it shall become a waste of war; and its inhabitants shall see their suckling children dashed against the ground, and those that are with child ripped up with the infants. But that it may not receive the trial of these things,
Ver. 2. "Return, O Israel, unto the Lord thy God." For thou hast wasted a long time in thy transgressions. Then he also teaches them, by what manner of words it is fitting to use in supplicating God. For he says, "Say, 'Canst thou remove all iniquity?' for by offering this intercession to Him, ye shall not receive the wages of injustice, but shall come into the enjoyment of all kinds of good things."
Add to those words, entreating the Saviour and Benefactor, "We shall no longer put our confidence in any of men, neither in Assyrians, nor in Egyptians, nor in a multitude of horses; nor shall we consider man-made idols to be gods." For when these things are said by you, the Lord who is constantly with you B will have mercy on the orphan—that is, on you, who are like an orphan lacking care and protection; He will deem you worthy of every providence, and I will grant you healing, delivering you from the evils that beset you. I will reconcile myself to you in sincerity, and I will cause all the chastisement brought upon you to cease; moreover, I will supply My gifts to you like a dew, so that you may blossom like a lily; for He made this clear by saying:
VERS. 6. "I will be as the dew to Israel; he shall blossom as the lily." C The divine Scripture makes mention of this flower in many places. Isaiah indeed cries out: "Let the desert rejoice and bloom as the lily." And in the Song of Songs, the Bridegroom says of the bride: "As a lily in the midst of thorns, so is my kinswoman among the daughters." And the Lord in the holy Gospels says: "Consider the lilies of the field. Amen I say to you, not even Solomon in all his glory was arrayed like one of these." From every side, therefore, we learn that besides its fragrance, the splendor of this flower is also admired. To this is compared the soul that has been freed from the filth of sin and clothed in the most radiant robe of baptism, of which Isaiah also speaks: "My soul shall rejoice in the Lord, for He has clothed me in a garment of salvation, and with a tunic of gladness." For like this lily, he says, Israel shall blossom, acknowledging the Lord. "He shall blossom," He says, "and cast forth his roots as Lebanon." By this He signifies the mountain crowned with cedars. Then, alluding to the future multitude, He says:
VERS. 7. "His branches shall go forth." He also foretells the fruit of piety: "And he shall be as a fruitful olive tree, and his fragrance shall be as that of Lebanon." Then He teaches the cause of these good things:
VERS. 8. "They shall return and dwell under his shadow"—that is, under the shadow of God. D "And they shall live, and shall be strengthened with corn; and their memorial shall blossom as the vine, as the wine of Lebanon." For by forsaking the error of idols and trusting in My providence, they shall abound in all kinds of good things.
B VERSE 9. "Ephraim, what hath he to do any more with idols?" Since therefore, Ephraim, you have perceived in your mind what the riches of piety are, flee from the error of idols; for it is for this reason that I humbled you to instruct you, and I will strengthen you, using mercy, and I will show myself to you like a dense juniper, and you shall receive fruits from Me. For the juniper is always evergreen, and is not of a rotting nature, and is covered with a prickly foliage. But these things have this meaning: providing for you with all care, I will keep you immune from all harm, and I will strike those who invade you with certain prickles as it were. And thus, completing the whole prophecy, He has placed a most wholesome end for all who read it.
VERSE 10. "Who is wise, and shall understand these things? or prudent, and shall know them? for the ways of the Lord are right, and the just shall walk in them: but the transgressors shall fall in them." To this end also David, after having related the divine benefits, added in the hundred and sixth Psalm: "Who is wise, and will observe these things, and will understand the mercies of the Lord?" C For there is need of wisdom and understanding indeed, both for the knowledge and comprehension of the divine oracles, and for their fulfillment and keeping; for it is possible neither for those who have not received the splendor of the divine Spirit to understand these things, nor for those who do not enjoy help from above to keep them. But those who manifest such and so great good will toward God, and obtain help from Him, pass through the straight paths and are called just; but those who live in impiety and travel the opposite road, reap the wages of impiety. May the God of all, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth, grant that we may become participants not of the latter, but of the former lot, so that, living according to His divine laws, we may glorify Him, according to the holy Apostle, both in body and in spirit; because to Him is due all glory, honor, and adoration, with His only-begotten Son and the Holy Spirit, now and always, and for ages of ages. Amen.
THE INTERPRETATION OF THE PROPHET JOEL BY THE BLESSED THEODORET, BISHOP OF CYRRHUS
PREFACE
The divine prophet Joel has not clearly taught us the time in which he made his prophecies; by the prophecies themselves, however, he has indicated that they took place at the time that the marvelous Hosea received the foresight of future events. For he himself predicts the same things: the incursion of the Assyrians and Babylonians, and the enslavement and servitude of Israel, and the return from captivity. He also predicts the events that occurred after the return, the rush of Gog (this is a Scythian nation) in full force against Jerusalem, and the destruction brought upon them by God. He also added the gifts granted to men by the all-holy Spirit after the incarnation of our Savior. Therefore, we have known the time of the prophecy from the predictions against the Assyrians and Babylonians. This, then, is the subject in brief.
OF THE BLESSED THEODORET, BISHOP OF CYRRHUS, COMMENTARY ON THE PROPHET JOEL
A ARGUMENT The divine prophet Joel, although he does not clearly indicate the time in which he delivered his prophecy, may be gathered from the prophecy itself to have foretold future events at the same time as the marvelous Hosea. For he himself predicts the same things: the incursion of the Assyrians and Babylonians, the captivity and servitude of Israel, and the return from captivity. He also foretells things which happened after the return: the inroad of Gog (for this is a Scythian tribe) against Jerusalem, made with a most well-equipped army, and the total destruction brought upon them by God. Furthermore, he added those gifts which the Holy Spirit granted to men after the incarnation B of our Savior. Therefore, from his predictions regarding the Assyrians and Babylonians, we have recognized the time of this prophecy. This, then, is the argument in summary; it remains for us, with God’s favor, to address the explanation part by part.
CHAPTER I VERS. 1. "The word of the Lord that came to Joel the son of Phatuel." Since many, as is likely, had the same name, he added the name of his father. He teaches, moreover, that the words he utters are not the offspring of human cogitations, but rather that, inspired by the Lord of all, he both foresees future events and proclaims them.
VERS. 2. "Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the earth: hath this been in your days, or in the days of your fathers?" You, he says, who have lived for a long time, and, as is natural, have acquired greater experience of affairs, and who, hearing your fathers and grandfathers often recounting them, have been attentive to the words of this prophecy