Commentary on the Prophet Nahum

^A and their desire to dominate everyone. Therefore, while God used them then as tormentors and lictors, and indeed as executioners against Israel, he also—so that they might not think that they had achieved what they had done by their own power—struck down so many thousands of Sennacherib’s men; and in the end, he destroyed Nineveh itself along with the kingdom of the Assyrians. For God indeed delivers his own people, when they have sinned, to their enemies, but he does not wish them to exercise their rule over the divine people with excessive severity. Therefore, if he sees these executioners punishing [the people] more bitterly than is right, he pours out his own wrath upon them as well, so that by experience they might learn how great an evil cruelty is.

But if someone should object, "Why was Saul rejected, since he nonetheless behaved more kindly and mildly toward the Amalekites?" let him hear first of all that the Amalekites were not the people of God, but deserters and enemies; and here we speak of the people of God, whom God wishes to chastise as a father does a son, but not to extirpate. Furthermore, let him know that God had commanded Saul plainly to exterminate the Amalekites, and therefore he ought not to have transgressed the manifest commandment of God; especially since Saul did not spare ^B Amalek out of gentleness, but rather out of greed. Therefore, the prophet Nahum teaches all men that the care and providence of God are in all things. But he especially inspires good hope in the Israelites, so that they might not, with dejected spirits, fall away from their hope in God, but by looking to him, and being armored by faith in him, they might find consolation—that they could be redeemed only by him, as though the Assyrians were about to pay the penalty to Cyrus, by whom they themselves were also to be released from captivity. For despair was the cause why they would turn to the nations and adopt their customs. This, then, is the manifest problem of the present prophecy.

But the mystery concerning Christ, which lies deeply hidden, is also understood here. May he himself, who illuminates every man coming into the world, grant [us] to behold it, likewise directing our conduct by the good and righteous Spirit, whose work this prophecy is.

CHAPTER ONE

^{C D} Verse 1. *The burden of Nineveh.* The grace of the Holy Spirit operated in various ways in the prophets. For some he caused to see things that were to come, such as Isaiah, Micah, Daniel, and Zechariah. Into others, however, he breathed certain things, as he willed, and they seemed to hear as if from someone speaking to them: for example, the prophecies. Thus, *I will hear what he will speak in me, and what I shall answer to my reprover,* says Habakkuk; just as David also says, *I will hear what the Lord God will speak in me.* But even in those prophets already mentioned, it is possible to see this same thing.

^A And suddenly he was seized, and holding them and separating them from human things, he spoke through them the things to come. This sudden seizure of the mind, therefore, Naum called a *lemma* (burden), as if saying this: that my mind, having been seized by the Spirit, foresaw the things about to happen to Nineveh. ^B It must be known, however, that every prophecy could be called a *lemma* by a common name; for the prophets received this from God. But the vision also seems to be something common; for in all modes of prophecy, the mind was illuminated by the light of the Spirit. Hear, therefore, what he brings in here:

The book of the vision of Naum the Helcesite

This, he says, is the *lemma*, that is, the prophecy against Nineveh, which I make, having been seized by the Spirit, or which I received from God; it is a book containing the vision of me, Naum, ^C who comes from the village of Helcasai. For I foresaw the things to come, and as one who has foreseen these things, I speak. Some, however, understand the *lemma* of Nineveh as if the prophet were saying: *lemma*, that is, the subject received by me into my hands, is the city of Nineveh, and concerning it I am about to make my words. But this book is the vision of Naum. Perhaps it might be understood more appropriately from the prophecy of Jeremiah as to what the *lemma* signifies here. ^D For he seems to call the *lemma* the wrath with zeal, from the fact that the stronger one seizes the weaker, so as to tear him apart. And whoever has leisure, let him read that part of the prophecy of Jeremiah. Here, therefore, since God is angered at Nineveh, and is about to take her and cast her down from the height of her rule, he called Nineveh the *lemma* (burden) of God. Since, however, Naum is interpreted as *consolation*, and Nineveh could be taken in its own significance as the sinful conscience, whose royal palace is held by that prince to whom the power and empire over death is given: the consolation, therefore, is our Lord Jesus Christ, according to John saying: *If we sin, we have an Advocate, Jesus Christ.* But the *lemma* against Nineveh is the flesh which He assumed, in order that He might condemn sin in the flesh, which is also a book, as having received the Word, who dwelt in it. And since this same Word is also true light, that illuminates every man coming into the world, and he who follows Him will not walk in darkness, and for this He came, that those who do not see might see, justly is His flesh the book of the vision. *Many*, he says, *kings and prophets, before this incarnation, that is, desired to see the things which you see, and did not see; but blessed are your eyes.* And if anyone, like Barnabas, is a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, he is able to console all, that by the purpose of their heart they may persevere with the Lord.

He will be called a son of consolation, and he will have a lemma against Nineveh, as one who takes and captures every thought to the obedience of Christ, ^B and imparts* the book of vision to those sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death, when he illuminates those who are ignorant with the light of knowledge. Note, however, that he said first "Lemma of Nineveh," and then "Book of vision." For unless someone despoils his vices and takes them under his yoke, he will not arrive at the book of vision, which is contemplation. Both of these belong to consolation, that is, to the operation of the Paraclete; for both the word of wisdom is given in the Spirit, and the operations of powers [are given] in the same Spirit.

VERS. 2. *God, a jealous God.* He says these things against the Ninevites. For because they had been driven into a rage against the Israelites and had treated them savagely, and had even blasphemed against God, imagining that they had won by their own strength—not by His permission—and had obtained the empire, He says to them now: "Look whither you are being carried; God is a jealous God," that is, He shows His zeal against those who act wickedly and are puffed up with pride. For he calls zeal "righteous anger," which occurs with heat. He therefore adds: *The Lord is an avenger with indignation; the Lord takes vengeance on those who oppose Him.* These are they who, apart from idol worship, have also sinned in other ways; but those who are proud are especially His enemies. For God resists the proud. *And He who takes away His own enemies.* That is, removing them from the midst, exterminating them. ^C And emphatic is [the word] "He." For "He," he says, the great, and many, and strong one; just as if someone, intending to demonstrate that a certain city had perished utterly, were to say that such-and-such a king made war against it, and coming with his whole army, plundered it. Similar to this is: *It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.* Perhaps the prophet says these things also to the Israelites of that time who were taking the government of God poorly and finding fault with God, showing that they were justly delivered to the Babylonians. For having worshipped idols, ^D instead of being God's people and His own kin, or rather His sons, they became His enemies. Wherefore, feeling zeal because they had abandoned Him, He delivered them to their enemies. This He also said in the Song of Moses: *They provoked me with a no-god, they angered me with their idols; and I will provoke them with a no-people, I will anger them with a foolish nation.* And the Babylonians are a foolish nation, as arrogant, and as those serving things that are not gods: for nothing is more foolish than the arrogant and the idolater.

VERS. 3. *The Lord is long-suffering, and great is His power.*

^A He does not, he says, bring judgment immediately, but the Lord uses the greatest long-suffering toward the sinners; for He wishes them to turn back. And of this you, O Ninevites, are witnesses, who made use of repentance; then afterward, having fallen ill again with much wickedness, you did not yet pay the penalties for this. But yet, being long-suffering and bearing for a long time the lawlessness of men, He does not do this out of weakness. For His strength is great, and when He is about to punish those who do not repent, He brings on a severe punishment. For He will not leave the innocent unpunished ^B—that is, He brings total destruction. For even if He seems to hold them innocent, He does not do so in the end. Or, it is expressed according to the idiom of Scripture, "He will not leave the innocent unpunished," just as in the phrase, "I have surely seen the affliction of Israel." Here, therefore, being about to say that He does not hold them innocent, He doubled the phrase. And He also exacted vengeance with anger upon those who killed His Son—that is, He demanded justice from those who did not repent, and He removed them from Jerusalem, having shown zeal for the Just One, whose murderers they themselves became. And every one who lives according to the flesh is an enemy of God; for the mind of the flesh is enmity toward God. The Lord, therefore, takes vengeance on such an enemy, perhaps even here handing him over to trials, so that the hostile mind might be removed from such a man. If, however, He is long-suffering here, as He is often wont to do, in order to draw the sinner to Himself through kindness, yet in the final judgment He will not leave him unpunished, even if He now appears to hold him innocent. He does these things as a bridegroom, feeling jealousy for the souls which, after He had created them so that they might be joined to Him as pure virgins, He sees joined to the enemy and deserter Satan, and shaming the nobility they possessed by nature from the Word.

^B *The Lord, in the consummation, and in the storm is His way.* He calls "way" the motion that God makes against those worthy of punishment. This motion, therefore, does not bring punishment simply, but creates a "consummation"—that is, total destruction—and it "shakes" (that is, it stirs up, shifting and changing things). Thus, therefore, it will also be brought against the Ninevites. And so, do not lose heart, O Israelites, having suffered miserably at their hands. For the consummation will come upon them also.

*And the cloud is the dust of His feet.* He has appropriately added the dust to the way. For a man, he says, traveling, kicks up dust; but God walks and moves so magnificently that He stirs up clouds. Thus, also, being moved against the Ninevites, clouds of evils...

^A proceed from everywhere. And the journey of the Only-Begotten Son of God toward our borders, which took place in the consummation of the ages, shook [the] principalities and powers. And this very transition from the Law to the Gospel may be understood as an earthquake. Now the intelligible clouds, that is to say, the prophets, announced His coming; just as shifting dust announces those who are running. He calls them clouds, as having used a darker and not very manifest speech, yet being pregnant with spiritual water, and at the proper time bestowing spiritual understanding upon those worthy to understand. The Lord walks also within us, when we have entered upon a path of honesty and, consequently, virtue. When, therefore, wickedness is brought to an end and eradicated from the soul—or rather, shaken off—and no longer has any stability or permanent dwelling in it, then the way of the Lord finds room. And from this journey and movement, that which is thick and earthen in us becomes something subtle, and as it were airy and spiritual. So that, being carried on high, it is formed into clouds, able to distill intellectual rain upon others as well.

VERS. 4. *Threatening the sea, and drying it up, and laying waste all the rivers.* He teaches us that God is omnipotent, and that He easily does whatever He wills: that if He should wish, He will dry up the whole sea and cause all the rivers to disappear. And this is clear from His wondrous deeds, which He wrought in the times of Moses, while He dried up the Red Sea, and in the times of Jesus the son of Nun, the Jordan River. Therefore, He will also dry up Nineveh, existing as a sort of vast sea, deep in both glory and wealth, surging with the movements of wars; and He will lay waste the nations under it, ^B which, like certain rivers, empty themselves and flow into it, by which it becomes swollen and filled. The sea [is] the bitterness of this present life, which we in our folly pursue as if they were rivers. The Lord dried this up, and obliterated what seemed drinkable in it, instructing us that in the world we must bear affliction; but if we take up His yoke, we shall find rest for our souls. Moreover, if anyone is in temptations, he is in the sea and in the rivers. To Him, therefore, the one being tempted must flee, who threatens the sea and dries up the rivers.

*Basanitis and Carmel have waned.* This also is an indication of the power of God. For, he says, the Basanite region of Palestine, which was most fertile, and Carmel, a mountain of Judea, were inhabited by nations unconquerable and difficult to subdue; yet God pulled down these things and settled those from Israel there. It is not, therefore, contrary to faith if He should also overthrow Nineveh.

*And the efflorescence of Libanus has ceased.* ^C Libanus is a mountain of Phoenicia. By its efflorescence, he means the princes and kings of the region subject to Libanus, whom God Himself also vanquished and made subject to the Israelites. You may also take these things in the future sense, as if the prophet were saying: that Lord is so powerful that, if He should will it, Basanitis will be diminished, even though it may be most populous on account of its fertility: then Carmel and Libanus, mountains [no one]

^A that are very wooded and thick, shall fail, if He but nods. In the same way, you will also understand that everything which follows is spoken of the future.

"And the mountains were shaken from Him, and the hills were moved, and the whole earth was lifted up from His face." For because some in Judea supposed that He was powerful only there, as they said, "A God of the mountains, a God of Israel, and not a God of the valleys," He says that All the mountains will be shaken from Him—that is to say, from His mere nod. And the earth, too—not here or there, but the whole earth—was lifted up from His face, that is, it shuddered, or was moved, and was displaced from its own seat when He looked upon it more sternly.

"And all who dwell in it." If the element itself is moved, much more so are those who dwell in it, men and the rest of the animals. Basanitis and Carmel were diminished when the Jews, because of the Lord of Glory who was crucified by them, were delivered to the Romans. Furthermore, by Basanitis is signified the moral and practical life, and by Carmel the higher summits of doctrine; ^B these, being many, were diminished, having been gathered together into the brief and consummate word of the Gospel. And since Libanus was a workshop of idolatry, the species of idol worship that once flourished within it failed, or even the wisdom of the Greeks, which God made foolish. But the mountains were shaken on the Cross, and our nature, being previously earth, was lifted up, journeying toward things above and setting out on the path to the heavens; and all the earthly thoughts dwelling in it became divine and heavenly. Moreover, if anyone bears fruit in vice and flourishes in it, he is now diminished and fails from it. When God looks upon such a one, putting into him another and better mind, then his mountainous and hard heart, which breathes earthly things, is shaken and moved from the state of the evil that is in it.

"From the face of His wrath, who shall stand?" Although in many places in Scripture the "face of God" is attributed to some punishing power, nevertheless, it is sometimes found in the sense of more joyous things, such as in the passage: "Show Thy face, and we shall be saved," and, "Why do you turn away Thy face?" For this reason, having said "From the face" here, He added "of wrath." Who, He asks, will stand, if He should manifest to us a face full of wrath? The only-begotten Son of God, therefore, seems to be spoken of as the face of the Father, as the character and form of His substance, and as His manifestation—the Same who both punishes and saves. For He, He says, "is set for the fall and rising of many."

"And who shall rise in the wrath of His fury?" He indicates a certain intensification here by saying "In the wrath

^A of His fury." That is to say, when His wrath also performs works for defense and retribution, who shall stand against Him so as to turn back His hand and hold back the punishment? ^B "His fury melts principalities, and the rocks are shattered by Him." Great empires, he says, that were subject to Him, which were thought to possess the strength of rocks, His stirred-up fury crumbles and dissolves: it melts them just as fire melts wax. Rightly, therefore, shall no one stand against Him. Furthermore, His fury dissolved the principalities and powers of darkness when He sent them into the abyss, and also the Jewish principalities because of the crime they committed by crucifying the Lord. Then the rocks were also shattered: those real rocks ^C presented to the senses during the time of our Lord's suffering upon the cross, and also, perhaps, the hard-hearted nations that received the word of the Gospel. Therefore, when the intellect governs within us, it is one principality, and so it does not melt; but when the fury and the desire govern, behold, there are many principalities, which the fury of the Lord melts, being perceived within our minds, as He says at one time, "Those who did not wish me to reign over them, bring here and slay," and at another time, "He shall cut him asunder, and place his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." The rocks are also shattered by such fury of the Lord—these being the habits that were previously heavy and unyielding in wickedness. ^D

Ver. 7. The Lord is good to those who wait for Him in the day of affliction.

^A indicates, saying: “And He knows those who revere Him.” This means that He loves and takes into His own care and protection those who revere Him, and for this reason do not sin, or those who piously receive whatever He brings upon them.

“And in the deluge of His course, He will make a complete destruction of those who rise up against Him.” Having shown how God presents Himself to the reverent, he now again describes the onslaught against the unholy, and says that God will make a complete destruction—that is, He will completely annihilate and bring to utter ruin—those who rise up against Him, namely those who are stiff-necked and who, like wicked servants, rise up against His divine laws. This He does “in the deluge of His course,” that is, as He proceeds and moves against them, just as water brought violently down a slope, causing a deluge to all that lies in its path. ^B “And darkness will pursue His enemies.” This is a characteristic of calamity: for those who are in tribulations and afflictions have their minds darkened, and even in the day they live as though in the night. The Only-Begotten Son also destroyed and exterminated those who were ever rising up and apostatizing from Him—the demons—by the deluge of His course, that is, the baptism with which He was baptized, proceeding from the bosom of the Father even unto us; and the darkness, the outer darkness prepared for them, will pursue them. Furthermore, those darknesses also seized the Pharisees and Scribes who were stirred up against Him and were disobedient, as well as others of that kind, even to their destruction, blinding their minds, because they did not listen to Him who says, “I am the light of the world”; and, “While you have the light, walk in the light, lest darkness overcome you.” And in us, too, there is a deluge of tears, possessing a “course,” that is, a motion in the virtues, which will destroy, delete, and exterminate the demon-breathed thoughts raised against us. But “darkness will pursue the enemies of God,” namely sin itself, which induces a cloud and darkness of conscience, and by its own deformity almost compels one toward the beautiful works of virtue. ^C

“What do you devise against the Lord?” He asks concerning God, and says: What power do you suppose He has? “He will make a complete destruction; He will not exact vengeance twice for the same thing in tribulation.” Having asked, he himself answers: Such is the power of God, he says, that if He wills to punish someone according to his deserts, He makes that very punishment complete at once with a single stroke, and stands in no need of a second vengeance—for how [could He, given that He] destroys him once? Some, however, have read: “What do you devise against…” ^D

the Lord? Will He make an end?” Up to this point, it is interrogative; then he answers: “He will not take vengeance twice for the same thing in affliction.” ^A They say, therefore, that these things are spoken to the Israelites. For since Salmanasar had taken the ten tribes captive and had captured some cities of the kingdom of Judea, those who were left behind were very much afraid lest the Babylonians should return to them again; and because of this, they were fleeing to the neighboring regions and were being defiled with the nations. The prophet therefore consoles them, saying: “Why do you imagine that the Lord is not benevolent, and that He will make an end of you, [and utter destruction]?” This will not be. For He will not take vengeance twice for the same [offense], bringing upon us a second affliction; once, he says, He punished you; He will not bring a second blow. Do not, therefore, go over to the nations, but wait for the Lord, who is both good and kind to those who wait for Him.

“Because it shall be laid waste even to its foundations.” Or it is Nineveh being punished by God. For from this point onward, he speaks clearly about her and addresses his words to her. He says, therefore, that with the foundations and those solid walls and magnificent houses pulled down, the great city will be laid waste—that is, it will be desert, neither useful for habitation because of the destruction, nor for agriculture because of the heaps of building rubble. “And as the smilax intertwined, it shall be consumed.” The smilax, being a plant like ivy, is always creeping upward, and it puts forth thin branches and lays hold of the plants standing nearby, and especially those of the Christ-thorn, so as to stifle those [plants], yet it also perishes itself in time. Of such a kind was Babylon, always wishing to climb toward higher things, and everywhere spreading the nets of its own power, so that those captured by it were pressed down and stifled, and many kingdoms were dissolved by it. It will, therefore, be consumed by the Persians and Medes, with Cyrus being their commander; that is, it will be brought to nothing, being emptied of its kingdom. ^B “And as a stalk full of dryness.” Therefore, it will also be delivered to the fire of the enemies for consumption.

“From you shall go forth a thought against the Lord, devising wicked and contrary things.” Addressing his words to Nineveh herself, he reveals the causes of her devastation. For He says that when God delivered the Israelites into your hands, you did not erect the trophy to Him, but to your own power; and you considered God to be feeble, as one not able to save those who trust in Him. And indeed, Sennacherib says, “Say to Hezekiah: Thus says the great king: Do not let your God deceive you, on account of which you

^A trust in Him, that He will deliver Israel from my hand.” His leader and subordinate commander, Rabsaces, also uttered many such blasphemies. God, pointing out this arrogance of his, says through the prophet: "I will visit upon the great intellect, the king of the Assyrians." And again, teaching him that he did not achieve what he achieved by his own power, but by the permission of God, He says: "Shall the axe be glorified without the one who chops with it? Or shall the saw be exalted without the one who draws it?" The Synagogue that killed the Lord has also been razed to the foundations, that is to say, down to the sacrifices and all the legal worship and observance; for it was upon these that it seemed to stand. Indeed, those who compass sea and dry land to make one proselyte, and then make him a son of hell, were like a climbing smilax, stifling those caught beneath it; and like dry stubble, it neither received the rain that came down, nor the water leaping ^B into eternal life. They thought wicked and contrary things against the Lord of glory, relative to the benefits they had received from Him, specifically to put Him to death. For this reason, they shall be consumed by the fire of the Romans, and by the final and everlasting fire. To a smilax those who feign love are also likened, who embrace their neighbors with kindness, while meditating and consulting on matters for their destruction: from these comes a wicked and contrary reasoning against the Lord. For the Lord is upright, but they are crooked; and the Lord is love, but they are enemies of love. But greed, too, is a smilax, grasping at all things and thinking wicked things against the Lord—namely, that He does not provide for things here; for no greedy person truly believes that there is providence, even if he pretends it. But it is contrary, because the one is righteous and has loved righteousness, while the greedy man is unrighteous and loves injustice. Therefore, such a smilax shall be consumed by itself; for this greedy man is devoured by that one who is more greedy. ^C And He says: "Thus says the Lord, who commands many waters, and so they shall be divided." By many waters, He means the Persians and the Medes, who waged war against Nineveh, of whom the Lord was the commander, leading them against that city, who shall also be divided by the Lord—that is, they shall be ordered and separated, as if by some general, so that this part may besiege this place, and that part that one. "And your report shall no longer be heard." For, having been famous previously for your power, you shall no longer have such a report and fame. Or, it means that those who previously obeyed and served you shall no longer obey and serve you. Now, that which commands ^D

^A of many waters is the Lord, ^B that is, of the waters of baptism, which He thus distinguishes and arranges, so that they are performed everywhere. "Teach," He says, "all nations, baptizing them"; hence there are many baptisms, that is, baptisms of the faithful everywhere. For if, on the one hand, one baptism is mentioned, just as there is one faith, it is because of the dogma in the sacraments—one existing in the whole Church, which has received to baptize by the invocation of the Trinity, and to typify the death and resurrection of the Lord by the triple immersion and emersion. And because it is given to each of the faithful only once, one might say it is called "one." Nevertheless, the baptisms are many, since the baptized are also many. And in another way, the waters of the baptisms are thus distinguished by the Lord: since we are twofold, being of soul and body, the purification of the body is performed by water, but the things of the soul by the Spirit. Then, addressing Satan: "Your report shall be heard no more." For demonic rites are no longer heard. Scripture knows "many waters" also to be temptations, as in the passage: "Nevertheless in the flood of many waters, they shall not draw near to Him." For the flood of temptations, even if they are many and follow one after another, will not even draw near to the holy man. He says, therefore, that the Lord commands the temptations. For He Himself, managing our salvation or testing, permits these to be brought upon us. But these shall be scattered, that is, broken up, and their continuity will have a distinction, and this by divine counsel, not by human prudence or sacrifices; for He Himself strikes and again heals.

VERS. 13. "And now I will break his rod from off you." He turns the discourse to Israel, saying: "The kingdom of Nineveh and the power" (for he named this the rod) "I will break from off you." Or, "The rod of Israel itself, by which he is chastised, I will break from off you, O Nineveh, so that you may no longer hold it, and by it chastise Israel." He could likewise speak to human nature: "The rod of the devil, I mean sin, by which he was killing you, I shall break; for the sting of death is sin." "I will break this from off you," that is, by clothing Myself in you, and by you wrestling against the principalities and powers, and despoiling and triumphing over them on the cross. The rod of the devil are the temptations through which he moves man to revile God, just as happened in the case of Job; which rod the Lord breaks, teaching: "Do not be afraid of those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul"; and, "In your patience possess your souls"; and, "Being reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he uttered no threat."

^A And I will break thy bonds. He says to Israel that thou didst have the power and tyranny of the city of Nineveh, as if they were certain bonds holding thee, so that thou didst serve it and accomplish no free work; but I shall break this power, handing it over to the Persian. If, however, the discourse is also toward Nineveh, you will understand bonds not by which it was held, but rather by which it held others, both the other nations and Israel itself. Disobedience also casts great bonds upon human nature, holding it to the earth; for because of it, it heard, "Thou art earth" (90). But since the heavenly One, taking the form of a servant, became obedient unto death, He broke those bonds of disobedience, and being exalted to heaven, He draws all to Himself.

^B And the Lord shall give a charge concerning thee. He gives a charge to Cyrus concerning thee, O Israel, so that he might release thee from captivity. But how does He give a charge? Not by sending prophets, but by touching his soul invisibly by the judgments He knows, even though he was an idolater and unworthy of being addressed by His prophets. For this reason He commanded the sea monster to swallow Jonah, and the gourd to shade him, and the worm to strike the gourd. But He also says to Nineveh that "the Lord gives a charge concerning thee" to Cyrus, so that he might make war against thee. The Lord also gives a charge concerning human nature to His angels, that they might guard it in all its ways. For, as we have learned, an angel has been assigned and allotted to each one even of the little ones in the Church. Perhaps the prophecy also has a reference to the teachings of the Savior. For since He took on our nature, He strengthened it and made it more powerful, and He is saying, as it were, this: The commandments of the Law were for the old nature, the one in Adam, condemned and weak; ^C but concerning thee, which hast become new through the new Adam, the Lord Jesus gives other commandments: "It was said to the ancients, Thou shalt not perjure thyself; but I say to you, not to swear at all," and the rest. He might also say to him who is in temptations, "He shall give a charge concerning thee to His angels, that the scourge may not draw near to thy tabernacle."

There shall no more be sown of thy name. If the discourse is toward Nineveh, he would mean that no longer shall the seed of any man be called by thy name. For it is the custom for subjects to be named from those who rule over them. Thus, from Babylon, they are Babylonians; and from Cyrus the Persian, Persians; from Alexander the Macedonian, Macedonians; and from Rome, Romans. According to this reasoning, Paul was also a Roman. Therefore, he says, thou shalt not henceforth rule ^D so that subjects may be called by thy name. But if these things are said to Israel, you will understand that after thou hast been liberated by Cyrus,

^A namely, that no Israelite shall be scattered into captivity. For even if they were warred upon by Antiochus and many other neighboring nations, yet a general dispersion did not befall them. And you may confidently declare that no one who is truly an Israelite is ever scattered. For not all who are of Israel are Israel. Therefore the Lord also said: *Behold an Israelite indeed*, as if to imply that there were some false Israelites. Consequently, those who are now scattered throughout the whole world are illegitimate, and not Israelites; for otherwise they too would have said with Nathanael: *Thou art the Son of God, thou art the King of Israel*. Before the advent of Christ in the flesh, the human race was scattered into many and various opinions concerning diverse gods; but in Christ, it was united to the true divine nature and learned true piety. Therefore it is said: *He shall not be sown from thy name anymore*, that is, man (for this is the name of our nature) shall not be scattered into many opinions and delusions. And to one who is being tested and is as it were doubting what profit remains from temptations, he says, this you shall gain: that human reasoning shall no longer be scattered in thee; thus also Job, after his temptation, says: *I have looked upon myself as earth and ashes*, and I have held myself in low esteem, and I have been melted away. For as much as the outer man is corrupted, so much the inner is renewed. ^B

Out of the house of thy God I will destroy the graven and molten images; I will make them thy burial place.

^A furthermore, the carved images—namely, the splendor of rhetoric and fine speaking—and the molten images—that is, the opinions of the philosophers—brought forth through what they call demonstrative methods, as through certain fires. Then, truly, our intellect or mind is buried when we think nothing of our own or that is human, just as Solomon also says: "The affect of man is not in me." For faith is the burial of the mind, not being permitted to move, or to cogitate in the soul, or to be curiously occupied with various things.

"For behold, the feet of him who brings good tidings and announces peace are swift upon the mountains." He shows the goods as being almost at the door. For behold, he says, behold a messenger will come announcing the campaign of Cyrus against the Ninevites and the capture of the city of Nineveh, which was peace to the Israelites, delivering them from captivity. Upon the mountains, he says, ^B either because this road from Nineveh to Jerusalem is mountainous, or because those who announce something from the mountains, as from places that cannot be clearly seen, make signs through which they signify their announcement to those below. The feet of the Lord are the apostles who were sent to the mountains, to the nations themselves which are the dwellings of intellectual wild beasts, teaching them. And yet the Lord was announcing peace, and through all things which He taught and did, He wrought peace for us with His Father: "That they also," He says, "may be one in us." Moreover, He most openly preached mutual peace among the faithful when He said: "From him who takes your things, do not demand them; and to him who wishes to go to law with you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak also." He announced these things, as though saying nothing of His own, but rather preaching those things which were of the Holy Spirit. ^C Also, the feet of John the Baptist were swift upon the mountains—I mean the Pharisees—preaching true peace, Christ, to whom he also said: "Brood of vipers, prepare the way of the Lord, make straight His paths. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low." But no one is able to preach peace while acting below and being attached to the things of the earth; for because of the faculties of this earth, wars are stirred up. If, therefore, you are about to announce peace, both to yourself and to your neighbors, raise yourself up. Exalt yourself on high, away from the earth and its goods, namely, from riches and glory. Ascend above the heavenly mountains, to where David also, lifting his eyes, hoped that help would come to him from thence. Let teachers also turn their mind to this, that standing upon the mountains of a high way of life, they may thus announce peace to the peoples, ^D which is also demonstrated to them by the step and ascent of the chair.

"Keep your festivals, O Judah." For since you were in captivity, you were forbidden to keep festivals (for the law commanded to keep festivals in Jerusalem; for this reason, also, they formerly hung their instruments upon the willows by the rivers of Babylon, as it was not permitted to sing the Lord's song in a strange land); now, being released from captivity, without hindrance...

^A celebrate your feasts. These things are said either by the prophet, or by the angel announcing the good news. And every intelligible Judah—that is, the one who confesses God—insofar as he is in Babylon, that is, in confusion, in the land that is strange to God, cannot celebrate his own festivities, neither the Pascha, that passover and departure feast (for he has not passed over, nor has he departed from sin), nor the feast of weeks, which is Pentecost; for he is outside the spiritual Sabbatism, not having taken up the yoke of Christ, in whom rest is found, nor even the feast of Scenopegia, that is, of Tabernacles; for he does not inhabit this world as a tent of pilgrimage, but dwells in it as a stable home. Nor does he remember the resurrection and the life after this one, when each person's vessel will be fashioned anew and incorruptible. But when he is freed from the servitude of confusing sin, then he is ^B commanded to celebrate his feasts, as we have said. These three, moreover, were surely the greatest feasts in the Law. *Pay your vows.* That is, the promises you made, fulfill them by offering sacrifices and performing other lawful things. For they had promised, when they were in captivity, that they would render many thanksgivings to God if they should return to their homeland, as we shall find in the sixty-fifth and sixty-sixth Psalms. *Because they shall no more add to pass into old age.* That is, your enemies shall no longer endure for a long time, nor shall their prosperity grow old for them; but they themselves will quickly perish, and their joy and light will be lost together. Or it means that the feasts of the one who confesses God do not grow old, nor do they reach old age; for they are always being renewed from day to day, according to the image of their Creator.

CHAPTER II

*Chapter I, verse 15. It is finished, it is consumed.* Namely, Nineveh and its ruler, so that you may no longer have fear from them; or, it refers to sin and impiety.

*Chapter II, verse 7. He has come up blowing into your face, rescuing you from tribulation.* He has come up, he says, against Nineveh, Cyrus, who by blowing upon you, rescued you from affliction. And he spoke of "blowing" from a certain Jewish custom; just as it was their habit ^C to tear their garments, so also they habitually blew into the faces of the infirm, which is something that exorcists especially did. There are some who think that these words refer to God, who by His own will, using a certain breath or blast, brought to life again the people as if they were dead, just as Ezekiel says...

comparing them to dead bones ^A, just as, having breathed the breath of life into Adam, he created him a living soul. Christ also ascended from the dead, submerging him who had the empire of death, that spiritual Assyrian, Satan. And he breathed upon his disciples, wishing them peace. For the disciples rejoiced, having beheld their Lord. For since Adam lost the image which he had received through the divine insufflation, Christ, having rightly and beautifully renewed it, delivered it to his holy apostles, and through them, to all who believe.

Contemplare iter [Contemplate the way]. He says this to Judah, commanding him to look about the ways, and to expect messengers, and to receive good tidings from them. Or, as if bringing them back from captivity, he says to the people: Contemplate, look about you, how easy, short, and brief the way is.

Constringe lumbos, fortiter confortare robore nimis [Bind the loins, be strongly fortified with great might]. This means: Put aside your former fear, and be strong, binding your loins. Thus also the Lord says to Job: "Gird up thy loins like a man"; and Paul: "Gird your loins with truth." Therefore, here too he commands them to be brave and confident, having put aside their former fear. Or it is as if he said: Prepare yourselves for the journey of ^B return. For to master the loins with a belt and to gird them is the fashion of those who are traveling; for a trailing tunic causes one to grow weary from the labors of the journey, against which one who is girded endures strongly. And he gives this commandment to each of us: Contemplate the way, Christ, that you may walk in him. Or, exhorting us to the consideration of the mystery concerning Christ, he says: "Learn the way." But since through the active life we ascend to the contemplation of divine things, and "without sanctification no one shall see the Lord," he says: Master the loins, in which is the seat of desire and lust. Furthermore, when, being admonished to lead a chaste life, we are accustomed to say: "We cannot; the passion is a natural one," he shows also ^C how we may master it. "Be very brave," he says; that is: Do not resist weakly, but vehemently. And this "in strength," that is, in Christ, who strengthened our nature by assuming it and uniting it to his divinity. For without this, even if you are brave, you shall be able to do nothing. For this reason, no one among the unbelievers is a virgin; for they are not strengthened in the strength which is Christ. ^D

^A Ver. 2. *For the Lord has turned away the injury of Jacob, as the injury of Israel.* By Jacob, he designates the ten tribes; by Israel, the two [tribes] in Jerusalem. For the ten were taken captive earlier by the Babylonians, but the two [were taken] later, when Nebuchadnezzar made war against Jerusalem. Since, therefore, Cyrus permitted the return to all twelve tribes together, he says that "The Lord has turned away the injury of Jacob," that is, He removed the captivity and servitude of the ten tribes, just as [He did] also for Israel, that is, for the two [tribes], and returned them to their own land. For it was an injury to those who were free and descended from the race of Abraham to be in servitude, something which did not befit them. Or one might understand it in this way: since the name Jacob was given to the patriarch by his fathers, while the name Israel was given by God, for which reason this [latter] name was more honorable, he names the whole people here by the human name; and he says that the Lord has turned away the injury, that is, the servitude, of Jacob, which is to say, of all the people, as if it were the injury of that patriarch who, because of his virtue, was named Israel. As if he were to say that he who is worthy of all honor should not be insulted, and for the sake of this one, He spared his descendants. The injury of Jacob—that is, of the active [life], constituted to supplant the passions—is being in servitude to some troubling and evil work; just as the injury of Israel—that is, of the contemplative [life]—is being subjected to a false and vain dogma. The Lord turns away these injuries, by giving the active [person] commandments, so that by performing them he might be set free, and by illuminating the mind of the contemplative [person] toward the orthodoxy of the Church.

*For they shaking have shaken them, and they have destroyed their branches; the arms of his power [are] from men.* Just as those who shake the branches of the vine, he says, destroy the fruit, so also the Persians, having agitated and shaken the Babylonians, destroyed their kingdom, which was the fruit of their branches. And he interprets what the branches were, saying that they were the "arms of his power," not [those] from God, but [those] from men. For they ruled by human powers; for by the "arms of his power"—that is, of the Babylonian people—he surely means the strong men-at-arms. He therefore adds:

^D Ver. 3. *Men powerful, playing with fire.* Lest anyone think that the Babylonians were conquered by the Persians because they were unwarlike, he had indeed mentioned "arms of power" above; but now he says more clearly and plainly that others have shaken off these men who were powerful and strong, and so bold and daring that they would even dare to attempt something against fire itself, and consider things that are dangerous and fearful as if they were a mere game. Thus it was not because of their weakness that the Persians prevailed against them, but because of the divine decree, which delivered them to these [Persians] for destruction.

^A The Romans also shook off the God-slayers from Jerusalem, who had previously been planted as a true, fruit-bearing vine, but who had turned toward bitterness. For their wine is the venom of serpents and the poison of asps; for they gave the Lord gall to drink. Consequently, they even destroyed their branches, which were extended outside the city as far as the sea; for they slew almost everyone captured in the outside territories. For they did not hold the weapons of their power from God (how could they, having put the Son of God to death?), but placed their confidence in human aid, being devastated by those who emulated them. Those murderers of the Lord, then, were ^B powerful, as those who had been instructed in the Law ("But the mighty shall mightily suffer torments"), and they mocked the Lord, who is fire because of His divinity: on one hand, by tempting Him at every moment, and on the other, by handing Him over to the Roman soldiers to be mocked. They [the Romans] also shook off the intellectual Babylonians—I mean the demons—who were serving under Christ, casting them far away from themselves and repelling their deceit, ^C and destroyed their branches—I mean their divinations and incantations—from which they produced the wine of deceit and gave it to men to drink, as is said in Hosea: "Wine and intoxication have seized the heart of my people." Then, regarding the devil, he says that the weapons of his power are from men; for he possesses power because of our sloth and negligence. The demons are "mighty men," being incorporeal, warring against us who are clothed in flesh; and they sport in the fire of anger and desire. Just as, with the Lord being the Vine, the apostles and the faithful everywhere are His branches, becoming His body and members, so, on the contrary, with the vine being Sodomitic, the shoot is accordingly from ^D Gomorrah, those who come forth from it and receive the quality of every evil from it.

*Verse 3, 4. The reins of their chariots, in the day of His preparation. And the horsemen shall be troubled in the ways, and the chariots shall be confounded, and shall be entangled in the streets.* The Babylonians, he says, shall be prepared so as to oppose the Persians from their horses. And the reins of the chariots—representing the Babylonian army—shall be in readiness, but they shall be of no help. For the horsemen shall be troubled in the ways by the multitude of the approaching enemies who are present. Furthermore, there shall be a confusion of the chariots, that is, a collision of those entangled and crashing into one another—not in narrow places, where one might blame the narrowness of the ground, but in the streets and broad ways, so that it might be plain that both the horsemen and the charioteers are being defeated by God. Our souls were created as the chariot of the Lord, so that they might,

^A carrying it, as the Word, and moving according to Him, be participants in all His discourses. They become the chariots of the Babylonian prince when we look towards irrational actions. Our reins are our natural thoughts and the commandments of the Lord. When, therefore, these are ready in us as reins, then the demons who ride upon us are thrown into turmoil along the various and many-wandering paths of wickedness into which they persuaded us to move; and their chariots collide with one another and are entangled in the streets. What I mean is like this: vice, as long as we approach it, seems to be a certain smooth thing, equal to itself, and devoted to peace; but when we have taken up the reins, having naturally observed what is beautiful and honorable, and having been led toward this by the commandments of God, then ^B we see it as unequal to itself, clashing and tangled. Do you not see those who travel in the broad ways of this life, and do not tread the narrow path of the life lived according to God, how at one time, puffed up by good fortunes, they exalt themselves above all, and at another time, when some small circumstance or calamity urges or invades them, they become more ignoble than everyone, and not least more effeminate, succumbing to a very small misfortune and considering their life completely lost? These things, however, appear to us as they are when, as I said, we have taken up the reins given to us and have them ready in our possession in the day and in the light of our conscience. ^C *The appearance of them is like torches of fire, and they run about like lightnings.* Since he said that these chariots of the Ninevites, that is, of the Babylonians, would suffer such things, he says: Although they were not weak, but brave and spirited, such as even to send fire from their eyes, and to terrify their subjects as though with certain torches and lightnings, nevertheless, at the assault of the enemies, trembling will seize them. Yet some have understood these things as concerning the Persians, the prophet seeing them almost with corporal eyes as coming like fire against Nineveh. ^D *Vers. 5. And their optimates shall be remembered, and they shall flee in the day, and they shall grow weak in their way, and they shall hasten to the walls, and shall prepare their bulwarks.* The optimates of the Ninevites, he says, who think highly of their own power, will stir up all their thoughts and call to mind every artifice: and they will try to flee in the day, as being held by severe calamities, so that they do not even wait for the night. Yet they will not be successful in the course of their flight, but will hasten again to ascend the walls, intending to seek safety from them,

^A and to look after the guarding of the city. As to the phrase, *They shall be remembered*, you will understand it in this way: that they shall be reminded of the afflictions which they brought upon the Israelites, and of the blasphemies against God, and they will know henceforth that they have God as their enemy. On this account they will flee, not secretly, but by day; for such great terror shall seize them.

There is also the vision, or aspect, of the demons, which is like torches by nature (for *I was watching*, he says, *Satan fall like lightning from heaven* ^B), perhaps because he is transformed into an angel of light, or because lightnings and coruscations run through the region under heaven, as though they were walking about there; or because they are not stable lightning flashes, but *running through*—that is, they are quickly extinguished. For their light, ^C that into which they transform themselves, is quickly extinguished, according to what is said: *The light of the wicked shall be extinguished*.

Their magnates, that is, the legions, or the hosts of demons, shall be mindful of the power of the Lord, so as to say, *Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, Son of God?* And they shall be weakened in their course, when they are cast down with the swine into the sea, or because they no longer possess the power to go against men. ^D They shall hasten to bring about the cross and the death of the Lord. For they thought these things would be as walls and fortifications for themselves, as if the Lord were to be nameless, or even ill-famed, as one who suffered as a robber. But they also prepared their outposts, or all the things before the cross, the mockeries and the reproaches (for these were, as it were, certain outposts of the cross and the death), or the guards of soldiers at the tomb.

But there are also magnates in the soul, namely, the intellect and the reason. They shall therefore ponder their own dignity and shall flee from the slavery of the passions, while it is day; for they will no longer walk in darkness as before. And in their previous, perilous course they shall be weakened, no longer running smoothly in malice; and they shall hasten to the walls—the commandments—which surround us, and they shall prepare their outposts, the natural thoughts; for these keep watch before the commandments. Moreover, holy baptism and the anointing are great and solid walls, to which every uninitiated one hastens as soon as he recognizes Jesus, who is able to save. Yet this is not done simply; for before one is admitted to baptism, he is first kept under guard, so that he may devote himself to fasting, and he is commanded to keep himself chaste and pure, that he may attain to the habit of the good.

*Vers. 6. The gates of the cities were opened, the royal palaces fell down, and the substance was revealed.* The Ninevites, he says,

^A or all their subjects, will ascend to the walls, as if to be protected by them, but it shall profit them nothing. For the gates both of Nineveh itself, and of all the other cities, shall be opened, and their palaces shall be under the enemy, their glory falling and being taken away; and all their substance, that is to say, their treasures, which were shut up and secured, shall be revealed, and shall be manifest to all, exposed for plundering. The gates of the cities are the senses of the souls, which are opened when they reach toward the things to be done without deception. Then also the palaces of sin, which reigns in our mortal body, fall, appearing rotten, and the substance of virtue is revealed. For then it is made manifest that sin is insubstantial, but virtue truly subsists. For I think that David also says this to God, *My substance is with Thee*. ^B For when man is in God, then he subsists. *For in Him*, says Paul, *we live, and move, and have our being.* For he who has being in that he is rational, and is then also in God, when he lives according to reason, justly subsists in God; not to mention that, existing in our reason, we are in the God who is Reason (for our reason is a portion of the Divine).

*Vers. 7. And it was set up (or, flowed up), and her maids were led as doves, sighing in their hearts.* As if the prophet were looking upon Nineveh being led into captivity, he says this. She was ascending, he says, as if to be led into Persia, and with her her subject cities, sighing in their hearts, that is, secretly, and imitating the murmuring and sighing of doves. ^C When the substance of virtue is revealed, the soul ascends to divine ranks. And her maidservants, the powers, no longer lead her, but are led by the intellect and the reason—namely, the soul's impulse and desire—wherefore they are not unjustly called doves of the Spirit. For the concupiscence does not then desire the human day, nor does the mind irrationally grow angry at a brother; but the concupiscence indeed stands always before the Lord: *but the Lord is the Spirit*, just as Daniel was a man of the desires of the Spirit. But the mind grows angry and does not sin, emptying out all the bile of vices, just as Moses, the most meek of all, armed the Levites against the idol-worshippers; and Phinehas and Elijah were for this reason called zealots. ^D And the Spirit Himself, who is of meekness, is even said to be provoked. Doves understood in this way, therefore, sigh without loud noise, and bear witness to the power of Christ, through which they have been conquered. Moreover, those who are Christ’s have crucified their flesh with its desires and passions.

^A The gates of the cities and the fortifications of death were opened when the Lord endured death for our sake; the kingdom of Hades fell, and its power—the one who held the empire of death—was diminished. And the divine substance of the Word was revealed, along with the united holy soul, to those sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death, shattering the bronze gates, breaking the iron bars, and manifesting His own power. He was present with His soul in Hades, working wonders, while preserving His body incorrupt in the tomb. Furthermore, the very soul of the Lord was ascending from Hades, and His servants’ souls—the souls of the saints—followed Him like pure and guileless doves, filled with integrity and innocence, singing: "O death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?"

^B Verse 8. *And Nineveh is like a pool of water, her waters... and they who were fleeing did not stand, and there was no one looking back.* The conjunction "And" has a special meaning here, standing for "Yet." Nineveh’s "waters"—that is, those who inhabit and fill it—were so great in multitude that they could be compared to a pool filled with water, brimming over and spilling out its excess (for when the people multiplied, it sent out colonies). Yet, even so, such people, looking toward flight, did not stand; nor was there anyone among them looking backward, but all were looking to what lay ahead, watching where they might flee. But also the Church from the Gentiles (for Nineveh is gentile) possesses the waters of baptism, and its inhabitants, fleeing from vice, do not stand, so that they might not suffer what the wife of Lot did. Nor is there among them any who look back: for those who set their hand to the plow do not look back at what is behind them, but, forgetting the things that are behind and reaching forward to those that are before, they run in this way, without uncertainty.

Verse 9. *They plundered the silver, they plundered the gold, and there was no end of its finery.* He explains the earlier injustice and greed of the Ninevites, and how they had accumulated these things through plunder. And no one, he says, can claim that they plundered them out of need; for the evil would have been more tolerable, but it was out of insolence, and the desire to possess varied and expensive finery. For, he says, there was no end to its finery. ^C For even the men were adorned in a womanish manner, out of effeminacy and folly.

*They are burdened beyond all their desirable vessels.* That is to say, the finery with which they adorned their bodies had great weight—that is, mass—and ^D

exceeded all other vessels of theirs. Even though those were desirable, that is, redundant and prepared for indulgence, yet the ornament surpassed them. Or you may understand it thus: what the Ninevites themselves had gathered and stored as treasure, the enemies shall take, having conquered them, and shall carry it away to their own land, bearing them as things weighing them down. He speaks of future events as if they were past, according to the idiom of Scripture; for it says *are burdened*, instead of *shall be burdened*.

Furthermore, the Gentiles who were formerly idolaters, but are now inserted into the number of those who believe in Christ, plunder both the silver—that is, the oracles of the Law—and the gold—that is, the pure and shadowless grace of the Gospel—languishing with a beautiful insatiability. Therefore, the Church is also adorned, so that there is no end to its ornament. For its ornament is the kingdom of the Word, who dwells within us, of whose kingdom there shall be no end. Such an ornament is also heavy and weighty; for it is not carried about by every wind of doctrine, but possesses weight and stability above all philosophical dogmas, which were the desirable vessels of the Gentiles. ^C Moreover, whereas the demons formerly plundered the silver and the gold—capturing the word of practical action and of the speculation of life, and not rightly using the wisdom of the Greeks—now what were formerly their vessels, prepared for destruction, have been made heavier than all other men. For those who have been purified have become vessels useful for the honor of the Master, who, having entered the house of the strong man, bound him and plundered these vessels of his. But the demons, delivered over to chains of darkness, were troubled.

^D VERS. 10. *Excussio et succussio et ejectio, cordisque tremor, et dissolutio genuum, ac dolores super omnem lumbum.* What is wont to happen in tremors of the earth, he now attributes to the arrival of the enemies. For they, he says, will shake and strike everything; and the hearts of the Ninevites shall be shattered and crushed, as if pierced by terror. Finally, the joints of the knees shall be loosened, and they shall have pains like those of women in labor—that is, intolerable pains, bringing forth great evils. "Every loin," that is, every manly strength. For Scripture uses "loin" for strength, as was mentioned above. The earth *shakes*, or casts down, when things standing upon it are cast down. It *succusses*, when it brings forth the foundations, throwing them from the bottom to the top. It *ejects*, when, moving them here and there as if in a sieve, it separates the lower parts and brings them to the top, often even bursting open springs of both hot and cold waters; since there are also three species of motions. Cyrus, therefore, along with...

his armies, by means of forces—things which are invisible to none above, and hidden from human sight below—will move all things; and because all is confused and disturbed, he will allow nothing to remain unmoved in its place. ^A

The face of all shall be as the scorching of a pot. For fear, he says, the blood shall congeal; and the faces of all shall become livid, a thing which happens in the greatest colds, so that they become like that part of a pot, which, having been brought near to the fire and therefore scorched, turns black. These things also befell those who crucified the Lord, who, having been shaken out of their ancient fatherland, were scattered into every place. But the imposture of the demons was also shaken out; and the man who was lying below was shaken up into the heights, all vice having been cast out through confession, cast forth and broken asunder. In confession, however, there is simultaneously observed the trembling of the heart; for he who has condemned his former life appears as if he were being crushed, led by repentance for the things he has committed. Whose face—or rather, the confidence he once had, performing evils without shame—is obscured now, saddened because of the works which he then performed, for the sake of which he is now suffused with shame. ^B His knees also are loosened, upon which he was supported while standing in malice; and his loins, in which is the concupiscence, feel the pains of one in labor, because of the divine fear which, conceiving through the divine Spirit, he brings forth as sanctification, without which no one shall see the Lord.

Where is the dwelling-place of the lions, and the pasture that was for the whelps? By lions he calls the kings; the dwelling-place of the lions, Nineveh herself; but by the whelps, either the children of the kings, or the satraps and governors of the kings; and by their pasture, the subject cities, which, being required to pay tributes and bringing in moneys, were their pasture, nourishing them; for the pastures of the rich, according to what is written, are the poor. ^C Since, therefore, Nineveh, together with the kings, and the kings’ sons, and the satraps, and the cities under her, perished, so that she appeared nowhere, "Where is," he says, "such and so great a city, together with the towns subject to it?"

Whither has the lion gone to enter in? He perseveres in his prophetic strain, he says, as if mockingly: "Has not the lion, that is, the king of Nineveh, gone abroad to enter into another land, and for this reason, the enemies, finding it deserted, have taken the city?"

There is the lion’s whelp, and no one was terrifying it. The lion snatched enough for his whelps, and strangled for his lionesses, and filled his nest with prey, and his dwelling-place with rapine. ^D Because he asked, "Whither has the lion gone?" he now, as if answering, says that he did not go nor did he go abroad; but he himself was there, and the lion’s whelp or—

^Ahis satraps and war commanders, whom no one terrified before (for they were formerly unafraid, fearing no one), but rather like a lion, plundering the money of other kingdoms, and gathering tributes, and providing sustenance for their offspring. For this is what he signifies by saying, "He choked [prey] for his lions." Since it is the habit of wild beasts to choke the animals caught by them, and thus offer them as food for their young, he says that in the same way the Assyrian kings, while dissolving other kingdoms, gathered the wealth of those others and the tributes collected from time to time for their own lions—that is, for their children and kings. Just as Shalmaneser plundered Samaria and Nebuchadnezzar Jerusalem, so too they filled Nineveh, which was their nest and dwelling place, with prey and rapine. He called it a "nest," as if speaking of birds, on account of the lightness and the high-mindedness of the kings, and because, being easily captured by the Persians, it flew away and was carried off to Persia; and he calls it a "dwelling place of lions" because of the power in which it formerly flourished.

There is also another way of punctuating this passage: "Whither ^B has he gone, that he might enter there?" and then from another beginning: "The lion’s whelp, and so forth." And it has this meaning: Where is Nineveh, whither kings used to enter and remain safely, as if the city were impregnable? Moreover, the lion’s whelps—that is, the sons of kings—also entered and remained there in safety, and there was no one for whose sake they might be terrified; no one frightened them. For the inhabitants of Nineveh lived without trepidation. Jerusalem, too, was a dwelling place of lions, namely of the kings descended from David and other princes, who used to plunder and choke the poorer people. But where is it now, after the killing of Christ? Likewise, in the souls of those now confessing, "intellectual lions" used to dwell, whose offspring, evil thoughts, were feeding upon and consuming the divine portion within them. The devil, therefore, who goes about like a lion, seeking whom he may devour, where is he now? Whither has he gone? For there, where he himself formerly dwelt, now, with Jacob, is the lion’s whelp, the Lord ^C Jesus himself, and henceforward there is no one who, taking this whelp, might terrify them. For that wild, forest lion has sufficiently and full well, in times past, snatched what he snatched and choked those whom he deprived of the Holy Spirit; and he filled Hades with the prey of those who have died in their sins; which Hades is his dwelling place even now, for he no longer has dominion in the air, but has been cast down to the underworld.

VERS. 13. Behold, I am against thee, says the Lord Almighty. Since, O Nineveh, thou didst plunder all kingdoms, therefore behold I am swiftly against thee [e]n-

^A even if up to now I have been patient. But it is added with a particular significance, "Almighty," for if I rule all things, I shall also be superior to thee.

And I will set thy multitude on fire in smoke, and the sword shall devour thy lions. Since he made mention above, metaphorically, of lions, whelps, prey, and pasturage, he rightly foretells their destruction also in a metaphorical sense. For since hunters compel wild beasts hidden in certain caves, which do not wish to come out, to depart by applying smoke to the entrances of the caves, and then receive them as they come out with spears and swords, putting them to death; he says that "I will set thy multitude on fire in smoke," that is, I will set this very populous city on fire, and I will deliver its kings and princes to slaughter; just as he delivered Jerusalem to be burned, and the seditious ones within it, being lions as it were, devouring the humbler people, were devoured by the sword of the Romans.

And I will utterly destroy thy prey from the earth, and thy works shall be heard no more. That is, thou shalt no longer hunt and plunder nations and kingdoms; nor shall thy warlike works, and the evils resulting from them, which thou didst perform against those who came under thy power, be heard of; for thou shalt cease from doing these things. The Pharisees also used to hunt the souls of the proselytes and Jews who were persuaded by them, by teaching them the letter, which prey the Lord—who gave to human nature the law of the Spirit of life—utterly destroyed from the earth. And the works of the legal administration are heard of no more, since by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified. But the Lord could also say to the power of the devil: Behold, I am standing against thee in the flesh, and I will set on fire in the vapor of the Spirit's operation ^B the multitude of dæmons set under thee, being as it were the preludes of the fire to come. For the things that tormented the dæmons were smoke from the fire prepared for them from the beginning. And the sword, which is the evangelical word, devoured his lions, either these very dæmons themselves, or those who are wise and powerful in speech. And the seduction by which he hunted mortals has been destroyed from the earth; and the works which were performed in the temples of idols are heard no more.

CHAPTER III.

VERS. 1. O city of blood, all false, full of injustice! He laments in a miserably tragic or bitter exclamation the condition of the city of Nineveh, calling it a city of blood; for the Ninevites were lovers of war and rejoiced in blood. It is called "all false" because they were all, without exception, idolaters, worshipping false-named gods, both poor and rich, and because they were given to falsehood in their words, employing deceits and frauds, which are followed by injustice. For every deceitful and fraudulent person is also unjust, if in no other matter, at least in this one thing: that he injures and deceives his neighbor. And the prophet seems to teach whence Nineveh became a city of blood, [namely] that it is from falsehood ^C and injustice; for where there is falsehood and injustice, do not despair of bloodshed there also. ^D

^A Jerusalem is also a city of blood, as one that slaughtered the prophets and stoned those who were sent to her; she was also wholly false, as one that hated the truth, which was Christ, and told false things about Him, [saying] that He was a Samaritan, possessed by demons, and an impostor; and [she was] full of injustice, as one that nailed her Lord and benefactor to the cross, denied the Holy and Just One, and filled up the measure of her fathers who killed the prophets, in that she herself became a Deicide.

Non altrectabitur venatio. What He said above, "I will destroy thy venation" (i.e., your hunting or prey), He is now repeating again; "No longer," He says, "will the prey be handled or touched by you." This means: no city or kingdom will be overcome by you, nor will you hunt for riches and tributes—for these were your prey. But the "prey" of the ancient Jerusalem were all the prophets. Therefore, He says, there will no longer be a prophet [for you] in [your midst], nor will you hunt and ensnare him.

^B VERS. 2. *Vox flagellorum, et motus rotarum.* The prophet appears to hear and see the impending evils of war, and tells of them as if they were already present. For he mimics the voice or the sound of the whips by which horses are urged on to a swifter course, and he calls the noise of the wheels a resemblance to an earthquake.

*Et equi persequentis.* Supply "voice." For he seems to hear the neighing of the pursuing horse, which [he describes] as if it had perceived victory, and as if it were giving out a neigh as a paean of triumph—for the horse is a proud creature. ^C When he had said, "the voice of whips," he indicated who it was that was being whipped, namely the horse, so that it might pursue more vehemently.

*Currusque subsultantis.* When he said, "the voice of the motion of the wheels," he shows more clearly that that voice is the sound of a wagon, and of a course started with speed.

*Et equitis ascendentis.* The voice, he says, of the rider mounting, that is, a tumultuous and eager outcry; for when horsemen are about to mount either horses or chariots, they make a noise and shout eagerly, urging one another on.

VERS. 3. *Fulgentis quoque mucronis, et coruscantium armorum, ac multitudinis vulnerum, gravisque lapsus.* Here, "voice" is no longer to be understood, but "vision." For he seems to look upon the flashing swords, ^D the breastplates, and other glittering armor, and a multitude of men, some inflicting wounds and others falling with the weight of their arms. Such things may be understood also regarding those who besieged Jerusalem,

^A for many such things happened then even to the cursed Jews.

“And there was no end to the nations of her, and they shall be weakened in their bodies by the multitude of fornication.” Many nations, indeed, beyond number, subject to Nineveh, shall come to bring her aid, but they shall be weakened in their bodies, in which they trusted as though they were in good health. Why? Because they practiced fornication, both in manners and habits, by turning away from all virtue and from temperance itself, and by falling away from the true worship of God to idols. But as for the nations of Jerusalem, that is, its inhabitants, who emulated the customs of the gentiles, there was no end; for they had gathered into it in numbers beyond counting, as Josephus records. ^B They were weakened in their bodies, wasted by famine. Why? Because they played the whore and departed from Christ, saying: “Do not write, the King of the Jews” (John XIX, 21). But according to the obvious meaning, weakness happens in bodies from a multitude of fornication; for no one who is lascivious and given to lust has a robust body. So if any soldier desires to be as strong as possible, let him live temperately and abstain from fornication.

VERS. 4. “A harlot fair and pleasant.” Nineveh was a harlot both by reason of bodily fornication—living immodestly on account of an abundance of luxuries—and by reason of idolatry. She is called fair and pleasant because she was illustrious by reason of excellence, glory, wealth, and other goods, and was a certain brilliant city, possessing many charming and elegant qualities, as if she were the queen of other cities.

“Leading in incantations.” That is, full of sorcery, and a leader of others in spells or witchcraft; for the Assyrians excelled others in magic and incantations. ^C “Selling nations in her fornication, and tribes in her incantations.” It was not enough, he says, for you to have your own impiety; you also compelled the nations subject to you to do the same, and you sold them and made them slaves both to fornication and to witchcraft. Or it may be understood thus: the magicians, using their own sorceries, promised all who went out to war that they would make their enemies subject to them, and they received a reward for these things. They sold, therefore, the nations and the tribes to those giving a reward, promising through their incantations that they would make them subject. Thus also Balaam promised King Balac to put the Israelite people under his yoke. But if, in understanding these things regarding Jerusalem, Naum ^D shall seem to you to say all but the same things as Isaiah, who laments: “How has the faithful city Sion become a harlot?” (Isa. I, 21), here too Jerusalem is understood to be called fair and pleasant because it had received the law, which was itself grace. For he says, “grace for grace.” But it became a harlot when

those who said, ^A “This is a hard saying; who can hear it?” fell away from the Lord; and again when they said, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses”; and finally when all shouted, “We have no king but Caesar.” She is likewise a leader of poisoners, since her leaders, rulers, and teachers intoxicate the people with hypocrisy and false doctrines, and sell them to the demons. And the soul, too, was created by God beautiful and pleasant, receiving the grace of the in-breathing; but it becomes a harlot when, having been poisoned and bewitched by pleasure, it falls away from the truly good; and this to such an extent that it becomes a leader to others in the sorcery of pleasures. ^B

VERS. 5. *Behold, I am against you, says the Lord Almighty.* Do not think, he says, that it is a man, Cyrus, who will wage war against you; but it is I, the Lord Almighty, who stand up against you; so expect a mighty attack.

*And I will uncover your backside before your face.* He speaks as if of a harlot who, as far as her face and her outward beauty are concerned, seems desirable to those who look upon her; but if someone were to strip her and reveal the ugly parts of her body, she would surely appear vile. In this manner, therefore, he says, “O Nineveh, I will uncover your backside”; that is, “As much as is ugly in you, previously hidden, I will now bring into the open, so that it may appear before your face; and shame instead of glory will encompass you, and I will make manifest all your iniquity through the punishment that is to be brought upon you.” ^C

*And I will show the nations your shame, and the kingdoms your disgrace.* You seemed indeed, to all nations and kings, to be fair and fortified by your sorceries, and you believed that by these you could prevail much against your enemies, while I was being long-suffering; but now that I have been stirred up against you, I will show the nations that you conquered that you were not strong even then, when you subjugated them to your rule, but that my will had brought these things to pass; and the kingdoms which formerly had venerated you as if you were strong will now recognize the disgrace of your weakness. These things can also be referred to the future judgment, when the things that everyone has done—which were done by him behind his back and in secret—shall be laid before the face of each of the sinners, that is, the deformity of the crimes committed by him. ^D There is displayed also the confusion and ignominy to the remaining nations and kingdoms, as well as to the righteous, who will reign together with Christ, if indeed they have suffered with him here. Furthermore, when the divine Word touches a soul that is still sinning and leads it to an awareness of its former life spent in wickedness, it makes such a revelation of ignominy, and brings forth through confession the things that were previously hidden, and the Word reveals the shame of the deeds to the nations—that is, to the demons—as if

^A mortals, recognizing that they are put to shame by their deeds which flow from their instinct, no longer approach them. These same are also called many kingdoms, as they reign in man in many different ways through sin, whereas the kingdom of the Lord is one.

And I will cast upon thee an abomination according to thy impurities. That is, I will make you such that all who see you will loathe you. Then, lest anyone should say that God makes some loathsome and others glorious, and that subsequently everything happens by lot, He added: According to thy impurities; showing that I will justly bring the abomination upon you, because you have impurities. And for the impure, what else is appropriate than to be loathed? So let no one blame God if men loathe Him, but rather their own impurity. Thus, He also cast ^B an abomination upon the Hebrews on account of their impurities, the others, and those they contracted from the killing of the Lord; for their hands are unclean, as if full of blood. And according to the measure of each person’s impurity, an abomination is also brought on, neither greater nor less, the Master and Judge mingling and dispensing His gentleness and goodness herein. Moreover, in the future judgment, one will be more abominable than another, according to the measure of the impurity of their deeds.

And I will set thee as an example. That is, I will make your sufferings so notorious ^C that, whenever some city or region perishes, some will say, "That city has perished just as Nineveh did."

And it shall be that everyone who sees thee shall go down from thee. For when you are dug up and ruined, anyone who stands over your corpses and wreckage, even if he was previously hostile to you and resented your power, upon seeing your very great desolation, will go down from such ruins and devastation—that is, he will leap away, not bearing to see such great desolation; or fearing, lest he also suffer some such harm on account of such great ^D desolation. And he will say, "O miserable Nineveh! Who shall lament for her?" O miserable and wretched Nineveh! What such mourner will be found who can worthily lament her? Or because no one of her own people is left to lament her; wherefore He also adds: Whence shall I seek comfort for her? For with other cities or regions, it happens that some mortals perish and some are saved, and those who are saved serve as a comfort; but in the case of Nineveh, it is not possible to find comfort, for she has been delivered over to complete destruction.

^A

VERS. 8. *Harness the string, prepare thyself, O portion of Ammon.* This exhortation pertains to Alexandria, even though it did not yet bear that name at that time. For it is the city called On, or Ammon, inasmuch as it was dedicated to Ammon, a spirit so famous among the Greeks that not a few from Greece traveled there for the sake of oracles. Indeed, Alexander, king of the Macedonians, is said to have hastened to him as if to his own father, in order to receive oracles from him. Since, therefore, the whole of Egypt—and On, which was later named Alexandria by Alexander—depended upon this spirit, the prophet calls it the "portion of Ammon." Consequently, it also suffered many evils at the hands of the Ninevites, that is, the Assyrians; for they waged war against all of Egypt, where they also found the fugitives from among the Israelites and treated them in a most indignified manner. Therefore, he commands On now to harness the string and prepare the cithara, as if deriving pleasure from the destruction of the Ninevites, and for that reason instituting a festival day, just as he also commanded Judah above to celebrate its feasts.

*Habitant of the rivers.* He calls the derivations of the Nile "rivers." ^B

*Whose empire is the sea, and water is her walls.* From every side, he says, Ammon has a secure fortification: fortified on the north by the sea, and on the south by the Maeotian marsh, and boasting also of the branches of the Nile, which serve as walls, making the marshes inaccessible.

VERS. 9. *Ethiopia is her strength, and Egypt, and there is no limit to thy flight. Phud and the Libyans were her helpers.* He enumerates her auxiliaries and allies, pointing out that she was fortified not only by the position of the place, but also by the power of those who joined arms in alliance. By "Phud," however, he designates the Libyans living toward the west, who are now called Africans. Although you are so fortified, he says, O portion of Ammon—by the channels and marshes of the Nile's water, the sea, and the aforementioned Maeotian river, and the allies already mentioned—nevertheless you yourself shall turn to flight, and there shall be no end to your flight. ^C

The "portion of Ammon" also signifies the Church from among the Gentiles, which dwells by the rivers—namely, the sweet waters of the grace of the Gospel—and about which there is water, I mean spiritual baptism, guarding her on every side. And she also rules over the sea—that is, the temptations brought on by the waves of this life and the salty heresies or snares—and is not overcome by any of these; for "the gates of Hades shall not prevail against her" (Matt. xvi, 18). She also has, after baptism, her own walls: the water of the tears of repentance. Then Ethiopia and Egypt are her strength; for the Ethiopian eunuch was the first from among the Gentiles to be washed in baptism. And ^D

is baptized; and the Lord visited Egypt first, when, upon His birth, He immediately fled there. Nor is the strength of the Church’s preaching small in that such nations hasten to her. Furthermore, she has as helpers the Libyans, who on the day of Pentecost encountered the presence of the Spirit the Paraclete; they bore witness through the gift of tongues that this preaching is divine. Therefore, it is always incumbent upon her to flee, both from impiety and from ^A that which always persecutes us through all things, both words and deeds alike, that she might not be caught, having ceased her flight.

And she too goes into captivity as a captive. That is to say, Alexandria and all of Egypt; for when Nebuchadnezzar devastated it, and later under Cambyses, the son of Cyrus, who dissolved her kingdom, she was compelled to submit to the rule of the Persians. But also Alexander, under the Macedonian kingdom, made the Egyptians subjects.

And her infants they shall dash to the ground at the beginning of all her ways. That is to say, the enemies will show such cruelty as to kill even the infants, dashing their heads against the ground; for this is what it means to "dash them to the ground," and to do so at the beginnings of the ways, that is, at the crossroads, before many passers-by, demonstrating that they do not spare even children worthy of pity.

And upon all her glorious things they shall cast lots. So that they may be distributed without conflict, not only possessions and wealth, but also noble bodies, such as wives and children, so that they might be ^C slaves to those who obtained them by lot.

And all her great men shall be bound with manacles. Thus shall they be cowardly, he says, so as not even to be slain in war—which is the lot of noble men—but to be bound, after the fashion of women and ignoble weaklings, as slaves. Although they were great men, they went into captivity (57). And the Synagogue of those who killed the Lord, and her infants, her fosterlings, those nourished on the elementary and imperfect milk of the law, are dashed to the ground, remaining upon the earth, as they are unable to understand anything lofty. This, however, they have suffered because of pride; for this is the beginning of all the precipitous ways of the God-killing Synagogue. And upon all her glorious things—the anointing of the high priesthood, the vestment of the high priest, and the sacrifices—have been cast the divine lots in the Church, from which also the clergy are named. For it is not human grace, but a divine lot, that is to say, a gift, that is seen in those who are ordained. God has therefore ^D distributed those glorious things of theirs to us spiritually. And the great men of those people, the Pharisees and Scribes, were bound with manacles, being able to perform nothing of the law, for the reason that they bound the Lord.

Variæ lectiones et notæ. (57) To the translation of Babylon, Cod. Ven.

aforementioned things concerning the portion of Ammon, he transfers the discourse again to Nineveh, and says: While that city shall indeed suffer these things, thou too shalt be delivered over as if to a certain drunkenness by calamity, and shalt be overlooked by Me, the Lord, no longer keeping thee, as before, superior to every evil, but delivering thee over to thy sins. *And thou shalt seek unto thyself a standing from thine enemies.* Since he made mention of drunkenness, he persists in the trope, and says that, being carried this way and that, and being unstable, like those who are intoxicated, thou wilt indeed seek a standing—that is, freedom from thy enemies—but thou shalt not possess it, but shalt flee continuously. They also who killed the Lord became drunk in their own mind—for the venom of dragons is their wine—and on account of this, having been overlooked by the Lord, who ever looks upon both them and their house, just as Solomon also prayed, they heard: *Behold, your house is left unto you desolate*. And they seek to stand again in Jerusalem, and to cease from the dispersion and the persecution; but they do not find what they seek.

^B *Vers. 12. All thy bulwarks are as fig trees having fruit, if they be shaken, they shall fall into the mouth of the eater.* Thy fortified cities, he says, shall be delivered to the enemies. For as fig trees having fruit—that is, early and very ripe figs—if they are shaken by the wind, or rather by a man wishing to eat of them, they easily cast them off, and thereafter the man, having picked them up, eats; thus also thy cities shall easily cast out their inhabitants, who fall into the mouth of the enemies. The bulwarks of the Synagogue are the Pharisees; then the observances of the Law according to the letter, together with their traditions, which have fruits, manifesting a temporal and soft sweetness. These, having been shaken at the advent of Christ, fell into the mouth of Satan, who always devours human traditions, so that henceforth they are diabolical discourses, and therefore worthy of his ^C mouth. The bulwarks of a sinning soul, moreover, are pleasures. For through pleasure we are held in sin. These—pleasures, I say—are the ripe figs, having those [qualities] shown to our first father Adam. For the fruit that brought death to him was beautiful to look upon and fair to eat. But they are shaken off by the Word of God, which is in us, manifesting their instability, and indicating that they bring forth nothing more abundant than sorrow. Those formerly judged to be firm fall; for they cannot resist the shaking of the Word, so that he who formerly ate such things now opens his mouth against them as [against] deceivers, and considers them despicable ^D and clearly holds them in contempt. In this way were the sin in Beersheba and the sin regarding Uriah, which were figs, tempting David with their seasonable fruit. But, upon the reproof of the prophet Nathan, they were shaken off.

^A and fell into the mouth of him who had previously eaten them with pleasure, exposing them in the fiftieth Psalm.

Ver. 13. *En populus tuus, ceu feminæ in te.* This means: your bravest soldiers, seized by panic, will differ in nothing from women. And they will suffer this in you—that is, on your account—and because of your sins and your pride. They are, of their own nature, warlike and strong, but you have made them timid by provoking the Lord to anger. The people of you, O rejected Jerusalem, are like ^B women, having nothing manly to demonstrate against the error with which they are imbued; rather, they incline toward those who teach them evil things and who promise them restoration. They suffer this in you, that is, because they look to you and hope to receive you, O Lord, not understanding that there is another Jerusalem that is indissoluble: the Church herself, who is the mother of all who believe in Christ.

*Hostibus tuis apertæ aperientur portæ terræ tuæ, absumet ignis vectes tuos.* The gates, he says, of the cities of your land will be opened to the Persians; some without labor, as if those guarding them were voluntarily yielding, while others will be besieged, and their bars consumed by fire. Or perhaps he does not speak ^C of the gates of cities, but wishes to indicate that your entire land will be left open to raids and destruction—a land which formerly was so inaccessible to those daring to be hostile, that it held its fortifications as if behind such gates. “And your bars,” that is, all your power, security, and defense, fire—meaning the insupportable and flaming power of the enemy—will consume. The land of the Judeans is the commonwealth, lying low according to the letter of the law and [their] traditions. This had gates leading toward the Spirit, which were opened to the Gentiles, whom those of the circumcision considered enemies and abominable. But their bars, that is, the bulwarks ^D of Pharisaic doctrine, the fire of the evangelical and spiritual word has devoured.

Ver. 14. *Aquam circuitus attrahe tibi ipsi, occupa munimenta tua.* The Ninevites, when Cyrus was about to besiege them, fearing capture, dug trenches outside; by bringing in much water, some into these trenches and some sent out over the rest of the plain, so that it might even become marshy, they thought they would keep the approach to the city barred against their enemies. Therefore, God says this here in irony: “Fortify yourself now,” through the drawing of water surrounding the walls, and through possessing your fortifications, towers, and the rest. The “water of the circuit” was the doctrine of the Pharisees, surrounding and trapping

^A under the law those who were led into it; and the fortifications, as has often been said, are the traditions which they hold on to. He might also be speaking to the erring soul, burned by the fire of passions: “Draw for yourself the water of the circuit,” that is, of God who encompasses all things, or of the Gospel which encompasses the inhabited world, and take hold of the fortifications. For God, he says, has given you fortifications by nature, the mind and the reason, which, if you keep them, you will no longer be easily taken by your enemies.

Go into the mud, trample the straw, and make yourself firm upon the brick. He persists in irony, and seems to advise them to show concern for fortifications, that they might mix mud and trample it in straw, so as to make bricks (for a fired brick is most essential for strong buildings). And why do I say bricks, he says? Prepare for yourself something stronger than bricks, and arm your fortification through those things.

VERS. 15. There the fire shall consume you, the sword shall utterly destroy you, it shall devour you like a locust, and you shall become heavy in the manner of a grub. By “there,” understand “at that time.” ^B For he says that nothing of such machinations will profit you. But whenever you might fortify it with fired bricks and with other things that are more than bricks, then the fire of the enemies shall eat you, the city, having been set aflame together with your buildings; and the sword shall utterly consume your citizens and inhabitants, just as the locust devours the fruits. And you shall be heavy for fleeing, just as the grub, when its wings have been soaked (64). Or, because you shall be heavy and great in number, summoning allies from every side, so that your number is compared to an uncountable swarm of grubs, but you shall not be profited at all. Such is that which is added:

Multiply yourself like the grub. That is, summon helpers and allies, and become a multitude. Mocking ^C these, he says this, as also above. The legal sacrifices are mud, as being corporeal; the letter is straw, having no fruit. Therefore, the Spirit mocks those who lay claim to and administer these things, showing them that even if they serve with corporeal sacrifices, and even if they take other things according to the letter, the fire of the Spirit shall be stronger, and the sword of the word shall destroy them, which he also likens to a locust on account of its swift leap, spread over the entire land in a short time, just as elsewhere he says: “His word shall run swiftly.” But you shall also be heavy, he says, O Scribe, like a grub, so as not to be able to rise to the height of spiritual contemplation, your mind’s wings being ^D weighed down by a moist life. For everywhere the Hebrews are ill-spoken of in the name of pleasures, as also by Paul: “Whose god is the belly.” But he also says to everyone who loves the flesh

^A to enter into the mire—that is, to look down and contemplate his own body, that it is mire. Why, then, do you honor the mire more than the pearl? Raised up from such mire and clay, David gives thanks to God. “But also tread down,” it says, “the stubble, the unfruitful works, which the Word of God, holding the winnowing-fan of discernment, will burn with unquenchable fire.” Then even the fire will devour you, zealously rising for the precious treasure of your soul, which the enemies have rendered dishonorable.

But since the locust also is a great power of God, and Christ is the power of God and also the same as Wisdom, the locust might be understood—if you think in a way worthy of God—as Christ, who eats up all that is devoted to the body, saying: “Whoever wishes to follow after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” And again: “The flesh profits nothing.” And do not marvel if we compare the Lord to a locust, since he even calls himself a worm. “But also, you shall become heavy,” it says, “as the locust.” For when the one who descended like the drop that drips upon the earth ^B falls upon the wings of him who is lightly carried toward evils, then he becomes heavy and difficult to move toward the pleasures of the body.

The locust rushed, and spread its wings, and leaped forth—that is the “mixed multitude” of yours. You, it says, have multiplied your auxiliaries, who were mixed. You multiplied them from many countries, it says, thinking that at a time of stress you would be benefited by them. Yet this mixed crowd, your ally, appeared openly as a locust. For it rushed suddenly, and spread its wings, and leaped away like a locust—for the locust is a species of locust. And the people of the nations, being like the locust, quickly abandoned the impiety of their ancestors; and the proselyte also, who was mixed with the Jews, leaped away from the legal error.

^C “As a locust settling upon a fence in a day of frost; the sun rose, and it flew away, and it did not know its place.” Just as, it says, the locust and other such creatures, when dew and frost lie upon their wings, settle on fences and bushes, being unable to fly; but when the sun has risen, and has at once consumed the dew and warmed them, they spread their wings and move to another place; so also your allied crowd, as long as the enemies are not present, will wait with you; but once they attack, they will provide for their own safety and will leave you without help. Furthermore, the power of God was mounting upon the fence of the law, performing certain bodily purifications ^D

^A and working miracles, until the day of ice arrived, that is, until the winter of the sin contracted from Adam held sway. But when the second Adam, who is free from sin, being the Sun of righteousness, arose, the divine power leaped out from the legal fence, showing it to be weak and unable to purify according to the conscience, and it passed over to faith, as it was able to justify; and it no longer recognized the law, the place it had previously occupied.

These things, however, can be understood in another way, as if God were saying to the servant of the body: "Come, be eager for pleasures according to your will; wallow in the mire; do works that reek of chaff." But what will follow in the end? The final fire will consume you, and the sword will destroy you—that is, the Word, who is the judge of the meditations and thoughts of the heart, who, ^B testing out the reasonings, will bisect all things and will arrange some things on the right, and others on the left, when you are weighed down by the burden of your sins, like a locust held fast and conquered by the frost, unable to move toward a defense. ^C Then the sinner, not despairing, says here that your ratiocination, now mixed with afflictions of every kind, will escape again, if only you will, like a locust once the error is dissolved. Furthermore, the locust that is in you—that is, the power of the Word of God—ascending even now and resting upon the fence, that is, in sins (for these, as we have often said, are fences that separate us from God), will leap off from this fence when it has been warmed by Christ, the Sun.

"Woe to them." As if sympathizing, he mourns for the allies of the Ninevites, and he says: "Woe to them, what things they shall suffer!" And as if complaining that, being called allies, they betrayed those who had summoned them, caring instead for their own safety and for that reason turning their backs in flight.

Ver. 18. "Your shepherds have slumbered." This means, your kings and your satraps have fallen into a slumber, that is, into a dissolution of their former power; or they have fallen into death itself, having been killed in battle.

"The king of the Assyrians ^D has sent your powerful ones to sleep." He refers to Cyrus as the Assyrian, as one who was himself descended from the Assyrians. For they say that the Persians are scions of the Assyrians and derive their origin from them. He, he says, sent the powerful ones of Nineveh to sleep, leading them into the aforementioned sleep. The shepherds of the Synagogue are the priests and the other leaders, whom, drowsing from the madness with which they labored against the Lord, this spiritual Assyrian sent to sleep, sleeping a sleep unto the death of the soul. Moreover, this passage holds true for every mortal: that when our shepherds have been placed in a slumber—namely, those of nature

the Assyrian, whom our sovereignty makes slothful, ^A acts as a servant and a deserter. "Thy people have gone away upon the mountains, and there was none to receive them." Since thy princes and satraps have perished, the remaining people turned to flight, ran upon the mountains, and there was no one to restrain them or to stop them from fleeing further; rather, they were always fleeing further away; or, there was no one to gather them and take them in from their flight. For this is how the others interpreted it. Even the people of the Hebrews, running up to the mountains that contain mental beasts, found no one to receive them or to halt their error. For who shall receive him, when He has said, "I will reject thee, that thou shalt not perform the office of priesthood to Me" (Osee IV, 6)? Furthermore, the sinner, whenever he ascends to the mountains of arrogance and conceit, and arrives at the point ^B where he does not even think he is sinning, has no one to receive him as a penitent. For how shall he repent who does not think he is sinning, being inflamed by conceit and the bulging swelling of his heart, as the following verses also make clear?

"There is no healing for thy wound; thy plague was inflamed." These things are said by way of a metaphor taken from those who fall from a great height ^C and have broken either their feet, or hands, or head, being incurably inflamed. For thou also, He says, hast fallen from a great height of thy former power and glory, and thy most vital parts have been broken, I mean the kings and the satraps; and thy fountain was inflamed, bearing a great swelling and burning from much material. For by how much thou wast wealthy, by so much the inflammation of the pain is more vehement. Wherefore, there is no healing, nor shalt thou recover, nor shalt thou take back thy former glory and strength. Moreover, the Synagogue, having been broken and despoiled of both the temple and the city, is in an incurable state and will not be recalled, even if, in her error, she hopes for recall. For the wound with which she was struck had an inflammation. The material ^D of this inflammation was the God-killing, which is great and manifold.

"All that have heard the report of thee shall clap their hands over thee; for upon whom hath not thy malice come continually?" Those that have heard, He says, the report concerning thee—how thou wast broken and what thou hast suffered—remembering the things that were done by thee to them, shall clap their hands over thee, rejoicing at thy affliction. For thy malice came upon all, and thou didst disturb them all—not just one person or another.

^A not only at that time, but always. For the more you prosper and enjoy success, the more harsh and bitter you show yourself to be toward those under your hand, and the more you inflict yourself upon them. Hearing these things, let all rulers consider that God—the judge of our disposition toward our subjects—stands by, and that He desires us to be gentle toward those who obey us, imposing nothing bitter upon them that their strength cannot bear. Indeed, when we say that such tasks are suitable for others—even if they are impossible for them—let us fear the forbearance of God. For He does not keep silent because such things please Him, but in order to allow us to show ^B our own will and purpose, and thus bring them into the open. Hence, we must tremble greatly, lest, struck by an incurable wound, we ourselves learn from our own experience what an evil bitterness and severity are, and then find many who take pleasure in our afflictions; for during the times of our prosperity we never ceased to torment them, as if, forgetful of divine judgment, we were deceived—even though that judgment of God, always keeping watch, only sleeps on account of His goodness and gentleness. May the good Lord direct and render good and gentle the hearts of all princes and magistrates, and may He grant them to govern those entrusted to them here with gentleness, ^C so that, enjoying His goodness here, and having tasted none of the bitterness of those who embitter others, they may subsequently delight in the sweetness in heaven, for He is himself sweetness and entirely desirable, the one true object of longing for the faithful, to whom be glory together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, unto the ages of ages. Amen.

The Exposition on the Prophet Nahum

Nahum, if one interprets it, signifies "consolation." He was from Helkasei, beyond the Jordan, in Bigabri, from the tribe of Simeon. After Jonah, this prophet gave a sign that the city of Nineveh would perish by sweet waters and by fire, which did indeed happen. For the lake surrounding it submerged it during an earthquake, and ^D fire coming from the desert burned its higher part. He died in peace in his own land.

EXPOSITION ON THE PROPHET MICAH

BY THE SAME THEOPHYLACT, ARCHBISHOP OF BULGARIA, EXPOSITION ON THE PROPHET MICAH.

ARGUMENT

^A All the divine prophets have one end in view: the improvement of their hearers, so that they might be filled with the knowledge of God and be led to a good and virtuous life. Many have been the prophets, and some have flourished at the same time, and this not without reason nor in vain; for God, through the many mouths of these men, foretold what was to come, so that if they would not forsake the worship of idols and choose to live rightly, they might bring calamities upon themselves, God testifying that He would in no way be the author of these calamities. In order, therefore, that they might be put to shame by so many heralds announcing bitter and fearful things, and through these inflicting fear and terror, and that those who were until then insensible and hardened might desist from their wicked habit, for this reason He sends many prophets. So do also ^B physicians, who exert themselves to help those suffering from a more severe illness with various medicines; so we are accustomed to set over children many instructors and guides.

And thus the holy prophet Micah, who is now before us, was sent to the two tribes dwelling in Jerusalem, and to the ten remaining ones living in Samaria, to accuse them of the same things which Joel, and Amos, and Hosea had reproved. For he lived at almost the same time; I say "almost," for they preceded Micah by a little, having begun to prophesy under Uzziah. Now Uzziah was the father of Jotham, under whose reign this Micah of ours prophesied. He prefigures the coming of the Savior, sometimes in shadowed language ^C and sometimes more clearly, and he also builds up instructions for a moral life.

You will ask whether this is the same Micah who prophesied the evils that would happen to Ahab, and who was struck on the cheek by the prophet Zedekiah. For if he were that man, how is it written that he prophesied under Jotham? For he is many years later than Jotham