Exposition on the Prophet Micah

Either therefore he is not the same, or he is indeed the same (since this appears also to the holy prelate of Cyprus ^A Epiphanius, who was long and deeply versed in the histories of the Hebrews, from whom he also derived his origin), who first prophesied only by word of mouth while Ahab was reigning, but later began to deliver his written prophecy under the reign of Jotham; so that according to the written prophecy, he is later than the aforementioned prophets, not simply regarding the time of his life.

CHAPTER ONE

VERS. 1. *The word of the Lord, which came to Micah.* He renders the listener attentive, as if to say: Do not think ^B this message to be mine, but that of the Lord of all things. Wherefore it behooves you to pay close attention and to apply your mind to listening. It is the Lord who speaks, who has the power, and who is able to punish the one who despises Him. But if the Lord is Spirit, see how the prophet exhorts us to perceive in a certain spiritual manner the things that are soon to be said. Do not remain, he says, at the letter, but receive what is to be said as a word uttered by the Spirit, for in it all things are summarized, concerning which even Isaiah said that the Lord will make a shortened word ^C on the earth. For if you believe in your heart, and confess with your mouth, that Jesus is Lord, you will be saved. Since Micah is interpreted as "humiliation" or "humbled," you ought to consider that the Word of God is signified here, who was born of a woman whose soul magnifies the Lord, because He has looked upon the humility of His handmaid (which words not only this woman says, but the nature of the entire human race), and He has put down the mighty from their seats, and has exalted the humble. Since, however, God does not despise ^D a contrite and humble heart, and the Word of God comes to all who humble themselves, endowing them with His grace, and filling their mind with wisdom and intelligence, and at the same time revealing to them those things which He willed to be hidden from the wise and prudent. If you have humbled your body through the exercise of virtue, chastising it and reducing it into servitude; receive also the word which is of the contemplative mind. For to the obese and effeminate man, who is dead even while he appears alive, such a word is not given.

*The son of Morathi.* Other interpreters of the Hebrew text, when they have rendered it "Morathite," wish to imply that we are not to understand a man by that name as the father of the prophet, but rather the place from which the prophet himself derived his origin.

*In the days of Jotham, and Ahaz, and Hezekiah.* Not in vain does Micah recount the kings under whose reign

^A he prophesied, but he does so because great wars occurred in the times of these men. For during the reign of Jotham, Pekah, son of Remaliah, and Rezin, king of Syria, marched against Jerusalem; then, after Jotham had died, Ahaz assumed the empire, who, while the war was still raging, by forming an alliance with the Assyrians through money, defeated and overcame Rezin. Then, when certain impious kings were ruling over Samaria, the Assyrians, having made an attack, inflicted no small number of evils upon the ten tribes. He also makes mention of Hezekiah, because of the miracle concerning Sennacherib, which is known to have been performed. With good reason, therefore, mention is made of these kings; since the prophet foretells what was to happen in their times to both the ten tribes and the remaining two. ^B Hear also what follows: *Concerning what he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.* For he saw as in a vision the future events, and not only did he know the things that were to come to pass, but he beheld them as if they were already present. Therefore, so that these things might not happen, the word of the Lord came to the prophet, and the prophet proclaims this word to those who were about to suffer these predicted evils, unless they should amend themselves and be brought to good fruit. Know, however, that the things which are to be said pertain for the most part to Jerusalem.

*Verse 2. Hear, all you peoples.* Since he is prophesying about Jerusalem and Samaria, he rightly calls not one people to hear, but two, meaning those of the two kingdoms. And ^C since hearing signifies two things in Holy Scripture—that is, simply to lend an ear, and to be obedient to what is said—the prophet here urges the peoples not merely to hear, but to attend diligently to his words and to obey them promptly. He therefore adds: *And let the earth heed, and all who are in it.* The earth, namely, of Jerusalem and Samaria; and to state this more clearly, he adds, *and all who are in it.* For the earth, as an element, was not going to hear. Perhaps, however, someone will think that these words of the prophet are to be understood in this way to strike greater terror into men. For since it was going to happen that, with the fields laid waste by a hostile hand, the earth would be devastated by fire, the prophet rightly calls even this to hear. Moreover, it is a custom among the holy prophets to call the elements as witnesses. *Hear, O heaven, and listen, O earth,* as Isaiah says; ^D and this same one, in what follows, calls the mountains to judgment. The prophets do this to shame those who are endowed with soul and reason. And so now, Micah urges the earth to hear first, then those who are in it, showing that it was for their sake that he made mention of the earth at all.

^A

And let the Lord God be witness for you, the Lord from his holy house.

VERS. 3.

For behold, the Lord is coming forth from his place.

VERS. 3, 4.

And he will ascend upon the high places of the earth, and the mountains will be shaken beneath him.

^A In Samaria and Jerusalem [the Lord will judge] the princes; and those who excel others in rank, and who like mountains stand above the rest, that glory which they now enjoy will drive away and cast down. And the valleys will melt like wax from the face of the fire. By valleys he signifies the lowest of men, who are subject to the nobles and rulers, just as valleys are to the mountains. And these also, he says, even if they are still endowed with a hard heart and refuse to obey God, nevertheless, they will melt like wax, with the wrath of the Lord consuming them like fire. ^B And as water flowing in a descent. They will be carried off in a headlong rush, as water is carried down a slope. For he calls a downward place a descent. Or he says this because the Hebrews were quickly to be carried away into the land of the Persians and Medes, like water flowing downward. The only-begotten Son also went forth from his own place, that is, from the paternal bosom, having appeared on earth and conversed with men, and he ascended the heights of the earth—the legal life, I mean—having taught us to pursue it on high, and not in a lowly and earthly manner, by being mindful of senseless sacrifices, and circumcisions, and other things of this kind. The commandment, therefore, "Do not perjure yourself," is like soil lying below; but "Do not swear at all," and all other things of this kind, present the appearance of the heights of the earth. He also shook the mountains on the day of the cross, ^C the day on which he also moved the opposing powers from the authority they held over us. And those who are subject to these evil mountains, like valleys, and who receive all the wickedness flowing from them into themselves—the Pharisees and Scribes—were consumed from the face of the fire of his divinity. For when he rose as God, their counsels vanished, and they flowed away like water. David also seems to speak of these same things: "They shall be brought to nothing like water that runs away; like wax that is melted, they shall be taken away." ^D Understand also that the Lord goes forth from his own place, that is, from his own loftiness, and the earth and lowliness of human nature is raised up, and then he ascends upon its heights; for if he did not also descend, and we were not raised up, his goodness would be inaccessible, and his love for mankind would be impossible to share; and if he did not find the heights of the earth, he would not, in the end, ascend. For high places receive his ascent. Then, indeed, our own mountains are shaken—the wealth and the glory which appear to us uncertain and unstable—when the divine glory is revealed, which is truly certain and lasting. And they then become beneath the Lord, as we use them well, and according to the Lord’s...

command: using wealth to provide for the needs of the poor, and making use of authority and power by rising up on behalf of the weaker against the stronger. Our valleys are also consumed—that is to say, our depraved desires, which take into themselves vices flowing together from all sides; they are consumed, I say, just as if that fire of the infernal abyss were placed before our eyes. ^A

VERS. 5. *For the impiety of Jacob is all this, and for the sin of the house of Israel.* By these words, the prophet gives us to understand that what he said above regarding the mountains and valleys did not pertain to inanimate things, but to those men who were about to suffer certain bitter evils. For what would those who led an impious life in Samaria, or the inhabitants of Jerusalem who were committing nefarious deeds, have cared if the mountains were shaken and the valleys were melting away? He calls "Jacob" those ten tribes who dwelt in Samaria, whom he also declares to be impious, because they had fallen away from God to idols. He calls "Israel" the remaining two, who inhabited Jerusalem, whom he accuses ^B as being "sinners," which is surely a lighter charge. For he who has completely fallen away from God acts impiously; but he who stumbles in the fulfillment of divine commandments sins. For this reason, he attaches to those who acted impiously the natural and more humble name, namely "Jacob"; but to those in Jerusalem, another name more sublime and excellent; for since they possessed the divine temple, they also had many pious men among them.

What is the impiety of the house of Jacob? Is it not Samaria? And what is the sin of the house of Judah? Is it not Jerusalem? That is to say, the things done in Samaria, these were impiety; for false idols were worshipped there. But the things practiced in the city of Jerusalem, ^C these were sins; for there, the inhabitants were harassing the weaker with injuries, invading their goods, and committing many other such crimes—unless perhaps someone might say that the divine seer, to give the greatest force to his words, called the cities themselves, the one "impiety," the other "sin," so as to show that they have become impiety itself and sin itself.

VERS. 6. *And I will make Samaria as a watch-tower of the field.* Those who guard the autumn fruits are accustomed to construct certain small huts, in which they remain, watching the fields as long as the fruits are in them. But when the season of autumn has passed, they leave these abandoned. The prophet therefore threatens that ^D the divine angels, who watch over the people of Samaria, will depart from thence and abandon the city, and on that account it will be dissolved like a hut.

*And for the planting of a vineyard, and I will cast down its stones into a chasm, and I will reveal its foundations.* This is: just as those who wish to plant a vineyard break up the suitable ground with a plow and turn it upside down, so too will Samaria suffer. For this will be overturned from the foundations, and will have neither walls, nor houses, nor altars of idols, nor a place. Indeed

even its stones will be cast down, that is, it will be brought down into a vast chasm, so that its foundations also may be ^A revealed, and thereafter it may seem apt and suitable for the planting of vineyards.

Vers. 7. *And all its sculptured images will be cut to pieces.* Those whom they hoped, he says, would be saviors to them as gods, the Babylonians will cut to pieces; some, as being wooden, for burning; others, as being gold and silver, for the display of an abundance of wealth.

*And all its wages will be burned in the fire, and all its idols I will put to ruin. Because it gathered [them] from the wages of prostitution, and from the wages of prostitution it gathered them together.* The temples, he says, and the altars, and the votive offerings which it dedicated to the idols as a sort of wage to those who were benefactors and providers of all good things, these the Babylonians will burn. For it gathered and heaped together a great deal of wealth, which was seen in votive offerings and treasures—that is, it amassed and piled them up for the honor of the idols, from such wages of their "prostitution," that is, of their idolatry. For by giving such ^B luxurious and many votive offerings to the demons, as if to benefactors—as has been said—they gathered them. And it is likely that even prostitutes, receiving wages of debauchery, offered first-fruits from these to the idol of the unchaste demon, Astarte, that is, Venus. Or you might understand the "wages" in another way: their gold, he says, and silver and wine the enemies will burn—things which the Israelites imagined were given to them as wages by the idols on account of their idolatry. Then, as if mocking Israel, God says ironically that the wealth which it had gathered it had from the idols, as it supposed, they giving it a wage for its "prostitution"—that is, for its idolatry—and that from such wages it had "gathered them together," that is, it had become a firm, and consolidated, and stable body.

The worship according to the Law was like a fruit-watcher’s hut; as long as the Law had its season, it was held in account. But when that passed away, like autumn fruit (for this too is short-lived and does not afford solid nourishment), then it too was abandoned, when its stones also were pulled down—that is, the heavier parts of the Law, which neither they nor their fathers were able to bear. And its foundations were revealed: the Spirit, which until that time had been lying in secret. And it has truly become a planting of a new vineyard, the people from the nations, when also the Pharisaic doctrine was burned up by that fire of the Spirit which descended upon the apostles and sat upon them; for ^C which doctrine the Pharisees used to take wages from the people, from which they gathered wealth and "gathered together," twisting the paths of the Lord, which are straight and simple, and into disputes and tangles of words

^{A B} It is abandoned by God like a garden hut, even the soul that does not keep the fruits of the Spirit, which are love, joy, peace, longsuffering, and the other things that are enumerated by Paul, but rather covets the short-lived and fleeting fruit of this age, which is like apples [of Sodom], and breeds swelling and inflation in those who eagerly pursue it. And perhaps it is to the soul's advantage that it is abandoned in this way. For then its stones are cast down—that is, the hardness of its heart—and its foundations are revealed when it confesses its thoughts, which are the foundations of its actions; and then it becomes a plantation of a vineyard, receiving Christ, who said to the disciples: "I am the vine, you are the branches." Such a soul, when it was serving the enemy, used to receive wages from him—perhaps wealth and glory—by which he used to entice it, saying to it, as it were: "All these things I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me." All of which such a soul casts into the fire of the Gospel, which the Lord came to cast upon the earth; for wherever the evangelical word enters, there wealth and glory are consumed.

VERS. 8. *Therefore it shall wail and howl, it shall go stripped and naked.* Because, he says, it committed adultery by departing from me and gave its offerings as payment to idols, or even thought that it had obtained wealth and other goods from the idols themselves as a reward for its worship; for this reason it shall fall into calamities, and it shall wail and howl, and it shall go stripped and naked—that is, it shall be led off into captivity. For such is the attire of captives. Thus also Isaiah, wishing to signify the coming captivity to the people, walked around naked and barefoot.

*It shall make a wailing like the dragons.* Through these words, the prophet indicates the magnitude of their affliction; for they say that dragons, when they are struck, emit painful hissing sounds and beat the ground with their tails. ^C *And a mourning like the daughters of the sirens.* The Greeks fable that sirenes are certain birds with human shapes, which know how to sing sweetly and enchantingly; but Holy Scripture calls "sirens" the most talkative of sparrows, which are accustomed to pour out sweet tunes, or sometimes the kingfishers themselves, which sing mournful songs. Since, therefore, those who mourn are accustomed to wail with a certain melody, for this reason mention is made of these musical animals. ^D

VERS. 9. *Because its plague is severe, because it has come to Judah, and reached even to the gate of my people, to Jerusalem.* In this place the prophet signifies the captivity brought upon Samaria by Tiglath-Pileser and Shalmaneser, kings of the Assyrians. This

^A plague he calls that which took hold of it, because the inhabitants were destroyed even to utter ruin by Shalmaneser. He also implies the incursion of Sennacherib, who came against Judea and took some of the outlying cities; he even reached the gates of Jerusalem, for he besieged it through his lieutenant, Rabshakeh. You may also understand by "plague" idolatry, which, having begun from Samaria, finally spread even to Jerusalem. The Jews still mourn and lament today, but their mourning is full of the venom of serpents. ^B For, not bearing to submit to the Christians, they seek their ancient glory and go about unshod. For they did not shoe their feet in preparation of the Gospel of peace, but destruction and misery are in their ways, and the way of peace they have not known; and they are naked, as not having put on Christ. These things have happened to them because their plague, which they suffered at the hands of Christ as he performed miracles, prevailed over them; it is a plague which reached even to Judas the traitor, and touched the gate of the people—I mean, the path of life, which they neglected, being contrary to Christ who says: *Enter through the narrow gate.* ^C And this, while they inhabited Jerusalem, the city of the great King, in which righteousness was born. In it is uttered the wailing of dragons; and whoever is troubled by worldly sorrow, whether through the loss of wealth, or the desire for glory, or for any other such cause, this wailing is the wailing of demons, those spiritual dragons. This mourning is also that of the daughters of the Sirens, that is, of souls most attached to the pleasures of life, which pleasures are the aspect of the Sirens. Observe, however, that the Sirens have daughters, not sons; for pleasure produces nothing male. Such a ^D person will walk the final path of life unshod, as one who has not willed to place the "leathern life" [this mortal life] under his feet, and from there to procure safety for his steps. For a person guards the feet of the soul when he places carnal things beneath them, so that being trodden and trampled by them, they lie subject to them. And he goes naked, as having no covering for the indecency of his own deeds. What do I mean? Often, one who sins in one thing may do right in another; and in the judgment, when better deeds are weighed against evil ones, some assistance comes to him. But when one departs from life without help, and if he had any good, he has already received the reward for it in his life; regarding those heavenly riches, he goes naked, having his wicked deeds uncovered.

VERS. 10. *Qui in Geth, nolite magnificari: et Enacim, nolite rædificare ex domo derisum.*

^A Since he had announced lamentation to all the tribes of Israel, and at the same time foresaw in his mind that foreign peoples would rejoice over their calamities, he therefore turns his speech toward them and says: "Do not magnify yourselves, you who dwell in Geth" (for this was the metropolis of the foreigners), "nor lift up aloud your laughter against the Israelites from your house." That is, thinking that you dwell in safety and will always remain in your own homes, do not mock those who are being led into captivity and are being cast out of their own houses. But *Enacim* is not, as some have supposed, another city distinct from Geth; rather, the prophet calls the inhabitants of Geth themselves by that name, as being descendants of Enach the giant.

^B "Sprinkle your derision upon the earth." That is, sprinkle your derision on the ground, at once as if mourning with those who are being led into captivity, and at the same time pondering the calamities that are about to happen to you yourselves. For you shall not remain unharmed, but Sennacherim shall lay hold of you, too; and so it happened. Others say it thus: "Now you catch laughter out of the house," that is, from the fact that you see the house of Israel being led into captivity. But do not do this; rather, as those who are also about to suffer worse evils, sprinkle, as it were upon the ground, the laughter that shall come upon yourselves, and bewail your own calamities.

"She that dwells well in her cities, the inhabitress of Sennan has not come forth to bewail the house joined to her, that she should receive from you the stroke of pain." Since, he says, Sennan thought that she dwells well and safely because her cities are fortified, and for this reason did not bewail the house of Israel your neighbor, which is joined to her, that is, bordering and nearby, she too shall partake of your calamities and shall herself receive from you the stroke of pain—that is, such as are your own blows and afflictions. These things also serve as exhortations to you, not to deride your enemies in their bitter misfortunes, just as a certain wise man said: "If your enemy should fall, do not rejoice over him, lest the Lord see it, and it be displeasing to Him."

^C Observe the proper order of the exhortation. First, he forbade derision; then he showed that it is also worthy of reproach not to feel compassion for wretched and afflicted men. For he who lives well and happily, and makes use of favorable circumstances, becomes guilty if he is not moved with compassion toward those who are pressed by calamities. But when one is himself the author of their calamities and brings them upon men, of what punishment is he to be held worthy? Likewise, he who coddles his own body, which is the dwelling of the soul, by this means prepares for himself in the future ^D a mockery and shame. Perhaps he also likens the soldiers who crucified the Lord to the Enacim, as being themselves also godless giants.

^A He warns them not to boast that they crucified Him, nor to wish to provoke and increase the mockery regarding the Lord’s flesh, which was the house of Divinity. For they mocked Him, wrapping a chlamys about Him and placing a crown upon His head. Nor did Sennan, he says—which, since it signifies the same as "rock," could be understood as the harsh and stony Synagogue of the Jews—grieve or show pity for that house when He was being crucified, although it was clinging to it—that is, neighbor to it and related (for from it Christ drew His flesh and body)—or even siding with it and doing everything for its sake. For this reason, it shall receive a blow of suffering from you, the Roman soldiers, when it shall be destroyed by your armies.

^B Verse 12. "Who began in good things for her who inhabits [them]—pains? For evils descended from the Lord upon the gates of Jerusalem, the sound of chariots and horsemen." Some have understood the passage in this way, that the words are spoken regarding Jerusalem: "Who began to bring pains to her who inhabits good things?" That is: "Who brought pains upon Jerusalem, which formerly lived in prosperity, dwelling in peace and many good things, if not entirely the Lord?" Therefore he also adds, "For evils descended from the Lord upon the gates of Jerusalem"—that is, those things which cause affliction, which are the sound of chariots of war and of soldiers, some riding upon them and others on horseback. ^C But some say that God is speaking to those in Gath and the other foreign peoples: "You think that you yourselves will remain unhurt, trusting in the strength of your own gods, while the Israelites are delivered into the hand of their enemies due to my weakness; but you err and are disgracefully deluded. For who began to do good to the city of Jerusalem, which was previously miserable and afflicted? Who snatched this one from the hand of Sennacherib? No one surely, but I. Yet she dwelt in pains, because I, the Lord, allowed the evils of the siege to descend upon her; so that as I indeed delivered her to pains, I again began to do good to her. But you, when you fall into evils, will have no one who will bring you help." Evils also descended upon the gates of Jerusalem from the Lord of glory, whom the Jews crucified, and on account of this, the Christ-killing multitude dwelt in pains; but the Church, and Christ who is preached in her, began to bring good to her. For as many as have turned back ^D and confessed Christ have become partakers of the goods of the Jerusalem above. The soul that repents also dwells in pains, and whenever it might be at the "gates of Jerusalem"—which is at the beginning of the life according to God—it has "evils," that is, in place of maltreatment and tribulation descending upon it from the Lord, it begins.

For the Lord said: ^A "Enter through the narrow gate," and through many tribulations, which make you enter into the Kingdom. But no one else begins good things for it, except the Lord, who said: "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted," and, "Come to me all you who labor and are burdened, and I will refresh you." And how does He begin with good things? By renewing for us the way that leads to heaven, and saying to the thief: "Today you will be with me in paradise"; and where He himself is, there also will his servant be. ^B

Ver. 13. "O inhabitress of Lachis, the leader of sin to the daughter of Zion, for in you were found the impieties of Israel." After Sennacherib had ravaged the city of Lachis, since he had been able to accomplish nothing against Jerusalem, and that city had already been overturned, he says: "Justly and deservedly have you undergone this destruction, you who inhabit Lachis, seeing that the impieties of the ten tribes were found in you, and you yourself also worshipped idols; nay rather, you even became a teacher and leader of this impiety to Jerusalem itself."

Ver. 14. "Therefore you shall give emissaries even to the inheritance of Geth, to vain houses." Because, he says, O Lachis, you have acted impiously, you shall also give those who are to be sent out, that is, those being taken captive and being deported from all your borders as far as Geth, on account of the vain houses of the idols.

Ver. 14, 15. "In vain did they become to the kings of Israel, until I bring heirs to you." There is also another reading: "Until they bring the heirs." ^C He explains why he called the houses of the idols vain, and says that these became in vain for the kings in Samaria; for they profited nothing from the idol houses, just as you, too, will profit nothing from these houses which you have worshipped, as did the Samaritans. Yet these things will happen to you, O Lachis, until I, having set the captives at liberty, bring them back to you and restore them to their paternal inheritances. Or, he also calls the enemies "heirs," who were about to enter upon their land as an inheritance. He says, therefore, that the kings of Samaria held houses dedicated to idols, by means of which, through the wicked deeds they performed, they brought enemies upon themselves.

But others explain it in this way: Since the inhabitants of Geth were speaking impiously, saying that God, because He was weak, was not able to keep the Israelites safe, the Lord shows them that it was not on account of His own weakness, but on account of their own ^D impiety that they were handed over; and He makes Lachis an example, which, having acted impiously, was handed over to Sennacherib. The prophet, therefore, as if rejoicing in these things, says to God: "You shall give, O Lord, those who are to be sent out," that is, the captives, "the vain houses," that is, the inhabitants of Lachis and of Geth, and of the inheritance

^A of the captivity because it shall touch it. For the Scripture knows how to call homes the inhabitants and the clans, as is evident from elsewhere, for instance: "House of Levi, and house of Aaron." And from this same prophet, who at the beginning says: "What is the impiety of the house of Jacob, and the sin of the house of Judah?" Then, lamenting, the prophet says that the idols which the kings of Israel in Samaria were worshipping were to no purpose, and, as it seems, they were anxious to do all that they were doing until they should bring in the heirs, that is to say, the enemies, who would come to take their land as an inheritance. ^B "You who dwell in Lachis, an inheritance shall come even to Odollam." This inheritance, he says, which the enemies are about to inherit among yours, will not be contained within your borders, you who dwell in Lachis, but it will reach even to Odollam, which lies in the furthest reaches of Judea; so that the meaning is as follows: the captivity will proceed from one end of Judea to the other. "Houses sent out," that is, the Jewish synagogues; for He who said, "Behold, your house is left to you desolate," sent them away and completely abandoned them. Which houses indeed were for the princes of the Israelites, although in vain, until the Lord brought in the true heirs, namely, the Gentiles. Since, however, Aquila rendered ^C the heir in the singular, he gives us to understand that the houses—both those of the idols and the synagogues—will be vain; for these also are vain. For there was one house for the Lord, although even that they made a den of hyenas. They will therefore be [vain] until the heir, Christ, comes, whom the wicked husbandmen, having seen, said: "This is the heir; come, let us kill him." When He, therefore, has arrived, He will destroy both the houses of the idols and the Jewish synagogues. And if any have become temples of God, and having had the Spirit of God dwelling in them, have then insulted the Spirit of grace and have looked to vanities and false manias, ravening after the false pleasures of the world, they too have become vain houses and will be sent out, hearing: "Depart from Me, you workers ^D of iniquity," and, "Go into the eternal fire." Then, when the Judge and co-heir of them also brings the heirs, saying to them: "Come, inherit the kingdom prepared for you."

"The glory of the daughter of Sion, shave off and cut [thy hair] over thy delicate children." Not Lachis alone, he says, nor Odollam, will suffer these terrible things; but you also, O Sion, will have experience of these. Therefore, shave off and cut your hair, putting on a garment of mourning, [over the lot of] your

The glory of the daughter of Sion

^A for the children, who formerly lived in luxuries, but will afterward be led away into captivity and ill-treatment.

Dilate your shaving, as the eagle; for they have been led captive from you. As the eagle, he says, at a certain season is stripped of all its feathers, ^B and is not able to hunt during this time, until its feathers are renewed for it again; so also you, being stripped of my protection, will not be able to prevail against your enemies, but rather will be caught by them easily. Or: Do you also utterly shave and shear the hair of your head, as the eagle loses all its feathers, because your children have been led away captive, who were reared in every luxury, never having suffered any hardship. They say that the eagle is then particularly tormented and distressed when it is deprived of its young.

CHAPTER II

VERS. 1. *They became those who devise troubles, and do evil in their beds: and together with the day they accumulated them.* When the divine word has set forth what evils must be undergone, it shows that they would suffer those evils with justice and merit. For since the time of human life is distributed into two parts, namely night and day; by night they were plotting nefarious deeds, considering by what method they could cause business and bring harm to this person or that; by day, at the very first light, without any delay, they were executing their plotted intentions. Observe the words, *doing evil in their beds*; for instead of *devising*, he said *doing*, so as to show that a thought is a work of the mind, on account of which we are also judged; and at the same time to make manifest their alacrity and speed toward mischief. For their counsel, he says, was a work.

VERS. 1, 2. *Because they did not lift their hands to God: and they coveted fields, and plundered orphans.* They did not turn their mind to God at dawn, lifting their hands to Him, as is the custom for pious men; but at the very first light they began to do evil. Or: They were not, he says, seeking good things from God, as suppliants who pray that He might provide them with the necessities of life; but, being in bondage to their own desires, they were plundering the goods of orphans. Or even they were plundering the orphans themselves, that is, they were bringing them into servitude.

*And they oppressed houses.* They did not just vex orphans, as was said above, but they were also despoiling houses, that is, those of a more glorious and powerful wealth. Or he says this because they were plundering what was in the houses of the orphans, and the houses themselves as well.

*And they were seizing a man and his house.* Both of these, he says, they were doing: they were plundering the man, and leading him away into servitude, just as foreign enemies are wont to do; and his house, that is, everything in his house, and ^{C D}

^A his own self, and all those who were in his house. "The man and his inheritance." That is to say, the resources that were in the fields and possessions. The Law is the glory of the Synagogue of the Hebrews; which, now shorn by the sword of the Spirit, that is the Word of God, is no longer celebrated because of the overwhelming brightness of the glory of Christ; whose children, living in luxury and licentiousness, the enemies of the cross of Christ, "whose god is the belly," were led into captivity by the Romans, because the things they had plotted by night against the Lord, having seized him with swords and clubs, these same things they brought to completion at daybreak, leading him in the morning to Pilate. And they did these things because they were devouring the houses of widows, and in their other life were perverse, and they hated the light: for their works were evil. ^B But if a hair is a dead and inanimate thing, and Sion is interpreted as a "watchtower," see how the watchtower of our mind is commanded to contain nothing hairy in itself. For an eye could not look out, nor see clearly, if it had a hair. But when it is shorn, then it will become most worthy, like an eagle, which they say is the only one among animals to gaze directly at the rays of the sun; and so too [it is commanded] to judge its children, whether they are bastards or legitimate. For it sets them opposite the sun, and when it sees them not gazing directly at the rays, but blinking, it plucks at them, and as bastards of the nest, casts them away. ^C And He exhorts us to the shaving, because of, he says, the "delicate children." He has delicate children who is not able to say with David: "For the sake of the words of thy lips I have kept hard ways"; but is ordered toward those who wear soft things, and follows a smooth and pleasant life. And at daybreak he brings his evils to completion, he who does not even think it is a bad thing to do evil, but shamelessly and boldly parades his iniquity, who does not lift his hands to God. For he does not perform any divine or heavenly thing; but desiring the goods of the world, which is a field, he corrupts others as well, becoming a teacher of wickedness to as many as are orphans, having fallen away from the intimacy of the heavenly Father. ^D He plunders the man, the soul, and his house, the body, and destroys both, and deprives them of the upper, ever-stable inheritance.

VERS. 3. "Therefore thus saith the Lord: Behold I devise against this tribe evils, from which you shall not take off your necks, and you shall not walk upright...

^A for the time is evil." They were devising, he says, evils against their neighbors; behold, I also devise evils against this tribe of Judah, just as against the other ten. And these evils will be so heavy and burdensome as to bow down your stiff and arrogant necks; and you shall not walk upright, but bent over, because the time is evil, that is to say, for you, troublesome and bringing pains. Thus also in Solomon: "He gave an evil occupation to the sons of men," which some read with the accent on the last syllable, although others think it should be read with the accent on the antepenultimate. David predicted something similar regarding those who killed God: "Let their eyes be darkened ^B that they may not see, and bow down their back always." For their iniquities were weighted upon them, and they did not hear the Lord saying: "Come to me, all you that labor, and are burdened, and I will refresh you." But affliction is useful to the proud and arrogant man, who seems to himself to walk in uprightness. Concerning which man Solomon said: "There are ways that seem right to a man, but the ends thereof lead to the depths of hell." For such a one, being bent and humbled, will say with David: "It is good for me that thou hast humbled me."

VERS. 4. "In that day a parable shall be taken up upon you." That is to say, you shall be in the mouths of all, and the fame of your calamities shall spread far and wide throughout the whole world, for one will recount these things to another. Or: "You shall be an example to all," so that each one will say: "I would that I might not suffer what those people suffered."

"And a lamentation shall be lamented with a song." The strangers, he says, will have you as a parable; but your own kin will compose a lamentation with a melody, and you yourselves ^C as well over your own misfortunes. And sad, and most pitiable of all, are the lamentations that are made with a song.

Saying: "We are wretched with misery." By revealing the excess of their weakness, the Word has doubled the name of misery. For he says, we are oppressed not by a simple and light misery, but by such as can truly be called misery.

" The portion of my people has been measured out with a cord." This is either spoken by those who with a certain song of lamentation say, "We are wretched," assigning as it were the cause why they have fallen into miseries, which is this, that the heritages of my people are being torn away; or it is even spoken by God himself, who says: "I indeed distributed the land to them, which now is being divided by neighbors and those dwelling round about." For when they found that land deserted, they divided it among themselves ^D and took it to cultivate for themselves. The land was also measured out by those who led the captive people into slavery, who imposed tributes upon the remainder, and on that account measured the land which each of them possessed.

And there was no one to hold him back from turning. ^A Neither Chemosh, he says, nor Bel, nor any other god of yours of this kind, were able to hold him back—that is to say, the one who is measuring—from turning away from measuring. He says this to mock their gods. Or: "There was no one to hold back my people, so as not to follow the road to captivity, but to turn away from it."

^B Your fields have been divided; therefore there shall be no one to cast a measuring line by lot. By strangers, he says, your fields have been measured and divided; but for you, the people, there shall not be one to cast a measuring line, so that a portion might be assigned to you as an inheritance. The arrogant Jews have suffered this same thing. For they were first-born, and a portion of God’s inheritance, and to them pertained the promises. But when their fathers treated Christ with injury, they lost the inheritance among the saints. And henceforth the nations have become fellow-citizens of the saints, and heirs indeed of God, but joint-heirs with Christ. Furthermore, David was accustomed to call plots and trials "cords" or "lines," as in: "The cords of sinners have entangled me" (Ps. CXVII, 61); and, "With cords they stretched a snare for my feet" (Ps. LVI, 7). When, therefore, someone, having been plotted against by the tempter, loses his divine portion—which, while he possessed it, he was able to call, "You are my portion, O Lord"—then the simple divine portion that is within him is measured out ^C and divided into the manifold and wide way of wickedness, and there is no one left to hold him back from turning away from such a way. But he casts a line into the inheritance who, from the temptation brought upon him by the enemy, seizes the opportunity to acquire the heavenly inheritance, such as he who says: "Being reviled, we bless"; and, "We glory in infirmities, in tribulations, and in all these things we are more than conquerors through God who is well-pleased" (I Cor. IV, 12). Which does not happen among us when our fields are divided; that is, when our worldly actions become portions for foxes, that is, for the evil demons.

In the church of the Lord, do not weep with tears. Having announced the painful things, he brings in an exhortation that has much usefulness, and says that we, when we are gathered together—that is, assembled into the temple of the Lord—ought not merely and superficially to weep, and perform the mourning with tears alone, but also to add works of contrition and compunction.

Let them not weep for these things. That is to say, you ought not to weep because you have been carried off into captivity ^D and your land has been measured out, but because you have provoked God to anger; for this is what is worthy of tears. On the other hand, the punishment for sins is worthy not of tears, but of joy, because it is a relief from eternal punishment. Thus Paul also said: "Being judged by the

Lord, we are chastened, that we may not be condemned along with the world." ^A

Vers. 7. *For He will not put away shame, He who says: The house of Jacob has provoked the Spirit of the Lord, if these are his practices.* He who mourns remissly and lightly, he says, and circumscribes his confession with words alone, saying that "the house of Jacob," that is, we, have provoked the Lord to anger—if this is the case, He will by no means avert that disgrace and reproach with which he is to be afflicted through captivity and other calamities, provided that these are his practices which we mentioned above: namely, the plundering of orphans, and the rest. He will only then put away the shame when he wipes out the practices. These things also apply to us, to those who indeed seem to confess, but do not produce fruits worthy of repentance; or also to those who weep, but only upon the failure of some perishable goods, or some unwelcome misfortune. These things are also pertinent now to the Hebrews of our own times, who indeed mourn, not because of the loathsomeness of the deicide, but because they are driven out and persecuted, and do not have the freedom of speech against us, as they once had against the apostles. ^B Therefore, the divine prophet forbids this. "For the Father," he says, who speaks, and judges, and declares openly that they have provoked the Spirit of the Lord to anger when they said that Christ did not perform miracles by His own power, but by the aid of Beelzebub—the Father, I say, will not take away their disgrace and ignominy; nor will He surely think to overlook those things which they imputed to Christ as a crime, both in the miracles performed by Him and in other matters; since to this very day they follow the same practices, and are affected with the same spirit toward Christ, impiously lacerating Him as an impostor, and not thinking it right to obey Him as God.

Vers. 7, 8. *Are not his words good with him, and have they walked uprightly? And anterius (beforehand) my people has stood in enmity against its peace.* This is to be read as a question up to "walked," and what follows, in the usual way. For God says: "My people does not speak words of right confession, nor are these words strictly right, such that they betray nothing crooked or in need of correction; for behold, by their works it is manifest that they stand against me, like an enemy, with an opposing front" (for this is what the word "anterius" implies), "and therefore they have deprived themselves of peace, and involved themselves in wars and the evils which proceed from them." ^C

Vers. 9. *They have flayed his skin, to take away hope, the crushing of war. The leaders of my people shall be cast out from the houses of their delights.* Having previously rebuked the people, reproaching them that they acted against the divine laws through their works, even if

they displayed a counterfeit mind, he now accuses the leaders, saying that the leaders were the cause of such a disposition in them; they who, by persuading the people to commit idolatry, stripped off their skin—that is, my protection, which covered them just as skin covers the flesh, so that it might not easily suffer—and took away from the people the hope placed in me, which was the crushing of war. For, by hoping in idols, one is deprived of the hope in God, which crushes wars. For this reason, then, the leaders themselves, both kings and priests, together with the rest of the people, will be cast out into captivity from their houses, which they did not build simply or modestly and without vanity, and for the need of dwelling, but sumptuously, and for luxury and insolence. Because of their evil practices they were cast out—let them not, he says, blame me because they were cast out to Babylon, meaning that they shall be cast out; but their practices were these: that they themselves both practiced evil things and persuaded the people to pursue the same.

There were, indeed, good and right words from the Christ-killing people, who said: ^B "For a good work we do not stone you, but because you, being a man, make yourself the Son of God" (John 10:33); and again, "According to our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God" (John 19:7). But these things they said before men; but before me, the God and Father, they did not appear to me as accusers, but as enemies. Why? Because they stood against their peace, which is Christ; and he who does not honor the Son, does not honor the Father (cf. John 5:23). For this reason the leaders of my people, the many chief priests, were cast out of my temple, which, being a single house for me, they made into many, by performing trade there every year. And in this, trafficking in the law, they waxed wanton over the people. ^C Often also someone, while feigning kindness toward his brethren, has words that are good and right, but he is an enemy through his deeds, thinking nothing peaceful, but by what he does, standing against his peace, which he speaks with his neighbors, and flaying the skin of the poor man, both in other ways and by crushing him in his labors, and so oppressing him that he takes away from him even his better hope, which becomes the crushing of the war of despair and blasphemy against Providence. For the one afflicted and warred against to the point of blaspheming against Providence, when he is helped by the hope of good things, crushes this war. ^D The things which follow seem, indeed, to contain punishment, and may this also instruct the many, for God threatens that they will be cast out of the houses of their delights. You shall understand also, in a way worthy of the Spirit, the leaders and rulers to be the souls who, having been appointed to govern, since they did not use their authority well, having fallen into temptations and afflictions, will be cast out of the houses of their delights—namely the bodies—to which they were joined.

For the soul, as long as the body is well and indulging in luxury, clings to it; but when it is suffering, and the soul considers ^A its corruption, it is ashamed to remain in such corruption. Wherefore it will also say the words of the prophet: "Woe is me, that my sojourning is prolonged!" and the words of Paul: "Wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from the body of this death?" And when Satan, transforming himself into an angel of light, seems to give us good counsel—as he also did to Eve—he shows forth good and upright words; but if we were to look to the things that went before, and not merely stay focused on the present, we would find him to be an enemy, even while he seems to be at peace with us. For he in a manner flays our skin, and takes away the death which we underwent, being buried with Christ through the washing of the sacred font, and he removes our hope, which is Christ, the hope of glory, who crushed the war and abolished the enmity in his flesh, and reconciled all things, whether on heaven or on earth. For this reason, then, those who now rule over us, the principalities and powers of darkness, will be cast out from the upper abodes of the paradise of delight, which they enjoyed before their defection, and will be thrust into the outer darkness. This same saying also applies to Judas, ^B who says: "Could not this ointment have been sold for much, and given to the poor?" and, "Is it I, Rabbi?" while he stands contrary to the peace, whose lord was man.

Verse 10. *Arise, and depart, for there is no rest for you.* To the rulers he says: Since you did not wish to embrace my laws, and it did not please you to rest in your own houses, depart henceforth to the land of Babylon, and go to its mountains, Ararat, which He calls eternal, either because those rulers were to spend a long and great time there, or because they had been famous from all antiquity, because the ark rested there. For in your ancestral land there is no longer any rest for you.

*Because of uncleanness you are destroyed with corruption; you have fled, with no one pursuing.* He adds the cause for which they shall suffer these things, and says, that "Because of" ^{C D}

uncleanness, that is to say the worship of idols, or generally any kind of sin that renders the person who pursues it unclean, you have been surrendered to this corruption of captivity and death; and you yourselves have voluntarily brought persecution upon yourselves by doing things that provoke me. There were also mountains in those who taught the things of the Law, inasmuch as they were placed in a high order and sat in the chair of Moses, but they were fleeting mountains and unstable. To those, therefore, who seek such mountains, the Spirit now says: Approach the teachers of the Gospel, who are eternal mountains; for He who sent them to make disciples of all nations promised to be with them even until the consummation of the age, and of His kingdom there shall be no end. Arise from sitting in the shadow, and walk, so that you may understand something more sublime than the letter. For in the Law, He says, there is no rest for you. For it was a yoke which not even our fathers were able to bear, because by the works of the Law shall no flesh be justified, but in Christ, who justifies by faith and gives rest to those who are burdened. Where? At the water of rest, in which, being baptized, we cast off the burden of sins. ^B Since, however, the foolish man is then corrupted in his pursuits when he says, "There is no God," it is with good reason that the Jews—who, having said that Christ is not God, and for this reason having become unclean from His blood—were destroyed by a corruption both of the soul and, consequently, of the body, when they pursued one another, having stirred up sedition among themselves, as Josephus records (43). The eternal mountains are also the angels, to whom we are commanded to draw near, as they are without flesh, whereas we have become creatures of little flesh. Arise from sin, and proceed to do something good; for sin is not a rest for you. But perhaps, since the disciple of Christ has tribulation in the world, and it is necessary for us to enter the kingdom of heaven through many tribulations, the Word exhorts such a person to walk and to be always straining forward, progressing in that which is good; for it is not possible for one who walks the narrow path to rest. Every one, therefore, who sins is corrupted; for he moves toward non-existence—that is, evil—fleeing from the existing God and virtue. But he is then corrupted with utter corruption when he also has uncleanness, which is pride. ^C For every haughty-hearted person is unclean before the Lord, when he, in doing the evil of sin, even boasts of it; as if he who does evil should come to his senses, perhaps he would not be destroyed by utter corruption, but rather more temperately. The Word, therefore, teaches those who have fallen into the depths of evils and are disdainful, that: "From uncleanness and pride you have undergone total corruption." So that if you wish to be [delivered] from this corruption— ^D [original-script column: see facsimile]

and to live justified, acknowledge your sins first, so that you may be justified. ^A

VERS. 11. *Spirit statuit mendacium, stillavit tibi in vinum et ebrietatem*. The evil spirit, he says, that works in the false prophets, has established falsehood for you, the Israelite people, as a snare; or, he has made it a firm and stable thing in your midst, and has instilled into you the false prophecies as if they were wine, that is, in the order of wine, by which you being delighted, and receiving and accepting them gladly, became drunk, and wandered away from what was proper. But if no one who speaks in the Spirit of God says, "Anathema Jesus," it is perfectly clear that for the Pharisees and Scribes (who said that the Lord was a deceiver and possessed by an evil spirit and contrary to God), the wicked spirit established this lie against Jesus himself and instilled it in them, so that they were drunk from it, and both said and did the things of the delirious, by slandering him and at the same time crucifying him. The same spirit of wickedness also establishes in us false imaginations of this life, resting upon no solid foundation, and grants them a kind of base and stability. He then instills in us the pleasure of these, like wine and drunkenness, by which pleasure we being inebriated become unstable, and waver, slipping from one kind of iniquity to another. ^B

VERS. 12. *Et erit de stilla populi hujus congregandus congregabitur Jacob cum omnibus. Suscipiens suscipiam reliquos de Israel in idipsum, ponam aversionem ipsorum in idipsum*. This "stilla," he says, this drop of falsehood which my people received, will be the cause and occasion for all to be gathered into one captivity. For those who seemed to have been left over and to have escaped, even these I shall receive into the same order of captivity, and in one and the same place I shall set their "aversion," that is, their defection: for since all have equally sinned, they shall equally be abandoned by me. But from the "stilla"—the drop—of the blood of Christ (whose author is the people, who handed him over to the Roman soldiers), everyone from Israel who has believed will be gathered together along with all the nations. And I shall receive whatever has been left behind by the aid of divine grace. These, of course, are they who, in every age, turn from the Jews to Christ, who, flying from the shadow to the truth, will come together into one with the Gentiles; and so there shall be one fold and one shepherd. Israel, then, or rather all mankind, are made as milk; and the drops of the divine blood, having become as a coagulant to this milk, have bound together the whole world. He who revolves this drop in his mind, and considers within himself that God for the sake of our salvation shed his blood; he, from his— [original-script column: see facsimile]

dispersion and dissipation throughout the world, shall be gathered together. And he shall be Jacob, supplanting his passions through the practice of virtue. ^A Him, progressing thus in virtues, God shall receive and shall account among men who are altogether worthy, who are called Israel, and are translated to the contemplative life. And his aversion, by which he has turned away from the goods of this world, He shall place in that location where the abode of those who enjoy eternal happiness is found.

“As sheep in tribulation, as flocks in the midst of their fold, they shall leap forth from among men.” He depicts before our eyes, in a way, the things that were to happen. For, he says, just as sheep that are indulging in sleep and rest, if a wolf should rush upon them, flee in terror [for fear], seeking to save themselves; ^B so too shall the Israelites leap forth from among men, that is, from the Babylonians. For they shall leap out, attempting to escape from them.

“Ascend through the breach before them; they have divided and passed through the gate, and have gone out through it, and their king has gone out before their face, and the Lord will lead them.” In a way, he addresses the Babylonian: “Ascend through the breach of the wall which your soldiers have made before their face,” that is, before the faces of the Israelites; and having broken through, they were passing through and going out, fearing no one. And their king, namely of the Babylonians, went out before the face of the Jews, when they were arguing with Sedecias. But God was acting as their leader, who surrendered the Jews to them, ^C that is, who gave the Jews under their power. Or else also in this way: Since Sedecias, when he saw the city being taken, broke through the gate which was near the palace and fled, and many others did likewise; the prophet addresses Sedecias, as it were: “Ascend through the breach, and flee.” Following this, he also speaks of the others, saying that the rest also broke through before the face of the Babylonians, that is, when the city was already captured and the enemies had them in their hands. Here, however, the prophet mocks their insanity, as they trusted that they could escape at that time. So foolish were they, and drunk from the ^D drop which we mentioned above. And their king Sedecias, he says, did the same thing out of the same foolishness, fleeing before the face of the Babylonians, whence indeed he was captured. But whence did they do these things? From divine wrath. For the Lord was leading them to do these things, surrendering them to the enemies. So too, with those who killed the Lord, He led them to do those things through which they surrendered themselves to the power and authority of the Romans. Furthermore, the prophet hints that in the affliction which they were to suffer at the hands of the Romans, many of the Jews would depart from the teachers of the law who were seducing them, and would rise up from their fold, and from the law in which they were resting. A man, then, affected in this way, the prophet thus addresses: “Rise up through the breach...”

that is, through the evangelical grace which breached the fence of the law; ^B think of higher things, do not stay below. For the apostles passed through the narrow gate before the face of the Jews, being whipped by them, and imprisoned, and stoned, as was Stephen; and being put to death by the sword, as was James; and they passed through the door, and entered where it leads—that door of which Christ said: “I am the door; if anyone enters through me, he will be saved, and will come in and go out, and will find pasture.” ^C He who is their King and Lord journeyed before their face, as a shepherd walking before his own sheep. And all those who live according to Christ, being persecuted as sheep, receive afflictions without arguing, and without making any clamor, but also fleeing even from the sight of men. For those whose citizenship is in heaven, having become celestial and gods, have nothing in common with those to whom it is said: “But you, as men, shall die.” Such people also sever every carnal connection through that sword which the Lord came to cast upon the earth; and thus, by a certain divine reason, they ascend and pass through the narrow gate, and go out through it from this world. ^D For their King also went out before their face, offering Himself as an example to them, so that just as He suffered outside the gate of Jerusalem, we should also do, and go out ourselves outside the gate of this world, bearing His ignominy, which is the cross, our glory and our adornment.

CHAPTER III.

VERS. 1-4. *Et dicet: Audite nunc hæc, principes domus Jacob, et reliqui domus Israel. Nonne vestrum est cognoscere judicium? Qui odio habetis bona, quæritis mala, diripientes pelles et carnes eorum ab ossibus eorum. Sicut devoraverunt carnes populi mei, et pelles eorum ab eis excoriaverunt et ossa eorum confregerunt et conciderunt, sicut carnes in lebete, et sicut carnem in olla: sic clamabunt ad Dominum, et non exaudiet eos et avertet faciem suam ab eis in tempore illo, eo quod pessime egerunt in adinventionibus suis super eos.* He had said earlier that the Lord would go before them, namely the Babylonians entering the city, or the Israelites fleeing. Here, therefore, he addresses the princes of Jacob, in such a way, however, that the rest of Israel might also hear; that is to say, the lowest of the whole Israelite nation, which consisted of the twelve tribes. If, however, by the princes of Jacob we understand those who resided in Jerusalem, then the rest of Israel

must be understood as those who remained of the ten tribes that had been taken captive. Do not be surprised if, at the beginning, he calls the ten tribes Jacob and the two tribes Israel, while now we understand the opposite—Jacob as those in Jerusalem, and Israel as the ten tribes. For he uses these names indiscriminately at first; then, he calls the two tribes Jacob—by the more natural and inferior name, as he sees them advancing in wickedness—while he calls the remainder of those taken captive from Samaria Israel, moving them more by such a name, since their progenitor was so godly and dear to God, that he was deemed worthy of such a naming, yet they have fallen so far from him.

He addresses the princes, therefore, as guilty of the crimes he is about to recount; and he addresses the poorer sort either as future witnesses or as those who were corrupted by the princes themselves and who therefore needed the correction which would arise from the reproof that breaks forth against those very corrupters. He says, therefore, that God will ask the princes: ^B "Are you not appointed to know judgment?"—that is, to administer justice, so as to render to each his due? How then do you, who ought to provide an example of this matter to others, hate the fair and honest, committing wicked deeds and pursuing them with eager passion? Why have you so greedily craved the property of the poor, that you did not hesitate to despoil them of all their possessions and to strip away all their strength? For he clearly showed above that the taking away of external possessions was represented by the flaying of the skins; and he made it clear that he had robbed them of all their power by mentioning the flesh and the bones being divided and crushed. Having dared these things, even if you ask for my alliance a thousand times, you will enjoy no assistance. ^C These things may also be said appropriately of any inhuman and unjust prince. For he "flays the skins" who takes away the external goods and property from those under his hand; he "tears the flesh from the bones" who, depriving them even of necessities, compels them to suffer famine; he "crushes the bones" who takes away every means and resource of life, so that they are never able to acquire anything sufficient for living. And he "divides the flesh into the cauldron" who gathers to himself even the small and petty gains, as if he were a cauldron, heated by the fire of greed.

The teachers of the Law in Christ's time, moreover, "flayed" the skins of the people, perhaps in the manner described, but perhaps also by stripping them of their outward modesty and gravity, failing to follow Paul, who instructs the people that "all things should be done decently and in order" (1 Cor. xiv, 40) and that they should "walk as children of light" (Eph. v, 8). ^D They "devoured the flesh" of them, perhaps even as

^A they treated them harshly in their domestic affairs and weighed them down with laborious works, or perhaps by teaching them to receive the Law in a crude and material, rather than spiritual, way; for such teaching was held by them to be as food. For as it is food for the Lord to do the will of the Father who is in heaven (John iv, 34), so those men might justly be understood to eat the flesh of the people—that is, the carnal mindset of the Law, which they interpreted according to the letter. Finally, they broke their bones—that is, the solid faculties of the soul—and dragged them toward their own traditions and human ordinances, tearing them limb from limb, as it were. This is what heretics also do, rending the members of the body of the Church.

VERS. 5. *Thus says the Lord concerning the prophets who seduce my people, who bite with their teeth.* Having threatened the princes, he transfers his discourse to the prophets, and says that the false prophets, who prophesied lies and seemed to cherish the people through flattery, in reality bit them by prophesying things that would be of the greatest harm to them. Hear, then, how this was done. ^B *And they preach peace upon him, and it is not given in their mouth. They have sanctified war upon him.* My prophets, he says, foretold to the people calamities and wars that would be brought upon them as they were sinning; but the false prophets, uttering the opposite, constantly affirmed to the people that they would live in peace, as though they were altogether free of any guilt. I did not, however, place these words in their profane mouth; therefore, they themselves "sanctified"—that is, they ordained—war against the people. For by proclaiming peace, they did not allow them to repent of their sins and turn away the divine wrath, and thus they became the authors of all the wars and evils that flowed from that source to the people. Every teacher who does the opposite of his words also "sanctifies" war, such as the Pharisees were, who bound heavy and unbearable burdens, and did not move them with their finger (Matt. xxiii, 4); against whom Paul also said: "You who teach, do you not steal? You steal" (Rom. ii, 21). Such a teacher brings spiritual enemies upon his disciples, who are perverted by his works.

VERS. 6. *Therefore it shall be night for you from a vision, and darkness shall be upon you from divination.* By darkness and night, he signifies the afflictions that beset them, because they falsely claimed to be seeing divine visions, and were prophesying things that God did not deliver to them. Therefore, on account of their visions and oracles, these evils came upon them. ^D *And the sun shall go down upon the prophets, and the day shall grow dark over them.* You, he says, who

are accustomed to predict peace in all things, shall be surrounded by so many evils that the sun will seem to you to have set, and the day to have turned to darkness. ^A (This, indeed, is what they suffer who fall into the depths of misery, who, vexed and confused by anxieties and wretchedness, are overwhelmed by a kind of darkness.) Or, perhaps, because while you flee from the enemy, you will live in darkness; and you will hide yourselves not only from the enemy, but from other men as well, so that you may not be rebuked by them as seducers. He therefore adds:

*And they shall be ashamed who see dreams, and the soothsayers shall be mocked, and they shall all speak against them, because there is no one who hears them.* So evident and manifest, he says, will your fraud be, that men will hold you up to ridicule as those who openly lie; and not only will all mock you—even those who formerly attended to you as if you were divine, for the word "they" is emphatic—but they will also speak against you, and carrying your deeds here and there among the common people, they will everywhere revile your malice and iniquity. ^B And all will do this; for no one will be left who wishes to lend you an ear. And for this reason you will live in darkness, and the sun will set for you, since, as you hide yourselves, you will not endure being seen, nor will you be able to see. In another way: whoever sees and speaks falsehoods does not have within himself the shining sun, Christ, who is the truth, but walks in darkness. *For he who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light.* Caiaphas indeed prophesied, but darkness was upon him, and the sun set for him—whether the intelligible sun, as was previously stated, or the sensible sun, when the signs occurred at the cross—and the day was darkened for his condemnation and that of those who were with him. ^C

*If I shall not have filled strength in the Spirit of the Lord, and judgment, and power, to announce to Jacob his impieties, and to Israel his sins.* Such things, he says, are the wicked deeds of the false prophets. But I, Micah, am not like that, nor will I flatter the people, nor mislead them; but I will fill with strength—that is, I will receive the most perfect power in the Spirit of the Lord, not in a demonic and deceptive spirit. Such a Spirit is one of judgment, because I will speak things that have been judged and are just, defending justice against the ungodly and the powerful; for I will not be cowed, but I will speak boldly, so as to announce to Jacob his impieties, or to the ten tribes, as he ^D named them at the beginning, or to the two, as we said a little while ago; and to Israel his sins.

Or to the remnants of Samaria—and regarding this, it has also been spoken of above. Such must everyone be who rebukes others, so that he neither speaks without judgment, nor things that are impossible, nor things he dares not speak freely; so that he may not yield to threats or distresses. ^B

VERS. 9. *Hear these things, you leaders of the house of Jacob, and the remaining ones of the house of Israel.* The prophet seems even to be tautological and appears redundant. Know, however, that even if in the compositions of the books the discourse of the prophets appears connected, yet the prophecies were uttered at different times; and it happened that some, suffering from the same ailments, required the same medicines. Therefore, those things were said to them which had been said to others before. All these things were later combined into one, and for this reason many of the things said seem redundant.

*You who abhor justice, and pervert all things that are right.* You, he says, to whom the power of judging has been given, not only have you abhorred justice—that is, the rendering of a righteous judgment—but you have also perverted all that was right, which is surely a sign of the greatest wickedness and depravity. Just as it is a mark of the best character to abhor not only evil, but also the perverse habit of twisting what is right, so those truly act wickedly who not only do not themselves bring forth righteous judgments, but also pervert those that have been rightly brought forth by others.

VERS. 10. *You who build Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquities.* You were appointed, he says, as a kind of builder of Zion and of Jerusalem; for every ruler is a builder, partly restoring things already fallen, and partly constructing new things for the glory and stability of the commonwealth. You, however, in contrast, managing the commonwealth through unjust slaughter and blood, have constructed such a mass—or form—of government that overflows with gore and iniquity. They built Zion with blood, who, to the slaughter of the holy prophets, added the death of Christ the Lord, whom these wicked builders rejected, though he was the precious stone. But he was set as the head of the corner, ^C joining the two peoples, the Gentile, that is, and the Israelite, and coupling human nature with the divine, and in general, things above with things below. The same ones, moreover, built Jerusalem in iniquities, who, scorning the Benefactor and Just One, the physician of every disease, crucified him, thinking that in this consisted the construction and stability of Jerusalem. For if he lives, they said, the Romans will come and destroy our city. But since each one of us has a Zion within himself, the observation of the mind, ^D

and Jerusalem, the vision of peace; let him beware, lest by piling up flesh and blood upon the mind, and wronging that which is better by inciting that which is worse against it, he may be called an evil builder, constructing a prison and a place of confinement. But heretics also, who shed the blood of souls and do injustice to the truth, seem in a way to build a Zion against us.

VERS. 11. *Her leaders judged for bribes, and her priests answered for hire, and her prophets divined for silver, and they relied upon the Lord, saying: Is not the Lord among us? No evil shall come upon us.* Throughout the Scriptures the taking of bribes is condemned, not only in those who act against law and right for the sake of bribes, but also in him who accepts gifts for the very deed of justly administering righteousness. Conversely, David praises him who has not taken bribes against the innocent. But when you hear of priests and prophets, understand them as false and inspired by an evil spirit. And what is worse, he says that while they were doing such things, they maintained that God was pleased and delighted by these things, saying: "Is not the Lord among us? For what evil," they say, "are we doing?" Therefore, "evils"—that is, punishments and tribulations—"shall not come upon us." David says something similar to this: "You suspected iniquity, that I should be like you." Let judges and priests hear these things, and let them observe to whom they are aligning themselves, if they are performing the same crimes. And what is meant by, "And they relied upon the Lord"? They were hoping, placing ^B their whole confidence in Him; therefore they feared no wrath, nor did they suspect any evil from Him.

VERS. 12. *Therefore on account of you Zion shall be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall be as a fruit-keeper’s hut, and the mountain of the house as a grove of a forest.* Such a desolation, he says, because of such deeds of yours, will seize this renowned city, so that, with no inhabitant remaining in it, those inner parts of the walls, which previously were cramped by the multitude of the dwellers, will be plowed and sown like country fields ^C, and Jerusalem will be no different from a fruit-keeper’s hut, which, after the gathering of the fruits, is left deserted, the guard having returned home. But the mountain of the house also, that is, the high place where the temple stood, will be filled with plants and resemble a thicket. These things reached their fulfillment also under Nebuchadnezzar, when, having captured the city, he carried off the inhabitants into captivity along with the king. But it is possible to see the end of the prophecy more accurately after the insane attack and fury of the Jews against the Savior; for all that was ^D formerly splendid was destroyed by the Romans, and the divine temple itself.

^A

CHAPTER IV.

VERS. 1. *And it shall come to pass in the last days that the mountain of the Lord shall be manifest, prepared on the tops of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills.* Since the prophet has foretold the calamities that were to befall ancient Jerusalem and its temple, he now prophesies concerning the Church of Christ, which he calls a "mountain" because it contemplates things on high, is raised above all worldly matter, leads men to heaven, and makes them godlike. For both its true dogma, by which honor is attributed not to idols or created things, but to the true God, and its life free of matter, which establishes a lack of all things and a void of desires—these, I say, indeed constitute a lofty mountain visible to all men. For the Gospel was preached throughout the whole world, and the sound of the apostles went out into all the earth. Furthermore, this mountain is said to be "prepared," that is, firm and unshaken; for the Church being founded upon a solid foundation, as it were, bolstered by the confession of Peter, "You are the Son of God," for this reason the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Some indeed interpret "prepared" as meaning "unimpeded," so that it may be visible. Nothing shall be set before it, but it shall stand clear, so that it may be easily manifest to the sight of all. By this, that the mountain is said to tower over mountains and hills, it denotes in a certain simpler sense that the Church of Christ, being spread far and wide through the whole world, having houses of God built both in cities and in villages, preeminent in beauty and size, even they shall become more distinguished and more illustrious than those higher mountains. But if you were to understand, by mountains and hills, the altars and shrines long ago set apart for evil spirits, you will not stray from the truth. For these are not even deemed worthy of mention or memory by any discourse of men. On the contrary, the sanctuaries and temples of the divine Church approach the number and beauty of the celestial stars. The dogmas of the Greek philosophers also appeared to be mountains and hills; hills, I say, those things which related to morals and the order of natural things; mountains, those which embraced mathematical and theological doctrines. But the one dogma of the Church rises above them all. ^{B C}

VERS. 1, 2. *And peoples shall hasten to it, and many nations shall go, and say: Come, let us ascend to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob.* By "peoples," those who have believed from among the Jews at any given time; by "nations," those from the Gentiles. And all appear to have recognized the lowliness of their former religion and way of life; and for this reason they say: "Let us ascend from certain low places to the high ^D

and excellent and sublime." ^A For if one does not first receive the high dogma of the Church, how will he succeed in becoming a house of God? There is also a right mention of Jacob, who left his ancestral homes, moved to another land, endured much labor, served for the wages that were agreed upon, and, having obtained the help of God, became most famous from being obscure; just as the Church, having forsaken ancestral dogmas, and living according to things above, and for this reason being persecuted and having become full of labor, obtains the glory that is with God. ^A

And they will show us His way. Who will show us? The apostles, to whom it was said: "Make disciples of all the nations." What way? None other, I say, than Christ, who said: "I am the way." ^B

And we will walk in His paths. That is to say, in the deeds worn smooth by Him, moving in the footprints of the life of Christ. For this reason, He did not die for us immediately upon being born, but after such a long time, so that, among other things, He might show us the methods of an excellent way of life, which the prophet seems now to call "paths." Many, therefore, seem to know the way and to believe in Christ, but they do not walk in His paths. ^C But reason demands both things: both the knowledge of the divine way and the movement of life according to it; and this, so that we do not stop having achieved a certain amount, but always walk forward, progressing, and not in one path, but in all the paths of Christ, who said: "He who serves me, let him follow me." And otherwise: There is indeed one way of life according to God, in that it looks toward one goal: to please God; but there are many paths, in that there are many choices of life and different ways of living. ^D

Because from Sion will go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. Those who urge one another to ascend also tell the reason for the ascent to the Church of Christ. For, he says, it is no longer the old law, but another that goes forth from Sion. And there went forth from Sion the law of the Spirit of life, and from Jerusalem the word of the grace of the Gospel; ^D just as the Lord taught in the temple in Sion, and the apostles, sitting in the city of Jerusalem, received the grace of the Spirit. "Law," then, as teaching what must be done; "word," as introducing correct dogma. And first the law, then the word; since action is also prior, and then the word of theology follows. Many laws are irrational; yet here, the law

^A that is contemplated in the Gospel contains nothing irrational. The Only-Begotten, who is also the law—bestowing on each according to his worth, for He does not require the same things from everyone—and the word—as He defines all things—went forth from the supernal Sion and Jerusalem.

*And He shall judge between many peoples.* These things were fulfilled in the time of Christ on many and various occasions and in diverse places: when He taught as one having authority, and when He reproved the lawyers, and the Scribes, and the Pharisees, and when He said: *If the truth shall not make you free, you shall die in your sins* (John VIII, 36). He also judged between peoples when, making a distinction regarding eunuchs, He said: *All men take not this word: he that can take it, let him take it* (Matt. XIX, 11). For He made a distinction between those who are capable of virginity and those who follow marriage. He judged also ^B the prince of this world and passed sentence upon those who were held by him, and He condemned him because he put Him to death, although He was entirely innocent. And in the final judgment, He also says that the word which He has spoken will judge them. Finally, even within the Churches, the word of the Gospel judges the peoples, partly by ordaining what must be done, and partly by correcting those who sin.

*And He shall rebuke strong nations.* For when He proposed His own laws, filled with all purity and uprightness, He especially rebuked the nations that were using impure laws, and persuaded them that these were to be held in total contempt, showing that they were wandering in vain errors; and this although the nations were strong—that is, not ^C light and easily deceived, so that they could be easily moved away from their ancestral religion, but were noble and steadfast: such as the proconsul in the Acts, a learned man, such as Dionysius the Areopagite, such as many in Corinth, such as finally Clement of Rome. And, in another sense, the wild and savage nations, and those strong in war, submitted to the Gospel even unto a far land. For the evangelical law was not, like the Mosaic law, confined within the borders of Palestine, nor was it enclosed in one place; but beginning from Jerusalem and Samaria, it went forth to the uttermost part of the earth, ^D and reached the islands beyond our sea; such are the British. Hear, everyone who desires to legislate for others and to teach them, that the law goes forth from Sion, and the word from Jerusalem. If, therefore, you have not yet examined yourself, nor paid heed to yourself, but have not yet even seen peace in your soul, but foster wars and confusions and tumults, it does not befit you either to legislate or to serve the word—for then you will judge others and rebuke them, when you do not have that which Paul

troubles and seditions: it certainly does not suit you to have either the faculty of making laws or the ministry of preaching the Word. For then you will rightly judge and rebuke others, when Paul will not have occasion to say of you: “In that in which you judge another, you condemn yourself” (Rom. ii, 1).

^B “And they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; and nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” Before the coming of Christ, frequent uprisings of nations against one another took place, since the kingdom was divided among each individual nation. But after the coming of the Lord, with all authority and empire transferred to the Romans, a deep peace took hold of the inhabited world; so much so that even instruments of war were converted into agricultural tools. Furthermore, since Christ commands that we should not seek back our goods from one who takes them, and that we should offer the left cheek to one who strikes the right, and other such things, what war has not been abolished, and what peace is not implanted in those who cherish these divine laws? Therefore He also said: “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you; and in this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one to another” (John xiv, 27). Where there is love, how can there be war? ^C The Greek questionings, indeed, containing as they did contentions and strife, naturally begot also wars; but faith, removing every dispute from the midst, leads to a peaceful and simple agreement, as if to an end. Wherefore also tongues, which were once sharp like swords, agitating futile questions and empty controversies to the ruin of the hearers, are then converted into didactic plowshares, working up the fallows in the souls of the hearers, which were previously hard and compacted, and they are split open, in order to receive the seed which He who sows came to sow. And the spears, by which souls were put to death, are converted into pruning hooks, by which they are cut off from the earth; so that those who have already brought forth fruits worthy of the heavenly storehouses no longer cling to it. ^D Such a plow was the tongue of Paul, working the fallows, when he said: “Stripping yourselves of the old man, and putting on the new” (Coloss. iii, 9). And again: “Put on the new man” (Ephes. iv, 24). Such a hook was it, cutting men off from the earth, when he said: “Mortify your members which are upon the earth” (Coloss. iii, 5); and, “Our conversation is in heaven, and we mind the things above, where Christ is.”

Vers. 4. “And every one shall rest under his vine, and every one under his fig tree; and there shall be none to make them afraid.” The Vine is the Lord, as one who introduced a somewhat harsher and more laborious law; for the evangelical precepts are more

laborious. The same Lord is also the fig tree, who, wishing to bestow upon us as a king the rewards of merit, adopts us into the place of sons, by the most pleasant hope ^A of which we are greatly refreshed. Since, therefore, we shall rest under this fig tree, no one will strike any fear into us, neither demon nor man; for the Lord has given us authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions and upon all the power of the enemy; and He has taught us not to fear those who kill the body.

“For the mouth of the Lord Omnipotent has spoken these things.” The prophet adds an authority worthy of faith to the One who spoke, so that you may understand that there is nothing false in what has been said. Each one of us has a vine, namely the irascible part, which is as it were astringent; and a fig tree, namely the appetitive part, which as it were sweetens us with a kind of sweetness. When, therefore, we have the peace of Christ, even if we happen to be under the irascible part, that is to say, if we are angry, such anger is rest. For it does not descend from any base affection, but from intense love and zeal toward God. ^B Such was the anger of Moses when he said to the Levites, “You have filled your hands today to the Lord,” when he cut down the idolaters; such also was the anger of Elijah when he slew the prophets of Baal. And if, furthermore, we desire, as David desired and fainted for the courts of the Lord and for the strong and living God, and as Daniel, the man of desires, and as Christ Himself, who with desire desired to eat the passover; we shall rest under our fig tree. But since, just as there are various gifts in teachers, so also various and altogether different inclinations are found in disciples, therefore one rests under a teacher of a more austere disposition, and another under a more gentle one. The matter is the same among the apostles. ^C Peter was sharp and vehement; Paul, on the contrary, was mild and more gentle, just as even the disciple of this very man was affected, who is also called the son of consolation. For this reason John, who is also called Mark, rested under the fig tree of Barnabas when, having left Paul, he set out abroad with him: but Titus and Timothy, under the vine of Paul.

Ver. 5. “For all peoples will walk, each in his own way: but we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever.” Those who had long been exhorting one another to ascend to the mountain of the Lord promise that they will be devoted to God to the end. For others, he says, the other peoples who have not received the faith of Christ, are carried along by the lust for their own errors, ^D and they walk in that way which each one, deceived by ancestral customs and traditions, has followed of his own accord and chosen for himself. We, however, will progress, and we will be carried with rapid motion toward the good. We shall have with us the One who is named by us, the Lord and our God Jesus Christ, and we are called Christians.

And this is not only for the present age, but for another far more lasting, and beyond—namely, for the future. For then, whenever Christ, our life, shall appear, we shall always be with Him, and we shall enter with Him into His joy, having His name; for we also shall be sons and gods. ^A Some, however, have understood this to mean that when there is “deep peace,” as has been stated above, some will look to agriculture, others will follow a different way of life; but we, who are devoted to God, such as monks and priests, will choose the way in the name of the Lord God. He walks in the name of the Lord God who in every act and every motion conducts himself in a manner worthy of the calling with which he was called, and who does not have mammon as his lord, and his belly as his god, but gains his living by the labor of his own hands, and whether he eats or drinks, does all things to the glory of God.

^B VERSE 6, 7. *In that day, says the Lord, I will gather the broken, and I will receive the outcast, and those whom I have cast out. And I will make the broken into a remnant, and the outcast into a strong nation, and the Lord shall reign over them in Mount Sion from now and forever.* The Jews maintain that everything from the words, *It shall be manifest in the last days that the mountain of the Lord*, up to these words, is spoken about their own state and government after they returned home from Babylon; but it is clearly evident that they are mistaken and deceiving themselves. For which nations, either near or far, assembled at the temple in Jerusalem after the return from Babylon, to seize the law and the word emanating from there? Among which peoples or nations did this word judge, reproving the wicked things done by them? And how could they have had deep peace, when upon their return, the Idumeans, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Samaritans, and Gog and Magog the Scythians waged war against them, and the Macedonian and Antiochene evils came upon them? ^C And how does each one rest under his fig tree and under his vine, when they have become emigrants and wanderers? And how do they proceed forever in the name of the Lord, they who have only a temporary government and kingdom? Therefore, it does not mean their generation was broken and outcast, but that of the Gentiles, which, being broken by impiety, and for that reason cast out, was finally received by Him who came to call not the righteous, but sinners. But even among the Hebrews themselves, He healed those who were so broken and sick in soul, and received the outcasts: tax collectors, and harlots, and the thief; and He reigns forever over all those thus received, in the ^D heavenly...

and supernal Zion. For where now is the earthly ^A Zion? Therefore, by the “broken” one, you must understand the Church, insofar as it is composed of Gentiles; and by the “outcast,” understand those from Israel who migrated to that same Church.

But what is the meaning of “into the remnant”? It means into existence and subsistence; for they will not utterly perish, he says, but will remain as a remnant of salvation. And in another way, “remnant” signifies the election. For God casts some aside entirely and delivers them to destruction and non-existence, but others He chooses and keeps safe for Himself, just as He says: “I have left for Myself seven thousand men who have not bent the knee to Baal.” And Paul calls those who have been deemed worthy to believe a “remnant according to the election of grace.” The Church of the Gentiles, however, has become a mighty nation, prevailing in all things in Christ. Let these things also serve to edify the souls of the hearers, that no one may despair.

^B *Vers. 8. And thou, tower of the flock, the squalid daughter of Zion; unto thee shall come and enter the principality, the first kingdom, from Babylon for the daughter of Jerusalem.*

That the prophet spoke the preceding words regarding the Church, which consists of men from the Gentiles, is clear from this, as well as from the fact that he here foretells harsh things for the city of Zion, and the syntax of the passage reveals this. For observe: “And thou, tower of the flock.” It is as if he were saying this: “These things I said regarding another person; but as for you, O daughter of Zion, unto you shall come and enter the principality for the daughter of Jerusalem.” Then, lest you think that he signifies some military command that leads in wars, he says that this is the first principality, the premier one ^C among all other governments and kingdoms, namely, that of Nebuchadnezzar. Some, indeed, said that the prophet called it the “principality and first kingdom” because Nebuchadnezzar led an army against Jerusalem at the very beginning of his reign.

Now, the Lord said in Isaiah: “I planted a vineyard, and dug a winepress, and built a tower,” thereby signifying the temple, by which He seemed to protect the vineyard as if it were a garrison. But He recalls this tower again now, which He calls the “tower of the flock,” that is, the habitation of the sheep separated for Him, which has now become squalid because those who were in it did not wish to drink the living water, but acted impiously against the Lord. Or by “squalid” he understands ^D a place devoid of light, and dark. For those who dwelt in it did not wish to have the Law as a lamp shining in a dark place. Now every ruler and teacher is established as a tower, set for the safety of the flock. But since the water would fail him—which the Lord gives to those who believe, springing up into eternal life (and this is the...

grace of the Spirit—he becomes parched; then the Babylonian power, that is, the prince of the confusion of this world, which is the first kingdom that held sway over our mortal body before the coming of Christ, attacks him. ^A Some have understood Christ as the beginning and primary kingdom; for He Himself is the beginning of all things and the first of all kings. He, having put on man from Babylon—that is, from the confusion of this world—came to Sion, that He might win her for Himself. For, He says, I came but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

Verse 9. *And now why hast thou known evils? Was there no king in thee? Or hath thy counsel perished, because sorrows have taken thee as of a woman in travail?* ^B Cognition sometimes signifies simple knowledge, as in the text, *They have not known, nor have they understood*; it also signifies conjugal union, as in, *Adam knew his wife*; it also signifies a bond of affection, as in that text, *The Lord knoweth the way of the just*, just as if it were to say, He loveth and looketh upon it with a cheerful countenance; and that, *I have known thee above all others*, and other things of the same kind. Moreover, the same word in a peculiar way signifies intimate perception of things, which flows from experience, as in, *Show me thyself, that I may see thee knowingly*; and, *The tree of the knowledge of good and evil*; for the language signifies the internal state of relationship as regards the object that came to Adam through experience, and Moses likewise sought the effective experience of the contemplation of God. Thus, then, here too, the Lord says to Sion: *Why hast thou known evils?* That is, why hast thou been made to experience calamities? Whence came to thee this experience and participation in afflictions? Didst thou not have a king who ought to have fought for thee? Hadst thou not counselors, and because of this wert thou delivered to sorrows, which possess such bitterness that thou seemest to have pains like a woman giving birth? And yet thou didst have a king; for I gave him to thee, as thou also didst ask, that he might go before your face and fight against your enemies. But also thy counsel did not perish, that is, thou hadst counselors. ^C And He speaks these things in irony. Since they trusted in these things—in the power of ^D the king and the wisdom of the counselors—

^A Learn then, He says, that neither king nor counselors can be of any help to you without My aid.

VERS. 10. *Dole and act manfully, O daughter of Sion, as one who is travailing.* You should consider this said in the same sense as the preceding verses. For since, He says, you have been so well assisted by your counselors and by the king, come now, be ready henceforth to undergo the pains of childbirth; and bear a manly spirit, so that you may strenuously endure those pains. Do not hope that you can escape them. The prophet implies, moreover, that the evils are near; for a woman, when she feels the pains, is soon to give birth. Therefore he adds:

*For now thou shalt go out of the city, and shalt dwell in the field, and shalt come even unto Babylon.* You were living, he says, for your security in the city of Jerusalem; but now—that is, in no long time—this city, Jerusalem, shall be taken, and you shall be brought into captivity, led out from it, and shall dwell in the field, being carried away to Babylon.

*Thence shall He deliver thee, and thence shall the Lord thy God redeem thee from the hand of thine enemies.* He has not yet finished telling of the hardships, when He immediately brings forward words of consolation. For thence, He says—from Babylon, that is—the Lord thy God shall redeem ^B thee, when you have already fallen under the hands of your enemies and are being securely held by them. These things may also reasonably be understood as applied to human nature, which, by eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, came to know evils—that is, it became experienced in evil, and was aligned with it, even though it had the mind as a king, and was able to deliberate that it should not disobey God ^C and obey the serpent. For this reason it heard: *In sorrow thou shalt bring forth children;* and from that time it had pangs. And having been cast out from the city on high, it pitched its tent in this field of corruption, as it were; a tent, I say, signifying a transitory and unstable sojourn. It reached even unto Babylon—the confusion, that is, of all divine properties. For it lost that which was created according to the image of God, and became like the irrational animals, and beasts, and serpents, and leopards, becoming more irrational than even the ants themselves and the sparrows of the field, as the prophetic word suggests. But the Lord our God, who paid His own blood as a ransom for it, delivered and redeemed it from thence—that is, from such an incurable ^D corruption. We are instructed also for our moral discipline by these things, that we should not trust in royal powers, nor in wise counsels, but in God, who even in the midst of trials is able to deliver.

^A And the hope placed in him will be the ransom and price of redemption to be paid for us. For as he delivered those who sinned against him into terrible straits, so, having accepted their conversion to him, he will deliver them from fearful things. And to whom shall he pay the ransom, if not to his own justice, by which we were also chastised?

"And now many nations shall be gathered together against thee, saying: We will rejoice, and our eyes shall look upon Sion." The prophet speaks concerning the Scythian nations, who, after the return from the city of Babylon, marched an army against Israel, desiring to destroy this people utterly, and looking upon them with joy, that is to say, exhilarated at seeing what they had most desired.

"But they have not known ^B the thought of the Lord, and they have not understood his counsel, because he hath gathered them as sheaves for the floor." They indeed, he says, will come upon thee, O daughter of Sion, as though to harm thee, and for this reason they were gathered from elsewhere. But they did not understand that my providence for thee allowed this to happen, so that they might the rather perish together. And for this reason I gathered them, that they might also pay the penalties for their other sins, and be crushed like sheaves on the threshing floor. God gathers them, not by compelling or forcing, but by permitting their own spontaneous impulses and yielding to their free will, and thus bringing about their punishment.

"Arise and thresh them, O daughter of Sion, for I will make thy horns iron, and I will make thy hoofs brass." Since he spoke of sheaves, he fitly adds these things following the metaphor: ^C Arise, thou who art thought to be dead, and trample them and crush them. For enjoying my help, thou shalt have power that cannot be defeated, like a bull having iron horns, so as to ward off those attacking through them, and brass hoofs, so as to trample and crush them.

"And thou shalt consume in them the nations." In them, that is to say, with the horns and the hoofs, that is, thou shalt consume nations which now seem to have swift ^D and great power.

"And thou shalt beat small many peoples." As chaff, of course; for he still persists in the metaphor of the threshing floor.

"And thou shalt consecrate to the Lord their multitude, and their power to the Lord of all the earth." Not to thy own strength, he says, oughtest thou to ascribe this success, but to me, the Lord of all the earth, must thou dedicate the trophy, which has come to pass regarding their multitude.

^A Not only were many those who were defeated by thee, but they were also very powerful, so that it is manifest that they were not subdued by human power, but by power entirely divine. The expression, "Thou shalt dedicate," is used by the custom of the Holy Scriptures in a hortatory fashion, as an imperative—"Dedicate"—just as in the passage: "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve," instead of, "Worship and serve." The Scripture does this, employing the indicative mood instead of the imperative, so that it may show the matter as something accepted and one that necessarily ought to be brought forth. Some have interpreted these things regarding that which happened during the time of Sennacherib, when one hundred and eighty-five thousand were slain in one night, by which the divine miracle was clearly shown. Many nations were also gathered against the Lord, raging against Him—the Roman soldiers, that is to say, and the Jews, who greatly rejoiced at His crucifixion. But they did not know that by His resurrection they themselves were to be crushed. For if they had known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. ^B Arise, therefore, O God-bearing flesh, thou that art come from the living Sion, Mary, whom the Lord chose and selected for a dwelling-place for Himself, and thresh them; some into wheat, as many as shall accept the faith, and some into chaff, to be winnowed into every place and consumed by unquenchable fire. For thou hast iron horns, the power and authority of the cross, and brazen hoofs, the feet of the apostles, who, like horses, descended into the stormy sea of the nations, troubling many waters, through which horns and brazen hoofs the carnal fatness of the nations was worn away and diminished, whereby it happened that, having become lighter and more spiritual, they could then be most especially dedicated to God. For no one who is obese, and not yet attenuated and diminished, is consecrated to the Lord; for "God is a Spirit." And when we are anxious for our soul, ^C what it shall eat, and for our body, what it shall put on, which things are sought after by the nations, then many nations, I say, "gentile" or worldly thoughts, gather against us, which distract the vision of our mind, so that we do not trust in God, who feeds and clothes men, but in our own counsels and thoughts. But when the word of the Gospel points out to us that the nations seek after all these things, and we recognize that such thoughts are "gentile," then the Lord is said to gather them together, like the sheaves of a threshing floor, so that they may then at last be trampled and trodden underfoot by us, when, having laid aside this most worthless care, we fix our gaze ^D upon the lilies of the field and the birds, to which God grants shelter and food. Horns are set [as] iron to him who perceives what is good—for the horn belongs to the head, in which is the ruling faculty—and brazen hoofs to him who moves firmly and powerfully.

How, then, is this multitude of thoughts and their strength ascribed to God? It is because, by passing over many things, we seek only the kingdom of heaven, and all these things are added unto us, which those pagan peoples supposed to possess the greatest power.

CAPUT V

"He has ordained a constraint upon you." If it is written with an *y*—*upon you* [ἐφ' ὑμᾶς]—he is saying that he has ordained a constraint, that is, a siege, upon you, the inhabitants of Samaria. Who? God, or the Babylonian. If, however, it is written with an *eta*—*upon us* [ἐφ' ἡμᾶς]—the prophet includes himself among those of Samaria, on account of his brotherly love.

"With a rod they shall strike upon the cheek the tribes of Israel." The striking of the cheek is considered a sign of insult; and if it is done with a rod, it also brings pain. He implies, ^C therefore, that the Babylonians will treat the ten tribes insultingly and with punishment. Now, since the hedge is the Law, he says: "The daughter of Ephraim," that is, the generation that defected from the kingdom of the mystical David, Christ—the One sufficient in hand (for this is what "David" is interpreted to mean)—will be enclosed by the Law, not going out from it toward the grace of the Gospel. Although the Lord ordained the "constraint," that is, the legal polity, upon us—meaning, as long as we prophets are prophesying. But when the One prophesied comes, John having become His forerunner, then that constraint will be dissolved; for the Law and the prophets were until John. He calls the restriction the Law, on account of the small, ^D minute details in which he held those under him; "Do not handle, nor taste," and so on.

^A With an iron rod, therefore—that is, the Roman power—they shall strike the cheeks of the Israelitish mouths, of those who cried out: "Away with him, away with him, crucify him," whose own cheeks they also struck. The rampart, too, is sin, in which the soul is so enclosed that the splendor of the evangelical glory of Christ cannot shine upon it. He does not say simply "soul," but "the daughter of Ephraim," that is, of growth and accumulation in evils. The Babylonian, who has been our enemy from the very beginning of the world, has set these straits against us; for he is the cause of us being bound in the chains of our own sins.

^B VERSE 2. *And thou, Bethleem, house of Ephratha,* [(34)] *thou art not the least among the thousands of Juda: for out of thee shall come forth unto me, that he may be prince in Israel.* Samaria, he says, shall be surrounded by a siege and shall be taken; but thou, O Bethleem, shalt enjoy great glory. Do not look to the current smallness of those who dwell in thee, and that thou art an insignificant and small house among the thousands of Judea’s kingdom—meaning, among the heads of the tribes (by saying this, he also included Jerusalem); for thou hast a cause for glorying such as no other city on the face of the earth has. For out of thee shall come forth Christ, who shall rule over Israel, that is, over the whole faithful people. For not all who are of Israel are Israel. But how shall he come forth? Not by the law of human propagation, but "unto me," that is, by my power and by my Spirit, which shall fashion his flesh, even as the angel said to the Virgin: "The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee." In another way, too: other princes administer the state for themselves, each looking to his own advantage in his rule; but this one ^C shall come forth "unto me," referring all things to me, which the pronoun "me," including property, clearly declares. Furthermore, the whole province was called Ephratha; but the village was Bethleem, from which were Jesse and David, and in which village the Virgin also brought forth.

*And his goings forth are from the beginning, from the days of eternity.* This Prince, he says, who is to rule over Israel, shall indeed come forth out of thee, O Bethleem, in the last days, yet his goings forth were foreordained from the beginning, from all eternity past. Or the sense is: ^D that thou mayest not think he then began his existence when he went forth from Bethleem, which Paul the Apostle... [alt-version omitted]

Samosatene and Photinus, bishop of Sirmium, falsely imagined. He says that ^A "his goings forth," that is, his generation from the Father, were "from the beginning." This is similar to the expression, "That which was from the beginning." But when thou hearest "from the days of eternity," do not think that he is designating some temporal beginning to the generation of the Only-Begotten; rather, this is entirely similar to what is said elsewhere to the Father: "For from eternity thou art." The Jews, however, think these things are to be referred to Zorobabel, in which matter they are manifestly at odds with the truth. For how were the goings forth of Zorobabel "from the beginning, from the days of eternity," he who was born during the times of the captivity? And how is this person from Bethleem, who was born in Babylon? For that is what even his name signifies when interpreted, "seed of Babylon." But the ancient Jews did not think these things were to be understood of Zorobabel; for when they were asked by Herod where Christ was to be born, they brought forward this prophecy to him.

VERS. 3. *Propterea dabis eos usque ad tempus parturientis.* Since the prophet had said above that a ruler of Israel would go forth from Bethleem, and because of this it could deservedly be asked: How then does it happen that the evils you predicted will befall the Jews, if such a Redeemer is to be theirs? Therefore, addressing God, he says: "Thou wilt give them," that is, thou wilt hand them over to enemies, until the time in which the Virgin brings forth Emmanuel. Or accept this saying in this way: Since the prophet had spoken above concerning a ^B ruler who was to be given to them, he says: meanwhile, until the Virgin brings forth, "Thou wilt give them," namely, the leaders of the Jews. For "a ruler shall not fail from the tribe of Judah, until he comes to whom it is reserved." And thou wilt also give up the teachers of the law until the Church, gathered from the nations, brings forth in Christ; from that time forward, their customs and dogmas shall be abolished.

*Pariet, et reliquiæ fratrum eorum revertentur ad filios Israel.* "She shall bring forth," he says, "and the sons of Israel," namely, the twelve apostles, the seventy disciples, and those five hundred men to whom the Lord appeared after his resurrection, "will give their name to Christ; and the remainder of their brothers shall subsequently turn to them, and they too shall embrace the religion of Christ." This is precisely what happened when first three thousand men received the faith of Christ, and then another five thousand, whom Peter took as if with a net, and then so many other thousands, of whom even divine James says to holy Paul: "Thou seest, brother, how many thousands there are of believing Jews?" By "remnants," moreover, the divine prophet designates those who in any age would give their name to Christ, being, as it were, leaves—that is, chosen—by God. ^C But some explain this thus: "She shall bring forth," he says, the Church from the nations...

and from then on [the Church] bringing forth; those who from time to time are born as Gentiles (who could also be called brothers of those Gentiles who believed before, such as, for instance, those around Cornelius) shall be joined to those from Israel who have believed, such as were, as has been said before, the apostles and those of their time. Since Bethlehem is interpreted as "House of bread," and the bread that came down from heaven is Christ, of whom everyone who does His commandments is a house—"For I," He says, "and the Father will come, and we will make our abode with him"—the Ruler of Israel shall come ^A forth also from this [house]. For Christ is revealed as the Ruler of the contemplative part in the one who receives Him through the exercise of virtue, when His pre-eternal existence is rendered clear. Let those who are rulers of the Church, and indeed those of the world, be trained not to become rulers before they show their minds to be a house of the bread that is given ^B for sale.

VERS. 4. *And He shall stand, and look, and shall feed His flock in the strength of the Lord.* That "He shall stand" is instead of "He Himself shall supervise His own sheep," and He Himself shall look after them, not as in ancient times through Moses, but He Himself through Himself. For He says, "Not an angel, nor a messenger, but the Lord Himself shall save them," and He shall feed them; He shall not slaughter, nor sacrifice, nor sell the fleeces, and drink the milk. He shall feed, moreover, in strength; for He is the power of the Father, and the strong God. Furthermore, regarding His human nature, He is not burdened by any weight of sins, as are the other pastors, the chief priests. And it says, "He was teaching with authority, and not as the Scribes." He shall stand, moreover, it says, on Golgotha, and shall feed in the strength of the cross His flock, namely us, who have given our name to Him. Or, He shall feed those who were long ago His flock, the Hebrews, in strength—that is, with the Roman iron ^C rod. And everyone who is appointed to feed ought to stand, that is, to be firm and unshaken, and to see with the eyes of wisdom, and not be blinded by ignorance; and to feed, and not to sell and slaughter; and to feed in strength, that is, in Christ. "For I am," He says, "the door: if anyone enters through me, he shall be saved." Also, he who does not fear the anger of rulers, but boldly reproves them when they sin, feeds in strength.

*And they shall subsist in the glory of the name of the Lord their God.* Who shall subsist? Clearly those who are fed. For this reason, He says, these shall especially ^D obtain power and subsistence, because they are called Christ's faithful. Or rather, because they follow the way of their calling:

for by their deeds they glorify the name of our Lord and God, Jesus Christ. ^A For now they shall be magnified even to the ends of the earth. And this is evident in the present; for even to the Ocean the name of Christ is held in honor, and those who are called by this name are multiplied and magnified, even if they are persecuted by the ungodly. And this shall be peace, when the Assyrian comes into your land, and when he treads upon your country. Since what he prophesied concerning Christ was to come to pass many ages later, he confirms the prediction concerning these things by the events that were to happen at that time. For, he says, that you may know that what I have foretold shall be, take the present things as a pledge. For there shall be deep peace, I having destroyed the Assyrian against all expectation, when he comes upon you (that is, invades), and treads upon your land (that is, takes possession of it). ^B And there shall arise seven shepherds, and eight bites of men; and they shall feed Assur with the sword. Seven, he says, are the kings I shall raise up against the Assyrian (for he calls kings "shepherds"), who will fight against him eight times, and by these eight warlike assaults, as if they were certain bites, they shall tear his army and consume him utterly. And they shall feed him with the sword, following behind him and pursuing him, so that he, being altogether unequal in strength, cannot protect his sheep. And the word "feed" is most customary in the Holy Scriptures. And the land of Nimrod in the trench thereof. He calls Babylon the land of Nimrod. For Nimrod, having used tyrannical power, held Babylon first under his control. For, he says, the beginning of his kingdom was Babylon, and Orech, and Chalane. Since, therefore, the Assyrian held Babylon under his power, God says now that those seven kings shall humble both the Assyrian and his kings, even though Babylon has a very great trench, surrounding itself with fortified walls. ^C Or thus: They shall force the Babylonians to be confined within the trench, and not to advance further. And he shall deliver thee from Assur, when he comes upon your land, and when he treads upon your borders. He, he says, shall suffer these things; but you, he says, not only then, when I raise up the kings against the Assyrian, shall you be delivered from his evils, but even now, when he has come upon you, I shall deliver you, and you shall be saved ^D safe from his attack and incursion by my aid.

^A For he speaks here of the things concerning Sennacherib, and the destruction of his army in one night. The mystical Assyrian also descended upon our land—I mean the flesh, making our members, which are upon the earth, his own. He also descended upon our borders, the mind and the reason; for these are the boundaries of man that distinguish him from the irrational animals. When, therefore, he seemed to have gained power over us, and the earth was filled with every kind of wickedness and impiety against God, then Christ, who is our peace, stood by us; and against this kind of Assyrian arose both the seven operations of the Spirit—good shepherds, feeding those worthy of the Spirit—and the eight bites of men, that is, of those who maintain human dignity, namely the five senses connected with faith, hope, and charity, or joined with the confession of the Holy Trinity. ^B And by the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, this enemy was struck down, and the land of Nimrod, that is to say, sin, was struck down as well. For this is the land of that intelligible Nimrod, concerning whom it is said: *He began to be a mighty hunter before the Lord* (Gen. x, 9). For he is stiff-necked before God, and he hunts the souls of men. The trench of sin is the flesh, which lusts against the Spirit, and thereby secures sin. But the Lord, *becoming in the likeness of sinful flesh* (Rom. viii, 3), condemned sin in that very flesh which He assumed. And thus the land of Nimrod was struck down in its own trench. Furthermore, you may conveniently understand the seven shepherds to be the divine prophets; for the number seven in the Old Testament ^C is allegorical, both for other reasons and especially because it promised the goods of the present age. The eight bites, however, are the discourses of the apostles. For the teeth are instruments adapted for the utterance of words; so the apostles bit the Assyrian with those words by which they proclaimed the resurrection, which indeed happened in Christ on the eighth, the Lord's day, after the seventh of the Sabbath; and it will happen for all of us in the eighth age after this seventh age; and together with the resurrection, they preached the heavenly kingdom in that eighth. But if you consider the events concerning Ananias and Sapphira, and the events concerning Elymas the sorcerer, and those delivered to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, ^D that the spirit might be saved and that they might be taught not to blaspheme, then you will understand how also by the sword—

the apostles pastured, using excision against those who did such things.

^B VERS. 7, 8. *And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the nations, in the midst of many peoples, as dew from the Lord falling, and as lambs upon the grass, that no one may gather, nor withstand among the sons of men.* And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the nations in the midst of many peoples, as a lion among the cattle of the forest, and as a young lion in the flocks of sheep, in the manner that when it passes through, and dividing, it snatches, and there is none who delivers.

These things can be understood as the words themselves sound. God, of course, promises to those Hebrews who remained survivors and were preserved unharmed after the Babylonian overthrow, such and so great an abundance of all things, that they might be able to sprinkle others also, as with dew, with this affluence of goods and bestow benefits upon them; to them likewise He promises to give such authority and power against their enemies that they might utterly destroy them, like wild grass, in the manner of lambs, and overturn them completely, so that they could no longer rise up against them, nor would anyone dare to come into their sight. But just as a lion separating the sheep, rushing into their midst, seizes them as they are terrified by fear and separated from one another, fleeing hither and thither, and there is no one who might rescue them; so too did they plunder the substance of their enemies.

But in truth, these things are preached concerning the apostles. For since the prophet previously made words about things that were to happen in the time of the Babylonian subject, he now passes to those things which happened in the times of Christ. And therefore the prophet declares how those who were chosen by divine aid from the progeny of Jacob—the apostles, that is, and the others who shine together with them from the Hebrews in the Church, and indeed all teachers of the Church universally (for, as it was said above, *not all, as many as descend from Israel, are Israel* [Rom. IX, 6])—how these, I say, will be as dew to the nations, who are fervent with the heat of idolatry and other evil passions, and will deliver to them the doctrine of the Gospel which has descended upon them from the Lord. Who indeed will utterly overturn impiety, not at all as lambs upon grass, so that no assembly of the impious would be seen to gather and subsist any longer, but that all might be corrected and reduced to good fruit. ^C This, however, I do not say concerning demons, he says (for they cannot be corrected), but concerning men, in whom amendment can take place. Or the sense is: Since the food of the teacher is the utility of the disciple; just as, he says—[on the part of the One who said: *Go, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them*]—

the lambs rejoice greatly when they find the grass which will be their food. So, too, these men, having obtained disciples, will rejoice with exultation, so that no one may any longer be numbered among those who are of a hard heart and who love a lie, but all may become children of God, joint-heirs with Christ. Then, since the prophet seemed to himself not sufficiently to have shown the power divinely given to them through the images of dew and lambs to which he had likened such teachers, he adds another image, that of the lion. For the beginnings of the apostolic ^B teaching were likened to dew; and they were as lambs in the midst of wolves, consuming and rooting out the grass of impiety with their teaching and through miracles. After this, when the inhabited world had received the proclamation, and generals and kings had been numbered among the faithful, fear passed over to the enemies of the truth, and they, timid as herds of cattle, grew afraid and trembled. But the lion of the Church, having confidence, and especially because of the abundance of its righteousness (for the just man is confident as a lion), separates the lie, distinguishing it and pointing it out to those who were previously wandering, and seizes these, taking them captive into the obedience of Christ. And there is no one who can snatch those away from Him, shouting with Paul: *Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?* Which Christ Himself also said: *No one, he says, snatches my sheep from my hand.* Furthermore, the apostles themselves were at once lambs and lions: lambs, insofar as they did not resist those who wished ^C to scourge them, to flay them, and to kill them; but lions, insofar as they were strong against error and impiety, in the power of the Word and of miracles.

VERS. 9. *Elevabitur manus tua super eos qui tribulant te: et omnes inimici tui perdentur.* These things took place in a sensible way, when, as we have said, power and authority passed to Christian princes. At which time, indeed, the Greeks, who were afflicting the people of Christ and tearing down the temples of God, utterly vanished; and we destroy their shrines, if anything at all remains. Yet these same things are understood to be fulfilled more and more in a spiritual sense. For the hand of the faithful—that is, the power to stir up virtues—has been raised against the demons, who try to persuade us to pursue vice as if it were a most sweet thing, and ^D who afterwards goad us with the stings of conscience and thus drive us to desperation.

VERS. 10. *Et interficiam equos tuos de medio tui, et disperdam currus tuos, et subvertam civitates*

I shall destroy the cities of your land, and I shall remove all your fortifications. Those from Israel who have believed will obtain the foretold power; but those who have persisted in unbelief, such as the Hebrews of our current time, will be deprived of their own kingdom. And they will have neither cavalry, nor well-fortified cities, nor other defenses, such as nature has produced 68 in mountains or caves, which it has given to men to flee to in times of necessity. And if anyone reads the accounts of Josephus, he will find the truth of these things that are spoken. For if 69 we do not understand that the things said previously were spoken regarding some, and the things currently said regarding others—that those were spoken to the faithful, and these to the unbelievers—it will appear strange. But they are all spoken toward one persona, that of the Hebrew race. Observe also from the wording the truth of what I say; for He promised good things to the remnant of Jacob, but not simply to Jacob.

And I will remove your sorceries from your hands. He calls sorceries the incantations which they used, invoking demons in everything.

And there shall be no more speakers among you. This refers to seers; he calls them speakers because they seemed to be suddenly beside themselves, and, being inspired by the breath of demons 70, they spoke forth the things which that inspiration provided to them. Therefore, he says, I will destroy your seers.

And I will destroy your graven things, and your pillars from your midst; and you shall no longer worship the works of your hands, and I will cut down the groves from your midst. Here he clearly signifies the destruction of idolatry; for after the incarnation of Christ, the Jews, seeing the piety of the nations, even against their will, themselves abandoned the worship of idols. For they are ashamed, seeing1 those who are outside the laws living decorously, to openly live an impious life themselves. And among them there are no longer graven things, nor pillars, nor groves. For as you learned in Hosea, they used to choose from the trees those that were tall and shady, and these they honored. But now they are cut down as common wood for burning, or used for the works of carpenters.

And I shall annihilate your cities, and I shall perform in anger and in fury vengeance upon the nations, because they did not listen. I shall drive them out, he says,

from their own cities and disperse them among the nations, ^A wreaking vengeance for the blood of my Son, because they did not listen to the prophets who spoke concerning him; nay, not even to him while he cried out, "I am the light of the world," and, "Why do you seek to kill me, a man who has spoken the truth to you?" See, however, how God, even while punishing, confers a benefit. Observe, indeed, from what things he deters men: namely, from the worship of idols, from sorceries, and from divinations. These things could also be aptly applied to human nature, whose knightly pride and womanish madness the Lord, who was born in Bethlehem, removed from the midst, and the cities which its land—that is, the flesh—had, and the strongholds of earthly and human thoughts he razed through those who say: "Destroying thoughts and every height lifted up against the knowledge of God,"—every sorcery of the bewitching pleasure that had formerly enslaved the human race, he did away with, saying, "The way is narrow and constricted," and, "In the world you will have tribulation." He also cut down the groves that are in us and the thickets of thoughts, wherein the intellectual beasts used to lurk.

CHAPTER VI

^A "My people, what have I done to you? Or in what have I grieved you? Or in what have I wearied you? Answer me." Tell me, He says, the cause of your enmity; demonstrate if you have suffered any harmful thing from Me. Then, since necessity compels him to silence, having nothing to say, He presses on, saying:

^B "For I brought you up out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of bondage, and sent before your face Moses, and Aaron, and Miriam." In this, He says, have I wronged you, that I brought you up out of the land of Egypt? Then, so that they might not have it to say, "We were harmed by being brought up from such a fertile land, which provided us with onions, and garlic, and meats," which their fathers in the wilderness also desired, He adds, "And I redeemed you from the house of bondage." For even if the land was good and fertile, you were not in good circumstances; for as far as you were concerned, it was a house of bondage. And not only this, but I also gave you leaders, wondrous men guiding you away from every danger. And I did not deprive even the women of My providence, but I deemed them worthy of the appropriate care, appointing Miriam over them, as she participated in the prophetic Spirit.

^C "My people, remember now what Balak king of Moab devised, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him, from the Shoenim [Acacias] unto Gilgal, that the righteousness of the Lord might be known." He still calls them "His people" (76), that He may show both His own goodness and their ingratitude—that they should kick against One so good—and at the same time that He might shame them, so that they might perhaps be sensible and return to Him; and also that He might instruct us to be thus good toward those who are ungrateful to us, and to reclaim them even after they have been proven ungrateful. What then, He says, does He say to this ungrateful people? If you are unmindful of the freedom from Egypt, remember the events regarding (77) Balaam, and how Balak, the king of the Moabites, summoned this seer so that, by means of certain sorceries, he might curse Israel and, by the incantations customary to him, wither his strength (for such is the power of cursing); but I turned the curses into blessings, not because of your righteousness (for you were ungrateful even then), but so that My righteousness and truth might appear. For I promised your forefather to give you the land of Palestine; and for this reason I preserved you, fulfilling the covenants made with him. Or also in this way: Remember My benefits, so that from this, as you are condemned, My righteousness may appear, because you have abandoned in this way the One who treated you so beneficially. Similar to: "That You may be justified in Your words." But what is, "From the Shoenim [Acacias]"

to Galgal"? These are the boundaries of those places in which Balaam was eager to devote Israel to curses, by transferring himself from one mountain to another. ^A For he thought these places were a source of damage and an impediment to him; therefore, being led by evil spirits, he moved from one place to another. From that place, then, which had the rushes, up to Galgal, he went round all the mountains lying between them. The mountains are the apostles, to whom the Synagogue is judged, because it refused to receive those who drew their origin from her; the hills are the prophets, as being inferior to the apostles; the valleys, finally, are the churches, which embrace the multitude of Christ’s faithful, and which are also the foundations and safeguards of the earth, in which Christ expostulates with His people. Since Christ had done no evil to it—nay, having first liberated it from the sensible Egypt, and then also from the mystical one (for it was for this very reason that He became incarnate), and having long ago rendered null the curses of Balaam ^B through sorcery, subsequently showing all his malicious art to be utterly vain and useless—He was crucified by such a people. But if any who are set in authority are reckoned as mountains, because of the height of that authority, and as foundations of the earth, in that they are the supports of the people; if they should also be like to fractured places, because, being torn from one another, they are held together by no bond of charity, and because they receive on all sides the vices that flow into them: God urges, through these words of the prophet, that someone should rise up and expostulate with the princes themselves, reproving them for the fact that they have done nothing consistent with their promise, and that most especially, since they are the people of God and are called Israel.

Verse 6. In what shall I take hold of the Lord? Shall I take hold of my God, the Most High?

Verses 6, 7. If I take hold of Him in burnt offerings, in calves of a year old? If the Lord will accept thousands of rams, or ten thousands of fat goats? If I give my firstborn for my impiety, the fruit of my womb for the sin of my soul?

^A accepts these things (for He made it clear through Abraham that He does not accept them), but he puts this forward hypothetically, by way of hyperbole, since the Son is more precious than all possessions.

VERS. 8. *Annuntiatum est tibi, homo, quid bonum. Aut quid Dominus quærit a te, nisi ut facias judicium, et diligas misericordiam, et paratus sis ambulare cum Domino Deo tuo?* The prophet answers the one who is perplexed about how he might make the Lord propitious to him: "You know, O man, what is good; for this has been announced to you from God. Or what else, tell me, does the Lord seek from you, except to act with justice—that is, to do what is right—and to show mercy to your neighbor? And besides these things, or even before them, not to walk after other gods, but to recognize the true God? For this is what the law says: *Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, and thy neighbor.*" Observe, however, that the sacrifices of the law are being removed, and the spiritual sacrifice is being introduced, just as in David, after he discarded everything, both calves and ^B goats, he says: *Offer to God a sacrifice of praise, and pay to the Most High thy vows;* and again, *A broken and humbled heart God will not despise.* He performs judgment, and he judges righteously by both soul and body: to the one he gives the rule, while he beats and enslaves the body. The same man also shows mercy, by having mercy on himself here, so that he may not be delivered to the fire there; for how will God spare there the one who has not spared himself here? Such a man is also prepared *to walk with the Lord his God.* To walk where? Upward, where Christ is. For to depart and be with Christ is better for him, and more desirable than life itself. Therefore, he is always ready to depart, where he shall be with the Lord forever; for he is not held by the things of this world. Just as a thief, or a murderer, or ^C one who commits some other evil deed is not prepared to walk with the judge (for how could one who plots everything so as not to appear before him—?), so also everyone who sins is not prepared to walk with the Lord; for he hates the light and fears the Judge.

VERS. 9. *Vox Domini in civitate invocabitur, et salvabit timentes nomen ejus.* Through these words he teaches us that the offering of victims will profit the city that has stumbled not at all; but if the name of the Lord is invoked through a voice in every respect, and is proclaimed in it—as people say, "So-and-so is the city of John"—then at last that city will be profited. For it appears that because it performs works worthy of the Lord, ^D therefore it is called the city of the Lord. For he brings in: *And He shall save those who fear His name.*

not those who hold Him in contempt, and who despise and disdain works pleasing to God. Therefore, the mere invocation of Christ will not profit a Christian, as some imagine, toward not being punished, unless works are present. ^B

*Vers. 9, 10. Hear, O tribe, and who shall adorn the city? Is it fire, and the house of the wicked, treasuring up treasures of iniquity, and with contumely, injuries?* God addresses all the tribes of Israel, and says: Hear, every tribe: will the fire of enemies that burns down a city adorn it, or shall it not rather consume and devour all its beauty? Although fire is bright and appears from afar, will it therefore adorn the city? By no means. Likewise, the house of the wicked, even if it be splendid and conspicuous, will nevertheless be a cause of destruction both to itself and to the city in which it is, if it treasures up iniquities—that is, things gathered from unjust gains—with contumely, which is to say, with superciliousness and pride, and with the practice of torturing and punishing. How, then, do you suppose that iniquity adorns any city? Did the fire of envy, with which the inhabitants were inflamed against Christ, adorn the city of Jerusalem? Nor did the house of the wicked Judas, which in treasuring up treasures of iniquity (for holding the money-bag, he carried the money cast into it, and stole it) afterwards raged against his Benefactor, unjustly selling his Master for thirty pieces of silver. Nor, indeed, does the fire of anger or of desire adorn anyone’s city. For an angry man is not seemly, and he who desires wickedly is likened unto irrational beasts, and loses his own dignity. Finally, a man who has become a house of the spirit of wickedness, the author and leader of all iniquity, will not adorn the city on high, in which the disciples of Paul lead their life, to whom it is said: *You are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in you*. ^{C D}

*Vers. 11. Shall the wicked be justified in the balance? And in the bag, the fraudulent weights, with which they have filled their treasures of impiety.* “Shall he be justified,” that is, he shall not be justified. For it is an idiom of Scripture to use such a conjunction for things that are utterly denied, as if one speaking in the manner of an angry man. God therefore says that the wicked merchant will not be justified by such a balance (for how could he, since by it he is rather condemned?); nor shall the fraudulent weights be justified in the bag, that is to say, in the act of acquiring wealth. For on account of this very thing it is about to

^A be condemned, because from fraudulent weights they acquired wealth full of impiety. By "impiety" here, I think, he refers to injustice in a way intended to shame, rebuking the unjust in that, through the very things by which they wrong their brothers, they act impiously toward God, who takes to Himself everything that we show toward our brothers. But perhaps also because the Israelites, while prospering and giving themselves over to luxury and debauchery, fell into idolatry, since they themselves were also worshipping the impressionable gods of the Greeks, so that sinning might be free of blame for them. For this reason He said that they filled their wealth with impiety. And even the lawless Judas, mentioned earlier, will not be justified when God weighs his affairs, nor will his fraudulent weights, he who was himself fraudulent, and like a thief from the money-box, and like one who ate with the one being sold by him, and later even kissing the one he was betraying; from which things gathering wealth, he went forward, having crucified God. And each of us has a scale and weights by which it is determined that he should render to virtue and to vice what is proper to each. If, therefore, one acts lawlessly and does not render what is proper to each, he will not be justified. Such fraudulent weights the Greeks also possessed, who filled the wealth of their own wisdom with impiety, having worshipped the creature besides the Creator, and having exchanged the glory of God for the likeness of corruptible man, and of quadrupeds, and of reptiles. Do you see the unjust money-changers and the weighers? ^B And those who dwell in it spoke unjustly. The structure is thus: The house of the lawless will not adorn the city in which the aforementioned evils exist, and whose inhabitants pursue every calumny and every lie. And their tongue was exalted in their mouth. That is, their tongue received great power, so that they might say whatever they wished, and make the small great, and apply exaggeration to things falsely spoken. The inhabitants of Jerusalem spoke falsely against the Lord: "If this man were not a malefactor, we would not have delivered him up to thee"; and their tongue was exalted when they cried out: "Away, away, crucify him." And I will begin to strike thee, and will destroy thee in thy sins. Because, He says, it cannot of itself understand what is proper, I will make a beginning of punishing thee, and to such a degree that I will deliver thee to destruction, not being angry, but because of thy many sins inflicting this bitter penalty upon thee; for to such numerous sins of thine, no moderate blow is fitting, but a complete destruction. Perhaps this signifies that God brings about the destruction because of the sins, destroying these, not those who are punished.

^A For how could a man be properly said to be annihilated, whose soul enjoys immortality, and whose body is kept in the hand of God, destined to be restored to him again?

VERS. 14. *Thou shalt eat, and shalt not be satisfied.* I will bring upon you frequent and successive calamities, so that, though you have already been punished, you will seem not to have been punished at all; just as one who is not yet satiated, and therefore still eats, appears not to have eaten yet. Some say that God threatens the city itself with famine through these things, so that even while eating, it cannot be satiated due to the scarcity of necessities. Even now, the Hebrews eat the legal precepts and ceremonies, yet they are not filled, for they have no power to practice them as the Law commands. The prodigal, too, who has devoured the paternal riches of reason, becoming as it were devoid of reason, eating the sweet yet bitter fruits of sin—such as the husks—is not thereby satisfied.

^B *And it shall become dark in thee, and thou shalt turn aside, and shalt not be saved.* Darkness and a certain blackness of misfortunes, like night, shall surround you, which you will indeed try to turn aside—that is, to escape—but you will not have the power to be saved. Those who crucified the Sun of righteousness were also plunged into darkness, closing their eyes so as not to see; they did not know, nor did they understand, that they were walking in darkness. For this reason, they turned aside from the true way, Christ, and they shall by no means be saved, neither in this life, nor, by a long measure, in the life to come. Moreover, darkness was made over the whole earth when the Lord was crucified, in case they might understand; but they turned aside. And every sinner, when the light of the Word is darkened within him, then turns aside from what is good.

^C *And I will cast thee into thyself.* That is to say, I will stir up civil wars, so that you may be cast out of yourself within yourself. For when the tribes of Israel waged war against the tribe of Judah, and the latter in turn against them, they cast one another out of their cities. God is said to do these things by His permission. And those who killed the Lord, when sedition arose among them, cast one another out of their towers, and porches, and from the temple, as Josephus reports. The sinner, therefore, is cast down from the city above, within himself, that is, by providing the occasions for such a casting down himself.

^D *And thou shalt be taken, and shalt not be saved: and whosoever shall be saved, shall be delivered to the sword.* You who are fighting with one another, He says, may perhaps capture, O Israel, the cities of Judah; but Judah in turn shall capture yours, and will utterly destroy you. And if any seem to have escaped the calamities of the civil war, they shall be delivered to the sword, inasmuch as they will be entangled in other wars, namely, Assyrian...

^A or Egyptian, or Babylonian.

VERS. 15. *Thou shalt sow, and shalt not reap: thou shalt tread the olive, and shalt not be anointed with oil: and thou shalt make wine, and shalt not drink wine.* It is indeed the wrath of God when someone reaps, but does not gather fruits worthy of his labor; but the wrath is surely greatest when he does not even apply a sickle to the fields, and when he presses the olive ^B but does not obtain from the pressing even enough oil to be anointed with; and even if he makes wine, he makes it into vinegar or something else useless for drinking; or even if he produces good wine, he is mostly carried off by natural death or is slain by the sword of enemies, so that he cannot conveniently enjoy it. The Scribes of the Jews sowed calumnies against the resurrection of Christ, but they did not reap faith; for on the contrary, His resurrection is believed in throughout the whole world. The olive was the Law, which ^C brought forth the Spirit; but they, pressing the Law badly and according to the letter, and not passing over to the spiritual sense, were not anointed with the oil of gladness, so that they too, having received the chrism from the Holy Spirit, might become Christs. They made wine (for salvation came from the Jews, from whom Christ took flesh, the mystical wine, by which the heart of him who is truly man is gladdened), but they do not accept this wine. In another way also did the Jews make wine, by slaying the Lord, whose blood is wine; but they do not drink this ^D mystical wine. And he who sows to the flesh, and from the flesh reaps corruption, reaps nothing; since he reaps things subject to corruption. He presses the olive who grieves the Holy Spirit through wicked deeds contrary to the laws, of which the Apostle says: "And grieve not the Holy Spirit." For this reason, he will not attain to the joy of the Spirit. Finally, he makes wine but does not drink it who teaches others, but does not teach himself.

And *the statutes of my people shall be destroyed.* What illegal statutes you had, he says, both for other reasons and especially because they commanded that the fruits which I bestow be offered to idols, all these things will be removed from the midst and utterly destroyed. For how, in such a scarcity of food by which you are pressed, will you be able to offer first-fruits to your gods? But he wisely said, "statutes of the people," that you may learn that he is not speaking of those which He Himself legislated, but of those which they imposed upon themselves, with one inventing one thing and another another.

And *thou hast kept the statutes of Zamri, and all the works of the house of Achab.* Behold, from this it is also shown concerning what statutes he spoke above. "You have kept," he says, "the statutes of Zamri." Now this was the father of Achab, and he vied with Jeroboam, the son of Nabat, in impiety.

^A By mentioning Achab, he signifies Jezabel, whose works were the violation of divine law, the slaughter of prophets, and injuries and oppressions. God says these things to show that they themselves became the authors of this perdition for themselves, having emulated the impiety of the aforementioned men. ^B He adds, therefore: *And you walked in their counsels, that I should deliver you to desolation, and the inhabitants thereof to hissing, and you shall bear the reproach of the people*. It was not for that end that they kept the statutes of Zamri, that He might destroy and blot them out; but the particle "that" (like "in order that") is wont to be used in Sacred Scripture, as we have often said in many places, to signify that something follows from the preceding events. Just as in this instance, from the fact that they walked in the counsels of Zamri and Jezabel, it resulted that they were utterly destroyed by God. Or even in this way: "You have emulated," he says, "your predecessors, impious men, in a way desiring, and craving, that I should destroy and blot you out." So greatly do you pursue your own perdition. By "hissing," he means either mockery (for he adds: *and you shall bear the reproach of the people*, meaning you will be a laughingstock not to one or two, but to many peoples), or the amazement that is wont to happen when someone sees a house or a city falling from its high pinnacle of glory and dignity. Those who lived in the time of Christ followed the works of the house of Achab; ^C who, just as Jezabel killed the just Naboth, so they also killed the just Jesus, in order that they might take possession of the vineyard. For that the people, who are the vineyard, might have them called masters and be addressed by men as "Rabbi, rabbi," for this cause they took off the heir, and therefore they were destroyed, and are a laughingstock to all those peoples among whom they have been dispersed, having become the most vile and abject of all.

CHAPTER VII

VERS. 1. *Woe is me, for I am become as one that gathereth stubble in the harvest, and as a grape-gleaning in the vintage, when there is no cluster. My soul desired to eat the first-fruits*. Having foretold the evils that they were to suffer, the prophet now complains that he has beaten the air with many words, ^D and labored in vain. For "I seem," he says, "to do things similar to those who gather the ears of corn—which, on account of their thinness, have escaped the sickle and were left by the reapers—or to those who pluck the last small clusters which grow among the leaves." These are, of course, small clusters which have few and thin berries, devoid of juice. And they are called by this name either because they are hidden by the leaves due to their thinness—on account of which thinness they are not even seen by the vintagers—and for this reason the word is written by most with two lamdas. Or, which is more probable, they are so called because they are not the first-born of the vine (for that is a cluster), but they grow afterward, and for this reason they are also weak and

^A provided with few and small berries. Therefore, the word must be written with a single lambda. I am therefore, he says, like those who gather such fruits. For I did not find the true fruit of obedience in those who hear, that is to say, a cluster. For we said that the first-born fruits of the vine are clusters. Wherefore my soul longs to find a first-born fruit and to eat it—that is, to meet with an obedient man and to enjoy him. Some, however, say that the prophet here laments the future destruction that was to happen to the people, which would be such and so great that only a few would remain, clearly like stubble and gleanings. You may also understand that the holy man laments the scarcity of saints that existed at that time. For if there had been many righteous, the people would not have fallen into such and so great calamities. For God pardons sins ^B if peradventure five holy men are found. Stubble and gleaning are the letter of the Law, just as wheat and the cluster are the Spirit, which the children of the Jews were unwilling to cultivate. Therefore, the Lord mourns for them and desires to eat such first-born fruits as He ate in times past in Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and the other patriarchs. He also gathers stubble who gathers the omissions and deficiencies of those before him, and emulates these things, not the virtues of those men—all of which he will lament in the harvest, when everyone reaps in his own time the things done through the body. And since the leaves of the human tree are the outward displays—when someone performs works ^C encompassed by a desire for human show, and which for this reason become devoid of nourishment—he gathers gleanings in that final time of harvest, when he will desire to eat the first-born fruits, that is, to enjoy that purity and forgiveness of sins which he had when he was first born in the baptismal font. But virtue, too, is a first-born thing; for God made man upright, and created him for good works; but vice is a gleaning, introduced later through the disobedience of men. Then, therefore, when all the kinds of wickedness are gathered before the eyes of the man, he perceives that he has committed things worthy of lamentation. But do not you wait for the remorse that will come there; rather, already instructed from this place in what you are going to gather then, lament, as if that future time were present, and say: "Woe is me! for I have become ^D as one who gathers stubble," and what follows.

^A Woe is me, soul! for the pious one has perished from the earth, and there is no one who corrects among men. Having spoken figuratively—that he has no one who obeys—and having hinted at the scarcity of those who fear God by means of the stubble and the grape-gleanings, he now declares more clearly that he was lamenting for this reason: because he did not see a pious man in the land of the Jews, which once possessed many saints, nor anyone correcting in the men of that time—which is what Isaiah also laments: "How has the faithful city, Zion, become a harlot?" ^B Observe, however, that as long as one is on earth thinking of earthly things, he is not pious, nor is he one who corrects, as long as he is among men who have indeed become gods and sons of the Most High, but who die—because they do not think of divine things, nor of the things of the Most High, but of the things of the flesh and of a body of humiliation. The prophet, therefore, having lamented, then also lists the sins of the people of that time: "All judge for blood." That is to say, they go to court for this purpose, and each of them suborns the judges so that he may bring the death-dealing sentence upon his adversary; for the dispute among them is not about small matters, but about life itself. "Each one oppresses his neighbor with oppression." That is, he says, each one usurps the goods of his neighbor and pushes him into a strait. Or, even by their deeds, the more powerful harass the weaker and oppress them. ^C VERS. 3. "They prepare their hands for evil." Not only, he says, do they not do good, but they consider it a necessary pursuit to keep their hands ready only for doing evil and oppressing men. "The prince asks, and the judge has spoken peaceful words." These crimes, he says, that have been spoken of thus far, are committed not only by those who live in a lowly and obscure place, but also by those who are endowed with power and live life on high; those who, while they ought to be correcting the sins of others, fall into the same ones themselves. For the prince does not even wait for those who bring gifts, but he himself asks for them; and the judge has spoken peaceful words. He does not rebuke, he says, the one who is doing wrong; but, receiving gifts from him, he persuades the one who is at odds with him to be at peace with him, and he makes "peaceful" words—that is, conciliatory and peaceful, or peace-making, words. "It is the pleasure of his soul." That is to say, the overthrow of justice and equity will be pleasing to him. ^D Or, that what has been perpetrated by the unrighteous man pleases him, inasmuch as he himself is also unrighteous and unjust. Some, however, interpret this passage as follows: The judge, accepting gifts, speaks peaceful words—that is, pleasant and agreeable ones—to the one who gave the gifts, [he] proclaimed the victory.

which is most desirable to the litigant himself. ^A

Verse 4. And I will take away their goods, as a wood-eating moth, and walking according to a rule in the day of observation.

Woe, your acts of vengeance have come: now will be their weeping.

Do not believe in friends, and do not hope in leaders. From her who lies with you, beware of confiding anything; for a son dishonors a father; a daughter will rise up against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, a man’s enemies are all those in his house.

^B rise up against the parents whom God is punishing, shall escape the divine wrath; for if those who have no natural kinship with us are punished by God because they punish us—even though we were delivered into their hands—how much more shall those be punished who are joined to us by a natural bond? For parents do not do this as servants of God, but rather by satisfying their own wickedness, which for a time was hidden, but which, by God’s permission, is revealed. Absalom bears witness to this, for after having risen up against his father, who had provoked God to wrath, he paid the fitting penalty not long after. Therefore, the Lord of nature must be appeased, and we must not place too much confidence in the affection of kinsmen.

However, it must be known that whenever such a dissension among kinsmen arises for the sake of piety, it is praiseworthy and very pleasing to Christ, who says that He came for this very reason, to cast such division among men. For a son insulted his father when John and James, leaving their father, followed Jesus. A daughter rose up against her mother—the New Scripture against the Old, bringing in the Spirit and abrogating the letter; the Bride, the Church, wedded to the Son, rose up against her mother-in-law, that is to say, the Synagogue of the Hebrews, who still even now cling stubbornly to their own laws, which had been wedded long before to the Father. She had known Him as the only God; but now she hates even Him. For he who does not honor the Son, does not honor the Father. Enemies of the Lord Jesus—who became a man, that is, a human, and acted manfully against the one who is strong within us—were all the priests and high ^C priests who dwelled in His house and temple. For He came unto His own, and His own did not receive Him; nay, not even His own brothers believed in Him. His house also is the world, as that of the Lord, which hates Him. Likewise, he who was once the son of the wicked father, the devil, insults this father of his when he takes up the sword of the Gospel, by which such connections are severed. The flesh also, the daughter of the pleasure of sin (for in iniquities were we conceived, and in sins were we born), rises up against this mother of hers, when no care of it touches us, neither does desire seize us; but we crucify it, along with its passions and desires. But if the world is the son of matter, and desire has long been joined to it: it also rises up against its mother-in-law, matter, when it undergoes a praiseworthy separation from it.

^D VERS. 7. *Ego autem in Dominum respiciam; exspectabo Deum Salvatorem meum: exaudiet me Deus meus.* The prophet says these things of himself, giving an example to those who must believe in God. Indeed, the friends, he says... [Original-script column: see facsimile]

and acquaintances will be thus unfaithful, and for this reason foolish are those who place their hope in them. But I will look towards the Lord, and I will await the help from Him, not trusting in leaders, nor relying on friends, nor hoping in any of those who are my kin by flesh. And in every way, to one who hopes in Him without wavering like this, He will give ear. ^A Ne insultes mihi, inimica mea, quia cecidi et resurgam. Having taught the end of hope in God—that is, to be heard by Him—he assumes the persona of Sion and addresses Idumea, who is always hostile and at war. “Do not exult,” he says; “for even if I have fallen, having lapsed into calamities, I shall rise again.” Some say these things are spoken against Babylon: “Do not boast as though you had defeated me; for you have not defeated me through your own power, but because I have fallen from my standing in God, not recognizing God; nevertheless, I shall rise again from this fall.” But it seems to me that these things are better said to Idumea, as is clear from the things that follow. One might also say that the Church gathered from the nations says to the synagogue, “Do not exult over me, my enemy, you who abhor the nations; for I have indeed fallen through sin and impiety, but having turned to Christ, who is the resurrection, I shall rise again.” ^B For if I walk in darkness, the Lord is my light. Or if I am in the darkness of calamities and misfortunes, the Lord shall be my light and will prepare me not to feel the discomfort of such darkness; or, because “even if I were darkened in my mind, saying to the wood, ‘You are my God,’ and to the stone, ‘You have given birth to me,’ yet I shall be enlightened by the knowledge of the true God and Father.” The Church also shall say: “Even if, held fast by the darkness of sin, I walk in it and make progress, yet the Lord who said, ‘I am the light of the world,’ He Himself shall be my light.” ^C I will bear the wrath of the Lord, because I have sinned against Him. Looking, he says, to the magnitude of my sins, I know the justice of the punishment, and I will endure the wrath of Him who is chastising me because of my sins—that is to say, the discipline that comes from the wrath. Yet the wrath does not remain until the end; so do not exult. ^D Until He justifies my cause, and performs my judgment, and brings me forth into the light, and I shall behold His righteousness. I will await, he says, and I will endure, while being chastised for my sins, until He justifies the case that I have against those who afflict me. For even if I have offended Him, yet I also have many just claims against them, because I have suffered nothing terrible at their hands.

^A For He shall lead me out into the light of liberty from the darkness of slavery; and I shall see His righteousness, because He has punished those who so unjustly attacked me. The Church shall also say: "Even if the Lord has been angry with me, and has handed me over to a reprobate mind [Rom. 1, 28] as one who worshiped idols and the creature, yet I shall endure with a calm mind, until He justifies me through repentance and the laver of the sacred font, and brings forth my judgment, condemning the prince of this world who led me astray, and the Father of lights [James 1, 17] brings me out into the intelligible light. And I shall see His righteousness, Christ, who was made for us righteousness from God."

^B *And my enemy shall see, and shall be covered with shame, who says to me: Where is the Lord your God?* Idumea, she says, shall see my prosperity, and shall be ashamed, seeing God's kindness toward me—she who now accuses Him of being weak and so destitute of power that He cannot rescue me from my enemies. *My eyes shall look upon her.* Not only, she says, shall she see my prosperity, but I also shall behold her misery; for she shall not escape punishment entirely.

*Now it shall be for trampling, like the mire in the streets. The day of the smearing of bricks, that day shall be your blotting out.* Just as, she says, the mire lying in the streets, especially that which is prepared for the smearing of bricks, is trodden and trampled so that, becoming softer, it may be accommodated to the designated work, so too shall you be trampled by all, and that day shall be your obliteration. The Church could also say: "My enemy shall be covered with shame, when she sees the glory with which I have been gifted through the laver of the sacred font; and my eyes, in turn, shall see her cast into the fire in the age to come." For the children of the kingdom shall be cast out [Matth. 8, 12], and I, brought in to take their place, shall dwell with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Meanwhile, she herself shall be a spectacle of contempt to all, no differently than mire which is ^C trodden in the streets and continually trampled; and this is especially true if it is to be prepared for the smearing of bricks. The Lord also said: "Jerusalem shall be trodden down by the nations; and that day, on which you shall be trodden down, shall be your blotting out." Such a day is also Christ; for, having been crucified by the Jews, He became their destruction. All these things the common nature of us all can aptly say to its enemy, the multitude of demons, as can each person's soul, once it begins to repent of its sins. ^D

EXPOSITIO IN PROPHETAM MICHEAM. — CHAPTER VII.

"And that day thy statutes shall be driven far away." ^A That is, thy lawless laws shall be abolished. For where shalt thou worship, or how shalt thou perform those things that pertain to the service of idols, and the statutes concerning their worship, when thou art thus given over to destruction? But Christ also, having abolished by His dogmas the law of commandments, thrust away the statutes of the scribes. "And thy strong cities shall come into a siege." That is, they shall arrive at a siege, which happened under the rule of the Jews.

"And thy strong cities shall come into the division of the Assyrians." ^B From this it is clearly shown that all things said above concerning the enemy do not apply to Babylon itself, but to Idumaea; for the cities of Babylon were surely not given over to the division of the Assyrians, but those of Idumaea were divided—that is, they were plundered or possessed by inheritance, one by another—unless perhaps one might say that the Assyrians are the Medes and the Persians. The Hebrews had strong cities, namely, the legal commandments and observances, but they were delivered up to be divided among the Assyrians, that is, among the Gentiles. For we now divide and separate the letter from the spirit. Human nature also had strong cities, namely, philosophical dogmas and magical ones; but when Paul arrived in Athens and Corinth and proclaimed to those men the unknown God, Jesus Christ, and Him crucified, Dionysius the Areopagite and the wise men in Corinth, who previously thought magnificently of themselves, divided these things: they accepted what was investigative and contemplative in them, but rejected ^C as much as leads to demons, and to error, and to the abyss of perdition. Moreover, those at Ephesus who practiced curious arts burned their magical books. Each soul also has a proud and lofty disposition, which is compared to the Assyrians; and it has cities, namely, the systems of the various kinds of wickedness within it. When, therefore, that lofty and Assyrian disposition is brought to the knowledge of its own worth, and thinks on things above, and things worthy of that which is according to the image of God, then the cities of wickedness are delivered up to such a disposition to be divided. For the mind that thinks on things above, by dividing the wickedness into excesses and deficiencies, finds the mean of the virtues.

"From Tyre even to the river of Syria." Since other neighboring cities also rejoiced at the calamities of the Jews, the prophet makes mention of Tyre as well, and of Syria, and of the others which were sacked by the Babylonians and completely destroyed. And he says who these are, pointing them out by their borders. He refers, however, to the Euphrates as the river of Syria. ^D

^A And from sea to sea. From that which lies to the east, as far as that which is to the west. And from mountain to mountain. From the mountain of the Jews, Carmel, as far as Lebanon. All the cities therefore in the middle will be captured by the Babylonians, who previously rejoiced at the calamities of the Jews.

Day of water and tumult. That is to say, just as water flowing with vehement force produces a roar and brings terror, so also the army of the enemies will come, disturbing everything, and ravaging the aforementioned cities.

VERS. 13. *And the land shall be in dissipation with its inhabitants.* The land, that is, of these cities, will be laid waste, with its trees and fruits consumed by iron and fire; and at the same time its inhabitants will be delivered to the enemies to be slaughtered.

*Because of the fruits of their inventions.* He adduces the cause why these things will befall them. For such calamities, he says, are the fruits of their deeds. Human nature became earth because of disobedience, since it heard that word, *Earth you are and to earth you shall return* ^B, and since it had thoughts of earth; and this land was inhabited by the principalities and powers of darkness. But when the day of water and tumult arrived—meaning the Spirit and the sound which filled the house where the apostles were gathered—the blight of nature immediately vanished, as did the earthly mindset, and those who held such a mindset were dispersed. For we who have received and keep the grace of the Spirit no longer think like mortals. The day of water—which is clearly of the sacred laver and of tears—also destroys the soul of each person, which had become earth, as does the day of tumult—which the Word casts into the soul itself—shaking it and troubling it as it repents of its former deeds. Yet He destroys not its nature, but the fruits of its inventions and designs. For these alone vanish, not the nature and substance of the soul itself.

VERS. 14. *Shepherd thy people with thy rod, the sheep of thine inheritance.* Having ^C foretold what would happen to the neighboring nations, he next announces to the people the peace and tranquility that will come after the return, speaking in this manner, as it were, to the entire Israelite generation: Those people will indeed suffer these things; but you, shepherd your people and the sheep of your inheritance with the rod of your tribe, that is, with the scepter of your one tribe, Judah. For from it was born Zerubbabel, who governed the people after the return.

*Dwelling alone.* ^D Living a peaceful and tranquil life, and having no one

^B who might oppose them; or because they do not mingle with the nations, and do not learn their works, but are unmixed with Gentile practices. The Father might also say to the Son: "Feed Your people," those who have believed from among the circumcision, "and the remaining sheep of Your inheritance," that is to say, the nations which I have given You as an inheritance, "with Your rod," not the rod of punishment, which, like a potter’s vessel, shatters the disobedient, but the rod of discipline, which is the rod of visitation. For, He says, "I will visit their iniquities with a rod; but My mercy I will not take away from them." They are fed by the rod of the cross, even those who, like Paul, can say, "But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world." Such men even lead a solitary life, far removed from the throngs of men and the confusion of many affairs, and conversing only with God the Lord, they become "more than one," yet at the same time and in likeness, they are one in spirit. Thus also David said, "I am as one alone," and Jeremiah says, "I did not sit in the assembly of the mockers; I sat alone."

They shall feed in the forest in the midst of Carmel, in Basan and Galaad.

those who have obtained the translation of the testament, no longer cling to the words of the law itself, nor, being void of reason, offer irrational sacrifices, but as those who pursue the spirit of the law and live their life in the spirit, they offer themselves to God as a living and holy sacrifice. ^B

VERS. 15. *According to the days of thy lifetime, and according to the days of thy coming out of the land of Egypt, I will show him marvelous things.* Calling the ancient days the "days of the lifetime," he says: Because of those ancient days in which I helped you, I will show marvelous things to those who have returned from captivity. And just as, to those coming out of Egypt, I delivered the land of Palestine to be possessed as an inheritance, so also now shall you be masters of this region, and you shall possess that land, so fertile and extensive. Christ also rules those who are fed by Him, both in this life and in the future everlasting age. For since they contemplate heavenly things, and their citizenship is such that they are, as it were, in heaven, and they are dead to the world, and the world is dead to them—and though they are in the flesh, they do not war according to the flesh—is not such a manner of life an image of that which will be lived in the future age? Moreover, just as the ancient Hebrews were liberated from the slavery of Pharaoh, who was drowned in the sea, when they themselves crossed the Red Sea, and after the crossing of the Red Sea, ate the manna descending from heaven and drank the water flowing from the rock: so we too, when we were under the mystical Pharaoh, the prince of dark sin, were delivered from him, he having been drowned in the font of baptism; and after this baptism, we eat the bread which came down from heaven, I mean the flesh of the heavenly Word and God, and we drink the beverage that flowed from the rock, which is indeed the blood of Christ. *For the rock*, he says, *was Christ*. Therefore, the prodigies that happened to them as typical signs and images, the prophet declares are fulfilled in our own times. God shows marvelous things also through the hands of the apostles, just as in those ancient times through Moses and Aaron. ^C

VERS. 16. *The nations shall see, and shall be ashamed of all their might.* That is to say, they shall be cast down from their former power, which will be the greatest shame to them; and they will not dare to attack your empire, for, beholding My providence concerning you, even if they should attack, being conquered and broken, they will no longer fight with you, as they have become powerless. The demons suffered this same fate, those nations burning with implacable hatred against us. For all the kinds of illusions in which they were formerly most powerful have vanished through the advent of Christ. *They shall lay their hand upon their mouth.* Daring to say nothing against you, nor to mock, nor to jeer, as they were accustomed to do before. Nay, more, not even the demons… ^D

… ^A listen to others who speak against you, but they shall be as deaf. And the demons themselves have become deaf, no longer having, as before, those who call upon them.

*They shall lick the dust ^B as serpents that pull the earth.* Instead of "those that wallow upon the earth." For they shall fall down, he says, like serpents that drag themselves upon the earth, unable even to lift up their heads, because of having been struck with terror. Or he says this: that serpents, when they find no other food, lick the dust and pull the earth—that is, they draw it into their mouth by means of the tongue. And even the demons formerly found food in all men (for all had sinned and fallen short of the glory of God; and death reigned from Adam until Moses over those who had sinned), but now they do not find such food in all. For we are justified by the grace of Christ, into whose death we are baptized; and death itself has been rendered void. Yet they lick the dust and pull the earth—meaning the unbelievers, and those who lie below.

*They shall be troubled in their close confinement.* By "confinement" he means the straits that hem them in from all sides, as if in a siege. ^C Reduced to helplessness, he says, they shall be surrounded and hemmed in on all sides. And the demons were indeed troubled in the presence of Christ, saying, *What have we to do with thee?* and they begged him not to send them into the abyss, which was their place of confinement.

*They shall be afraid of the Lord our God.* That is to say, they shall marvel at your ineffable kindness toward us, in that you have had mercy on those who provoked you to such a degree.

*And they shall fear thee.* It will not be from our power that the fear will come to them, but from you. Or this: that they shall fear you and recognize you to be a fearful God—they who formerly feared idols and worshipped them, imagining them to be mighty gods. The opposing ^D powers were struck with astonishment at the Lord God, the Only-Begotten, who took on flesh and was called God-man—a most novel thing—and they feared you, the Father; and this is also to be feared by Him, for the Son is in the Father, and the Father in the Son. And it is clearly evident that even to this day they flee when they hear the name of Christ.

^A

VERS. 18. *Quis Deus, sicut tu, auferens iniquitates, et transcendens impietates his, qui reliqui sunt de hæreditate tua?* Having considered the immense humanity of God toward us, and seen how He deemed those who had committed nefarious crimes—entirely unworthy of pardon—worthy of such mercy, the prophet cries out with great astonishment, as if from the person of the people: *Who is God like unto thee?* For Thou dost not demand satisfaction for transgressions, but Thou takest away iniquities—that is, Thou blottest them out, Thou causest them to disappear—and Thou passest over transgressions—that is, Thou overlookest them, counting them as nothing. These things, moreover, Thou performest for us who have remained as survivors from Thy people, whom Thou hast thought fit to bring back from Babylon as the remnants of Thine inheritance. Through the laver of the sacred font, God also takes away the iniquities of the remnants of the Hebrew people who are preserved for salvation, of which remnants it has been said: *And the remnant shall be saved.* ^B And through repentance, He also passes over the impieties of all those who did not deliver themselves to despair, but kept in themselves certain remnants of good hope.

*And he did not hold his anger for a testimony, because he is desirous of mercy.* These things are similar to those words of the blessed David: *He will not be angry for ever, nor will he threaten for all eternity; he hath not dealt with us according to our iniquities, nor rewarded us according to our sins.* ^C And now the prophet cries out that God did not hold and guard His anger for a very long time, as a proof and testimony of the people's iniquity, because God prefers to show mercy and to spare, rather than to rebuke and punish.

VERS. 19. *He will return from his anger, and will have mercy on us: he will plunge our sins, and they shall be cast into the depths of the sea.* What God cries out through Isaiah, saying, *I am he that blotteth out thy iniquities,* and *I will no more remember thy sins,* this same thing Micah says in this place: that He will not only pardon our sins, but will utterly blot them out even from His own memory, and will cause them to be surrendered to perpetual oblivion, as if in the deep sea. For He shows this through the words: *He will plunge into the depths of the sea.* For just as that which is cast into the bottom of the sea escapes our eyes entirely, so too will God deliver our iniquities to perpetual oblivion. ^D

VERS. 19, 20. *He will give all our sins into the truth of Jacob, mercy to Abraham, as thou hast sworn to our fathers from the days of old.* All our sins, he says, He will give into the depths of the sea; for it is necessary to take this as referring back to the previous statement. And He will do this, that He may demonstrate to be true those things which God promised to the patriarch Jacob, and at the same time show that He has mercy on both Abraham and his seed. As Thou hast sworn, He says, O Lord, to those fathers of ours in times of old. So also David says: *He hath been mindful of his covenant for ever, of the word which he commanded to a thousand*

^B generations, which He disposed to Abraham, and His oath to Isaac. There is also another Scripture: *He will sink our sins, and all our sins will be cast into the depths of the sea*; and it should stop here. So that the sense of the prophet is understood to be that God will sink our sins; and repeating it for greater clarity, he says: Not this or that, but all. But having made a new beginning of the discourse, he subjoins: *Thou wilt give Thy truth to Jacob*, and what follows. That is to say, when Thou doest this, Thou wilt undoubtedly give Thy truth to Jacob. But if the violation of the law generates wrath (for where there is no law, there can be no violation of law), and if it is called a testimony because it testifies to the people what ought to be done and what ought to be avoided, and announces what evils they will suffer if they do not worship God, observe what God wants to say through these things. He suggests, of course, that since He is patient and merciful, He does not retain the wrath which the violation of the law by us caused Him, but will turn to us whom He had already abandoned; and having taken flesh, He will be seen on the earth, and will sink our sins in the laver of baptism; and they will be cast into the depths of the sea, where the prince and author of sin lies. For our sins were fought alongside him, and he himself is worthy to give an account for them, because he defiled the work of God. But let thanks be given to Him who had mercy on the men of old and on us at the same time, and who casts our sins into the depths of the sea of His own mercies, and destroys them; who may also grant us to imitate the virtue of Jacob, to supplant our passions through the practice of virtue, and becoming imitators of Abraham, not to ^C strive after these corruptible goods of this world, nor to worship them as if they were deities out of excessive devotion to them, but rather to fly from their inconstancy to Him and His immovable kingdom. So that we may also be called fathers of many nations born from us, because they are taught by us what is right and honorable, and emulate us and our honorable life, in which may we be confirmed by the grace of Christ Himself, with whom, to the Father, is glory together with the Holy Spirit, now and always and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Michæas means "humiliation" or "he who is humbled." He was from the region of Morathi, of the tribe of Judah, and having done many things for Ahab, he was at length cast down a precipice by his son, because he reproved him for the impieties of his fathers; and he was buried in his own land alone, near the populous Enacim.

The end of the exposition on the prophet Micah, from the voice of the most blessed archbishop of Bulgaria, lord Theophylact.