Chapter 1

Theophylact of Ohrid, Exposition of the Prophet Hosea

1 Argument

¹ …having spoken also concerning the things to come, but being inspired rather as to the things that had already happened; for it is not the foretelling of things to come, or these alone, that makes a prophet;[1] …to Caiaphas. But the demonic foreknowledge belongs only to the ministers of the demons, professing to know the future through corpses, and meal, and rams, and entrails, and the flight of birds, and other tokens. And the foreknowledge of the saints is through virtue, but that other through evil craft; and the one is for the correction of souls, while that of the demons seems to foretell concerning wars and money, and diseases, and all such bodily things, or things hurtful to the soul as well. And whatever dreadful things those men foretell come to pass as a coincidence of men telling the truth, and not through anything that depends on us; but whatever the saints foretell both comes to pass through what depends on us, and does not come to pass through the same; for it is that the hearers may be made better that these things are foretold. God too foretells dreadful things, and lays down the undoing of them; and this is our betterment;[2] when, therefore, we are bettered, the things threatened are not brought upon us; but when we are not bettered, they are brought upon us inexorably.[3] And those demons have need of instruments, and matter, and places, and[4] they divine for money also; but to the saints God himself is all these things, and virtue.

² There is also a natural foreknowledge: many of the animals have it — ants, hedgehogs, halcyons — and they foreknow by nature rains and winds and storms. And there is a foreknowledge by skill, among physicians and helmsmen. And there are also certain men who guess at the future from sagacity, whom we often use as counselors; as Balaam counseled Balak to put harlots forward, guessing that through them Israel would give offense to God.[5] And there is a common and popular foreknowledge: as that for three months it will be spring, or summer. Now all the rest are called foreknowledge and prophecy by a common name; but properly prophecy and foreknowledge is that which is given by God, whether through virtue to the worthy, or through dispensation to the unworthy.

³ Not every divine prophecy is written down, but countless men have prophesied unwritten as well; yet those who after David and Solomon are acknowledged to have prophesied conspicuously to the people are reckoned at sixteen; of whom the twelve are accounted worthy of a single volume — not as being contemporaries (for at different times different ones prophesied), but because the things they composed were not of many lines, nor long, nor such that each would suffice for the composition of a single book. Gathered together, the writings of all at once filled out one book; while the four, as being most copious of voice, were marked off into four books. In all of them, however, there is observed an obscurity, both because the discourses are concerning things to come (for every prediction has in it something overshadowed), and further because they were translated out of the Hebrew tongue into the Greek; for many of the idioms of that tongue do not fit this one, whence obscurity also is bred. And if one is more obscure than another, one ought not to wonder; as Isaiah is than both, or Ezekiel than Jeremiah. For obscurity comes about in many ways: either through the nature of the things declared — as it is with the description of the building of the tabernacle in Moses, and in Ezekiel the construction of the temple; or through the hearers, who are not worthy to hear things more plainly — as the Lord too spoke to the crowds in parables. And often the obscurity is bred through the peculiarity of the speaker in his manner of reporting. As here too: the Holy Spirit suggested to each of the prophets, but they thereafter reported the things of the Spirit as each was able; he used the same men. Just as is the standing and folly of the demons,[6] but he willed that they should both know and understand. So that they spoke all things with their own judgment as well; for let us by no means agree with those of the godless Montanus who say that the prophets, possessed by God, do not know what they say. For where then is the saying, Out of the mouth? and where the saying, The Lord will do nothing, unless he reveal his instruction?[7] …not of his sort, nor his yoke-fellow. And the baptism of the Lord, John, and Simeon, and Anna, and the daughter of Philip. And simply, those in each Church, as Paul through many testimonies bears witness, writing to the Hebrews; and a prophet after those among him[8] and for certain other unspeakable reasons, the Paraclete who distributes these things would know; but inasmuch as it has come to us, on account of the firmness of the faith already established. For just as the builders of arches prop them up while they are newly framed, putting certain supports beneath them, but when they have become firm, take those away; so also in the Churches,[9] while the faith was newly framed, there entered in the gift of prophecy to be a citizen among them, holding it up and supporting it. For if any unbeliever, it says, enter into a church, being reproved by those who prophesy, falling down he worships God, and confesses that God is truly among you. But now that the word has been made firm, there is no longer need of the prop; and the crowns are more now, when, seeing nothing such as those of old saw, we nevertheless do not stand away from the firmness in the faith. And perhaps one will also reflect upon this: that the times of old needed prophets, both to introduce other things to the people, and to foreshow the coming of Christ; but moreover the things concerning the consummation, and the son of lawlessness, and the cessation after these things, had been foretold beforehand by the Lord and the apostles; and whatever tends toward an earnest and heavenly life. Since, then, nothing further is lacking, and so necessary that prophecy must be spoken, the gift was reasonably withdrawn. And perhaps it would even have lifted up the lighter sort into conceit, and through the good a death would have been wrought. Concerning these things, then, enough.

⁴ And since among the twelve prophets Hosea is set first — both as far surpassing the others in time, and although a contemporary of Amos and Joel (for these too prophesied under the same kings), yet as having begun to prophesy before them — we must take him in hand first, having called upon the goodness of the Spirit, that what it inspired in him it may make plain to us, so far as may be. Now Hosea is interpreted “Saved”; and he is entrusted with the prophecy for the correction of all the people. For when Jeroboam, the man of the tribe of Ephraim, having drawn off the ten tribes from the remaining two — that of Judah and that of Benjamin — established a kingdom of his own in Samaria, and persuaded the people under him, the ten tribes which were named Israel and Ephraim, to worship idols, the Lord was angered. And since they were in need of chastisement and instruction, and were worthy to be delivered to their enemies, he sends the prophet to proclaim to them beforehand what they would suffer, if they should not turn back to him. For God threatens punishments, not that he may bring them on, but that by fear he may terrify the hearers, and so, being set right, they may escape the punishments; but to the two tribes also, which had the kingdom in Jerusalem (and they were as a whole called Judah, because the tribe of Judah was the more dominant; though sometimes they were also called Benjamin), the prophet is sent, foreshowing both the benefit that would come to them from God in the matter of Sennacherib, and proclaiming beforehand the evils that would come after these things; and through both leading them to correction. But neither were the ten persuaded (wherefore they were given over to utter destruction: first, when Hazael the Syrian warred them down, and Pul the Assyrian exacted tribute, and after him Tiglath-pileser made many of their cities desolate; and last, when Shalmaneser carried them all away as colonists into Babylon), nor were the two tribes set right. Yet God showed his own love for mankind, that he might teach us also to display the same. According to the letter, then, such is the aim of Hosea’s prophecy; but may the Spirit open our eyes, both to perceive from it the wonders, and to behold the mystery according to Christ through the mirror of the letter, and to see the beauty of virtue appearing in it, and calling us forth to the adornment of our ways.

2 Chapter One

¹ The word of the Lord, which came to Hosea the son of Beeri. Isaiah, then, sees, that he may the more terrify the hearers, as though the evils were already before their eyes; but to Hosea a word comes, as of some teacher — God conversing more gently with the disobedient, and shaming them both by what he says and by what he does. And it seems that the Word of God too, as God the wisdom of the Father, came to Hosea, and himself spoke through the prophet. And to everyone who pursues the things that lead to salvation the word comes, and this word prevails in him, ordering aright the irrational part of the soul.

² In the days of Uzziah, and Jotham, and Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel. These things show that the prophet was sent as an instructor to both kingdoms, both to that of the two tribes and to that of the ten, over which Jeroboam then ruled — not the one who of old drew off the people (for that one was the son of Nabat, but this one of Joash); for on account of the likeness of name the name of his father also is added; and it shows too that he continued proclaiming for a long time, that we may learn two things: one, that we also ought to do thus, and not, having spoken to those who err once or twice, be quit of them, but speak often and over a long time; and the other, that no one may accuse God, how he utterly destroyed so great a people; for in these things the judgment upon them appears just, seeing that, when God had borne with them and admonished them for so long a time, they were not set right.

³ The beginning of the word of the Lord to Hosea. Nothing else, he says, did he enjoin before this; but at one and the same time both he began to speak to me, and commanded me to take a harlot. And from this they soundly supposed that this man first began to prophesy in writing. Now in those who utter from the belly there is no beginning of the Word, but in them there rule either human reasonings or demonic; whereas in this true prophet the beginning was the Word of God, he dictating the things that were inspired in him by that one. But in every saved man also the whole beginning is the Word, as of some king, or general, presiding over all.

⁴ Go, take to yourself a wife of harlotry, and children of harlotry. When God sent the prophets to hard men, he commanded them to do such things as were likely to shame those men; for thus he ordered Isaiah also to make his prophecy running naked and unshod, and Jeremiah to put collars about himself, and Ezekiel to dig through the wall and go out, so that those who saw these things, done by such men, might not despise them, but might search out the causes for which they are done, and, learning, be brought to a sober mind. So here too, even if this does not seem so to the teachers of the Hebrews, Hosea takes the harlot, that they may learn that they themselves are the harlot, and that God bears with them — being a bridegroom — while they mingle with idols; and that, if the harlot is shameful, they too are shameful, and must change. And the prophets are wonderful, how they obeyed God even in things so strange and shameful; for where there is a command of God, there is nothing foul. Since indeed in another way too things are judged from their aim, and on account of the aim the same things often seem not the same: as marriage and adultery are the same act, even the union; but in marriage it is not blameworthy, while in adultery it is even to be punished. And Cain, having murdered, is condemned, as acting through envy; but Phinehas is righteous, as acting through zeal; to steal is not lawful, yet Jacob stole the blessing; Elijah fasted, as self-controlled; those who bore false witness against Naboth also fasted, as false accusers; Saul pitied Agag, whom God had commanded to be slain, and was condemned; Samuel found him out, and dispatched him. So here too the prophet, not yielding to desire, but to the command of God, took the harlot, and not[10] to the Synagogue of the Israelites. Thus, wherever the word is present to things that are done, it adorns them, even if otherwise they would be unadorned. And the mind of the earnest man takes to himself for a wife the harlot — the sense-perception, that was before senselessly poured out upon every pleasant thing of sense, and entwined with it, and become one with it — persuading it to perceive his own worth, and to be entwined with him, and not to be deceived by the apparent form of sensible things, but to consider their nature, that it is transient and unstable, even as the harlot’s intrigues are faithless and uncertain; and from this teaching it neither to be lifted up by pleasant things, nor to fall down at painful ones, because of the short duration in both.

⁵ Because the land shall surely go a-whoring from following the Lord. By “shall go a-whoring,” instead of “all the land of the Israelite tribes has gone a-whoring”; that is, it has turned aside from following the Lord, and has followed idols. And perhaps the expression is also inclined toward the future. The word gives us to understand the faithlessness of the Jews toward our Lord Jesus Christ, who might be called “land,” as having willed to think nothing lofty and heavenly. These, then, were so far from following after Christ that, seeing even others following, they said, raging and indignant, “Behold, the world goes after him.” When, then, the land in us — that is, the body of our lowliness — follows the true Master, and Lord by nature, and takes up his cross, it might be said of it, “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof”; and the fullness of the body is the members that fill it up; but when it does not follow the Master, the Word by nature, it might be called the land of the alien demons.

⁶ And he went, and took Gomer, the daughter of Debelaim, and she conceived and bore him a son; and the Lord said to him: Call his name Jezreel. The prophet did these things perceptibly, even if, as has been said above, the Hebrews by no means accept that the prophet did such things — being truly senseless; for when the prophet plainly says, I went, and I took, how do they say that the thing did not happen? Else all the rest too is false. And he was hinting at the Synagogue of the Jews, poured out into polytheism, out of which Christ was born according to the flesh, who is interpreted Jezreel. But Christ was begotten of the Holy Spirit. Yet also, if the mind beget anything — taking to itself the once-harlot sense-perception, and uniting it to itself — it will be a seed of God, as cast down from God, which altogether needs our care that it may grow and be brought to its end. Thus he who from the greatness and beauty of created things has beheld the Author of their generation, and has scanned his invisible things, understood through the things made, gives birth to a seed of God.

⁷ For yet a little while, and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu. Even if some of the copies have, Upon the house of Judah, yet, Upon the house of Jehu, ought to be written, which the sense also requires; for “Judah” is senseless. Many interpretations, then, are brought to bear on this, but not apt ones. The unobjectionable one is this: Jezreel was the name both of Naboth and of Ahab; for both being kinsmen, they had this as a kind of ancestral name. God says, then, that: Just as, when Ahab was an idolater, and was working countless other injustices, I sent Jehu as his chastiser, and promised him the kingdom of the ten tribes unto the fourth generation, if he should utterly destroy the race of Ahab; so now the house of Jehu — that is, his descendants, reigning, and themselves still over the ten tribes, and doing the same things as Ahab — I will punish, and will avenge the blood of Jezreel, that is, of Ahab; not that he was in truth unjustly slain, but that the house of him who slew that man are liable to the same charges, and seem, from the result, and from their pursuing the same things as he, to live unjustly themselves, since that man was put to death by them, by men of like ways with him; for he ought not to have been slain by them, but by other righteous men. This the Apostle too says: You are without excuse, O man, every one who judges; for in that you judge another, you condemn yourself. Or do you reckon that you will escape the judgment of God?

⁸ And I will make to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel; and it shall be in that day, I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel. Since the descendants of Jehu, reigning, as we said, in Israel, became impious and lawless, and turned the people aside to the same things, he says, I will make to cease the kingdom of Israel; which also came to pass — when both Hazael came upon them, and other kings, and last Shalmaneser, when indeed the kingdom of the ten tribes, that is of Israel, underwent utter destruction. And in that day — that of the avenging, namely — I will break also the bow of Israel, that is, its power; and he said, The bow, emphatically, to show that they trusted in the bow, and not in God. And we have observed that in the Scripture, beyond the other weapons, the bow is rejected, because it contributes greatly to guile. Wherefore the more reputable Hebrews did not use it, except indeed Esau, the profane, and the sons of Ephraim, drawing and shooting with their bows. And he said he would break the bow in the valley of Jezreel, that he might call to mind the murder of Ahab, which because of idolatry and the other injustices came back upon him, and that he might persuade the emulators of that man to stand off from like deeds. And the blood of Christ also was avenged — of him who is in very truth Jezreel, as has been said — when, a little while after his death, those were given over to utter destruction who said: His blood be upon us, and upon our children. And by the valley of Jezreel understand the condescension of Christ and his humbling, and his laying in the tomb. For having condescended, and humbled himself unto the cross, and been buried, he broke the bow of Israel, that is, their crooked boasting in the letter of the law, and the false accusations with which they slandered him as one opposed to God, drawing their bow. A bitter thing, to shoot down in secret the blameless one; and altogether blameless was he, who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth; even as he himself says: Which of you convicts me concerning sin? And human reasonings also kill the seeds of God in us, seeming to be powerful, and as it were to reign, and to rule, and to have as certain bows their crooked sophisms; but by the valley and the humbling of the divine Word they are broken. For the foolishness of God is wiser than the things of men.

⁹ And she conceived again, and bore a daughter; and he said to him: Call her name Not-pitied, for I will no more again pity the house of Israel, but setting myself against them, I will set myself against them. The literal sense is plain; for it teaches that he will no longer count Israel worthy of love for mankind, but rather will avenge himself on them as on an apostate and an enemy, and that not simply, but with intensity; for this is what, Setting myself against, I set myself against, signifies. And by a daughter Not-pitied you will understand also the generation of the Jews after the sojourn of Christ, which the Father no longer pitied, but himself set himself against them, since they insulted his Son. And among the movements of the mind also, if anything is female, and like to sense, and clothed about with much weakness, and not able for all things in Christ who strengthens his own disciples, our God the Word does not pity it, but sets himself against it.

¹⁰ But the sons of Judah I will pity, and will save them in the Lord their God; and I will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by war, nor by chariots, nor by horses, nor by horsemen. Plainly through these things he made clear the things that came to pass concerning Sennacherib; for then the Assyrians were defeated, no battle-line being formed, or grappling, but by an angelic power, which destroyed a hundred and eighty-five thousand. And these things he foretells, and makes Judah more eager toward the divine love. For even among them there were certain impious and sinful men, but nevertheless there were also those who served the Lord. The prophet, then, was turning the sons of Israel from sin, and persuading them to imitate those men, and virtue, and through it to enjoy the mercy from him. And there are saved, even out of the generation of the Hebrews, as many as are of Judah — that is, of confession and repentance — to whom Peter also in the Acts said: Repent, and let each one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. And indeed, having obeyed him, there were saved about three thousand souls. And they are saved not in Hellenic wisdom, nor in syllogisms, nor in the persuasive words of human wisdom, out of which come strife, and disputes, and wars; but in the peace of Christ, who is our peace. And in us also confession is the forerunner of salvation; but this too, the confession made in the Lord God, is with contrition and humility of mind. For it is possible for one to call himself a sinner even with self-conceit, which is humble speech, not humility of mind. One ought not, he says, to trust in works, but in the Lord God, according to him who says: But I have hoped on the mercy of God for ever; and according to Paul: But I obtained mercy; for from works no flesh is justified. For who will boast that he is clean from defilement, or will speak boldly of having a clean heart? For often not even that which one seems to do well is unimpeachable before God. For in many things, it says, we all sin; and, I am conscious of nothing against myself, yet I am not justified in this.

¹¹ And it was revealed to Not-pitied.[11] A great benefit to the not-pitied generation of the Hebrews — to stand off from the milk of the law, which nourishes infants, and to need solid food, having the faculty trained for the discernment of good and evil.[12][13]

¹² She conceived again, and bore a son, and he said: Call his name Not-my-people, for you are not my people, and I am not yours. …of God, and your God;[14] You are our God, and your mercy shall pursue me; and Paul says, I was laid hold of by Christ; but concerning those who sin he says:[15] he means the nations[15] of the Synagogue, because those of the Jews who proclaimed the gospel begot them.[16] And whenever one bends down to evil, and bears lawlessness (for the things of shame are not without toils and labors), he is not worthy to be called of God. For neither is he like Joseph, who says: I am God’s. Wherefore neither is God called his, as it was said, the God of Abraham, and as David said: The Lord my God; and, The God of my heart.

¹³ And the number of the sons of Israel was as the sand of the sea, which shall not be measured, nor numbered.[17] Do not suppose that he casts away those who are few and easily numbered; for indeed they were as many as he promised Abraham they would be. But God does not rejoice in multitude. For where there are two, or three, gathered in his name, there is he in the midst of them. Thus he preferred Noah before all men, thus Abraham, thus Moses. But their descendants, although overcoming number, he calls Not his people. And he likens to sand the Synagogue that killed the Lord, because they are of the sea — of this turbulent world — minding nothing heavenly (For how, he says, can you believe, seeking glory from men?), and because of their incoherence and implacability toward one another; since the sands too are such: for they stand apart from one another. Which may no soul suffer from this world.[18] …that It shall not be measured, nor numbered. For virtue has as its measure exactness, inclining neither to the right nor to the left, but proceeds by the middle and royal road; whereas to vice belong the deviations and turnings aside, which are many. And the stars the Lord numbers — that is, the men full of light, and he holds them as known to him, who are, as luminaries in the world, holding forth the word of life. Since in another way too the saved are few and numbered; while the common and perishing are many.

¹⁴ And it shall be in the place where it was said to them, You are not my people, there they too shall be called sons of the living God. Again God chooses, softening the austere sentence with kindness, and shows his goodness, in that those whom he judged not worthy even of the appellation of “the people,” these he now names sons of the living God. And what is, In the place where it was said to them? Learn: Being in their homeland, they were idolaters; wherefore there too it was said to them, Not my people; but being set in the midst, as captives in Babylon, they neither sang nor sang the songs of the Lord. For how, he says, shall we sing the song of the Lord in a foreign land? Since, then, having gone up again from Babylon, they used the law once more, and did all things as elect and sons of God, he said that, In your homelands you shall be restored, and there you shall sing to God, where being formerly you were called sons. And since the law, understood according to the letter, kills, but according to the Spirit gives life, fittingly in one and the same place the Hebrews are at one time called Not a people, when they are in bondage to the letter; and at another, Sons of the living God, when, having understood him spiritually, and having believed in Christ, they receive the adoption through the Spirit. And a soul that sins, whether through reasonings or through the bodily organs, is called Not a people of God; but having been set right through these same things, becomes a son of God, when the same man both serves with his mind the law of God, and presents his members as weapons of righteousness to God; and, to speak summarily, having cleansed himself from every defilement of flesh and spirit, glorifies God in his body and in his spirit.

¹⁵ And the sons of Judah and the sons of Israel shall be gathered together to the same place, and shall set for themselves one[19] …were close kin[15] beginning, and shall go up out of the land. He foretells the going up from Babylon, and that, having come from there, they shall no longer have divided kings, the one to be named Judah, the other Israel; they shall have one ruler — which came to pass in the case of the people taken captive into the land of the Babylonians. They set, then,[15] of the Hebrews, having believed, set for themselves as a beginning, I mean, the cross of the Lord, concerning which it is said: Of whom the rule is upon his shoulder; who were gathered to Christ by the law; for the law is a tutor, gathering us to Christ. But also, when one shall gather his own reasonings from their wandering, and, driven together into a perception of his own evils, becomes a son of Judah — that is, of confession — and, cleansed through it, be set down as a beholder of God, he sets for himself one beginning, God, and is led by him, saying truly to him: Your will be done; and, I became as a beast before you, and I am continually with you; that God may be to him all in all, having nothing human, but having denied himself, such as was he who said: It is no longer I that live, but Christ lives in me. For then indeed he goes up truly out of the land and out of earthly things, ever advancing, and forgetting the things behind, and stretching forward to the things before.

¹⁶ For great is the day of Jezreel. Since I brought upon you a great punishment, in the day of the avenging of Jezreel, I will count you worthy of a great salvation also, and, having freed you from bondage, will lead you back to your homeland. Great, then, became the day of the cross and of the resurrection of Christ, who was called Jezreel. And to him who goes up from earthly things, and advances, the day becomes great, through the illumination of the knowledge of Christ; so that he says: This is the day of the Lord — not mine, nor through my labors, but of his grace; let us rejoice and be glad in it.

3 Chapter Two

¹ Say to your brother, My people, and to your sister, Pitied; plead with your mother, plead. You, children of those who came back from Babylon — your forefathers — do also accuse your forefathers, who transgressed against me. Something of this kind is found in Isaiah also: And now, O house of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard.[20]

² she is not my wife, and I am not her husband. A divorce, he says, came to be between me and this woman, who had received so many good things from me; and it was not I who gave the cause of the divorce, but she, for she withdrew; my wife before, but she withdrew from me. And these things might be said by those who shared fellowship with those who believed in Christ — who shall sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel, that is, condemning those who did not believe out of the land of the Jews; she who was altogether the mother of those who are judged. And the more ancient generation too, when it came out of Egypt, did not yet have a law, nor had drawn from so many of God’s ordinances and sacrifices; wherefore the Lord is said not to be a husband. And whenever the sense-perception withdraws from the mind, and does not enjoy the world unto the glory of the Creator, it is condemned by the true offspring of the mind, those begotten by the mind and the sense-perception unto the knowledge of God. For instance I say: One man knows the creation, that it is good, and beholding it with mind marveled at the Maker; another saw it, and deified it, because he used sense-perception alone as a mother, withdrawn from the mind. Such a one is condemned by the former. One man saw the beauty of a body, and marveled at the Craftsman, how in clay and flesh he fashioned such splendor; another, seeing, was disposed toward the thing itself, because he followed the sense-perception, apart from the mind. Will not, then, that man be unto the condemnation of this one?[21]

³ And I will remove her harlotry from my presence, and her harlotry from between her breasts. He shows that, The divorce which I made with her, I made for her benefit, in order to free her from harlotry, that is, from idolatry; for indeed, having been removed to Babylon, she will no longer sacrifice to the golden heifers, to which she sacrificed before — from the time that that Jeroboam set them up — nor will my presence see her serving such abominations; but I will root out her harlotry from between her breasts, that is, of the heart, out of which come evil reasonings, envyings, murders, adulteries, fornications. Or he shows the shamelessness through the breasts, which they had, going with bared head to every evil. For she showed, it says, the breasts bare, and so plainly and unconcealed displayed her wickedness. Every chastisement of the Lord, then, even the seeming aversion, is unto our benefit, freeing us from evil, according to the saying: It is good for me that you humbled me, that I might learn your ordinances. Harlotry too was the voice of those who said, We have no king but Caesar, and who withdrew from him who is truly King, who also were lifted away from the presence of the Lord, given over to those very ones whom they chose to be kings. And perhaps the breasts are the law and the prophets, out of which is for the Hebrews the elementary milk of the letter. Their harlotry, then, was removed from between such breasts. For neither law nor prophets recognize them, nor nourish them. And who would not pray that the harlotry of the senseless sense-perception be removed and wiped out, so that it may not be made manifest to the face of God? Lamenting, the prophet says: You have set our iniquities before you; and again elsewhere, praying, Turn your face, he says, away from my sins. But moreover the harlotry of avarice is nourished through abundance of possessions; that of vainglory, through ruling in palaces and cities; and bodily harlotry, through gazing at beauties, and one through one means and another through another. These are to each passion breasts, and it is good for a man, when the evil is removed, not being nourished by the materials that nourish it.[22]

⁴ That I may strip her naked. I will strip her, he says, of my shelter, and will make her behave shamefully, overcome by her enemies; just as on the contrary, formerly sheltering her, and keeping her unconquered, I made her not only seemly, but most glorious.

⁵ And I will restore her, as in the day of her birth. That is, as she was in bondage to the Egyptians, so also she shall be in bondage to the Assyrians. And he calls the sojourn in Egypt the day of her birth, because there they were multiplied. For seventy-five souls having gone down, six hundred thousand became the men of war alone. The Father stripped also those who disbelieved Christ, taking away from them all the glory of the law, and restoring them as they were before they received the law. For they have neither temple, nor do they sacrifice, nor do they do any other of the things in the law. And whenever one, having put on Christ through baptism, is stripped of him through the pleasure of sense, God strips him of his own grace and of the adoption, and makes him to be characterized by the marks of fleshly and passionate birth, which is to live according to the flesh, and to walk according to man; for where there are strifes, and jealousies, and dissensions, there is the living after the flesh, and the walking according to man.

⁶ And I will make her as a wilderness, and will set her as a waterless land, and will kill her with thirst. I will make her, he says, a wilderness of my help, and the water of my providence I will not supply to her, but I will kill her — that is, I will give her over to death to her enemies, thirsting for help, and bereft of the alliance from me. A wilderness too has the Synagogue of the Hebrews become, deprived of every good; for the whole good, and goodness itself, was the Lord, whom they killed; and those who kill those who believe in him — holding fast the letter of the law, and not receiving the Spirit — are reasonably “land,” as lying below, and understanding all things in a bodily way; and “waterless,” as not having the Spirit, which was rendered to be the water. And the sinner is not made a wilderness, but as a wilderness, that he may not despair; and he is set as a waterless land for the same cause. For God, even if he knows the end of each, nevertheless does not appear to despair. He, then, who has made himself unfruitful, and who works those things which that rich man also worked, who begged Abraham to send Lazarus, and, having dipped the tip of his finger in water, to cool him, is as a wilderness and waterless land.[23]

⁷ And her children I will not pity, for they are children of harlotry. That is, having been begotten of idolatrous fathers, they emulated the loathsomeness of those men; for plainly he calls idolatry harlotry.

⁸ for their mother went a-whoring. Not simply did she go a-whoring, but went a-whoring excessively, having embraced idolatry and the worship of created things; for of the trees too, as many as were tallest and most shady, to these they burned incense.

⁹ She that bore them brought them to shame. That is, she practiced every shameful thing — she who brought her children to shame, making them shameless, both by begetting them, and by training them in evil.

¹⁰ Because she said, I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread, and my water, and my garments, my wine, and my oil, and all things that belong to me. She supposed, he says, that from her lovers — that is, from the idols — she has all things needful and useful for her life, and not from me the true God; wherefore she made her children unworthy of my mercy. And the Hebrews of today also go after such lovers — demons, and teachers, who deceive them — supposing that they will receive the loaves of the showbread, and the water of sprinkling, and the priestly garments, and the wine, both that for libations and that given according to the law to the priestly tribe as firstfruit and tithe, and the oil of anointing, and all the rest, whatever she brought to the worship according to the law. And if injustice and covetousness are inventions of demons, let him who thinks to do well no otherwise than by multiplying his own living, except through injustice, see that he too goes after these, as giving him the loaves, and the garments, and all things that belong. And observe: he did not say, The good loaves likewise that come from wealth as mine, but in all cases my loaves; to use what one has in a God-pleasing way belongs to gratitude; but the other man supposes them to come from going after the demons. So too he in the Gospel who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God, said, My goods, and my barns; for in another way too such a one was most akin to corruptible things, who indeed strove to make even the incorruptible thing in him, the soul — because it was upon him — corruptible, having made it fleshly.[24]

¹¹ Therefore, behold, I hedge up her way with thorns, and I will wall up her ways, and she shall not find her path; and she shall pursue her lovers, and shall not overtake them; and she shall seek them, and shall not find them. And this punishment too is full of love for mankind; for it procures the renouncing of impiety. For, he says, I set thorns in her way — that is, I bring upon them many troublesome and stinging things, wars I mean, and captivity, and bondages, and famine; constrained by which they shall no longer be able to serve the golden heifers. For how should they, who were even deprived of their liberty, and had no leisure to do their accustomed things, even if they greatly wished? Rather they shall recognize also the weakness of the demons, when, calling upon them in their calamities, they shall be nothing benefited by them. And she shall say, I will go, and return to my former husband, when it was well with me; then, rather than now. Having wrestled with calamities, he says, and having known the weakness of the demons — who were formerly gods to her, and who then were not able to help her — she shall call to mind God, the true one, who by nature is Master, but calls himself a husband, because such is the affection of a wife toward her husband, and their disposition toward the master, and God wishes there to be in men such a relation toward him as a wife has toward her husband; which the Apostle too seems to say: He who is joined to the Lord is one Spirit; and again, The two shall be one flesh; this mystery is great, but I speak concerning Christ and the Church. Closed up too for the God-slaying Hebrews were the passages to the legal worship, already abolished. Thorns for them were the Romans who destroyed the temple; or perhaps also the cross of Christ, which they fixed up together with two others, having become their undoing. They pursue, then, their lovers — priests, and chief priests — and nowhere find them; for they are not at all. Wherefore many of the Synagogue also turn to Christ — whom you would call her husband, inasmuch as out of her he became man; and the former, inasmuch as even before becoming man he was, as God. The husband; then say, The former, that is, the pre-existent, the one before all, the one from the beginning. Yet moreover Christ was the former husband of the Synagogue of the Hebrews also; for he it was who led them through, the captain of the host of the Lord of powers, and the spiritual rock that followed. And the signs too were done in the power of God; and Christ is the power of God, and the wisdom of God. But also everyone who, through being well-bodied and spreading himself out among sensible things, despises God, and serves the passions — when he is fixed upon thorns and the difficulties of life, whether falling ill, or coming to want, can no longer attend to the same things; but the ways to those passions are blocked up for him, even if he himself has a disposition toward them, and seeks them, and is not allowed to enjoy them, being pressed by hardships.[25]

¹² And she did not know that I gave her the grain, and the wine, and the oil, and multiplied silver for her; but she made silver and gold things for Baal. Again he takes up the matter, and accuses the ingratitude of the Israelites, who attributed the abundance of the good things supplied to them not to God, but to Baal — that is, the god of the Babylonians, whom the Greeks called Bel, saying he is the same as Zeus. Honoring this one, then, he says, they made golden and silver offerings to him. He gave, then, to the Hebrews both the libations, and the firstfruits, and the silver — that is, the oracles of the law, and of the prophets. Whenever, then, you see the Hebrews not using the things of Scripture well, nor having come to the knowledge of Christ, nor attributing to him the gold and the silver (the gold as indicative of the Godhead, the silver of the manhood, which he made splendid in himself, having scraped off all the rust of sin; or the gold, as having introduced a pure life, the silver, as splendid teaching, and doctrines, in which he abolished the law of commandments) — but expecting all things for the man of lawlessness who is to come and is awaited by them, and attributing these to him: these reckon to be those here accused. But also the Greeks, and those of the heresies, having received from God the mind as gold, and eloquence as silver, and having misused these to the harm of many souls, and having dedicated them — that is, having given them over to natural reasonings, and dialectical, and sophistical, and having hung our affairs upon nature, and upon the motion of the heavenly bodies — are like those here arraigned. And the rich man too, whenever he uses his wealth not for the relief of the needy, but rather for tyrannizing over them, or even for insults, dedicates the things of God to Baal.[26]

¹³ Therefore I will turn back, and take away my grain in its season, and my wine in its time, and will remove my garments and my linens, so as not to cover her shame. I will turn back, he says; that is, I will choose another road, that of hardness, and I will no longer count them worthy of my good things. But I will take also the grain, and the wine from them, and, what is more grievous, in season; that is, when the fruits become ripe and mellow, then I will deprive them of these, that they may be the more grieved. And by garments and linens perhaps he means these sensible things; for they went off captive, naked and unseemly. But perhaps he brought in also his shelter and help, having which they were most glorious, and prevailed over their enemies; but having the unseemliness from bondage, they cannot hold together. And he took away also from the Synagogue of the Jews, in the due season, and when the fullness of time was come, the firstfruits of the crops, and the tithes, which are signified through the grain and the wine. For then he was made flesh, when the fitting season was, when all evil was consummated, and no form of it any longer remained, but it even burst forth its own depravity. Then came the Physician, bringing the great remedy of his own incarnation to the disease. And if the mysteries of the Church too are accomplished from grain and wine — these being changed into the body and blood of Christ through the blessing — let the disbelieving Hebrews consider how in them the prophecy comes true. And well is it added, In its season, and, In its time. For now these mysteries have a time and a season, of being accomplished through grain and wine; but in the kingdom of the heavens, they shall be accomplished in some other manner, newer and more mystical. And being deprived of baptism, they are deprived also of the garments of Christ. For as many as were baptized into Christ, put on Christ. But also from the faithful in the Church who sin the grain and wine — that is, the communion of the mysteries — is taken away. And since this happens proportionally to the sins, therefore he said, In a time, and, In a season. For not for all sins simply, and the chance ones, has the deprivation of communion been laid down as a penalty, nor for all those condemned to it simply is the same time spread out; but for some it is extended, for others contracted. And such men are stripped both of grace and of help, which, so long as it is with us, makes us walk seemly, covering and sheltering our weakness; but lifted from us, and forsaking us, allows us to do the works of shame. And perhaps too from those who sin in the priesthood, and are deposed, God takes away his garments, and the linens, the priestly robe I mean; so that their unseemliness be not covered by these, who appear sinless through performing the sacred rites.[27]

¹⁴ And now I will uncover her uncleanness before her lovers. Either he says this, that Just as she forsook me, so also she will forsake those, having known their weakness, and will be shown faithless toward them also, according to the saying, How long will you go limping on both your hams? either to God, God, or to Baal, Baal; or, When I show her thus behaving shamefully, they will not be able to help her, as being powerless. And hear also what follows:

¹⁵ And none shall deliver them out of my hand. By “hand” he names the punishing power, of which the God-slayers too had experience, being given over to the Romans; and those who sin, and are given over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved — like the fornicator in Corinth — experience the hand of the Lord. For the power that brings them to a sober mind, by divine dispensation, or by the permission of God, you will call a hand. So Job too: The hand of the Lord, he says, is that which has touched me; and the blows brought upon him by the enemy, by divine permission, were said to be arrows of the Lord in his body.

¹⁶ And I will turn away all her mirth, her feasts, and her new moons, and the sabbaths, and all her solemn assemblies. For being taken captive into Babylon, they had no occasion either otherwise to make merry, or to keep feast. For how shall we sing, he says, the song of the Lord in a foreign land? Since they served neither God purely, nor the idols, but were of two minds, he says that, given over to the Babylonians, they shall neither perform the feasts to God — that is, the sabbaths, and the new moons — nor the other solemn assemblies to Baal. One must know, however, that a solemn assembly and a feast are not the same. For it is possible to be a solemn assembly, and not upon a feast; but a feast without a solemn assembly, that is, without a gathering, cannot be. The term “solemn assembly,” then, is more general. These things the Christ-slayers now suffer; for it is not possible for the impious to rejoice. And where is for them the new moon, or sabbath according to the law? But also those who sin, owing to mourn and to be downcast, and to wash their bed with tears, are deprived of the spiritual gladness, which God bestows on the pious, which has in them a certain beginning and origin of light. …of spiritual baptism, nor sabbaths, that is, divine rests; for the conscience does not allow them to have good hopes concerning things to come.[28]

¹⁷ And I will destroy her vine, and her fig trees, all that she said: These are my hires, which my lovers gave me. She said, he says, that from the idols she has the things that contribute to life — this being a reward they gave her in return for the idolatrous worship and adoration. I will destroy these, then, since she attributes them to the idols. …not to me, but to her lovers.[29]

¹⁸ And I will set them for a testimony, and the beasts of the field shall devour them, and the birds of heaven, and the creeping things of the earth. These good things, being devoured by birds, and beasts, and creeping things, because of the desolation of men, will testify against them, that they were not worthy to praise him, nor to enjoy them. And for this cause some of them being put to death, and others taken captive, they left these to the beasts. Or by “beasts” he means the Babylonians, who ate the good things in the fields of the Israelites, because they were besieged, shut up and famishing in the cities. And the vine and the fig tree might be understood as the law and the prophets: the vine, as yielding the wine that gladdens the heart of man, I mean the joy according to the Gospel; and the fig tree, having astringency, because of the laboriousness of the commandment, yet has nonetheless something gladdening, because of the promises in the heavens. For the sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed to us. And the law, understood spiritually, gladdens in itself with the grace and the polity of the Gospel; as a vine, then, are the law and the prophets; and a fig tree, because to the infant Israel they brought forth sweet fruits, the promise of the good things of the earth. For if, he says, you hear me, you shall eat the good things of the earth; and the rough things they had in leaves — transient, I mean, and easily-withering things; for he did not threaten them with Gehenna, outer darkness, or the falling away from heavenly good things, but captivity, and bondage, and temporary death, and all such punishments. These, then, both the vine and the fig tree, were taken away from Israel, and given to the nations, who were likened to the birds of heaven, because of the lightness and senselessness of their mind, and because they were arrayed under the ruler of the authority of the air; and to beasts and creeping things, because of the savagery of their manner. Yet these nations, having followed Christ — who was made for us wisdom from God — cast off their senselessness, and were re-taught to mind the things above, where Christ is; and learning from him that he is meek and lowly in heart, set right the bitterness of their ways. And that to the nations was given the vine of the law, the Lord too says in the Gospel: The vineyard shall be given to other husbandmen, to a nation bringing forth its fruits. A vine too is the Lord, who said: I am the vine; and a fig tree, as being sweetness, and all desire. So long, then, as we do not go a-whoring from God, we delight in the Lord; but when we sin, we either become birds of heaven through haughtiness, or beasts of the field — that is, cattle — through desire, or creeping things of the earth through wrath (for their wrath, it says, is according to the likeness of a serpent), and then we deliver the divine word in us over to these within ourselves, by which it is devoured.[30]

¹⁹ And I will avenge upon her the days of the Baalim, in which she burned incense to them, and put on her earrings, and her necklaces, and went after her lovers, and forgot me, says the Lord. These things I will do to her, because of those days in which she sacrificed to the Baalim — that is, the idols of Baal — and kept their feasts, using adornment of every kind. Now earrings are the ornaments put in the ears; and necklaces are the things hung about from the ornament around the neck; for a “necklace” is the ornament about the neck. With such adornment, he says, she kept feast to the idols, but forgot me. Perhaps, then, the Hebrews of today wear such earrings and necklaces, receiving the false teachings of the Pharisees in their ears, which also, as descending upon their heart, might be called necklaces, through which they are persuaded that they will receive back the legal worship, and will be consecrated to idols — that is, to the fabrications of their own opinion, according to which they make an idol of the temple, and the other such things. And whenever you see one sacrificing the idolatrous sacrifices, and attending in mind to such words — a youth immature, or an old man — and giving ear to these, and letting them down upon his heart rather than the words concerning chastity and self-control, and keeping feast to the idols, I mean to the pleasures, which are not truly pleasures, but idols of pleasure, because they have the enjoyment temporary and lying, but the pain everlasting and true — say the prophetic words over him.[31]

²⁰ Therefore, behold, I will lead her astray, and will set her as a wilderness. I will prepare her — this you will understand, either that I will provide a place to dwell in, this when she flees, and this when she is taken captive, and is deprived of all good things; which, as was said above, I will make a wilderness; or that, Running well in evil, and being borne toward the idols, I will lead her astray — that is, I will remove her from such a road, which is a benefit; for he who is led astray from the evil road — that is, turned about — is altogether brought over to the good. And I will make her also a wilderness, that is, dry, and useless to the idols. Formerly she seemed pleasing to demons, and they dwelt in her as in a resting-place; but now I will make her a wilderness, having nothing of the things loved by those, and for this reason to be shunned by them. So too the unclean spirit in the Gospels, going through waterless places, finds no rest there. For the holy and God-loving souls are not places to the demons, not having the filth that is dear to those. God made to be led astray the Synagogue of the God-slayers, scattering it into all the lands, as formerly was the multitude of the nations, which was called barren, concerning which it is said: Rejoice, O barren that bears not; Many are the children of the desolate, more than of her that has the husband. And would that for everyone running well toward evil it might come to pass to be led astray from this road, that is, turned about, and from disorder to be set in order, that is, to take order, so that no longer in him should desire and wrath rule over reason, but rather that one over them; for this belongs to order; and to become a wilderness, and waterless, not having the flooding water concerning which David prays: Let not the tempest of water drown me; and, If the Lord had not been among us, then the water would have drowned us. And such water might be the trials and assaults of the Evil One, in which the souls that do not sober up and are not able to hold out are choked.[32]

²¹ And I will speak to her heart, and will give her her possessions from there. I will surely make her take perception both of my glory and power and of her own offenses; and to her, having turned back from there — namely from the captivity — I will give her possessions, that is, the land, which she possessed before, having cast out the Canaanites, the land which she inherited. And plainly here he promises also the grace through Christ, when God speaks to the heart of those formerly cast away, as he says also elsewhere: Giving my laws into their heart, and upon their hearts I will write them. And all shall be taught of God, having the Spirit of God, teaching them all things, and Christ dwelling in their hearts. And he gives them also their possessions — the adoption, the grace, the glory, the reigning together with him. And what is, From there? That is, from the speaking to their heart; for from this we have such possessions. And the possessions of everyone baptized in Christ are the forgiveness of sins, and the mansions above, which one acquires for himself, each through the road that leads to it; for as the mansions are many and various, so also are the roads. And these possessions the sinner unacquires, and is deprived of them, so long as the divine word is silent in him. But whenever, having touched the heart, he speaks in it, then are given to him these possessions from there, that is, from the heart; for the kingdom of the heavens is within us, and our heart either takes these away from us, or restores them.[33]

²² And the valley of Achor, to open her understanding. Joshua the son of Nun, warring against Jericho, proclaimed that none of the soldiers should acquire any spoil taken from it, as being accursed — that is, dedicated to God — but that to him who acquired it, the penalty should be death, as to one committing sacrilege. Achar, then, having stolen from the spoils, and been detected, all the people stoned, by command of Joshua, in the ravine, which from this was called the valley of Achor, that is, Achar. He says, then, here, that I will give them the valley of Achor; for, I will give, comes from the verb to give; so that, having considered what Achar suffered in it, they too may take understanding, their mind being opened to not transgressing, nor giving offense to the commands of God. And in another way: since on account of the theft of Achar the people were being defeated, but after his death, weeping and lamenting, they propitiated God, he says here too, that just as those ancients learned, through the punishment of Achar, how great an evil transgression is, so also these through captivity shall take perception of their own negligences. But also the Lord Jesus destroys in the ravine those who set at naught his commandments, and make the spoils of this world their own, and do not render the things of Caesar to Caesar, and the things of God to God. And a ravine and a valley is sin: a valley, as making lowly; and a ravine, as setting us apart from God; and Achor means perversion, since it is so interpreted. So Christ, when the Hebrews tempted him with a question, was entangled by them, but turned their questions about for them, asking in return things harder to solve, not that he might perplex them, but that he might open their understanding, and bring them into the knowledge of the truth. Thus, when they asked him, By what authority do you do these things? he asked in return: The baptism of John, was it from heaven or from men? And sin is a perversion, fallen away from the natural rightness. For God made man upright, and man himself sought out reasonings. Whenever, then, there is in us sin making a valley, a downfall, it opens for us understanding, and the knowledge of divine things. For in the destroying, it says, of the sinners in you — that is, the reasonings — then you shall see, that is, you shall behold, the divine things.[34]

²³ And she shall be humbled there, according to the days of her infancy, and according to the days of her going up out of the land of Egypt. In the manner, he says, in which they served the Egyptians, and after going out of Egypt, going up toward Palestine, suffered hardship in the wilderness; so there, that is, serving among the Assyrians, they shall be humbled. For he calls “infancy” the sojourn in Egypt, both because there the people began their growth, and because they were not yet given a law, but were unrestrained; for to be given a law belongs already to men. And it is a benefit to the boastful Synagogue of the Hebrews to be humbled, and to be made subject to Christ; just as in the beginnings it obeyed Moses, calling them to the freedom out of Egypt; and after going out, going up again, they obeyed him as he gave the law, saying: All things, whatever God has said, we will do, and we will hear. And just as, going up out of Egypt, they passed through the sea, and so inherited the land; in the same manner those who now believe in Christ, passing through the baptism into his death, acquire such an inheritance. Let him too be humbled who has just now been born in Christ out of water and Spirit, and let him not be lifted up over the gift of the forgiveness of sins, but let him say: By grace we have been saved, and not of works in righteousness, which we did. And even if he go up out of the land of Egypt, and toil in the working of the virtues, and attain to be able to say, I labored more than they all, let him add: Yet not I, but the grace.

²⁴ And it shall be in that day, says the Lord, she shall call me My husband, and shall not call me any more Baalim; and I will remove the names of the Baalim out of her mouth, and they shall no more be remembered by their names. No longer, he says, will they put my appellation — that is, “God” — upon the idols, nor will they say that God is Baal; “in that day,” that is, in the day of the affliction and captivity, but they will recognize me as God, and bridegroom, betrothed to them of old; and henceforth they will not even remember the name of the Baalim — I mean, of the idols of Baal. And having said, I will remove the names of the Baalim, he shows that this was his own work. And how did he remove them? Through casting them into afflictions and tribulations. And when the Sun of righteousness, Christ, shone, and made a day of his presence on earth — that is, a season — all idolatry was removed both from the Jews and from the nations, and the knowledge of the true God is a citizen among all. But also in those who repent, when the light of the Word, shining, makes a day, all the idols, and the passionate fantasies of sins, are removed, and no longer is the belly deified, nor has covetousness, which is idolatry, together with the other passions and the desires, any place there.

²⁵ And I will make a covenant for them in that day, with the beasts of the field, and with the birds of heaven, and the creeping things of the earth. Either he says this, that Just as, when I was angered at them, I gave over the fruits of the earth to the beasts, and to the birds and the creeping things, so, when I am reconciled to them — having as it were made a truce with them — those too shall cease from devouring the fruits; or, by “beasts and creeping things” meaning the enemies who formerly set upon them, he says, that I will prepare them to make peace with the Israelites, and to deal most gently with them. Wherefore he also adds:

²⁶ And bow, and sword, and war I will break upon the earth. That is, upon the earth of Judea; or the word foreshows also the things that came to pass later upon all the earth after the coming of Christ. And perceptibly, all having come under one rule, that of the Romans, the many wars ceased. But also with the gentiles God made the covenant for the Synagogue of the Hebrews, having made them one, and having made both one, and having become a chief cornerstone, that he might create the two into one new man, and having through the evangelic law introduced the peace, and having persuaded men to despise all things, even one’s own body, for the sake of which are the wars. For he who said, From him who takes your things, ask them not back, and such things, wished us to have peace, which he also left to us. Of this peace he too enjoys who has subjected the passions to reason. And when does it come to pass? When one, having mortified the members that are upon the earth, makes a covenant; and a covenant over the dead is firm.

²⁷ And I will make you dwell in hope. Not only will I free you from the difficulties of captivity, but I will also settle you in your homeland, and will put good hopes in you, persuading you from the present things to hope also concerning the things to come. And reckon these things to be said already also to the Church of Jews and nations, which even now he has settled in his house, having granted forgiveness of sins, and has given to hope also for the good things in heaven; and to this fits also what follows; and hear:[35]

²⁸ And I will betroth you to myself for ever. What is, To myself? Either, that Through myself; for it was no angel, no ambassador, but the Lord himself who saved us; for to the fathers he spoke in the prophets, but to us in a Son. Or, that the old Synagogue he betrothed to Moses — wherefore he said also to him: Your people has transgressed; but the one that believed in the incarnate coming of the Son he betrothed to himself, as Paul too witnesses: But I speak concerning Christ, and concerning the Church. But neither did he betroth that Synagogue for ever; for the worship of the law was temporary; but now he betroths to himself for ever those who believe. And the bridegroom Word might say also to the soul cleansed out of repentance, that I will make you dwell in hope, whenever, having separated her from the Church on account of sins — which is the house of the living God — he again, when she has turned back, makes her to dwell, having received her, and does not thrust her away according to the unclean haughtiness of Novatus. Then he gives her also the better hopes, that he will receive her also into the heavenly dwelling, when the bridegroom becomes to her eternal. For whatever, he says, you bind upon the earth, shall be bound in the heavens, and whatever you loose upon the earth, shall be loosed in heaven.

²⁹ And I will betroth you to myself in righteousness, and in judgment, and in mercy, and in compassions. In righteousness, inasmuch as, just as through a man came death, so also through a man comes the resurrection of the dead; for, having himself become man, he was the firstfruits of the resurrection; and in judgment, inasmuch as he condemned the ruler of the world, because, not having found sin in him, he put him to death. And mercy, and compassions he displayed toward all, whom he saved not from works, but according to his own mercy through the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Spirit.

³⁰ And I will betroth you to myself in faith, and you shall know the Lord. Since it was necessary that we too who have received mercy be not altogether idle and contributing nothing, but that we ourselves also bring in something, he says, that I will betroth you in faith; for he who comes to God must believe. And out of faith comes the knowledge of God. For if you do not believe, he says, neither shall you understand. And see that not in sacrifices, nor in the legal worship, but in faith does the Lord betroth those whom he betroths; and let those cease who boast greatly in the law.

³¹ And it shall be in that day, says the Lord, I will hearken to the heaven, and the heaven shall hearken to the earth, and the earth shall hearken to the grain, and the wine, and the oil, and these shall hearken to Jezreel. After the foretelling concerning the heavenly good things, he promises them the bodily gifts also. For being earthly and grovelling, they were drawn more by these than by those. He promises, then, that I will hearken to the heaven; that is, I will assent to the heaven, and will give it leave, so as to rain — it having by nature the power to do this, but contracted because of my anger. For just as the heaven, having a kind of disgrace in not doing its accustomed things, put forward this very thing as a kind of suppliant’s plea, I will hearken to it, and will loose this disgrace. And the heaven shall hearken to the earth; instead of, It shall fulfill its desire, as it thirsts and needs rain, and, as it were through its dryness, cries out that the drought must be loosed. And the earth shall make a peace-offering toward the fruits, and shall let these forth abundantly, and the fruits, which were before hidden, and not made manifest, to Jezreel — that is, to the son begotten of the harlot, that is, to the people formerly idolatrous — shall hearken, and shall be made manifest to him who calls them forth. When, then, the vineyard of the Lord — that is, the Israelite people — brought forth thorns, then the Lord commanded the clouds, the angelic powers, and the prophets, not to rain upon them, whence they were left both irrational and unadmonished. But when they were entwined with the true vine, Christ, then by the inflowings of wisdom and knowledge through the angelic powers, and by the waterings of the prophetic oracles, he fattens them. For those truly have the prophets, and enjoy them, who receive the things prophesied among them. And they who were formerly upon the earth, and minded earthly things, have the grain and the wine — that is, the partaking of the mysteries — and the oil, with which they are anointed for the contests, and for the wrestling against the principalities and the authorities. And then they receive these, when they become Jezreel, and a seed of God, having been made sons of God, through the birth in the Spirit of baptism. And a soul, so long as it sins, no heavenly thought falls upon it, but having become earth, that is, having all but lost its flesh, it is dry; but whenever it is wedded to the Word, then it receives the inflowings from above, and bears as fruit grain — the solid and life-giving food; and wine — the divine gladness; and oil — the cheerfulness and meekness; and again, Receive him that is weak in the faith, in a spirit of meekness; whenever one is overtaken in a fault.

³² And I will sow her for myself upon the earth; and I will pity her that was not pitied; and I will say to my people, You are my people; and he shall say, You are the Lord my God. That is, I will make her my own tilled field, and will cast down in her the seeds of righteousness, and of the knowledge of God. And these things came to pass typically in the time of Zerubbabel, after the return from Babylon; but in truth, after the Incarnation. For then those who believed in him were truly called his people, and he their God, truly and purely, and as it were a fruitful land the Son sowed for himself the souls of those fit for faith, which, seeing them even now bearing fruit, like those of the Samaritans, he said to the disciples: Lift up your eyes, and behold the fields, that they are white unto harvest already; and again elsewhere, The harvest indeed is great, that is, those ready for the faith are many; but the workers few — the apostles, namely, who were to take them up for the teaching. And no one who has mammon for lord, and the belly for god, can say to the true Master, God, You are the Lord my God.

4 Chapter Three

¹ And the Lord said to me yet again: Go, and love a woman who loves wicked men, and an adulteress, even as God loves the sons of Israel, while they look toward strange gods and love cakes with raisins. And I hired her to myself for fifteen pieces of silver, and a gomor of barley, and a nebel of wine; and I said to her: You shall sit for me many days; you shall not play the harlot, neither shall you be for another man, and I also will be for you. For the sons of Israel shall sit many days, with no king, and no ruler, no sacrifice, and no altar, neither priesthood, nor manifestations. The first woman, whom the prophet took, was a type of the generation that before the captivity had played the harlot into idolatry; but this second woman, whom he is now bidden to take to himself, is a type of those led into captivity. For just as she, having renounced her former lovers, chose to dwell with the prophet — yet the prophet did not consort with her — so also these, who were formerly an adulteress, in that they poured themselves out into idolatry and offered to the demons cakes, that is, loaves of fine flour with raisins (for such an offering too was dear to the demons, since those who brought it showed thereby that they held them to be the givers both of grain and of wine), shall, when they are carried off into the captivity, cease indeed from idolatry; yet neither shall they perform the divine rites, but shall sit idle, as being unable to sacrifice or to exercise the priesthood, because there are no altars; and the priesthood not being, neither shall there be the manifestations. And what this means, learn. To the high priest there was attached upon the breast a four-cornered woven cloth, a span in size, called the oracle, having twelve stones, through which the things to come were made plain to the high priest, certain divine signs coming to pass in them; whence this oracle was said to possess the manifestation and the truth. He says, then, that neither shall the manifestations be — that is, the divine signs through which the things to come were made plain. This, then, is the sense of the letter. But you will understand the former harlot to be a type of the Synagogue before Christ, which was also given to idolatry; and the one now taken, after Christ, who likewise is received by God on account of those who, by the election of grace, were in due season to believe — yet she is an adulteress, having given herself over to the Pharisees and Scribes, who teach for doctrines the commandments of men, and being wedded to things not perfected by the word of Christ. And the prophet hires her to himself for fifteen pieces of silver, that is, the five books of the Law and the ten commandments; for they are held under the letter, and are drawn along by it, so that they seem at least to acknowledge God, though wrongly. For he who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father; and, You know neither me, he says, nor my Father. And the barley hints at the irrational nourishment which they feed upon, thinking nothing spiritual or worthy of reasonable souls. And the nebel of wine signifies their drunkenness and frenzy; for seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not understand, which is proper to those who are drunken. They sit, then, who do not believe in Christ, remaining unmoved in their unbelief, having neither a king perceptibly, nor a ruler, nor yet intelligibly; for there is in them no mind reigning or ruling, since they are not even sons of the free Sarah, who is interpreted “she that rules,” but are offspring of the bondwoman, who bears children unto bondage. Neither is there manifestation in them, nor truth; but, being truly blind, they sit in the darkness of falsehood, neither themselves understanding the truth, nor having wherewith to make it plain to others. For how could they, who slew the Word by crucifying him — him who said, I am the truth, and who made plain to us the things from the Father? For what I heard, he says, from my Father, these things I spoke to you. These are they who are here remembered, who also love the cakes with raisins, not receiving the loaves that seem to nourish the soul, apart from what is for favor and for pleasure. And altogether of this sort are the expositions of the teachers, having the sweetness of raisins and promising perceptible goods, which are altogether quick to wither. To this woman is like the man who seems to serve God for a wage and for the bestowal of perceptible goods — wealth being signified by the pieces of silver, whose number is fifteen, that you may learn that of such a man the whole body and soul and spirit has perception united and arrayed to itself, while the things needful for living, both moist and dry, are signified by the wine and the barley; or else it sets forth the proportion of such a life. Only, he who seems to serve for such a wage will quickly be transferred to another master, whenever the wage shall fail. So also David speaks concerning such a one: He will give you thanks, whenever you do well to him; that is, He will give you thanks, O Lord, whenever you give him good things; but as soon as these flow away, he will blaspheme you. Even so the enemy, hoping Job too to be some such man, begged him; wherefore he said: Does Job worship the Lord for nothing? Have you not fenced about the things within and the things without of him? And again, urging him on to blasphemy, he said: Speak some word against the Lord, and die. He who serves God for such goods, and not for the good itself, and loves cakes with raisins, not choosing the new and evangelical law, which seems even harsh because of the hardness of its discipline, but the baked and easily-digested and pleasant one. And since, according to the Proverbialist, he who is pleasant and free from pain shall end in want, with reason does this man too sit idle, performing nothing holy, nor being able to say: The hidden and secret things of your wisdom you have made plain to me.

² And after this the sons of Israel shall return, and shall seek the Lord their God, and David their king; and they shall be amazed at the Lord, and at his good things, in the last of the days. The tribes were divided, as was said at the beginning, and there came to be two kingdoms: one, that of the ten tribes, which was called both Israel and Ephraim; the other, that of the two tribes, which for the most part was called Judah, though at times also Benjamin. And they continued so until they were carried captive into Babylon. But after their return thence, the twelve tribes, having taken perception of God and having sought him out, were united, and had one ruler, Zerubbabel, whom they also named David, because he was of the tribe of David, under whom they received the enjoyment of the God-given goods. And since after the fullness of the nations all Israel too shall be saved, the sons of Israel shall seek out, by believing, the king David, that is, Christ, the one mighty in hand (for this is what David is interpreted), who, having broken the gates of bronze, bound strong death, and snatched us as his spoils. Take these things, I pray you, as referring to the inner man. For perception is a harlot and an adulteress, looking toward strangers — that is, toward all things not proper to our nature, nor following after us. A stranger is wealth; for, it says, in his dying he shall not take all things with him. A stranger is glory; for his glory shall not go down with him. A stranger is luxury; for the other forms of it are temporary, and the things eaten and drunk, passing into the belly and into the privy, flow away. This perception the prophetic word, taking up its dwelling within, makes for a while to abstain from its wonted ways and to turn aside from evil, both by the fifteen pieces of silver — the oracles of the Law, I mean (for five are the books of the Law, given also to the imperfect and to those who live according to perception), and the dominical oracles, the perfect and perfecting (for the number ten is a perfect number) — and by the wine of a more austere conversion and of the remembrance of the eternal punishments, and by the gomor of barley, that is, of the finer and humbler discipline. Yet it teaches that such idleness is not praiseworthy; for one must, among those worthy to be called sons of Israel — that is, of the contemplative mind — be a king and a ruler, ordering what ought to be done; and a priest, slaughtering the passions of unreason and offering these to God: the temper, by being zealous on his behalf, like Phinehas and Elijah; and the desire, by desiring the things divine, such as was Daniel, the man of desires. For thus there will follow upon such a discipline both the manifestation from above and the illumination of the Spirit, so as to say with Paul: But to us God has revealed it through his Spirit. Only, the soul that for a while rests idle from evils shall afterward receive the king David, the one mighty in hand — that is, in the practical power — and shall be amazed at the Lord and at his good things. For in truth the soul stands outside its nature, whenever, made simple by God beyond all nature, it enjoys his good things alone, and is filled.

5 Chapter Four

¹ Hear the word of the Lord, you sons of Israel, for the Lord has a controversy with those who dwell in the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God upon the land; cursing, and falsehood, and theft, and adultery is poured out upon the land, and they mingle bloods upon bloods. Having said that in the last of the days they shall enjoy good things, and having given them good hopes, that they might not despair utterly, he now again reminds them of the evils done by them, that they may make haste to be bettered, as having a good Master, who bears with them even while they live thus; and at the same time that they may know that he will justly give them over to the Babylonians, being so wicked. Wherefore he says: The Lord has a controversy. For there is a tribunal against us, in which I show that not unjustly have I decreed that you should perish. He said, then, that There is no truth, nor mercy, teaching us whence this comes to be — from there being no knowledge of God; for the fool said in his heart, There is no God, and from this they were corrupted and became abominable in their pursuits. And perhaps one might say also the contrary — that from there being no truth nor mercy, there is no knowledge of God either. For God is far off from sinners, as Solomon says; and with reason. For he who has cast clay upon the eyes of the soul, and blinded them, how shall he see the light? By “cursing” he means reviling and slander. Because, then, there is no truth, there is the cursing, that is, the reviling and slander and the falsehood; and because there is no mercy, there is murder, and the mingling of bloods upon bloods; and because there is no knowledge of God, both these, and theft, and adultery. These things might be said also concerning those who slew the Lord. For mercy and truth is Christ himself, and the knowledge of God as well. For he who has seen me, he says, has seen the Father. But these men did not receive him, neither was he in them. But what was in them? Cursing, that is, reviling; for they called him a Samaritan, and a drunkard, and one born of fornication. And they spoke falsely against him, saying that he had a demon, and that he was against God, and that he cast out the demons by Beelzebul. And there was theft in them; for they secretly hired Judas, through whom they accomplished the murder of the Savior, and mingled his blood with the bloods of the prophets, and after these things, with the blood of the apostles. And adultery was altogether dared by their high priests, who hired the high priesthood year by year and used it insolently. And if the soul of the man given over to earthly things is named “earth,” see that truth and mercy are not upon such an earth; for he who loves the false wealth, and the false pleasures, and the lying glory, has no truth. Therefore neither has he mercy from God, nor will he know him in the day of revelation as God — that is, as gracious — but as Lord, which is to say Master and chastiser; which one of the patriarchs, deprecating, said: Let the Lord be to me for a God. And those from the heresies mingle bloods upon bloods, who, having slain themselves through the heresy, will yet slay others also, those whom they make their disciples. And whenever a man, himself corrupted in soul, taking a young soul, corrupts its character through evil converse, he too mingles bloods upon bloods.

² Therefore the land shall mourn, and shall be diminished with all who dwell in it, with the beasts of the field, and with the creeping things, and with the birds of heaven; and the fishes of the sea shall fail, so that none may go to law, nor any reprove. Such a multitude of enemies, he says, will I bring upon you for such works of yours, that there be diminished not only the rich, who like beasts and creeping things and birds lay upon the poorer, and, as if upon certain wings, lifted up by their wealth and power, were borne down heavily from on high against the lowlier; but also all the rest, who, like certain fishes, are plunged into the deep of this life. And since the Israelites were without a king, with reason does he liken them to the animals that have no king. And this coming to pass, he says, the land shall become desolate and without those who go to law and those who are judged; that is, the false accusations and false witnessings shall fail, and the unjust verdicts, and the unjust reproofs. The land of Jerusalem too mourned, taken by the Romans, with her great ones, who were wild beasts, according to that, He lies in wait in secret, like a lion, to seize the poor; and creeping things, according to that, Serpents, offspring of vipers; and birds of heaven, by reason of their lifted-up mind, such as those who say, Touch me not, for I am clean; to whom God, not being pleased with them, says this: It is the smoke of my wrath. But they were also fishes, as devouring one another. Or else the herd-like multitude are called fishes, as most irrational, and most voiceless, and plunged in the cares of this life. And judgments too shall fail, and reproofs. For since, he says, having accused the Lord with false charges, you established false witness against him and condemned him, with reason you shall not have authority to go to law or to reprove, as having used both judgments and reproofs unlawfully. But to the soul that minds earthly things, it is a cause of blessedness to mourn out of repentance; and the diminishing of the proud mind is no small good. For by so much as the outward man is corrupted, by so much is the inward renewed. Together with the beasts in us, and the creeping things, and the birds — which have been said what they are — let the fishes in us also be diminished, concerning whom we understand some such thing: One man does the evil, but is stung, perceiving that he is doing wickedly. Another, sinning, does not even think that he is doing any evil, but, even when accused, sets himself to the defense of such a deed as a good one. Such a man is a fish, having for life-giving the water that is truly salt, and seeming to the rest death-bearing. And when such things have failed from the soul, there shall be neither judgment (for he who believes, he says, comes not into judgment, but has passed from death into life), nor reproof; for to the sinner God said: I will reprove you, and set your sins before your face.

³ But my people are as a priest spoken against, and he shall be weak by day; and the prophet too shall be weak with him. Just as, he says, if a man should be descended of a priestly tribe, but have some bodily blemish, being one-eyed, or lame, or maimed in some other part of the body, he is not brought into the priesthood, but, as one spoken against — that is, slandered on account of this defect — fails of the priesthood; and as a man already established a priest, should he fall into some charge, and disputes arise against him concerning his honor, ceases from priestly service and is dishonored: so, he says, my people too are descended of holy forefathers, but on account of the hurt of soul shall be without honor before me, and shall be weak for many days. But also the prophet — that is, the false prophet — shall not have boldness; for in truth the false prophets, in time of peace, used boldness, saying that The evils shall not come; but in the dread times they shrank back, being shown weak and liars. The God-slaying people too became as a priest spoken against. For as the slandered man either does not exercise the priesthood at all, or, having exercised it, ceases from ministering: so also these shall no longer have priesthood or sacrifice in their strength, nor even prophets. Yet he shall not be weak forever, but for certain days; for there has been reserved for him a season of faith in Christ. Whoever, then, exercises the priesthood and slaughters the irrational passions, offering them to God, as was said above, is in truth a divine and true priest. But if a man rather slaughters the word of reason, this one is a priest spoken against; for he is spoken of contrariwise to the things he does. But while it is yet night, and ignorance of what is fitting, he shall do these things, and be strong, and mighty in wickedness; but when the day comes, and divine knowledge shines forth, he shall be weak; and the false prophet too shall be weak with him, which is the hope that promises him good things to be in the time to come, and strengthens him to do such things.

⁴ I have likened your mother to night; my people are made like, as having no knowledge. The mother of the people is the Synagogue, which, because she is held fast by the gloom of ignorance, and has not received even a brief gleam of the knowledge of God, is likened to night; wherefore also the people born of her, being like the mother, was made like to her as well, as having no knowledge. And the Hebrews of the present day too, sitting beside the shadow of the Law, are with reason likened to night, especially since they have also slain the true Light. And since our mother is disobedience, according to the conception in sins, God, doing us good, likened her to night, and gave us to behold her formless, and without beauty, and unshapely; but we, as being made like those who have no knowledge, do not see her as night, but run to her as to one shining and most fair.

⁵ Because you have thrust away knowledge, I also will thrust you away, that you minister not as priest to me; and you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children. First you, he says, thrust away the knowledge of my statutes and commandments; and so thereafter I will thrust you away, that you minister not as priest to me — that is, that henceforth no priest be put forward from the nation, neither be there priesthood among you; for not all the people exercise the priesthood. And more cuttingly he said, I will forget your children, that he might the more grieve them. For we do not so much care for ourselves as for our own children. Of the things dearest to you, then, he says, I will be forgetful. Where now is priesthood among the Hebrews, who thrust away Christ, who is knowledge, as was said above? Since they forgot also the law of God, which says, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up for you; and that, You shall see your life hanging before your eyes, and you shall not believe; therefore, he says, I will forget your children, forsaking them, so that they are circumcised in the flesh, and not sealed with the true seal of baptism. And everywhere knowledge is sought, even in the practical life, that we may not fall, as upon a good, into the worse, fasting like the abstainers, or fleeing marriage. For thus, even if we should seem to bring forth many good deeds, the Lord will forget them, as not done according to his law. For no one is crowned, unless he contend lawfully.

⁶ According to their multitude, so did they sin against me. I cannot, he says, find a measure or a number of the things sinned by them; whence, having no other measure, I say that, just as they themselves are without number, like the stars of heaven and like the sand of the sea, so also the things wherein they sinned against me are without number; and at the same time he sets forth their thanklessness, that, having been so benefited by me and become so many, they did not remember the benefit, but multiplied their sins against me equal in measure to their own multitude; so that I find neither woman, nor child, nor old man well-pleasing to me. So also those who seized the Lord came upon him according to their multitude. And in the soul too, whenever the passions, having thrust away the oversight of the one ruler, become a multitude, then we sin against God.

⁷ Their glory I will set for dishonor. They themselves, he says, have for glory their multiplying; but I, having consumed them through the war, will make them few, and herein they shall be brought round to dishonor. Or, that Now, doing the evils, they boast in them; there shall be, then, a time when they shall recognize the works of dishonor, and shall be ashamed of them. Their glory was dishonored, in that, being sons of the kingdom, they were cast forth outside; and the circumcision once glorious among them is now without honor and inglorious. But also, whenever a man, having received some gift from God — such as wealth or eloquence — uses it ill, God forsakes him, and these things turn to dishonor for them. So he gave over the wise Greeks to a reprobate mind, forsaking them; so the rich man is more dreadfully fried in Gehenna because of his wealth; and the kings of the Hebrews who were carried captive had their glory and their wealth turned to the greater dishonor. For it is not the same thing that one born in poverty should be led away captive, and one born and bred in palaces, and who has reigned.

⁸ They shall eat the sins of my people, and in their iniquities shall they receive their souls; and it shall be, as the people, so also the priest. Having accused the people, he passes to the priestly race, saying that they eat the things offered for the sins of the people; for these he calls sins; and reaping so much from the people, they did not in their iniquities reprove them as doing wickedly, but themselves took upon them their souls, saying, Upon us be the judgment; like those who said to Pilate, His blood be upon us. What, then, will come of this? That the priest shall be as the people, as consenting to the things done by them. Behold, then, their glory — that is, the glorious race of the priests — has become dishonor. But some understood the words, They shall receive their souls, thus: The priests, eating the things offered for the sin of the people, took their own souls in the stead of the sinners, so as to offer these to God as sacrifices. For the priest, being a mediator of God and men, offers his own soul to God, having taken it; just as the Lord too laid down his own soul for us. But nevertheless, he says, though appointed to this very thing, to become a sacrifice to God, they did not show this forth, but became as the people. All these things are spoken with reference to every priest and ruler, together with the threat that follows, which hear.

⁹ And I will avenge upon them their ways, and will recompense to him his counsels. Naming the deeds “ways,” he says that I will bring upon them all the penalty and the punishment for their deeds. And not only will I avenge the deeds, but also his counsels — that is, the people’s; for we render penalties not only for deeds, but also for unseemly reasonings. He avenged also the ways of the God-slaying people — that is, the assaults which they made against Christ, and the counsels which they framed against him. One travels upon a sin, but not from deliberation, rather by being carried away; he is simply chastised. But whenever the way has counsel also — that is, when the evil receives establishment from deliberation — then the vengeance is double.

¹⁰ And they shall eat, and shall by no means be filled. That is, Continuous and successive evils will I bring upon them. For just as the insatiable, eating, are not satisfied, so also they shall eat the fruits of their deeds — that is, the punishments — and, as though they had not eaten nor been punished, so shall they summon yet others. The teachers of the Hebrews of the present day too seem to nourish their souls by reading the Law; but it is not so; for they hunger, and are not filled, because they took away from themselves the bread that came down from heaven, Christ. And he who commits sin is not filled, because the pleasure is passing and temporary.

¹¹ They played the harlot, and shall by no means prosper, because they forsook the Lord, so as to keep harlotry; and the heart of my people received wine and strong drink. Two things he charges against the people: one, that they played the harlot, having rolled away from him into idolatry, and that to such a degree as to keep this harlotry, and to abide in it unchangeably; the other, that they gave themselves over to drunkenness — that is, they poured themselves out into every luxury. And these things are said also concerning the Jews, whether those of that time, or those after Christ, that they themselves, being teachers, kept the harlotry of the people. For though they ought to uproot it and to make it vanish, they preserved it, confirming it by their teachings; wherefore, And the heart of the people received wine and strong drink — that is, their teaching, which makes them frenzied and out of their minds. And observe, that as soon as a man plays the harlot from God, he does not prosper. For virtue, being a mean, is a kind of straight thing; but vice has crookednesses, being seen in excesses and deficiencies; since God too is straight, but the dragon is crooked. For he will bring, it says, the sword upon the dragon, the crooked serpent. And every passion, being a thing that drives out reasoning, is said to produce drunkenness. Drunkenness is temper; drunkenness is grief; drunkenness is love of wealth, which makes one heavy-headed and bowed down; for such a man fears all men. And the lover of glory is of this kind too, and shudders at the reproach of even the most worthless person. Let not our heart, then, receive such strong drink, admitting it gladly to itself; for such a thing seems to be the word, “received.”

¹² They inquired by tokens. The priests, he says, who ought to make the people apt for piety toward God, these, professing divinations, whenever a man came to them to inquire concerning his own affairs, questioned the demons by tokens — that is, by certain signs. For either they used the flights of birds as tokens of the future, or the rising of the smoke of the things sacrificed — how it ascended, whether sideways or straight up. And they examined also the entrails of the victims, and by their colors, or by their shapes and dispositions, thought to conjecture and to understand whatever they wished.

¹³ And by his rods they reported to him. To whom? To the people. For setting up two rods, they muttered certain incantations underneath; then, the rods falling by demonic operations, they examined how, or where, each fell — whether forward or backward, to the right or to the left; and thus they answered the foolish, using the fallings of the rods as tokens. So also Nebuchadnezzar divined, as Ezekiel says.

¹⁴ For by a spirit of harlotry they were led astray, and went a-whoring from their God; upon the tops of the mountains they sacrificed, and upon the hills they offered, under oak and white poplar and shady tree, because the shelter was good. These things, he says, which I have told, they did, because they had a great impulse toward harlotry, or idolatry, or even toward the passion itself. By “spirit” here he means eagerness; or else, since over each of the sins a certain demon exults, they were set ablaze toward this harlotry — understood in both senses — by a spirit of a demon; and, taking delight, through softness and effeminacy, in the thick-foliaged trees that afforded a fair shelter, they sacrificed to them from the shade. For the Greeks too laid it down as a doctrine that certain trees were proper to certain gods — as the oaks to the nymphs, the laurel to Apollo, to Aphrodite the rose and the myrtle, and others to others. And they went up to the tops of the mountains, as there being the greatest and most shady trees; and perhaps too because there the diviners more readily met with the demons. And see how those men, through love of pleasure and luxury, departed from God. With reason, then, did Paul say that the lovers of pleasure are not lovers of God; so that it is ever good to be sober and to live without excess. And if our base deeds too are called “wood” by the Apostle, he who comes under each base deed and is enslaved to it, is himself also led astray by a spirit of harlotry, going a-whoring away from the deed that befits him and is naturally fitted to him, unto the deed that befits not and is against nature; for every sin is against nature. And we are enslaved to such things, as having a shadow of the good; for this is what leads us astray. And if mountains and hills are the opposing powers, both the greater and the lesser, by reason of the swollen mind, consider that, whenever the wicked reasonings are brought to a peak in us, then we set our hands to the deeds.

¹⁵ Therefore your daughters shall play the harlot, and your brides shall commit adultery; and I will by no means visit your daughters when they play the harlot, nor your brides when they commit adultery. Your daughters, he says, being made captives, and the wives of your children — namely, your brides — shall be exposed to outrages by those who take them captive, and I will not visit them — that is, I will forsake them, and permit them to suffer these things. But God visits sinners in another way also, whenever he has mercy on them, hindering their impulse toward evil, and chastening them with chastisement, according to that, I will visit their iniquities with a rod, but my mercy I will not scatter away from them. For whom the Lord loves he chastens, as a son; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? Because they themselves mingled with harlots. By “harlots” he here means properly the priestesses of Baal-Peor. This was an idol, the one called among the Greeks Priapus, who himself too presided over licentiousness, which he showed also by his figure. And the women who served so shameful an abomination were altogether harlots. And with the initiated they sacrificed. “Initiated” he calls the hierophants of such an idol, those initiated into the secret rites among them, as being already more perfect; who, seeming to be men, were womanish, and, using cymbals and womanish wailings, went about the circuits, performing the mysteries of Baal-Peor. They sacrificed, then, he says, to this shameful idol, using as teachers the aforesaid initiated. So long, then, as a man only reasons upon the sin, he does not yet sacrifice with the initiated; but when he completes it through the deed, then he is said to sacrifice with those initiated by him. They sacrificed the Lord in themselves, with the initiated — that is, with the more perfect of the priests and high priests. And the people that understood was entangled with a harlot. The things already said he spoke concerning the ten tribes, which were also named Israel; but this he now says concerning the two — I mean the kingdom of Judah — that these too, seeming to have the knowledge of God, as reigning in Jerusalem, the city of God, yet sacrificed to the idol of Astarte, that is, of Aphrodite. For this one he called a harlot. For her image too stood naked, and from the very sight of it was harlot-like and abominable. And Solomon set up an idol to Astarte, gratifying his wife. A harlot, as given to idolatry, was the band which the people that understood — that is, those about Annas and Caiaphas — took to themselves as accomplices, in order to seize the Lord. And he that understands in us — that is, the mind — whenever, having dissolved his own kingdom, he sets up the mob-rule of the passions, becomes a “people”; then indeed it is entangled with the harlot, perception, not taking her to itself, but being taken by her.

¹⁶ But you, Israel, be not ignorant; and Judah, enter not into Gilgal. Here he discourses to the twelve tribes in common; and since Israel — that is, the ten tribes — was sick with senselessness, being utterly given over to idols, he says to him: Be not ignorant; instead of, Take knowledge, lay aside your folly. But to Judah he said no such thing. For these too seemed to have the knowledge of God, yet they secretly sacrificed to those that are no gods. He says, then, to this one: Enter not into Gilgal. Now this was a city given over to idolatry in a special degree, in which Joshua circumcised the uncircumcised with knives of stone, and laid up there the twelve stones taken from the Jordan, that they might be a memorial of that wonderful benefit. Exceedingly unseemly, then, it was that that city, in which so many tokens of the divine benefit were laid up, should be made the metropolis of impiety, by going up into it and sacrificing to idols. These things are enjoined also upon the God-slayers: Be not ignorant of the Savior who came in the flesh for the benefit of human nature, you who are called Israel; for you are named “God-beholding”; think worthily of the name. And you too, O Judah, named from confession, go not into the ancestral wallowing-place, and to the precipice down which your fathers were borne, slaying the prophets and stoning those that were sent; but even if you have sinned somewhat, plotting against the Savior, by repentance and confession heal this; for Gilgal is interpreted “a wallowing.” And he that has been enlightened, and has seen the divine mysteries, is admonished not to be ignorant of the grace which he has obtained, but to make haste, through a good life, to preserve it; and he that through confession has received remission of his former sins, not to enter again into the downward and precipitous sin, running of his own will into its inmost and most perilous parts.

¹⁷ And go not up to the house of iniquity, and swear not by the living Lord. By “house of iniquity” he means Bethel, in which Jeroboam set up the one heifer, having set the other in Dan. These were idols of Apis, the Egyptian ox; and the manifold idolatry Jeroboam learned from Egypt. Now Bethel is interpreted “house of God.” Unjust, then, and thankless toward their benefactor were they who dedicated his house to the idol. As for the words, Swear not by the living Lord, some understood them thus: that We ought not, making the true God our oath, to go up into the house of the idol; which Paul too says: You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. But others swore by the idol itself as the living Lord. The Israelite tribe too was a house of God, according to that, I will dwell in them and walk among them, and I will be their God; but it became a house of self-iniquity — of the devil, I mean — since it thrust away Christ, who was made for us righteousness from God; and it wronged both itself and the truth, which it slew, not confessing its glory. For these men swear by the living Lord, thinking to honor the Father. They are deceived; for the Lord they themselves showed to be dead, even if he lives by the power of God. And whenever a man keeps the commandments of the Son, the Son himself and the Father come to him, and make their abode with him. The soul, then — such a house — must not become a house of iniquity, through love of wealth oppressing the lowlier. And let the saying, Swear not by the living Lord, edify us when taken also simply thus, leading us away from the oath, and all but saying that other word: But I say to you, Let the Yea be yea, and the Nay nay.

¹⁸ For as a heifer stung to frenzy Israel was driven mad; now the Lord shall feed them like a lamb in a wide place. The gadfly is a certain small fly, which, whenever it stings a heifer, so maddens her that she runs up and down, and is sometimes carried over a precipice. He says, then, that the ten tribes are like a heifer goaded to frenzy, and carried over a precipice, because they received the gadfly of idolatry; but the Lord, having given them over into captivity, shall feed them — that is, shall shepherd them — no longer as an unsubdued thing, but as a most gentle lamb; for the captivity shall humble him. And by “wide place” he names the land of the Persians and Medes, in which, wandering as captives, exchanging now one master, now another, they suffered. This the Hebrews too suffer in the present dispersion, removing from place to place, because they raged against Christ like a heifer; for they did not receive the yoke of the Gospel, being carried by the gadfly of envy toward the precipice of God-slaying. And if a soul, ever borne disorderly by some passion, as by a gadfly, slips down into the precipice of sin, let it pray that the Lord may shepherd it, as a lamb that does not strive, nor cry out, nor have a will of its own, according to that, I became like a beast before you, and I am continually with you; but living according to his commandments. For thus it shall be also in a wide place, according to him who says, Your commandment is exceeding broad. For in truth he has rest who lives according to the commandments. Learn of me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest for your souls.

¹⁹ Ephraim, a partner of idols, has set for himself stumbling-blocks; he has chosen Canaanites; playing the harlot they went a-whoring, they loved dishonor from their insolence. He seems still to be speaking to Judah, that Ephraim became a partner of the idols, having worshiped the heifers, which became to him stumbling-blocks and snares of the soul. And not only this, but he also emulated the Canaanites, serving their idol, Baal-Peor, and preferred to me this dishonor; for it is in truth a dishonor that reasonable men should serve such things. And this dishonor he got from despising me, and from being insolent against my honor. Were not such, then, also those who used the gentile and idolatrous commanders as accomplices and partners in the impiety of slaying Christ? — who also set stumbling-blocks for him, namely for Christ, and loved his dishonor, crucifying him as a transgressor. And these things they did out of insolence, as David too says: Why did the nations rage, and the peoples imagine vain things? So also among all men those who are insolent gain dishonor. For it is said, Everyone that is high-hearted is unclean before the Lord; and, Everyone that exalts himself shall be humbled. And he that loves to dishonor and to abominate his neighbors, and suffers this out of insolence, let him see with whom he is ranked — with the partners of the idols, and the rest of the things here testified.

²⁰ A whirlwind of spirit shall whistle in her wings, and they shall be ashamed because of their sacrifices. Just as, he says, the birds by the motion of their wings cleave the air with a certain rushing and sound, so also she — namely, the Synagogue of the ten tribes under the kingdom of Ephraim — as though winged, shall be carried captive into the foreign land, my wrath thrusting her thither, and dragging her as by a whirlwind of spirit. And she shall endure this shame of the captivity because of her sacrificing to the idols. But if the Scripture stands thus, “A whirlwind of spirit, you are in her wings,” it is to be understood that God speaks to Judah, that You, O Judah, became the cause of idolatry to the kingdom of the ten tribes. For seeing you given to idolatry — you so learned in the Law, you who waited upon the temple — she too ran the more keenly to idolatry. For she had wings moving toward the idols; but you also, like a whirlwind of spirit, breathed upon her wings and made them more nimble. So also the teachers of the Jews made the proselytes who looked to them sons of Gehenna; which must be guarded against, since, according to the word of the Lord, Whoever shall offend one of these little ones, it is profitable that a millstone be hanged about his neck. The whole Synagogue too has wings, the Law and the prophets, by which she was lifted up to the heavenly height of knowledge and of upright life. In these wings, then, the Spirit shall whistle — that is, shall sound and speak audibly — gathering up the letter into a whirlwind and persuading that it be understood spiritually. Whence they themselves, not receiving this Spirit, shall be ashamed, having fallen away even from their sacrifices. The soul too has two wings, the natural law and the taught law, by which, being moved toward the good, it is led up toward heaven. But the wing of the Spirit also must ever be present; for if at any time it is wanting to her, she becomes the more nimble in bowing down to the passions, and shall now be ashamed because of them.

6 Chapter Five

¹ Hear these things, you priests; and attend, O house of Israel; and give ear, O house of the king. Since, having gone before, he accused both the people and those false priests, and the royal tribe through Ephraim, now again he wakes them all up, as it were sleeping, and rouses them to hear. And since the priests are required to be more understanding than the rest, for these it is enough merely to say, Hear; but for the house of Israel — that is, the people — it is needful to attend. For if the common man does not greatly set his mind upon the things said, he will understand nothing of what is said. And to the house of the king — I mean the kings and those about them — he enjoins to give ear, which signifies something more than to hear.

² Because the judgment is against you, for you became a snare to the watch-post, and as a net stretched out upon Itabyrion, which those who hunt the prey have fixed. Against you all, he says, is the judgment — that is, This trial and reproof, which I now make. And what is the judgment? That to my prophets you all became a snare, and plot against them. For by “watch-post” he called the guard and order of the prophets. For they were as it were certain watchmen, announcing beforehand to the people the things coming upon them, as also to Ezekiel. And just as hunters set their nets upon Itabyrion (and this is a mountain of Galilee, high and thickly wooded, and therefore affording game of every kind to the hunters), so also you, setting your plots against the prophets, slaughter them. And it may be understood thus also, that You, the priests and kings and the leaders of the people, having been set by me upon a watch-post, and stationed in a high degree, so as to announce to the people what they ought to do, became rather a snare, accomplishing their destruction. For the priests were servants of idols, and the kings and the rulers magnificently and richly sacrificed to the abominations, by which the people were corrupted. These things will fit also the high priests, Pharisees, and Scribes who slew Christ, and king Herod; who became a snare to the watch-post — that is, to the lofty Christ, upon whom he that stands sees both more and better than the rest. Or did they not even attempt to ensnare him in words, and at last fix for him the snare of the cross, and spread out their manifold slanders and false witnessings like nets? And a teacher too, appointed to be such, and being in a high degree, if he have a blameworthy life or crooked doctrines, becomes a snare to those who look to him, standing upon the watch-post; and a net — not such as the disciples of Christ and the fishermen had, woven of wonders, but such as the demons, who ever hunt the soul’s prey, have fixed. Let us hear, we who destroy souls, whose net we are, and that it is not God’s, even though we stand upon the watch-post.

³ But I am your instructor; I knew Ephraim, and Israel I have not put away from me. Because now Ephraim has played the harlot, Israel is defiled. Since, he says, you have become such, I will bring upon you instruction, namely that of the captivity, and upon all the people, whom he signified by “Israel.” For I knew their works, in that I did not even put them away from me, so as to be far from them and not to behold them, but I am a God that draws near. But perhaps, since all instruction of the Lord comes from love, according to Solomon, the word “I knew” stands here for “I loved,” so that God says: I instruct them, because I loved Ephraim, and Israel I have not put away from me. For even if he play the harlot into idolatry, yet not even so have I thrust him away, but I am with him. And these things accord with what was said at the beginning to the prophet, when he was commanded to take the harlot. Who will not love such an overseer, instructing not in temper, but in love? These things are a lesson too for every ruler, not to chastise toward anger, but toward instruction and profit.

⁴ They gave not their counsels to turn back to their God; because a spirit of harlotry is in them. But the Lord they knew not. By these things their wickedness is shown to be voluntary and of their own will. For they gave not, he says, their reasonings at all to the true knowledge of God, because they received in themselves the spirit of harlotry, both the idolatrous and the bodily, and on this account they knew not the Lord. For what fellowship has light with darkness? How can one serve two masters? So also in souls it is not possible that almsgiving and love of wealth dwell together, or luxury and chastity, or temper and lowliness of mind, or truth and the pleasing of men.

⁵ And the pride of Israel shall be humbled before his face. By “pride” he means the contempt of God, and the apostasy from him, which became more moderate when they were carried captive, than the arrogance which they had while they flourished in good things. Plainly, then, he says, they shall see what manner of thing is the fruit of impiety and of arrogance. For this is what “before his face” signifies. And the pride of Israel is in another sense idolatry; for to that very man, being reasonable, it is the greatest insult and disgrace to serve pieces of wood. Humbled too was the pride of the God-slayers against Christ. And since the face above all becomes the stamp and the token, the humbling looked to what was most recognizable to them — to the Law, I mean, and the circumcision. For the Law was their most peculiar stamp. For he made known, it says, his ordinances and his judgments to Israel; he did not so to every nation. And the circumcision was a seal to them and a mark. And to a soul that uses the divine goods insolently, humbling is profitable, especially if it come before its face — that is, if it discern the cause of the humbling, and, taking perception, recognize it.

⁶ And Israel and Ephraim shall be weak in their iniquities, and Judah too shall be weak with them. Both in the war, growing weak, they shall be defeated, and in the time of the captivity, they shall be as weak slaves. But the kingdom of Judah too shall be weak together with them. For the kings of Syria and the Babylonians took down many of their cities also, after the ten tribes in Samaria had been enslaved; wherefore afterward he made mention of Judah. And why shall both suffer these things? For their iniquities, both those by which they wronged one another, and those by which they wronged God, ascribing to others the honor that belongs to him by nature. He, then, who has not the Lord is weak; for David says, My strength and my song is the Lord; and Paul, I can do all things in Christ who strengthens me. For Christ is the power of God, and without him we can do nothing.

⁷ With sheep and calves they shall go to seek the Lord, and shall by no means find him; he has turned aside from them, because they forsook the Lord. When they are in dire straits, he says, they shall attempt by sacrifices to propitiate me, but they shall not find me; for I have turned aside from them; and the cause is that they themselves first forsook me. And why, when they sacrificed, did the Lord not appear to them? Either because they did not do it from the whole soul, but coldly and for the occasion; whereas the Law commands to love God from the whole heart, and from the whole soul, and from the whole mind; or because they went forth to the false gods as to the Lord, but the one who is truly Lord was not found by them — even as they called the idol too the living Lord. And mark the indication of two persons. For he has turned aside from them, he says — the Lord — because they forsook the Lord. And if the Spirit speaks these things in the prophet, behold the third person also. And observe that he has already brought to an end the legal sacrifices; for it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. For by faith alone and by baptism is the Lord found, who forgives sins. But also to the soul that seeks the Lord with foolishness, which the sheep set forth, he is not found. For be, he says, wise as the serpents; and, Walk in wisdom. But neither is he found with bodily strength, which the race of oxen indicates. For the power of God is perfected in weakness; and, By so much as the outward man is corrupted, by so much is the inward renewed.

⁸ Because strange children were born to them, and now the blight shall devour them, and their portions. The Law forbade the taking of a foreign wife: Lest, it says, she turn away your son from me, and he go and serve other gods; which Solomon also suffered. But they took foreign wives, and begat children of them. Or by “strange children” he means those born of the Israelite women themselves. For these, he says, are not mine, nor were they dedicated to me, but to the idols. Strangers, therefore, they are. And by “blight” he means the harm that befalls from the dew of the air; or perhaps the Assyrian multitude, which, after the manner of a blight, both destroyed the men and laid waste and devoured their portions — that is, their inheritances. And with reason, having made mention of children, he made mention also of portions, all but saying this: since the children are strangers, with reason are they not worthy even of portions. And he said “now,” to signify that these things would be at no long distance. And the slayers of Christ too were strange children. For if you were children, he says, of Abraham, you would do the works of Abraham; therefore the army of the Romans too was let loose upon them from above and from heaven, like the blight, and destroyed both them and their portions — that is, all the lands which Joshua the son of Nun apportioned to them; or even their priestly and high-priestly dignities. And whenever in the soul too there are born children estranged from God, and strangers to the covenants, to whom God might say, Strange children lied to me; and these are either godless doctrines or lawless deeds, then the blight devours the soul that is mother of such things — the disposition that comes to be in her from the ruler of the power of the air, who works in the sons of disobedience; and not her alone, but also her portions. For she is deprived of the mansions in the heavens, which she was to inherit, through each virtue toward each.

⁹ Sound the trumpet upon the hills, sacrifice upon the high places, proclaim in the house of On. Having said above that Now the blight shall devour, and having shown by the word “now” that the dread things would speedily be set upon them, he now mocks the weakness of the idols, saying: Since you sacrificed upon the hills and upon the high places in Bethel (which he named the house of On, that is, of the unprofitable; for what the Seventy called “On,” the other translators rendered “unprofitable.” And there was an idol of a heifer in Bethel) — call upon the help of the gods served in these places, and use the warlike trumpets and the war-cries from the high places, making your strongholds against the enemies the very places in which you sacrificed, and having with you the help of the gods that receive the sacrifices.

¹⁰ Benjamin was amazed, Ephraim became a desolation. By “Benjamin” he means the kingdom of the two tribes, which in many places he calls Judah; for at one time from Judah, at another from Benjamin, he names the whole by synecdoche. He says, then, that those in Jerusalem too were “beside themselves” — that is, were taken out of the midst, perished, as having themselves also acted impiously. For they too sacrificed to Astarte in the high places, and worshiped the sun, as Ezekiel says; whence some thought it was called the house of On — that is, of the sun.

¹¹ In the day of reproof, among your tribes, O Israel, I have shown faithful things. The things, he says, which I told them through the prophets, by the deeds I will show faithful to all the tribes, in the days in which I reprove their transgressions, chastening them; for “I have shown” stands for “I will show,” as “They pierced my hands and my feet” stands for “They will pierce.” And the Scripture uses the verbs thus, to show that to God nothing is future, but he anticipates all things by his foreknowledge and his predestination; and at the same time, to assure us that the things spoken will certainly come to pass. And just as it is impossible that the things already come to pass should not have come to pass, so it is impossible that these things too should not happen, which are spoken of as already come to pass. I showed faithful things also in the days of the cross and of the resurrection, having shaken the creation, and thereby reproving those men, but giving assurance of my own Godhead. Benjamin is interpreted “son of pain”; for Rachel, in bearing him, having travailed hard and being at the point of death, called him “Son of my pain”; but the father named him Benjamin. And every sinner is a son of pain: if he look toward repentance, being here in pain and mourning; but if he depart impenitent, being liable to the everlasting pains. And such a man, even when he sins, is said to be amazed, or beside himself; for sin is a being-out of what is according to nature, and otherwise comes from folly. Whence David too at one time says, from the person of folly, that his wounds stank against him, and at another, I said in my amazement: I am cast away from before your eyes. And when he repents, he stands utterly outside his wonted way. And if Ephraim is interpreted “increase,” let him that increases in wickedness see lest he become a desolation. When? When, in the days of reproof — that is, of the last judgment — he shall sit with his twelve disciples, who judge the twelve tribes of Israel, showing his Godhead faithful. For then they shall see whom they pierced, and shall know that he was no mere man.

¹² The rulers of Judah became as those who remove the boundaries; upon them I will pour out my onset like water. That is, They so transferred my laws, as those who remove the landmarks in the fields, by which the lot of each is recognized, and thus they carried over the honor owed to me unto the idols; or else he slanders them as covetous. Wherefore he says: So will I rush upon them, like a rushing water, and like some torrent roughened by many rains and snows, and borne along with an irresistible onset. The boundaries are removed also by those of the Hebrews who misinterpret the Law, and yet contend to hold it fast. For until John the keeping of it was bounded. Wherefore the wrath of God, poured out upon them like water, scattered them. And whenever a man, being a ruler of Judah, and having confessed and promised and determined to attend no more to the same things, removes such boundaries, and turns back, as a dog to his own vomit, the wrath of God is poured upon such a man all at once, even as the water of the Red Sea upon Pharaoh, who often lied, and was preserved according to his impenitent heart for the showing of the power of God; for God is not mocked.

¹³ Ephraim overpowered his adversary, and trampled judgment, because he began to walk after vanities. Having spoken concerning the rulers of Judah, that they removed boundaries, and having slandered them both as impious and as covetous, he brings the same charges against Ephraim too. For he slanders him as unjust, and as trampling judgment — that is, the right — out of mere power, and neither himself judging what is fitting, nor following others who judge. And the cause of this is his relation to the idols and his following after them. For vain are the idols, he says; whereas, if he reverenced me, he would keep my laws, in which the right is enacted. And these things might be understood otherwise: Judah, he says, did not once for all turn aside from the Law. For there were among them those who blamed the idolaters, and groaned over the lawless deeds, as Ezekiel testifies; but Ephraim, he says, won the most complete and evil victory; for he overpowered, as it were a kind of enemy, my Law, which he hated. And expounding it more plainly, he said this: He trampled judgment — that is, He took no thought of lawful righteousness, because he loved the idols. These things will fit also those who raged against Christ, who, having him for an adversary, as one who both spoke and did things contrary to them, overpowered him, trampling the judgment upon him — Pilate having judged to release him; for they followed their vain teachers. And if all things are vanity of vanities, as the Preacher said, the beginning of covetousness and injustice is to walk after the goods of the world, and to have them for a party-wall, not suffering one to see the things before and the things to come.

¹⁴ And I am as a tumult to Ephraim, and as a goad to the house of Judah. Since the kingdom of Ephraim perished first, both by the Syrians and the Babylonians, and that of Judah later: To Ephraim, he says, I will be a tumult, troubling him plainly, as when the war is already upon him; but to Judah I will be a goad. For seeing those perishing, he too was in no small anguish, and was smitten with the goads of cares, expecting that he himself would suffer the same things. And Christ too is neither a tumult nor a goad, but as a tumult and as a goad. For peace, he says, I proclaim, and I heal diseases. But they are goaded and troubled by envy, saying, Behold, the world is gone after him. And whenever, sinning, we run smoothly on and say, Peace and safety, or by our reasonings plead for the evil that is done, God, in his love for mankind caring for us, either troubles our smooth running in our wicked ways, or shakes our reasonings, casting in the goad of the remembrance of death and of the punishments after death.

¹⁵ And Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah his pain. From the very experience, he says, Ephraim learned his own weakness, and how his strength sickened, and Judah the multitude of his pains.

¹⁶ And Ephraim went to the Assyrians. For when Pul, king of the Assyrians, came up against the ten tribes, they came to him, and both by money and by embassy made him their ally.

¹⁷ And he sent ambassadors to king Jarim. When the Assyrians came up again (for they kept transgressing the treaties), they sent to the king of the Egyptians, whom he calls Jarim, not as being so named, but since Jarim signifies “avenger”; for they called upon him, as one who would avenge them. And that he speaks concerning the king of the Egyptians, he will show in what follows.[36]

¹⁸ And he could not deliver you, and the pain shall by no means cease from you. You called upon Egypt as an avenger; but he himself was proved weak, and from that time more pains came upon you, as upon men who had utterly despaired of salvation. And everyone who has offended God has one ally — to be reconciled to him; since all else is unprofitable to him, even though he spend himself in giving gifts to human helpers, even though he run beneath them; and the pain shall not cease from him: the one, in that he is in anguish over the things he suffers; and this too over the expenses which he poured out in vain. And you will aptly say that this was spoken also concerning the God-slayers, who called upon Julian as an avenger; and he was the same as the great mind of the Assyrians, that he might raise up their city again; but neither was he able to profit them, and the pain ceased not from them.

¹⁹ I am as a panther to Ephraim, and as a lion to Judah. By the panther he shows that the dread things will be set upon them swiftly and sharply; for swift and light is the panther. And by the lion, that they will be great and fearful; for such is the lion. So also the Romans were set upon the Jews swiftly (for it was a little while after the crucifixion) and fearfully; for they made all things vanish. And to the soul that increases in wickedness, the word becomes a panther, swiftly making spoil of her, according to that which is said, Call his name, Spoil-quickly. And this comes to pass whenever it pulls down the reasonings in us that advocate sin, and every high thing that lifts itself up against the knowledge of God; but to Judah — that is, to him that makes confession — it becomes a lion by reason of his kingliness, now laying down laws for him, according to what is said by David, He shall lay down for him a law in the way that he has chosen; and, Lay down for me, O Lord, the way of your ordinances, and I will seek it out continually; or else as strengthening him, so that, having turned aside from evil, he may yet do good.

²⁰ And I will seize, and will go away as a panther. For being light, it seizes and flees.

²¹ And I will take, and there is none that delivers. But this is the lion, by reason of the strength of his claws, and his unwearied power.

²² And I will go and return to my place, until they be brought to nothing. Just as, he says, the wild beasts, after hunting something, return to their own dens, resting from the toil of the chase, so also I, he says, will go away by myself, keeping still, and not at the first making manifest my providence concerning you, as if I were at leisure, until you be brought to nothing. For God is present to the worthy, as he says also to Joshua the son of Nun, As I was with Moses, so will I be also with you; and, Behold, I am with you all the days; and, God is with us. But he is absent from the unworthy; as that, Why, O Lord, do you stand afar off? and, Come to help us; and the like. And, He that bound the strong one snatched us who were held under him. And no one was able to take us out of his holy and mighty hand; as he says also in the Gospel, that My sheep no one seizes out of my hand. And he took the first-fruits of our nature, and went up on high into his own place, where he was before, into the bosom of the Father; and immediately all the things of the legal polity vanished away. Have you not seen also in us oftentimes God snatching away the materials of our sins? A man having wealth, and being lifted up by it against the poorer, lost it; using strength and beauty ill, he sickened and withered; lifted up by honor to senselessness, he fell into dishonor. Having done thus, then, God goes and moves well, having before had no entrance into such a soul, and returns to his own place. And the place of God is the mind of the reasonable man, which, by being cleansed from the things that distract, becomes worthy of the divine reception, until the complete bringing-to-nothing of the human reasonings.

7 Chapter Six

¹ And they will seek my face in their affliction, and will rise early to me, saying: Let us go, and let us return to the Lord our God. As in the case of bodily ailments those who are not healed by the milder remedies have need of the harsher ones, so also among men, as many as are not led to repentance by the kindness of God, being disciplined by the harsher means, come to recognize what is needful; just as these too, who in the enjoyment of good things did not seek out the face of God — that is, his oversight, and his visiting and watching over them — in the deprivation of good things and in their afflictions seek him out as guardian and overseer, and rise early to him, which stands for, they will make haste; or else, that as though awakened from a kind of night, from the darkness of their former ignorance, they turn to me.

² Because he himself has smitten, and will heal us. Some of the books have “He has seized,” and perhaps not amiss; for he said above, “I seize away.” He himself, he says, has seized, or he himself has smitten; he himself will also heal; for when God seizes or smites, there is no other physician. Thus in affliction they remembered God. And understand these things also concerning those of the Hebrews who were afterward to believe in Christ. For these, in the affliction and the long captivity, will seek out, he says, the face — that is, the Son. For he is the express image of the Father’s substance; and as they turn to the Lord, the veil is taken away which lies upon their heart. And in the case of each individual you will find this also — that men turn rather in afflictions to the Lord, who smites our sensible and bodily parts, and heals our souls.

³ He will smite and bind us up; he will sanctify us after two days; on the third day we shall rise, and shall live before him, and shall know.[37] According to the obvious sense he says this: that God needs no period of time for healing, but will furnish health all at once. Yet he hints also at the mystery concerning our nature. For he smote our nature with death; for, as we sinned, he delivered us over to death; but into our smitten nature he inserted his own Son, like a kind of lint-dressing, who, having come to be in the wound of death, healed us, and raised us on the third day. For the nature he assumed, which he took from us, by raising it he bestowed the resurrection upon us all as well, which we shall have in their own due seasons, and we shall live. For since one died for all, the same one also rose for all, and we shall live, not being far from him, but beholding his face, and then we shall have the more perfect knowledge. For now, he says, I see through a mirror, and in an enigma; but then I shall know fully, even as also I was fully known. The blameworthy temper too is smitten in the soul, and blameworthy desire, that they may not rage to no purpose, but may have reason, like a kind of lint, filling up their emptiness. We are sanctified, then, in the practical life, when these two passions belong not to the works of darkness, but to those of the light and of the day; so that it may be said of us also: So then we are not of night, but of day. And we rise on the third day, when, that is, the third part of the soul is illumined — the rational part, through contemplation; for then we shall also live before God himself, that is, beholding him face to face. And we shall know.

⁴ We shall pursue the knowledge of the Lord; we shall find him ready as the dawn. Diligently, he says, and more eagerly we shall seek after him. For just as the dawn dissolves the gloom of night, so also he will readily and swiftly furnish the rays of his own providence, and will deliver us from the night of afflictions.

⁵ And he will come to us as the early and the latter rain to the earth. The earth needs the early rain, so that, having put forth what was sown, it may also have richness, so as to nourish it; and the latter rain especially, lest the plants, once grown, be dried up, when they need more moisture for nourishment, inasmuch as they are then putting forth their fruits also. So to us also, he says, God will come both as an early rain, when he begins to free us from captivity, and as a latter rain, when, having restored us in our homeland, he tends us and cares for us. And Christ too, after the resurrection, manifested himself in the morning to the women, and in the evening, when the doors were shut, to the disciples. And to each soul there comes an early rain, when he reveals the knowledge of the Old Covenant, which rose at the beginning of the knowledge of God; and a latter rain, when he gives the understanding of the Gospel, which shone forth late and in the last of times. And then he makes the soul a desirable land, concerning which the prophet says: You visited the earth, and made it drunk.

⁶ What shall I do to you, Ephraim? What shall I do to you, Judah? For my mercy is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew that passes away. Since he had promised them that he would come to their aid, but they were destined, even after this aid, to fall into many evils because of their own depravities, lest they should think that he had lied to them and had not given a lasting grace, he foretells that they themselves will be the cause; and as a tenderly loving father he makes his discourse to them, all but saying such things as these: I for my part count you worthy of all sparing, and wish to count you worthy of an everlasting mercy; but your mind, being transient, and like a cloud that appears in the morning and is scattered by the sun, or like a little dew consumed by the rays and made to vanish (for this is the meaning of “that passes away”), makes my mercy also, with which I show you mercy, to be likewise transient. Let us hear that we ourselves are the measure of the divine mercy, either prolonging it through persevering repentance, or curtailing it by turning back again too quickly; and let us be eager to have mercy shown us for a longer time. For in truth the kingdom of heaven is within us, and God follows our own free choice. It is also found in another text, “But my mercy”; and you will understand it thus, that God, complaining here, says: In every way I displayed my care for your correction; for I sent forth my mercy upon you, like early dew that goes forth — that is, poured out by the wind upon the earth — and like a morning cloud cooling the fruits; but you did not receive it. But neither did the Hebrews receive the Son, who, being the mercy of the Father (for through him we obtained mercy), was sent as a cloud, by reason of the density of the body; and “in the morning,” because the shadow of the Law had come to its end, and because he was not overtaken by the darkness of the devil and of sin, but rather became to others the beginning of light, as the morning is the beginning of the day. And the same was also dew, descending from above; and “that goes forth,” because the knowledge of him was not confined to one place, but went out to all. For formerly he was known in Judea; but now, the sound of the apostles having gone out into all the earth, the earth was filled with the knowledge of the Lord, as much water that covers the seas. And his lightnings shall be to the whole world, and all the ends of the earth saw the salvation of God.

⁷ Therefore I have mowed down your prophets, I have slain them by the word of my mouth, and my judgment shall go forth as light. You, he says, are in such a state as to show a cold and short-lived repentance, and for this reason to render my mercy also of the same sort; yet I did not fail to count you worthy of the care that was due — so much so that you became the cause of death even to the holy prophets, whom I sent to you as counselors (for this is what “I have slain” signifies); and because I gave them my mouth for speaking, I seem to be the one who slew them. But even if you slay them, you cannot make false the things prophesied concerning you; rather my judgment — that is, the verdict which I have decreed against you — shall shine as light, and you shall suffer all that those men foretold. But some have understood “your prophets” to mean the false prophets. “For I slew them by the word of my mouth” — that is, by my command; and my judgment upon them, like a bright light, shall not be hidden, but shall shine, and shall be made known to all by the deeds themselves. For Elijah too slew the prophets of Baal, and the priests of the groves; and Jehu, who also utterly destroyed the house of Ahab, on the pretext of celebrating a feast to Baal, gathered them into the house of Baal and slaughtered them all.

⁸ Because I desire mercy, and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God rather than whole burnt offerings. But they are as a man transgressing a covenant. Above he charged them with two things: the injustice toward their neighbors, and the service of idols; and now he says: I accept mercy toward one’s neighbor rather than sacrifices, and the knowledge of God rather than whole burnt offerings. For in giving the Law he enjoined these two things: You shall love the Lord your God; and, You shall love your neighbor. But you transgressed this covenant of mine and the Law. For you are both unjust and merciless toward your neighbors, and you have thrust away the knowledge of me. And one might say that, since the Jews, while performing sacrifices but having no mercy, were transgressing the covenant, it is plain that whatever the Law seemed to say about sacrifices was really some other things, more mystical and more spiritual. By mercy, then, the practical life is signified; and by knowledge, contemplation. And the judgment of God in the age to come will also go forth, as light, through the Only-begotten; for the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son; who, having come into the world, saved us not through sacrifices, but according to his own mercy; and not by whole burnt offerings, but through knowledge and faith he justified us, and taught mercy (both in the words he spoke: Blessed are the merciful; and, Whatever you would that men should do to you, do you also to them; and in those places where he brought forward this very saying as a testimony, and in countless others); and the knowledge of God, in those places where he ever ascribed his words and works to the Father, and where he said to Philip: He who has seen me has seen the Father. Whence also he said: I have manifested your name to men; not to Jews only, but to all. Those, then, who did not receive him, altogether transgressed the covenant of the Father, which also made the Son heir of the vineyard. And the vineyard of the Lord of Sabaoth, they were — the house of Israel, and the man of Judah, a beloved new plant; but when the Son came to his own, his own received him not, but said: This is the heir; come, let us kill him. But this same covenant of the Father made them heirs of adoption, of glory, of the kingdom of heaven; yet they would not follow the covenant even in this respect, but transgressed it in both ways — both in not willing that the Son should reign over them, and in making themselves unworthy of the heavenly glory.

⁹ There she despised me, working vanities, troubling the water.[38] Not without judgment, he says, did I slay the false prophets. And “there” — that is, at that time, when Israel turned aside — Gilead despised me, in that it had been allotted to the priests and Levites for an inheritance; and those who ought to teach the people unto the knowledge of God, themselves wrought the vanities — that is, the idols, themselves fashioning them. And they troubled also the water of teaching, not offering it pure to the people.

¹⁰ Your strength is as that of a robber-pirate; the priests hid the way, they murdered Shechem, because there they wrought lawlessness in the house of Israel. I saw there a horrible fornication of Ephraim. Shechem is a city near Gilead. Some of the Shechemites, then, having taken thought of the God of their fathers, resolved to go up to Jerusalem, to worship God; but the Levites and priests in Gilead, learning this, hid certain robbers in the way, and slew the Shechemites. For this reason he says: Your strength, O Gilead, is that of a pirate-man — that is, of a robber. For properly a “pirate” is a robber by sea; but it is taken in the divine Scripture for the robber by land as well. Wherefore he names this a more horrible fornication, because not only did they themselves not do the good in the house of Israel — that is, among the Israelites — but they even murdered those who purposed to do it. Or else thus: that as pirates set upon seafarers by stealth, so also you idolaters in Gilead, by certain secret trickeries, make the idols to move, that you may show them as partaking of divine power; and the priests, who ought to reprove these things and make plain the way of God, instead hide it. And yet they ought to have considered that their forefather Levi slew all the Shechemites, when Hamor, the son of Shechem, violated his sister Dinah. And he was zealous for the virginity of his sister; but these are not zealous for me. The priests, then, he says, hid the divine way — they who of old murdered the Shechemites in their zeal; for what their forefather Levi did is ascribed to the priestly line. These things are also accusations of the God-slaying Synagogue. For these wrought vanities — the false accusations and the cross; for their devices were vain indeed, since the Crucified one shone forth and reigned all the more. And they troubled the water, confounding the knowledge of the Scriptures, and slandering the teaching of the Savior, which was spirit and life. And their strength was as that of a pirate-man; for they took up stones against Jesus, and went out against him with swords and clubs, and that by night, which is the way of those eager to escape notice. And their priests hid the way — that is, they put to death the Lord, who said: I am the way. And they murdered Shechem also — that is, Jesus, the fruit of chastity and virginity; since Shechem was the special portion of the chaste Joseph. And in the Church too you will see some working vanities, who are of an evil life. These, then, also trouble the water of spiritual teaching, slandering the things concerning resurrection and judgment, and deceiving themselves so as to sin without fear; whose strength is not that of a man who gives life, but of a pirate; concerning whom the Lord said: The thief does not come, except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. And the priests too hide the way of the Lord — perhaps both when they do not reprove sinners, disregarding him who says: Rebuke the one who sins in the presence of all; and perhaps also when they themselves do not walk in it, but practice another way of life; wherefore they will also murder the Church, which was set apart for Joseph, whose name is interpreted “purpose.” And such was the Lord too, who added to the Law what was lacking; wherefore he also said: I came not to destroy the Law, but to fulfill it. For of “You shall not commit adultery,” the purpose and fulfillment is, “Neither look upon a woman to lust”; and of “You shall not kill,” the “Do not be angry”; and the rest likewise.

¹¹ Israel was defiled, and Judah forsook his harvest. The most grievous thing of all is this: that when Judah ought to have been reaping the fruits of the divine promises, he then emulated Israel, who had been defiled by idolatry, and forsook such a harvest.

¹² Begin to gather the vintage for yourself, when I turn back the captivity of my people, when I heal Israel.[39] These things he says to Judah: Since before the experience of evils you would not know what was needful, nor gather the fruits of righteousness, yet at least after the return from captivity live according to the Law, and begin to pluck the fruits that grow from such a manner of life. And pluck this for yourself; for we bring no gain to God by living lawfully, but to ourselves. The phrase “when I heal Israel” signifies this: that when I comfort him over all the pains he had while in captivity, and bring him up from Babylon, do you understand what is needful, and become of a good life.

8 Chapter Seven

¹ And the iniquity of Ephraim shall be revealed, and the wickedness of Samaria; for he wrought falsehood, and a thief shall come in to them, a robber stripping men in his way. Again he teaches that he justly punishes those around Ephraim, and says: Their lawlessness shall be made plain to all, because they wrought falsehoods — that is, the idols. And thereupon the enemies, coming upon them after the manner of thieves and robbers, will strip them and lay them bare of all the good things they have. Christ too all but says to the Israelite people: Begin now at last to gather the things that make for salvation, when I came to turn back the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and to heal the broken-hearted. [40] For they that are strong have no need of a physician, but they that are sick. Then all the wickedness of the people was revealed, when, Pilate having asked, “Whom shall I release?” they said: “Release to us Barabbas, but crucify Jesus.” And while the very elements were being made new, they themselves persisted in their wickedness — at the time when even the thief and robber, who was crucified with him, came in to him, that is, was made his own through faith, and was with him in paradise. These things are also an exhortation to the soul, as it returns from the captivity in which it was taken captive while enslaved to the passions, and as it is healed from the wounds of sin and the gashes which are otherwise not cured, unless they present to it a stench and a loathing. For then it seeks out a physician, when it is sickened and distressed at the stench, as David also: My wounds stank and festered; and having said this, he says: Forsake me not, O Lord my God; depart not from me. Then therefore, O soul, when you are freed from sin, gather the fruits of virtue; but gather them for yourself, doing nothing for display, but working the good within yourself. And then the falsehood of wickedness is also revealed to it. For then it sees how the works of wickedness are false and deceitful; and through them the devil, a thief and a robber, entering in, strips the man, and renders him naked of all divine grace, in his way — that is, in his life, whether in the priestly or in the lay estate. As a thief, then, the devil comes upon us, when he persuades us to attend to the worse — for instance, slandering marriage, wine, the whole creation, as occasions of sins; and as a robber, when he comes upon us openly and shamelessly persuading us to pursue even the things manifestly condemned.

² So that they sing in harmony, as having it in their heart. The enemies, he says, will come upon them as thieves and robbers; but they will pass their time wailing and lamenting, not daring even to bewail and sing their own calamities aloud, but making their laments in their hearts and in their mind. These things may also be said concerning the robber on the cross; for his heart was in harmony with that of Christ; for the one confessed, and Christ granted him grace.

³ I have remembered all their wickednesses; now their devisings have encircled them; they came to be before my face. Having been long-suffering for a long time, he says, and seeming as it were not even to see the things they dared, now I plainly behold them, and they came to be before my face. For all were gathered together, and stood round about him — not the deeds only, but also the devisings, that is, the reasonings, showing them to me as worthy of punishment. And may it not be that, since God punishes more severely those sins which come of premeditations and devisings, for this reason he here said that “their devisings encircled them.” For these, he says, did not do their evils simply, nor on a sudden impulse, but with counsel and deliberation. So also on the last day of judgment, not only the deeds, but also the reasonings according to which they were done, are judged; and in these especially lies the decisive force, either of acquittal or of condemnation. The Hebrews also slew the prophets, while God bore with them; but since they became slayers of the Lord, and filled up the measure of their fathers, he remembered all their iniquities, that all righteous blood might come upon them, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah.

⁴ In their wickednesses they gladdened kings, and in their falsehoods princes. Because of their wickednesses, he says, having run on to destruction, they became authors of gladness to the kings and princes who conquered them in war. Or because they ran together with their kings in idolatry, and courted them by doing the same things, and in their falsehoods — that is, the idols, or the flatteries and false praises — gladdened those men, concerning whom Isaiah also said: Those who pronounce you blessed lead you astray; and, Woe to those who call the bitter sweet, and the sweet bitter. And the Jews too made their kings — the demons, the rulers of darkness — to rejoice by their false accusations against Christ and by their falsehoods; moreover they reconciled Herod and Pilate to one another in the condemnation of Christ.

⁵ All of them adulterers, like an oven burning for baking, from the burning of the flame. By “adultery” you may understand the bodily kind, since God says that all in Israel are adulterers; and thus they burn with the fire of licentiousness, like an oven, when a burning comes from the flame, which is heated for baking — that is, for the roasting of loaves. And the fire of licentiousness will bring upon them the flame of captivity, by which, being burned up, they will become serviceable for the digesting of the rawness they now have. And by “adultery” you may also understand idolatry, toward which they were inflamed, following after the first idolater among them, Jeroboam.

⁶ From the kneading of the dough until the whole is leavened — these are the days of your kings. By “fat,” that is, dough, which is flour, he calls all the people, and says: Just as leaven transforms the flour mixed with it into itself, so also from the time the people began to be kneaded into the leaven of Jeroboam’s impiety, until the whole was leavened and made like to it, all this time is “the days of your kings.” And by this he shows that under all the kings from Jeroboam onward and downward idolatry prevailed. Understand by “adulterers” also the adulterous and sinful generation of the God-slayers, who, inflamed with envy, and having plotted the cross for the baking — that is, the consuming — of the heavenly bread, Christ, did not cease until they accomplished the deed. These, however, are “the days” of the rulers and chief men among them — that is, of ancient calamities. For Scripture, as we said above also, calls calamity too a “day.” And as he who does not believe is already judged even before the judgment, so also the adulterer is already burning even before that burning, in which he shall then be burned, unto the digesting and the ceasing of wickedness.[41] For wickedness will no longer be put into operation after the last judgment, nor will anyone be friendly disposed toward it; but there will be eternal hatred in those who now love it, because for its sake they are eternally punished. For now it fawns upon the foolish with its apparent sweetness; but then, when its unseemliness is revealed, repentance will not come upon those who in this life were deceived by it, and they will repent inconsolably, because they preferred a thing so ugly and unseemly to the divine beauty. The adulterer, then, is already burning, according to the saying: Walk in the light of your fire, and in the flame which you have kindled. And since, as the lump comes from leaven and flour, so action comes from reasonings and operation, he says that the reasonings that reign in the adulterer do not seem to be in darkness, but to have a kind of daylit and cheerful condition, “from the kneading of the dough until the whole is leavened” — that is, from the time they begin to plot the evil until they accomplish it.

⁷ The princes began to be enraged from wine. Having accused all in common as adulterers, he now accuses all the princes as drunkards, and for this reason given to rage.

⁸ He stretched out his hand with pestilent men, because their hearts were kindled like an oven in their dashing men down. Each of the princes, he says, stretches out his hand to take bribes, and consorts with pestilent and corrupting men, loving them, because in the dashing down — that is, in plotting against and harming his own kinsmen — he is hot. Out of the drunkenness of envy the rulers of Israel raged also against Christ; and the disciple Judas stretched out his hand, when he took the silver of the betrayal, agreeing with the pestilent Pharisees and Scribes, who were hot to lie in wait, to dash down and to destroy the Lord; and the hearts of the soldiers too were kindled as they kept watch, when they guarded the tomb.

⁹ The whole night Ephraim was filled with sleep. Morning came, he was kindled like the light of fire; all were heated like an oven burning with fire, and it devoured their judges. All their kings fell, and there was none among them that called upon me. According to the obvious sense, it follows for the drunkards mentioned above to sleep the whole night, which is the greatest shame, and especially for the rulers of a people; for this shows them to take no thought at all for their subjects. And when morning came, he says, they were kindled like fire, both toward drinking, and toward raging, and toward taking bribes, and toward all the other evils; and not the princes only, but all are like an oven, burning toward sinning, each as he is able. And especially this fire of wickedness devoured their judges — that is, the kings and princes — inasmuch as they had their power for fuel; and all their kings fell, committing idolatry and sinning in other ways. For no one who sins is said to stand. And there was none among them who, inclining toward me, called upon me; or else, that there was no teacher who called them and drew them to me. And the Jews slept without care, while the soldiers guarded the tomb; but when morning came, the Lord having risen, their envy was kindled, and they became like an oven burning with rage. And the jealousy over the resurrection devoured their judges; and all fell a great fall, being cheated of their hopes. And the sinner too sleeps the whole night of this life, without perception. Wherefore Paul exhorts his genuine child, and son of the day, Timothy: Be sober in all things. But when morning comes — that is, the state to come — then there is kindled in him and there blazes up the perception of the things he has done, but only as the light of fire; for it burns him, and then fire will devour his former judging reasonings, which judged that it was right to act thus. For all these, reigning and holding sway before, were the cause of the fall of sin, and in no way called him toward God.

¹⁰ Ephraim was mingled together with his peoples. Though he ought, he says, to guide the others toward the good, he instead mingled himself with the multitudes unto wickedness; and the king transgressed equally with the rest. For the tribe of Ephraim reigned, as we have often said.

¹¹ Ephraim became a cake baked under the ashes, not turned. For just as the cake baked under the ashes, touching the fire on one side only, is burned up and becomes useless — for it must be turned, that it may be baked on the other side as well — so also he persisted in wickedness, and was burned up by it.

¹² Strangers devoured his strength, but he himself knew it not. Since he had named him bread, he continued in the figure, and says: The foreigners warred against him, and devoured all his strength, both that in men and that in wealth. But not even so did he recognize the God who chastens.

¹³ And gray hairs blossomed upon him, and he himself knew it not. For a long, he says, and lengthy time he is chastened, and as it were grew old under chastening; yet not even by time was he taught what was needful. And the leaders and teachers of Israel, agreeing in mind with the vulgar crowd, would not turn from the letter to the spirit. Wherefore the nations, which were strangers to the covenants of God, devoured his strength (and the strength of Israel was the Law); but they, being hardened, did not know it, but grew old in the manner of life according to the letter. And everything that wears out and grows old is near to vanishing; and when anyone, giving himself wholly to the flame with which he is inflamed, and pursuing the things done in secret, which it is shameful even to speak of, will not turn from such a state, the demons devour his strength, which he received naturally from God for good works — the demons, who became strangers and enemies to us, envying the glory of man. Wherefore, growing old in sin, he has a complete ignorance of the good.[42]

¹⁴ And the pride of Israel shall be humbled before his face. That is, before his own eyes he shall see the dreadful things; just as those also who insulted the Lord were humbled, when the temple and the city were destroyed upon them.

¹⁵ And they did not return to the Lord their God, nor did they seek him out in all these things. And Ephraim was like a senseless dove, having no heart. He called upon Egypt, and went to the Assyrians. I for my part, he says, brought afflictions upon them, that, coming to understanding, they might turn to me and call upon my help; but they looked to human alliances. For they sought the help of the Egyptians when warred upon by the Assyrians; and when subdued by the Syrians, they called upon the Assyrians, displaying the senselessness of the dove. For just as the dove, when its young are taken away, does not fly off, but remains in the same places, so also these ran to their enemies; for the Assyrians were confessedly their enemies, and the Egyptians too. And the dove is lustful and unchaste. When, then, a soul, being incontinent toward the pleasures of darkness, is senseless in this, and supposes that nothing is evil for it, it also makes friends with the Assyrians: with the one, through the works of darkness; with the others, through conceit; whence it shall also hear: Go into the outer darkness, prepared for the devil and his angels — who are the spiritual Assyrians. These things fit the God-slaying Synagogue also; for they did not know, nor understand, but out of conceit they walk in darkness.

¹⁶ As they go, I will cast my net over them; like the birds of heaven I will bring them down; I will chasten them in the report of their affliction. As they go, he says, to call upon allies and helpers, I will cast the enemies upon them, like a kind of net, and will bring them down — that is, I will drag down and humble their arrogance. Yet first I will attempt to chasten them by foretelling, and by making audible to them the afflictions that await them; if they are not chastened, then I will bring on the afflictions too. Or else, that the enemies will be so fearful that, even without having yet arrived, but merely being rumored and heard of, they will suffice for their chastening. The net of God is his manifold wisdom, according to which, often providing for us, when we go and are moved to do some evil, he casts hindrances in our way; and when we are high-minded, after the manner of the demons in the air, he brings down and humbles us; and foretelling Gehenna, and the worm that does not die, and the fire that is not quenched, he chastens through the hearing, as a lover of mankind. And upon the God-slayers, as they walked in error, he cast the net — the teaching of the fishermen — that he might bring them down to the humility that is in Christ, and persuade them to learn that he is meek and lowly in heart, and not to boast in the works of the Law, but to be confirmed as men justified freely by his grace; and he himself chastened them in the hearing of their affliction, telling beforehand of Jerusalem trodden down by the nations;[43] and concerning the temple, that there should not remain stone upon stone; and, Blessed are the barren that did not bear; and all that concerns the capture.

¹⁷ Woe to them, because they leaped away from me; wretched are they, because they were impious against me. In the case of the sick, so long as there is hope of recovery, those who care for them say and do everything; but when they despair of them, they thereafter lament. This God too does over the people, having despaired of their healing, and he laments them as having leaped away through their wicked deeds, and having been impious through their godless worship.

¹⁸ I redeemed them. Those of former times, from the slavery in Egypt; and those of later times Christ redeemed from the demons, and the diseases, and the maimings; and last of all, through his own blood, in which we found redemption.

¹⁹ But they spoke falsehoods against me. Both when, standing around the calf, they said: These are your gods, O Israel; and when they said: Though he smote the rock, and waters gushed out, can he also give bread?

²⁰ And their hearts were not given to me. With their lips only they honored me, but their heart was far from me; or, when they did not ascribe their benefits to me as benefactor, but to the idols.

²¹ But rather they howled upon their beds; over grain and wine they cut themselves. Enjoying the land promised to their fathers, and having received their allotments by lot (he named these “beds,” because in them they rested from their toils in the wilderness), they did not give thanks to me, but, performing the idolatrous rites, they howled, as men raving among them; and having the grain and the wine, my gifts, and luxuriating in them, they made incisions in honor of the demons, gashing their breasts and arms. Or he means that which they did in serving Rhea. For, being cut by them, they gashed themselves, and removing their generative parts, were called galli and bacchae.[44] And the Israelites did these things over grain and wine — that is, asking these things from the idols. The God-slayers also spoke against Christ, saying: By Beelzebul he casts out the demons. Again they said: Good Teacher; and, We know that you proclaim the way of God, and do not regard the face of man. But they said these things not from the heart, but in private (for this is what “upon their beds” signifies) murmuring against him they groaned, that, doing such things, he was still alive; and when he said: My flesh is truly food, and my blood is truly drink; they cut themselves off from him and departed, and became many divisions, saying: This saying is hard; who can hear it? The Lord redeemed us also from all uncleanness. But many of those who sin speak falsehoods against him, saying: Who knows whether there will be a judgment, whether he will come to examine our affairs? Let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we die; and they call Mammon their lord. And they cut themselves over grain and wine — perhaps both those who get drunk and live in luxury, then proceed to quarrels and wounds and murders; and perhaps also those who stir up wars for the sake of grain, and wine, and other good things of the earth. Wherefore they also turn to nothing. For all zeal about such things ends in no well-pleasing end.

²² They were instructed in me, and I strengthened their arms, yet against me they devised evil things. I, he says, instructed them, and taught them the way of righteousness, and all good order, so that they too said, rejoicing over themselves: Blessed are we, O Israel, because the things pleasing to the Lord are known to us. And not this only, but I also made them noble warriors, and strengthened their arms; but they reasoned concerning me that I am not God.

²³ They turned away unto nothing. That is, to the things that in no way whatever exist. For this is the more grievous, that instead of me they reverenced such things, which he says also elsewhere: Two evils my people committed: they forsook me, a fountain of living water, and dug for themselves broken cisterns, which will not be able to hold water. The Savior also instructed the Israelites, ever teaching in the synagogues that they should turn to himself and believe; but they turned to nothing — that is, for a little while. For many, it says, of those who had believed went back.

²⁴ They became like a bent bow. That is, they became unbending, and in no way slackening or yielding of their tension toward wickedness. But some of the copies have “like a bow turned back”; and it signifies: I for my part stretched them like a bow of my own, that through them I might shoot down and put an end to the idolatry among the others; but they were turned back, and did the very contrary. For shooting at and pulling down my honor, they made war against me on behalf of the idols.

²⁵ Their princes shall fall by the sword, because of the unruliness of their tongue. The “princes” are both the priests and the kings; for these taught the people lawless things. And the greatest unruliness is to say to the wood: You are my god; and to the stone: You begot me.

9 Chapter Eight

¹ This is their contempt in the land of Egypt; into their bosom it shall return as a waterless land, as an eagle upon the house of the Lord, because they transgressed my covenant, and acted impiously against my law. Just as, he says, their fathers in Egypt despised the words of Moses and Aaron, who had been sent by me to set them free, so also these men despised my laws. But this contempt shall be repaid into their own bosom, and they shall become as a waterless land. For this war-trumpet, and this king of the Babylonians, shall come against the house of the Lord with a rushing and swift onset, like an eagle.[45] For Nebuchadnezzar, having sent his army, burned the temple; concerning whom Ezekiel also says: The great eagle, the great-winged. And the contempt also with which the Jews scorned the Savior was like that in the land of Egypt; for the Hebrew said to Moses: Who appointed you a ruler and a judge over us? and those men said concerning Christ: We have no king but Caesar. This contempt, then, shall be heavy upon them, like a waterless land and dust which, cast into the bosom, weighs it down; and it shall make them trodden underfoot before all, like a trumpet proclaiming their lawlessness and the sufferings that come because of it; and like an eagle it shall snatch away the glory of the ancient temple, transferring it to the calling of the nations. And everyone who exalts himself and is high-minded above every man is as an eagle upon the house of the Lord — the contempt, that is; for he shall be punished in his inmost and most intimate parts, and shall become as a waterless land. For such a soul shall not be ground that God can tread. For that which is lofty among men is an abomination to the Lord. And why shall these things be his? Because, like a trumpet, he was proclaiming himself, or magnifying himself — such as were the Pharisees, who sounded the trumpet over their almsgiving before men; such as was the one praying in the temple, recounting his own achievements, and despising the publican. And the house of the Lord is every man who is capable of receiving His great wealth, the Word. He, then, who exalts himself and is high-minded above every man is as an eagle upon the house of the Lord.

² To me shall they cry: O God, we have known you; because Israel turned away from good things, they pursued an enemy. Having done such works of impiety, as has been said, performing rites to the idols, these men in their calamities shall cry out to me, and shall confess that they knew me. But whence did they know me? Because Israel was deprived of good things, and fell into evils — although formerly they pressed hard upon and pursued their enemies, when they were counted worthy of my alliance. Or: They shall cry out, he says, and confessing shall say: Because Israel turned away from your good ordinances, they all but pursued their enemies — that is, they themselves ran to their enemies and drew these upon themselves; just as if someone, seeing a sick man living wretchedly, should say: This man is pursuing death. And those of the circumcision who believe shall cry to Christ: O God, we have known you. But as many as turned away went over to the spiritual enemy; and this also applies to —

³ They made themselves kings, and not through me; they set up rulers, and they did not make it known to me. Here he reproaches the ten tribes, that they appointed Jeroboam and the kings after him contrary to his judgment. And they set up rulers, instead of saying, they elected rulers by show of hands. For they did not ask God whether this ought to be done. But someone will be perplexed: how is it that in the Books of Kingdoms it is recorded that Ahijah the Shilonite, an old man, tore his garment into twelve pieces, and gave the ten to Jeroboam, and foretold to him that he would reign over the twelve tribes; and again it is written, From me has this word come, that Jeroboam should reign; while here he says, They reigned, and not through me. One may answer, then, that God sent the prophet Ahijah not to the people themselves, but to Jeroboam; and Jeroboam knew that God willed him to become king, but the people, not as fulfilling God’s counsel, elected him. For they did not draw near to God, nor ask him — which here too he reproaches in them. And then they understood this also, that of the things spoken by God, some come to pass by his leading, namely according to good pleasure, and others by permission. When, therefore, you hear God saying, From me came this word, that Jeroboam should reign, understand this as having come about by concession. But when here he says, Not through me did they reign, he means that this was not God’s antecedent will. These things will also fit the God-slayers. For they inscribed Caesar as king over themselves; and they had those around Annas and Caiaphas, who held their offices as bought. And when sin reigns in our mortal body, such a kingship is not through God. But also when the flesh, with its passions and lusts, rules in us, such a rule is not acknowledged by God. For the Lord knew those who are his. But the passions are not his, as being not at all in being.

⁴ Their silver and their gold they made into idols for themselves, that they might be utterly destroyed. Being enriched by me, he says, and having enjoyed my good things, they used this for the honor of the idols, fashioning most costly idols. And these things, by their outcome, became their utter destruction. And mark the word That; for it will help you with the verse, That you might be justified in your words. For neither did those men make the idols with such an aim, that they might be utterly destroyed, but it turned out so by the result; nor did David sin for this purpose, that God might be justified, but this comes about from the outcome. And the philosopher too, having received power from God to know the nature of beings with a gold-like and pure mind, and to interpret what he has conceived with a bright and silver-like speech, then setting up for himself idols — whether the Platonic forms, or the spiritual idols so called according to the Chaldean philosophy; and, to put it simply, fashioning a phantasm of human wisdom and vain deceit — shall be utterly destroyed from the people that is according to the Gospel, as one who uses God’s gifts badly. Such also are the Hebrews of the present day, who, with the conceptions of the law (likened to gold) and with words (likened to silver), misuse them for idols and vain phantasms, making idols within themselves — both the temple and the rest of the things in which they hope to be restored.

⁵ Turn away your calf, O Samaria. Your anger was provoked against them. How long will you be unable to be cleansed in Israel? And a craftsman made it, and it is not God; for your calf, O Samaria, was a deceiver. After the reproaches he brings an exhortation, admonishing them to scrub off the calf — that is, to cast away the golden heifer. And he well said scrub off, as of a stain and filth. For how long, having become unclean through idolatry, will you remain unchanged? Or do you not understand that a man, a craftsman, made the idols? And by craftsman he here means the artisan generally, not the carpenter; for surely it was not a carpenter who wrought the golden heifer. Or, passing from the calf to the discourse about the wooden idols, he made mention also of the carpenter, for the greater shaming of the idolaters. For the golden calf, he says, has some honor on account of its material, deceiving those who behold it; but that which is made by the carpenter makes you the more unclean, being worshiped by you.

⁶ Because they have made wind-blasted things, and their overthrow shall await them. You reap no fruit, he says, from the service of the idols, but their things are like wind-blasted ears of grain, which show their husks full from outside, but within have no wheat. For so also the idols: from outside they have some form — of a woman, or a man, or some other living creature — but they stand bereft of all strength and activity. Therefore their overthrow shall await them too — that is, the overthrow of those who worship them; for together both they and the idols shall be destroyed.

⁷ The sheaf has no strength to make meal. And if it should make it, strangers shall devour it. Either he speaks concerning the idols, that they have no substance; and if they seem to have any, the enemies, coming upon them, shall take them, since they are of gold and silver. And for helping in any other way they have no strength; but for supplying their own material they will show that they have strength. Or he speaks also concerning Israel, that it shall have such weakness as to resemble a feeble sheaf, unable to nourish anyone. And if it has any strength in wealth and in other such good things, the foreigners shall devour them. The teachers of the Jews sowed wind-blasted and light things. Therefore, as having no weight, they were scattered into all the inhabited world, and all their ancient polity was overthrown together with them and their doctrines. And they are a sheaf having no strength. For they do not have Christ, the power of God, who gave their meal to the nations that were formerly strangers, having graced them to work the things in the law by an iron mind, like a kind of millstone, finely and spiritually, and not to receive these things grossly and according to the letter. If you intend to make meal out of the law, set also a stone beneath, the same Christ; for another foundation no one can lay besides this, because in him all things were created. And set a stone above, the same Christ, who is the head of the Church. And he who sows to the flesh, and from the flesh reaps corruption, sows wind-blasted things, having received this harm from the spirit of wickedness, and having no strength to do a work nourishing to the soul. For he cannot say with Paul: I can do all things in Christ who strengthens me. And if ever he does any good thing, doing it not according to a divine aim, but for human glory, or pursuing some manner that is not praiseworthy, he gives this to the demons.

⁸ Israel was swallowed up; now it has become among the nations as a useless vessel, because they themselves went up to the Assyrians. As though shipwrecked by some sea of his own sins, he was swallowed up. For having asked the help of the Assyrians, they shall be handed over to them for slavery, and shall be useless in the midst of the nations that took them captive, fulfilling no service to God, nor performing the festivals according to the law. The Christ-slaying people too was swallowed up through pride, having become intimate, through the spiritual Assyrians, with the demons, and having gone up, through their self-exaltation, into the high-mindedness of those spirits; therefore they also became a useless vessel to God. For he no longer needs anything of theirs, the bodily worship having ceased. And every proud man, or one who reaches after the things above himself, even if he seems to go up, yet is swallowed up by a chasm of the earth, as were those around Dathan and Abiram. For well did someone define pride as an ascent toward the things below.

⁹ Ephraim flourished by himself; he loved gifts. He still reproaches them for their want of subjection. For they wished, he says, by themselves — that without me they would flourish, and, like some tree in danger of withering through wars, would sprout up again, if by gifts they should gain the Assyrians as allies;

¹⁰ for he loved gifts — not so as to receive them, but so as to give them. But there is no profit to them from these things; for what shall they suffer?

¹¹ They shall be handed over among the nations. He did not say, They shall be handed over to the nations, but, Among the nations. For this shall not be the end of their punishment, to be handed over to the nations and taken captive; but, being among the nations and taken captive, they shall yet be handed over to other punishments and other afflictions, so that They shall be handed over stands for, They shall be forsaken by God. And whenever someone, increased by God and made to flourish, does not recognize his benefactor, but lives by himself — that is, establishing his own will — and thrusts aside the divine laws, and, not content with what he has from God, still loves gifts, he shall be handed over by God, and forsaken, and shall come to be among the nations — wholly indeed among the spiritual ones (for he made himself of their portion), and perhaps he shall be subject to perceptible enemies as well. The Jews too thought, by themselves, that they would flourish again if they crucified Jesus; therefore they also loved to give gifts — this to the betrayer, and that to the soldiers guarding the tomb, to conceal the resurrection. They were scattered, therefore, among all the nations, handed over to suffer every evil.

¹² Now I will receive them. Formerly, he says, I let them pass their life unexamined and unjudged, plainly through love for mankind and in awaiting repentance; but now I will receive them — clearly, to bring them to trial, and I will call them to judgment, and exact penalties. Now — that is, quickly, or in the land of the enemies — I will receive them. For just as among their fathers I went before them, and received them into their inheritances and the lands allotted to them, so for these, preparing beforehand the places of captivity, as for men worthy of it, I will receive them in Babylonia.

¹³ And they shall cease a little from anointing a king and rulers. For since, he says, they did not wish to be ruled as king by me, but chose kings for themselves by their own will, I will deprive them of these; and, being ruled by their enemies, they shall cease — that is, they shall stop electing for themselves kings and rulers. For those whom they elected were not set up unto my honor, but together with them practiced idolatry. And observe, in the threat, kindness also: For a little while, he says, they shall cease from anointing. And through this he gives hopes of the return from Babylon. And one must know that after the captivity Ephraim — the ten tribes — no longer had its own king in Samaria, but in Jerusalem Zerubbabel led all the people, and to him the twelve tribes submitted. I will receive, says the Father, those of Israel who have turned to Christ; but when? When they shall cease from dreaming — or until the kingship and the priesthood shall be restored to them. For it is in fantasy that they anoint for themselves kings and priests, those who await the restoration of the legal polity. And, anointing the son of lawlessness, they make him their Christ. And each of us too, when he is received by God and becomes his own, having been before of another fold, ceases from having other kings and rulers — I mean the world-rulers of the darkness, who are not kings and rulers, but we anoint these for ourselves and set them up as kings. But he alone has God as king who is subject to him, and is led by his commandments, and is not displeased with the daily dispensations of his life, even if they be unpleasant.

¹⁴ Because Ephraim multiplied altars; the beloved altars became to him for sins. Justly, he says, will I bring to rest their lawless kingdom; for since Jeroboam, having reigned over them, led them astray into the multiplying of idolatrous altars, which became to them an occasion of many sins. For they both sinned against my honor, and practiced every other kind of sin; and they loved such altars, and were warmly disposed toward them, when they ought to have mourned over them all their life long, and lamented.

¹⁵ I will write down for him a multitude, and their ordinances. Unto sin, he says, and as an accusation against them, I will write down and reckon the multitude of such altars, and their ordinances — that is, the laws and the manners according to which they performed the idolatrous rites. Or: I will make the memory of them recorded, for the reproof of their great impiety. The legal altars became a sin also to the people that slew him; and as many ordinances as they received from God were written as an accusation against them, since they transgressed these. For, he says, the uncircumcision which is by nature, fulfilling the law, shall judge you who through circumcision are a transgressor of the law; and, To whom they entrusted much, much also do they require of him; and, He who knows the will of his lord, and does it not, shall be beaten with many stripes.

¹⁶ The altars were reckoned as another’s.[46] Of the idolatrous altars, he says, they took much thought; but my altars were reckoned by him as another’s, and were left untended. Now there were two altars to God according to the law: that of the burnt offerings, outside in the court, and that of the incense, within in the second tabernacle. Each of us too has two altars: the one outside, on which he sacrifices to God his bodily works; the other inward and according to the mind, on which he sends up the incense of prayer and the upward-borne and spiritual offering of divine contemplations. These indeed are the truly beloved ones. But if anyone, thrusting these aside, multiplies altars for himself, being carried away into the manifold forms of vice, through deeds and reasonings, and being borne about by various and strange teachings, such altars become a sin to him. And those who commune with heretics have them likewise becoming a sin to them.

¹⁷ Because if they sacrifice a sacrifice, and eat flesh, the Lord will not accept them. Now he will remember their iniquities, and will avenge their sins.[47] For since the things they sacrifice upon those many altars they sacrifice to idols, the Lord will not accept them; but rather through these he is reminded also of their other iniquities, and is provoked to vengeance. For just as, propitiated and made merciful through the holy sacrifices, he forgets the lawlessnesses and the iniquities, so, seeing them sacrificing to the idols, he comes to the remembrance of their other evils as well. And what is the meaning of, If they eat flesh? It was their custom, of the victims not wholly burnt, to offer to God the kidneys and the fat upon them and the lobe of the liver; to set apart for the priests the right shoulder and the breast; and the rest of the flesh those who brought the sacrifice ate themselves, as they wished. But some understood it thus: that he speaks not concerning the idolatrous sacrifices, but judges their disposition from these. For since he said, My beloved altars they reckoned as another’s, lest anyone should suppose that God has need of sacrifices, he now says, I have no need of the sacrifices, but I judge their disposition from these. And observe the abolition of the legal things foretold, and the spiritual and rational worship being brought in, according to the saying, Sacrifice to God a sacrifice of praise, and pay your vows to the Most High. And he praises God who makes the light of his own works to shine before men, so that God is glorified by those who behold these things; just as he who does the contrary makes his name to be blasphemed among the nations.

¹⁸ But they themselves turned back to Egypt. For they both asked an alliance from there, and, when the calamities came upon them, fled there for refuge. Or, worshiping the heifers, they reverenced the calf Apis, like the Egyptians.

¹⁹ And Israel forgot him who made him, and they built shrines, and Judah made walled cities; and I will send forth fire upon his cities, and it shall devour his foundations. He rebukes both kingdoms: that of the ten tribes, that, when the war was coming upon them — which I threatened on account of their lawlessnesses — they were not eager to serve me, but the idols; therefore they raised up more shrines for them, propitiating them forsooth, that they might avert the war. And Judah, he says, made strong cities, that through them it might be saved, and not through my help and shelter. The fire of the enemies, then, shall devour their foundations. He builds shrines to the demons who destroys the temple of God — that is, himself — through bodily uncleannesses. Those demons take up their dwelling in what was formerly the temple of God. And so does he who, through the falsely-named knowledge of sophistry, secures the heretical doctrines, building walled cities; but the foundations and the bases and beginnings of such cities the fire of the evangelical and apostolic word devours, which the Lord came to cast upon the earth, and the fire of the Spirit, which the Lord sent forth in the form of a dove. And the fire of the Romans devoured the cities of Israel according to the flesh, because they built their plots against the Lord, as though forsooth presenting certain shrines to God.

10 Chapter Nine

¹ Rejoice not, O Israel, and be not glad like the peoples, because you played the harlot, departing from the Lord your God. I sentence sorrows upon you, he says, and I ordain that there be in you no occasion of gladness and joy, but that you, beyond all the peoples, should grieve. Why? Because those peoples were never mine; for neither did they receive a law, nor were they taught through prophets; but you, being mine, played the harlot. You ought not, therefore, to be among good things, but among evils, whence it comes about that you neither rejoice nor are glad, according to the saying, There is no rejoicing for the impious; for to every sinner mourning is fitting. Thus also Paul blames the Corinthians, that they did not mourn over the one who had committed fornication.

² You loved gifts upon every threshing-floor of wheat. Reaping my good things, you gave gifts to the idols, dedicating to them the firstfruits of the threshing-floor.

³ The threshing-floor and the winepress did not know them, and the wine deceived them. Since, he says, you dedicate the fruits to the idols, you shall no longer cultivate anything, neither wheat nor wine; but you shall indeed see the vines flourishing, yet at the time of the vintage you shall be deceived of your hopes.

⁴ They who dwelt in the land of the Lord — Ephraim dwelt in Egypt. For they did not live lawfully, as in a land consecrated to God, but they performed every lawlessness, like those dwelling in the lands of the nations. Therefore, having emulated the Egyptian impiety, they are said to dwell in Egypt. But indeed they dwelt in Egypt also in this way, as was said above, having gone over to the Egyptians as friends.

⁵ And among the Assyrians they shall eat unclean things. Either because, having fled to the Assyrians as helpers, they shall eat unclean things with them, sharing a table with them as friends with friends; or because, taken captive by them, they share in the uncleanness of their foods, as slaves with masters. And from the foods understand also the rest of the kinds of uncleanness. For since in the land of promise they lived uncleanly, let them be in an unclean land, let them live in uncleanness. And he who does not dedicate to God even the firstfruits of the fruits, by sharing them with the needy and making alms from them, gives these to the demons, by holding them back and storing them up. Therefore either the threshing-floor and the winepress in heaven shall not know them; for they shall not bring fruit there. But also the gladness — the wine, that is, which they seem to have here — shall deceive them, nor shall they dwell in it, the land of the meek; but the outer darkness, which he prepared for the demons, and their unclean works — that is, the fruits of their works — they shall eat then, having been settled in the portion of the demons, whom we have often understood as the Assyrians. We must therefore believe that the bread which strengthens our heart, Christ, is from God, even as he said: I came forth from God and am here; and we must receive him, and dwell in the land of the Lord, the catholic Church, and not in the conventicles of the heretics, which are indeed a land of Assyrians and an Egypt, in which whoever enters shall eat their unclean doctrines and mysteries.

⁶ They poured out no wine to the Lord, and they were not sweet to him. That is, They offered no sweet things by way of incense, but offered them to the idols.

⁷ Their sacrifices are as the bread of mourning. It was a law that he who touched a corpse should be reckoned unclean. Therefore whatever the mourners for the dead ate, or drank, or simply whatever they touched, seemed unclean, on account of the defilement reckoned to come from the dead. Their sacrifices, then, shall be unclean, like the loaves of mourning. He adds, therefore:

⁸ All who eat them shall be defiled, because their loaves, for their souls, shall not enter into the house of the Lord. That is, they shall be useful and edible to themselves alone; for God will not accept these, just as neither did he accept the sacrifices of those who crucified the Lord at that Passover, nor their loaves of the shewbread. Nor were their drink-offerings of wine brought to the Lord, nor the sweet things of incense, because they were not offered as he willed. And if the things offered to God out of injustice may most aptly be called bread of mourning — inasmuch as those defrauded mourn over the wrongs done them — the Lord lays down a law for us, not to bring such things into his house; for they are unclean. And if those who eat them are defiled, how are the defiling things to be brought to God? But to defiled souls the polluted things are proper.

⁹ What will you do in the day of assembly, and in the day of the feast of the Lord? For, being compelled to be slaves and to live under other laws, you will not be able to perform the divine assemblies according to the Mosaic legislation. But some understood the time of the war, and of the vengeance taken in it, as a day of assembly and feast of the Lord, as though the Lord rejoiced and kept festival at their destruction. And it might be said also to those who were about to crucify the Lord, the prophet as it were complaining indignantly: O what a deed you are about to do in the day of the Passover! And that time was indeed an assembly, as the whole people was gathered together, and truly a feast of the Lord. For he himself constituted these things, being sacrificed for us; for our Passover also, Christ, was sacrificed for us. And it might be said also to those who here neglect the works of virtue: What will you do in the day of that future assembly, when we shall all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ? Surely nothing; for now you can do something, but then nothing. And such a day and feast is of the Lord, when God becomes himself all things to all.

¹⁰ Therefore, behold, they shall go forth from the misery of Egypt, and Memphis shall receive them, and Machmas shall bury them. And when Samaria was taken, those who were left fled away into Egypt; and later, when Jerusalem was burned by Nabuzaradan, those who had slain Gedaliah fled into Egypt, and that though Jeremiah forbade them. The Babylonians, then, being provoked because they took courage in the Egyptians, turned against them, and, coming upon them and the Egyptians, conquered them without toil. Then, therefore, those who escaped this misery and defeat in Egypt ran up to Memphis, as being more strongly fortified, because the royal palaces were in it; but they also fled for refuge to Machmas, which was neighbor to Memphis, and there they died, having returned toward Judea.

¹¹ Destruction shall inherit their silver. Because, having received it from God, they spent it on the making of idols. Or because, whatever gifts they gave to the Egyptians to have them as helpers, shall prove profitless to them.

¹² Thorns shall be in their tents.[48] That is, Their land shall be waterless and turned to waste, so as to put forth thorns. Or because they shall seem indeed, having encamped in Egypt, to enjoy rest; but it shall not be so, but, like thorns pricking them, the calamities shall be; and all who flee for refuge to Egypt — the gloomy and persecuting sin — even if they have a speech bright as silver, destruction shall inherit them. For unto greater condemnation, and unto a more bitter destruction, shall the speech be to them, and they shall have the thorns of conscience in their tents — that is, in their bodies. For conscience pricks us, like a thorn dwelling with us. And these things will fit also the rich, who have silver and tents — that is, splendid houses. And the Lord altogether hinted that the thorns are cares, which — how many they are in the tents of the rich — no one is ignorant.

¹³ The days of vengeance have come, the days of your recompense have come. Since the false prophets slandered the divine prophets, teaching the people that the things the prophets say would come to pass after long times, and from this made the many careless and impenitent, God says: Even now the days of your affliction have come, and your calamities shall not be put off into the far distance. Therefore Paul says, Now is the acceptable time; and the Lord, Watch, for you know not in what hour the thief comes; and, Let your loins be girded, and your lamps burning; and be you like men awaiting their lord.

¹⁴ And Israel shall be afflicted like the prophet, the man that stands by, the spirit-bearer. So great a derangement of mind, he says, shall seize Israel, fallen into calamities and afflictions, that he shall resemble a false prophet driven out of his wits by the evil demon dwelling in him, beside himself, and borne hither and thither. For so also Israel, being utterly at a loss, shall flee hither and thither; so that not only shall Israel suffer the afflictions, but the false prophets also shall fall into the like tribulations.

¹⁵ By the multitude of your iniquities your madness was multiplied.[49] By madness he means the ecstasy and perplexity which they had in their calamities. This madness, then, vehement and great, came upon you because of your many iniquities, with which you wronged even me, sacrificing to the idols, and wronged your neighbors, oppressing them. Or by madness he means the false prophecy; for those who were the underlings of the evil spirits resembled madmen. And he says: Just as you had many gods, wronging my honor (for you had the golden heifers, and Beelphegor, and Chamos the abomination of the Sidonians, and Bel, and Astarte), so also you multiplied raving false prophets. And one prophesied through birds, another through sacrifices, another through the dead, and another in some other manner.

¹⁶ Ephraim a watchman, a prophet with God; a crooked snare upon all his ways.[50] I indeed, he says, having given you a law, and instructed you how one ought to live, set you forth as a kind of watchman and prophet prophesying with God to all the nations, that through your knowledge of God and your virtuous life you might guide the others also into the knowledge of me and the earnest life. But I found a crooked snare upon all the ways of your life; for from every side the souls of those who looked to you were harmed and ensnared, both by your idolatry and by the conduct of the rest of your life. But some understood it thus: For Ephraim, who had many gods, a watchman and prophet was appointed with each god; for some were of Astarte, and others of Chamos, and others of another idol. Therefore the snare is crooked upon all his ways — that is, for this cause he was led astray, and lost the straight path both of the knowledge of God and of virtue. And the Pharisees, appointed watchmen to Israel, had indeed the outward forms of prophets of God, but ensnared the people, being crooked, and becoming now one thing, now another; who also attempted to ensnare the Lord with a crooked word, and did not come to him in straightforwardness. And if all authority is ordained by God, let every ruler consider how he too shall be a watchman and a prophet of God. And he shall be such, if, while he announces what is just to the others in his judgments, he himself also keeps this in his actions; but if not, he shall be a snare, and that a crooked one, because of the form of his underhandedness.

¹⁷ They fixed madness in the house of the Lord. Not only in the other cities, he says, did they set up idols, but also in the temple of God they fixed abominations; for these he called madness, as being done out of derangement and madness and ecstasy. Or by madness, as was said above, he means the false prophecy, which they fixed in the house of the Lord — that is, in the people — and set up firm and abiding; for they did not cease from having false prophets. And the house of the Lord is also the God-bearing flesh, in which those who crucified him, when he suffered for us in the flesh, fixed their madness. And the house of the Lord is also our mind, in which we fix madness, when we look toward vanities and false ravings, raging about this vain life. Madness is erotic love, madness is wrath, madness is the impulse toward each several pleasure.

¹⁸ They were corrupted according to the days of the hill; he will remember their iniquities, he will avenge their sins. From the time, indeed, that they gave heed to the hills, and loved the sacrifices made there, they were corrupted in their souls. And for a while God was long-suffering; but now he will take vengeance, exacting the penalties of all those days. Or he also reminds us of an older history. For Gibeah was a city of Benjamin, which is interpreted “hill.” In it, when a certain Levite, a traveler, had lodged, the lawless men of that city gathered together, and, taking his wife, abused her through the whole night. At last she died there, in that night; and her husband, dividing her corpse into limbs, sent them to the tribes, showing them the outrage. And they, being moved to zeal, went up against the tribe of Benjamin in Gibeah, that is, the hill; and meeting them once and twice, they were defeated, and were afraid — God helping Benjamin, as having done well? Far from it; but rather showing to the people of the other tribes that they themselves were worthy of chastisement, and for this cause were given over to death, because, being lawless, they made a pretense of avenging lawlessness. At last, however, when they had wept before God, they prevailed and overcame those in Benjamin. He says, then, that just as on the hill of Gibeah both these and those were corrupted, so shall both the two tribes of Judah and the ten of Ephraim be corrupted, joined in conflict with one another. And these things came to pass when Joash, king of the ten tribes, came against Amaziah king of Judah, and tore down part of the wall of Jerusalem.

¹⁹ As a grape-cluster in a wilderness I found Israel, and as an early fig on a fig tree I beheld their fathers. They themselves went in to Beelphegor, and were estranged unto shame, and the beloved became as the abominated.[51] He shows that he justly gives them over to corruption. For I, he says, just as if someone in a desert land, utterly bereft of plants, should find a grape-cluster, or an early fig on a fig tree, and plucks them with much delight, so I too, when the rest of men were living in impiety, finding the virtues of Abraham and of the patriarchs sprung from him, chose them out. But these men, sprung from those, in no way emulated them, but, forgetting my benefits, served Beelphegor, and were estranged — that is, flew away — from me, unto their shame. For such a god, Beelphegor, was in truth their shame and reproach. Therefore those who were of old beloved by me on account of their fathers became, on account of their own impiety, like the abominated Moabites; for they served the idol of these. And he names the early fig a “watchman,” which all look out for, as appearing first. And the God-slayers too, who were before beloved of God on account of the fathers, became abominable, because they were estranged both from the fathers, not emulating their virtue, and from God, and they framed the cross unto the shame of Christ; because they went in to the ruler of abomination, becoming wholly his, and gaining intimacy with him; for such is the meaning of “to go in.” And in every case the Lord, who wills not the death of the sinner, in a soul desolate of every good fruit finds some Israelite and noble reasoning, worthy to behold divine things, as a grape-cluster, the offspring of the true vine, which, pressed out through the narrow way, shall beget the wine of compunction. And in the fig tree — I mean this pleasure-loving life — there is found for God someone who becomes an early watchman before that last day, looking out for the things to come, and preparing himself for them, and becoming a father to others and a leader of a more divine life. But he must take heed to himself, lest he be ever consecrated to Beelphegor and to the demon of uncleanness, and, pursuing the works of shame, be estranged from God, and the one before beloved become as the abominated — those, namely, who played the harlot at that time, when Phinehas pierced through the Israelite together with the Midianite woman. For those too, as the Scripture says, were consecrated to Beelphegor.

²⁰ Ephraim flew away like a bird. Swiftly, he says, he flew away from me, not emulating those fathers. Or because he shall quickly be led away into captivity.

²¹ Their glories are from births and pangs and conceptions; because even if they rear their children, they shall be made childless among men; because, moreover, woe is to them.[52] They shall be made childless, he says, quickly, because they did not wish to be glorified in me and in my help; but they considered their many children a glory, supposing that they prevail by multitude. But in vain did they hope such things; for even when they rear their children, and have already brought them up to maturity, the war, coming upon them, shall make them childless, and to no purpose shall they undergo the toils of child-rearing. And why shall these things be to them? Because I cast upon them the woe. And this came to pass because I forsook them, and, being forsaken, they wrought things worthy of the woe. But when I consider how we men conceive all things, and undergo all toils and the pangs of cares, for the sake of the perishing glory of the world, I think these things are said about us too. Therefore whatever works we rear up as children, looking to human glory, we do not enjoy them, but destroy them, receiving our reward here. And perhaps we have the woe also, as despisers of the commandment which bids us do nothing for human glory.

²² My flesh is from them.[53] These things seem to be said as from the Only-begotten. For since he said, They shall be made childless, he says, I will not utterly destroy them, because my flesh, which I shall assume, shall be from them. Whence Paul also said, Of whom is Christ according to the flesh. Or understand it thus also: The prophet, having heard the threats of God against Israel, prays that neither he himself, nor his kinsmen according to the flesh, may share in the wrath with them. Therefore he says, My flesh is from them — that is, May I too be outside them, and far from them, both I and my flesh, that is, my kinsmen. For the Apostle too knows kinsmen as “flesh,” when he says, If by any means I may provoke to jealousy my flesh — that is, my kinsmen according to the flesh, the Hebrews — and save some of them. And David says something similar: Destroy not my soul together with the impious, nor my life with men of blood.

²³ Ephraim — in the manner I saw — set their children for a prey; and Ephraim, to lead forth his children to slaughter.[54] These things too are said as in the person of the prophet. For as I see, he says, O Lord, from the wrongs and impieties which Ephraim committed, he all but himself set forth his children for a prey — that is, captivity — and for slaughter, that is, for butchery. For some were taken captive, and others were slaughtered by the enemies; so that let him blame no other for his childlessness, but himself. For having provoked God by his impieties, he himself brought the enemies upon himself, just as did those who slew the Lord. Or also because he sacrificed his children to the idols, and set them forth for a prey and for slaughter; therefore with reason shall he be made childless, being justly deprived of these whom he himself unjustly sent forth to the idols for butchery, as a kind of prey and catch, even as I myself also saw; and this is by no means false. To these things David also bears witness, saying, They poured out the blood of their sons and daughters, which they sacrificed to the graven images of Canaan. And the teacher of evil doctrines, begetting many through his word, sets forth the souls of such children for slaughter; first, however, for a prey; for the teachers of the Church, attempting to take these in the hunt, if they fail, then pierce them through, dividing them from the Church with the spear of anathema.

²⁴ Give to them, O Lord. What will you give them? A childless womb, and dry breasts. Since, he says, they trust in their many children, as those who shall prevail over their enemies by multitude, and on this account despise your succor, let the women among them not bear at all. And if they do bear, let them not give suck, but let the children be consumed before their time; for thus, having fallen from their hopes in their children, they shall call upon you as helper. And the prophet prays these things, both caring for them, as a lover of his brethren, that they may not bear and rear impious children, and being zealous for the divine glory, as a lover of God. There is also for every sinner a womb, in which he is conceived in iniquities, according to the saying, The sinners are estranged from the womb. And what is this? The first occasion of each sin: of fornication, the gazing; of murder, the being angered. And the breasts that rear up the evil offspring are the reasonings and words that plead for the sin, through which it is brought to maturity. A prayer, then, worthy of a prophetic soul is this: that such wombs should not bear, nor such breasts gush forth. And for the God-slayers too the womb is childless — the legislation of the letter — and the prophetic words are dry.

²⁵ All their wickednesses are in Galgal, because there I hated them on account of the wickednesses of their practices. Out of my house I will cast them. Since in Galgala they were especially impious, he makes mention of these things, and says: On account of the things done there, I hated them. Therefore I will cast them out of my house — either out of Palestine, which they had as a house given to them by me, or out of my temple; for I will remove them to another dwelling.

²⁶ And I will by no means continue to love them. It was not these whom I brought up, but their descendants; just as he promised to give the land of promise to those in Egypt, but since, having come out, they murmured, they themselves perished in the wilderness, and their children received it. Yet even if he loved these same men, it would be no wonder. For if you examine, you will find the prophecy full of threats, and again of good promises. For, as has been said in the prologue, God threatens for this cause, that those who hear may be made better, and, when they are made better, the threatened things are not brought upon them; but if they are not made better, they are certainly brought. These things plainly fit the God-slayers also; for they too have been cast out of the house: in part, because the Lord cast out of the temple those who made the house of his Father a place of merchandise; and wholly, all of them afterward, when he destroyed the temple, and God no longer continued to love them. For the wrath came upon them to the uttermost, and bowed down their back forever, having given them over to slavery, because all their wickednesses were measured out against Christ, whom they said, in insult, to have been born of Galilee. For search, he says, and see, that a prophet has not arisen out of Galilee. And since Galgal is interpreted “a rolling-down,” observe that when we are rolled down to the things below, not minding the things above, where Christ is, then we are hated, and cast out of heaven, which is the house of God, justly suffering this, because we did not even look toward heaven.

²⁷ All their rulers are disobedient. If only those under authority, he says, were impious, perhaps I would have spared them, on account of the virtue of the rulers, just as for Moses’ sake I again spared the Israelites. But now the rulers too are disobedient, and not one or two, but all. How then shall I spare them? Who shall stand as mediator on behalf of the people?

²⁸ Ephraim has been afflicted in his roots, and was dried up. He shall no longer bear fruit at all. By “roots” he means the kingdom; for, having first accused the rulers, he now says that the root itself, the kingdom, was afflicted — that is, became rotten and dry, having fallen away from my fatness and help, and shall no longer bear fruit at all. For after the ten tribes were enslaved by the Babylonian Salmanasar, no longer was a king set up for Ephraim. Or by “root” he simply means the strength of the ten tribes, which, being dried up, because God was angered against them, no longer brought forth vigorous children.

²⁹ Because, even if they bear, I will slay the desired things of their womb. Most of all, he says, their whole root and strength was dried up, and they shall no longer bring forth children able to fight on their behalf. And whomever they do bear, I will slay, giving them over to the enemies in war, although they are desired by them and beloved. For in themselves they are not worthy to be desired and loved; but as being the offspring of those very men, they are desired by them.

³⁰ God will reject them, because they did not hearken to him; they shall be wanderers among the nations. God, having rejected them from Palestine, will make them wanderers, taken captive, because, when he foretold to them what they would suffer, and sought their amendment, they did not hearken. And who does not see the synagogue of the Jews also, now together with its teachers withering away, and not standing upon the root of the fathers, but broken off, and dried up, bearing no fruit — neither prophet nor teacher — but, whatever they beget and conceive, being desires of the belly? For they sound forth the things from the belly, and not the things from the mouth of the Lord God Almighty. And these things are slain, as conceived according to the letter, which is dead and not living. And he makes them themselves wanderers among the nations, not only as changing place for place, but also as wandering the wandering according to the soul, which is shown especially among the nations. For, the nations having been received, while they themselves do not enter in, they are found most evidently to be wanderers. But let us, having been appointed rulers by him (For you shall appoint them, he says, rulers over all the earth), and, as Paul says, having delivered an unshaken foundation, not be disobedient to him. They are told: Take my yoke upon you; and let not our roots be dried up, which we received through baptism, having received the Holy Spirit, which gives us the fatness for the bearing of fruit; for everyone baptized has a holy gift, by which he is strengthened to accomplish the commandments. It is best of all, then, not to have the desires of the belly, whether being agitated about foods, or any other offspring of human reasonings. But if we should have them, God benefits us, slaying this through his word coming to be in us, which is living, and effectual beyond every two-edged sword. And he too wanders among the nations who gives heed to the customs of the nations, and to divinations, and bird-augury, and follows their other usages.

11 Chapter Ten

¹ Israel is a luxuriant vine, her fruit abundant; according to the multitude of his fruits he multiplied altars. Having said that he has labored at his own roots, and that he shall be childless, he now says that in former times also he was a vine flourishing with branches, and stretched out into a great multitude through his fruitfulness — as David too says: From the northern sea unto the southern sea it held sway. Yet for all that he did not use his abundance for the honor of God; but as many as they were, so many altars also did they establish — which elsewhere too he says: According to the number of your cities, O Israel, were your gods; and justly shall their multitude be diminished.

² And according to the good things of his land he built pillars. Made expansive, he says, by the good things of God, they ran riot against him, and to the idols they built pillars not unadorned, but costly; and that according to the good things which God gave them, I mean the gold, and the silver, and the rest of the substance.

³ They divided their heart. They severed their hearts from me, he says, so as to have no part with me. Or else, because one raised an altar to one god and another to another, dividing up the idols among themselves, and each giving his heart to a different idol.

⁴ Now shall they be destroyed. Not after a long time, but Now. For so long as they had not yet given their hearts to the idols, but were impious in a more superficial way, destruction was far from them. But now, since this has come to pass thus, and each is impious from the heart, their destruction has come upon them.

⁵ He himself shall dig down their altars; their pillars shall be brought to misery. God himself, from whom they severed their hearts, or the Babylonian king; for he too burned down the altars together with the cities, and plundered the pillars, costly as they were. A flourishing vine is also the man who lacks none of the good things in life, being blessed with children and abounding in the rest; yet, enslaved perhaps to the passions, he sets up an altar to each of these, presenting his members as slaves to lawlessness unto lawlessness, according to the good things of his land — that is, in so far as his land, namely his flesh, is gratified by these things and reckons them good. And he builds pillars also — that is, every unrepentant habit settled in him. And such a man also divides his heart, serving two masters. But he is benefited when God digs down his altars, whether by delivering him over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved, or otherwise, curbing his jaws with bit and bridle, and working contrition and misery in his ways, that he may be shaken from the habit fixed in evil — through the loss of his children, it may be, and the deprivation of his other good things. All these things you will find in the case of the slayers of God, who would not even understand.

⁶ Therefore now shall they say: We have no king, because we feared not the Lord. And the king, what shall he do for us? Speaking words, false pretexts, he shall make a covenant. He teaches them what manner of words they must use when they repent. For when they see their kingdom overthrown, they will say: This has befallen us because we did not fear God, in whom we ought to have trusted, and not in the king. For the king was not able to help us at all, but only deceived us by lying, and making now one pretext, now another — making covenants and agreements of alliance, now with the Assyrian, now with the Egyptian. The very same things the Jews also said concerning Christ to Pilate: Write not, that he is King of the Jews; and the teaching of Christ they called false words, tearing it to pieces. But he himself will make a covenant with those who believe in him — the truly new one, which made peace through his blood between the things in heaven and the things upon the earth. And truly, for everyone who does not fear God there is no king; rather unreason tyrannizes within him, and the mob-rule of the passions holds civic sway, by which the King, the Word, is slandered, as one who speaks mere words, and refers us off to the hopes of things to come, and reminds us of the covenant of John, which says: If you love me, keep my commandments; and, No longer do I call you servants, but friends; and, I go to prepare a place for you; and again, Whoever does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple; and, He who has lost his own soul shall find it unto life eternal.

⁷ Judgment shall spring up like dog’s-grass upon the fallow of the field. Just as, he says, the dog’s-grass spreads out the more and multiplies in the fallow places of the field, where neither plough troubles it nor mattock, because it is no tilled ground; so also my judgment, and the just sentence against you, shall spring up unhindered.

⁸ For the calf of the house of On shall the inhabitants of Samaria dwell as sojourners. They will sit in attendance, he says, upon the idol of the golden heifer, the one honored in Bethel; for this he calls the house of On — that is, of the Useless, which is an idol. And they attend upon it whenever dread things come upon them, seeking help from it. This he says, tearing to pieces their folly, in that they supplicate the idol of an irrational beast to help them. The judgment of God sprang up also upon the fallow people of the Jews, whom thereafter neither prophet nor priest tilled any more; but there came up upon it, as a thorn upon fallow ground, the smiting disposition, out of which they also crowned the Lord with thorns; for by a just judgment they were delivered to the Romans. And upon the nations too, which were fallow indeed, the judgment of God — that is, the law — sprang up. For where sin abounded, grace superabounded. For we have the law, we who possess its end; for Christ is the end of the law. And the word Sprang up is well chosen; for from the shadow the Spirit appeared. And the inhabitants of Samaria — that is, those now called Israelites, who resemble the Samaritans. For just as those seemed indeed to keep the law, yet departed in nothing from their ancestral ways; so these too seem indeed to guard the law, yet cling to their ancestral impiety against Christ. These, then, sojourn at the house of the Useless; for useless is the letter.

⁹ For his people mourned over it, and as they provoked it, they shall rejoice over its glory. Not only, he says, did they receive no benefit from the golden idol, but rather they even mourned over it. For there is a Hebrew tradition that, when Ader king of Syria came down against the cities of Samaria, then Manaem king of Samaria called as ally Phua the Babylonian; and to him, when he had given aid and overthrown Ader, having nothing with which to pay the wage, which was large, he gave the golden heifer. So the people mourned, he says, their god, thus dishonored. Yet they supposed, in their folly, that even though they themselves had provoked it, dishonoring it so, the Babylonians at least would glorify it, honoring it as a god. And these hopes will make them rejoice.

¹⁰ For it was carried away from him. From Ephraim the calf was carried away, being given to the Babylonian Phua, and so forth.

¹¹ And having bound it, they carried it away into Assyria as gifts to king Jarim. That is, to their avenger the king, to Phua. Jarim, as was said before, is interpreted “avenger” or “vindicator.” And most wittily did he say, Having bound it, as though, in the case of a calf, mocking their folly.

¹² By a gift of Ephraim shall he receive it, and Israel shall be put to shame in their counsel. Phua, he says, will receive the golden calf, as given by way of a gift of Ephraim — that is, of the king; yet the people shall be put to shame for their counsels concerning such an idol. For the Chaldeans did not honor it, but cut it up and melted it down. Some have taken these things also as referring to Christ: over whom his own people mourned — that is, the disciples and the women, to whom he said: Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me; and others too were beating their breasts, when he was upon the cross. But the Jews, blaspheming, provoked him, and rejoiced, when his glory was carried away from him, when, being crucified, he was dishonored, and had no form nor comeliness. And Pilate, having bound him, sent him up to Herod, who was an Assyrian king by reason of his pride. And the Christ within us also, whom through baptism we have dwelling in our inner man, the sin that reigns in our mortal body carries away from us; and having bound him, so that he can work none of the things belonging to active virtue, it bears him off as a gift to the enemy and avenger — that is, to the devil; who, being an enemy of the salvation of the man who had committed fornication in Corinth, became also an avenger, taking him for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit might be saved. And those of Phygellus and Hermogenes, delivered to him by Paul, he disciplined not to blaspheme. A great gift, then, to such an avenger is this: that we Christians should be bound, working none of the commandments of Christ, who said: If you love me, keep my commandments.

¹³ Samaria has cast away her king, like a twig upon the face of the water. That is, the kingdom shall be removed from Samaria as lightly as a frail twig swept off by the water. Or else by “king” he means the calf, which she lightly sent away into Assyria, as has been said.

¹⁴ And the altars of On shall be removed, the sins of Israel. For those filthy altars shall be made to vanish, which were the sins of the people. For through them the people kept provoking God to anger.

¹⁵ Thorns and thistles shall come up upon their altars. For, the land and their altars being desolate, the places will be full of thorns. And they cast away Christ the King too, accounting him as nothing — those Samaritan Jews, as it is handed down. Then he prophesies the pulling down of the idolatrous altars, which came to pass after the coming of Christ, having signified by the one idol of On all the rest as well. And the unbeliever too casts the unbelief that reigned in him upon the face of the water of baptism, and the altars of unbelief in him are made to vanish. And then the religion that once seemed fair appears full of thorns and thistles. And the believer likewise casts the sin prevailing in him upon the water of tears, washing with such water his face — that is, the part that holds the senses, out of which and about which the war is waged; and his members, the altars of sin (which is a useless idol; for sin is without substance and without profit), become then full of thorns and thistles; for he afflicts and smites them through repentance.

¹⁶ And they shall say to the mountains: Cover us; and to the hills: Fall upon us. Such, he says, will be the vehemence and bitterness of the calamities that shall seize them, that each of them will choose to be covered by the mountains and hills falling upon him, rather than to fall in with the evils that come from the Babylonians. And he made mention of mountains and hills not without reason; but since in Bethel they sacrificed to the heifer (and he spoke of this when he made mention of those altars), while on the mountains they served the other idols — Astarte, I mean, and Chamos, and Baal — he now makes mention of these also, as being to them the causes of the calamity, and elsewhere of no use to them, but serving only to slay them before the calamities, if that were possible. And these things the Lord also said in the Gospel concerning the evils that should seize the Jews on his account.

¹⁷ From the time of the hills, Israel sinned. Not only, he says, from the time when the heifers began to be worshipped did Israel sin, but even before this, from the time when the hills received their acts of worship. For Jeroboam set up the heifers; but Solomon, persuaded by his women, made an altar on the hills.

¹⁸ There they stood; war shall by no means overtake them on the hill. He came against the children of iniquity, to chasten them according to my desire. And peoples shall be gathered together against them, to chasten them in their two iniquities. Steadfast, he says, and immovable, they stood in the idolatry of the hills, saying that war should by no means overtake them, nor should they fall into any calamity, if they served at the altar. But war did in truth come upon them, who were children of iniquity, because of chastening them according to my desire and will. And this you may understand in two ways: either, To chasten them sternly and bitterly — for this I desire, since they are incorrigible; or, To chasten them lightly, and this very thing in a disciplinary way. For chastening, properly so called, is that which is moderate and unto correction; the other is punishment and utter destruction. And thereafter many peoples shall be gathered together against them, for the chastening of them, since they committed two iniquities: they both forsook me their benefactor, and ran to the deaf and useless idols. They sinned, and slew the Lord; for it was not the passion of avarice that they fell sick with — which is called a “hill” by reason of its loftiness — for they could not endure that the Lord be glorified. Standing therefore in this passion, they supposed that, if they should kill him, war would not overtake them, nor would the Romans come upon them and take them away. But the war came, because they committed two iniquities, crucifying the Lord, and falsely accusing the resurrection. And upon every lover of dominion who will not deign to reckon himself earth and ashes, and to look downward, but serves the demons upon the hills and the heights, there shall come humiliation, which is war against pride. For everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled; and he who exalts his own doors seeks ruin; for the Lord sets himself against the proud. And the proud man commits two iniquities, exalting himself not over men only, but also over God.

¹⁹ Ephraim is a heifer taught to love victory.[55] Untamed, he says, is Ephraim, unwilling to be under my yoke, but ever loving to conquer, and to do his own will. Or else: I taught him to conquer, and to prevail over his enemies, but he did not keep it.

²⁰ But I will come upon the fairest part of his neck. That is, I will humble him by means of his enemies, and will persuade him to receive the yoke of the knowledge of me, and especially will I humble his kings. For the kingdom he called the fairest part of his neck. And these were the more impious, and led the peoples also to the same things. And well did he say, Of the neck, to show them stiff-necked. The Pharisees too, and the priests, were higher than the rest; but these the One crucified by them humbled.

²¹ I will mount upon Ephraim, and I will pass over Judah in silence. Since, as was said above, the ten tribes together with their kings ran aground upon every kind of idolatry, while Judah — that is, the two tribes — were sober (for indeed Amasias their king was godly, and Hezekiah and Josiah); he says: Now indeed I will mount upon Ephraim and weigh him down, bringing the Babylonians against him; but Judah for the present I will spare. For when Sennacherim came and besieged Jerusalem, an angel of the Lord destroyed a hundred and eighty-five thousand in a single night. Whence that king fled in great fear. Ephraim, then — that is, the one who grows in wickedness — the Lord humbles, lying heavy upon him and fixing his hand firmly upon him. But Judah, who makes confession, he does not weigh down; rather, to him who is afflicted willingly through repentance he shows that the momentary lightness of the affliction works an eternal weight of glory.

²² Jacob shall grow strong in him. He sets down the cause for which he spares Judah for the present, and says that the virtue of Jacob, emulated by him, will place strength in him. And he hints at the righteousness of Hezekiah; for it was out of regard for that man’s tears and virtue that God put Sennacherim to flight from Jerusalem with nothing accomplished. Jacob is also a name for the Lord, who is without guile by reason of his innocence; for no deceit was found in his mouth. And he dwells in a house, which is the house of the living God; or the house of the tabernacle not made with hands, which he took to himself from us; for he dwells in this still. This One, then, grew strong among the Jews; for even though he was crucified out of weakness, yet living by the power of God, he requited those who outraged him, and rising, repaid them. And every Jacob — that is, supplanter and overthrower of the passions — grows strong in Judah, which is confession. For he who has learned to supplant the passions, this man truly makes confession, not returning to his own vomit.

²³ Sow for yourselves unto righteousness. The manner of exhortation is twofold. For one urges toward the good either by pointing out the punishments of the disobedient, or the crowns of those who do well. And here, accordingly, God both pointed out what evils shall seize the disobedient, and pointed out the virtue of Judah, for which he was deemed worthy of sparing. So then he exhorts the rest as well, saying: Sow for yourselves; for you will not benefit God, but yourselves. And by “righteousness” he means the true worship of God. For it is righteous to render reverence to the Maker and Creator, and not to the idols; and he means too the whole of virtue, which is called righteousness, because he who works the virtues will judge justly, subjecting the passions of unreason to reason, and not raising up the worse against the better — which is the mark of an evil and unjust judge.

²⁴ Reap unto the fruit of life. Those who sowed unto unrighteousness, and wronged both God — by ascribing his reverence to the idols — and natural right — by preferring wickedness to virtue: those reaped unto death, being slain by their enemies. But for you who sow the things that bear toward righteousness (and the seed is altogether the good thought, which bears toward action) — for you, then, the harvest shall come out unto the fruit of life. For you shall escape the sword of the enemy, and shall live; and this life first of all, and consequently the life to come. But the perceptible life he promises them as to men of flesh.

²⁵ Enlighten for yourselves the light of knowledge. That is, Come to know God, having departed from the idols.

²⁶ Seek the Lord until the fruits of righteousness come to you. He shows them the manner by which they shall sow and be enlightened. And what is this? To seek after the Lord — and to seek ever, until you have set righteousness aright, and the fruits of it, that is, the remaining virtues and the light of knowledge. Or, Seek, in the sense of, Make supplication to the Lord, until, being bent toward you, he render to you. For even if you work righteousness, yet do not trust in this; for without help it has not strength to deliver. Seek him, therefore, beseeching him to loose you from the dread things expected. The like David says: Our eyes are toward the Lord our God, until he have mercy upon us. If Christ is righteousness, according to the Apostle, the word seems to exhort the teachers of the law: Sow in the hearts of your hearers the things that bear toward the true righteousness, Christ. And this is to sow for themselves; for the benefit of the disciples redounds to the teacher. And reap the letter, not that you should stand still in it, but that you may gather as fruit the One who said: I am the life. He adds, then: Enlighten for yourselves the light of knowledge, you who sit at the law, which has a shadow of the good things to come; enlighten for yourselves the light of the knowledge of Christ. And each one enlightens the light for himself; for if to draw near depends upon us — and David says: Draw near to him and be enlightened; — then with good reason are we commanded to enlighten ourselves. Seek the Lord in the law; for he himself will give you the fruits of righteousness. For out of the works of the law you shall not have righteousness, that is, justification; but you shall be justified out of the faith that is in Christ Jesus. And if he who sows unto the flesh shall reap corruption of the flesh, while he who sows unto the spirit shall reap of the spirit life everlasting; let us be diligent neither to sow unto the flesh, nor, in spiritual matters, let us hasten to sow these things in order to be seen of men. For thus we sow not for ourselves, but for the birds of heaven. For the seeds that are not hidden lie exposed to these. But when we sow through the active life, then the light of knowledge and of contemplation will shine forth upon us.

²⁷ Why did you keep silent about impiety, and reap the fruits of your iniquities? It behooved you, he says, before you were taken, to use the medicines of repentance, and not to keep silent, but to make confession. But now, not having done this, you reaped the iniquities of impiety, paying for them the worthy penalties. And what the iniquities of impiety are has been said in various ways; for there is the iniquity toward God and that toward one’s neighbor. And these things fit also every priest and teacher and ruler. For one must not keep silent when brethren are impious. For both the law said: You shall reprove your brother, and you shall not incur sin on his account; and Paul commands that the one who sins be reproved before all, that the rest also may have fear. So that if he who ought to speak is silent, he too reaps the fruits of the iniquity — not only that which the sinner commits, but also that which he himself commits against the sinner, in not cutting off his impulse toward evil.

²⁸ You ate false fruit, because you hoped in your chariots, in the multitude of your power. And destruction shall rise up among your people, and all your fortified places shall be brought to nothing. By “false fruit” he means the vain hope. You, he says, hoped in the multitude of the people and in chariots; but things will turn out to the contrary. For the warrior people, together with the chariots, shall perish; and the cities themselves shall be made to vanish, and the safety from the walls shall avail nothing. These things are said also to every ruler who supposes that he secures safety for himself through human devices and contrivances. And the Hebrews too, having given sufficient silver to the soldiers who guarded the tomb, reaped as fruit the lie, that the Lord had not risen; wherefore, when the Romans came upon them, having hoped in the multitude of the people and the strength of the cities, they perished. And the destruction was in their midst; for they fell into faction. And not only by their enemies, but also by their own selves were they consumed. And the famine too wrought destruction in their midst; for mothers did not spare their children because of it.

²⁹ As the prince Salama from the house of Jeroboaal, in the days of war, dashed the mother to the ground upon the children; so will I do to you, O house of Israel, because of the face of your wickedness. When the Israelites had once committed idolatry, God let loose upon them the chieftains of the Midianites: Oreb and Zeb and Zebee and Salmana. This Salmana, then, whom God here calls Salama, was so savage that he dashed and struck the mothers together with the children against the ground, and so delivered them to a most piteous death; and this he did to the women of the house of Jeroboaal — that is, of Gideon — namely, to the Hebrew women. For by “the house of Gideon” he means the whole Hebrew kindred. So then, even now will I do to you, O house of Israel, and will deliver you to enemies for your sins, who will piteously destroy even the infants together with the mothers. And Gideon is called Jeroboaal because he did a sacred work, both casting down the pillar of Baal, and cutting down in a single night the grove that was dedicated to the idol.

12 Chapter Eleven

¹ At dawn they were cast away. When they expected, he says, the help of the Assyrians to appear to them like a dawn, while they were in the night of the perplexity and straitness of the war, then they were cast away into Babylon as captives. Or else, because swiftly and in short order they shall undergo utter destruction; for the dawn too holds but a brief season; then the rising sun makes the day. But God also, so long as he forbears, is said to slumber; and when he begins to execute vengeances, then he seems to rise up. He says, then: For the rest of the time I slumbered, as it were overlooking them in the night; but now, as though dawn had appeared, I awake, and henceforth I will cast them away.

² The king of Israel was cast away. He was cast away, inasmuch as the king of Israel was carried off into Babylon; and he was cast away also, inasmuch as the kingdom in Samaria was thereafter brought to an end, as has often been said. And the Hebrews too, who chose the darkness, were cast away, when the light of the gospel word shone. And if the Forerunner is a “dawn,” as heralding the sun, they were cast away then also, when he said to them: Offspring of vipers, begin not to say within yourselves: We have Abraham for a father; and, Every tree that does not bring forth good fruit is cut down and cast into the fire. And why did they suffer this? Because Christ, the king of Israel, was cast away by them. And the things within us that provoke God to anger are cherished by us so long as we have night and insensibility. But when, having heard the one who says: Awake, you who sleep, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall shine upon you; we have come out of that night and insensibility, and have come to a perception of the things done, and seem to have a “dawn” — that is, the beginning of a daylit and luminous condition; then there are cast away from us the things formerly loved, and the very prince of darkness who before reigned in us.

³ Because Israel was a child, and I loved him, and out of Egypt I called back his children; as I called them back, so they departed from before my face. Out of folly, he says, and a childish mind they will undergo this punishment. For I called them back out of Egypt, and freed them from that bitter slavery; but they departed from before my face, unwilling to present themselves to me and to minister to me, but to the idols. Or you may understand it thus also. As though someone were perplexed for what reason he called at the first men so abominable, he says, On account of your fathers. For Jacob, he says — he who was renamed Israel — was a “child,” that is, without guile, and was beloved while yet in his mother’s womb. For Jacob, he says, I loved, but Esau I hated. For this cause I delivered his children also from the slavery of the Egyptians. But they, who were honored for their fathers’ sake, fled from me, not one and two at a time, but by multitudes and by tribes, even as I also called them out of Egypt in a body. And Christ himself, who is called Israel (for he has seen God; for no one has seen the Father, except him who is from God) — this One, then, became a “child,” and out of Egypt the Father called him, the truly beloved. But the children of the Jews, who are called also children of Christ by reason of the kinship of the flesh — according to the saying, Behold, I and the children whom God has given me; — as often as they were called by him, they fled away. Wherefore he said: How often would I have gathered your children, and you would not. And observe: when one is a child in respect of wickedness, then God loves him, and makes him Israel, seeing and knowing God (for into a malicious soul wisdom will not enter), and takes him out of the Egypt of the much-wandering knowledge of this age, which has withered away. Yet one must be vigilant, lest, after being called by God unto the knowledge of his Son, our children — that is, the human reasonings which we beget — fall away from God. For the reasonings of mortals are timid, and their devices uncertain. Wherefore Paul also says: If anyone thinks he knows something, he deceives himself and is puffed up, knowing nothing; for knowledge puffs up.

⁴ They sacrificed to the Baalim, and burned incense to graven images. By “Baalim,” as has often been said, he names the idols of Baal; and by “graven images,” those of the other gods. And he shows their thanklessness, in that, having forsaken him who redeemed them out of Egypt, they served such things. And his own kindness he displays through what follows.

⁵ And I bound the feet of Ephraim, I took him up upon my arm. So great goodness did I show toward them, that I became to them as a nurse; and just as she, when about to take up a little babe into her hands, gathers together its feet, and so takes it up; so also did I, and as it were binding their feet together — that is, gathering their feet — I took them up upon my right hand. And by these things he hints at this: that I did not leave them to move in disorder and lawlessly; but I gathered their motions, giving them a law, and furnishing them my arm — that is, my strength — as an ally in wars, bearing up their weakness.

⁶ And they knew not that I healed them in the destruction of men. They knew not, he says, that by destroying and utterly rooting out other nations I was healing and tending them. For I utterly destroyed the Egyptians and those who dwelt in Palestine. The Lord too bound the feet of those who, feigning, tempted him with words, and tried to take them up upon his arm, and to show them the power of the works of his Godhead — when he raised up the paralytic, when he gave eyes to the blind, when he simply wrought the other signs and wonders. But they knew not that a physician had been sent to them, healing the corrupted. For they that are strong have no need of physicians. And some who are robust in wickedness he binds at the feet, teaching them to run back to his arm — that is, his works — and to imitate his manner of life, as far as is possible. For the arm is a symbol of strength in the active life. But the many do not recognize that in the destruction of human reasonings and purposes he heals them — that is, their souls; which elsewhere too he says: I will smite the worse, and will heal the better.

⁷ I stretched them out in the bonds of my love. He who is about to bind someone’s hands stretches them out in order to bind them. This too he says here: that I stretched them out, in the sense of, I made them ready, and fitted them to be bound by my love. Or else: I spread them out, and made them many and glorious, because I was bound by my love toward them. And this he said as of a vine, as the psalm too says: She stretched out her branches as far as the sea, and her shoots as far as the rivers.[56] The Lord stretched out the withered of hand also, and the paralytics, and the woman bowed together, and the lame, by reason of his love, both taking away their infirmities and bearing their diseases. But also in the bonds with which he was bound, when he was led away to Caiaphas, on account of our love, he stretched them out — them that were held fast and bound by the enemy — having freed them from such constraint. And so whenever one is bound either by disease or by poverty, he is loved by the Lord, according to the writer of Proverbs, and this becomes to him a stretching-out toward the things before. Such was Paul too, taking good pleasure in weaknesses, in afflictions, and in the bonds which he had, not being separated, but stretching forward to the things before.

⁸ And I will be to them as a man who strikes upon his cheeks, and I will look upon him, and I will prevail against him. Since he had said that he took him up as a little child, and that he loved him, he says: For this cause, even when I smite him, I will not lay on bitter blows, but will chasten moderately, as striking him upon his cheeks, that I may shame him — as one might strike a child that has sinned. For even if I only look sharply upon him, it suffices to prevail against him, and to make the wickedness in him vanish. Of this sort is the saying: In a little affliction is your chastening to us; and, Chasten us, but in judgment, and not in wrath. If the cheeks help us toward being nourished, see how the Lord struck upon them those in Judea, sending famine upon them while they were besieged by the Romans, so that their cheeks were left idle. For he who out of the weakness of the flesh was willingly crucified, this One, when he but looked upon them, showed them his power. He too is struck upon the cheeks who falls into dishonor, that the pride may be cast down which he had while honored before; and then God looks upon him. For upon whom will I look, but upon the meek and quiet one, who trembles at my words? And then also God prevails in him. For in our humiliation the Lord remembered us, and redeemed us from our enemies.

⁹ Ephraim went down into Egypt, and Assur was his king, because he would not return. This you may understand in two ways: either that, having come to Egypt, he sought the alliance from there, yet nevertheless the Assyrians reigned over him, having prevailed and routed it, even though he was using the Egyptians as allies; or, that he shall be led away captive into Egypt, and the Assyrians shall rule over him, because he would not return to me from the idols.

¹⁰ And the sword grew weak in his cities, and rested in his hands, and they shall eat of the fruits of their own counsels. That is, no man was found in the cities mighty and able to wield a sword; but the hands of all were slackened, and ceased from working anything warlike, and of necessity they shall eat the fruits of their impious counsels, which are afflictions and tribulations. And the Hebrews too, who emulated the hardheartedness of the Egyptians, in going down and falling away from the divine height, and having for their king the great mind of the Assyrians, these grew weak. And there is not in them the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. For how should the word of God be in them, who simply put to death the Word of God? Wherefore their hands also ceased from working any work pleasing to God. For they would not repent and return, and be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. These things befall also everyone who goes down into the land of Egypt, in which the principalities and powers of darkness bear rule. For such a man has neither the sword of discrimination, by which he might judge the worse from the better, nor is he able to work anything at all against those who war against his soul; but he is led away captive, bound hand and foot, and stripped of all active power.

¹¹ And his people hangs in suspense out of his sojourning. That is, the people of Ephraim was hung far from its own land, having become captive. And the slayer of Christ too is carried about here and there. And some have understood this thus also. For so greatly, he says, does the people of Ephraim commit impiety, and thereby becomes itself the cause to itself of being carried away, that it all but seems to hang and to be suspended toward captivity.

¹² And God shall be angered against his precious things, and will by no means exalt him. That is, against the kings and rulers; and he will no more raise up a king in Samaria, nor rulers, and will by no means exalt him — Ephraim, that is — because there shall no longer be a king among them. The precious things of the Hebrew people are the temple and the things in it, against which the Lord was angered who said: Behold, your house is left to you desolate; and the people shall by no means be exalted in anything. And he who is carried from on high against the lowlier, and ever hangs over them and is lifted up out of the goods of this life, which belong to the sojourning here, and are dissolved together with it — such a man too finds God angered against his precious things, his wealth, I mean, and his glory, or even wife and children; and having brought him low in respect of these, God will no more exalt him. For his anger, he says, will deal with him as with a stranger; for against the proud man, as against one alien to him, God goes forth in array.

¹³ How shall I deal with you, O Ephraim? Shall I shield you, O Israel?[57] He resembles one who, out of much love for mankind, is at a loss, and says: I know not how to deal with you. Shall I shield you? But your works do not justify this coming to pass. What then shall I do?

¹⁴ I will make you as Adama, and as Seboim. I will destroy you, he says, like those Sodomitic cities; for this is just.

¹⁵ My heart was turned within me. Imitating a mother and a child-loving father, he says: Within me — that is, in the very moment when I speak against you, my heart was turned, as with certain gripings, and endured in its pain; wherefore it reversed the sentence.

¹⁶ My repenting was confounded; I will by no means act according to the wrath of my anger; I will by no means abandon Ephraim to be utterly forsaken. That is, being troubled out of my great tender love toward you, I have repented, and I will by no means act according to my wrath. And these things he says, not as now fearing this, now wishing that, but fashioning his speech into anger and mercy, into punishment and love for mankind; and by the former terrifying, by the latter urging on and calling forth unto persuasion. As David says: He has not dealt with us according to our sins; but as a father pities his sons, so the Lord pitied them that fear him; and in Isaiah: Will a woman forget her child, so as not to have mercy on the offspring of her womb? But even if a woman should forget these, yet I will not forget. And not only that he might benefit them does he say these things; but that we too might fashion our own souls after such an archetype of love for mankind (for whatever things were written, were written for our admonition), and that we might not be wicked and remembering of wrongs (for the ways of those who remember wrongs lead to death), but that at the same time we might display the words of anger unto correction, and bring on the words of love for mankind, so as rather, through kindness, to turn and to shame them. For then we show ourselves presiding rationally, when we turn them by kindness rather than by wrath; for by reason, not by force, they are to be led. Wherefore Peter also said: Shepherd the flock that is among you willingly, and not by constraint.

¹⁷ Because I am God, and not man; holy in you. As though someone objected and was perplexed: Why, O Lord, having threatened so much, have you repented, and do not punish Ephraim? he says: Because I am not man, but a good God, plainly not giving the victory to anger; for this is a human passion. Why then do you punish at all? Because, he says, I am also holy, hating iniquity, and willing to be holy in you — that is, that my holiness be made known through your works, and not be blasphemed among the nations through your abominable deeds. Of this sort is the saying: Hallowed be your name; in the sense of, Let it be shown holy through us and be glorified.

¹⁸ And I will not enter into a city. That is, I shall not be enclosed in a place, nor, like men, be compelled to inhabit a city; for everywhere I am present to all. But neither did he enter into the city of Jerusalem, to visit it and to make provision for it; for because of its wicked inhabitants he forsook it.

¹⁹ I will go after the Lord. As though he teaches the people what they must say and do, and says: Since such is your love for mankind, O Lord, I will go after the Lord — I, the people that offended you; and though worthy to suffer the uttermost evils, yet not suffering them because of your mercy, I will henceforth do the things pleasing to you. Such, then, is the meaning of the saying. And reasonably did some, joining to this also the foregoing — I mean the words, I will not enter into a city — say that that too is spoken in the person of the people, who declares: Truly I fortified cities, that in time of war I might have them for a refuge; but since the Lord shows such love for mankind toward me, I will not enter into a city, but will follow the Lord, and in his back parts he will overshadow me, fighting before me and shielding me.

²⁰ He will roar like a lion, for he himself will roar aloud, and the children of the waters shall be amazed; they shall fly out like a bird from Egypt, and like a dove from the land of the Assyrians, and I will restore them to their houses. He foretells the return that should come to pass afterward in the time of Cyrus. For this man, he says, will march against the Babylonians, like a lion roaring and bellowing. And he hints, by the lion, at his power; and by the He will roar and bellow, at the war-cries in the battle. He will make the Babylonians cowardly, and they shall be amazed, like children of the waters — that is, like fishes; for a fish is a cowardly thing, enduring neither a noise nor a human shadow. When this man, therefore, has taken the Babylonians, the Jews shall return both from the land of the Assyrians and from Egypt. For Cyrus, moved by God, released those who were in Babylon. And when these had returned, and were building Jerusalem according to the command of Cyrus, the Jews in Egypt, hearing of it, took courage and themselves went up too. But some have taken the He will roar of God, that he himself will cast cowardice upon the Babylonians. For indeed what strength Cyrus had, he had from God, as Isaiah prophesied many years before, making mention of his very name. For he says: Thus says the Lord to my anointed Cyrus, whose right hand I have held, that nations might hear before him; and I will break in pieces the strength of kings. I will open before him doors, and cities shall not be shut. And our Lord Jesus Christ too says the words: I will go after the Lord; for I am not a rival of God, but he himself told me what I should say and what I should speak. And: The Father loves the Son, and shows him the works; and, Your will be done. And he roared and bellowed like a lion, when, having cried with a loud voice, he gave forth his soul into the hands of the Father, falling asleep like a lion. Then also the children of the dragon that rules the waters — the powers that apostatized along with him — were afraid, beholding death despoiled. For many bodies of the saints that had fallen asleep were raised, which the children of the dragon flew forth from both Egypt and Babylon. For, the knowledge of God taking up its citizenship there, they were driven out thence, and flew away into the abysses of darkness, which were their houses. The children of the waters are the deeds akin to the moist and dissolute life, which, when the lion of the tribe of Judah, Christ, roars forth from the good heart the good word of the Gospel, he makes to fly away from us; and thereafter we escape out of the land of Egypt, like a bird flying upward out of a snare; and we fly away like a meek and guileless dove out of the pride of the Assyrians — which, even if it is exalted, yet in truth is earth; and then we are restored by Jesus to the mansions on high.

²¹ Ephraim has encircled me with falsehood, and the house of Israel and of Judah with impieties.[58] I, he says, deem them worthy of so great forethought; but they have encircled me on every side with falsehood — that is, with idolatry. For wherever I turn, I see no place left to me, but they have dedicated all things to the demons. And now too many encircle the Lord with falsehoods, framing false testimonies.

²² Now God has known them, and a holy people shall be called God’s.[59] Nevertheless, he says, though they are such, I have known — that is, I have loved — them, and I name them my people. And some take it thus: I have known, he says, the manner by which they shall be well-pleasing to me. And they shall be called God’s, and that this shall come to pass through a certain chastening. For when they live in luxury they depart from me. And those of the Hebrews who turn to Christ are called the people of God, concerning whom he seems now to prophesy.

13 Chapter Twelve

¹ But Ephraim, an evil spirit, pursued the burning heat all the day long; he multiplied empty and vain things. By “an evil spirit” he means the evil impulse and inclination which Ephraim had, by which he pursued and sought after the burning heat of afflictions and tribulations, forsaking my shadow and my shelter, and all but willingly running into calamities. How? By multiplying the vain altars of the idols. And the very worship of the idols is a burning heat, which destroyed all the fruits of Israel.[60]

² And he made a covenant with the Assyrians, and trafficked oil into Egypt. Not only, he says, did he multiply the vain idols, but, forsaking my help, he had recourse to men; and at one time he made friends with the Assyrians, at another he offered oil as a gift to the Egyptians, as though they had none. And Samaria is especially oil-bearing. Or else he is not speaking of such oil, nor that they themselves gave the Egyptians oil, but that, offering them gold, they were contriving to obtain mercy from them. “An evil spirit” are those of the Hebrews who still disbelieve, who also pursue the burning heat all their life long, being inflamed beyond the Law, unwilling to say: A spirit before our face is Christ the Lord, of whom we said: Under his shadow we shall live; and not even running to the water of baptism; for they have empty and vain hopes, that they will recover their homeland. For they made a covenant with the spiritual Assyrians, and gave up the mercy of God to the nations that are in error, who indeed have inherited such mercy. And the oil of the Holy Spirit, with which we were anointed when we were baptized, we obtained, it having passed over from the Hebrews to us. For theirs was the oil of anointing, being a type of the spiritual chrism. He too circles God about with falsehood who loves vanity and seeks a lie — that is, the false goods of the present life. And the same man, receiving the fiery darts of the devil, and walking in the flame which he kindled, pursues the burning heat, and ever runs to it by the things he does, being borne ever toward the burning heat of Gehenna. This man also makes friends with the high-minded powers of the demons, and carries over into the Egypt of this life the oil — that is, the joyful graces of the Holy Spirit, which he received when he was baptized — and betrays them to the Egyptians, so that thereafter he is no longer able to say, My old age shall be exalted in rich oil.

³ And the Lord has a controversy with Judah, to take vengeance for Jacob. Just as he reproached Ephraim, that is, the ten tribes, as having multiplied vain things, so now he says that he enters into judgment with Judah, that is, the two tribes in Jerusalem. These were indeed descendants of Jacob; yet they did not imitate his virtue, but became a shame and an insult to him. He says, then: I will now avenge Jacob; for, having delivered them to their enemies, I will avenge the insult with which they insulted him.

⁴ According to his ways, and his practices. He tells how the vengeance will be: that it will be worthy of his ways — that is, of his works and practices, or of his habits. For often a man does something evil, yet not from an evil habit; but these both journeyed toward evil things, and made these their study and practice.

⁵ In the womb he supplanted his brother, and by his labors he prevailed against God; and he prevailed with an angel, and was strong. He sets forth in the midst the things concerning the patriarch Jacob, wishing to convict the lawlessness of his descendants, and he says that the former was chosen for God from the very womb, on account of the virtue that was surely to come. And he supplanted his brother, and through the whole night wrestled with God, that is, with the angel; and he was so strong as to wrestle with God, even though he numbed his thigh. And God wrestled with him, consoling his timidity. For since, being about to meet his brother, he feared him, God shows him that: Since you have prevailed with God, you shall be able to prevail with man also. And the prophet here calls the same one both God and angel, as Moses also does, that they might prefigure Christ, who is both the Angel of Great Counsel — that of the Father — and a mighty God. For he announced to us the counsel of the Father, which was, that through the blood of his Son the things in heaven and the things upon earth should be made at peace. And these things were types of things to come. For they showed that those of Jacob would set themselves against this angel and God; and some would numb the thigh, that is, would go lame in the faith, and would not make their approach to him; while others would confess, even as that very Jacob did, that I have seen God face to face, embodied, that is. And Esau was also called Edom, which is “red”; and the body is a brother of the soul. If any soul in the womb supplants the brother Esau — that is, is not subjected to the gluttony of the inflaming of the blood, but overcomes it — it will be entwined with God, and its thigh will be slackened, and the movement toward the passions of the lower belly will be stilled; and, purified through chastity, it will see God, and from being called Jacob, that is, “supplanter,” which is the practical man, it will be called Israel, that is, the contemplative, according to the saying, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

⁶ They wept and made supplication to me; in the house of On they found me; there it was spoken to them. This the other translators — Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion — have rendered as set down concerning Jacob: He wept and made supplication to him, and in Bethel he found him. For Jacob, fleeing the plot of Esau and running away to Laban his uncle, obtained at Bethel the divine revelation: Fear not, Jacob, for I am with you; and beseeching God, perhaps with weeping: If you will give me bread to eat, and a garment to put on, and bring me back in peace, the Lord shall be my God; and this stone, which I have set up, shall be a house of God; and of all that you give me I will surely render you a tenth. These things, then, the other translators making plain, say that in Bethel, which now holds the idol of On, Jacob wept, and found the one who had appeared and spoken to him: Fear not. But the Seventy, having said in the plural, They wept and made supplication, give us to understand that he says this concerning the people. For they, he says, both at all other times served the idol, and when they seemed to make use of repentance, they did not come into the temple set apart and weep there, but, standing before the idol, called upon my help. Yet I nevertheless, though thus insulted in that place, sent my prophet Amos, speaking to them my words. For in Bethel Amos prophesied, when the false priest of Bethel, Amaziah, said to him: Go into the land of Judah, and prophesy not in Bethel, for it is a king’s sanctuary; that is, this place is set apart to the idol, which he reckoned a king. But some say that God here makes mention of another history, this being traced back to Jacob. For when Simeon and Levi, his sons, slew the Shechemites, because their sister Dinah had been defiled by Hamor the Shechemite, then Jacob grieved, and was in great fear, lest he should be destroyed by the neighboring peoples on account of the Shechemites. Falling down, then, before God, he found him hearkening to him, and saying to him: Go up to Bethel, and dwell there; when Jacob also said to all his house: Put away the strange gods from your midst, and change your garments, and let us arise and go up to Bethel; and they did so. Therefore he said here in the plural, They wept and made supplication to me, that he might show all those about Jacob, who went up with him to Bethel, and made sacrifice to the Lord.

⁷ But the Lord God the Almighty shall be his memorial. If indeed the saying is admitted as said concerning Jacob, you will understand that the Lord set him in everlasting remembrances, and bestowed on him immortal renown. For as I live, says the Lord, those who glorify me I will glorify. But if as said concerning the people of the Hebrews, you will understand it thus: that he makes the discourse by way of exhortation, admonishing them that, since they have such a God, who holds all things and is able to do all things, who also strengthened their forefather Jacob, they ought always to remember him, and never to forget him. The “house of On” — that is, of the Unprofitable, or of sin — is this world; for in this world it is worked, but in the world to come it ceases. And nothing is so unprofitable as sin, but rather it is the author of countless harm. In this house, then, whoever weeps and makes supplication will find God, and it will be spoken to him, Your sins are forgiven you. But when this world is dissolved, there is no longer a time for such weeping, which is blessed and has consolation. Of the one who thus weeps, as has been said, God shall be the memorial. For having everlasting gladness, he has it from remembering God and delighting in him: For I remembered God, he says, and was glad. The “house of On” — that is, of the Unprofitable, as has been said — is also wealth, and the glory that is according to the world, at least among the many. He, then, who has used both wealth and glory according to God, having mercy on the poor and standing up for the helpless, this man finds God in the house of On, such as was Zacchaeus. Therefore it will also be spoken to this man what was spoken to that one: Today salvation has come to this house; and such a righteous man shall be for an everlasting memorial. Because he scattered, he gave to the poor; his righteousness abides unto the ages of ages.

⁸ And you shall turn back in God; keep mercy and judgment, and draw near to your God continually. Even if you are disobedient, he says, and disorderly, and fall very far short of the patriarch Jacob, to whom I bore witness of such great virtue — yet, being chastened by me, and delivered to captivity, you shall turn back to good obedience and good order. Then thereafter, as to one already being scourged and struck, God cries out: Keep mercy and judgment. For just as some master, scourging a disobedient servant, calls out to him as he scourges, Hearken to my commands; so here too God, scourging the people as not keeping mercy and judgment, cries out to them, Keep mercy and judgment — that is, Be compassionate to those who fall into calamities undeservedly (for such is mercy), and judge what is just. Then, leading them on toward the true knowledge of God, he says: Draw near to your God continually — that is, Wander not off into idolatry, but, together with doing what is needful, serve God also. For there is no profit in the supposed working of the virtues, if the knowledge of God is not present. And observe that, just as the Law said, You shall love the Lord your God, and your neighbor; so here too these two are brought in. And the prophet seems to speak also to those who for a time disbelieve in Christ, but afterward are to believe, saying: You too, the Israelite who now disbelieves, shall turn back in Christ, who is your God, not a mere man, as you supposed. But do not think that, if you turn back, you will thereafter be at ease, as one justified by faith; rather, work the virtues also, having mercy indeed, yet with judgment, so as to give to each according as he has need. Then, summing up for the hearer all virtue, he says: Draw near to your God continually. For sins set a division between us and God; but the virtues make us draw near, through likeness. And observe also the word “continually”; for one must not for even a brief moment nod off from the good. And let him who turns back from sin not suppose that he turns back by his own power, but in God; for it is God who works in us both to will and to work for his good pleasure. And it will especially befit judges to keep judgment along with showing mercy. For many, supposedly pitying the poor, condemn the rich outright, even when they have justice standing with them. For this reason we are given the law not to pity a poor man in judgment. But since it is possible to show mercy and to judge justly, yet not according to God, but for the pleasing of men, he adds: Draw near to your God; turn not back toward men, but look to God, who will render the rewards.

⁹ Canaan — in his hand is a balance of injustice; he has loved to oppress. I indeed, he says, teach Ephraim these things, to keep mercy and judgment, and what follows; but he has become a Canaan, having emulated the greed and injustice of the Canaanites. So Ezekiel too says to Jerusalem: Your seed and your birth are of the land of Canaan; for of those whose ways he emulated, of these also he received the name. For David too said such a thing concerning the men of that time: False are the sons of men, with balances to do injustice.

¹⁰ Ephraim said: I have grown rich, I have found refreshment for myself. All his labors shall not be found for him, because of the injustices wherein he sinned. Having grown rich out of injustice, he says, and out of oppressing others, Ephraim hoped that he would have rest, and would find refreshment from the burning heat of every trial; but this shall not be. For all that he toiled at shall be vain. This David too says: Hope not in injustice, and long not after plunder. If riches flow in, set not your heart upon them. And those to whom the Lord said, If you were children of Abraham, you would do the works of Abraham, were Canaan, holding a balance of injustice — they who asked for the robber Barabbas, but crucified Christ the benefactor; who, burning with envy toward him while he lived, supposed they would find refreshment by putting him to death. But they shall gain nothing, he says; for not only were they unable to stop him from being glorified, but also all their distinctions, in which they toiled, were obliterated by the Romans. So too one who grows rich out of injustice will say, I have grown rich, I have found refreshment for myself; but let such men hear, among the rest, this also: that they are children of Canaan, whom Noah cursed.

¹¹ But I am the Lord your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt; for I will settle you, and will make you to dwell in tents, as in the days of a feast. You, he says, hoped in your wealth that came from injustice; but I, just as I brought you up out of the land of Egypt, and made you, as you journeyed through the wilderness, to dwell in tents, so now too I will remove you and make you to dwell in tents, just as in the days of the Feast of Tabernacles you were accustomed to dwell in tents. For God commanded the Feast of Tabernacles for this very reason, that, dwelling in tents, they might not be unmindful of their sojourn in the wilderness. So too those who became God-slayers are removed from country to country, and resemble those who dwell in tents. And whomever the Lord leads out as from the Egypt of sin, he teaches to regard this life as a tent and a sojourning. For then indeed it is possible to keep festival to the Lord, the feast that is according to the spirit.

¹² And I will speak to the prophets, and I have multiplied visions, and by the hands of the prophets I was likened. Justly, he says, do I remove you, because what I spoke through my prophets for your admonition you did not hear (for “I will speak” stands for “I spoke”); and I spoke not words only, but also multiplied visions — that is, prophecies shown forth through deeds; just as I commanded this very prophet at one time to take a harlot, and at another an adulteress, instructing them through the deeds which they saw. And he teaches also that he used various revelations, not displaying his own nature (for it is invisible), but, according to the need of each occasion, showing certain types and likenesses of the divine nature and energy. For in one way to Daniel, and in another to Ezekiel, and to Isaiah in another, and to Micah in yet another. But some take it thus: I indeed multiplied the prophetic visions; but your false prophets, imitating the deeds of my prophets, and likening themselves to them, spoke the things from their own heart. For Jeremiah, putting wooden collars about his neck, signified that the king would be enslaved; but the false prophet Hananiah, taking them, broke them, saying that Thus says the Lord:

¹³ Thus will I break the yoke of the king of Babylon. He accuses the people, then, that when he spoke to the prophets they did not hear, but obeyed the false prophets, who spoke likenesses of divine prophecy, not the truth. But since “I will speak to the prophets” is said as of something future, perhaps he speaks concerning the apostles and the prophets of their time, on whose account the Lord also says, I will send prophets and scribes and wise men. I will speak, then, he says, to such prophets — I who prefigured certain likenesses of my presence in the flesh, having shown them forth in manifold and many ways among the prophets under the Law. And since we also now behold through a mirror and in a riddle, fittingly all knowledge that comes to be here is a likeness, and every vision is not single and simple, but multiplied, figured forth through certain perceptible images. So too we name God a sun, and fire, and life, and the rest of such things.[61]

¹⁴ If Gilead is not, then false were the rulers sacrificing in Gilgal. I, he says, thus admonished you through the prophets; but you, going up to Gilead and Gilgal, together with your rulers, performed the false and vain things, sacrificing to the idols. And he makes mention of these two cities, as being given over to idols beyond the others, as he said above. Since, then, the king of the Assyrians, Phona, coming up, took first the city of Gilead, which is beyond the Jordan, he says: If indeed Gilead is not (for it was utterly destroyed), then it is plain that your rulers, going up to Gilgal and sacrificing, were false — that is, laboring in vain; for it is vanity to sacrifice to the idols, asking good things from them.

¹⁵ Their altars are as tortoises upon the dry ground of a field. Either because they made such altars, high and conspicuous, like tortoises — that is, the moundings which farmers make on account of the waters; for they call such things “tortoises.” Or because, just as the tortoise, being an amphibious animal, while it lives in the water often escapes its hunters, but on dry land is easily caught; so too the altars of the idols, built by you, will be easily taken by the enemies, and will be razed by them. Or, just as the mind of the righteous man is an altar beloved by God, so too that of the impious and sinful man resembles a tortoise, being covered by the thick shell of the body, and moving heavily under it; when indeed, having become wholly fleshly, and bearing no comeliness from the “according to the image,” but displaying the deformity that comes of vice, and wandering in the dry and barren course of the field of this world; and whenever you see a man becoming now one thing and now another, doubling between the two ways of life, they likened him both to the other amphibious animals and to the tortoise.

¹⁶ And Jacob withdrew into the plain of Syria, and Israel served for a wife, and kept guard. Again he made mention of the wife of the patriarch Jacob, and he says that the former, persuaded by his mother, who urged him not to take a wife from the land of Canaan, withdrew into Syria to Laban; and he served him for a wife — that is, on account of a wife — and guarded himself from taking a Canaanite woman. Or because, for the sake of Rachel, he kept all that Laban enjoined upon him.

¹⁷ And by a prophet the Lord brought Israel up out of Egypt, and by a prophet he was preserved. On account of his virtue, he says, his descendants the Israelites also were loved by God, and he brought them up out of Egypt by a prophet, Moses, and preserved them through the same prophet in the wilderness; and this though many nations warred against them. Or they were preserved also through Joshua the son of Nun; for him too he calls a prophet. These things are a type of Christ. For, having set foot upon the earth, he betrothed the Church, and on her behalf served in flesh and in sufferings, and in the commandments of the Law, which he kept. And in him we were brought up out of the Egypt of sin, and are preserved; for he is the prophet of whom Moses said: The Lord will raise up for you a prophet. And everyone who has become worthy to be called Israel, and to see God, both serves for a wife, when he makes provision for the flesh, but not unto lust; and keeps guard in a wife, when he buffets the flesh and brings it into bondage; and he is brought up out of Egypt, this dark life, through a prophet — that is, through the word, which gives us assurance concerning things to come. For if one will not believe him who says that there will be another, more divine state after death, how shall he be brought up out of this world, whose pleasures are in hand?

¹⁸ Ephraim was filled with wrath, and provoked to anger. Jacob, he says, was so eager not to transgress his mother’s exhortation, and chose to serve in a way that brought reproach, that he might take a wife of a good lineage; but the people of Ephraim, born of him, did all that moved me to wrath and anger, setting up the golden heifers, and worshiping them.

¹⁹ And his blood shall be poured out upon him. He provoked me, he says; but he himself will be the cause of his own destruction; he will wipe upon himself all the deadly afflictions.

²⁰ And the Lord will repay him his reproach according to the word of Ephraim. By “reproach” God means the insult against himself, with which Jeroboam insulted him, saying to the people: Go not up to Jerusalem; behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt. This reproach, then, and this insult, done against God according to the word of Ephraim — that is, of Jeroboam — the Lord will repay him. Or because Ephraim shall be reproached and insulted according to his word — that is, in proportion and correspondingly to his impieties. To the Christ-slayers too was repaid the reproach with which they reproached Christ: Others he saved, and himself he cannot save. How was it repaid? According to the word which they spoke: His blood be upon us, and upon our children.

14 Chapter Thirteen

¹ He received ordinances in Israel, and gave them to Baal. Having received my laws, according to which he ought to have lived and to have served me, he gave them to Baal — that is, he added himself to the idols, and as it were made covenants with them, so as to serve them.

² And he died. Both in soul, inasmuch as he became a slave of idols, and in body, inasmuch as he was delivered to the enemies. And perhaps he also makes mention of that ancient history, when, the Israelites having committed fornication — those initiated to Baal-Peor — many thousands fell, when the Israelite too, embracing the Midianite woman, was put to death by Phinehas.

³ And now they have added to sin yet more, and have made for themselves a molten image out of their silver, after the likeness of idols, the works of craftsmen finished for them. They increase, he says, their impiety; for they did not halt at the former things, nor were they brought to their senses by the death; but they made idols still — some molten, out of silver; others the works of craftsmen, that is, wooden, which they themselves finished and wrought. Which is also a shame to them, that they worshiped these things which they themselves finished.

⁴ They say: Sacrifice men; for the calves have failed. Not only, he says, did they make these their gods, but they even exhorted men to sacrifice men. For they sacrificed, he says, their sons and their daughters to the demons. Then, tearing apart and mocking their impiety as in its gravity, he says: For the calves have failed; as if he said: Have the calves so failed, O most impious ones, that you sacrifice men? But some take it thus: So many were their gods, and so many the sacrifices and the altars, that even the calves failed, and thereafter they sacrificed men; and the Hebrews after Christ sacrificed the martyrs by slaying them, because the calves sacrificed in the legal sacrifices had failed, the Law being abolished through the faith which the martyrs proclaimed. And everyone who honors pleasure as a good — being, as it were, an idol of the good and of pleasure — instead of slaughtering calves, that is, irrationality, slaughters men, killing the characteristic marks of the man, of the one who is being renewed after the image of him who created him.

⁵ Therefore they shall be as a morning cloud, and as the early dew that passes away, as chaff blown from a threshing-floor, and as vapor from a chimney. On account, he says, of this excessive impiety, for which they even become child-slayers, I will make them vanish by the assault of the enemies. For just as the sun easily consumes and disperses the early dew and the morning cloud; and just as the wind makes the chaff of the threshing-floor vanish, and the vapor of the chimney — that is, the smoke — is dissolved into the air: so too they shall be consumed by the enemies.

⁶ I am the Lord your God, who makes firm the heaven, and creates the earth.[62] You indeed sacrificed to the idols as to lords and gods; but I am the Lord your God, who makes firm the heaven — that is, who grants it its endurance. Such also is the saying, “who creates the earth” — that is, granting to the earth so to stand as it was created from the beginning, and to be harmed in nothing by time. So too the saying, “who makes his angels spirits” — that is, preserving them and guarding them according to the principles by which they were made from the beginning.

⁷ Whose hands fashioned the host of heaven. Whether the powers above and invisible, or the multitude of the stars, and the sun, and the moon, which you worshiped.

⁸ And I did not display them to you that you should go after them. Not for this, he says, did I set you as a beholder of the beauty of my creatures, that you should worship them, but that through them you should marvel at me, their Maker. For the Scripture did not say that he set them for worship, but for light. He, then, who is still earth has need to be created and to be remolded toward the better, and to become in Christ a new creation. But he who already minds the things above, and has risen above the body of lowliness, and has become a throne of God, because God rests upon him, and on this account is named a heaven (For heaven, he says, is my throne) — such a one, then, has need to be made firm, that he may not fall away from the good. And he is made firm by the word, namely when he works the virtues, together with knowing the principles of the virtues. For by the Word of the Lord the heavens were made firm; whereas he who does not pursue virtue according to reason is prone to fall.

⁹ And I brought you up out of the land of Egypt, and you shall know no God but me, and there is no savior besides me. I shepherded you in the wilderness, in an uninhabited land according to their pastures.[63] After I brought you up out of Egypt, laying down the Law for you, I charged you to know no other God but me; for I said: You shall not make a likeness of anything, of all that is in heaven above, and all that is upon the earth below. And not only did I free you from the slavery of the Egyptians, but also in the wilderness and uninhabited land I shepherded the people, according to their pastures — that is, supplying them their desires according to the needs that fell out at each time: manna, when they needed bread; quails, when they desired meat; water, when they thirsted. Or “according to their pastures” stands for “according to the stations and the places” in which they encamped. For wherever the people encamped, he says, the supply followed them, fulfilling every need.

¹⁰ And they were filled to fullness. With the manna, and the quails, and the other good things of God. And the phrase “they were filled to fullness” signifies an excess, that it might both teach the rich-giving bounty of God toward them, and convict their insatiability and ingratitude.

¹¹ And their hearts were lifted up; on account of this they forgot me. This Moses too says in the song: And Jacob ate, and was filled, and the beloved kicked; which also later befell the Hebrews. For, luxuriating in the wonders of Christ — among the rest, those in the multiplying of the loaves — they were lifted up against him. So too in the Church. Often one, having received to fullness a gift of the word, and having been enriched in it in all knowledge and wisdom, uses it for the establishment of a heretical doctrine, and his heart is lifted up, exalting itself against the knowledge of God. For the Son of Man, who is Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God, is not lifted up in him; but his heart is, that is, the reasonings of human and falsely-named knowledge. And such a heart of his gathered lawlessness to itself, gathering from certain sophistic premises the conclusions that result, full of all lawlessness, of which he himself will reap the fruit. And observe that, as soon as one’s heart is lifted up, by the very lifting up it forgets God; for if it remembered God, it would remember also the divine greatness, and would not think itself lofty; just as when one looks at the sun, then he does not marvel at the lamp.

¹² And I will be to them as a panther and a leopard. Since, he says, they were lifted up out of self-conceit, as making light of their enemies and reveling in my help, now I will bring upon them the Babylonians, after the manner of a panther and a leopard, setting upon them swiftly. For since God himself brings the enemies upon those who deserve affliction, he says that he himself will be a leopard and a panther.

¹³ By the way of the Assyrians I will meet them, as a bear at a loss. That is, I will bring the Assyrians upon them by the road that leads from the Assyrians into Palestine, after the manner of a bear at a loss — that is, hemmed in, and unable to flee. For then, being utterly at a loss, with unrestrained madness it sets upon those who war against it. Or “at a loss” — that is, bereft of its young, taken by the hunters, or hungering and at a loss for food. And the phrase “by the way of the Assyrians” can also be understood otherwise. For since they themselves went off to the Assyrians, seeking an alliance against the Egyptians, which he said also in the foregoing, he says: While they are going off to the Assyrians, I will set the Egyptians upon them, and they will treat them cruelly and harshly.

¹⁴ And I will break apart the enclosure of their heart. These things, he says, I will accomplish, so that I may break apart their closed and hardened heart, and open it, and enter into it, and become known to them. Or by “enclosure” he means the security, and the boldness of the heart, and the courage; so that what is said is of this kind: I will break apart all their security, and make their heart cowardly.

¹⁵ And there the cubs of the thicket shall devour them, and the beasts of the field shall tear them apart. Not only, he says, while in their own homeland will they reap the evils, but also there — that is, having come into the land of the enemies — they will have no respite from the evils; rather, those who took them captive will treat them cruelly. For he calls the enemies cubs and beasts. Or because, being cast out unburied, they will be devoured by beasts. The “enclosure of the heart” is the Law; under it they were guarded, shut up unto faith — that is, pressed together by it toward believing in Christ. He, then, broke apart this enclosure who abolished the law of the commandments in ordinances. And the letter of the Law is also a fence, not allowing one to come within and to see the things graciously given to us by God. The Lord, then, broke this apart, and gave passage to the spirit. Nevertheless, there the spiritual beasts devour those of the circumcision; that is, Although I broke apart the letter, they themselves remain there, and, as not removing, the demons devour them. The “enclosure of the heart” is also the Hellenic doctrines of philosophy and empty deceit, which set upon it the bars of their demonstrations, so that it does not receive the faith; which he breaks apart who was well-pleased, through the foolishness of the proclamation, to save those who believe. But the abundance of worldly goods too is an enclosure of the heart, shutting it up in a dark and gloomy prison, so that it does not see the true light. And the Lord breaks this apart, when he says: Go, sell your possessions; and, Unless one renounces all that he has, he cannot be my disciple; and all such things. But those who do not obey are devoured there — that is, in that day, by the punishments.

¹⁶ Who will help your dispersion, O Israel? Where is the king? Let him save you in all your cities. He laments and at the same time reproaches Israel, and reminds him of his former folly, on account of which he asked to be ruled by a man, thrusting aside the kingship of God. He says, then: Who will help your dispersion, in which you were scattered, taken captive by the Assyrians and Egyptians? You asked for a king, and Saul was then given you. This one, then (not Saul at all, but he who now holds this kingship which you once asked for) — let him save you, fighting for you in all the cities in which you dwell. But some of the copies have “your corruption”; and here too the sense is the same; for the utter desolation which they had when taken captive he names “corruption.”

¹⁷ Let him judge you, whom you spoke of: Give me a king and a ruler; and I gave you a king in my anger. You asked, he says, for a king; let this one judge you — that is, avenge you. Then, as if someone said: I indeed asked, but you also gave; Yes, he says, I gave indeed, yet in anger; for I yielded to your foolish will, that through the very deeds you might be instructed that my kingship, not the human, is able to help you.

¹⁸ And I bore with, in your wrath, a conspiracy of injustice. “I bore with” stands for “I yielded, I gave in.” I bore with your unjust conspiracy — that is, your gathering, your conspiring together. For you all, having banded and conspired together, sought a king, wronging yourselves, because you set yourselves over my kingship; and I gave in, not as being pleased with this conspiracy, but as abandoning you; for it was with wrath. Does not this plainly apply also to those who said: We have no king but Caesar. For, having thrust aside the Son of God, and having inscribed for themselves the man as king, whom indeed God also gave them, subjecting them to Caesar, they were scattered; and no one helps their dispersion. And every man-pleaser suffers corruption. For he who wishes to please all, who both say and think contrary things, is divided among as many as he is eager to please. Therefore such a man is ruled by men, and those base ones, having forsaken the pleasing of God and the fulfilling of his will. Hear David too: God scattered the bones of man-pleasers. And you surely know that “bones” are often spoken of in the Scripture for the reasonings.

¹⁹ Ephraim — the sin is hidden; pangs as of a woman in travail shall come upon him. That is, the sin is not on the surface, but was rooted in the depth, and is hard to pluck out. Therefore he will have pains, like a woman giving birth. And you will understand it thus as well: Jeroboam, as we have often said, began the idolatry. He says, then, that the sin of this man was cast down like a kind of seed, and was hidden in the heart of the people, and from then on they served idols. And such a seed being there, the time of the pangs will come — that of war and of captivity. For such seeds have such pangs.

²⁰ Is this your prudent son? Read it as a question; for having said above, “Who will help your dispersion, O Israel?” he now asks: Is this your prudent son? — that is, A king from the tribe of Ephraim, will this one save you, whom you made king as prudent? For there were two sons of Joseph, Manasseh the elder and Ephraim the younger; and the king ought to have come from the tribe of the elder; but you, the people, elbowed aside the elder Manasseh, and chose Ephraim, and set up a king from his tribe, as being supposedly more capable and more fit. But this will profit you nothing. He hints also at Hoshea, reigning in Samaria, who, warred upon by the Babylonian Shalmaneser, called upon the Egyptian, as supposedly prudent. But he gained nothing from his device; for he himself too was enslaved together with the people by Shalmaneser. And it can also be read without the question, and referred to “Let him save you” and “Let him judge you”: This your prudent son. But he surely calls him prudent in irony.

²¹ Because now he shall not stand firm in the crushing of children. For how could this king Hoshea profit you, who, when your children are crushed, will in no way withstand the enemies; for he himself too will be taken captive. Hidden also was the injustice of those who killed the Lord, and full of guile and hypocrisy; for they said that, according to the Law, he ought to die, because he called himself the Son of God. But pangs of calamities came upon the people, who, as knowing the ordinances of God, ought to have been prudent. And indeed such they seemed, though not being so truly; for this people is foolish, and not wise. He did not, then, withstand the siege of the Romans, when the children were crushed, devoured by their mothers because of the famine. And if David too, speaking in the Spirit, said: I will confess my lawlessness against myself to the Lord; and you forgave the impiety of my heart; he said it truly: it is good not to keep injustice hidden, nor to shade it over with excuses, but to make it manifest and to parade it forth. Otherwise, pangs will come — that is, the evil will be more complete, and the seed of injustice, which one has hidden within himself, will be brought to its term, and it will be said of him: Behold, he travailed with injustice, he conceived toil, and brought forth lawlessness. But when our evil children — that is, our thoughts and deeds — are crushed by our man-loving Father, like clay and earthen vessels of a potter, that they may become vessels worthy of the great house of the Church, prepared for honor and useful to the Master; then indeed the injustice appears, having no substance nor reasonable cause; and though ten thousand times we hasten to hide it away, yet the word convicts it as unreasonable and without substance.

²² Out of the hand of Hades I will deliver them, and from death I will redeem them. Since he has sufficiently foretold the grievous things, he now runs back to his accustomed kindness, and says: Out of the captivity I will bring them. For he calls the captivity Hades and death. And these things came to pass typically then, at the return from Babylon; but they received their more complete and more true fulfillment after the resurrection of the Savior. For our first-fruits having risen, we all received the grace and the hope of the resurrection; just as the reviving of the bones in Ezekiel also signified both the return of Israel and the common resurrection of all. For the things that came to pass among the Jews then were types of God’s dispensation concerning all. He redeemed, then, the souls out of the hand of Hades; for these are in Hades, not in death — for they are immortal; but the bodies are in death — for these are the things that are mortal. And everyone who sins is in Hades, inasmuch as his soul, becoming formless, loses its proper form and the “according to the image”; and in death, inasmuch as the works of sin are toilsome and death-bearing. And out of the Jews too he delivered those who believed in Christ from both the Hades of the soul and the death from the Romans. For on account of the elect, he says, those days shall be shortened.

²³ Where is your penalty, O death? Where is your sting, O Hades? As certain victory-paeans and hymns he strikes up these words: Where is your penalty, O death — that is, the right which you had against those who were until now under you. Where is the sting, by which you slew those whom you swallowed? Death had indeed a right against the captive Israelites — namely sin, which was also its sting; and it had this same right against all humanity. For indeed, In the hour you eat, he says, you shall die the death. Justly, then, death held the transgressors. But he both redeemed the Israelites, passing over their lawlessnesses; and afterward he delivered all humanity, himself appearing sinless, and abolishing the right and the sting which death had against us; and this was sin. And some copies have, “Where is your victory, O death?” That is, You shall no longer conquer; for the cause of the victory is taken away; the disobedience is loosed, and sin is blunted.

²⁴ Comfort is hidden from my eyes, because this one shall rise up in the midst of brothers. This comfort and consolation of the kindlier hope at the quenching of the captivity, and the expectation of the resurrection, seems to be hidden, both from the captive Jews and from all, by their tenets. For this one — that is, death — separates the brothers of the captivity, and divides them from one another. And on this account men are without hope that there will be a release from the hardships. And in all human nature, death separating both brothers, and all men simply, from one another, the resurrection was hidden. And now too among the godless it is hidden; therefore Paul calls it a mystery. “But my mystery,” says God, “is for me and for mine.” But some read this interrogatively: Is comfort hidden from my eyes? As if, when someone was at a loss and said, How shall this come to pass? how shall death cease? God says: Is comfort hidden from my eyes? — that is, Am I not able to find comfort? I am certainly able; and it is my only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ, whom I set forth as a propitiation and a Comforter. He abolishes death, and shall divide in the midst of brothers. For indeed he came to cast a sword; and on account of him brother shall deliver up brother to death, and a father his children. And from the eyes of the one who mourns and weeps on account of sin, comfort is hidden now; for in the world to come he shall be comforted. And his life is hidden in Christ, as he dies daily in the present life. And this one shall divide in the midst of brothers; for he does not allow the soul to conspire with the body. But the mind of the flesh, knowing enmity toward God, makes the outer man to be corrupted, but renews the inner day by day. He divides, then, and makes a separation in the midst of the two brothers — I mean the soul and the body; to the one giving its own, and preserving its dignity; to the other apportioning the second place, and not allowing it to live disorderly and dissolutely.

²⁵ The Lord will bring upon him a burning wind from the wilderness. Upon death, he says — that is, upon the Babylonians (for these are the ones who put Israel to death) — he will bring a burning wind, Cyrus the king of the Persians. And he made mention of the wilderness, that he might show the vehemence and violence of the wind. For from treeless places the winds are more violent.

²⁶ And he will dry up his veins, and will make desolate his springs. That is, he will destroy all the royal kindred, and will take away the resources of the tyranny — I mean wealth, and the other royal goods; for these he named, figuratively, veins and springs.

²⁷ He himself will dry up his land, and all his desirable vessels. And simply you will understand it thus, that he dried up the land, cutting the fruits and leaving it untilled, and plundered his precious vessels of silver and of gold; but you will understand also by “land” the humbler of the people, and by “his desirable vessels” those who busy themselves about the palace, the satraps akin to the Babylonian. The Father brought upon death our Savior Jesus Christ, from the wilderness of the Virgin, whom no man traversed — who is Christ, and is a wind, and a burning heat according to his divinity; for God is spirit and fire — and he dried up the springs of death, our lawlessnesses (for these are the springs of death); and all their desirable vessels — namely us — he plundered. He dried up also his land, this mortal flesh, making it no longer bear fruit unto death. For it is sown in corruption, but is raised in incorruption. He brought also John from the wilderness as a wind and a burning heat, as one going in the spirit and power of the warmth of the zeal of Elijah, and burning up through his rebukes those who heard. He dried up the veins and the springs of the death of the soul, cutting off the resources of each vice — of the tax-collectors, and the soldiers, and the rest of the people. Or are not the tax-collectors desirable vessels of such a death, prepared for destruction? Whom that one, enjoining to do nothing beyond what was appointed — that is, to exact nothing more — made into useful vessels. He dried up also the land of Herod, restraining the lecheries of the flesh, and his desirable vessel, Herodias, saying that he ought not to have her. These things the word also does in each of those who sin.

15 Chapter Fourteen

¹ Samaria shall be destroyed, because she set herself against her God; they shall fall by the sword, and their nurslings shall be dashed to the ground, and their women with child shall be ripped open.[64] Marvelously does he weave the word of the prophecy, neither bringing forth the consoling things uniform and alone, nor leaving the grievous things without consolation. For to the grievous things he joins those of consolation, that they may not come to utter despair, but may learn that God is ready at hand for them, and is present to those who are willing to turn, that they may enjoy his goodness; seeing that even to those who sin he promises the kindlier things. And to the consoling words he likewise interweaves the grievous, that he may not make them altogether slack, but may cast them into fear. For he knows that some are disciplined by fear, others by kindlier promises; and for this reason he sets down both. And now too, since he had spoken the joyful things and those of freedom, again he reminds them of the apostasy by which they fell away from God, and brings on the things they shall suffer because of it. He says, then, that since Samaria set herself against the divine will, her men shall fall by the sword of war; and the nurslings — that is, the babes at the breast (for τιτθοί are the breasts) — being dashed against the ground shall be destroyed; and the women with child shall have their bellies ripped open, that is, cut asunder, that they may perish together with the embryos. The boast of the people of the Law also fell by the sword, by the evangelical word; and those who were nourished by the milk of the Law, conceiving nothing lofty, remained upon the ground of the letter. Or it fell because, striking against Christ who was humbled even to the earth, they were dissolved. And their teachers, who sound from the belly and the womb, who order their whole life toward the belly, whose God is the belly, were torn apart by envy. And it is good that the wicked offspring of our mind be dashed to the ground while they are yet infants and weak, and be cast down, that they may not lift up their head over us, that is, the ruling faculty. The reasonings of pride too are dashed to the ground, when we consider that we are earth and ashes. Now envy has murder in its womb; luxury, licentiousness; wealth, the oppression of the lowlier; and one vice has another. These mothers, then, must be ripped open and split apart through the sword of the word, uncovering their loathsomeness, that the evils to be born of them may perish together with them.

² Turn back, O Israel, to the Lord your God, for you have grown weak in your iniquities.[65] I have set before you, he says, the things you have heard. That you may not, then, suffer these things, turn back to the Lord; because this weakness with which you grew weak, being delivered over to your enemies, you grew weak on account of your iniquities. So that, if you would become strong, draw near to God. Or, “You grew weak” stands for “You grew old in wickedness,” you remained a long time in it.

³ Take with you words, and turn to the Lord. Not gold, nor silver, nor any other ransom do I counsel you to take, but words of supplication, and such as confess the majesty of the Lord. For since you confessed the idols to be gods, denying him, now again take words that deny those and confess him. Then he teaches what manner of words one must take.

⁴ Say to him: That you may not receive iniquity, but may receive good things. Beseech him, he says, and ask, that you may not receive the fruits of iniquity — which were the captivity and the evils that come of it — but that you may receive good things.

⁵ And let us render the fruit of our lips.[66] Say this too: that We promise to confess to your name, and not to that of the idols; for this is the fruit of our lips, and it is a debt we owe. For he did not say, “We shall give,” but, “We shall render.” For having you as Maker and Benefactor, we necessarily owe you this confession.

⁶ Asshur shall not save us, and we will not ride upon a horse; we will no more say, Our gods, to the works of our hands. No longer, he says, will we put our trust in any man, neither in the help of the Assyrians, nor in our own cavalry, nor will we name the idols gods. And observe that he ranked together with idolatry the trusting in men and horses; for both the idols are vain, and man is vanity, and all that pertains to him. These things seem to admonish also those who boast that they are justified by works of the Law; and he says: Turn to the Lord, letting go of the letter, and taking away the veil which lies upon your heart when it is read. Turn to the Lord; and the Lord is the Spirit. And: If you believe with your heart, and confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, you shall be saved. This is the fruit of the lips, an acceptable offering. And confess that neither Asshur — and the conceit of having Abraham for father — nor a horse and the arrogance of boasting in circumcision will save you, but faith working through love. Now the one who sins has no words with him; for he does all things without reason; but the one who turns and repents, doing all things with good reason, is said to take words to himself. And in another sense: that he reckons with himself and demands an accounting, examining himself before the judgment to come, and searching out what he has set right and what is yet lacking; he does not speak of glory and of that by which he is exalted (for these are characteristic of the Assyrians), nor does he mount upon a horse, as one carried along and delighting in womanish frenzy; nor does he glory in the other works of their active power, which formerly he worshiped, nor does he call the idols his gods and lords, and the memorials of those deeds.

⁷ In you he will have mercy on the orphan. That is, I, God, dwelling in you, will have mercy on you the orphan, O Israel, who slipped away from me your true Father, and were made desolate of my guardianship and providence. And the Father who is in the Son will have mercy, he says, on the gentile people, orphaned of the heavenly Father. And it is said to God: He who is in you, and is not removed far from you, will have mercy on the orphan; for you indeed are the Father of orphans; so that he who does not have mercy on the orphan is not in you.

⁸ I will heal their dwellings. That is, their cities and their villages, and all the land in which they dwell; for they received a great weakness, deprived of every good, as of some health or beauty. Or it means: I will make them have dwellings again. For being in captivity, they had sojournings, not dwellings. Returning, then, again, they shall take up their cities and their villages, in which they shall dwell securely. Christ also healed, working signs, the bodies of the Hebrews of that time, which were the dwellings of their souls; but their souls themselves he did not heal, since they were not willing. For how often, he says, would I have gathered your children together, and you would not. And if the dwellings of the nations, full of idols and shameful deeds, were sick with a sickness unto death, which he healed, having come that he might take away our diseases and bear our infirmities.

⁹ I will love them avowedly. That is, indisputably, all of them together, and not this one and not that one. Or: When, together with the gentiles, I shall receive them, confessing my name; for when the fullness of the nations shall have entered in, then all Israel shall be saved.

¹⁰ Because my anger has turned away from them. For when they gave me their backs and not their face, my anger remained, lying upon them; but now, when they have turned to me, my anger has turned away from them.

¹¹ And I will be as dew to Israel, and he shall blossom as a lily. My benefits I will supply to them as dew, and they shall blossom as a lily. And in many places the divine Scripture makes mention of this flower. Isaiah says: Let the desert rejoice, and blossom as a lily. And Solomon in the Song of Songs: As a lily among thorns, so is my beloved among the daughters. And the Lord: Behold, he says, the lilies of the field. We learn, then, from these, that besides its fragrance the whiteness also of this flower is admired. And every soul resembles it, when it is set free from the foul stench of sin and from its filth, and is clothed with the shining robe of baptism, concerning which Isaiah also says, that: My soul shall rejoice in the Lord; for he has clothed me with a garment of salvation. Like this lily, then, Israel also shall blossom, having come to know God, and having received all the dew from above — him who came down as rain upon a fleece — and having become a sweet savor to God, such as Paul was, being a sweet savor of Christ and an odor of life.

¹² And he shall cast forth his roots as Lebanon. Since the lily has a most brilliant fragrance, but has no notable size or stability, he made mention of Lebanon the mountain, which is both great and densely wooded with trees that have deep roots and are able to endure for a very long time, that he might show that the glory of the Israelites who turn to God shall also be great and enduring. And since the idolaters too spent much of their time on Lebanon, honoring the bushier and taller of the trees, the word hints that both Israel and the gentiles who were formerly idolaters shall be rooted in the Church. And in the Church too, whenever you see someone living well, so that his light shines before men, call this man a lily; and if you see him also uttering lofty things concerning God, and casting down roots, so that his words are the more permanent, and producing disciples of the word of truth, call him Lebanon.

¹³ His branches shall go forth. That is, he shall be numerous, and the children whom the war consumed he shall acquire again, and they shall be extended far. The branches go forth also of him who ever sets ascents in his heart; for he does not stand still in one form of virtue, but passes over to every kind. The branches of the Israel that is well-pleasing to God are also the apostles, who, having gone forth, made disciples of all the nations.

¹⁴ And he shall be as a fruitful olive tree. Ever-flourishing, clearly, and not withering even in the time of trials; just as the olive does not shed its leaves in winter. But since many have only the appearance of virtue, like leaves, There must be, he says, fruit. A fruitful olive is he who shows mercy not for display; for his fruits do not fall away, nor is the reward lost.

¹⁵ And his fragrance as that of Lebanon. Now “Lebanon” (λίβανος) is also frankincense, an easily-crumbled, sweet-smelling[67] incense. He, then, who offers himself to God by praying in the Spirit, and asking for nothing, as the gentiles do, this man has his fragrance as frankincense.

¹⁶ They shall turn back and sit beneath his shelter. Turning back from the captivity, he says, they shall have God as a shelter. Or it means that, having turned and repented from their sins, they shall be sheltered by God, kept by him from every burning heat of affliction. Observe also the word “They shall sit”; for this signifies the secure and abiding enjoyment of good things.

¹⁷ They shall live and be strengthened with grain — or, as some of the copies have, they shall be made drunk. They shall have, he says, an abundance of all good things. They shall live, then, having been begotten through the regeneration, and having come under the law of the Spirit of life; and they shall be strengthened with the mystical grain, and shall be made drunk from the Master’s blood. And hear also what follows:

¹⁸ And he shall flourish as a vine; his memorial shall be as the wine of Lebanon of Ephraim. David and other prophets call them a vine; but when its hedge was taken away — that is, the divine guard — it became a plunder and a trampling for the Babylonians. It shall blossom again, then, he says, as it was of old a vine. And his memorial shall be — that is, those who were left of it, and were saved out of the captivity — as wine, having the fragrance of the incense of Lebanon; or as wine cultivated on Lebanon the mountain; or because he shall be in good repute, and those who remember him shall remember him with pleasure. And since the Lord too is mentioned as a vine in the Gospel, and the blood of the grape becomes his blood, when he said: Do this in remembrance of me; behold, his memorial is wine. He strengthens also with grain, as you learned above; so that you have the mysteries proclaimed beforehand.

¹⁹ What then has he still to do with idols? Having enjoyed, then, he says, so great care and kindness from me, he ought to flee the idols. For what fellowship has he still with those? For did he not clearly come to know that those are weak, but I am strong?

²⁰ I humbled him, and I will strengthen him. Those, as I said, are weak, and could neither harm him nor profit him; but I was the one[68] who both brought on the hardships, and am able to supply the things of gladness. The like is: I will kill and I will make alive; I will strike, and I will heal. The flesh is humbled, that the spirit may be strong; for these are opposed to one another. Paul said: When I am weak, then am I strong.

²¹ I am as a thickly-shading juniper. The juniper is a bushy and spreading plant, having dense and evergreen branches, and bearing thorny foliage. He says, then: So will I shade and shelter you with the dense branches of my help, so that, dwelling in my help, you shall lodge in the shelter of the God of heaven, and shall fear neither any burning heat of afflictions, nor rain — that is, slackening, and a moist and dissolute life. For the branches of my help, being dense and continuous, will not allow to pass through either the burning heat just spoken of, to pain you into blasphemy, nor the rain just spoken of, dissolving you into luxury and insolence; but even if someone should come, intending to ravage your branches as with certain weapons[69] or arrows, being pricked by the thorns that grow upon them, he shall withdraw. And the thorn, in everyone who lives according to God, is altogether the rough life, which pricks us with the care of the judgment there.

²² From me is your fruit found. That is, I will supply to you the produce of every good thing, and the fruit owed to you shall be from me. And what the Lord said, that Without me you can do nothing, this he says here too. For the fruit of the virtues is from Christ, since he himself is the Word. And without the Word there is neither the perceptible creation nor the intelligible. But the Gospel also is the fruit of the Law; for that holds the place of seed; and the Gospel, and the grace and the truth, came through Jesus Christ. Understand what is said; and consider also the word “Is found”; for the Gospel, being hidden in the Law, is found by those who seek. Therefore the Lord also said: Search the Scriptures. But it is found also by the gentiles who do not seek, as some marvelous discovery, even as he says also in Isaiah: I was found by those who did not seek me; I became manifest to those who did not ask after me.

²³ Who is wise, and shall understand these things? or prudent, and shall know them? For the ways of the Lord are straight, and the righteous shall walk in them; but the ungodly shall be weak in them. Having told how many good things God of old displayed to the ungrateful, and how many things he means to bring upon them for their instruction; and having moreover foretold their recall thereafter — both that from Babylon, and that which through Christ was to come about for them and for all men — and having shown forth great mysteries throughout the whole prophecy, since he looked toward the senselessness of his hearers at that time, he seeks henceforth the one who hears these things intelligently and clearly. For in truth all prophecy needs wisdom and understanding, so that, through the spirit of revelation, the things spoken in shadow may be made clear to the hearers, and they made to understand them. Now the prudent man is he who is able to comprehend and to know the things said by another. Therefore Isaiah says: The Lord shall take away from Judea the prudent hearer; and the wise man is he who is able also to interpret clearly to others the things he himself has understood. Having sought, then, here the wise man, and since he found him not, the prophet all but says this: Why do I seek a wise man? Even if a prudent one be found somewhere, able to recognize these things, though he be not sufficient also to interpret them to others. Finding, then, neither a wise man, nor the prudent one inferior to him, he tells also the cause for which they are not found. And it is this: that The ways of the Lord are straight. Those, then, who do not walk in these, but travel the crooked and sinful ways, do not have the upright spirit in themselves. And that being absent, neither wisdom nor understanding is found; for it is called a spirit of wisdom and understanding. Or thus also: Since I find no prudent and wise hearer, he says, who will recognize all the things spoken, clearly and intelligently, gathering the whole into a brief compass, I say it clearly and without veil, so that anyone whatsoever might know it, even if he be not wise and prudent according to what is sought. And what is this? That the ways of God are straight, and have no obstacle, nor any affliction and hardship; and the righteous, walking in them, run their course well; but the ungodly are weak in them, that is, they cannot walk in them. For the ungodly and apostate from God, how can he walk in his ways, having once said to him: I do not wish to know your ways?[70] Of necessity, then, he is weak in them, not having the power to live according to the commandments of God. But may the wisdom of God and the Father grant to us both to understand the things spoken by the prophet, and to recognize them, unto spiritual profit, being empowered to proclaim them wisely to the brethren who are ignorant; and to travel the straight ways of the Lord, not turning aside, neither to the things that seem to be on the right — which the one who becomes overmuch righteous suffers — nor to the left, the things manifestly condemned. For thus we should be truly righteous, keeping the middle and royal road, which is in truth Christ, who said: I am the way; through whom also, having journeyed to the Father, may we enjoy the good things of his kingdom, in the Holy Spirit, to whom be the glory unto the ages of ages. Amen.

16 Life of the Prophet Hosea

¹ Hosea is interpreted “one who is saved.” He was from Beelaim, of the tribe of Issachar; and he gave a portent that the Lord would come upon the earth, dwelling among men:[71] And the oak that is in Shiloh shall be divided into twelve parts, and there shall be twelve oaks, to hearken and to follow the God who appeared upon the earth; and through him all the earth shall be saved. And thus, having died, he was buried in his own land.