Chapter 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.[1] 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.[2] 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.[3] 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[4] 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[5] 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[6] 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?[7] 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.