Chapter 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[1] 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.[2] 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.[3][4]

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;[5] 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:[6] he means the nations[6] of the Synagogue, because those of the Jews who proclaimed the gospel begot them.[7] 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.[8] 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.[9] …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[10] …were close kin[6] 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,[6] 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.