Chapter 6

Chapter Five

¹ Now the daughter of Ephraim shall be hedged in with a hedge. Having foretold concerning Jerusalem what he said, he now speaks also concerning Samaria. For he names Samaria daughter of Ephraim, as being ruled by the tribe of Ephraim, because every king seems to hold the rank of a father toward his subjects. Or he so names the tribe itself, according to the idiom of Scripture, which by periphrasis calls Zion itself and Jerusalem itself “daughter of Zion” and “daughter of Jerusalem” — unless someone shall say that he names the multitude in Zion, and that in Jerusalem, their “daughters,” as being their fatherlands. Having foretold, then, concerning Jerusalem the things, both grievous and good, that were to befall her, he now speaks also concerning Samaria, that “She shall be hedged in with a hedge” — that is, she shall be besieged.

² He has appointed a constraint upon you. If it is written “upon you,” then “upon you,” he says, means the people of Samaria; he has appointed a constraint, that is, a siege. Who? Either God, or the Babylonian. But if it should be written “upon us,” the prophet ranks himself with those of Samaria, out of brotherly love.

³ With a rod they shall strike the tribes of Israel upon the cheek. A blow upon the cheek seems a sign of insolence; but if it is done with a rod, it brings pain as well. He hints, then, that the Babylonians will deal with the ten tribes both insolently and as a punishment. And since the law is a hedge, “The daughter,” he says, “of Ephraim” — that is, the generation that apostatized from the kingdom of the spiritual David, that is, Christ, who is “mighty in hand” (for this is what “David” means) — shall be shut in by the law, not going out from it toward the grace of the Gospel. And yet God appointed the constraint, that is, the polity of the law, upon us — that is, until the time when we the prophets prophesy. But when the one prophesied of comes, John having become his forerunner, then the constraint shall be loosed; for the law and the prophets were until John. And by “constraint” he means the law, on account of the petty rules by which it confined those under it: Touch not, neither taste, nor handle, stir not from your place. With a rod of iron, then — the Roman power — they shall strike the cheeks of the Israelite mouths, of those who said, Away, away, crucify him, whose cheeks they themselves also struck. The sins too are a hedge, by which the soul is fenced in, so that there does not shine upon it the illumination of the glory of the Gospel of Christ. And he does not simply say “a soul,” but “the daughter of Ephraim” — that is, of growth and habituation in evils; and this constraint the Babylonian appointed upon us, our enemy from the beginning; for he is the cause of our being constrained by the chains of our own sins.

⁴ And you, Bethlehem, house of Ephrathah, are you too little to be among the thousands of Judah? For out of you shall come forth for me one to be a ruler in Israel. Samaria, he says, shall be besieged and captured; but you, O Bethlehem, shall enjoy great glory. For do not look to the present smallness of your inhabitants, nor to the fact that you are a house little and small among the thousands of the kingdom of Judah — that is, among the tribal chiefs (and in saying this he also included Jerusalem) — for you have an occasion for distinction such as no city on earth has. For out of you shall come forth Christ, who shall rule Israel, the whole faithful people. For not all those of Israel, these are Israel. And how shall he come forth? Not by the law of human seed, but “for me” — that is, by my power, and by my Spirit, which shall compact the flesh for him, as the angel also said to the Virgin: The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. And in another way: the other rulers came forth for themselves, managing their own advantage in their rule; but this one shall come forth for me, bringing all things to me. And the phrase “shall come forth for me” indicates intimacy as well. Now the region was called Ephrathah, and the village Bethlehem, from which were Jesse and David, and in which the Virgin also gave birth.

⁵ His goings forth are from the beginning, from the days of eternity. He shall come forth, he says, in the last times out of you, O Bethlehem, this ruler of Israel; nevertheless his goings forth are from the beginning — that is, they were foreordained before all the ages. Or thus: That you may not, like the weak, suppose that he then received his existence when he came forth from Bethlehem — which is what Paul of Samosata and Photinus the bishop of Sirmium suffered — he says that “his goings forth,” that is, his begetting from the Father, are “from the beginning.” Like the saying, That which was from the beginning; and when you hear “from the days of eternity,” do not suppose that he sets some temporal beginning to the begetting of the Only-begotten; but this is like what is said elsewhere to the Father, For from eternity you are. But the Jews take these things as referring to Zerubbabel, plainly fighting against the truth. For how were the goings forth of Zerubbabel “from the beginning, from the days of eternity,” seeing he was born in the times of the captivity? And how is this man “from Bethlehem,” who was born in Babylon? For so too his name is interpreted, “Babylonian seed.” But the more careful Jews did not understand the prophecy of Zerubbabel; for when they were asked by Herod, Where is the Christ born? they brought forward to him this very prophecy.[1]

⁶ Therefore he shall give them up until the time of her who is in travail. Since he said that the ruler of Israel shall come forth from Bethlehem, it was then likely that one would raise a difficulty: How then will the evils you spoke of befall the Jews, if that one is to be a redeemer? The prophet therefore says to God: “You shall give them up” — that is, hand them over to their enemies — “until the time” of the Virgin who bears Emmanuel. Or thus: Since he had spoken of a ruler about to be given, he says that in the meanwhile, until the Virgin gives birth, “You shall give them up,” namely the rulers of the Jews. For a ruler shall not fail from Judah, until he comes for whom it is laid up. But you shall give up the teachers of the law as well, until she who travails — that is, the Church of the nations, which bears according to Christ — gives birth; and from then on their statutes and decrees shall be abolished.

⁷ She shall give birth, and the rest of their brethren shall return to the sons of Israel. The Virgin, then, he says, shall give birth, and the sons of Israel shall believe — that is, the twelve apostles, and the seventy, and the five hundred to whom the Lord appeared after he rose; then the rest of their brethren shall return to these, and shall themselves also believe — which indeed came to pass, when the three thousand believed, and the five thousand, whom Peter the fisherman caught in his net, and the many myriads, concerning whom the all-glorious James says to the most divine Paul: Do you see, brother, how many myriads there are of the Jews who have believed? And those who in each generation are about to believe he calls “the rest,” as left over — that is, chosen — by God. But some take it thus: “She shall give birth,” he says — the Church of the nations — these very ones, the gentiles who believed from the beginning; and as she goes on bearing, the gentiles born from time to time (who might also be called brethren of the gentiles who believed before them — such as, for instance, those around Cornelius) shall be joined to those of Israel who believed, such as were, as has been said, the apostles and those like them. And since “Bethlehem” is interpreted “house of bread,” and the bread that came down from heaven is Christ, whose house is everyone who keeps his commandments — For I, he says, and the Father will come, and will make our abode with him — the ruler of Israel shall come forth out of this one too. For Christ is declared ruler of the contemplative part to the one who has received him through the practical life, when his pre-eternal existence is also made clear. And let the rulers of the Church be instructed — and indeed those of the world too — not to become rulers before they have shown their mind to be a house of the bread that has been given.

⁸ And he shall stand, and see, and shepherd his flock in strength, the Lord. “He shall stand” stands for, he himself shall preside over his own sheep, and he himself shall see them, not as of old through Moses, but he himself by himself. For no angel, he says, no ambassador, but the Lord himself saved them. “And he shall shepherd” — but he shall not slaughter, and sacrifice, and sell the wool, and drink the milk. “But in strength” too; for he is the power of the Father, and a strong God. But also, according to his humanity, he was not clothed with the weakness of sins, as are the other shepherds, the high priests. And he was, it says, teaching with authority, and not as the scribes. But “he shall also stand,” he says, on Golgotha, and shall shepherd in the strength of the cross his flock, us who have believed. Or he shall shepherd the Hebrews, who were formerly his flock, in the Roman strength, the rod of iron. And everyone appointed to shepherd ought to stand — that is, to be firm and not easily led astray; but also to see with the eyes of wisdom, and not to be blind through ignorance; and to shepherd, but not to sell and slaughter; and to shepherd “in strength,” that is, in Christ. For I am, he says, the door; if anyone enters through me, he shall be saved. And he shepherds in strength who does not cower before the wrath of rulers, but reproves them when they sin.

⁹ And in the glory of the name of the Lord their God they shall exist. Who? Those who are shepherded. In being called Christians, he says, in this they shall have their authority and existence. Or rather, since they walk worthily of the calling, he says that in this they shall exist as his flock, in the glorifying through their works of the name of our Lord and God Jesus Christ.

¹⁰ Because now they shall be magnified unto the ends of the earth. And this too one may now see; for as far as the Ocean both the name of Christ is magnified, and those called by it are multiplied and magnified, even though they are persecuted by the ungodly.

¹¹ And this shall be the peace, when the Assyrian comes upon your land, and when he treads upon your country. Since the things he prophesied concerning Christ were to come to pass long ages afterward, he confirms the prediction about them from the things to come to pass in that time. For that you may learn, he says, that the things I have foretold shall be, take the present things as a pledge. For there shall be a deep peace, when I have destroyed the Assyrian beyond all hope, when he comes upon you — that is, makes war upon you — and treads upon your country, that is, takes possession of it.

¹² And there shall be raised up seven shepherds, and eight bitings of men; and they shall shepherd Asshur with the sword. Seven kings, he says, I will raise up against the Assyrian (for he names the kings “shepherds”); who, having warred against him eight times, and through these eight warlike assaults, like so many bitings, having bitten through his army, shall consume him. And they shall shepherd him with the sword, following close behind him and pursuing him, who is unable to defend himself, like the sheep. And “they shall shepherd” is most apt morally.

¹³ And the land of Nimrod within its trench. By “Nimrod” he means Babylon. For Nimrod, employing tyranny, had Babylon first under his hand. For the beginning of his kingdom was, he says, Babylon, and Orech, and Chalanne. Since, then, the Assyrian had Babylon under himself, God now says that those seven kings shall humble both the Assyrian and the kings, even though Babylon has a very great trench girding its strong walls. Or thus: They shall compel the Babylonians to be confined within the trench, and not to advance further.

¹⁴ And he shall deliver you from Asshur, when he comes upon your land, and when he treads upon your borders. That one, he says, shall suffer these things; but you shall be freed from the evils that come from him not only then, when I raise up the kings against the Assyrian, but even now, when he has come upon you, I will deliver you, slaying a hundred and eighty-five thousand of his men. For here he speaks of the things concerning Sennacherib, and the destruction of his army in a single night. The spiritual Assyrian too came upon our land — I mean the flesh — making our members that are upon the earth his own. And he trod also upon our borders, the mind and the reason; for these are the borders of man, marking him off from the irrational beasts. When, therefore, he seemed to have mastered us, and the land was filled with all wickedness and godlessness, then Christ stood by us, who is our peace, and against such an Assyrian there were raised up both the seven energies of the Spirit, good shepherds, shepherding those worthy of the Spirit, and the eight bitings of men — of those who keep human dignity — that is, the five senses, ranged together with faith, hope, and love, or with the confession of the Holy Trinity; and by the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, such an enemy was struck, and the land of Nimrod, that is, sin. For this is the land of the spiritual Nimrod, concerning whom it is said: He began to be a giant hunter before the Lord. For tossing his neck against God, he hunts the souls of men. And the trench of sin is the flesh, lusting against the spirit, and for this reason fortifying sin. But the Lord, having come in the likeness of sinful flesh, condemned sin in that which he assumed. Thus, then, was the land of Nimrod struck within its trench. By the seven shepherds you will understand the prophets as well; for the number seven is in keeping with the Old Testament, both for other reasons, and because it promised the good things of the present age; and the eight bitings, the words of the apostles. For the teeth are instruments, fellow-workers toward speech; and the apostles bit the Assyrian, through the things by which they proclaimed both the resurrection — which took place in the eighth, the Lord’s day after the seventh of the Sabbath, in the case of Christ, and shall take place for us all too, in the eighth after this seventh age — and along with the resurrection they preached the heavenly kingdom in that eighth. And if you reckon the things concerning Ananias and Sapphira, and the things concerning Elymas the magician, and those handed over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit might be saved, and that they might be taught not to blaspheme — then you will understand how the apostles also shepherded with the sword, using severity upon those who needed it.

¹⁵ And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the nations, in the midst of many peoples, as dew falling from the Lord, and as lambs upon the grass, that no one may be gathered together, nor stand among the sons of men.

¹⁶ And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the nations, in the midst of many peoples, as a lion among the cattle of the forest, and as a lion’s cub among flocks of sheep; just as, when it passes through and, having singled out, seizes its prey, there is none to rescue. These things can be taken according to the letter, God promising to the Hebrews who were left and kept for salvation after the overthrow of the Babylonian, such a prosperity of good things that they could even refresh others like dew and do them good, and a power over their enemies, so as to consume them, just as the lambs consume the grass of the field, that no assembly might any longer be gathered against them, nor any man stand before them; but, like a lion singling out the sheep — that is, entering into their midst, as they are separated through fear and scattered one here and another there — it seizes them, and there is none to rescue; so they too plunder the goods of their enemies. Nevertheless, in truth, these things are said concerning the apostles. For having spoken of the things to come to pass concerning the perceptible Babylonian, he runs back up to the things concerning Christ, and announces beforehand how the remnant from Jacob, the one according to the election of grace — both the apostles, I mean, and those after them from the Hebrews who shone in the Church; and indeed, simply, all the teachers of the Church. For as has been said above also, Those who are of Israel are not altogether Israel.[2] These, then, shall be dew to the nations that have the scorching heat of idolatry and of the other passions of the soul, offering to them the teaching of the Gospel, which fell upon them from the Lord; and they consumed the ungodliness, as lambs the grass, that no gathering of the ungodly might any longer be assembled or stand, but that all might be set right. And I say this, he says, not concerning demons (for those are incorrigible), but among the sons of men, who receive correction. Or: Since the benefit of the one taught is food for the one who teaches, just as the lambs, he says, rejoice — which fell upon them from the Lord, who said: Make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them — they rejoice, having found grass to be food for themselves; so they too shall leap upon the disciples, that no one may any longer be gathered and numbered among the sons of men who are hard of heart, who love a lie, but that all may become sons of God, joint-heirs of Christ. Then, since in likening such teachers to dew and lambs he had not sufficiently shown the power given them by God, he adds another image, that of the lion. For the preludes of the apostles’ teaching were like dew; and they were as lambs in the midst of wolves, consuming and uprooting the grass of ungodliness by teachings and wonders. But after this, when the inhabited world had received the proclamation, and generals and kings had been enrolled among the faithful, the dread passed over to the adversaries of the truth; and some, resembling cattle, are afraid and shudder; but others, having the courage of the lion of the Church, and especially through the abundance of righteousness (for the righteous is confident as a lion), single out the lie, discerning it, and pointing it out to those formerly led astray, and plunder them, taking them captive into the obedience of Christ; and there is none who tears these away from him, as they say with Paul: Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Which Christ also said: No one seizes my sheep out of my hand. But the apostles themselves were both lambs and lions: lambs toward those who wished to scourge, flay, and kill them, not resisting; but lions, as being strong against error and ungodliness, in the power of the word and of wonders.

¹⁷ And your hand shall be lifted up against those who afflict you, and all your enemies shall be utterly destroyed. These things have come to pass perceptibly as well, the kingdom having passed over, as has been said, to Christian rulers. For indeed the Greeks who formerly afflicted the people of Christ, and pulled down the temples of God, are gone and vanished; and we pull down their temples, if indeed any remnant is left. But still more they have been fulfilled spiritually. For the hand of the faithful — that is, the power that works the virtues — has been lifted up against the demons, who, persuading us to pursue evil as something sweet, afterward bring upon us the affliction that comes from conscience, leading us thereby to despair as well.

¹⁸ And I will utterly destroy your horses out of your midst, and will destroy your chariots, and I will utterly destroy the cities of your land, and will tear down all your strongholds. Those of Israel who have believed shall obtain the power foretold; but those who have continued in unbelief, such as are the present Hebrews, shall be deprived of their own kingdom; and they shall have neither cavalry, nor well-walled cities, nor such other strongholds as nature, making them of itself in the mountains or caves, gave to men to flee to in times of need. And if anyone reads the works of Josephus, he will find the truth of what is said. For even if we should not understand it thus — that the things foretold were said to some, but the things now said to others, and that those were to the faithful, but these to the unbelievers — they will seem incongruous. Yet they are spoken to one person, that of the Hebrew race. And observe also from the wording the truth of what I say; for it was to the remnant of Jacob that he promised the good things, but not simply to Jacob.

¹⁹ And I will take away your sorceries out of your hands. By “sorceries” he means the enchantments which they used, calling upon demons in all things.

²⁰ And those who utter oracles shall be no more for you. That is, diviners; and he calls these “utterers of oracles” because they seemed to be suddenly thrown into ecstasy, and, inspired, uttered forth the things which the inbreathing of the demons supplied to them. “And your diviners, then,” he says, “I will utterly destroy.”

²¹ And I will utterly destroy your carved images and your pillars out of your midst; and you shall no longer worship the works of your hands, and I will cut down the groves out of your midst. Here he plainly foreshows the abolition of idolatry; for after the incarnation of Christ, the Jews, seeing the piety of the nations, even against their will were themselves freed from the service of idols. For they are ashamed, seeing those outside the laws living soberly, to be themselves manifestly ungodly. And there are among them neither carved images, nor pillars, nor groves. For as you learned in Hosea, choosing out the tall and shady trees, these they honored. But now they have been cut down like common wood for burning, or serving for the works of carpentry.

²² And I will make your cities desolate, and I will execute vengeance in wrath and in fury among the nations, because they did not hearken. I will drive them out, he says, from their own cities, and scatter them among the nations, executing vengeance for the blood of my Son, because they did not hearken to the prophets, who spoke concerning him, and to himself crying out: I am the light of the world; and, Why do you seek to kill me, a man who has spoken the truth to you? Observe, however, how God benefits even while he punishes; for see from what things he frees them — from idolatry, sorceries, divinations. And these things might be said also with regard to human nature, whose equestrian pride and frenzy for women the Lord who was born in Bethlehem removed from its midst, and the cities which its land — that is, the flesh — had, and the strongholds of earthly and human reasonings he pulled down through those who say: Casting down reasonings, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God; and every sorcery of the beguiling pleasure that formerly enslaved humanity he removed, who says: Narrow and afflicted is the way; and, In the world you shall have tribulation; and he cut down the groves in us and the thickets of the imaginations, in which the spiritual beasts lurked.